The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - Caleb Williams looked impressive, Dillion Gabriel didn't mean what some people think, the Cowboys look bad

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

Colin reacts to an impressive outing from Caleb Williams in his first preseason action of the year and what this tells us about our expectations for the Bears under first year head coach Ben Johnson People are overreacting to what Browns QB Dillion Gabriel said during an interview and because of that, it hurts Shedeur Sanders Colin gives his reasons why he feels the Cowboys will most likely have a horrible start of the seasonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey, Jonas, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come into you, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex.

Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRedia.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.

You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, here we go. It is a Monday. Now we're getting football games. Now we're getting opinions. Now we're getting what looks like. The makings. Okay, maybe not Buffalo and Kansas City.

But it does look like we're getting kind of a feel for what's happening. One hour from now where Colin would write where Colin was wrong. John Middletoff is joining me this week for four days. J. Mack is on vacay. And we'll come back the following week. So, John, I don't remember a preseason game, Bill's Bears, which turned out to be a blowout, that I was more interested in watching the first two series. You feel that way?

Yeah, that was the Bears Super Bowl last night, and it went well. It was. Buffalo can't get to a Super Bowl. Bears had theirs in preseason. Not ideal for both. So Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears, I thought he looked decisive. I thought he looked sharp. At one point, he dirted a ball on a screenplay.

Smart play. get out of that, get out of the negative plays. I think basically if you're a Bears fan, it's been a rough camp. It's a new system, a new coach. It hasn't been pretty. Even at Friday's practice, there were false starts. It was a bit ugly, so it's a big sigh of relief. There's a new system.

Caleb likes to freelance. His coach doesn't not necessarily want that from his quarterback. So last night, Caleb Williams actually looked a little bit like Jared Gough. He quarterbacked like Jared Gough. He dirted the ball on screens. He got rid of and out of trouble. No negative plays. When he had a guy open, he hit him.

Now, we know he's not Jared Gough. I honestly feel like Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, and you'll see this sometimes where you'll see a crazy, talented artist, marries an accountant. And it's not ever perfect. That doesn't mean it can't work. I mean, Andy Reed is a creative.

Mahomes is a creative. That's perfect. I think Sean Payton feels like Bo Nix can run my play, but he can also run on his own. That feels perfect. Ben Johnson, I feel he's got a little bit of Kyle Shanahan. Run my play, and Kyle Shanahan's great. But you're going to have to let Caleb breathe. So to me, this whole relationship is about, because we know that Ben Johnson is going to win the first several arguments in this.

Ben Johnson's a new coach. It's not a rich ownership group. They're not flushing him out. Caleb struggled his first year. So Ben comes in with leverage. But offensive coaches, and Andy Reid would tell you this, when you get somebody as gifted as Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and Caleb Williams with that kind of horsepower, with that kind of firepower, it is your job as a coach

to figure out how to maximize all that amazing clay. all you need, because I think Caleb's got a little Brett Favre. All you need is for that player, Mahomes, Lamar, Josh Allen, Brett Favb to be amenable to throwing on time and on schedule and avoiding negative plays. I don't care how gifted you are. Josh Allen's not great. If he's not on time, he's not on schedule, and there's negative plays. Last year, Caleb was none of those consistently. So you don't have to be a perfect fit with.

Ben Johnson. But nobody succeeds in this league running around. It's not high school or college. Defensive ends here run four or five-fives. They can catch you. And they'll punish you. And they'll lean on you and sit on you and drive you into the ground, whether it's legal or not, and you won't play long. Go ask Lamar Jackson, who suddenly in year two and three put on weight. Go ask Michael Vic, who started staying in the pocket. I think Caleb Williams' comp, when I watch him, is a little Brett Fav. You've got to let him be a little bit of a gunslinger. You've got to him be himself, but Brett Farv mostly played on time, played on schedule. He threw a lot of bad picks. Farv threw a lot of bad picks. You could get away with that in Farv's era. I think

offensive coaching is smarter. I think turnovers are more punitive. So I think this is a marriage stylistically that is not perfect, but I know Caleb. I like Caleb. I think he's coachable. but it may never be it may never be Stafford and McVey or Reed in Mahomes or John Harbaugh and Lamar or it just feels like

what a good marriage I don't know if this ever will be but what you saw was a glimpse of what it can be when Caleb is on time and on schedule and just get out of the negative place so much it's almost like being somebody

that runs a movie studio Not everything has to be Goodfellas. Not everything has to be Avatar. What you're trying to avoid is that Disney movie John Carter. You're just trying to avoid a $350 million disaster as a studio head. Not everything needs to be Mulan Rouge and be a hit. It doesn't all have to be that. Just avoid the potholes.

