The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - Drake Maye continues to impress, getting ready for an AFC West showdown

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

Colin Cowherd breaks down why Patriots QB Drake Maye is skyrocketing into the NFL MVP conversation after another electric performance that pushes New England to 9-2 As we get set for a massive AFC West showdown between the Chiefs and Broncos, Colin thinks we’ll soon see a changing of the guard in the AFCSee 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ 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 harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until 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 Diana Maria Riva on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You think you're in control until you realize you're not. As they're having this gun battle, thousands of feet up in the air, many of the bullets start to puncture the aircraft. I thought we were going to die then.

The knife is a podcast about the moment ordinary lives take an unexpected turn. Real people. real stories and the split second that changes everything. New episodes drop every Thursday on the Exactly Right Network and the IHeart Podcast Network. Listen to The Knife on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, Rory and I welcome a very special guest. When I did a podcast, I wear my sleep mask.

I like where this is going. So if you guys will indulge me. That's right, the incredibly talented and hilarious Will Ferrell. on an episode dedicated to crimes committed by people named Will Ferrell. You're good for 300 crimes? Yeah. We got two. I'm ready to go right up to present day.

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Here we go. It is a Friday. Let's cap the week with a strong one, one hour from now. We have had a very, very strong year in the blazing 5, 58 percent. Guys in the desert, they'll be watching in one. hour. J-MACC, it's inevitable. When a young quarterback flourishes, everybody's like, well, is it the coach or is it the quarterback? We always got to give everybody credit. We've got to figure out who gets the credit. So that's all I'm hearing this morning. Well, is it Mike Frable,

or is it Drake May? And this is an easy one. Folks, all you have to do is look at the Washington Sanders. Why are they so bad this year? Because Jaden Daniels got hurt. Did Dan Quinn and Cliff Kingsbury forget how to coach? No. Jaden Daniels has hurt. The team stinks. In college football at 70-30, coach matters more than quarterback. He's head coach, GM, and therapist. In the NFL, flip it. Look at Mike Tomlin when he had Prime Big Ben Super Bowls. Old Big Ben playoffs, but couldn't beat good teams. Now, yikes. So the Colt Shane Steichen, was he a bummer? last year? No, they upgraded a quarterback to Daniel Jones. Andy Reid's entire

career. He's a very good coach. Now he's a legend. Why? You get smarter? LaHolmes. If you're looking at last night, 80% of the NFL winning games comes down to your quarterback making 5, 6, 7 throws, or

decisions. High level execution that wins games. Mike Frable's not winning that game last night with Justin Fields as his quarterback. Because it was a reasonably close game. But Drake May made six or seven decisions in throws that are incredibly high level. That kid is so good on first down. It's amazing. He had a jump pass, a couple sideline throws. That's the difference. I mean, Mike Vrable certainly elevates him.

Mike Vrable made Ryan Tannahill a number one seed. Remember that in Tennessee? Who did Vrable get beat by that year in the playoffs? At home, as a favorite. Zach Taylor. That's not who beat him. Joe Burrow beat him with a much worse roster. And Vrable knows that. I mean, and Vrable, like Belichick, understands that a lot of times, just give it to the coordinator and the quarterback. It's a little harder to do when Drake May is young, but I mean, Belichick largely, Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels ran the offense.

They were on the phone constantly. So Josh McDaniels probably the best offensive coordinator in the league last decade. I guarantee he and Drake May are running most of the offense. And that's not a knock. I mean, but I mean, you. watch the Jets offense, it looks like a service academy. They run on third and eight. That's, that's like Jurassic. That's awful. But I watched that game last night. There's another one of his throws right there. He just made about six or seven big plays in a reasonably close game.

There's another one. You know, back of the linebacker, in front of the safety. That's what the kid does. And, you know, again, I am not saying that Reed doesn't deserve credit for Mahomes. In college, Mark Few is Gonzaga basketball. Nick Saban was Bama football. They recruit, they develop, they're the therapist, they're the GM, they work the cap, they do the international stuff, they make

every decision. That's not the way it works. Brable doesn't want to make every decision. He's trying to build a culture. You see this thing he does? He's every, you've been doing this for years. That's culture building. He is a player's coach, and he wants to you can't do everything.

You can't do that, coach the offense, the defense, the defense, do the cap. That's what Belichick tried to do. Old Belichick tried to do that. He took over personnel. He was terrible at it. He was a great culture builder and a great defensive coach. So Rabel's absolutely a huge part of this.

