The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - Ranking the best players in the NFC Championship game, Tom Brady stops by The Herd

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

He ranks his top 10 players in the NFC Championship Game and defends Seahawks QB Sam Darnold as a top 5 player. Plus, 7-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady joins the show to tell Colin what he sees in Patriots QB Drake Maye and previewing both the AFC & NFC Championship GamesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSports. are. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go, hour two. It's Friday. About 15 minutes, Tom Brady stops by. He'll be joining us live. He's doing the game.

Seven times Super Bowl champ. Big, big game. Big sandwich game. Make a sandwich sit down for three and a half, four hours. Rams, Seahawks meet for a third time. I said this yesterday. I mean, you didn't get, I mean, if that controversial catch-

catch call went Buffalo's way, you'd get Buffalo, New England for a third time. And so, you know, a lot of the NFL is hard to predict. Seattle and the Rams, about week 7, 8, 9 felt like they were just, you know, Philadelphia was good, but couldn't get their offense together. You know, there were good teams. Green Bay was good, but it, you know, people were complaining. They're not, they're running games, not substantial. And then they make, you know, and the Micah thing, he gets hurt.

and you're like, okay, that's not going to work. And San Francisco was good offensively, but defensively lose Fred Warner. They don't have Bosa. So if you really go back to like week seven, eight, nine, ten, it kind of fell. And then the Rams at the end of the year didn't quite feel like they were buttoned up. And then last weekend they go out. They don't have a drop pass, a penalty, or a turnover against Chicago, and literally had to play perfect to win.

So, you know, over the course of a journey, what we have is, I think the two most consistent, for the most weeks during the regular season, Seattle Rams were the best teams in the NFC. Didn't have huge holes. Rams special teams are dubious, but every third game it costs them something. Secondary is not great. New England, I think their personnel is better than everybody else thinks.

I think their secondary is fantastic. Their coaching's fantastic. And Drake May may be that guy. You know, we start talking about quarterback play. If Drake May gets to a Super Bowl and wins it, is the top five quarterback? Is he not? I mean, that's what Mahomes does.

That's what the great, do. They get to the Super Bowls early, and they win them early. And that's very, very rare. So as I'm prone to do, when I get five or six times a year you get into these massive games, I get out the yellow pad, and I rank the top ten players. And generally the team that has the most top ten players feels like the team that wins the game. And here we go with the NFC championship. Number 10. Number 10. Puna Ford. Puna Ford Rams. He was a charger, and he was a really good player. He's been sensational. In fact, he's the Rams' highest-gritted defensive player.

Right next to Kobe Turner in that interior D-line, just an incredibly impactful off-season move. And listen, it's hard to run on the Rams, and one of the reasons is Puna Ford, he's at 10. Number nine. Kevin Dotson, second highest-gritted guard in the league, top 10 run blocker. they stole him from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was not reportedly going to start him.

He has been sensational for the Rams since he arrived. So the Rams guards, to me, is the best guard combination in the NFL, and Kevin Dotson is outstanding. Number eight. Jared Verse. People think he's having a down year. He leads the NFL in quarterback hits. He ranks top five in pressures, including the playoffs.

The reality is he's disrupt. And Sean McVey talked about that. In this league, you're often judged simply on sacks. But pressures and hits, Jared versus is elite. He's number eight. Number seven. Kyron Williams had a fumbling issue. Well, 14 straight games without one.

Fourth highest-rated running back in the league. I think they'd like to play Blake Coram more. It's hard to get them on the field. Top five in rush yards. Scrimmage, touchdowns, just really good. He's great at getting the extra yard to yard and a half. He is just fantastic. You stop him at three.

He gets four. He's eliminated the fumble issue. You can tell that McVeigh, even with Stafford and Puka and Devante, McVeigh, he gets into some zone sometimes. He can take over games with Kairn Williams. Number six. Kenneth Walker, highest-graded running back in the league. and they don't have the O line, the Rams do.

130 plus scrimmage yards in three of his last four games. I remember him at Michigan State. He was very good after contact. Really hard to bring down on the opening shot. Clever can change directions. You get some speed. You absolutely get some power. He has been a great draft pick by the Seahawks.

