The Herd with Colin CowherdColin ranks the 10 best players in the Chiefs-Eagles rematch this Sunday
How both teams are most likely preparing for the Super Bowl
Guests: Matt Hasselbeck, Drew Brees
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We are live in the Crescent City. Great drone shots, all right, friends at Fox. Matt Hasselbeck will be joining us in a couple of minutes as we get ready for the Super Bowl, which I do believe will look a little bit like that Seahawks stacked roster against the New England Patriots. For the lesser roster, but the legendary coach and quarterback. I think we're going to be here for an all time great one. I think Philadelphia's roster is the best since that Seahawks team that had everybody from Russell Wilson to Marshawn Lyns to Richard Sherman to Cam Chancellor. Pete Carroll had come in the Seahawks out of college. He'd hit on multiple third, fourth, fifth, six round picks and that's where we stand today. J Mack every time I have a big game, I take off the yellow pad and I give you my favorite ten players in the game, the ten best players. And it's tough because I'll just tell you Travis Kelsey doesn't make it. It's not because he couldn't be the MVP, but I just don't see it happening.
So here we go.
Here's who I believe the ten best players in this game. And number one is not a big shock. I think it'st Patrick Mahomes, who was not necessarily great against Houston. But I've said this with MJ. There are certain players in these big moments that are not burdened by pressure. It's almost as if Mahomes needs the playoff intensity to elevate himself. Nine consecutive postseason wins, he's number one. I think number two it's the historic Saquon Barkley. When he went to Philadelphia with that old line, we said, folks, the Giants have just made a franchise mistake. That is egregious. Fourteen games this year with one hundred plus rush yards. Now, obviously some of that is the offensive line. He's just different. He's just a different player. You know, running backs are hard to describe. Because all the great ones have had stylistically kind of a different bent speed ability to make you miss jump over through sa Quon Barkley at two. I would put Chris Jones number three. When you're a defensive lineman and can move anywhere on the defensive line and you're unblockable on the end, you're unblockable on the interior. He was the highest graded interior defensive lineman this season, including the playoffs. You know, remember when they weren't sure if they were going to pay Chris Jones, and I believe the future of the NFL you're seeing this a lot. His teams will pay one great defensive lineman, but pay most of the money on offense. Chris is number three for me. Number four is I think Jalen Carter is virtually unblockable. He's not Chris Jones in terms of consistency yet, but he led the team in pressures, tackles for loss, quarterbacks, hits, and he's got an Aaron Donald vibe, which you have to start your offensive game plan with. Okay, how do we get Jalen Carter out of the picture. I'd put him at four. Jordan Malatta the highest credded offensive tackle. I would put him at five. We'll get to Tuney in a second. I would put Jordan Malatta, who was the highest credit tackle in the regular season. Now, listen Philadelphia's offensive line. They do offensive lines really, really well, and so you could do multiple players on this, including Lane Johnson. But I think you know, only two sacks allowed this year and only one during the regular season in five hundred opportunities to pass block, so and you remember you're blocking the best athlete some would say on the defense. Number six, Joe Tooney, he's the best pass blocking left guard in football. Again, when Kansas City went and spent that money in New England, right and they went and bought him, everybody said, whoa, that is a lot for a guard. Well, they moved this guy due to injuries out to left tackle. He's a lead that left tackled as well. And I do believe that Tooney and the ability to protect Mahomes. Mahomes only lost one game ugly in his life in the playoffs when he didn't get protection against Tom Brady and Tampa. I think number seven is a j Brown. Again, you sometimes forget how good Phillies wide receivers are because they're such a power run game. But he was top ten in misstackles and I think his physicality is really important because I think Kansas City is the best tackling team in the league. That's just an eye test. I don't have data to back that up. But AJ Brown is number seven eight Trent McDuffie Kansas City, tremendous corner second highest graded cornerback during the regular season. Again, they're gonna put him. They're gonna put him on A J. Brown and say, I mean, I think you have to with Devonte Smith, AJ Brown, Dallas Goddard. Gotta have to have some one on one matchups and that's one Kansas City has to win. I would put Zach Baughn at nine. The guy's unbelievable. He was a special teams player. He's tremendous in coverage. I think he's one of the surprise players of the year in pass coverage this year. This is such a great stat He's allowed a sixty nine passer rating. That's about as good as a linebacker can do. And number ten Jalen Hurts. Again, when you put pressure on Jalen Hurts, he regresses significantly. But here's the thing, it's hard to get pressure on Jalen Hurts because of the old line in the run game. So there you have my top ten. I think it comes out to four Chiefs and six Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Goddard. I mean, there's a lot of people I'm leaving out unbelievable corners for Philadelphia Mitchell. I mean again, there's sixteen guys here who should make the list. But a couple of years ago, I did this with San Francisco and Kansas City and I got the same dilemma. There's Hall of famers that may not make the list. Travis Kelsey could be the MVP of the game, or we could have two catches.
