The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - The biggest plays from the Super Bowl

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to breakdown the biggest plays from the Super Bowl and how the Chiefs were able to overcome another double digit deficit This landing spot might not work out for Justin FieldsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. It's our number two. It is a Wednesday. 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. Greg CoSell in five minutes.

Can't wait for this. Can't wait for Greg today. Usually on Thursday, putting them on Wednesday today. We're all for it. J-Mack, there are times of reasons. decency bias, confirmation bias. You're trying to confirm your take, or not you specifically, or something just happened. I do think with Patrick Mahomes, not just because they won, but if you just go look at this

playoff run, minus 27 degrees at Buffalo, at Baltimore, great second half against the Niners' defense that play with their hair on fire. He's pretty remarkable. I saw this number. Patrick Mahomes, as an underdog, is 11-1. one and one against the spread, Vegas doesn't even know what to do with him. Vegas can't figure him out.

So what really separates Mahomes from everybody else, and he's only been a starter for six years, he wins in so many ways. So first of all, in division, it's insane. He's 17 and one on the road in division. Okay, he's 30 and five overall. So in division, his numbers don't make any sense. He's 10 and 3 as an underdog in his career.

career, mostly road games. He's nine and two straight up in the playoffs when trailing by a touchdown or more. He's the only quarterback ever, regular season in playoffs, with a winning record when he trails by 10 or more points. Location doesn't matter, score, opponent, regular season playoffs don't matter. And to give this some context, in the regular season in the playoffs, Mahomes has a winning record. when trailing by 10 or more.

I'll give you context. Dan Marino is as talented as anybody I've seen play quarterback and had two Hall of Fame coaches, Jimmy Johnson and Don Shulow, great coaching, great teammates, two Hall of Fame coaches, unbelievable all-time talent. His record when trailing by 10 or more is 29 and 75, Joe Montana,

with arguably the greatest, coach most of us have ever seen, Bill Walsh, when trailing by 10 or more, 17 and 29. Mahomes, as an underdog on the road, trailing by a touchdown, regular season playoffs, trailing by 10, in division, out of division, rivalry games. There's just nothing like it. Here was Andy Reid talking to Peter King this week about the greatness. he makes the difficult look easy and it's at the highest possible level in the whole world there's only 32 of him the whole world and and he's the special of the special so i think that's

great i watched tom brady turn the keys over to him which was cool tom said hey this is your league now man uh yeah i don't think it's recency bias Vegas can't figure him out deficits playoffs warm, division, out of it, road. It just doesn't matter. Indoors, outdoors, he breaks everything. And for the record, he just moved into his prime, year six, as a starter. Now, situationally, got Alex Smith as a mentor, Andy Reed, great GM. Not denying that, but he is in the AFC, which is the tougher conference.

He's had to go through Lamar and a Herbert and a Josh Allen. So he got the tougher conference. I don't think that's disputable. 44 years at NFL films. Greg CoSell stops by. Now, we'll use Greg a lot during the draft. But we're going to look back at this game. And I said, I thought it was a game in which San Francisco,

sometimes you just don't get good luck. Kansas City fumbled five times. They recovered four of them. There was a star linebacker for San Francisco got hurt. running into the game. It was like, it wasn't the luckiest San Francisco Day. I think their special teams hurt them, but there are in special, specific moments. You just don't get the luck some days.

Over the course of a career, your choices, your decisions as a team and a coach, will kind of, you know, you'll move beyond luck. It wasn't the luckiest day for the Niners. They got it against Detroit, ball off a face mask, a pick, trailing 2410 becomes a catch. They got luck that day. They didn't Sunday. Let's go back to Brock Purdy overall. I thought he was very composed early, and I didn't think he would be based on age and experience.

What did the film say on Brock Purdy? I thought overall he played very solid football. I thought he had a rough third quarter. I thought there was stretch in the third quarter where he just didn't see things as clearly as were used to him doing so. made a few late throws, a couple of poor reads, but overall I thought he played really solid football. Don't forget, he played against a defense that's really difficult to play against.

