Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Ah. It is a Friday heading into a wild and crucial NFL weekend. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening or watching iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio f S one. One hour from now, my blazing five picks off a undefeated week, four wins, no losses in a push, got some momentum. Love my picks. It's a very difficult nightline last night for my partner Jason McIntyre, who is as clinical he is a Jets fan beyond any reasonable measure. So how are you feeling this morning? Feel great? Christmas weekend is here? Very excited, a lot of football over the weekend. Putting last night behind me, Colin, putting it behind me. We move on. We're fans, but you know we got a life, to live in Christmas, to enjoy. Yeah, well, put, well, I have to talk about it. So Zach Wilson year one completed fifty five percent of his throws, that was last of all the quarterbacks who qualified. And Zach Wilson in year two has completed fifty four percent, that is last among all the quarterbacks who would qualify. Zach Wilson is not a franchise quarterback. He's not a starter in this league. He could be a backup. I have my doubts. Generally, backups are older, mature guys, very good in the room, teachers, mentors. You know, Colt McCoy's dad was a coach. Colt McCoy can come in and win the occasional game. Good in the room, good with film, good with young quarterbacks. That's not really Zach's thing. He's the second most popular quarterback on the team, and yet he's the starter. The good news is, and there is good news, the roster's really good. Some good young receivers. It was a standalone game. Everybody saw it, nobody can deny it. And you had a star young quarterback as a comp next to him, playing on the road against the better defense, and he looked really, really, really good, like a starting franchise quarterback would. Zach Wilson had seven drives seventy eight yards. A former CFL backup quarterback Chris Streveler had one drive for eighty three. The backup was noticeably really bigger, noticeably stronger, more mobile, more confident, more athletic, and more success. It's no longer a debate go big or go bigger? Just ask yourself. Mike White twenty seven years old, has to play Patrick Mahomes twenty seven years old Super Bowl MVP. Does it feel like a fair fight? Josh Allen twice a year, Mike White? That the answer? Tua, Mike McDaniel, Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waddle versus Mike White? Is that the answer? Or you could draft one another rookie quarterback against Bill Belichick, who you know owns rookie quarterbacks and will eventually get a real offensive coordinator. Is that the answer? It's New York. Go big. You know these teams that try to save money or convince themselves they didn't get it wrong. You're just it's like a shovel, You're just you continue to dig. Look around your division. Josh Allen Belichick. The answer isn't another young quarterback. This roster is actually pretty good. It's not like the Giants, a generic roster in a generic stadium. The Jets have an elite corner and they're not paying him anything. Some really nice, good young receivers and they're not paying him anything. They're not tied to an ugly quarterback contract. They need a left tackle and a veteran quarterback. Jimmy Garoppolo, for the record, played in this system. The coach from San Francisco, the coordinator for the Jets. He knows the system been banged up a little, but it was an ankle injury, not shoulder, not throwing arm. Derek Carr again, Derek Carr in utter chaos in a tough division, willed the Raiders to the playoffs last year. But the good news is the roster's fine. You're not tied to any bad contracts. But Zach Wilson's not it. And there's total clarity today, total absolute clarity. That's what's great. Yet these games buried in the one o'clock window and somebody sees stats. Nope, we all saw it. Cold Windy just added elements. He looks small. He looks lost. It's okay, about half the guys you're take in the first round just do not work. Don't convince yourself it does. We all saw it. We know what's bad. Here's the head coach after we haven't seen the last of them. But but right now, we just he just got to focus on finding ways to get better. We gotta find ways to help him. We gotta find ways to protect better. We gotta find ways to run better. We've got to find better, ways to call the game better. We got to We've we've got to do a lot. It's not just it's not just him, it's it's collective all. We've all got to find ways to get better. No, it's mostly him, and that's okay. It's mostly him. So the bigger game tomorrow is the Cowboys and they're taken on the Eagles. But the Eagles are now traveling a little beat up and they're gonna use a backup quarterback Gardner Minshew, who's not terrible, kind of fun to watch. Good backup. Rob Ninkovich formern NFL player was on the other network, ESPN was talking about the pressure is now absolutely no not on Dak. The pressures on Mike McCarthy, he said, and this is what we discussed yesterday. Da goes thirteen and three, got all the credit. Zeke got suspended for six games, his passer rating plummeted. It wasn't a reality check on Dak. It was criticism that Zeke wasn't mature. Then Jason Garrett's fault and the contract negotiation of fault. Now Jerry Jones. Sometimes it's his fault. Now it's Mike McCarthy's