The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Panthers Hire Reich + ‘Sharp or Square’ AFC/NFC Championships

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

First, (3:00) Colin on why he likes the Panthers hiring of fired former Colts HC Frank Reich, and why NBA players have fewer excuses than ever for missing games due to load management. Then the Action... Network's Chad Millman tells Colin if his AFC and NFC Championship Game picks are "sharp" or "square". They look at Niners/Eagles(13:00) and Bengals/Chiefs (25:00). Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the test content and updates, and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! #Herd #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.
Starting point is 00:00:23 Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. It's the Colin Coward podcast presented by Fandul. It's NFL playoff time.
Starting point is 00:00:44 No better place to get in on the action than Fandul. FanDul app is safe. You get paid fast. A lot of ways to play. The spread, the money line, team totals, players, props. A lot of stuff. Over-unders. Jump into the action.
Starting point is 00:00:59 Same game parlays are my favorite. Just use the promo code Colin and download the Fandul app today. FanDuel now live in Ohio. Hi, everybody. Welcome in to the Friday morning podcast, Sharper Square. I've got sides in the Niners Eagles, Bengals, Chiefs. So that's about 10 minutes away. Chad Millman.
Starting point is 00:01:30 Very exciting. So I want to touch on something that I think kind of runs counterintuitive to what a lot of people think. Good people get fired all the time. Mark Cuban was fired. Howard Stern was fired. There are cuts in staffing. You know, I see stories where tech companies are laying off 10,000 people. Those are good employees.
Starting point is 00:01:59 When I started the volume, one of the first breaks I got was that COVID had decimated many of these large, media companies. And some of my employees, many of them here at the volume of our 27, 28 employees, worked at ESPN, DeZone, NBC Sports, CBS Sports. Very, very talented people. Just companies had to make budgets. There were some financial shortfalls, expectations. You know how it works at big companies. So we start with that. And this is true in sports. is that take coaching. The Kansas City Chiefs fired Marv Levy. He went on to get to four Super Bowls with the bills.
Starting point is 00:02:50 Many of you may remember this. The Jags fired Tom Coughlin. He went on to beat Belichick and Brady and out-coach them in two Super Bowls. So this happens. Ty Lou got fired by the Cavs. He got after like an 0-and-6 start. Ty Lou is a top 7-8 coach in the NBA, easily, maybe top four or five. So when Frank Reich was fired by the Colts, it was a mistake by the organization.
Starting point is 00:03:15 And I'll give you a little background on that. So we would all admit that about 70, 75% of the NFL right now is coach quarterback. That's good. You can have flaws in other places. So Andrew Luck with Frank Reich, he had him for a year. How did Frank do with Andrew? Andrew Luck had missed the previous season due to an injury. His first and last year with Frank Reich,
Starting point is 00:03:45 Andrew Luck had his career best in completion percentage, passer rating, 39 TDs, 15 picks, comeback player of the year and made the Pro Bowl. He had his most efficient year, Andrew Luck did, with Frank Reich. Philip Rivers. From the previous year with the Chargers went 5 and 11, with Frank Reich went 11 and 5.
Starting point is 00:04:12 His passer rating went from 88 to 97. His interceptions, always an issue with Rivers, went from 20 to 11. Philip Rivers had his most efficient year in the last several with Frank Reich. Let's go to Carson Wentz. Now you roll your eyes at Carson Wentz. but the one year that Frank Reich had Carson Wins. He went from 3-8-1 with the Eagles as a starter to 9-and-8. He went from a 16-touchdown 15-pick ratio to 27 TDs and 7 picks.
Starting point is 00:04:52 His passer rating jumped from 72 to 94.6. So three different quarterbacks, Andrew, Bullock, Phyllif Rivers, and Carson Wentz, had significant upgrades in efficiency, completion percentage, and turnovers dropped. And the Colts fired him. The Jags fired Tom Coughlin, the Cowboys moved off Jimmy Johnson, the Browns slash Ravens, moved off Bill Belichick, Marv Levy got bounced by the Chiefs. Frank Reich is a really good coach. Carolina a good one. They have an excellent defense specifically in the front seven with talented young corners in the back end. DJ Moore is a nice receiver. They got to rebuild the old line a little,
Starting point is 00:05:44 not terrible, get themselves a quarterback. I think Carolina stole the Indianapolis Colts mistake. And this all goes back to the meddling of Jim Ursay. If I said to you meddling owners in the NFL the last decade. Four jump out to me. The old Al Davis, Dan Snyder, Jerry Jones, and recently in the last year, Jim Ursay. So this week, Charles Barkley went on the TNT show during an NBA game and railed on the players for star players for missing starts. And it's called load management. It has become the biggest issue. that Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, faces. Star players sitting out won't play back-to-backs. Now, some in the media viewed that as two pro-owner and two anti-player. And I'll give you an example.
