The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - JJ McCarthy getting praise, Ben Johnson admitting his mistakes, defending the Ravens

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

Colin discusses all the praise Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy is getting for his 4th quarter comeback against the Bears and explains why organizational support is underrated in the NFL He gives his thoughts on Bears HC Ben Johnson owning his mistakes during his teams loss against the Vikings Colin also defends the Ravens and Lamar Jackson for another late game collapse by sharing evidence mostly great teams in the NFL have the most blown leadsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice.

Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro, and these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door, and he jumped in a car and drove off.

And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio, app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority black city, in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people.

Listen to Rebel Spirit season two on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. We are live. We are in Chicago, and it is The Herd, wherever you may be, however you may be watching or listening.

Thanks for making us part of your day. It's Wednesday, meaning Joel Clout one hour from now as we head into a college football weekend. You know, Jay Mack, I listen to Chicago radio this morning. They're all worked up. Everybody. I had three different people. What do you make of Caleb Williams? I said it's a long season.

I'm not sure. But I was thinking about this this morning. We're both parents. And you know, parents want their kids to be number one. Number one in the class, valedictorian. Got a start on the basketball team number one. It's all nonsense. It's all nonsense.

Where you go to college, where do you fit best? Is where you should go to college. If you're going to be a success, Phil Knight started. at Oregon. He eventually went to Stanford, but he started, you know, at Oregon, and that's kind of the reality of life. It's about fit. Here's where

finishing number one doesn't necessarily help you. Getting drafted as a quarterback. J.J. McCarthy was the fifth quarterback taken, and Bo Nix was the sixth. Yet they got Kevin O'Connell and they got Sean Payton. Lamar Jackson,

last quarterback, first round, last player actually, went to the Ravens. Patrick Mahomes, the 10th pick, went to the stable chiefs, Josh Allen, third quarterback taken, Aaron Rogers, Dan Marino, fell in the first round. One got Don Shula, Super Bowl, second year. The other one got, you know, the Packers. I don't know how good J.J. McCarthy is. I don't know how good Bo Nix is, but I suspect they're both going to win their division a lot, and over the course of 15 years, they're going to win a bunch of games because I think Kevin O'Connell is the best young offensive coach in football. I know Sean McVeigh, yeah, but I mean, I don't even consider Sean McVey young anymore, right?

Like he's a veteran head coach. And that's a lot of it. There are a lot of bad coaching staffs in this league. And even when you get a coach that's not bad, pretty good Mike Tomlin, it doesn't mean he has any understanding or any sensibility on how to help a young quarterback. If you go look at Jared Goff's entire career, it is tied to how good is coached. is. And the Minnesota Vikings, my wife used to live and work in Minnesota, not a big sports fan. And we were talking about Minnesota beating the Bears because we now live in Chicago. And she

said, well, the Vikings are always good, right? And I'm like, yeah, that's right. The Vikings are always good. They always have good owners. They always have a good front office, a good general manager, a solid coach. I mean, Sam Darnold and Kirk Cousins both finished top 10 in offense. I mean, Sam Darnold's career was over. And all of a sudden, he's MVP talk. I don't think that would have happened. Didn't happen in Carolina. Didn't happen to the Jets. So this idea, our society is you've got to finish number one. Where do you fit best? I don't care if it's a high school choice, which a lot of times you don't have options.

But when it's a college choice, the Ivy League isn't for everybody. Big state schools, you know, Texas, you know, they're not for everybody. Some kids need more tutoring, smaller schools. Some kids may need vocational schools, a junior college, whatever it takes. But I look at Bo Nix. You know, Bo Nix, in September, I looked at us up this morning, in September in his career, two touchdowns, six picks. Yet Bo Nix has a winning record in September. That's called organizational support and coaching support.