fault. This is what I talked about yesterday. The articles are already being written. If Mike McCarthy does not win, Folks, Mike McCarthy as a Super Bowl and went four and one with Cooper Rush. Mike McCarthy's fine. He's not Belichick. He's not John Harbaugh, he's not Andy Reid. Nobody's saying he is. He's not Kyle Shanahanner McVay. There's five or six guys top of the food chain. He's not. But he's in the mix with the other fifteen guys who have jobs and have steady employment. What's interesting, though about Dak is his predecessor, Tony Romo. I remember defending Romo for years. He got crushed, And it's interesting what we do with quarterbacks. Peyton Manning for over a decade, his label was Peyton Manning can't win the big game. Before that, I grew up with John Elway, who was crucified for getting blown out in Super Bowls not a bad place to get blown out. Aaron Rodgers gets a lot of heat for not winning the big game. John Shallen now starting to hear it, when are you gonna get to the big One? And Tony Romo, the predecessor to DAK, took a lot of heat. If you go look at their regular season numbers and DAK has had, on average, a significantly better offensive line. Not necessarily closed for our radio audience. They're the same same quarterback. Dak slightly better you go to the playoffs, Romo is better. You go to the fourth quarter, which really matters for quarterbacks, and Tony Romo's absolutely better than DAK. But that's what's interesting. Tony was better in the playoffs. Tony is better in the fourth quarter. Yet Tony Romo got crucified. So you say to yourself, well, I mean DAK is the underdog story. Fourth round, Tony Romo was undrafted. Tony Romo didn't get paid for years and years in this league. Tony Romo had bad offensive lines. Tony Romo had Jason Garrett, who took all the heat for DAK. It's not that I don't like that. I do. He's a good B plus quarterback. He's Kirk Cousins with a better brand. But it is remarkable how we always blame the quarterback for years, even great ones Elway Forever and Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers, Matt Stafford. When he came to the Rams, a lot of people are like, he can't win the big game. He won the Super Bowl first year. Tony Romo's small school guy got Claubert Dak. It's not about Mike McCarthy this weekend. Got a Super Bowl four in one with Cooper Rush, went thirteen and three with five, got a ring with Aaron Rodgers, winning record with a backup. Mike McCarthy has led DAK to one hundred plus passer ratings since they've been together. This is on DAK at home. Eagle beat up Gardner, Minshew Das gotta win this game. Dax gotta win this game. If Joe Burrow can win without his top running back, in Jamaar, Chase go on the road and win. Gott to win this game. Everything lines up for you. It's not on Mike McCarthy this weekend. 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. I didn't think it was the easiest environment for anybody to quarterback last night, but considering he faced a better defense, a defensive head coach on the road, Trevor Lawrence is pretty good. Seven for sixteen, one third down, three hundred and seventy yards, excellent. Twenty for thirty one, seven yards a pass, no penalties. There's only five NFL quarterbacks. I would not pick up the phone. Four I have him. I'm not picking up the phone. Don't bother calling me. Mahomes, Alan Burrow, Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, that's it. Everybody else, including Aaron Rodgers, Brady Stafford. I'd take a call. High school college in pro. I saw Trevor Lawrence playing high school at a tournament in San Diego. Kid picks it up very quickly. There was a moment at the Super Bowl this past year when I met Trevor Lawrence. It was at a dinner party thing event, and he's only twenty three years old. I was completely struck by his presence and his maturity and his confidence. It looked like, it felt like it sounded like I was talking to somebody in their mid thirties. Last night was a perfect example of why he is going to be great. He fumbled on the first drive right deep owned territory, really ugly. Jets, get it, kick a field goal. He's trailing bad start. They just beat the Cowboys. He's on the road. He just fumbled. You're not focused. A young team in New York on primetime classic let down spot, Classic implosion spot. He takes a deep breath, gets the following kickoff, drive sixty some yards, gets a field goal, They force a punt, gets the next drive ninety six yards, touchdown. Game over, Thanks for flying United. That was the game. I preached this with young quarterbacks all the time. Keep your emotion mostly to yourself at the podium, keep your thoughts mostly to yourself. Bland is best. Yeah, I know, Brady. When he finally got the Tampa after all those trophies, showed more emotion. He earned it. But most of the young talented quarterbacks that unravel. Baker Mayfield's one of them. They can't control themselves. They can't control themselves at a podium. There's too much emotion, there's too much cowboy. This kid's a grown up. And if you look at Mahomes, Alan, Herbert Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, the one thing they all have in common, they've got some emotional discipline. They can be sometimes kind of bland in terms of podium it can be kind of cliche. Exactly. Last night was the classic let down spot just beat the Cowboys, young team, people