So I know it.
I love my offensive lineman. Matt Hasselbeck's looking to be like you went cray anything. Eighteen years in the league, You've been in these Super Bowls. Your thoughts on the list.
It's it's heresy, man, What the heck? I mean? I know we're near Bourbon Street here. Have you been drinking this morning? Have you had some of those Colin Cowherd old fashions? I think no. I mean, shoot, man, this is disrespectful to the Chiefs. It's disrespectful to the tight end position. It's an impossible ask though, like what you're asking to do, like make this list, it's an impossible ask. But no, you you're leaving off. I mean literally a handful of guys that could be Super Bowl MVP.
Dallas Goddard, we talked about Dallas Got.
That's that's the the hate. You know, the tight end You people are going to be very upset with you. So if you see them on Bourbon Street, you know, hide yourself because Dallas Got.
You know what's interesting about tight end is as a kid growing up, it really wasn't. I mean, there's players out there like Kellen Winslow who jumped off your TV set. Yeah, but for years and years, tight ends have been arguing we're getting used like wide receivers and we're forced to block pay us. So when people lament what running backs make, I always say tight ends are assdal block and I think in this game, I think they'll be huge components because I think the cornerback play Matt is so good in this game that it may be a Goddard.
That gets freeer of Travis Kelcey, no doubt, and he used to even be when you would put a coaching staff together in the NFL or college football, you would almost take the weak link of your coaching staff, like a guy that's like maybe someday could be.
A the o line coach, or maybe you'd make him the tight ends coach. Now, other people didn't do that. They did the total opposite. They said, no, this is like the most important position coach you could have, because he's got to be an expert in everything blocking and he's got to see everything in the passing game like a quarterback. I just got done doing an interview about Andy Reid, you know, and I talked about, like, tell me what he was like as a quarterback coach, because that was used my position coach my first year in the NFL with the Green Bay Pack. And it's funny he had been previously for two years to groom him to be the quarterback coach for Brett Farv. What did Mike Holmgren hire him to do? He hired him to be the tight ends coach.
You know.
He was the guy whether it was Keith Jackson or Mark Chimura like in the nuances of teaching Brett Farr how to get us into the perfect run and also teaching these guys how to like unlock the passing game. And that's what I think the new NFL is Nickel defense, dime defense. The way that people have really counteracted that is these Travis Kelsey Dallas Goddard types. We're not a liability in the run game, and we're absolutely a threat and a weapon in the passing game. And I think this is one of the great tight end matchups that we've ever had. Actually, so it's one of the reasons why you don't even notice the disrespect that you have Jalen Hurts at number ten.
But anyway, so you were in the two thousand and five Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Remember it well, it was not It was probably the only Super Bowl where I thought officiating really hurt you guys. In fact, Pittsburgh Post because that I think I've told you this. They ran a poll in Pittsburgh and even Pittsburgh Steter fans were like, yeah, the Seahawks kind of got host. Let's go back to it though. The prep, the extra time, the pressure, did it affect you, Did you get into your head? Is it too much time off?
No, You're You're a creature of habit right, It's like Pavlov's dog. Like you like seven days, you're like I'm ready to go, Like you're like ready to play a game. And I think you've seen coaches talk about the danger of doing too much. You put the game plan in that first week and then you practice it. And like I thought, Mike holmgrean did an amazing job in our Super Bowl. He had been coach, he coached in San Francisco, Joe Montana, Steve Young coached in Super bowls with Brett Favre. He made a rule for the coaches, we're not gonna put If we're gonna put extra stuff in, something's got to come out. So ifre's two hundred and forty two plays in the game plan, then you want to you go, oh, we've got a great play that's gonna work. Fine, something's got to come out. And so like I think you heard Sean mcvayh talk about his first Super Bowl up against the Patriots. He I think he used that extra week in a way that he learned from the second time around. So yeah, I think there's there's there's certainly that's the thing with that that extra week. You got to be careful not to do too much.