Starting point is 00:06:47 One of my favorite baseball players growing up was George Brett. And I remember looking at George Brett's stats one time years and years ago. And Brett missed like 30 games a year. And I thought, oh, wow. But remember, George Brett played on AstroTurf in the summer, in Kansas City. That effing field was 130 degrees. Players took more time off. The resources, nutrition, training methods, playing on AstroTurf. When players were missing games in the 70s, 80s, 90s, there was a sense they were doing it to rehab their body. I mean, Steve Garvey told me years ago that when he played on AstroTurf, his cleats occasionally stuck to the field. He had to constantly move his feet.
Starting point is 00:07:40 So when a baseball player now on grass fields is missing 30 games, it does feel different. Nutritional standards, training methods, resources, teams, private jets. In fact, you're seeing this in the NFL that home field advantage in the NFL is not. no longer three and a half points. And the reason being, Washington Post detail this in an article is that essentially with team planes, players have more space. They set up training centers at the hotel within an hour of landing is that the truth is road teams don't have, this isn't a disservice to the 80s, 90s, and early
Starting point is 00:08:26 2000s. It's a reality of the advancements of the league. You can go on the road and you get equal treatment to it home. Fewer distractions, better planes, more rest, better hydration, more trainers, better trainers. Homefield advantage in the NFL has less impact. So where I side with Barclay is that when an older NBA player, a wilt, they used to fly commercial. You'd get on a plane out of Seattle, six in the morning, you could be sitting with the Lakers. They flew commercial.
Starting point is 00:09:03 And if a guy missed 15 games in the 70s, 80s, 90s, a lot of it was because they just didn't have the resources to take care of their body. That's why you see so many older NBA players, Phil Jackson, crouched over, bent over. They're beat up physically. They don't age particularly well. Their backs don't. Their shoulders don't. So it does feel different today when Yokic can't play a back-to-back. It's not just the salary.
Starting point is 00:09:32 Athletes are treated better. Emotionally, physically, it's an easier life. It's not just resentment toward the salary. I do think load management is a huge problem in the NBA. I would love for the league to cut out back-to-backs because I grew up in a small town. And when I was a kid, if I went to a Sonic game, a Seattle Sonics game, and downtown Freddie Brown and Gus Williams and DJ or Jack Segment didn't play? It was a bummer.
Starting point is 00:10:00 I mean, I went specifically to the kingdom to watch Larry Bird against my Sonics. And so I think the criticism by Barclay is reasonable. Some will say, well, you know, Charles at the end of his career was missing, you know, he was missing like 20, 25 games. Even at the end of Barclay's career, which is fairly recent, bodies were treated differently. You didn't have the staff size or the expertise on nutrition, training, and you couldn't implement it as quickly or as often.
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Starting point is 00:11:37 Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all. embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Chad Millman's CCO Action Network, all odds provided by a fan duel. Well, after hitting 55% this year, the playoffs arrive.
Starting point is 00:12:21 and I don't have a feel for any playoff game. I guess I got the Jags to late cover, which is what we predicted. But let's start 49ers at Eagles. I'll throw out kind of the two things that jump out to me. Greg CoSell, who's my favorite guest maybe ever on the show, says the last two starts are starting to show some tendencies with Brock Pretty. They're now on film. He's scrambling backwards.
Starting point is 00:12:53 He now goes consistently to his left. He has been incapable of delivering on some really nice, schemed and scripted plays. There are now, we are seeing limitations, and the Eagles are seeing them. Philadelphia has got 17 players who are either Pro Bowl starters or alternatives. At home, significantly more dynamic quarterback. You know, rookies in this spot have been disastrous. McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell, missing practice. I'd probably swallow the points and take Philadelphia, sharper square.