That is largely quarterback play. That is largely what Belichick says about Brady. No negative plays. it was either second and six or second and four. It was never second and 15 and third and 18. Get out of that stuff. And I thought when he dirted the screen pass, I thought, oh, that's perfect. That's growth from last year.

Just derting the screen path. You're like, okay, last year he would have tried to make something out of it. Now, in Ben Johnson's school of offense, get out of the play. Give up the play. Don't extend the play. Just get out of there. Here was Caleb after. A month ago, I think I've grown a lot.

Now my mindset is, you know, keep growing. If that's handling everything at the line, handling everything, you know, and taking things off other people's plates. You know, that's what it is. And I've been able to do that consistently over the next couple of years is, you know, important. Okay, so I saw the media, it was partially media and partially like people online. So the quarterback battle, and now the Cleveland Browns, and Kevin Stefansky, and I like Kevin Stefansky a lot,

but you got to offer some clarity here, guys. You got to tell us what's going on. Because we're getting into a Tebow situation, and this happens a lot. I've seen this in the NFL with Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, Tim Tebow. Nobody wants a celebrity backup quarterback. Now, years ago, Bill Parcell said,

one of the rules of drafting was, don't draft a celebrity quarterback. Yeah, that's over. I'm sorry. Half of these got Baker Mayfield, I mean, Sam Darnal out of USC beaten Penn State in a Rose Bowl. He becomes a celebrity. Half these guys are making $7 million in college.

Arch Manning's a celebrity. Get over it, draft him. But, but, but this still holds true. You don't want a celebrity backup quarterback. And that hurt Tebow and Kaepernick and Cam Newton in New England. What Bell Belichick is, you know, I like you. Cam, we can't have a superstar backup. You guys who love Shadour and Carolina wearing his jerseys,

you're making him into a celebrity. So if I'm a coach and I have to choose, okay, Joe Flacco's starting, Dylan Gabriel may be easier to deal with. You don't have to deal with a nonsense. So this weekend, Dylan Gabriel went on camera and said something that people blew way out of proportion. So here's what he said. You gave us some fabulous wisdom on how you tune out the noise and you don't let it infiltrate yourself. Will you share that with everybody at home?

Yeah, I think it's just part of it. You know, there's entertainers and there's competitors. And I totally understand that. And my job is to compete. And that's what I'm focused on doing. That was not a shot at Shadur Sanders. Shame on everybody that said it was. Do not.

You're hurting Shadur. You're turning a non-circass into a circus. When he said that, he was taking a shot at us. He was taking a shot at guys like me. He was saying, listen, there's people that talk about stuff in the air. They're entertainers. I'm a quarterback. And I don't know exactly who blew it out of proportion, but when I was on my phone all weekend, the first three or four hours of this, until I did some dig it, I'm like, why is he taking a shot at Shador? He wasn't. So essentially,

everybody proved Dylan Gabriel's point, which is all about clicks and look at me and no nuance. He was not taking a shot at Shedars. Sanders, he was taking a shot, and he wasn't even really taken a shot at the media, he was describing what the media is. Entertainers, they got to get ratings, they got to drive revenue. Yeah, guilty is charged. Like, I try to do a good job of it, but like I want the most entertaining topics. So the truth is about these guys. I have two strong opinions.

I think Dylan Gabriel's size is an issue. I would have a hard time building around him. He's small. He's serious and he's businesslike. I like his temperament more than Shadur, who's silly and kind of goofy. But I think Shadour was underdrafted. Shadour is bigger. I think he moves well.

I would choose Shadour over Dylan Gabriel. But Kevin Stefansky, he liked the seriousness, the accuracy, and the way he ran an offense, Dylan Gabriel at Oregon. I don't think either is transformational. And here's the thing. What NFL GMs really want from quarterbacks, they want you to be Andrew Luck. Great and boring.

