The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - HOUR 1 - Sam Darnold is underappreciated, West Coast cool comes to the B1G, Russ plays himself out of greatness

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Colin reacts to Thursday Night Football as Sam Darnold leads the Seahawks to victory, freed from past shackles of bad franchises. Kyler Murray fails to inspire his locker room in Arizona and it's becoming a problem. West coast cool was needed in the Big Ten, and teams like USC and Washington are bringing it. Russell Wilson was benched for Jaxson Dart, and Colin explains how the quarterback has fallen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or stream us live every day on the IHartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Fox Sports Radio. Oh, do we have a show today? It is a Friday. We are live. Lazing 5, bounce back week. Love the picks.

Love some favorites in one hour from now. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. J. Mack went out on the town last night, watched the Seahawks with a friend. A lot of energy. A lot of energy. And you know, I try never to be a homer.

I try not to be. It's hard. You know, you grow up with certain teams. But Arroyo, JSN, Kenneth Walker, Sam Darnold, defensive coach. I, and I do think they have as good a GM as the league has outside of Howie Roseman. I see Seattle. I see a lot of talent.

I see a Super Bowl capable team. I do. After that performance last night, making your Super Bowl bubble pick look kind of sharp, huh? Kind of did. So, I mean, there's no greater example of where you land matters than Sam Darnold. USC Jets, Carolina, especially Jets in Carolina, they asked him at a very young age, carry the franchise. The last two stops, good coaches, good roster, suddenly he's elite.

And oh, yeah, he's elite. Last two years, he's tied for the most wins in the league by a quarterback. He's tied for the most game-winning drives with Patrick Mahom. And he leads the NFL in big plays. And this is the second youngest offensive roster. So he's doing it with kids. rookie tight end, JSN, the rookie from Colorado State.

Walker is still young. Well, he's doing it with kids. So people say, well, at the end of last season, he got blown out. I've seen Mahomes get blown out in two Super Bowls. I love Lamar Jackson. I've seen him freeze in the headlights, multiple games in the playoffs. If you look at what have the Jets and the Panthers done since Sam Donald left, they remain pathetic.

Sometimes winners in life can't elevate every loser. high school he was a winner USC Rose Bowl he was a winner Vikings he's a winner Seattle he's a winner nobody can help the Jets and the Panthers so like not everybody can elevate elevate everything

four straight seasons with better coaching oh his completion percentage keeps going up leads the NFL in big plays when he went to New York he was ridiculously young he was 21 years old and he wasn't ready for New York and New York the Jets aren't ready for any quarterback so I

I look at Sam and I look at this young roster, and I think it's amazing. We know Green Bay is a really young roster, but Jordan Love's been in the building for so long. He's grown with these guys. So Jordan loves young, the roster's young, but he's been in the mix for years. Darnold keeps bouncing around to teams everywhere he goes. It works. Minnesota with a veteran left tackle and a veteran star receiver, it worked. Now he goes to Seattle the opposite.

They're kids, second youngest offense in the league to Green Bay, and it clicks. J.S.N. Arroyo. It shows you the work. It shows you the leadership. You know, I was thinking about this last night watching him. I actually think Darnold has great intangibles, and I've always said this about Dack Prescott. I don't love the arm of Dack. I don't think he throws the prettiest ball.

I think Sam Darnold is Dach with better tangibles. Both have great intangibles. They're loved by teammates. One of the guys, Alpha without the ego. They're both kind of the same guy, Dak and Darnold. Darnold's got the bigger arm. Darnold's the better athlete.

Both tough. So I don't know. I just look at Sam Darnold and high school, USC and Rose Bulls, Seattle, Minnesota, when you've surrounded him with winners and quality people and quality teammates, Sam wins.

a lot tied for the league lead and wins. And I think it's impressive that he's doing it with Seattle because, you know, Minnesota had some older star players. You go to a safety, a left, tackle, a star receiver. There's older star players are running back. This is a young team. He just plopped into Seattle and it's already working. That is a much harder win than you think.

Division rival, short week, young team on the road, Arizona's always fight. Arizona's got a lot of good offensive players. So here was Mike McDonald, the young head coach on Sam Darnold, the win last night. Sam's playing out of his mind right now. And you see him, he's just like such a cool customer. But he's a guy on a mission. He's just so determined for us to be a great team and a great offense, and he's doing a great job leading us.

