Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it is a Friday. We are packed. So much going on live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and FS one one hour from now on one game. Over five hundred this year Blazing five. The dogs are barking this week. Four of my five picks are underdogs. I think in the NFL we have these weird upset weekends. Keep your eyes. The Jets may make it into I don't put the Jets in my Blazing five much at all. Gotta feel them this week. They may sneak in. Jason Mack and entire long time Jets fan. How are you feeling good about the Jets? Listen, It's a big Friday. Colin. A lot of picks. I have been over five hundred every week on her to headlines for picks. See if we can keep it rolling. Okay, let's start with this so and it's weird how this is, but Chicago. The Chicago Bears can't do offense. They can't name their best receiver ever, name their best quarterback ever, but their best corner, linebackers, safety, pass rusher. This year is a prime example. The last two years, they've drafted six offensive linemen. I think one looks like he's good. Their wide receiver group right now is easily the worst in the league. Darnell Moody is a two, maybe a three. The rest of the guys are cast offs. So and this year's draft is a great example about the Bears. They hire a defensive coach. He looks to me pretty good. That Bears defense pretty good, Mattie ever Flus. They draft a corner and a safety, where their first two picks they're both great. Their third pick, Veylis Jones, a wide receiver, a complete reach. He's a sixth round pick. They pick him in the third. He's a return guy who could never track a ball in college. It doesn't run good routes. I talked to two NFL executives last night that are in the war room during the draft and they just rolled their eyes. They're like, he's a return guy. That was their third pick. They don't know offense, They've never known offense, and this is no offense. So I'm gonna be really, really patient. I've said this all year with Justin Fields, the kids working with a terrible receiving corps, a bad offensive line. So the comp for him is Josh Allen. So both of them are big, strong, athletic and construggle at times with accuracy. Both have a defensive coach, both have a bad offensive line. Both are in a cold, northern windy city. So that's kind of your comp, right. So Josh Allen year one, like Justin Fields, who at interceptions are not good looking. Josh Allen Year two like Justin Fields and year two kind of bumpy. But the difference is Josh Allen was still a bad offensive line with a defensive coach, with no running game. Josh Allen year two, you were getting twenty touchdown passes, ten rushing touchdowns. He started to be wildly productive. Justin Fields still isn't now again. Josh Allen. Bad old line, Josh Allen, no run game. Josh Allen receiving core in year two wasn't as good as it is now. But you saw the leap. When I look at Justin Fields, I see bad body language. The completion percentage has gone down, and he's not Josh Allen the prospect. He's not. So the Bears right now have a situation where they'll be as good as their quarterback. And I don't think you can blame Luke Getsy, the offensive coordinator. I thought they moved the pocket last night. I thought they were clever. They rolled him out a lot. You can only roll out so much at some point of it's got to be comfortable in the pocket. Josh Allen very early in his career, he may have been wild. He was totally comfortable sitting in the pocket and throwing darts. Loves it to this day. He runs when he has to, So I don't want to hear that. Well, Justin Fields was great at Ohio State and the history of the NFL, the history Ohio State's never had one great NFL quarterback. They have the best talent in the conference and they go up against Purdue in Illinois. Of course, the quarterbacks throwing to five star tight ends, five star left tackles. Five star running backs and five star receivers look great. They've never had a star quarterback in the NFL, so that doesn't mean anything. Nothing, And I'm going to be patient with Justin Fields. But the comp with Josh Allen is similar. Windy, cold city, defensive culture, bad old lines, wild initially, but I saw a big leap in year two, even though he still wasn't that accurate. If you went, if you go back in YouTube Josh Allen year two, he's jumping over people. He's really comfortable in the pocket, and I don't see it with Justin Fields now, could it? Could it be turned around? Everybody's gonna blame and blame and blame, and that's fine, But at some point we've got to be realistic here. The Bears don't do offense well, they don't. So is Justin Fields good enough to overcome his reality? I mean, good god. Their third round pick last year is a complete utter reach. USC three years he was never productive. He couldn't track them all, he didn't run rounds. It's probably a great kid. He's fast. He could be a tremendous special teams player. But I've said this before once every seven or eight years. You get a quarterback good enough to overcome problems. Andrew Luck, Josh Allen, They're just They're just good enough to overcome stuff around them. We know Chicago to no offense. Hell, you can't name their best receiver ever you may be in Chicago, Alshan Jeffrey, that's your I mean, it's a good player. But so I look at Justin Fields. I'm gonna be patient. He gets the year. But that comp with Josh Allen, and there's a lot of similarities. I saw a big, big move in year two right now. I've got to be honest. You can blame Matt Eberflus, but I think he's actually done a good job. I didn't like them hiring a defensive coach. I did not. I did not, But I think Eberflus I watched that defense. It is well coached. And Luke Getsy, who spent years in Green Bay, I think they're moving the heck out of the pocket. I think Washington's offense is a disaster. It's not clever, it's not smart, it doesn't make me think, it never catches me off guard. I think Chicago's well coached on offense. Receivers stink their own lines to question mark. That could use another running back, another tight end, three receivers. But the question is is Justin Fields comfortable in the pocket? Doesn't look at Is he good enough to overcome the reality of the Bears franchise? Not that he is, but I'm gonna give him the year. Here's Matt Eberlus after the game. I think he took a step forward. I really do, because because you know, he was the toughness, you know, and the able, the ability what's for me, the ability to take the ball and drive it down at the very end to give us a chance to win it. That's to me. What was the improvement? Okay, was there other moments you know that we needed to clean up and offense needs to clean up, shirt, but we had the drives down there, and if we punched those in the game's a different game. I hope he's right. I love Chicago. The kid is big, tall, fast, he's got a whip. He made the best throw of the game, and there was that one drive they scored on. The play calling was clever, he was accurate. It's not a disaster. I'm not sitting here telling you. When I watch him, I'm seeing you know like, oh, the guy's got no talent. I'm saying Josh Allen's the comp that people are using, and I compared them. There are moments with him, but but you have I don't care how well you're run. Lamar Jackson today wasn't terribly comfortable his first year and a half in the league in the pocket. He is now. He's tied for the NFL league ten touchdown packet passes middle of the pocket. So we'll see. But I will tell you this, even with the Jets, who I criticize, there are wins. I've told you about the Jets. They're GM's great. They got the GM right. I don't know if the coach quarterback worked. The GM's good. I will tell you when I watched Chicago, here are the positives. I think Eberflus is really good. I really do. I think he's really good. I watched that team. When you get yards, you earn him. I think you got And I wasn't a fan initially. I have a right to be wrong, but I don't think I'm smart to be rigid. I think Eberflus is good. I really do. I think he's really good. And I think Luke Getsy is clever. Don't listen to anybody. They're moving the heck out of that pocket. They're doing everything they can. But man, they do not do offense well. So this kid's gonna have to overcome stuff. I was sitting there this morning writing down if I had the Bears. If I because they have tons of cap space next year, and if I was the Bears, what would I do this all the time. I'm such a dork. If I looked at their cap space this morning, in their draft picks, I would literally literally go buy the best center on the market, the best right tackle on the market, a number two tight end, a number two and three receiver because I think Darnell Moody's like he's a two, And then I would draft the wide receiver in the market. I would literally go get six starters off it. They they need more of everything. Another tackle, another running back, another two receivers, another tight end because they can't draft it. They can't draft offensive talent, So go buy it right there you go? Okay, So I was thinking about this, Um, Mahomes and Josh Allen will play this weekend, and if you just took and I don't care all the quarterbacks. But the cornerbacks that I like in this league, that I think are special, and you just put them in two groups. I think Mahomes and Josh Allen have separated from the league. I think they're different. I think the armed talent, the ability to move, I think they've literally separated from the league. And then the second tier's got a bunch of guys that I like. I don't care what the order is. I like Brady and Burrow and Herbert and Rodgers and Stafford and Lamar and Derek and Russell. I know I still like him Kyler and Garoppolo and Jane Hurts. I don't care