The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - Dolphins fire Mike McDaniel, the NFL HC openings, Matt Stafford vs Drake Maye

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

Colin Cowherd reacts to BREAKING NFL NEWS: the Dolphins fire head coach Mike McDaniel. Colin explains what this means for John Harbaugh and the other 7 opening across the league Even though Patriots QB Drake Maye has had a great season, Colin feels strength of schedule should give the award to Rams QB Matt Stafford  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, suddenly. Breaking news, suddenly Kevin Stefansky, John Harbaugh, have real leverage, and the teams do not. We are live

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So this broke 30 minutes ago. The Dolphins, a little bit of a surprise, have fired Mike McDaniel, their head coach. I don't blame him for all the Miami losses. I don't think he's the ultimate culture changer. I think he's a smart guy. I think he's a scheme guy. I don't think he's a NFL head coach. I think he's a brilliant coordinator.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross met with him this week and just didn't feel right. rolling it back. Also a story this morning. The Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross, has a connection to the Harbaugh family. Uh-oh. The coveted New York Giants job, which we said yesterday was the second best job to Baltimore. Is it now third? Baltimore is the best job open.

Currently open, it's the best job. Lamar Jackson, great roster, amazing culture. That's the best job. I said yesterday, giant's second best job. I'm bullish on the Giants. for a lot of reasons. Jackson Dart, neighbors, Andrew Thomas, Scataboo, Abdul Carter,

a lot of reasons. But Miami probably now, what I'm hearing, gives control to John Harbaugh to choose the GM. And the Giants, they retained Joe Shane in the league not considered elite.

So suddenly the cover in New York giant job yesterday is at best third to a guy like John Harbaugh. And we said this yesterday. The Giants don't need another coordinator and roll the dice on it. They don't even need necessarily a scheme guy. They need a culture changer. They haven't had a good culture since Tom Coughlin. So Baltimore could use a scheme guy because they have a great culture.

Stefansky would be great in Baltimore. And remember John Harbaugh, Miami connection. The Giants are interested, though they haven't talked. I would guess if I was John Harbaugh or his agent, I'd wait and see what happens Buffalo against Jacksonville this weekend. Because if Buffalo loses, I have to believe maybe how they lose. But if they lose, Josh Allen's looking for a coach with a great left tackle,

with a great running back, with a superstar quarterback. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. So then if Buffalo loses the New York Giants job, in my opinion, second most coveted job yesterday is now four. You'd have Buffalo would be number one, Baltimore would be number two. If Harbaugh can choose his GM, suddenly now Miami is three, and the Giants are at best four. Well, folks, there are never four great coaching candidates. Then you get into coordinators.

Right now you have two great candidates. Harbaugh, the best culture changer on the market, just like his brother was a couple years ago, like Vrabel was. And Stafansky, I think, can do the culture thing, but he's really no, schematically, he's a very, very smart guy. You could attach him to a Lamar Jackson, the culture and the talent, the roster's already there, Ravens would be favored to win their division, and the minute you hire Kevin Stafansky. So there's an old saying, strike when the iron is hot.

If Jim Harbaugh can coach in SoCal, then John Harbaugh can coach in South Miami Beach. Like they work just fine. I know you think Harbaugh's cold weather. Nah. Jim's doing just fine in L.A. John would do just fine in South Beach. So my guess is the Miami News today, McDaniel out, connection Ross family and Harbaugh's. If I'm the New York Giants, I probably jump on Kevin Stafansky and offer him the

today. I would probably offer, if I ran the New York Giants today, I would offer Stafansky the job. I'm not waiting. I don't want to play musical chairs and get left without a chair with Harbaugh. Because let's be honest, Buffalo is a better job with Josh Allen. I'm not even mentioning Green Bay. I don't think Harbaugh and his personality works in Green Bay, Jim or John. But that could be an attractive job for Kevin Stefansky.

So forget just for a second the John Harbaugh piece, Stefansky. You have Jackson Dart. A lot of your talents on offense. Neighbors, Andrew Thomas, Scataboo, Jackson Dart, probably draft a tight end. Wouldn't he be nice to have an offensive coach? Even temperament, not as intense as day bowl? Wouldn't that be nice?

