The Herd with Colin CowherdColin calms NFL fans down by saying the new kickoff rule during the Hall of Fame game may seem weird but will become normal over the season. Bears should have given Caleb Williams a few reps last night, Drake Maye will have his ups and downs this season, and USC head coach Lincoln Riley has nothing to worry about. Plus, another Friday edition of “Tomorrows Headlines Today!” Julian Edelman – FOX NFL Analyst joins the show!
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All Ride. It is a Friday, and we're ready to go live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Julian Edelman, one of my faves, stops by later in the show. Today, we'll check in with Albert Breer. A lot of NFL stories, some rumors out there. Jmack who will have tomorrow's headlines today. So I watched with anticipation for the new kickoff rule. I was hoping for Caleb Williams. Still don't know why he didn't play. Get into that later, but I got a few thoughts on the new kickoff rule. It was jarring for sure, jarring. Yes, little video game looking it looks a little odd, but and I think about this a lot in my life. What was the intent? The intent is we're trying to reduce the number of concussions for these amazing athletes who put their body in harm's way. Generally, in my life, if your intent is good, I'm good. I don't have to agree. I don't have to agree with every single position or policy of my favorite political candidate to vote for them. I don't have to agree with my wife on every debate we have the lover. I've worked at companies that make decisions I don't agree with. I can still like a company. People in life are too rigid. Americans complain too much. Football is amazing. Stop seeking perfection. Perfection, look in the mirror. Do you live up to that standard. Football's not perfect, but it's great. There's a lot of rules in football I don't like. I think it's way too punitive that you fumble out of the end zone and in football you lose possession. I think that's ridiculous. I think college football has pass interference right where it's a fifteen yard penalty, not fifty eight yards because your legs get tangled up. The NFL is not perfect, but they're always willing unlike baseball to change things. The catch rule was screwy for several years, and they changed it. In basketball, the Olympics have the FEBA rules, the NBA has their rules. I actually prefer some of the FEBA rules if your intent is in the right place to protect these amazing athletes who are putting their body in treacherous positions in a sport with semi regulated levels of violence, and then I'm okay with it. I remember when UFC started and Dana White and the Fertidas came out and they took out some of the more ugly eye gouging, and all the UFC fans can play, oh well, you put a skirt on. The sport has done nothing but explode and grow. Yes, I know there's the guys out there. Why don't you just play flag football? Oh yeah, because nobody would watch it. I love soft. Pudgy guy on the couch suddenly telling me the league went soft. This league is for men, big strong men colliding into each other. Let's create rules that at least protect them. And by the way, I watched the kickoffs last night. Seven of eight were return seven of it more football, just like when they changed the pat rule, more real football, less going to the fridge for another beer. Last year, seventy three percent of kickoffs were touchbacks. Less football. Trust the NFL. They know what they're doing. They're not perfect, but their rules committee makes changes almost olhways for the right reasons. It's better for the fans or in this instance, it's healthier for the players. Listen, it looks a little odd. It'll take them getting used to. So did the three point line the first year it came out, and then I got used to it. Here's the Bears coach Matt Eberflus on the new kickoff rule.
You have to figure it out, like, hey, what is it going to look like? You know? So certainly we've tried different things on the return team and different way to attack on the cover team and putting different bodies in different spots. So we're really just trying to figure it out. And I think that's where all coaches are.
We're just trying to figure it out and do the best thing we can, and that's going to be on going through the whole season, and then you'll have to adjust.
That's the way the NFL is.
Many of you romanticize about the dream team this will Olympic basketball team deeper, more talented, more skilled, more positionless, and many of you. When the NFL brought out rules to protect the quarterback, I was at another company. This will ruin the game, and the ratings and the revenue have gone up, up, up, up up. I don't watch football for players getting hurt in violence. I watch it for efficiency, great offense, amazing quarterback play. And yet last year, with all the protective measures with quarterbacks, over sixty took a snap. You don't watch football for the kickoffs. Stop it. Three out of four go into the end zone. How many kickoff returns for touchdowns were there in the NFL last year, less than a half dozen. I bet you we have more this year. But I also know for a fact you'll have more kicks returned. And let's circle back to the very beginning. If the intent in life is good, I'm not seeking perfection. They're doing it for the right reasons. Take a deep breath. Change is hard for a lot of people. You're still gonna watch the games. So I saw this the NFL. Interesting story. It feels small, but is it. The NFL had to shut down a rule book loophole that was being exploited last year by three teams. The three teams were the Miami Dolphins, the San Francisco forty nine Ers, and the Los Angeles Rams.
Hmm.
In Week one, the Dolphins used a certain motion that it looked like players often got a running start. So what do those three teams have in common? All three have really smart, young offensive coaches. By the way, the teams that led the NFL in motion last year in deception the same three teams. For the record, I want my accountant and my coaches pushing the envelope using anything they can that is legal and it was now. The league can step in just like the IRS can and close a loophole, but I want my coaches pushing to the edge. If you go to the last like twelve coaches that have got to Super Bowls or the AFC NFC Championship, I think it's like eleven of twelve. John Harbaugh is the only exception, but he knows offense. Eleven of twelve have been offensive coaches. Push, push, push, apologize later create progressive smart, looking for loopholes and edges. Bill Belichick was a great coach. Brady retired he fell off a cliff look around at the teams that run less motion struggle to rebuild offensive lines aren't very creative. It's overwhelmingly defensive staffs, defensive leaning cultures. That doesn't mean Demko Ryans can't win a Super Bowl if he gets a star quarterback, but if he loses his OC watch out. If I'm an owner today, I am looking around thinking, why did my coaches not use that loophole that won the Rams and the Dolphins and the Niners games? Why? Why is my accountant not doing that? Why is my owner not doing that? You know what rich guys probably do when they see somebody gets a loophole shut down by the I R S, They call their accountant and say, why weren't you using that? And That's what I'm doing today. Is a GM or an owner? What Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin, why weren't you using that? Pete Carroll's last year, Why weren't you doing that? I want my coaches to push the envelope. By the way, Philadelphia, the tush push make the league outlawed. I think it's dangerous to have your quarter back in a position where players are pushing him from behind. I saw a couple of quarterbacks I think Daniel Jones or A Herbert actually got a little dinged up with the Toush push. But I love the creativity of it. I love the Eagles creating something that absolutely moved the chains and without a doubt won a game or two. There's no question they extended drives throughout the course of the last two years with a Toush push. It may not work without Jason Kelce and Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni may move off it, or the league may end it. That's up for debate. I think it's an ugly play that could get guys hurt but make the league outlawed. Push to the very edge. All right, Albert Brear is coming up about an hour from now. J Mack, I'm watching this Olympic basketball mostly guys. I would watch more if Caitlin Clark was playing on the other side. But it's such mismashes and a. Steve Kerr got a little testy yesterday. I saw that. Yes, he got a little testy with us, and I'm gonna defend us because I think and I love Steve Kerr. I think he's really smart. He was a Portland trailblazer for a brief time when I cover the team. So one of the smartest guys that's ever been in this league, great broadcaster, GM coach, player, but he is saying something that I can agree with in principle, but it has deserved speculation and drama. We'll talk about that. On the other end, Fox Sports Radio and tire Rack are giving a set of four tires away every two weeks this summer, and we still have a month of summer to enter and get rules. Go to Fox Sports radio dot com furnished by tire racantire rack dot com the way tire buying should be.
