He tells you why he was right about Brock Purdy and wrong about Georgia vs Texas.
3-time Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck joins the show to explain why the Steelers were able to pull off a win over the Jets in Russell Wilson's first start with Pittsburgh
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Here we go our two. It is a Monday. Matt Hasselbeck. In five minutes, he'll be great as oa's live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks so much for making us part of your day. Julian Edelman last hour as well, Colin Wright conrang around the corner. It was a tough night. Jamac the Jets fan. Good news. The Yankees are in the World Series against the Dodgers. Had both those TVs on last night. I got a little Dodger W. Shocking Steeler W. It was the ease in which the Steelers won in the second half. Didn't expect that at all.
Did you watch the Lucky Chiefs?
Certain?
Did you not?
Yesterday was a Lucky Chiefs twelve.
Well, I'm looking at Patrick Belhos one hundred and fifty four yards passing. Okay, he now has tied for the interception league lead. Okay, as many touchdown passes. Daniel Jones, what's shocking?
What's it say about Brock Purty. You couldn't beat that guy?
Rock Perty had a rough game, not a great game.
When he by the way Deebo Samuel practices all week, everything looks good. He played three plays in the game and then has to leave sick like between no Jennings, no Debo, no Cimac Brandon. I you pops his acl it starts to make some excuses for one mister Purty.
Well you can do that, Okay, Colin right wrong on a Monday as Ally was here we go where Colin was right?
Then?
I think Brock Purty is a good quarterback. But you're going to be judged ultimately on how do you play against the best teams in high leverage situations and when not everything is available to you? Yeah, guess who was also missing receivers and a running back, Patrick Mahomes. He now doesn't have stacked deck Brock pretty doesn't. He's twenty second in completion percentage. It got lectured during the game by Kyle Shanahan. And listen, that's why we said contextualized quarterbacks. Who was their coordinator. It's a lot different getting you know, the keys to a nice car was Shanahan and Trent Williams and Deebo and Christian McCaffrey. But eventually, if you had to pay rock pretty, you don't get all those toys. Where Colin was raw, why Georgia thump Texas didn't they? I mean Georgia reestablished itself. It looked like Texas was too busy feeling good about Texas. Georgia had seven sacks, felt like they could have had seven more. Longhorns could not run the ball, They felt like they kind of panicked a quarterback. They were atrocious on third down. You know, listen, with a college football playoff, these two could probably meet down the road in eight weeks or whatever it is. But in the end, this was a program built on defense against the high glamour program that wanted to tell you that they were ready. They were ready for the moment, and Texas was not ready for the moment at all.
Where Colin was right.
My guy boringly elite Jared Goff twenty two to twenty five against a very good Minnesota team, four games in a row, passer rating at least one thirteen. And the thing I love about him, there is no sizzle. It is all stake. And I know his TikTok videos aren't as cool, but in the last four games it looks like pitch and catch. He is just in a zone. In fact, in his last four games, Detroit has more touchdowns eighteen than Goff has incompletions.
Sixteen, where Colin was raw.
I have defended Lincoln Riley at every turn, and he's not going to get fired, but increasingly you were wondering if he's the right fit. They lead in the fourth quarter, in the second half in all these games, but they lack the physicality and the toughness to put it away. Now, some of this is they're very very young on offense, but you know what, he took all Bob stoops in a very good program with inertia and momentum, and he had to rebuild this thing. And after a flashy first year where they were probably better than they should have been, it's all been downhill. Maryland, Minnesota. I'll give you a lost to Penn State. That's a terrific program. But I'll go back to this. They have one running back they trust in the program it's usc and two tackles that can play after three years. That's not good enough, Lincoln.
Where Colin was right.
I'm a Jordan Love fan, and I know he makes mistakes and he's more far than Aaron Rodgers. But the joy he plays with the support he gets from his coaches even after big mistakes. Matt Lafleur doesn't care. Look at how they coach Jordan Love. I mean, this offense is read and Watson and Dobbs their kids. Jordan Love. But he's tied for passing touchdown lead in the NFL at fifteen and he's missed two starts, and there's great quarterback all over this sport. He's in a tough division. But this this is what great looks like. I mean, he may not be Mahomes great yet we don't have to classify every player, but he is special.
Where Colin was right.
