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 Thursday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one. One hour from now, Whether you play fantasy football, bet on football, want to get smarter in football? Greg co sell our NFL Meet Sandwich one hour from now, breaking down what you will see and what you have seen. J Mac is joining me. He's got some great video coming up on Russell Westbrook, who remember as the most enigmatic player in the NBA. I can't wrap my arms around him, Hardened Simmons, Kyrie Westbrook, the unexplainable, A lot of mystery around their personalities. How are you, Jay Matt, I'm excellent. You know Greg co Sells a video guy. Maybe we have him break down the Russell Westbrook situation with the Lakers last night preseason and the guy's creating drama like it's crazy, not ideal. So Dak Prescott wants to play, and he wants to play now, and the Cowboys keep saying slow down, We're gonna play Cooper Rush and let history be your guide. So why would why would Dak be nervous? These popular's talented, He's made Pro Bowls. Everything don't worry about with Cooper rug That is Red Dick kill us or is it. Let's go back to the beginning of Dak's career. Didn't he replace the injured Tony Romo. Nobody thought Dak was a talented as Tony Romo. Tony Romo had made four Pro Bowls, Tony Romo was a naturally gifted thrower. Tony Romo at the time had the third highest passer rating of all time. I'll slow it down for you all time. But Tony Romo got hurt again and fourth round Dak was inserted. Dak was more mechanical than Tony Romo. Cooper Rush is more mechanical than Dak. The Cowboys suddenly really leaned into the run game to support Dak. The Cowboys are really leaning into the run game to support Cooper Rush, and Jerry Jones immediately had a great fondness for both Dak then and Cooper Rush. Now, let history be your guide. Nobody thought Dak was as good as Tony Romo. Dak got off to a great start. Cooper Rush is off to a great start. This is what Dak sees. Dak's not stupid, he sees it. What if Cooper Rush goes to Philly and wins. Many believe that's the best team in the league. Folks. You don't have a quarterback controversy until you have a quarterback controversy. Tony Romo wildly popular commercials everywhere. Tony Romo was talented, made twice as many Pro Bowls. That Dak has much more natural thrower than Dak. Tony Romo was in the middle of a huge contract, and then Tony Romo got hurt again. The questions about Tony Romo can he win the big game? He was two and four in the playoffs are the same questions about Dak. Can he win the big game? He's won and three in the playoffs. One thing we know about Jerry, Jerry loves a good story that makes him look smart, especially that makes him look football smart. He loved that Tony Romo was undrafted. He loved that Dak Prescott went in the fourth round. He loves at Cooper Rush. Nobody else saw him undrafted. The Cowboys did, Jerry did. Jerry knows football. Jerry loves these stories. And Dak sees all of this. And I know what you're saying. Now, it's way different. No it's not. Let's go look at Tony Romo's career stats and Dax today. They are identical. I dentical, win percentage, completion percentage, yards per attempt, passer rating, eye dentical. And Dak has played behind a much better offensive line on average than Tony Romo did. Tony Romo tenth highest passer rating to this day in the NFL Tony Romo Double the Pro Bowls. Tony could have still played. He was hurt again, getting hurt more often. That sounds familiar, Dak. Dak wants to get back, and Dak wants to get back fast. You don't think there's any similarities. We me everybody. I'm not gonna get rid of it. Only Rome over that guy for missus Zimbi's date. You got shows all over the country, opinion shows now filled with cowboy opinionists. They're all talking about how good Cooper rushes. I don't think Dak sees any of it. That's why Dak wants back now. And Mike McCarthy as coach yesterday said we're taking it slow. You got to trust the medical process and this is a seventeen game season. That that was my, you know, my immediate response. I know Dad didn't want to hear it, but you know it's you know, you've got to make sure that he's right for the long haul too. So not that I'm saying we're being conservative, because I mean it doesn't really line up with him in the way he approaches, you know, preparing for the play. But yeah, this really is falling the medical timeline, and he's doing all the things you can possibly do and more to get ready. Let history be your guide. Dak knows how he entered this league. He can feel it, he can see it. He's hurt again, and this unknown guy, a little bit more mechanical team leaning into the run game. The owners smitten with him. When that long ago Cooper Rush wins against Philadelphia wait until you hear what people say. Then that's why Dak wants back. All right, We in the media have to have more discretion than you. The fans. Fan is short for fanatic. Fans love all their prospects. Fans think every draft pick is going to be great, and of the seven to eight players you drafted, two will be bust, two will get hurt, two will underachieve, one will be great, and a two will be good enough. You think they're all gonna crush Nobody. Nobody ever looks at their draft and goes, we didn't nail it. So when Lamar Jackson came out for Baltimore, of course they thought he was going to be great. They thought Kyle Boehler was going to be great. They thought Joe