But what if Green Bay, Buffalo, Baltimore, Baltimore, Miami? I mean, so Stafansky now, I would love to be Kevin Stafansky. He's agent today. He's got all the leverage in the world. And if I'm the New York Giants, I probably go out and I hire Stefanski and let him build his staff. Because remember, John Harbaugh is going to build a staff. Stephen Ross is the second or third richest owner.

So Harbaugh is going to get his pick of the litter in Miami on the staff. You don't want to hire the fourth coach who's getting the fourth best receiver coach, the fourth best offensive line coach. if you hire Stefansky today, you get a jump on Harbaugh, who's probably waiting for the weekend results. Don't let Stafansky, you know. So it's the old Sean McVeigh interviewed with the Rams. They wouldn't let him leave the building.

They're like, we're not, Stan Kronky and Les Needer like, we can't let this kid leave the building. So I think it's very interesting that this Miami job could have screwed up the New York Giants. And the other thing, if you're Harbaugh, I mean, New York and Miami, there's got to me a lot of guys. the richer owner is Miami. No state tax. Very attractive to free agents. Miami is, Miami's always one of those. You can look at the jets and giants and say, what a train wreck. The truth is,

Miami doesn't bottom out much. Even though they miss on coaches and quarterbacks, it always feels like they're hovering around 500. Hell, Brady for years struggled going down to Miami and beating them. Tom Brady struggled for years against inferior teams. He and Belichick would go down there. So Miami never feels like they bottom out. I think it's an attractive job. So this is really, really interesting. Miami just threw a wrench into the Giants. You can, listen, it feels like everybody is scrambling for a homecoming date, right?

Everybody's looking for a date here. And if I'm the New York Giants, very quickly after this weekend, if Buffalo and Green Bay lost, how do you know you don't wake up on a Monday morning, you're the fifth best job. But if you go and get a Stefansky and you beat everybody to the punch and he starts building a staff, well, then you're going to get the best O-Line coach on the market and the best DC on the market and the best receiver coach on the market. That's an advantage. Crazy.

All right. I'm not a big awards guy in terms of like pro sports. I used to have a Heisman vote. I'm not really into that stuff. Like we all know who's good and who isn't. But the Matt Stafford, Drake May MVP, and it's down to those two. Folks, I don't think it's terribly close. You have to consider schedules.

13 of 14 New England wins were against teams with losing records. The best team New England played was Buffalo, and they don't have a good defense. So Stafford beat the number one defense, Houston, the number two defense, Seattle. Against the top 10 defense Jacksonville, Stafford had five touchdowns and no picks. He also played Philadelphia, and which is the top five defense, and San Francisco twice, and I think we all admit, remarkably, Sala made that a really decent defense despite having no big-name players. So you have to consider strength of schedule.

Why? Because the NFL literally uses it as one of its tiebreakers. So it's like the college football resume thing. You have to consider strength of schedule. And it's not that the Rams had a harder schedule. Here's the problem. The Rams have the number one. most difficult schedule of all 14 playoff teams.

And the Patriots have the weakest NFL schedule in 26 years. You're talking the difference between, you know, the SEC, the Big Ten, and the Mountain West. It's not that New England's schedule is kind of weak. It's the weakest in 26 years. And it's not that the Rams have a tough schedule. It's the number one toughest schedule of the 14 remaining playoff teams. Stafford had better numbers against much better competition. I'm not saying they both didn't get a 4.0 GPA, but Stafford was taking AP courses to get his four point.

Houston, Seattle twice, solid twice, Jacksonville, Philadelphia. If you look at Matt against playoff teams this year, over 2,000 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, three interceptions, and a 107 passer rating, that's against playoff teams. You have to consider schedule. The NFL literally does for its tiebreakers. Here's Sean McVey on Stafford. I think Matthew's the MVP of the league. He played that way. Wouldn't want anybody else leading the way.

Got a lot of respect for a bunch of people in this league, but there's nobody I'd rather have being the quarterback of the L.A. Rams than Matthew Stafford. His play speaks for itself. Listen, Drake May, a little bit of it is the shiny new object syndrome. He's the new toy. Everybody, you know, the new popular kid in school. I get it. Drake May is fantastic.