talking playoffs, go to the bright lights Amazon, here we go. Fumble, first possession, Nope, head down, keep it bland, execute, composure, discipline, not cool words in twenty twenty two. I know, here's Doug Peterson after For the most part, I thought he did a nice job of controlling and managing what we asked him to do, you know. And the weather was obviously a challenge with the wind in the rain, but you know, I thought he did played tough again, played physical, and that was really really good to see out of our quarterback. I'm happy for Doug Peterson when he was on the beach for a year. I implored USC to take a look at NFL guys. We thought he would be a really good fit with Trevor Lawrence. Every quarterback he works with, he does a really good job to simplify the complicated Nick Foles. We saw it with Carson Wentz before he got hurt. We are now seeing it with Trevor Lawrence. Part of the genius of Andy Reid. He takes the complex, he makes it simple. Doug Peterson and Andy Reid disciple has done the exact same. Good news for Jacksonville. They have some holes, not at quarterback. The Jets don't have a lot of holes, but a big one at quarterback. I'd rather be the Jags this morning. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week dayson noon Easter n a Empacific. There's the saying that you eat with your eyes first, all right, So you go to a nice restaurant, they want to make it look appealing. You eat with your eyes first. So generally you watch something, Generally you trust your eyes on things. Right, looks dangerous, stay away, looks overcooked, stay away. I think one of the issues was Zach Wilson with the Jets. It just doesn't look right. He looks small, and he looks law. He can't see the blitz is coming. He doesn't see the field particularly well, like like if Justin Fields doesn't work out in Chicago. He's big, there's a lot of wow moments. He's physical, he's fast. You can get fooled by some of these guys, Jamis Winston, Carson Wentz, Marcus Mariota. They're big, they're mobile, there's wow moments. They run over players, they jump over players, they make big throws. This is hard again. I'm I'm texting general manager last night and he's like, man, finding the right coach. There's five great ones right now in the world. Find the right quarterback. There's five great ones in the world. It's hard to get him simultaneously. You're Kansas City, you know you're You're Sean Payton, Drew Brees. Like at any one time, there's two all time coaches quarterbacks, Bill Walsh, Montana. It's just hard. But it doesn't even look right. Even next to Mike White, his backup, Zach looks like his little brother next to coaches, he looks small. And it's funny, is it because he plays small? Patrick Mahomes. I looked it up. He's six two. On the Chiefs website. Aaron Rodgers is six two, Deshaun Watson is six two, Dak is six two. Zach Wilson's listed at six two. He looks small, and maybe it's because he plays like he's completely utterly overwhelmed. The game is hard for him. It BYU mostly a week schedule. His biggest year was a COVID year, the weakest of the BYU schedules. He rarely got hit. You know, I said this yesterday. Is that asking a kid like like Justin Fields Ohio State to the NFL, Well, it's a big ask, but Ohio State's a massive program with a grown up media and high speculation. You're in big games, You're in TV games. So you go to Chicago, big, big city Chicago. It's a leap, but it's a reasonable leap. Emotionally, it's a reasonable leap right to go from a rich kid BYU kind of protected small town media, I mean really small media to New York City, ferocious, aggressive media, defensive coach, a often chronicled, documented viewed division. This is not the NFC South before Brady got there, When Sean Payton left. We don't pay much attention to it. This is it is a big ass cross country New York from Pro Bowl. Kid grew up a little bit Johnny Manzell money, probably a different life, not a lot of you know, struggle some like every kid. But you know, he's a great looking kid. And my takeaway is that's a big ask. I mean, justin fields to the Bears, that's an ask, But I mean Ohio State football feels like it's twenty five percent pro football. It's a factory. It's a huge it's a huge program, big schedule. Michigan's on the schedule. You'll play in Alabama, Georgia, Clemson. You know, it's a whole different ball game. You play at these like Alabamas or LSUS in Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, you know your Notre Dame. Those are TV programs. You're facing NFL rosters every weekend. His best year was in a COVID year when the BYU schedule was isn't the most daunting to begin with, It was a little light and it just feels like it was too much. And it's remarkable to me he looks so small, but yet you look at the numbers, and he's no smaller than a lot of the other guys. But he's it's just you eat with your eyes. What does it look like? It just doesn't look close. He looked, doesn't look close to working. Hey, I'm Doug gottlie 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. He download it, he listened to it. I think you'll like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gotlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you get your podcast. He played Brady and lost. He played Aaron Rodgers and lost. He played Trevor Lawrence and lost. So arguably the three most talent at quarterbacks Dack