Flacco was going to be great. So Raven Fanz always like to say, to anybody that didn't love Lamar Jackson initially, you used to criticize him. Everybody did. His first year, he completed fifty eight percent of his throws. He couldn't win coming from behind. Of Course I had my questions, had my questions coming out, But it's okay to be wrong. What it's not okay to be is stubborn. That's not okay. Ever, so another number came out yesterday. NFL Statistics released this the best pass for rating against the Blitz this year. How interesting, Lamar Jackson number one in the NFL. Okay, colin, but he can't throw it from the pocket. No, He's now tied for the NFL lead with ten touchdown passes from the quote of the pocket. Well, he's not that, you know, throwing the ball. He completes sixty four percent of his passes this year and sixty four percent of his passes in his career, and Baltimore spends less money on receivers than almost any team in the league. Your eyes are wrong, My data is right. It is okay to be wrong. These are all prospects. Most don't hit. Even NFL general managers will tell you by the fourth pick it's a finger cross. You really don't know. But to be stubborn on Lamar, that's not good. Three things are big for quarterbacks, winning fifty four starts, He's forty and fourteen production, ninety six touchdowns, thirty six picks. Won't even mention his legs. There talent, his passer ratings ninety eight. He is absolutely, absolutely in the discussion of a top ten quarterback. Stylistically doesn't look like any we've had in a long time. But skepticism early on Lamar Jackson was healthy. You don't want to be a fanboy in a Pom Pom waiver. His first year in the league, he completed fifty eight percent of his throws. He won immediately, but it wasn't pretty and he didn't play very well from behind. But now we're getting data that shows, I mean again, end of last year, data this year, now more data, best quarterback in the league against the Blitz. I said this a couple of nights ago. You can see his self awareness when he runs. Now he's looking to slide. He didn't two years ago. It is okay to be wrong. Fans think all their draft picks are going to be great. Fans think all their prospects are going to be great. Most aren't. But now if you're still doubting Lamar, you're just stubborn media fans. Dude can play. Dude's a winner, Dudes talented dudes productive fifty four NFL games, forty wins, fourteen losses. There is no disputing that. And this past week we him outdual Joe Burrow, who got to the Super Bowl, took the Bengals on his shoulders. We saw him outdual Joe Burrow, It's now what he does almost every Sunday. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Really really well run, successful championship level teams usually start with very good ownership and then all the way down the line, the GM, the coach, just a lot of smart people. The Warriors are the smartest NBA culture right now. A lot of smart people had a crisis this week. They handled it privately, they said all the right things publicly, nobody's mad at the Warriors. They're mad at Draymon So the Rams similarly, O b J came out this week tweeting I wanted to be a Ram. They lowballed me. Little crisis on their hands. But the well smartly owned Warriors, the smartly owned Rams, smartly managed Warriors, smartly coached Warriors, smartly managed Rams, smartly manage coach Rams. Here's how they handled Odell Beckham calling them out. Coached Sean McVay. I love O'Dell. We have constant dialogue. I think he also knows that certainly. I don't think that's the last one that would come from us. I'm not familiar exactly what it is. He knows how we feel about him. We got a little bit of time, but love O'Dell. Nothing but good things coming from me. Play Kate. The public know what to say. It's harder than you think. Washington can't even get talking about their quarterback right Ron Rivera had to apologize and take it back after we talked about Carson Wentz. You think it's easy, but that's a poorly owned franchise. More on that later. But O b J right now at this point is basically the AIRB and B of receivers. You don't want to own him nothing long term. But it is a nice It is a nice house. I'd like to stay in it briefly. And that's what he is. He's a rent a wide receiver. I heard a lot of this last year. Oh boy, oh BJ saved the Rams, Well, the Rams kind of saved o BJ. He only caught fifty percent of his targets in Cleveland. His career had been reduced to his dad putting out YouTube videos to bake Baker, Mayfield drops toxicity couldn't get along. I'm not blaming him for it, but this idea that he saved the Rams. I thought he was very good and very productive, but he got hurt before half. They won the Super Bowl. The bottom line is, if Alan Robinson wasn't what appears to be an inefficient player, I'm not saying bust, but they paid a lot of money for him and they don't even design plays for him. If Alan Robinson right now was what we thought he would be, they wouldn't be interested in Nodell Beckham. He's thirty. When he comes off the injury, he has many he can't really depend on him physically. He needs a lot of attention. He is talented, but again he's thirty coming off knee surgeries. So my takeaway on Odell Beckham this week we saw this implosion, this crisis with the Warriors. Coach comes out really smart, knows how to handle it. This could be a potential crisis with OBJ getting low ball. The coach comes out really smart, puts a little bit of a wet blanket on the fire that's emerging, and Draymond in the Warriors he'll be playing tomorrow night and o BJ and the Rams they still call him. He still takes their call. This stuff. You think it's easy, but a lot of people can't even get the podium right in sports, and it's often like the Washington Commanders starts at the top. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon Easter ninety em Pacific Night. Two defensive coaches Ron Rivera, Matt Eberflus Bears Washington play. It'll be a stinker. It's a great Saturday of college football. A lot of undefeated teams play is it is a It's the best college football weekend since like last year's playoff weekend. It is a great weekend of huge matchups, one of them being Michigan hosting Penn State. I like Michigan to win. I like him to cover. It is amazing. I went on the internet last night. How many people are doubting Jim Harball and you know the knock on Harball and this is such a such a dumb argument. Well, he never won a national title. Folks, in the last ten years, ed Orgeron and Jimbo Fisher have won national titles. You don't think Harball is a better coach. He got a team to a Super Bowl. That can't be the measuring stick of greatness. Nick Foles won a super Bowl. Josh Allen can't get there is Nick Foles better than Josh Allen. I think if you took Nick Saban out of college football, there's an argument Hardball. Hardball is the second best coach by the way. He took five wins to ten first year at Michigan. It took Kirby Smart two years to win at Georgia, and Georgia is in a state with one hundred and thirty minimum Division one football players. Hardball has to leave the state to get great players. Kirby Smart has to take his car around the corner to get a recruiting class. So Michigan is his fourth head coaching job. He's won in all of them, three of four. He won the very first year. I think he's a great coach. People just again Stubborn Lamar Jackson's overrated. Stubborn Hardball can't coach if you take out the COVID season. He averages ten wins a year. He just beat Ohio State. He's the reigning Big Ten champ. He's coming off a playoff appearance, and I think this is potentially, by the end of the year, his fastest best football team. Doubt him all you want, but I like Michigan to win this weekend. And I like him to win because I think Harball is a better coach than James Franklin, and I think James Franklin is fine. But if you're still holding on to that dumb guy argument is he's never won a Natty. Texas and m today if they could, would replace jimbo Fisher with Jim Harball. At Orgeron got fired twice. I love at Orgeron, one of the nicest guys ever, but his record in college football without Joe Burrow is under five hundred and that's at LSU and some USC. So it is everybody is like, oh, keep your eye on Penn State. How about we keep our eye on Michigan and Harball. This is their best team yet and they're gonna win this weekend. What do you get when you combine a three time manager of the Year at a three time National Sports Writer of the Year. It's the Book of Joe podcast. Hey, this is Tom Verducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network and Sports Illustrated and I'm Joe Madden, and we're gonna be around to talk a little bit about managerial decisions, playoff games, and what may have accredited to the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties. I can't wait for this, Joe. We're gonna dive into what goes on in the dugout and behind the scenes in Major League Baseball, cars, wind whatever else we want to talk about. Listen to the Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The Internet is all about right, wrong, terrible gray. There's no gray air, no middle. There's no middle in the Internet. My entire life with six kids is all middle. So I don't live in a world up unbelievable. It's the worst thing I've ever seen. Like Davante Adams, wait for more video to come out. Not at the end of the world. It's no big deal. I mean, as a man, it would be embarrassing if I had to rush to a platform to be outraged every day, like I feel like as a as a dad, I have to kind of be like a grown up in the room with my family, not scream and yell and hyper ventilate. So this week's a classic example. Davante Adams that is assault that there's a if you get the second piece of video, he banged into a camera guy. He apologized Draymond Green, Steve Kerr didn't suspend him. He's seen it twenty times. By the way, I was talking to a source last night that said Jordan Pool is the biggest trash talker for the Warriors, a bench player, and that Draymond and Jordan Pool had their Damian Lillard told me six months ago. I asked Damian Lillard, one of the great players in league history, who's the best biggest trash talker in the league. He said, Jordan Pool, a bench player. You don't know what Jordan Pool was saying. Why didn't they suspend him? Moses Moody came out yesterday and saying, I can't wait to have og RG back. Draymond. Oh, I'm saying, and is you think you know? You don't know? Nothing is the end of the world. Nothing is perfect. And it's like the Draymond situation is a great example the team. It's not a hot take being on the side of Steve Kerr, which is we'll say publicly to appease the internet, but privately will communicate, figure it out, find resolution, sit people down. That's what big grown ups do. You communicate. That's why people go to therapy when they have a crisis. They want to talk it out. Let's