Kenneth Walker at number six. Number five. Sam Darnold. ranked fourth in the league in big-time throws, only quarterback in league history with 14 plus wins and 4,000 passing yards in back-to-back years. And he did it with two different teams. He did it with more experienced Minnesota and very young Seattle. Listen, he can be reckless. You know I loved Andrew Luck.

Stafford can be too. But, man, Sam Darnold wins a lot of games and is super productive. He's in at number five. Number four. Devin Witherspoon. Cornerback Seattle. Not allowed a touchdown in coverage since week four. The highest graded cornerback.

I remember when he came out of Illinois. And I remember reading a draft preview. And they're like, oh, like he's physical like a linebacker or safety. You're getting a really physical, aggressive corner. He was a first round pick. He is the best corner in this game. There's an argument, the best corner in this league. He just is great and keeps getting better.

Number three. JSN, Jackson, Smith, and Jigma. Led the NFL in receiving yards in his first season as number one. Second highest-gritted wide receiver, remarkable hands. Runs great routes. Unlike D.K. Metcalfe, the route tree does it all. Never drops passes, very elusive, very clever. Does he have great speed?

All I know is he makes really good corners, get crossed up. He is just a sensational NFL player. Number two. Matt Stafford. Highest-gritted quarterback can be a bit reckless on a seven-and-two career playoff record with the Rams with five come from behind playoff wins. He plays bigger in big moments. Now he's got Devonte Adams and Poo.

Puka in a good run game, but he led the NFL in passing yards. He is my MVP. The no-look passes. You know, he's not super mobile, and you'd prefer he has more mobility. I don't know if he had, I don't think he had a rushing first down this year. That's kind of the flaw, and he could be a bit reckless. He's at two. Number one.

Puka. Highest receiving yards per game in league history. Average is 95. Highest-gritted player in the entire league this year. year, led the NFL in targets this year and receiving yards, six touchdowns over his last five games. I think he has the strongest hands I've ever seen on any receiver. He can get dinged up from time to time, but, I mean, when he has the ball, you're not getting

it. Incredibly strong player, almost no body fat, like just does everything well. The routes, yards after the catch, incredibly strong hands. can beat you deep, lethal underneath. So the top two players are Rams, three through six of the Seahawks, seven through 10 are the Rams. Number 11, I have Kobe Turner for the Rams,

12, 13, 14, 15, all Seahawks. So pretty evenly split on the best players. When I look at this, I could have gone 15 easily, and it would have been about 8, 7 Rams. That's what it kind of felt. Seahawks, eight, seven Rams. Kobe Turner was number 11. I think I had Leonard Williams number 12 and a bunch of Seahawks.

But I think it's interesting. The one you all want to push back on, of course, is Sam Darnold at number five. Everybody about to push back on that. Greg Hosell talked this week about Seattle's balanced attack. Walker's been much better. Walker has been attacking downhill much more so over the last three, four games. and that has allowed them to stay on schedule, and it's also, with their defense, allowed Darnold not to have to throw that many balls.

Now, whether that happens in this game, that's hard to know. You don't know how it's going to play out. But in an ideal world, I don't think they want Sam Darnold dropping back 35 times. I think they wanted to be a very balanced offense and have their defense in some ways control the pace and tempo of the game. Yeah, Seattle's defense statistically better. Seattle's special teams better. you know, the offense for the Rams was number one in the league.

I don't think that's a shot at Darnold. There's very few quarterback. Tom Brady can throw 40 times. Mahomes could throw 40 times. I mean, even last week with Josh Allen having to carry the offense turnover prone. I don't want my quarterbacks throwing a lot. I don't. I think Mahomes, Brady are very rare.

Aaron Rogers in his prime. Very, very rare. That I'm, you know, Aaron, Mahomes, Brady didn't throw a lot of picks. You start asking guys to throw 40, 42, 43 times. That means the run game's not very supportive. You're throwing a lot of times on third and six and seven. Not a space I think is good for most quarterbacks. Slinging Sammy D.

Two and a half point favorite at home. Third time he's faced the Rams this year. Tom Brady, around the corner. One 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. is Covino Enrich from Fox Sports Radio.

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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, 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

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And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

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

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

He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, 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 bomb. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place.