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So I'm happy in the Hall of Fame game that backup Brett Rippin was slinging it and that's great. But as I watched the game, my takeaway was, why didn't Caleb Williams play like I get veterans not playing, I get banged up offensive or defensive lineman not playing. I totally get it, But as a rookie versus vanilla schemes, let's chop it up. I mean, Caleb Williams hasn't played since like November. It's like, I think it's time to play a little bit. Andrew Luck, for the record, played almost the entire first half of his first preseason game. Tom Brady debuted in this game, the Hall of Fame game. Patrick Mahomes plays in the preseason. And I think Caleb's going to be very successful. How successful, I don't know. It's the Bears, and the Bears have a history of screwing stuff up with young quarterbacks. They either draft the wrong one, or they don't protect him with offensive line, or they hire the wrong coach or coword for the young quarterback. So let's not treat Caleb Williams like a star or superstar before. He's actually very good. And I said yesterday, I do think he's the only quarterback in this draft that if the organization can't get it right, he'll be productive. He'll be like Kyler Murray is the example I used. He'll get paid, he'll he'll have good stats, he'll move the chains. But there's a lot of doubters. I'll tell you this, it's not Andrew Luck. When Andrew Luck came out, I called every exec and scout. I knew the year before he came out, and they were like, that's Lway, Stanford, smart, tough, arm moves, that's Lway, always considered the greatest prospect ever, That's Lway. Trevor Lawrence had people that pushed back, even though I loved him. Greg Cosell to this day is like, he's not as talented Colin as you think. Caleb Williams gets pushed back, the fingernagels with vulgar on them, jumping into the stands. He could be moody on the sidelines. Sometimes his accuracy was a little hit and miss, the perpetual ad libbing out of plays designed by Lincoln Riley that could be successful. And add to all of that the Chicago Bears who screw it up all the time on offense. So he is not a slam dunk. I think he's too talented not to be productive. But remember Patrick Mahomes. SAT has had Andy Reid, Steve Spagnola, Travis Kelcey, a great GM and great ownership. Do you know the only MLS team I'm told there's only one or two MLS teams that are highly profitable. One of them's Dallas FC, who's it owned by Clark Hunt, who owns the Chiefs. Clark Hunt. Patrick Mahomes would go into the weeds all the time, and Andy Reid would pull him back and get his mechanics on track. Matt Eberflus, that's not his specialty. Again, you have in Kansas City, great on not good, great front office, great coach, great support system. You don't really have that in Chicago. I think Ryan Polls the GM has been impressive in the last eighteen months, but you don't have great ownership. Little old and out of touch. We don't know about Matt Eberflus. The targets young and old, many passed their prime outside of Dj Moore, or too young to be substantially impactful. So I don't understand. I mean only one. I start looking at these quarterbacks and you can't play scared. I mean, only one quarterback in the league the last two years has played every started every game, played every snap, right, So it's like you just got to play guys. If they get hurt, what do you do? Cross your fingers? So he didn't have good offensive lines at USC and he didn't get banged up very much, So I just I didn't get it. Andrew Luck first time he could play, played him for a first half. Vanilla schemes against third teamers. Get him some snaps, let him chop it up.
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To see college football teams out for practice. I'm told Lincoln Riley's on the hot seat. He's not, by the way, very excited for this season. It's gonna be a massive college football year. I can't get enough of it. So two stories yesterday about the Olympic men's basketball team. Number one Steve Kerr, reacting to all the Tatum topics and the mb'd criticism, says, listen, the NBA is popular worldwide, said Steve Kerr. Regular season's kind of a soap opera. We understand that social media takes over everybody now gets so dramatic. I think we have to give the guys more credit. They're gonna, you know, they're that they understand what the gold medal means. Snooped came out and reported that the men's basketball players are unbothered by Steve KERRZ rotations. Okay, so let me support the media here a little bit. And I don't always yes, people overreact in the media and they get very dramatic. Yes, And I do think players Snoop Dogg is right are unbothered by this. But Jason Tatum playing no minutes is newsworthy. And Joe Lmbiid once again clogging up an offense and being yanked out of a game two and a half minutes in is newsworthy as a former NBA MVP. Now NBA players I think are smart. They understand that this is the Olympics. There is no bench. Bench guys are all NBA. It's only forty minutes. It's eight minutes shorter. It is harder to get guys in. But I will argue no minutes for a guy two years ago that was the most valuable player in the league m beat and he clearly clogs up and messes up the offense, and no minutes in the game for Jason Tatum. When Derek White, the fourth best player or fifth best player for the Celtics is getting substantial minutes, it's newsworthy. It needs to be talked about. And the other thing is social media is a big part of the NBA's popularity. We watch football. How do I know? I work at a TV network. I see the ratings every day. We watch college football, we watch the NFL. We sort of debate the NBA. We don't watch it. We don't really watch college basketball's regular season. We watch the tournament because it's a bracket, and we don't really watch the NBA until you get mostly to the finals or maybe occasionally a conference finals. But we debate it on social media, and that's okay. Baseball gets neither big ratings or debate on social media. So that's a lane that the NBA does well at. But I can't unsee what I didn't see with MBI, which is not playing, which is getting yanked off the floor in two minutes. It's newsworthy. It's debatable, it's discussable. Again, It'd be one thing if the only Celtic on the team was Tatum. But when Derek White and Drew Holliday are playing substantial minutes and Tatum gets none. I've been told these first team All NBA Top five player for year none. It's something. Listen when Isaiah Thomas didn't make the team Dream Team, it was newsworthy when Jalen Brown didn't make this Team Finals MVP, Conference Finals, MVP. It's newsworthy. Now, I'm not saying the media can't be a little over dramatic at times. You'll notice this, you know, when the media tends to be really dramatic during the summer, when there's fewer sports actually for seven months of the fall in the winter. With football, college and pro, you don't have to be The stories create themselves and people watch football.