communicate. So what you do now what happens in America? Now we just appease the masses that don't know anything, don't have any real information. We appease them publicly and then privately we figure stuff out through communication, resolution, therapy, and so like the Warrior situation, Steve Kerr is not suspending him. I'm on the side of Steve Kerr. That's not a hot take. Is that you can suspensions or often just to appease the public. They don't They don't make Has anybody ever been suspended? And does it change you? That doesn't change. What changes people is communication, sitting down Jordan and Draymond and talking and apologizing. That's what changes relationships. Suspensions don't change anything except my paycheck. Well, I'll quickly bring this up. There was a fight on the Chicago Bulls in twenty seventeen. Bobby Portis and this kid named Mirritage. Now they're power forwards. Mirritage apparently lunged at him. Bobby Portis punched him out, broke bones in the guy's face. He had a concussion. The Bulls suspended Bobby Portis for eight games for that colin. Yeah, now, these two were battling over playing time at the same position. Yeah, they ended up trading Mirritage like four months later. Yeah, some of these sings situations like there's no video of this Portis punch and they still suspended him eight games. So I used to cover Steve Kerr in Portland. He's the smartest professional athlete I've ever covered. I'm gonna side with him almost always on any crisis. Almost everyone. Now, people said this, well, why did they suspend Draymond for the Kad stuff? Because the Warriors organization was walking on eggshells constantly with k d whose high maintenance, to make sure they didn't offend him. And by the way, when Kad left, there was a sigh of relief to many in the building that they could actually have like honest, authentic communication. You didn't have to constantly make sure Katie was okay. And it's quite possible because people learn things that Kerr said. I'm never doing that again. I'm never gonna have to suspend somebody walk it. So these things are they're just they take time. There's a lot of gray area. It's about communicate. Suspensions are just to appease people. That's just to appease The suspensions don't change anything. What changes it is communication. If you have a crisis in your life, what do you do. You go to therapy, You sit down and talk to somebody, You communicate. There's resolution. So I think Draymond and Jordan Poole that relationship suspension is not going to change anything. Those guys got to talk it out. And if they have resolution and admission of bolt and then it's fine. Suspending is not going to solve anything. You don't think suspending him for the opener a National TV game would have sent a message that this is not cool, this is not all right. We don't want you on the best. I'm gonna trust Steve Kerr. My takeaway is always I trust Sean McVay. I trust smart people that no situations better than me. John McVay went out and got Alan Robinson. How's that looking right? No, none did so. I mean I just fall on the side of who's smart. I'll support them. That's that's generally not a hot take. Support smart people. Yeah, I mean I'm more of a case by case basis, right, But Kerr has pushed a lot of the correct buttons in a lot of people have said this, well, well, well how come they suspended Draymond for KD? That situation in that locker room was bringing in an outsider who was high maintenance, was always offended and he's a great player, but we've seen with KD he can be prickly, he can be difficult. Kerr and Katie struggled, Draymond struggled, and it was a different relationship. This is a longtime family member who has sometimes gotten in trouble and sometimes solved the problems. I mean that closeout game against the Celtics, Draymond was unbelievable, Like he has been huge for them, and so you handled this relationship differently. Jordan Pool is a chatty, trash talking reserve. You don't have these titles without Draymond. So not everything is equal. If the corner office person, the man or the woman in the corner office has power in the state of California, like you're more you are more responsible in California. If there's relationships or something, and the more power you have, it's viewed differently. So relationships have a lot of different dynamics. Can we stop pretending on the internet you know more than Steve Kerk because I don't, and I know Steve, and I trust Steve, and I know people who know Steve. By the way, you ever see that video of Michael Jordan punching Steve Kerr? You didn't, I know somebody that was there. It looked just like that from the great leader mjo Draymond Green has no Michael Jordan. Let's the punch looked just like that. Firm disagreement here, but the disagreement is healthy. Correct To go back to your original point on extremes, when do you think this country in sports and otherwise, it's just it goes back to twenty sixteen, right, That's when it became you're over here or over here. There's no nuance, no in the middle. It's just, folks, there's gray in every situation. I don't buy in the black and white terrible or great. We're constantly romanticizing the past and ripping the current, or you're it's just take a deep breath, stuff, context, nuance. This stuff is it's not easy Draymond punches somebody. It was really easy until the video got out. Does everybody understand that it was really easy until the public saw it, and then