The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - Colin's Blazin 5 picks for the weekend, Dak Prescott played well last night, Matt Hasselbeck

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

Colin shares his best bets for week 1 of the NFL season including Steelers v Jets and Lions v Packers. Plus, 3-time Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck joins the show to tell Colin why Dak Prescott is playing like an MVP coming off another major injurySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. Hour 2 on a Friday. This puppy is moving. We are live. It's the herd. If you, Matt Hasselbex around the corner, thought the Cowboys played well last night.

I thought after the rain delay, Philadelphia made the bigger plays. but overall, you know, I always wonder about like that Thursday night game is it speaking for the league? Like a couple years ago Detroit beat Kansas City and it was kind of our

oh, Detroit's for real. Remember they went? I think it was in Kansas City and it was like, oh, Detroit's not just a fad, Detroit's real. And I do think what last night told us is Philadelphia is still going to be really

emotional with some drama. It was on display last night. And Dak, with all the movement in Dallas, if he's healthy and playing, they're going to be in a lot of games. Totally agree. That's kind of my takeaway last night. All right. Well, a lot of people would not do a blazing five to start the year because, well, I'm terrible in week one. But it's too much fun. Let's have a good five minutes here with my picks. I feel good. As I always do, I felt good every week last year. That didn't mean anything. And here we go with our opening, Blazing Five. That's a hot one. Let's blaze it up. It's Collins Blazing Five. Giants hit commanders. I like the Giants plus six and a half. At least one underdog of six plus points as one outright in week one. I think the Giants could be the play.

They played nine one score games last year and both games against the commanders were close. Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, Abdul Carter. This is a top two or three defensive line. And, I mean, let's be honest, it's week one. We saw what D-lines can do last night. Malik neighbors matchup problem, even with Dan Quinn. Back end of the defense last year for Washington was a bit of a mess. The commanders, great year, but they played 12-1-score games,

and their defense, again, was bad with a defensive coach. So I think the Debo Terry McLaurin thing is fascinating, but I think it won't be perfect until later in the season. This is a go-either-way game. I'll take Washington to win, but six and a half, I'm taking it with the Giants. 27-23, commanders close. Steelers and Jets. I like the Jets plus a field goal. This is the lowest over and under.

I'm going to take the home dog plus the three points. They held fourth quarter leads in six of their 12 losses last year. The Jets were in games, and that's with an old quarterback that couldn't extend plays. Now they have a young quarterback that can. The Steelers had a lot of turnover. Left tackle gone, quarterback gone, best receiver gone, best running back gone. With a defensive culture, you think they're going to look good in week one? I mean, my takeaway is the wrong team getting points here.

I think the Jets roster is good, and I've got a young quarterback. who played in Pittsburgh and knows their personnel. And by the way, Aaron Rogers, with all these new parts, week one, last three times. Week one, he started. He's lost all of them and has not played well. And he's not the most committed guy in the offseason. I like the Jets here to win straight out 2420 Moneyline, baby.

49ers at Seahawks. I like the Seahawks. Do you know since Lumen Field opened up in 2002, Seattle's, got the best home winning percentage. Nine and one record at home week one. And by the way, six of their final eight games last year after the buy, they won.

They needed a buy for this new coaching staff and they've upgraded it coordinator. They're going to run the ball. They're going to speed the game up. Gray's able to draft pick. Watch them run the ball. Sam Darnold's an athletic upgraded quarterback and the Niners. McCaffrey's banged up.

Brandon Ayuk's out. Greenlaw's gone. Hufunga's gone. By the way, Niners were not great against their division last year. They were 1 and 5 in division and 2 and 6 on the road last year. They were not a great road team or a division team. And their red zone defense, that's why they brought Sala in, was a bit of a mess. It was 31st. I like the Seahawks and the points to win straight out 2423.

Lions at Packers. I really like Green Bay. Better the weekend. Young team entering their prime added Micah Parsons. I like Green Bay here. Only team in the league, top five offense and total defense. And by the way, we think to ourselves, you know, Jordan Love wasn't great last year. I went and looked it up this morning.

Final seven games last year, nine touchdowns, no picks. He's fine. Lions lost both coordinators. If they do replace them deftly, it'll probably be later in the season. And Dan Campbell's not been a good underdog coach, 12 and 21-1 as an underdog head coach. When they got better players, they win. When they're at home with better players they win. On the road, do they have better players than Green Bay?

