The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 3 - Mark Sanchez

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Colin is joined by Fox NFL analyst Mark Sanchez after yesterday's big Rams comeback against the 49ers. See 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games.

This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons and Wampas on the ice planet, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart 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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver 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 Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilts of coverage. 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening to the herd podcast. Oh, welcome in. It's hour three. First to have flown by live in Los Angeles. It's the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. boy here in Los Angeles, the Dodgers, Shohei Otani is just like the most amazing thing you've ever seen. The Rams pulled off.

That is one of the coochier games I've ever seen yesterday. That was, I mean, that Niner fans travel like the Yankee fans in the 80s or the Steeler fans in the 70s and 80s, like that 65% of so-fi Niner fans. But they're all over the place. It's a great brand and a great franchise. That Rams game was nuts. Totally nuts. And special teams doesn't get loved,

but they don't win that game, even with McBey and Stafford and all the backup receivers and backup they don't win that game without their special teams. Special teams won the game for the Rams yesterday. It was just crazy fun to watch. 30 minutes Mark Zancho stops by. Well, the Cowboys now, are they in chaos losing to the Ravens that way yesterday? They continue to confirm what I said before the season started, that this franchise is going to start regressing.

The Cowboys have become one big authentic Kardashian event. There's drama and there's glitz and there's glamma and there's money and most of it's just a big illusion and they both have the most gullible of people that worship them. The Cowboys and the Kardashians are great at taking your money and Jerry Jones has mastered that follow the bouncing ball. But increasingly of the last five really good teams they have played, Buffalo, Green Bay in Detroit last year, Saints Ravens this year. Four or five of those are at home, and they've been bullied in all of those games at some point. Four or five, just bullied. Dallas, here's the problem. Their roster's not talented enough, and Jerry Jones calls

himself the GM. He's 81. It's not a good enough roster. They're also a team that's soft. They're the worst run defense in the league. Derek Henry and Lamar had their way yesterday. They're also a team that has no chin. If you hit them early, they fold like a cheap deck chair. Also, DAC, CD and Micah eventually are all going to have top of the market contract. So you better start nailing those fourth, fifth, and six round picks. Baltimore didn't do anything creative. They just ran the ball like the Saints did over and over and over, often not around, but right at Dallas.

So they're getting really expensive. the roster isn't very good. And Dallas has trailed by 20 or more in three of their last four games. But hey, DAC leads the league in passing yards, which is just so perfectly fitting because Jerry Jones can mention that and justify paying him top of the league. Congratulations. But if you go back to like, this is something that this is about culture and soul.

You know, everybody bangs on Daniel Jones, and I will say I had the Giants winning yesterday, in the offensive line, and now they've got a number one receiver. They've got a little bit of a life in New York. Not a great team. Cowboys play the Giants Thursday, but New York's got a little bit of protection, a little bit of a life, a little bit of hope. But as you all bang on Daniel Jones,

I went and looked up this morning since 2020. Dak and the Cowboys have only had six fourth quarter comebacks. That's the same as Daniel Jones, meaning you got more talent, but you don't have any more heart. There's no soul. What are you? And unlike the Kardashians, actually some of the Kardashian products are actually pretty good. Skims, I'm told, is excellent.

And whereas the Kardashian fans that worship them actually like their products and like them, Dallas fans were recently surveyed in the offseason by the athletic, thousands of fans, and the majority said, we have no chance to win a Super Bowl in the next five years. What am I supposed to like about this team? You can run on them. They don't have much of a culture. It's situationally. They're not brilliantly coached.

DAC throws for a lot of yards. But those fourth quarter yards yesterday, that's stat padding. They weren't real. I checked it out during the game. At halftime, the Ravens were averaging over eight yards of play. So at the end of the third quarter, I went to my phone. After the third quarter, the Ravens were averaging nine yards of play. That's like an outmatched college team.

after the game Matt Mosy, by the way, asked, why couldn't you? They asked about Derek Henry, who by the way, against Dallas was good. And Jerry said, we couldn't afford him. And Matt Mosy said, why? Well, I don't know. You can't buy a mansion when you live in a different kind of house. And to that, I would say, your running backs are not a mansion. You got one elite wide receiver, an okay, tight end.

Where's all the money going? Where are all the great players? Buffalo, Green Bay, Saints, Ravens, they're just dominating you. They're pushing you all over the field, and here's Micah Parsons after. I mean, the same thing. I think right now we've got people just trying to be Superman. People just got on their jobs, bro. We don't need everyone to be Superman.

