Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be 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. Here we go on a Monday. What a crazy Saturday and Sunday. A remarkable weekend of college and prowl football. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Sean Payton will join us. Last hour Trent Dilfer, This hour, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, lot of wrong in one hour from now. Jamak had a great weekend. You like both the Packers and the Denver Broncos last night. I mean we all know that social media jamat can be a little negative little bit. I mean, yesterday the world was ending, and I'm like, do we think Kansas City and Buffalo stink like we do? We wake up this morning like if you're all beat up and injured and you go on the road. It is hard to win. This is not college football. Pat Mahomes loses, Josh Allen loses, Tom Brady goes down. Justin Herbert looks awful. I mean, if Chargers, by the way, are the most injured team in the league at this point, they are really beating up. I want to start with this. So I'm watching the Niners Denver. It was ugly. I'm sorry. Not every game can be a fireworks show, but I took a lot of positive out of it. So the headline in Denver today is Russell Wilson has one clutch drive and they narrowly escape. So let's just think about this. So Russell takes his act to Denver, all new team, all knew everything. Nathaniel Hackett brings the Green Bay Aaron Rodgers offense to Denver. Now we don't know if Hackett can coach. I'm concerned about some of his choices. But Russell Wilson, we saw it in Game one, plays the good soldier. I'm gonna be the Hall of Fame, I got the big contract. I'm gonna be the good soldier. I'm gonna be the good guy. And he kind of defers to him in Week one, it did not work. But then in the fourth quarter you watch it and you're like Russell said, Okay, I'm just gonna go and use my superpower. I'm gonna move around a lot. And he did and it was a great drive. And the Niners defense second only in my opinion to the Buffalo bills and talent were flummixed because that's what Russell Wilson did before he came to Denver. He runs around, he makes things happen. He's great off script, he picks up yards, and he does need to move and improvise and scramble. That is his superpower. It'd be like Lamar Jackson saying I'm never gonna leave the pocket or Justin Herbert saying I'm never gonna throw a deep ball. But remember it took Aaron a year to learn this offense. And we don't think hacketts as good as Matt Lafleur. Do you remember Aaron Rodgers first year with this offense. Do you know what he completed sixty two percent of his throws passer rating mid nineties, touchdowns only twenty six. That's Aaron Rodgers in a bad division with a bunch of layup wins. It took Aaron Rodgers a year. Russell doesn't get it. Russell was changing operations, changing staff, changing teams, new city, new conference, and here comes Nathaniel Hackett. We don't know if he's a good teacher or not. We know he's a nice guy, and I think that's problem, part of the problem. Nathaniel Hackett. Aaron Rodgers is like, oh made me laugh, my darts buddy, great guy, and Russell Wilson wants to be a great guy. And last night in the fourth quarter, Russell Wilson said, yeah, enough with that. It's my offense. I'm taking it over and did what he does and that's what it should be. But I think it's harder than people think. Two new camps converge. They're both trying to make nice first impressions. Russell doesn't want he got the big money. He doesn't want to be domineering and bulldoze everybody. And Hackett's a little over his head and he's a little deferential. But it's his offense and it worked with Aaron, and then Russell's thinking, well, I can show that I can be Aaron. I can sit in the pocket. Aaron wasn't great with his offense first year in a bad division. And so here's the good news for Denver. The Chargers are a mess the Raiders are a messier. Kansas City lost, And if you look at the schedule right now this morning, you're not going to face a defense that looks anything like the forty nine Ers for the next two months. It's Las Vegas a couple of times, it's Carolina, it's Tennessee, it's the Jets, it's Jacksonville. That's the best defense you'll face. But I do think it's not as easy as just hey, let's just Russell run your thing. I think Russell's sitting here struggling with how much of the offense do I use? How much of his offense do I defer to? But in the end, there are two and one football team with a softer part of their schedule coming up, and Russell Wilson was optimistic afterwards. I know it was ugly, I know it was in artistic, but it's a win over probably the second best defensive personnel in the NFL. Here's russ After really in the fourth quarter, I had to kind of use my legs and kind of take over and just try to move around and find some first downs. We're still all learning each other. There's a whole new system and everything out. Everybody's coming together. But there's so much great greatness in store and I can't wait for it. I know it's just too optimistic for you, but you know they always say you can lose games. You can't lose locker rooms. You don't lose a locker room. With Russell Wilson, yes he's a little too optimistic. The glass is always half full. But right now they're two and one. Would you rather be Denver at two in one and choppy offensively or the Chargers right now or the Raiders right now? I wouldn't take a deep breath. I'll defend Garoppolo after the break. So we know Buffalo is really good. I still contend this morning. I think Buffalo is the best team in the league. But there is a trend. Now, you can be a great company and there can be a little bit of a disturbing trend. So what I'm about to tell you now covers more than a year since the start of last season. The Bills are now owen six in close games. Only the Texans are that bad. What ain't that weird? Right. It would be almost like a fighter who has a bunch of first and second round knockouts, but anytime the fight goes ten rounds, they can't win. Sounds like Tyson, which is what we compare Buffalo too. And it's really interesting about this. Buffalo is the better team than Miami. Baltimore was the better team than Miami, but Miami deserves credit for figure and out ways to win. But I mean Buffalo dominated time of possession. They had up three times as many plays, They had over double the first down. Buffalo is the better team than Miami. They are the better team. Buffalo had major cluster injuries in the secondary half. Their defensive line was gone. It's Miami. It's hot. When you play any team in Miami in September, you're facing the team and you're facing the conditions. But here's the thing that worries me. Six years in with Buffalo and their excellent defensive coach, six years, they still haven't developed a run game. Sean McDermott developed a defensive line that's great, linebackers great, secondary, that's great. He has leaned into and solved his side of the ball. And here's why it worries me. Six years in, they still rely heavily on Josh Allen to pick up yards running the ball, sort of like another defensive coach, Ron Rivera did with Cam and often Mike Tomlin did with Big Bend. Defensive coaches let those huge quarterbacks pick up yards, kind of run things. It doesn't last. It's why Cam fell over a cliff at thirty two, like literally aged overnights, Why Ben aged Overnight and Josh Allen this