The Herd with Colin CowherdThe "little guy" is 0-4 in the College Football Playoff this year
Even though Lamar Jackson has had some loses in the playoffs, he is still a generational player
Guest: Peter Schrager
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Here we Go live in Los Angeles. It is the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Greg Olsen stop by, Drew Brees last hour, and Peter Schrager in about five minutes. Jmac. Tomorrow, it is Penn State and Notre Dame. Following day it's Texas and Ohio State. So it's a lot of blue bloods Here we go. In college football, it's for the biggest names. If you were in the college football business as a network, getting Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas, Ohio State, you're probably only missing like missing Michigan or you know, to be honest with you, USC, but you're not missing much. This is kind of the Kram Dela Cram of the big brands of college football. Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame in Penn State checks a lot of boxes.
Yeah.
I just did my write up for Fox Sports for the games Penn State Notre Dame under feels like probably the best bet of the two games. Yeah, first to seventeen probably wins this. You know, two coaches who are going to be a little cautious, really good defenses, and I know you like Riley Leonard, but he's limited as a quarterback throwing the football.
Collin, come on, very negative. I will say the Chicago Bears are interesting. Three stories on the Bears today. The GM Ryan Polls does not rule out trading for the Bears next head coach. Interesting. The Bears will interview Pete Carroll on Thursday. I like that interesting. And the Cowboys deny Bear's permission to interview Mike McCarthy, meaning Mike's going to get an extension, probably in Dallas. I was thinking about this this morning, is that if I was Kaylee Williams, and I'm not going to get a big say in who the coach is, and he probably shouldn't, right, I'd like to hear his opinion, but not make the decision. I'd give the Bears about one year with this new coach, and if I don't feel good, I'd have no problem if he demands a trade. I mean, if Jim Harbaugh can take the thirty second ranked defense with no added personnel of note outside of a couple of corners in the draft in the fifth round, and now to the first ranked defense in a division with Reading Mahomes, he made the playoffs one year mostly the same personnel outside of Lad McConkie and Joe Alton, a couple of fifth round corners. If Sean Payton can have the most dead cap money in the NFL rookie quarterback in a division with Herbert and Mahomes and make the playoffs. If Dan Quinn in a division with the Eagles can win twelve games with a rookie quarterback in year one and only one other Pro bowler, Terry McLaurin, then I think with Chicago's roster, which is pretty good, they have to be a viable playoff team next year. They have to be in the nine, ten to eleven win category. I think Caleb Williams has to be firm. I think he's been great at the podium. I think he's been very mature. There's a lot of stuff people said about him and the Peyton, the fingernails and jumping into the stands to hug your mom and getting emotional. But I would be firm. I'm watching Harbaugh do what he did in the year. Dan quinn first year with a rookie, Sean Payton with a rookie Demiico Ryans and c J. Stroud got to the playoffs with a wonky ownership situation. I don't want to hear that it takes time. No, it doesn't, and I don't think that much time. You get the right coach, Kevin O'Connell. You can take a quarterback viewed as a bust, Sam Darnold and thirteen fourteen wins. So this idea that it's going to be this slow growth trajectory, no, no, No, Sean Payton, dan Quinn, Harbaugh, They're showing you the way. I'm not going to be real patient if the first year comes in, and I mean, look at this year, clock management, hail on his third coach. The organization has let him down. From week twelve on. I think we said this a couple of days ago. He had as many touchdown passes as Patrick Mahomes. I don't think it's on Caleb wasn't perfect, but it's not on him. With that, we bring in our trusted source, Peter Schrager is joining us live Fox NFL kickoff Sunday in the Fall on Fox. So let's let's start with the bears. I said before, I do think this is a big lift. If you look at the executive suite, the history, the division. This is not just hey, I'm going to go get a clever coordinator. I kind of feel like I'd like a guy with somewhere on the tires of Rabel of Pete Carroll, trade for Mike Tomlin, your your thoughts on what you're hearing Shregs.
Well, there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. You've got Ryan Poles at the GM who's running the search, with Kevin Warren, who's the president of the team, who previously was with the Vikings as the president was also the big ten commissioner. He has a big voice. And you got the McCaskey family and George McCaskey, and then you've got several lieutenants who are going to have a say in this. But you have that logo and you have that quarterback. They're going and they are lifting over every single stone to find a coach. We're talking about a team that's gonna be interviewing Mike Kafka, who was a non play calling offensive coordinator for the Chica for the New York Giants this year, they're interviewing him for the head coaching job. David Shaw, who's been out of the NFL and obviously has a career at Stanford but has not been the active coach of Stanford. They're going to meet with everyone. I would think they missed the boat on the Jim Harbaugh the last couple of years. They missed the boat on the Sean Payton. They don't want to miss the boat on one of these candidates that they can come in there that's going to clean this up. Ben Johnson, from my sources, is interested in the job. That's all I would need to hear. If if I'm the Chicago Bears, Vrabel's likely talking New England. You're gonna go down this road. You're gonna meet with all these different coaches. Put all your eggs in that basket. Go get Caleb Williams, the hottest offensive coordinator football the last three years.