I mean, the defining feature of Spag's defense in this game was pressure. They pressured him on about 50% of his dropbacks, and they played a ton of man coverage, and they played press man. So they did not make it easy, which is one reason why you didn't see as, many of the timing throws, the anticipation throws that were used to seeing from the Niners,

because often routes were disrupted closer to the line of scrimmage. Sneed and McDuffie played very physically off the ball, but overall, I thought that Purdy played a really solid game. Look, Colin, I think if anyone said going into this game that Purdy would have fewer turnovers than Patrick Mahomes, you would have thought that the Niners would win the game. Yeah. Now, by the way, Debo, Kidlin, Iuk didn't do much. Again, play calling, scheme, or just excellent defense?

Because those three, if you had told me, yeah, those three aren't going to do anything, I would have said San Francisco is going to get hammered. And they didn't, and they controlled much of it. But again, is that just on the press coverage, or were their openings for those guys? No, I think there are a number of factors involved. First of all, there was a lot of press coverage. And number one, number two, the Chiefs played a lot of what we call two-man coverage, meaningful snaps of that.

And in two-man coverage, you can really get physical, you can undercut routes. In fact, on a third down play, McDuffie played two-man coverage versus Debo about as well as you can possibly play it. It was almost teach tape, and he got underneath a dig ball, and it was an incompletion. You know, that's one reason. You know, pressure was a big factor. pressure takes away the ability to sit in the pocket and read it through. You know you have to get rid of the ball quicker. So, you know, there's a number of reasons.

And I thought, and I think we talked about this last week, I mentioned that the right side of the 49ers O line really struggles in one-on-one pass protection, and that showed up in this game. I mean, there was a meaningful part of this game where Purdy was under pressure and just was not a comfortable player. But I thought he persevered really well. when you got to the fourth quarter

and overtime he made throws they moved the ball the run game even started to become a factor a bit later in the game so you know the 49ers did not lose this game because of Brock Purdy let's remember one thing

the chiefs only scored two offensive touchdowns and one of them came after the muff punt so this was not you know a game where the chief's offense was dynamic throughout the game they had a lot of slow stretches themselves yeah I mean let's

And for the record, that's who they were all year. They weren't dynamic against Baltimore or Miami in the playoffs. What did you make of Patrick Mahomes' performance overall? What's the film say? Yeah, I thought Mahomes, you know, early in the game. You know, I think what we have to come to expect with Mahomes, and this is just the way he plays and it's part of who he is, is he's going to leave the pocket early at times.

He's going to leave some throws on the field. He's going to make special plays. To me, what makes Mahomes special, I mean, there's multiple things, obviously, but I think a couple of things as his career has progressed really stand out to me, Colin. And number one, I think he's become incredibly intelligent before the snap of the ball. And I think the great ones are. I think, you know, Tom Brady was a master at that. I think he's become so good after the snap of the ball. And, excuse me, before the snap.

And I think the word instincts is overused, but I think that Mahomes has such a feel for what's happening on the field situationally and a feel for movement. To me, his feel for both the movement of his players and the movement of the defense is really high level. And again, he moves when he doesn't have to, but he makes things happen when he does just because of that spatial awareness. So, you know, again, it was a game because it was so close and so hard for. and not a lot of scoring, where just a few plays became really important. But I will say this. I mean, he got lucky a few times, too. You know, he threw that 52-yarder in the first half a ball he never should have thrown.

That ball should easily have been intercepted by Gibson, who, for whatever reason, lost awareness of where he was on the field, lost awareness of the receiver, well, you know, lost awareness of the ball. But, you know, and then they scored the touchdown right after the muff punt, which was a bust, by the way, in coverage. So it was kind of an uninteresting first half and a super compelling second half and overtime. So the Niners pass rush was highly effective in the first half.

