The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 3 - Julian Edelman Explores if the Eagles Should Move AJ Brown

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Former Patriots WR Julian Edelman stops by to talk about the culture of the Chargers improving quickly, if the Eagles should move AJ Brown, and Joe Burrow being injured again.Danny Parkins from First Things First talks about Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson so far this year, the importance of good ownership, and Jim Harbaugh improving the Chargers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on.

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Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRedio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. And with that, Julian Edelman is now joining us live. Julian, you have a relationship with Mike Vrable, who is a little bit like Harbaugh, and that he's very intense. It's kind of physically intimidating. How, you know, this was the worst defense in the league 20 games ago.

Now it's the best. How do certain coaches, forget the playbook. How do you change a culture like Harbaugh's done? I think you lean on fundamentals. they're fundamentally sound, tackling, blocking. I remember Belichick always used to say, this game comes down to two things, blocking and tackling.

If you can get those things tackle in the open field when you're in a zone coverage, which you see a lot of teams miss those tackles that turn into 30-yard explosive plays, if you can get fundamentals down, not turn the ball over, not beat yourself with pre-snap penalties, that's how you change a culture right of way.

way. Not with all the talking, not with this. It's with the actions that they're showing that they're doing. I mean, what are they? They're, I think, zero in the turnover margin or they may be plus one in the turnover margin. They haven't thrown any picks. They haven't had many turnovers. They're starting to get production out of their, you know, first round draft pick a couple years, Quinn Johnson, which is, I think, the huge difference maker. So they've looked very good. And I think when when a coach comes in and establishes that if he wants to be a tough football team, tough football teams don't beat themselves. You know, if you go look at that last iteration of the Patriots with Gronk, you and Tom,

Ranny Moss was gone. You were not a big over-the-top offense. And I watched Philadelphia, and A.J. Brown just doesn't get looks. And my takeaway is that's not who they are. Like your Patriot teams, it's built on third down, efficient quarterback play. You don't have the quarterback throwing 42 times. And I almost feel like when you play the Eagles, it's demoralizing. Because there is very little.

And if you go back to your New England teams, those last couple, the one that beat Atlanta, you were not an over-the-top offense. Philadelphia's got A.J. Brown, but they don't really throw it deep very often. When that's not part of your offense, did you ever look at it as a weakness, or did you look at it like, hey, zero to 15 yards, we're the best offense in the league. We just don't throw it over that. I think that's a loaded question.

A.J. Brown, if you take him out of the equation, then you condense the field. Then they don't have to think about the deep target. Then the one time they do get that one matchup, that one-on-one matchup on the outside, where he gets an explosion play. That's tough to do when you don't have them out there. They're kind of like a military, man.

They have air support and they have land ground support. You know, right now they don't have to use their air force. That's how they're built because their team is built so well. They're a complementary football team. And they do what's best to win the game. They don't really care about numbers, statistics, which is very similar to us. The ultimate statistic is the winning loss column. And, you know, if they can have the mental toughness where guys can understand that role,

they're going to be unstoppable because there's going to be. be a time where someone is taking out their run game. Someone's keying out on Saquan and Jalen, and they may have a little new wrinkle, and they're going to have to lean on that past game and win outside the numbers. And A.J. Brown's probably top five at doing that. So there's going to be a time where they're going to need them. They just got to keep them happy. So listen, the Bengals don't have a run game. The offense is very predicated on Joe Burr throwing the ball down the field. but I said there is a skill Eli Manning, Tom, Brady,

Mahomes in not getting hurt. It's not all happens. Justin Fields, by the way, he gets banged up a lot. Brock Purdy gets banged up a lot. And I look at Joe Burrow, and he is one of those guys. He sits there for the last second. And go back to Tom. Tom, when you consider how long Tom played,