When the Giants let Saquon Barkley go to the Eagles, we said the worst part about this is Saquon's gonna humiliate you twice a year, and once at home and in front of your bosses. It is a bad Monday in the Giants facility. Had more yards than the Giants did in total. And you know, yes he got booed, but I mean, you got to be careful. There's there's a reason there's the old term never never trade in division. Well, you don't want to trade your best player to your arch rival in division. And I guarantee you it is walking on eggshells in the Giants facility today. Here's Saquon after.
I probably talked a little more today and I usually do. You know, I didn't help myself when I said earlier week, I didn't think I was gonna get booed. But you know they're going for a reason. It's a complement at the end of the day.
That's how I took is a great player getting his congratulations.
Where Colin was raw.
You know, a couple of weeks ago I called Colorado the fake id of college football. They have apparently turned twenty one. They have a run game, defense is playing well. Crushed a decent Arizona team thirty four to seven. Listen, Shador Sanders, I think is the best quarterback in college football, especially after watching Texas and Georgia. They're one win from Bowl eligible and they've you know, it felt like a lot of hype the first couple of years, but they're won in the football. They're playing defense, they have a pass rush, and they have the best quarterback in college football. So shame on me. Colorado looks real. Where Colin was right, My number one pick this year on my over under bets was Denver. Vegas had him at five and a half wins. I said, Sean Payton is just going to get him to seven to eight. They beat the Saints Thursday. Same defense as last year, I mean, same players, but I think Peyton is squeezing every ounce of talent out of this roster. He comes from the Bill Parcells tree, and that's what Bill did. He had a good eye for personnel and the ability to get the most and motivate players. Denver's not a great team and it's kind of an okay roster, but they've got winning streaks and they win the games they should, and they beat the Jets in New York with a rookie quarterback.
We were right on that one where Colin was right.
The Clippers announced that Kawhi Leonard would not only miss the opener into it Dome, he may miss big chumps of the season. Steve Ballmer's obviously smarter than me. I do not get doubling down on this. The face of a franchise, if nothing else has to be reliable and the winning has to be sustainable, I never know what he's gonna play. I just don't understand this. Death taxes and Kawhi not being available are the three things here I'm pretty used to, and they double down on it. So over the next three years he's got a fifty million dollar cap hit each of those seasons. I didn't get it. Then I didn't get doubling down. He's not really a leader in the locker room. I don't get it. And Steve Ballmer's a brilliant guy, but I just don't get this Khi thing. It's not who I would build around. I would not let Paul George go, who may get injured from time to time, but I know what I get with Paul George, like he's going to play if he's healthy. Colin right, Colin wrong? Now, Matt Hasselback eighteen years in the NFL, three Pro Bowls, a Super Bowl. You know, and I've said this before, when you're a sportscaster and a quarterback comes in. He looks good. The two things I look at is how does he play when he's trailing everybody? You know, when it's when you lead twenty seven to six in the third quarter, the game's different for a quarterback. How do you look when you're trailing? And how do you look when you're missing a left tackle? You're number one receiver, you're on a backup quarterback. And I watched Mahomes in Purty and neither had a full set. I mean, it was just players everywhere, and in those high leverage moments, Matt Mahomes is just crazy. I mean, Brady said it. It's like he's doing stuff you shouldn't do, throw backwards, you know, you know, taunting. I mean, what do you make of Mahomes? Yesterday was a day I don't know. People say he didn't play well, but in the big moments he did so. I thought, you know, everybody has likely picks. I thought he played kind of well, didn't he?
Listen?
Patrick, Mahomes does some stuff you're not going to find in the statue, you know, you know, even the play that Brady said you shouldn't throw back across your back across your body, like that's a design play for that team.
Like that's how.
Guys like Tom and guys like me and the guys that can't do what he you know, like that physical stuff, that's how they get Coach Mahomes. That's part of their offense. That's just normal for them, you know. I just think he's one of these guys that has those things that you call in tangibles where the opponent is intimidated without really him really having to do anything. He saw where he ran over the guy in the end zone. The defender was so afraid of getting a flag because it's the Patrick Mahomes and so like whether it's throwing it left handed, underhand, behind his back, Patrick Mahomes almost has mind control over people the way.
That he plays.
And listen, I say all that he has not played his best football. I think he'd be honest and say that as well, he really has not played his best football.
That offense hasn't looked.
Their best, and yet they are the probably the number one or number two in all football right now.