Brady was mostly boring when he played. Peyton Manning got really, really funny when he retired. Most of your great quarterback, even Mahomes with a huge personality, kind of hides in the offseason. They want you to be great and boring. If you're not great and neither one of these quarterbacks is, you can't be the life of the party. I've said this for years. There's two rules about backup quarterbacks in the NFL. If I have to use you for two games, can you win one?

Can you just win one of the two games I need you? Two of my starters out for four. Cooper Rush, great. He can win half the games. Starters should win 65% of the games. If they're great, Lamar, they win 75% of the games. And the other rule about backup quarterbacks, you should be able to put a baseball cap and sunglasses on in your local mall,

walk around, and nobody knows who you are. You can never be a headline. Tebow, headline, backup cam, headline, Kaepernick headline. Shadour is becoming that. And this story, again, you think it helped Shadur. It's hurting him. This story hurt. You know what the staff is saying in Cleveland this morning?

Oh, Jesus. Maybe we just got to get out of this nonsense. Let's just get out of this nonsense. We got people thinking Dylan's taking shots. They'll get out of this business because Shadour's not good enough. Tebow was not good enough to deal with the nonsense. sense. So this was a prime example of sometimes you squeeze so tight. Shadoor's my guy and I love Shadur and that guy's trying to get Shador. You're making, this is such a negative for Shadur Sanders.

This is what happened with Tebow. He'd take his shirt off and walk through practice and it was four live shots at ESPN. And after a while, coaches are like, you know, I had a coach tell me this. I kind of like him for the locker room in the roster. He's a good football. player, but God, who wants that circus? I mean, what a playoff game in Denver against Pittsburgh? Beat Tomlin, and they're like, we're getting out of this business. Tebow could have been a backup somewhere. Nobody wanted the nonsense.

And that's what this was. All right, John, boy, I'm going to tell you, we don't want to take too much from the preseason. I'd be a little worried if I was Dallas. A little? No Micah, no Trayvon Biggs? Good luck, Brian, Schott and Imer. there is going to be there is an art to knowing when you know they call it's a funny line the

irish exit when you leave a bar and you don't tell anybody do it all the time yeah i i'm i'm mastered it i'm married to an irish girl so we've mastered leaving the party and not giving everybody a heads up um some people know when to get off the train when to exit mike mccarthy a lot of you rolled your eyes at mike mccarthy In six months, Mike McCarthy may be a leading candidate for other NFL jobs. We'll talk about that coming up. 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.

He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byrd. We have a fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. It starts. Fantasy football player. There's rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer,

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,

he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest. Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot. I'd be too nervous.

That's right. The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers. What are the nippers? Very good question. No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing? Simple assault.

And it's a play on word, salt? Maybe not. I say we invest in. See. There's only one way to know. This did not amuse the cops. By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse

the cops. Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes. I didn't get caught. You know why? If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to crime lists on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

All right, Colin wrong. It's a Monday, top of next hour. John Middletalcalf sitting in with me. You've heard them on my podcast many times now fills in regularly we would love that so the cowboys got dusted again at home this time it's baltimore now baltimore dusts a lot of people in both the preseason and the regular season for whatever reasons baltimore is the best preseason team in the league i'm watching that thing early and i'm like yeah it's going downhill fast but once again dallas's defense is a sieve it's bad and i got to tell you something right now they're opening against philadelphia on nbc and they're going to be 32 million viewers

This is not going to be open up against Carolina on the road in that one o'clock window. So if the Cowboys are bad, it's going to get ugly fast. Everybody's going to be talking about it. And Micah's not going to be playing. He's unhappy. Trayvon Diggs reportedly not going to be playing in the opener. He's not happy. And this defense was second worst in the NFL last year in total defense.

So it's a bad unit. It's not terribly deep. And your two best players are unhappy. And reportedly neither is going to play. So again, when you open with Philadelphia, it'll be the same thing. the most watched game in week one, arguably. It's 30 million viewers. And remember, you've been, the last two times you've played the Eagles, 41 to 7 and 34 to 6. Humiliating. You don't have your left tackle. Titer Guyton, a rookie at Oklahoma, didn't play particularly well last year. That

doesn't mean he can't be good in year two. That's a hard position for a rookie, but he's banged up. The running back room is weak. Dax coming off his second injury. So it's now, here's, I mean, I don't know, I don't love to hire as a coach. I don't think Jerry Jones has a ton of respect for coaches. If he did, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells would have been treated differently. I think he tends to hire people who need him. Jason Garrett wasn't being offered head coaching jobs. He felt like he owed Jerry one.

