The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 3 - NFL week 2

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Tua Tagovailoa looks more comfortable in year 2 of this system What is going on with Justin Fields? What to take from the Niners win over the Rams   Guest: Mark SanchezSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.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. By the way, Steelers tonight in the Cleveland Browns. I don't know the way the way the market is moving.

Do you feel any desperation for the Pittsburgh Steelers or do you just go with a talent in Cleveland? I think I just go with a talent in Cleveland. Mike Tomlin's a great underdog coach, but I've been trying to seek value all year in my Blazing 5 and it's not working. I'm just going to go with better players. It's early. All right. Let's just go to the news and we'll... Oh, well, hold on.

Who do you like tonight? Well, we're going to talk about it. It's one of the items in there. Come on. Jay Mack, with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Like going to surprise parties, like just as the person's pulling up and just recruding. Come on, bro. All right, let's start with Josh Allen. So I won only two and three in the contest, but I did tell you, Buffalo is my biggest bet of the weekend. Smart bet. And they steamrolled the Raiders.

They did. Now, this is a little deceptive. Josh Allen, hey, completed its first 13 passes. 274 yards, three touchdowns, no turnovers. If you watch closely, he was not throwing the ball down the field. That's what got him in trouble against the Jets. None of those Yolo bombs. I saw one number, average depth of target 4.9 yards for Josh.

For one of the strongest arms in football. They basically told him, hey, dial it back, Josh. No more hero ball. And then the kid Cook had a monster game. Dalvo Cook's brother had like 140 yards or whatever. Bill's 13 and 4 following a loss. Any thoughts on Buffalo? Like, are they okay?

Well, I mean, I just like the fact that they adjusted their coaching. So what they said is basically we don't need the big plays. We can do 15 yards and under. And I think they have very good tight ends. I always think their backs are better than they acknowledge. Yeah, I mean, this is called coaching. You dial it back week to week and tweak. And I think that's what good coaches do.

Raiders came down the field, scored on the scripted drive with McDaniels. They're like, oh, there was 7-0. Impressive. They did nothing the rest of the game. Josh Jacobs, nine carries for minus two yards. A week after the Jets rushed for, what, 180? yards or whatever? So it's going to be very interesting. I don't know who the Raiders face next,

but the Raiders are one of those teams. If they start to scuff a little bit, scuffle, are they a team? They've got some interesting offensive pieces they could move. They host the Pittsburgh Steelers next week. That used to be the best rivalry arguably in the league. Steelers, Raiders? Oh, it was just unbelievable.

How did you get those games? Is that where you had to put the rabid ears behind your TV and do all that? Yes. That's how I got those games. That's how you did it, Max. I was not born. And that was a thing. Okay, so tonight's first game is a double header tonight, which we love. I'm surprised you haven't asked me to go get a drink and watch a games or something.

No, I've got to sit home and take notes. Who do you like? I'm taking the Panthers at home plus the points. Well, you know, the great producers here noted that are you sticking with Carolina despite starting 0 and 400 on your picks this week? Listen, 0 and 9 for the season. Don't sell me short. It happens. Not to me, but it happens to some people.

That just makes me hungrier. Yeah. I'm a starving better on hungry. Saints are favored by three on the road? I don't think they're good enough to be favored on the three in division. They weren't good in division last year. Again, you don't want to put too much in last week's game, but they kind of confused Tannahill.

And then Tana Hill went against the Chargers and looked like a superhero. So I wonder if the Saints are almost a little undervalued. I don't like these rookie quarterbacks in primetime spots. I don't know what I'm doing. Why do I keep taking value? Why don't they just take the better team of the better quarterback? Maybe I'm just dumb. I mean, it's not like you're taking a money line.

Getting three points at home, you know, I think you're probably on the right side that over 100 games, you're probably going to win 57% of them. Yeah, well, I hit 56% last year. Right, and you're at 0%. Value stinks this year. It's early. It's early. All right, final story is Brown Steelers tonight. I saw a report from one of these guys that Amari Cooper may not play.

Not great for Cleveland. I like the Browns here. This is a big one for Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin doesn't want to start O-N-2. You do go to the Raiders next week. Now, the Steelers, they do have Raiders Texans kind of stacked. They'll be fine. They'll be fine.