As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard. Get to the grocery store. I had to 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. You know, Seattle's one of those teams that they smell blood, and you get this a lot of times when you get a kind of a young athletic team. But young teams tend to play with a lot of emotion. And they can get down on themselves. They can get a little reckless at times when you're a young team. but they also, when a young team is feeling it, like last week, the Seahawks, Niners,

you're about eight minutes in, you're like, it's like 23-year-old Mike Tyson, duck. There's no winners. And Seattle, you don't want to let Seattle start playing like that because young teams play with so much energy and emotion. Tom Brady, he'll be calling Rams Seahawks. What a year for Tom. We only give him the good games. He's got an all-time classic.

I can't wait for this thing. So I've said this about the Seahawks all year. If you turn the sound down on your TV, they just look faster and athletic and longer, and they're young and young teams play with a lot of energy. And do you agree with that? And if you're the Rams, how do you game plan against that youth and energy and speed? It is a lot to handle. And when we were there last week and the Niners deferred and kicked the ball to Shaheed,

and Shaheed goes 95 yards. That place absolutely exploded. And it's just hard to overcome that. If they play well on special teams, their defense, we know they're going to play great. And if they can make some explosive pass plays, they are going to be very tough to beat. Now, the one team that can do it, I think, is the Rams. They've already proven they could do it. They almost did it in Seattle the last time.

This game is just incredible for me to be at. And I'm so excited. I talked to my boy, Kevin Burkart earlier, and he's excited. This is in our mind at the game of the year for us. This is our Super Bowl, and we're going to be fired up to be there to call it. You know, I believe coaching has a greater impact than calling plays. Your Patriot teams did not fumble and did not commit penalties. Last week in awful weather, the Rams had no drop passes.

either zero or one penalty. I mean, no turnovers in horrible weather for an L.A. team. And so my takeaway is some of that's just in practice. Go back to your career. You guys didn't fumble. Your offense didn't have penalties. What's the secret to that? You guys didn't drop many passes.

What's the secret to that? There's an urgency in practice that the coaches drive home every single day. to do the right thing, to make the right decisions with the ball, to work on catching drills, pre-practice, during practice, post-practice, in the off-season. When you would do like fumbling drills, this is a great example for Coach Belichick and kind of his genius. First of all, if you fumbled, you were out of the game.

All the backs knew that. So we did so many drills in practice that were about covering up the ball, ball security, tackling drills, not always you would tackle or bring someone to the ground, but you try to punch the ball out. Every day for the last 20 years of my New England career, we worked on those things in practice. So the reality of what happens in practice is it shows up in the game all the time. Bill would actually take, he called them grease balls, literally, I don't know, some silicone spray that he would spray on the ball.

And when we would do running plays, he would put it in practice. I would take this greased football, give it to the back. He would have to tuck the ball, secure it with both hands, the shoulder pads were just so they didn't fumble. So that urgency and that point of emphasis always showed up in the games. Because in the games, it was always harder in practice than it was in the games. And I think you give the Rams coaching staff so much credit for a performance like that in Chicago last week. you're talking about a team that probably had a 70 degree temperature difference from leaving L.A. to

landing in Chicago. I'm glad, by the way, the game's not in Chicago this weekend with what I just saw, the temperatures were going to be coming this weekend. But for them to perform like that, lack of penalties, obviously no turnovers, and the drop passes, that's just, I'm very jealous of receivers that don't drop balls, too, by the way. That's a great stat for any quarterback. But they're doing all the right things. This is a surgical offense. They have so many weapons. Everybody touches it. You've got to account for everybody. You've got to count for 53 and a third of the field. In the width, you have to count for the entire length of the field. They have an explosive passing game. They have a precise passing game. They have a ball control offense. There's a lot of ways the Rams can win too. So this is going to be

a tremendous matchup between the top scoring offense and the top scoring defense in Seattle on the road, 68,000 fans. A stadium's going to be on fire. I can't wait for kickoff. You won a Super Bowl first year in Tampa. Stafford won it first year in L.A. And for both of you, there were choppy moments. I remember you, it was 7 and 5, and there was a game in Chicago, and Matt, I think he led

the league in interceptions that year. So, Darnold, first year with Seattle. What is the hardest part about that year-one journey for a quarterback? with a new team. Well, there's a lot of newness to the year, and there starts the, obviously, new location, new practice format, new receivers, new offensive line, new line calls, new center, all the things that you kind of take for granted when you have continuity. When I went to Tampa, all those things were totally different.