faced. He didn't play particularly well and in those games he completed sixty percent of his throws, so, you know, and his passer rating was in like the high seventies. You know, it's interesting about McCarthy. So if you look at at the six quarterbacks that Mike McCarthy has had the most games with he doesn't make them significantly better or worse. So Aaron Rodgers in his prime was the best. He had a winning playoff record. La Flour doesn't with him, and he won a super Bowl. So if it doesn't look like to me, Aaron Rodgers was significantly better with Matt Lafleur, I would say this. The division was better for most of Mike McCarthy's reign than it was the last couple of years with La Fleur. So La Fleur got an easier division. Doesn't look like so go to old Brett Farve. He got two years of Brett Farve. His last year with Brett Farve he was thirteen and three. I don't know, it doesn't. I mean the passer ratings are close touchdown interception. It doesn't look like he screwed up Brett Farve, who a few years later was out of the league. If you look at Dak, if you look at Dak's numbers with McCarthy without McCarthy, he's actually better with him. The offensive line's been worse, and Dak is better with McCarthy than he was with Jason Garrett. So he's not screwing that up. How about old Andy Dalton and Andy Dalton was old. So old Andy Dalton wasn't very good in New Orleans and he's about five hundred. And then there's young Cooper Rush. He's gone five and one with him. Can't bang him for that? How many people go five and one with their backup? But if you look at the three best quarterbacks that Mike McCarthy has had, Aaron Rodgers isn't significantly better without him, He's winning more in division games, Old Farve with and without him, same and Dak slightly better with him. So we can keep blaming Mike McCarthy. He's clearly not ruining the three best quarterbacks he's had. Has a winning record with Cooper Rush, he lost with Brett Hunley, who's not really an NFL quarterback, and old Andy Dalton wasn't very good in New Orleans, he wasn't very good in Dallas. Because right now, old Andy Dalton's not very good. But the only problem with that McCarthy Dak argument is forty nine million. That's Dak's cap Hi, that's not that's not Mike McCarthy's fault is that I know. But ultimately who you can't get rid of a forty nine million cap hit, So who takes the hit, It's gonna be the coach. So I know it's not fair. Life's not fair often, right, But McCarthy loses this game, that's gonna be bad. And if they get bounced in the first round by Tampa or Carolina or wherever they go, it's gonna be really bad. I can see him getting fired. I know it's not popular and it's not fair. They're not getting rid of Dack. He's not going anywhere. I know bad. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. Let's blaze it off, fired up, it's Collins blazing five Lions, said panther J Mac. I'm taking the Panthers at home plus two and a half. They're five and two this year when they rush for over one hundred yards. They're o and seven when they don't. And I don't like the Lions defense against the run on the road. Here's the other thing is that Jared Goff home and road splits. You gotta notice not the same guy away from home. Eighty two passer ratings twice as many giveaways as touchdowns. This defense will give Carolina and Sam Darnold opportunities. Carolina is at home for the holidays, plus the points, I'm gonna take him with an upset win thirty twenty four Panthers Lions cool off a little bit beals at Patriot. How about this for an upset New England plus three is the side off a humiliating loss, perhaps the most embarrassing of Belichick or Matt Patricia's career. Remember this team has scored ninety nine points ninety nine off turnovers, most in the league. The Patriots defense eleven sacks over the last three games. They're starting to get consistent pressure, and their defense overall has been top three to five all year long. The Bengals trailed to buck seven nothing until Tampa imploded. They're on a six game winning streak is Cincinnati, but only one against a winning team. Cold, super windy will limit the vertical passing game. Patriot's an ugly game where they control the line of scrimmage twenty four to twenty three. Upset by the way, Bengals a little dinged up on their defensive front. Commanders at forty nine Ers. If you can buy half a point or a point, I would, but I'm gonna take the Commanders plus six and a half like that way more at seven and a half. But here it is. They average six point seven yards of play last weekend against the good Giants defense, last five road games four oh and one, strangely played better on the road, and since Week five this is the league's best defense. And Chase Young returns the Niners a little beat up Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, their top corner Treveria Awards coming off a concussion. I think the Niners win, but Washington's defense. When Chase Young is going to get pressure on Brock Curdie, there's now some tape on him. Twenty six twenty three Niners. It's ugly. It's close. Take the points. Raiders at Steelers, Steelers minus two at home to me is the play. You know. They've won three of four, their only loss was the Ravens close, and their defense very very strong. The story here is also beyond the defense. Kenny Pickett concussion protocol, will return, not tone an interception