We don't need no supermen's at all. We just need a love of guys playing together. All right, let's have a really serious, hard conversation about what's happening with a Chicago Bears. So I thought Bo Nix, although not great early in this season, I'm watching Sean Payton the coach and Bo Nix, and I can see what they're trying to do. I can see the plan.

And not every business is a rocket ship. Some businesses take a while, some teams take a while. But can I identify like a plan? We need to have a hard conversation. I don't think this coaching staff is going to work with Caleb Williams. They have no run game at all. Like none. I can't see the plan.

It's bad backyard football. The offensive line is regressed. I mean, they faced the team yesterday in Indianapolis that doesn't defend the run, and they still couldn't run. Fewest yards per play in the NFL. And this is not a team without talent. They had a young and improving O'Line last year. Not anymore.

They had a semblance of a run game, I thought last year. Not anymore. They had Keenan Allen, Roma Dunzee. They got DJ Moore. They got players. They're last in everything that matters or next to last. for our TV audience, sorry radio audience, look at the screen. I mean, DeAndre Swift has had 37 carries.

One has been for a first down. I mean, again, once again, I see a defensive coach and a defensive culture not being able to figure out how to fix a quarterback. And Caleb Williams came into this league. We talked about it. He could be erratic. He was an incredible playmaker. But he was going to need somebody like,

Andy Reid with Mahomes already to get him back into the fairway or what Kevin O'Connell is doing with Sam Darnold, take away the reckless. And that's the bigger problem, perhaps for Chicago. Minnesota is gifted offensively and young. Green Bay has got a great coach gifted offensively and young. Detroit's not as young. Many of their players are now moving into their prime. But Detroit, Minnesota, and Green Bay are excellent offensive teams. Not all great defensively, excellent offensively. And I would say two of them have great coaches. I think Kevin O'Connell and Matt LaFleur passed the test, flying colors. I think Dan Campbell is a great culture builder. I don't know if I trust them situationally, but he's a good coach. Okay, so forget for a second the Caleb Williams stuff.

You got the one defensive coach in that division. You can't win games in this division going forward scoring 20 points a game. 23. You've got to get into the 28th. This is now the best Offense, best offensive division in football. Take the bears out of it. The other three teams could put an offensive Pro Bowl team together. Minnesota, Detroit, and Green Bay, and their best players are mostly young and getting better. They're no old guys in this league that tackles the O line for Detroit, the young receivers' tight ends for Green Bay. Minnesota, Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hawkins and Sam Donald's playing out of his mind, like MVP stuff isn't a snarky tweet?

He may be. So Chicago's got major issues here. touchdown at the end is garbage. They scored nine real points. They can't run. There's no plan. What am I watching? They got to get him an offensive guru. In the downside, if you fire a coach mid-season and bring it an interim coach, be very, very careful about that. Because if the interim wins like four games in a row, often in interim's the substitute teacher, everybody's on their best behavior and great energy and sucking up to the teacher and bringing produce every morning, here, Mrs. Jones, here's your 13th apple of nine days. And then the interim coach isn't really a head

coach. It was all about energy and in trying to impress the new person in the room and you're stuck with an interim coach for four years. So you may have to just stick with Iber Fluse, but this isn't working. They bring in a new OC. The old lines, I thought it was promising. It's awful. The run game's got D' Andre Swift. It's terrible. I mean, the Colts team, by the way, the Colts team had a quarterback that completed 50% of his throws, no touchdowns, two pecks, can't hit a swing pass to save his life. They didn't have DeForest Buckner, and they won. And they control large chunks of the game. Like, this isn't working.

And I'm not unrealistic. I watched Denver, and I'm like, oh, I see the plan. Jaden Daniels. Oh, I see kind of what they're doing here. I'm giving guys patience. But this is, I don't even know what I'm looking at. Here's Caleb after. I threw it 50 times.

Jeez, I do whatever team needs. You know what I mean? And so if it's 50 times, it's 50 times. I can't have the two turnovers with those 50 attempts. If it comes down to being 50 attempts and us slinging the ball around, if it comes down to being, you know, 10 attempts, it's whatever team needs, whatever team needs to get the win. We'll keep slinging it.

We'll keep working on a run game. You know, we'll keep getting better definitely as the offense. We're going to get this thing going here soon. Oh, by the way, one of the best quarterbacks and best coaches on the planet, Sean McVeigh, Matt Stafford, next up. And before you think, ooh, that's bad scheduling. No, you just got, you just got the team he should have beaten. you just got Anthony Richardson and the team that can't defend the run.

Like this was the game to get it right. This was the team. The Rams now are getting healthy. If you got the Rams in three weeks, you get dusted. You may have a shot this weekend because the old line's still a bit of a mess, and the wide receiving group is down to backups. But McVehan Stafford now, good luck. While the getting's good, that was your game.