Yeah, because if you add too much to a player, players play faster when they have to think less. If you add more, the moment's already pressurized. These guys are already a little nervous, a little tentative. And Pete Carroll used to always say it was the us C's like, the less I put on them, the faster my players get. And I think that's important games. I mean, I've talked to players who play in the Super Bowl and they're like, I remember the anthem the first series is kind of blurry to me? Is it like that to you? Like it's just cameras and flashing lights and.
The way that I would describe it in this matchup, because both teams have kind of been here, right. Everyone talks about Andy Reid off of the bye, right in a regular season, there's a lot of teams that they don't play well off of a bye, Like what is it like? They look rusty, look like they did too much. Something's off. Sometimes you can do too much in the in the weight room, you've got a strength and conditioning staff that says, oh, you didn't play a game this week, so we're gonna work a little extra hard in the weight room, do some new exercises now all of a sudden, Like my glutes are soaring places I don't even know I had muscles. And like, dude, I don't feel good off of the bye? Why don't I feel good off of the buye? But Andy Reid, he's got a template. It's that old Bill Walsh, Mike Holngrin. He's tweaked it and made it his own. And his team is always ready to play, whether they played a game seven days before or not. And so I just think again, like, you know, this super Bowl schedule, that is a thing. You know, the halftimes longer, the pregame's different, the week is different, your family's with you, He's on it. Like this is just like he could probably recite it from memory kind of thing, like they're so used to it.
You know.
I was talking about Mahomes. I can remember watching MJ when he played and it was the Sun series and I was talking to a friend and I said, you know, he's not the best shooter, he's not the strongest player, he's not the best ball handler, not the best passer. But he was just six six of reletless, like he played so hard. He was so aggressive and so physical, and Mahomes doesn't have the natural gift of sometimes like a marino. He doesn't run like Lamar. He's not as big as Josh Allen. He's got the dad bod. There is something though, when I watch him in these big games, like suddenly in the AFC Championship he rushed eleven times. How long did it take you to watch him before you went from all his kids talented to wow, this is this is historic stuff because you've played with guys you know Farv Farbe's arm was ridiculous. I mean, Brett was throwing stuff back foot that didn't make sense. I mean when did you hit on Mahomes. You're like, Okay, this is better than just a pro Bowl player.
Well, first off, I'd like to just as to stand up for all the dad bods out there. I'd like to use the phrase father figure, like just first off, because quarterbacks there is some truth to like taking a beating and kind of the protection that you need. But no, I think for me, there's two things that really I feel like have taken Patrick Mahomes from who he was in college and then had a year he had like seventeen games where Alex Smith was the starter, yeah, and taking him to where he you know, how he became Patrick Mahomes. And it's two things. It's his intelligence number one, like he recognizes things pre snap that matter, Like his eyes are in the right spot. He's you hear him like all these all these offensive linemen are miked up now with natural sound. So you I mean literally, I would enjoy watch I would enjoy listening to Patrick Mahomes play a game. I don't even need to watch it. Hearing him like, hey rip Liz, rip Liz, you know, sort stiff short sef. Hey, safety's coming, like all that kind of stuff. That is the next level stuff for me. You know, people are gonna say, all he's a greatrunner, he's got a great arm, all that stuff. I think he I think he beats you with his mind. Also, the other thing is his cadence. Like cadence is a weapon. It's like one of the very first things you learn as a quarterback you need to use your case as a weapon, manipul Like. Well, it's two things. Number one, it's protecting your offensive line. So if they got to go against Jalen Carter and you're always gonna go on one every time? Why Dady? Why dd He said, after a while, he's getting a jump. We no longer have the advantage as an offense, all right, and so they got to watch the ball. They can't be listening to your cadence and then number two using it to you to figure out what the what the safeties are doing. There was a lot of talk last you know, in the championship game about Josh Allen said, I didn't know the corner was coming right like he didn't see that corner blitz on that last play. He used a longer cadence and it's hard to do on the road. But I think this is one of the areas where Patrick Mahomes he doesn't get enough credit. He is unbelievable between the ears before the ball is even snapped, and for me, that's way more important than what he is as a thrower.
