The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd’s Instant Reaction - NFL Week 17: Niners/Raiders, Vikings/Packers, Dolphins/Patriots, Giants/Daboll Props

Episode Date: January 2, 2023

Colin gives his instant reaction to the NFL Week 17 afternoon window of games, including the Niners taking care of business against the Derek Carr-less Raiders, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers keeping their playoff hopes with a throttling of the NFC North leading Vikings, if the Dolphins need to move off Tua after their playoff elimination at the hands of the Patriots, and why Giants rookie HC Brian Daboll deserves Coach of the Year for clinching a playoff berth with a Giants roster in desperate need of a major offseason overhaul. Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates, check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action, and visit Cuts for the latest Fall fits! #Herd #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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So let's talk NFC. If the Eagles win next week against the New York Giants, they're the number one seed in the NFC, get the buy throughout the playoffs. Now, if they lose and the Niners win, the Niners can be the number one seed. The Cowboys, if the Eagles lose to the Giants, the Cowboys beat the commanders, they could be the number one seat. So three teams in the NFC could be the number one seed. Philadelphia is not healthy.

Dallas, I don't trust in crisis. The Niners feel like the number one seed to me. but my guess is Philly beats New York. Let's talk San Francisco Raiders. First of all, if you're from the East Coast, you don't realize how popular the 49ers are. They're the number one team, obviously the crowd today in Las Vegas, easily the most popular team in the Bay Area, and earlier this year, when they come and play the Rams, it's an 80-20 crowd 49ers.

They, singularly, are overwhelmingly the most popular team, Denver West. or Chicago West in the NFL. They're also the most talented team. The defense didn't show up today against Jared Stidham. That one caught me off guard. Jared Stidham takes the Niners to overtime, but they're really, really good. This was one of the few clunkers today and they still won.

Now, we saw some limitations with Brock Purdy throwing the ball down the field. That's why he was the last person drafted in the 2022 draft. But again, Tony Romo, and Kurt Warner were undrafted. Ryan Fitzpatrick's seventh round, threw for 35,000 yards in his career. Tom Brady, sixth round.

I think Pretty is a really nice distributor of the football, playing with a lead, with this coach and this defense. Is he going to go toe-to-toe with Mahomesboro and Josh Allen, play from behind against the fierce defense? No. The score and the context matters a great, deal with Brock Purdy. He was in a dog fight today, and you saw some limitations. Some really bad

throws won up the right sideline to George Kittle, just a bad throw that was interception. But the Niners feel like easily, and now they're healthy, the most talented team in the NFC, despite their clunker today, if they get home field and they're good at home, I think they win out and get to the Super Bowl in Arizona. You know, I want to talk about Green Bay. So they throttle the Vikings. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out your identity. You know, even teams that are really, really good, you know, they get into a game, they trail, and they kind of forget who they are. We saw Michigan against TCU. Michigan sort of lost their identity despite 10 blowout wins. They got cute. They got clever. They got deceptive. They're a power team. So I've felt all

along because of the limitations on the outside offensively that Green Bay is a run first team. It is not a shot at Aaron Rogers. They're a 55 to 58% run team first and then let Aaron Rogers dice it up, slice up defenses on play action, which he is prone to be excellent. They finally in the last couple of weeks have found their identity. Dylan, Aaron Jones, each a dozen carries or more. That's what they should be. 25 to 30 carries.

And then how many passes did Aaron Rogers even complete today? 15, 16? It's not a shot at Aaron. But because Romeo Dobbs is a rookie and you can't trust him, a lot of drops to make a big catch in a big game, and Christian Watson, playoffs will be different, coverage will be different. You can't expect him to consistently make big plays in the postseason.

This team's got to be defense. It's got to be run first and errand on play action. Now, I think there's a ceiling to that. I don't think they can go to Philadelphia and win. I don't think they can go to San Francisco and win. But it is so important to find your identity. And I'm not the only one. The people that cover the Packers. I follow them. I read them. I consume their work. They've been complaining about this since mid-September. Run the ball. And I go back. You had Aaron shown up to OTAs and been more engaged with the young receivers, you'd have found your identity six, eight, ten weeks ago. You'd have found it in mid-October. It took you until after Thanksgiving, and that's why you've got to beat Detroit next week or you're not in the playoffs. It's come down to a final week game against the Lions and go-either-way game. Good news, it's at Lambo, and Lions are a dome team.

But you could have figured this out, resolve this matter, I think, much earlier in the season. I want to pivot from that to the Miami Dolphins situation against the Patriots. They lost. So they have the coach on the right side of the ball. They have star receivers. Very nice tight end, Mike Gassicki, good backs. What to do with Tua and Teddy? Tua and Teddy Bridgewater.