He's been bad in September, and he has a winning record in the AFC in a division with Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes. You're not doing that with bad coaching. So, J.J. McCarthy, Jim Harbaugh to Kevin O'Connell. I'm sorry, a part of his success is that. It's not fair. Baker Mayfield got Cleveland and Hugh Jackson. Mahomes got Andy Reed and the Hunt family. Now, I think Mahomes is better than Baker, and it took Baker a while to prove he could be a franchise guy you could trust. And I do think talent eventually finds its way, but in the NFL, injuries, regulated,

levels of violence. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you get banged up. Drew Brees wanted to be a Miami Dolphin and they wouldn't let him. And thank God Sean Payton was there. Right? Like banged up in San Diego. Dolphins are not interested. Team doctor says no. What if Sean Peyton doesn't exist? One of the all-time greats gets another situation where it's just not perfect for him. So, listen, man, we all know this the longer you live. Parenting, is not fair. Some people get bad parents and bad bosses and bad coaches. And I just, all I know is I look at J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix. One is the fifth quarterback taken. One is the sixth quarterback taken. I mean, through three quarters, J.J. McCarthy was about as bad as you can be

in the NFL at quarterback. That pick six was Will Levis stuff. But his coach stayed with him, hung with him, supported him. Here's Kevin O'Connell on JJ's budding bond with his teammates. All the credit in the world should go to JJ and his teammates. I mean, that relationship that's been built and, you know, many times around the league that those, you know, the requirements sometimes are you got to do those things first. We've got to see it for our team to still trust in that moment

and then kind of that explosion of energy and emotion when he was, you know, making some of those plays in the second half, that, you know, that can be infectious for a while, I hope, because now we do have confirmation. We are obsessed with finishing number one. When it comes to quarterbacks, yeah, I mean, you know, there's the occasional John Elway, but look at what Caleb Williams inherited, ownership down, and look what Bo Nicks got, maybe the richest owners in sports. I think I read yesterday they've got a new stadium.

Sean Payton, they led the NFL in saps. Bo Nix doesn't have to get in shootouts. By year two, his defense was keeping him in games. J.J. McCarthy as Brian Flores. I was talking to a Bears fan this morning that was all dejected. I said, listen, the bottom line is

Brian Flores in your opener is a rough, is a rough game. Caleb Williams probably faced his best defensive coordinator in the first game of the built with Ben Johnson.

All right, speaking of Ben Johnson, I can't speak for everybody else, but I think this is true. The best bosses I've ever had in my life have held me accountable, but I've also held my coworkers accountable and themselves accountable. And Ben Johnson was talking about his debut as an NFL head coach. I didn't think I called a particularly great game.

I could have adjusted a little bit better to the lack of pressure that flow was given us. And so I can do a better job there. And then at the end of the game, felt like we could kick it out of the back. We weren't able to get that done. In hindsight, I should have kicked it out of bounds. Training camp, OTAs, pre-season, week one. He's holding himself and Caleb Williams accountable. Best bosses I've ever had do the same thing.

I always tell my boss, bark at me. Just upset, tell me. I'll figure it out. Remember Matt Eber Fluse? They lost the Hail Mary game, gave up all those free yards before the Hail Mary. He was questioned,

nothing to see here. It is just no big deal. It's a big deal. It was a big deal. A lot of things were a big deal. And it was always Mike McDaniel, ice cream for breakfast. Mike McDaniel, Miami, players stroll in late.

Tyreek Hill criticizes his question. quarterback publicly in camp. Remember this year in camp? When teams practiced against those joint practices, practiced against the dolphins. And I forget the team, but one of the players in the team said, yeah, they don't practice like us. Miami doesn't practice nearly as hard as us. Standards, excuses, not holding people accountable. Sean McVe admits now with the Rams, he had to lighten up. He was so harsh and intense. Tom Coughlin lightened up and then beat Brady and Belichick twice in Super Bowls. If you look at Coughlin and Sean McVay, their resumes are filled with accountability to themselves

and others. It's one of my knocks on Mike Tomlin. He's two-player friendly. It just, just, I mean, and again, I don't expect my coaches to be perfect, right? We're all on our couch watching. you know when you're in a game and it's fluid and it's going fast i was joking with the staff this morning it's like going on a date with a beautiful smart woman you want to be funny but not silly confident but not arrogant smart but not preach like you know like it's oh the state's happening and she's judging me and i don't have time and they make their mind up in eight minutes and it's much easier to sit and watch the date and go boy he's not handling it well he's not asking her about her he's doing too much talking that's the way we judge in the media

