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. Here we go. It is a Friday. We're live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one, one hour from now, A blazing four four picks. Not sure if I like any of them, kind of like one of them a lot. I'm going dogs again. Dogs are barking again. I've been doing it all year long. I got to fifty five percent. Jamact is joining. So here we are, eight coaches, eight quarterbacks left. Are you dog? Are your dogs barking? You going phase? Not a lot of dogs barking the weekend on my car. I'm not a lot of dogs parking. Yeah. I don't like my picks. I love mine? You do? Oh yeah? All right, Well we'll see four quarterbacks left in the AFC, and they're all really special. They're great, They're generational Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen. These are great. These are not overachievers. These are first round high picks, top ten. Great, build a franchise around him, can play from behind, can play with a lead. Anybody in this league. Baker Mayfield with a lead in a run game, nobody knows if he's gonna throw, can look good. These guys can play two touchdowns down on the road, playoff games, O line, beat up, win games. They're all timers. This year was a weird year for me predicting because I was so accurate. Why is that in three divisions I got it perfect AFC East, NFC East, and NFC North first, second, third, fourth, and in fact of four division, the NFC South, I picked Tampa to win and said the next three would be garbage, and they were, although they all tied, so you could argue I got four right half the league. That's weird, Right, that doesn't happen, right, But it does because it's the league is becoming more quarterback centric. It's easier to pick division winners. Who's the best quarterback. The best quarterback won seven of eight divisions. This year. You could say, oh, Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins had a better year than Aaron Rodgers. He was top five passing yards, top four passing touchdowns. I may have reversed that top five passing touchdowns, fourth passing yards. The only division where the quarterback, what we view is the best quarterback didn't win is the NFC West. Stafford got hurt and Kyler Murray got hurt. That's it. That's it. And so this trend, as the league becomes more quarterback centric, is not going away. And I'll give you an example. So from two thousand and three to twenty eighteen, remember back then, you could be a team with a power running game and a great defense. You didn't have to have a great quarterback, though it certainly helped, but the league was less quarterback driven. You could do things defensively you can't do today. Yet, from two thousand and three to two eighteen, the AFC in sixteen years, fifteen of the sixteen was Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Big Ben starting quarterback in the Super Bowl. There was one exception. Joe Flacco got bizarrely hot. That was never the same. Baltimore had a great coach and a good defense, and Baltimore has always been culturally a very sound program, right fifteen of sixteen years. So when you look around the AFC, now get used to this. Burrow, Mahomes, Alan, Trevor Lawrence. What about Justin Herbert? The Chargers do Charger things. They awarded it once with him. Well about Lamar Jackson, I love him, but he's been hurt last two end of seasons. What about DeShawn Watson, I don't know. I watched him this year. Did you watch him? It's like he's not quite the same. Offseason should help, but I don't think he's as good as those four. And I don't think he's as good as Herbert Mahomes, Alan Burrough, Trevor Lawrence. The league's getting easier to predict. NFC is different. That's overachievers. That's second round guys, that's the fourth round guy. Pretty's the seventh round guy. Daniel Jones feels like a reach AFC generational all time talents. Three of the four with offensive coaches, I don't know, get used to it. So let's talk cowboys. So if all the players. We have eight quarterbacks left various backgrounds, number one picks to the last guy drafted, and we have eight coaches. Now, I was thinking this morning, you know there's pressure on one or two teams of the eight, but no individual, no quarterback or coach, can change their reputation. Flip the narrative, like Mike McCarthy, that's it. Doug Peterson won a Super Bowl with Nick Foles. Andy Reid's got his ring. Bryan daybles done, wonders Nick Serrioni's a kid. I don't expect him to necessarily just run through this thing. Mike McCarthy, he beat San Francisco. He gets to the NFC Championship with a roster not as good as the one he'll face. Dak Prescott missed five games, he had to rebuild the offensive line, Michael Gallop and Dalton Schultz not available for portions of the season, and he ended up with the number one red zone offense in the league. Cooper Rush started five games. On Monday that Aaron Rodgers Mike McCarthy divorce. It's gonna feel different as Aaron continues three straight years to sputter at the end of seasons at Lambo losing to Garoppolo, outplayed by Golf, and Brady increasingly needy, not really committed in the off season. So we went as a staff and I said, what Mike's done deserves a lot of praise. And when Aaron and him kind of divorced, people of myself included, took Aaron's side. You know, he's the beautiful quarterback, he's dating celebrities, he's got the endorsements. He throws such a pretty ball. The feeling was, yeah, you know, Mike's kind of outdated, gun dumpy guy. Just I don't know, they don't get along. I'm taking Aaron's side. I'm guilty. I did. McCarthy disappeared to the basement, talked to analytics. That wasn't a big market for him. So I went and I said, let's go back and take Aaron's last ten big games. Now there's a lot of them here this year. I took the Detroit Playing game, the Miami Christmas game, that Philadelphia Dallas Buffalo games that were huge TV games on Sunday Night Football or on Fox big games. I went to the previous I don't count division games to play somebody twice Vikings Bears lines. I don't count those. I'm talking standalone television games. Fox builds their week around it Sunday Night Football. Then I went to twenty twenty one. There were three games. The Divisional Round playoff game against the Niners, that game where Aaron at San Francisco was brilliant, end of the game, won at that great throw. And then the Rams game which Aaron won as well. That was like McVay lafleur, three Musketeers coaches. And then I went before that, there were two huge games. The first time he faced Brady and Tampa didn't play well, and the NFC Championship against Brady and I Now we can argue, we can argue on are those the ten biggest games? They're ten big games and tends the number. I'm not going twenty deep. And all the playoff games, the playing game, the Christmas game, the Josh Allen meeting, the Brady meeting, big games. Aaron is four and six, sixteen touchdown, seven picks, two hundred and thirty yards throwing. That's it. That's what he is. Oh yeah, not necessarily all in sipping tea in the rainforest in the offseason. So what I'm saying, is it's not like they've both had issues, right, Aaron's like, oh, Davante Adams left, that's fair, That's hard. Mike McCarthy's got the most outspoken owner. Had to rebuild his offensive line, Dak missed five games, had to start Cooper Rush in a division with three playoff teams. I'm just saying it's not gonna look great on Monday morning for Aaron in this divorce. Back to back twelve win seasons. The number one rated red zone offense, not Mahomes, not Borrow, not Alan, not Herbert, not Brady. Aaron's is twenty fourth. How the hell are they twenty fourth? Matt Lafleur, Aaron Jones a power back, a capable tight end. PFF's got a top six offensive line and Aaron how are they twenty fourth? And red zone offense? Why are they so bad? Mercedes Lewis is a top three blocking tight end. Mike McCarthy's team number one, Dack missed five games, rebuilt the offensive line, Gallop Dalton Schultz not there every game, just saying here was a perplexed Mike McCarthy, cowboy coach in Dallas on the radio in Dallas, when he was told they're an underdog this weekend in San Francisco. So where do you im, Doug four? Wow, Okay, you know it's a vision a round. So no, we're we're We're very confident, and you know, I think I think there's an underdog in all of us. You know, to as you as you thrive and strive through through this business. The line for this game is strangely close three and a half points, just saying, don't be shocked if you look at Dallas's analytic matchup, very good against San Francisco. Find of the sixteen quarterbacks or coaches left who changes the nere Zach Taylor sort of been to a Super Bowl. Josh Allen win or lose, He's great. Mahomes got a ring, Daniel Jones, Brian Dable House money, Kyle Shanahan's great. We all know it. He's dealing with the last guy drafted last year, A rookie McCarthy wins. That are Rodgers McCarthy split, You're thinking about it in a different light. Come Monday, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Eight teams left. I can argue seven of them don't face massive pressure. I'll give you an example, Philadelphia Giants. Philadelphia is a number one seed, but Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts combined, they've never won a playoff game like. It's generally in this league of process. You're good, you make the playoffs, maybe you get blown out. The