First of all, San Francisco's good. They're gonna win a bunch of games. Let's not overreact. But in this space against this team. It does. We're getting to a point now where I like, oh, yeah, I've seen this barbecue, Like I know what this looks like. Do teams get another team's heads or was this just better team one to you for San Francisco.
Listen, Yeah, Colin, I'm glad you brought that up.
I think there's matchups that we don't talk about enough. It's play caller to play caller. It's Kyle Shanahan versus Steve Spagnolo, Like those two guys have gone up head to head so many times to shoot. Spags has gone up against Mike shan in hand, never mind Kyle Shannigan, and so like, there's definitely an element like I'm watching the I'm rewatching that game today this morning, and I'm saying, like, wow, that was such a good defensive.
Call, you know.
I mean, the Niners are an offense that has so much respect around the league that people copy them, they study them, they know them. And I just thought Spags's game plan was so exceptional, Like he knew where the hot was going to be, he knew what they not necessarily what they were going to do, but he knew what they were not going to do so, like on their naked bootleg type stuff, based on formations, based on splits. He knew they weren't taking a shot. He knew it was a completion mindset. And those safeties were playing deep but downhill. I mean they were. It was almost like they were told in the meetings, you have our permission and this formation with this action to play downhill and go for an interception. A lot of times defenders are told, hey, you're a safety, You're deeper than the deepest. They did not say that in this game yesterday. They were telling those guys to fire their gun as soon as you see it, pull the trigger, and make a play.
And that's exactly what they did.
You know, I had said everybody in Pittsburgh Big Band is like, you can't play Russell Wilson. And to Mike Tomlin's credit, Mike's like, this is why I get paid, and I know what I'm seeing, and it was. I gotta tell you, Matt, it was pretty choppy in the first quarter. There were some bad misses and I'm thinking, boy, I look smart. In that second half, I'm like, I saw a quarterback who was not panicking good feet. The cadence was good. He got Pickings involved, and I was like, well, the defense is good. Mike's won a Super Bowl to power run game in Russell's like in his prime, not making a ton of mistakes. I will say this, I think Russell's always been pretty darn good in the red zone when you can get him from out of the pocket and move it and he gets a defined look at stuff, and he's pretty good in the red zone. I don't know I was surprised by Russell or should I have not been? Is this kind of what he was in Denver last year?
Well, what I'm not surprised by is Mike Tomlin a very confident coach. There's a saying in football, be who you can afford to be. Mike Tomlin can afford to make a risky decision like this. He can afford to like, hey, you know what, I'll play the other guy. It's just the Jets. You know, the meat of my schedules coming up in about.
A month, maybe a few weeks. Like, let's just try it out. I trust him.
Russell Wilson started out shaky, maybe rusty. I thought Pickens played great for him. I think playing with the lead helped. Thought it was good listen. I think you're gonna see both quarterbacks this year, though I don't think it's just one guy. I think there's stuff that Russell Wilson brings to the table. But like what you're talking about in that low red zone, I don't think he has that anymore. I don't think he's the scrambler and the runner that he once was. I mean, even on the quarterback sneaks yesterday, it wasn't like he's just showing his age a little bit. And so, like I think you take how special Justin Fields can be as a runner in that low red zone. Low red zone meaning ten yard line in Yeah, defensive coaches absolutely hate to go up against the guy from the ten yard line in that can run.
And you've seen.
Justin Field score i don't know, probably five touchdowns this year with his feet, whether it was a designed run or just hey, they covered it perfectly and I'm gonna go run. So I think you'll see both guys going forward. And it's a total thing that like Pittsburgh can do.
They've done it in the past. I think they could do it again.
So you see this in the NBA, and we saw it with the Phoenix Suns where you put a bunch of good players together and there's this sense that, well, they're smart guys Kde and Bradley Beal and Booker and they'll figure it out. Let's well, that's not really how it works. Like there's different dynamics and it takes a while. And I was reading The New York Rich Demani covers the New York Jets, and he had said in a post last night, he goes, this is just an accumulation of talented guys. It's not really a team. Now we're on an interim coach. It's old old lineman, rookie old lineman. It's just it's a button. Now we're on a second offensive coordinator. And I watched the Steelers and I knew what they were regardless of limitations. I knew what I was watching. And I watched the Jets, and I'm like, their offense is kind of let's dump it off the breeze hall, let's try a go route. Is it fair to say you played on one two five teams? Were you ever on a team that was talented but you couldn't there was no cohesion. You felt like, we can't pull it together. I kind of feel like that watching the Jets.