I mean, the NFL gave you a favor. They're like, hey, let's give them Tennessee early. And let's give them the Colts here. Houston's kind of tough. You don't, McVeigh, uh-oh, here's Carolina. They're giving you games to win, and Carolina now looks like they're competent. Trouble. Like, I'm trying to be patient, but I don't see it.

And you can blame the quarterback, but they're not firing him. That's the future. You got to make this thing work. You keep taking big swings on quarterbacks. They're not getting rid of him. But this is what I always worry about. I said before the season, J-Mack is my witness. that Jayden's got a defensive coach, and Caleb's got a defensive coach,

and Drake May's got a defensive coach, and the kid in Denver has an offensive coach, and you are watching Bow Nix. They're not perfect, but I took him in my Blazing Five. If you watch Denver's offense, you see what they're trying to do. Like, I can identify, oh, they want to get Bo Nix out of the pocket. He's their leading rusher. Like, you can see what they're trying to do. It's intentional what they're trying to do.

It's flawed. It's not great, but I can see it as a fan. Oh, that's what they're trying to do. I don't know what the heck Chicago's offense is. It's like bad intermurals with one really talented guy running around, running for his life. The run game, the O-line's all gotten worse. All right, Mark Sanchez is around the corner. He ended up getting a great game.

And he does such a good job for us in that game yesterday, wildly entertaining. You know, we give these analysts. You know, Brady gets all these cowboy games, and they're all blowouts. Sanchez, Rams, Niners, couldn't take your eyes off it. It's one of the crazy endings in the NFL marks around the corner as well. 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. 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 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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars. fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense

of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 a 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 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you're just so you, y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed, correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table

right now. So, you're 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations

with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns. Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Yeah, Cowboys, it was ugly yesterday. You know, good news for Dallas, I think it's good news. They have not been very good in these high-profile games against the Green Bay or a Buffalo or a Ravens. They have been very good against the Giants in Washington where DAC has 40% of their wins.

But Matt Hasselbeck came in earlier and said, this Dallas team up front defensively, not great. I think defensively they were exposed by Baltimore. There were so many double-digit runs from Derek Henry where no one even touched him. Lamar's touchdown, it would have been a touchdown in flag football. You know, I think one of the best things that Dallas has done in the past recently with their defense is they've created turnovers. They're not playing great football and they got embarrassed at home. But, you know, I would also just say like the best thing for them, I think they got a Thursday night game against the New York Giants. It's probably the best thing for them.

Like they should come out, get back to basics. That opponent is not a very difficult opponent as in terms of like things that scare you. they've got a little bit of explosiveness, but not much. So I think it's kind of the perfect get-right game for them. Yeah, we'll see. They're five-point favorites. Now, I watched New York. They now have a number one receiver in Neighbors,

which has really added spark to their perimeter game, makes a much more viable. I like their coach. I like their defensive front. Giants O-Lines playing okay. So the truth is, if they had Seque Juan Barclay with this offensive line and neighbors, I think that Dallas thing, that's a W. I don't know if they can, I don't know, Dallas coming off a humiliating loss, they should be a favorite.

If you look at the NFL schedule, and again, that's a pretty good Thursday night game. The Thursday schedule on Amazon's better this year. The numbers are up for them. They've been better games. But again, the early window has provided some real interesting stuff. So next week's early window is you get, now you get Saints Atlanta, and that's an interesting game in that division. Rams at Bears, J. Mack likes Chicago is one of his favorite picks. How about the Vikings at Green Bay?

Bay, we did not think that would be a marquee game. That's an early window game. And now Jacksonville, if they win tonight at Buffalo, if they lose, that game at Houston's the season. Steelers, Colts, some of this stuff, I will say, I do not think Denver is going to age well against the Jets. That feels like the Jets have extra time to prepare. Sala's got extra time to prepare for a rookie quarterback. I don't like predicting blowouts. I think Cincinnati blows out Washington tonight, and I think the Jets blow out Denver next weekend.

I don't like that spot for Denver. So NFL favorites of five or more points this season? Favorites. I bet you they're like one and eight. Three and 13 against the spread. Isn't that crazy? The dogs are barking. Now, I would guess the Jets are a touchdown favor.