You know, I was saying, I I I feel I sort of know what Kansas City has to do defensively. Of all the elements of the game is that Jalen Hurts under pressure is not close to the same quarterback as comfortable Jalen Hurts. So spag is gonna put up some exotics he's going to dial some stuff up. You want to get Jalen Hurts off his spot. He's just not the same player. You can't do that with Mahomes. To your point, it's like it's like blitzing Brady in his prime. You're just asking to get burned. So I kind of feel like, I know Spag's going to be aggressive. That's the one thing I know, the one thing I do think about. I know the Eagles corners are exceptional, but they're rookies, and I do feel like the Super Bowl is a little different that you may whether it's bite on something to not want to get burned that I can see Mahomes saying, Okay, prove it. That would you think about even if they're pro, even if they've had great years, just the fact that their rookies in a super Bowl. There's nothing to compare hair of that to in college.
No doubt, no doubt. But I think this is an Eagles defense that's playing with a ton of confidence. And sometimes it's okay that you are so confident you don't know really what you're up against. I mean they are up against it in my mind, like a serious like like this offense is legit. We don't even talk about DeAndre Hopkins, one of the best receivers that's ever played. Like the speed of Xavier Worthy, like all of these guys could break out. So double moves creative offense. But there's something that you fear as a quarterback. One of the things I feel like I feared sometimes as a quarterback was a corner that doesn't know, hey, you shouldn't be jumping that, Like you shouldn't be sitting on this route, Like, hey, you know I could go over the top, but like usually you're not going over the top. So you're like, Okay, if I have an out route here or if I have an in route here, you should be playing deep. It's three deep, you know, or two deep. You're one of the two guys. Stay deep. But sometimes those guys that feel confident and they just want to go make a play and their coaches have empowered them, now you know, hey, anything can happen. And that's not a great feeling for a quarterback.
So Tom Brady came on my show about a week ago and he said, one of my great Super Bowl memories was we put in three plays. He goes, we faced the Seahawks and I've compared this to the New England Seahawks game, where Mahomes is probably looking at this defense and think, and there are not a lot of soft spots. So I could see Andy putting in something Saturday night. Did you have in your Super Bowl against a very good Steelers team and the defense? Remember that was a defensive team. Was there anything that a homegrown is saying, like, listen, Matt, I'm gonna we're gonna throw it. How much can you change on a Saturday.
I think you know my Super Bowl both teams changed right away. I completed the first five passes of the game to Darryl Jackson. He was our wide receiver on the same side as the tight end. I only did that because I was trying to get djack the MVP of the game. I had made a deal with him earlier in the year. He was coming back from an injury. He was like, hey man, I'm trying to come back for the Super Bowl. I'm trying. I want to be Super MVP. He made it back before that. I go to jack I will make it my mission to help you get the MVP. I just want to start him out, get him going. Okay, that was important to me, dick lebou, he probably thought, oh shoot, they see a weakness over. He clouded that side the whole time. Screwed up my own game plan, really, and so we had to put in plays on the fly to counteract that. So I mean, yes, our our halftime adjustments and even first quarter or series adjustments going to happen in this game, no doubt about that. Here's here's my biggest thing though, Like this Saquon, This stopping Saquon is really the head scratcher because it's not about it's about scheme, but it's about angles, and just like tackling, that's really the deal.
Tackling tear.
You need to be a great tackling team. And it can't be like what a lot of teams have tried to do against Philly where they just stack the box. You stack the box and he gets through that first level. It's him on a safety in space, and we've seen what he does. He takes an eight yard run to a sixty eight yard run. That's the game. Like that is literally the game. So I don't know, like, yes, aggressive, but like I just think this is gonna be even more than aggressive. It's gonna be an intelligent game plan that wins, and also a complimentary football game that wins. So meaning when I'm on offense, I need to think about the fact that if Philly goes into you know, shove it down your throat, run it down on a long drive, maybe we got to we can't play like we want to play. We might have to be a little time more time of possession, understanding what our defense is going up against on the other side of the ball in the run game.
As a player, are you rooting for history or or do you kind of like like as a former player in a game like this, I don't remember if you were an underdog or a favorite against Pittsburgh play an underdog?
Were you well, knowing how gambling goes, we might have been an underdog, but we were the one seed and they were the wild Cards, okay, wild tide team. So yeah, so I do know there were more Pittsburgh fans that day in the stadium. I do know that.
So when you look at this, is there part of you that is pulling for something or do you just look at it. I want to see a great game, you know what.
I'm having a hard time letting go and I just need to let it go. I wish sa Quon would have gone for the record, like I wish you would have gone for the Eric Dickerson record.
And you know, we.