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Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way. We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell you stories.
You download it, you listen to it. I think you like it.
Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
So Drake May has been the one rookie quarterback drafted and has not been good. But he's also young, not very polished, this is all pretty predictable. There's some justin Herbert Komps. That's what all my scouts and execs that I call said. There's a little justin Herbert, very little. Apparently yesterday he had a decent practice. But a Girrod Mayo Girard Mayo says, being a rookies.
Hard noice like to be a rookie, and it's not. It's not all peaches and crean. You probably remember this at San Francisco my rookie year. You know, I got benched on third down. I only played early downs because I just wasn't ready. That was like week ten, right, it was like week ten, week eleven, But it was a wake up call for me to get benched in you know, from there on I was doing I was Rookie of the Year. It still got benched. So I think, whatever we want to talk about with Drake there, we'll be up to dowsand hopefully it ends on a U.
By the way, apparently my take that Joe Milton, the sixth round quarterback who is kind of his last year at Tennessee, a touchdown machine in the best conference, could get real snaps on this team eventually. Apparently that was a hot take. Let me ask you if I had said the day after the twenty twenty two draft that Brock Purdy, the two hundred and sixty second pick, would eventually replace Trey Lance the number three pick, they would dump Trey Lance. Would that have been a hot take? Oh, it would have. If I'd have said a year before Kevin Durant went to the Warriors, I suspect Kevin Durant will leave okay See and go to his rival, that too would have been a hot take. Be careful about hot takes. They happen all the time. Joe Milton, in the best college football conference in the country, had thirty touchdown passes, rushed for seven touchdowns, and had five picks. Passer rating through the roof, completed sixty five percent, and had easily the strongest arm of any quarterback in this draft. Both Josh Heipel and Jim Harbaugh fell in love with him. Now he misses open receivers. He can be a little very inconsistent throwing the ball. But I'll throw this out to you. Jacoby Brissette has been benched or has been injured during a season more than once. Sixty quarterbacks played last year and I will tell you, of all the first round quarterbacks, Drake May is the least prepared to play right now in a culture in New England that leans heavily to the defensive side. So if Brissett goes down, you're telling me Joe Milton, bigger, stronger, arm, better athlete than Drake May, potentially wouldn't get snaps. I don't know what's going to happen, but the idea that it couldn't happen. The SEC is the best football conference. Go look at Tennessee's schedule. Go watch the first half of Joe Milton against Alabama. Go watch the first half of that game. Go watch it. Some of you are selling me Will Levis. I'm not sure Will Levis is better than Joe Milton. I mean, didn't Will Levis lose to Vanderbilt. Okay, the academic power of the South. So slow down on this. I just think a lot of things. If you look at the NFL sixty quarterbacks play, Patriots don't have a great old line. They've missed on several picks. They have one of the worst O lines, receiving cores, running back rooms, defensive culture. They are not going to move the ball. Do you think they're gonna stick with Jacoby Brissett for seventeen weeks? At some point they're gonna go to a backup. I'm just saying, could he take snaps? Why not? Why couldn't he take snaps? Remember if Brock Purdy came out and I said they're gonna go with pretty over Trey Lance, that would have been outrageous, and it actually happened. So I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but I wouldn't be surprised at all. Jim Harbaugh, Josh Hipel, they know offense. They both fell in love with him. Now he frustrated them, but you know, some guys are developed more slowly. I mean, he took a lot of snaps in college. He bounced around in college, he had a lot of great personnel. Guys really like him. Misses a lot of throws, but he's a power thrower on a team that's gonna struggle. I mean, my guess is New England will be the lowest scoring team in the NFL, and I don't think it'll be particularly close. You could say Carolina they have an offensive coach. Well, the Giants, they have an offensive coach I got a rookie defensive coach and bad everywhere. I think all three of these guys are gonna play. And Milton can be impressive. I've watched enough of him. You go watch half here and a half there. I mean, Harbaugh fell in love with him, not for long, but he fell in love with them. He's an impressive thrower of the football. By the way, Albert Breer is going to be joining us here on a Friday. He has been so far. These are the camps he's been to, the Raiders, the Chargers, the Rams, the Cowboys, the Cardinals, the Seahawks, Niners, Broncos, Packers. Very excited for that. Plus it's college football. Very excited as the Pac twelve merges into the Big ten this year. I'm a college football addict. You're you're a college basketball addict, but you love college football. What are give me? If? As we had as we head into the college football's practice today, one practice today, one give me a story like I'll give you an example, Shadour Sanders, Deon Sanders. Are you over at the nore into that well?
Mostly because of the NFL.
He's gonna be if he stays on track at top ten pick maybe top five, top five, Well, maybe we'll see. Like you said, he didn't end the season strong last year, had the injuries, had some off season online kerfuffles if you will. Yeah, but I'm interested in that. I'm interested in the Ohio State quarterback situation. I like the Georgia quarterback a lot. I see our guy Bruce Feldman hyping up, like the Kansas State quarterback keeping.