He certainly is. And I said yesterday, I put the Seahawks in the Super Bowl bubble. the athletic came out with this survey this week, judging the best front offices in the NFL, and it was all the teams that draft and develop well. You can argue that John Snyder is as good a personnel guy as the NFL has the GM. I mean, all I see with Seattle is they just don't miss.

They don't miss on a lot of draft picks. And now they've got this young defensive coach, kind of their version of Jesse Minter, and Donald's a playmaker. When you put him around players and smart coaches, Sam Darnels, he's elite. So I was watching Kyler Murray last night. Now, I have defended Kyler Murray from his first day in the league.

I defended him when the owner called him out for lack of study habits. I think he's an insane talent. But I do think privately watching last night, if you ask the owner and the GM and the head coach, and they could wiggle out of the contract and move on. I think they would. He's not terribly verbal. I feel like sometimes he feels detached.

I don't feel like he's obsessed with football, but I don't know well enough to have strong opinions. I will defend his talent forever. But when I see Mahomes barking at his teammates on the sideline, or Lamar Jackson is the soul of the offense, or Stafford and McVeigh, they're totally in sync. And I always watch Kyler Murray, I'm like, he's the fifth longest tenured quarterback in the league.

Fifth, who's he close to? Who's he connected to? So I'm watching last night, and again, I've defended him the entire time, and he has a market, but there is something that I think matters. And this is where I think being one of the guys. Like a lot of times I'll watch politicians, and I'll think to myself, oh, I'd like to have a beer with that guy. And I always think that's the best kind of politician.

They're smart. they're passionate. They have some courage, some fortitude, but there's like a relatability thing. Baker Mayfield is great in close games. Brady, even though he was older in New England, great in close games. Darnold starting to win these close games.

Jack's actually through the year's been pretty good in close games. Why is Kyler Murray, as great as he is, why is he so bad in close games? 1932 and 1 in 1. unscored games. Every stat in the fourth quarter goes down. And I just don't know if he's a unifier. He always feels detached. He's not a lead us over the hill. When games get close, when fit hits the Shan in life, people aren't looking for talent. They're looking for guidance. And I think, I think the body language, the head shaking, again, I will defend him and have defended him.

talent, no question. He's the best slider in the league. He's got a beautiful ball. He's in giving the baseball background has helped him in football, but Baker is so great this year in close games. Because Baker's like,

guys, get on my back. I'm leading the way. You can see it with his body language. And then I watch Kyler Murray, it's just like, he's just sort of talented. I don't know, I don't feel like, that he's like a unifier. And this league, I mean, that game last night,

they all, doesn't it feel like they all end like this? How many games this year have like ended on the final drive? Seattle dominates the game, punishing them and has to need to walk off to win. That's the league. It's about unity and connectability and how close you are. And who's going to lead us over the hill? And that's, Darnold walks into a brand new club with a bunch of kids and he feels totally connected to J.S.N. and the Royal.

And Walker and the coaching staff. And Kyler's just really talented. I mean, his career record when trailing by 10 points is 8 and 36 and 1. Like if he's not playing well, I feel like he just shuts it down. I never feel that with Baker. Baker's a great come from behind quarterback. I think Kyler's got more talent than Baker. I really do.

But Baker is fighting to the last play. Kyler's 836 and 1 when he gets behind. And I just, there's something. about the ability to unify and lead the way that I always feel like he lacks, and here he was after the loss. It wasn't clicking. It was not clicking. You know, pretty much getting physically dominated the whole first half.

We just got to make more plays. We got to be ready to go. You know what I mean? It's like we're just loading, you know what I mean? And it's taken too long. You know, obviously the resilience of the team is you love to see it. You feel like give yourself a chance to win the game at the end. But it's just too late.

You know, is there a team in the NFL that always has good players? It's in a ton of close games and just doesn't win a lot of them. More than Arizona. And I think sometimes you've got to say, well, who's the quarterback? Who's the guy taking the snaps late? It's not a lack of talent. So, J-Mack, you have been bailing on Kyler Murray for a long time. I mean, there's been a lot of reports that he's not obsessed about football and whatever.

Do I think he is? I don't know. He's certainly good. But that was one of those games where, I don't know, just the body language, the mannerism, sometimes I just kind of feel like when he trails, he bails. You know, I think he can't do that as a quarterback. That's not a great moniker to slap on him, but that sounds accurate. Another part of the handicapped yesterday, remember I really like Seattle.

