The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - Can the Eagles return to form?

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to breakdown the issues the Eagles are having this season as they try to return to the Super Bowl Thoughts on the story about this being Bill Belichick's last season with the PatriotsSee 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.

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. 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 it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day in the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Here we go. It's hour two. Top of the hour. Live in Los Angeles, it's the hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Thanks to J-Mack, Alex Curry yesterday filling in for he had a lot to do. You know, a lot going on. Big things happening.

Had a crazy day yesterday. Some of it not appropriate for anything other than a podcast. Really? Yeah. Getting in some trouble? No, I didn't get in trouble, but I saw trouble. Really? I'm not talking about the Draymond thing.

Dang. You saw trouble. I'm just trying to get my back heeled after that championship. You know, we won the basketball title. And I'm all banged up now. I didn't see anything. I'm on my back all day. Just trying to stretch it out.

Have you ever had a back problem? I'm in my 50s. Yeah. Everything's broken. It's rough. 55, it all breaks. And you've got to put it back together with Scotch tape. At least I've got another 20 years, so.

Yeah. Well, I got about four. All right. Greg CoSell in five minutes. So the NFL officiating this year has not been very good. And there's a lack of trust in America increasingly, I think, with powerful entities. FBI, our government, media, big tech. A lot of it's driven by conspiracy wackos.

And a lot of it's driven by more transparency. And we have more cameras than ever. And you can see every mistake by every official. combine that with legalized gambling and all the cameras and conspiracy wackos abound and it's a little bit of a hornets nest. I do not think officials change the outcome of Super Bowls. If you get screwed by an official one week, you get a break the next. Every fan's absolutely sure their team is better than it is. That's why Vegas makes a lot of money on future bets.

Everybody bets the over on wins and about 65 percent. It's the under. Fans are suckers. It's always the refs fault. That being said, I do feel this year it's been a tipping point. The sport is being over-officiated. Can't tell you how many times I've been watching a game, an official goes over and picks up a flag and says, there was no foul.

Why'd you call it? Are you guessing? Are you predicting? Or you're calling what you see? Roger Goodell talked about the current state of NFL officiating. We understand that. That's not new. You know, you get that.

And, you know, it's frustrating. We know how hard those players are playing. We know how hard the coaches are coaching. We know how much the fans put into it passionately. So we want to get it right every time. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to be able to hit that bar, but we're going to sure work our ass off to do it. Yeah, I made this prediction a couple years ago, and I'll double down on it.

Legalize gambling is a part of this. More people are gambling. They lose bets. fans often bet favorites. Fans are sucker sometimes. They take the star quarterbacks and they often win. But if you lose a bet, oh, it must be. And the average bet's only $4.

So sports gambling is a lot of fun. I love it. But with legalized sports gambling, you're going to get more conspiracy theories. And I've never seen in my life Super Bowls. To get to a Super Bowl, you've got to be a good team. The league isn't trying to make the Chicago Bears lose. they lose all by themselves. The league doesn't have it out for Carolina or Arizona or Washington.

They really don't. Those teams lose all by themselves. It's all going to be okay, but I do think it's been a poorly officiated season. He's worked at NFL films for 44 years. If you like fantasy football, betting on football, just want to get smarter in football. We call it our NFL meat sandwich, 15 minutes of smart football. Greg Kossel is joining us. So we said this last week, it was about as good a loss as you can have when the Rams lost to the Ravens.

And I watched Seattle and Detroit NFC teams go into that early window and get destroyed by Baltimore. And I felt the Rams were the better team for most of the game. And that's what I thought. And I thought Stafford was at times sensational. What did the film say? Yeah, I like watching Stafford. Colin. I'm sure you do as well. The Rams are a fun offense to watch because they do a couple of things that are really difficult to defend and really help Stafford, obviously, and that's reduced

splits with their wide receivers much closer to the formation, and they use a ton of motion, both same side motion and across the formation. I mean, they have the second most snaps of motion in the past game of any team in the NFL behind the dolphins. And, you know, what they do a lot is they change the defense, the strength of the offense. They'll go from two by two, two receivers on each side to three by one. And when they do that, the defense has to react. If it's same side motion, then it changes the numbers. Who's receiver number one? Who's receiver number two? Who's receiver number three? All this presents communication issues for a defense. And that's what they're counting on. And that's why you get, I mean, Nakuwa had, I think, a 30-plus yard completion

last week where he was wide open on a crosser and it was just with a little shift, a little motion, and you could see that the Ravens were confused. I got to tell you, these offensive coaches deserve credit when they can take a backup. Somebody on the couch

like Joe Flacco in Cleveland, Kevin Stefansky, and he is highly effective. He made some throws the last two weeks, and I'm like, I'm just shocked how effective he is. What's Stefansky and Flacco? What are they doing? Well, Flacco is a professional quarterback who knows exactly what he's looking at.