But you're talking about the easiest schedule in 26 years, and the best team they played really isn't a great defensive team in Buffalo. That was the tough one. Sorry, I got to go with Matt Stafford. PFF, by the way, on all their metrics, has Stafford number one, and they list several. He was best on play action, best against playoff teams, best on this, best on that. PFF knocks it down to data, and it's staff.

It doesn't mean I don't think Drake May is not going to win four of them. J. Mack, this Miami Dolphin News is really, really throwing a wrench into what was perceived yesterday. The Giants was a very coveted job. If the stories about Ross and the Harbaugh connection are true, the Giants now are the third best job in the market. So that's a tough one. I don't know Harbaugh well enough. What does he want? Does he want to build something?

Harbaas want one thing. Control. Well, he could easily push Joe Shane out in New York. Hey, I'll take the job, but I ain't having him as my GM, right? Handpick your own GM. You could do that in Miami because they don't have a GM. So then you're looking at, well, where's a quicker path to victory? You're going to win in facing Drake May and Josh Allen?

You never know that anybody know New England was going to be this good or Denver this good or Seattle this good? Or last year, Washington this good or Denver that you don't really know in the NFL unless you have Josh. or, you know, even Patrick Mahomes missed the playoffs this year. So you don't really know. I just, but the one thing you do know is you have Jackson Dart on his rookie deal. I like that. And he showed promise. And Tua is expensive.

I do not. I don't know what the path is to a great quarterback. But you have to remember how those guys, like the Harbaugh's think, is that in my lifetime, when you meet very, I would say, alpha, confident, aggressive men, here's what they don't say. boy but that one's the easier path they don't think Sean Payton literally with Russell Wilson at quarterback who he knew he didn't fit was said I'll take the Denver job

and you're like Andy Reed and Mahomes are in the division did Sean Payton go whoa I want to go I want to go coach he left the easiest division the NFC South Sean Peyton did he left the easiest place to win that he had dominated to go to a division with Andy Reed, Spags, and Mahomes. And that's what winners do.

They don't care. They think about their job, not their opponents. So you think you're leaning he goes Miami? It's early. What I'm saying, I think he would choose Buffalo if they had an opening. Josh Allen in his prime for at least four more years. That's an obvious. That's an obvious one.

New stadium, unbelievable fans. And then I think he would probably, he doesn't fit in greenback. Harbaos don't fit in green back. Is there an opening? No, I'm just saying there's reports that I think it's ridiculous. I agree with you. I don't understand. Totally ridiculous. I think LaFluor is more than capable. But I think right now the best job opening is Baltimore, but John just lost that job.

But if Miami's in play, then in Jot, let's say Buffalo wins. It does feel like Miami would be the choice over New York. if you get control. I'll tell you who's sweating it is Joe Shane. This news. Because he's not good at his job. Well, I mean, he's hit on, you know, Scataboo was a great get, Jackson Dart. Okay.

I mean, he's got some hits. Andrew Thomas left tack on. The Giants have players. I am bullish on the Giants. The roster is solid. He just, I mean, I can't get over the Daniel Jones, Sequin Barclay. Yeah, but Gellman drafted him. And the Barclay thing's on Shane.

That's on him. That's a complete whiff. Yeah. Major. All right. We got, we got, oh, tonight, baby. College football playoff, why Niner fans should be a little worried this morning with their coach?

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Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did 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. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it

one of the early names of our band before Jonas brothers. 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, 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 Smygel and Friends.

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If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Norsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise. the drama, the alliances, and the T, everybody's talking about.

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this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you give you. It's your podcast. You're now entering the no bull zone sponsored by credible great rates, none of the bull. So tonight, college football, Miami favored. I think they beat Ole Miss. Very, very exciting.

So there is a reason that true crime podcasts, mob documentaries, breaking bad soprano, so popular. It's not a life you'd want to live, but it is. fascinating and dangerous and crazy and wild. And that's why we just keep seeing more true crime shows. That's college football in 2025, 2026. It's wild. Is it sustainable?

Absolutely it's sustainable. What wasn't sustainable is Bama, Georgia, and Clemson and Ohio State by week four, looking like once again they were the four best teams. ratings and attendance were down. Nick Saban complained at the end of his run in Alabama. He could not sell out home out of conference games. The sport got dull, even for the dynasty. This is incredibly sustainable because the revenue is growing like crazy.