in his last five starts. He's starting to get it, and he's three and one in his last four healthy starts. The Raiders defense does not force you into turnovers at all, and the Steelers defense does. In fact, the Raiders defense is the only team allowing one hundred plus passer raising ratings to quarter backs all year. If it was three, maybe I passed, but only minus two. Pittsburgh is gonna win it. I think it's close. Twenty seven, twenty three Packers at Dolphins. All the wise guys love the Packers. I do not. I think Miami coming home against a borderline playoff team is gonna thrive. I love how they played against Buffalo and lousy weather. They had four hundred and five yards almost one hundred and ninety rushing. It's their first home game since Week twelve, and they've been five and one at home, two of five and oh at home this year with a passer rating almost one oh nine. Five of the six Packers wins this year, two have come against the Bears, one against the Rams, the Bucks, and the Patriots. This is a high powered offense and Green Bay's not. You realize Aaron Rodgers has been held under two hundred yards passing in two of his last three, and he's gone eighteen consecutive games under three hundred yards passing. This team isn't good enough to go on the road and beat a quality team. And I think Miami is twenty seven to twenty Miami over Green Bay. Wise, guys like the Pack as I do not. So I'm gonna take the points with the Panthers, the Patriots and the Commanders, and I'm gonna take two home favorites, Steelers a small number minus two and the Dolphins minus three and a half. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter ninety Empacific. Jordan Palmer's the founder of Quarterback Summit, helps young quarterbacks reaching the potential. He had Mahomes as a kid, Trevor Lawrence as a kid, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, He's had them all. Okay, let's just start with the ugly part. Zach Wilson. I said this, he looks overwhelmed. He looks lost. He didn't get hit a lot in college. I always thought he had a little bit too much cowboy for me. That's just my opinion. But I will say this, Jordan, he looks overwhelmed. That's my takeaway. What does he look like? You're a pro. This is what you do. What does he look like to you? Well, I think in the evaluation process. Look, I'm raising my hand here saying the NFL draft evaluation process, of which I'm uniquely positioned to have an opinion based off of how I spent the last thirteen years getting guys ready for it. The evaluation process, between the combine, between the pro days, between you know, the personal actions, the visits and all that stuff. I think it's right for innovation. And what happens is we get so caught up in stats and highlights and what they are physically capable of doing and how well they handled an evaluation process of which they were literally getting prepared for and Zach was prepared for by a great group of people. What happens is is we don't look at what, in my opinion, is obvious, which is if I if I'm the Jets and I ask him to be the Jets quarterback, what in his upbringing, What in the last few years has showed me that he's ready to do this? What at Byu, of which he won the job his last year in camp? What at Byu did I see where I go? Yep, that translates to New York City. And so I look at Zach physically, yes, and his intelligence. I've been around him. Dude can totally learn ball. He's smart guy, pick it up quick. But it's a lot like when the Chicago Bears took Trubisky from Chapel Hill with the second pick. Ironically, and I was a Bear and I said, there's nothing about North Carolina that prepares you for that. And there's nothing in his childhood and nothing in the upbringing. It's not even a knock. I'm not saying this is Zack's ball. I'm saying it's the Jets. It's the media that put pressure on the Jets to do it. And ironically here, I think it's the Jets fan base that we're so mad about how Sam Darnold went, that they were so excited to just move the chapter. And yet somebody, everybody miss what I think is the most important piece, which is is he'd done things in his life that it prepared him to be this quarterback on this team, in this franchise, in this city. Yeah, Patrick Mahomes doesn't have Tyreek Hill. It looks different this year, but really, what really is remarkable about Patrick to me is he's gone through a defensive rebuild, an O line rebuild, a receiver room rebuild, no impact. So it tells me cognitively he picked up up really quick. What does the film say, What are you seeing from a kid you had before anybody else? What do you see in this year without Tyreek? Well? I actually think Patrick and Steph Curry I see a lot of similarities there in terms of what they've done, you know, and their upbringing, both from like not really super respected college programs. I mean Steph went to Davidson and Patrick went to Texas Tech, and but they started off scorers and playmakers. Patrick Mahomes most people didn't watch it, but his highlight tape in college is ridiculous. Steph Curry, I think he was fourth all time and scoring. And I don't follow basketball like you guys do, but he was a dominant college basketball player, dominant scorer, right he could always sound like he learned how to shoot when he got to the league. It sound like Patrick learned how to throw touchdowns when he got to the league. But what's