where you put him. The guys after that, I don't think there's a lot of special there. I don't think there's a big gap between that guy in the backup. We're seeing that in Dallas. But if you had to separate, and I was thinking about this this morning, so in my entire life, let's go to the seventies. There were two quarterbacks that I remember well. Bradshaw was winning all the rings. Stallback won a couple of rings, but may have been the most talented. Stallback is probably the most underrated player in my opinion I've ever seen in the NFL discipline in talent as accuracy running around. Bradshaw got most of the winds and the hardware. I thought Starback was actually more talented. I know Terry doesn't want to hear that. In the eighties, Elway was getting the rings. Many people believe Marino was more talented. Those were the two like star quarterbacks. I'm not just talking titles. I'm talking the two that like take your breath Away. In the nineties it was far Van Steve Young, both won a title, both took your breath Away. In the two thousands, it was Brady and Manning. Brady was winning the rings. Most people felt Peyton Manning was the greater natural talent. He was a number one, pick two and ten. It was Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Most people felt Aaron was to take your breath away talent. Brady was winning the rings. And now it's Allen and Mahomes. And I do believe that Josh Allen is to take your breath away talent, but Mahomes will end up winning more. Greg Kosell said this yesterday forty three years looking at film, I said, and it's close. If you took Allen in Mahomes talent, who's 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, that's not a big difference by any stretch of the imagination. But I think size is a trait. 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 something. He's the most physically gifted up there with a Marino and Elway. But it is interesting if you go decade to decade, there have usually been usually two and they're both really talented Bradshaw, Staubach, far Young, Aaron Brady, Manning Brady, but one guy usually wins more titles than the other guy in that decade. And I do believe there are advantages to Mahomes what he's got the offensive coach, Josh has the defensive coach. Kansas City rebuilt their offensive line in one year. It took Buffalo six. Buffalo still doesn't have a competent run game, with their head coach six years in Kansas City, always runs it okay if you look at the way the sport is moving, And I do have a feeling this weekend Buffalo is going to play well. But I think that shootout last year is what it's going to look like. Close games, offensive league, complimentary run game, better offensive line. Mahomes will just sneak past Josh Allen more than Josh Allen will beat Patrick Mahomes. But I think if you're totally honest, as much as I like a lot of guys in this league, I think they've separated leadership, size, arm, talent, mobility. They're just different. All right. Great to have you in today. Also Blazing five coming up in forty minutes, Peter King two. We may have a quarterback controversy not in Dallas here and stuff from three credible sources. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter n a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app well. As you know, I have favorites in the quarterback game. One of them is Jimmy GQ Jimmy Garoppolo for the Niners. He is as his team is falling apart this week and they're missing eight starters. They're not only winning, they're winning big, although I think they're gonna have a tussle this weekend against Atlanta. So Jimmy g is one of those guys that just keeps his head down, doesn't make it, doesn't wine, doesn't complain, doesn't want to own the press conference. You know, he's got that kind of Dak Scott quality at the podium, like he just says the right stuff. Anytime there's controversy, he just sort of side steps it falls on the sword. That's a skill, by the way. And so Steve Young Joe Montana have both said things before they really like him. And Steve Young was on CANBR radio in San Francisco talking about like what he's overcoming and why he likes him so much. He just keeps rolling and he doesn't fall for any of the trips and traps and the cheap shots and the things that he could be saying and doing. No one of the locker room loves the sky, no wonder that. You know, he just kind of can handle all this stuff that happens to him. He's like, yeah, well good, let's just keep rolling. It. I admire that, and I have to tip my cap to it, and it's not easy. We've seen a lot of quarterbacks can't handle the podium. So think about it this way. Do you believe that Bill Belichick knows more about football than you guy wearing a Niner jacket who retweets adult videos on Twitter? Yeah, I'm gonna say does. Check drafted him over fourteen years, higher than any quarterback he drafted in New England, and he drafted a lot. Belichick liked him and wanted to replace Brady. He did, Robert Kraft wouldn't let him, and then when the owners said you got to get rid of him, the smartest young offensive coach, the guy who owns Sean McBay, Kyle Shanahan, said I'll take him. I'll take him. So the best coach ever loved him was going to move off Brady and the best young coach loves him. But Jimmy Garoppolo has been hurt a lot, and so the Niners, fearful that he's not available, went out three first round picks tried to get a young quarterback to replace him. That quarterback got hurt. Jimmy Garoppolo and the two years in San Francisco. He's been healthy in both, he's gotten to the NFC Championship. Still doubt him. Listen, if you were a young chef, you're talented, You're in the culinary industry. And Bobby Flay and Gordon Ramsay both said I'll take him. Belichick Kyle Shanahan both said I'll take him. I'm gonna trust their opinion over guy retweeting adult videos and the critics on Twitter. I'm sorry, I just have to It's not smug, it's honest. In an off season where Garoppolo had shoulder surgery on his throwing arm, where he was not a kind of shunned by his team, was not given a playbook, was suddenly thrust into a starting role despite not practicing or playing in the preseason. He's missing his left tackle, the best left tackle in football, and his top running back. He now has a passer rating in the NFL that's higher than Brady and Joe Burrows today seventh, and a touchdown interception ratio that is third, Folks, At some point, I know it's so hard to admit you're wrong. The Niners are really good, and one of the reasons is this dude, Kyle Shanahan's won twenty four percent of his games in San Francisco. When Jimmy doesn't start. It's not the prettiest ball, the biggest arm, but accurate, quick release. Greg Kosell came on yesterday and said they asked him to make tough throws and he does. And by the way, he doesn't throw interceptions either. Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsey. I'll take that, chef. That's just pretty good. I don't know much about being a chef. I can't cook anything. I mean, I make scrambled eggs and English muffins. I feel like I've accomplished something. I don't know anything, but I know they know stuff. And I don't sit and watch film. But when Shanahan and Belichick are like, I'll take him. From two thousand and twenty fourteen, Garoppolo was the highest drafted Patriot quarterback and they drafted quarterbacks constantly, and he wanted Bill wanted to move off. Brady Kraft wouldn't let him. The first coach that called Shanahan, I'll take him. J Mack with the News, No, No, this is the herd line news. Huh is that your go to for breakfast. Well, no, that's my dinner. I can't you know, I don't have to know the culinary industry, but if smart people in it like something, it's probably good. Agreed. All right, let's get started here. Russell Westbrook colin in breaking news in the last thirty minutes. According to WOJ, Russell Westbrook is going to come off the bench tonight in the preseason final game of the preseason. Darvin Ham's been exploring the possibility of Russ leading the second unit, so they're gonna give it a go tonight. I'm sure it's just coincidental that it comes out after this incident at the last Lakers game. Remember Patrick Beverley national television weirdness with Russ. Well, listen, before Patrick Beverley arrived and Dennis Shrewder, we thought Russ was an odd fit. Remember that Dennis Shrewder has moved a lot because he's prickly, okay, so he's not going to put up with Westbrook stuff. And Patrick Beverly pokes and prods professionally. So the Lakers brought on two strong personalities with strong voices, and my takeaway was not elevate Westbrook to annoy Westbrook. They did it. First of all, they needed those players, and those players right now are both better shooters. Given me fifteen a game and can shoot. And Beverley's a three D guy. Right now, they're not as talented, but they're both better than Westbrook. So this idea they brought him on, and it was just no, They've brought those guys on to irritate Westbrook. And by the way, why are they doing this and why is it leaked to irritate Westbrook, who changed agents, who put his house up for self. They want Russell gone? Well, I texted someone as soon as I saw this news. Trainer works out a lot of NBA players. They said, Russ's value is super low right now. If he saw he took like three shots in the last game when he started, moving him to the bench allows him free reign. He could put up a ton of shots, accumulate a lot of stats. Hey, guys, look around the league. Look at Russell Westbrook. He's putting up big numbers with our second unit. Do you want him so his elevation playing with the second unit could get stats and get him chipped out of town. I think you're right, Russ is gonna be gone. Sooner than later. Ye next story calling