Even if they lose this. But I'm just telling you, they lost one of their defensive linemen. I forget his name in the middle. They're defensive tackle. Yeah. And their run numbers are bad without him. And Nick Chubb is probably the best running back in the league. So this could be a big ground game for the Browns.

I'm on Cleveland, not a heavy play, pizza money type deal. So I've said Denver's the most, the Rams are the most surprisingly good team. Denver are the most surprisingly disappointing team. Wait, wait, what about Tampa? Well, that's not going to last. That's not sustainable. Is there a team to you that's surprisingly good or bad? I'm surprised the charges are owned too.

But I'm really surprised Denver with two home games that they were both favored in. Could win any of them. That's crazy. So what we should do is the 0-2 team that you are, think, is it's a lot of, the most trouble heading in the way. Well, I have to watch tonight because Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Well, if Cleveland wins, they'll be in my top ten. So I have to watch these games.

Did Zach Wilson do enough to crack the top? No. I hope the Jags aren't in there. I will say this. We haven't talked about the Giants game. That second half, they just first couple plays they went. Did they go, was it first play of the second half? Daniel Jones went downtown over the top for a touchdown.

It was very early. Yeah, yeah. And then they just completed a long pass. It was literally two games. It was literally two games. The first half, the Giants looked like they. Arizona did. didn't implode. It's not like they were fumbling the football and throwing interceptions. They just

didn't play good at all. You wonder if the owner put in a call, hey, hey, hey. No, kidding. But. Well, I think the Giants just didn't have any defensive answers in the first half. Then they made stops. And then Arizona's offense got out of sorts. But it was in the first half, it was alarming how Arizona marched up the field. Dobbs found open guys. Dobbs rant. He just, he just found, I mean, it was a real issue. They were getting big chunk play. one after another after another. You know what hurts, and you're a gambler, okay? So the Giants come back and win that, but they don't cover the spread.

So I'm kind of like, that was like not, it didn't feel great for me that the Giants came back, and I know it's thrilling for Giants fans. Well, most people aren't betting the game, so what I feel is the Giants are the better team, and the Giants should have won, and I did think it showed some metal to be able to play an absolutely awful first half of football. I mean, that says you think the Dallas game was. bad. That first half, to get rolled by Dallas is one thing. To get rolled by

Arizona is embarrassing. But you could argue it's easier to be down 20-0. Then it's like, all right, Daniel, we're just going to be chucking the football or you're going to be scrambling. And Daniel Jones, aka Vanilla Vic. I think he had like 59 yards on nine carries. Like, he's faster than a lot of the bad Arizona defenders. Arizona's not

good. They don't have any talent. Well, they've got a couple of players. Who? James Connor? How did he rush for 100 yards against a giant? They should be embarrassed. Listen, I think one of the things that we know to be true in this league is it's very coach quarterback driven. I mean, after the first couple of weeks, there's only so much a quarterback can do with a bad coach, chargers, there's only so much a good coach can do with an average quarterback,

giants. Okay. So what you want to be is A in both of those spots. Like Sean Payton's scripted plays in the first half for Denver, Russell Wilson's completing 85% of his throws with 100 blankety blank passer rating. But you can't script 45 plays. You can script about 12. kindly rank the football teams in the state of New York for me one through three.

Buffalo, and then I quit. Oh, stop. Well, I don't know. I've got to see more. I've got to see now. Now, again, Dallas is going to make Zach Wilson look worse than he probably is. So I want to see the Jets New England to me. I told you this. That's a very interesting game.

I'm going on a Patriot podcast today after the show. They, if they go 0 and 3, doesn't Kraft sit down with his son? Don't they talk about the future? You think they're losing to Zach Wilson this week? I think it's going to be an incredibly low-scoring game. It's in New York, isn't it? Yeah, the Patriots have had two home games. I think it's a very winnable game for the Jets.