Yes, that's accurate. Oh, is that right? Oh, wow. So, yeah, that's a tough spot. Rookie quarterback having to face the Jets and Aaron Rogers and that defense with an extra three days. Back-to-back road games. And it's all, yeah, then you've got to go from Tampa across country back to Denver. Then you go

back to New York. That is a tough spot for Denver. We do have our first double-digit spread of the season. Niners, 10 and a half against Gerard Mayo's New England Patriots. Okay, but they get extra time to prepare. Niners, I don't see them getting suddenly healthy. Like,

a lot of their guys are out. It's multi-week injuries. Like, we'll see. I mean, again, the Patriots are a young team, so they get two, three days extra. I probably would stay away from game. I think San Francisco wins. I'm surprised you like the Bears. That's your favorite bet of the week. It's early. I mean, it's Monday. We've got to see what's going on.

Injury-wise. I mean, there's a lot of uncertainty around the league. Like Jordan Love, is he going to play? Justin Herbert. Is he going to play? You know? J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Start with your Los Angeles Rams winning a thriller. They were down 14-0-0-21-7 in the third quarter Then they hung around Let the 49ers make a bunch of mistakes And they won the game with two seconds left on the clock By the way, they only led for two seconds in the entire game

Here's Sean McVey after the dub A lot of guts, a lot of grit I'm really proud of this group I saw a team respond After a really humbling week last week And, you know, three hours will never define you good or bad Unless you allow it to And you know, we've got to do a good job

Of being able to build on this You know, this game's going to be over It's great to be able to get our first win in the fashion that we were able to get it. But how quickly can we make sure, hey, let's look at this, let's clean it up, and let's move forward. Yeah, and Stafford, again, just kept slinging them down the field. It was such a fun game. It reminded me of the Eagles Falcons last Monday, where Atlanta is just hanging around, hanging around. Philadelphia looks like the better team all game.

And you wake up and you have a competent quarterback leading your team down the field. and it's like, whoa, what's going on? I saw some of the numbers aren't fully out, but I did see one that said the Rams. They loved the three wide receiver sets. They ran none of those yesterday, apparently. Like zero play. They were like heavy, two tight ends.

They had five receivers. They had to change everything. And the other stat, now, again, Sanchez was on the telecast. He can tell us. Brock Purdy had eight completions. According to the telecast, six of them were drops. Oh, yeah. By the nine.

That's staggering. No, no. Between the drops and the special teams. Tim. McVey's always been very detail-oriented on his special teams. The Niners are very hit and miss.

Very hit and miss. Don't want to sound the alarm, but that schedule is very difficult. Injuries are mounting. I told you this. Remember I said in the off-season, Jay Mack, I said Dallas is going to start a slow regression. From 12 wins to 10. Okay.

And I think, and I told you, San Francisco will still be good. But I didn't pick to win the division. I said they have peaked because they're getting old and what's happened. The old guys are getting hurt. So, I mean, I think the San Francisco Dallas regression was right in front of our eyes. You know,

Minnesota's a shock. Steers are better than we thought. But how many of these are you looking at going, wow, it's, you know, we're watching the young quarterbacks all kind of scrap and figure it out. Bow Nix with an offensive coach looks like he's a little more advanced. Hey, that was

a W baby. Yeah, all right. Speaking of Bo Nix, Let's get to him. Second story. Listen, he did not have a touchdown pass, but he threw for 216 yards. Largely a flawless performance. 47 rushing yards. He looked quick. No, he can move. Yeah, a little jitterbug out there. And here's Knicks after getting his first NFL victory.

Yeah. Well, I got to. You only get this moment one time, and it's not easy winning games in this league. But, you know, our guys deserve this. Our guys have earned this. We came out early and threw the ball, and then later in the game. we have to run the ball and everybody in the stadium knows we're running the ball and we were able to go and get first downs that way.

So it was a complete, you know, offensive game, I thought. Yeah. They started really, really strong. And Baker struggled, love him, but Baker on third down the last two weeks, not been good. Offense just can't. It doesn't look like it knows exactly what it is. Broncos had seven sacks. And listen, I know I joked around about golf turning into a bit of a pumpkin.

You kind of wonder about Baker Mayfield, maybe. as well. He was running so hot those first two games. Also, part of the hot was facing a Washington team, which I think is going to get smoked by Cincinnati tonight. That's just not very good in the back end. So, you know, again, I think New Orleans is better. I thought what they were doing was insane. I think what New Orleans in Baltimore proved, if you go look at the first three quarters between those two teams, Dallas cannot defend the run. Yeah. They do not have the personnel. They're not very good at linebacker. Dallas cannot. I mean, it's like the Saints and the Ravens,

I mean, they just came in and just said, we're going to run the ball. I mean, Philadelphia shut down Alvin Kamara. Dallas had no shot. So that tells you they're going into a game. Baltimore came into the game in New Orleans. Like, we're seeing the film. We can run the ball. I mean, they didn't even try to hide it.