And that's a really critical thing. I mean, obviously playing quarterback. He's the kind of guy, I'm sure, when he's 80 years old, Colin, he could probably roll off the couch and throw a football. But, you know, now you're giving yourself a three-dimensional passing game because he can attack vertically. He can get the ball down the field. He sees safety rotation instantly.

He sees how the defense. responds and he knows where to go with the football. I mean, so much of playing quarterback, we get caught up, and we all do, we get caught up in arm strength and the traits, but so much is understanding where to go with the football within the timing and structure of the offense. And Flacco knows that. He's not going to be surprised by anything that he sees, and that's so critical, because sometimes a seven-yard play is a great play, and you just take the seven yards and you move on. Yeah.

So Miami really struggled with Tennessee, and they should have won the game. But again, it's a physical team giving Miami problems. Is that what the tape is saying? Is there more a finesse team, and physicality disrupts their offense? Well, I thought that Shane Bowen, their de-coordinator, did a masterful job of playing Miami tactically

exactly how you have to play them. When you play Miami, you actually start on the back end, not the front end because what you need to do is you need to create doubt in Tua so that when he hits his back foot he doesn't have that first window throw between the numbers that is absolutely critical so you start on the back end with a lot of late rotation a lot of creative looks after the ball is snapped and you prevent Tua from hitting his back foot and delivering the football then your pass rush becomes a factor and it has to be a four-man pass rush so they approached it exactly the

way and they executed at a really high level and for those watching the game they probably saw that too it did not have a lot of those timing rhythm throws yeah that were used to seeing when they're playing well because they took them away on the back end so you remember Colin those quick drops pass rushes are going to get there if that works so that's why you start on the back end when you play the dolphins not with your pass rush all right let's get to the good teams here Brock Purdy you know it's I that I saw a stat this week San Francisco throws the ball fewer times than anybody in the league, but his third in total passing yards.

Well, that screams efficiency. That's what it screams to me. So sometimes Purdy makes throws, and I'm like, man, those guys are wide open. He didn't make him wide open. Sometimes you can throw a guy wide open. So are you impressed with his performance against Seattle, or are you impressed with the scheme and the coaching of it? Well, I think all those things go together. we've seen a lot of talking this week about, oh, well, he's got good players.

You know, that is such a ridiculous argument. If you want to take that argument, then I guess we should pull out all these quarterbacks from the Hall of Fame. I mean, that's a ridiculous argument. I mean, every coach or rather have good players than not. But their offense is so well-schemed, their use of motion, the way they create adjustments for the defense, or shrink the defensive menu because of all the motion, because defenses don't want to get caught trying to communicate and over-communicate.

and then they know exactly what they're getting based on the motion and the use of personnel and formation and that creates defined throws for the quarterback and as we've discussed over the last month or so Purdy's natural sense of anticipation is really really high level and his ability to recognize coverage I mean that 53 year four-yard touchdown he threw to Samuel was not the primary receiver Jennings was the primary receiver and he just to see as he took the snap and took his first step, he happened to see Jamal Adams flat-footed, and he said, you know what, I'm going to have Samuel over the top, because Adams is not going

to be in position to turn and run. These are the kinds of things he does at a really, really high level. Let's do a deep dive on Philadelphia and their problems. I think I downplayed them. Defensively, they're not very good, but let's concentrate on Jalen Hertz and the offense. They lost Shane Steichen. They have excellent receivers, good tight ends, a good line, but it's not the same. I couldn't tell the last game I watched their offense, and they put four good quarters together. It is choppy. It's inconsistent.