next year you win a game like I don't think the world's gonna change your end if Philadelphia lost somewhere in this playoff. New York Giants, they're playing with house money. They bowls. The coach of the year, he saved Daniel Jones, San Francisco, Dallas, Well, San Francisco's playing a rookie. They don't end up in Super Bowls. And Dallas is an underdog and playing on the road. The forty eight hour preparation disadvantage because they played on Monday night. Kansas City. Everybody's got a ring there, nobody's getting fired. They should win their favored but everybody got the bag and everybody's got a ring. Jacksonville, they're a year ahead of schedule. Buffalo, Cincinnati. Cincinnati got there last year and now their offensive line is completely decimated, both tackles out and their best guard out. Remember when Mahomes played a playoff game of Super Bowl missing both tackles, He got destroyed. And that's Patrick Mahomes. The pressure is on Buffalo this week. Last three years, forty one wins. That's tied for the most of any team that has not reached the Super Bowl six years, Sean McDermott. The offensive line still not very talented, and the running game is completely his hit and miss. Despite what the Bills mafia tells you, they're overwhelmingly overwhelmingly Josh Allen centric completely depend on him this year. Earlier this year, Jamar Chase and Joe Mixon were gone and the Bengals went in a winning streak. This to me, you've got a star quarterback. You can't use the excuse if you eventually lose in the playoffs. Well, we lost to Mahomes. Actually, last year Joe Burrow went to Arrowhead and beat Patrick Mahomes Cincinnati about a year ahead of schedule. It feels like Buffalo's about a year late. The standard and expectation today for Buffalo and Josh Allen is super Bowls. They were almost everybody mine included a super Bowl pick super Bowls. Last week, they looked out played and out coached by Miami with Skyler Thompson. Greg Kosell talked about this offense and talked about sort of the expectations and what Buffalo is. You know, I don't feel like there's really a synchronicity between their run game and their pass game. As far as who you can count on every single week, you really have digs. Everybody else is week to week you're not sure. So they're Josh Allen centric. The thing about Josh Allen is he makes throws that when you're watching on TV probably look pretty routine, but they're not. He's really a special player. I mean in terms of pure physical gifts. Along with his size, he's the most physically gifted quarterback in the league. Yeah, can't lose this weekend. Can't lose it home to Cincinnati. Can't lose to an offensive line that's missing both tackles and arguably their best guard. Can't lose a lot of pressure Monday. They lose. Somebody's going to lose a job. Somebody probably should lose a job. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon Easter ninety Empacific. Yesterday was an interesting day. The GM and the Ravens is talking. The head coach of the Ravens is talking. It's been a weird couple of months, six seven weeks with Lamar Jackson, somebody I like a lot, but it feels a little Kawhi Leonard here, like be verbal. Are you playing? Are you hurt or are you injured? Nobody has any idea. Lamar's going to Instagram sort of cryptic messaging, don't love this from my quarterback, kind of Marie did this. I'm not a big fan of it. I'm really not. I don't like the Aaron Rodgers pazzle of aggressive shots at his management. I'm not a big fan. Be a grown up talk, let's go. We're adults. If you're mad, say you're mad. If you're happy, say you're happy. Whatever. A lot of cryptic stuff, not into it. But yesterday the GM of the Ravens, the coach of the Ravens talking about Lamar Jackson's future. I have every faith that it's going to get done, and we've got the best people in the world doing it. I mean, Eric Decassa is nobody better, and Eric wants him here, I want him here, Steve wants him here, and Lamar wants to be here. So it's gonna work out. I talked to Lamar to day, as I said, and our focus right now is really to get along to him deal done. That's our singular focus at this point. It's gonna take some time. It's gonna take some effort, it's gonna take a great communication give and take, but I'm confident that will be on the right path to get that time. So yesterday's the first day. I was like, Okay, they're gonna get it done. I believe that today. Okay, people are talking. They don't owe us anything, but you know you're gonna get speculation if you don't tell us what's going on. We have a right to speculate. If you don't tell us, well, you're stark quarterback. So I felt yesterday like good organization, good owner, GM coach, We're all good, and I think it's the right move. You got Burrow in the division. Deshaun Watson's okay, he's not Burrow. Kenny Pickett looked pretty good. We don't know, good defense, good organization. You better get your quarterback right, you're gonna finish fourth. So I do feel though what's happening is kind of predictable. More and more young people are playing quarterback that move, and they move a lot, and so they move a lot. They have success, they get dinged up year four or five, and they want to get paid because their agents on them. They see it. It's a reality. I'm this career is not gonna last as long. And I kind of feel like there's three categories of this quarterback thing in terms of durability. You know, the first category is sort of definite. Pocket guys, Peyton Manning, Brees, Brady. These guys play for twenty years. You know, the decline like Breeze's arm wasn't the same, but Tom's decline's gradual. Peyton Manning, I feel the same thing until the last year, Drew Brees, it's gradual. Their pocket guys, they get rid of the ball, willing to throw a pick. It seems like sometimes over getting hit. They're obsessed with their bodies. That guy, I feel like he can get twenty years out of the second level. Guy is a pocket guy, but is more athletic. Aaron Rodgers, big Ben Dak They use the athleticism, they get dinged up once in a while. That career feels like you see a decline at about fifteen years. I think Aaron this year, I'll be honest with you, I think his lack of commitment in the offseason showed. I don't think he was the same quarterback. They were terrible in the red zone. I don't care about the MVPs. He didn't look the same. Big Ben had the elbow surgery year fifteen. I never thought he was the same. Dak Prescott just had his worst year. Some of it is he's dealt with some injury and then the third style is hyper athletic. They can throw from the pocket, but these guys mobility is a huge part of their Brandon game, Cam Newton, Russell, Wilson, Mark Brunell somebody I grew up watching a lot because Washington Huskies. I'm from the Northwest, Cam Russell and Mark Now. I still think Russell's got something in the tank, but it went off the cliff, caming off the cliff at like thirty two. Mark Brunell was very good for about a five six year period and it ended fast. I think Lamar is in that third group. I think that's obvious. The good news is is that even if he signed a five year guaranteed deal at that if you look at these numbers in these years, it's about year ten for category three when you notice a decline. Willam marsmen in the league half that and so for me, you sign him. You know he's probably more category three. So it's Kyler Murray than Category two or one. But I don't think we're at the warning stage yet. Now he hasn't been good in the playoffs. Peyton Manning struggled for years, then he's been injured last two years. Yeah, again, it happens Kyler Murray too. I'd still sign him. So I think Baltimore knows in the categories. He's not a pure pocket guy, and he doesn't just occasionally use his athleticism. It's his brand. He's the fastest, most dynamic athlete playing the position. He and Josh Allen, by the way, the other player I worry about is Josh Allen. Josh Allen and Lamar are category three. The running is a huge component to Josh Allen. He doesn't occasionally run. They build runs for him. I don't think Josh. I think Josh Allen despite his size, and that size will give him about three more good years. He's not a twenty year player. I don't know if he's a sixteen year player. I don't think they are. I think I think Josh. The difference with Josh and Lamar is Josh is four inches taller and about thirty pounds heavier, and that will buy him a couple extra years at the end of his career. I'm with you on the Josh Allen in that category with Cam Newton, but I don't Lamar. Are you sure? Don't you think Lamar and Zick kind of belong in their own category where there are designated runs for those two guys. Because Michael inmaculously athletic. His biggest issue was maturity. Michael asked it longer than people think. Lamar doesn't have an issue with maturity. He's totally in all in day one in the league. Folly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo. As you all know, we're the host of the number one rated show in all of sports talk, the Folly and Tony Fusco Shop Numeroo. Yeah, and we know why millions of people tune in every week. Ye they want to hear US talk sports, not our idiot guests who think they know more about sports than we go. He listened to these dummies. You don't know crap about This is the worst thing. He's still the shop. You don't know bad ball. If you want to hear how sports talk should be done, listen to the Folly and