Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it is a Thursday, A glorious Thursday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one One hour from now. Do you bet football? Do you play Fantasy football? Do you like to get smarter with football? Greg co Sell NFL Meet Sandwich one hour from now as good at fifteen minutes as we have on this show every week. J Mac is joining me a rock stopping by as well. There's all sorts of baseball moves going on, like big, big money, big stars, moving teams. I had a big night last night, Colin so, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock in Anaheim tremendous show. I'm dragging a little bit today. There was a prominent member of the La Clippers there, he could be a new source of mind. So I'm not going to mention his name sourcing like night last night, a lot of Herd fans down in Animal Horse. Yeah love Anaheim. Okay, So one of the one of the things I really do like about the NFL. There's a lot of things. I you know, you can gamble on it. It's good on television, there's one game a week, there's more urgency. The other thing is if if you're awful, you can be pretty good the next year. Players, coaches. It's unbelievable. Half the teams that make the playoffs don't make it the next year. Like the Geno Smith story, you think he's gonna be second in the NFL and passer rating next year. Again, I do not. I don't think Geno Smith's gonna back up this year with next year. That feels like clicky, right, Like what are you saying? I'm saying Sometimes stories just appear out of nowhere. Russell Wilson will get a new code, I'll tell you who in ten minutes, and he'll be better next year. But take a look at the Rams tonight they host the Raiders Thursday night football less than a year ago, Sean McVay was the coaching host of the league, leading a parade in Los Angeles and a Super Bowl champ. Today, the Rams are a bottom five team in the league. His offense is unwatchable. Matt Stafford's got countless injuries their time for the longest losing streak or second longest losing streak in the NFL. And this morning, ask yourself, if Aaron Donald retires an he may, are they now a rebuild job? The forty nine ers in their own division have far better players and a much better group of veteran players. The Seahawks in their division have a far greater group of young star players. He's lost eight straight regular season games to his coaching rival, Kyle Shanahan. Drives him absolutely nuts. That's his rival, and the Rams not only don't have top picks. Aaron Donald's hinted at retirement. Cooper cups hurt again. He's thirty, will be when the season starts. Matt Stafford, there's thumb, there's elbow, there's a spinal issue. And Bobby Wagner's now moving closer to mid thirties than early thirties. And Bobby's been great this year. But I honestly believe I told the staff this morning, if Amazon came up they offered him the TV job this year, he said, no, I'm going to stay with the Rams. If Sean McVay was offered a three to four year deal by Amazon to new Thursday Night Football, I think he would take it. I do not think he wants to be part of the rebuild. And this is what's great about the NFL. I can applaud the Rams for going all in and critique them for where they're at now, old and beaten up with not enough draft capital. The bill comes due in the NFL always comes due. They haven't had a first round pick in six years. Mcveays never had a first round pick. And he could leave this sport come back in five years, what would he be forty one? He'd still be one of the youngest coaches in the NFL. So this is what is great about the National Football League. Toast of the Town, Grand Marshal of the Parade. Ten months nine months later, unwatchable Baker Mayfield has a chance to start tonight for the Rams at quarterback. He's been in town twenty four hours. It's a fairly complex offense with marginal running backs, a bad online and Cooper Cup has hurt. I'm actually rooting for Baker Mayfield tonight, just to stay upright. I'm rooting for his health and his safety. But it is unbelievable. The Rams went all in. The bill is due. Watch them tonight if you can. I like the Raiders to roll roll tonight. So yesterday, this weekend, the NFL flexed the Dolphins and Chargers game so two against Herbert, and they're going to be linked forever because they were taken, you know, at the top of that draft. So a very good columnist in Miami, Dave High to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, surveyed Jimmy Johnson, a former GM of the Dolphins, Randy Mueller, and three NFL executives and said, if you were drafting today, who would you take Herbert or Tuah? And this is a Miami columnist. All five said Herbert. Yes. Herbert is six six two thirty eight, huge armand mobile. Two is six feet tall, two seventeen, not hyper athletic, and has been hurt a lot. Tua has recorded six games in his career over three hundred yards. Herbert had eight as a key behind the second worst graded old line in the sport. Two is having a better season. Yes, he got a massive upgraded head coach and wide receiver and left tackle. Herbert has regressed. Yes, we don't like his coach. His left tackle's gone, his center has been hurt, and Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are rarely available together. It happens. Emmanuel Acho was on yesterday. Now he's taken the two aside over Herbert. He says, we make too many excuses for Justin Herbert. How much longer are we going to continue to blame other people besides Justin Herbert? In college, I was Krysta Ball's fault. Clearly, Christa Ball didn't know how to use him. It's Krista Ball's fault that Oregon didn't make it to a playoff game with Herbert there, and it had to be Krystal Ball's fault. Then you get to the NFL, ah Man we first year had to change his head coach. Then you have Brandon Staley. Brandon Staley, at least at the time his first year last year, everybody thought he was