What does the film say about Jalen and this offense? Well, first of all, they use motion the least of any team in the league. And I think today's NFL, you have to use motion to some extent. They're in the gun, and they're not the only team like this, Colin, but they're in the

gun on almost every single snap. And it is much harder to marry your run game and your pass game out of the gun. They've lived last year really well on a couple of things. Number one, Hertz as a runner, as a design runner. That was always the starting foundation and the great equalizer. Defenses are not responding this year the same way they responded a year ago. They had an off-season to study this. You cannot build your offense around Hertz's legs. You must find more schematic ways to maximize the overall talent on the offensive side of the ball. So they need to

figure that out. But the other thing we saw last year, which is not happening this year, because they're not easy throws, how many times last year did we see Hertz throw beautiful deep balls outside the numbers? Okay, it seemed like every single week he had two or three of those that were just really, really pretty. Well, this year, those are not happening. Those are not routine easy throws. So they've got to figure some things out about how they want to play offense, but I would really love to see them use some more emotion. I think Devontas Smith would be a great motion receiver. Are there defensive issues in Philadelphia simply personnel based or is it scheme? What's the film say? It's probably a combination, but look, if I told you before this season,

coming off a year in which they led the NFL in sacks and had the most third down sacks in the league by far, if I told you going into this season that they would not be able to rush the quarterback, you would have probably thought I was crazy. They have not been able to rush the quarterback. they've got the fewest third down sacks of any team in the NFL. And that is why their third down defense is the worst in the NFL. They have the absolute, this is not a profound statement, but it's a true statement. They have the worst combination you could have on defense right now. They can't rush the quarterback and they don't cover very well because they're having issues in the secondary.

We'll see if they make changes. I mean, the last two weeks have been difficult. And as they head down the stretch, yes, the schedule is favorable. But this team is not worried about beating the job. Giants or the Cardinals. This team is worried about getting back to the Super Bowl. So it's very possible. We could be some changes in personnel and in how they approach playing defense. I want to focus on Josh Allen and the Cowboy defense because they play this week. And my feeling is Dallas is feeling themselves a little. Now it's Buffalo. Buffalo is in an

urgent setting. They have to win these games. A real fight on their hands. And there's an opening now because Miami gagged against Tennessee. So I think Buffalo could seize this, right? and how Josh Allen against the Cowboys defense is, I think, if they can create mistakes by Josh Dallas wins, because Dak's not making a lot of mistakes. And we've talked about him ad nauseum. But Josh against the Cowboys defense, what do you project happens? Yeah, well, normally the Cowboys are a heavy man-to-man defense. And so you have to whip out your man-beater concepts if you're the bills.

But the flip side of that for the Cowboys is you have to. to have eyes on Josh Allen. You've got to account for him. So the question is, will they play less man or will they still play man and spy him? Because somewhere along the line, you need eyes on Josh Allen. But the Cowboys are a high percentage, I believe they play the highest percentage of man coverage in the National Football League. That's their bread and butter. And they certainly play it on third down. It'll be interesting with how the bills go about it, because the Ron Bland is a beatable corner, and you've got to go after him. So, you're We know that the bills have run the ball better, but at their core, it's a Josh Allen-based offense, and Josh Allen's going to have to play well, and they're going to have to help him with their approach and their schematics.

You know, it's funny. Every time I watch the Ravens, I swear to God, every big game's been at home this year. And it just feels like every time they're playing a Seahawks, a Lions, a Ram, it's at home, and they're going to have some tough road games coming up. But I really do I've said this before Most great quarterbacks, there's a juice There's an it that it's hard to describe And I think that Lamar was such a firework show initially That we've never given him credit for the improvement in the pocket

And he may not be Stafford or whatever But there are times he sit to the pocket This past week against the Rams one time he rolled to the left And he had ability to run and he didn't and he sat there and he looked and he looked and I thought that's growth because he had some space and he's always going to beat a linebacker one-on-one right or most of the time so sure so i think i think he flies a little under the radar because he was so dynamic early that we don't give him credit for some of the passing stuff and i do see a more patient quarterback but does the

film say that you know it's funny because i think he's had a very good year and i would say based on the film from this week, this was not one of his better games. But he made a couple of key throws, but this week he missed some throws that you have to make. His ball placement wasn't quite as good, even when receivers were open. I mean, he threw a touchdown to O'Dell Beckham, which was a bad throw. And it just happened, Beckham was so wide open on the sluggo, the Slant and Go concept that he was able to adjust and catch it. But for the most part, this was truly not one of his better games.

Here's the touchdown of Beckham. But it was just not one of his better games, but he made some good throws when he had to. And I think he's trying to be more patient in the pocket just because the system, I think, is better from a passing element. But I have to tell you, when you get into specific situations, two minutes, end of games, end of first half, red zone, certain specific situations, he is difficult to defend because of the legs. I mean, you have to account for that, and it's hard.