coaching. Well, how come he didn't do this and how can he didn't do that? You've got a million things going on in your head. You're dealing with coordinators. You're on the headset. You're dealing with players. You're dealing with a clock. So I don't, I don't think coaches are perfect. But when they make mistakes, just own it. You just got to own it. And Ben Johnson was in Detroit with Matt Patricia and in Detroit with Dan Campbell. So he's seen good culture and bad culture. And that's the one thing about Dan Campbell. I don't think he's a schematic genius, but he's an authentic guy who when he screws up, Dan Campbell, owns it. And that is a great quality to have as a quarterback or as a coach or as a boss or as an employee. That was a Dolphins Lions joint

practice. Yeah, it was a Lions player who said, yeah, Miami, they don't practice like us. They're not nearly as intense. There you go. Got to own it. Joel Klaatz going to show up 45 minutes from now. Mark Sanchez, who, by the way, I think I read this morning that he's got a new show at night on Fox on Tuesday nights, Wednesday night, something like that, we'll ask Mark Sanchez about that. You know, there's still a little

reverb, J. Mack, on the Ravens lost of the bills, which if Derek Henry doesn't fumble, it probably doesn't exist. I am going to pivot on this. I'm going to defend the Ravens again today on this because I think

the media is overlooking something about the Baltimore Ravens. And I discussed it kind of yesterday where I said, you know, I mean, Lamar Jackson's one of those quarterbacks, you may not figure them out until like the seventh, eighth or ninth series. So later in games, because he's such a unique

style, but I thought of something else this morning and I'll discuss that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's me. Three-time Pro Bowl of LaVore Arrington, and I couldn't be more excited to announce a podcast called Up On Game. What is Up on Game, you ask?

Along with my fellow Pro Bowler, T.J. Hushmanzada and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right. Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our real-life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up On Game with me, LaVar Arrington, T.J.

Hushman Zada, and Plexico Burris on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast from. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a podcast. 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. 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, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert 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, and our podcast's point game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,

he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard.

Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akila Hughes. In Rebel Spirit, Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit.

How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So the Ravens got clobbered over the last couple of days because they blew that late lead to Josh Allen on the road. Yeah, Josh Allen occasionally is amazing. I don't know if you've heard of him. But it was interesting.

I went back and I looked. I said, you know, something doesn't smell right. And I went back, and the Ravens are one of seven teams to lead at least 20 games by 9 to 16 points in the fourth quarter over the past four seasons. And here's what's funny about the teams that lead big. They're all good, Ravens, Bills, Niners, Lions, Eagles, Chiefs, and the Bengals are good with Joe Burrell. And not a lot of crappy teams lead big. The other thing I noticed is not only have the Ravens. led more in big games, they've led by more a lot more often.

Yes, they've had 10 more huge leads in the fourth quarter than Buffalo, 10 more in just four seasons, and seven more than the Chiefs in just four seasons, and 10 more than the Bengals. And I'm not saying they don't play with their food a little, and they don't need to get better. But when you look closely at it, wouldn't the Jets, Giants, and Panthers, Jags love to have the luxury of actually leading by 9 to 16 points in the fourth quarter? I think the Giants would love the opportunity for that to happen. All the teams that are listed, blowing leads, they're all the good teams. And then I went and looked at the teams they've blown leads against.

And here's what's interesting. It's often horrible teams, dolphins, giants, Jags, Browns, Raiders. They get complacent. They lead big. They close up shop offensively, and they get burned on the back end. Again, I'm not saying they don't have to get better. Then, and I don't think Derek Henry is going to fumble away a lot of wins going forward. Okay, so some of it's just circumstantial.

It's a bad break. Then I went and looked at the head coaches in the history of the league with the most blown fourth quarter leads, double-digit leads. Yeah, Tom Landry, Don Shula, Bill Belichick. Mike Shanahan and John Harbaugh. You see blown leads. You know what I see? Lombardi trophies. Great companies with high expectations sometimes underachieve slightly and the stock goes down.

Because there's these huge expectations of their quarterly earnings. Right? Like it's, oh, Navidia, it was off half of 1%. Well, that's because Navidia has been on a seven-year run. So the Ravens have two touchdown leads significantly more than every other team, including the chiefs and the bills, over the last just four seasons. And that's Lamar and his prime. They get off to huge leads. It's often against bad teams.

I mean, you've heard the backdoor cover. That's a term used by gamblers where you know you have the better team. You bet the better team, but you're concerned that the other team can actually throw the ball. They made backdoor cover. You know, you take seven and a half points and they've been getting beat by 13, 14 all day, and then they backdoor cover. Sometimes backdoor covers become backdoor losses.