But in the NFL, it's always felt like to me it's 65, 35, 75, 75, 70, 30. You've got to have the guy that can execute at a high level, intellectually, physically, emotionally, and that is a potential MVP, Drake May. Drake has a feel to get those MVP chance and just have people recognize the way you're playing right now. Yeah. It may be in for Trayvion tonight. He scored three touchdowns. So, no, I think it's our friends have been great with, you know, me since I got here. So I got drafted. And I think, I just appreciate them for, you know, embracing me, just trying to embrace this city and, you know, give these fans in this team and, you know,

just myself, just leave it all out there and give me everything I got. Here's the other thing about Drake May. He's unbelievable on first down. He completes 78% of his throws on first down. Last night he was 9 for 11. That is the highest completion percentage on first down since they've tracked it. And they're always ahead of the chains. What did Belichick say about Brady?

When they asked Belichick about Brady, his greatest thing, he didn't say his arm. You know what he said? He didn't go backwards. No pre-stamp penalties. Didn't take a lot of sacks. We always had second and five. second and four, second and six. I mean, Justin Fields, you don't know what you get by second down.

With Drake May, you're ahead of the chains that opens up the playbook for Josh McDaniels. It opens up the playbook, the culture for Mike Vrable. So much of what Drake May does is what Brady does. Now, he's a more athletic version of Brady, and he's not right now pre-snap as good as Brady. But Brady was so good on first down. never planned behind the sticks. That's exactly what Drake May does. It's a gift. He's great at it.

You know, I said they were going to double their win total from last year. My bad, they're going to triple it. Okay, so Kansas City's at Denver. They are a favorite, but they're at Denver. And I made a bold proclamation before the year. I said, the dynasty's over. I did not say Kansas City would fail to make the playoffs. I said, they'll make the playoffs.

And they're going to win another Super Bowl. Andy Reid and Mahomes may win another Super Bowl. But this is going to the AFC championship every year, going to the Super Bowl every year, that's done. And they'll be good. They'll be a playoff team, but you're not going to get four more trips to the Super Bowl in five years. And if they lose to Denver, they're five and five.

And four games behind the Broncos. So only one team's ever started five and five and won a Super Bowl. The reason I made this proclamation was, Mahomes is really expensive. Chris Jones and Kelsey are really old. It gets harder. Andy Reid's 67. But mostly I said, Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton in division. You're not going to win this thing going away. You're going to have to get in as a wildcard team. One of the great advantages Brady had very early, I think in his career. Peyton Manning was in the AFC East and they moved into the AFC South.

You know, they realign the divisions. So Tom just got buys and Tom got home playoff game. to the very end when he had to go to Denver and play in the snow. But Tom was in Foxboro. Tom was at home. Tom was comfortable. Tom got an extra week of prep. He got the buy. Those days are over for Kansas City.

You're not getting that number one seed anymore. Not with Peyton in the building. Say what you want about Bo Nix. Not with Harbaugh and Herbert in the building. You're not getting that number one seat. And so I've said this before. So much of Sabin's run was the incompetency of the rest of the SEC. So much of LeBron's dominance in the NBA was the

competence of the NBA's Eastern Conference. It's very, very hard. Once Kirby's Smart, Texas get into the SEC, and Nick Saban's like, get me out of here. Urban Meyer dominated the SEC. Then Nick Saban arrived. Right? It's hard to be a dominant golfer, skier,

team when you got an all-timer, breathing down your neck. And so Sean Payton and Jim Harbar arguably, the second and third best coach in the league. and Andy may be the first. It's just a natural progression. Mahomes is getting older, and he's a little more expensive,

and then you can't miss on his many draft picks, and every good GM misses on draft picks. You can't miss on them now because you don't have the ability to go buy players when your quarterback costs what Josh Allen does or Herbert does or Mahomes does. You can't. So I think the game is,

it is not in my Blazing Five. I said, you know, if it was only minus three, I think I would take Kansas City. It's three and a half, so it's a stay away for me. And here's Patrick on facing the rival Broncos. I think you understand this game's important. I think that's the biggest thing. I mean, it's a divisional game. They're always important.

But with them having the lead and that's needing to go out there and win to have a chance to win the division, I think guys understand that. So if you lose this game, it's going to be with them having the tiebreaker and would that be like four games ahead of us. It would be tough to go back and get that one. But all you can do is just handle this week, and that's why you can really worry about. And we still play a lot of great football teams.

But like I said, I feel like if we play our best, we can beat anybody. So I said when I said the dynasty is over, the reason I said that also is look at last year. They were 11-0 in one possession games. That was impressive. But what wasn't, they were in 11-1 possession games. Oh, that's because Jim Harbaugh arrived in the division. and Sean Payton was in year two and had his quarterback in division.