one of the wisest head coaches in the game. He was young coach, the number one defriend for the Los Angeles Rams. He was he was gutsy if you will, going for it on fourth down. But now it's Daily's fault. It's everybody's fault except Justin Herbert. Now I believe there is somebody to blame here. The San Diego Chargers the strangest team in the National Football League, not the worst, the strangest. Let me give you some examples. They allowed Drew Brees to leave. They've had one hundred and seventy two selections all time to the Pro Bowl, twelfth most ever, and you can't name their biggest win, never won a Super Bowl. Justin Herbert got his first start because the team doctor punctured the lung of Tyrod Taylor. They are historically cheap when it comes to head coaches. Brian Dayball was a slam kunk. Brian day Ball had groomed Josh Allen. Brian day Ball knew the general manager, Tom Talaska. Brian Dable was this hot coaching prospect, and they took a defensive coordinator with a young offensive coach who had four years in the NFL, who, by the way year one, decided I'm going to go for it all the time on fourth down, even when it's like at the twenty eight yard line and I'm facing the Raiders in a really big game. Herbert's career, ninety nine percent of the problems have been it's the Chargers. I like the Chargers. I know the Spanno's family. I like them. I root for them. I'm happy when they win. Good people, but this is an organization. They're not the Lions or Cleveland. They're not completely dysfunction or lacking talent. I could make an argument in the NFL, no franchise regularly has more talent and disappoints us more. They've had a hundred seventy two selections all time to the Pro Bowl. That's upper third of the NFL, seventy different players, sixty most since the merger. What's the biggest win in franchise history. I'm not sure. If all the Charger fans remember they got to a Super Bowl with Stan Humphreezing got rolled. So I think this is just circumstance. That's what I think it is. I know nobody loves that answer. People want something like tangible, but the Chargers let Drew Brees walk. I've had a million good players have always been cheap on. Coaches could have had Brian Dable and chose a kid four years in the league as a defensive coach. It's just what they are. It's just what they are. Wildly talented, always fascinating, and break your heart Herbert Overtua. I believe if you asked every general manager privately in the NFL today, they would take Herbert absolutely. I think privately the Dolphins guy would admit long term, I'd take Herbert. You just can't say that in South Florida. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week dayson noon eastern Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Everybody gets into a dilemma in the NFL. You know, you get the wrong coach, the wrong coordinator, the wrong player. A lot of times people act too swiftly, they get a little too aggressive. Sometimes wait for somebody to make a mistake. It happens all the time in business. Good people get fired, good people are available. I'll give you an example. Denver right now is a mess. What do you do? You get a new coach? But can you really go get another unproven head coach? I would not roll the dice. Go hire Frank Reich. Denver's opportunity is due to Indianapolis as a mistake. Andrew Luck had his most efficient year Andrew Luck did with Frank Reich. Philip Rivers was eleven and five and one year with him and completed sixty eight percent of his throws with only eleven picks. And Philip Rivers love to throw picks. Carson Wentz last time we thought he could play twenty seven seven picks. That was with Frank Reich, with a roster, by the way, that's always been light on weapons. Denver needs a proven coach. Reich played quarterback. Reich has called plays, he has been coordinator. He's dealt with an impulsive owner. Before five years in Indianapolis, anytime he had a competent quarterback, they were top ten in offense. Andrew Luck was fifth. Rivers and Wentz where ninth held. Jacoby Brissette got to sixteenth. Indie's mistake is Denver's game. Go get him. He's a winning, proven head coach, almost seventy five games, forty wins, thirty three losses in a tie. Again for an organization that always feels light on weapons. He can clearly build a staff. One of the knocks on Hacket is this staff is just not very good. Look at Frank Reich, Nick Sirianni. He's now crushing it in Philadelphia, shocking success. Matt Eberflus isn't winning a lot in Chicago, but appears to be a really capable coach, and he's built a good staff with the Bears. So this is your opportunity. You can't go get a young guy again. You know, I'm sitting around thinking like, what does Denver do? I keep hearing all these names Shane Waldron Seattle's fascinating, But what if that's Pete's team and it's more about the players and less about the coordinator. And Frank Reich is really good, really experience. He's dealt with old Philip Rivers, banged up Andrew Luck, reckless, Carson Wentz, limited, Jacoby Brissette. He is dealt with the gamut of NFL guys, the old guys, the reckless guys, they're getting beat up, promising guys, the average guys in Brissette. This is your answer, Denver. Indy's mistake is your opportunity. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd Weekdays and nun Easter ninety em Pacific. One of the great left tackles in the history of pro football is Trent Williams for the forty nine Ers. It's funny to watch if you go watch some of the virtual stuff on Trent Williams. He just destroys people like it makes no sense that he's that big and his feet move that fast. It's like Aaron Donald on defense. It makes no sense. He's unbelievable. And he said about brock Purdy quote, you would think he's been in this league fifteen years, barking orders, moving us around. So brock Purdy was the last guy taken in the draft. But I was we were sitting down this morning and I said, does everybody realize that every round of the draft has furnished us with really interesting quarterback So the first round has given us most of our Hall of Fame quarterbacks. The second round gave us Brett Farven, Drew Brees, The third round gave us Joe Montana, the fourth gave us more than capable back and Kirk Cousins, Mark Brunel in Jacksonville nine years high level football. Fifth round, Tom Brady sixth laugh at Ryan Fitzpatrick. In the seventh he threw for thirty five thousand yards. It should be noted that Roger Staubach was drafted when they used to have a tenth round. In the tenth round, Bart starred in like the seventeenth, Kurt Warner and Tony Romo were undrafted, and Warren Moon should have been a number one, two or three pick. He went to Canada, then came back to the States and dominated folks. There is talent everywhere. And what do we know about the Niners defense coach run game. It's not a quarterback centric operation. Jimmy Garoppolo's got into a Super Bowl, has four playoff wins, and has never had a great playoff game. They don't need their quarterback to carry him. The second thing we know is quarterback play as a rule is simply getting better. This generation of kids camp seven on seven. The coaching of quarterbacks is better. I don't think it's crazy to say that Brock Purty could win multiple playoff games. I don't know if he can go to Philadelphia and beat Jalen Hurts if Jalen Hurts wasn't playing so well, I think he could, But I mean the seventh round gave us a guy that threw for thirty five thousand yards. Kurt Warner and Romo were undrafted. Shannon Sharpe, who works at this network, was a seventh round pick and a top four or five tight end, maybe top three of all time, and all the Niners asked their quarterback to do. He's six one, two twenty. His size is fine. He's a half inch shorter than Garoppolo or Aaron Rodgers. Size is fine. I don't think he is an elite armed talent, but he's accurate, and that's exactly what this team asked their quarterback to do. Stay in the pocket, deliver strikes. Kyle Shanahan this week on what he likes about Brock Purty. Frock's got a good edge to him. You know, you can tell how like the rookies gravits eight to him. I mean, he's got good command over them. Our scout team, you know, from Fred and all those guys, they love him. He's aggressive over there, is not shy in anything he does. But he's fit in with our team well and he's understood his role and now it's gotten a lot bigger. Pretty interesting. Sorry, Cringey, Dad, joke. This is Steve Cavino and Rich Davis, and together we are Cavino Enrich Cavino MTCH. Thanks buddy, that's right, Caveno Rich, Fox Sports Radio's newest hit show, heard weekdays from five to seven Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Every Cavino Rich shows available as a podcast. Just search Covino en Rich wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe of such a rockin' dude. The show features our unique take on sports, inject you with some fun, humor and relatability. Listen to Cavino Enrich five days a week on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Covino en Rich give me a hell yeah. At co sell forty three years NFL Films. So when the Raiders were losing, I said, settled down, I said, I said, settled down. Here, they're developing a run game without a great online. They're getting the ball Atavante Adams. They've got a lot of injuries and this is a chaotic franchise the last ten fifteen years. This is not a six game rebuild. They need time. So now they're in a three game win streak. What are you seeing from Derek Carr. They don't have Hunter Renfro, they don't have their tight ends, so they're missing some pieces. But are you encouraged by what you see with Josh and Derek Carr? Yeah, I am. And I thought Derek Carr, despite not having great numbers, played very well lest we called for this reason. I thought Carr was very poised in the pocket with people around him, and I think that's one of the things that sometimes he struggles with. I think when he feels pressure, there are times either gets rid of the ball too quick or he becomes a little frenetic. And I thought this week he played exceptionally well in the pocket later in the down waiting to make throws. The other factor, though, and this makes them difficult to play against, is they play with a fullback a lot. Josh McDaniels brought Jacob Johnson over from New England and thirty five percent of Jacob's runs this year thirty five percent, that's a high number, have come with the fullback on the field out of what we call twenty one personnel, two backs and one tight end. And you know what, not many teams do that, and it's a little more difficult to prepare for on a weekly basis. And they have been very, very effective running the ball. And Josh Jacobs is a really good confined space runner. He navigates inside, through traffic and through bodies really well. So I was watching Burrow face Mahomes last week and it hit me sitting on my couch that if I wanted to simplify Joe Burrow, because Josh Allen, we see the size in the arm Lamar Jackson, we see the speed Patrick Mahomes, we see the arm angles, you don't get a lot of that with Burrow. And I thought, what's his what's his secret sauce? And I boiled it down to this. This is so it is almost sound silly that he just usually throws it to the right guy really accurately, and that sounds how about? Yeah? Is that all about? He throws it to the right receiver at the right time, with the right kind of throw, with precise ball placement. Yeah, that's kind of what playing quarterback is. And it's funny that we don't talk about that when we start evaluating college quarterbacks. But and I thought this game was really interesting for the Bengals because one of the things Burrow is really good at, and they're really good at, is he attacks one on ones outside the numbers. With both Chase and Higgins, this game, they