Yeah. No, it's a bit of a wacky start all around of the season. Let's wrap up with tonight's Commander's Bengals game. You like the Bengals. I'm only over here. T. Higgins is going to make his debut. Miss the first two weeks with a hamstring injury. Higgins said he's 100%

Bengals looking to avoid an 0-and-3 start. I think I said earlier. O-and-2 teams went 5-1 yesterday. And we've got two tonight. Cincinnati and Jacksonville. I like both. Now, I think Jacksonville's narrow. I'll take the points.

I don't know if they win. I like Jacksonville and the points, playing with desperation. But I think Cincinnati's going to go on a six-game winning streak. Six? Or seven. I think Cincinnati's for real. They're getting healthier.

They're getting their guys back. Cincinnati. You start looking at that Cincinnati. Cincinnati thing. You think they're going to boat race the Ravens? I didn't say boat race, but they're hosting the Ravens. There's a lot of... No, no, no. Week 10-11 gets a little dicey, but I like... Let's not overlook the Eagles. That's not a lay-up.

They're not overlooking it, but they got two turnovers from Jalen there baked in. Damn, that is an easy schedule. It's not easy. It's the NFL. It's not favorable. I mean, especially... Listen, is Justin Herbert going to be standing up week 11? I don't know. He was in a boot last month, and now it's in it again after three weeks. This is not great. Dude, if I got laryngitis, is Mike, is it over? It might be.

I don't know. Laryngitis. You'd push me right out of this chair under the curb. No, thanks. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd-line news.

Boy, Mark Sanchez, you know, he thought, well, I don't know if L.A. can compete. He got the game of the day. Mark Sanchez What a good. Now Mark's going to break down tape at the end of the show So I'm not going to give away But just say this, we're not going to go to the tape until after But I will say this

Is it the knock on Shanahan in his old But he didn't care quite as much about special teams as he should Don't ram special teams Man You talk about using the roster Well it got him back in the game That's right It gave him a little hope

And remember the week before they'd only run in Arizona 11 plays and they're down 21-0. Right. It was flowing in that direction. They'd only run three offensive plays, went three and out fast, boom, before they can blink. It's 14-0-0 and I went, oh boy, this happened on the road last week. This might happen at home, although it's hard to call that a home game. It was like a sea of red.

And we'll show it in some of the clips. But using silent cadence at your place down that many players on offense, I thought one of the big things, I thought one of the big things that did work in their favor in spite of being decimated by injuries was the tackles. Yes. The tackles being there really helps Stafford because he can move in the pocket in that short little five-yard box. But if you have the two pillars outside in Havenstein and Jackson,

that really short things up. And then on the inside, they can use their combo blocks, slide people. But, I mean, he was, Bosa didn't really sniff him too much all game. He got, you know. Bosa got frustrated. And I thought he would have a chance to tee off on some of those guys. And they kept them upright and Stafford diced him up, man. That was so impressive.

But he mentioned, J-Mack mentioned not 11 personnel, right? One back, one tight end, three wide receivers. That's almost exclusively what the Rams do. They lead the league in it. Yeah. And they don't have to worry about base personnel. And boom, they're in sub runs, nickel all the time. They went 12 for the first time I've ever seen.

And it was all they had. They said, all right, this is what we're rolling with. And they hit him with runs up the middle. They hit them with runs that bounced outside. Michael, 4, what a run game plan. And Coach Wendy, their offensive line coach, I mean, dude, it was incredible. Just to see their grit. They talked about it all week.

We interviewed them on Friday. And it's one thing to say, hey, you know, we got to be enthusiastic. Hey, you know, we got embarrassed. You know, we're going to do it. It's another thing to do it. After you're down 14-0-0 with you're standing around looking for playmakers. That's unbelievable. Yeah.

So I was saying this. The Kansas City dynasty started with high flying. It was Sir. Sure. Now it looks like New England. Coach quarterback defense, situationally brilliant. This team plays with so much confidence in close games that I wonder if they get into your head. Well, I think a lot of it, I thought Hassaback made a really good point,

that the quarterback intimidates you before, you know, without even doing anything. Right. He's just that aura of that guy and you know you got to play well because you know he's going to play well in those specific situations. I think a lot of it is just personnel driven. And as they're developing guys like Worthy, as they're developing speedsters, if you don't have Tyree Kill, if you don't have somebody like that, if Kelsey's not, you know, firing on all cylinders right this second in the first quarter of the season,

okay, we'll figure it out. Yeah. And we're going to share the bulk of load. then we'll disperse some of our carries. We'll get some other ball carriers here. We'll lean heavy on the defense. They're going to have to steal us a possession, you know. Harrison Bucker, you're going to have to, you know, give us nine points today, you know, kind of thing.