I know. Is it Kyler just can't do anything against Seattle? I think he's lost like six or seven in a row some ridiculous number. He just can't generate offense. Now, it's obviously not all on him. The offensive line was bad. I think he got sacked six times. But I just need to ask you, Colin, when Josh Allen runs, Buffalo is super dangerous.

When Lamar Jackson runs, man, Baltimore's tough. Why isn't Kyler Murray running anymore? He basically had five carries, but one of them was 29 yards. So the rest of the time, it's like scrambles. I don't get it. I remember, I had somebody on our show. his rookie year. Because I've been a fan since day one.

I think he's a huge talent. Obviously, yeah. And it was that defensive lineman in the NFL that had sacked him. And it was at the end of his first year. And he goes, he said, man, he didn't say it on the air. He said it's a good player still in the league. He said, he doesn't like to get hit. He's a small guy and he doesn't like to get hit.

He goes, I've hit a lot of quarterbacks. He doesn't like it. He does not like to get. And I think some of it is self-preservation. He's a smaller athlete. I mean, it's just, listen, Josh Allen and Cam Newton and Big Ben and Philip Rivers, bigger, thicker guys can take hits.

Smaller guys, Tua, can't take the beating. By the way, Sam Darnold, my comp for him when he came out was actually, I got a lot of crap for this, was Andrew Luck. I said, I don't think he's as good as Andrew Luck, but I said, I think there's some Andrew Luck. Last two years, look at the numbers, it's Andrew Luck. So my comp for him, but Andrew Luck, I thought, was a greater transformational talent who could overcome,

and maybe more than any quarterback in 15 years, Andrew Luck could overcome bad stuff. Sam came into the league at 21. He wasn't as good on the whiteboard. It took him a while to develop, but he is becoming, I thought he was, I hate to say a poor man's Andrew Luck,

but I thought there was a lot of qualities where he could be reckless. He was tough. He was physical. He never took blame. He always took blame. He never pointed fingers. But I think Sam's got, the DAC Prescott intangibles,

but he's a really, really good athlete with a big arm. Yes, so Sam scrambling is effective for Seattle, right? He's great with his legs. And I get it. Kyler doesn't want to run. You said he's one of the best sliders in the league. Colin, listen, I want to do whatever's best for my team to help us win.

That should be the vibe. I don't see him as like a big energy, raw, raw guy, which is fine. Not everybody is. But when you, Patrick Mahomes is screwing up, he's on the sideline firing everybody up. I don't see that from Tyler. Yeah, no, I, I, I know.

I can see how much Lamar cares. Lamar gets so mad at himself and he's so hard on himself, and I can see Mahalms how much they care. And I just don't feel that and whatever that is and how much that matters. I mean, I do look at stats a lot. Why is Kyler so bad when trailing by 10? I always said this about Aaron Rogers in the body language.

Why does Aaron Rogers have so few come from behind winds? It's like shocking. Why? I always said Aaron is a little bit more of a bailer than a baller. He's not a foxhole guy. I feel, and I've always felt that with Kyler. He's not a foxhole guy. He's just really gifted.

Aaron's really gifted. There are guys, and I think Baker Mayfield's a great example, that dude plays hard. Baker plays with a chip on his shoulder down 27 with a minute 30 left. He gives up no plays. And in his body language, he gets mad at himself. I think that stuff does matter. Blazing 5 and 45 minutes, I like it.

It's a favorite's weekend. I like it. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, is Steve Kavino. And I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Kavino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the IHeart Radio app. Why should you listen to Kavino and Rich?

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Maybe the most interactive show on Planet Earth. Be sure to check out Kavino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the IHeart Radio app from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4%. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcast and of course on social media. That's Covino and Rich. 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 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 And we were thinking I'm originally calling it One of the early names of our band Before Jonas Brothers

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

But thanks for remembering that guys listen to hey jonas on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast just listen we don't care where you hear it another podcast from some s nl late night comedy guy not quite on humor me with robert smigel and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odenkirk to david letterman help make you funnier this week my guess s nl's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter where does your group perform we do some retirement homes those people 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.

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 kept. 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. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was, the quickest, easiest way out.

Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. 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.

This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had... existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is going to be an insane college football weekend, and I'm reading the headlines this morning. Oregon, going to Penn State. Can they withstand the Whiteout against the Nittany Lions? USC's next three games, the key for Lincoln Riley and their playoff halts. Ohio State, Washington.