you have to appea ease the public. It was called a skirmish and they were over it before the video came out. Does everybody understand that? Well, people think that was reporters covering for Draymond because that was whatever Raymond. It was just a skirmish and didn't blow up. Video was the accelerant to this. When it first happened, it was just an altercation. It was no, it was just not It wasn't even a big story. The video comes out and now the public sees it, and you know, so all I'm saying is, take a deep breath on this stuff. Take a deep breath. Not everything's great, terrible, end of the world solved. Most stuff, especially if you have kids, it's all gray. Yeah, right, And you want to be in the middle of life. You want balance, right, You don't want to go to extremes. If I'm playing basketball three or four times a week, my wife is not happy with It's right, I can't do that. I'm only allowed one or two. You know, you gotta have balance, all right? Here, by the way, here here here was do we have the Steve kirbite? Here, here is Here is the Steve kirbite, you know, massaging this work his way through this crisis. Draymond and I have been together for eight years. Um. We've had plenty of run ins. UM. We've we've won championships together, We've lost championships together. We've been through an awful lot together. UM. I trust him. Um. He broke our trust um with this incident. UM, But I'm I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt because I think he's earned that and I think our team feels the same way. UM. So he knows he needs to um to regain that A nuanced, complex, thoughtful, articulate version of solution. Not the worst thing ever. Nothing, It's not nothing. It's inappropriate. Things can be inappropriate and not the end of the world. But that's that's what'd you hear, Steve Kersey. We have a relationship. It's a long relation. We've been great for each other. I trust him. You do treat friends and allies and family members different. KD was like showed up needy demanding. It was different walking on eggshells. So this stuff is I wish all the answers were as simple as Instagram. I wish they were all like that that. I wish techtok was really how the world worked, But it's not. Colin. Can Draymond Green be the same intense player right where he is leading the league in technicals and all this stuff? If after this incident, does he have to dial it back and proved his team like, hey, hey, hey guys, I'm a different person now, I'm calm or cooler. Does he need to dial it back now? No? What makes him great? By the way Kurs told people privately before that the essential part of Draymond he keeps us on edge. He goes, we're so gifted, we get complacent very quick. You don't get complacent. Draymond is all over yet practice, He's on you and shoot around, He's on you in the huddle. He gives that team that edge. He's not perfect, he's now expensive, he's past his prime. This was inappropriate, Yes, yes, yes, yes, but he has been an essential part, not because I employ him on the volume. I've disagreed with him before. He and I have had it out he and I have talked about my disagreements. We almost knock you out here. No, no, but I mean the bottom line is life is gray. A lot of it is nuanced, most of it is You'll never find that in the internet. 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. Okay, great co sell sitting around here, wait and wait and wait and waiting. All right, we got a lot of football stuff. I want to start with this. Sometimes things can look bad, but you get the film and it's more optimistic. Right, let's start with Kenny Pickett Buffalo. What did the film say? I actually thought, given the circumstances of that game, I thought Kenny Pickett played well. You saw the kinds of things you saw in college. He's composed, he's poised, His mechanics are good. The ball comes out while Colin he does not have a big, strong power arm. We know that he's not one of those kinds of throwers. The ball comes out pretty clean. You know it's a tight spiral. He's accurate. He made good throws in a game in which he literally had to drop back every time. They are in a tough spot offensively because they don't really at this moment in time, have a viable run game. One can debate the reason for that. One might think it's the old line, one might think it's Nag Harris. It's probably a combination of both. But he's in a tough spot because they do not have a viable run game, and he's going to have to be asked, probably due to the injuries they also have on defense, He's probably going to be asked to have to drop back far more than you would like a first year rookie quarterback to have to drop back. I've said this before about Brandon Staley. I think he's smart. I don't know if he's a great football coach, but he's bright. He's good at the podium, he's thoughtful. They finally got a running game going a little bit. I do feel like sometimes when I watched their game, they're Herbert dependent. They can't stop the run. The defense isn't great. What do you make of their offense on film going forward? Because boy, I like their roster. Yeah, I mean it was interesting what they did this week. I thought this week in watching their tape, To be honest with you, it was more a function of the Browns defense, the interior of the Browns defense, their d tackles really getting moved quite a bit. But I will say this, they did run the ball on first and ten on twenty one of their first and tense. I don't I