cannot last. You got ninety snaps. He attempts sixty eight passes and eight rush attempts. It feels very much defensive coaches. By the way, Chicago defensive coach can't get the offense right. Chargers defensive coach, Chargers offense can't get right. Steelers defensive coach can't get the offense right. Bill's defensive coach six years in, can't develop a running game. I've been on this now, I know ad nauseam for years and it's exhausting. But this is not gonna last. I've seen it with Cam and I've seen it with Big Ben, and I think Josh has some of the talents of both. He's a power runner like Cam and he'll run guys over and he's got the arm, the deep ball, you know, like Big Ben. There's a lot of qualities here that they share. It doesn't last. And to these defensive coaches who love physicality and they love toughness, do you get the sensibility of protect your quarterback? I mean sixty three pass attempts, eight carries for a Northern team in that kind of sauna water with a roster that has major deficiencies due to injuries all over the defense. Sean McDermott after, you know, you should win the games, and we just didn't take care take care of the ball enough and and come come away with some takeaway So but again, I like the way we fought in all three phases till the end. And we've got to learn from him. I thought I thought Josh Allen was exhausted and a little sloppy at the end. Of course he is because they rely so heavily on him for the offense. And by the way, I'm not saying Kansas City always has a great run game, but I never feel like with Kansas City it's all on Mahomes. I feel like they're there, are there are Andy Reid's play design. Uh, they can at times run the ball effectively. Mahomes is the centerpiece of it. But I don't feel they just completely rely on Mahomes. I'm starting to feel this is Carolina with a defensive coach, where if Cam plays well, they win. If Cam doesn't, they lose. They they sometimes play down hill like Carolina did with Cam and they end up in a super Bowl. But the consistency and close games with Cam, the inability sometimes to create offense outside of Cam. I mean, go to the last couple of years with Pittsburgh. They had no run game, bad offensive line. It was Big Ben trying to save the day offensively with another coordinator. That doesn't work in Pittsburgh. So I can love what Buffalo is all about and think to the best team in the league. But this is a trend now. Only the Houston Texans since the start of last year are as bad as Buffalo in close games. So that's not just random osmosis coincidence. When you can't develop a consistent running game outside of Josh Allen, it's hard when you have a game and you want to ice it and you go to the ground and Tom turns to Leonard Fournette and he eats three and a half minutes off the clock and you lead by eight and that's how the game ends. That is such a benefit for an Aaron Jones with Aaron Rodgers or a Leonard Fournette with a Tom Brady that run game, That ice is game. So you don't have to get into a shootout every week. Because Buffalo is great knocking out people in the first round, but some of these fights they go ten rounds and you got to win those fights too to be the champ. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Welcome Back. So, after I made my blazing five pick to take Tampa to beat Green Bay in a close game, Mike Evans announced he wasn't gonna play, and then right before the game, Julio Jones announced he wasn't gonna play. So Tampa Bay was missing their top three wide receivers, all of them great, and their left tackle Donovan Smith and came within one play of going to overtime. Oh, they're also using backups all over the offensive line interior. If you're Green Bay. In the last two I've seen Green Bay play one healthy, good team this year and they got crushed. They beat low watted Chicago that camp complete passes and no team in the league. Tampas quarterbacks going through a marriage crisis, their top three weapons are out in a weapons league, they're left tackle. Donovan Smith is out, and boy is that obvious they need him? And that came down to one play. Green Bay has got to be concerned. How in the hell did Tampa Bay have more first downs, more passing first downs, better on fourth, more passing yards. How is that possible? Green Bay has been reduced to winning one way, beating injury riddle teams or teams that can't score, and in Tampa's case, they're both. They've got no juice, they got none of their best players. I mean, if you take Aaron Jones out of the Packers yesterday, and you take let's say Alan Lazard out of the Packers yesterday and Tampa was healthy, would that game be close? I have watched the media fawn over this organization for the last two years. I still contend, do we know if Matt Laflower is a great Matt Laflour is a great coach, he's beating the Bears and the Lions. I don't know if he's a great coach. He's barely about five hundred against the Vikings. He can't beat the Niners. Yesterday is the first time they beat Brady and it wasn't almost so. And here's the other thing. Green Bay has scored three points in the second half combine last two games. So if it's not on script, Aaron doesn't trust young receivers to ad lib and make stuff up. It's obvious if you have Aaron Rodgers and in two back to back games you've had three points one field goal, you got yourself a problem here. So in game one, Aaron ghosted the rookie receivers. In game two, afterwards he said, I'm not going to change and did you see what happened yesterday? His team fumbled in the first half. After that, Aaron I rolled it, got disappointed. Eight drives, seven punts, most of them four plays. That was it ninety two passing yards. After a teammate fumbled, Aaron rolled his eyes. The fox cameras catch at Aaron's disappointed with a teammate. Somebody let me down. I'm a victim, woe is me? And they just stopped playing offense. So I mean, I looked at this thing I've got. This team needs patience. This team needs a mentor. Because they've got two really good young receivers. You better have a relationship with them. You better like Curry favor of those young receivers. Generationally, they probably listen to different music, they have different interests, they like different tech, they get up and do different things. You better figure out a way to make it work. Because Green Bay can't score off the script this year, scripted plays, they'll score, they'll take a lead or keep it close. Minnesota, what did they do in the second half? Chicago second half, Tampa second half? It's because Aaron's not willing to add lib in the second half. You got to go off script. Gotta make stuff happen. That's when a leader's a leader. Russell Wilson last night goes off script. I gotta win the game. That's what you gotta do. Layton games, Tom Brady yesterday, they got nothing to work with. Everybody's out. When did he have his best drive last drive of the game. That's what Brady does. So this team, what they need at quarterback isn't just talent. They need a mentor. They need patience. Now, here's what will happen to Green Bay. Go look at their schedule. It's awful New England without Mac Jones, Giants, Jets, Washington's a mess. So they're gonna roll to a six and one start and all the media guys are going to fall in love with the Aaron Rodgers again. This team's got major problems. I do not think they're a top ten team in this league. They have played one healthy team and got boxed. They can't do anything in the second half. They've been reduced away run. They can win one way, low scoring. They can beat teams that can't move the ball Chicago and Tampa with injuries. That's what they can beat, by the way in the second case barely, So that to me was a really concerning win. I'm not sure if these are fixable, because I'm not sure Aaron is going to become benevolent, altruistic, great teammate mentor Aaron, I'm not sure that's in his bag of tricks. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays and Noon Easter nine a Empacific. I like Garoppolo more than everybody, but I know what he is he's a B plus quarterback. So Brady, Burrow and Stafford, can we all admit their good All of them had bad game ones. They didn't practice for different reasons. Tom took the Levendi's offer family, Stafford had elbow concerns or elbow pain. Matt Joe Burrow literally had to appendectomy surgery, a major surgery. And those are great quarterbacks. Stafford, Burrow, Brady game one, no practice, no preseason. They were bad. Now consider Jimmy Garoppolo. They wouldn't give him a playbook because they wanted to see if Trey Lance developed. He took no stamps, didn't play in the preseason, didn't start Week one, didn't start last week. This was his first start of the year. Trent Williams, the best left tackle in football, got hurt, didn't other number one running back, and Kittle had to stand and block most of the game. And you're shocked against that defense, a top five or six defense. Garoppolo struggled. So you give Brady, Burrow and Stafford a break, and you don't give Garoppolo one. No playbook, they wouldn't give it to him, no practice coming off the shoulder surgery to his throwing side. And that's his opening game against Randy Gregory Bradley Chubb, two of the best young I mean the best young corner in the game in Patrick Sir Tan altitude mile high, desperate Denver, and he led with a couple of minutes to go in the fourth and you're blaming that on Jimmy g George Kittle had to stand and block most of the night because of the pressure. Trent Williams got hurt, so then they really got to keep Kittle in. He didn't have his number one back. The guy wasn't given a playbook. This was the first week in nine months. He was allowed to take all the snaps all week in practice. Remember he didn't start last week. Trey Lance got hurt. He didn't start last week, so he didn't take the snaps. So this was the first week in nine months, ten months whenever it is that he got all the snaps with the first team and he has to face Randy Gregory Bradley Chubb, that defense, those corners in that altitude in a desperate Denver team, and you're like, oh, he was terrible. I'm not making excuses, but it's hard to quarterback in this league. Especially when you're coming off shoulder surgery. You don't get a playbook, you don't practice, you don't play in the preseason, and you don't start the first two weeks. First assignment goes seven thousand feet in the air and played Denver with that pass rush. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. San Francis goes really good. They're gonna win a bunch of games. There's a difference between a reason and excuses. Of course, he wasn't great. Burrow's more talented, Brady's more talented staffers, more talented, and they look bad in week one without practice. They didn't have shoulder surgery. They had the playbook. Of course, last night was choppy. Jimmy g after was kind of my first week with these guys, and I just got getting rhythm with them, especially like third down. I mean, we were terrible today and I just gotta get on the same page with those guys and we got to convert those and my arms feeling right now. It's uh yeah, I mean just it's it's different. You try to do all the pres in preparation you can on the sideline being the number two, and then when you get tossed into it, you just, uh, you know, I didn't go through it in training camp, and I'm not trying to make excuses or anything, but I just got getting game shape and get rolling. Now, yeah, the guy's not in shape here. I mean, the one thing that was very obvious was third down. Well, what a shock. Randy Gregory pinning his ears back on a third and eight, Bradley Chubb right behind him, DJ Jones on the middle. They're bringing the house and Jimmy wasn't very good on third down. I got news for you. A lot of quarterbacks gonna face that defense and if it's third and eight, they're gonna be bad on third down. And they're more talented sometimes than Jimmy Garoppolo. So, like, take a deep breath. That was a brutal opening exam from the from the school teacher that's done a game. I mean, I thought they would win because I just don't know what's going on with Denver's offense. And until Russell started to run at the end, I still don't know what's going on with Denver's offense. But take a deep breath. Burl Brady Stafford all struggled in a similar situation, and it was worse for Garoppolo because they wouldn't even give him the playbook. They was up everybody. It's me, three time pro bowler LeVar Rington, and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called Up on Game. What is Up on Game? You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hushman's Otta and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right, Plexico Burrus. 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, LeVar Arrington, t J. Hushman's Outa, and Plexico Burrs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from. Where Colin was right, everybody loved the Chargers, Yes this year, everybody, and I said, I'm taking them for third place. I have serious doubts. I think their coaches on the wrong side of the ball. I don't trust them in big spots. They've got a handful of great players, but you got to win close in that division, field goals, special teams, and here they are left tackles out for the year. Boat race yesterday the media fell in love with them. I live in La No people in the organization like them. I still don't trust them. Where Colin was wrong my first losing week two and three in Blazon five. I you know, my underdogs always do me well. But I went with a couple of favorites on the Niners and Bucks. They did me wrong two and three. I'm still nine and six on the year. Where Colin was right. I spent the offseason basically as the agent for Doug Peterson. I'm like, would somebody hire them? I thought USC should hire them. I called USC and said, would would you look at Doug Peterson? And no, not Alan Robinson. Doug Peterson and the Jacksonville Jaguars are number two in the NFL in point deferential. The Jacksonville Jaguars lead the AFC South. And if you look at that division offensively, the Culture struggling offensively, the Titans are struggling offensively, the Texans are struggling. It looks like to me, Doug Peterson and the Jags. J Mac was right, have a real shot to win that division. Where Colin was row. Alan Robinson has made no impact for the Rams. Seven catches, three Games dropped a touchdown at the goal line, and a lot of people were saying he was overpaid when he came and he was washed. But my takeaway was when they traded for him, he was like, what twenty eight twenty nine years old. He's always been highly productive and a lot of his issues with the Bears, I didn't blame him. I blamed you know, Trubisky. But he has made no impact and you know they want him to because Van Jefferson's out, ob j is no longer around. They're