Well, I'll say this, you know, I think there's something really special about the Pittsburgh Steelers that is missing from the New York Jets right now. And I think what I would say is most special about the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I think anybody who played or coach in the NFL would agree with me. The Steelers are one of those organizations that they are bigger than any one player, like they just are. We're the Pittsburgh Steelers. We are bigger and more important than any one player, and we are a team. It's almost like the fans are part of that. Ownership's a part of that, and nothing gets in front of like the Steelers. And I just don't think the Jets have had that. I think the Jets have been sort of the opposite of that. And so there's something really special there. You mentioned basketball, but I mean this is eleven on eleven and it's really thirty three. You know, you got the offense, defense, and then you get the fourth down army there. So I just, you know, I think there's something unique. There's teams out there that are like that. The Baltimore Ravens are like that in terms of like it's it's you know, you're bigger than anyone superstar player, and that gets harder and harder these days. But I think the Steelers have that, and I do think that's that's worth something.
So I'm watching the Vikings Lions yesterday and Peyton Manning said, once he goes listen, there's pre season speed, regular season speed, divisional rival speed, playoff speed, and super Bowl speed he goes, everything feels a little more intense. And I'm watching Vice King's Lions and I'm like, Okay, that's playoff speed in the regular season. Those are excellent football teams. And I mean for Detroit to go in there, I mean, I'm just watching playmakers everywhere. I'm like, how many Hall of Fame level players do we have in this game? This is an insane spectacle. I think you're going to look back at that game to win, to trail early, come back, trail again, come back. That's like to me, I knew this year Detroit was hunted, not the Hunter. That was a defining win for me. For me, as I watched them.
No doubt and Colin listen, like, I could talk about this game for an hour. I mean, they're down ten points. But go back to the Dallas game. I think it was Dallas game last week, where you know, Ben Johnson's like calling all these plays to offensive linemen doing all this craziness. Everyone's just like, Oh, he's just having fun. He's just funching the bully in the mouth all that stuff. No, it's not. It wasn't just that he was thinking ahead. This is like the guy playing chess. Okay, he's thinking ahead to I'm playing Brian Flores coming up. I need to give him so much crap to think about and to study for and to like chill him out with all of his exotic cover zero blitzes and bluffs and all that kind of stuff. He was thinking ahead in that game. And so what he did is he got exotic against kind of a simple defense in Dallas, and then he got simple against an exotic defense in Minnesota. They went pretty basic, and then they got creative in the sense that they were going to block you your defensive ends with a wide receiver plus a running back and take a shot. I just thought it was an excellent game plan. And I would say it started started last week. It started last week where they said, you know what, we're thinking ahead about a division game, and you can tell that this team is hyper focused on winning that division, like every game is an important one, right, the biggest game is the next game. Yeah yeah, yeah, whatever, But you can tell in that locker room Dan Campbell has a mindset for the coaches and the players this division is going to be ours. We are done given this division up to other people. It's going to be ours and it's a great division.
So we'll see. But they're off to a great start. Want to er in the division.
And I really think it's because of how smart they played. I mean, everyone wants to talk about how tough they are. They played really smart.
You know, I want to talk about this. I always say that the two things generally create a dynasty is you got about seven of your best players in their prime. I think the Niners are getting a little creaky. Detroit's got Pro Bowl players. They're all in their prime or going into their prime. The second thing is the ability to be gifted and yet have a chip on your shoulder. Belichick did this for years. Do your job. We're not the most talented team. Kansas City's got that where they're like Reid is just constantly innovative, never get stale. Detroit mauls you on the offensive line. But what I like about goth La bailed on him. The city of Detroit. We've rolled our eyes at Dan Campbell knee biting and you're Seahawks teams when you have great players, but in the building, there's a feeling like nobody respects us, nobody likes us. It maybe make believe, but I kind of feel that with Detroit. So many people it's almost they're in the perfect city Detroit. Did you ever have a team where you were like, we have better players than everybody, but in the building a lot of players thought they were disrespected.
Yeah, listen, I think this. I think the city of Seattle felt that way.
You know.
I remember Jimmy Johnson going on, you know, the Fox pregame show, and he was like, yeah, they're up in South Alaska.