So, I mean, the Raiders are non-competitive. They're a mess. But I said before, I'm not sure there's ever been a division in football that has had a a Jim Harbaugh and Andy Reed and is Sean Peyton. That's as good as coaching gets. I mean, the Rams, you think, yeah, they should win their division every year. Well, Kyle Shanahan's in division. And now Mike McDonald's in division.

So it matters. It really does. I think this is going to be a great game. I like Kansas City, but I don't love them for the obvious reasons. Denver at home and Sean Payton in spots like this is really good. Really good. So J. Mack, Blazing 5 one hour from now, the best game of the year probably, and sometimes it doesn't work out that way.

But Seattle at L.A. to take on the Rams, that is one of my blazing five picks. I like Seattle in that game. I got to tell you, what's fascinating about that game is, Is there an argument that Mike McDonald is the defensive version of Sean McVeigh? I mean, he's literally a culture changer six minutes in the building. 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. Fox Sports Radio is taking over YouTube, and you can be a part of it. Pay attention!

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And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. 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. 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.

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 for 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. 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-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 Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva,

actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you have a lot. a paramedopausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast.

How hard can it be with the Adamaniariva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive.

Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. 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, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of My Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ 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 flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. 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 Eye

Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From My Heart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk.

One city, a divided country, in the war that tore America. America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me? They're pouring patrol all over him. He's holding matches.

I'm on a landmine. For freedom. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run! Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting here's madness. The world should hear about this.

There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, General Manager John Snyder of the Seattle Seahawks wanted to find his Sean McVeigh. And I've generally been a believer in because the rules now favor offense. If you can hire an offensive coach, do it. But Snyder would argue he did find Sean McVeigh, the defensive version in Mike McDonald.

Handsome, fit, smart, intense, a culture builder, pro player. but tough on players. That's Sean McVey on defense. So remember that Washington coaching tree when they had LaFleur, McVeigh, Shanahan, Mike McDonald. Well, Mike McDonald, he did the Harbaugh tree.

He was with the Ravens and John Harbaugh, and then Jim Harbaugh needed a defensive coordinator called his brother, and he went to Michigan, and he crushed in both. So, and it's really McVeigh. The minute he walks in the door, he's got a presence. That's what I've said about Mike Kafka with the Giants. I hear

he didn't have much of a presence. This guy walks into a room. Big chest, handsome, fit, smart, intense, looks like an athlete, players, why into him? And that's the thing is McVeigh instantly. The Rams offense with all the jet sweeps, it just looked different. Seattle, the minute Mike McDonald walk in, three things became very clear. Number one, they were going to be a physical team running the football. Number two, hyper-aggressive. It's why he loves Sam Darnel as a quarterback. Sam loves to let it fly down the field. It's why he just made, the GM just made a Rashid-Saheed deal from New Orleans. More deep balls.

JSN, more deep balls. So the third thing, it's very obvious, is special teams means a lot. Seattle special teams are excellent. So, and I always say this, Pete Carroll, old school, left Seattle. And he was a defensive guy. Literally a month in, the defense was better with a new school guy, defensive head coach. So everybody wants the next McVeigh. They found it just on the defensive side.

And you can see poor coaching, Jets, and really smart coaching. McVeigh takes over the Rams. McDonald takes over Seattle. You can see it instantly. Mostly by identity. What are you? Right now, New England. Unbelievable on first down.

Tough, better defense. Don't make a lot of mistakes. That's that. Seattle, Greg Kossel talked about it yesterday. their hyper-aggressive defense, how it stacks up with the Rams. You're dealing with the two defenses that stunt the most of any team in the league. They don't necessarily blitz a high percentage, but they're very aggressive with their multiple stunt concepts,

and they've got a lot of defensive linemen up front who are very good at that, whether they're penetrators, whether they're loopers, and that's how they generate pressure, and they're very aggressive. And I think an overlooked player is the rookie for Seattle, Nick Imanwari, who's being used by Mike McDonald, kind of the, way he used Kyle Hamilton in Baltimore. Yeah, it's a back end of the front. Seattle is the real deal.

They've been a bit less efficient, a little more reckless because they take a lot of shots down the field. You know, Puka doesn't go down the field deep that often. JSN does. So Seattle takes a few more shots down the field. And they're going to have a few more turnovers. But you can see it, man. You can see an identity.

minute he walked into Kirkland and Seahawk camp. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, let's get started with the Eagles and the A.J. Brown saga. I think we're calling it a saga now. Well, we're advancing the story because Sequin Barkley has chimed in.