Brian Schottnimer was not being interviewed for top offensive coordinator jobs. Jerry, you know, can feel like, yo, Jerry won. Jimmy and Bill Parcells didn't need Jerry Jones. Every other coach, even McCarthy, who I like, kind of felt like he was on the beach. He was looking for an opportunity. Here is Brian Schottenheimer. I think this thing's going to get rough really quick. Like week one, I think it's a four or five potential win team.

Maybe Dak gets you to six or seven. Here's Schottenheimer again after another ugly preseason loss. We're not going to say that that's just a preseason game. we're not you're going to say oh we'll be fine you know we're going to look at it because the fact that you know we really lost both halves that is something that that you know we have to get corrected there's too many good football players too many good coaches um for us to perform the way that we did tonight we're not going to panic and we're not pushing the panic button we're pushing the work button and that's what we're going to do uh this is not panic button this is doomsday clock

you're on the doomsday clock who's got the briefcase like this thing is going to be it's going to blow fast that you don't have your two best offenders, hasn't been a good camp, getting pushed around in preseason, got pushed around last year, and here's what's interesting. And I know Mike McCarthy could drive me nuts. The Cowboys were always too penalized, and I didn't love them situationally. But Mike McCarthy went 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 12 and 5, won two division titles, and then DAC got hurt, and had a winning record with Cooper Rush, so you can roll your eyes at Mike McCarthy. He walked away from this job. And there is a distinction between having a disagreement with the owner and just saying, no, I like Jerry. I don't want to coach this wreck. He saw this train coming. He saw this thing coming.

And I'm going to tell you in one year from now, in probably about nine months from now, March, April, how many months that is when you're hiring coaches after the season, you're going to look at this mess. And Mike McCarthy, people are going to go, he went 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 12 and 5, and have the second best offense with Dak Prescott in the league to Josh Allen and the bills. You're going to start looking at that. How people exit matters in politics and in coaching. How you exit matters. And go look at Mike McCarthy's Dallas Day.

I'll put it on the screen here. I didn't love his clock management. I thought his teams were too penalized. But there's a lot of Ws there. And don't be surprised. stadium this year. If you don't see cowboy fans wearing buttons, I'm going to make my prediction in New Orleans. They used to wear a in with the bags over their heads. You're going to have some I miss Mike. Let's strike for Mike. I miss Mike banners. I like Mike. Mark my words. Mike McCarthy's

name will come up again in Dallas because it's not going to be a great coaching search. There's not a lot out there. The great old guys like Andy Reed, Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payson, They are taken. And a lot of the young guys in college, Ryan Day, happy at Ohio State, Lincoln Riley, hasn't been what everybody thought. I don't necessarily think you're going to have to rely on a coordinator. And do you trust Jerry Jones at this point hiring anybody? Just a thought. Because you watch that Baltimore game like I did.

This defense is in big trouble because the NFC has some. Really sharp offensive coaches. Really ready. You look at divisions. I got Ben Johnson with Chicago and Kevin O'Connell and Nick Sariani works and McVeigh and Shanahan. Like the NFC, AFC may have the quarterbacks. I could argue the NFC's got the sharp young offensive coaches. And Dallas's defense is a wreck.

John Middlecalf of the news. No, no. Turn on the news. This is the heard-line news. You know, speaking of Mike McCarthy, his former quarterback and Colin Coward's favorite player, Aaron Rogers, landed in Pittsburgh this off season, and what looks like will be his swan song. Yeah. Reports came out that he's making $13 million, but he could have made more,

but decided that was the maximum amount he wanted to play for. What is your take on this Pittsburgh Steelers, Aaron Rogers, Mike Tomlin, 2025 season? Well, if you can't run the football as, you know, John, I'm old enough. I remember when the NFL had 14 games and then it was 16. And now it's 17. And they're extending it to 18. So because statistically defensive players get hurt more than offensive players. They're in more violent collisions, right?

Like a defender's job often is to blow a playoff. Offense is choreography. Is that you have to have a run game. Accompany your defense. You have to keep your defense off the field. They can't have 30% more snaps than other top deep. That's why Philadelphia and Baltimore's defense, they get long rests. They stay healthier.

