The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - John Harbaugh is the Giants next head coach, Josh Allen path might take him to the Super Bowl, Tom Brady

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

The New York Giants are reportedly hiring Super Bowl champion John Harbaugh to be their next head coach. Colin Cowherd explains why this was clearly the correct choice and why he was the best fit to turn around the franchise who has the second worst record since 2016 Tom Brady joins the show ahead of the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. He breaks everything down: Seahawks QB Sam Darnold facing off against the 49ers defense How will Matthew Stafford and the Rams handle the Bears in freezing cold temperatures? What to expect from his Patriots and Drake Maye as they look to get their first playoff win in 6 years Colin also discusses Josh Allen’s path to potentially winning his first Super Bowl and why this would be a historic achievementSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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John Harbaugh, five-year deal, is going to be the head coach of the New York Giant. And that's where we begin today. If you want to go from a bad team in the NFL to a good team in the NFL. There's only one thing you can absolutely control. Hire the best coach on the market. Whatever it costs, whatever it takes. You can draft a quarterback top five. He could stink.

Players get hurt. Coaches don't. John Harbaugh is the best resume and is the best culture builder on the market. And the Giants smartly hired him first, meaning they'll get the best pick of the assistant coaches and coordinators on the market. There's very little you can control in the NFL.

You can control hiring the first coach, getting the best assistants, and hiring the best resume. Yes, I know New York is a tough market. The media's scary, but that's not why the Jets and the Giants have been hazmat spills for a decade plus. They have been because they went cheap and experimental head coach. The last time the Giants were good, it was Tom Coughlin, who coached at Boston College. At the time, beat Notre Dame, it was number one and went to Jacksonville. There was no

experimenting. He was a leader, a culture builder, successful. I look at Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets. You're not asking him to coach. You're asking him to fix a completely broken culture. And I don't think Aaron Glenn's good enough. And clearly all the guys after Cofflin weren't good enough. These nine coaching openings in the NFL now eight, they're not looking for scheme guy. They're not looking for guy that's good in the whiteboard. They're looking for CEOs. Okay, Harbaugh. This is a job for a hardball. Like Jim to the Chargers, John to the Giants. This is a job for a hardball. The Giants didn't need an offensive coordinator. They needed a crisis coordinator. And similar to Mike Vrable in New England,

The day you hire, John Harbaugh, he is immediately the best coach in the division. Say it out loud. Nick Seriani, Brian Schottenheimer, Dan Quinn, John Harbaugh. In a couple of those instances, it's not even close. And the Giants have a lot of pieces. So for four years in a row, I have picked a team successfully, four for four, pat in the back, that would double their win total. The New York Giants this morning,

four and 13 this year, are minimum double the win total next year. My guess, they get the 10 to 11. Because like when Brady went to Tampa, and Tom Brady could have chosen any team, but he chose that Tampa team that was about 500 that had a star receiver, that had really good pass rushers like the Giants.

had a pretty good old line, left tackle was good, but they needed a right tackle. And the Bucks drafted Tristan Wharfs. Well, what do you know? The Giants need a right tackle. And it is an unbelievably good edge rusher and offensive tackle draft. Sometimes you get lucky. The Giants need what this draft provides. In fact, they could move down a couple of spots, accumulate more picks, and perhaps still still

get one of the two best tackles on the market. Weapons, they've got them, winning coach. For the last several years, the Giants have been hiring Belichick tree guys, finger crossers, coordinators, none of it works. Harbaugh's proven competence, proven culture builder. And I know you don't want to hear this. I know you're looking this morning down at the New York Jets, but the giants are the jets since Cofflin with a trophy room with better archive footage. You have been the Jets.

Now, the Jets are still trying to dig their way. And the Jets seemingly keep grabbing a shovel and digging deeper. But the Giants officially didn't get a scheme guy. They got a culture guy. Vrable.