He is backing his teammate, the embattled wide receiver. You're never going to play a perfect game. And we know that the way we played on Monday, more times or not, we play that game against a lot of teams. We're going to lose. But that's why you have to have common in football. The defense came out played big for us. But we know we got improved. And that's the mindset.

So whether it's we score 10 or whether we score 40, you know, AJ's not saying anything wrong. We're always looking for them to approve. Stand-alone game. Big standalone game. You better feed the ball to AJ Brown. Oh, stop it. What do you mean feed him? Stick to your game plan.

If he's going to be a petulant little child, let him. As long as you're winning, I don't want to hear the junk, right? Wouldn't you agree with that? I agree. It was a joke. I think the worst thing you can do is appease and force the ball like they did at the end of the game against Green Bay. Do your thing? Players unhappy.

Who says everybody in the locker room is going to love the coast? There's always somebody unhappy in pro sports. And you look at the Detroit secondary. I know Branch is pretty good on the back end, but their corners are not. not great. This could be a nice AJ Brown game. It doesn't look like weather's going to be a factor in Philly, Colin, for this one. I like the Eagles here. Favored by two and a half. Are you going Lions? No, I think Philly's the play. I think Green Bay's defense is pretty good, and I think

it's hard to play. Lambo, you know, that was a tough night for both offenses. I think they'll get unleashed here. And also, there's some key injuries to Detroit. Penae Sewell, Sam Leporta. Did they practice? Will they play? so the offense may not have the same zip. And it's also cold weather. You look at the weather when it gets under 50 degrees, when it gets cold, Jared Goff. He's okay as a road quarterback. He's not a very good cold quarterback.

Yeah. All right, let's move to the Buffalo Bills. They had a, you know, let's just say not a great effort against the Miami Dolphins. It happens sometimes, Colin. You know, the great teams don't show up. They scored just 13 points and did not have 100 yards rushing. So that prompted the media to ask Sean McDermott, whether Buffalo is still finding its offensive identity.

Silly question. Here's what he had to say. I think we're finding ourselves a little bit. Again, the mention of different wide receivers in there and this and that. And some guys out due to injury, some not. And it's not what you want, but it's okay. We've got to continue to find our best combinations, if that makes sense, Mike, right? With who gives us the best chance to win?

and, you know, where can we find the rhythm and the passing game? Yeah, good luck. I like Buffalo. I think if there was one game that could start a bit of an inferno this weekend, it would be Tampa going up to Buffalo and winning. Well, our Monday lead would be Sean McDermott. Can he coach Buffalo? That's the one game on the board.

I mean, if Detroit beat Philly, it's not the end of the world. If the Seahawks upset the Rams, if Kansas City beat Denver. I mean, most of this stuff. But Buffalo comes home. Now they went from 100 degrees in the humidity. Now they're back to their kind of weather. And they play a warm weather team up north, advantage Buffalo.

But if they lost, that's your lead on Monday. A Buffalo can't get right on track. If the Chiefs lose, that might be a bigger story. But that being said, Colin, I got to ask you, like this does feel like a must win. The weather looks like it's going to be very bad, which should give Buffalo an edge. Tampa's beat up. Can I ask you about Dalton Kincaid? You know in Buffalo they're starting to call him

Dalton first aid because he's always hurt. The guy can't stay healthy. And when he's off the field, the offense, it's not as dynamic because they don't have that middle of the field guy. He's their best tied-in. He can block, he can catch. I mean, he's there- Frankly, I think he's a better weapon than any receiver they have.

I take him over Keon Coleman as a factor. He was a first round tight end for a reason. He came out of Utah. He was a good blocker right out of college, which most tight ends aren't. Yeah, so the bills, This is kind of a tell here. They signed me, Cole Hardman and Gabe Davis to the practice squad.

Okay? That usually means something's going on with the wide receiver room. Don't love the vibes in Buffalo, but I am on them in this one. Final story, Colin, you know, we have to talk about Caleb Williams every day now. He's your guy, your new man in Chicago. Caleb Williams and Chicago, six and three things are absolutely rolling. Hey, how about this? Caleb's sack numbers, which are ghastly a year ago, have dropped from 38 through 10,

games last season to just 14. Here's Caleb addressing those lower sacks. It's huge. Partly, you know, the part of it is the guys I got up front. They've been awesome for me and for us. And so, you know, kudos to them and love those guys up front. And the other half of it is, you know, I think coaches emphasis on me getting the ball out. And then, you know, when it's, you know, when it's time to go make a play, make the plays. And, you know, it's time to throw it away, throw it away. And so I think just doing a better job with that overall this year. And I got to keep getting better with that and try and lower the sacks.