Tua and Teddy, the tandem, are small. Prone to inevitability. Tua with concussions. Teddy with other injuries. Neither one able to push the ball down the field. So we're in an era of Herbert Burrow, Alan Mahomes, big physical quarterbacks. Tua doesn't, Teddy Bridgewater doesn't feel like the guy. And I was thinking watching Kirk Cousins.

Say what you want about Kirk Cousins. He's always available. Remember, Mike Big Daniel, the coach of Miami, where did he come from? San Francisco. Whose offense does he run? Kyle Shanahan's. who did Kyle Shanahan want in San Francisco two years ago? Kirk Cousins.

This offense is about a distributor. That's why I think McDaniel likes Tua. He's just not available. He's small. We have a major and very serious concussion issue with Tua. Any sign of problems. I'm not sure in two years if he's in the league. It's a serious matter.

Tula wants to play, but if I was a team doctor, if I own the Dolphins, if I'm a head coach or a GM, I am very, very reluctant to put him back in. So this offense in Miami is built for a distributor, which Tua is, but regularly unavailable. Minnesota needs draft capital. I think Minnesota looks at their division and thinks, Aaron's better. Gough is actually better and more talented, and Justin Fields is emerging as a star if he can stay upright with a dysfunctional bears organization. But as I watched Miami lose today, you know, my takeaway was Teddy got hurt. Two is often unavailable. These are serious injuries. This is a big man's game. And I wonder if

Miami is sitting there thinking, we just need somebody that's available. Derek Carr's always available. Kirk Cousins, always available. That's why I don't think Garoppolo to Miami fits. They'd say, what's the point? He's a distributor who's often hurt. But I think, Miami's in a fascinating situation. I think it would be very attractive to Tom Brady. Just move down Alligator Alley to the other side of the state, get a great offensive coach, superstar weapons, get a play Belichick twice a year. I think that would be very attractive if I was Tom Brady. You don't want to move his sons around the country. He's in Florida. He, you know, has vacationed in Florida, spent time in Florida. Now plays in Florida. Keep your eye on the Miami

Dolphin situation, it is built for a distributor. They don't need a playmaker at quarterback. Cousins, Brady, Carr, every Sunday, they're ready to play. A shout out to the New York Giants for making the playoffs and Brian Daibble as coach of the year. There's five or six great owners in the NFL, great quarterbacks in the NFL, great GMs in the NFL. Is Brian Daibble one of the five or six great coaches. Does everybody realize what he's done? There are rebuild on the offensive line outside of left tackle. They're a rebuild in the receiving core. Saquan Barkley is one of two pro bowlers on the entire team. Dexter Lawrence is the other. They are in rebuild outside of the defensive front. And he got this team into the playoffs. They have the 18th ranked offense. They're going to keep

Daniel Jones. They're going to keep him. I wouldn't, I think it's time to sell. You've even seen Josh Allen with the bills since Dable left back to making bad throws and there's more turnovers right this is a perfect time for Daniel Jones people are like oh oh look at this oh Daniel Jones you see this all the time where a great coach elevates a player the market there's a sucker every minute jumps in you know for years and years it was cornerbacks from Alabama with Nick Saven. You know, you'd go draft them, get them in the NFL, and they couldn't play. You know, you've seen this, I mean, Lincoln Riley at USC. Now, I think Caleb Williams is amazing, but, you know, he makes every quarterback a Heisman winner. So you see this from time to time where a great

coach on either side of the ball elevates a player beyond his capability. Daniel Jones, to me, and the NFC can get you in the playoffs, clearly. In the AFC, you'd have to move. him right. This would not be a playoff team. But Brian Dable, to me, this is as good a coaching job as I've seen in a long, long time. I went over their stats today, some of the giant stats. You can say, well, the division's not great. Actually, the division's better than everybody projected. Philadelphia for a long time in the NFC was the number one seed and still can be. Dallas has a super talented roster, and Washington has pieces. This division's better than you think. Now, the NFC as a whole is wobbly and kind of dysfunctional at the top. But Brian Dable, I know it's the Colts,

but to take this two Pro Bowl roster to the playoffs, go look at their offensive stats on NFL.com. It is, they're in complete rebuild in the two most important areas outside a quarterback in the NFL, you could argue, O-line and weapons. I think the NFL has found another great coach. It is something to note that Josh Allen's still remarkable. But he's made more mistakes this year. He's had a very sketchy last month. He has struggled more in the red zone.

About 15 games after Brian Daible left, maybe 12. End of the year, getting back into bad habits. Brian Davel is no longer in Buffalo. Josh Allen's making a lot more critical mistakes. All right, that's instant reaction. Early Sunday evening version for the West Coast, late Sunday for the East Coast. We'll see on FS1.

Premier Radio tomorrow. Volume. 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 document. recommended 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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories,

that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on humor me with Robert Smigel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.