Let's go to the big play of the week against the Rams, and what was a wildly entertaining game? It sure was. And the big play was that touchdown late that actually put them ahead. The Rams came back, of course, to tie it. But let's go to that play right now. This was a touchdown to Zay Flowers. And I love the whole concept of this play,

the schematics of this play. That's what always interests me, the schematics of plays. And they had gotten a lot of too high coverage from the Rams. That's what they do. and they knew how to attack it. So here's Lamar. He's going to be in the gun here. And you're going to see what we call a four by one set,

becoming very common in the league now, four receivers to one side. Okay, that's very difficult to deal with in zone coverage. And here you see the two high safety coverage. It's essentially going to be what we call quarters. And the two receivers you want to look at are Aguilar inside and then flowers just next to him. And they're both going to run kind of crossers or overs.

Okay. and because of the coverage and because of the four by one set, both these routes are going to be run by wide receivers versus safeties. And you'll take that every day of the week. So here you have Aguilar. He's going to attack that safety. Okay, so he's going to remove that safety. So now what do you get?

You get flowers working against Fuller. Good player, but you'll take a wide receiver on his safety every snap of the ball. So now you get him running away from him. You get Lamar seeing it. and you get a good throw. This was one of his better throws of the game, and you get the touchdown late. So this is really well-schemed based on what they had got in all-game.

Todd Monkin and his staff had seen it. Lamar knew what he had, and this was a really good throw. Yeah, he moved left, set up, made a good throw moving to his left. Greg is always great stuff. Appreciate it. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it. Yeah, Philadelphia is a little bit of a quandary,

and you're not quite sure what's going on. They've got some personnel issues. And to Greg's point, they're not covering people. the back end as much. But the bigger issue, perhaps, is if they were scoring more, they'd be fine, but they're just not hitting on big plays over the top like last year. What is it? Why is it?

Again, I think Shane Steichen's a superstar offensive coordinator and appears to be an excellent coach. And I just don't think there's a lot of excellence. And when you lose a Shanahan in Atlanta as a coordinator, if the Cowboys lost Dan Quinn as their defensive coordinator, that defense isn't as good next year. Dan Quinn's excellent. So it's some of that in Philadelphia is they lost two coordinators. both good, one great, and they're feeling the effects of it. So it feels like to me.

How much of it do you think is Jalen Hertz rushing less? They gave him the big contract. We don't want to put him in harm's way. We're 10 and, what are they? 10 and three. Let's not force anything. Let's save him for the playoffs almost. He's a little banged up. You know, he hasn't been 100% running. Without him running, they can, you know, defense is can adjust and they're not like fearful of him just dominated. I think there's more true to that. I do believe in a 17-game schedule that you coach differently. And if you're Philadelphia and you look around the NFC and you think, well, the two teams that we have to be ready for are Dallas and San Francisco, we think we can beat everybody

in the NFC by doing it this way. And if you look at the teams they've had trouble with, it's Dallas and San Francisco. So their takeaway, you know, I talked about this with San Francisco. I don't think this is crazy. That last game of the year, San Francisco and the Rams, Shanahan and McVey are close. I could see Shanahan, not that he would do just to do it for McVeigh, but. but if you have a playoff spot guaranteed. You won the division, but you're not going to get the number one seat last week.

I wouldn't play Christian McCaffrey or Debo. I would use Sam Darnold. I would sit Trent Williams. I would not because this team does not lose when McCaffrey, Debo, pretty Trent play. I'd sit all of them. Remember, those guys also have incentives in their contracts. They want to hit for bonuses and MVP awards. I'm largely with you.

So I looked up Hertz's rushing numbers. He's down in attempts per game. yards per game, touchdowns. Basically, yards per carry, everything. Harts his running numbers are way down. And he made that offense go last year. You know it. It was more than the brotherly shove.