And if he has a even.
Faint interest in being the Chicago Bears head coach, considering the dysfunction that he has seen from across that sideline the last few seasons. You've got to entertain that and make it happen. I know they're gonna meet with Pete Carroll. I think that's good. Bring in Pete Carroll. Let's hear what Pete Carroll's got to say. Pete Carroll's got a Super Bowl ring and several other things going for him. Let's hear. But I would think Ben Johnson with Caleb Williams is the number one goal. And if Ben Johnson's interesting, so I'll tell you it. Ben Johnson is not interested in every job. Ben Johnson's not taking an interview with the Jets. Caleb Williams is very attractive to Ben Johnson. Go get that interview and don't have you interview him. This is the rare guy where you go in there and you say, Ben Johnson, let us interview you, but let us pitch ourselves to you. And why, after you didn't entertain Carolina two years ago when that job most likely was his, you didn't entertain Washington last year. And it's a great upset and frustration from the Washington Commanders. He walked away from that job. Let us tell you why you should take this job. Because I think there's an arrogance of some of these franchises, and I'm not saying the Bears of one of them, where they think that these coaches need to spill over and tell them why they need to be the next day coaching. This is a rare instance. Ben Johnson's that dude.
Go and tell him that you are going to be that guy.
And you're going to be that team, and you're going to support him, and he's willing to come in and re establish the Bears. It's not a joke of a franchise.
I made the argument yesterday I didn't think it was a great year to be a head coach looking for work. I think the Bears and the Jets are impulsive and historically a bit dysfunctional. And then Gerrod Mayo got fired and I said yesterday Shrakes, there's a difference between dysfunctional and just needing a new coach. For instance, the Chargers, they had a left tackle, they had Herbert. The spanos Is are not big medalers. It's a good revenue, they're in a big market. They had Derwin James, they had a Bosa Khalil Mack. They had a lot of good players they needed. They needed show up the offensive line, they needed leadership. That wasn't a broken franchise. They've been good for a lot long time with a lot of players. I'm going to argue that with Craft, Drake May and you know, an elite corner. I don't think they're I think they've got a couple of pieces on offense. I think if I'm Mike Rabel, this feels like the best job to me, because I know the Jets and the Bears are interested in Rabel. Tell me I'm wrong. I don't think New England's a bad job.
Mike Frable's gonna meet with the Patriots tomorrow. They've already fulfilled their Rooney Rule requirements, having met with Byron Lefwich and Pep Hamilton. If I am the New England Patriots and I am Mike Rabel, I'm getting that thing done as soon as possible. It makes so much sense, Colin. And they don't only have Drake May, who with outstanding this season despite a porous offensive line and no skill position players. They have one hundred and thirty million dollars in cap space. There's a lot to like there. And for as many people who have burned bridges with the Patriots organization and go out out kicking and screaming, Mike Frabel was traded by the Patriots, was traded by the Bill Belichick regime, and yet has come full circle. He came back to Foxborough, he had his Ring of Honor ceremony. He's in the Patriots Hall of Fame. And if you look at his ex profile and if you cared to thing about it, the picture is of him and Teddy Bruski Lincoln arms like this. He was really savvy in how he built his contract with the Browns. He didn't want to get out of football. He didn't want to spend this year doing TV like Belichick or like Sean Payton did with us. He wrote this contract up with his agents where he would be free of his contract with Cleveland in week seventeen, not week eighteen, which meant, based on the rules for hiring, he was not under contract with any team in that first week of coaching hiring and interviews, which means Mike Frabel could meet in person with these teams this week. Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn Matt Naggi and Steve Spagnolo, the coordinators for the number one Seeds. They're the only other people who are currently still in the playoffs who are allowed to meet with teams, and they've got to do it over zoom. So by Vreebel getting out of this contract one week early with the Cleveland Browns, where he said, as a consultant in tight ends, he says he's able to go and do the pitch in person, and I will tell you he blew the Jets away last Friday, blew them away, and that might have rattled the cage a bit. In New England. They make their move. They're at with Mayo. They can meet with Mike Rabel in person, where I assure you there will be warm feelings. And they have done everything they had to do from a league perspective. All they've got to do is say, hey, here's the amount of money and it's going to make sense. Here's where you can bring in as your assistant coaches, here's your budget for that, and this thing could be done by Thursday if they wanted to be.