happened is with Patrick, he's gone from a scorer, a playmaker, a guy at Texas Tech who was usually down usually had to score forty points to be in it, or score forty points and lose, and he's turned into a distributor. Now, I grew up watching basketball, and I used to love Alan Iverson when I was a kid. And as I got better at basketball and understood the game better, I started loving guys like Nash and Tony Parker because they were distributors. And when I think a distributor, I think if they passed the ball to a guy with a high percentage shop Yeah right, I mean how many layups did Tim Duncan make in his illustrious career, right? And what Pat's doing is he still has the playmaker, but he's distributing the ball. He's taking the checkdown, he's hitting the shallow cross. He's very accurate in screens and bubble screens. And he's not the only one. Josh is another guy who's built his game being a playmaker becoming a distributor. But I think that is what should have defensive coordinators. The most concerned moving forward is that these guys entering the league, they're all playmakers, but they're becoming distributors as opposed to you look at Tom Brady, who's never at any point I think been a playmaker. He's always been a distributor, right, you know, Joe Burrow doesn't have the Josh Allen superman qualities or mahomes ability, the arm angles. I thought he was kind of a more accurate Tony Romo out of college. He's obviously better than that. Your takeaway on he's so good situationally, he's almost more. It's like Michael Jordan, he's more. He's better at the free throw line when the pressure's on than a Tuesday night in Denver. Burrows better on a third and six with a pass rush than he is, you know, first and ten. And did you see it early in him? Yeah? I think we all saw a senior year. I'm in a small group of people who were watching the junior year right before when they were I think seven and forward, LSU and pretty good, but they led college football and Drops that year. The same group of receivers were celebrating as some of the best young players in the NFL. That same group l NC double A and Drops Joe's junior year, so they were on the cusp, right, But what's happened in the evolution of Joe's game? In my opinion, and a role that I've played, you know still to this day, is in the efficiency. So just like I said, Patrick and Josh, there's so many physical things they can do that they grew up playmakers right small schools and all that. With Joe, he's been a distributor, game manager. But what's happened is the playmaking part of his game is built around efficiency and fundamentals. So try and find me a clip of him taking his left hand off the ball in the pocket. You won't find it. He always keeps two hands on the ball. And the focus that I have with Joe and my NFL clients is removing inefficiencies from the game, removing momentum from their games. So when Joe moves around, he doesn't fall step, he doesn't get out of off balance, he doesn't waste movement. In the AFC Championship, the three third down scrambles that he had at Kansas City were the game. They weren't incredible throws seventy yards across his body, but they were places it should have been sacked negative plays, and they were third down conversions. And so with Joe, the game management, the situational awareness, the functional football intelligence, that's off the charts. But the evolution of his game is in the inefficiencies. And what happened is in August the appendected me worst possible timing, right, they cut him up, they sew him back together. He starts off the first couple of games throwing picks and moving inefficiently and building through bye week. Really two weeks before bye week, it all clicked and he's been on a tear ever since. Hey, let me you know fit for quarterbacks? Is it really matters? Mac Jones was very good as a rookie, but remarkably good if you looked at No. Number one receiver this year, he's regressed. The thing that's changed is his co And there's a different language offense to defense. I mean, there's a reason all these quarterbacks don't go to a linebacker. You were in the NFL for six years a quarterback. The language, the sensibility. I don't like the way they handle him. I don't like them saying publicly he can't make a Hail Mary throw. He is a very emotional player. I was called McEnroe Jones is what Nick Saban called him. So as we wrap this up, is um, I've kind of defended him a little bit on that. Jordan. I've said, listen, if my career was in doubt and you gave me a sales guy to be my producer, I'd be like, you're not taking this seriously. This is my career. You get one shot to be a franchise guy. Are you concerned that Mac? I don't know how well you know him, but I just don't think it's fair. I think I don't think it's fair what he goes through, just your thirty thousand foot view on what he's going to I've never even seen a dc B a OC in the NFL. I don't even know what what is that? Yeah, I don't think with young quarterbacks when you've got a you know, the fifteenth overall pick selected in that you know invest in them, that you do trial and error on Keith Goles around them. You don't roll the dice on a tight end. You don't roll the dice on a tackle who was terrible there, but let's see if he can pan out here. And I just don't think you have somebody be called plays for the first time in their NFL career, in their