By the way, first thing Sean Payton did in Denver, fix the O line. McVeigh, first move in L.A., get Andrew Whitworth left tackle. What's the first thing Ben Johnson did? He went to Ryan Poles and said, get me an elite center and Joe Tuny and Jonah Jackson. First thing, offensive coaches, head coaches do when they take over place. Fix the O line. That's where all of it starts. Joe Tunney, Drew Dalman, Jonah Jackson. That is an elite trio. Sean Payton did the same thing. He took Denver's messy O line to like 11th and to seventh. This year, I think they're one or two. So they got the right coach and he puts the priority on the right stuff. And we said before the year, I didn't care about wins.

You got to cut the sacks by 50%. That was number one. And they've done it by 70%. You know, again, I think we touched on this this week, this idea, when you got the quarterback on the rookie deal, you can spend anywhere. They chose to spend on the offensive line, which was great, because Ben Johnson's DNA is running the football. And Colin, it's working out great. I don't, I kind of want the Vikings here, huh? Are you, the Bears getting three, Caleb? Listen, you know Flores is going to dial up some pressure. And he kind of flustered Lamar Jackson.

Lamar was not great last week. We saw what he did a couple weeks ago to Jared Gough. I think they had some like 17 quarterback hits. The problem with Minnesota right now is Brian Flores can do everything he wants. When you're three and out, when you don't extend drives, you keep giving teams like Baltimore better field position,

better field. After about eight, nine drives, you cash in at least get field goals. Chicago should win the field position game because they'll move the ball enough to win that battle. So Caleb's going to start on average with better field position over his 12 drives than J.J. How about this?

If J.J. McCarthy goes 2 and O against Caleb Williams this week, we have to put a cap on Caleb Williams stories next week. Never. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Well, whenever it's college or pro, and this is why I've always defended Lincoln Riley, I always say with the new coach, does he at least get his side of the ball right? USC's offense since Lincoln arrived,

top two or three in the country. Aaron Glenn got hired by the Jets as a defensive guy. Dude, Robert Saul's last three years in New York, top five defenses, all three years. Aaron Glenn has destroyed, has nuked the Jets defense. It's now terrible. Forget the fact he can't handle press conferences.

Basic press conference. It was fighting with me. Forget the fact the offense looks like a service. Academy. I mean, it's just, it's embarrassing. Their defense, opposing quarterbacks against the Jets this year have 18 touchdowns and no picks. They have one takeaway all season. Second worst in the league is six. I mean, it's like the guy took over McDonald's and he can't even get the French fries right. I didn't ask for new menu items. I didn't ask for the milkshake machine to work at McDonald's. It never does. Just keep the fries great. We didn't ask him to do a lot. Just keep the defense good.

And the judge's defense has no identity. It's bad. They don't take the ball away. The pressure's inconsistent. I'm not going to beat up on it for the media stuff, which is embarrassing, or the offense. That's not his side of the ball. But you got to get the defense right. You got to know what you're doing defensively.

And you can say what you want about Robert Sala, and I admit, I think Sala should get another head coaching job. But Sala's defenses were really good. Well, they traded sauce Gardner and Quentin Williams recently. So, I mean, I'm not asking for new items on the menu here. Just keep the stuff that was good, good. That's all I'm asking. So when people say, well, Carl, and you said this year one with Dan Campbell in Detroit, no, I didn't.

No, I did not. I said year one, when they were losing six one possession games about Dan Campbell, I said, I hate his press conferences, but God, this team plays hard. They were crazy aggressive. crazy aggressive. Going forward on fourth down, he created an identity. The lines were playing their butt off.

They just had a terrible defense. That was pre-Aidan Hutchison. You got to show me something. He can't do it defensively. And then he's got, you know, here, remember before the season when, and I'm, you know, I know Aaron Rogers can be a little difficult.

I'm not denying that. But there was a moment there was a tell. Aaron Rogers got in his private jet, flew all the way cross-country because he still wanted to play football and he wanted to be in New York jet. And do you remember what happened? I'll read you the story. He goes, it was really strange. I thought we were going to have this long conversation. I flew across the country.

Twenty seconds in, Aaron leans in the edge of his seat and says, say, well, I'll play football. And I'm like, yeah, I'm interested. And he was like, yeah, we're going in a different direction to quarterback. He goes, I was shocked. Not shocked because I didn't think it was a possibility. Shocked because I just flew across the country. You could have told me over the phone. And when I heard that, and I text a few executives in the league, they were like, yeah, that's not great.