But you don't? I'm just saying, if you want to humor yourself before you go talk to Patriots fans on the podcast, go look at Zach Wilson on YouTube against the Patriots last year. It was as ghastly of a quarterback performances as you'll ever see. I know. It's really, really bad. Yeah. And then he took no account.

on ability and solace and you're inactive. Like, I know we talked about it last week, but this whole, like, what do we do with Kirk Cousins? I mean, if you're the Jets, you've got to seriously make a run at Kirk Cousins if you lose this game. Can you stop with Kirk Cousins? Well, you're just throwing out the season. It's over then? You haven't made the playoffs in over a decade. You've been thrown out seasons for, like, like, people throw...

Yeah. Be your caps into a garbage. You don't think the coach and the GM want to keep their jobs, huh? they're not getting fired because Aaron Rogers got hurt. You get fired when you have a star quarterback and lose games. Brandon Staley, that's when you're in trouble. You don't get in trouble because Aaron Rogers got hurt. Five wins. Are you firing the coach?

No. Four? They're not going to win four games. Jets are going to win seven or eight. Their defense is too good. Listen, I'm an optimistic Jets fan and I am terrified. But this whole Kirk Cousins thing, that's just, that's bad money. Chasing bad money on that. That's just a bad idea.

Aaron's coming back, Nicky. year. What do I want Kirk Cousins? All right, well, you know who's up next. So you've got to ask him. He's a quarterback. He knows a little thing about it. No, just sometimes you have to take a... You know what? Sometimes the answer in life for all businesses is take a deep breath. Don't chase bad money. You know, what I like to do? I like to move fast and break things.

That's what Zuckerberg did. You know what you do? Three words for Jason McIntyre. Ready, fire, aim. I'm a ready aim fire guy. You're a ready fire. guy. Yeah, I'm just spraying.

Just take a deep brain. You don't need Kirk cousins, so you'll have Aaron's contract and Kirk cousins. No, you're just renting Kirk for the rest of the year. That's it. You're not paying him everything. Vikings are paying him on. You rent a ski boat. You don't rent a quarterback.

If you're desperate. Sometimes you do desperate things. A jet ski, excuse me, or a ski boat. Ski boat. What the hell is a ski? Jet ski rental. That's what you rent. A J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd 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 IHeart Radio app. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a gas, galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of ton-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Let's get in Mark Sanchez, Fox Sports, did the Niners Rams game. We got a bunch of stuff later on that. Mark Sanchez is joining us. Are you all right? Are you good?

Oh, chill out. I have a question for you. I said it kind of under my breath. I didn't know if everybody. Was there ever a time in your life? Because when you went to the Jets, it was defense and a run game. Was there ever a moment, Mark Sanchez, when you were on the sideline and you watched another offense and you privately thought, Dad be fun.

Because I'm sitting there and Mac Jones. Throwing the ball. What is that? I watched Mac Jones last night and I looked at all the motion. These guys are so advanced with this forward pass. Holy smooth. I just thought, Max, looking at that and thinking, can I have a couple of those? Can I, can I do that? Can I do that? Well, I mean, it's twofold, right? Because the way you're talking about the game last night, sure,

when you watch one of those offenses that looks like, you know, the old school greatest show on turf kind of deal, part of it. And I think Coach Johnson mentioned it earlier, but all the motions they use. I mean, it's turning into the Canadian Football League. These guys are like circling and rounding second base. Yes. And you're getting a full head. of steam on a defender who just has feed and cement. They're doing an excellent, you know, the Niners do it well. Yeah. But basically it just frees up these guys and it ends up becoming a basketball fast break. And now Tua and Purdy look like point guards. And, you know, it's the it's the John Stockton, Magic Johnson kind of deal where, boom, we get a quick rebound and

outlet and let's rock. And so he just looks so comfortable in the second year of a system. I think that's normal. But sure, we talk about Mack Jones wanting to throw the ball and then, I mean, go in the same division, go to the Jets and talking about like, okay, we'll run the ball more. Why are you throwing so much? You know, and so I think the bottom line to all this is personnel. Your playbook's your playbook, sure. But it's based on your personnel. Sure, I have all these wonderful, beautifully drawn plays. And I got, you know, assistants printing out copies of playbooks. and it comes out looking great, and there's all these beautiful lines on paper,

but it doesn't matter. If we can't run that based on our personnel, we got two really good tight ends, not three excellent receivers. Well, we're going to be in two tight end sets a lot. You know what I mean? We got excellent running backs. We've got a stable of them.