Tony Fusco Show on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. It's my Blazing four. It's our kind of last big weekend of pick. So here we go. Jaguar said, Chiefs Kansas City is gonna win the game. The question is by how much. I'm gonna take eight and a half points with the Jags, And I'll tell you why. Listen. The Jags are a young team. They don't know what they don't know. They've won six straight, they've won eight of their last ten, and their defense has held three of the last four opponents under twenty. They got talent, they just don't know what they don't know. So they get down big and half of the Chargers, what do they care? They come firing back. The truth is since Week fourteen, their average in twenty nine and a half a game, their point differential is second in the NFL. And they've got the look. I said yesterday, they got players, they got dudes. That's not it. They're still going to rebuild on the old line. And Kansas City is only seven and nine against the spread. Opposing quarterbacks have a ninety five passer rating against the Chiefs. That is the highest passer rating aloud among the remaining eight playoff teams. You can move the ball. I think Kansas City leads maybe big. I think Jacksonville comes back late cover. So it's gonna be Chiefs win twenty eight to twenty. It's right on the number, but the Jags cover the spread. Chiefs twenty eight twenty win. Giant said Eagles again, I'm gonna take the points, although I think Philadelphia is better. Eleven of the last thirteen NFL playoff games have been decided by a touchdown or less. You're playing teams a third time. The offense for the Giants is not giving the ball up, second fewest giveaways in the league. Philadelphia is gonna have to, you know, long drives against this very good defense. The Eagles had a first round by last year. The two teams with a buy lost and they were not playing great into the bye. They had struggling turnover differential points. A game down, they're dinged up. Jalen Hurts last year got tight. Remember his playoff game he completed fifty three percent of his throws. I think Philadelphia is gonna look a little rusty. I think the Giants defense is gonna make them earn their points. I think Philadelphia is better, but I'm gonna take the seven and a half Giants cover, but the Eagles win twenty seven to twenty. Bengals and Bills. I think the Bills are gonna win and they're gonna cover. I'll take Buffalo minus five and a half. And it really comes down to a cluster injury at the worst time. The Bengals are missing both tackles and Alex Kappa. I don't think you can overcome that. I also think Buffalo coaches love this won and played poorly, so that staff was all over this team. Rydan Sean PAYTONOAH says, when you win and played poorly, it's the best week of coaching. Let's be honest. They've won twelve of their last thirteen at home. They're good here. Even when they don't play well, they win They've had multiple takeaways have the Bills in three straight games, and Josh Allen's been unbelievable in the playoffs. It's like a better version of himself. The Bengals no longer because of three offensive starters out, They no longer are gonna have a vertical passing threat. They threw it for under two hundred and twenty yards in back to back games against the Ravens. They can't throw the ball deep because Burrow doesn't have the time. I think the Bills win thirty one twenty three if their old line was intact, I'd feel the exact opposite. I saw Mahomes without his tackles get crushed in a Super Bowl. I think Cincinnati's in trouble here. Cowboys at I'm taking the points if I know, I'm gonna take Dallas plus three and a half. Here's my takeaway. They led the NFL in red zone scoring, so when they get close, you get seven, not three. They had more Pro bowlers than San Francisco seven to six, so it's not a lack of talent. Take out the stinker against the Commander. Since Week seven, including the playoffs, they're averaging thirty two a game. Three hundred ninety yards third down percentages first, but this is a very good situational team. They're good on third down, They're good in the red zone. They're gonna get some sevens instead of threes and brought per He was tight in the first half. What do you think he's gonna be like against the Cowboys? Easily the best defense he has faced since becoming a starter. They face some bad defenses. Seattle's defense gave him fits in the first half. Dallas. How many Seahawks could even start for Dallas defensively, I think the game is lower scoring. I think Dallas gets a couple of touchdowns early, not field goals. Seattle couldn't get into that end zone. I'm gonna take the Niners to win close. Twenty seven to twenty four. Isn't an amazing think about this, Dak Prescott. This really speaks well to McCarthy. Dak Prescott missed five games. Dallas right now is leading the NFL in red zone offense and third down percentage since Dad came back. Folks, those are huge stats. They are gonna move the chains. Rock Purdy's gonna be a little tight. It was tight last week for a half so I got three Dogs Jags on a late cover. Giants are clearly the second best team on the field, but they make the Eagles, who were a little rusty, work for it. Cowboys keep it close. I think the Bills Bengals. I don't think you can overcome both tackles in your best guard out at Buffalo against that pass rush. I just don't think you can hang. I think that could get out with one more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. T J. Hushman Zada eleven years he was played five different playoff games. They do feel different. You went in a couple of times with the Ravens as favorites, probably did it feel differently than a couple of times with the Bengals may have been underdogs. Does it feel different being favored? I mean Baltimore games are mostly power defense. Baltimore is usually favored in playoff games. That it feel different depending on what side of the ball, at the strength of your team, the energy of it. You practice different, you practice harder, you're more aware, like you're You're not gonna let somebody just bs practice during a week of playoffs. Doubt if that ever happens, but if it does, if you're a leader on a team, you're just not going for it. So you do prepare differently. Now when it's time to play, you're gonna play hard regardless, but your preparation and your attention to details completely different. So you're you're gonna Bengal through and through. You loved your organization that they were a different organization. Now the young there's daughters in the organization. We were talking during the break in their twenties, really changing just philosophically, they're spending money. Cincinnati's in an interesting spot where I think the organization feels The Damar Hamlin situation was obviously unique. The NFL kind of has to make a lot of decisions fast game day after a home field. I think Cincinnati, deep down the organization feels like they got a little hose by the league. Is that fair man hose. It's like an umpire calling the pitch of striking. It's another batter's box. Like they got screwed big time. They're playing Buffalo. And again, what you said about the bar Hamlet very unfortunate, and it's a unique situation. The Bengals look like they were on the way to win in that game. And if that's the case, this playoff game is in Cincinnati, not in Buffalo. And so if you're gonna coin flip the division champ, which would have been the Bengals had they lost to Baltimore in the regular season, why couldn't this game be on a neutral field or at worst in Cincinnati. It should not be in Buffalo. Yeah, and so if I'm the Bengals, I don't like that. How worried are you though? TJ Cluster injuries O line, it does feel like it takes out the deep ball of the offense. You don't have time to throw. That's what worries me. It concerns me, it does. But Jackson Carmon will be the left tackle. He was drafted fairly high out of Clemson. Yeah, he was a great college She played at a high level in college. And so he's a backup. I was once a backup, and so if you want to become a starter, um, let's go make it happen. Well, you get opportunities and we can sit up here and say, oh man Buffalo has an advantage. But if Jackson Carman has plans on making a name for himself in the National Football League, it starts this weekend. Let us say you can't do this, and then you go show us you can do that. He a high draft pick, Yes he was. He was second round pick. Came in as a guard. So he's not some seventh round No, he's supposed to start in the league. He should be a starter, and so here's your opportunity to go do something with it. And if he can't, it's gonna be it's gonna be tougher to Bengals. One of the things I like about Cincinnati is they really can do everything. They're good situationally, they can run the ball. Hell, when Mixon got hurt, they went to a backup. He was terrific. Jamar Chasemith starts, Te Higgins stepped up there do They were my favorite team the last six weeks. I had him number one, and I did think they were uniquely built to be Kansas City. Buffalo's fascinating. They bail on the run. If you take Josh Allen's rushing yards out, they're thirtieth in the league rushing Buffalo's I don't even know what's to compet to. I always use the Mike Tyson analogy. Their knockout punch is great, but in the later career Mike had no job. Can they box you? And they don't. And I watched Miami the last two times Miami went