I think Pittsburgh's problem, Mike Tomlin is incapable of building a run game. Sean McDermott's had some of these issues until James Cook. The defense is on the field too long. And that means more snaps for Aaron. They don't have a left tackle. If you go look at Pittsburgh's deal, defense the last several years. It has not been elite despite being the

most expensive defense in the league. And I'm going to point to, not T.J. Water, Cam Hayward, or Minkafitz, I'm going to point to the fact you can't develop run games. You can't keep your defense off the field. Well, they got Arthur Smith, who became a big time name with Derek Henry. They draft Caleb, I think in the third

round from Iowa, big physical back. We know the Roonies. I mean, they fired Bruce Ariens before because he passed too much. They want to run the ball. At his age, I mean, his friend, how did Aaron Rogers resurrect his career with LaFlor? Running the ball. Aaron Jones, they kind of settled it down in that Shanahan offense.

So, listen, the honeymoon phase is in full effect. Training camp, Rogers, T.J. got paid. What's it going to look like when they lose a couple games? You know, and it starts getting weird. That division is really hard. Even the Browns. I mean, if they're the worst team in your division, they got really good players. They're tough to beat.

They are. The good news is their early schedule is workable. Their late schedule like last year gets tougher because it's a lot of of indivision games against the Ravens. I mean, you look at the end of the year, it's the Ravens and the Lions, it's the Ravens, and the Bills, Burrow, Herbert, Bear. But in early, I get Jets, I get Patriots, I get a buy, I get Browns, I get some home games that could go either way, like Green Bay and Minnesota, I get both of those at home.

I might push back, I mean, obviously the Jets, I mean, I don't know if they're going to pass average 100 yards passing, but Seattle's going to be pretty good. The Patriots are going to be a completely different operation. and Minnesota's good. I mean, those three games after the Jets are not just Patsy's, Colin. Yeah, I mean, we'll both agree on this. Offensively, Pittsburgh, even the last year to two with Big Ben, they have lost their way offensively.

So do I believe a quarterback at 41 out of his prime, missing a left tackle, and Aji Harris can fix it? I do not. I would agree with you there. Okay, we talked about the Bears. What about the flips? The Bills, who last night looked like the opposite of the Ravens. The preseason is not going well for them.

Shaw McDermott clearly was not pleased with this team's performance. Certainly not up to our standard, what we expect. Got a lot of work to do. That's very clear. It doesn't matter who's out there. One's, two, threes, fours, whoever it is, we expect them to perform and we expect our level of performance to be much better than that. playing against their ones, you know, I expect we expect to to compete with them.

And that wasn't the case early. And then our twos, our twos then who were out there competing against their twos and our threes against their threes. It didn't get much better. I'm not worried, Colin, are you? I'm not worried. I almost consider the Ravens an exception, a really good organization that cares and delivers in the preseason. 38-0 is really bad. What is your reason why they were so disordinated?

Let's take the Andy Reid crew. There's Andy Reid, John Harbaugh and Sean McDermy. But, you know, those two guys learned under Andy. I think Andy's training camps are really physical. Kind of old school. A throwback. Look at the Chiefs the other night against Seattle. Look terrible.

They've been practicing really hard, heavy legs. I think Sean McDermy, if you're watching hard knocks, they're getting after it in practice. That was a big, big game for the Bears last night. They approached that. They game plan for that thing. Sean McDermott did not. For whatever reason, maybe it's a hardball thing,

but specifically, John, he approaches preseason games like they're a playoff game. He is an outlier. So heavy legs, Josh Allen on the sidelines. The bills are different from the Chiefs because the Chiefs, I mean, make the Super Bowl every year. It's all about January. So how do you peak November, December, and into January? I mean, that's, I'm watching Hard Knocks.

Usually on Hard Knocks, it's a bad team, so it's an awful product. This is the first time where you're like, oh, that's what a great quarterback looks like in practice. It's fun to watch. So, listen, I put zero stock into that. That was all about the Bears, road game. I think if you look at the Chiefs and you look at the bills, both long road trips and just lay to nake. Now, if you're a backup, you better be careful. You can't, you know, you don't want to get used to laying eggs when you don't play very often in the regular season.

But when Josh Allen's on the sideline doing interviews in the first quarter, I don't put much stock in the game. Fair enough. Okay, a quarterback in a team that I'm high on, the Green Bay Packers, Jordan Lovey returned to practice after getting surgery last week to repair the ligament in his left thumb. Love is not taking the first team reps, though, to protect his thumb, but LaFleur has a plan to get him some work ahead of week one. He just went through everything. We're going to alter some things to allow him to get involved.