Can a husky slow down the Buckeyes? All you heard when Pact 12 teams, four, join the Big Ten was, they are soft. They will not be able to handle the physicality of the Big Ten. The weather out here is different. Oh, Oregon, first year in the conference, won the conference. So this weekend, it's not just a good game. It's a regional statement.

It's a territory battle. The Ryder Cup is not the only geographical te-tete this weekend, and I think it's great. I think the Big Ten needed some flash. West Coast teams are more creative. They have better quarterbacks. They're more inventive. They're generally a little more finesse.

But I think the Big Ten was top-heavy and at times plodding. I do think the Pack 12, Oregon needed to get bigger up front. USC's felt like a finesse team for too many years. So I think, and, you know, Washington, whenever they have a good coach, is a really good team. So I think Buckeye fans will have their first vanilla cold brew this weekend in Seattle, and I think it's perfect. And I think USC fans are going to say, where's the champagne? Now, you don't have any. That's the name of the town.

And it's all good. I like the mesh here. I always thought the Big Ten was top heavy, and then it got slow, plotting, and needed some speed. some creativity. And I think the Big Ten needed these teams. It feels broader. It feels more clever, more creative. And I think, frankly, USC last year decided we got to get bigger up front.

And they did need that. And now they are. So in a weird way, joining the Big Ten has made USC a better program. They're now a run-first program. They're not a pass-first team. And Jed Fish, the Huskies coach, they host the Buckeye said this weekend. Joining the Big Ten has been really good for West Coast teams.

We could sell that we're going to be playing on the East Coast. We're going to be playing in the West Coast. We're going to be playing in the Midwest. There's so many different areas that we'll be able to attack, that people can watch them on TV. We could nationally recruit. We were in the national championship game two years ago. So people know who Washington is.

They played Michigan. the big stage. We got to find a way to get back there to continue to reemphasize the type of program that we are. And there really, they were different sensibilities. I mean, Oregon's got 316 uniforms, nine helmets, and Penn State's got exactly one. But it's not like the West Coast didn't have, you know, tradition. USC's uniforms, forget altering those. When it was suggested, drop the Notre Dame game, everybody freaked out. So, but the, but the big 10, let's be honest about it. It's not the most creative. The quarterback play is kind of average for years.

It's very top-heavy. It needed an infusion of creative. It needed some West Coast cool. And I think it's helped the conference. And I think when you plan the Big Ten, you've got to be bigger up front. And it is forced Oregon and USC to just recruit bigger players who wear well in November.

So I think it's really been an amazing mesh, in my opinion. Here's Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, let's go to the Philadelphia Eagles. Three and O big, big showdown with the three and O Tampa Bay Bucks in Tampa Sunday at one on Fox. Outstanding game, Colin.

A.J. Brown talked about that comeback in the second half and wants to keep the Eagles aggressive heading into Tampa. The goal is to win the game, and obviously we want to do that first. But like I was just saying, like I think it just kind of took too long for us as an offense to adjust and be more of a be more aggressive. You know, when one thing's not working, I was just saying like, let's not continue to keep trying to get our head on the wall and see if it's going to work. Let's mix it up and do what we need to do. I pulled this game out of my Blazing Five. This was a, I do think Philadelphia is the play here. But I will say, go down to steamy Tampa, Baker,

I don't know. I think Philadelphia is the better team. But Todd Bowles against Jalen Hertz has been interesting. This was the last pick that I pulled out and I inserted another pick. A little chicken there, coward, huh? Bailing on the Eagles. Okay, so a couple notes. You know, remember how one of my big takes is I like what the Patriots did for 20 years. It constantly revolving, Colin, as a team, right?

They would be tight end heavy. They would go slot receiver, running back defense. They won a lot of different ways. So this Eagles offense, everybody thinks of it as, oh, it's just push and take one. They just showed you against the Rams. Hey, we can throw the ball if we need to. But what's underreported is this defense, Colin, it's unbelievable. They can win now with defense.

The run game, Hertz and Brown, Devontas Smith, they've got a great tight end in Goddard. Where's the weakness on this team? Honestly, I'm just straight up. What is the Eagles? What's interesting is there, Philadelphia, just a bad matchup for a lot of teams because they're so good defensively on the defensive line interior between jordan davis and jalen carter rams as we discovered aren't great there rams are really good they need a tall physical corner and they need better interior linemen uh they were gonna

address both in the draft and they didn't there are teams that match out with philadelphia i think detroit very good offensive line i think detroit matches up well with them but i think philadelphia and tampa I think Tampa actually, I think they match up better. I think they have a bigger corner. I think their interior line is better than the, you know, than the Rams. I think this game, I just, it's a stay away for me. Yeah. Tampa at home, Baker the way he's playing.