So it's like, how do you chip away at those variables kind of one day at a time? You get familiar with the skill players. That's what I did first. Then you get familiar with the center. I had Ryan Jensen in that offseason. We spent 30 days working on snaps and snap counts. And then when you got to training camp, we worked on a different variety of plays and so forth. And it's just chipping away.

And it took us, you know, 12 games to feel like we were starting to get familiar with the things we were really good at. And also to put aside the things that we weren't good at. So that the time that the, you know, December came in the end of the playoffs, we started to play our best football. Ultimately it culminated in a home Super Bowl against the championship. where we played our best game of the season. And I think for Seattle, they're going to need to play two games the best they have all year. Because to beat the Rams for Seattle is going to be a tall task.

This is a game that's both teams are going to have to play their best. You're talking about teams that are in the same weight class. They've proven that. In the two meetings this year, if you, cumulatively, if you add up points and yards, they've been separated by one point and one yard, which is pretty phenomenal. That's as tight as it gets. And to be there for round three, man, it doesn't get any better than that. All right.

Let's go to New England. A franchise you know well against Denver. When I think back to your career, the only place that sticks in my mind where you struggled was at Denver. Now, you face good teams. Thanks for reminding me that. I appreciate that. I'm sorry, Tom. It's just on the paper here.

I just, you know, I just read it what they write. But there is something about Denver, the altitude. Josh Allen last week, struggled, turnovers. What is it about Denver? It's a unique playing environment. You're right. There's altitude. There's nowhere else like that in the country.

They have an incredible fan base. They're so loud. It's a deafening stadium. And when they get their momentum going, you know, it's a tough place to play. And the two times we lost in 2013 season, 2015 season, Denver had a tremendous defense with Von Miller kind of leading the charge. DeMarcus Ware was on that team. My boy, Akeeb, Talib, was playing corner. Chris Harris, they were so good on defense.

And they kind of stymies the offensive rhythm. It's a hard place to play. And there's a reason why they're the number one seed. They played great defense all year. Sean Payton, I mean, what kind of coaching job is he done in a short period of time? He's just got one of the most incredible skill sets as a coach in terms of his leadership ability, his urgency. He sets the culture for the organization, but he also runs the offense. It's a really difficult thing to do.

And he's been a tremendous coach in a league for a long time. It's no surprise to me that they're in a position. And the Patriots, they're going to have to play their best game of the year. This is not going to be an easy task for them to go to Denver and win in this environment. Jared Stidham, he was your backup for a year. Give me a scouting report. You know, I've always loved Stiddy. He's a very natural pastor of the football, very competitive, very smart.

He's got sneaky, good athleticism. Yeah. He's performed well out there when he's gotten opportunities. And I know the Denver coaching staff from the things that I read this week, everybody's got a tremendous amount of confidence in Stee, what he can do. And, you know, it's tough losing Bo Nix. That's a brutal injury, certainly at that stage of the game, at this stage of the season.

But at the same time, you know, Stiddy's got a lot of ability. There's a reason why he's been on this club, and there's a reason why Sean Payton has a lot of confidence in him. and I wouldn't sleep on him at all. He's proven he can make NFL caliber throws, lead teams to victories by playing good football and not turning the ball over. And he's going to need to do that because New England's defense is pretty absurd as well. So there's really four good defensive football teams here late in the season, playing these

championship games. And it's not going to be easy out there for anybody. This has got to be clean football, no turnovers, no penalties, no kind of unforced errors. whoever wins the special teams battle in field position will have an advantage and then it will come down to in my view third down in situational football in the red zone who's kicking field goals who's scoring touchdowns these games are going to be very close and and they're playing for a lot this is a chance to go to to win a world championship so no bigger weekend in football than this i think the most underrated trait for great quarterbacks is an arm speed all that stuff it's humility you're the highest paid guy eventually

you're the most talked about, that you're going to lose and you're the only person beyond the coast that always goes to the podium. I think humility is completely underrated. Cocky does not work in this league. It turns teammates off. And I've never heard a single teammate of yours in New England. Even when Randy Moss left early, he loved Tom Brady. And I think that's your humility. I see Drake May.