didn't really do that. This was a patient, methodical game for Burrow. He got sustaining completions. There were a lot of quick, rhythm timing throws that essentially minimized and eliminated the Chief's pass rush. And I'm sure that was a factor going into the game that they did not want the Chief's pass rush to be a factor against the old line. That's still a little bit of a work in progress. But the ball came out, it was to the right receiver. That's burrows game. You know. You remember when he came out, everybody loved all his traits and the one thing they said was he didn't have a big arm and he doesn't have a gun, but he knows how to play quarterback and he knows how to throw the ball. Yeah. So, oh, I want to do I want to talk about I want to talk about Mike Wire to the Jets and Kenny Pickett of the Steelers. So let's start with Kenny Pickett. I think we both kind of felt the same way I lean on you. But he's big enough, he's got a nice army, lets it rip. He can move pretty well. I'm waiting to see something truly special. But he does look like a professional starting quarterback to me, what is the film saying? And you know, Colin, you may not see special in the way we think special. He may be one of those guys that just as he further develops and by the way, he's incrementally getting better every week. Of course, doesn't mean you won't have a bad game, but he's getting better every week. He may be one of those guys that just is an executor of an offense, that is, a ball distributor with a enough movement ability to be able to make secondary action movement plays when necessary. He may be one of those guys that never wows you, but just plays the position the way it's supposed to be played. Yep, and for the record, again it's Burrow throws to the right guy accurate. Yeah, like it's a thing. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. Now I want to go to Mike White. You know, Jason's a huge Jets fan, and obviously you can see Sala's fingerprints on this defense. They have a world class corner. They really move well. It's a really good defense. They gave Buffalo fits. They play him again. But I said this the other day when I watched Mike White, I'm like, I don't know what he is, but he's big. And he made a throw to Corey day of Us and I was like, oh, whoa, that's a big time yeah. Yeah yeah, And I was like, okay, okay, Now he couldn't get him in the end zone. You always feel like maholland Alan, you know, the great ones can get you in the end zone. But just give me an honest evaluation of what Mike White is. Is he close to his ceiling? Is this? Is he just kind of a guy to fill in for a while. You know, it's so funny you say that, because I've watched him hard the last two weeks and talking to the guys here in my matchup room at NFL Films, and I just said, I'm trying to figure out, Colin, what this guy is because I have to tell you the last couple of weeks he has played well. And you watch a lot of football college and NFL, and the one thing that really stands out with Mike White and you notice it as well. I'm sure he doesn't get stuck in the pocket. Do you notice how he's never in the pocket where it looks like he doesn't know what to do with the ball. The ball goes somewhere, and he plays with a really refined sense of timing. There's a rhythm to the way in which he plays. He certainly doesn't have a gun, but I wouldn't say he has a bad arm by he means no, he made a couple of Yeah, he made a couple of throws this past week. There was an eighteen yard or at the end of the first half to Garrett Wilson the sideline out route. I think that sort of got him going. That was kind of a big time throw. Yeah, So I'm look, the sample size is not large enough to make any definitive statement about his future. But you know, like I said, I was talking to the guys in my matchup room and we're sitting here saying, you know, this guy's throwing the ball pretty well. You know this is not he doesn't have the look of a backup, like with a rag arm that you come in for a week or two. Yeah. Okay, So now I want to do two other quarterbacks. I want to do Geno and Brock Purty. So let's start with brock Purty. Yeah, so he was a four year starter. He's not huge, he's six one two twenty, but you know he's not That's not an issue. He is accurate and it's funny we forget how many great quarterbacks Romo and Warner weren't drafted stallback tenth round, Ryan Fitzpatrick through for thirty five thousand yards in the seventh round, Mark Brunel in the fifth round, Brady Sex, Joe Monte. There's a law and quarterbacks now, as you know, they're coming from everywhere, and they're better earlier with more snaps. I watched brock Purdy being inserted into that game, taking No. Number one snaps all week, and Greg I was like, I think you could win a playoff game with this kid, am I nuts? What's the tape? Say? Well, all we have is that game. And by the way, that's a challenging defense to play against. Miami is one of those teams that has a lot of pressure front, look six and seven people up to the line of scrimmage, then they move people just before the snap. The sky is late rotation. That's not an easy defense to play against. And he made some big time third down throws one against pressure where he clearly knew the pressure and he knew where to go with the ball. Now, he was the last pick in the draft for a reason despite forty six starts. Because he doesn't have a big arm, he can be very streaky. You know, when you say he's accurate, I watched him in college. I broke him down and there were games where he was just red hot and everything looks smooth and easy, and there were other games where he was just inaccurate. Yeah, so you know that's a factor. But the one thing about him, and this could be good and bad given that he's not a big gun guy, is when he's on, he is super confident, super aggressive. When he feels rhythm, he will turn the ball loose, and like I said, that