Kansas State and Utah are going to battle for the Big twelve. They're both good teams.
That's what I like about college football.
Guys pop and they rise and you're like, who is this guy? Where do you come from? And then you know his full story. Then he goes to the league and like you said, that's hurt the NBA. You have this entire narrative and career arc of a quarterback. Joe burrows story was amazing in college. Couldn't crack the quarterback room at Ohio.
Then he went to LSU in his junior year he was okay.
Fifteen touchdown passes.
You're like, oh this guy, eh, seventh round pick maybe, and then boom, the greatest season in college football.
Pence, keep your eye on Shador Sanders back the quarterback at Georgia, Riley Leonard I think is now Notre Dame.
I think he transferred from Duke to Notre d.
So keep your He's a little fin, a little raw, but people Daniel Jones ish, which is nuts. Also, the kid at a Penn State is very very interesting, promising. He's promising. We'll see Oregon's got Nebraska's got a quarterback that he's a kid.
Looks like he's a Pat Mahomes look a lot.
Now he's not coming out of the draft, but Nebraska's fascinating because the quarterback for the corn Huskers, there's stuff all over the internet that he actually does. His stylistically looks like he's a high school kid. He was like a five star kid. They got him in Nebraska. He looks like Mahomes, the way he throws off balance and mannerisms.
Shaw He basically has the Patrick Mahomes starter kit and he's like, Okay, what do I wear today? It comes out and it looks exactly like he does, and it's kind of become like, you're right. A thing in Nebraska's leaning into it socially, and you could see the chiefs I think are even pushing it a little bit it's and the kid is I think he had like an SEC commit and then decommitted.
No, he's like everybody in the country wanted him. So but there's some really good stories. I mean, I think Texas Oklahoma going to the SEC. Texas has packed jam with talent, maybe next to George of the best talent in the conference. Bama's got a new coach. I think the team that everybody is overlooking is Oregon. I think Oregon can go toe to toe with anybody now. Their NIL is the best in college football, along with Texas and Texas A and m so. Some of it is they bought more players whatever, it's.
Legal, finely me low key interesting. Dabo Sweeney, what's going on there in Clemson? He was the toast of the town.
Well he's a couple of years ago and will not use the portal.
And it's like, what are you doing?
Like this is an easy way to fortify your roster, and he refuses to do it. I wonder if they have a middling year and he's on the hot seat all of a sudden, and they will do that to you.
How about this? How about this first game LSU USC Brian Kelly Lincoln Riley, two of the most polarizing coaches. What's either team great? I would think LSU is favored by six or something. It's in Vegas. I like LSU to win, but I LSU lost Jayden Daniels. Their defense has been a mess the last couple of years.
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Here we go our number two. It is a Friday live in Los Angeles. It's the Hurt wherever you may be, however you may be listening or watching. Thanks for making us part of your day. Jmax going on a big trip of the Pacific Northwest this weekend, my home home away from home.
Why you give it out my location?
Well, you're just I'm just didn't give the location that Pacific Northwest could be big Sky country. It could be I do.
Need to hit vi Spuck Sky. I've heard amazing things and you've been The sky is very big. Well, I watched Yellowstone. By the way, have you watched Yellowstone?
Yeah? I bumped into Kevin Costner.
How's he is about?
During the filming. Okay, all right, yeah he did a lot of that filming in Utah Park City.
Oh did not know that? How was you?
You're just mister mister basically, you're the rapper who travels around everywhere your Utah You're what Kennebunkport?
Is that where you're going?
They built airport reason I go to Chicago, I go to them. I like to travel. Okay, so college football starts, by the way. I just love these people that we have no patience in society, Like everything changes suddenly. It's like this guy is going to be president. Oh no, no, nope, nope, it's gonna be the other person. Yeah, take a deep breath, have three months. Not everything has to be dramatic. Just I love going into this season all the Lincoln Riley's in big trouble talk. No he's not. I'm pretty well connected there. He's not in trouble. Let me give you an example of let's do blind resume. So here's Lincoln Riley after two years and he took over a complete tire fire. They had thirty five legit players in two years. He's nineteen and eight, and this is the best The pac twelves arguablivion. Ever, is it was stacked the last year of the PAC twelve. And I say this, Arizona, a basketball school, won seven straight games and beat Oklahoma in a bowl game. It's the best the Pac twelve has been in my adult life. When Pete Carroll was dominating the Pac twelve, it was awful. It was usc col and nonsense. So he's gone nineteen and eight, thirteen and five in conference one in one and they've averaged forty one a game over forty one. Man, why does that matter? Because I always judge coaches. You know, you have a coach, even if he doesn't win, is he getting his side of the ball right? So in two years he is tied for the best total offense in college football. So let's play blind resume. Let me give you a couple of other coaches their first two years. So these are offensive coaches. This coach had a worse record, awful in conference and averaged almost half a game. Who is this coach? Oh, James Franklin. He's doing pretty well at Penn State. All right, let's go. Let's play another version of a blind resume. Lincoln Riley's nineteen and eight. This coach worst record again, averages thirty percent less a game. And it's another offensive coach. Let's see who this coach is. Oh, Brian Kelly. That's interesting, Okay, Brian Kelly a pretty good coach one everywhere. All right, Let's go to another coach. Remember Lincoln Ryley. He's in big trouble at USC This coach huh little above five hundred after two years, barely a winning conference record again, one and one in bowls, averaging twenty eight a game. Lincoln Riley averaging almost forty two. Who's this offensive coach? Oh, dabos Win. He's pretty good coach at a football factory. Football is the be all end all in that town, state, region, everything. Oh, Dabo's pretty good coach. Okay, okay, Let's go to another offensive coach. Oh, this guy struggled woo nine and nine in conference ohero and one, couldn't even get to a ball game in one of his years. Offense was pretty pesky though. Who's this offensive coach? Oh sark at Texas, they're talking about an extension. If he wins big this year, then pretty good, all right, And we have any more to prove my point as Lincoln Riley and the best the PAC twelve is. In my opinion as somebody who grew up with the PAC twelve, I thought last year the conference went so I mean, I thought it was terrific. This coach is the closest in the first two seasons, This coach and offensive coach is the closest to Lincoln Riley. He averages about a touchdown less, but they have mostly the same win loss record, same conference record. Who is this coach?