You don't want to treat players like that. Word's going to get out. Just, I mean, listen, you got to treat employees well. Professional football players. young or old, they're employees. You don't treat them well if you're the manager, if you're the coach, if you're the CEO. So I thought that was weird. And he can't deal with the media, but I'm not going to beat him up for that or the offense,

which are in net. But the defense is horrible. It's got no identity. I was texting with an executive last night. I'm like, what am I watching? So if we can get rid of quarterbacks, if we can one and done quarterbacks, can you not do it with a coach? I mean, I remember Freddie Kitchens.

I was like Baker doesn't respect him. The body language is weird. Freddie Kitchens is not an NFL head coach. Remember that in Cleveland? I'm like, yeah, that doesn't work. That's not going to work. Mike McDaniel at least showed signs offensively. And Mike McDaniels on the hot seat,

but Mike McDaniels, in the first couple years, with all that motion, we were like, man, that's a sophisticated offense. He may not make it, but you saw things with Mike McDaniel. You're like, okay, that does work. That is smart. So I'm not, I don't like people going cross-country, getting a new job, but opposing quarterbacks this year have 18 touchdowns, no picks, and have a passer rating at 104. And I remember years ago, and I've defended Kyler Murray to the end.

I have been a Kyler Murray guy to the point where I get made fun of on this show. But there are these little tells during job interviews. my wife used to be in HR and she'd say, you know, people would say things in job interviews, and you're like, I can't believe somebody said that the job interview. You do see glimpses on dates. They say men need eight seconds. Women need eight minutes to decide, yes, I'll get intimate with that person, right? Like stuff happens very quickly.

I always said it's American Idol. I don't know music. I can listen for 15 seconds and go, that's a hack, that's a star, that's a good lounge singer. It's not that difficult. And I always said, I've been a Kyler Murray fan. But remember that interview before he played in the NFL with Dan Patrick. Remember that? I'll play a little bit.

Remember this interview. Are you going to the combine? Oh, no. Well, wait, wait. Dad, is he going to the combine? Dad had no comment there. Wait, are you going to spring training? Oh, no.

Wait, you don't know? Dad, is he going to spring training? Another no comment here. Okay, so that's weird. You're the most verbal position in sports quarterback. It's just odd. Well, from that to hear, there have been questions about his commitment. Does he like baseball more?

Does he put the time in? Doesn't mean he's a bad human being. But it was a tell. It's like that, that's weird. That's a quarterback. I'm all for quirky, not a quarterback. So the Aaron Glenn, the fighting stuff, the Aaron Rogers stuff is like, I don't know. I don't know, man.

But more than anything, okay, let's just go look at the defense. I'm not going to blame him for media. I'm not going to blame him for arguing with New York Post reporters. I'm not going to crush him on the offense. Let's just go look at his defense. It's awful. There's nothing to it. That's why I defend the Lincoln Riley's.

USC's offense has been unbelievable. Number one in the nation, like three times in four or five years. I don't know if he can build a culture, but he knows offense. I mean, the Mike McDonald, for the Seahawks, first year, took the 28th defense to 11th. I'm like, yeah, that guy knows defense. I don't know if he's going to be a head coach. Now, in year two, you're like, yeah, the defense's even better. So I got to judge you on your expertise, because I know building culture is hard.

I know the other side of the ball is hard. I know the media can be obnoxious in big cities. That defense, there's nothing to it. Well, Colin, it's hard to be a good defense when your offense can't move the football. I mean, 121 passing yards this week. I think they had 54 last week. There's so much pressure on the defense. But I'll say this.

Listen, last year with the Patriots, Gerard Mayo was a dumpster fire. We both saw that. It was obvious. However, they had a man, oh, we want Vrabel. We're going all end of Rable. We got him. I understood that. If you want to go one and done with Glenn, one and done with Glenn, that's fine, Colin.

But I need a name. I need a short fire. Mike McCarthy. 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 12. 12 and 5, 3 years in row in Dallas. I'm aware. I like him. You want to pair him with Mendoza, fine. I'll get on board with that, but I don't know that McCarthy's going to want to go to the Jets.

Remember, he left the 12-win Cowboys team because the owner was nutty. So is he going to want to get back in? What do they say? Out of the frying pan into the pot. You're a Jets fan. Yeah, I am. Isn't it legitimate that at least get the defense right? Well, it's a little harder.