Why and what did Kansas City do to adjust? Well, it's funny you say that because watching the tape, I thought that they got around Mahomes, but they weren't necessarily changing the way the game was played. And one thing that the Chiefs clearly knew going into the game, and they did this right from the start, Colin, is they chipped both sides to help the right tackle Taylor and the left tackle Donovan Smith. They did that throughout the game. That was a critical tactic for them because they knew that those tackles could not hold up, and they were not going to allow the 49ers pass rushers, Bosa, Gregory, you know, the edge pass rushers young, who had a sack beating, beating Smith early in the game. they were not going to allow them to dictate the game. You know, I read where Bosa had 12 quarterback hits,

I've got to tell you, watching the tape, it didn't come across as if Bosa was dictating the game in any way, shape, or form, and he obviously played well, but I don't think that was a big, big factor in the way the game ultimately played out. So Mahalms' 8-4-8 final drive, and I think, by the way,

I think Kansas City's defense is great, but I do see this all the time in the NFL. where a defense, especially a defensive front, dominates early, and then tires. There were 150 total plays. I thought the Niners at the end looked a little gassed. In fact, I said yesterday one of the reasons I got Kyle Shanahan taking the coin toss in overtime was his defense had been on the field for 11 plays, and they looked tired, and Mahomes was moving. And I think that's the reality to pass rushes.

You don't get four hours of relentless pressure. What impressed you most about Mahomes' fight? drive? Well, I think what he did is, and this is a cliched statement, but it is true, is I think this is where the patience and the understanding of Mahomes and just his overall intelligence about the game comes into play. They were giving him early in that drive seven, eight-yard throws, and you know what? He was taking them.

I mean, you know, if you're going to give him those throws, those are good plays to take, particularly when you start a drive. I think the first play was a seven or eight yard pass that gets you feeling good about the drive. Then the Niners started to play a little bit more. They played a snap of man coverage, but the 49ers, by structure of the defense, through much of that overtime period, were giving Mahomes the quick underneath throw. You know, it reminded me of Brady. I mean, how many times through the years, Colin, have we seen Brady? If the defense is going to give him a six-yard ball, he takes the six-yard ball. and he makes it second and four, and he just keeps doing that until the defense wants to change.

And then, of course, they did go zero on third and seven, and he hit Rice for 13 yards. That was a really good read by Mahomes, really big play. And then his 19-yard run, and this was another example where I thought the Niners just had a little bit of an assignment mistake. They had a few, too many of those in the second half that changed the game. They were in cover two, and Warner left the middle hole. He was the middle hole defender to chase Rice on the shallow crosser, and he shouldn't have done that, and that opened the middle of the field from a Holmes on the 19-yarder. And, of course, that touchdown to Hardman. You know, everybody talks about it being a similar play to last year against the Eagles, which it was similar, but it was really a well-designed concept that distorted the coverage responsibility of both the corner ward and the linebacker and the slot Ryan.

And it really caused a problem for both those guys the way it was mapped out. It was beautifully designed. Yeah, we're watching it right here. What did the Chiefs do differently to unleash Travis Kelsey in the second half? What did they do? I don't think they did anything differently. They just got particular coverages where Kelsey was a factor. They got cover one where Gibson all season long.

Gibson has been the man coverage defender, the safety Gibson, on the tight end when they play cover one. And they hit him on an out route for 16 yards, as I recall. You hit Kelsey. And then, of course, he hit him on that big play, which will break down momentarily on that big play late in the fourth quarter. So, you know, I think it's just in zone, I thought that the 49ers had a really good feel for the route concepts

and got eyes on Kelsey. A lot of times it looked like a double, but it was zoned, so it wasn't necessarily a double. They just understood the route concepts really, really well, which didn't surprise me. And then you had some man coverage concepts. When they went with cover one robber or two-man, Warner was the matchup, because the two-safeties were part of the deeper coverage. So it's just the way the game played out in terms of the coverages they got. And the 49ers did not blitz one time in the first half, but they started to be a little more aggressive in the second half.

with both their coverages and their pressures, and that presented some opportunities for Kelsey. Finally, the big play is Mahomes to Kelsey for 22 yards. Let's diagram that. Yeah, let's jump into it. Now, this play was fascinating to me, Colin. A number of reasons, as we look at. This was late in the fourth quarter that set up the field goal. And the reason it was fascinating to me is it was third and seven. Okay, the Niners are not a high percentage man coverage defense. But yet what struck me here is you see Mahomes in the gun, first of all, they're in 12 personnel on third and seven. They had two tight ends on the field, one back, two tight ends.