I'm sure he was banged up from time to time. But one of the biggest injuries he ever suffered was ripping his hand before a game because it got caught in a helmet. I don't remember Tom getting blindsided very often. Did Tom talk about and practice avoiding the sacks and avoiding injury? Well, those are the injuries that you knew about. Tom, I mean, Tom played through some stuff that he just wouldn't, which I don't know if that's legal or not,

but there's times where he had a broken foot, no one knew about it that he played with, broken ribs. He just didn't really publicize it. But I tell you one thing that Tom always did. He always thought about his body. He thought about that in his preparation. He had his little, he had Alex Guerrero around him 24-7. So if he's pre-concant, like, if he's subconsciously thinking about this all the time,

it translates into your game. You know, when, when Burrow got hurt, you know, that's, you kind of double back and you're going in. There's people on the ground. I mean, those are, those are high-risk. areas to be in. I don't think I think Tom just didn't put himself in those situations unless it was like something he had to do. I think a lot of this also has to come down to how their team is constructed. Everyone knows they got to throw the ball vertically to win. They don't have a defense that's going to get them turnovers. They have zero run game. So there's a built up pressure for Joe Burrow to have

to make plays. And it's something that we've seen him be able to do. But, They haven't been able to win games and they haven't been able to stay healthy. I think they have to fundamentally kind of change their team because this is what we're starting to see in his career is that he, you know, Joe's getting hurt. How does Joe not get hurt? Hit him less. Give the ball to other people more. Get the ball out of his hands. So I think they really have a fundamental problem with how their team's made.

I said when it comes to young quarterbacks, some of it is the eye test. I watched J.J. McCarthy. He looks overwhelmed. I watch Caleb Williams, and he's more of an ad liber, and Ben Johnson's more on script and structure. Sometimes I look at stuff and go, oh, that doesn't feel like it works. When you look at Caleb and the Bears, obviously their defense stunk against Detroit, but I do feel like the coach has a system, and he didn't draft Caleb, and Caleb doesn't really work for the system.

Josh and Tom, I mean, they were both. Get it out quick. I remember the Charger playoff game when Bose is like, dude, I can't even get to you. The ball's out so fast. I don't know if Caleb has built to play like that. Is it possible he's not? I think it's way too early to tell.

We got to take in consideration. This is a second system out of college in a second year. We all know that Ben Johnson has a very verbal offense that is very operation driven, that has two plays in the play call. and he's missing these wide open throws because his mind is racing. He's not really comfortable quite yet with the operation of this offense. Look last year at Bo Nix with his first year with Sean Payton.

They look like a disaster the first couple weeks of the season, right? That's because Sean has, you know, a complex system. There's a certain way of doing it things. You got to kind of beat the backyard football out of the young guys, which takes little time. And we got to recalibrate that this is kind of Caleb's rookie season. It's a completely different offense, schematically verbiage everything that he was going from last year, which was completely different what he was doing the year before.

So there's times where this offense is look competent. I don't remember any time last year the offense looking competent. So that's a plus. You know what I mean? They've done better in certain situations. There's been improvement. They just got to continue this and remember that he's, you know, he's going into his rookie year with, this is a rookie year, you know, with a new offense.

So it's going to take some time to get, you know, the verbal communication in. I mean, Ben Johnson, I guarantee probably gives two play calls every time you come in. You've got to communicate the play. You got to communicate the personnel group. You got to get to the line of scramage, take a pre-snap read, look at the front, look at the coverage, make sure all your guys are assigned, then go get the right. played called according to what you're seeing in the pre-snap read, which can completely change in the post-snap read, that's a lot of stuff for a young guy, which you know that he's getting

taught that. So you can compare Caleb's first time to all the other guys that Ben Johnson had for the first time. Jared Goff, Jared Goff was in the same system with Sean McVeigh. That's the same verbiage as Ben Johnson's stuff. So it's not the same kind of comparison. He had, you know, three, four years under his belt in a similar system going to Ben Johnson who did that. So I think it's a combination of both Ben Johnson learning Caleb on what

he does well and what he doesn't do well and trying to get those things out and Caleb trying to learn this system. I mean, it takes time. Finally. Yeah. I thought it was actually a big win for the Patriots. They got a special teams touchdown.

It was a go-back and forth game. They made a huge defensive play late. I still think they need juice on the outside. I think they're kind of a limited offense. But I got to tell you, when I watched it, Drake May didn't make any mistakes, big special teams play, big

defensive play. This may not have been a big win for an Edelman Brady Gronk team, but Miami's always been a tough spot, and I came out of that game and I thought, oh, that was an easy loss. You could have lost that game so easily. I was kind of impressed with it. You? I was really impressed with it.