I'm not sure. Jared Goff without McVey and Ben Johnson, never been quite as good. I like Green Bay to win outright 28 to 24. Texans and Rams. Take the under 43 and a half. 19th ranked scoring offense. Texans against the 20th scoring offense. Here's the truth about the Rams last year.

Didn't have a great point differential, even with Stafford. Both teams come into the season with O-line issues. Stafford's backs an issue. Left tackle, Alaric Jackson, blood clots, didn't practice a ton. And the Texans beat up on their division. They were five and one against the AFC South. They weren't great out of their division. They've got a first-time play caller offensive coordinator and a lot of new faces on the

offensive line. And I am here to tell you, the Rams defensive front is filthy and getting better. I think it is a very low-scoring game. The over-under is 43 and a half. It feels like 2017 or 21-17. Rams, to me, probably at home, I give them the edge, but I'm taking the under here. Take the under 43 and a half.

Jay Mack, any thoughts on that? Love, love, love the Jets pick. That's my favorite of your five outside of the Packers, which I also have. But that 49ers one, you didn't really mention the Christian McCaffrey missed practice yesterday. then the 49ers did not make him available to the media. I have him in multiple fantasy leagues and I'm sweating bullets.

Oh, I feel so terrible for you. Thanks, friend. You need to go into every weekend with a little humility. How about Brock Purdy taking over that game and winning on the road, beating your guy going? He would deserve credit. That's a tough. No I-Uk. And if McAfee doesn't...

Steve Kime told me a week ago. I said, where did you hate going when you were the GM of Arizona? He goes, Seattle. He goes, that is a rough place to play. He goes, that crowd lubricates. They're ready to roll. And with that, Matt Hasselbeck is now joining us live 18 years in the NFL. So, Matt, I watched Dak Prescott last night, and I've been a critic.

I thought he was really good. I thought Doc was, I was just like, man, listen, CD's dropping it. He's not getting worked up. He's not mad. He was stoic. You got Brian Schottenheimer. I don't know. Your takeaway on deck, I was really impressed. I'm glad you brought it up. I completely agree.

A lot of hate going to DAC for years and years. I thought last night he looked great. Coming off of the injury, I thought he looked fit. I thought he looked quick. You know, he said he felt slow. He didn't look slow. He looked like a guy that was in command, in control. And honestly, like with the loss of Micah Parsons on defense, like leaders got to step up, like really step up. You're not just the leader because you make all the money or you're the quarterback.

You're a leader by the things that you do with like no one really watches or no one really notices. Like the camera multiple times last night. He's going up and down the sidelines, dapping up each one of his teammates. Like the whole night, like reminded me of like what Bill Russell was like when he was on the Celtics. It was very captain like of him at all times, keeping us engaged. Like he came for the fight. And I don't think we've seen that at a DAC this way, not quite this way. I was impressed.

Yeah. You know, I think it's something. I don't want to be hyperbolic here, but I remember years ago, Randy Moss, Brady, go to play the dolphins on Monday night, and they targeted Randy Moss one time. And I sat on the air, I worked at another company, I said, okay, if you're only targeted Randy Moss once,

he not long for New England. He got traded a few days later. A.J. Brown was invisible. Now, Dallas Goddard's good. Barclay, I don't know. I got to be honest about that, Matt. That doesn't smell right to me. Your thoughts.

Yeah, I think last year they had a slow, you know, they started out slow figuring out how to use Saquan Barclay. They've got a new coordinator and sometimes you can kind of get lost in the forest on your call sheet. You know, you get that big giant call sheet and you're thinking like, okay, Iber Flutes. He's in zone 90% of the time. He's in too high. Like you just kind of get lost with it and you're really focused on winning the game. And sometimes what can happen is you can forget that a star receiver is not getting the ball. Like I remember Mike Holmgren on his call sheet, he would have like a whole section.

I see it on Andy Reid's his is, you know, just as big. The whole whole section for like, get this guy touches. And you saw that they tried to do it kind of late. But I think it's important. You know, I was teammates with Jerry Rice at the end of his career. I mean, he's 40 years old. He's Jerry Rice, though, you know? And he would come to me like during TV timeouts, stuff like that.

And he'd like grab my arm and be like, hey, man, like, I would love to feel a part of this game. I would love to feel a part of this game. And as a quarterback and as a play caller, I do think that that's an important thing. When you have a star receiver outside, you've got to include them. And I thought AJ Brown was included in other ways, blocking and all that kind of stuff. But you've got to be more intentional about making it happen.