dying for him to be a nine catchy game guy. He has made no impact at all with the Rams. Where Colin was right, I said to all the critics of Jalen Hurts, he's productive, stop nitpicking. He's got an incredible work ethic. Right now, he has the fifth highest passer rating in the NFL. A lot of times first impressions are powerful, and you know, he got replaced in college by Tuah and he came in inaccurate and small. But I'll say this for him, that guy has made giant leaps pre snap throwing the deep ball. He looks totally in control of the offense. I'm getting over three hundred yards passing and he's making some tight window throws. He comes out on script is excellent. He's excellent off script in the second half. This kid is a game where Colin was row. I had Oklahoma as the number two team in the country, and after rolling three cupcakes, they could not stop Kansas State, a Kansas State team that got beat by two lane. Kansas State had almost three hundred yards rushing. And everybody told me that Brent Venibles he was gonna make Oklahoma tougher. Maybe it was just tougher to watch. That was as bad a defensive performance I know, I know that soft West Coast guy Lincoln Riley left. We finally got one of ours. I don't know. I just I thought defensively, couldn't make stops in critical situations, couldn't make stops in the red zone. Not good where Colin was right, Mac jones I said, first of all, he's not talented enough to overcome Matt Patricia. Colling plays right now. He has two touchdown passes and five picks, last for starting core backs in the league. Six giveaways total, last for quarterbacks in the league. His passer rating is in the mid seventy seventy six thirty first in the NFL. Quarterbacks need help, especially limited quarterbacks, and now he's hurt. That'll do him no favors as he's trying to get snaps and figure out this offense. If he misses four, six, eight weeks, then where do you go with these Joe Judge, Matt Patricia play callers which just seem outdated and out of touch. Where Colin was row well, I said about two months ago, three months ago, the Bears have to trade linebacker Roquan Smith and get a receiver or get an offensive tackle. Well, actually, yesterday he had sixteen tackles a key interception to set up the winning field goal of the Bears. Yes, he is their best player, and yes, I think they need so much help offensively. I mean, let's justin Fields is complete and what seven eight throws a week? I mean, I don't think you can win in the NFL like that. But Roquan Smith is so dominant. If you didn't know this defense, if you didn't know anything about football, you'd be like, who's the guy that's making all the tackles and making all the plays. He has been invaluable for the Bear so far. Where Colin was wrong I have been pro Steve Sarkisian for years, but that was an ugly loss to Texas Tech. Now Texas Tech has players, it's not a terrible program, but you gotta win games like this. You can't go toe to toe with Alabama and then lose games like this, and you know these close games. You've got better athletes, Your staff is making a lot more than Texas Tech. You should have better coaches. You just can't lose this game. Now. In defense, they're using a backup quarterback when yours comes back here in a couple of weeks. It's not ideal, but when you're watching Texas defensively, they just look sloppy. Too many openings. They almost surrendered five hundred yards to Texas Tech. 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. College football fans are more emotional than NFL fans, usually because NFL fans are in a bigger city. They've got an NBA team, an NFL team, a baseball team, you know, and they there's always a different season when you when you live in like, uh, you know Norman, Oklahoma, or or you know Auburn Alabama. If your football team's bad, it ruined your year, right, So like, I get the fanaticism that follows, But maybe the dumbest thing I've ever heard of fan base say is, you know Lincoln Riley, were glad he's out of here. I mean the guy went to three playoffs and lost all three. Yeah, he lost to LSU and you know Georgia and Bama. You know, maybe you've heard of them, the LSU team, you know me, Yeah, maybe maybe you've heard Go look at who he lost to. They want eleven games each year. Lincoln Riley has literally gone to Los Angeles. Come to Los Angeles. The Trojans were four and eight. Their fans had bailed on him, They had no culture, no momentum, and a roster half the guys have moved on. He literally has gone to the transfer portal and created a culture, momentum and chemistry with guys that didn't live in the city five months ago, that didn't know where USC was, and they have absolute culture. It's very rams feeling. They won a game this weekend in which they didn't play particularly well on the road Caleb Williams had his worst game as a college player, yet he was great in the last drive. So what he's done. Can you imagine building a company and like forty five percent of it are brand new and you're expected to compete at a high level your first day on the job. It's really remarkable. Meanwhile, Oklahoma inherited sold out crowds, momentum, a winning culture, lots of money, fans piling in. Yes, he had to replace his quarterback. It's Oklahoma. They got NFL players everywhere, even in their down years, and they're the first to lose. So listen, you know you don't have to. I understand fans getting upset when a coach leaves, But outside of Alabama, can you imagine the criticism of any college coach being he only wins eleven games a year and he loses in the playoffs. Outside of like Alabama, you kind of are considered great. Maybe Ryan Day if he loses in the playoffs, I guess maybe he falls at what is there two programs in the country, it's you're out of your mind. By the way, seventy five percent of coordinators who are hired fail And whereas Bob Stoop's got a job at thirty nine. People spotted his talent very early. Lincoln Riley got a head job at thirty three. People spotted his talent very early. Brett Venables didn't get a head job until fifty. He wasn't jumping off the page for anybody. Seventy five percent of guys, even when they inherit great programs do not work. I don't know what's going to happen in Oklahoma. They passed the eye test. They got great players everywhere, but be real careful about not being satisfied with eleven wins a year, one of the most creative offenses in the country, and getting to the playoff annually. I mean, outside of maybe Bama. That's great for the other one hundred and thirty programs in the country. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. Let's bring in Sean Payton, the coach of the Year, a Super Bowl champ, nine years, fifteen playoffs. We've been bringing him on Mondays. It's been an absolute joy for us. So I was watching the game last night and I'd be the first to admit the game is so offensive now most games are up in the twenties. Sure, but I found so much value in it. Like, let's start with the Niners. My takeaway was this was the first week in eight months that Garoppolo got every snap at practice. I think Stanford just go is gonna be fine. Yeah, I do too. Um, that's who I would pick right now. I think after three games to win the NFC West Okay in and look there there were a handful of those games this past weekend. I feel like there's been two or three where you're watching and you're saying, well, they're missing a lot of their weapons, they're hurt or and even with Green Bay, I mean he misses Adams. Oh, there's no they might be each other, yes, both of them, you know, And it's one of those things where you don't realize, you know, how good things. That was the best one two punch quarterback receiver tandem in the league in the league for the last three years, and there was a gap between one and two, right, and all of a sudden that was broken up. This is an interesting thing, and I said this, there are all wins feel good, but there are law uses that you can live with. Buffalo, you had the ball forty minutes. Yeah, yeah, And then there are wins that I get on that flight home and I look at my staff and go. But we got a little issue. Green Bay. Three games, can't score in the second half. My takeaway is Aaron loses trust really quickly with these young guys. And if they drop a pass or there's a fumble. After that fumble, next seven of the next eight drives, three plays punt. Is that this offense but these kids needs patience. Well, look, if you're there in your or you're coaching there, it just means, hey, there's nothing better than a win, and we have work to do. If you're the head coach, right, we won, but clearly we can put the tape on. We have work to do, as opposed to we did everything right, and I've got to really worry about this team being overconfident going into next week game. So we won, and that's it's a real good win because I didn't see that win for them. I saw Tampa Bay's defense being a tough matchup, and quite honestly, I thought Green Bay did a good job in the first two or three series. They moved the ball. And what was amazing is they gave you the yards per pass and then the yards after the catch. The yak was like a hundred and seventy yards. In other words, all the passes were going to the flats or intermediate areas of the field, but they were advancing the ball with run after the catch. But when you come after, when you come, when you follow up a game like that, and you're able to go back and say, hey, in order for us to get where we want to go, we have a lot more work to do. And I think there are a number of teams like that right now that you're you're kind of looking at and saying, we remember last year a little bit with some of these teams and there's been some shuffling of skill players. Injuries, Yeah, Sean, look at this. People aren't playing in the preseason. A lot of soft tissue injuries. Yeah, Boff blows beat up yea. I mean, I honestly think this is that most of the players that are hurt will return, but you no longer hit. And so that's first, that's what it looks like to me about Yeah, you're exactly right, and look the data they can they can play with that however they want to. But we're seeing more of that in not season ending stuff. No, just like Julio Jones, you know, I think I'm just gonna say he's questionable the rest of the year. The last three seasons, he's been questionable every week. So I don't need to see that on the ticker anymore. Yeah, So let's go to um Let's go back to San Francisco, Denver. So I you are a very strong willed person, and you and Breeze formed over the last seven eight years like a real bond, like a like a you'll never you may never have a bond like that with a quarterback the rest of your life, and he certainly won't. Sure, but it takes time. Your first year, you're trying to figure out what can he do? What canny? And you're strong willed and he's like, man, this coach has got a in a view and Drew is and so Hackett's known as a nice guy and Russell wants to be a good soldier and they come together and Russell doesn't He kind of is all right, we'll do some of your stuff, and then the coach is like, well, he's a star. He just made three hundred million, and I felt like until the last drive they were feeling each other out. And Russell finally last night said I'm just gonna go do my thing. I'm just gonna run around like I did for ten years, because I feel like this is harder than people think. That first six games together with a new guy. Yeah, and when you take a player who's been with one organization twelve years or thirteen years, and at the quarterback position, so he's probably had a couple offenses. You know, a few offensive coordinators. They've made changes, whether or not they change the verbager terminology, who knows. But then when he arrives somewhere else and it's a new team, new ownership, they bring in a new head coach. I mean everything there is new. And so the only stability you'd say would be Peyton the GM, you know, that's in place, and man getting up to speed and on the same page and putting I remember this, and this was unique. When we got to New Orleans, Breeze was still a Charger. We were at the combine. It was February. We had the second pick of the draft, so a lot of our focus was on the quarterbacks. How can we find a quarterback. We knew we were in that market, and oh, we were looking at Josh McCown. We were looking at a number of veterans, and we got word that the Chargers had released Drew. He had the shoulder surgery. And the hardest part was it was such a it was such an unusual injury. There was no history. There wasn't one example of a quarterback who had a fully torn rotator and that came back and played all right. We made the decision to to bring Drew on board, and it just so happened. Months prior to that, I had hired the Chargers quality control coach Pete Carmichael, who's now the offensive coordinator. Pete had insight as to this is what we called certain things this is and so immediately when we signed Breeze, because we're all gathering putting the offense together, this is our first we began to put together terms. He knew systems, he knew things that were familiar to him, just to bridge that gap, just to make it a little bit smoother. And so I don't know how much Hackett and Russell had talked in the offseason relative to Cadence Huddle. This is how we call formations. But I think it's not a bad idea when you especially when you're getting a veteran player like Russell Wilson. I was always a little leery of this acquisition, and well, I think going into year thirteen, I think it was more of the compensation. I think it's a lot for a player going into his thirteenth year. I think it's a lot of compensation. And but you know, we're selling a dream. That's a good point, and we're selling a team. And so it's a more attractive team with a franchise quarterback on it than it was gonna get more money from that ownership group. Yeah, it's certainly more attractive when that's in place. Sure, that's that's really important. And I think it's great to go back with Breede because I think there's some limitations to hear. If Russell doesn't run, he's not the same player. Like it's like Kyler Murray now has decided I don't want to run. Well, you're not the same quarterback. Yeah, those all schedule plays Russell especially Gosh, the thing that he would give you fits with is you know, flush the pocket and a normal quarterback, he'd gained three yards, he'd gain eight. It'd be second and three. Or it's that scramble, that crazy pull up and that ball that traveled sixty yards in the air. He did that better than anyone. Yeah, and uh. And then with Kyler, obviously you're he's a little different that way. I mean, you know, but Russell became good enough to beat you in the pocket as well. And I think you mentioned a player earlier. I felt like in the last fourteen days, we've seen this quarterback