It's a lot of the quarterback keepers. I think in the NFC, because there's not the depth of good teams. I mean, it's really, in my opinion, it's San Francisco, Dallas and Philadelphia, although they've got a hiccup. And then I feel like Detroit, I think you've got to keep your eye on the Rams a little bit. They're interesting. In the AFC, it feels like there's a bit. bunch of really, really good teams and Baltimore's at the top of the class, but there's a lot of

talent, Buffalo, Miami, there's a lot of talent. And I think Philadelphia, I think there is this gamesmanship, San Francisco at the end of the year, if they don't think they're going to get the one seed, but they want to go in healthy, I would absolutely rest players. And I can see Philadelphia, to your point, saying, listen, we just got to be healthy when we play the Niners in Dallas. And so there's no reason to take big risks running with Jalen Hertz. I don't think that's crazy. I think you have to manage weeks ahead, not just manage the week of the game. But how much do you value the home field advantage in the playoffs?

Not much. Really? You don't think there's a huge difference being in Philly and cold in January versus West Coast Sanfran or indoor Dallas? Home field advantage, the odds makers, the wise guys, the sharps think now it's a point to a point and a half a game. It used to be three to three and a half. Because of the technology in the helmet, you can talk to your quarterback in the helmet. Secondly, teams now travel with teams of therapists, nutritionists.

So road games, they make those feel like home games. So the three-point difference, home and away, does not exist. Now, Dallas plays better at home. They're averaging 20 points per game more at home. Also, but they've also played a lot of crappy teams at home. fair also. But at home, they just, they look scared. Arrowhead stadiums, one of the loudest stadiums in the country. I just watched Kansas City lose again at Arrowhead. That's with Andy Reed and Holmes. I've watched them lose to Cincinnati. I've watched them lose to Buffalo. I've watched them

lose to the Chargers. And that's Arrowhead. It's also the buy week as the number one seat. Only one team gets that by that extra week arrest. But I'd argue this. That matters to the Niners or Philadelphia older teams. There is no proof that in football a hot, football team is better with rest. Okay. If you go to every New England Super Bowl with two weeks rest for the Super Bowl, they never scored touchdowns

in the first quarter. Brady! Tom Brady couldn't get first quarter touchdowns. Time off is great in, for instance, NBA for an older roster. Those games are a drag. But in football, you get one game a week.

There's no proof. If I have, take Green Bay. Green Bay is a young, twitchy fast team. I do not want time off. If Green Bay wins weeks, look at Green Bay schedule. They could go on a three or four game heater. I do not want to, they're not going to get a buy. I don't want to buy.

Get my young guys out there. If I'm Philadelphia and Kelsey's beat up, or Kansas City with Travis Kelsey, I would take the buy. But not all wins or teams or cultures are created the same. And I think there's a handful, like Detroit's pretty young. I want them playing. I want Green Bay. I want them playing.

Jacksonville. If you're hot, keep them playing. Indie, if they got. Houston, if they got to the playoffs. Like the Houston Texans, that's a young team. I do not want time off. Now, they're not going to get a seed. But I think the time off thing is great for an older team that has a Kelsey on it.

Outside of that, I don't think the buy is overstated. But you watch these bowl games where they have a month off. A lot of times, the. best part of the game is the second half when a team is up to speed. Those first couple drives are choppy. I have a great parlay for you this weekend, thanks to Draf King Sportsbook. New users, use the code herd, H-E-R-D when you download the app. Here's my parlay picks. People will sell their Packer stock because they lost to an average Giants team, but they're at home. I'll give up the three and a half. I think they beat the bucks handily. Brown's minus three and a half hosting

the Bears. Chicago looked great. But Cleveland's defense at home will be a different matter. entirely. Browns by a touchdown. And the bills, minus two at home? Yeah, I like all three favorites. I'll take them over the Cowboys coming up a highly emotional thrashing of the Eagles. You want to take the herd parlay.

Check out Draft King's Sportsbook. New users. Code is Hurd. When you download the app, it's easy. It's simple. Draft Kings. 21 plus in most eligible states but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler. In New York.

Call 8778-8-8-H-N-Wy or text Hope-N-Y 4667-369. See Show Notes for full details. 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. 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, untrower. filtered 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 Clivert 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam Jette. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here, unpack what? went down and tried to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack,

so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Welcome back. Good to have you in. All sorts of stuff going on today.

Jordan Schultz next hour, some NFL stories, updates on the Bears and their coach and their quarterback. And Mike Tomlin, is he in trouble with the Steelers? J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herd Line News. Oh, boy. We got some stuff cooking here, Cowherd. Let's start with these floundering eagles. They've got to 33 points in each of their last three games.