haven't checked every other game, Colin, but I would bet that that is a high number for them, and I would expect that that's not going to happen every single week. But I think that at some point in this league. And again people can debate the value of running backs, that's a different question, but the point is somewhere in this league you do need to run the ball right. And you can again you can talk about in a relative sense, how many times in what situations, But it's very difficult simply to be one dimensional all the time. You know. And one thing that's rarely talked about, Colin, when you throw it so much, is it's not just your quarterback, it's your old line. It's very hard for an old line to pass protect forty forty five fifty times a game. That's a very difficult deal. No matter how good your old line is. I said this, and I've said it for several weeks, that the Niners are missing like seven to eight key starters and they're not The Rams have cluster injuries on the old line, they can't move the chains. The Niners have eight starters out many stars, and they're still rolling people. Let's talk about Garoppolo. You and I. You know I've leaned on you a lot for the Garoppolo stuff. I think he's a very quick, accurate distributor of the ball, with some limitations up the sidelines. But I do think i'd have compared him to Chris Paul. If you need somebody to use the play coachable, get it out quick and accurately the playmakers, he's excellent. So what does the tape say on Jimmy what you're seeing? Because the rust was on him about three weeks ago. Has he refined it a little bit? He was much better this week. You would expect him to continue to be sharper. And again we've discussed this, but it's worth repeating. Colin. He is asked to make a lot of difficult throws between the numbers and between the hashes. That is a foundation of their pass game. Now maybe it's a foundation because those are the throws he makes best. We don't know that. All we know is that's what he's asked to do. And there's a lot of bodies in the middle of the field. So every once in a while he throws one that is a little bit of a head scratcher, but he throws with confidence, He throws with conviction, and he gets the ball out on difficult, tight window throws in the middle of the field. And he made a bunch of those last week. And that's what their pass game essentially is. And you know, I would assume that he continue to incrementally get better, just with more reps. So Damiko Ryans is the defensive coordinator, and my eyes just tell me this defense Rex people takes them totally out of what they want to do. What do you see schematically athletically from the Niners on the defensive side, Yeah, defensively. You know, defense is a little different in some ways because defense is not only about technique, fundamentals, execution. Obviously, do your job, but defense is also about high energy. And one thing that always stands out when you watch the Niners this year is the energy. You know, you could look at Hufengger you could look at Greenlaw, you could look at Warner. These guys fly to the football and it's contagious. This year, they've been outstanding playing man coverage. So now you have a question that remains to be seen because Emmanuel Moseley, who is playing very very well. Yeah, he was their left corner. Ward was their right corner. I believe that was the case. I might be reversing it. But the two corners they've played extremely well. And now Mosley is out, so it'll be interesting to see how they choose to fill that role. Because Lenore, the Oregon kid, has basically played in the slot and he's done a nice job. They moved him out last week once Mosley got hurt. But now that they have a week to prepare, did they go back to Thomas who was a rookie last year and obviously they didn't feel that he was ready this year. But they've played cover one man coverage really, really well, and that is now a question. I don't want to say it's an issue, it's just a question. So I watched the Packers game, every snap of it, and we have a trend now where Green Bay really struggles in the second half to generate offense. Now, you could make the excuse they didn't have the ball much, but this is now like the fourth game I've seen where they just don't do anything in the second half. So let's take the Giants game. What happened? Yeah, well that's again to me, games are case by case. Sometimes trends do develop. But I will say this about the Giants game. One thing that really stood out in the fourth quarter in particular column was how aggressive their decoordinator, Wink Martindale was. He blitz constantly in the fourth quarter. Now, Aaron Rodgers has been playing a long time, so we're not going to sit here and say that he can't handle the blitz. But a blitz is not just on your quarterback. So it's not just saying, oh, you know, it's not Rogers. It may not be Rogers, but the point is now your old line has to deal with it because they have to sort things out. Your receivers have to be aware that maybe they've got a shortened routes or just routes on the fly. And it's a young group of receivers, so there's a lot that goes into executing a pass game against pressure that is not just the quarterback. But that's one thing that really stood out this past week was Martindale really came after that Packer's pass game in the fourth quarter. Now, the Giants play the Ravens right now. Statistically, Lamar and Maholmes lead the NFL inefficiency against the