The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd’s Instant Reaction - Week 14 Vikings/Lions, Bucs/Niners, Texans/Cowboys

Episode Date: December 12, 2022

Colin gives his instant reaction to the improving Lions convincing home win over the NFC North leading Vikings, the Niners and 3rd string QB Brock Purdy dominating Tom Brady and the Bucs, if the Seahawks disappointing loss to the Panthers proved they should move off Geno Smith as their long term QB answer, why he wasn’t discouraged by the Cowboys escaping with a win over the lowly Texans, and why he was unexpectedly impressed with the Heisman Trophy voting that named USC QB Caleb Williams its winner. 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.

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.

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Please use the promo code Colin, C-O-L-I-N. FanDol Sportsbook app, sign up. We all know professional athletes care about what they look like. And as you know, I care about what I look like. Right now, I've been wearing a lot of cuts clothing. I love this thing right now. Every cut shirt is designed to provide a perfectly tailored look. If you want a long sleeve Henley, no problem, a short sleeve crewneck. They've got it. Cuts has everything you want. And I've got all of it and I wear all of it.

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So I wanted to talk about three or four games from the early window today. Let's start with one of the earliest games, Detroit. and the Vikings. I had picked Detroit to win that game straight out, even though I like Minnesota a lot. The Lions right now, when's the last time I've ever led anything with the Lions? But they're really a dangerous team now because they're talented and have nothing to lose. I thought they made two play calls in that game, one on a fake punt, one on third and seven late throwing to a tackle, which really sums up what the Lions are right now. House money. Nothing to lose. and oftentimes you'll get a team like that with nothing to lose,

but they're led by smart coaching or the defense. No, no, this team's led by offense, which is why they're kind of scary. Usually the last team to sneak into the playoffs. You know, remember the Taylor, Heineke, Washington team that faced Brady. I don't know if they were the last team to get in, but, you know, it's usually a limited team. You don't feel like they could really go toe to toe with any of the

big dogs. But in the NFC this year, the Niners now have a backup quarterback outside of Philadelphia. Could the lions not go toe to toe to toe in a shootout with anybody in the NFC? They're not going to go toe to toe to toe with Mahomes or Buffalo, Joe Burrow. But in the NFC, Detroit is a handful. And they're playing so hyper aggressively with such a, not reckless, but such a hyper aggressive style that, They sneak into the playoffs. That is going to be, you know, you could see them going down to Tampa in reasonably warm weather with old Brady and a defensive head coach.

They clearly don't align. Detroit is the most fun I've ever had watching a slightly better-than-average football team. And they really sum up 2022 football. Flaws everywhere. We're not sure they have a good coach. but they can score. And they got really good backs, a tight end, a receiver, a capable quarterback.

A really interesting wild card potential playoff team in the weaker NFC. All right, let's talk about the 49ers and Tampa Bay. It's pretty clear in Tom Brady's career at this point at 45 years old, he needs a lot of help, which is why I think going to a San Francisco's really attractive. Brady with a defensive head coach and an average offensive line looks incredibly washed. It's over.

He missed a Mike Evans back shoulder throw in the end zone. Interceptions. He doesn't move well at all. Brady's at the point in his career. Like anybody, you could be an old journalist. You could be an old politician. You need a bigger staff. You don't have the energy of a younger person.

You need a better support staff. Brady right now against a good defense with his staff and his line, he's bad. You know what he is? It's a little bit. Remember when Tim Tebow would be awful, except for the final drive of the game? Well, the final drive of the game, defense is going to pre-vent. They're on the field for four straight minutes. There's no huddling, right? So that's a very vulnerable defense. Brady was great Monday night football against the Saints. only in the final two drives when the Saints are playing pre-vent. That's a little bit what Brady looks like now. He looks like a really talented Tebow,

where if you put pressure on him, he's got to move, you take away his number one, he doesn't have a great running game behind him. He can't move the football. I mean, I've seen this like four or five times this year. He just can't move the football. There's no juice left. He needs massive support why I believe he will look at the Niners in the offseason.

Let's talk about the Niners. So I've said this for years. You can judge what a coaching staff thinks of a quarterback by the plays they call and the game plan they design. There were a couple of big play calls by Kyle Shanahan of the Niners. He believes in Brock Purdy, maybe not more than Jimmy Garoppolo, but as much as Jimmy Garoppolo. And here's the thing. there's 130 Division I football programs. Brock Purdy, who was offered by Alabama, started for four years at a Power 5 college football program that had some big wins and went to bowl games.

Brock Purdy is a really talented athlete. He misses on some easy stuff. He can get out of rhythm. He needs to be in a rhythm. He needs protection. But this offense does not ask a lot of Brock Purdy. and the one thing about the Niners this year, whether it's pretty, maybe Trellance next year, or Jimmy Garoppola. We don't think any are elite.

When the Niners went out and got Christian McCaffrey, there was a lot of stress or anxiety about the draft picks. But they play a really physical style of football. And yards after the catch, these guys are banging into people and they get hurt. You just can't have enough skill people for this team. Third game, and this is not a game I thought I would talk about, I thought Carolina would beat Seattle. I'm going to pat myself in the back. I picked Carolina to beat Seattle.