to Buffalo, out coached him, outplayed them, didn't have the guys. I don't know, do you think, well, how do you view Buffalo? I like Buffalo. I think Josh Allen is I don't think. I know Josh Allen is one of the best competitors in the league. But offensively, Stefan Diggs is his constant. He's gonna show up every game. Now we'll gave David show up, well, Dawson Knox show up. That's right. You don't know, and that's the key. And when the Bengals didn't play particularly well last week against the Ravens, they didn't play well, Joe didn't play great. Jamar dropped a couple of passes. Also a divisional game. It's the third time time, and so when you're a really good player, you normally don't play back to back games average, And so I looked to see Jamar and Joe play a better game because they didn't play well offensively last week. Good players, you don't play two games in a row average, Okay, So Dallas in San Francisco. So I saw a piece of data earlier this year. Everybody the week after they played the Niners, the Niners were so physical and j Mac you may know this. The week after teams played San Francisco, it was either they lost twelve straight or didn't cover the spread twelfth straight. It was one of those two, meaning they beat the hell out of you go to your career. So Dallas two days less to prep. Now they go to the most physical team. When you played in all Finite was Baltimore. But when you played super physical teams, was practice different game? How did you? Because Dallas is facing the most physical team in the league. We played the Baltimore Arabians and we played the Pittsburgh Steelers. As Marvin Lewis would always said, was a two chin strap type of game, and you knew what you were gonna get. Defensively, they were gonna try to punk you, and they were gonna try to outphysical you. And so this game is fascinating because a lot of people and I love the Niners, but who have they really beaten? That's an upper echelon team. Who have they? Kansas City blew them out in the Kansas City rolled them, and so defensively Bosa is outstanding. They don't blitz, they can get pressure with four. But who have they beaten? Can brock Purty play a game nas nipp and tuck and continue to scramble? You're not outrunning Michael Parsons. He will chase you down quick and so, but can Michael Parsons do any damage on Trent Williams? And so this matchup is so fascinating to me. It will be can Mike McCarthy make the right adjustments. If the Cowboys offensive line can keep that front four at bay and they have to blitz, the Cowboys will win this game. So pretty is obviously young. You never went to a playoff game with a second round pick? Who was the youngest quarterback you ever went to the playoffs with? I mean it would have to have been Carson, and I believe it was Carson's third year. Okay, and Carson was a first round pick. Carson was the first pick, So was he nervous at all in that game? Oh? I'm sure he had a bit of nervousness. I wouldn't even call it nervousness. It's just that anxiousness. Like and this is how you know, is when you have pregame meal, you chew your food, you're eating, and you just find yourself just chewing like you can't swallow, like you're chewing you like, oh, you know, and I'm just not gonna eat right now because you just you can't. And so what I would do, and then that happened to me At times, I would just take a bunch of fruit into the locker room and after halftime, I was good once you hit somebody, and I would eat at halftime. But a lot of times pregame meal, you couldn't even eat because you had that anxiousness about you. Yeah, so let's segue to the giants in Philadelphia. Andy Dalton, I think, and Daniel Jones have some comps where they go to a non traditional power a TCU duke. We don't watch a ton of them in college. They're not five star stuff. But and he won the division and he had his moment. There was a way I always felt Andy had to play and if he did, he could win. You know, Jay McK and I are kind of cynical on Daniel Jones. He rolled against the Vikings twice. They've already fired their decordinator. That was a mess, And I just I have this thing like I thought he was a reach. I thought, you know at college at Duke, he didn't blow me away, only saw him a few times. My takeaway is he's going to meet his ceiling this weekend. That's kind of my gut feeling that everything looks different against Minnesota. You know this bad I mean the Seahawks defense against Rock Purdy and the Dallas defense as two different games. That is a different environment totally. What do you make of the Daniel Jones renaissance or resurgence? Honestly, Brian dable is demand that's what That's how I look at it. Like Josh Shallon had this renaissance with Dabele and some people would say he's kind of slid back a little bit mistakes. Brian Dabele is he's that great of a coach when it comes to these quarterbacks and getting them to do the right thing. Because we had just last year they were saying Daniel Jones had to go. Oh, he's a bust, and now they're talking about what are we going to give him on his second contract? And so I give a lot of this credit to Brian Dable. Now Daniel Jones has to go out and execute the game plan a little different with Andy Dalton, Andy Andy don had Aj Greene and Marvin Jones. And so Daniel Jones is doing great things. We don't know. But you play a Minnesota Vikings team that some people say we're a bit overrated. I like what he's done. He's athletic, but the Eagles are loaded. The Eagles are good top to bottom. They don't have a weakness. What it is interesting with day Ball, as good as Josh Allen is, I do feel like he's regressed more mistakes. Jones was done. He's been saved. So that's a head coach. You know you would think if you get a head coaching job. Obviously Nathaniel Hackett wasn't ready, Brian day Ball was. But even with your position coaches, because day Ball saved Daniel Jones, go to all your receiver coaches, all of them. Is there a I mean, is there a guy can give me the best receiver coach you had? And what what did he do that others didn't. In the NFL period, you could go all of them. Oh, the best receiver coach you ever had was Yarber, no question right, not close. Why he teaches you things that other coaches can't teach you as like you'll do something wrong in a game and a lot of coaches will pause the film and say why did you do that? If I could pause the game, I could give you an answer. I don't know why I did that, but he would. He understood how to coach you and not over like a lot of these coaches, receiver coaches, they don't teach you how to be a better receiver. They teach you football. They teach you the game of football. You don't have enough time and individual in an offseason to get better individually. I would say in the NFL, Hugh Jackson was probably my best receiver coach. Like, what is something he did to elevate your game? It was the belief he showed in me, The confidence that he showed me he had in me. So I felt like even if I made a mistake, I was good. It wasn't gonna be He's gonna tell me one thing and they gonna the offensive coordinator to head coach, something else. You miss a jumper, you're on the bench. You didn't feel like I didn't feel that at all. He let you be yourself. And so you know, there's not a lot of receiver coaches in the league that can actually coach the position or receiver. You give me a job Colin fifteen years ago. Now I'm a head coach. I'm gonna return the favorite only spot. I gotta opened his receiver coach, you gotta be that coach. You've been a running back coach your whole career. And that happens all the time, all the time. And that's why when receivers or bust, No, they're not bust. These coaches just can't develop them simple and they know that. Yeah, so I'm just gonna ask you about the game. He give me your winner. Bill's Bengals, the Bengals, Baby Jags, Chiefs. I'm gonna go with the Jags. Who Giant Eagles, Eagles, Cowboys, Niners, close one the Niners, Jags. Yeah. I like the way I just to throw FOREI interceptions twenty seven to zero and not get down on yourself. Trevor Lawrence is that dude. He's good, like, you're how hard that is? You work with him? Yeah, Trevor Man worked out with him. Go to vacation in the Bahamas this summer. He's out there with all the Jags out there for like five days. Went to the field with him in the Bahamas. Whiz out in the stadium in the Bahamas. There's running rouss throwing this summer. Yeah, catch just his leadership. Man. It was just like I met him one. I told people that I met him. I thought he was forty. His voice is deep, he projects like a real adult. We're on the flight, but even leaving the Bahamas, we're on the flight back to Atlanta to say, I mean, it's just he doesn't have the weapons that other guys have. Evan Ingram in essence is his favorite target. Yeah, but watch next year when they get Calvin. You can't stop Calvin Ridley one on one. Watch what the Jags do next year. But that was quietly one of the great transactions of the year. Calvin Ridley is a one, is an animal. He's a one. And they just kind of quietly one week, just we're gonna make a little deal for Calvin. They question Kirk now becomes the two Evan Ingram's your three. They will be I like I like the I just like the way they played last week. It's real easy to give up after four turnovers in the first I first played the game. Pick I like that. Good seeing Youboddy, Thank you appreciate it. Good to seeing you as well.