blitz. So do I expect the Giants they did it with Aaron, Do I expect them to keep the blitz blitz up? Is this what their personnel allows them to do? And maybe this is what they're becoming. Yeah, and this is a great question because that's what I think Martindale likes to do. I mean, he likes to show pressure fronts where they're six or seven on the line of scrimmage. He likes to make the offensive line have to sort all it, all that out, including your back getting involved in protection because if your back's involved and he's not releasing into a route and you have one less eligible. So this is what Wink Martindale likes to do. This has been his m Now keep in mind last year was a different year as far as blitz for the Ravens. They struggled versus blitz a year ago. That started with the Miami game when Miami essentially did the same thing. They mind everybody up on the line of scrimmage. You didn't know who was coming and who wasn't coming. And you may recall that game the Ravens had three points until late in the fourth quarter. So I would think there'd be a mixture here because I don't think ultimately Wink Martindale has all the players he wants to execute what he would really like to do. But I think that he's more pressure oriented than not. I think that's the way he wants to play. Okay, So I was thinking about this. I think I've mentioned this to you before. To be a great quarterback in the NFL, you usually have to have the it. Breeze was accuracy. You know. That's not an it, Colin, that's not an IT. That's a trait. Okay, trade, there has to be some There has to be something that I just go wow, I don't see it with Daniel Jones. Doesn't mean he's not confident. I'm not a Daniel Jones, but I don't see the it. I don't see the secret sauce. But that doesn't mean he can't win a bunch of games. So what does the films say on Daniel Jones and Day Ball and how that growth is working. Yeah, And it's funny you asked me that because I did a deep dive on Daniel Jones this summer before Day I probably watched two hundred and fifty drop backs. And when I watched two hundred and fifty dropbacks over the course of one or two days in a row, I was a little more impressed than I thought I would be, because I don't get to do that during the course of his season. Watch one guy just like that. I think Daniel Jones is a quarterback that clearly needs to be protected. I mean, obviously you could say that about most, but there are some quarterbacks that can execute better in the cauldron of fire than others. I don't think he executes particularly well that way, but he throws a good ball. I think he knows where to go with it. I think at times he's too cautious. I think at times that he does not turn it loose on balls. You have to turn loose in the NFL, and it would not surprise me at all if Dabel is working with him on that. Because you've got to make throws. You can't and that's one reason why I think he gets stuck sometimes the pocket, and that's something he either will work through or not work through. And if he doesn't work through, Colin, he'll be what you think he is. If he can work through it, he'll improve. Now I'm not going to sit here and say he'll be top five, but he will improve. Yeah, And Dabo is a great coach. So Cowboys Eagles, listen, we always sort of you know, the Cowboys tend to get more discussion and more hype than other franchises. But when I watch them play DeMarcus Lawrence, Michael Parsons, Trayvon Diggs. They have a young safety that's been excellent my eye. Every single game they've played, they have disrupted the old line of the opponent. That's what I see. What do you see this weekend? What do you think we'll see? Well, and you're right, but they do it in so many interesting ways. They're very multiple with their front looks. They stand people up, they put people with their hand on the ground, they run amba fronts where everybody's standing up, and they move people around for the snap. They've run more stunts than any team in the NFL by a wide, wide margin. So what they do is they challenge an offensive line to have to sort out a lot of things both before and after the snap of the ball. Now, the Eagles, who they are playing this week, have a top one, two three oh line in the league and for the most part, it's experience, but it's still a challenge. So that to me is where this game. You know, that's where the rubber meets the road in this game. The Eagles offense has been good. Last week, they were not at their best, but they still want a road game. So that to me is where what this game comes down to. Because this is a really difficult front and that includes the linebackers to play against. And you mentioned his safety. I don't know who you're referring to, but Donovan Wilson, number six to me, shows up all the time on tape. Yeah. All right, So we want to do a deep dive here at Bills Chiefs. That's the game of the weekend. So let's talk first. Now they face the Bills defense, Maholmes without Tyreek Hill, who's always a weapon that scares defensive coordinators and Sean McDermott. So now Maholmes against the Chiefs without Tyreek do you suspect we see a different Kansas City attack. No, I don't think because of who the Bills put in the secondary that you're going to see them change up what they did a year ago, which you know, I'm going back to the AFC Divisional playoff game, which was obviously one of the great games. We all know that. I think what the Bills did in that game they basically