Starting point is 00:13:34 I would say generally sharp. The challenge with the playoffs, as you just noted, is someone's going to find a reason of like something. And so this line opened it around pick on Sunday night. Literally that lasted less than five minutes. Got up to one and a half two. I bet Eagles minus two Sunday night. It's landed at two and a half. Most wise guys have this power rated at three. So you're still getting a half point of value. What's troubling if you're an Eagles backer is you've seen the money come in on the Eagles, and it really hasn't hit the three, which means that professional money continues to come in on the Niners, enough that the books are wary of
Starting point is 00:14:31 getting to the three because they'll just get pounded with money on the Niners. Schematically on the field, couldn't agree with you more personally. I think you're starting to see some, as Kosell pointed out, and I agree, he's one of my favorite guests on your show. He has pointed out that Brock Purdy is starting to show a little bit of why he might not be a Hall of Famer yet. And I think that you're taking a rookie playing his third game on the road in the NFC title game. And it's not Vegas that he's going to. where one of his games were. It's not Seattle against Gino Smith in a defense that was really starting to struggle.
Starting point is 00:15:18 It's Philadelphia. Like, it's Philadelphia with an historically great pass rush, an historically great offensive line that is getting players downfield and they have tremendous amount of yards before contact numbers. So how do you not take the Eagles here? It feels like exactly the right side. I love the Eagles in this spot. Maybe I've talked myself into it. I've heard a lot of people say they like the Niners, but the majority of wise guys are agreeing with you.
Starting point is 00:15:55 Well, here's something else to remember. That cowboy team went into the second half without Tony Pollard, a kicker who is in his head, and Dallas was on the road. And let's be honest, Michael Gallup, it's, I would submit to you, he's not a two. He's a three. So Mike McCarthy, I think, is done mostly a very good job. But they didn't dust the Cowboys off. And Zeke at this point is a short yardage back. They had one home run hitter on offense and the Niners knew it, C.D. Lamb.
Starting point is 00:16:35 It was a very, very limited offense they were facing. Yeah, it's a different game with Tony Pollard completely because they were playing it close in that game. And Dak Prescott was terrible. It was really bad. So now you're on the road. A.J. Brown, Smith. There's a conveyor belt of quality tight ends for Philadelphia. Sanders.
Starting point is 00:17:05 Jalen Hertz. It's very likely you will play now from behind. also if you look at Philadelphia. Now, this is my concern with Philadelphia. Let me throw this at you. So Kyle Shanahan is now 7 and O with his third string quarterback. That's pretty impressive. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Philadelphia's story to this point is GM Howie Roseman. Ceriani doesn't get any credit for the roster build. And nor does he get a ton of credit for this fact. fact, when Jalen Hertz was out and very capable backup, Gardner Minchew, more than capable, upper third of backups and win games. So the roster, that's Roseman. Jalen hurts when he's gone, that's when coaching really matters. You don't get the juice at Jalen, right?
Starting point is 00:18:04 Like Kyle Shanahan winning with Brock Purdy, that's not a Brock Purdy story as much as it is. a roster compilation and a Kyle Shanahan story. So you take out Jalen Hertz with this roster of 17 Pro Bowl or alternates. They don't win with Gardner Minshu, a capable backup. So what I'm saying is Kyle Shanahan and Nick Sariani, let's not elevate Nick, who got crushed in the playoffs last year and beat a completely outman Giants team. I said today on the show, I like Nick. I was wrong on Nick.
Starting point is 00:18:41 But if the second half of this game, Shanahan was playing chest to checkers, you wouldn't be shocked, right? Right? So that's where I'm a little like, I saw him without Jalen. It wasn't like he was a chess master, right? It's so interesting you look at it from that point of view. A couple things. one, I loved the video the other day of Nick Seriani on the sideline yelling at, I don't know who, when he was going for two or lining up to go for two, after one of the touchdowns yelling, I know what I'm fucking doing.
Starting point is 00:19:25 I worry, and I'm, you know, being a little silly, but I do worry when there's a coach who feels like he needs to be. yelling that to someone on his sideline. Yeah. And that is getting that sort of uptight about being challenged, right? Yeah. I don't get the sense that Sean McVeigh, A, responds that way and B, has someone saying to him, what are you doing? Or Bill Belichick has someone.
Starting point is 00:19:50 So, like, I know it's like, it's a funny little clip, but I did look at that and be like, that was weird. Yeah. Like, I just, that was a, I don't know any leaders who do that, right? And so I thought that was interesting. One, you will get no argument for me that Kyle Shanahan is amongst the two, three best coaches in the NFL. I love the guy. I think that they are an automatic Super Bowl contender no matter what.