at Philly, Jalen Hurts. We've seen listen. I would agree one hundred percent with what you said. I you know, I liked him. I thought he was a good player. But we've seen him come into a zone, his coming out party, if you will. And people talk about confidence, it comes only and it's only born from demonstrated ability. And in the last two weeks we've seen his step like leaps and bounds become thrown into the discussion of one of the top players or someone who's potentially an MVP of our league. And you would have never thought about that two years ago. By the way, the front office deserves credit. How he rolls on, took some big swings. No question. I was in New York as a coordinator and we had played the Eagles well for years, and they had a young quarterback Donovan McNabb who had struggled beating the Giants, and on a Monday night in New York, he finally in a two minute drill, took his team back against US and won the game. And I would I always remember saying that was a growth moment that night for him. And I feel like the last two games that we've seen Jalen play, particularly two weeks ago the Minnesota game where it was like Holy cow, it was it was so impressive and we all looked at it and said this, it's happening right now. So when someone says, hey, when did he become It's happening right now in front of our eyes, which is pretty cool. Yeah, it is so yesterday with the Raiders, and I, you know, I think they had some roster issues. They have They have some really really nice high end pieces. Darren Waller's player. Sure, I think Colton Millar's a good left tackle, Hunter Renfro obviously, Davante Adams, but he's brand new. I like Derek Carr more than most, and they have some edge rushers. Max Crosby's terrific, but the roster I think has some holes in it. But yesterday, after a loss, the owner meets. They have a long meeting with the owner and the coach, Josh McDaniels. What am I supposed to read into that? Well, it is what it is. You know, when the boss wants to see it, probably meets. There's some problems. I think this the first thing I think about because I interviewed with the owner's father, Al Davis, on two different occasions. Thank god he has he doesn't have to meet with Al Davis because Al knew everything about defensive football. He knew fronts, he knew coverages, he knew offensive packages. He was the one owner in this league that could interview you on personnel like he was a He was a coach at one point, a general manager, a commissioner of a league, and then the owner of a team. And so it wasn't just how's your family, um, what do you believe in relative to uh, your philosophy in the offseason, it was much more in depth. He'd wanted to draw a front and coverage, put it up on the grease board, and then just talk football. So that meeting for for Josh, those are never fun, all right, regardless of what industry you're in. You know that. Yeah, what's it's the meeting where your mom says way to your dad gets home. It's the same meeting. You sit in your room and you just you just dread the door closing. Um, But it would have been a lot more difficult, uh meeting. And I with all respect to Mark and Mark a tremendous guy and someone that I know. Um, look, they were just in the playoffs and he had to make a tough decision. By the way, you know, Mark, there was a sentiment to keep keep the status quo with the job Richard done and you know, replacing John Gruden during the year. Yeah, and so that's a tough decision, and you make that decision and you kind of clean house a little bit. General manager, head coach, and no one wants to be sitting there owing three. So Dad came home last night. So Eric b enemy and Mahomes had a moment. The Enemy's known he was a player, he was a great player in college. And he's an intense guy, intimidating and he'll howl a little bit. You know, he can be loud. That's his reputation. He's intense and Mahomes, he's got a strong point of view. When you see this, Should I be concerned? Um No, Look they're two and one. They've got this level of expectator. They they believed they should win every game. Was that coming off the end of the half? Yes? Yes? And was it? Was it a situation where Mahomes wanted to go for it and the enemy's like, let's just get to the locker room. But I think Mahomes probably was looking at why aren't we throwing one hail Mary to the end zone? Yeah? Like in other words, yeah, and quite honestly, it's a good question, right, you know, like there's times where if you can't get it to the end zone, all right, you know, let's take the knee or but no, that's that. That kind of stuff happens, believe it or not, a lot more happens than you think, and we only capture, okay, a little bit of it. So Sean, that's what I said with a Ken Dorsery reaction. I said, folks, we didn't have cameras in there ten years ago. I have sat next to coaching upstairs three times in my life and heard the screaming during the game. So when Ken Dorsey becomes unraveled, my takeaway us, you're just getting access to it now. I the Ken Dorsey clip is fabulous because I look at that and the first thing that comes to my mind is the hours someone puts in. Right, we talked about it, that's and that's part of the job, all right. And so when all of that goes into a game plan and you're close and maybe it's a red zone play and a guy didn't do the right thing or doesn't wrong to run the right router, ah, and it's fabulous. Nothing gets broken. Um, there's no there's no tablet. Maybe the computer outlet. Yeah, he's breaking tablets. But um, now this is uh, that's authentic at least, and yeah, it happens. Here's the thing though. The funny thing is that the camera's there now and there's only gonna be more cameras that they're and they don't ask. They say, this is our enhancement this year to our media policy. And so I can recall when they when they asked me to put a camera in our booth in a game in two thy eleven, I had hurt him I'd fractured my leg on a play that came into the sidelines, and I said, sure, you know, put the camera in there, but just let's not you know, uh, overdo it. And they they caught a glimpse of me eating a hot dog at halftime because we were up fifty points against the Colts. But the worst part about it is they threw it in the fourth quarter and acted like I was doing it live, like that's how And so look the cameras that are in the locker room, they're now in the press box and pretty soon you know you're gonna have guests on the sidelines. You're going to turn and look and there's gonna be a sponsor there. Um. That was good, though. I got to kick out of watching that because that was actual frustration by the way. He's he's not among he's not hurting anybody, he's among other coaches. Yeah. So I always say this to the media, if you want access, ye get over your feelings because these your careers. Yeah. So we can't ask for ask access as the media and then be offended by how you act, right. I Look, I thought, Um, I didn't think a whole lot honestly at Mahomes and b Enemy and Andy that I'm sure it was something that Hey. Now more frustrating is that they just lost to the Colts. So let me ask you, Yeah, I want to go to the Buffalo Miami game. And this is where I have said I have my concerns with defensive coaches. I'm not saying they're not great, but there's a certain understanding from an offensive coach about the psychology and the emotion of playing a quarterback and the pressure. And so Ron Rivera