entire career, for a young quarterback like that, Statistically speaking, I think he had a great year last year. But there was a moment when I said the Patriots of their quarterback. And that was when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into New England. And yes, Tom Brady finished the game with a game winning drive and it was awesome. But young Rutt mac Jones went toe to tell with him he played great. There's no more eyeballs and pressure and expectations on you than in that situation. And so at that moment, I go, cool, they got their guy. Now you just got to build around him, and they're going trial and error. Yeah, and I just think they're going to set him back. I gotta ask you, I gotta ask you a more. You told me before the season. We talked off the air and I said, I think UFC is gonna go nine and three. I said, they don't have enough NFL bodies on defense. There's too much movement, and you said, yeah, Caleb's probably gonna solve all that. He was better than I thought. Um. I think it's sometimes unfair to compare a basketball player to Lebron or Jordan, or a player to Mahomes. But my eyes tell me I see some Mahomes like his nature in the pocket. Is it he knows where people are, he has what Zack doesn't. It's like he can feel pressure. He leaves at the exact moment he's gonna get hit. Is it unfair? I mean, how good is he? What do you you saw it before I did? What do you make of it? Well? But before I answer this, I'll say this MVP race, in my opinion's gonna come down to Josh Allen and Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes. So let's just say I'm not picking a favorite there that you said earlier on the show. But I think he's Josh because he's a lot faster than Patrick m He gets to full speed faster. Now, what he does it's similar to Patrick is and and all of these guys, I think, And what I'm training some of the best young players high school college in to do is and what I'm trying to get people to understand is it's less about how fast you are in the forty yard dash. It's more can you change direction at seventy percent of your full speed or greater? And what Mahomes does is he can be running damn near full speed and change direction. That's what creates time even if he is a tenth or two slower than Patrick. Yeah. Now with Caleb, I think that he has he gets to full speed and changes direction at almost full speed, and that is what creates problems for defenders that are rushing him, even if they're faster. That's why it translates to the league. So I think he's closer to Josh than Pat because he's more of a dynamic runner than Patrick, and because of the feel and because of his understanding and situational awareness with the ball in his hands. It'll translate immediately in the NFL. And like I said in September, I think he's gonna end up with the Heisman because he's going to solve so many problems for a program that so many people care about. Yeah, boy, it isn't that interesting. That's really an interesting comp all right. Jordan Paul founder a Quarterback Summit, a program that helps quarterbacks reach their potential. He had Burrow Trevor Lawrence, who's come into his own the last five six weeks. Exciting stuff. What a great career that is, by the way, six years in the NFL as well. Jordan Palmer on a Friday, great senior thanks for having me. Happy Holidays. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. By the way, I saw this, I'm you know, Aaron Rodgers apparently talking to Men's Health magazine about his aahuasca three day Aahuascar thing. Can I just read it? He said, Night one, I was a little resistant. Night two, I fully surrendered to the process and to the master teacher. She was benevolent in her lessons. There's a lot of overall happiness that exists when you have a deeper love for yourself. It allows you to feel, give more love, better, interact better. So I've been working on that. So there you go. He's been called basically a selfish player his entire season. I mean, there's nothing wrong with his career. Everybody in Green Bay comes out of there. Aaron only cares about himself. That he's not friendly as yourself. Isn't there a line to even cross with too much self love? Well? By the way, can I give you I love the Steelers pick. That's a great one by you do it for Franco Harris poor Weather. This week A lot of emotion raiders coming across the country. Outdoor team, I'm sorry, indoor team going outdoors. I like that. Pittsburgh he experienced the deeper love of himself. So so I just want to say zen Aaron Rodgers doesn't mean that's the best Aaron Rodgers football. Aaron Rodgers. Remember Matthew mcconne. He won the oscar when he put down the bongos. Well, it's weird. I talked to a buddy who is a He knows you, he'd seen you around at a certain country club, and I don't. He talked to summer of a country He talked to someone who had done ayahuasca. And this was like a legitimate science doctor although degrees, and he's like, listen, if you're dealing with something, and every we know everybody's dealing with something, Okay, it can give you some clarity and provide some much needed answers maybe to the questions you have. I'm not endorsing it. I haven't done it, but I'm open to the idea of doing it. Well, it could you, I'm not, but that's okay. I think again. It creates clarity and balance. Ask yourself this. When we think of Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Tom