And what was really interesting is the Niners played man coverage, third and seven. And what they did here is they played what we call cover one robber. So they had Gibson drop into the middle as the robber, and the other safety go down. deep. And what the chief did is they ran a man-beat, or it's as if they knew they were going to get man from a team that doesn't play a lot of man. And this blew me away watching the tape, and you're going to get the mesh concept, which is two shallow crosses, mirrored shallow crosses. Gray did a great job of forcing Warner to slow down, and he hit Kelsey. But I was just fascinating. This is to me the chess match at work, Colin. How did the chiefs really anticipate

that they were going to get man coverage because they called a man-beat-a-rout concept. Yet that's what they got, and it turned out to set up, obviously, the game-tying field goal. Greg, Co-Sell, Poe Super Bowl, good to see you as always. It was a fun chess match,

and not shocking Mahomes, ends up the winner as he's prone to do in these big spots. Greg, we'll break down some draft stuff over the next month and a half. Can't wait to talk to you again. All right, Colin, appreciate it. Thanks so much. You bet.

I was talking to Greg during the commercial. break. It's interesting. He's got he's already got six, seven games in on some of these college quarterbacks. He doesn't like all of them. Very interesting. For the record, during the CoSell situation there, the spot.

I was thinking of you. Steve Wilkes, on more than one occasion, Greg CoSell said, yeah, kind of strange coverage here. Don't know why the Niners are doing that here defensively. It was never offense. It was about the defense. He defended the offense.

with Purdy, but on more than one occasion. Remember, Kyle had to blow a time out because at one point Wilkes had a defense out that he thought was too obvious. So he had to blow a time out. If you want to get granular, and I love what CoSell said there, Wilkes did a great job early. Mahomes struggled. We articulated it.

First nine possessions, two field goals. Mahomes then figured it out, and Wilkes stayed on brand. And that does not work against Mahomes. He's too smart. And I like what he said. I am curious on the quarterbacks. Because I wasn't listening. I wasn't here. JJ McCarthy.

I am not giving away nuggets. It's very interesting. I asked him about three quarterbacks. And his opinion on two was exactly what I feel, and the opinion on the third is undefined. But for years and years, Greg, the minute the Super Bowl is over, Greg will go to college guys. And so in about three weeks to a month, Greg will send me a folder. He does this every year. and gives me his run down of the top quarterbacks,

offensive tackles, running backs, and receivers. So I've gotten this seven, eight years with Greg. So it helps me as I talk about him if I make calls to executives and ask questions. But Greg's always been good. I get a folder in the mail. And it is remarkable how accurate he is with my scouts and GMs. It's always, always spot on. I'll say this.

Remember during the season, I said this McCarthy kid, could go top 10. And initially you were like, oh, that's interesting. And then the stats petered out and he wasn't looking good. And somebody came in here. I'm not going to name the guest and told us during the break. Another reporter at another network said McCarthy top 10 this week. Look out.

All the aggregators picked it up. I'm just sometimes first impressions, Colin, what we saw during the season gets in our head and we're like, I like this. And then you get all this time and you get all this noise. And it kind of colors your vision of what you see. Just remember. We loved Michael Penix during the season. I'm not coming off that. I know a lot of people are saying he's not first round now.

I like him too. We got to stick to our guns on this. McCarthy? No, I've told you before. I think Caleb's the most talented but needs to be coached. I think Drake May is second most talented. Has some Herbert. I like Bo Nix more than others.