Oh?
Jim Harbaugh? Okay, just just just you know, I know when I hear Lincoln Riley's in big trouble. Yeah, how about we start with no, how about it's it's really hard. By the way, Jim Harbaugh in his third year, when Lincoln's going into his third year, go to Jim Harbaugh's third year. They stepped back, they went backwards, and he was getting nothing but crap. And Joel Klatt and I were the two guys in college football that are like, are you people paying attention? Do you think he can't coach? It's hard, not everything can be solved in an hour. Us. He was a mess, a mess. The staff was bad, the strength and conditioning was bad, the recruiting wasn't good. I mean. But when he took over the program, between the offensive and defensive line two deeps, they had like twenty five offensive and defensive linemen in the program. Twenty twenty five one was viewed as an NFL prospect. That player is now a senior center. They had nobody. I would talk to gms. They're like USC looks like Fresno State. They're small, They're tiny, Gonna be fine.
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Well, you know him from twelve NFL seasons, three rings, Brady's go to guy the latter stages of his career, one of the great all time receivers in the postseason. He's also going to podcast games with names, which I had the pleasure to be on. Very very good, hard probing questions by Julian Element, very impressive conversational. Yes, so, NFL kickoff rule My thing was okay, the intense good. It's kind of weird looking, but you're trying to guys like you not get hurt. I want my players to play longer. It's weird, but it is more football. I mean, what do you make of it?
I think it's exciting, and guys like me don't want to get hurt. But guys like me also made the team because of special teams, and it's an opportunity for eight hundred more plays or so they keep on saying, for guys that are bouncing around the league, guys that are special teams, guys to have an opportunity to stay on a team. It gives guys value. You know, it's exciting. I was watching this all last night just to see what the special teams coordinator scheme is gonna be. How are they gonna adjust to this? I mean, it's gonna be real exciting. When you see a guy like Cordell Patterson back there, who has a twenty yard cushion and he only has to break one wave. Yeah, you know, the original, the old school kickoff. There's usually three waves of guys that you have to hit, and you have a track. You see how they're trying to run that track? Yeah, you know, here you run the track and you break through that one gap and you're you're gone. You know, it's gonna be it's gonna be a fun play. It's gonna bring more points. I watched every kickoff, we all watched it. I was glued to it, and I thought I thought it was good. I mean, there wasn't. The tackles are still gonna be pretty tough because those guys are flying. Now. Usually you got a really good Matthew Slater type guy that's running down the field on special teams. That cushion's only six seven, eight yards because he's a burner. These guys are having thirty yard cushions, which means you're not getting to that wave of guys and you know you're getting full speed ahead. So it's gonna be an exciting, fun play.
All right. So the NFL said, Dolphins rams Niners, knock it off. You found a loophole in the rules in regards to motion, and Dolphins did it week one, and then McVeigh and Shanahan saw it and used at the rest of the season. So I want to talk about this. I've said, when it comes to my football coach or my accountant, push the envelop Yeah, look for loopholes as long as it's legal. Belichick did this, did he not?
We did? We did Zoom and Zapp's jet motions all the time, And what it does is it creates confusion for the defense at a lightning fast speed. So say it's a run play and you got Deebo Samuel jetting across the field. The outside landbacker has to pay attention to this guy for a half a second. That half a second makes that tackle be able to get up to him the second level. And then he goes for a pass play you get a Tyreek Hill who you know, he's motioning to the outside. He's creating a natural separation instantly, and then once he gets speed and he can get going, you know, it's tough for a defender to to catch up to that. So, I mean this has been going on for years. We used to do this all the time, you.
Know, substitute tackles or.
Hey, if it's in the rules, like you said the accountant, you gotta get in there.
Yeah. I was a little surprised, maybe not a lot, but that Caleb didn't play. I mean, Tom actually debuted Brady in a Hall of Fame game. Mahomes plays preseason. What did you make not playing Caleb at all?
Oh, I want to see Caleb play in the preseason. I don't necessarily care. They didn't play in this game for the simple fact that I've heard through the grapevine for years now that the plane surface and everything at the Canton Hall of Fame Stadium is absolutely atrocious. So you know, I don't care about that. I do. You know, as a player, I loved getting a preseason game a preseason rep because it gives you an opportunity to work out your game day operation. What time do I get to the facility. I need two hours to get my warm up in. I need an hour to get at IVY. I need to go go over my game plan for thirty minutes. It gives you that game day operation, so once you hit a real game, you know what you have to do to get going to get yourself mentally, physically, emotionally set for the game. So I'm sure he'll get some reps they have an extra game in preseason. I don't mind that he didn't play in the Hall of Fame game because of the surface.
If it was a one o'clock game in Foxboro, do you show up at eight thirty five or something like that, eight forty ish, eight forty five.
Uh one. I usually like to get there about four and a half hours before.
Yeah, So you're you're.
We'd have one meeting in the morning at our team hotel, and I go directly back to just the stadium.
So I was saying this. If you would have said when Drake, when Brock Purdy was the last guy drafted, if you would have said, you know what, they're going to bail on the number three pick, They're gonna go with Brock Purdy, you would have said, hot take. So I'm like, be careful. Joe Milton his last year and a half in the SEC thirty touchdown passes, five picks, sixty five percent completions, seven rushing touchdowns, Jacoby Brissett sixty quarterbacks played. If Brissett twists and ankle, Milton is a physically superior to Drake. May I said, I wouldn't be shocked if he got snaps all season. What do you make about the reports that Drake is really struggling, and what do you make of their quarterback situation?
What would you say right there, physically he's a specimen.
Oh, he's just it's a specimen.