Jim Harbaugh. This is a job that needs not Superman, Harbaugh Man. And they got him. Here's Albert Brewer yesterday on Harbaugh and the Giants. The Giants job, how attractive it is, is largely dependent on what you think of Jackson Dart. That said, they have a lot of other things with the Giants. Like you said, franchise left tackle and Andrew Thomas, franchise receiver in Malik neighbors. On the defensive front, I mean, my goodness, Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Dexter Lawrence, you have a chance to be dominant. upfront right out of the shoot.

And this is why, like, the last couple of years, I felt like they were the team right on the edge. But if you love Dart, I think it's got everything that you'd want, stable ownership, all of that. All right. Now, let's talk about a team that is still looking for a coach. And whereas the Giants bottomed out, they didn't want to for all these years, the Steelers keep saying, we're not bottoming out. The Steelers have this under five hundred. phobia, which is remarkable because there's four times evidence right in front of them. Think about this.

Four division winners. I'm not talking just playoff teams. Four division winners, Bears, Patriots, Jags, Carolina. Lost 12 games last season. This isn't the NBA where you're drafting 18 and 19-year-olds. They're not even mature enough, old enough at the hotel bar. I have a cocktail. This isn't baseball where there's nobody you can draft out of college that comes into your major league baseball team and changes outcomes. This is the NFL where it happens all the

time. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, always talks about this, that people overestimate the downside to risk and failure. It's never as bad as you think. Kyle Shanahan, four times, times in San Francisco has been under 500. Think about that. Is he a failure? Four times. Would you rather be San Francisco or the Steelers since 2017? I don't think it's close. For the record, the Texans bottomed out. The next year they had double-digit wins. That's the team that just beat you on Monday night. And also nine of the 14 playoff quarterbacks are top 10 picks. Right. You can get a Lamar Jackson. Maybe you're lucky in Aaron Rogers falls out of Cal. But 70% of the playoff quarterbacks were top 10 picks, meaning it's okay to have a bad year.

It's not the NBA in baseball. It doesn't take years. NBA makes trading impossible. The NFL encourages it. So the Steelers have convinced themselves their house is charming. Yeah, maybe we'll fix just, you know, one of the guest rooms it's like no you've got turquoise tile in three bathrooms in the kitchen you see your house is charming a lot of other people see it as outdated and weird it's time to take a swing Pittsburgh

they fall in love with the house and the house isn't just a couple of screws there a cabinet shelf there you got turquoise tiles all over the place Art Rooney on the rebuild. Standard is try to compete to win a championship every year. I'm not going to say, well, we're going to take a couple years to figure this out, and then we'll try to compete. So I think you try every year.

I mean, and as I said, some years you have the horses to really get there. Some years you don't, but you try every year. Yeah, you've got four examples this year, division winning teams that have 12 losses last year. This isn't basketball, football. It's not any other sport. It's the NFL. Go look at the Houston Texans' recent history. Go look at the New England Patriots.

It takes about one year to be bad. That's about it. One year at 6 and 11, you compete your butt off. You lose some close games. Six and 11. You get the eighth pick. But if you start looking, we put it up for the TV audience, where they draft. You may look into Lamar Jackson, but it's much easier to get that quarterback.

or at least the starting point, top 10, 11, 12 pick. Then you don't have to give up the entire farm to get to four. So the Texans were 3 and 13, had the number two pick. C.J. Stroud, Demico, Ryans, what do you know? 10 and 7. It just, I don't know what they're afraid of. It's the under 500 phobia. I don't get it.

I never have. There's major evidence that one, remember the Rams won the Super Bowl, then they thought were too expensive, we're too old. We're going to have a two-year rebuild. It didn't even take two years. I think there were five and 12, one year. The next year, they've been a playoff team since. So the Rams, and I had talked to people in the building,

they thought it was probably a two-year deal to get younger, less expensive, and rebuild around Matt Stafford. It took a year. That's all that took. They're a playoff team the next year. It happened since. Tom Brady's around the corner. J-Mack.

I know you don't love Big Blue, but John Harbaugh. This is a job for a Harbaugh. Jim West. John in New York. It feels like it's going to work. Get the right tackle. You got the rush ends, Burns and Abdul Carter. You got the weapons and Scataboo and Neighbors and the left tackle.