Talked about it at the time, like what do you want to do? Should we you know, let him stay healthy and like our goals to Hoyst to Lombardy, like I get that, but we live that a little bit. In O five when we went to the Super Bowl, we had the one seed locked up. Shawn Alexander was going for the touchdown record. We were trying to get him the NFL MVP, and Mike Hongrin did just such a good job of making that away. Yes it's an individual award, it's Sean's award, but he did such a good job of I think like just gassing up our O line, in our full back Max Trong and our wide receivers in the blocking, you know, blocking down field that I really think it meant something. It was like a feather in the cap to everybody. And so I just the year that Philly had with this offensive line and they're just all of it, all of it. Jalen Hurts gets credit for this too. I just I wish they were getting the opportunity to leave here with the Lombardi and also with that record that would have been you know, I gotta let it go, but I wish they would have done that.
It was great seeing you at the Volume party last night. I recovering from a slight illness, had had to drink ginger ale. You were needed.
I was really hoping last week. I was hoping for a Michael Jordan flu game out of here. But little soft coward, a little soft.
Mahomes is MJ.
I'm not.
I'll tell you right now. Great, see anybody. Matt Hasselbeck on Bourbon Street. Drew Brees this hour to Mark Sanchez live in New Orleans.
It's the.
One more Heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search her to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Food cities and maybe the best service of any city in North America I've ever been to. So when you go out, you are treated like kings and queens by the wonderful people of this city. And with that, Jmack has the news.
No, no turn on the news. This is the Herd Line news.
All right, Let's go to the Chief's wide receiving corps.
They haven't had a true number one this year where she Rice went down in Week four, they brought in DeAndre Hopkins alongside Juju Smith Schuster, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown.
But really they don't have a top target.
Colin and Juju Smith Schuster believes that defines their selfless wide receiver room.
We'll look at the bigger picture of the goal.
In mind, raising up that trophy is always better than being a number one guy on the team.
Interesting new way.
To look at the wide receiver position. Hey, we don't want to star, we don't want to pay him a ton. We're is going to do it by committee and it seems to be working.
For case well.
I also think there is less reluctance to pay offensive lineman because the better teams are doing it. And I think if you look at Philadelphia, they're paying their own line. I think Kansas City, Joe Tooney, they went all in on the guard. I think the Rams have paid guard. Detroit Lions all pay anything that rewards and protects the quarterback, and wide receivers don't do that.
I think.
I also think there's a reality, a weather reality. He is that offensive linemen and running backs are more valuable in January than a deep threat. And I also think sometimes when you get a number one receiver, I remember Dak with Dez. Dak felt sort of beholden right, he's on that Riot, Dez is like, I want the ball, and I think Josh Allen got hired to that in Buffalo. He's like, I don't. I want to just go into a play with the ability to be free. What's scary about the Chiefs? A Xavier Worthy appears to be becoming a one where she Rice became a one before he got hurt. So this void receiver is officially over starting next September, where Worthy and Rice, if not dominant ones, have the volume capability to be ones, and they'll have two of them.
I just submitted my prop bet picks for Fox sports dot Com, and I had Worthy as the guy to watch for over receptions because they line him up everywhere right backfield, slot, out wide. I think he's the guy who's a bit of a problem matchup for the Eagles. Let's move on to the Patriots, your team of destiny next year.
Mike Grabol in his first year.
Back in New England, everybody's excited in Foxborough, especially cornerback Christian Gonzales. He talked about the culture change, saying, I've heard it's going back to what they call the Patriot Way.
For me, I'm ready, colin Patriot Way. Do we think this is good?
I have no trepidation saying the most improved team in the nf next year will be New England. You made fun of me on my Washington Broncos picks. This is a ten win team next year.
We'll have to do a steak wager on that one. There's no way there's sniffing ten wins. They have the fourth pick in the draft, right, we got Drake may as the foundational piece and the most salary cap.
They do have cap.
They can go buy four elite players.
And you think Vrabel can turn them from four wins last year to ten a six weeks.
Because I think the Jets, we don't know if Aaron Glenn's gonna work. Miami, I think we've seen the best of them. I think we both agree with Buffalo. It's hard to keep being a twelve or a thirteen win regular season team. You know, It's one of those things you see it in the NBA. Sometimes you get these young teams and they're really motivated in the regular season. They get a title and they pull back. Buffalo doesn't. But I kind of look at Buffalo as, Okay, we've been a dominant regular season team. We have to build this thing for January. So I can see a little bit of a different looking Bills team, kind of like like Kansas City. Kansas City feels like the experiment a little in September, October, early November, and then they get it right post Thanksgiving. So I think it's wide open in that division for New England to surprise people again. They have to spend the money wisely. They need more tight ends, another running back, they need the left tackle. I'd put the money on offense and draft the defense.