I think they get it fixed. But clearly that was a miss last night. By the way, the rain delay was weird. I thought it benefited Philadelphia. I said like you're the road team. It's already a pain in the butt to play on the road. It's a big rivalry game. Then you have a rain delay after halftime.

I did think Philadelphia post delay felt a little different, did you? Yeah, 100%. I mean, a team that's been there, you know, I think on the broadcast, they did a good job. It'll probably feel like a really, really long half time at a Super Bowl. Obviously, the Eagles are just coming off of a Super Bowl. Dallas hasn't been. You know, so like, I, you know, I remember my Super Bowl, the Rolling Stones played. And we were told, hey, they're going to, it's going to be longer than normal.

Well, they played even longer than they were supposed to play. And like there is something to just like, you know, so what, now what? You know, that's the mindset. So what, now what? And I think like a Nick Siriani, been there, Donate team, been together as a, you know, as a group. Hey, so what, now what? Yeah, okay. Lightning Delays, so what?

Like, here we go. And I think, yeah, I think the advantage, if you're going to give one, go to Philly. So generally, I like offensive coaches and good quarterbacks in September. I think most coaches are obsessed to begin with. guys are designing stuff and McVeigh or Andy Reid or, you know, any of these offensive guys, they're going to have some tricks, Sean Payton, that you haven't seen. So I would think Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor would be good early, and they have struggled. I'm looking the last three regular seasons, weeks one and two, Burroughs 0 and 6.

Week 3 on, they win 70% of their games. Can you just decipher it, decode it? why do you think Burrow and Zach struggle early? Well, you know, I'm not sure how much work Burrow had been getting in the preseason and even training camp in like the last three years, but it's been different this year. You can tell that this is a point of emphasis for them. He's playing more, you know, when teams are resting their starters,

he and Jamar Chaser out there, you know, lighting the league up in the preseason. But, you know, to me, I think it's more than just a quarterback situation. How you do training camp is important. You know, sometimes week ones, the quarterbacks are the coaches that are so good at game planning and studying you. They struggle week one because it's more of a blind date. You know, I would put Zach Taylor, I don't know if he gets the reputation or not, but he's very much like Sean McVeigh to me, like where he knows the scheme, he knows how to get the one-on-one. And so like that's a thing. But the other thing to me, week one is like, what kind of training camp did you have?

Who's really good at tackling defensively? And I think that's just one of the new things here with the offseason being how it is. is, the amount of preseason games that have been taken away. You know, we got guys that haven't had to tackle live and really been tested, haven't been exposed. And, you know, sometimes those guys get exposed week one. And, you know, Cincinnati doesn't stick out to me as a great tackling team in the last few years.

So, you know, I think there's a lot of factors that might go into it. But I'm a believer in Joe Burrow all the way. Yeah, that's a really good point about the tackling. So I'm not a big fan of games in Brazil, London, Germany. Mexico City. I think it's a big ass for players. This game is so hard on players. I mean, Brazil feels like, you know,

what is the flight? Fifteen hours. I don't like it. You tell me your thoughts on it as a player. Is it discomforting? Like, where do you land on that game Chargers Chiefs tonight? Well, my first NFL game I was with the Packers. We played against the Chiefs in Tokyo, in the Tokyo Dome.

I got blown up right around second base and spraying my tailbone. So I got a bad memory from that game. You know, playing surface is, I think, a big thing. I've been down to Mexico City, seeing, ironically, I think it was the Chiefs and Raiders play a game down there. It was a very slick surface. I think it's hard on the players. I think it's hard on everybody.

You know, I was just in Kansas City and talking to their equipment manager, Alan Wright, you know, they had to ship everything out a week before. So there's almost like two sets of equipment minus things like your helmet. So it's a grind. But for the teams that have done it and have like a veteran group doing it, I think it gives them a little bit of an edge. It is a little bit of a circus and a little bit of a show, but I think the Chiefs, again, they're just used to it.

Like, everything they do is breaking news, whether it's in the sports world or outside the sports world, they seem to just kind of like water up for ducks back. You know, like they're just like, yeah, here we go. And I will say this. I think a lot of people, including you, Colin, are sleeping on this Chief's team. I think this is the most talented team they've had in a long time.