Well, we're going to pound the rock. That's what we're built to do, you know? And so it's teams in this first, really, this first month, if you can survive this first month and kind of establish an identity. Who are we? That's a great point. What do we do well?

All right. This is going to be us. going to be our blueprint. How many different ways can we run these 15 to 25 plays that we love and that we are really, really good at? And a lot of that is what can the quarterback handle? How many years has he been in the system? How quickly does he process? Right. There's so many different layers to this onion, essentially. And these teams are starting to figure it out. You know, the Jets are going to be more run heavy. The Miami Dolphins, those dudes will sling it around the yard. They're going side to side forwards, backwards. And they should. And they should because they have

that personnel. You got the cheetah, you got the penguin. Like, let's go, man. Uncaged these animals in the zoo and let's go. Yeah. So a lot of times coaches will say things and it's, I want to get it described. So you've been in the pocket. Sure. Okay. So Zach Wilson and Justin Fields, Greg CoSell came on last week and said they don't necessarily see the field well. So like for the average fan, we're like, well, what does that mean? Is it an anticipatory? Is it lack of experience? I saw Justin Fields. I saw two things on the internet last night from above. There's wide open people. And I'm like, dude's not seeing it.

This has been one of my knocks on Zach. Zach's got an arm. Zach can move. He's not seeing stuff. Russell Wilson had a couple of plays yesterday. It's like, Russell, there's stuff wide open. Who do I blame? Where do I go with that?

There's blame to go around, in my opinion. You know, I'll die on the hill for quarterbacks every day of the week and twice on Sunday. But you got to understand. One, we're not in the meeting, so we don't know exactly where his eyes are supposed to be, you know, in sequential. in sequential order. However, from playing the game and being around it for as long as I have, I have a pretty good idea. It's kind of this or that. Maybe this was an alert, but I have an idea what the progression is. If anything, and some of this is a little bit of shell shock because

you get hit a couple times in the pocket and your answer, I don't care if you're Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, your answer either is to get down or escape the pocket. Well, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning can't escape the pocket left and right. They can't sneak out the back door and do the Elway pivot, the Russell Wilson pivot. Romo. And take off, yeah, the Romo, right? Draw them in and then reverse out the back door. Those guys can't do that.

So they'd either fall down or get rid of the ball, right? Protect themselves, move on to the next down. Well, when you're this athletic and you can get out and extend these plays, you start exiting the pocket maybe a little bit too soon because you don't want any of that noise in there. It's a mean, ugly, nasty place up in that pocket. and you've got to be pretty savvy to just that Brock Purdy poise. Right? He'll extend plays if he has to,

but all he really wants to do is just give a little hint to the left, a little drift to the right, a little shuffle towards the line of scrimmage, and then I'm going to take off vertically, attacking vertically in the pocket, attacking north in the pocket. Sometimes these guys get so committed to getting outside the pocket, and now you're just in a whole new,

set of problems because these defensive ends are so dang fast they close on you so quickly and now everything gets strung out in the back end and these guys are having problems extending these plays and trying to force balls down the field trying to compete and win every single snap that's my only knock on some of these younger guys because they're not as used to playing from the pocket and when they play in the pocket they've gotten hit in the pocket so it's it's kind of a catch-22 right you got to trust it and stand in there and take those hits and you're kind of staring down the barrel, and you can't flinch. You can't blink. You can't flinch. You've got to trust the guys up front and cut that ball loose. They've had some, you know, tragic experiences trying to do some of that stuff.

So the immediate answer is fight or flight. Well, we got to get the heck out of here. So I think that's part of it. And once again, it's reps, it's time on task, and all those things play into it. So there's blame to go around. So one of the interesting kind of dichotomies of what's happening in Denver's offense, it's tremendous in the first. half. Sean probably scripts 12 to 16 plays. Then in the second half, it goes off a cliff. So Russell's magic in Seattle was often fourth quarter playmaking brilliant. In 2017, I think the numbers were 19 touchdowns one pick.