It's a division opponent that has had continuity for a long time. And even a Brady-Gronk-Eddleman team struggled playing in Miami in that heat in September, and they went and got it done. They looked like a better-shaped team, more fundamentally sound football team. If you look at some of their stats, what, the first week on third down against the Raiders, they were four and 14 on third down. They were one for three in the red area. This last week, I think there's seven for 12 in third down.

They're three for four in the red area. So that's improvement. They only punted twice. They had a couple pre-snap penalties that they got to get fixed, but that don't come. They look like similar to what I was saying with the bears who didn't have any competency the year before. They look like an offense that's getting better, that's learning each other. There's guys making plays. And this is the early part of the year for everyone.

So, you know, not anyone who hasn't been together is going to look like they're a pro. football team, especially with the CBA and how these guys are supposed to practice. This is going to take some time on learning your team. It's not really hard for these guys to prepare for other teams. There's not a lot of films to learn what these wrinkles are. Once these things start getting adjusted and settled, they're going to be able to coach from these things and get better. So you're already seeing improvement. They got a lot more to do, but it's awesome to see that they got a divisional win. Yeah, by the way, again, early September, it can be hot. Northern teams going down hot. We lost there a bunch. Yeah. Julian is always, games with names, new episode every Tuesday.

He's sitting in his studio now. Sunday's on Fox. NFL kickoff, but I appreciate you stopping by. No problem. I'll see you guys. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard radio app. Hey, it's me. Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics or the I-Test, we've got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker

on the IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. 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 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 a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down in three to Roebuckina, but I'm delighted.

She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news! This is the... The herd line news. All right, Colin, let's get started with the Dallas Cowboys.

They were able to come back and beat the Giants in a thriller. But the defense has a lot of holes. They traded Micah Parsons last month, and they've given up 61 points in two games. Jerry Jones knows the defense needs to step up. It's bang into this game. You've got to handle your responsibilities. And you've got to really do that all over the defense. You've got to do your responsibility.

That's first and foremost. And then make that play if it's there. But the main thing is you can't just be there trying to make a play. You can't be a lone ranger out there. You've got to be a part of a team. Yeah, I think if you're a cowboy fan, you have to be so encouraged by your first two weeks. You're so encouraged by dad.

movement, accuracy. I mean, Brian Schottenheimer, as a lot of people, myself included, thought, this is a five-win team. That's what I think I said, a five-win team. You were more optimistic. But when I watch him today, that offense alone, if DAC is healthy, that's a 7-8-9-win team, just on the offense alone. Yeah, there's a Bengals of the NFC. Now, the real question is, can the defense get help if Bland comes back? So Jerry Jones obviously is speaking because he loves to talk to the media.

he says he has a real chance to play, Blan their great cornerback, against the Bears Sunday. Now, if he doesn't play and Caleb doesn't cook in this one, Colin, that's going to be a real bitter pill to swallow for Chicago fans. I don't want to say it's over for Ben and Caleb

after three games, but you'll have to admit if he can't, I mean, what do you think the team total would be? Like, what's a good number for the Bears to score against his Cowboys defense? 27 to 28 points. Yeah, I think three or four touchdowns should be in, play for the Bears. And I'm not talking garbage time. If you lose a shootout to DAC, it's 3228, and, you know, Caleb completes 65% of his throws, two TD snow picks. He's not great,

but it's a fight to the end. That's improvement. My problem was the first week and the second week, great opening drive, but by the third quarter, it just came unraveled. And it's like, okay, I feel like I'm watching the same thing. I didn't see a lot of growth, but I don't think I think this defense and this environment is built for growth. I think Caleb will look better. Danny Parkins will have that. I think it'd be really, really rough

if Caleb gave you the third straight, nice opening drive downhill from there. That would be hard to stomach. Now, we know Jadavian Clowny is expected to make his debut for the Cowboys defense. So they'll get another guy in the front. I mean, I don't know how much of a factor he'll be. He's more of a name at this point in his career.