But he did play at minute Michigan and then had to transfer r right to Tennessee.
So Bow transferred.
So yeah, but Rock Purdy didn't. He played four years and what was his what was his strength? It was being a cerebral player. Yeah, so he could execute. He can operate, I mean, which that immediately translates to the league. If you can do that, now you know a guy that can throw ninety yards. He looks the part and everything. I mean, that's that's all great until you have live bullets coming down your face. And also in New England, I don't know how it is now, but I'm sure Mayo has adopted a lot of the same scheduling things with practice. You know, you have ninety guys on the team right now, so your first stringer is getting most around second stringer depending on situation. I'm sure Drake may is getting more reps than a regular second teamer. And then you have the third stringers, which there's usually a designated period called the basic period for the third stringers, the guys that are trying to make the team, the guys that need to be evaluated. And they play against each other. They've seen the play three times, they saw the ones run the same play against the same look. They saw the twos run the play against the same look. Then they have an opportunity to go out there to show the coaches, hey, I can digest what we brought from the meeting room and bring it to the grass. So that's where this is right now. Until live bullets are going and you have a six foot six Julius Peppers type coming right down your face and you got to make a throw, you know, this is still sunshines and rainbows.
Yeah, it was funny. I you guys were very good at it in New England, Brady and Belichick, who will spend a lot of time at the podium. Gronk was a little goofy and then he tightened up pretty quick. So Patriots didn't send guys to the podium that could get in trouble. But it is interesting solo when when Aaron Rodgers was in Egypt said it was an excuse. And my take is keep it to yourself. You know, I don't need to know that. Yeah, Aaron comes out this week and says, eh, nobody told me. We didn't communicate. I wouldn't go there. I did think it felt like a little shot at Aaron, little shot at the coach. I could be overreacting. Maybe I'm so used to Brady Belichick where you gave up nothing. But I can't see Stafford and McVeigh taking shots at each other. I didn't like it.
Yeah, did you you know? I kind of saw that too. Uh. I'm still not a fan of of missing a mini camp.
Yeah, you didn't like it.
I didn't like that. I I have nothing but the most respect for Aaron Rodgers and his ability to play the game. But we're at we're all we all make a lot of good money here. Yeah, you know when we're playing football, and if you can't reschedule something four days later, who's made Like I don't understand the logic behind that. Yeah, And it's only making us talk about this right now. And they haven't even had a snap during the year. He hasn't even played a meaningful snap in two years, and we're talking about all this. So you know, all this is doing is create more and more distractions, which that city, New York. They love that page six. I'm sure they're all. I mean, you're a New York guy, right.
This is four functioning newspapers or five, So.
It's it's you know, it's just making the situation more difficult if things go.
Bad, do you know at this point, so college camp's open today. I think most of them. NFL camps have been going for about a week or so. Plus you have OTAs. How long before you Julian looked at the rookies and said, oh, that guy can help us. I mean, you mostly have eight new guys, and there's there'll be a couple free agents, some low end, some high end. But when you start integrating guys into your camp, do you have a sense, like a weekend, Oh, this guy can't pick it up, this guy can certain positions.
I could see a receiver right away at OTAs if he was gonna help us.
Really.
Yeah. I remember watching Jakobe Myers, Yeah yeah, And I remember he was an undrafted guy, former quarterback, and I saw the way he released the ball, how strong his hands were, how he never made the same mistake twice like early And when I saw that, and he was able to create separation, and he still didn't really know how to run routes. Like you can see something right away, you get to really see it when the pads come on. So you know, the first day of pads, everyone's a little hopped up. Everyone's all you know, this is war day, and war daddies are everywhere. You know, that's when you really get to see if you have a you know an offseason training camp All American, or you have a guy that's ready for you know, real football. So it's pretty early on offensive lineman. I would you know, you see that we were in a very the different situation where our coach would coach. Belichick would coach everyone in front of everyone, so he would pull highlights and low lights after each practice and address the whole team in front of us. So I remember watching Rob Ninkovich and he was like a long snapper for New Orleans and we picked him up. And I remember watching him on one on ones the first day of practice, going against Matt Light, who was our Matt Light was one of our best linemens three Super Bowls. I mean he stud technically sound strong, and Rob Ninkovich was eating them up on one on ones the first day we were there. Wow. And that that's when I was like, I put him in my phone, Rob Ninkovich, white athletic guy, because you know it was.
One of those things.
It's still that same thig, but you know that's that's where you see it when you see it against a guy with pads on or you see it against high level guy like a Matt Light against a new guy, Rob Minkovich. That's when you can start the base all right, this guy could potentially help us. Now it changes once you get in. You know, the speeds get higher and higher. OTAs is fast because you've been training and it's all whatever. Then you get to training camp, it's a lot faster because you're throwing on pads. You get to play against another opponent, you go to a joint practice, those are even faster. You get to the preseason game sometimes those are fast, but when you play against someone else, they're faster. Then regular seasons a whole nother ballgame because everyone studs, right, So it's just continually you get You get a look at a guy and then you you kind of watch him. You tag them and you say, I'm gonna watch him. I want to see him three weeks later, because you know everyone's fired up. Week day one of pads. Sure, the real dog come out, you know, the second week of pads, that's when you see competitive stamina.
I want to say, so, what year did you break in?
You broke in, broke into the NFL two thousand and nine.
What was who was the most impressive rookie in all your because this is a big deal. Now I'm watching Roma Dunze and Caleb. I can't wait your whole career. There who was a rookie and two practices in Nikovitch had been in the league. Yeah, he'd been in a rookie and you were like, oh wow.
Devin mccorty was pretty I mean he was.
He was were going up against him.
Yeah, we're going against each other.
He was.
He was pretty good. Like just he he he gave professional vibes. He had a professional aura, the way he was in the locker room, the way he talked, the way he held himself, the way he was with his family early on. Like he he was a guy that you were just impressed with, Like he doesn't really look like a rookie or act like a rookie.
Yeah, that's something now, you know.
Like I said, Jacobe Myers, when I first saw him, I saw his release game and and and he wasn't even a receiver for a long time, and I was really impressed with him. That's just those are the two that stick out in my head.