Mark Cuban never cared about college football. He just wrote a $12 million check to Indiana. Larry Ellison, you have all these billionaires now writing massive checks. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Washington, USC, the revenue in the Big Ten is exploding with Texas, Texas A&M, joining Georgia, Alabama, the revenue is exploding in the SEC. What's not sustainable was the old model, where the ratings and the revenue were going down. That's why the Pact 10 disbanded. They gave schools like USC and UCLA $35 million a year.

USC is now going to make $90 million a year at the Big Ten, and that's growing. They'll be at 120 in five or six years. It's totally sustainable. I mean, it's crazy. It's like Old Miss. I mean, it is a little bit like a little breaking bad. Bravo wishes they had the drama of Old Miss. Their coach gets poached by a rival LSU.

You got coaches for Ole Miss seesawing back. and forth the LSU right now. I mean it's it's real coaches of the SEC it's like a housewife show it's crazy but it's absolutely sustainable when revenue is great even debt in this country is sustainable debt in Europe's a problem their economy's not growing like ours our economy you keep hearing economists say you know the economy we we're predicting a predicting a recession but it's very resilient economy because our economy just keep growing, it's separated from Europe. So I don't love debt either,

but it remains sustainable because our economy is growing. The economy of college football is exploding. We just can't keep paying. Mark Cuban just wrote a $12 million check. You've got all sorts of billionaires and 200 millionaires writing huge checks right now. The conferences are growing in revenue.

That's fine. I mean, I get Oregon and Miami and Ole Miss and Indie Indiana, the ratings are going to be huge for these games. So I keep hearing all these fearmongering, these death sentences of college football. College football, popularity, and criticism are both at an all-time high. Folks, that's good television. When you're driving revenue, you're popular, and it's love, hate, and it's polarizing.

When Bama was running the sport, it wasn't that polarizing. It was predictable. Now it's polarizing. the better P word. So the NFL has always been, to me, the sport of hope where you can go from awful New England, nine months later, you're great. You can't do that in baseball. You need like six drafts.

Half the teams can't afford the good player. Can't do that in the NBA. It takes years to become as good as like a San Antonio. You need breaks to get Wemby. NFL, hire the right coach, have a good young quarterback, stack your roster, awful to good. Boom. That's Indiana. unwatchable to best team ever?

Are they going to go 16 and 0? And you're telling me this isn't sustainable? Here's Pete Golding, the old miss coach, on the fallout of the Lane Kiffa drama and him leaving the program. The timing of when it happened, in my opinion, couldn't happen at a better time for the players because everything was already in place.

The only thing that was different who's running out of the tunnel. And to be honest with you, I don't think the players give a damn who runs about the tunnel. as it makes sense, they care about their plan. They care about getting held accountable, right, and how they're going to prepare,

and they care about people that care about them. And I think that's been the message our players have created, but I don't have to say to anybody else. So think about this. The biggest S show, the last three, four, five weeks in the SEC, is the only team standing. The biggest mess in the SEC has been Ole Miss. Oh, my.

What in God. If they win tonight, they're in the national championship, young people can handle drama. The Ole Miss players, I don't care who runs them out of the tunnel. They just lost their great coach. They're like, yeah, all right, whatever, let's go beat Georgia. Everything is going to be okay. When revenue is great, even debt, you can live with it.

When revenue is great, you can live with this college football drama. Take a deep breath. How are these teams going to afford it? All these schools have billionaire graduates, and I'm seeing some of these people write checks. I didn't even know they liked college football. I didn't know Mark Cuban was a college football. He was a basketball guy.

J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, let's go to the NFL playoffs, Colin. your bears struggled down the stretch. Final two games, the offense not totally clicking. Ben Johnson was not thrilled, but he's trying to stay positive heading into the big game

against the Packers this weekend, saying Caleb Williams was built for these moments, and Caleb, he agrees. I am built for these moments, mentality-wise, how I've worked. And so, you know, that's, I've been, in a bunch of big games before and a bunch of big rival games.