the Eagles Eagles Cowboys Sunday night. Obviously Eagles a final undefeated team in the league. Jalen Hurts is five and oh the offense has a tough matchup with the Cowboys, and DeMarcus Lawrence is jaw jacking about how confident Dallas's defense is. Listen to this stuff. Has he played us? Different teams, run different schemes. All you need to write is he hasn't played the Cowboys yet, so we don't know how good he is. They do have a pretty good offense. They got a good wide receiver, corps, good quarterback, good old line, so they're well rounded. But also weedam boys, remember that. Don't worry about it. Y'all will see it on Sunday. You know. I will say this for the Marcus Lawrence, I thought he was invisible at times last year. I think he's off to a great start. So remember he had a really really good year about three or four years ago, got paid and I just kind of felt like I never saw the same guy. He has been exceptional, and maybe some of it is so much attention facing the Cowboys is to block Micah Parsons. But MICA's great, Treyvon Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence is back to being the guy they paid. He's been exceptional. But I'll just say this, they face some bad offensive lines. Okay, the Rams offensive line is really hurting. A couple of weeks ago they faced I think the Bears was at Giants. I mean they've beat up on bad offensive line. I like Philly this week. Philly's offensive line is the tops in the league. And by the way, all their guys are healthy. Kelsey's good the left tackles. Do you like Philly? I gotta save it for later in this Okay, come on, but the lines up to six and a half. It was four and a half. Philadelphia was the side early in the week. Now it's up to six and a half. You kind of missed the best number. But I do think Philly wins twenty seven twenty that's I think Philadelphia controls the game. Dallas gets any points, huh, Cooper Rush third straight road game, Well, they blocked punch, they get turnovers. We'll see all right. Final story, Carson Wentz, Can I say your guy, Carson Wentz, I know you'd like to defend them. On Thursday ninety nine, yards passing last night. All right, So anyways, Carson Wentz's coach, Ron rivera boy, he got a little heated last night after the win, strongly defended Wentz and uh, he kind of went off a couple of sentities here, ear Muffett, if your little kids are watching, it's been hard, it really has. You lose four games in a row, and everybody wants to get you, you know, just get on you. And they've played there, they have, They played their off for everybody. They come out and they show up. They work hard, all right, they don't complain. Okay, they hear all the stuff and they got to deal with it. I get them. I respect them for that because they're resilient. They come back. Everybody keeps wanting to say, I didn't want anything to do with Carson. I'm the guy that pulled out the sheets of paper, that looked at the analytics, that watched the tape in the pricking. Well we're at Indianapolis, okay, And that's what me off because a young man doesn't deserve to have that all the time. I'm sorry. I'm done for the record. I like ron Um, you know, I like Wentz better than everybody else. But when I watched that game last night, I thought the Bears offensive coordinator. I thought they moved the pocket. I thought they were clever. I do not like what Washington's offense looks like. I think Washington's offense has some talent. I like their receivers. I don't think the Bears offense had any talent or very little. But I think Luke Getzy did the most you can do with what he has. I think Washington is underachieving offensively dry. You know, I like Wentz. You guys all bang on him, but I you can have him. By the way, the Chicago Bears Colin drove inside the ten yard line three times and got zero points. Okay, like I bet Washington, I said Washington on the show. But they were not the better team last night. We can agree on that. I think Chicago. I honestly think Chicago's well coached, but They're history is they can't draft offense. I don't like the on line. I don't like the receivers. Washington's got players on offense, they don't use him offensive so too. Just to be clear, you like Eberflus and you like Carson Wentz. No, No, I think eberflu I watched the Bears and I believe they are well coached and well coordinated. Okay, I watched Washington and I don't like their oc I think they're not creative. I don't think they put Wentz. You know, we always blame the quarterback here, But if you don't like, like right now Washington Wentz has Why was Wentz better last year with Frank Reich because he's an offensive coach? Did Wentz just forget how to play? I mean, we look all around this league. It's funny what offenses are struggling. A lot of defensive coaches. I think offensive coaches. Our next guest had Rex Ryan. I like Rex. Rex made it hards. Offensive coaches make it easier for quarterback. Wentz did have one of the best offensive lines in the league in the Colts last year and Jonathan Taylor, who led the league in Russia. It's funny. How's the offense in Indie now? Thirty second and scoring very bad? Matt Ryan is well, So you always want to blame the quarterback. This is a team game. I like quarterbacks, especially our next guest. It sounds like you love them. Jay Mack with the News, Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd line. Let's bring on Mark Sanchez, who asked to listen to Jack Rushing. I'm here yet, I'm here defending. There is a question for you is a question? Thank you? Marks on? There? Um can I go? Yeah? There we go? So let me think I can't see straight. My kids got a flag football game today at four thirty. A lot of stuff we got. You know, pregame speech is just all right, boys, it ain't about having fun. It's about those other kids ask us that's right, you know what I mean, winning the game, ruining their Friday's and going to pizza after my kind of dad. Here, here's what I worry about, because I have said this with Justin Fields, can we please be patient. This is an organization that if I said you best Bears receiver in the history of the franchise, you can't name one. So some organizations they know defense, some no offense. Here's what I worry about a little bit, Josh Allen. Many people use the comp windy defensive head coach saying windy battle line, no run game, what can they do with it? The difference is I saw I always feel Josh Allen. I've always felt Mark he's comfortable in the pocket. He likes to throw the ball correct with Josh, and I don't I don't know what's feel that he's better rolling. He's amazing on the move, excellent, but you can't roll every play. It's exhausting. But he also needs some help. He needs a consistent run game. I think they you know, they tried with that stuff, but Jamax said the stat I mean, you're inside the five yard line or inside the ten three times get points and we can't get points. Last, you know, gold to go. He gets you a thirty plus yard scramble, gets you down to the goal line to win the game, and four shots at the end zone and you come up empty. It's it's tough sledding in Chicago right now. And most importantly, he just needs he needs help. He needs players. I mean, if he's going to move around like that and run around and extend plays, you gotta have guys that can run, scramble, drill, guys who know how to get open. So basically, when the play breaks down and you have these sometimes scripted in practice and unscripted, but when the play breaks down and you roll one way, or another. Receivers have their original routes that are drawn on these nice pretty sheets of paper that we get all week. But at the end of the day, it's complete the ball, and so these guys know immediately quarterback breaks the pocket. Okay, am I the nearer receiver, I gotta get near the quarterback mirror him. If I'm a little bit behind him, stay kind of in my lane, but get to the middle of the field, kind of in between the hash and the numbers, and start to throttle down and find his own. If I'm deep, stay deep, because a lot of times the deep defenders will run up to the quarterback. Boom, stay deep, throw your hand up. You might get a free cherry pick on the opposite end of the field. And then if you're on the opposite end, you know, basically eat up some grass and come make yourself, make yourself useful, you know what I mean. And it just doesn't look like it's in sync there. You know, When Aaron Rodgers breaks the pocket, everybody knows what to do. Mahomes breaks the pocket, Josh Allen breaks It's like boom, all right, boys plays over, let's go. The second part of this play just began and you just don't see it as much there, and you really feel for the guy because he's got amazing talent, right, I mean we've seen it in college. We've seen it in flashes. It's just the consistency and you know, help around him. Yeah, I think quarterbacks are seventy percent of the game, coaches thirty percent. In college. That's probably flipped where the coach. I mean, Saban wins with everybody at quarterback. But I'm watching you can see good coaching. I'm watching the New York Giants. Oh, I mean they have we have that game last week. Okay, let's talk about that. I think believable. In the off season, there was speculation it was the league outside of left tackle. It was the league's worst offensive line. They dominated the second half long drives. What do you I watched table and I'm like, that is coaching. Well one, you got to inspire these guys, right, you gotta get them to trust you. And the only way to do that is to have some measured success early, right, like go do this, trust me, boom, it works just one time. You keep coming back for more. I keep going back to the well and some of the best coaches I've been around, have a way of getting you psyched for the