It's stay away. So did you see that Tampa, by the way, has signed or brought him up from the practice squad, a guy who's like 475 pounds in an effort to put him next to Vita Vaya and stop the push? They're calling him the push stopper. This dude, this is a real. thing. Tampa's like strategizing. So I respect that. And like you said, Bowles has bottled up hurts. If you look at their matchups, his schemes have given him problems. I like Philly. All right, let's go to the next story. And my Niners, remember you made me pivot from the Jets to the

Niners a couple years ago? Yeah. They're three in O, Colin. Interesting situation developing a quarterback. Brock Purdy, quote, should return according to Kyle Shanahan. But is that because Matt Jones seemingly cannot go. He's limited at practice right now. A toe and shoulder for Mack Jones. He got beat up in that Cardinals game. I want to be on the Niners here. I'm a little nervous, though, about this Jacksonville team. Because I, for some reason, I like Jacksonville this season. I know. I can't justify it yet.

I always feel the Niners. I don't bet the Niners very often. If you really look, I don't. And one of the reasons I don't is I never know who's playing. I don't like to, I like to go into bets with answers, not questions. I know they have a great coach, but I don't know who the quarterback's going to be. You know, I just, when you have old, more brittle players that you can lose, like without Bosa, it's not the same defense. It did not. So I, I think with the Niners, I'm always like game time decision, who's playing. When I turn the game on, I'm like, okay, he's playing, Kittles back.

I can't go into a game where I don't know who the starting quarterback is. If Brought Purdy had played in practice all week, I think San Francisco wins. Final one on the Niners before we move to the Cowboys. I wonder if the Niners are so worried about offense that they had Robert Sala go out and say, hey, you know, the Jags steal signals on the sideline, which is like a little brushfire to take it away, the attention away from the Niners' injuries and put it on the Jags. Interesting subplot. That's a great game.

I'm very excited for that one in the afternoon on Fox. Final story, Colin, is Micah Parsons and the return to Dallas. Obviously, people are excited that he gets to go against a beat-up offensive line in Dallas. And he's going to be chasing around, Dak Prescott. Here's Dak talking about how the story of the game should not be about the two friends. It'll definitely be fun. Yeah, it's one me and my fiance are just talking about the other day and just all the reps of practice going against Michael. You know, in times when he couldn't hit me, whether him getting back there, just the trash talk back and forth.

Just excited to go and have that match up, but he's got five guys up front plus tight ends and running back said he's got to get through. So then we'll worry about if he can get to me. It is a testament to Dak Prescott that is bad as Dallas's defense, with CD Lamhert, they're only a touchdown underdog. Well, at home, that's a big number, Roe.

Is it a cover a touchdown? Green Bay's offense? I don't know. They scored 10 against the Browns. I mean, Browns may have. have the first, second or third best defense in the league. They played well early. Final note, wouldn't you appreciate it if Dack went to the podium and be like,

bro, what do you expect me to do against Micah? I don't have C.D. Lamb, like he was just brutally honest. Hey, Jake Ferguson's nice. Pickens is nice. We're going up against the machine here, guys. We're in trouble. What if he just said that? You know, you should be honest.

I always thought Pickens, we know, Pickens is a huge talent. He's good. Yeah. But when you put him on the field with C.D. Lamb, he's not close to C.D. Lamb. Like that tells you, like C.D. Lamb separates on every pass plate. Like C.D. Lamb separates from good corners. Pickens doesn't separate. He's just long and really strong and physical, but he doesn't separate. Lamb can run every route in the route tree. Okay. Pickens is basically his move is to go route. Remember last year, Russell Wilson would basically just throw him jump balls. That was the offense for them

deep. I like Packers a lot here, Cullen. Tell me you included this game. I did not. I don't take this. You love the big TV games. No, those are the ones you don't want to. I don't. You, you, I like, I go into the weeds on stuff. Yeah, but remind me, what happened in that playoff game? Do you remember that Packers Cowboys playoff game?

Yeah, it was a blowout. I mean, it was from the, it was like 28-0. I would not be shocked if this was the early Packers. Holy smokes. All right, J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd-line news.