And I think that you're going to see a Travis Kelsey and a group around Travis Kelsey really finished strong. They realize how special this year could be if it is in fact his last year. So I'm a believer in the chiefs this year. So when you get a new player like Micah Parsons and you've got a very strong culture in Green Bay,

which you know, like Dallas's defense was fine without him, I think we all think he's going to go and get six sacks again. Oh, Micah's going to change it, but this is a well-coached team. What kind of impact do you think he could have against Detroit week one? Or does it, when you get new players late? I mean, it just happened. What do you expect from Micah?

Yeah, it's real. Well, listen, they're going to have a small package for him on third down. Jeff Hathley does a really good job on third down designing scheme, like, you know, singling him up. And I promise you, it's a pain in the butt for the opponent to wonder where he's going to be. How many snaps is he going to play? Are we dedicating two linemen or alignment in a tight end, alignment and a running back?

Are we dedicating those resources to him? And then he's not even on the field. Like it's, you'd almost rather know without a shadow of a doubt, like a Max Crosby like, yeah, he's going to be there. At least we know what we're up against. This is a little bit unsettling because, hey, are they going to use him mostly on first and second down? Are they going to use them only on third down?

Are they going to use them in special situations? How much of the defense can he grasp? I think you can guess at it, but it's a lot tougher. And so I do think, like, as a pass rusher type guy, even if he played 15 snaps and came away with two pressures and a sack and a half, like that's a win, week one. Finally, you know Seattle well. I like them against the Niners.

And one of the reasons I like them is if you go to this coaching staff after the buy, I'm a big believer when Brady goes to Tampa. They were seven and five at the buy. And now I can sit down with Bruce Ariens and say, listen, I need to shorten up some routes. The NFL season, you're on a treadmill. The buy gives new people a chance. It's like almost, it's like really to work on stuff.

So when I look at McDonald and the Seahawks last year, after the buy, it was like, okay, they really needed that. They were a different team. I think they're going to surprise people. Where are you on Seattle? Final question, going into the weekend, where they're very good at home against the Niners. Well, Brock Purdy doesn't seem phase to go into Seattle.

That's one thing that's very unique. You know, you would mention when I first jumped on. People don't like to go Seattle. Brock Purdy doesn't seem to care. Mike McDonald, though, I think he's been pretty great. Like, I think he's been underrated, 10-win team last year, you know, top 10 defense. And think about how they started out last year.

I think they had like an interception and two safeties to like start the first half or something crazy last year. So that's not the identity that he's looking for. He's looking for an offense that's going to be run the ball, play action-centric. Basically, don't screw it up for my defense. I'm so confident in what I'm going to be on defense. You know, think Baltimore Ravens a little bit, like control back in the day, control the ball, play great defense. I think that's the image that he has.

And now with this injury news about Christian McCaffrey not coming out, I think the Seahawks win this division. This was the game that I thought, you know, this might be the toughest game on their season. just because it's a new collection of people, Sam Darnold. All the receivers are gone, you know, all that stuff. But now I'm buying Seattle this year. I like them a lot in this division. And, you know, that home field advantage, you know, they, it's an important thing to have. You know, sometimes a lot of Red shows up in Seattle,

and it'd be nice if Seahawks fans didn't let that happen. All right. Great seeing you. Matt Hasselbeck, putting him on a Friday. Appreciate it, but as always. Okay. See him on a call him. All right.

Big one tonight. I'm staying away, Chargers. and the Chiefs, if you forced to, who would you take? Chiefs. I mean, I'm not going against Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes to start the season. And by the way, some people have dug into the Chargers numbers last year. Listen, I know it's like Herbert, 23 touchdowns. I think we have four interceptions.

If you look at who he did it against, it was a lot of bad teams. And I know it's a, hey, you can only play who's in front of you. Fine, but I can also ding you. That's going to come back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We talked about who they faced last year. They faced like almost the most backup quarterbacks in the league. They got fat and happy off bad teams. So I'm a little down on the Chargers compared to where I was in July.

Remember, they lost Slater on the offensive line. That's not an easy way. By the way, Beckton, they've got issues there. He may not plied out. Is he off? Is he out? He's go either way. Yeah.

So they got-Bagnolo is one of the best in the business dialing up blitz. It's a tall order for the Chargers. He's got an illness. Okay. Oh, boy. Want more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hey, it's Ben, host to The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor.

It would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mallor show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world when we chat with captains of industry, in media, sports, and more, every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's us to 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 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. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,

he has to really guard guys like Nasree. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, There's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Lee 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 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 eye?