So we know the Jets are a mess, But what do you make of that? Can they pass the Dolphins? Because remember Tyreek Hill said he wants out. Doesn't seem like that's gonna happen. To make Daniel maybe on the hot seat column.
Yeah, I think we've seen the best of Miami. I think this was a media creation more than a reality, and I think Miami pulls back. Boy shots fired.
All right, final story is over to the NBA trade deadline is today and a lot of chatter about Kevin Durant possibly being on the move, perhaps to the Warriors. However, Jimmy Butler ended up in Golden State last night, and according to Scham's NBA reporter, KD has zero interest in returning to the Bay. That is a bit of a surprise to me, like that, Kevin Durant says, I don't want to go back there. Were you surprised by that? Because it mate like, who would you rather play with? Devin Booker and Bradley Beal or Steph Curry.
Well, I think he's been there, done that, and a lot of people. I don't know. I just feel like that was a chapter in Kd's life, and I don't think it's that redeemable as a second chapter. I also think Steph's an older Steph. Draymond's an older Draymond. There are rumors out there. I saw one of the trade speculation stories this morning when I got up that Draymond could have been traded. So, I mean, I think it's Steph and everybody else they're looking. I think I think the Warriors now are as good as they can be, which is, you know, Steph's gonna give you offensive wizardry. Butler, when he's healthy, is gonna give you incredible effort. I think they still have some offensive limitations. Butler's not a great natural score. And I get the KD thing. I don't know. I mean, listen, the beal piece is is the one for Phoenix? That's more problematic. That hasn't worked. You need a Phoenix. KD is fine, is he?
They got swept last year by Minnesota, swept in the first rowd. He got swept in Brooklyn by the Celtics. Like we talk about him as a top ten fifteen player all time, he can't win a playoff game at this stage.
In his career.
He's with Devin Booker and bals Colin. There there's a chance they don't even make the playoffs this year. Kevin Durant, that would be awful.
Who is giving up? I mean, I love KD, but who's giving up a ton for KD?
I mean, you don't think renting KD to be your number two or number three would be amazing?
He'd be your number one on ninety percent of the team. I don't know, there's not many teams he's the two. I mean he's the one on everything except the Lakers.
Who's the one in Phoenix?
He is?
He sure doesn't act like it in the huddle. He's not illegal, so that's not that's he's never been that guy. Can you be a one if you're not a leader?
Well, I mean Luca is a one and was in bad shape and doesn't play defense.
Yeah, but on the court, he's he's the man. You know, we know that. I'm excited by the way Luca Lebron. We got to go to a Lakers game.
Oh no, now it's come on, now, I'm interested. Jmack with the news.
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by. The Herdline News.
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All right, welcome back, Mason. Bourbon is the site we're on. Bourbon Street, Jamack, You've never been in New Orleans before yesterday.
The first time.
Yeah, so far, so good.
There's a lot of.
Good walkable city.
Love it.
Matt Hasselbeck stopped by, and by the way, he was in a Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That Pittsburgh team won the game, Big Ben, kind of a conservative offensive effort. Seattle had a great old line, great run. Matt Hasselback. He talked about preparing for the Super Bowl in the extra time with.
The game plan in that first week, and then you practice it. And I thought Mike Holmgrean did an amazing job in our Super Bowl. He had been coach. He coached in San Francisco, Joe Montana, Steve Young coached in Super Bowls with Brett favre He made a rule for the coaches, we're not gonna put If we're gonna put extra stuff in, something's got to come out. So if there's two hundred and forty two plays in the game plan, then you want to you go, oh, we've got a great play that's gonna work. Fine, something's got to come out.
Yeah, And I think it's such it's such a pressurized moment that you know these are young athletes, and you would understand if they were a little anxious, a little nervous, maybe they forget something. The game, the lights, the flashes, it's in their head. So I like the idea Mike Holmgren saying, listen, you can put plays in, but we're taking stuff out. Drew Brees twenty years in the NFL, fifteen years.
Here in New Orleans.
That is interesting. You're you have an encyclopedic uh memory and knowledge of this stuff. But go back to your Super Bowl week. You obviously you have extra time, you have Sean Payton, you put stuff in. Did you take stuff out? Or did you go into your Super Bowl Drew with just more plays than you've never had in your life.