He was a tremendous. They are two different teams. So is this telling me, you've been in this space, he's coachable, he's good on script. When you ask him to do stuff off script, there's no juice. he's a little lost. What are these numbers telling me? Well, I think most importantly, we've got to remember, it's sure, it's his second year in Denver.

It's his first year in this system. This is going to take time. Whether you're Tom Brady, I mean, remember at the break. I keep bringing up this example, but at the break, they were seven and five. Seven and five and ugly. And it was like, oh, Tom Brady's too old. He can't handle this.

You know, Grownkowski's too old. We can't, they can't make this work. and they went on a heater and ended up winning the whole dang thing. So in the second half of the season. So to say after two weeks that Russell can't play well at the end of the games, I think is unfair. I think this stuff takes a while. It takes more time on task.

But bottom line is, even if it's not perfect in the second half, even if you're not operating at an incredibly high level in the second half, with an 18-point lead, like just get me out of a jam. You know what I mean? And it becomes that, like, self-preservation kind of idea. Like, boys, we got the win in a bag here. Like, don't, let's just not give it away, right? And so whether you completely understand the reeds and the situation,

whatever, time on the clock, all the, all the intricacies of playing the position, the big picture, you know, 3,000 foot view is, shoot, we got this thing. Just take care of the football, waste some of the clock, be incredibly smart with your throws and your decisions with this football. And unfortunately, you didn't see that yesterday. You throw the interception in the second half. Like, we can't afford to give them any opportunities and defense. We got to be a little better, right? We got an 18 point lead. Fellas, come on now. Like, you should be pinning your ears back and attacking that quarterback because you know they got to throw the ball to get back in this game. Defensive line, go get yours. This is where you go pad the

stats, right? This is where you saw the 49ers yesterday. That's what they do towards the end of the game. They wear you down. Now you got to play catch up ball. You're going to throw it three times in a row? All right, Bosa, cut them loose, let's go, and it turns into a track meet with those defense alignment. So you thought you would have saw that maybe a little more from Denver yesterday, but once again, we're two games in. We're trying to establish an identity.

We're figuring everything out. I wouldn't write them off just yet. By the way, I will say before I go to break, Mims, the receiver they drafted early. That's really encouraging. Absolutely. Cortland Sutton, him. There's plenty of good to take away from that game, but it's just you want to learn those lessons with a W in your back pocket.

You know what I mean? Or a preseason. Yeah, exactly. You just, you know, you take that L early in the seat. You're just, ah, you know, and it kills them. But, okay, this is a test of resiliency. This is a test of who's going to come in on Monday with juice, excited, knowing, hey, man, I need a one up and a one forward.

What did you do well? What I need you to get better at? Like, those kind of things are being established in Denver right now. And you know a guy like, I mean, he sat in this chair last year. You know, if anybody can make it right, it's him. kick some really good stuff some matt stafford clips rams niners mark worked that game did a great job that's coming back in a second be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern nine a m pacific hey what's up everybody it's me three-time pro bowl of levar arrington and i couldn't be

more excited to announce a new podcast called up on game what is up on game you ask along with my fellow pro bowler t j hushman zada and super bowl champion yep that's right plexico burris You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our real-life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up On Game with me, LaVar Arington, T.J. Hushmanzada, and Plexico Burris on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast from. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away,

such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your problem. podcast. All right, he did the Niners win at the Rams yesterday. Highly competitive game. I said earlier today, the team that's better than I thought, Denver's not as good as I thought, will be patient. Rams are better than I thought. They really reworked their run game. The defense is Aaron Donald and kids. It's been very effective. Like Kansas City, it's fast and it's young. So let's talk about

Sean McVeigh. This was kind of a makeshift O line, only one sack. Right. How are you, how impressed are you with this O-line and this young defense? Well, I'm thoroughly impressed. And when you go back through Sean McVeigh's tenure as the Rams coach, he took over and the cupboard wasn't totally full, but he inherited some really good players, like Todd Gurley and Aaron Donald. And, you know, there were some pieces on offense and defense. Then he brings in some highly touted veterans, whether it's Robert Woods or Andrew Whitworth, right? And he starts to establish this culture. and takes him to a Super Bowl in his second year as the head coach with a third-year quarterback in Jared Gough, right?