Starting point is 00:20:21 And I think he has more fun scheming for second and third stringers on his team, probably than any coach in the NFL. Yeah. Like he is so creative and so good at it. And we've seen it year after year. name a team that consistently loses their quarterback, their starting left tackle, their best running back, their best receiver, their entire defense. And consistently every single year does as well as he does, as if it's like not even missing a beat. So I think the guy is brilliant.
Starting point is 00:20:49 And I think he love him as a coach. Don't disagree with you at all on this. And I think some of what you're saying leads me to the next thing I would say about this game, which is a little bit against the market. it, but I like the over. And the reason I like the over is because we started to see some cracks in the 49ers backline pass defense. And I do think that Jalen Hertz, A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Goddard, they are a serious quartet of weapons that can take advantage of some passing defense deficiencies. And that does not need great coaching. That needs good coordinating and it needs good
Starting point is 00:21:31 talent. And on the flip side, if there's anybody who can figure out how to scheme against a really good pass rush, it's Kyle Shanahan. So I do think there are opportunities for this game to play against Type. So I did feel Philadelphia was the side. And I have all week. Bingles Chiefs, we have the variable. So I talked about it today on the show. I've got video of Mahomes. He's a full practice participant. There are three levels to high ankle sprains, including grade one, which is mild. He also played very well, 108 passer rating in the game after the sprain. So I'm not overly concerned.
Starting point is 00:22:17 Also, Will Blackman pointed out in the show today, sometimes when Mahomes gets in trouble, he's a little squirly when he extends plays. When you force him to sit in the pocket. it's pretty good. And so I don't worry about that. Here's, though, why I like Cincinnati plus a point. And here's why. Over the last 20 games in the NFL, there's an argument to be made.
Starting point is 00:22:44 Cincinnati's the best second half defense in the league, even better than San Francisco. They make adjustments like nobody else. The other, and by the way, against Kansas City as well, they have trailed Kansas City in their last three beatings of the Chiefs, but have dominated late fourth or overtime. I believe Cincinnati's become something that doesn't get a lot of love, but it was what the Patriots with Belichick and Brady did. They were the best situational football team for about 20 years. Cincinnati is remarkably good situationally, like even better than Kansas City.
Starting point is 00:23:24 A lot of its borough's accuracy. So during the off season, remember Burroughs first year and a half once against the Bears, he could be turnover prone. So in the off season, Cincinnati said, you know what? We're going to peel back some of the deeper routes and do more intermediate closer. Now the Bengals give you an upside with no turnovers. This is what they did to Buffalo. So you have the most accurate passer completion percentage in League History Bureau, a team that's no longer. giving you turnovers. That was Mahomes' secret sauce early, the best adjusting defense in the league
Starting point is 00:24:04 with absolutely no pressure. These are the chiefs. This is Mahomes. This is Reed. I think I like Cincinnati, Sharper Square. Dude, this game is a roller coaster. And you're not going to get a consensus. You're going to be sharp. You're going to be with a bunch of sharps. And there's also going to be sharps who like Kansas City. So let me give you the reasons why I think Kansas City at minus one is the play. And this isn't as much about betting and number shopping and as we often talk about getting the best of the number as it is about the side. This game opened since Cincinnati plus three on Sunday night. I bet it's Cincinnati plus three immediately.
Starting point is 00:25:05 It got bet down to pick Cincinnati plus one. I mean, Cincinnati minus one, KC plus one. By Tuesday afternoon, it's Kansas City plus two and a half. I bet the Kansas City plus two and a half. By last night, it was back to Kansas City plus one this morning. We're recording this on Thursday afternoon. Kansas City is a one-point favorite because of what we saw with Mahomes. You will get wise guys telling you, I am back in Joe Burrow 100%.
Starting point is 00:25:37 And then you will get wise guys telling you, I'm playing my model. My model has Kansas City as a slight favorite to pick in this game, right? So I'm sorry, Kansas City is a slight favorite to minus two in this game. So you're going to get both sides of it. It's really going to come down to how do you feel what's going to make you the least uncomfortable in this game? I wish I could give you a consensus. I can't. I can't in any good conscious.
Starting point is 00:26:12 We talked about this in the favorites today. We did sharp calls where the wise guys will call us over the 48 hours from Tuesday to Thursday between our two podcasts and tell us what they think of what we're saying. and a lot of the wise guys were just like, I won't bet against Joe Burrow. The guy's 19 and 1 against the spread as less than a seven point underdog. So the majority of the money in here came in on the Bengals because of where the number was. And that's really what the wise guys did. After that, to anybody's guess. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.