No, I don't remember the volume being an issue of that week because you know, quite honestly, the Colts, the Colts defense, which wasn't that complicated, you know, that was that was back in at the time when they were very much like Tampa two. And we're just going to allow our pass rushers Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis to get after you, right and man, we've got we've got good players in the secondary that are just going to keep it in front of them, and we're just going to kind of manage the game because we know we have a high scoring offense, you know, on the other side. So I don't remember the volume being an issue necessarily as far as the volume of plays in the game plan. It was more so I think for us, like our success we knew was number one, we need to steal a possession in this game, right, which we did at the start of the of the second half, right with that on side kick that we called ambush. But it was it was really more so like how do we create a rhythm, you know with our offense against these guys, and and a level of patience because look, we were a big playoffense too. We were used to you know, kind of those you know, big play shots down the field, and I think we just recognized, hey, these guys don't really give that to us.
So we're gonna have to run the ball effectively. We're gonna hit them with.
The screen game to try to slow down the pass rush, and then we're just gonna be methodical with the passing game, which we were super efficient to.
Pass the game.
And oh, by the way, what that does is it also chews up the clock and it keeps one of the best players in the world off the field on the other side, in Peyton Manning. So quite honestly, like I see that very much like what the Philadelphia's game plan should be against the Chiefs this week, which is run the ball, possess the ball, chew up the clock, wear down that defense, and keep the best player in the world Patrick Holmes off the field on the other side.
You know, it's interesting because I would think a guy like you and you mentioned Peyton Manning, both of you very cerebral. I would think short weeks would drive you crazy and you would love an extra day or a buy or Super Bowl because you could just fill your brain with more information. So to you, extra time, like to you, was it a kid in the candy store. It's like, hey, I got more time to like exercise efficiency.
How did you limit it?
Well, sometimes too much time results in over analysis, right, right, and then and then it's paralysis by over analysis, right. So, Like, honestly, I felt like we had a great plan, which was hey, two weeks prior to the Super Bowl. So the first week, honestly was a lot of just good on good competition with our team like we really didn't get into a lot of the game for the Indianapolis Colts. Yes we were watching film, and yes we were starting to have an idea of you know how we were going to attack them, But we did not install our game plan against the Colts in the week prior to the Super Bowl. We waited until we actually got to Miami, which is where we played it. And we because we wanted to, uh, we wanted to have as normal a work week as possible, right, Like that's the that's the toughest thing about the Super Bowl is how.
Do you make the Super Bowl a normal work week.
You're in a foreign place, practicing in a different facility that you have to bust to. You're in a hotel where there's all kinds of chaos going on, Like how do you order the chaos?
How do you create some normalcy in a routine?
And so we did like good on good competitive man weight room. That was like our first week, right, and then the minute we arrived in Miami, it was like, all right, here we go.
Flip the switch game plan.
Wednesday's base, Thursday's third down, Friday's red zone, shortyardage, goal line, Saturday Hay's in the barn Man quick walk through jog through. Bo't we got it in our mind, Let's go win a football game.
You know, it's interesting. Brady and Hasselbeck both talked about this on the show, and this is what has always been fascinating is that you guys watch so much film, and Hasselbeck talked about homegrun adding something. Late in the week, Brady came on and said, we added we placed that Seahawk team that had no weaknesses. We came up with three new plays the night before just because he goes, I didn't trust our red zone packages. Did Sean with you, Drew say listen, I found something on tape, or did you say, you know, Sean, we got to clean something up. Anything Saturday night happen.
Yeah, it would from time to time, and a lot of that was just you know, Sean and my routine of I would always go back on Saturday morning, which was again, are just kind of walk through day, you know, walk through the game plan, the first fifteen plays of the game, you know, kind of hit some red zone.
Third down thoughts.
I would watch a couple games on Saturday morning more so just to kind of go back and just like feel the flow and the rhythm of a game and maybe how some other teams that attacked them, And again, it was just it was very relaxed, but it was and in that moment you would just kind of be looking at it through a different lens at that point, because you were kind of, you know, past what you thought was the game planning thing. But all of a sudden, you would see something like just a little like, oh wow, I feel like, you know, this may be a good opportunity or off of this look, maybe a great opportunity to run a little stutter and go on that corner, or a double move on this linebacker with the running back, or you know, just something. And at that point though, it had to be like a game changing thing, like we didn't need another play that was gonna get us a five to ten yard completion. We wanted to play that was like, oh no, this is a shot opportunity. This is a big play opportunity, a game winner opportunity. So yeah, we had a couple of those. In fact, we were playing Monday night football against the Miami Dolphins twenty thirteen. Night before the game, we had this little h choice with Darren Sprolls where he's.