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. 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. Oh, it is great to have you and Eric Mangini stops by. Don't forget, J-Max picks tomorrow's headlines today. If I recall, it's all very fuzzy, all very blurry to me, but I think he narrowly edged me in winning percentage last year. Narrowly? That's the word that came to mind.

Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, let's rock and roll with your Chicago Bears. We can't stop talking about Caleb Williams, at least for the first month of the season. Obviously, the rookie year was not great,

but now he gets Ben Johnson. Speaking to the athletic, how about this one? Peyton Manning says the Bears drafted Caleb Williams without a plan. Comparing it to a young couple thinking about a baby, if you're not sure, you're not ready, just don't do it. Pivoting to Ben Johnson's a pretty big upgrade, obviously from what they had last year. Yeah.

I don't know, do you think it's going to be an easy learning curve to get Caleb back on track? Because we're talking about two years now. Final year at USC. Yeah, I think he will be, Caleb will be the best version of Caleb. What that is, maybe a notch below Jaden Daniels, but I think if he just becomes, listen, this is a franchise. If he could throw for 4,000 yards, it would be the first time it's ever happened to the Bears at quarterback. What does 4,000 yards mean?

It means you're productive. I don't worry about his production, actually. What I worry about is getting rid of the ball. If you told me his production wasn't that much greater this year than last, but he cut his sacks in half. Dude was getting hammered. He was physically under duress. And this is something that is something that I think is correctable and coachable,

but there are guys that hold on to the ball too long. And I, you know, I said this about Zach Wilson. Does he see the field? I like Justin Fields' athleticism. Sometimes I've said, does he see the field? That's a term. So, Caleb, when you're holding the ball, Do you know the, I think I looked at it the other day.

The average NFL quarterback gets 2.65 seconds. I think that's the number. Something in the two seconds. Just think about this. Go. Okay. Like Dak Prescott in the second half last night, there was somebody in his face, or he was moving on virtually, it seemed like every big throw.

So, and Dak was accurate. So that's the thing. You can't, a lot of this sport is see it and let it rip. and he just didn't. I just, again, I asked about Archmanning before his first game. Do we know if he's good? We didn't know, and now we kind of know. Well, wait, hold on.

Can Caleb Williams do that? Can he process, read, and react in two seconds? We'll see. I don't know if he can. I don't know. We'll find out. Yeah. Because we know he can run around for his life and make some wacky plays off script.

Sure. That's not sustainable in the NFL. No, it's not. And this is a tall order against Brian. Ryan Flores. And the division's really good. At home, Monday night football. I like Minnesota in the game.

Close. That was my, you know, I always bring in six picks. Yeah. And then I leave one on the cutting room floor. You can't go against your bears now. You're like Mr. Chicago. Well, journalism. There's no favoritism.

Minnesota's a very nice state. Let's go to Colin's second favorite team. Very nice thing. The L.A. Rams. They enter the season with Super Bowl aspirations, losing to the Eagles last year in a great game in the playoffs. McVeigh talked about how. great it would be to win the Super Bowl in the 49ers Stadium since the stadium features a tribute

to his father, John McVeigh. I was unaware that. That's pretty cool. The Rams are plus 200 to win the NFC West, plus 2,200 to win the Super Bowl. Houston out of division, they get a lot of those wins. I mean, wins are wins, but going and beating Stafford and McVeigh and L.A. and the season opener. Now, Demico Ryan's dials it up, man. He is the Rams. M's O line is unsettled, so D'Amico's a handful. We know Matthew Stafford can read and react. We know he can process with the best of them. I'm just going to ask this about C.J. Stride.

I'm not criticizing him, although when you say that, you're criticizing. What happens if he fails miserably behind a rebuilt offensive line against the continuum? He won't fail miserably. He's too good. He's not going to fail miserably. What happened last year? He got to the playoffs and won a playoff game. That's what happened last year.

No, no, no, no. C.J. Stroud won a playoff game. Justin Herbert gave them the ball. playoff game. Well, nobody's given, nobody's given anybody anything. Philadelphia won the game last night. They grabbed the game and they won it. CJ Stroud is way too good.

I've seen enough. CJ Stroud is a Pro Bowl level quarterback. Who are you taking? CJ Stroud or Jalen Hertz. I like them both. That's not an answer. Cake or ice cream. Why can't I have them to get it?

No, no, because you need to pick one. I'm not playing your hypothetical. This is sports. I'm not running. That choice is. Jay Mack, who's winning tonight, Chiefs or Chargers? you got to pick, a pick. If I gave me the choice.