can be a positive and a negative because sometimes I think there are throws that he thinks he can make that he really can't. But we're gonna find that out. But he's in a system, as you know with Shanahan that really defines reads and throws very well for a quarterback. Yeah. Yeah, he's what they call what you call a rhythm thrower. When he's in rhythm, he's really he gets really like a shooter in basketball. When he's hot. He wants the ball and he's hitting shots you don't think he can hit now. Now, another one. So we've gone back and forth on this. This is fascinating. So the Sea Hawks have two firsts, two seconds, yeah, third, two fourths, and they don't have a ton of needs. They need an interior defensive lineman. Well, they could take that with our first pick from Georgia. They could use a center, they could use another receiver. But boy, after last year's draft, that old line looks pretty good. The corners look pretty good. They've got a one receiver, they got a running back. Now, And I say to myself, do they just stick with Gino? And I think, oh no, that this is an outlier. You've watched him. What's the tape say on Gino? The thing, Colin is, there's no way to know the future, but obviously teams have to make decisions based on what they think the future will hold. He has been really efficient this year, and that's the word I would use. I mean, his completion percentage is really high. Now. They've helped them a lot, by the way, because they do a lot of things that help quarterback. They use a ton of play action boot where they get him outside the pocket. Yeah, and those are one read throws, but they're very effective because they do a really good job with misdirection elements. But he's made some very good throws as well, in the middle of the field, intermediate throws, some deeper throws. He's got some movement to him. He looks like an NFL quarterback and every every metric you use this year to really analyze geno beyond tape. The tape is really good, by the way, but even every metric, it's really high. And you know, the thing is is, how many quarterbacks would you say in this league are truly those difference makers where you say, hey, that guy is gonna go in and you can win the game simply by what he does, or twenty of those guys, right, And it's funny. So the point is, you still need to line up with a quarterback, and if you have enough team and enough good concepts and good tactics, you can compete. So since there's only four or five, you know, there's there's Alan, there's Mahomes, there's Burrow. I know I'm leaving somebody out, but I mean the point is there's not ten or fifteen guys that you know, you say, hey, those are the guys. So you can't just get rid of every quarterback and say we need a quarterback. You don't fall out of the sky column, you know that. Yeah, No, no, it's it's it's Ginoz. Oh, there's a reason he was drafted up. A big guy can make the throws. He's got enough mobility. Like, I get it. It's just there's no precedent for looking like a bust hanging around as a backup and now starring. It's just weird, and that's why we love the sport, you know. The big the big question, if I could just throw out, is and I was reading something about this and it made me think. Third down is obviously the money down in the NFL. So the question is do you have to be able to play the game from the quarterback position outside the system in order to be great on third down? Now, not every obviously there are third downs where you can you know, execute and ball distribute and everything works. But to be great in this league, now, would people say that you have to be able to make secondary action improvisational movement plays on third down to be one of those guys? Yeah? All right, um, Tah, Yeah, just off was it was it hurried? Was he hearing footsteps? Is at the Niners defense? It was not a good performance by him, Greg, What did the film say on Tah? Yeah, it's a great question because obviously they scored the touchdown on the first play, which was a bust by the Niners D. But I thought, Tah, And again I can't tell you what's in his head. He's normally very quick twitch in the way he dropped sets and delivers, but I thought in this game he just looked faster. He looked hurried, and there were snaps where I thought, based on their route concepts, I thought his eyes were not in the right place. So again I can't tell you why, Colin, but I thought he just looked fast in this game. You know, you think back to the old John Wooden phrase, be quick, but don't hurry. He hurried. He just looked faster, like everything was just a notch faster. Than it normally is. Well, you know what some of that is. He looks at tape and he sees Bosa and he sees that defensive line. Greg. You know, this stuff gets into players heads. There's a reason there's a saying I see ghosts. I think a lot. I think the Niners make everybody. You look at that tape. I said the other day, the Ravens had a defense that the Ray Lewis defense that was so great. When I would watch it, I would think, are they playing with twelve guys on the field there? There? And when defenses have linebackers that move well, they cover more ground. There are times San Francisco feels like they're playing with an extra linebacker. And I think he saw it on film and it got into his head a little maybe, And you know, you nailed it because I think Fred Warner based shapes the best linebacker in the game, and he is head boy. I just love watching that guy. That's my bromance, Colin Fred Warner. Okay, So through the years, I've been accurate on some of my opinions on Baker. I think I was more right than wrong. On Darnold, I was more wrong than right. I never ever saw Jalen Hurts as this kind of player. I am blown away by his growth. Is it Sarah Jannie, Is it aj Brown? I don't know. I mean they have maybe you know, it's it's got to be a lot of him. What do you use? I'm surprised by the development. I