Sure. And whatever it takes, we don't care what these wins look like. They come in all shapes and sizes. We just want the wins. And I feel like the lack of ego on that team and it starts at the top with Andy Reid. It doesn't matter. And every game, there's a new formula. You know, there's always the same formula of,

taking care of the football, you know, situational awareness, whatever. But it's going to look a little different all the time. And that's okay. That is totally okay. We just keep stacking our chips, stacking our chips, and we'll see you after we win 14 games. Homefield Advantage. That's where they win home field advantage. It's the first six out of the gate.

You know what I mean? That's why they play at Arrowhead in the playoffs. Yeah. So you broke into this league and you had a defensive coach and you had a couple of offensive pieces. You got more as you stayed. But I watched Pittsburgh. And I don't know if you can win Super Bowls. You got darn close.

But let's not kid ourselves. Great defense, intensity. Enough big plays. I mean, I saw Trent Billford. It was a different year. I mean, I watched Pittsburgh, and I'm like, that's not sustainable. And then I see they're playing Anthony Richardson this week. And I'm like, dude, you go 4 and 0.

You can, I mean, you can ham and egg it until week 16. You're a 10-win team. What do you see with Pittsburgh? Well, once again, personnel-driven. And their offense coordinator, Arthur Smith. he loves to run the football. That's what he does. And he can come up with some great schemes.

He's done it all the way back to when he was at Tennessee and had a heck of a rushing attack in Atlanta at times in spurs. You know, and now, hey, we got a quarterback who can move. Our starters down. Yeah. Shoot. The receivers might not be thrilled, but we're going to stack some wins here as best we can. And they really struggled to do that last year.

So if you're going to run it with the QB, you know he can. Give them timely completions. that's a lot of what my rookie year was like. It wasn't until my second year that we really started to open things up. And a lot of it was necessity because we were down in the fourth quarter by a score or, you know, 10 points. And so it's like, okay, we're either going to rest the ball 40 times like we wanted to. Right. Or we're going to go try and win the game.

Yeah. So here we go. Good luck with the two-minute list, you know. And we started throwing the ball more. But that's another formula. And if that's their formula, you better strap up for that game. because they're going to hit you. They're going to leave you sore.

Because you are doing your game, and I understand sometimes it's hard to see all this stuff. But I keep waiting for a little bit. I'm watching these coaches do a great job of coach reckless out of players. Malik Willis, Justin Fields, the Sam Darnold thing. Mark, I watched them, and Houston's good.

Now, they didn't have Joe Mixon. But after three weeks of seeing the exact same thing, I think I buy Minnesota I mean, I know this division now. Detroit's offense, by the way, they just 35 carries. Green Bay is going to get Jordan Love back. I think I buy this.

Oh, I love what's going on in Minnesota. I know it's still early, but the only question on that roster coming into the season was the quarterback. Yeah. If that guy can perform, we're going to be fine. I don't care if it's, you know, the rookie that ended up getting hurt, McCarthy,

or Sam Darnold. whoever's there just drive the ship get us in and out a good place I'll put you in good spots when I say I am saying Kevin O'Connell and you just manage it for me there's going to be about four really important crucial decisions

that you got to make get me out of trouble once or twice and then make some really good decisions on fourth down or third down that's it let these guys play and when I dial up a shot and it's there chuck it dude and he happened to hit the 97 yarder you know? Sure. And I just love to see, you could tell, his feet are right, his timing's on,

his eyes start in the right place. Everything is just in a McVeigh offense, in a Shanahan offense, with O'Connell, with Andy Reid, all that stuff, the footwork, the timing, the sequencing of plays, the way the plays look the same, the runs and the run action, play action, it all matters. And there's a rhyme and a reason to all of it. If you get a guy to understand the big picture, picture and then nail down that week's game plan. You got a chance. At least you got a chance. Keep it close to the fourth quarter and let's go, let's see what happens. And then you put Flores' defense out there. Like, come on, man. I mean, they're just, you know, making people look silly. C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy said after their games against Minnesota, I've never seen these

coverages. And San Fram was at San Francisco was at full strength. That was kiddle. That was Debo. That was IUC. That was everybody. So it's not like they played them this past week and not taking anything away from the Rams, but, I mean, Minnesota got the full version, and that's a really good football team. And they're not totally healthy yet. Oh, yeah. And they got after him. Fred Warner kept him in the game by punching the ball out and stuff, getting the interception.