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. Here we go. It is a Friday. We're live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one, one hour from now, A blazing four four picks. Not sure if I like any of them, kind of like one of them a lot. I'm going dogs again. Dogs are barking again. I've been doing it all year long. I got to fifty five percent. Jamact is joining. So here we are, eight coaches, eight quarterbacks left. Are you dog? Are your dogs barking? You going phase? Not a lot of dogs barking the weekend on my car. I'm not a lot of dogs parking. Yeah. I don't like my picks. I love mine? You do? Oh yeah? All right, Well we'll see four quarterbacks left in the AFC, and they're all really special. They're great, They're generational Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen. These are great. These are not overachievers. These are first round high picks, top ten. Great, build a franchise around him, can play from behind, can play with a lead. Anybody in this league. Baker Mayfield with a lead in a run game, nobody knows if he's gonna throw, can look good. These guys can play two touchdowns down on the road, playoff games, O line, beat up, win games. They're all timers. This year was a weird year for me predicting because I was so accurate. Why is that in three divisions I got it perfect AFC East, NFC East, and NFC North first, second, third, fourth, and in fact of four division, the NFC South, I picked Tampa to win and said the next three would be garbage, and they were, although they all tied, so you could argue I got four right half the league. That's weird, Right, that doesn't happen, right, But it does because it's the league is becoming more quarterback centric. It's easier to pick division winners. Who's the best quarterback. The best quarterback won seven of eight divisions. This year. You could say, oh, Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins had a better year than Aaron Rodgers. He was top five passing yards, top four passing touchdowns. I may have reversed that top five passing touchdowns, fourth passing yards. The only division where the quarterback, what we view is the best quarterback didn't win is the NFC West. Stafford got hurt and Kyler Murray got hurt. That's it. That's it. And so this trend, as the league becomes more quarterback centric, is not going away. And I'll give you an example. So from two thousand and three to twenty eighteen, remember back then, you could be a team with a power running game and a great defense. You didn't have to have a great quarterback, though it certainly helped, but the league was less quarterback driven. You could do things defensively you can't do today. Yet, from two thousand and three to two eighteen, the AFC in sixteen years, fifteen of the sixteen was Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Big Ben starting quarterback in the Super Bowl. There was one exception. Joe Flacco got bizarrely hot. That was never the same. Baltimore had a great coach and a good defense, and Baltimore has always been culturally a very sound program, right fifteen of sixteen years. So when you look around the AFC, now get used to this. Burrow, Mahomes, Alan, Trevor Lawrence. What about Justin Herbert? The Chargers do Charger things. They awarded it once with him. Well about Lamar Jackson, I love him, but he's been hurt last two end of seasons. What about DeShawn Watson, I don't know. I watched him this year. Did you watch him? It's like he's not quite the same. Offseason should help, but I don't think he's as good as those four. And I don't think he's as good as Herbert Mahomes, Alan Burrough, Trevor Lawrence. The league's getting easier to predict. NFC is different. That's overachievers. That's second round guys, that's the fourth round guy. Pretty's the seventh round guy. Daniel Jones feels like a reach AFC generational all time talents. Three of the four with offensive coaches, I don't know, get used to it. So let's talk cowboys. So if all the players. We have eight quarterbacks left various backgrounds, number one picks to the last guy drafted, and we have eight coaches. Now, I was thinking this morning, you know there's pressure on one or two teams of the eight, but no individual, no quarterback or coach, can change their reputation. Flip the narrative, like Mike McCarthy, that's it. Doug Peterson won a Super Bowl with Nick Foles. Andy Reid's got his ring. Bryan daybles done, wonders Nick Serrioni's a kid. I don't expect him to necessarily just run through this thing. Mike McCarthy, he beat San Francisco. He gets to the NFC Championship with a roster not as good as the one he'll face. Dak Prescott missed five games, he had to rebuild the offensive line, Michael Gallop and Dalton Schultz not available for portions of the season, and he ended up with the number one red zone offense in the league. Cooper Rush started five games. On Monday that Aaron Rodgers Mike McCarthy divorce. It's gonna feel different as Aaron continues three straight years to sputter at the end of seasons at Lambo losing to Garoppolo, outplayed by Golf, and Brady increasingly needy, not really committed in the off season. So we went as a staff and I said, what Mike's done deserves a lot of praise. And when Aaron and him kind of divorced, people of myself included, took Aaron's side. You know, he's the beautiful quarterback, he's dating celebrities, he's got the endorsements. He throws such a pretty ball. The feeling was, yeah, you know, Mike's kind of outdated, gun dumpy guy. Just I don't know, they don't get along. I'm taking Aaron's side. I'm guilty. I did. McCarthy disappeared to the basement, talked to analytics. That wasn't a big market for him. So I went and I said, let's go back and take Aaron's last ten big games. Now there's a lot of them here this year. I took the Detroit Playing game, the Miami Christmas game, that Philadelphia Dallas Buffalo games that were huge TV games on Sunday Night Football or on Fox big games. I went to the previous I don't count division games to play somebody twice Vikings Bears lines. I don't count those. I'm talking standalone television games. Fox builds their week around it Sunday Night Football. Then I went to twenty twenty one. There were three games. The Divisional Round playoff game against the Niners, that game where Aaron at San Francisco was brilliant, end of the game, won at that great throw. And then the Rams game which Aaron won as well. That was like McVay lafleur, three Musketeers coaches. And then I went before that, there were two huge games. The first time he faced Brady and Tampa didn't play well, and the NFC Championship against Brady and I Now we can argue, we can argue on are those the ten biggest games? They're ten big games and tends the number. I'm not going twenty deep. And all the playoff games, the playing game, the Christmas game, the Josh Allen meeting, the Brady meeting, big games. Aaron is four and six, sixteen touchdown, seven picks, two hundred and thirty yards throwing. That's it. That's what he is. Oh yeah, not necessarily all in sipping tea in the rainforest in the offseason. So what I'm saying, is it's not like they've both had issues, right, Aaron's like, oh, Davante Adams left, that's fair, That's hard. Mike McCarthy's got the most outspoken owner. Had to rebuild his offensive line, Dak missed five games, had to start Cooper Rush in a division with three playoff teams. I'm just saying it's not gonna look great on Monday morning for Aaron in this divorce. Back to back twelve win seasons. The number one rated red zone offense, not Mahomes, not Borrow, not Alan, not Herbert, not Brady. Aaron's is twenty fourth. How the hell are they twenty fourth? Matt Lafleur, Aaron Jones a power back, a capable tight end. PFF's got a top six offensive line and Aaron how are they twenty fourth? And red zone offense? Why are they so bad? Mercedes Lewis is a top three blocking tight end. Mike McCarthy's team number one, Dack missed five games, rebuilt the offensive line, Gallop Dalton Schultz not there every game, just saying here was a perplexed Mike McCarthy, cowboy coach in Dallas on the radio in Dallas, when he was told they're an underdog this weekend in San Francisco. So where do you im, Doug four? Wow, Okay, you know it's a vision a round. So no, we're we're We're very confident, and you know, I think I think there's an underdog in all of us. You know, to as you as you thrive and strive through through this business. The line for this game is strangely close three and a half points, just saying, don't be shocked if you look at Dallas's analytic matchup, very good against San Francisco. Find of the sixteen quarterbacks or coaches left who changes the nere Zach Taylor sort of been to a Super Bowl. Josh Allen win or lose, He's great. Mahomes got a ring, Daniel Jones, Brian Dable House money, Kyle Shanahan's great. We all know it. He's dealing with the last guy drafted last year, A rookie McCarthy wins. That are Rodgers McCarthy split, You're thinking about it in a different light. Come Monday, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Eight teams left. I can argue seven of them don't face massive pressure. I'll give you an example, Philadelphia Giants. Philadelphia is a number one seed, but Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts combined, they've never won a playoff game like. It's generally in this league of process. You're good, you make the playoffs, maybe you get blown