And so, you know, in those moments and in these moments, you know, I don't... I think I can provide a spark for the team. I think I can, you know, do whatever my team needs me to do. I like him. I think it's a weather advantage. 30-mile-hour wins favors the run game

and the O line, and that is clearly a bear's advantage. Yeah. And right now, Caleb's playing better than Jordan Love. Because he's playing more than Jordan Love. Well, so Colin, I dug into this game a little bit. So do you know how long the Bears have led for how many minutes, how many plays in the Bears Packers games this season?

You mean at the very end of the game? No, no, total plays and minutes in the game. The answer is zero. They have not led for one second against the Packers this season in two meetings. I'm a little nervous about the Bears now. So I did go and I'm on the Packers officially. I hope we're not head to head. I know that's your squad.

You're rooting for the Bears and Caleb. then it's just if their defense is not generating turnovers and they led the league in turnover margin by a mile. What happens though when it's 30 miles an hour and it's cold and maybe the weather generates a turnoff? The undercashes? I mean, I don't see this a lot of score. Because we know Caleb Williams does not turn the ball over. He's durable and doesn't turn it over. You can criticize him all you want.

He doesn't turn the ball over and he doesn't get hurt. He's done a good job of protection. Jordan Love gets banged up and can occasionally turn it over. So the weird thing about the Packers, they're going to have their full arsenal of receivers. Jaden Reed, who missed a lot of time with that collarbone. Watson's healthy now. And I brought this up. So the Packers and Bears had one of the earliest buys.

Yes. The Packers had a buy last week. All their guys sat. The Bears were in a battle until the final minutes against the Lions. I just wonder if the Bears are a little worn down. I'm not trying to influence your pick. No, listen. You got a great season.

I think it's a very close game. Yeah. I'm not saying it's, I like, yeah, I mean, I mean, I, I like some of the, I think it's going to be a run game dominated team. I think Ben Johnson's going to create a lot of run. Caleb move. Caleb run, backs run, short, tight end stuff. It's going to be a very, they're not throwing the ball down the field.

I think they're, like Christian Watson is great. Is he going to matter in 30-mile-an-hour wins? It's a good question. Hard to land that plane in 30-mile-hour wins. He's their deep threat. It'll be a good game. Oh, I think it's going to be the biggest game in Chicago in a long, You're going to get field passes for this?

Go down on the field and check things out. I have a house pass. 72 degrees. I'll have a bowl of turkey chili sitting from. No more enchiladas. All right. Let's go to the next game. And that's, oh, we're going to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills and a big one.

I mean, the ramifications here are massive. I didn't realize this. Josh Allen is looking to avoid going 0 in 5 on the road in playoff games. Wow. And he's facing that tough Jags defense. They are sneaky good. Yeah, yeah. As some teams that found out, here's Liam Cohen talking about how they plan on defending Josh Allen.

Your rush plan has to be extremely dialed in. Your spy game has to be dialed in if you're going to do any of that stuff. Your zone coverage has got to make sure that you're giving eyes, obviously, on the quarterback at all times. And look, when you have to account for the quarterback every play, you know, we have a luxury of that as well in ways where quarterback can take off on you. It's hard to defend every blade of grass. Boy, this is going to be good. We have some. You know what, man, you talk about matchups. Bears, Packers, perfect. Niners, the brilliant coach and the roster were concerned of against the Eagles' great roster and the coach were concerned of. The two quarterbacks who aren't

first rounders, Hertz and Purdy. That Niners, that Niners, that Niner Eagle game is going to be, based on a Fox playoff record. That is going to get a monster number. Yeah. I don't know if I trust the bills to win this one, though. I don't. This is going to be a good game? Oh, my.

Listen, you know, I'm a Trevor Lawrence guy. I've been a believer. A lot of people bailed on Trevor Lawrence. What has he done? What's he won? Even the Drake-May Justin Herbert meeting. When Drake May came- That's a great game.

Oh, my God. You have two culture guys, two big, strong quarterbacks. May coming out of college, they said, oh, he'll be his comp as Justin Herbert. Both teams don't have, you know, New England chargers, O-lines are really average. Who needs matchups? Who needs Patrick Mahomes? Who needs, bro? We don't need those guys.