Jackson Dart stay out of the blue tent. I'll call it right now. 10 and 7. Okay. So it's interesting. I just looked up their opponents for next. season. Are you ready for this? We don't have the schedule order. We have the opponents. Okay. All right. I know you're terrified.

By the way, before I get into it, do I get the Dallas Cowboys twice? You do get the Cowboys twice, yes, and Washington as well. But you have the AFC South, Jacksonville, Houston, Indy, and Tennessee. Two of those teams made the playoffs. But then the tough one, the NFC West, Colin, Rams, Niners, Seahawks, Cardinals. They have two trips as of now to the West Coast at Seattle, at the Rams. They also have to go to Houston. And they have to go to Detroit as well. For the record. Stafford will be 38 if he's the starter. And the Rams

almost lost to Carolina twice this year. They did. Almost. By the way, so eight of the giant 17 opponents are playoff teams this year. Half. What's a big deal? That's a brutal schedule, my friend. Hi. I'll push back against the 10 wins, that's for sure.

Well, I mean, you, the schedule, people always go, uh, their schedule is easy. Well, couldn't I argue? Brock Purdy and the Niners have an easy schedule. That's why it's successful. You're tough to win the games. Well, New England's schedule is, I don't know, I watched them in a playoff game. You got to win the games. I don't care how easier schedule. It's not college football. There's not, you know, a committee on this stuff. San Francisco had an easier schedule. I watched the Niners play this year when they lost all those players to injuries. How easy wasn't? Didn't look that easy to me and they were still banging on people. So I think you

got to win. Everybody, oh, New England. schedule is I watched them last weekend dominate a playoff game. Against Jim Harbonne Herbert. I think they're good. We got a lot of stuff today. Tom Brady is around the corner. 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.

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I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the Seahawks Niners game, I was thinking about it this morning, and there's so much pressure on Sam Darnold to get that first big playoff, but I'm like nervous for him. It's Thursday. It just, this game feels so big.

division rivals Shanahan and Mike McDonald and with that Tom Brady is going to be there 49ers, Ciox for Fox this is honestly this game is I mean I feel it

like it's Thursday and I can feel it what do you make because I've defended quarterbacks who throw picks Staffordes have seven and seven games I've defended Andrew Luck for years you were an outlier you didn't throw a lot of them

Purdy does, Darnold does. How do you explain Darnold's struggles with interceptions in mostly big games? How do you explain it? Well, it's certainly a problem. I think when you get to these big moments in big games, whether that's, you know,

certainly playoffs or some of these games that have happened at the end of the year determining whether they're going to get in or not. The margin of air when you play good teams is just very small. So that's where the fundamentals come into play. You have to, you know, in order to throw the ball accurate okay and if you throw it accurately make a decision you're not going to throw a lot of interceptions so like you know Aaron rogers is a great example of that if your mechanics are a little

off or you're not you know that accurate and you get late in the season there's a little wet conditions a little windy conditions you're playing against a defense that's got a good rush and a good coverage scheme so you're a little unsure where you're throwing that's where all the problems come into play So it's over time you need to refine your techniques so that when you get in these big moments, you're as accurate as you can possibly be because you have the least margin of air. And then you need coaches that are stressing you in practice all the time so that you learn to deal with the stress emotion that you feel when you need to perform at a high level. So this is not a game where, you know, it's very hard to overcome turnover.

in the NFL. Last week, I think, was very much an anomaly for the 49ers. They lost the turnover battle to the Eagles and still won the game. The Eagles played very poorly. We covered that game. The 49ers are going to have to play a great game against Seattle. This defense is entirely different than, you know, the ones that they faced. And you saw what happened in the week 18 game with the Niners and the Seahawks.

Niners just couldn't break any tackles. There wasn't much action in the past game. I'm really interested to see how Coach Shanahan kind of devises a game plan that gives this guys, the best opportunity possible. The loss of kill last week hurts. But everyone's been kind of right in the Niners off all year. They've won, I think, eight of nine, which is ridiculous, considering all their injuries. But I'm really excited to go up there and check this game out in Seattle.