Wow, good stuff. Okay, raiders are fascinating, so I wouldn't have fired Antonio Pierce. I mean, god, they beat Mahomes last year in Narrowhead, and they should have beat him this year in Narrowhead with Aiden O'Connell and by the way, in a division with Sean Payton and Harbaugh and Herbert and Mahomes and Reed very competitive. In fact, they were three and one in division last year. I would have let him go for another year. I don't think he was the issue. It's more of an ownership situation. But their job is fascinating because they've got your brock Bowers. They've got a left tackle, They've got some that. There's some Pete, they got Max Crosby. There are some boxes. They got some boxes that are important. They need a quarterback. I know Tom's Alesco. There's three guys that are draftable early. There's also a couple of guys, you know, a couple of quarterbacks second third round. Give me an idea, just what Raider Nation who will be paying four coaches now when they hire him cott coaches four? Give me an idea where they're at.
They had Antonio Pierce to a press conference yesterday at ten am local and they fired him two hours later. Like there's thirty one teams, and there's the Las Vegas Raiders, and there's one man in charge, and he acts how he wants to act, and he pays out who we are to pay out. And Mark Davis is that guy. And now you bring in Tom Brady as a minority owner. And I cannot speak on whether his involvement has been one of great exaggeration, I hyperbole, But everyone that I talked to is like, well, now Brady's gonna be running the search. The last time I heard, Brady works for us at Fox and is preparing for his first playoff game as a broadcaster, and is going to be going on doing Eagles Packers. Is he looking at Liam Cohen footage right now? Is he looking at what Anthony Weavers defense did for the Miami Dolphins this season? Is he on the phone with Belichick and Pete Carroll and Rex Ryan and whoever else? No, I'm pretty sure Tom Brady's preparing for a wildcard round game, a Divisional round game, an NFC championship game, and then a Super Bowl. Well, if you take it all the way through that, that's a heck of a lot of multitasking. To just assume Tom Brady's running the search. I don't think he is going to be necessarily the one lining up interviews. There's going to be a group effort here, and Mark Davis is obviously going to meet with them. But Tom tells go's to GM.
He's got I.
Thought he's got a great record in the first round with the La Chargers and the San Diego Charges before that. But I'll tell you there are a lot of people who are in that building who did not know that Antonio Pierce was getting fired early in the morning yesterday.
Wow.
That tells me that Mark Davis holds a lot of cards here and anything could happen as far as the Raiders go. I mean anything, And anyone who tells you otherwise is either a very close friend of Mark Davis or is talking out of there.
You know what, that's crazy. Hey, I made the argument. I watched the whole documentary on Aaron Rodgers. I made the argument that if we're being honest and fair and you know their thing about Aaron, that you know he's complex. And I think about this all the time. I mean, Jay Cutler was difficult, Kyler Murray's quiet, Aaron can be a little prickly. Whatever they're they're not every quarterback is you know, Manning, Brady Mahomes. It's all about winning. They're all different people. I think Aaron has a market. I if I was the Jet side, keep him. If I was the Steelers, I'd be interested. If I was Vegas, I would have no problem with Aaron Rodgers a two year deal. I know it's crazy, but I think I watched him the last eight weeks, and let's be fair, he was pretty good. He wasn't their issue. I thought he was their issue coming off the injury. In the up until Thanksgiving, I thought he was a problem, and then he wasn't. Does he have a market?
It's a great question, and the Jets are we have to start off because those players loved playing with him. And today Jermaine Johnson, who was lost for a season's ending injury, said a story on a podcast that I was sent that, you know, without any fanfare, Rogers gave him his private jet to go get you know, surgery done on the West Coast as opposed to having to go to the airport and doing it, and like that doesn't get advertised. Those players love him. He talked to Sauce, He talked to a lot of those guys. Rogers was the leader, and he was the dude. If you're the Jets, though, he just want to wipe the slate completely clean. The owners, i can tell you, and the president who are now doing this search and Tanna, Bamanspiel and arm they're not coming in and saying, well, first and foremost we're keeping Rogers, or first and foremost we're gonna we're gonna try to figure a.
Way to get rid of Rogers.