I don't care. We got good new quarterbacks, yeah. Enough Mahomes. He had a good enough run. We don't need them back. All right, final story, Colin, let's go. Justin Herbert, best quarterback in the AFC West this season. Remember, he's dealing with that fractured left hand suffered in week 13.

but he did get the week 18 rest. And so hopefully he's able to start taking more snaps under center. He was doing that at yesterday's practice. And here's Herbert talking about the injury. Not taking hits on it last week was probably pretty helpful for it. Limited kind of the swelling and just getting back to, you know, making sure that you have got full strength, being able to hold on to a football. I would say that I was able to do most everything out there.

You know, it took some snaps today. I think it's the point where I'm able to take snaps during the week. So I think that's helpful. But just making sure I can grip on the ball, you know, have two hands on in the pocket and, you know, how important that is the quarterback. So I think that's been good. He's played through the injury. Well, we got some numbers on him since the fracture.

You know, 66% completions, seven touchdowns, four picks. He's been fine. Yeah. He's been remarkable considering his lack of pass protection. Yeah. 100%. Did you know that he'll probably be the six. second best quarterback that the Patriots have seen this season after Josh Allen?

Oh, he will be. Colin, I looked this up. The unbelievable, the schedule of the Patriots played. They played seven quarterbacks who were either benched or they were backups to begin with. Chua, who ended up getting benched for Ewers, Spencer Rattler, Dylan Gabriel, Justin Fields, Joe Flacco, who was a backup, the Brady Cook, the Jets when they were tanking, and then Quinn Ewers, who, you know, was a rookie villain. Listen, you have been on this game.

the minute the line came out and I, you know what? Generally, I stay away from your recommendation. Why burned your last week with the Bengals. I'm sorry. I know. It was my, I feel, it was a rough one. But what do we do? Are you sticking Patriots here?

Are we going to wait for the blazing? What are we doing? If the number, I'm waiting for the number tonight. If the number is three and a half, you have to take the chargers. It's three and a half or four. Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be a cold weekend.

Average O-Lines. Great coaches. You know what this game looks like. It's 2320. That's what this game is. Sounds about... So that the hook is everything in this bat. Everything.

By the way, the Chargers have one of the best kickers in the league in Cameron Dicker. He's a huge weapon. And I want to go back to... For Jacksonville Bills, that's also... The Bills are working with a practice squad kicker right now. The Jags guy is 60 yards. He's automatic from like 58, 60 yards. He had from 67 last week.

The kickers, special teams. That's important. I've never been this excited. For a wild car... Really? Oh, I can't wait. We don't have a Patriots dynasty or Kansas City dynasty, meaning, you know what's going to happen? Yeah, it's wide open. You have no idea what's going to happen.

I'm still waiting to pin you down on your Super Bowl teams. Like, are you going to go Seahawks, Broncos? Because that's the most fun. That's fun. Hey, fun's overrated. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Live News.

Right now I've got a blazing three. So I'm going to put a college game in to get it to a blazing four. And I'm just going to keep waiting and waiting. So tomorrow, I've got three of games I do like to bet. And there's a Friday college game that I feel very strongly about. Money's money, so I'm going to take that game. And I've got to find a fourth NFL playoff game I like. But this is going to be remarkable.

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, name? 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. We're starting a trend. 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.

Oh, 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, 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 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get. your podcasts. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-ful.

mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor.

I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Syke! I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice.

Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream.

Cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Wildcard weekend has two huge games on Fox.

Saturday, MVP frontrunner Matthew Stafford leads the Rams against Bryce Young and the Panthers. Then on Sunday, Jalen Hertz and the defending champion Eagles take on Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers. It's Wild Card weekend, powered by Verizon, Saturday and Sunday on Fox. Listen, at some point, there will be data in all of our lives that explain our personality.