Do my favorite seven-on-seven that I absolutely despise. but in some instances, it's good. So I'd rather them to do that than just throw on air. So we'll incorporate some seven-on-seven in a practice. Yeah, Matt's not a seven-on-seven guy. By the way, he loves a good, tough physical run game, so it probably is the antithesis of everything he believes in. Yeah, this has been to me the mystery team.

The Rams are a little bit of that, but that's just because of Stafford's health. I keep going back to this. the whole division's been noisy all offseason. Lions lose both coordinators. Bears are just noisy with Caleb and Ben. The J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota stuff. Green Bay.

Some of it's a small market, but I've heard nothing. It has been silent. And that leads me to believe, generally when it's quiet, you're either keeping really good secrets from people that you don't want them to know, like people are developing, or the fact is you've got everybody on the same page, and I think this team really likes and respect. You know, it's still, John, I think that either the youngest or the second youngest team for the third year in a row.

I'm high on the Packers. I'm picking them to win the division. This does make me a little nervous. I mean, what kind of derailed their season last year? He got hurt week one. So you get an injury. Now, we still got a couple weeks, but this division's hard. They're going to go.

I mean, part of the reason they're passing game last year wasn't great. Now, he did a great job with Malik Willis. They've proven they can win regular season games from Malik Willis. but if they're going to win this division, they need Jordan Love, let's face it, to be a pro bowl level quarterback. Yeah, I think, I mean, only one great quarterback didn't make the playoffs. I mean, the one thing that guarantees you're going to be a playoff team almost across the line is offensive coach and really good quarterback. That almost guarantees you. I mean, watch, look at what Minnesota did last year was Sam Darnold, who we thought was done.

So at Jordan Love and Matt Lefleur, if you just say that out loud, the elite offensive. defensive coach, really talented quarterback. That should be a playoff team. We're going to learn a lot about them. Open up with the Lions and then you get Washington. If you're 2 and 0, we're going to call them one of the best teams in the league. If they lose one of those games, we're going to have serious questions. Yep. John with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurdline News. Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, top of the hour. Matt Hasselbeck. Dave Wanstats got some bear thoughts. Chicago Bears thought. Okay, so this, I think it may have happened Thursday or first. Friday, I was off Friday. So the NCAA came down hard on Michigan. Well, kind of. They didn't have to vacate any wins, which is key, and they find them a bunch of money. That's the best punishment you could get for a big brand college program. We want $20 million. All right, we'll write a check. They didn't vacate any wins. Basically, the Conner Stallion's situation, they found no definitive link to Harbaugh and Connors'

Stallions. It said, at a minimum, there was willful intent not to learn more about Conner Stallion's methods. That's fuzzy. However, the true scope and scale of the scheme included the competitive advantage, if conferred, will never truly be known due to individuals' intentional destruction of materials and information. Okay. You're right a check. They're fine. The bigger issue is if their current head coach isn't the guy and you have to fire

them in a couple years, there may be some coaches that are scared off and don't want to take over the program. But here's my thing on this. When you're a parent, and I'm a parent, John's a new parent, I'm an old parent, you get into a lot of situations where something inappropriate is done. but you don't want to over punish your kids, but you do want to punish your kids. You want to send a message to the other kids,

but you don't want to be out of touch. Like you don't want to be, you know. And so I'll give you an example. Like unless you work for Reno 911, a pot bust isn't really a big deal. In 2025, if you're a cop and pull somebody over and you're like, hey, what's that roach doing in your car? Nobody cares. The world changed.

So I have a hard time getting worked up over, yeah, Conner Stallions, you know, he had a phone and he had a bunch of guys working for him. Where's the link? Well, Harba, where's the link? Folks, do you understand how sketchy the transfer portal is? It is so sketchy and so dark and so muddy and people stealing players. It's a mess. and I'm for the transfer portal, the empowerment of the player.

It is sketch. By the way, you can now pay high school players, which was the unpardonable sin my entire life. And so I've got to have a hard time getting worked up over. Yeah, there's some shaky iPhone video. By the way, that is legal. Scouting is legal. There's been an underground business on this for 50 years in the sport. Did they go overboard?