It was almost like.
This chip on our shoulder, and I think our fans felt it. No one wanted to cover come up and cover our team. It was almost like being in the witness protection program if you played in Seattle. And so I think I think the Twelves became a thing like they you know, when when the national came to do a game when it was a primetime game. They said, you know what, we were going to be a part of this game. We are going to make the New York Giants jump off sides eleven times.
We are going to send a message to the league.
Like for sure, I think our team felt that, And I think Dan Campbell's the perfect fit for this, right, Like he's a guy that was mentioned for head coaching jobs for years and years. He was an interim head coach and just kind of passed over, passed over. You mentioned bite off the kneecaps. That whole thing kind of made fun of the Detroit Lions. Like when I was playing, they were the team that went Owen sixteen. You know, they're an afterthought. You know, even on Thanksgiving when Detroit plays and Dallas plays, it's always about Dallas. It's really never about Detroit. So I just I think absolutely. And then and then they drafted well, and then they take on the identity of their team and of their head coach, the whole team does, and then they're really tough.
But like you could point, I could point to one play in that game. It was a touchdown pass to Khalif Raymond.
Yeah, and two different guys, Okay, a tight end and maybe a receiver have a chance absolutely declete someone on a blind side block. And when you always sell like we're tougher than them, we're tougher than them, Like those are usually the people that get the fifteen yard flag. And it just I just thought like they played so smart. Neither one of the guys took a cheap shot. It ended up being a touchdown. It ended up being very critical to the win. And so like if you can balance that chip on your shoulder, that toughness, that mental toughness, physical toughness, plus just intelligent football like x's and o's and all of it, I just think you're you're cooking with with what you want to be cooking with.
And they got it going on right now.
By the way, I love that you still remember what Jimmy Johnson said. There's that still embedding you.
It's funny, listen.
I mean, all the you know, Tom Brady knows that he was picked one ninety nine. He's the greatest football player of all time. Like whatever it is, like you said, whether it's real or not real, you can take those things and people talking about.
It is like bulletin board material.
Yeah, but he can push a button with people. And I think Jared Goff getting kicked to the curb, getting unceremoniously sort of just shipped out of LA I think it was good for him, and I think it was probably in the long run, something that endears him to his teammates into that city.
Yeah.
And oh, by the way, he got graduate course work from Sean McVay in the process, and I think he's one of the game's best quarterbacks probably because of it.
Oh god, this is fifteen twenty minutes a week. We all get smarter. It's great seeing you. He's in a different room this week, big construction. Hassele Beck could have bailed on us. He's like, just moving to the closet. I'll be fine pretty much.
I'm basically in a bathroom golling. You know, we'll get it better, we'll get it right.
Great seeing you, my man, Matt, Matt Hasselbeck. Yeah, it really, It's so funny. I can remember that. You know, I'm a kid from the Northwest and you were always disrespected. It was like you're up in the Northwest and those Seahawk teams. Yeah, you see the Seahawks over Atlanta. My upset of the week. It's pretty special.
Yeah, huge upset there three point dogs.
That told me was the first bet on the board. I nailed my two good picks. I just whiffed on the Niners and Jets.
I whiffed on the Jets.
High profile Bigley one more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you.
Like some good games. Yesterday I had my super Bowl bubble into this hour. Seven eight teams I think can win the Super Bowl, and a couple hanging on the edges. A couple teams in this league. I don't know what to do with Jamack with the news. Turn on the news.
This is the Herd line news.
So MARII Cooper made his debut with the Bills yesterday.
Yeah, it looked like he had a drop on his first pass attempt, but then his first.
Catch was a touchdown. Yep, very nice catch.
Early fourth quarter they had the blow off victory. Coop had four catches sixty six yards. Josh Allen praised him after the game.
I think being seven years in the league. Now, just like understanding guys of his Helliver' they don't need a lot, you know, they go out there, get him a clear mind, let him go play. That's what he'd out there a couple of times, just finding zones, finding windows. He made a really good catch on that slant. But again, just the professionalism that he has, the ability that he has. Just trust him what I see with him, and things will turn out pretty good.
Yeah, we felt, we said this last week, this would be an easy fit. He's low maintenance, didn't cost him anything. He's kind of what they need. Very good pro, total pro runs the right route. This is an easy one. Hey, can we can? He can? He be a eight target six catch guy with these pieces. They're not asking him to be a fifteen They're not asking him to be Garrett Wilson before Devonte just eight target seven catches, move the chains on third down, and that's what he can.