You know, if you'd been fired six times or married five, I can probably make certain assumptions about you psychologically or your personality. I think Kyle Shanahan's an unbelievable coach. I think McVeigh is the best coach in the league in his prime. Andy Reid, we know he's great. You could make an argument, Shanahan's too. But there are two numbers with Shanahan that I think speak to his person. personality. And the numbers are insane. Since he's been with the 49ers, when the Niners trail by

seven plus points just at halftime, they're 1 and 29. That makes no damn sense, right? When they trail by seven plus points in the fourth quarter and they've had very good quarterback play, their own 38. Those are like last in the league. How would you explain that? like that's just not random for a coach that good what it speaks to is my only criticism ever of Shanahan which he's too tied to his play sheet he's not flexible now his play sheet

is second in my opinion or maybe first in the league I think Andy Reid and Shanahan play sheet is as good as it gets even better than McVey or Sean Peyton and so Shanahan becomes like the anchor who never moves off the prompter or the actor who doesn't move off the script. And you can be great at both. But I do think those numbers are so outrageous and so bizarre

that it does speak to a little bit of the nine or issue. They need to take leads. They do not play well from behind. Buffalo with Josh Allen plays great from behind because so much of it is off script. McVeigh Stafford had been pretty good, but Shanahan's been brutal. And so I just think it's one of those things where there are certain personality quirks people have,

and I don't think Shanahan, dad or son, are terribly flexible. But you get the upside to his play sheet, which, by the way, this year he beat L.A. with no Jennings, no Kittle, Mack Jones, and they had over 400 yards against the Rams. defense. So the guy's an insane coach, but there are certain numbers that don't make any sense. And when you see that about a person, you're like, how many times have they been by? How many times have they been? He's never won a game track. It probably speaks to inflexibility,

intensity, and in Shanahan's case, and for the record, the Niners use the most motion of any team in the league by a large gap. So they're complete innovators. So you get all of his innovation. You get all of his brain power, you get all of his experience, you get the unbelievable play design and play sheet, but if they trail by 10 points at half to Philadelphia and the Eagles have a great opening drive to take a lead, you can, you rest assured, they're in big trouble. And that's not necessarily the case. I mean, go look at Sean Payton and Bo Nix. They're great in the fourth quarter. Ben Johnson and Caleb, better in the fourth quarter than any quarter.

So here's Vic Fangio facing Shanahan this week, the Eagles defensive coordinator on the Niners' offense. It's all packaged together very nicely. They give you a lot of good motions. Everything they do is with a purpose, and they do a really good job of it. Obviously, Purdy operates it very well. McCaffrey's an elite back.

Got a good group of receivers, you know, kiddle that tie it in. I mean, they had a run where they were hottest offense in the league for like six, seven weeks in a row of late. Yeah. But those numbers, you can put them on the screen again. They're crazy.

You're like, what? I mean, Andy Reed, McVeigh, Sean Payton, other offensive innovators, they're great in the fourth quarter. Ben Johnson's been unbelievable with Detroit and in Chicago. The Niners aren't. Now, you could also say this. Is it because Jimmy Garoppolo, Mack Jones, and Brock Purdy are not guys that can just put an offense on their shoulders and carry him? Maybe.

But I do think there's a little bit of an inflexibility to how Kyle coaches. It's the only knock. I think there's an argument. He's the second best coach in the league. I think he's just an unbelievable coach. So there's four – it's so interesting. There were 14 quarterbacks in the playoffs, obviously, this weekend. 12 or first round guys.

Jalen Hertz, mid-second, Brock Purdy is a complete outlier, again, with a great quarterback whisper, Kyle Shanahan. And there's just this, there's a lot of different paths to becoming an NFL star quarterback, but mostly you've got to be drafted in the first round. But it's interesting. I was looking this morning at all the quarterbacks, and it's not necessarily who's better. There are kind of two styles of quarterbacks in the playoffs this weekend. And I would say there are game changers. These are the guys that may have a. size advantage, an athletic ability, horsepower advantage. And then there are guys I would call game

planners. They're more reliant on the game plan. If the play breaks down, there's limitations. So I think it's split right down the middle. I think seven guys have the ability, O-line breakdown, miss block, receiver falls, got to add lib.

I say it's Josh Allen, Herbert, Caleb, Darnold, Love, May, and Lawrence. All can take off and run. Very difficult. to play man-to-man coverage on those seven. You turn your back to these guys, you're in trouble. Then I think they're the guys that are mostly, I would call game planners. And by the way, Stafford and C.J. Stroud, huge fans of both are game planners,

whereas if the play breaks down, you're using a backup left tackle, your pass pro isn't as good, the running game is off. They're a little bit more tied to the game plan. And as much as I like C.J. Stroud, go look in the red zone. Houston's a really bad red zone offense. Why is that? Why would that beat? C.J. Stroud's one of the best pocket guys in the league because he doesn't take off and run for touchdowns. That's not what he does.