They lose. He learns a lot. He's got to evolve. He's got to get better. Okay, what do we need to do to get over this hump, right? Well, then he goes and says, okay, maybe we need an upgrade at quarterback, right? Boom. They bring in Matthew Stafford, continue to stock the cupboard with a ton of free agents, whether it's Von Miller or OBJ or whoever, right?

And now they win the Super Bowl. Well, great. He accomplished it. Okay, now what? Well, you learn and you evolve and, whoa, last year was rough. You know, he's been vocal about it. He's been public about how much that shocked him and hurt him and how much he had to learn from being on top going from the penthouse to the outhouse.

Well, now what? Well, now he's evolving again, bringing in different coaches, LaFleur coming over and helping with that run game. That's part of it. Bringing in some New England coaches, whether it's the tight end coach, Kaley, or the offensive line. coach, Wendell, Wendy. I mean, they're bringing in different schemes,

different ideas and implementing those because he's constantly evolving, trying to get better. It's a growth mindset idea. And now that you have all these veterans that have moved on or retired, it's a young group. That's why you stay in training camp for two and a half weeks down at UCI instead of just one week with a bunch of veterans.

They know what to do. They understand the culture. They police everything. Well, right now, he's got to be on top of everybody. He's got to make sure everybody understands these details because the detail, the devil's in the details, and you're going to get beat if your details aren't on point and we'll show some of that stuff in the film. But the fact that he's got these young guys playing at such a high level, I mean, it feels like this year he's more of a teacher, not just a guide, right? You can guide

veterans. They know what to do. They've been taught. They get it, right? They know what it looks like. They know how to go play and can self-motivate and all that. Well, these young guys, these are some young pups having to go out on a big stage and make some plays against some really good teams. So what do you do? You got to teach them everything. You got to, you got to, in some ways, micromanage some of the stuff and then bring on some of these new ideas and continue to evolve. So I'm thoroughly impressed after two weeks. I mean, they're hanging in there with literally the best, potentially the best roster in football in San Francisco. And that is a tough group, right? Like, it's not just their roster. Like, it's the way they play. It's a mentality. It's an attitude up there.

they just kick your butt from the first snap to the last snap, man. It's hard. And they hung in there tough other than two critical plays that I thought really lost in the game. Yeah, when they brought Fred Warner a little extra pressure, then it's really... Well, that's second half, they started bringing somebody off the edge. Because the line played so well for the Rams, the four-man pressure wasn't getting it. So, okay, we got to bring the nickel. We got to bring Fred.

We got to do something to change this up, and they figured it out. All right, you have a couple of pieces of video. I want you to take it away. Absolutely. I think the first one is... is interesting how they knew the 49ers defense. When you play that defense, you better move the pocket a little bit. You better change the launch point of the quarterback.

Because if these D-Lyman know he's going to be in the same spot all game long for 30 to 40 pass attempts and dropbacks, they'll come take his head off. So when you roll this first clip, you'll see it. Matthew Stafford's going to go to the right, quick little flash fake, move the pocket, attract everybody to the right, give the illusion that the pocket's going to be right here, and then he's going to mosey on over to his left, slip inside. he sees the receiver down the field taking two defenders, boom. He knows I got two-two out while ripping across the field on this dig route.

Now you see it from the sideline. He's got three options. Can't get undercut, so don't lose ground. That's probably the yellow line is what's drawn in the playbook. But with that defender right on your back, you've got to get negative. You've got to go friendly back to the quarterback. And that's exactly what he does, completes the ball first down. That's in the first quarter.

Okay? Boom, quick little fake, gets to the right. And we know the song and dance. Just get these guys moving to the right, get back up to the left. Boom, he's processing this the whole time. He's ready to cut this ball loose on his second reset. I mean, Matthew Stafford's seeing this thing perfectly, and we've seen the three lines. The red you can't do, we'll get back to that in a minute.