out. The next year you win a game like I don't think the world's gonna change your end if Philadelphia lost somewhere in this playoff. New York Giants, they're playing with house money. They bowls. The coach of the year, he saved Daniel Jones, San Francisco, Dallas, Well, San Francisco's playing a rookie. They don't end up in Super Bowls. And Dallas is an underdog and playing on the road. The forty eight hour preparation disadvantage because they played on Monday night. Kansas City. Everybody's got a ring there, nobody's getting fired. They should win their favored but everybody got the bag and everybody's got a ring. Jacksonville, they're a year ahead of schedule. Buffalo, Cincinnati. Cincinnati got there last year and now their offensive line is completely decimated, both tackles out and their best guard out. Remember when Mahomes played a playoff game of Super Bowl missing both tackles, He got destroyed. And that's Patrick Mahomes. The pressure is on Buffalo this week. Last three years, forty one wins. That's tied for the most of any team that has not reached the Super Bowl six years, Sean McDermott. The offensive line still not very talented, and the running game is completely his hit and miss. Despite what the Bills mafia tells you, they're overwhelmingly overwhelmingly Josh Allen centric completely depend on him this year. Earlier this year, Jamar Chase and Joe Mixon were gone and the Bengals went in a winning streak. This to me, you've got a star quarterback. You can't use the excuse if you eventually lose in the playoffs. Well, we lost to Mahomes. Actually, last year Joe Burrow went to Arrowhead and beat Patrick Mahomes Cincinnati about a year ahead of schedule. It feels like Buffalo's about a year late. The standard and expectation today for Buffalo and Josh Allen is super Bowls. They were almost everybody mine included a super Bowl pick super Bowls. Last week, they looked out played and out coached by Miami with Skyler Thompson. Greg Kosell talked about this offense and talked about sort of the expectations and what Buffalo is. You know, I don't feel like there's really a synchronicity between their run game and their pass game. As far as who you can count on every single week, you really have digs. Everybody else is week to week you're not sure. So they're Josh Allen centric. The thing about Josh Allen is he makes throws that when you're watching on TV probably look pretty routine, but they're not. He's really a special player. I mean in terms of pure physical gifts. Along with his size, he's the most physically gifted quarterback in the league. Yeah, can't lose this weekend. Can't lose it home to Cincinnati. Can't lose to an offensive line that's missing both tackles and arguably their best guard. Can't lose a lot of pressure Monday. They lose. Somebody's going to lose a job. Somebody probably should lose a job. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon Easter ninety Empacific. Yesterday was an interesting day. The GM and the Ravens is talking. The head coach of the Ravens is talking. It's been a weird couple of months, six seven weeks with Lamar Jackson, somebody I like a lot, but it feels a little Kawhi Leonard here, like be verbal. Are you playing? Are you hurt or are you injured? Nobody has any idea. Lamar's going to Instagram sort of cryptic messaging, don't love this from my quarterback, kind of Marie did this. I'm not a big fan of it. I'm really not. I don't like the Aaron Rodgers pazzle of aggressive shots at his management. I'm not a big fan. Be a grown up talk, let's go. We're adults. If you're mad, say you're mad. If you're happy, say you're happy. Whatever. A lot of cryptic stuff, not into it. But yesterday the GM of the Ravens, the coach of the Ravens talking about Lamar Jackson's future. I have every faith that it's going to get done, and we've got the best people in the world doing it. I mean, Eric Decassa is nobody better, and Eric wants him here, I want him here, Steve wants him here, and Lamar wants to be here. So it's gonna work out. I talked to Lamar to day, as I said, and our focus right now is really to get along to him deal done. That's our singular focus at this point. It's gonna take some time. It's gonna take some effort, it's gonna take a great communication give and take, but I'm confident that will be on the right path to get that time. So yesterday's the first day. I was like, Okay, they're gonna get it done. I believe that today. Okay, people are talking. They don't owe us anything, but you know you're gonna get speculation if you don't tell us what's going on. We have a right to speculate. If you don't tell us, well, you're stark quarterback. So I felt yesterday like good organization, good owner, GM coach, We're all good, and I think it's the right move. You got Burrow in the division. Deshaun Watson's okay, he's not Burrow. Kenny Pickett looked pretty good. We don't know, good defense, good organization. You better get your quarterback right, you're gonna finish fourth. So I do feel though what's happening is kind of predictable. More and more young people are playing quarterback that move, and they move a lot, and so they move a lot. They have success, they get dinged up year four or five, and they want to get paid because their agents on them. They see it. It's a reality. I'm this career is not gonna last as long. And I kind of feel like there's three categories of this quarterback thing in terms of durability. You know, the first category is sort of definite. Pocket guys, Peyton Manning, Brees, Brady. These guys play for twenty years. You know, the decline like Breeze's arm wasn't the same, but Tom's decline's gradual. Peyton Manning, I feel the same thing until the last year, Drew Brees, it's gradual. Their pocket guys, they get rid of the ball, willing to throw a pick. It seems like sometimes over getting hit. They're obsessed with their bodies. That guy, I feel like he can get twenty years out of the second level. Guy is a pocket guy, but is more athletic. Aaron Rodgers, big Ben Dak They use the athleticism, they get dinged up once in a while. That career feels like you see a decline at about fifteen years. I think Aaron this year, I'll be honest with you, I think his lack of commitment in the offseason showed. I don't think he was the same quarterback. They were terrible in the red zone. I don't care about the MVPs. He didn't look the same. Big Ben had the elbow surgery year fifteen. I never thought he was the same. Dak Prescott just had his worst year. Some of it is he's dealt with some injury and then the third style is hyper athletic. They can throw from the pocket, but these guys mobility is a huge part of their Brandon game, Cam Newton, Russell, Wilson, Mark Brunell somebody I grew up watching a lot because Washington Huskies. I'm from the Northwest, Cam Russell and Mark Now. I still think Russell's got something in the tank, but it went off the cliff, caming off the cliff at like thirty two. Mark Brunell was very good for about a five six year period and it ended fast. I think Lamar is in that third group. I think that's obvious. The good news is is that even if he signed a five year guaranteed deal at that if you look at these numbers in these years, it's about year ten for category three when you notice a decline. Willam marsmen in the league half that and so for me, you sign him. You know he's probably more category three. So it's Kyler Murray than Category two or one. But I don't think we're at the warning stage yet. Now he hasn't been good in the playoffs. Peyton Manning struggled for years, then he's been injured last two years. Yeah, again, it happens Kyler Murray too. I'd still sign him. So I think Baltimore knows in the categories. He's not a pure pocket guy, and he doesn't just occasionally use his athleticism. It's his brand. He's the fastest, most dynamic athlete playing the position. He and Josh Allen, by the way, the other player I worry about is Josh Allen. Josh Allen and Lamar are category three. The running is a huge component to Josh Allen. He doesn't occasionally run. They build runs for him. I don't think Josh. I think Josh Allen despite his size, and that size will give him about three more good years. He's not a twenty year player. I don't know if he's a sixteen year player. I don't think they are. I think I think Josh. The difference with Josh and Lamar is Josh is four inches taller and about thirty pounds heavier, and that will buy him a couple extra years at the end of his career. I'm with you on the Josh Allen in that category with Cam Newton, but I don't Lamar. Are you sure? Don't you think Lamar and Zick kind of belong in their own category where there are designated runs for those two guys. Because Michael inmaculously athletic. His biggest issue was maturity. Michael asked it longer than people think. Lamar doesn't have an issue with maturity. He's totally in all in day one in the league. Folly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo. As you all know, we're the host of the number one rated show in all of sports talk, the Folly and Tony Fusco Shop Numeroo. Yeah, and we know why millions of people tune in every week. Ye they want to hear US talk sports, not our idiot guests who think they know more about sports than we go. He listened to these dummies. You don't know crap about This is the worst thing. He's still the shop. You don't know bad ball. If you want to hear how sports talk should be done, listen to the Folly