But, hey, Dallas is trying. You know, they had to get, got Kenny Clark from the Packers, and now Judevian Clowny. So really fortifying against the run game. Kenny Clark's okay. He can plug. He's solid, yeah. Next up is the Miami Dolphins, Colin.

They are 0 and 2, and the sharks are circling around Mike McDaniel. There was a banner that flew over the stadium in week two against the Patriots calling for the firing of McDaniel and GM Chris Greer. McDaniel says he's not worried about job security. and his players are backing his coach with linebacker Chop Robinson saying it's not him out there on the field. It's really on us. We got to get better. However, I have talked to some Miami fans, Colin, that I know down there.

So they play on Thursday against the bills. Their next game is not until next Monday against the Jets. If they get embarrassed and housed by Buffalo, this is the time you get extended prep, right, for the next week. it's not just a Sunday to Sunday. I would not be surprised if a move was made. Well, I will say Stephen Ross, the owner, and Mike McDaniel have had multiple conversations. So that has been reported. I've been reading Joe Shad and other writers down in Miami.

So the owner and the coach are talking on a weekly basis, pre-game post game. So I mean, I don't think they want to make a move. And I do think their coach is on the right side of the ball. What really worries me is the lack of culture and the lack of everything. effort. Again, this is not a great roster. Chris Greer's been the GM, I think longer than anybody almost in the AFC, it feels like he's been there forever. I don't like the roster. I agree. So I don't think this is all Mike McDaniel, but the culture feels broken. That's where you lose me. I can deal with losses, but what are you? What is Miami? I don't think there anything

specifically, and that's, is this year or what, four or five for him? Well, here's the other problem. Remember, if they fire him early, remember the Jets fired Sala last year early? And what happened? The defense completely fell apart. If the offense falls apart for Miami, you're looking at like one, two, three wins. Quick number for you, Colin. Okay?

Brian Daibol and McDaniel were hired the same year. Okay? Mike McDaniel is 28 and 25 with two playoff trips. Brian Daibble is 18 and 34 and 1 with one playoff trip. So McDaniel has 10 more wins than Brian Daibald. They were both hired the same offseason and everybody wants to run McDaniel out of town.

Yet Daibol, Nobody's talking about Daibol. I'm just saying I'm a McDaniel guy. I think it's understood that this is Daibles last year. I think that's understood. Okay. Final story is, oh, everybody's favorite practice squad quarterback Sheddur Sanders. Remember that report over the weekend that the Ravens wanted to draft Shadur 141 overall,

but passed because he allegedly said he didn't want to be the backup stuck behind Lamar Jackson. Well, of course, the media asked Shadur about this, and he said, Colin, wait for it. I'm focused on the now. I don't really want to talk about anything in the past. I don't remember anything pre-draft. I go to practice every day, and there's a 24-hour rule. That's not a denial.

Colin, I just... You've talked for years. Baltimore is one of the best franchises in the league. Agreed? He said, I don't want to go there because I'll be stuck behind Lamar. Oh, I mean, he... Listen, between the legendary draft room, the 2-95... mile and hour speeding tickets and that quote he either got really bad advice or he's got really bad

judgment but he's not leading the scout team so it's probably a little bit of both and i think dion sanders uh you know has not distanced himself from it but i i think dad gave him great poor advice and i i think this is just you know a cautionary tale of you know dad leaning on the son, Nico I. Maliavo, the UCLA quarterback. Sometimes dad squeeze so hard, the love is so, you know, intense that they, they squeeze too hard. Like, it's just, I think Shadur got really, really bad advice. And I think the UCLA quarterback, similarly, really bad advice. You don't leave Tennessee, which has always been, even though they haven't won as much in

the last one of years, it's a football power. They were just in the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, Tennessee is college football to UCLA. which has no NIL money and is the second best program by a long shot in their own city. Sometimes, guys, young people get bad advice.

Jay Macklin News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Well, he worked in Chicago for over a decade. And there wasn't a lot of winds and happiness and rainbows and birds chirping with the bears. Danny Parkins next on what he's seeing with Chicago.