I literally feel like I'm watching you when you were young. Yeah. That's had to have jumped out to you, too, with Drake, has it not? Yeah, very much so. And, you know, Patrick Mahomes is another great example of someone who's always, you know, humility through incredible success. If you're not humble, this game will humble you. And every time you take the practice field, there's an expectation to perform at a high level.

And when you're one of the best to be playing, you are the measuring stick for every team. And they're going to come out there, and you're usually going to play their best game against you. Now that's a positive if you understand that and then, you know, that's the saying iron sharpens iron. You're getting someone's best. That means you've got to be at your best, which over long term, that's a great way to continue to develop. But Drake May has that humility. Everything that comes out of his mouth is always about the team. It's always about praising his defense, praising his offensive line.

And that's how you connect with people. That's the reality. That's what great leaders do. Great leaders are in service to other people. It's not what can you do for me, it's what can I do for you? How can I be the best to support your dreams, your goals, your vision, whether that's supporting your coach or supporting your offense. Lyman's supporting your receivers.

True leadership is about humility because true leadership is about service and how do I show up every day to be the best I can be for my teammates? That really should be the lesson for all quarterbacks in the NFL. 45 seconds because you've got to go. You've got a big, I imagine a Zoom meeting with McVeigh. You're going to pepper him because you're going to know everything. You know my whole schedule. I got to ask you this, though, everybody in the world saw you watching Fernando Mendoza,

who I absolutely love. What's just your, what did you see from him? What did you see from the quarterback? Yeah, it was also a great experience. Obviously, I live in Miami, so it was a 30-minute drive to the game. And the fact that they were playing in the game and all worked out, my son wanted to go to the game. I brought him.

We sat up there in the suite and got to be on the field in the pre-game. and have just observed. And I haven't been to a college football game in so long. I haven't been, never been to a national championship game. But just to see kind of the environment, the atmosphere, you know, did it feel too big for anybody? And he's played tremendous, you know, all season, 16 and 0 leading his team. And again, he's another guy that, you know, when you hear him speak, you know, I always kind of judge quarterbacks. I go, how would I have answered that?

And he's just a very mature young man. And he's got a bright future. And, you know, everybody coming into the league, there's still so much. room for development. Nobody's a finished product. I don't care whether you won the Heisman or you're the 109th pick in the draft. It's what do you do when you get there? How important is this to you? Are you obsessed with your job? Are you obsessed with being the best you can be? These young men, whether it's Fernando or a lot of other players that were on the field the other night, they have a great opportunity to do something in their life, to enhance their family's life,

to go impact a community in a positive way by playing great football and bringing joy to the fan base. And that's a job you take very seriously. So all these young prospects, I hope they go to environments that embrace them completely, that can help them develop into the best player they can be. That's how I was, you know, kind of grew up into the league. I found a great environment.

It was all about football. It was about, you know, like you mentioned earlier, about how can you be the best teammate, how can you work hard, how can you play smart, how can you play tough, how can you play well under pressure, how well can you play in tough conditions, and then ultimately how well can you play in championship games

and all those things remain to be seen. Tom, crush it. You got probably the best football game of the year. Say how to KB and the staff. You guys have done a remarkable job this year, and Sean McVeigh is around the corner on Zoom. Go get it done. I'm on it.

Thanks, pal. Appreciate it. Good to see you. Good to see you, Tom. Shows up, has been for several weeks here in a row. Yeah. Man, that is. Drake May and Mendoza have a lot in common.

Like just seemed like a really good, come from good stock, good kids, grateful, humble at the podium. That stuff matters. It matters. J-MAC with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right. Let's bust right into it.

The NFL Coach of the Year finalists were announced yesterday. And in a mild surprise, Mike Vrable is a heavy favorite at minus 400, followed by Mike McDonald, Liam Cohen, who would be my call, and then Ben Johnson of the Bears, who probably would be my number two call. Liam Cohen didn't win a playoff game. So? What does it matter? I mean, Liam Cohen, the regular season, he was tremendous.

They won four games last year. And now they won 13. Well, if it's a playoff award, fine. Let's change the title of it. I mean, you know, Purdy was good in the regular season, too. I like postseason, guys. A little different that way. I mean, listen, Vrable is a veteran coach, and he's been excellent,

but I don't know, Ben Johnson was pretty damn good in the postseason. I mean, we just given it. Ben Johnson would be my two. Vrable won, Ben, two. Hmm. Interesting. All right, let's move to the next story, and that is Seahawks Rams. We're going to keep hitting it all day, Colin.