I like Pennix too. I don't get J.J. McCarthy. And I'm worried about Jaden Daniels build. So do you go Knicks as your third quarterback? I don't know, but I think Bo Nix works in a demanding offensive system, which would be Sean Payton, which would be McVeigh. In a demanding offensive system, Bo Nix, who is coachable and experienced, he needs the right system. He's not good enough to overcome, you know, clunky, Belichickian, allergic to offense

coaching. I think Nix needs the right coach. But if I'm Denver, this is my take. If I'm the Denver Broncos and Bo Nix is available, I'll make the argument that Sean Payton and Bo Nix compliment each other. And I've told you, the comp on Nix has been Drew Brees for accuracy, coachability, and early movement. Breeze was a better mover than people think early. Later, he wasn't. So you're not going to get mad at me for this. Okay. The audience should know. Listen closely, everybody.

Cowherd mentions Bo Nex, and then he mentions two teams and two coaches. Think, who does Cowherd like? Who does he talk to? What? What teams does he pump up? Just think, listen closely, people. Yeah, people. Just listen and put the breadcrumbs together.

These are accusations. I will not confirm nor deny. No, no, just. You guys, listen, we got a big audience. A lot of people listen closely. All right. Whatever. I'm just saying.

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I think this is low-key, the most fascinating story of the day. So, according to the athletic, the Dallas Mavericks tried to get Kyle Kuzma at the trade deadline from the Wizards. Now, I know you're thinking Kyle Kuzman, no big deal. He's having a great year in Washington. Yeah. Taking a lot of shots, career high in points, all that. stuff. However, in the article, Kuzma says that Washington's GM came up to him about the deal

and Kuzma said, I'm good. I don't want to go to Dallas. I want to stay in Washington. The Wizards, by the way, have nine wins. They're one of the worst teams in the league. Winger, the GM, said that Kuzma said he already had a championship ring and he'd rather build something in Washington. Colin, just, we've talked about the struggles of American basketball players in the NBA in recent years. You're telling me you would rather stay on a loser in Washington. They're going nowhere

fast. They're not building anything in the next two, three years. Then go to Dallas, a legit contender, with Luca Donchich and Kyrie Irving, and maybe make a run at a championship. I'm stunned that Kuzma is, this is the height of selfishness. This is, I want to get my buckets,

I want to jack my shots. I'm floored by this. Well, if he told the GM, I've got my ring, then he probably wants his thing, which is points and money. He got the contract. You're not getting the ball. If you're playing with Luke and Kyrie, you get no big shots late.

None. Zero. Ever. You're not getting the ball. You're not getting a look. You're not getting a play design. You're not getting something out of a timeout. You're getting none of it. And he probably wants to be kind of a centerpiece for a Washington team to get his. To get what, his shots? I want

to lose games because that's what you should do. I would rather be this alpha scorer on a crap team, a deceler dweller, than be contending and playing meaningful basketball and man, too? I wouldn't. I think when you plan these long season, regular season sports like hockey, basketball, and baseball,

I'd rather win games. I think it's a miserable existence. But not everybody, I mean, Kyle Kuzman's like, I got some money, I got my ring. I'm good? He's 28 years old. Kyle, this is really bad, man. I don't know how you don't think this is a worst look for Kuzda. Well, I don't think it's a great look for

Kuzma, but I think what I'm predicting, projecting here, that Kuzma's just saying, hey, man, I'm getting, I'm finally allowed to take some shots and look at all my numbers. I don't want to go to Dallas and be the third offensive option. He's finally scoring. He's saying for years, LeBron didn't like me, give me shots, I'll score. So he is. He saw what happened when he was a role player with the Lakers. He had a good bubble playoffs, and they won the championship.

Yes. What do you play basketball for? Shots are winning? And I'm not disagreeing with you in premise, but Kyle Kuzma, most great athlete, most athletes think they're better than they are, right? Everybody's got a sense of I'm a little better than I am. So Kuzma's finally kind of a go-to guy. And he's putting up all these numbers. He's like, I don't want to go back to a role guy.

I've been a role guy. I got a ring out of it. I don't like being a roll guy. I want to be that guy. Bradley Beale for your state in Washington. He's like, I'm a star here. I don't want to be the third guy now. And eventually.