So, I mean, the game everybody's talking about, I don't think it will be the best game, but it feels big is Baltimore and Kansas City. So I think we have found officially the limit on how much even a superstar legendary quarterback can do. Mahomes may be one in three after the weekend. They just don't have any juice offensively. And Lamar Bay maybe one and three after the weekend. They don't do anything right now well defensively, although they are a little banged up. So we all know that if you give like average quarterbacks, really good weapons, good coach, they can feel like a different quarterback.

But even all-time greats have limits. And in Mahomes, think about this, in Mahomes last 22 starts, we look this up. He has a lower passer rating, lower than Russell Wilson. So nothing lasts forever. Andy Reid and Belichick were fired in this league. Brady and Belichick in their dynasty went in the middle of it, went three years without winning a playoff game.

So I mean, and a lot of what has happened to Kansas City is not their fault. They've had weird injuries, Xavier Worthy runs into Travis Kelsey. I mean, they've had suspensions by players who get into hit and runs and do really bad things. And, you know, they've missed on a couple

of wide receivers like Skymore. Everybody does. But I think a lot of times we talk about this, the eye test, and yesterday I put up the Super Bowl bubble of, you know, the five or six teams that I feel can win the Super Bowl. And the one thing they all have in common, and you saw it with Seattle last night, you can see the energy. There is something that's special. And when I watch Kansas City, they look a little tired.

They look fatigue. I don't see a lot of dynamic performers. Chris Jones in the trenches is good. But trust your eyes. I just, I mean, my team's in the Super Bowl bubble, and even the two or three surrounding them, There is something that is exceptional. I don't see exceptional. I think Andy and Mahomes are all-time great,

but offensively, not a lot of juice. They come out slow. And I got to see, you got to feel like a baseball pitcher who's throwing one-on-one, and you're throwing it past people, and I feel like they're a guy throwing sliders in the low 90s, and they're paint in the corners. And, you know, Greg Maddox may be one that way. Most don't.

So I just, I think the offense, it's between missed draft picks. They couldn't afford Joe Tooney, Travis Kelsey getting old, weird injury, ridiculous suspension. Not that the suspension was ridiculous, that Rishi Rice's behavior was. I think it just all adds up to mid or worse than mid. Last 22 games, Mahomes lower passerating the Russell Wilson, who just got benched. Here's Mahomes on the evolving offense. I understand that these guys can protect and they can give me time to make these throws. And I'll continue to get better and better at that and try to make some of these throws more accurate down the field.

And instead of hitting one to two a game, making that three to four and then five to six. And then defense was back up and it will help us out with other stuff within the offense. You've got to be able to execute and showcase that you can hit those throws. And if you do that, they'll adjust. And then we have to adjust as well. And so that's what's beautiful about the NFL is you have to be able to adjust on the fly and make things happen. Again, I think Mahomes is carrying a very average unit. And we talked about it this week.

When you pay the quarterback, one of the reasons Tampa and Seattle are so good, they've got really good quarterbacks playing at real team-friendly deals. When you pay Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, you have holes. You're going to have to give up special players. If Joe Tuny was still on this team, maybe the offensive line would look different, but he's not, and it doesn't. So, you know, it's, I said this the other day, J-Mack, for about three to four years, it felt like the AFC, the best were way better than the NFC.

Then you had to pay Lamar, then you had to pay Josh, then you had to pay Mahomes, you had to pay Trevor Lawrence, you had to pay all the quarterbacks, Joe Burrell. Now those teams had to make sacrifices on personnel. So now the NFC has got really good quarterbacks on much more team-friendly deals, like Baker, like Darnel. Yeah. So like Jaden Daniels, who's a rookie. So what you're seeing now is, and Jalen Hurts deals, pretty team-friendly. So what you're seeing now is the better quarterbacks may be in the AFC, the better rosters.

Teams, yes. The better teams and rosters are on the network called Fox. The deeper rosters, Detroit's roster, Rams rosters, Phillies roster, when you get either a young quarterback, a rookie quarterback deal, or more favorable deal, you just get more good players. Yeah, that was my favorite take of yours this week. I want to add there's a couple cross-conference matchups this week to watch.

Colts, Rams, are the Colts for real, or are they frauds? We don't know. We'll kind of find out. Rams are good, right? You got Browns, Lions. You seem to think the Brown's defense is good. Well, we'll see. And then there was one other one I'm spacing on it now.