But the truth is they just lead more than everybody else, as did Belichick and Shanahan and Shula and John Harbaugh and Tom Landry. So listen, they have an issue. They can't beat Kansas City in the playoffs. And that's a clear issue. but one of the worst problems it's like a it's almost a good problem to have

I mean no problem is good to have but yeah we get into these huge leads by the way we win most of them yeah we win most of the games we lead big late that's also not talked about yeah we win 75 85% of those games yeah but we blow it off into bad teams okay half this league was just like the opportunity

to lead between 9 and 16 points over the last four years. And again, they play with their food a little. They shut down the offense, probably a drive too soon. John Harbaugh talks about it. Maybe part of it's the fact that we've been ahead a lot. You know, we've won a lot of games. So we've had a lot of, and we've had a lot of two-score leads. So we've kept a lot of those, but I think we've lost six of them, if I'm not mistaken.

That's too many. We need to be really thoughtful of. you know, how we decide that we're going to approach those situations going forward. You know, let's give us some thought. And for the record, in college football, and I don't think I'm wrong saying this, you can usually tell by the third series of a game who's going to win the game. Very rarely does a team trail by two touchdowns all game and comes back and wins. It just doesn't happen in college football very often.

You can trail, but generally if a team goes into a fourth quarter, leading by 10. They've got the better players and the better staff and the better geography and the better recruiting base. But in the NFL, look at what we've seen with J.J. McCarthy, unplayable for three quarters. And then the best quarterback in the world for about 15 minutes. That doesn't happen a lot in college football. Where some quarterback can't complete passes, pick sixes, and then in the fourth quarter,

yeah, he's like nine for 10 and perfect. Buffalo scoring all those points to win 41. 40 after being outplayed. There are no Josh Allen's quarterbacking in college football. It's just part of being pro football. It's like basketball. It's the reality of basketball with a three-point shot. You know, good teams blow big leads because good teams lead big late, more than bad teams.

I would imagine I haven't looked it up, but the Washington Wizards haven't blown a lot of 15.4th quarter leads in the last decade. I'm going to go with it probably hasn't happened much. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Conn, let's bust right into it. The Chargers had a huge win over the Chiefs in Brazil,

and Jim Harbaugh just gushed about his quarterback, Justin Herbert. Listen, he loves gushing about Herbert. It's a great sound bite. Here we go. Huge hit on Justin. The kind of hit that would have killed a lesser man. That's how big that hit was. Most quarterbacks, most human beings,

I mean, you take that kind of big hit. to come back the next play and just stand in there and, you know, look down the barrel of the gun and hit another one, you know. It's pretty impressive. Just offensively, you guys obviously added a lot on outside. Obrugado, Justin Patrick Herbert. Yeah, he loves him some Justin Herbert. And for the record. We all do. Come on.

Yeah, I mean, I think 99% of fans get that he finally has the right coach. I mean, Herbert, 25 of 34, 318 yards, three touchdowns against Spags and the Chiefs. Joe Alt was, remember the left tackle gone. Joe Alt sliding over was dominant. I mean, Colin, there's a lot of reasons to be excited. You could tell Harbaugh, a little pep in his step heading into this Raiders game. Don't you worry about, though, coming back from Brazil, going and having to give up three and a half to a Raiders team that is feeling themselves now with a very good coaching staff? That's a, those, whenever I see three and a half in a division rivalry game, so you're a three and a half point favorite on the road with a capable division rideable and Gino was more than capable of making big throws.

A lot of its quarterbacks. Like that is a game that I, it just tells me the Raiders are going to keep that thing close. That's going to be one of the better games of the weekend that nobody's talking about. Raiders, Chargers, close. See, again, we don't want to overreact, Colin, but I watch the Chargers face the Chiefs. You would have the Chiefs top six in the lead. I just saw the Raiders play the Patriots. I mean, those are two bad teams.

So I can't take them a lot from Gino carving up a new secondary rebuilt. Like if Gino Smith did that, what's Herbert going to do? Because he has better receivers. I think he has better weapons on the outside, doesn't he? Raiders is one of my favorite plays of the week. Favorite? Well, I'm not saying they're going to win. It's going to be a Chargers field goal win.