Probably. Yeah, sure. Okay. but where's the definitive link? Where is it? Okay, you don't have it. So, again, it's like with my kids. It is you want to punish, slap on the wrist, give us a big check, bowl limitations,

but let's not go crazy here. The world's changed. You can buy high school players. The transfer portal is completely sketchy. They're making it up as they go. And so I know I'm supposed to be so up. set with this and supposed to be so outraged when Jim Harbaugh says, yeah, I'm not engaging on this stuff. Either would I. I don't live my life through the rearview mirror. It's all about the windshield.

I don't care what happened at other places. Tomorrow's show and today's show is the key. And Harbaugh is saying, I don't care. I'm not going back to college football. I don't care. Jay Wright left it early. Coach Kay left it. Roy Williams left it. Harbaugh left it. Saban left it. It's a mess. I am four and I am. I am for the transfer portal. But don't act like you're outraged about stuff in a world now where stuff that would get the death penalty is now marketed and promoted and monetized. You just go buy high school players.

That was the one thing you couldn't do. A $20 handshake, a free dinner, okay, do not buy high schoolers. Now that's encouraged. So I'm not that worked up over it. I'm not. I think Michigan's bigger issue is the Big Ten now has got really good coaching. And last year was not great for Michigan. They did be to Ohio State.

That was cool, I guess. But it wasn't a great year. And now they have a five-star quarterback. And Ohio State's always, frankly, if we're being totally honest, if you take Jim Harbaugh out of the equation, Ohio State's been a better program than Michigan most of my life. Michigan occasionally will get the right coach. If they're patient, they'll win big.

Ohio State can hire a coach and win an hour later. Ohio State's the only SEC program in the north. So, you know, I've been very consistent on this stuff. You're trying to get me all worked up on Michigan. I can't. It's a roach in a car. other than Reno 911. You know, cops, you can't sell me on that,

that's a big crime in 2025. Little bag, a roach, what-eves, couple having a good time. So Harbaugh's not coming back, slap on the wrist, got to pay some, and by the way, the other thing is, well, there's going to be some recruiting limitations.

L-O-L. Recruiting, you just go buy guys in the transfer. if a booster comes up and says, oh, you get nine less recruiting visits. All right, we'll offer nine more NIL players. All the stuff, you can mitigate 90% of it, write a big check. NCAA doesn't give me any definitive link. I'm not even sure if they did if I would be bothered. We have an update on Matt Stafford.

This thing, I'm telling you, there's only one team in the lead that could win the Super Bowl or go 4 and 13, and it's the Rams, based on Matt Stafford's Health. Update next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news.

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to our first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 Acapella band with their between. Queen 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. What's up, fam?

It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flanks. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court,

and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest. Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot.

I'd be too nervous. That's right. The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Scoble and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers. What are the nippers? Very good question. No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing?

Simple assault. And it's a play on word, salt? Maybe not. I say we invest and we see. There's only one way to know. This did not amuse the cops. By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops. Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes.

I didn't get caught. You know why? If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to crime lists on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Since the moment it was announced, everyone had August 30th, circle. The Archmanning era kicks off with a playoff rematch for the ages. as Texas takes on the defending national championship Ohio State Buckeyes on Big Noon Saturday. What a way to get the season rolling August 30th only on Fox. I still like Texas in the points.

I just don't know what Ohio State will do at quarterback. Ohio State should win their favor. They have to do best players in college football. I think I'm going to take Texas and the points. And I think it's going to be like that Oregon, Ohio State game last year in Outson. It's going to be wild. There's going to be a ton of scoring. and it's going to be the highest-rated Labor Day weekend game in the history of college football.

So one of the things that really good teams do is they keep secrets. The Rams are really good at secrets. They had decided, you know, a year before they let go, a Jalen Ramsey or a Cooper Cup, or a Todd Gurley, or maybe five months before they let go of Jared Goff, they knew it, nobody else did. So I remember, they held firm on Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford. But Matt Stafford got a one-year deal. The bottom line is Matt Stafford wanted multiple guaranteed years, and the Rams wouldn't budge, and because they have two first-round picks,

here is the guarantee in next year's NFL draft. Not even Cleveland can guarantee this. The Rams are going to take a quarterback. They are going to take a quarterback. So because no team in the NFL right now could either win the Super Bowl or win four games like the Rams. It all depends on. on Stafford's health because the backup is Jimmy Garoppolo, who has aged very quickly and has been ineffective in his last seven starts. So Stafford, this is a big story. Stafford was at practice today. And they have kept this thing under wraps. They have been so covert and so quiet. But the Rams move off people. Somebody on our staff said this morning, I thought it was funny. Sean McVeigh is Belichick, better dressed and with a smile. They move off.