It is the game of the weekend. The Rams lead the NFL and scoring a 30.5 points per game, number one offense in the league versus the number one defense. Seattle averaging a league best 17.2 points per game. It is a classic matchup, offense versus defense. I think there's a couple angles here not being covered. I'll get to in headlines next hour, but, you know, this defense of Seattle is pretty nasty.

And yet in week 16 a month ago, the Rams went over for 500 yards of offense. Stafford was just unbelievable. No Devante Adams in that game. He's back. By the way, I had to check. I asked the staff, is Devante Adams still alive?

Because somehow he didn't make your top 10 nor top 15 for best players in the game. No, he's, I think it was Kobe Turner was 11. I didn't write it down. I mean, again, you're talking about he was dinged up a little bit. It's hard. You get down to these, like I always give, like an interior. old lineman gets no love.

And like, you know, you find minors with the Broncos, like the highest rated guard. Kevin Dotson's been unbelievable for the Rams. I'm going to put those guys, those guys get, I don't want it to be all quarterbacks and receivers. I mean, like Puka and JSA are insane. But it's, it's, and I did star quarterbacks and star receivers. But the guy's in the trenches, Puna Ford, no, nobody talks about him. He's been a monster this year.

He's been unbelievable. Just, I mean, he was a good charger. I can't believe how good he is. I didn't get a chance to pick apart the list. but I don't recall seeing Nate Landman, who for my money, is the best linebacker in this game. You know, Seattle has good linebackers, but Landman is just clutch city.

I mean, people forget, I mean, Murphy and Leonard Williams for the Seahawks on the interior. You can't run on Seattle. Those guys were like 12, 13 for me. It's, uh, there's a lot of dudes. This game is tremendous. Final Story Con, let's go to, uh, John Harbaugh. He is the new New York Giants coach.

You are all aboard. I think you're the Conduart. of the New York Giants train right now. Well, guess what? Jackson Dart is his quarterback. He only had one season. He was living in the blue tent. But John Harbaugh is already saying great things about Jackson Dart that he's about football.

I wonder if that's a dig at Lamar? I don't know. Reportedly, Dart and Harbaugh had a conversation during his final interview at the facility and it was going so well. It had to be broken up because it was running nearly two hours long. A bromance emerges between Dart and Harbaugh.

ball, Colin, Darts says he cannot wait to play for his new coach. I know you're excited. Yeah, I mean, this is not any of you would think as a four-win team. Oh, boy, this is a big lift. They were in seven one-score losses. They led by double digits in the fourth quarter over, I think it was Chicago, Detroit, and Denver. I don't think this is a massive lift. I think they got to get better, deeper at wide receiver, better at right tackle. And like everybody not named, Seattle better in the secondary. But I think they're really close. I really do.

I think they lost a lot. I mean, for a rookie quarterback to lose seven games, I talked about Drake May. When I picked New England to be the surprise team in the NFL, one of the things I said was New England lost with Gerard Mayo, like six or seven one score games. Brable was going to flip those. Drake May year two was going to flip those.

Jackson Dart is not going to lose seven one score games. He's going to win half of those just because Jackson Dart's got another camp. So, I mean, this isn't all about Harbaugh, Jackson Dart now is going to be a better quarterback with a better right tackle. It is kind of interesting that Harbaugh's weakness the last few years was blowing double-digit leads, remember? With Lamar, that's a big knock on him. I will, listen, I don't, people know I'm a Jets fan, I don't want to be hammering the Giants here. But I'll just say this Harbaugh stuff, we saw his brother do it, right? Jim Harbaugh absolutely loved his guy at Michigan, J.J. McCartney, I take it number one.

He goes to Justin Herbert. A fuse of praise. Maybe it's a Harbaugh trait. But I don't remember John Harbaugh being this gushy about Lamar Jackson. And I wonder if that fracture that happened at the end, whatever went down is channeling it into. Hey, this is a different guy that I just had for five, six years in Baltimore. And I wonder if these are subtle shots at Lamar. Because we know social media is a big one for athletes.