game, but you feel calm as if Hayes in the barn. There's nothing else to worry about today. We worked our butt off all week. I'm ready to go. I want to be jumping out of my skin. I want to go jack this team up. But I also want to play within myself and play with boys. Pete was a master at that. You know, certain coaches have that. It looks like day Ball's doing that with these guys. And then, I mean, there's no secret who's your best player? Feed the guy you know, And sometimes I'm scratching my head. We got the Panthers this weekend. I'm like, Christian McCaffrey's your best player. For him to have less than ten carries in a game, I mean, that's like a cardinal sin. That can't happen. Barkley is the number right, So it's just yeah, in the past game, all your receivers are down. Okay, sa Quan's our first option, he's our second option, and he's our third option. I don't care. Get twenty six the ball, hand it to him, pitch it to him, Snap it to the guy. I don't care. Get him the ball. And I can't say enough about what Daniel Jones did last week. I mean it was incredible. The dude just stood there and took shots. Then is running around on this ankle that's probably swollen. He's all banged up, bleeding, and the dude just rushes for a first down on third down, extends drives, stands in the pocket, staring down the barrel, and just deliver strikes over the ball. I was blown away. It was his best performance by far, and I was shocked they pulled off the upset. But it's just it felt how are they gonna keep doing it? You know, because I mean they have so many guys down, Like you lose Sterling Shephard, you lose all these whiteouts, right, and credit to them, and don't forget about the defense now, was like, but you don't think Baltimore was missing wing Martindale. They gave up a couple twenty point leads in the fourth quarter at home back to back week, Like, I mean, they got to play him this week, so that's that's gonna be a serious matchup. But he's turned that whole thing around as well. It feels good if you're a Giant fan, stick around Mark, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week days and noon Easter not a Empacific. 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 for dug from Fox Sports, MLB Network and Sports Illustrated, and I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around to talk a little bit about manager real decisions, playoff games, and what may have accredited the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties. I can't wait for this, Joe. We're going to 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. All right, Mark Sanchez is joining us, So I want to talk about Usually, if you do something well, the diminishment of diminished talent is a slow process. We saw Big Ben over time, Russell Wilson previous four years quarterback rating over one hundred, one of the prettiest deep balls in the League. I mean like rainbow. Now, he can't throw it, he misses badly. He's on a resort. So my takeaway is you don't go from something great to off a cliff. There's the lat issue. People think that's just he put it out there to save himself. There's the coach issue. Could you explain the fall off a cliff on anything over twenty five yards for Russell? I can't figure it out. Mark. He's one of the deadliest deep ball throwers around, you know, and they would take timely shots. They'd run it, you know, to death with Marshawn lanch or whatever, and then you'd see this beautiful ball that looks like it got shot out of a jugs machine just landing someone's you know, yeah, and I can't quite put my finger on it. My only thing is I think Coach Carroll made a you know, a business decision saying, Okay, if this guy's gonna run around and that's what he does, and this scramble drill, which we mentioned last second, if that's going to be our offense, and he's starting to get a little older and can't move quite as much, you don't see him making those kind of second half of the play plays yea and extending plays. Okay, let's Cup eight and move on and see where we go. And right now it looks it looks right. I mean, you know, Smith, are you kidding me? Like I remember him coming into the league. We got his game in two weeks, not this Sunday, but next Sunday against the Chargers. But when he came in the league, I was like, I don't know if this guy like loves it. I don't know if he's like you know. And then I'm watching the first game and I'm like, Okay, well, amazing first half, right, Like okay, maybe he comes back down to earth a little bit, or maybe they pull the reins back a little bit just because they know they're playing with house money at this point and they didn't expect it, right, And then he just keeps going and he hasn't stopped. It's it blew my mind. But I can't say what a transition like. I can't speak enough about the transition he's made because I saw him as a young pup when he first walked in the building. Yeah, and I was like, I don't know, yeah, I don't know if I don't know if that's it somebody. You know it ta it takes a village, It absolutely does. Absolutely and the most important voices. You know, your head coach is very important. What coach Carrol's done for his confidence. I mean, you can't say enough about And Seattle's shockingly competitive. And and they're gonna be in the right position. Now, are they better player for player than all these rosters that they're gonna face. Probably not, but they're gonna be in the right position. And we're gonna make the routine plays. Every once in a while, we're gonna have to take our shot and flip a coin. You know, we'll see what happens, you know, And and they're doing it. It's incredible. Well, Pete's a great college coach. The book on Pete was always He's great with young players, of course, or guys who are like hungry, right, they want answers, who need a little love, attention, Uh, you know, effort, kids jumping out of their skin. Man, it's ready to go. So um, it's interesting. So you saw Green Bay last week, and I don't think they played bad. I think this is what they are. Um. What I worry about is that what happened to their defense. They're not running it as well as they should. Aaron seems frustrated. Um, I just happen to get lucky on this. I didn't think they'd be great this year. I thought Minnesota would win the division and kind of comfortably. So now Zach Wilson goes in there, and it's interesting. Now, Zach's the Jets, whatever you want to say. They have better offensive weapons right now this morning than Green Bay. I really believe that. I think they've drafted well. Most two wideouts are pretty good. In Green Bay. They're gonna they're coming along London hangover. Can the Jets beat Green Bay? How do you view it? I don't know. I think Aaron's gonna be too upset. He's gonna be um too focused and like killer instinct and you know, let's eliminate the silly mistakes. And if we got to run at forty times, I don't care. But I'm I predict green Bay goes on a little bit of a terror here and and starts mopping teams up. But the Jets are scary coming into Lamba though. That's that's a real deal then, whether it's not coming back from London that kind of hangover after that loss, you just got to keep those guys together. And this is this is really a chance where you know, Aaron's got to bring along these young guys and it takes time. I mean, the kids out of Reno Dubs, the kid from HC. Watson's got to be you know, North Dakota State, like those guys, this kind of adversity on this kind of stage because of number twelve, your quarterback, one of the best ever. These guys, I mean everything showing up on your phone, you know, the drop early in the year. Like they got to eliminate a lot of these distractions. And Aaron's got to be one of the guys to bring those guys in and you know, it's just time on test the things like he can't assume that these guys know everything they know. And he talked about it in our production meeting and it was incredible. But like Jordan later in his career, Kobe later in his career, like you've got to bring along these young guys and give them the tough love, but you can't expect you know, you set the bar really high, but you can't expect too much and make it, you know, over coach them and make them think too much because most importantly, they're gonna make mistakes. They're young, they're little kids. It's like raising kids, right, they're little kids. They're gonna touch the stove even when you tell them not to. Right, So what do you do? You coach them to what you want. Don't say don't don't say don't drop the ball. That doesn't help. You already envisioned dropping the ball, right, don't hit it in the water and golf, well, I already see the ball splashing in the water. That's no good. Tell me what you want, right, and and coach what you want. Eyes, fingertips, focus, boys, go play free, have a ball out there today, balls coming, your balls in the air. It's your ball. That's it, bottom line, you know. And those kind of conversations have to happen. And it's gonna say a lot about Aaron in this twilight of his career, on how those guys developed, because it's a lot on him and that's a lot on his plate. All right, you're covering the Rams game this week. You're going up to practice right now, Mark Shanshaz. This guy is steadfast and his work ethic. And then he's gonna go bark at kids. And his kid's gonna trample the other kids today. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. But you can find people on LinkedIn. You are looking for skill, You're looking for people that match your work environment. Post your job for free at LinkedIn dot com slash herd. Terms and conditions apply, all right, Blazing five dogs barking. I like a lot of underdogs this week. Surprisingly close games, very exciting. We gotta show Peter King too, live in La. It's the hurd

Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it is a Friday. We are packed. So much going on live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and FS one one hour from now on one game. Over five hundred this year Blazing five. The dogs are barking this week. Four of my five picks are underdogs. I think in the NFL we have these weird upset weekends. Keep your eyes. The Jets may make it into I don't put the Jets in my Blazing five much at all. Gotta feel them this week. They may sneak in. Jason Mack and entire long time Jets fan. How are you feeling good about the Jets? Listen, It's a big Friday. Colin. A lot of picks. I have been over five hundred every week on her to headlines for picks. See if we can keep it rolling. Okay, let's start with this so and it's weird how this is, but Chicago. The Chicago Bears can't do offense. They can't name their best receiver ever, name their best quarterback ever, but their best corner, linebackers, safety, pass rusher. This year is a prime example. The last two years, they've drafted six offensive linemen. I think one looks like he's good. Their wide receiver group right now is easily the worst in the league. Darnell Moody is a two, maybe a three. The rest of the guys are cast offs. So and this year's draft is a great example about the Bears. They hire a defensive coach. He looks to me pretty good. That Bears defense pretty good, Mattie ever Flus. They draft a corner and a safety, where their first two picks they're both great. Their third pick, Veylis Jones, a wide receiver, a complete reach. He's a sixth round pick. They pick him in the third. He's a return guy who could never track a ball in college. It doesn't run good routes. I talked to two NFL executives last night that are in the war room during the draft and they just rolled their eyes. They're like, he's a return guy. That was their third pick. They don't know offense, They've never known offense, and this is no offense. So I'm gonna be really, really patient. I've said this all year with Justin Fields, the kids working with a terrible receiving corps, a bad offensive line. So the comp for him is Josh Allen. So both of them are big, strong, athletic and construggle at times with accuracy. Both have a defensive coach, both have a bad offensive line. Both are in a cold, northern windy city. So that's kind of your comp, right. So Josh Allen year one, like Justin Fields, who at interceptions are not good looking. Josh Allen Year two like Justin Fields and year two kind of bumpy. But the difference is Josh Allen was still a bad offensive line with a defensive coach, with no running game. Josh Allen year two, you were getting twenty touchdown passes, ten rushing touchdowns. He started to be wildly productive. Justin Fields still isn't now again. Josh Allen. Bad old line, Josh Allen, no run game. Josh Allen receiving core in year two wasn't as good as it is now. But you saw the leap. When I look at Justin Fields, I see bad body language. The completion percentage has gone down, and he's not Josh Allen the prospect. He's not. So the Bears right now have a situation where they'll be as good as their quarterback. And I don't think you can blame Luke Getsy, the offensive coordinator. I thought they moved the pocket last night. I thought they were clever. They rolled him out a lot. You can only roll out so much at some point of it's got to be comfortable in the pocket. Josh Allen very early in his career, he may have been wild. He was totally comfortable sitting in the pocket and throwing darts. Loves it to this day. He runs when he has to, So I don't want to hear that. Well, Justin Fields was great at Ohio State and the history of the NFL, the history Ohio State's never had one great NFL quarterback. They have the best talent in the conference and they go up against Purdue in Illinois. Of course, the quarterbacks throwing to five star tight ends, five star left tackles. Five star running backs and five star receivers look great. They've never had a star quarterback in the NFL, so that doesn't mean anything. Nothing, And I'm going to be patient with Justin Fields. But the comp with Josh Allen is similar. Windy, cold city, defensive culture, bad old lines, wild initially, but I saw a big leap in year two, even though he still wasn't that accurate. If you went, if you go back in YouTube Josh Allen year two, he's jumping over people. He's really comfortable in the pocket, and I don't see it with Justin Fields now, could it? Could it be turned around? Everybody's gonna blame and blame and blame, and that's fine, But at some point we've got to be realistic here. The Bears don't do offense well, they don't. So is Justin Fields good enough to overcome his reality? I mean, good god. Their third round pick last year is a complete utter reach. USC three years he was never productive. He couldn't track them all, he didn't run rounds. It's probably a great kid. He's fast. He could be a tremendous special teams player. But I've said this before once every seven or eight years. You get a quarterback good enough to overcome problems. Andrew Luck, Josh Allen, They're just They're just good enough to overcome stuff around them. We know Chicago to no offense. Hell, you can't name their best receiver ever you may be in Chicago, Alshan Jeffrey, that's your I mean, it's a good player. But so I look at Justin Fields. I'm gonna be patient. He gets the year. But that comp with Josh Allen, and there's a lot of similarities. I saw a big, big move in year two right now. I've got to be honest. You can blame Matt Eberflus, but I think he's actually done a good job. I didn't like them hiring a defensive coach. I did not. I did not, But I think Eberflus I watched that defense. It is well coached. And Luke Getsy, who spent years in Green Bay, I think they're moving the heck out of the pocket. I think Washington's offense is a disaster. It's not clever, it's not smart, it doesn't make me think, it never catches me off guard. I think Chicago's well coached on offense. Receivers stink their own lines to question mark. That could use another running back, another tight end, three receivers. But the question is is Justin Fields comfortable in the pocket? Doesn't look at Is he good enough to overcome the reality of the Bears franchise? Not that he is, but I'm gonna give him the year. Here's Matt Eberlus after the game. I think he took a step forward. I really do, because because you know, he was the toughness, you know, and the able, the ability what's for me, the ability to take the ball and drive it down at the very end to give us a chance to win it. That's to me. What was the improvement? Okay, was there other moments you know that we needed to clean up and offense needs to clean up, shirt, but we had the drives down there, and if we punched those in the game's a different game. I hope he's right. I love Chicago. The kid is big, tall, fast, he's got a whip. He made the best throw of the game, and there was that one drive they scored on. The play calling was clever, he was accurate. It's not a disaster. I'm not sitting here telling you. When I watch him, I'm seeing you know like, oh, the guy's got no talent. I'm saying Josh Allen's the comp that people are using, and I compared them. There are moments with him, but but you have I don't care how well you're run. Lamar Jackson today wasn't terribly comfortable his first year and a half in the league in the pocket. He is now. He's tied for the NFL league ten touchdown packet passes middle of the pocket. So we'll see. But I will tell you this, even with the Jets, who I criticize, there are wins. I've told you about the Jets. They're GM's great. They got the GM right. I don't know if the coach quarterback worked. The GM's good. I will tell you when I watched Chicago, here are the positives. I think Eberflus is really good. I really do. I think he's really good. I watched that team. When you get yards, you earn him. I think you got And I wasn't a fan initially. I have a right to be wrong, but I don't think I'm smart to be rigid. I think Eberflus is good. I really do. I think he's really good. And I think Luke Getsy is clever. Don't listen to anybody. They're moving the heck out of that pocket. They're doing everything they can. But man, they do not do offense well. So this kid's gonna have to overcome stuff. I was sitting there this morning writing down if I had the Bears. If I because they have tons of cap space next year, and if I was the Bears, what would I do this all the time. I'm such a dork. If I looked at their cap space this morning, in their draft picks, I would literally literally go buy the best center on the market, the best right tackle on the market, a number two tight end, a number two and three receiver because I think Darnell Moody's like he's a two, And then I would draft the wide receiver in the market. I would literally go get six starters off it. They they need more of everything. Another tackle, another running back, another two receivers, another tight end because they can't draft it. They can't draft offensive talent, So go buy it right there you go? Okay, So I was thinking about this, Um, Mahomes and Josh Allen will play this weekend, and if you just took and I don't care all the quarterbacks. But the cornerbacks that I like in this league, that I think are special, and you just put them in two groups. I think Mahomes and Josh Allen have separated from the league. I think they're different. I think the armed talent, the ability to move, I think they've literally separated from the league. And then the second tier's got a bunch of guys that I like. I don't care what the order is. I like Brady and Burrow and Herbert and Rodgers and Stafford and Lamar and Derek and Russell. I know I still like him Kyler and Garoppolo and Jane Hurts. I don't care