Oh, losing sucks. Well, no, eventually, after getting his points, his accolades, and his money, he's like, now I want to win. Well, Coosma's saying, I won early. I was a role guy, and now I'm a star, and I like that way more. I can defend somebody on that. It's not like Coosma has always been on bad teams. He was on good teams and a role player. How was that?

He didn't like it. I don't like winning. So it's funny. I talked about this on my podcast. NBC calls me up. J-Mac, we want to build a show around you. We want to make you a star. You get all the takes.

Yeah. I'm on a winning team here. I'm a role player on a winning team, one of the best shows in TV. We're dominating. That is how you view it. I want to win. Well, I don't think you can do sports and TV. I think what it comes down to is Kuzma got a ring as a role player.

But also LeBron's like, yeah, get him out of here. Coosma's like, I want to be a guy where a guy just can't say if I have a bad night with Luca and Luca wakes up in the morning and like get Coosma out of here. He goes, I've been through that experience. I don't like that experience. I get it. Like, Luca's going to get what he wants, including trades, acquisitions, shots, and opinion. Kuzma's like, yeah, I played with one of those guys.

And we won. And they shipped me out of town. I'm stunned. All right, let's move on. Kyle Shanahan. Let's get to overtime for the Super Bowl. Fullback, Kyle Yuzchik, admitted after the game. He didn't know the new overtime rules. There's video circulating right now on social media. Video check saying, oh, even if we scored, they get the ball? I didn't know that.

This is like on the field. He's defending his coach, however, saying people are just looking for a way to poop emoji on Kyle Shanahan. Colin, I don't know. I can't kill Shanahan for this. I didn't yesterday. I think people just don't like him because he's labeled a genius. Well, what Andy and Kyle both did, it's been reported. They went in the organization to their analytic mavens and said, explain the options here.

And so Andy said, I would have taken it second and gone for two. So which would have been fascinating if the Niners, if Andy would have taken it second, Purdy scores a touchdown, Andy would have gone for a touchdown, scored it, and gone for the two. And if it didn't work, would be crushing Andy Reid today. Having Mahomes and then putting the game into one play, you'd rather just keep doing it. So my takeaway is both coaches knew it.

Players sort of had to, some of them, learn it on the fly. But that's okay. That's why they created GPS. So we wouldn't have to be on the fly in our car. My entire life, when I would drive somewhere, I didn't have directions. I'd ride them down and I kind of made it up as I go. Then they created GPS, Google, things like that. that we don't have to be on the fly all the time.

But I think in sports, it's okay sometimes to be like, hey, hey, so remember if we score, because remember the officials announced it, everybody talked about it. The officials said loud and clear, it's a new game. They explained all the rules. Then you go back to the sideline and the coaches, slowly and the players quickly kind of figure it out and talk about it. Yeah, I mean, I still think he made the right call. I would want the bowl first. I'm Kyle Shanahan.

I can dial up amazing place. By the way, they went right down the field and- Could have had a touchdown. Team played drive. It worked. Kyle's like, their defense is probably as gassed as ours. I trust all my great players. Brock's playing fine.

I don't want to have to face Mahomes twice, potentially. I'd rather face him once, and let me get my defense arrest. And it worked. Let's not factor in. Let's say Mahomes does get a touchdown with the ball first. Now you have Brock Purdy, a second year quarterback behind the eight ball. You have to get a touchdown or we lose. That's a lot of pressure on Brock Bertie.

It's a ton of time. and Kansas City's hyper-aggressive defensive coordinator. They're coming after. Now, you get four plays, but they're coming at. They're pinning their ears back. If you have to score a touchdown, I'm going for negative plays. By the way, I think McCaffrey becomes a little more removed if you're down seven. Like, the threat of a run, hey, we'll give you two, three yards.

I don't know. I still think Shanahan made the right call. A lot of people disagree. Well, it's never been done before, so there's no precedent. I think you can certainly argue both. Yeah. Final story, let's get to back to quarterbacks in the draft. Michael Pennix will be a name to keep an eye on as we approached the draft.