Brady is. The first thing you think of is, you know, they're very balanced. Sometimes to be great, it takes obsessiveness and what Aaron saying as I don't want that. I had a about three months ago. It's a weird story, but somebody who is in Aaron's circle was doing business with somebody in my circle. It was a different deal. It didn't involve me, but I happened to be at dinner with somebody and there was a discussion that came up and it was already directed at me. But he, this person who knows Aaron well, said, listen, he ain't ready. He's not a film junkie. Aaron's gonna do what Aaron wants to do. And so in Aaron's off in this ayahuasca thing, he would have been much better served for football to be hanging out with the rookie receivers because the rookie receiver relationship really needed Aaron's love in the offseason. That's why that was so bad in September, October and early November. Now it's much better, but the season's most mostly done. So my takeaway is this spiritual journey may make Aaron. A deeper fan of Aaron doesn't help football. Most people who are great at something, there's a cost to doing it. You can't go to every kid's recital, every little league game. If you're running Fox Sports, you know you've got to go to the World Cup for three weeks. So there's a cost of greatness. And Aarons I think, pushed back a little bit on that. More of Aaron, which I appreciate his openness about. I like the fact that he's willing to talk about it. Pro athletes don't. But there is generally, when you're talking about great anything, there's a cost. Just remember you know Aaron Rodgers is His counter would probably be something along the lines of, so you want me to build a better relationship with my wide receiver right now, versus me helping myself in the big picture macro sense of the word. You know what, I'll figure things out with the receiver. I need to figure out myself first. Probably what Aaron would say to that, I'm not speaking for him. I actually have met him, but we're not friends or any Yeah, I'm not. I'm not opposed to it. I'm just saying I see a lot of people seeking clarity and balance. And my takeaway is there's no perfect clarity or balance. Work is hard, work is sacar a weird thing. Were you seeking clarity and all that stuff in like your late twenties early thirties, or is that like a more recent thing in the last five ten years, I went to therapy. I go to therapy now occasionally. I don't do it regularly, but there was a time in my twenties and thirties when I went when I was getting married, I'm having kids, I'm seeking help as I was seeking some really just help and guidance. When I moved to Los Angeles, there was a lot of stress on kind of my business and my family and me. I wanted to go twelve fifteen therapy sessions kind of get everything right. But some people are very spiritual. There's a journey they want to get somewhere, breakthrough somewhere. That's not really what I've looked for. I've looked for guidance and a set of really smart ears. But we would agree, in our twenties and early thirties, we thought we had all the answers. I didn't need any help for anything. I got this. I'm Jason, I got this What am I worried about? But now as you get older, the kids are getting older, Yeah, progressing in work, and there's some things I don't have the answers to it. I wish I did, but I don't know if you're going to get them from ayahuasca. But the answers are out there, you just got to find them. Now, Aaron has no kids and is not married. It's usually a lot about Aaron. My criticism would be Aaron talks a lot about Aaron. Football is about community and others. It's not a shot. It's just he doesn't have Brady's kids divorced. Brady's got a whole different set of stuff sacrifices in his life. Aaron doesn't have. I don't even know if he has a pet, no kids. It's kind of Aaron and green Bay, small town green Bay doing kind of what he wants to. Let me ask you, why do we know all this about Aaron Rodgers because he guess what? Hold on? I don't know anything about Josh Allen? Is he your girlfriend, Mary? Kids? I don't know any of that. Why does Aaron put all his business out there? But Josh Allen, do you know anything about Josh Allen. He's been on the show before. I don't know anything about him. Well, I said, I appreciate Aaron's willingness to give more of Aaron to us. It's content. I appreciate that. And he is a thinker. I always liked him more than far of who I didn't think really was a thinking person's quarterback. I just thought he was gifted. I like that Aaron thinks about a lot of things. Peyton Manning was just deep, and there's a lot of different layers for Peyton. He's very complicated. I know people that know Peyton. He's complicated. Aaron's complicated. Those kind of people, to me, are fascinating. So I appreciate that. But I think it's all an interesting discussion. I do like people seeking help at an air of mystery. Some stuff that's just well. I've known about some people. I like that too. I've got listen. I've said I've said this before. At some point, I'm shutting this down. You'll never see me again. Yeah, I'm doing Johnny Carson. I'll play tennis. I'll go to Italy twice a year. I'm drinking wine and hanging out with my dogs. Some people want to be public they like. They put their meals online they they want. I wouldn't tell people about my Ayahuasca trip. Probably