and Tony Fusco Show on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. It's my Blazing four. It's our kind of last big weekend of pick. So here we go. Jaguar said, Chiefs Kansas City is gonna win the game. The question is by how much. I'm gonna take eight and a half points with the Jags, And I'll tell you why. Listen. The Jags are a young team. They don't know what they don't know. They've won six straight, they've won eight of their last ten, and their defense has held three of the last four opponents under twenty. They got talent, they just don't know what they don't know. So they get down big and half of the Chargers, what do they care? They come firing back. The truth is since Week fourteen, their average in twenty nine and a half a game, their point differential is second in the NFL. And they've got the look. I said yesterday, they got players, they got dudes. That's not it. They're still going to rebuild on the old line. And Kansas City is only seven and nine against the spread. Opposing quarterbacks have a ninety five passer rating against the Chiefs. That is the highest passer rating aloud among the remaining eight playoff teams. You can move the ball. I think Kansas City leads maybe big. I think Jacksonville comes back late cover. So it's gonna be Chiefs win twenty eight to twenty. It's right on the number, but the Jags cover the spread. Chiefs twenty eight twenty win. Giant said Eagles again, I'm gonna take the points, although I think Philadelphia is better. Eleven of the last thirteen NFL playoff games have been decided by a touchdown or less. You're playing teams a third time. The offense for the Giants is not giving the ball up, second fewest giveaways in the league. Philadelphia is gonna have to, you know, long drives against this very good defense. The Eagles had a first round by last year. The two teams with a buy lost and they were not playing great into the bye. They had struggling turnover differential points. A game down, they're dinged up. Jalen Hurts last year got tight. Remember his playoff game he completed fifty three percent of his throws. I think Philadelphia is gonna look a little rusty. I think the Giants defense is gonna make them earn their points. I think Philadelphia is better, but I'm gonna take the seven and a half Giants cover, but the Eagles win twenty seven to twenty. Bengals and Bills. I think the Bills are gonna win and they're gonna cover. I'll take Buffalo minus five and a half. And it really comes down to a cluster injury at the worst time. The Bengals are missing both tackles and Alex Kappa. I don't think you can overcome that. I also think Buffalo coaches love this won and played poorly, so that staff was all over this team. Rydan Sean PAYTONOAH says, when you win and played poorly, it's the best week of coaching. Let's be honest. They've won twelve of their last thirteen at home. They're good here. Even when they don't play well, they win They've had multiple takeaways have the Bills in three straight games, and Josh Allen's been unbelievable in the playoffs. It's like a better version of himself. The Bengals no longer because of three offensive starters out, They no longer are gonna have a vertical passing threat. They threw it for under two hundred and twenty yards in back to back games against the Ravens. They can't throw the ball deep because Burrow doesn't have the time. I think the Bills win thirty one twenty three if their old line was intact, I'd feel the exact opposite. I saw Mahomes without his tackles get crushed in a Super Bowl. I think Cincinnati's in trouble here. Cowboys at I'm taking the points if I know, I'm gonna take Dallas plus three and a half. Here's my takeaway. They led the NFL in red zone scoring, so when they get close, you get seven, not three. They had more Pro bowlers than San Francisco seven to six, so it's not a lack of talent. Take out the stinker against the Commander. Since Week seven, including the playoffs, they're averaging thirty two a game. Three hundred ninety yards third down percentages first, but this is a very good situational team. They're good on third down, They're good in the red zone. They're gonna get some sevens instead of threes and brought per He was tight in the first half. What do you think he's gonna be like against the Cowboys? Easily the best defense he has faced since becoming a starter. They face some bad defenses. Seattle's defense gave him fits in the first half. Dallas. How many Seahawks could even start for Dallas defensively, I think the game is lower scoring. I think Dallas gets a couple of touchdowns early, not field goals. Seattle couldn't get into that end zone. I'm gonna take the Niners to win close. Twenty seven to twenty four. Isn't an amazing think about this, Dak Prescott. This really speaks well to McCarthy. Dak Prescott missed five games. Dallas right now is leading the NFL in red zone offense and third down percentage since Dad came back. Folks, those are huge stats. They are gonna move the chains. Rock Purdy's gonna be a little tight. It was tight last week for a half so I got three Dogs Jags on a late cover. Giants are clearly the second best team on the field, but they make the Eagles, who were a little rusty, work for it. Cowboys keep it close. I think the Bills Bengals. I don't think you can overcome both tackles in your best guard out at Buffalo against that pass rush. I just don't think you can hang. I think that could get out with one more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. T J. Hushman Zada eleven years he was played five different playoff games. They do feel different. You went in a couple of times with the Ravens as favorites, probably did it feel differently than a couple of times with the Bengals may have been underdogs. Does it feel different being favored? I mean Baltimore games are mostly power defense. Baltimore is usually favored in playoff games. That it feel different depending on what side of the ball, at the strength of your team, the energy of it. You practice different, you practice harder, you're more aware, like you're You're not gonna let somebody just bs practice during a week of playoffs. Doubt if that ever happens, but if it does, if you're a leader on a team, you're just not going for it. So you do prepare differently. Now when it's time to play, you're gonna play hard regardless, but your preparation and your attention to details completely different. So you're you're gonna Bengal through and through. You loved your organization that they were a different organization. Now the young there's daughters in the organization. We were talking during the break in their twenties, really changing just philosophically, they're spending money. Cincinnati's in an interesting spot where I think the organization feels The Damar Hamlin situation was obviously unique. The NFL kind of has to make a lot of decisions fast game day after a home field. I think Cincinnati, deep down the organization feels like they got a little hose by the league. Is that fair man hose. It's like an umpire calling the pitch of striking. It's another batter's box. Like they got screwed big time. They're playing Buffalo. And again, what you said about the bar Hamlet very unfortunate, and it's a unique situation. The Bengals look like they were on the way to win in that game. And if that's the case, this playoff game is in Cincinnati, not in Buffalo. And so if you're gonna coin flip the division champ, which would have been the Bengals had they lost to Baltimore in the regular season, why couldn't this game be on a neutral field or at worst in Cincinnati. It should not be in Buffalo. Yeah, and so if I'm the Bengals, I don't like that. How worried are you though? TJ Cluster injuries O line, it does feel like it takes out the deep ball of the offense. You don't have time to throw. That's what worries me. It concerns me, it does. But Jackson Carmon will be the left tackle. He was drafted fairly high out of Clemson. Yeah, he was a great college She played at a high level in college. And so he's a backup. I was once a backup, and so if you want to become a starter, um, let's go make it happen. Well, you get opportunities and we can sit up here and say, oh man Buffalo has an advantage. But if Jackson Carman has plans on making a name for himself in the National Football League, it starts this weekend. Let us say you can't do this, and then you go show us you can do that. He a high draft pick, Yes he was. He was second round pick. Came in as a guard. So he's not some seventh round No, he's supposed to start in the league. He should be a starter, and so here's your opportunity to go do something with it. And if he can't, it's gonna be it's gonna be tougher to Bengals. One of the things I like about Cincinnati is they really can do everything. They're good situationally, they can run the ball. Hell, when Mixon got hurt, they went to a backup. He was terrific. Jamar Chasemith starts, Te Higgins stepped up there do They were my favorite team the last six weeks. I had him number one, and I did think they were uniquely built to be Kansas City. Buffalo's fascinating. They bail on the run. If you take Josh Allen's rushing yards out, they're thirtieth in the league rushing Buffalo's I don't even know what's to compet to. I always use the Mike Tyson analogy. Their knockout punch is great, but in the later career Mike had no job. Can they box you? And they don't. And I watched Miami the last two times Miami went