where you put him. The guys after that, I don't think there's a lot of special there. I don't think there's a big gap between that guy in the backup. We're seeing that in Dallas. But if you had to separate, and I was thinking about this this morning, so in my entire life, let's go to the seventies. There were two quarterbacks that I remember well. Bradshaw was winning all the rings. Stallback won a couple of rings, but may have been the most talented. Stallback is probably the most underrated player in my opinion I've ever seen in the NFL discipline in talent as accuracy running around. Bradshaw got most of the winds and the hardware. I thought Starback was actually more talented. I know Terry doesn't want to hear that. In the eighties, Elway was getting the rings. Many people believe Marino was more talented. Those were the two like star quarterbacks. I'm not just talking titles. I'm talking the two that like take your breath Away. In the nineties it was far Van Steve Young, both won a title, both took your breath Away. In the two thousands, it was Brady and Manning. Brady was winning the rings. Most people felt Peyton Manning was the greater natural talent. He was a number one, pick two and ten. It was Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Most people felt Aaron was to take your breath away talent. Brady was winning the rings. And now it's Allen and Mahomes. And I do believe that Josh Allen is to take your breath away talent, but Mahomes will end up winning more. Greg Kosell said this yesterday forty three years looking at film, I said, and it's close. If you took Allen in Mahomes talent, who's 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, that's not a big difference by any stretch of the imagination. But I think size is a trait. 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 something. He's the most physically gifted up there with a Marino and Elway. But it is interesting if you go decade to decade, there have usually been usually two and they're both really talented Bradshaw, Staubach, far Young, Aaron Brady, Manning Brady, but one guy usually wins more titles than the other guy in that decade. And I do believe there are advantages to Mahomes what he's got the offensive coach, Josh has the defensive coach. Kansas City rebuilt their offensive line in one year. It took Buffalo six. Buffalo still doesn't have a competent run game, with their head coach six years in Kansas City, always runs it okay if you look at the way the sport is moving, And I do have a feeling this weekend Buffalo is going to play well. But I think that shootout last year is what it's going to look like. Close games, offensive league, complimentary run game, better offensive line. Mahomes will just sneak past Josh Allen more than Josh Allen will beat Patrick Mahomes. But I think if you're totally honest, as much as I like a lot of guys in this league, I think they've separated leadership, size, arm, talent, mobility. They're just different. All right. Great to have you in today. Also Blazing five coming up in forty minutes, Peter King two. We may have a quarterback controversy not in Dallas here and stuff from three credible sources. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter n a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app well. As you know, I have favorites in the quarterback game. One of them is Jimmy GQ Jimmy Garoppolo for the Niners. He is as his team is falling apart this week and they're missing eight starters. They're not only winning, they're winning big, although I think they're gonna have a tussle this weekend against Atlanta. So Jimmy g is one of those guys that just keeps his head down, doesn't make it, doesn't wine, doesn't complain, doesn't want to own the press conference. You know, he's got that kind of Dak Scott quality at the podium, like he just says the right stuff. Anytime there's controversy, he just sort of side steps it falls on the sword. That's a skill, by the way. And so Steve Young Joe Montana have both said things before they really like him. And Steve Young was on CANBR radio in San Francisco talking about like what he's overcoming and why he likes him so much. He just keeps rolling and he doesn't fall for any of the trips and traps and the cheap shots and the things that he could be saying and doing. No one of the locker room loves the sky, no wonder that. You know, he just kind of can handle all this stuff that happens to him. He's like, yeah, well good, let's just keep rolling. It. I admire that, and I have to tip my cap to it, and it's not easy. We've seen a lot of quarterbacks can't handle the podium. So think about it this way. Do you believe that Bill Belichick knows more about football than you guy wearing a Niner jacket who retweets adult videos on Twitter? Yeah, I'm gonna say does. Check drafted him over fourteen years, higher than any quarterback he drafted in New England, and he drafted a lot. Belichick liked him and wanted to replace Brady. He did, Robert Kraft wouldn't let him, and then when the owners said you got to get rid of him, the smartest young offensive coach, the guy who owns Sean McBay, Kyle Shanahan, said I'll take him. I'll take him. So the best coach ever loved him was going to move off Brady and the best young coach loves him. But Jimmy Garoppolo has been hurt a lot, and so the Niners, fearful that he's not available, went out three first round picks tried to get a young quarterback to replace him. That quarterback got hurt. Jimmy Garoppolo and the two years in San Francisco. He's been healthy in both, he's gotten to the NFC Championship. Still doubt him. Listen, if you were a young chef, you're talented, You're in the culinary industry. And Bobby Flay and Gordon Ramsay both said I'll take him. Belichick Kyle Shanahan both said I'll take him. I'm gonna trust their opinion over guy retweeting adult videos and the critics on Twitter. I'm sorry, I just have to It's not smug, it's honest. In an off season where Garoppolo had shoulder surgery on his throwing arm, where he was not a kind of shunned by his team, was not given a playbook, was suddenly thrust into a starting role despite not practicing or playing in the preseason. He's missing his left tackle, the best left tackle in football, and his top running back. He now has a passer rating in the NFL that's higher than Brady and Joe Burrows today seventh, and a touchdown interception ratio that is third, Folks, At some point, I know it's so hard to admit you're wrong. The Niners are really good, and one of the reasons is this dude, Kyle Shanahan's won twenty four percent of his games in San Francisco. When Jimmy doesn't start. It's not the prettiest ball, the biggest arm, but accurate, quick release. Greg Kosell came on yesterday and said they asked him to make tough throws and he does. And by the way, he doesn't throw interceptions either. Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsey. I'll take that, chef. That's just pretty good. I don't know much about being a chef. I can't cook anything. I mean, I make scrambled eggs and English muffins. I feel like I've accomplished something. I don't know anything, but I know they know stuff. And I don't sit and watch film. But when Shanahan and Belichick are like, I'll take him. From two thousand and twenty fourteen, Garoppolo was the highest drafted Patriot quarterback and they drafted quarterbacks constantly, and he wanted Bill wanted to move off. Brady Kraft wouldn't let him. The first coach that called Shanahan, I'll take him. J Mack with the News, No, No, this is the herd line news. Huh is that your go to for breakfast. Well, no, that's my dinner. I can't you know, I don't have to know the culinary industry, but if smart people in it like something, it's probably good. Agreed. All right, let's get started here. Russell Westbrook colin in breaking news in the last thirty minutes. According to WOJ, Russell Westbrook is going to come off the bench tonight in the preseason final game of the preseason. Darvin Ham's been exploring the possibility of Russ leading the second unit, so they're gonna give it a go tonight. I'm sure it's just coincidental that it comes out after this incident at the last Lakers game. Remember Patrick Beverley national television weirdness with Russ. Well, listen, before Patrick Beverley arrived and Dennis Shrewder, we thought Russ was an odd fit. Remember that Dennis Shrewder has moved a lot because he's prickly, okay, so he's not going to put up with Westbrook stuff. And Patrick Beverly pokes and prods professionally. So the Lakers brought on two strong personalities with strong voices, and my takeaway was not elevate Westbrook to annoy Westbrook. They did it. First of all, they needed those players, and those players right now are both better shooters. Given me fifteen a game and can shoot. And Beverley's a three D guy. Right now, they're not as talented, but they're both better than Westbrook. So this idea they brought him on, and it was just no, They've brought those guys on to irritate Westbrook. And by the way, why are they doing this and why is it leaked to irritate Westbrook, who changed agents, who put his house up for self. They want Russell gone? Well, I texted someone as soon as I saw this news. Trainer works out a lot of NBA players. They said, Russ's value is super low right now. If he saw he took like three shots in the last game when he started, moving him to the bench allows him free reign. He could put up a ton of shots, accumulate a lot of stats. Hey, guys, look around the league. Look at Russell Westbrook. He's putting up big numbers with our second unit. Do you want him so his elevation playing with the second unit could get stats and get him chipped out of town. I think you're right, Russ is gonna be gone. Sooner than later. Ye next story calling