They're not creating turnovers, ranking 21st in the NFL. Defensive coordinator, Sean Desai, is confident in a turnaround. We've been inopportune. We have not been able to get off the field when we need to get off the field. You know, and yeah, you know, in third down, in situational football, we've got to be better. Third down, red zone. And those have been our bugaboos. I ain't going to lie to you guys.

That's been kind of our Achilles heel right now. We're not where we want to be, and we're still growing there to get to where we want to be, and we feel good about doing that and working together to achieve our goals still. Very interesting. It's weird. People don't seem that concerned with this team.

I'm just telling you, this defense is bad. The offense is struggling. This game against Seattle is no layup, Colin. It says three and a half on the screen. Look at these defensive numbers, man. Yeah, but you think Seattle can take advantage of it? I don't know. Seattle pushed Dallas pretty damn hard in Dallas.

That was a Thursday night game. I know. Seattle was plucky against the Niners last week with Drew Locke. They got receivers. This should be a 45-pass game for Gino Smith. Get the ball to Metcalfe, go to Locketkaff, go to J.S. Seattle and the point. I didn't say all that.

but you're telling me a home team getting over a field goal on Monday night football? I know. We just watched the Giants with Tommy DeVito beat a pretty interesting Packers. Both favorites got smoked Monday. And the Monday before we lost on the Jags. Remember favored at home against the

who was a Bengals? Yeah. Yeah, so you got to be careful. Eagles lose this one. And Dallas somehow beats Buffalo. We don't think that happens. Now you're talking Cowboys, NFC, East Champs, and maybe number one seat. We'll see. Next up, Sean McVeigh.

Boy, he's got my vote for Coach of the Year. He's done so well, even though they're only six and seven, they're in the mix for a playoff berth. Andrew Whitworth, the former Rams offensive lineman, recently broke down what sets McVeigh apart from his peers. I think it really starts with his ability to communicate. You know, people talk about his intelligence level. They talk about, oh, man, you know, his genius play caller

and inventing all these things he did and really what he's done schematically across the league. I think the most impressive thing I've ever seen, 11 years in the league, I move over to Los Angeles Rams. His first four weeks of OTAs as a 30-year-old youngest head coach in NFL history, we spent the first hour or so of team meetings for the first four weeks he had the job,

explaining what football character looked like. He's had a great year of coaching. Excellent. I mean, it's, again, if it's a quarterback coach's league, I never bought into the, they're going to win five games. They're an older, version of the Super Bowl Champion Chiefs last year. Now,

Rams aren't going to win the Super Bowl, but that they have the right positions, quarterback, star weapon. Well, nobody knew they'd hit on Puka Nakua, right? Like, he was a revelation for these guys. Well, you know, they also, they hit on the, you know, I mean, they are, Ernest, what's his face? Well, they have Young, the, Rush Young

was a third rounder, Kobe Turner, a third rounder. They, they, both those guys are very good players. So, they draft well, their issue is they give up first round picks a lot. So they've given up. So they, I mean, they miss like everybody else. Tutu Atwell was viewed as a bust. He's had a little bit of a comeback year. I just don't think their personnel is as bad as people think. I think they don't have a lot of great players in their prime, but they have a lot of great players. I mean, Aaron Donald is still

double-teamed on every snap and Stafford still throws the ball on any given throw as well as anybody in the league. Morris has been very good with the defense. And they did hit Pooka Nakuwa in the fifth round is a steal in the draft. Oh, no. Tremendous. You see that line there, six and a half. It's a stayaway game for me. I like the Rams to win, but that's a lot of points. Well, I took the over. The over's climbing. I think it's like 50,

51 now. Commander's off a by. Commanders can score. They can throw it. Howell's not going to stop chucking. But I think the big story here is Rams, they're close to the playoffs. I just, they're dangerous right now. I mean, if you're looking at a Rams Lions first round game, or Rams Saints or Rams Falcons. Oh, they'd

beat the Saints like a drum. I will tell you this. When you watch the Rams, You can see the coaching. A situational football. You can see the coaching. You can see the auto bullying. They're one of the smartest teams in the league. And the advantage with that is Cups a veteran.

Stafford's a veteran. They've got, you know, that the center's been around. The right tackle's been around. Their tight end's been around. Like they're a high functioning offense. McVeigh is super bright. So you can watch them manipulate situational red zone football plays. Like they're veterans.