No, I think stuff like that's fascinating to me because I'll say stuff sometimes on the air, and I'll say little stuff. People that do little stuff well generally do big stuff even better because little stuff is annoying and sometimes teds, but it leads to big stuff.
Gotta keep the off clean.
That's absolutely so. By the way, you're gonna do a pod with Bill on your Games with names. So you're doing John bod Jovie, You're doing Bill, You're doing big stuff. You're going.
Big name.
So let me ask you. I think Bill's gonna make another one at coaching. I think he's too smart to be out of it. I said this when Sean Payton came to Fox Fur a year. I'm like, I remember having dinner. I'm like, you're too smart to be doing I'm doing you gotta go coach. Bill's too smart to be sitting on the sidelines. I actually think it's an advantage Bill not coaching, getting off the treadmill, bouncing around to college camps, you know, son, I like, I think it's what Bill needed. I think sometimes it's I mean, you're on the treadmill. Yeah, you don't even fall the news. You don't know what's going on. Your guest, do you think Bill makes another big run to try to get back because I still think he's one of he's the smartest defensive coach in the history of football.
Yeah, I do. I do think Bill wants to get back into coaching, and you know, I think this is a great thing for him to have a year off because he when we go into the off season, he'd always talk about self scout. We got a self scout. We got to know our strengths, we got to know our weaknesses. Now, if he practices what he preaches in his coaching career, then he's going to get better because he's going to realize certain things that he probably would have did differently, or this or that. You know so, and it gives you a perspective when you get to see be out for a year and see it because I remember after I retired my first year, my first year out, I'm sitting there like, man, I wish I would have done this a little less, or I would have done this a little more. I didn't trained too hard this year, And you know, he still has, you know, some gas in the tank where he could still go out and do things because he's a coach, which is a great teacher, great teacher. So I do believe he's going to be back in the league.
Yeah, so you did look at your career and pick it at it? Oh yeah, oh yeah, train too hard?
Yeah, I mean my body broke down. And I was a guy that never liked to get out of shape for you know, my first two three years, I was like a regular. You know, all right, you get three weeks off, but after that, you know, hanging around Brady, you sit and you look the off seasons where you evolve yourself. This is where you make your games. This is where you can do that. I just didn't do it as smart as I possibly could. I would just go full speed like a jet throttle, no throttle, ain't no break.
Julian Edelman three super Bowl Championships, one of the great postseason receivers ever, Twelve years in the NFL, all with New England. It's great seeing you, great seen you.
Shout out to Lilybug my little girl.
Lilly Howard. Congratulations for coming to this amazing studio. It's probably the most boring place you'll be the rest of your life.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
All right, J Mack, last week you ran through the AFC playoff teams. It's my favorite segment every week, and we've got some good ones. But as a former newspaper guy who kicked that career to the curb to go digital, gambling and television, it is time. Are we ready tomorrows headlines? Today? Let's start Jmax seeds one through seven. Let's start at the bottom. Your seven seed in the NFC.
Okay, seven seeds, So this is a bit of a surprise. I don't think a lot of people have them here. This is a bilo for me. The headline for the seventh seed will be Darnold, Palmer, Sam and Justin create Perfo.
That's where your boozy weekend ahead.
Listen, man, I love the Ara Jones pick up for the Vikings, very underplayed story.
This is a great running back. He was dged up last year.
But I do think when you look at the past defenses that Sam Darnold will face, and.
I think Sam Donald wins a job, right, I don't think it's gonna be McCarthy.
Yeah, Donald's ready to go. Now.
Just remember what Kevin O'Connell did last year with even inferior quarterbacks as Sam Donald. Okay, like Donald's gonna have an opportunity for success here, Colin. I think schedule is a little tough in the first like seven weeks, but after that, I expect the Vikings to take off, and I've got them sneaking into the seventh spot in the wild.
I love this pick. I love that you have the courage to do that. I love that. Tomorrow's headlines today the number sixth seed in the NF seed, Donald Palmer. That was good.
That's not bad.
Listen, this one's tough. I love your Rams, A couple other good teams. I wanted to put the Bears in. I just didn't quite have room. The headline for the sixth seed will be over the cat put Seattle leaves and foaming at the mouth. I'm sorry. I'm all in on McDonald. I love what he did in Baltimore last year as a defensive coordinator, and just he's got pieces in the secondary to work with In Seattle, I think they're gonna be a better defense. But I love the offense. Now, it's a bit of a black box. We don't know what the new OC coming from the university of Washington.
Your guy grub.
We don't know what he's gonna do, Like, are they gonna go three white outs? Because if they do, you gotta locket. You got Metcalf and you got JSN, the awesome player at Ohio State. Colin, there's a world where this offense is like, oh, we've got something here. Offensive line was down a little last year. Remember the two tackles were good. I think two years ago came down. If we could just get them up. I think the Seattle Seahawks are gonna sneak into the playoffs.
I one of the more compelling teams. I just don't know what to get, but everybody is saying, this is de Miko Ryan's level coach. He's gonna surprise.
You could get them plus I think plus one seventy five to make the playoffs.
That's not bad. Plus money for Seattle.
Toorro's headlines today, Now, how do we go? It gets interesting? The number five seed in the NFC. I mean, you know, I talk to Colin Cowherd.
This might be the number two seed in the NFC.
You love these teams. The headline will be love actually is pretty good. Packers show signs of life now listen, you probably don't know the movie Love.
Actually I don't.
Oh my goodness, Karen Knightley's in there. I lied to ensemble cast.
Great movie.
But Jordan Love, we know he started slowly, very slowly last year picked it up, Colin. I looked at the injuries this team overcame last year. Offensive line was in brutal shape, Bacti Ai end Company were hurt. Aaron Jones at a running back, Christian Watson the great promising wide receiver. Right, he's like half the season, Colin, if you could get green Bay full season healthy, Jordan Love's second year with Lafleur as a starter, I think Green Bay is probably a wildcard team.
I've got him in.