But Vikings handled them. Yeah. All right, we got video. Mark's so good at this. Some Stafford stuff, some Brock Purdy stuff. Brock was dealing it early and Matt Moore late. We'll have both next live in LA, The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

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Search Learn the Hard Way and listen now. Well, we're watching young quarterback struggle. Older quarterbacks getting second chances like Andy Dalton tearing it up. But yesterday Mark had the pleasure of watching Matt Stafford and Brock Purdy, won a seventh rounder and won the best high school college quarterback. He was a phenom. Went to Detroit. Now he's got his sort of, you know, he's got his guy.

He's got his guru. He's got Sean McVeigh. So let's go to the tape on a couple Stafford moments. They are a perfect pair. And you got to say, before we talk about Stafford, Purdy played his butt off yesterday. So well, had him in position to win. Needed a couple more plays from his guys.

But I loved his effort. For Stafford, I mean, the guy continues to put on a master class. You're down players. And it goes back to fundamentals. It goes back to basic rules on easy plays, right? halfback option, half back choice. Old school, West Coast play. You got to have a back to run it. So roll the clip and you're going to see Kyron Williams. He's got a three-way go out of the backfield. But they start in the pistol, move him a little bit. Want to see how people react to it, right? It looks like the backers bump over. Obviously, Devondre Campbell, who's in the highlight there, is going to have the back.

Now, Stafford's holding his eyes down the middle and not completely staring at Kyron Williams, which takes a lot of trust. because Fred Warner's hunting down that middle of the field. That's his job. He's staring at Stafford. Stafford's holding him. Everybody else is playing outside leverage, man to man, and they want to funnel everything back to Fred Warner. It's called Cover One Hole or 11 Hole because it's sub-personnel.

So he's the whole player, and his job is like old-school Detroit Pistons. He'll just knock your head off if you come through the key. The middle of the field is the key. So, Kiron, he can sit down if it's zone, but this is man, so he's not going to. He's either going to break out or hit the home run post. And Stafford trusts it, knows the coverage, keeps Fred Warner in his spot, and watch this tight window throw that he makes. This is what won them the game, these tight window throws.

Most guys want to see the running back do it. Stafford's got him in the corner of his eye, knowing what's happening, confirming the coverage, holding Fred Warner, and then, boom. Like, are you kidding? That is so good. That is so good. And you get the post maybe two out of ten times. You get the sit, probably six out of ten times, and then mostly the breakout or whatever.

Like, it doesn't happen like that. And guys throw picks to that middle linebacker and cover one hole on halfback choice. We saw it over and over. Like people do it all the time. Right. And some coaches just take it out of the plan and say you can't handle this. This is too hard because it's really hard to get that done. It takes a ton of discipline.

Stafford's got it. spades. The other one I loved is game on the line down in the red zone again. So we saw this is another red zone coverage, but they're going to play two deep safeties, basically like a cover two red or like a red four. It can kind of morph depending on the routes you run. Basically, zone, keep everything in front. So roll the clip and you're going to see this defender is going to tell the story of whether it's man or zone. You saw in the last clip, he was right over the slot guy. This time he's splitting the difference between the tackle. and the slot receiver.

He's in that apex. Stafford knew it before they even motioned anybody. And he has to run up to the line of scrimmage and start screaming at everybody. Because look, they got the sea of red there. Nobody can hear him in his own stadium. The place is going nuts because the Niners are up and the Rams are trying to go back and win.

And what do we say on Sunday? There's no secrets on Sunday. Everything is a group test. Tell your buddy. He literally Tutu Atwell told Robinson, hey, bro, go block Diomador Lenore. he checked to the run. Then to triple confirm it, they

run the counter motion here. This was originally a pass. Stafford kills it to a run. Dotson's got to look back at his quarterback. Once again, we're going silent cadence at home. That's ridiculous. They're calling this place Levi South. That's like embarrassing. So, but Stafford doesn't care.

Cool is the other side of the pillow. Doesn't bother him. Look where Fred Warner's at. He had to move over once the back hopped over from right to left. Fred was under the the G right there. Now these three players that need to get to the second level, watch how they do it in unison. It's like synchronized swimming in the Olympics. This is unbelievable. Those guys are covered up as soon as Kiron gets the ball. Are you kidding me? That's like perfect. Coach Wendy A plus. Kyron gets the ball. He hasn't even broken the line of scrimmage. Nobody knows is a touchdown.

Stafford does. Immediately. Immediately. It was, I mean, to have trust in these calls, to trust your quarterback number nine to get everything orchestrated with the silent cadence, the guard looking at him, tapping his foot, motioning guys, they communicate, the three guys get into the second level. That is so hard in such a chaotic situation. And you're asking guys to do it who've only done it in training camp and might not have even done it with staff. Backups. Exactly. So that was their coaching their butt off over there in LA, man. Did you see McVeigh's post game? Oh, he was literally elevating off the floor. Yes. And to, I mean, people at home have to understand those, that roller coaster of emotions from one week to the next.