They're grown-ups. McVevers, Dennis Allen? Oh, my good. That's a body bag game. Rams big. All right, final story. This is just breaking right now, but it sounds like Zach Levine

has played his last game for the Chicago Bulls. He has injured, hasn't been back, and guess who his agents want him to play for? Clutch Sports represents Zach Levine. Guess where they want him, Colin? The Los Angeles Lakers. And according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bulls have been linked to the Lakers mostly,

also the Raptors, and Zach Levine's clutch representation wants him with the Lakers. Now, here's where it gets interesting. The Lakers can't do a deal until January 15th because of some, you know, whatever signings they had. But it sounds like DeAngelo Russell. Oh, yeah.

We don't love. Are they getting him out of town? I'm for the deal. Rui Hachimora, who had his moments last postseason, he struggled a bit this season. Rookie Jalen Hood-Shafino, I think he's from Indiana, and then some, you know, draft picks for Zach Levine. Okay. Now, the Bulls, hold on.

Bulls desperately want to get off Levine. Right. And he's got a big contract. So here's my, I've never been a, huge fan. I don't think he's a winning player. But I will say this is that LeBron tends to get the best out of highly athletic guys who need to be sort of, not chaperone, kind of managed. I think Zach's shot selection at times needs to be managed. He does give them a younger vertical component they don't have. Austin Reeves isn't highly vertical.

So what you're saying, Austin Reeves a good player. He's not Tomahawk Duncan down. What are you? Yes, he is. Thompson Reeves is sick. So the bottom line is you have LeBron, A.D. Levine's your 3 and Austin's your 4, and that is a conference finals team. I don't love Levine, but if you can get DeAngelo Russell's silliness out, Rui's a nice player, not going to change any playoff series. It's not a bad move for the Lakers. Okay, so the big thing here, Zach Levine has always been a number one or a number two on any team.

You move through a three with the Lakers? Are you kidding me? That's amazing. It's perfect for the Lakers. Well, again, this works because of LeBron. Yeah. Yeah, Zach's not a one. You said it well. LeBron gets the best out of anyone who comes to play with him. Who was the guy last year, Lonnie Walker, coming and taking over games?

There was a guy before that. Now this year, Cam Reddish, who's bounced from like three or four teams. Cam Reddish is playing incredible defense, hustling his butt off. I'm just telling you. Yeah, Zach Levine to the Lakers actually works, especially. and I think they signed DeAngelo Russell for this moment. You can

use him as a piece to get somebody else. DeAngelo Russell is a LeBron doesn't trust him in late game situations at all. By the way, I know it's granular. Last night against the Spurs, Lakers blow like a 25 point lead. They're nursing a lead up late and they have DeAngelo Russell

throwing the ball in. Like a moron, he throws it into the back court. The Spurs nearly get to steal. I just, Darvinham What do you do? That's a basic one-on-one. You don't have your low, not to be mean, lowest IQ player on the court throwing it inbound back towards your basket. Get him out of there. Get my guy Levine.

And I'm just telling you, Levine is a human highlight reel. Yeah, I know. LeBrono get him to play defense. It's going to work. He needs to be managed effectively. And then, Zach can be a very good player once he's not a one. He's not a one. Lakers will have more talent.

No, I mean, he's a vertical athletic piece that they could use. Absolutely. So I'm for it, though I'm not a huge fan. I don't think he's necessarily... Now, I should say this. He's not a winning player as a one. Could he be helpful as a winning player? Andrew Wiggins is a three, it was a winning player.

As a one, he'd score 24 and you didn't remember a single basket. He wasn't a winning player. So landing spots matter. Fit matters. Jay Mackle News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd. in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Polly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo, of course you know us as the host of the number one rated show in all the sports talk, the Pauley and Tony Fusco show. Yeah. Now, the suits at Fox Sports Radio gave us this air time, because they wanted us to tell you how great our show is.

Why? Yeah, instead of us doing that, let's just let our millions of fans do the talking. Yeah, play the tape. You don't know crap about sports. I mean, why am I even on this crap? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's the wrong tape. Wrong tape.

Just forget that. Look, listen to the Pauli and Tony Fusco show on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 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.

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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday on Fox Primetime Hoot, the Big Eastern SEC collide as Alabama battles eighth-ranked Creighton. At 730 Eastern only on Fox and the Fox Sports app.