Have you seen Lamar? I'm going to miss you, John. We had a great run. Nothing, huh? I haven't seen a damn thing. That's surprising. That's how the young guys talk now. It's all on social media.

That's a pretty good point. That's what I do here, buddy. Yes, you do all the time. No, I think Baltimore had a choice, and they chose the quarterback. I do think there were fissures. I think they made a choice, and their choice, Steve Boshadhi chose the star player. Kyler Murray in Arizona gave a shout out to Gannon, even though Gannon kind of sort of soft benching, Kylo-one, went on social media and was like, hey, we had a good run, I'll miss your coach, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Like, that's kind of what you do. Yeah, no, that's fair. That's fair. Uh, J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and The IHeard Radio app.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to 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. 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, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some

retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-heartedly. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast point game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the

playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it. out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert 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. 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. really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit season two on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fox College Hoops Friday has a big 10 rivalry tipping off in prime time as Ohio State battles Yaxil Lenderboard and number three Michigan tonight, 80s turn on Fox. That's a great game, Cowherd. Yeah, part of the joy of this Seattle darnal game.

And it's, you know, I've said this before. I root for the better story. We talk about this all the time. Like, the Bears beating the Rams is probably the better story. Like, so to me, it was like, now, I know people, a lot of people in the Rams building, I respect them. I remember once New England played Seattle, and, you know, my family's all Seattle. And I grew up with a Seahawks, but I lived in Connecticut, and it was like, it was the only Super Bowl.

I was like, I just give me a fun game. And it ended up being a remarkable game. and I feel the same way about anytime Seattle plays with Sam Darnold and the Rams. Like, I just want a great game. I think it's, you know, and you're saying, oh, Colin, you want Darnold to win. All I've ever said about Sam, he's too talented not to be successful in the NFL. I don't know if he's going to win a Super Bowl. He may not be a Super Bowl quarterback, but Nick Foles won a Super Bowl.

I think Sam is better than Nick Foles. Stan Humphreys, you know, a Trent Dillfer, like, you know, I mean, respectfully. I mean, I think Sam's a better athlete. You don't always have to be a superstar doing a Super Bowl. But the reckless opinion, my take is,

yeah, I think he can be, especially against the Rams. But Matt Stafford, before last week, was on a seven-game seven pick. That was his streak. And, for the record, Elway through picks. I mean, Brady and Mahomes and Aaron Rogers were

unique. You get the upside, and not a lot of picks, especially with like Mahomes and Rogers. You don't get any picks. That's very, very rare. The Peyton Manning threw him and Eli threw him and I think Tom, even Tom's touchdown interception ratio, I think it's like three to one.

So, you know, he threw a pick six in a Super Bowl. It's not the end of the world. But it is what I think the Seattle Darnold proves. Two teams, two coaches, two rosters, two staffs, great with both.

I think you have to give it up to them. You could argue, obviously, Minnesota and Pittsburgh could add Darnold. They passed. A lot of people felt like, well, yeah, Justin Jefferson. You can't say that anymore. I mean, D.K. Metcalfe, gone. JSN. I mean, did we think he was going to be this good?

Well, he is with Darnold. It's a brand new team. It's one of the youngest team, second youngest team in the league. And I also think this is hard. Stafford and McVeigh have been together now, what, five years, they can complete their sentences. This is still the first year. Like when Brady went to Tampa, remember that. I remember a Thursday night game, and he's screaming it with the offensive line for the Bears.

There's seven and five going into a buy. He and Aryans don't see the world similarly. This stuff's hard in year one. Stafford wins the Super Bowl year one with the Rams. He led the league in picks. So, like, it's the – and those are the – Success stories. Seven and five Tom going into a buy, struggling with Ariens offense, and Matt leading the

league in picks. And those are the all-time great success stories, year one with a new team. So Tom Brady, on the challenges with Darnold or ever being with a new team in a new year. New location, new practice format, new receivers, new offensive line, new line calls, new center, all the things that you kind of take for granted when you have continuity. When I went to Tampa, all those things were totally different. You get familiar with the skill players. That's what I did first.

Then you get familiar with the center. I had Ryan Jensen in that off-season. We spent 30 days working on snaps and snap counts. It took us 12 games to feel like we were starting to get familiar with the things we were really good at and also to put aside the things that we weren't good at. So that the time that December came in the end of the playoffs, we started to play our best football. it culminated in a home Super Bowl against the Chiefs where we played our best game of the season. And I think for Seattle, they're going to need to play two games the best they have all year.