to Buffalo, out coached him, outplayed them, didn't have the guys. I don't know, do you think, well, how do you view Buffalo? I like Buffalo. I think Josh Allen is I don't think. I know Josh Allen is one of the best competitors in the league. But offensively, Stefan Diggs is his constant. He's gonna show up every game. Now we'll gave David show up, well, Dawson Knox show up. That's right. You don't know, and that's the key. And when the Bengals didn't play particularly well last week against the Ravens, they didn't play well, Joe didn't play great. Jamar dropped a couple of passes. Also a divisional game. It's the third time time, and so when you're a really good player, you normally don't play back to back games average, And so I looked to see Jamar and Joe play a better game because they didn't play well offensively last week. Good players, you don't play two games in a row average, Okay, So Dallas in San Francisco. So I saw a piece of data earlier this year. Everybody the week after they played the Niners, the Niners were so physical and j Mac you may know this. The week after teams played San Francisco, it was either they lost twelve straight or didn't cover the spread twelfth straight. It was one of those two, meaning they beat the hell out of you go to your career. So Dallas two days less to prep. Now they go to the most physical team. When you played in all Finite was Baltimore. But when you played super physical teams, was practice different game? How did you? Because Dallas is facing the most physical team in the league. We played the Baltimore Arabians and we played the Pittsburgh Steelers. As Marvin Lewis would always said, was a two chin strap type of game, and you knew what you were gonna get. Defensively, they were gonna try to punk you, and they were gonna try to outphysical you. And so this game is fascinating because a lot of people and I love the Niners, but who have they really beaten? That's an upper echelon team. Who have they? Kansas City blew them out in the Kansas City rolled them, and so defensively Bosa is outstanding. They don't blitz, they can get pressure with four. But who have they beaten? Can brock Purty play a game nas nipp and tuck and continue to scramble? You're not outrunning Michael Parsons. He will chase you down quick and so, but can Michael Parsons do any damage on Trent Williams? And so this matchup is so fascinating to me. It will be can Mike McCarthy make the right adjustments. If the Cowboys offensive line can keep that front four at bay and they have to blitz, the Cowboys will win this game. So pretty is obviously young. You never went to a playoff game with a second round pick? Who was the youngest quarterback you ever went to the playoffs with? I mean it would have to have been Carson, and I believe it was Carson's third year. Okay, and Carson was a first round pick. Carson was the first pick, So was he nervous at all in that game? Oh? I'm sure he had a bit of nervousness. I wouldn't even call it nervousness. It's just that anxiousness. Like and this is how you know, is when you have pregame meal, you chew your food, you're eating, and you just find yourself just chewing like you can't swallow, like you're chewing you like, oh, you know, and I'm just not gonna eat right now because you just you can't. And so what I would do, and then that happened to me At times, I would just take a bunch of fruit into the locker room and after halftime, I was good once you hit somebody, and I would eat at halftime. But a lot of times pregame meal, you couldn't even eat because you had that anxiousness about you. Yeah, so let's segue to the giants in Philadelphia. Andy Dalton, I think, and Daniel Jones have some comps where they go to a non traditional power a TCU duke. We don't watch a ton of them in college. They're not five star stuff. But and he won the division and he had his moment. There was a way I always felt Andy had to play and if he did, he could win. You know, Jay McK and I are kind of cynical on Daniel Jones. He rolled against the Vikings twice. They've already fired their decordinator. That was a mess, And I just I have this thing like I thought he was a reach. I thought, you know at college at Duke, he didn't blow me away, only saw him a few times. My takeaway is he's going to meet his ceiling this weekend. That's kind of my gut feeling that everything looks different against Minnesota. You know this bad I mean the Seahawks defense against Rock Purdy and the Dallas defense as two different games. That is a different environment totally. What do you make of the Daniel Jones renaissance or resurgence? Honestly, Brian dable is demand that's what That's how I look at it. Like Josh Shallon had this renaissance with Dabele and some people would say he's kind of slid back a little bit mistakes. Brian Dabele is he's that great of a coach when it comes to these quarterbacks and getting them to do the right thing. Because we had just last year they were saying Daniel Jones had to go. Oh, he's a bust, and now they're talking about what are we going to give him on his second contract? And so I give a lot of this credit to Brian Dable. Now Daniel Jones has to go out and execute the game plan a little different with Andy Dalton, Andy Andy don had Aj Greene and Marvin Jones. And so Daniel Jones is doing great things. We don't know. But you play a Minnesota Vikings team that some people say we're a bit overrated. I like what he's done. He's athletic, but the Eagles are loaded. The Eagles are good top to bottom. They don't have a weakness. What it is interesting with day Ball, as good as Josh Allen is, I do feel like he's regressed more mistakes. Jones was done. He's been saved. So that's a head coach. You know you would think if you get a head coaching job. Obviously Nathaniel Hackett wasn't ready, Brian day Ball was. But even with your position coaches, because day Ball saved Daniel Jones, go to all your receiver coaches, all of them. Is there a I mean, is there a guy can give me the best receiver coach you had? And what what did he do that others didn't. In the NFL period, you could go all of them. Oh, the best receiver coach you ever had was Yarber, no question right, not close. Why he teaches you things that other coaches can't teach you as like you'll do something wrong in a game and a lot of coaches will pause the film and say why did you do that? If I could pause the game, I could give you an answer. I don't know why I did that, but he would. He understood how to coach you and not over like a lot of these coaches, receiver coaches, they don't teach you how to be a better receiver. They teach you football. They teach you the game of football. You don't have enough time and individual in an offseason to get better individually. I would say in the NFL, Hugh Jackson was probably my best receiver coach. Like, what is something he did to elevate your game? It was the belief he showed in me, The confidence that he showed me he had in me. So I felt like even if I made a mistake, I was good. It wasn't gonna be He's gonna tell me one thing and they gonna the offensive coordinator to head coach, something else. You miss a jumper, you're on the bench. You didn't feel like I didn't feel that at all. He let you be yourself. And so you know, there's not a lot of receiver coaches in the league that can actually coach the position or receiver. You give me a job Colin fifteen years ago. Now I'm a head coach. I'm gonna return the favorite only spot. I gotta opened his receiver coach, you gotta be that coach. You've been a running back coach your whole career. And that happens all the time, all the time. And that's why when receivers or bust, No, they're not bust. These coaches just can't develop them simple and they know that. Yeah, so I'm just gonna ask you about the game. He give me your winner. Bill's Bengals, the Bengals, Baby Jags, Chiefs. I'm gonna go with the Jags. Who Giant Eagles, Eagles, Cowboys, Niners, close one the Niners, Jags. Yeah. I like the way I just to throw FOREI interceptions twenty seven to zero and not get down on yourself. Trevor Lawrence is that dude. He's good, like, you're how hard that is? You work with him? Yeah, Trevor Man worked out with him. Go to vacation in the Bahamas this summer. He's out there with all the Jags out there for like five days. Went to the field with him in the Bahamas. Whiz out in the stadium in the Bahamas. There's running rouss throwing this summer. Yeah, catch just his leadership. Man. It was just like I met him one. I told people that I met him. I thought he was forty. His voice is deep, he projects like a real adult. We're on the flight, but even leaving the Bahamas, we're on the flight back to Atlanta to say, I mean, it's just he doesn't have the weapons that other guys have. Evan Ingram in essence is his favorite target. Yeah, but watch next year when they get Calvin. You can't stop Calvin Ridley one on one. Watch what the Jags do next year. But that was quietly one of the great transactions of the year. Calvin Ridley is a one, is an animal. He's a one. And they just kind of quietly one week, just we're gonna make a little deal for Calvin. They question Kirk now becomes the two Evan Ingram's your three. They will be I like I like the I just like the way they played last week. It's real easy to give up after four turnovers in the first I first played the game. Pick I like that. Good seeing Youboddy, Thank you appreciate it. Good to seeing you as well.