It's going to be so loud. This place is going to be rocking. This is going to be one of the great games of the weekend. You know, it's funny. They're going to go in as an underdog. Tom, you did not go in as an underdog very often. But I said earlier this week, I can see Seattle, and this is what you went into games, knowing you were the better team, and being cautious. In fact, if you go look at your Super Bowl history, not a lot of first quarter scoring.

You had a quarterback advantage you, quarterback. You had a coaching advantage. You often were at least as good, generally the better team. So my take is if I'm Seattle, my thing is Seattle is going to play kind of cautiously thinking, we got the deeper, better roster, we're at home. How do the Niners, and again, you weren't in this position a lot, they're not. not as deep as Seattle. And they're on the road. And they come out of a physically exhausting game against Philadelphia.

When you were the rare underdog, does it change the game plan, the mindset of how you attack it early? I think there's a part of the game where you realize this is playoff football. There's nothing tomorrow that's guaranteed. There's 60 to 70 plays left in this game. Look, with Seattle's defense, last time the Niners played them, they had like less than 50 plays. I think it was like 43 plays or something in the game. They lost the time of possession almost two to one. So it's really interesting to see this game because

how challenging it's going to be for these 49ers to go in there as the underdog coming off last week's game and then still having to emotionally get up for an environment that is really hostile to the to the opposing team. The Niners can do it. They've been there before. They've played the Seahawks a lot. It's not like there's going to be some intimidation. It's just, do they have enough firepower? Do they have enough? Can they just find a way through complimentary football, through what they've

done defensively? I thought defensively last week, they were just awesome. They play so hard. They have such a great play style of the Niners' defense. If they can play that way again and buy it enough time, the 49ers have shown a little magic late in the season that they can figure out how to come back and win a lot of these games, even if it's really

close. I remember you and Peyton Manning both face that great Seattle defense. It, bad for Peyton really fast. But I do remember how you attacked it. And you made sure when your receivers caught the ball, move forward. Don't go sideline to sideline. They'll strip the ball. And I do feel Seattle has that because Witherspoon is so aggressive and so strong. The way to beat, I'm wondering if the way to beat this Seattle is a little like the way you beat them, which is guys, five yards, four yards of them.

pop is fine. Don't try to get. I mean, I think this Seattle defense looks a little like the one you face, which is hyper-aggressive, seeking turnovers, super fast. Do you see any similarities? They close space as well as any defense in the league. As soon as the ball's caught, boom, there's guys on him. There's linebackers hitting you. Ernest Jones's been phenomenal. Reek Wollins got tremendous speed. He covers up so much ground with the spoons phenomenon. Even unworthy, the rookie is insane. They've got this kind of swarming defense. Wherever the ball goes, it's like there's these like scud missiles that are just flying in to hit the ball carrier. It's it's a fascinating defense. And then they got one of the most underrated defensive lines in the league. I think the

interior defensive line is phenomenal. They've got four edge guys. They rotate in that are all kind of unique. They have different traits. They really challenge the tackles. There's a reason why they're a top scoring defense in the league. They just have really suffocating. these offenses by taking the space and just making the field feel like it's so much smaller. So they haven't allowed like a hundred yard rushering, you know, a season and a half or something like that. It's been insane. Their tackling's good. Their past defense is elite. Their coverage schemes are really tricky for the quarterback. You need a very kind of diversified set of weapons on offense in order to move the ball. And they don't give up a ton of big plays.

So you're going to have to drive the ball down the field. The Niners are going to have to keep it a low-scoring game. Look at the week 18 game, it was 13-3 at one point, and then the ball got intercepted when Purdy threw it to McCaffrey. Ball got batted up in the air. Could have been 13-10. Could have been very tight game. Instead, one little mistake like that, one little batted ball, and the game is over.

So Matt Stafford, Texas, then he goes to Georgia, then he goes to a dome. Now he's in L.A. It's not exactly the harshest environments in his life. And there he goes. And I've told you this before. I thought you were the best cold weather thrower I've ever seen in my life. But Stafford's whole career has been domes and warm weather and it's so far.