So Tom Kern, NBC reporter in Boston, who I trust, had a story this week about the future of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and here it is. When they came out of Germany, conversations I had that week made it very clear that a decision was made, and they were going to play out the string, and at the end of the year, there would be a parting of the ways, for variety of reasons. The main one being, you don't fire Bill Belichick during the season. It's just knocking a lot of it. to happen. So, listen, the owner of the Patriots is going to protect his brand, and right now the brand is the Patriots are being flexed out of Monday Night Football. They're inept offensively. They're boring. Rarely do employees get their way with billionaires and bosses. All right, all good things come to an end, and employees don't control it. Also, Belichick's a rigid personality, Bobby Knight, the late Bobby

Knight, Tony LaRusa, Bella Check, you're seeing it with Popovich. This is generally the way it ends. It's not pretty. I think Bill is completely out of sync with the current NFL. And in fact, I think if you look at his assistants, they've mostly been disasters as head coaches. Patricia, Josh McDaniel,

they've been Joe Judge, utter disasters because this style of coaching, this highly punitive, very rigid, my way or the highway, way, take less, it's not working. The McVeigh way, the Shanahan way, the Mike McDaniels way, more pro player, more ingenuity, less power from the top down, pushing down. I just don't think it works in today's NFL. I don't think free agents want to go play there. I don't think young coaches want to go coach there. And I think Bill's out of sync. I think it's a collaborative

world we live in. I think those are the tech companies that are working. I think those are the the media companies that are working. I think those are the football teams that are working. Collaboration, not a single powerful figure at the top, suppressing people. And so I think they're out of touch. I mean, here's Bill Belichick's latest press conference. It's like

a cartoon. Like, this is who he is now. Do you have an understanding that Robert will not ask you to be back next year? Yeah, I'm getting ready for Kansas City. That's what I'm doing. Do you want to keep pushing with a guy that is someone that you wanted to continue? Yeah, I'm getting ready for Kansas City. Have you and Robert discussed your future of

Getting ready for Kansas City. Essentially, this is Tom Landry, although Tom was nicer. You have an elite defensive coach, coach, elite defensive coach, the New York Giants as a coordinator. They win a championship. Then he goes on, struggles in his first season as a head coach, right? Like Belichick was 11, you know, with the Browns, he struggled. And then Landry apparently was 7 and 7.

It's six year with a cowboy as a struggle. Then they get a great quarterback. Bill got Brady and Tom Landry got Roger Staubach, and then they go on this 20-year historic run, and then it ends ugly when that quarterback kind of leaves. Landry at the end went 7 to 9, 7 and 8, 3 and 13, and got fired, and Bill Belichick, whether it's called firing or not, there was a report earlier this year that he signed an extension.

I thought that was true. I would not extend him. I think when cultures change, a lot of older employees get out of sync. It's why it's very important. My wife always says this to stay current. Stay current with technology, stay current with cultural trends. Bill hasn't.

So he's still grumpy. He's tone deaf. He can't draft and develop. It's time. And I also think, and I said this last year and the year before, they're boring. They're being flexed off television. And Robert Kraft, believe it or not, has more influence over the TV deals than any other owner. He's often the owner that deals with TV networks.

He's the kind of, I don't know if you call it a go-between, but there's Goodell, there's Kraft, they call the networks, they tell you what you're going to pay. So it matters to Bill, and when you're getting flexed off Monday night football as an owner, it's embarrassing. Owners don't like to be embarrassed. Billionaires don't like to be embarrassed. So, yeah, I think it's, I think it's time. And, you know, it does, I will say this. for players like Michael Jordan, the wizard years do not affect to me his legacy.

Brett Farb, the Jets year does not really affect his legacy. You know, if you go look at Patrick Ewing or Akeem Olajew on and they bounce around Shaq at the end, it's never to me affected a player's legacy if it's choppy at the end. However,

I will say this on Belichick, it does make me think differently about Belichick. not successful in Cleveland, not successful without Brady in New England. It does change how I view him. I mean, he's the most productive coach. But if this is football going forward for the health and safety of players to be more of an offensively protective league, protect quarterbacks, protect offensive stars, if this is the next 30 year of football while I live, I don't view Belichick the same.

I do view Michael Jordan the same despite two or three years with the first. the Wizards. It has no effect. But it does with coaches, if you don't age well, the late Bobby Knight. You know, like it was just, you know, he won some games, but it didn't feel as strong as Mike Shishovsky at the end of his career. And it does influence how I think if a coach can't evolve. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Lerner, 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the Look Back at a Podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.