They're going in in there with an open book asking candidates to tell them what they think they should do. That's the GM position and the head coach position. It's a Rogers conversation. That's bigger because it's does he want to keep playing after twenty years? He saw the awesome farewell he had with Pam Oliver at the end of that game that we had on Fox. That's a different topic for the Jets. It's do we come back to Rodgers and say, hey, for a discounted price, are you willing to be a bridge quarterback and run this back one more time with a new head coach, a new general manager, or you talk to the general manager and head coach candidates and say we want your thoughts, because I'll tell you I've spoken to a lot of the candidates who are going to be interviewing for a lot of these jobs. They're split. A lot of them look at the film and say what you just said, Like Rogers is better than you know, ten quarterbacks in this league, and if he could still sling it, I'd rather have him than then go on the you know, the scrap heap and get somebody else and go with a third string quarterback.
Right.
The guy's interviewing today for the Jets. Matt Naggi's interviewing for the head coaching position via zoom. But they've got Mike Borganzhi in person, who's the chiefs number two in their front office, interviewing in person in West Palm. And then they've got Alec Halabi, who's Howie Rossman's top lieutenant. He's their number two. He's also interviewed for the Jets GM jobs. So they're doing two simultaneous paths here. They're interviewing coaches and GM's at the same time. Aaron Glenn's going to get an interview. I told you Ben Johnson's not going to interview there. Cliff Kingsbury from what I'm told it was not requested for an interview. So they're doing two simultaneous paths. And the first question is what would you do with our quarterback position now, Rogers?
Could he be in Vegas? Could he be in Cleveland?
Could he be somewhere else? Maybe, but I think the Jets are the first ones to have to make that decision, and that domino hasn't fallen yet.
Schreger, You've already done a show today and you've brought such great information and energy. Look at this guy. This is a second show. Today's probably doing copa Cavan. He's probably doing a late night shift tonight somewhere else. It's probably be joining some anchor guy in another network later today. Whatever. You're just never stopping. You're writing books, you're doing a podcast. You're crushing. We love having you on Buddy.
Hey, Colin, thank you, you're so great. And to all all the guys out in La guys and gals, obviously the Fox family and any listeners. We've been through weather stuff here on the East Coast, and my heart is just with everybody and I hope everyone could be safe. It's terrible images here.
Yeah, it's brutal out here. Peter Schreger terrific job Fox Sports NFL reporter, and he's a of course, referencing the fires in Malibu and the palisage. It's called Pacific Palasa. It's beautiful coastal town and you know, surrounded by you know, it's just trees and forest and stunning and it is all burning down and so heavy hearts today on our show. So far, the reports of casualties, that hasn't been the issue as much as just property, which of course is daunting in itself. But we're thinking of you. If you've ever been thinking about home security, now is the time to consent. Are simply safe right now. Visit simplysafecolin dot com. It's fifty percent off news systems with professional monitoring plans. There is no safe like simply safe.
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So tomorrow, the twelve team college football Playoff and its inaugural season continues. So far, favorites are eight and oh we have a playoff because the networks, including this one, wanted them. They wanted to monetize college football and organize college football at the end of the season to a higher level than they've done that. I do think it's interesting. The idea the idealists always looks silly, don't they, The idealists that college football now will give the little guy a chance. The little guy is zero and four Boise State SMU ASU in Indiana and has kind of been rolled in three the four rolled. The little guy does not have a better chance. In fact, I'd argue he has less of a chance because whereas the little guy TCU could knock off Michigan a couple of years ago and get to the Natty, albeit destroyed, they would now have to face two three more blue bloods. And football has always been a depth nutrition sport. We've just seen that in the NFL and in college football. If you were Boise State in two thousand and what seven and you beat Oklahoma, it was a great feel good offseason story. But that's over because if Boise State beat an Oklahoma or an Oklahoma like team, you'd have to play seven days later. You wouldn't get this six months to recruit off it, to talk about it, to make your boosters feel good. The college football playoff. It's like adding two or three states to the Powerball, and you think your odds increase in winning. Nope, they don't. So it's what it's really done. It's compressed the feel good stories to about forty eight hours, not six months. If a little guy does win and the favorites are eight to oh and the little guys are zero to four. Your SMUs in your Boise States and your Indianas and Arizona States, the little guys they're owned four. Arizona State had a great outing and a great effort, but they lost. So if they would have beaten Texas, you'd have gotten like thirty six to forty eight hours to pump your fist. And then you got to get back to work. And here comes another blue blood around the corner. So the Cinderella College upset, which you know, made everybody feel good about college football and the sport that you get two days now to feel good about that. Then you got to get back to work so that the idealists of college football. It's a say, with March madness, you can you can bring in all these teams. You know, who's gonna win the Naty. It's gonna be Kansas, or it's going to be you know you're gonna have a Villanova, a Kansas, a top program. It feels good to include George Mason. It feels good to include SMU and Boise State in Arizona State. It doesn't change the outcomes, it just changes the way you feel. But this is a This is the first time college football has an NFL playoffs system, which means no time to celebrate a great teams around the corner and whoever's healthier wins. And I think that is why I like Ohio State because I think they have the greatest depth of four and five star talent. They have the most NFL bodies, and they may not have been the best team at Odtson this year against Michigan, but but I think their depth and having an NFL coach, Chip Kelly on the staff in the first year college football is sort of now NFL style in their playoffs, I think Chip Kelly's a big advantage. And I think it's not just Ohio State's front line guys. It's their number three receiver and their number three and four corner that will elevate them to the Natty j MAC with the news.