The yellow drawn on paper. I guarantee you that's what's drawn on the playbook, but this is knowing what to do based on the situation and man coverage. The guy's breathing down your neck right on your hip. Go get negative to the quarterback. Go cut the ball off. Watch the second clip. Okay.

This is the fourth quarter, Van Jee. on the backside. Boom, it's two man all the way. Look at five receivers, five defenders. They have two DBs over the top helping. Matt Stafford is reading to the right. He doesn't like what he sees on the right, gets back to his backside answer, knows that Van Jefferson, once again, come ripping inside on this in route. I need you to be green. Not yellow what we drew in the playbook. Don't draw the, don't run the line, run the route. And whatever you do, don't run the red. What's he do? He gets undercut. Yep. And there goes Diomador Lenore. A veteran corner, a guy who knows what's going on playing in a great system.

If this guy's losing ground, watch this. Whoops, slip underneath them, take it back the other way. And that was, to me, this was a killer. And, you know, sure, do you try and, you know, people are going to put this on Matthew Stafford. That's not all Matthew Stafford. No, no, no, no. Even the announcer, you were on the air.

I was like, ah, that's hard, man. And that's a hard lesson for Van Jefferson to learn that you can't afford to let that guy. When you feel him on your back hip, you got to put, it's got to be ball. your body defender. There is no other sequence that is allowed in those situations, especially in the fourth quarter, especially against a team like the Niners. That's what makes the Niners so good.

You miss one tiny little detail. They're all over you. They are all over you. They'll find the soft spot in your armor and just infiltrate. You know what I mean? And it's a bear to play against those guys, you know? And the Rams found out that it's a tough lesson. for a young group to learn.

They got to move on from it and take those lessons with them and get better. But you know the good news is the Niners are mostly a veteran team. The Rams are young. The Rams after that game can go to the guys in the room and say, guys, six weeks from now, we're a better football team. I am concerned about no boom. I need no boom back. Because that line, the way it was set up.

They moved him to right guard. He got hurt. He got hurt pulling. Cleland Farrell, another acquisition for the 49ers' defensive line. Are you kidding me? Like when you can name three or four D. Lyman, just like, honestly, like, that's a problem. Okay, we got issues. So let's figure out protection before we do any of these nice, cool, sexy routes that we want to run.

What can we run based on the amount of time we're going to have? All right, Mark Sanchez, who's been so good on the games. You always make the extra effort to join our show. Even my wife doesn't like my show or me. But she always said, who's the guy? I like his voice. I like his presentation. I said, Mark Sanchez.

Nice. USC quarterback. He said that to you before when I haven't been here though, Jay Mack. No, no. I think you, I think Amen, it was me. She likes me. No, no, she's not that hot on you.

She really likes Sanchez. It happens. It happens. Rare, but it happens. All right. Okay, good stuff. Navian 15-year limited warranty at navian tanklessmadesimble.com.

Tankless made symbol.com. We have one minute left, don't we, fellas? Very quickly. Chargers at the Vikings. 40 seconds. If you go on three, do you lose the room? Do you lose the players? That's a must-watch game.

It's a must-watch game. I mean, Coogler's on the call. Come on. That's a must-watch. But this is, there's a lot riding on this one for both coaches, for both teams, for both organizations. And, you know, the defense has been criticized on both sides. Like, okay, let's see who's going to tighten it up. Yeah, but one defense has a bosa.

That's true. You got a good game. Our bosses are giving you. I'm waiting to dive in. I can't give away everything yet. I've got to save it for the broadcast. No, I know. I know.

But it's a really interesting game. There's a lot of talk out there. All right, good stuff. Mark Sanchez stopped by today and Jimmy Johnson. How lucky are we? How it doesn't get any better than today for our show. Now if I can just hit a football pick. We'll see you tomorrow.

First thing first is around the corner. Live in Los Angeles. It's the herd. 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. 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at a Podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 is big to me I'm Sam Jay And I'm Alex English Each episode We pick a year unpack what went down And try to make sense of how we survived it

With our friends Fellow comedians And favorite authors Like Mark Lamont Hill On the 80s It was a wild year I don't think There's a more important

year for black people Listen to look back at it On the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts This is an IHeart podcast Guaranteed in.