had Cam, Mike had Big Ben, Mike Tomlin, and now McDermott has Josh Allen. You can't play like this Ford. Those guys at thirty three looked done. Yeah, And I'm like, okay, Sean, You've had six years to develop a run game. You can't keep asking Josh Allen to be your run game. I've seen this. It's called Cam and Ben. Yeah, and I do and I don't. And I think Sean's a terrific coach. Yeah, but Shan, I have a concern. It's like I've seen these defensive coaches use these quarterbacks as battering rams. It's wonderful for seven years. I don't think Buffalo can keep playing like this for the next five years. It's a long season. And that's the difference between our game in college. I mean we're seventeen regular season games and so yeah, the speed of which the game's played and how physical it's played. No citadel on that schedule. Yeah, that's right. I think this they're still look Week three took place, a great win for Miami, great win for Mike McDaniel and their program to start off three and Ozero And every time you clip to the locker room or the comments, you see a team that's believing and you see a guy that's done a fantastic job in a very short period of time. One of the things I always said this, and I knew this one I first got hired in New Orleans. You need a few things to go right for you. You know, each year there's seven, eight, nine coaches that get hired, and pictured nine penguins jumping into the frozen Atlantic, and only two are going to come up on an iceberg and the other seven are going to drown. And that's the same. You have three to four years too, and so sometimes some good fortunes needed. But success early helps a lot because it helps with credibility, buy in from the players but also from ownership and front office. And we started off three and oh my first year. You know, we won our first two road games we had that returned to the Dome and beat Atlanta, and I don't know, I don't know how good our team was, but they believed they were good. Right. Well, the Miami thing's interesting too because the comp was breeze. That's unfair. But do you see some breeze in terms of and under Like Drew, I felt always had a great self awareness this is what I'm not, this is what I am. Yeah, you had a self awareness on what he was and what he was it. Well, he's a tremendous foot athlete. The one thing about Drew, and I think oftentimes we're all guilty of this one thing because they're not six four or six three, they must not be as good an athlete. Drew was tremendous. It was a tremendous in his athlete. I mean, I mean a tremendous tennis player. Anything he did, he could vertically jump up and dunk a basketball. And so I don't see the comparisons with he and two I. Drew was uh was was a classic pocket passer and arguably the most accurate passer our league's ever seen. Um, I think that. I think that's absolutely true. Every every study you could, you could look at efficiency, completion percentage, Every study would tell you that. Um. But you're seeing a guy into who's gained confidence and those two speechers outside, you know, the new Clayton and Duper. I said it a week ago. Holy cow, they are, I mean unbelievable, right. I just worry about like them out running your pass. That would be my biggest fear. Can I get it to him? Right? No? But it's it is true. I I just like McDaniel. I I like offensive coaches historically have made me smarter. And that's not a knock on defensive guys. But if if you never existed, or Andy Reader, Bill Walsh, I wouldn't be a smarter football fan. They teach me things, and I like McDaniels taking some of that San Francisco and he's probably got about twenty five percent of him in it where he's like, you know this part of Kyle, I want to do my own thing. Who was your mentor? Yeah? Well two really offensively speaking, Gruden had a lot to do with the direction I went. I worked with him in Philadelphia. Ray Roads was our head coach and John Man. Early on, when you come from college and you get into the NFL, you realize there's that there's so much that you don't know. And so I went through that for two years with him, and then you know, law school for me. Outside of the scheme per se, the overall picture was certainly Bill Parcels. I mean just understanding the training room, the weight room, the makeup of your coaching staff, the roster. Bill was great with personnel. He was fabulous with persone the middle and bottom of the roster. Oh my gosh. He was always and so I was lucky enough to be around some of those really talented people. And then some of it rubs off and then you kind of build what what you want to do? What did parcel give me? A parcels where he taught you about something personnel wise where you're like, I didn't know that. Yeah, shoulders hips, every position, all right, corners. He didn't want high cut corners. Well you know what does that mean? Well, we don't want long end seams, we don't want leggy corners, we want low cut corners. So he liked the corner that was six foot, but that was mostly torso short legs because they transition better and well, he if a corner was leg it didn't mean he couldn't play. He just prefer corners that were five eleven five, five eleven and a half or taller if they were. If they weren't prototype, the prototype would be defined by position. Corners would be five to eleven and a half, let's say two hundred pounds. If they weren't prototype, Let's say this was a really good short corner. He didn't want to hear if they were really good, he'd simply say, does he walk on water or not? If he walks on water, we'll put the film on and evaluate him. But if he doesn't, I don't want a team. Don't like that. He always set built one of Bill's lines. I've used it in my life. You start making exceptions. You got a team full of exceptions. Percent. But he drafted Aaron Glenn High, who was an undersized corner at the Jets. But he would tell you he walked on water at anam. That's how good of a player he was, and so he could you could move him in a direction for a non prototype player, but you it had to be great film like it wouldn't. It wasn't just good film. It had to be fantastic. But he had that size speed makeup for each position. Running backs came in all shapes of sizes. They could be smaller if they had to have big butts, strong lower bodies, etc. Let me just go back to games now. So tonight eight it's Giants Cowboys and you've got Cooper Cush Cooper Rush and my my theory on backups have always been this, if if your starter misses two games, can he win one? Yeah? You know, once they get film on him. That's why he's a backup. Yeah, I can't if we go to four like Teddy Bridgewater was rare. Yeah, like you you go on, that's unheard of, right, So there is a gap between Dak and Cooper rush Um. Jerry Jones said something this week where he was kind of like like last week, he said, you know what kind of you know, what a great controversy to have if Cooper's is good as a coach, you could laugh. Does that create any distress in the room. I don't know. I think one of the challenges is, well, he's got a weekly show, and so he's got to say something so pretty soon. You know that I don't know how you do it. You're you're on three hours a day every day. You know, content is important and topics are important and guests, and I don't know that he has any of that. And so when someone throws out the idea about, well they won the game, I think they're gonna play well while Dak's gone, because I think