No, no, this is the herd line news.
Wow, this is is that a surprising news out of Detroit.
We know that the injuries are brutal for the Lions, but David Montgomery, remember the running back who was injured. Yeah, he's expected to be able to play maybe in the lions first playoff game next weekend. They announced that, hey, he's recovering from his sprained MCL.
These young athletes, they get healthy. It's faster than the season. Yeah, that's what people thought. And that injury, by the way, wasn't that long ago.
Yeah, and then they're like, oh, well maybe we won't have the surgery.
So they got alex Enzeloni back last week, the linebacker.
He was very good.
Yeah.
And now Addam Montgomery, listen, this is this is promising for Detroit.
Is super Bowl afoot for the Lions?
Well?
I think I don't think there's any question that of all the injururies they had the two that you and I went oh, was Aiden Hutchison That felt like, oh that's that's a bad one. And Montgomery and we were like, I get lightning and thunder. Lightning's not the same without the thunder.
It's not as it's not what this has been outstanding.
No, no, he is. He is a home run hit.
It looks like he's a top five back in the league, maybe top.
Three, Oh yeah.
Season.
But I also think Montgomery's an off speed pitch, and I think the combination of the two allows for more of an element of surprise with Gibbs, so you can use him. You know, they're different style backs. For the record, when they drafted Gibbs, they got a lot of.
Heat, understandably running back to the first round.
But he has been electric.
If you're looking ahead, Lions fans, they will face the lowest seeded team left. So the three non division winners are Tampa, who already beat him in Detroit, Green Bay. We saw that last game in Detroit that was snippin tuck the entire way.
And then the other one is Washington with an electric quarterback.
Yeah, I think Detroit is the last team I'd want to face in a couple of weeks. I mean, if Washington beats Tampa with that young team, they could have a little hangover, you know, they if they go on the road and beat Baker and be celebrated. You really think Washington feels like a two win road playoff team.
Yeah, he could probably fade Washington.
Yeah, so are you gonna do Super Bowl picks this week?
Like break it down?
And well, maybe we'll have That's not a bad idea for tomorrow. I like that idea.
I mean we need to hear it. You know, I asked you yesterday and.
Hot and yes.
It's unacceptable man, that people want answers. Next up, Collin.
This is breaking here in the last hour, so Tom Pelasorrow of NFL Network says multiple teams have reached out.
To wait for it.
North Carolina coach Bill Belichick gauging his interest to return.
It's funny nobody wanted him. Remember he gauged their interest and said I'm going to college. Now they're starting to call him.
One of the calls he got was from Tom Brady, Raiders owner and of course our coworker here at Fox. I'll let you speculate, but you already noted. They're paying Gruden, McDaniels and now Pierce. Then they would have to buy out Belichick for ten mili and pay him. I don't be the most money sunk into a.
Coach for however, so he can get out of his deal with North Carolina. I think it's like June or July first.
Well noon, ten million dollars buyout prior to June one. After that it's only one million, that's right. But they're not waiting that long, that's right.
That's right.
So the you know, I don't want you know, I don't like talking about people that have jobs. I do think if Philadelphia fell flat this weekend, that organization moves off winning coaches quickly. I don't think Belichick is going back to the NFL for any job. Listen, he had Brady and they were great, but he had Cam and Mack and they weren't. And I think Belichick smart enough to realize this league now eight for eight, best quarterback won every division. That's why Harbaugh's up the Chargers. So I don't think Belichick is gonna leave college. You're not gonna go to Carolina for just a job. The two things that are interesting, the two jobs that could be and again, these are good coaches. Clearly Buffalo loses to Denver opening playoff game to a rookie quarterback. I don't think it's gonna happen there. McDermott. I think McDermott would be in the I think you'd have to have Belichick return to the I think Belichick and beats the Patriots for eight straight years, and I think if Sirianni fell flat against beat up Green Bay and again, I think McDermott's a good coach and Sirianni clearly is a winning coach. But I'm saying, is that's the kind of thing Bill would come back for. To me, I just don't now, like if if John Harball lost in Baltimore, Lamar is gonna get the heat, not John Harbore.