Starting point is 00:26:54 It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app,
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Starting point is 00:28:38 18777-7-0-Lostop in Louisiana. 1-800-270-1-1-1-7-1-1-1-1-7-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-Gbler. dot net in West Virginia. I'll tell you, I did, I did say this. Four coaches left, all offensive. Final eight coaches, seven offensive. But I do think something is important here, is that all four offenses to me have an identity. I still think one of my biggest takeaways of this playoff, Brandon Staley and Sean McDermott, feel like. those offenses just call plays and that we are having a revolution in this sport. And I've been talking about this ad nauseum for two years is that even with a third string
Starting point is 00:29:39 quarterback, I absolutely believe the 49ers have an offensive identity. Physicality, finding an extra blocker, using multiple weapons at multiple levels, always using motion with a third string quarterback. I felt Josh Allen was deep balls up the sideline in a snowstorm. I had somebody, I had a scouting buddy in this league say in snowstorms. The hardest thing to catch is a deep ball up a sideline. A, it's hard to see what's in what's not. B, you're asking players to look up into the snow.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Shorter routes are much easier. I'm staring at the quarterback. Don't ask receivers to look up in. snow. He said that sounds ridiculous. Tom Brady says snow games are great as long as there's no wind. He goes because edge rushers, A, can't get their feet. And he goes, linebackers get to their positions quicker because they're sliding over the field. So they give away what they're doing with 12 seconds left before the snap. So little tiny think. And then a scout says, you never want the sideline deep route snow flakes flying down. He goes, it's just hard for these guys.
Starting point is 00:30:55 Cincinnati had an identity, quick, precise, eight yards in, move the clock, take the first downs. And I thought Buffalo looked absolutely disoriented. And so I guess my takeaway is you start ask yourself about your football team, even if it's flawed. In 2023, do you sense that you have an offensive identity, regardless if you have a great quarterback, it really matters. Because I could argue the chargers and the bills lost to teams where they had better personnel. I feel like, I'll take it one step further. Totally agree with your take, except I kind of don't. And I think that the bills do have an identity.
Starting point is 00:31:43 I think they have the identity of their quarterback. And I think they have the identity of being immensely talented, incredibly high-strung. a roller coaster of emotions. When things are going well for Josh Allen, he shows it. When things are not going well, he's showing it, right? Pounding the turf, throwing tantrums, looking down. The Bengals, the ooze confidence. And it's not just Joe Burrow, right?
Starting point is 00:32:19 It's Jamar Chase. It's Joe Mixon. And they play with a physicality that is different than other teams. Jamar Chase is not the biggest guy in the world, but he runs through tacklers when he gets a screen pass, right? Joe Mixon, like, he is just bullying people. Joe Burrow is unflappable.
Starting point is 00:32:39 And so I think there's a huge discrepancy in personality and teams take on the personality of their quarterback. And I think we saw that in complete relief in that Bill's Bengals game. So I do think there's personalities. I think that the bills don't have a good personality. And so I think that's their problem right now. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:02 They came off as a little rigid as well. You know, McDermott comes from that, you know, a little bit of that old school play defense, punt, field position. I just think it's really hard. I was talking to Kyle Van Nuoy the other day for a Patriot player. Now he's with a Chargers, free agent. And he said, he goes, when I came into this league, guys didn't want to go over the middle. He goes, everybody wants to go over the middle now.
Starting point is 00:33:26 And it's like, he goes, as a linebacker, it's just the tight ends are more athletic and faster. They don't fear anybody. The receivers, backs. He said the game's changed in 10 years. The middle of the field is just a paradise for offensive players. You and I grew up, there was a term called alligator arms. And if you had one receiver, Michael Irvin willing to go over the middle, that was it. I can remember Philadelphia having a receiver.
Starting point is 00:33:54 I liked out of college. he didn't pan out, Freddie Mitchell. And I can remember a game specifically, and he dropped a pass. And the announcer at the time, whoever it was talked about, he's not a guy that's comfortable going over the middle. And it just stuck in my head. That was a lot of players, a lot. The way to score quickly in the NFL was a deep ball up the sideline.
Starting point is 00:34:17 That's how you did it. That's how the 70 Steelers did it, the swan over the top. You didn't have these seam routes, guys going through. It didn't exist. Just not what you did. And so I think these offensive coaches, they're playing chess. They can completely manipulate defenses. When Nick Saban years ago in a New York Times piece acknowledged, yeah, I can't.