But maybe I was too impressed with the Raiders going 3,000 miles with a brand new everything. Staffs, coordinators, quarterback, GM, like everything was new. It was kind of impressive to me. Or perhaps you're just too chummy with the Raiders staff. I don't know. I have no idea. Let's go on to the next story, Colin. That's the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They got a fortunate win. Oh, we'll call it lucky. A 60-yard field goal with a minute left. That's luck to go 1-0 beating my jets. there's another revenge game this week for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that is D.K. Metcalfe facing off against his former team, the Seahawks. ahead of the matchup, Mike Tomlin says, although he hasn't spoken to D.K. about the game.

Common sense, Colin would tell you, the game will mean a lot to him. D.K. had a good game against the Jets. Sauce Gardner did shut him down. The only time he got loose was when Sauce was not guarding him. I like the Seahawks in this spot. I know they're getting a field goal. I just, I was not impressed. at all with the Steelers defense?

Well, I think the analytics tell you Seattle got a lot of pressures on Brock Purdy. Sam Darnold actually PFF played very well. Seattle's trying to establish who their number one receiver is. But again, when I watch the Steelers and the Jets, the overwhelming story to me was how good Justin Fields was. That was my mean, Aaron's always had games like this. I was blown away by their offense, the left side of their O line, Brees Hall. My whole takeaway was, I mean, I thought it was going to be a low-scoring game.

So it was a wildly entertaining early window game. But Justin Fields to me was the story. It wasn't that Aaron, you know, with a brand new staff in New York, was able to hit some, I mean, listen, D.K. Metcalf is a problem. And they didn't run the ball in Pittsburgh. They didn't necessarily, Aaron got sacked four times. So I thought it was one of those wins. Not that it was a bad win, but it wasn't as impressive. as I thought the Jets effort was on the other side with a whole new staff.

Totally agree. And when you look at Rogers, everybody now, Rogers is back. See, he can play in week one. I'm just going to caution you. A lot of that was against the Jets and their new defensive scheme and everything. This Seahawks defense is awesome. I think Brock Purdy is better than Rogers at this stage. Would you agree? Yes, at this stage, yeah.

And he struggled against this Seattle secondary. It's elite, man. Listen, I was on the Niners. I felt like we got lucky with that win. One of my Niners friends texted me, we stole that game, like ski masks and everything. I think Seattle's a side against Pittsburgh. Final story, Colin, let's go to the Buffalo Bills. That huge comeback.

Everybody's still buzzing for the 4140 victory over the Ravens. However, the defense was quite abhorrent. And D.C. Bobby Babich knows how they got to correct things. No one in the defensive room thinks, anything of that nature was acceptable, right? You look at, I think, third and six plus, we were six for eight, which is a good thing. They were one of three in the red zone.

That's a good thing. But all the stuff in between that you're talking about is unacceptable. And our players know that. Yeah, that's a really interesting game. I think a lot of Buffalo's problem is just personnel. I don't think it's scheme necessarily. First of all, Lamar's a handful. But I think a lot of it is.

they've had to, the last two years, they've had to move off defensive players who were like guys that were like important, a lot of snaps, you know, like veteran guys. So I think it's the reality. The Ravens defense, Kansas City's O-line and run game, you pay the quarterback, big money,

you're going to be a flawed team, and I think they're just flawed in the back end and I don't think it's coaching. Obviously, you see the line on the screen, Bill's favor by seven at the Jets. Let me ask you, having faced Lamar a running quarterback last week, Is that a big edge for Buffalo now facing not a poor man's Lamar,

but Justin Fields wants to run. The worst thing for the Jets is that, I mean, Buffalo won the game. By the way, the Ravens are a 12-point favorite. I'm thinking of taking the Ravens because they're so ticked off. They tend to bounce back. I mean, I think the best thing, Sean Pate Noah says this. Winning imperfectly, you can coach harder. So the bills come out of that game, and they were getting,

they were getting housed for most of it and won. So the best thing in the NFL, you win, you want the W in the win column, but you don't play particularly well. So those teams like that, Buffalo, to me Buffalo is probably the side. If it goes to seven and a half, I'd stay away. But at seven points, Buffalo played mostly a very poor football game, yet one. Those teams tend to the following week be really focused in practice. I'll just say the divisional underdogs were,