Is there hope? Be sure to catch live editions of the Hurdolles. heard 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 throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember I think it was on a call about what we should call it And we were thinking I'm originally calling it

One of the early names of our band Before Jonas Brothers This is how you guys remember it going down Yes I have a very different memory of this We were talking about a thing A bit for the podcast People could call in and say hey Jonas And then I wrote down on my little notepad

Hey Jonas And offered it up as a potential title For the podcast But thanks for remembering that guys listen to hey jonas on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast just listen we don't care where you hear it another podcast from some s nl late night comedy guy not quite unhumored me with robert smigel and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odenkirk to david letterman help make you funnier this week my guess s n l's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel

help an acapella band with their between songs banter where does your group perform we do some retirement homes. Those people 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck.

Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. But when it comes to young quarterbacks, Anthony Richardson looked absolutely overwhelmed. Daniel Jones, with the Giants, looks kind of limited. Caleb looks a little like the early shades of Josh Allen.

He's just out of control, but the horsepower is clearly there. Danny Parkins, who did Chicago Radio Forever, first things first weekdays at 3 Eastern after our show. I guess the encouraging thing is there is a Josh Allen, aspect, which is arm, horsepower, you can see it, but Josh was wild. At Wyoming, he was wild for a year and a half, and then all of a sudden year two, he started improving. Is that your kind of feel like, okay, it's got a little Josh. He doesn't look limited like Daniel Jones or J.J. McCarthy. He's not overwhelmed like Anthony Richardson. Like, I don't feel it's that, do you? Not even close, Colin. I mean, it hasn't been good, but it hasn't been awful. And I think people have gone a little bit too far here with this sky's falling narrative because at the beginning of games on script, it's looked good. Some of the off script stuff, the improvisation, has been very impressive. It's been frustrating. Week one felt a little bit like week 19, just an extension of last year. But I

do think that coming out of that Detroit game, there were signs of improvement from Caleb Williams. But it also speaks to, we are such a quarterback-driven culture that we're asking these tough questions about Caleb Williams. And I get it, number one pick. It's the quarterback. It's a quarterback league. The defense gave up 50 points. Like, Caleb Williams is not a linebacker, a pass rusher, or a cornerback. So coming out of that Lions game with Caleb Williams' concern just seems a little misplaced to me. You know, Ben Johnson, young guy, first job. He's been not defensive.

He's not Brian Kelly at LSU at the mic, but he's trying to be very supportive. It's a fine line. He wants to be supportive, but he doesn't want to get pushed over. In the preseason, he said, Tyson, Bajun, this guy is razor sharp. This is unbelievable. And I thought, that's a, that may be a little too much. I offered a J-MAC this week. I said, if the Dallas defense stops him,

do you think Ben Johnson drives home after the post game and thinks, maybe you've got to make a quarterback change, or does that sound ludicrous? It sounds ludicrous, Colin. And when you said it earlier in the show, frankly, it upset me. I was a little angry with you, and I considered texting you, but then I realized, oh, we could just do this on the air, the old-fashioned way. Ben Johnson was the hot coaching candidate in 2024.

He interviewed for the Chargers job. He interviews for the commander's job. He interviews for the Seahawks job. He's at the top of everybody's list this last year. And he chooses Chicago. And at the introductory press conference, he says, yeah, the quarterback was a big part of the reason why this is the job that felt right for me.

And then two games in, or I guess in your scenario, after the third game, He's going to be driving back to the suburbs of Chicago and be like, you know, on one hand, I have the generational talent who you just compared to Josh Allen, who struggled his first few years in the league, and then it was ultimately unlocked. And on the other hand, I have the undrafted kid out of Shepard. Huh? Which one am I going to go with? I don't believe it.

I think it's completely nonsensical. And why it made me angry, if I could keep going here, is last week you have this unbelievable access. You can talk to billionaires and owners and GMs, and you have the goat. You have Tom Brady on your show, and you're like, my theory, Tom is Thanksgiving of year two. I will know it. And then we saw Week 2, and it wasn't perfect. And you came out on the air on Monday and were like, forget Thanksgiving. How about October 1st?