And Sunday's supposed to be feel like minus nine. For you, you know, Michigan, New England. But I've told you before. I've seen pregame shots of guys you faced in Foxborough. and I'd be like, oh, Tom's one. It's an hour before the game, Tom's one. How do you psychologically, how do you psychologically, when the environment's not ideal,

how do you get out of that space and not think about it and not let it affect you? Yeah, it's a great question, Colin. And it's almost, yeah, there could be a mental part to it. A lot of it is there's a physical element to dealing with the cold. It's not just mental toughness. It's also the team that has the advantage is the one that practices, practice is in it all the time. And when we were in Foxborough, we practiced outdoor. We had like a nice indoor facility. We used to look at it all the time and be like, man, why don't we ever go in there?

It's got a nice actually maybe going. And Bill would be like, we're outside, you know. And it's just your body acclimated over the course of a long season to, you know, the warm weather in the summer as it dropped through the fall. And then into the winter, you had to deal with 20 degree weather, 15, 15 degree weather with 20 mile an hour winds. And over time, you just learned how to deal with. I knew exactly how many layers of clothes to put on per the temperature. And I was always going, okay, you don't want to be like Ralphie from Toy Story, where you got so much damn clothes on, you can't move the ball. So you've got to be still have just enough layers on to keep you warm, but not too much where you feel restricted in any way. You know, the big lineman,

they got so much insulation, you know, they got a lot of body fat. So they're not going to be the ones that are cold. But it's kind of the skill players that have, you know, got to use their hands and the gloves and all kind of the fine motor skills you need in the really cold weather. And Matt did play in Detroit for a long time. And in that division, you did go outside to Chicago and Green Bay. It's not like he hasn't played in it. But I will say when I went to Tampa after my time in New England, it didn't take me very long to get very soft to their cold weather.

And we ended up going to Green Bay in the NFC Championship game my first year. And very fortunately, the game wasn't that cold. It was like 32, 34 degrees at kickoff. It wasn't minus nine. That is really cold. And that's a big advantage for Chicago because Chicago has played in these conditions now for the last six weeks. It's been terrible weather in the Midwest. They played against Cleveland in the freezing cold.

Caleb looked like it was just like he was playing at the Coliseum in L.A. He was firing that ball over the field. He's a really unique player. They've got a really unique team. If there's a team that can figure it out, And I've loved the Rams all year with their kind of their diversification of what they do in offense, tight ends, receivers, run game, everyone touches it. And that's the moving target.

Sean keeps everyone on balance. This is going to be another terrific matchup. I'm so excited to see the winner of this game. Oh, same here. So Josh Allen, you know, you can do, I remember an Eli team that went on the road and kept winning road games. Burrow got to a Super Bowl with a bunch of road. It's hard. So, you know, Buffalo's already jammed up in the Northeast.

Then they go down to Florida. Then they're home. Now they go out to mile high. And I'm thinking to myself, man, and now Josh is not 100%. They're down to three active wide receivers. And then part of me thinks, oh, that's what Superman needs. Now's the phone booth. Go to your career.

Was there a game where you're down two receivers? It's a second straight roadie. You mostly at homes. and that you really felt, man, we are, this thing is holding on by a thread. I've got a slot receiver for Boise State. I'm crossing my fingers. James Cook's ankle doesn't go. Did you ever have a moment like that?

And what did it play into it emotionally and physically how it turned out? Yeah, interesting. We 2013, we had kind of a rash injuries in that season. Grom got injured. We were down, we went to Denver in the championship game. We lost all our backs. We brought in Stephen Jackson to play. It was just a hard year losing backs, losing tight ends,

kind of offensive line in and out. We're dealing with rookie receivers on the road in the championship game, and we still made it a game. It was really close. I mean, we really could have made some plays early in the game to kind of give us a little momentum. But because we didn't play very well early, I remember I missed the pass to Julian across the field

on kind of that would have gave us a lot of momentum. you just get behind. And when you get behind and you don't have all your weapons, it's really hard to dig yourself out of a hole. Even a Niners game against the Eagles last week, the Niners have been very, you know, obviously so many injuries. They've been beaten up all year long.