He's really, his comp coming out was a more athletic Jared Gough. Somebody asked me the other day about Fernando Mendoza's comp. I said it's a little bit of C.J. Stroud. He can move a little, but he's great in the pocket. Super accurate, tough guy. good arm strength, super accurate. I'm like, yeah, I mean, if you had to give me a guy in the league that I think Mendoza looks a little bit like, it's C.J. Stroud. So game changers, game planners, and it's not a criticism.

But I do think Stafford, when Stafford gets in trouble, the pass protection dips, and he has to hurry throws, and he can get a bit reckless, and he's not going to move out of the pocket. He can move within the pocket. He's not moving out of the pocket. Tom Brady, top of next hour. So, and I know Jay Mack, you're looking at Purdy saying what's going on, but I do think his history says he has been mostly reliant on Kittle playing and Trent Williams playing mostly in his career. Wait, are we talking about the running or the comebacks? No, I'm, I just think it's not about you're taking the outcome. What I'm saying is seven guys really are ability to change the play in a half second.

Go. Get a first step. That's not Stafford's game. That's not C.J. Stafford. Jalen Hertz is a really good scrambling quarterback. Has good, I mean, strong running yards, rushing yards.

Brock Purdy also in the pocket improvising. Bryce Young, you could argue, could belong in that category. But Bryce isn't dominant enough physically. And Jalen Hertz, of the six worst halves of the year in the NFL offensively, he's got like four of them. Yeah.

And two of them, he didn't complete a pass. Yeah. So, yeah, and I, it's, I mean, obviously, Stafford is one of the top seven quarterbacks in the league. But I do think there is an advantage to having Drake May and having Justin Herbert with average O lines. They can just move. Remember that?

You and I were watching. It was about seven, eight weeks ago. It was actually before he banged his hand. And you and I had watched the Chargers, and I forget the teams. They had beaten like Kansas City, and it was ugly. And we watched at the end of games, and Herbert was just like, I'm just going to pick up first down.

It might have been the Eagles game. It was the Eagle. And he was just like, I just got to pick up first down. It was like seven times. Yeah, that's not a game that Matt Stafford would have had success if his offensive line was that bad. And I've said this before. It is remarkable. Historically, and I forget who wrote this earlier in the week,

no quarterback has ever won a playoff game with an offensive line ranked as poorly as the Chargers. A playoff game. Oh, geez, that's not good. Never want a playoff game. So to me, the remarkable thing about Herbert is the fact that they're 11 and 6. How? They lost Slater and Alt months ago. And Minter's been excellent as a defensive coordinator. Let me go back to that other, the stat you had on Shanahan and the lack of comebacks.

I'm wondering, does that change his outlook on this game? A lot of coaches want to defer, we want the ball second half, right? Chance to double up. You get points late first half and then get the ball second. Do the Niners say we want the ball and we need to get an early lead here? We need to go down the field, get a lead, and make Jalen Hertz put the ball in the air. Absolutely. When you have a great game, play designer and play caller, take the ball. Yeah. Take the ball. Get the, I think, I don't know what the number is, but I think taking a lead in the NFL is like a 63% winner or it's like it's 58. I mean, it's absolutely an advantage. And the Niners have shown you they're not a great come from behind team.

Yeah, by the way, Trent Williams is going to be the most watched name on the injury report throughout the league this week. It's so good. If they don't have him, they're in trouble. Tom Brady's coming up. Blazing five tomorrow. Blazing four, maybe. 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 have 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 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 I-Heart 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 calling you. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game 7, Marquis keep coming to him. 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 IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Therapy is fantastic, but once again, it does not have a monopoly on healing. That's why I create the resources and that's why I create the community because I really just want you to have more access. On the podcast, Cultivating Her Space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. It's tough because we're suppressing our emotions and so many of us are like high-achieving individuals. Listen to Cultivating Her Space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast.

or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.