I like CJ better from the pocket. I think there is a strength and mobility advantage to Jalen Hertz. I like them both a lot. Stroud, dude, Stroud spins as good a ball as almost anybody in the league. That puppy comes out fast and accurate. Moving left, moving up. He throws a beautiful ball. You know what that answer was?

That was you throwing your hat in the ring to be president of this country in 2020. Spoken like a truce. True politician. I love them. You're not going to get me to bang on C.J. Stratz. You don't have to. That organization was a embarrassment.

Yes, that's a fact. It was arguably the most embarrassing, inept franchise in the league. C.J. Stroud shows up, and you're like, oh. Well, and D'Amico, Rion's too. No, no, D'emico's terrific. I'm not asking you to bang.

Stroud is good, but his drop-off from rookie year to second year was a little alarming. His three best receivers didn't. play most of the years. Also true. Diggs left her. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you left, the show would never be the same. I, you know, it's just, you got to have your weapons. You got to have your weaponry. Are the executives up? Oh, they are here. They heard that. Awesome. Okay. Final story, Colin,

um, obviously ahead of this weekend, Slate, there's been a lot of surveys and polls. You love a good poll. I love them. The latest comes from a survey of NFL agents who have broken down the league's most unstable franchises. I don't know if you could guess them, but I'm going to go go ahead and tell you, it's the Cowboys and the Bengals. Came away with the most votes. And guess what? Micah Parsons is now chiming in on the difference between the Packers'

locker room. Oh, I want to hear this. And the Cowboys' Locker Room. Here we go. I came in Tuesday for treatment, and I saw almost every guy in the locker room. I said, this is the first time I've ever seen this. They do say it's because there ain't nothing else to do. But there's other things you can do.

But they just want to be around each other and hang out. And that's important to having guys that want to come into the building. Like, guys that want to come to the building, they want to be here, I think that's important. And when you're around guys like that, it makes it exciting to come to work. Interesting. Nothing else to do in, does he not know about

Dells in Wisconsin? You mean the big shopping mall? The Dells? I think that was a not so subtle shot. Well, they took, I mean, they basically handed ESPN, the big story hit job on Mika this week. All that negative stuff in that story, he's coming back and firing, huh?

For the record, Mika wasn't the greatest weight room addict. I've heard that that's a story that, I mean, listen, one of the reasons I didn't go too crazy on the ESPN story, and I totally respected the reporters. These guys are pros. Jeremy Fowler, Wicker, sham, they're all great. But I've had this happen to my career.

Whenever there's a big trade, Jerry started going and talking, defending it, and they start feeding stuff. Micah has a couple of issues I don't love, but he's not a quarterback, and I'm not going to judge pass rusher guy. Like I'm going to judge head coach, GM and quarterback. The bottom line, Packers got a really good player, a really good player who creates a lot of hurries and disruptions.

And Dallas needs picks. So my take was Dallas has four first round picks in the next two years. For the first time in three years, Dallas will have flexibility. Their pass rush last night, decent. Neither pass rush was great, but was decent. They're fine. I don't like the, you know, Mike, a bad guy suddenly. Mike is, I listened to 10 of his podcasts.

I never once thought he's deceptive. He's a bad guy. He can be a little chatty in times. I wouldn't like him to be chatty. But Mike is fun. Highest paid non-quarterback in the league and you've listened to 10 of his podcast? I own a small but very successful podcast. Not a fledgling podcast, yes, yes.

I'm just obnoxious today. day. J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Hold on. Okay.

I try to stay off my phone, but when somebody, you know, sends a little message. A Christian McCaffrey thing. Keep your eyes on that, J-Mack. Christian McCaffrey thing. NFL Network saying, like, let's calm down. It's not DefCon 1. No, no. But that doesn't mean.

The fact that McCaffrey did not meet with the. media tells me like maybe he's ticked off and upset. That's all, but I'm just reading. So forget Brock Purdy. Have you seen, and we all know Kyle Shanahan's great. Have you seen Kyle Shanahan's record in San Francisco without Christian McCaffrey? It's a losing record. Kyle Shanahan. So he is the heartbeat. Quarterbacks, Purdy's fine. McAfree is the engine here. I've told you before, if you take out Walter Payton, he is on a short list with Barry San Sanders, Adrian Peterson. I mean, there's a handful. McCaffrey, to me, is not Walter Payton.