Barking last week and early in the season with most teams healthy, you lean toward the dogs. You like the Raiders, divisional dog. I'm surprised you're not going Jets here. I probably have to pass on this one. Hitting the Jets last week, you don't want to go back to the well with your team, just in case they lay an egg. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd-Lie News. We've got a lot of stuff going on. Joel Clat is going to be joining us at the top. of the hour. I saw, and I don't want to, you know, belabor this point because I've talked about it recently, but people don't like change. People actually feared the invention or discovery of electricity. At the time, people were a little terrified by electricity. I lived through Y2K and now AI and 5G. New stuff, freak people out. And a lot of people just do not handle it. So here's a number that Fox, Michael Mulvill Hill, our analytic maven at Fox. Total viewing of college football is up 25% across all networks through week two. Even this early in the season, fair to say it's pretty likely, third straight year of record-breaking total viewing of college football. That's with the

NIL, the transfer portal, and the expanded playoff. And I would say 75% of my audience thought it would ruin the sport. Not heard it, ruin the sport. It has been unbelievable so far. Great games and more big games. Now, a lot of people are saying, well, Colin, there's a new metric where they're counting people who are watching that are away from home like in bars. Yeah, but that's the right metric.

For the previous 50 years of my life, the Nielsen couldn't get it right. They didn't count eyes. They just counted TV sets. have you ever gone to a bar to watch a game? Oh yeah, we all have about six times a year. The TV metrics were always wrong. It was always like a running joke that we always knew in sports. We had much greater audiences, much greater bandwidth,

much larger volume of people watching that you got credit for. I'm mostly, if I'm going to go watch a game because of my profession, I don't watch with other people. but every time I drive by or walk by on a Saturday or Sunday a place could be a world series I mean I during the summer of the U.S. Open I'm walking by a restaurant's got three TVs on they're all the U.S. Open everybody at the bar is watching so the new metrics or the truth the old metrics were deceptive and next year by the way I always my truth serum was always this content always wins content always wins content always

wins any platform. And the platform of college football had a scarcity of big out of conference games. For the record, the SEC next year is getting rid of like Panera bread tech. And they're going to add a ninth conference game. So, and this weekend, next week we get Auburn, Oklahoma. We wouldn't have had that a couple years ago. Two weeks we get Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, in Seattle, at Washington. Wouldn't have had that a couple years ago? When the PAC 12 disobeys, band it's going to ruin college football out west. I don't know. I watched the games at Ottson. They're sold out. People seem to be into it.

A Husky Stadium seems very alive to me. I mean, you told me it was all going to shrivel up. Nope. It's not only up, it's up significantly. And the new data and metrics for college football and sports in general are the right metrics.

It's how it should have always been measured because we all watch half the games or more to borrow lounge. So it just goes to show. people and I get it. 40% of Americans end up living in the area code in which they were born in. Like, I get it. I move more than most. I get it. But college football isn't better now. It's significantly better. Like, not even close. That doesn't mean the transfer portal is not a little overly aggressive. And I think people, by the way, like every other change in life, people went

hog wild in the transfer portal. And then you watch Belichick with 70 new players and Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly, and everybody's come to terms with a transfer portal after about three to four years, you probably shouldn't bring in more than like eight to ten players. Like every other change, you experiment, there's not real boundaries and borders. It's like Bitcoin. I always had a theory about Bitcoin. Eventually, cryptocurrency was going to work with one or two companies, and Bitcoin now is one of those companies. There's 70, you know, 700 bit cryptocurrency companies.

it eventually made sense that it would work, but there's been a lot of scams in it the first 10 years. It'll find its footing, centralized bank eventually, accept it everywhere eventually. The first step is you'd watch like CNBC, and it would be on the little right, lower right corner, you're like, okay, it's something. But I'm getting now Penn State and Oregon

and Ohio State and Washington, and, you know, Ohio State's never been afraid to play the big dogs, but you're getting the college football playoff now. Nobody's afraid to play big games in September. It's great. Coming up next, it was inevitable that the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty, at least in its current form, would end.

And it is next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We've 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 was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam.

It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Tolodon. in 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 will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers why he got the ball. 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 Podcast, or wherever you. you get your podcasts.

Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job.

I'm Akila Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcasts.