Yeah, they're not gonna move on Marble.
But I but I do think this league is weird and it changes dramatically based on singular games, just on one game.
Yeah, how's this.
It's a very dramatic, very punitive, very urgent league.
So let's say you invested in the Raiders, right, you would want to help your investments, And two ways to help your investment are going after Bill Belichick. That is a that's gonna put butts in the seats, and then they're not gonna be able to draft the quarterback. So I don't know, do you kick the tyro on Aaron Rodgers and you say we got Rogers?
We got Belichick. If I was, that is a massive draw.
If I'm Tom Brady and we all know he works at Fox, we know he's a legend, and you know he's part of the Raiders ownership group, what I do is take Mike Brable to dinner and try to get him hired with the Raiders. Rabel's the best candidate. If I'm Tom, and Tom and Brabel ev that's what I would do. I would say, let's go hit some golf balls, or let's go to dinner. I'd sit him down and lay out the plank. I'd try to get Rabel's the best candidate in the market. So if I'm Brady, why would I want to settle for the third or fourth best coach.
Rabel's better than Ben Johnson for sure.
Yes, he's approven, got a team to an AFC champion. We don't know If Ben.
Ben Johnson was in the AFC Championship NFC Championship last year.
I'd argue he's not the best coordinator on Detroit.
Oh. Aaron Glenn.
Aaron Glenn with massive.
What amazing game against the Vikings? Didn't we eighteen?
You know the Detroit Lions led the NFL this year. Think about this because we know their injuries led the NFL in a division which got all sorts of talented quarterbacks, led the NFL in the opponent's passer rating. No team held quarterbacks to lower passer rings than the Lions.
I need to go look at who they played.
I know how about this NFL teams that one? This is not the Mountain West.
You you love Aaron Glenn, that's clear you want him is here?
I love I love his resume. Aiden Hudginson out, corners out. The whole team was depleted. Ben Johnson's good what Aaron did though? How how it was? It was band aids and Bondo and super glue all year on the.
Better better job Bears right now or Raiders Bears?
Because I have kleb Will you can.
Belichick be interested or maybe they weren't interested in him?
Well, nobody's who says he's interested.
Tom Pelisarro NFL Network.
Multiple teams have called Belichick engages in him, but we.
Don't know if Belichick's interest. I don't think Belichick is interested in the Raiders. I don't know if Rabel's interested as the Raiders. But you asked me if you were Tom Brady, what would I do. I would take Rabel to dinner and hit some golf balls and I'd talk him into it.
Huh.
If I'm a team that wants to coach, I want the best coach. I'd rather not settle in life for the third best coach. Ravel's the only proven winner on the market, so I'd go after him, just like Harbaugh was the best candidate last year and the Chargers aggressively pursued. By the way the Chargers last year went after two guys, Harbond Rabel. One was the best candidate last year. One's the best candidate this year.
Final story. Uh oh, it's your guy, sir.
Charles the Ringless Wonder Charles Barkley said he would not hold back next time he talked about the Lake after he and Reddick had a little bit of back and forth through the media.
Well, the Lakers lost last week to the Maps. Listen, it was not a great performance. They lost. No Luca, no Kyrie, and the Lakers lost. They got smashed. Charles Barkley, let it fly. Take a listen.
I want to hear this.
Well, I hate the Lakers. It's always somebody else's fault. Renumber three years ago. It was Russell Westbrook's fault. Then it was Freak Bogul's fault. Then it was DANIELO Russell's fault. Then it was Darbyn Hown's fault. It's always somebody else's fault. The Lakers have they don't have. Listen, Lebron is one of the all time greats Ad is a hell of a player. That's it.
They the rest of the guys are just guys. Every team got those guys and it bothers me.
Listen, you don't always blame of the people for your shortcoming. The Lakers proved to what I keep saying, the Lakers stink playing and simple.
What was inaccurate there?
The Lakers stink playing and simple. They're twenty and sixteen, sixth in the West.
That stakes time sit so you feel good about now, that's.
A different discussion you Barkley said they stink, well, the middle sixth in the West, you stink.
If you're six in the West, you're not close to an NBA championship team, and they're not. And by the way, his criticism is one that I said three weeks ago, go watch a Laker game. They're not athletic enough, they're just not athletics.