There's a world where they win that division.
I still think Detroit's head and shoulders above, but green Bay seems like they're.
Here to stay. Now we go to the division winners in the NFC tomorrow's headlines today, So the first of our division winners, number four seed.
Listen, this team should have been here last year, right, They got terrible quarterback play, easy schedule, could not produce the headline will be part of me. But do you have any great Jon Jon Robinson and the Falcons.
I think they're gonna get in Colin. Look at the schedule.
Oh, it's just easiest schedule in the lead, no question. And you combined that with they went four and six and one score games. That was with a coach I didn't love. I think you liked him more than me. And then a quarterback Desmond Ritter, who just I mean he melted down in the red zone.
He was awful.
They just couldn't do much offense.
So now you get a better coach in Rawhee Morris, you get an upgrade at quarterback with Kirk Cousins. You've got the skill position guys and god weapons. B John Robinson was fantastic. The wide receiver Drake London, I like him a lot.
Yeah, I don't see them as a twelve win team, but ten wins is going to get you the four seed.
I think, similarly to Tampa last year, you just enough get in and maybe you get fortunate in round.
Yeah. No, you and I agree that this team's got theirs. They underachieved for their offense.
And I could not go back to the Saints after last season's debockle f Toorrow's headlines.
Today. Now we get to the elite teams in the NFC. The number three.
See, so there's three teams a cut above everybody. We pretty much know who they are. We'll start with three. The headline will be wake up and some of the golf e Lions love Northern Roast. I've got Detroit going back to the playoffs. They're favored in fourteen games.
Coming now.
The big concern among Lions fans, and there's a few of them out there, what do we have if Amara Saint Brown goes down the same way to Ceedee Lamb as the number one guy by a.
Min fraudulent receiver.
Potentially you could go out and try to buy DeVante Adams say we're all in. I mean, listen, they kept Ben Johnson, the great OC. You paid Golf, You paid Saint Brown. Offensive line returns four starters. They should be one of the best teams in the NFC. Again, I just questioned the pass defense.
They were terrible last year, but they addressed it.
They did going to start two new cornerbacks. Carlton Davis from Tampa, who was bad.
Well, I know, but he's got he's length, he's interesting.
To way, he's interested.
And then a rookie so brand new secondary. They haven't been able to fix that.
We'll see. I like the Lions as an eleven win team.
Now the Titans. Tomorrow's headlines today, who do you have?
There?
Is the number two seed? Remember only the one seed gets a bye?
Is it very difficult because you want that one seed badly? The headline will be.
Juice check yourself before.
You wreck yourself. Yes, we're giving a fullback some love here. I know Niners.
I love him.
I'm picking them and win the Super Bowl. Uh, it looks like they are favored in every single game they listen. You forget last year they were in two one score games.
That's it.
They blew out everybody. Baltimore on the AF did the same thing. Blue people out, Blue people out.
Christian McCaffrey, healthy, Deebo Samuel. If everybody's healthy, they're good to go.
Now.
We don't know what's going on with trub Williams. I'm still waiting for your brand and Ayuk source.
To pop up with the contract. But this offense, when everybody's there, is amazing.
Is a juggernaut.
I like Purty a lot Niners number.
I like him more than people think. I like his maturity. I like his maturity and his action. I do worry late in seasons wind rain. He struggled in a mildly wet game in Cleveland, and it's you get to the December and January, it's windy and cold.
I have him as the two seed.
That means if they're not the one seed, they're going on the road, possibly for the NFC Championship.
Finally, tomorrow's headlines today the number one seed in the NFC.
I know fans of this city think I don't like them, but I'm telling you they're going to be a beast this year. The headline for the number one seed in the NFC will be Eagles now possess, asserted Jena Kwan. Yes, I like the top the NFC. The Saquon Barkley edition. Killen Moore is an upgrade. Look at Saquon Barkley, all excited he is in position.
Not that he is going to have a monster year. I can't. I hope he's healthy. I want to see him just crush.
He should dominate.
Obviously, losing Kelsey at center hurts, but the skill position player guys are loaded. Kellen Moore good offensive coordinators, so regressed a little. I think he can return to form with an awesome unit. Vic Fanngio defensive coordinator who we like a lot. I know he rubbed some people the wrong way in Miami, but this is a team that has all the pieces in place.
Now, secondary is a question everybody. You know how many great secondaries are there?
Well, nobody plays It's yeah, it's an offensive league. So here are my NFC predictions. Eagles, Niners, Lions, Falcons.
I think we're yeah, I'm pretty darn class.
My new playoff teams are I have three in the NFC.
Here are yours?
How they stack up? You have Rams, I don't.
I think it's very clear. Your upset team is Minnesota. Mine's Washington. Yep, you could very well be right. I like the Rams a lot more than you. You like the Seahawks somewhat more than me.
We both have the newness in there.
No, but I mean we we have a lot of good coaches and a lot of I mean, we're very similar. Your Minnesota pick is courageous. I appreciate it.
It's a little off the board.
But you know what's funny is everybody bailed on Baker and Baker reborn Gino. Everybody bailed on Gino reboots his career. Kevin O'Connell and Kyle Shanahan are big Donald fans. They're looking at the same film. Yeah, I if Donald comes in there and gets protection.
Can you split with the Lions and Packers?
Is there a world where they go two and two against those because those teams are clearly better than the Vice.
Well, you know what you're saying, basically is Chicago's last. And I think that's very possible.
And I like the Bears.
I think they are only defensive coach in the division.
The Bears could finish last and go eight and nine.
That's what I think they're gonna That's what I think. I think they're gonna be a I think eight and nine.
But does Zebra Flues keep his job if they go eight?
No, he won't. But my take is I want to see Caleb's production. I don't. They're not a super Bowl team. I don't care about the record. Do I watch them and think, oh, they're viable Like Houston last year made the playoffs. Even if they didn't, you'd be like, oh, this is gonna be a good franchise for a decade. Coach quarterback Texans are. They're gonna be good. That's what I'm looking for. We'll see them Monday live in LA. It's the herd