Start your Saturday strong with Big Noon. It's a new era. Quarterback Dante Moore leads Oregon's explosive attack into their first Big Ten matchup taking on Northwestern. It all starts at 10 Eastern live from Evanston with the Big Noon kickoff crew. Then it's Oregon Northwestern only on Fox. By the way, that stadium is right on the water, Lake Michigan. So it's going to be an unbelievable view.

We may have some few people on boats in that game. By the way, we were just laughing as a staff. The people that push back and go, well, yeah, everybody's ratings are up because of the new metric. Basically, what you want is an outdated metric that was inaccurate. And I know in this day and age, accurate data gets a pushback a little bit, but the reality is the old system was ridiculous. Because very few people watch a game by themselves. They've got a buddy or friends, and they're sitting around and watching it with a group

or they're at a game or a tailgate, the new college football ratings are accurate data, which is most of us watch it with somebody not sitting by ourselves in a dark room. That's what I do because I got a notebook and I have to do it for that. But most people don't watch games like that, and bars should count. Let me shift to the Chiefs. So they play the Eagles this week. I like Philadelphia because I think Philadelphia has got a significantly better roster. but teams that start the season 0 and 2 and the Chiefs are now currently 0 and 1.

And they're going to be 0 and 2 because they're going to lose probably to Philadelphia. But they have an 88% chance of missing the playoffs over the last 35 years. Since 1990, 35, the 288 teams that start 02, they made the playoffs 12% of the time. And that's it. And I think there's a lot of factors here. I thought you could see this coming. We talked about this. I have them as a wild card.

It's a head coach quarterback league. Mahomes, Andy Reid, they'll be fine. But at some point in this league, roster depth and roster composition and just overall good players matter. And the running back room is weak. Mahomes led them in rushing against the Chargers. He had 57 yards.

And Mahomes is now behind a rebuilt offensive line and an offensive line in transition with a way below average run game. That means he's going to throw the ball, 40 to 45 times a game. And also, Kansas City no longer benefits from the dysfunction of their division.

Denver played poorly and won. The Raiders did not play great, traveled 3,000 miles across the country, and won. So Kansas City has not had a thousand-yard rusher since 2017. And I think you can get away with that

in a dysfunctional division, or Travis Kelsey's in his prime, but now Xavier Worthy may not play. Rishie Rice is out for another, what, four to five weeks? And the other thing that I think has to be mentioned is

that the fatigue factor. So I looked it up this morning. In the Mahomes era, Kansas City in a sport with regulated violence, it's had seven long playoff runs in a row. Kansas City has played

1,500 more snaps than any other NFL team in the Mahalms era. And now the league is 17 games. So when you watched the Chargers and the Chiefs in Brazil, I could not be the only person that thought in the first quarter, Kansas City had no juice, like none. And the Chargers had a ton of urgency and a ton of energy. And so PFF grades gives you an overall team grade. They judge every offensive and defensive and special teams snap.

The lowest in the league week one was Miami. Second lowest was the Giants. Third lowest was the Chiefs. And here comes Philadelphia with Jalen Carter returning. And again, the Chiefs already perilous and thin receiving core could be without Xavier Worthy. And just go back a year. So I had said one of the easier bets was Kansas City's was going to, you know, not that it was a bet off. but they won 15 games.

Even Vegas had their over under an 11 and a half, so they were going to pullback. They weren't going to go undefeated in one-score games. But go back to last season. In week one, the Ravens were a toe from a game tying touchdown. They got a break.

Week two, the Bengals beat them on a controversial PI call. In week 10, they beat the Broncos on a block field goal. Two weeks later, a game-winning field goal as time expired against Carolina. Week 13, they beat the Raiders on a botched snap, and week 14 was a walk-off field goal against the chargers that boinked in. Or doint, whatever you want to say.

So 15 and 2 was really close to be in 10 and 7. And that's, hey, they want them? I do think there is some magic for really good coaches and quarterbacks in close games. But, you know, pretty easy. Even Vegas is like, yeah, we're going to take four wins away. the over-under. So I think you're seeing it when I said this, I think I said this on Monday. You pay Josh Allen, you pay Lamar, you pay Herbert, you pay Burrow, you pay Mahomes. There's going to be a part of your team that's not good. Back end of the bills, not great.