Now, I tell you on my guy Austin Reefs.
Oh jeez, Ristmas Day, Hamnegger boy.
So so it's a Lakers stink Barkley boy. Everybody in the West is garbage. Warriors are tracks?
Are there there? There are a handful of teams. When you watch them, you can see the athletic ability. Houston, another DA Boston, Oklahoma City. There are teams I think the Knicks have some. There are teams that you see athletic ability on the wing, I mean Boston, OKC, Houston. It jumps off the DV screen. You can see the athletic ability. Denver size jumps off the television, a Milwaukee size. When you watch the Lakers, I don't get the size. I don't get the athletic ability. I get one great player and another legend and a bunch of guys.
I do like in our NFL discussions, Colin, you usually provide context for why a team is good. When the Pittsburgh Steelers are running hot, beating up on you know, cupcakes, we were not like, hey, this is a super Bowl team.
I don't think they ever made your.
Super Bowl bubble or top five, right, and now they're being exposed with frauds right as a crater down the stretch.
So you know Lakers will played the second most road games in the league.
Okay, So like the schedule matters, let's ease up with the they stick. Context matters, and that's what I don't think Berkley provides context.
Okay, of the top eight teams in the West, only one has a negative point different.
Yes, and that is the Lakers minus two point two. Yes, it's a good nugget. I have that right here on my notes.
In the NBA, you can't this now is a three and D league. You gotta shoot threes and you got to defend them. They went and got Dorian Finney Smith because Dalton can't defend.
You can't defend.
I mean so like they went and got their top draft pick. He's a shooter, but he can't defend, so he's a limited player.
And I watched last night. I don't know if you saw.
You can'tn't even have Luca or Kyrie last that's the worst part. Alas didn't have their two most electric offensive players.
They have guys coming off the bench banging open threes like it is a bad defensive performance.
Reddick owned it, and you know, Barkley, do your victory lap. We'll see you Lakers by the way seven of their next date at home.
I didn't say they stinked.
Barkley said that.
Okay.
What I'm saying is his criticism is they got a lot of guys. They have a legend and a great player and a bunch of guys. And my take is that's what I see when I watch him play. I now are moved. In the last five days, I've moved into NBA viewing. I do this every year. We get into January, I celebrate my birthday with you know, my friends, and then I start cooking on NBA video for about forty five minutes a night. And the Lakers have got a bunch of guys.
So it's it's funny.
I did this on on social But the often reasons I like him.
I believe he's very very good. And I said, look Mark Price, Mark Price small guard.
Probably the most underretted player with Bernard King in league history.
Ye, he was an All Star, he was all NBA great and you you do his per forty eight stats against Austin Reeves, and Austin Reeves blows him out of the water.
He's more athletic. And all these people, don't they get so angry when you compare nineties players to now.
I always tell you good, I like Austin Reeves. If you are a championship team, he should be your fifth best starter. I don't think that's a critic I'm saying, by the way, Derek White is the Celtics' fourth best starter. Derek White's better than Austin Reeves. And we're not even gonna argue that.
If you put Derek White in the Austin Reeds role in Austin Reeves on the.
Celtics, Derek White, if Lebron goes to the bench, Derek White is the second best Laker player. And I don't think it. Derek White is an elite defender. He's an elite three ball shooter. He's a veteran, he's tough.
He's good, he's good.
I like him, and he is the fourth best Celtic.
Reeds is not gonna sniff at all start. He just won't. The league is two stacked right now. But he's awesome. I know you think fifth.
You tend to like the overlook guy. You love Brock underdogs. Baby, I I'm very busy. I don't have time for underdogs.
Coastal elite.
Where I live. I like stars. I'm not going to try to say, you know, like I said, in this league, it's a it's a quarterback lead. There's like seven great ones. They're all in the playoffs except Burrow. You tend to take the angle of the overlooked little guy undrafted and I'm like, well, you know it rains and brock Purty can't hang out to the ball. I'm sorry. Rain is part of our country's weather system.
Yes.
By the way, for the record, the Lions opponents this year, So you say, who did the Lions play to have that great defense? Matt Stafford, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen the fourteen win, Vikings twice and Kyler Urry early in the year when he was pretty good. Kuyder Murray was earlier. It was pretty good early.
J doesn't say Sam Darnold's name.
J Mat Gwinn.
News.
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the heard Line. News.
Drew Brees is going to be joining us in the last hour live in LA It's the Herd.