But it's really interesting. I suggested last week on FS1, I said, is this crazy? Seattle has two firsts, two seconds, two fourths, and a third round pick. That's seven quality picks. Right, get down to the fifth round, six round, seventh round. The numbers go down in terms of making an NFL team. But that's seven quality picks. Is it crazy to call Green Bay and give away a third for Jordan Love?

You watch Gino Smith today, if you did. He was often the second best quarterback on the field. Sam Darnold was a highly efficient, 15 of 25, 130 yards, a touchdown, no picks behind a battle line. Gino Smith was about 50% with two picks behind better protection. The minute he doesn't have a great run game, Gino Smith is a really average quarterback. So Seattle doesn't have a ton of needs, but they have two or three needs on this team.

An interior defensive lineman, if they draft third, they have Denver's pick. Georgia's got that. They need a center in the second round. There's one from Minnesota. There's one from Georgia. I think they could use an outside linebacker, maybe another receiver. But if they could fill those with the first three to four picks,

I'd give up a third or a fourth for Jordan Love. He would be a 25-year-old next year in the league. Gino starts, Jordan Love behind him. I just, I think if I'm Seattle, I look at this roster and I think, you only have two or three needs. I don't know these college quarterbacks. I don't see it. Two of them, Will Levis, C.J. Stroud look like major projects to me, and Bryce Young is small and thin.

I don't know, man. Jordan Love for a third or one of your fourth round picks, but I'm watching Seattle today without the run game. Sam Darnold is toe to toe with Gino Smith. I would not want to give up one of my first two picks for one of my first two picks for one of. of these college quarterbacks for this roster. They need a D-line, interior D-Lyman, a center, maybe an outside lineback or another receiver. Seattle is ready to play at a pretty high level. Whatever I do these instant reactions, it's almost like I'm contractually obligated to talk about the Dallas Cowboys. So, you know, I watched the game against the Texans. And, you know, the first thing in this league, you can't worry, this is not college football. where it's a beauty contest.

You're trying to impress a committee who sits in a room and watches your games, right? There's an argument to be made in college football for piling on. That's not what the NFL is. Nobody cares. The Dallas Cowboys won. I don't care what it looked like. The Dallas Cowboys won. Of course.

Houston has pride. They're professional players. They were a 17-5-point underdog. I mean, that's an absurd number. I mean, the Jets were a ridiculous number against Buffalo. Now, they were running through quarterbacks, but it was not surprising that Houston was going to play a really inspired game of football. Also, Dallas, I think, always gets into trouble when they ask Dak Prescott to throw 40 times a game.

That is not when Dallas is at its best. I know there's a lot of DAC fanboys out there. To me, he is at his best when you ask him to throw 28 to 30 times and lean on the run game. You start asking him to throw 38 to 40 to 42 times. You're bound to get more mistakes. This is not college football. Dallas ran the ball pretty well, about four yards of carry for their top two backs. They got the ball to Schultz their tight end, to C.D. Lamb, they got the ball to the right people.

but so much of defense is about juice and energy and conviction. Offense is choreography. Defense is about effort. Are you inspired? I don't think Dallas's defense played with the same edge that they have played with earlier this season in bigger games. That's a game that most teams in this league lose. Seriously, start looking around. Kansas City lost.

the Colts this year. Kansas City struggled with Denver today. So Dallas got out of that thing with a W. They needed a big drive late. They got it. They got the touchdown and they won. That's good enough. Final thought on the Heisman, Caleb Williams, winning it for USC. I was encouraged to see that voters in the Midwest and the South actually voted for a USC quarterback who lost badly in his last game out. My knock on the Heisman has always been it's way too regionalized, which college football can be. I didn't think it was close. I thought Caleb Williams was, if I would have had a ballot number one, TCU quarterback two, don't really care about three. But years and years ago I had a Heisman vote.

And then after I made the vote, my guy didn't win. He finished like third. I think I voted for Eric B. Enemy, if I recall. He finished third in the voting. He was a Colorado running back. And I remember discovering who people had voted for. And I was so discouraged by how regional it was that I just said, I don't want to be part of it. And it's not like having a Heisman vote unless you're a college football guy, a college football writer is, you know, it's not.

It's not that coveted. There's a lot of votes out there. But I did think it spoke highly of the voters that they could look past. I thought Caleb Williams, despite being injured against Utah, playing on one leg, gave a fairly decent and heroic effort. And I thought that was part of his story this year, how much he had to carry his team to the point where he got injured. There's a lot of good quarterbacks out there,

but Stetson Bennett had lots of support from his defense. Caleb Williams did not. He single-handedly took this team. team to several close wins this year. Big drives, big second halves. So really happy for him. And I think the voters got it right. Little instant reaction on an early Sunday evening. See you tomorrow on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashed. Others say it's unleashed.

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We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. On the Look Back at a Podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me.

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