mean, I think most people would echo your sentiments. He was drafted by the Eagles to be the backup to Carson Wentz because they love the fact that maybe they could have used him in a Lamar Jackson a way. Is kind of an addition to Carson Wentz. He was viewed by most as a round a fourth round pick that was a maybe when he got into the NFL. Now this is a really well schemed offense. The running element that he brings to the table is really difficult to defend. They've got a great offensive line, but you still have to make throws. And he is now making throws. And the thing that's started to happen that is just what I said with Burrow. They are starting to get into that situation where when he sees one on ones outside the numbers with Brown and Smith, they are taking shots and he's making really accurate throws down the field. His deep ball, which was a concern, a major concern when he played as a rookie and a concern through much of last year, has become really good. So I guarantee much of it's him. I've heard great things about Jalen Hurts and his whole approach and work ethic, but he is playing at a really high level. But one final point before we get to the play. This is an offense. This is what you want with offense, Colin. You want to be in a situation where your run game and your pass game can operate independently of one another dependent on any given week. You don't have to do one thing for the other thing to happen. You can do either one depending on your game plan choice and your opponent. And let's go to our big play of the week with Jalen Hurts. All right, let's jump right in. This was the touchdown that end of the first drive last week against Tennessee. And this play was very representative of coaching as well as execution because they were playing a Tennessee Titan defense that on first and second down, and this was second down, plays a lot of quarters coverage, so you see Hurts in the gun right here, and what you're going to get is a three by one set and you're going to get Sanders the back offset to the short side of the field. Now, as I said, the Titans were what we call quarters coverage, with each defender responsible for a deep quarter. That safety to the boundary side of the field is the key guy because in quarters he's responsible for the inside slot running vertically. So what does that essentially do? That leaves Devanta Smith one on one on the outside versus the corner. And that's what the Eagles knew in their game planning because that's what quarters coverage is. Quarters demands that the boundaries say the safety away from trips that he has to match up to number three to the inside slot. And you can see that he matches up to him. So what do you end up getting? The one on one? As I said? And Smith runs an unbelievable route which will see in a moment, and so the throw is defined. It's a beautiful throw and it's a touchdown. But one point I want to make here not just about Jayalen, but about route running. And this is Smith. Look how he gets the corner to turn to the outside. When you turn to the outside you can't play an inbreaking route. So this was beautiful design, beautiful execution. This is an offense led by herds that's executing at a very high level. Greg. Happy holidays. We'll see you next next Thursday. As always, Thanks again, Thanks Colin, I appreciate it. Good stuff. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. Well, he was one of the eight young linebackers in the NFL. Of course, it's the Steelers, and that's what they do. They get great defensive players, and he was four years with Pittsburgh an emerging star linebacker and then, of course, suffered a spinal injury in Week thirteen, twenty seventeen against the Bengals, and it changed his life. He has a book called Walking Miracle, How faith, positive thinking, and passion for football brought me back from paralysis and helped me find purpose. When the injury first happened, were you at all bitter or angry at what the sport created? I wouldn't say I was bitter or angry. And the reason I say that is because I feel like I every single day, I put in maximum effort. I studied a lot of film. I didn't really cheat the game. So to me, I didn't feel there was a reason to be better. I was upset more at just the opportunity that I couldn't play anymore, but just at the game of football. The game of football didn't do anything. It made me get hurt. It was me I tidled somebody the wrong way. In the end, up pract you on my back fear when I remember watching it, and I'm I'm fearful for you. Were you ever in this process? Did you have panic and fear? Was it part of it? When you mean panic and fear of the process, Let's go to the first six weeks and you don't know the outcome in the recovery. Yeah, So in the first six weeks it was definitely. I was I would say I was a little bit unaccepting and I was kind of unaware of how significant I was what I was dealing with. And the reason I say that is because I was so positive, thinking, so forward thinking. I was thinking, Hey, I'm going to be I'm gonna be all right, I'm gonna pay football game, I'm gonna get better. And then I started. It was probably like a week and a half, two weeks after I got injured then and I had a really bad accident. I ended up like I was if you lay on the bed. Everybody's been in hospital bed before, it's like the rail. I end up throwing up on the rail and hit me back in my face. And then I was like, oh snap, I'm I'm hurt really bad. I can't I couldn't even move myself out of the way. And then I was I wasn't really fearful. I was just like, Okay, I understand, I'm not I can't walk right now. I don't care what I need to do. I'm about to figure out how I need to walk, and I'm about to go on that path. And doctors have said that positive outlook is really really important. When you watch a football game. Now, when you see I saw in two his hands fenced all of us, it makes us sick to our stomach. We