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So Lamar Jackson is not pointing fingers at anybody when he loses. I've said this for years. One of the reasons I love Lamar Jackson A he cares so deeply about winning. He gets really mad at himself. Secondly, he wins seventy five percent of his games in a tougher AFC. He has, however, struggled. He's got a couple of playoff wins. He's like two and four, but he has struggled in the playoffs. And he admitted this week, and this is part of the appeal to me of Leabar Jackson and why I love him. He admitted, Yeah, it's kind of me. I get frenetic. Yeah, I'll just be too excited. That's all, you know, too ass He like, I'm seeing things before it happened, Like, oh, I got to calm myself down. But just been more experience. I've found a way about banish it out. So I said this earlier when Lebron James was in Miami and the first Finals against Dallas and he struggled to post up JJ Burrea. It wasn't a ceiling thing. It was the game was in his head. When Aaron Judge in the World Series in Game five dropped a routine fly ball, that was anxiety, that was nerves. Aaron Judge hasn't done that in his entire career. So you get these players Peyton Manning a Rod early in New York, Aaron Judge, Lebron James. It's not like a ceiling thing. It's a it's in your head thing. I think we saw a little bit of that of Sam Darnold Sunday Lions and the Vikings. I thought he goes so amped up and so juiced up, the ball was sailing and he missed on some open looks. So I think Lamar is an absolutely one, once in a generation player. I love watching him play. He's one of my favorite guy Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson maybe my two favorite players even more than Mahomes that I want to watch play. I think he's an all time guy. But I asked Greg Olsen earlier when you are struggling in the postseason, how do you get through it?
Understand who he is, Understand what he does well, Understand the emotion, the character again, the relationship between coach, play caller, and in this case the quarterback. Get him off to a really fast start, call the plays that he loves, get him tackled, run all the things that are the magic and the beauty of Lamar Jackson. You know who he is as a person, you know the caliber he wants to play at, and you know how much pressure he's putting on himself. You've got to coach around it. You've got to help him through that early in games, early in series, and let him settle into the first playoff game this weekend, and then you know what, one win turns into two. All of a sudden, he gets that off of his back and he's the Lamar Jackson that we've seen now for years and you know, potentially could win another MVP.
You know, you've heard that people talk about the states of grief. It's it's anger, it's depression, it's denial, it's bargaining, and the last one is, you know, sometimes accountability. And I think I think you're seeing that the acceptance, not accountability. I think the last one is acceptance, and I think with Lamar you're seeing some acceptance. It's like, yeah, this is me get I get to. It's very easy for me to defend an athlete like Aaron Judge or Lebron James or Lamar Jackson that cares so deeply that they get emotionally a little over their skis, or a Peyton Manning was known as a teeth clencher, like he was so uptight. Like that's an easy guy for me to defend that you care so deeply and that you put so much pressure on yourself that you miss a putt. And we've seen this with Rory McElroy is. It's not that Rory doesn't care. He cares so much that it gets into his headspace. And so Lamar, to me, the growth and maturity is the acceptance of it. I just get amped up. I'm not the same quarterback, so and I do think, you know, this is just the way it is. If Buffalo loses in the playoffs first round, Sean mcdermot's getting the heat because Josh Allen's been pretty good in the playoffs. He's just lost. If the Baltimore Ravens lose. John Harbaugh's got a ring. The reality is Lamar Jackson will take the heat. So sometimes it's the coach, sometimes it's the quarterback. Mike McCarthy was the one that got criticized when the Cowboys at home got rolled over by Green Bay. But Dak didn't play well. I mean, Jordan Love looked like a significantly better player in Dallas than Dak Prescott did. But it was Mike McCarthy who took the heat. So it is interesting about the Kyle Shanahan has taken a lot of heat for losses, but the truth is he's never had a great quarterback. So that's why I think a lot of us defend Kyle Shanahan. So that's where we are today. J Maak, we got Drew Brees stopping by in the last hour. We are still. You and I are going to connect tomorrow and watch Notre Dame Penn State together. I think to your point, the under on Notre Dame Penn State is in play. I think these are both excellent defensive leaning coaches. I think Penn State is funny. It's strangely for a great program, Penn State's being overlooked because Ohio State and Texas and Notre Dame get so much glare that nobody's paying attention to a weird spot to be when you may be as good as anybody and nobody's talking about you. There's no pressure on Penn State at all.
Played and boys, I know, but they in the regular season, like anytime they played a good team, which they didn't play many Ohio State, they got some ass could barely score.
I don't know how they score on Notre Dame. We'll see Tyler Warren. I like him a lot. I it's gonna be a good game. Very excited.
I'm gonna go read your Fox dot com show me the link. Why don't you do that?
Do you have your number?
Yeah?
I think I've blocked you.