Just gonna kind of run up five yards. He's got a three way go.
But I'm like, man, this backer is just so aggressive, like on film time after time, and he's gonna see that and he's just gonna be sitting all over and it's like, hey, Sean, what if we just double move this guy like right off the bat, you know, and just like set the tone early. Sure enough, second play of the game, we run this. We put it in literally the night before, and man, it works like a charm forty yard completion And that's when you're kind of that's when you're kind of looking at the sideline live.
Yeah, we got it.
You know. I run a survey it must have been fifteen years ago and they were talking about the most unique cities in the country, and New Orleans was number one. They said, the vibe, the food, the people. To be the Saints quarterback here for fifteen years, it's not like being a quarterback nothing against Seattle or Baltimore. But I mean, what is it like? This is such a simple question, but in one of the most unique American cities, what is it like?
Like?
What do you remember about being the Saints quarterback for fifteen years? What sticks to you.
Well, I think I think the thing that sticks out most to me is that the community of New Orleans they were more fans of New Orleans than they they even were, or they were first fans of New Orleans, then they were fans of the Saints. Like in other words, when you walked around town, it wasn't like ghost Saints or thanks for what you do for the team.
It was like, man, thanks for loving this city.
So it just it just gave you this feeling that, man, we were all in this whole effort together, and like people appreciate the fact that my wife Brittany and I lived right in the heart of the city, like righting uptown New Orleans, and that we'd be walking the dog in the park just like everybody else, but we'd be you know, having gumbo down at you know, the local spot. You're just like everybody else, right Like, there was just this feeling of man, they're just they're just like us, you know, and they want to be just like us, and they're just part of this community and part of this society, and like that was what was so unique about about this place.
Finally, where do I get one of those sweet crown Royal jackets you're wearing. Can you get me one of those?
Rough? You know what, I'm glad you asked, Colin. Really, Buddy, I got one here.
I got one here right man.
Look at this sat a satin starter jacket.
We got NFL Crown Royal and this is incredible partnership with Crown Royal. They've been a huge benefactor to our foundation, helping us with all of our efforts here in New Orleans, something to build affordable housing, job skills training, build healthcare facilities around around the state. And they're doing a ton of things here during Super Bowl Week, donating a lot of money to the Foundation for Louisiana. They've got a pop up down in the quarter selling the jackets, all the proceeds going the Foundation. They got the Crown Rule rig in town that people can go check out and pack backs for military to be able to send overseas. So Crown Rule is doing a ton of great stuff. They've been what four years, the official whiskey of the NFL. So really appreciate their support of the Foundation supported New Orleans.
And I really appreciate that jacket, Buddy, I really, you know, won for the.
Time I appreciate.
It's a sharp it's a sharp jacket. It's got the Super Bowl fifty nine logo on the back.
So now you have you looking clean, all right.
Drew, great sin as always, Man, I really appreciate your insight.
This year, Bud.
Yeah, yeah, love this year. Spend time with you.
Thanks coming all right, Drew Brees. That's a great story that people came up to him and thanks for loving New Orleans, and that really is I remember reading the survey eight years ago and they said there's no city quite like it. And I had a friend who played in that division at Tampa for years, and he said, going to New Orleans, whether the Saints were good, and that was pre Drew Brees. He said, it was always different. It was always a little louder, the crowd was a little more lubricated. If it was a late afternoon game, it was a completely different environment. I went to an LSU game years ago when Nick Saban coached LSU and they played Oregon State and a lightning like hit right next to the stadium and it was crazy weather and Oregon State almost beat Nick Sab but it was JaMarcus Russell I think was LSU's quarterback. And I can remember, and I'm serious, I can remember smelling bourbon in the tailgate. I'd never experienced anything quite like in LSU tailgate. And it was a wild game, and young Nick Saban was at LSU and Oregon State for about a half almost pulled off the upset. Matt Hasselbeck and Drew Brees both stopped by. Today, we appreciate that Mark Sanchez is joining us on set as we take some views. Oh yes, there we go. The Crescent City. Nothing else like it in North America.
The biggie.
Best food and service, some would say, in the country. You know those beads, jamac You put a couple of those beads on and ten o'clock becomes midnight very quickly. Those beads do magical things.
Good to know.