love this game. Players, you know the regulated level of violence. When you see something like that, how does it feel for you? How does it land for you? So with two a situation, I watch a lot of fighting like UFC, MMA, bellatour and to me, when I've seen somebody get knocked out before, that's kind of how they intense up. So when he when he got hit, I knew he just the way he got hit was more a reaction of where he like where his brain got hit, where he got hit which caused him to be unconscious. I wasn't really scared of him having like a spinal cord injury or anything like that. I would just more uh like an old man too. It just had an incident that was kind of similar to somebody gett knocked done in in the UFC fight. So to me, I was very cautious. And when I look at anybody that gets hurt and there being on the field for a long time, I normally look at their legs and just see if they're moving. And I've seen that too. It was moving, so I knew that everything was gonna be okay. The biggest thing for me was just focused that you know, mentally, he was in the same space. If you could do it all over again with the knowledge you have, would you play again. I wouldn't even if I can right now. If I just I was able to stop what I was doing, I mean not stop what I was going to wake up tomorrow, and then it's like, hey, Ryan, You're one hundred. Isn't healthy? I would call it Coach Tomlin and I'm like, hey, I know I won't be able to play this week versus the Ravens, but hey, let me figure out if I can, you know, work my way back to being on the team. But but the thing is, I'm very happy what I went through because it gave me a whole different perspective on life and the people I'm around now. I felt I've learned so much more through this, through this journey that I've been on, and then I would have if I was if I never got hurt. You sound grateful for your life. Yeah, the chances, the opportunities. Tomlin's a pretty special guy. He and Mike Vrabel looked like they could still play. Yeah, this is an interesting season for Mike. And I had said before the season, and we'll pivot here to some football. I said, you know, maybe it'll be his first bad season, but we got to figure out if Kenny Pickett can play. Yeah, at some point, let's just just let him play. I'm kind of encouraged by what I see with Pickett. Yeah, what do you see. I think Pickett is the guy for us. And the reason I say that is because at the beginning, I know everybody was like, oh, Kenney doesn't look that great. But and he got thrown in in the middle of the season when he played with receivers that he didn't have chemistry with kids. Rookie, he's a he's a rookie. And to me, after the bye week, he's able to get more time with his receivers, He's able to actually tom down understand the playbook a little bit better. And now we're actually seeing the Kenny Pickett now deserves to get drafted first overall, meaning the first quarterback in the draft. Yeah, he's slowly making good decisions. He's not turning the ball over. And I think Kenny was just figuring things out in those first few games and now he's he's getting in the groove and I'm really excited about it. One of the things Mike Tomlin's a little bit ahead of the curve on this is that the NFL's lightened up. You know, Mike's always been very pro player. Met Carroll's like this, They're they're they're gonna let players make mistakes. And show, you know, enthusiasm. So George Pekins, a terrific receiver out of Georgia, gets all fired up last week and Tomlin's like, I got no problems with that. Yeah, um, you know Antonio Brown Jason brought this up. He said, Yeah, nobody had a problem with Antonio' Brown. It went sideways. Mike does tend to kind of let players be players. Yeah. Do you think in retrospect they let Ab get away with a little too much. I'm not gonna say that they let Ab get away with too much because when he was at at Distillers Real winning championships, We was winning games, was winning division divisional championships, and Ab at that time was one of the greatest receivers. Are the greatest receiver in the game. So to me, I feel like he was handling them the right way. And one thing that coach always used to say is I'd rather say Wolden sick them. You don't want to tell somebody. You don't want to tell somebody to be a dog when there's something to play football. Tell them to slow down long. You gotta tell them to slow down a little bit. And I understand that coach Thomas and say, hey, if you're your best self, you know, I can deal with the consequences of it. But once you're not playing at that same level, then it's time to move on. And I think that's the situation that kind of happened with ab and a lot of other people, with them not being player coaches or player franchises. I think they it was harder for them to transition like Distillers were able to transition. So Ohio states a physical football factory. The Steelers are physical, You're grown in football is physical. I gotta tell you. I watched Michigan the last two years, push Ohio stated around them. Yeah, and um, I don't know Ryan Day, but as a Buckeye, it's a real thing, right, Like, like, how do you because you had Mike Tomlin, Okay, so you're an urban Meyer. Those teams are physical. Yeah. It does feel like the Buckeyes have become a little two receiver oriented and finesse. That's my interpretation. How do you change that? I think, you know, especially with football at the time of day, everybody love offense, everybody love receivers, and I think that's kind of like the Chief effect, Like with Patrick Mahomes in the Chiefs. They make the game look so pretty everybody wants to copy. That's funny. And they won championships like that, and I think we can still win championships that in that same capacity because we do have the running game. But I think, you know, coach Day is gonna have to just talk to the offense, the defensive coordinator and just