the Eagles Eagles Cowboys Sunday night. Obviously Eagles a final undefeated team in the league. Jalen Hurts is five and oh the offense has a tough matchup with the Cowboys, and DeMarcus Lawrence is jaw jacking about how confident Dallas's defense is. Listen to this stuff. Has he played us? Different teams, run different schemes. All you need to write is he hasn't played the Cowboys yet, so we don't know how good he is. They do have a pretty good offense. They got a good wide receiver, corps, good quarterback, good old line, so they're well rounded. But also weedam boys, remember that. Don't worry about it. Y'all will see it on Sunday. You know. I will say this for the Marcus Lawrence, I thought he was invisible at times last year. I think he's off to a great start. So remember he had a really really good year about three or four years ago, got paid and I just kind of felt like I never saw the same guy. He has been exceptional, and maybe some of it is so much attention facing the Cowboys is to block Micah Parsons. But MICA's great, Treyvon Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence is back to being the guy they paid. He's been exceptional. But I'll just say this, they face some bad offensive lines. Okay, the Rams offensive line is really hurting. A couple of weeks ago they faced I think the Bears was at Giants. I mean they've beat up on bad offensive line. I like Philly this week. Philly's offensive line is the tops in the league. And by the way, all their guys are healthy. Kelsey's good the left tackles. Do you like Philly? I gotta save it for later in this Okay, come on, but the lines up to six and a half. It was four and a half. Philadelphia was the side early in the week. Now it's up to six and a half. You kind of missed the best number. But I do think Philly wins twenty seven twenty that's I think Philadelphia controls the game. Dallas gets any points, huh, Cooper Rush third straight road game, Well, they blocked punch, they get turnovers. We'll see all right. Final story, Carson Wentz, Can I say your guy, Carson Wentz, I know you'd like to defend them. On Thursday ninety nine, yards passing last night. All right, So anyways, Carson Wentz's coach, Ron rivera boy, he got a little heated last night after the win, strongly defended Wentz and uh, he kind of went off a couple of sentities here, ear Muffett, if your little kids are watching, it's been hard, it really has. You lose four games in a row, and everybody wants to get you, you know, just get on you. And they've played there, they have, They played their off for everybody. They come out and they show up. They work hard, all right, they don't complain. Okay, they hear all the stuff and they got to deal with it. I get them. I respect them for that because they're resilient. They come back. Everybody keeps wanting to say, I didn't want anything to do with Carson. I'm the guy that pulled out the sheets of paper, that looked at the analytics, that watched the tape in the pricking. Well we're at Indianapolis, okay, And that's what me off because a young man doesn't deserve to have that all the time. I'm sorry. I'm done for the record. I like ron Um, you know, I like Wentz better than everybody else. But when I watched that game last night, I thought the Bears offensive coordinator. I thought they moved the pocket. I thought they were clever. I do not like what Washington's offense looks like. I think Washington's offense has some talent. I like their receivers. I don't think the Bears offense had any talent or very little. But I think Luke Getzy did the most you can do with what he has. I think Washington is underachieving offensively dry. You know, I like Wentz. You guys all bang on him, but I you can have him. By the way, the Chicago Bears Colin drove inside the ten yard line three times and got zero points. Okay, like I bet Washington, I said Washington on the show. But they were not the better team last night. We can agree on that. I think Chicago. I honestly think Chicago's well coached, but They're history is they can't draft offense. I don't like the on line. I don't like the receivers. Washington's got players on offense, they don't use him offensive so too. Just to be clear, you like Eberflus and you like Carson Wentz. No, No, I think eberflu I watched the Bears and I believe they are well coached and well coordinated. Okay, I watched Washington and I don't like their oc I think they're not creative. I don't think they put Wentz. You know, we always blame the quarterback here, But if you don't like, like right now Washington Wentz has Why was Wentz better last year with Frank Reich because he's an offensive coach? Did Wentz just forget how to play? I mean, we look all around this league. It's funny what offenses are struggling. A lot of defensive coaches. I think offensive coaches. Our next guest had Rex Ryan. I like Rex. Rex made it hards. Offensive coaches make it easier for quarterback. Wentz did have one of the best offensive lines in the league in the Colts last year and Jonathan Taylor, who led the league in Russia. It's funny. How's the offense in Indie now? Thirty second and scoring very bad? Matt Ryan is well, So you always want to blame the quarterback. This is a team game. I like quarterbacks, especially our next guest. It sounds like you love them. Jay Mack with the News, Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd line. Let's bring on Mark Sanchez, who asked to listen to Jack Rushing. I'm here yet, I'm here defending. There is a question for you is a question? Thank you? Marks on? There? Um can I go? Yeah? There we go? So let me think I can't see straight. My kids got a flag football game today at four thirty. A lot of stuff we got. You know, pregame speech is just all right, boys, it ain't about having fun. It's about those other kids ask us that's right, you know what I mean, winning the game, ruining their Friday's and going to pizza after my kind of dad. Here, here's what I worry about, because I have said this with Justin Fields, can we please be patient. This is an organization that if I said you best Bears receiver in the history of the franchise, you can't name one. So some organizations they know defense, some no offense. Here's what I worry about a little bit, Josh Allen. Many people use the comp windy defensive head coach saying windy battle line, no run game, what can they do with it? The difference is I saw I always feel Josh Allen. I've always felt Mark he's comfortable in the pocket. He likes to throw the ball correct with Josh, and I don't I don't know what's feel that he's better rolling. He's amazing on the move, excellent, but you can't roll every play. It's exhausting. But he also needs some help. He needs a consistent run game. I think they you know, they tried with that stuff, but Jamax said the stat I mean, you're inside the five yard line or inside the ten three times get points and we can't get points. Last, you know, gold to go. He gets you a thirty plus yard scramble, gets you down to the goal line to win the game, and four shots at the end zone and you come up empty. It's it's tough sledding in Chicago right now. And most importantly, he just needs he needs help. He needs players. I mean, if he's going to move around like that and run around and extend plays, you gotta have guys that can run, scramble, drill, guys who know how to get open. So basically, when the play breaks down and you have these sometimes scripted in practice and unscripted, but when the play breaks down and you roll one way, or another. Receivers have their original routes that are drawn on these nice pretty sheets of paper that we get all week. But at the end of the day, it's complete the ball, and so these guys know immediately quarterback breaks the pocket. Okay, am I the nearer receiver, I gotta get near the quarterback mirror him. If I'm a little bit behind him, stay kind of in my lane, but get to the middle of the field, kind of in between the hash and the numbers, and start to throttle down and find his own. If I'm deep, stay deep, because a lot of times the deep defenders will run up to the quarterback. Boom, stay deep, throw your hand up. You might get a free cherry pick on the opposite end of the field. And then if you're on the opposite end, you know, basically eat up some grass and come make yourself, make yourself useful, you know what I mean. And it just doesn't look like it's in sync there. You know, When Aaron Rodgers breaks the pocket, everybody knows what to do. Mahomes breaks the pocket, Josh Allen breaks It's like boom, all right, boys plays over, let's go. The second part of this play just began and you just don't see it as much there, and you really feel for the guy because he's got amazing talent, right, I mean we've seen it in college. We've seen it in flashes. It's just the consistency and you know, help around him. Yeah, I think quarterbacks are seventy percent of the game, coaches thirty percent. In college. That's probably flipped where the coach. I mean, Saban wins with everybody at quarterback. But I'm watching you can see good coaching. I'm watching the New York Giants. Oh, I mean they have we have that game last week. Okay, let's talk about that. I think believable. In the off season, there was speculation it was the league outside of left tackle. It was the league's worst offensive line. They dominated the second half long drives. What do you I watched table and I'm like, that is coaching. Well one, you got to inspire these guys, right, you gotta get them to trust you. And the only way to do that is to have some measured success early, right, like go do this, trust me, boom, it works just one time. You keep coming back for more. I keep going back to the well and some of the best coaches I've been around, have a way of getting you psyched for the