They go into the Eagles and they got off to a good start. They went down the field and scored right away. And I was like, holy child, this is awesome. You know, I wasn't expected that against that kind of great Eagles defense. But that just injects a lot of life in. to, you know, the visiting team and also deflates the crowd of the home team because they're like, oh, God, so right away you shut them up. So that's what I think Buffalo needs to do. I know they're depleted. Their past game has been a little volatile this year. They do have an incredible run game,

a very good run blocking offensive line. And they've got a really challenging Broncos defense they're going against. Another defense that's very similar to Seattle, really unique structure of defense, really well coached. They're always on the details and nuances. And then, you know, Josh has got a great opportunity to, you know, this is, this is the game for him. I mean, there's a lot of career defining games for quarterbacks. And when you're a veteran quarterback and you're not dealing with Patrick Mahomes anymore, and that's been kind of a bit of a crypto night for the bills over the years. They're looking at like, okay, this is, this is a time for, you know, who they feel Josh, one of the best quarterbacks in the AC to go.

out there and have his year. He won the MVP last year. He's got a great chance to go on the road. I know he's a little bit under man, but, you know, that happens. And Denver may not have everybody, or Denver could lose somebody in the first quarter of the game, but you don't know how it's going to play out. But it's hard to, it's hard to not love the Buffalo Bills in this story. And, you know, I think it would be just incredible for their fan base who had been, you know,

so enthusiastic about this team. to finally get over the hump and then make it to, you know, a championship game. It's going to be a tough battle, but it's a just, again, another great game. Your former dynasty, the Patriots and the Texans, I think I'd feel better about it for Drake May if it was year seven. Famously, you had talked to Jay Glazer at one point. It was in camp, and you said, you know, I think I've seen everything. I've got the answers to the test. You don't have that.

Drake May doesn't have the answers to all the test questions. and Houston's defense, maybe it's not the Ray Lewis Ravens, Tom, you can turn the sound down. It just looks longer, faster, and stronger than everybody in the league. It is Justin Herbert looked out overwhelmed. Do you worry that Drake just hasn't faced anything close to this this year? Well, it is interesting. I think the Patriots, you know, they haven't had, you know, I would say, when you look at their schedule, the quality of competition hasn't been, you know,

what some other teams may have it. Now, that doesn't matter because that's not the Patriots fault. You know, you play who's on the schedule. And however those teams are playing, you know, they line you up and you've got to go out there and beat who you're going to be. You're now into the final eight. This is the best eight teams in football. They've earned it. The teams that got the buy had the best seasons in their conferences.

The teams, the other three teams that are playing per conference have already won a playoff game. They're riding high on confidence. They feel like, hey, we can hang with anybody. And I thought the Patriots played awesome last week too. And the Patriots had a great game. I mean, this is going to be, you know, I'm not, Drake is a really poised, composed kid. The Patriot organization knows how to deal with these type of atmospheres.

The fan base, they are, they've been waiting for this since I left. It's going to be rocking, Foxborough. It's a tough place to play. It's going to be cold. But this defense of Houston is ridiculous. And they could put a lot of pressure on you. So I'm excited. I'm excited about how, what does Josh do to try to keep some of the risk, you know,

mitigated from from what Drake's done this year. And Drake's played phenomenal. And he's throwing the ball so well, so accurate. Downfield throws are awesome. His escape ability, his ability to move in the pocket, his relateability with this teammate. There's so much to love about him as a player. And that's why the Patriots are in this position. So they're very high expectations in Foxborough.

I mean, they're not, believe me, they don't think that, you know, they're thinking one thing that they're going to go in there and kick some butt. But Houston's going to have a lot to say about that, too. Finally, I remember, and I think it's hard because you were so good to the very end. Two years after you're retired, you would have still been a top six quarterback. Aaron, I thought, had a really good year all things considered. He lost D.K. Matt Kaff, the O line was a work in progress. not a consistent run game, more of a defensive culture.