He's on a short list of the second best running back I've ever seen. Dude, his past catching skills. If he just came into the league as a slot receiver, he'd be a pro bowler. He is an unbelievable player. I mean, and by the way, he's a chess piece. And so, by the way, what is Shanahan love? That's why getting rid of Debo was tough. Debo was a chess piece.

Josh McDaniels, late Aaron Hernandez. They used to always talk in New England. It was an unbelievable chess piece. piece. There's not many guys like this. Over the course of an NFL season annually, you may have three or four guys max that you can use

like this guy. Top back, top slot, motion, decoy. Defensive coaches don't know quite what to do with them. Guys like Shanahan using this piece, it's... And listen, I'm just going to, I don't want you to indict

Purdy if they lose 30 to 13 because he didn't get a without his star running back, without Ayuk. What's the wide receiver room? Ricky Pearsall and Joanne Jennings, if he can go? Brian Robinson, they just traded for him like two weeks ago? Well, if he wasn't making $55 million, maybe they'd have another receiver on the roster.

Just a thought. We're live. It's the herd. 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. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

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

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have rules, in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway.

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

How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The NFL regular season kicks off on Fox this Sunday as the Giants take on reigning offensive rookie the year. Jaden Daniels on the commanders or the Niners take on the Seahawks or other regional action. The NFL is back. Sunday on Fox.

So we were talking about AJ Brown got one target last night. I think certain things can be valuable, but they're more of a luxury. A nice watch is a luxury. I know what time it is based on my phone. Like I think you can, some people like watches. Go for it.

I haven't owned one in 30 years. I'm not anti-watch. They're a luxury. I don't need it. And I think the same with wide receivers. So AJ Brown didn't get looked at. Here's Nick Seriani, Eagles coach, discussing that.

When we talk about roles, you know, I tell those guys, there's going to be games like this. This is going to, this is going to happen, but to be what we want to be, you know, AJ's obviously going to have to be involved more in the offense, but, you know, some games go this way. So

by the way, the three best teams, most people believe in the AFC are the Ravens, the Chiefs, and the bills. You know what? None of them have a great receiving core. You know who really drafted and developed receivers better than anybody the last 20 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers. You know who had one deep threat during a 20-year dynasty? New England. And it was the time

with Randy Moss they didn't win Super Bowls. I think what happens when you get a dominant personality and a dominant receiver, you feel you have to get him the ball because they're so temperamental. It's like having somebody in the family that's very emotional. Everybody walks on eggshells all the time. That's what I feel it's like when you have a highly emotional wide receiver, especially unless you have a very strong personality at quarterback. So, you know, it's even, I mean, Andy Reid knows offense. He had Tyreek Hill. He's like, yeah, I'll take unknown draft picks over Tyreek Hill. What does that tell you? What does that tell you? Also, Pooka Nukua, fifth round. You can get, I mean, Jennings for the Niners, is he six or six,

seventh round. Wide receiver of all the positions the last 20 years is the biggest first round bust of any position. Did you know that? Now, I have a belief that it's an ego position, and when you draft them in the first round, you're feeding the ego. Get your receivers in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth rounds. Cooper Cup was great for seven, eight year. He was a third round guy. Rams have lived off guys that don't go. Puka, fifth round, Cooper third round. So I am a believer

in it's an ego position. Try to draft it out of the first round. Get your quarterbacks, get your offensive, your left tackles, you know, get your interior, great defensive linemen. There are positions, great linebackers, edge rushers, a lot of them are first round.

I take receivers later. There are some exceptions. Calvin Johnson coming out of college at the time was the best college prospect receiver I'd ever seen. Randy Moss was insane. But I think, you know, like when people say the Niners face the Seahawks and the Niners, oh, boy, their receivers are banged up. That's not what I worry about.

I worry about the Niners secondary. I worry about if Bosa gets banged up, I don't trust their D-line, and I worry about McCaffrey's help. I don't worry about the wide receivers much. I don't think they're that valuable. I think the Niners, I would argue, have overdrafted and overpaid wide receiver. That's one of my criticisms of John Lynch and Kyle. I think they over draft and overpay the wide receiver position. George Kittle is your best receiver. I'd argue your second

best receiver is Christian McCaffrey. Those guys I trust catching the football. Your receivers, egos, injuries, I don't trust them. So now tonight, the Chargers are, I guess, the home team against Kansas City. It's in Brazil. It's a stayaway game for me. And Kansas City is another great example of this. They moved off Tyree Hill, one back-to-back Super Bowls. Now they drafted last year. They went and got a kid out of Texas late first round. It was worthy. I think he's more of a gadget guy than the number