But it seems like, you know, there are only six teams in the AFC with winning records. That could be down to like four after this weekend. Honestly, if the two and one teams go down, it's like, yeah. I'm betting on an AFC team this weekend to win convincingly that I think they're one of the only teams left that is really good. and hasn't shown it. And if they don't show it this weekend, then they're not good. You can't go a month and not be good. Oh, I know who you're doing. There is one team in the AFC, I actually

think is really, really good. And they've sputtered around and played with their food. I think it changes this weekend. But if it doesn't, then I was wrong, and I'm done with them. Blazing five, top of the hour. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at 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? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, 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 guide. 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.

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. Keith Giamanka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea?

It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like. No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. 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. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to deep cover, The Family Man, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Start your Saturday strong with Big Noon Saturday.

Number 21 USC is looking for a Big Ten statement win as they take on the 23rd ranked fighting al-alini. It all goes down live from Champaign starting with Big Noon kickoff at 10 a.m. Eastern. Then it's USC, Illinois, only on Fox. You know, it's so funny. Lincoln Riley has this, you know, this reputation. Well, you kind of finesse and they pass a lot. USC is running the ball at a 55% clip.

They're a run team. They've got good receivers, but USC is a run team. Illinois is a man-to-man defense, heavy blitz team. It'll be very interesting. The alignize back end is all beat up. They lost a player for the year. So I'm not, I think USC may go to the air in this one because generally, if you look at what Illinois does defensively,

they put people in the box, they bring heat. But it's funny to watch that. Lincoln Riley's got this reputation. When I used to watch Oklahoma, everybody thought, oh, he's throwing the ball around. I thought it was the power run game at Oklahoma and the complimentary pass game. I think Caleb Williams made you think that USC and Lincoln Riley, it made, you know, it made Caleb Williams individually made you think Lincoln Riley love to pass. He actually likes to run the ball.

If you watch USC play this year, they are a run-first team. They've got excellent running back. Probably the deepest part of this team is they can go four deep at running back. That's what they're great at. They've got two really good receivers, and then they have to play a freshman. They're not terribly deep at wide receiver. They want to run the football. They and, and because they blew leads last year, they blew leads last year because their

offensive line wasn't very good. This year, it's much better. It's still super young. So Illinois is going to blitz the hell out of them and say, let's see if you're freshman and red shirt sophomores can block. That's what, that's what Illinois is going to do. They're going to bring a ton of pressure. And USC, they want to crowd the box, make USC three.

make Jaden Mayava make mistakes. But I do think it's funny. This whole idea of like Lincoln Riley's throw the ball guy. This team is a run first team at Oklahoma. They ran the ball. That's not who he is. So I thought it was interesting last done on the Amazon broadcast. Generally speaking, this is the way it works.

Most former pro athletes, Payton Manning is a great example, don't like to criticize current pro athletes. Tom Brady doesn't like to criticize pro athletes. He'll criticize a coach, an organization. But, you know, most of these guys, there's a brotherhood. And you just, you don't like to bring the hammer on players. You kind of soft pedal it or maneuver around the harshness, except Russell Wilson.

So Tony Gonzalez last night. And Tony's a nice guy and not super opinionated. He's like, if there's ever been a guy who's played himself out of the Hall of Fame, Tony Gonzalez said, it's Russell Wilson. And I mean, Richard Sherman backed him up. He said, without that legendary defense. Seattle, look at the truth. I think what happened with Russell Wilson is weird.

He went from eight years, pro-bowls, maybe the most talked-about quarterback in the league, not named Brady. I mean, Seahawks were like the story four years in the league. But he didn't get along with Sean Payton. His college coach at North Carolina State benched him. Pete Carroll got tired of him. Pittsburgh was one and done. and now his coaches benching him at 0 and 3.

And I, by the way, I've never seen a quarterback get criticized more often publicly than Russell Wilson. And my takeaway is there's a cringy, corny kind of inauthentic feel that players just don't like, almost like, you know, I don't know how to put it. Like, he acts the way a quarterback should act, but it doesn't feel terribly authentic. I mean, they didn't have a lot of players at his wedding. he's not that close with a lot of players, whatever. It just doesn't work.

But I think, you know, if he hands the ball off to Marshawn Lynch in Super Bowl 49, he's probably a Hall of Famer. That was a big discussion this week. Now I don't think he is. But I think the big issue came down to this is that in Seattle, the Seahawks were great for about six, seven years. But they were great for a lot of reasons. It was a collective, Marshawn Lynch, P. Carroll's energy.