And I remember your retirement video. It was emotional. You were on the beach. You were sitting down by yourself. Did you, and so Aaron's in that space now. Did you have an epiphany? Was it a drive around the block? Did you wake up?

Was it a dream? What got you to the, yeah, I can still play. I can still win a lot of games. And I can still make the playoffs. I'm going to call it a career. Do you remember the moment? Because I think Aaron could have a moment like that in the next three weeks. Yeah, I was, you know, my last season was tough.

I was going through, I had a lot of, you know, just a personal, you know, a family issue. And it was a challenge and it was a very, you know, it just took a lot out of me in terms of, you know, my ability to continue to play. And I, you know, it's, I had 23 years of it. So I didn't feel like I was missing anything retiring. And I felt like, okay, this is time. I always had a goal, 45, I was 45 years old. I wanted to spend time with my kids. I felt like, okay, you know, now it's time for me to be at all my kids' games.

You know, they've been enough to their dad of their dad's games. And Aaron's got his own decisions he's got to make. He doesn't have kids. You know, he's trying to navigate what he wants to do post-career. It's hard to give up football, too. It's something that we're really good at. It's something you love to do. You love being out there with your teammates.

And I mean, I told a friend the other day, when I got older, I almost enjoyed practice more than playing because playing it was almost like it was a relief to win and everyone was out there. I was like, what's another win going to do for people? You know, it's never satisfying even for me, you know, sometimes winning and not winning like you would expect. So I understood at that point, I probably in my last season, like, okay, this is this is going to be my last time. I try to put as much as I couldn't do it. I felt like I owed it to my teammates and coaches to give them everything. I had. I wish it could have been a little bit better at the end. But it was just a unique situation,

a unique year for me. Aaron's got that too. I mean, Aaron's got his own ways that he deals with, you know, trying to find solutions. And, you know, I know it's, he's done some different things in the past. I'm sure he's trying to figure out because football is like a marathon, the season. everyone loves to run the first four miles of the marathon and everyone loves to run the last two miles of the marathon right but it's those middle it's those middle 20 miles that are hard because kind of the shine wears off after about a month and now you've got to dig deep into your preparation into your you know into your body work your treatments you're you know you got to dig deep your team is and over because it's such a long season you need to work really hard

over the course of the off season to kind of calish your body for what it takes to be an NFL player. So to me, it's do you want to make the commitment year round? Because if you don't, well, then it's never going to turn out well when the season happens. In order to be a great NFL player, you've got to commit and be foe in. And that's the only way your team's going to have a chance to win, especially when you're a starting quarterback. And only Aaron can decide that for himself. Well, Niners at the Seahawks, the Pacific Northwest.

I mean, honestly, it's just you can see the game, you can see the environment. You've had a great year at Fox, and the world will be watching, my friend. Great job today, and I can't wait to watch. I can't wait to watch. I got the best team on the field, our team at Fox, our whole crew. We love being up there. We love working together. We love kind of bringing our love of the game to the fans,

and we're going to see us Sunday afternoon, or excuse me, Saturday night. It's going to be awesome. I'm bringing my ear plugs. It's going to be loud. That environment is so cool. I mean, my ears are still ringing from the last time I played at that stadium, and it's going to be rocking on Saturday night. All right. Tom Brady, seven trophies. Great seeing you, bud. See you, bud. I'll see you hopefully next week. All right. That was really good stuff. There's a ton of good stuff there. Yeah, I mean, Aaron's now married. I mean, there's a lot of different things that go to play. I don't know.

But it's Tom at the end when he retired was still a top 7-8 quarterback. It's one thing if you're falling apart. Brady didn't have a lot of injuries. You know, you just make decisions.

And life happens. Man, that 49er Seahawk game, that is one for the ages. How lucky that we get last week? I mean, these games were credible. In Chicago, it's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys?

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about... what we should call it. 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, 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 Podcast.

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 Smigley. and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenchian win? I mean, she went down in three to Rovachina, but I'm delighted. Yeah, she's an outsider to win the first. French, me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now.