The lefty drew a lot of attention by leading the Huskies to the Natty before losing to Michigan. Former Bucks head coach Bruce Ariens told the Tampa Bay Times that he loves Pennix, particularly the tape against Texas in the semifinal when he was unbelievable. Colin Tampa is at 26th in the draft. We got the Pennix numbers here this season. I mean, it was lights out. Sign Baker for two-year deal. Get Pennix.

Let him build himself up. It's not terrible. Yeah, it's not terrible. I don't think he gets to 26. See, you and I are under the same belief, which is, like, let me throw this out of you. And people say, those injuries at Indiana, I just watched him play like 30 games at Washington. He didn't get hurt. He got hit there, too.

Those injuries. All right. Anthony Richardson, he got hurt. Look at how many quarterbacks got hurt. If you're sitting around not drafting people, it'd be one thing if you have the number one pick, and it's like a great player. But I always thought Sam Bradford, when he was the number one, Sam Bradford, he got hurt in college. And I'm like, that worries me number one pick.

But if you're starting to get down to 20, 24, 25, that's no man's land in the draft. The first 16 to 18 players, all GMs will tell you this. those guys are different players physically different speed different then from about 18 to 19 to the top of the third round most guys have second round grades so that it's a little bit of a graveyard into the first round now sometimes you hit a lamar jackson but a lot of times those players are viewed it's kind of second round talents and you have them let me tell you something that's where i have no problem taking a flyer on a super gifted quarterback with a little injury history top 10 top Top one. No. Late first, no problem. Rolling the dice in a quarterback. I don't know if it's possible. Is there a way like a scout would come on this show and give us unvarnished truths on Pennix? Because, you know, a lot of the stuff, the negative stuff you read is anonymously in the Washington Post. Look how nice that ball is. God, he goes. I just want to hear, where's the negative? Okay, we got it. The injury history and the age. I get it. But I want to know, what throws can he not make? And apparently there's a layered throw in between the corner and the safety that he's.

struggle to make apparently in the Pac-12, but I just want to know what he cannot do, because I look at the tape on this guy, what can't he do? He's doing everything out there. I watched him, so I watched, when I watched Bo Nix and Panics play, I went to Husky Stadium, and I did this on purpose. So I first

watched, I went down to the field in pregame, watched him warm up, look at his size, big. Then I went and sat at the 40-yard line with my friend, and then we went to the end zone. So I saw some field stuff, I saw 40-yard line, and then I went end-zone. And the stuff that was really impressive

to me on Pennix was the end-zone stuff. Because a lot of this stuff was not schemed up. Bow-Nix's completions were largely schemed up, first or second. Penix was moving that head to his third and his fourth, so the kid clearly sees the field and throws a devastatingly beautiful

deep ball. Now, he has very good receivers. But Pennix's ability to me, which was impressive, is that to go to a a second and a third receiver regularly and sprinkled the ball all over the field. Underneath seam routes, corner, post. I thought when I watched him from the end zone, I was like, wow, that is a big-time first-round college quarterback. That's what it looked like to me.

I don't see how a guy like Mike McDaniel cannot consider Michael Pennix to my eye. So now he's 24 years old. He's got two ACL tears and a couple of shoulders. And not great. but we saw what Miami did. Tua had the concussions, right? A lot two years ago. They made adjustments, protected him, got the ball out quicker.

Tua was injury-free this year. Ask yourself this. Let's say you took Penex and you got, you played him, and you got two very good years. Because you and I have both been under the oppression. You should probably draft a quarterback every year or every other year. I mean, even when Brady was in his prime, New England every other year drafted a quarterback. Didn't work, but they tried.

So let's say Pennix gives you. two and a half years and you're like you won some games you sold some tickets he made you viable and in that process you drafted another quarterback

I can live with it not everybody's a 401k I don't need every player the average NFL career is six years if you can meet excellent for three with pennies and then he wears down physically and I'm bad today

I'll take it I don't want my staff fired I don't want another GM another coach what you can't be in the NFL is chaotic at quarterback. Michael Pennings, you won't be chaotic at quarterback, I would presume. Grown up, like a mature guy.