The Legion of Boom, the 12th Man and the Fans, John Snyder's drafting, you know, Marshaun Lynch, and Russell Wilson, there was a lot of reasons they were great. Russell Wilson was getting star treatment. I think it felt like to his teammates he wanted superstar treatment. And he was a star of the team, but Marshawn Lynch is every bit as good at his position, and that defense is legendarily historically great. And the only thing I've ever been able to put my finger on with the dynamic in Seattle

is that that great Seattle team was a collective of coaching and GMing and Marshawn Lynch and the defense and the outstanding corners. And Russell was a star, but his teammates felt like he wanted superstar treatment, and it just never felt right. That's the only way I can describe it, maybe a little bit of a lack of self-awareness.

You know, I just, it's just a weird career from way up here to suddenly nobody wants to coach him long term without a big injury. It's weird. It's one of the strangest things I've ever, three years ago, I just couldn't figure it out at all. Now I think I've wrapped my brain around it at some point. It's, you know, like that self-awareness and your own office, which I defended initially, and Sean Payton's like, no. and it's just a disconnect.

I mean, he still has a great deal of confidence about his ability. I think for me personally, you know, as well as I'm not done. I got so much belief in myself and nobody I'm capable of. I believe I was able to show it, especially, you know, on the road in Dallas and everything else. I know that can help this football team, you know, if that comes up. He went from kind of underrated, undervalued, to instantly in Denver, overrated. overvalued with no major injury. Generally, if you plan this league for 10 years,

fans have a beat on you. Media's got a beat on you. I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I watched every one of his games. I thought I had a beat on him. And then I didn't, bah, fast. Like, it just turned. Now, it's gone downhill.

His last eight starts, he's 0 and 8. So that's including the playoffs. He's 0. and 8. Giants and Steelers, I don't think they're great fits. I think their organization, one is tone-deft offense, Pittsburgh, and the other one doesn't have a lot going for at the Giants. But it has been an incredible career,

but there was a big debate this week when he got benched, is he a Hall of Famer? And I tend to think, when you have a career that ends poorly, you had to be unbelievable in the meat of it. And Aaron Rogers, it may not end well, but for like 11 years, there was a sense he was the best quarterback in the league,

and he was putting up those kind of numbers. numbers. There was about eight years with Russell. He was really good, but Aaron didn't have that kind of run game. Aaron didn't have that kind of defense. You could argue Aaron didn't have that kind of coaching. Aaron didn't have that kind of 12th man. Like Seattle, that roster, that roster in Seattle for about five years was like a notch above the second best roster in the league. Aaron's never had that. So Aaron's, you know, in Green Bay, where you don't have a lot of free agents, the coach Mike McCarthy wasn't beloved. He never had, great run games, with the exception of the one year he won a Super Bowl. Aaron didn't have a lot

of great defenses. Russ had all of it. And so when it comes to Hall of Fame, I have to think about that. In your prime, what were you surrounded by? Russ had an all-star team. It's a little bit like Jalen Hertz. Like Jalen Hertz in his prime is surrounded with a completely stacked roster. And if we look at 8, 10, 9, 11 years with Jalen Hertz and we consider the, you know, the totality of his career is he a Hall of Famer. What was he surrounded by in his prime? We all know Aaron Rogers is a Hall of Famer. The best argument for Aaron's greatness is, did he ever have a great coach? Did he ever have a great defense? Did he ever have a great run game? And until he got Matt LaFlewer, I could argue no. He kind of carried Green Bay for years. The Hall of Fame thing is Russell was

never really asked to carry a team. Brady had to carry some pretty lean defenses at the year. Brady, outside of the Randy Moss years, had to carry a lot of average receiving course. I mean, let's be honest, he didn't have a lot to work with outside of the, you know, gronk in his prime, Randy Moss, Edelman late. Tom carried a lot of average offensive personnel. Mahomes has won Super Bowls in the last three years, very offensively limited. You know, Russ had an all-star team in his prime. And Denver's not an all-star team.

Pittsburgh's not. The Giants aren't. And here's what it looks like. I think you have to consider all that stuff. All right. Blazing five. I like favorites this weekend. Some big, some small.

But favorites doing pretty well. Weird weekend. I don't think it's as weird. I think college and pro, a lot of favorites, post and Ws. Hey, guys. It's us and the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin.

And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast. Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

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

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Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great day. 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 IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.