And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday on Fox, after dethroning the defending champs, Christian McCaffrey leads the Niners against Sam Darnold and the top-seated Seahawks. The divisional round playoffs presented by Intuit TurboTax Saturday, 730 Eastern 430 Pacific on Fox. Obviously, Saturday it's Buffalo and Josh Allen at Denver. Think about this.

If Josh Allen was to win a Super Bowl, listen to this journey. He would have beaten the Jags on the road, Jags number eight defense. he would then have to beat Denver on the road cross-country number three defense. He could eventually face the Houston Texans on the road, number two defense, and then eventually could face the Seattle Seahawks neutral site, the number one defense. If he wins, it is an all-time list. This with a wide receiver room that's down to three active players. Brandon Cooks is one of them.

He arrived week 13. Kion Coleman's another one. He appears to be a bust. It'll be a slot receiver and cross your fingers. So this journey is, this is an all-timer. Now, the good news is if you look at the quarterback's remaining, there's a lot of talent, but there's one old guy that doesn't move around and a lot of inexperience.

Bo Nix, Drake May, Sam Darnold doesn't have much. of a rich playoff history. Caleb Williams, Brock Purdy. It's pretty clear when you look at that list, who's got the most firepower? Here was Bo Nix this week on facing Josh Allen. He's incredible. He's a MVP of the league for a reason.

He continues to make play after play when sort of the game's not necessarily looking like he can make the play. He just goes out there and does superhero stuff. one of those things where he can do it all at a high level, and it's always been fun to watch. You don't want to say now or never, but now would be a good time, because Mahomes is probably back into it. Justin Herbert probably going to have both his tackles next year. My guess is Joe Burrell or Lamar or both will be back in it.

It's not a now or never, but, I mean, it's going to be a big lift. It's a lot of the best defenses. His wide receiver group is breaking down, and Josh is probably 80 percent. to this point. I was really surprised by how they played at Jacksonville. I really was. I thought I mean, I watched Jacksonville play parts of every game

and three to four full games and I thought they were more consistent. They were at home. Trevor Lawrence wasn't making mistakes. Emmanuel Sanders, a former teammate of Josh Allen, talked about him yesterday to close our show out.

He's 6'4.5 and just a machine. And then just a rocket of a horn. He was one of the best teammates that I had. I truly enjoyed being around him. It was always light energy. Like, I always having fun. Yeah, when we get in the game, he would turn it on.

But it was always fun to go out and compete with him. Because you know that he was going to give it his all. And that's why I always respected Josh. And, you know, the success that he's having is no surprise because he wants it. And I know how bad he wants that Super Bowl, too. Yeah, and Emmanuel talked about. but you know you tend to think players make the coaches but Emmanuel said really the coaches largely make the players now I think that is to a degree true I think Lawrence Taylor

Aaron Donald Reggie White Calvin Johnson Josh Allen would win anywhere in professional football now at Wyoming he didn't win but he didn't have you know he wasn't as good as he is now obviously there are a handful of players who aren't really reliant on systems or coaches to be successful. Now, you may not hoist a trophy without the great coach, the Jimmy Johnson, you know, without the Bella check, the Andy Reid. But Josh is one of those players that kind of falls into a Lawrence Taylor, Calvin Johnson, Aaron Donald, Reggie White.

It doesn't really matter where you put him. It doesn't matter. You get offensive coach, defensive coach, less than stellar coordinator. They're just different. He is just different. By the way, Brady was one of those. He won with Charlie Weiss. He won in Tampa with Bruce Ariens.

You know, he won with Josh McDaniel. Some guys are just going to succeed. But to get to the trophy room, that's generally when you really need somebody to accompany you, a kingmaker at some level. But if you look at the potential journey for Josh, Jags defense, Denver defense, Texans defense, Seahawks defense, three-neutral, or three-road, one neutral,

that is a lift. Joel Clatt around the corner, Keynes Hoosier's Monday, Greg CoSell today as well. In Chicago, it's the Hurt. 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 get to ask other people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends

on the I-heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Joey Dardano, and on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends

as we riff, rant, and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast presents soccer moms.

So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the Hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the...

the hip, just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast we're recording it as we tailgate. Our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They hit a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.