Some of these young quarterbacks. A lot of starts. Multiple coaches. By the way, you tell me people are willing to take a chance on Zach Wilson and Trey Lance and Michael Pennix is not a first round pick. That's freaking insanity. Jay McElnose.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Live. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Two NBA insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right into the NBA great vibe. All happening in only one place.

This League Uncut. The new NBA podcast with me, Chris Haines. And me, Mark Stein. Join us as we team up to expound on everything we're covering, hearing, and chasing. Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein. on the iHeartRadio 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 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, Clifert 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, Untiefer. 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 Cliverts 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 a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a 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 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on 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. They're finishing that sentence.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for Blank. 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. Well, saw this story this morning. Michigan makes NFL history sending a record number of players to the draft combine. Eighteen players from Michigan received an invitation, as Harbaugh predicted a year ago, to Indianapolis and the Combine. The last three years have probably been the best three years of Michigan football in forever, at least in succession.

But losing 18 juniors and seniors who are not only talented but the heart of the leadership combined with losing Harbaugh, who crafted and curated the leadership, I think it's going to be a rough couple of years for Michigan. You've got to curate that culture. It's like gardening. You've got to weed it and water it and replant it and it goes away fast. and this was the greatest Michigan harvest ever. But folks, Oregon's a top 10 program. They've entered the Big 10. Washington's a top 15 program.

Believe it or not, USC and Lincoln Riley, they'll be pretty good. Not to mention, Ohio State got Chip Kelly. They'll be better indisputably. So I think that rivalry will flip very, very quickly. And, you know, Austin, I defended Michigan to the end of the earth. But people didn't like Brian Kelly. But his last couple of years at Notre Dame, they went 11 and 1 and 10 and 2 and went toe to toe with Georgia. All those players remained.

They hired a very smart, popular assistant. They lost seven games in the last two years. They're competitive, but they're not winning those close games. And you didn't know his love Brian Kelly because he was rough. And you didn't know his love Harbaugh because he's equally rough. But I do think if you look at the schedule for Michigan, boy, they didn't get any breaks on this. They open up early with Texas, who has maybe the best roster in the country along with Ohio State coming back. So that second game is Texas.

And again, Sark, that quarterback, that old line. That is a rough out-of-conference game. Then they have to face USC in that offense a couple of weeks later. Then it's at Washington, one of the toughest places to play. A couple of weeks later, rival Michigan State. Then it's Oregon. And then they finish at Ohio State. That is a rough schedule as you lose 18 players invited to Indianapolis.

You're losing a lot of leadership, and proximity to greatness does not equal greatness. The popular assistant, though always the choice that makes the players and administrators happy, because there's familiarity, does not work very often. So my guess is it's going to be a pretty rough sled for Michigan this year. you're going to see Ohio State, which I think will be along with Texas and Georgia, the three best teams in the country. I think you'll see Ohio State with a bounce, thanks to Chip Kelly and that talent. And I think you're going to see Michigan go down pretty quickly.

I understood the choice, but I said before the popular choice with players is rarely the right choice. They like former player. Deshaun Foster at UCLA, very popular choice. He may work, and I don't think it's a bad hire. But, you know, the coach that's a little rough sometimes at college, a little rough around the edges. Brian Kelly's Harbaugh, they leave. Things do not stay the same. They just, it's proximity to it doesn't equal it. J. Mack can't wait for college football.

And those Michigan games are biggies. Biggies. I don't have the exact number of staff members from Michigan who left, but it's more than just Harbaugh. There was, I think, like two or three, maybe four guys who left the staff. Well, the defensive coordinator. Yeah. There are big losses. A lot of leadership walked right out that door.

It could be a four-loss season for the Wolverines. Very easily. And Big Ten's not bad. Despite, forget the additions. It's a good conference. Hour three next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast.

The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard 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. 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 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. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.