Starting point is 00:34:40 I can't really stop up. If a quarterback can move and not a lot I can do, the rules have changed. There's just limitations on what I can do with receivers, quarterbacks, the middle of the field. When Sabin's telling you that at the college level, when Tennessee's dropping 45 or 50 on Sabin, at the college level where he has an athletic advantage, a personnel advantage?
Starting point is 00:35:00 NFL's the margins are small. So I think coaching matters more in the NFL than it ever has. Couldn't agree more. It's interesting you say that about Freddie Mitchell because I agree with you. And he was a high draft pick, I think out of UCLA. UCLA? I liked him a lot out of college. And he was supposed to be sort of the second coming of someone who was a great downfield.
Starting point is 00:35:25 glamorous receiver. Couldn't go over the middle. Kind of never really developed. But I'm pretty sure it was Freddie Mitchell who made that miraculous catch down the middle on like a third and 27 or a fourth and 27 from Donovan Nab during their run.
Starting point is 00:35:43 I think it was what got them to the Super Bowl. In like late 90s, early 2000s. I got to look it up. I'm almost positive it was. Which is just ironic. Now you got guys like Debo. Samuel, right? Oh, they live. They live in the middle.
Starting point is 00:35:58 Like, as big as a linebacker, it's scarier for the linebacker, the safety to hit them than it is for them to go over the middle because they're bigger and stronger. And it's like when these linebackers and these safeties go into these guys and they're the ones who just fall down, right? And like they, and Debo will gain three or four more yards. It's amazing to see. Yeah, a box safety now. Like a Jamal Adams can't cover.
Starting point is 00:36:25 There's arguments that you can't pay safeties. And when you're Jamal Adams more of a hybrid safety linebacker, what's the point? And he's a unbelievably gifted player. But I can remember growing up with Kenny Easley and, you know, Troy Palomaloo, who were thumpers. And that was celebrated and it was necessary. That guy can't cover in space now. That guy can't, you got to be Ed Reed or Earl Thomas. You got to go sideline to sideline.
Starting point is 00:36:52 The thumper is a relic. Because the middle of the field. Now, everybody with speed wants to go down in the middle of the field. The thumper, if I have, you know, Seattle gave up two firsts and a tight end and a third, I think, for Jamal Adams. In retrospect, they got taken to the cleaners. Now, they took Denver to the cleaners on Russell, but that, in retrospect, they gave up way too much for a box safety. Penny Easley. Oh.
Starting point is 00:37:20 Steve Atwater? Are you kidding me? Chuck Seas. Oh my God. Or like where I grew up in Chicago and it was Doug Plank. Yeah. They literally named the greatest defense in NFL history after a hard hitting safety. Right?
Starting point is 00:37:36 The 46. The greatest defense in NFL history, most dominant defense in NFL history, Doug Plank was number 46. You said something really interesting before. The Bengals defense and their second half adjustments. This is not talked about enough. But I can tell you within the betting community. of professional betters.
Starting point is 00:37:57 You know, the bangles had been on this incredible against the spread streak. And for a lot of betters, when they really started to pile on the bangles and just decided it's bangles or bust, DJ Reader coming off the injured list, the second half of the year, this team became a much more dominant team. And you see it every week. He's pushing the pocket. He's knocking down balls. He's making the big stop on third and short against the opposing running back.
Starting point is 00:38:23 this defense, sixth overall in the NFL in points per play allowed, fifth in red zone touchdown percentage allowed. So if you're thinking about, I don't really know which thought I want to go here, professionals have bet the under, and it's been fascinating. This game opened about 51, 51.5. I bet it at 51.5. got down to 46 and a half. Since Mahomes came back, it's back up to 47.5.
Starting point is 00:38:57 For those who are invested, 47 is a key number in totals, right? Key numbers are where games tend to land in 24, 23. 3, 7, 10, in totals, 47, 51, some other ones. If you can get under 47 and a half, that's where the wise guys. That is a, it's a, we talk about Pro Joe's all the time. All the bets are on the over. all the money is on the under. Chad Millman, Action Network, CCO, all that's provided by Fandil.
Starting point is 00:39:27 Good luck. Good seeing you, buddy. Good seeing you too, man. Volume. Make sure to check out the Dramon Green Show. I brought Dramon Green into the volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports, unique perspective, understands behind the rope, also chops up with guests like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download the Dremon Green Show wherever.
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