You know, it was a little harder last night when you trade away Quinn and Williams and Sauce Gardner. Yeah, but it was bad before that. It was bad before. They have solid against the Browns. They've had one takeaway all season. Yeah, I know that's... The whole season. The second fewest in the league is six.

Yeah. They did do a good job against Drake. Not Drake, Bay. Bo Nix, your guy. They bottled him up in London. Everybody. Everybody's done a good job against Bo Nix. Everybody.

We got some players, but it's a work in progress. You know, it's a rebuild. I'm rooting for Glenn, but I would agree. A prime example. Cleveland has Dylan. Gabriel. Dylan Gabriel has not thrown a pick in a couple of games and it's had multiple touchdowns in the last couple of games.

We don't think Dylan Gabriel's great. But clearly, Stefansky is taking Dylan Gabriel and every week Dylan Gabriel looks better. He's limited. I'm not saying Dylan Gabriel's Drake May, but you can see Dylan Gabriel today and Dylan Gabriel five weeks ago, four weeks ago.

He's getting better. You've got to make stuff better on your side of the ball. Not a lot of progress on the defense. Be sure to catch live 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 it. 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, 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, for 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. 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. you find clarity, peace, and self-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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying 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 would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the bar like, 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.

Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a perimenopausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS.

All of a sudden, I'd have. hangingness happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How can it be getting naked at 50 with a new guy?

That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. 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, and dive into it unfiltered. and unbothered and asked, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Heart Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of My Cultura Podcast Network

available on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From IHeart Podcasts. Saigon.

Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me?

They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. For free time. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run! Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict.

Sting here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Start your Saturday strong as Michigan clashes with Northwestern at a special venue. Historic Wrigley Field. It all starts with Big Noon kickoff at 10 a.m. Eastern, live from the Heart of Shire. Chicago. Colin Coward is rumored to make an appearance. Then it's Michigan Northwestern.

Big noon Saturday only on Fox. So we talked about this yesterday and now it came out in the athletic today. Multiple executives saying, I don't like any of these quarterbacks in college. Now the problem is, as far as I can count, there are nine teams that probably need to draft a quarterback. There's five where it's not arguable. draft a quarterback with your first pick. You mostly know those five teams that should draft a quarterback. Cleveland, the Jets, the Raiders, the Saints, the Steelers, draft a quarterback, first pick.

There's four others that need to strongly consider drafting a quarterback, maybe not their first pick, but somewhere close. Arizona, Miami, L.A. and Minnesota, that's nine. Well, I'm reading this story this morning, executives in the NFL saying, I don't love any of the quarterbacks right now. The other one said, nobody's playing the position well enough to take over my franchise. Now, I do believe Mendoza, Fernando Mendoza, last weekend, separated himself from all the other quarterbacks.

I like Dante Moore, but he's 20. Most believe he's going to come back. I like Lenora Sellers, the kid at South Carolina. Raw, again, he's 20, 21 years old. Not playing that great. dinged up. Those are the other two guys I like. Dante Moore and Lenora Sellers. I think Mendoza separated himself, 6'5, big arm. They say he's a great leader, really, really driven to be great. I think when he went to Oregon and lit up the ducks, you know, I think he's

separated. The winner in this, though, the San Francisco 49ers. So when Brock Pretty gets hurt, that's bad news, right? But it did give them an opportunity to show the world. that Mac Jones can play. Mac's been excellent this year without having Ricky Pirsall or Brandon IUk. He's been excellent. So think about this. The Niners are old

and they're expensive and they're brittle. They need to get young. Nine teams need to draft a quarterback and Mendoza is not only separating Dante Morin's sellers may not come out. So then you're looking at

maybe Ty Simpson at Bama like, don't love, arms okay, not hyper-athletic. It's Bama. Their quarterbacks live a different life collegiately than a real life in pro football. So I think the Niners have massive leverage. They could hold out for a second or a third round pick and you think it's nutty. But go look at those nine teams. You've got coaches that don't want to lose their job. Mac Jones may not be the prospect Mendoza is. But I would take him for the next two years. over the other guys.

And I mean, like the Jets, the Browns, the Raiders, the Saints, the Steelers, they don't have a choice. They've got to take a quarterback with their first or second pick. And I think the Rams, Vikings, Dolphins, and Arizona should as well. Here's Albert Brewer on the upcoming quarterback class and decisions that will be made. There are some teams that are already looking at the idea of like, you know, what we do in the offseason and could there be another Sam Darnold Baker-Mafield, Daniel Jones, Gino-Smith, type of story out there. to go and seize upon, especially, like you said, with the draft class, maybe not looking like what people had hoped it would be coming into the year.