game, but you feel calm as if Hayes in the barn. There's nothing else to worry about today. We worked our butt off all week. I'm ready to go. I want to be jumping out of my skin. I want to go jack this team up. But I also want to play within myself and play with boys. Pete was a master at that. You know, certain coaches have that. It looks like day Ball's doing that with these guys. And then, I mean, there's no secret who's your best player? Feed the guy you know, And sometimes I'm scratching my head. We got the Panthers this weekend. I'm like, Christian McCaffrey's your best player. For him to have less than ten carries in a game, I mean, that's like a cardinal sin. That can't happen. Barkley is the number right, So it's just yeah, in the past game, all your receivers are down. Okay, sa Quan's our first option, he's our second option, and he's our third option. I don't care. Get twenty six the ball, hand it to him, pitch it to him, Snap it to the guy. I don't care. Get him the ball. And I can't say enough about what Daniel Jones did last week. I mean it was incredible. The dude just stood there and took shots. Then is running around on this ankle that's probably swollen. He's all banged up, bleeding, and the dude just rushes for a first down on third down, extends drives, stands in the pocket, staring down the barrel, and just deliver strikes over the ball. I was blown away. It was his best performance by far, and I was shocked they pulled off the upset. But it's just it felt how are they gonna keep doing it? You know, because I mean they have so many guys down, Like you lose Sterling Shephard, you lose all these whiteouts, right, and credit to them, and don't forget about the defense now, was like, but you don't think Baltimore was missing wing Martindale. They gave up a couple twenty point leads in the fourth quarter at home back to back week, Like, I mean, they got to play him this week, so that's that's gonna be a serious matchup. But he's turned that whole thing around as well. It feels good if you're a Giant fan, stick around Mark, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week days and noon Easter not a Empacific. 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 for dug from Fox Sports, MLB Network and Sports Illustrated, and I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around to talk a little bit about manager real decisions, playoff games, and what may have accredited the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties. I can't wait for this, Joe. We're going to 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. All right, Mark Sanchez is joining us, So I want to talk about Usually, if you do something well, the diminishment of diminished talent is a slow process. We saw Big Ben over time, Russell Wilson previous four years quarterback rating over one hundred, one of the prettiest deep balls in the League. I mean like rainbow. Now, he can't throw it, he misses badly. He's on a resort. So my takeaway is you don't go from something great to off a cliff. There's the lat issue. People think that's just he put it out there to save himself. There's the coach issue. Could you explain the fall off a cliff on anything over twenty five yards for Russell? I can't figure it out. Mark. He's one of the deadliest deep ball throwers around, you know, and they would take timely shots. They'd run it, you know, to death with Marshawn lanch or whatever, and then you'd see this beautiful ball that looks like it got shot out of a jugs machine just landing someone's you know, yeah, and I can't quite put my finger on it. My only thing is I think Coach Carroll made a you know, a business decision saying, Okay, if this guy's gonna run around and that's what he does, and this scramble drill, which we mentioned last second, if that's going to be our offense, and he's starting to get a little older and can't move quite as much, you don't see him making those kind of second half of the play plays yea and extending plays. Okay, let's Cup eight and move on and see where we go. And right now it looks it looks right. I mean, you know, Smith, are you kidding me? Like I remember him coming into the league. We got his game in two weeks, not this Sunday, but next Sunday against the Chargers. But when he came in the league, I was like, I don't know if this guy like loves it. I don't know if he's like you know. And then I'm watching the first game and I'm like, Okay, well, amazing first half, right, Like okay, maybe he comes back down to earth a little bit, or maybe they pull the reins back a little bit just because they know they're playing with house money at this point and they didn't expect it, right, And then he just keeps going and he hasn't stopped. It's it blew my mind. But I can't say what a transition like. I can't speak enough about the transition he's made because I saw him as a young pup when he first walked in the building. Yeah, and I was like, I don't know, yeah, I don't know if I don't know if that's it somebody. You know it ta it takes a village, It absolutely does. Absolutely and the most important voices. You know, your head coach is very important. What coach Carrol's done for his confidence. I mean, you can't say enough about And Seattle's shockingly competitive. And and they're gonna be in the right position. Now, are they better player for player than all these rosters that they're gonna face. Probably not, but they're gonna be in the right position. And we're gonna make the routine plays. Every once in a while, we're gonna have to take our shot and flip a coin. You know, we'll see what happens, you know, And and they're doing it. It's incredible. Well, Pete's a great college coach. The book on Pete was always He's great with young players, of course, or guys who are like hungry, right, they want answers, who need a little love, attention, Uh, you know, effort, kids jumping out of their skin. Man, it's ready to go. So um, it's interesting. So you saw Green Bay last week, and I don't think they played bad. I think this is what they are. Um. What I worry about is that what happened to their defense. They're not running it as well as they should. Aaron seems frustrated. Um, I just happen to get lucky on this. I didn't think they'd be great this year. I thought Minnesota would win the division and kind of comfortably. So now Zach Wilson goes in there, and it's interesting. Now, Zach's the Jets, whatever you want to say. They have better offensive weapons right now this morning than Green Bay. I really believe that. I think they've drafted well. Most two wideouts are pretty good. In Green Bay. They're gonna they're coming along London hangover. Can the Jets beat Green Bay? How do you view it? I don't know. I think Aaron's gonna be too upset. He's gonna be um too focused and like killer instinct and you know, let's eliminate the silly mistakes. And if we got to run at forty times, I don't care. But I'm I predict green Bay goes on a little bit of a terror here and and starts mopping teams up. But the Jets are scary coming into Lamba though. That's that's a real deal then, whether it's not coming back from London that kind of hangover after that loss, you just got to keep those guys together. And this is this is really a chance where you know, Aaron's got to bring along these young guys and it takes time. I mean, the kids out of Reno Dubs, the kid from HC. Watson's got to be you know, North Dakota State, like those guys, this kind of adversity on this kind of stage because of number twelve, your quarterback, one of the best ever. These guys, I mean everything showing up on your phone, you know, the drop early in the year. Like they got to eliminate a lot of these distractions. And Aaron's got to be one of the guys to bring those guys in and you know, it's just time on test the things like he can't assume that these guys know everything they know. And he talked about it in our production meeting and it was incredible. But like Jordan later in his career, Kobe later in his career, like you've got to bring along these young guys and give them the tough love, but you can't expect you know, you set the bar really high, but you can't expect too much and make it, you know, over coach them and make them think too much because most importantly, they're gonna make mistakes. They're young, they're little kids. It's like raising kids, right, they're little kids. They're gonna touch the stove even when you tell them not to. Right, So what do you do? You coach them to what you want. Don't say don't don't say don't drop the ball. That doesn't help. You already envisioned dropping the ball, right, don't hit it in the water and golf, well, I already see the ball splashing in the water. That's no good. Tell me what you want, right, and and coach what you want. Eyes, fingertips, focus, boys, go play free, have a ball out there today, balls coming, your balls in the air. It's your ball. That's it, bottom line, you know. And those kind of conversations have to happen. And it's gonna say a lot about Aaron in this twilight of his career, on how those guys developed, because it's a lot on him and that's a lot on his plate. All right, you're covering the Rams game this week. You're going up to practice right now, Mark Shanshaz. This guy is steadfast and his work ethic. And then he's gonna go bark at kids. And his kid's gonna trample the other kids today. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. But you can find people on LinkedIn. You are looking for skill, You're looking for people that match your work environment. Post your job for free at LinkedIn dot com slash herd. Terms and conditions apply, all right, Blazing five dogs barking. I like a lot of underdogs this week. Surprisingly close games, very exciting. We gotta show Peter King too, live in La. It's the hurd