Pennhouse, the outhouse, and right back. You know what I mean? They get smoked on the road last week. You know how easy it would have been for these guys to just roll over at 14 to nothing? Obviously, we're seeing some of the tough plays for the Niners, but these special teams plays. I mean, the guys never touched the football in the NFL. Get your guys set up to win the game? come on with a big return like that

getting the pass interference call Stafford knowing what to do and then Cardi kick it on me when you do Brock Purdy we have a couple minutes when you do a broad so it's such an advantage when I go to a game to watch what a quarterback sees you can see it on film but on TV it doesn't show you where are the safeties where's the coverage where they're shifting

give me your give me your sense of what Brock Purdy is without Christian Debo Kittle well listen he's on that track to being one of these great West Coast quarterbacks. And I don't mean geographically West Coast, I mean West Coast offense from Shanahan and that whole tree. He goes to the line of scrimmage with multiple

options. The guy's incredibly accurate. He's got great feet and he can escape and get out of trouble just enough. I mean, he's a perfect West Coast quarterback. Then you put those playmakers around him and he delivers the football the way he does. You're always going to have a chance with this guy.

Once again, these games come down to one score. Generally, every once in a while you get smoked on the road like the Rams last week in Arizona. But not always. And when it's close, if you can keep it close and you got a quarterback that can take care of the football, you got a chance. I mean, we're calling the Rams at the Bears. Stafford takes care of the football. Caleb has not taken care of the football right now. That's to you the difference. Two interceptions the last two games. Yeah. He didn't even play great in his opener, but they won because he didn't give the ball away.

And it's easy to say that from this chair, right? That's really hard to do. But I mean, part of that is setting him up with confidence, getting him, you know, stacking completions early. And then there's got to be a switch in his head. There's got to be this say-uncle mentality. And every play's not, it's designed to win. It's drawn up to win. It has potential to win, but it doesn't always win. And when it doesn't win, get me back to the line of scrimmage, get down, throw the ball away,

give a fan a souvenir with a football. Like, that's got to be their mentality. moving forward and they got to be able to run the football. You got to help your quarterback, man. They're not running the ball. So what are you going to look? A minute left. What will you, you got a good one.

Chicago Rams is, because teams that play the Niners come out usually a little dinged up. Oh. And that emotional high of coming back. I mean, they're going to be, that's a big one for the right. What will you look for from Caleb? Listen, I think their run game really has to help him early and then his play action game. As soon as he flips his back to the defense and flips his eyes around, I think he's going to get some great tape from that Niners team,

who I think abandoned that run a little bit. They could have stuck with Jordan Mason a little bit. So don't abandon the run, run it right at these guys on the Rams. Look at the Arizona tape. Watch that. What did Kyler Murray do? Didn't turn the football over. Got out of trouble when he needed to.

That's it. And if he can handle that, he's going to have success. But, you know, you know the guy number nine is coming in there, and that dude's an absolute surgeon. Right. He's incredible. And he's playing at such a high level. So, yeah.

When you go to these meetings, you've had multiple meetings with multiple production meetings on coaches. Just to tell the audience, do they give you little tells? And do they give you? Absolutely. Well, if you show that you've actually put in the work, right? Like, you've got to come with some good questions. This week actually was funny. I asked a terrible question to Coach McVeigh.

And I just said, well, what do you do? You got all these guys down. Can you run the exact same stuff? And he goes, what the hell do you think, Mark? I said that was a bad question. I'm so sorry. I apologize. But it was more of like trying to get them to talk about, okay, what's the next move?

What's the next step? And so knowing that they're going to run a little more 12 personnel going into the game really help me frame it for the viewer, in my opinion, because it gives you so many more run options. It's not something that the Rams do a lot, not something that the Niners were prepared for. And they trot out Hunter Long and Colby Parkinson. And that was the bulk of the game plan. So stuff like that really helps in those meetings. Obviously, it's privileged information, you know, so you can't.

There's nothing to say about it to anybody until after the fact. And you just appreciate how hard they work and how much they trust us. But it's fun getting to talk to these guys. Matt Hasselbeck, Mark Sanchez. Good for us today on a Monday. Mark, thank you so much. Bears Rams. Good week of studying for him.

We'll see you tomorrow. It's The Herd. 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, S&L'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. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to and learn the hard. Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. On the Look Back at it podcast. In 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.