defensively that alone can keep you in it. And you know what, you do have to bow up. The rest of the team has to bow up a little bit, and it can sometimes something like that can create a sense of urgency within the building that can be helpful. And I think they're playing a team tonight for instance, that they can they can get that one on the road. Yeah, and they could very easily lose that game as well. I mean, it's that tight of a game when you really look at it. Because New York's got some confidence. I think Dallas wins tonight despite the fact they're playing with their backup and not their starter. Yesterday I said, I think they're gonna win the next couple. I think they play Washington the week after and then then they run into a tougher game, all right, is Dak back you know, in week four or not after his injury. But but that's the job of the backup like otherwise, you know, we don't have to carry a backup if we're not going to win. When the backups in then then and so every team has got to be prepared for that. And San Francisco, I know they're glad that they have Garoppolo on the roster. And we're going to see more of this. I think we're going to see a few teams that are going to be teetering between starters. You know, Cleveland continues to win their two and one, so that when I say continues to win, they really should be three and ozer if not, If not, you know, for a really a bad mistake at the end of a game by that team. And but they continue to do that. Let's just say they're at you know, eight wins with two losses. Does Brissette stay in? Where do you put the new guy in when Watson's back? These are some decisions that are gonna take place. When did you decide with Bridge Walter because he was five and oh did you well listen, it was looking pretty good, and we you know, Drew was are enough a long, comfortable and enough in his own skin. I said, hey, some of this stuffs look pretty good. Now, don't mess it up. But it's true. You you You're like, hey, the truth is, Drew. I'd write it here. Six more days getting healthy. Right by the way, Drew came back off at and had an energy, And it happens to all of us. That game that I missed and was in the press box, I injured my knee. A play had rolled up on my leg. I had surgery, So I missed the week I was in the hospital, got back. Pete Carmichael, you call the plays, I'll be in the press box. It was gonna be a long rehab. And it was the one game I stayed in the press box. We scored fifty eight sixty points, and right away we all realized this whole train moves without us. It moves just fine without us. Every one of us players coaches all of us and including what you do and what all of us do here. And so man, I was getting healthy. Funny, that is great. So one more question, and I was, you know, I've tried to stay out of the Brady stuff. He and Gizelle. That's personal stuff. It's my business. But Tom's had a little pretty publicized you know. It's it's marriage. It's hard, right, we all know this. I'm married, I'm divorced. I'm married. And I was thinking about this because I knew you're gonna be on today when you have players. Eric Mangini told me this one time. He says, you have no idea. He said, I had two crises per week. These are twenty three year old men. Yeah, many come from no money. Now they've got a ton, They've got thirteen people that want tickets. And I think we just don't understand sometimes that it's a lot you're dealing with. No other industry in the world has twenty four year old millionaires. So that creates a psychological and emotional effect. So when Brady's going through this, do you approach? Do you give him space? What did you do with a coach if players not? If when players had personal strife for crisis in their life, everyone was different. Um, and look, it wasn't it was it was your locker room. It was also your coaching staff. And uh, Eric's right, I mean, um, you're gonna have death with family members you're gonna have sickness, You're gonna have births of child. There's gonna be a lot of different things when you deal with the group of one hundred and twenty. If you just take the team, the practice squad, the coaching staff, and then uh yeah, I think the most important thing is you're consistent. You try to help them, you know. Ownership for me that whole time was fan. Anytime we had a funeral or something, Missus Benson did a great job, her plane was available, we'd go fly and be a part of the process. I think all of that, um is just how we did business. And I think it um I think when I say it, it's something that I think is very much appreciated by Oh. I totally think every it's it's it's it's a big deal. I've had I've had conversations with players like off the air and all and all I ask them questions like and all of them say, I felt like I was treated like a human like some kids like I grew up in the South, Yeah, I end up in Seattle. I know nobody right. I've never had to get my own apartment. My parents can't afford and it's like do we understand how No, no, no, I know a lot of American kids are. But you're thrust into fame, money, moving apartment, if you're a single guy, no girlfriend, you're trying to make the team, and you've got some lease manager calling you. Right, it's a lot, right, right? How do we help bridge that gap? And we're not we're I mean, these these guys are independent, these they have a lot on their plate. But um yeah, But but to your point, they're human beings and we all to think that at any one point, all fifty three on the roster are all healthy. Everything's going on grade at home, and no, it's it's a it's a gineste a ginormous family with a ton of intricacies, problems, all sorts of emotions. And so you spend a lot of time during during the course of any work week. Um, maybe spending a little bit of extra time with a certain players or anything I can do to help out. Um yeah, I think that is something that is part of it. It's part of being the head coach managing that and being consistent. Well, what's amazing is when you have a chance to go back and see a few players that you coach and you're like, God, I forget the year I coached you. In other words, we worked together. It happens all the time. When I flew here last week, there was a player that I had signed from Oregon that was sitting in the plane seat next to me said, yeah, you cut me, And I said, well, I'm sorry I did that. I was cut myself four times. But he just we just chatted on the flight in and he was an offensive lineman out of Oregon, and uh, yeah, it's um there's thousands after a while. Yeah, all right, Sean Payton, this this is such a joy for us. It's I just love this stuff. Now are you going back up to you know where? Are you going back to mbuh? No? Back to Pacific Northwest for undisclosed location. Yep, for another week or so, and then uh, pretty soon we'll be settled down out here in California. By the way, you know, the minute the show ended last week, I went home and said, honey, I want you to look up something on the internet. We were sitting there for hours. Look at the airport. There's a huge billboard about Eastern Wash. Is that your alma Montic Eastern Wash Eastern Washington University yeah, Cooper Cup right, not Cooper Rush anyway. Um no, I thought of you. So No. It's a great area and great golf lakes everywhere. Good temperature, righty arid temperatures. It's a great place to live. Yeah, great scenior coach. Absolutely thanks for having me on