And it's hard because it's the best coordinators and best roster you go up against. I also think, you know, the more spectacular plays last weekend were by Caleb and the Bears, the more consistent team without the mistakes was the Rams. and I think the cleanest team, and Rams play a cleaner version than Seattle. Seattle's just younger. Younger teams tend to make more mistakes. I think the cleaner version,

that's why I like the Rams, win this game. But am I going to be surprised if Seattle wins? No. But in these last weekend, fewer turnovers, four for four won every game. Tom talked about that's one of the things that New England always did very well.

They didn't fumble. And they didn't have a lot of penalties. And they didn't have negative plays. And that all comes from practice. Here's Tom. When you would do like fumbling drills, it's a great example for Coach Belichick and kind of his genius.

First of all, if you fumbled, you were out of the game. All the backs knew that. So we did so many drills in practice that were about covering up the ball, ball security, tackling drills. Not always you would attack or bring someone to the ground, but you try to punch the ball out. Bill would actually take, he called him grease balls, literally,

I don't know some silicone spray that he would spray on the ball. And when we would do running plays, he would put it in in practice. I would take this greased football, give it to the back. He would have to tuck the ball, secure it with both hands, the shoulder pads over the top, just so they didn't fumble. Yep. And, you know, again, we talk about this. The number one factor in building a culture is accountability.

You fumble, you're out of the game. And Kieran Williams, by the way, Cam Acres, when he was with the Rams, was really good. He had a fumble issue. They got rid of him. Kiron Williams, it felt like a year ago. He had a fumble issue. Tiki Barber for years had a fumble issue before Tom Coughlin showed up. Then suddenly he didn't.

So, Kiron Williams, when he doesn't fumble, is really, really good. You know, there's so many good players in this game. I put the top 10 players in this game up an hour ago. I don't have Devante Adams. I don't have Kobe Turner. I don't have Leonard Williams. I mean, there's just so many good players. You know, this stuff comes down to who's going to be good on third down.

Who plays cleaner football? You know, these are my top 10. Puka Stafford won two, then JSN. Witherspoon, the corners were an unbelievable player. Darnold, Kenneth Walker. And then it's inches, not feet. Kiron Williams, Jared Verse, Kevin Dotson, Puna Ford. At 11, I had Kobe Turner.

Then, you know, you get into a bunch of Seahawks. As J. Mack pointed out, where do you put Devonte Adams? I had no Byron Young and he has 12 sacks. I mean, what do you do? Where do I think Jared Verse a little harder to block? What do you do? I mean, that's the kind of game it is. So a lot of people are saying this is the Super Bowl.

We've seen that before. the Western Conference in the NBA for years. I mean, it feels like two out of three years, whoever wins the West, that's the NBA champion. I mean, this year, Detroit and the Knicks are good teams. Celtics would be if Tatum was there, they'd be really special.

Philadelphia is interesting, same with Orlando. But it's like, if you get San Antonio facing Denver or O'KC in the West, that's the NBA champions. I remember covering the Blazers and the Lakers, that legendary Kobe de Shack Alleyoop game seven. I was right behind

the basket. And I remember covering that game and Indiana was next. And you're like, yeah, Portland would have beaten Indiana. Lakers beat Indiana. You knew the Western Conference Finals was the NBA finals. Another guy you missed, I was just looking him up on pro football focus. Quentin Lake, the safety who was injured, broken elbow. He was playing at an all-pro level early in the season. Got injured, came back, struggled in the first game against Carolina, was really good against Chicago on the back end of that defense. He's certainly top 15 in this game. Oh, yeah.

Great player. Hour three, J-Max got his picks Friday. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it.

But, you know, tired and sick. 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 Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. People are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Dear Chelsea, with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests, like Amelia Clark. When, like, young people come up to me and they want to be an actor or whatever. My first thing is always, can you think of anything else that you can do? Rather be disappointed in. Do that. David O'Yellow-O. I love this.

podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts. Dennis Leary, Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things, Tena Mojou, Camilla Morone, Carrie Kenny Silver, and more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky. His best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers.

We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.