Chiefs running back room and O-line work in progress. Chargers, perimeter weapons, sketchy. They need Quentin Johnson to hit. They need Quentin Johnson in week one for the rest of the season. So I don't think it's a wild take, J-Mack. I like Philadelphia in this game. Jalen's back. They're a much better roster. I think there are things you can see in week one that are clear. And I think Kansas City, offensively, if Worthy doesn't play,

I mean, J-Mack, they're going to struggle to move the ball. You know, Colin, one thing we talk about a lot with that Patriots dynasty. It's tough to stay on top for two decades, okay? She's haven't even been on top for a decade, is you were constantly reinventing yourself. Belichick was changing. how the team look. Remember, they went heavy with the slot receivers.

Edelman, Amandola, they went with that. Then they had the Moss era. They went with their heavy running backs, Corey Dillon. Like, they were winning with defense. I look at this Chief's team, Colin. What have they changed from last year? Are they better anywhere than they were last year? No.

I think you just articulated. It was a lot of smoke and mirrors to get to 15 and 2 and 11 and 0 and 1 score games. And I don't see what's their counter punch. if the Eagles knocked them down early. What's your counterpunch? By the way, there's some numbers on Patrick Mahomes right now. He's been one of the worst deep ball throwers in the league over the last year and including week one.

And some of that is Rishi Rice not available and worthy dinged up. And now once again, maybe not available. So some of that's just personnel. And they have a great GM. But this league engineers great to be very good. Okay. This is not, by the way, this is what happens. Adam Silver is doing.

Adam Silver has said he wants the NBA to be more like the NFL. You don't know who's going to win. And so you can't get that third star because of the second apron with a new CBA. So what commissioners have the power to do if they win the collective bargaining is you engineer the great teams have to move off players quickly. Like the Celtics had it kind of grandfathered in. Then Jason Tatum got hurt. And suddenly you look at the Celtics and you're like, what would they be in the West? the fourth best team.

Two years ago, we thought they were going to win for the next five champion. Denver's a prime example, the Nuggets. They had to move off these really important, like fifth starters, rotational guys, and now it's very Yokech-centric. So Adam Silver wants what the NFL has, which is the minute you pay that star quarterback. I mean, again, Philly's the outlier with a hyper-aggressive GM, but the minute you pay the quarterback, you're going to have holes, and great coaches can't fix holes, but they're,

great at finding them and taking advantage of yours. And Jim Harbaal looked at that team and he did not respect their receiving core much. And oh, by the way, Belichick, and I know we bash him with those Patriots, Edelman, late round pick, Chris Hogan, remember a converted lacrosse player had a moment. Amandola, I don't know where they found this guy, but he was not like a worthy or rice. He didn't have that pedigree. James White was a Super Bowl hero. I'm pretty sure he was a late round pick non-ended.

At a Wisconsin, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's like, are the, are the chiefs finding these guys? Pacheco, he had a moment, right? As a seventh round pick, okay, what's next? And it's like, they don't really have a run game, Colin. Travis Kelsey, okay, he's pretty much done. Where's the backup?

Like, they're not, I know you said the GM's doing a great job. I don't see a great roster. If you stacked Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers, Broncos, who's got the weakest roster in that division? And it's not a hot take. Denver now is the best. I think Denver's got the best roster in the division. I think the Chargers have a better roster than the Chiefs do.

And we could go toe to toe of every position. If Roshan Slater was healthy and Alt was the right tackle, I would agree with that. I do think that injury, that's a pro-bowl level player at a key position. And it's not a knock on anybody. It's just they've had some immature wide receivers. They've got guys that got hurt. They moved off Tyreek Hill. So you mentioned Tyree Kil, Colin.

Is there a world where they say, do we try to bring back Tyree Kill? Do you consider it if things are going sideways in Miami, which it appears they are? If you could do it on the cheap for the remainder of just this season. I mean, they brought back Juju Smith-Schuster like, can we bring you back for 14 games or 13 games? Because Tyreek would probably be on his best behavior. I think there's a world where you have to consider it. Keep your eye on A.J. Brown. There's going to be a team that I'm telling you.

Philadelphia, they are dealmakers. Hour 2, Joel Klat, coming up. 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. Nice. We invented a podcast?

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

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro, and these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move.

And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are?

I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.