You just abandon those principles off of two games, and frankly, it upsets me. I'm very emotional person. Okay, how about this? You are. How about this? You and I have talked about this off the air. So much of this league is ownership. I mean, Tampa's ownership stays out of the way. Todd Bowles doesn't have an ego. Baker Mayfield looks like a top five quarterback. In Cleveland, impulsive owner, always desperate, bitter media, like environment matters. Chicago's got one of the poorest ownership groups, a lot of kids. Upstairs, Ryan Poles, many, myself included, surprised he got an extension. that Ben and Caleb are just literally climbing a hill every day in this organization

and that it's just going to be harder than it would be at Buffalo. The bills were a playoff team before Josh Allen arrived. So how about the argument that it may never be perfect because this is an imperfect organization? Well, I think that there's a ton of truth to that. You know, this Ben Johnson took his car in for an oil change and they were like, you need a new transmitter, you need new brakes, you need new wheels, and frankly, you need an entire new car. This is a big job.

It's a big organizational overhaul. The Bears fans come by their cynicism with this stuff honestly, because the Bears' organization have not given them a reason to have the benefit of the doubt. So I think it's a big job with big culture shifts that need to take place. But I would also say, before Joe Burrow got to Cincinnati, the Bengals were the Bungals. Before Patrick Mahomes got to Kansas City, it had been since Todd Blackledge that they had won a single regular season game with a quarterback that their franchise had drafted. Not a playoff game, a regular season game with the quarterback that the chiefs had drafted had won a single game. So if you get it right at coach and quarterback, you can overcome a lot.

And I just think it's way too early to think that Ben and Caleb can't be the right combination. I want to end with this. I'm a big Justin Herbert fan. I covered Oregon. He's such a nice kid. But there's always been this push and pull on, you know what? He got four interceptions in the playoffs,

blew a huge lead. And my take is we finally got an adult as a coach, and now he's really good. As somebody that hasn't lived in L.A. and watches from afar, from an organization, not like the Bears, but it's been an organization

that has blown multiple opportunities through the years in huge games, chargering it. I think that's now gone, you hope. How do you view Justin Herbert a relatively young quarterback? Like a top five

talent in the NFL, and I felt that coming into this year, and it was reflected on the lists and the topics that we would do on the show all last football season. To me, Justin Herbert is the ultimate eye test quarterback. Like, if you watch the games, you know that this

guy can do everything that anyone would want from a quarterback on the football field. And at times he has been let down by Anthony Lynn, by Brandon Staley, by yes, having the worst game of his career at the worst moment possible in Houston, but also knowing that two of those four interceptions were off of his past catcher's hands and the interior of his offensive line was an absolute disaster against the top five pass rush in the NFL in Houston last year. And he had a great first half in that game against Jacksonville and then Jacksonville staged an epic comeback on the charger defense, not on Justin Herbert, So the playoff success will come, but I believe that he is a Hall of Fame talent.

I believe that there's an MVP award in his future. I believe that there's a Super Bowl in his future. And yes, Jim Harbaugh is a big part of the reason why. But I felt that way before Harbaugh got there simply because he passes every possible way of just watching the games and saying, yep, that dude's got it. Sometimes you don't need more than that. It's an eye test thing. And Justin Herbert's that level of player. Yeah, I felt that when I, Jaden Daniels in college, I remember saying it's going to look like Lamar Jackson, not quite as fast, better from the pocket.

That's going to work in the NFL. And to your point, J.J. McCarthy looks overwhelmed. That's what my eyes tell me. He looks overwhelmed. Danny Parkins, first things first, does an amazing job. Show is now three hours not to because Danny said, I'll carry some of the weight. And he is, by the way. Great seeing you, bud.

Thanks, Colin. You bet. Really, really sharp guy. Love seeing him. Yeah, no, I think Herbert's one of those that were so rough on quarterbacks and postseason success. We don't do that in baseball. Mike Trout does nothing. And everybody that covered the sport for a decade said Mike Trout's the best player.

We don't do that. Even in the NBA, James Hardin, he's unbelievable. Yeah, he falls apart in the playoffs. Doesn't matter. With quarterbacks, people are on Lamar Jackson every January. He won 76% of his games in the AFC. Perverts the real deal. First things first.

Coming up next. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

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

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

A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.