one guy. So I think they'll miss Rishi Rice in the first six games. But Matt Hasselbeck is on the Chiefs train tonight. A lot of people, including you, Colin, are sleeping on this Chief's team. I think this is the most talented team they've had in a long time. And I think that you're going to see a Travis Kelsey

and a, you know, a group around Travis Kelsey, like really finished strong. They realize how special this year could be if it is, in fact, his last year. So I'm a believer in the chiefs this year. Yeah, and we said this earlier. The dynasties tend to have an entrepreneurial field to them where they can find profits where other people can't. And Kansas City has got sort of that built-in confidence. We were talking as a staff this morning. They remind me the warriors who won that last title against the Celtics, and Boston would probably have more athletes in their prime and may have had a better roster,

but Boston had not been there before, and Golden State goes into Boston and Andrew Wiggins and who'd always been a bit of a disappointment and Draymond and Steph Curry, and they come out and they win, they play their best game in the playoffs and they beat them. And you're like, how's Golden State winning this championship? They don't have any size.

You know, guys are out of their prime, KD left, and it's just coaching and leadership and Gile, and Kansas City's got that layers of it. So they're a playoff team. I do think the division is much tougher. If you go look, I said this, LeBron James, now he was out of his prime, but when you go west, everything's better.

The GMs are better, the coaches are better in the West, the players, the rosters, everything's better in the West compared to the East. And I think if you start looking at most dinas, when Nick Saban came to the SEC, LSU had less miles Georgia couldn't get the coach figured out Ole Miss didn't have Lane Kiffin

the entire Texas wasn't in there yet when when Nick Saban was dominating some of the reason he dominated Tennessee was dysfunctional is that he was getting a lot of wins over powerhouses who didn't have their act together and then Georgia Georgia gets Kirby smart oh and here comes Sark in Texas

Sabin didn't look as good he didn't get any dumber it didn't like not nick sayman didn't forget football you know the minute josh allen arrived in the a fc east bellichick and brady didn't feel quite it didn't quite feel the same right tom's like i'm off the tampa so i i just think their division is too good and that means you're not going to have the best record that means you're going to go on the road in the playoffs tom brady played 41 playoff games, eight on the road. And Kansas City's getting a lot of buys and a lot of home playoff games, and let's face it.

The last thing you want to face when you face Kansas City is a comfortable team playing at home and crappy Kansas City January weather. So you want them in a dome, you want them at their place, your place. So I think they're going to be very good. I think they'll make the playoffs. But I think the division, Jay, I think you and I actually agree on this. You like Kansas City tonight. I like the Chargers.

but there is some big Ben for years. Browns 2-0, Bengals 2-0. Then Joe Burrell arrives and the Browns, and you start looking at all, you're starting split games, and you're not playing at home as much. And, you know, Big Ben down the end, Steelers down the end,

and they didn't get quite as comfortable seatings. Interesting. I like everything about the Chargers. The coaching staff is great. The quarterback's outstanding. O-line, no. O-line's a question. I still think the wide receiver

room. I know they drafted the young kid. They brought back Quentin Johnston. They brought back Keenan Allen. I don't think the wide receiver room is great. It's funny. And I think Kansas City's beating the Chargers what? It's usually close, but she's always close. She's usually win the game. Seven straight. Doesn't it feel, when's the last time you went into a season

and you felt great about the Chargers O-line? I think it was the Ron Yerry days with like Dan Fouts. Like honestly, I feel. like they have had more unlucky injuries and bad breaks. Every year with them, I'm always like, I just don't know if I trust their offensive line. I mean, you know there's the whole, you know, the Chargers cursed, and then there was the Najee Harris incident.

Like, it always seems to be something with the Chargers. I mean, even the only way Justin Herbert gets on the field was like Tyrod Taylor, remember he had like the puncture in his chest? They're like, oh my gosh, what the hell did he screwed up? Got to get Herbert. It's just one thing after another for the Chargers. Thank God they drafted Joe Alt instead of a receiver. Yeah.

Because Joe now can move to the left tackle. With Slater out, Beckton's sick tonight. If they had no Joe Alt against Chris Jones, forget it. Carl Loftus, forget it. I mean, Joe Alt was the right pick. Great pick. Not the sexy pick. He was the right pick. Hour three Jason's picks, Eagles, Cowboys.

Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. What? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast. point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in too, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts 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 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? Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva.

new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.