people a year early. They were, they didn't want to move off Matt Stafford. There was going to be no long-term deal. And so him being at practice, we all been waiting for this. Is he going to practice? Because the defense is unbelievable. The running back room now is really good. Devonte Adams, they drafted Terrence Ferguson at tied in. They have a Super Bowl team. The left tackles had some blood clots. If Stafford plays, they can go toe to toe with anybody, including Philadelphia. you. I have them, but the Stafford thing, we're just sitting waiting and nothing leaks. Nothing leaks with the Rams. It is a lot like Belichick. Nothing leaked. They moved off Randy Moss. You think they love him? They moved off him. And they've moved off multiple stars.

So all I know is watching this, having watched the Rams, they're drafted a quarterback next year. and they may keep Stafford for one more year to let the kid, he can be a mentor. But this is like a story that you got to keep your eye on. All right. You know, the other thing is when you're young, you're 18, you're 19, you're 20, you're 23, 24, more than any time in your life, I can only speak from a guy's perspective. Your mentors, your bosses, have an immeasurable impact. But the time you're 40, 45, you're stuck in your ways.

you are what you are, you're not very moldable. But I look at Jackson Dart of the Giants. Look at the mentors he's had offensively. Three years of Lane Kiffin and now Brian Daibble. When I watch him play, he is playing like he trusts his coaches. He's playing with a ton of confidence,

sitting in the pocket, letting it rip. He looks great. Now, again, it's preseason. You can't make too much of it. Justin Fields. though, who has had Bears, Iber Fluse at the end, now he's got Aaron Glenn, he had Mike Tomlin, Justin Fields looks lost. He looks lost. In this game, he looks lost. Who have been his NFL mentors, defensive coaches. So when I look at Jackson Dart, I think what an advantage. I mean,

you start looking at all these great quarterbacks, a lot of them, Jalen Hertz, offensive coaches. You know, last year, Justin Herbert put up some nice numbers. Jim Harbaugh, former quarterback, Holmes, Burrow. A lot of these guys, offensive coach, Jaden Daniels had Brian Kelly offensive side in the Cliff Kingsbury. Dan Quinn's the coach. Kingsbury took over the offense.

Dan Quinn acknowledged that's not my room. That's Kingsbury's room. So Bo Nix, Sean Peyton, if you don't think who you land as your college and your pro coach, it matters a lot.

I mean, Baker Mayfield looked pretty good stretches. They look great with Freddie Kitchens. Like the coach matters. And I think for Jackson Dart, when I watch him, three years Elaine Kiffin, into a coach Brian Dayball that won a playoff game with Daniel Jones, who reportedly is not going to beat out Anthony Richardson with the Colts. So Russell's going to start, but you've got to feel good. I thought he was a bit of a reach in the first round. I felt like he was a mid-second round quarterback. He's really confident. And I think a ton of it is, Kiffin, Dayball,

trust his coaches. Here's Brian Daibol. Yeah, Russ is our starter, and we're going to keep developing Jackson. Jackson just got to continue to work to get better, and we've got to help him get better. What we're trying to do is help Jackson be the best quarterback he can be, just like all the quarterbacks, just like all the players on the team. So Brian's not going to give you a lot at the podium,

but I said this last week. Lane Kiffin could be a head coach in the NFL, absolutely, He was briefly with old Al Davis. It was a mess. Lane Kiven did not want to draft to Marcus Russell. He pled with Al Davis. Al wouldn't listen. It went sideways.

But when I watched Jackson Dart and I watch Justin Fields, Justin Fields, who's been his guy? And that one. And by the way, neither Jackson Dart or Justin Fields, to me, are transformative players. Coaching's going to matter a lot. early mentors, early guidance. And Jackson's got it. Colin right, Colin wrong, Matt Hasselback next.

We're live. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva. And on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be?

I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sacks. Wait, what sex? Is it just me? Or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of? having sex sometimes. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter.

Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.