You know, Nussmeier gets benched in the middle of the Alabama game. Drew Aller is hurt, right? Like Lenora Sellers, maybe going back to school. Fernando Mendoza looks like he's going to go high up, but he may be the only first rounder at this point. You know, we have to let those things play out, but right now it does look like there's going to be more teams needing quarterbacks than are going to be available.

Yeah, and that's big. big leverage for San Francisco. And, I mean, you look at the current draft order. Tennessee doesn't need one. Somebody's going to move to that number one spot. Tennessee is going to be able to get a smorgasborda picks because somebody's moving up to the number one spot. Saint at two need one.

Jets at three need one. Giants four don't. Browns do. Raiders do. Dolphins have offensive line needs, pass rusher needs. I can see the dolphins drafting a quarterback with their second or third pick. getting a Lenora Sellers if he came out in the second round. I could get that.

Commanders don't need one. Bengals don't, but they should probably draft one fourth, fifth, six round. Burroughs health and concern. Rams don't need one immediately. They have two first round picks. My take on the Rams is they're going to get either a corner or an offensive tackle with their first pick. They'll take a Sellers, you know, a raw kid that's not ready quite ready to play.

late in the first round. But there's some no doubt about it teams. I don't remember the last year where it looks like seven of the ten teams in the top ten could all take a quarterback. And it looks like I like Dante more a lot, but he is 20. And that was the Sam Darnold issue when he came out.

Sam was 21. He was too young. 20 is really young to go into the pros. So we both like Mendoza, right? We like what we've seen. I don't know that he's a generational, got a trade up to get him kind of quarterback. We'll see during the process, but I don't know that that's the case, Colin. So who's offering the Titans a boatload of picks to go up for an enemy under?

I don't think anyone is. Because guess what, especially if you're the Jets, you could either take a quarterback here, take one later in the draft, and you could take one in 27 because you have three picks. I think, you know who I think the team is is Cleveland. Because if you look at Cleveland's defense, they've drafted very well. they've got good players. In fact, I was thinking this morning, if Mac Jones went to Cleveland,

and they still have the Deshaun Watson pay, so they'd rather get a rookie quarterback, if Mac Jones went to Cleveland, I think Cleveland would be a nine. They'd be my double win total team next year. I think their roster, go look at Cleveland's roster. Their defense in the NFL at home is significantly better than any other defense in the league, period.

So you think Mac Jones could turn the Browns from, like, a four and 13 team to a nine-win team? Absolutely. Come on. Five wins for Mack Jones? Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Well, based on what we've seen this year, maybe, but remember, he also stunk it up in Jacksonville

was atrocious filling in at the end. Again, again, Stefansky's a legitimate coach. Mack's not a superstar. Cleveland's roster is really good. It's the Colts. I said, I've been on the Colts the last two years. I'm like, the roster's great. terrible at quarterback. Well, the coach are going to win their division going away.

I said, what I said with New England, I'm like, Vrable and Drake May, they just spent $300 million on players. They're going to win games. I'm telling you, I've hit it four years in a row. If Mack Jones went to Cleveland, or if they got Mendoza, because I think Mendoza is a day one starter, I would take Cleveland as my double win total team next year. Go look at Cleveland. Go online. Look at the Brown's depth chart. No, but the problem is you've got to face Lamar twice and Joe Burrow twice. Yeah. Will they be available?

You're bullish on the Browns, huh? Do you like them this weekend against the Ravens? I actually do. Is it Blazoned 5? Yeah. All right. My goodness. Blazoned 5.

I think we've had six or seven winning weeks. A little bit of a smoke show. We want that smoke. We want that smoke. Back. 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 get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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, Marquis come until 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. 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 fupas 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 Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You think you're in control until you realize you're not. As they're having this gun battle, thousands of feet up in the air, many of the bullets start to puncture the aircraft.

I thought we were going to die then. The Knife is a podcast about the moment ordinary lives take an unexpected turn. Real people, real stories, and the split second that changes everything. New episodes drop every Thursday on the Exactly Right Network and the IHeart Podcast Network. Listen to The Knife on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, Rory and I welcome a very special guest.

When I did a podcast, I wear my sleep mask. I like where this is going. So if you guys will indulge me. That's right, the incredibly talented and hilarious Will Ferrell on an episode dedicated to crimes committed by people named Will Ferrell. You're good for 300 crimes? Yeah. We got two.

I'm ready to go right up to present day. Listen to Crimless on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.