played split safety. They played a lot of zone, they played a lot of cover two, they played some two men. I don't I think you'll see them stay with that because don't forget. They've started a kaye Elam, who I think is going to be a very good player, but he's a rookie. They're starting Jackson at the other corner. He's a young player. So I think what you're ultimately going to see is a lot of split safety. They're going to rely on their front which has been very good. Their front four is healthy, it has a lot of depth. Yeah, I don't think there's any injuries along that defensive front, and they're going to rely on that to create pressure. The carollary point to that, though, is what happens when you create pressure Colin, Because we've seen Mahomes seemingly more and more make plays where he leaves the pocket. Yeah, and you have you can't. You can't just say, hey, let's pressure Mahomes and then let him escape, because not only can he make great throws, but he also runs for calculated first downs. So it's not just creating pressure, it's making sure that he can't escape that pressure. And that's going to be really important on that side of the ball. You know, Kansas City fell behind the Raiders. I think it was seventeen nothing. I look at the Dallas defense, I look at the San Francisco defense. I look at the Buffalo defense, and I see a velocity. I see them make everybody uncomfortable. Kansas City's defense has Chris Jones. There are players, but it's they don't make people uncomfortable. So if I'm Buffalo, Buffalo moved the ball on him last year, I suspect Buffalo should move the ball on him this year. Or do you see Kansas City? I do think Kansas City's run defense feels better this year until I saw Josh Jacobs gashet. Right, what do you expect Buffalo's offense in Kansas City's defense to look like? Well, one one could be sarcastic and say, when you play the Bills, your run defense is not really a major part of the equation, right, But you know, I think one player just before I answer that, one player who is playing very well and is a very good player, and maybe he's not talked about enough, but the film tells you he's good. As they're linebacker Nick Bolton. He's a very good player. Yeah. But you know, the Bills are a passing football team, and one of the things that they've transitioned to because they don't really run the ball well, is they've now become a rhythm passing team, the kind of thing that no one thought Josh Allen could do two three years ago. So in many ways they use that in lieu of any kind of volume or consistent run game. You see the ball come out quick. You see a lot of six seven yard throws. I'm certainly not saying Josh Allen is Tom Brady. They are different kinds of quarterbacks. But remember when Brady used to do that all the time. Everything was six seven yards and they would just constantly be second and three and move the chains. That's the way in many ways the Bills are playing now still having that big playability. Obviously, we saw with Josh Allen, and we've seen the last year or two the kinds of throws he can make at the intermediate and vertical levels. But I think that the Bills passing game, there's a major element of it that's a sustaining element, not just a big play element. And I think that's where the difference lies over the last part of last season and certainly through the first five games of this season. And then of course you can get the third and ten ninety heat yard touchdown. They don't happen every week, but we know that Josh Allen is more than capable of making those kinds of throws from the pocket. If you if we didn't have you didn't know anything. You just had video of Mahomes and Josh Allen, and you didn't we didn't know about their wit. You had video forty three years of NFL films. And I said, Hey, which one of these guys is more talented, Mahomes or Allen? What would you say more talented? I would say it's close. And I would say that size is a trait, and six five to forty to me is a trait. I think that as a pure, pure talent, I would say Josh Allen. But see I'm gonna say this, and now people listening, I'm sure we will written me on social media because it's not a big difference by any stretch of the imagination. But I think size is a trait. Uh you know, it is football, So I would say I would. You could make an argument Colin that Josh Allen is one of the most physically gifted quarterbacks we've ever seen right now. Again, that's different than saying he's the best quarterback we've ever seen, so I don't want I'm not seeing that he hasn't played long enough to even have that conversation. But as in terms of physical gifts at six five two forty, I mean, have you seen someone who's exactly like this guy? No, I think I think. I think he's way more athletic than Big Ben. I think he throws a better and more accurate ball than Cam Newton. I think he's got about twenty percent of both. But he is. I mean, he's just this. My only concern is they don't run the football consistently, and like Cam and Big Ben, he takes too many hits and that's a concern. Yep, that's a concern, Colin, and I think in any given game that could be a problem. You know, it's it's really hard to play. Look, I think he is asked to do more than any quarterback in the league on a weekly basis, no question, be Superman every week. Yep. Nope, that's hard. That's really hard. Yep. All right, great seeing you as always, Greg co Sell NFL Films forty three years. Thanks Greg, Thanks con