figure out, Hey, we need figure out ways to be to bring more to the rank game, bring more physicality to our old line because right now our old line and our team is really pass happy. And you should be pass happy if you have a HAIs M. Kennedy quarterback. Yeah, I mean, if you have the one wide receiver who's a star Marvin Harrison's sons unbelievable. Yeah, you know, um, obviously the best part about football is Sunday. But what do you miss about I mean, I've had players tell me before they missed the plane flight home after a win. Yeah, do you miss that the guys? Yeah? I definitely missed the guys. When it comes to college and pro pro games. At a house state, we used to fly as well, so we didn't get to be wild on the plane like you are in the NFL in college. But Yeah, I definitely missed the guys. I definitely just missed the camaraderie, just being able to joke around with them after a win and even after a loss. How we can all talk on the plane about, Hey, this is how we lost this, we need to get better. And I feel like a lot of the great teams they already talking on the plane even after a loss, already trying to figure out a ways to get better, right, you know. So I think that's something that I definitely miss because, you know, not playing football, you don't have that same type of chemistry as you have with a teammates. And I love everybody that I work with, everybody I do things with when it comes to on my podcast and everything I'm doing, but it's just it's not the same dynamic as when you're playing football. So you've had three coaches, all great, Tomlin, urban Meyer, and Luke Fickle. So I'm going to ask you about each one and you tell me the thing that makes each special, because they're all really good. Luke's gonna crush it at Wisconsin. You know, he's gonna win big at Wisconsin. So Mike Tomlin, what makes him special? So I try to compare Mike Tomlin to like a father figure. And the reason I say that is because he understands that every person is completely different. So when I say that is he understands, Hey, I need to coach you a certain way, and then Ryan, I'm gonna coach you a certain way, being I'm gonna coach you a certain way. But he understands how to pull out the best out of each person. And it's kind of like a father. I have two boys, and I know I can't father them the same way, you know. So I think he does a really good job of coaching in that way. Urban Meyer, what makes him what's his secret soft the specialty. I think he does a good job of just understanding what guys want to get out of a situation and then pulling that out of them. So, for instance, in college, he understands that most of these guys want to go to NFL, and so Urban he puts them through situations that's really tough for him in college and just understand if you can overcome that situation in college, you're going to be prenominal in the league. So I think he does a really good job of that. And then he also understands how to out coach a lot of coaches, especially in the college schemes, and I think he did a really good job of that, and he has and he does a good job of just bringing in great talent. Young Luke Fickle who crushed at Cincinnati. I think he's gonna crush at Wisconsin. What made him special? Did you spot it early? One thing I think that makes coach Fickle special is his true love for his guys. And I would say all my coaches love their guys, but I would say all my coaches love their guys. But the one thing I can notice with Coach Fickle when I was when he was my linebacker coach, if we're getting the fight with one of the offensive guys, he's like writing the mix with everything. And I'm not saying he's fighting the players, but he's right in the mix. If you know we're fighting or the defensive offensive fighting, he's right in the middle. Like he's not putting us back. He's getting in the middle and he might get punched himself. Like he loves guys that much, he's willing to put himself into the middle of it and to make sure that his guys are protected. And I think when you have a coach that you know that has your best interest and loves you and it's going to go all out for you. I think that's why Cincinnati who did so well, and I think that's why he's gonna do so well of Wisconsin, because the guys are going to know he's gonna do everything in his possible, in everything he possibly can, and to make sure that they win, but also that they're in the best situation. So I saw Trent Dilford just took a coaching job in college, Prime Time took a job in Colorado. So players now getting into coaching, would you coach? I think maybe a little bit later, you know, Prime it took him a little while. Trent Difford, it took him a little while, and I think maybe a little bit later. I think a lot of other guys got to play as long as they wanted to. Not everybody gets to play as long as they want to. Tom Brady is the one guy that actually gets to play as long as he wants, you know. But most guys, they get to play ten to fifteen years, eight years as long as they wanted to, the game kind of got taken away from me A lot faster than I wanted it to. And I don't think I would be a great coach right now. And the reason I say that is because I would still be wanting to do things myself, and I don't think I would genuinely be happy for guys the way I need to be if I was still a player in your heart, in my heart right now. So I think I need a little bit more time to allow me to be more of a coach. Well, that's great, alf Awareness. The book is walking miracle, how faith, positive thinking, passion for football brought me back from paralysis and helped me find purpose. It is Ryan Shazier. I've never met you before, absolute pleasure. I love your optimism and gratitude and you're a good guy and they had a tough thing in life and you've overcome it and you're just crushing right now. And that's a great story. Man. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me