It helped open space up for Keon Coleman, who had his best day as a pro.
Yep.
It didn't look, however, like Cooper knew all the routes on one catch. You could hear Keon Coleman telling him what to do. Because Cooper didn't know the rep but he just got there. Here's the video of it and you can see Cooper's.
Like, wait, what what's going on?
Yeah?
Well he offensively. They struggled in the first half, and I think a lot of it was they're learning on the job.
They were down ten nothing, yeah, and then the final score was thirty four ten.
Yeah, it's the Titans. Titans are aggressively bad.
Nason Rudolph was was good first half and then they dialed up the pressure and he kind of crumbled.
Kim Titans.
Really, hey, listen, Raiders are playing their butt off and have some talent, but they need a quarterback. New England's got their quarterback. They don't have a bunch of talent, and then the Titans are just bad.
Well, the Titans and the Panthers are probably the two worst teams. They were the Giants are down.
There about New England. I watched Drake May against the Jags and that was one of my picture of the way hit Jadge. I thought Drake May look, I mean, for what he has I thought he made no no, no, they they they're great because if they get the number one pick, they can trade that puppy down and refurnish the roster.
Some of this industry, you know, you make these bold proclamation proclamations and you want to be right.
And I said earlier, I think Jered Mayo could be one and done.
Did you hear him like just trash his team to the media after the game, like, guys are not trying hard, And I don't know that he's a good fit. I think they got something with mey. I like what I thought.
Oh, I like Drake Maye. I think with Jared Mayo. Here was my question. When the Rams moved off Jeff Fischer all defense to McVeigh, it was signaling it we're starting anew. Mayo feels like a lesser version of Bill, Like defensive guy, run game, not a creative he's linebacker. It's like lesser version of Bill. A lot of the organizations when they hire a new coach, they're like, listen, we just we want to just start over, you know what I mean. We're gonna just do things differently. I mean, look at the Washington like, we're gonna go draft a quarterback Cliff Kingsbury. We're gonna move the pocket from Ron Rivera. Even though they went and got a defensive coach. It's a very progressive looking offense. And like Adam Peters the GM, a basketball guy. Yeah, like they're just gonna we're gonna do stuff new, and I'm tend to be four new. But yeah, you can't rip your.
Team when you barely looks like you know what you're doing. Patriots are very, very bad.
All right.
Next up, Colin, we're staying in the AFC East.
The Dolphins brutal, brutal stretch without Tua yesterday, I mean, Huntley got hurt and I had to turn to Tim Boyle and like an idiot, I had the Dolphins getting three and of course the kicker missus a fifty four yard er. McDaniel had a bad game, but good news on the horizon, Colin. Starting Wednesday, Tua is eligible to return from the IR. Mike McDaniels reportedly told the team he will participate in practice ahead of the Week eight matchup.
With the Cardinals. That obviously would be massive.
I'm sure some folks out there play fantasy football. Saw Tyreek Hill had one target through three quarters.
He ended with one catch.
Yeah, Jalen Waddle I think had one catch for like eleven yards.
Colin, This listen.
I know without your quarterback, it's tough. But McDaniel has not shown me anything at all with these backup quarterbacks like that is a little bit troubling if you ask me, Yeah, OK, at these numbers.
I think all of this has made Tua's value highly redeemable. Say what you want about Tua this offense. The other thing we talked about a month ago front offices, the idea that Tua could be a guy that's your franchise quarterback and your off let backup quarterback and not good on the old line. What are you doing? What are you doing as an organization? If you have an injury play quarterback and there's only one or two in the league, you gotta have a good backup. You gotta have a good old line. Like I mean, if, by the way, the Atlanta flcons Kirk Cousins coming off a surgery, excellent backup in Michael Pennick's excellent O line. So kirk Cousins worked for them. It's like, hey, you'll get protection if he goes down. We got a young kid. Now, look, Atlanta saw the big picture. Miami's like, yeah too, it gets hurt. Let's not let's not fix the I mean I would have moved off Jalen Waddle and gotten a right tackle. You gotta have a better role line.
It's bad.
The run game was working yesterday and then McDaniel calls for a full back dive on third down, settling for a field. I don't know, man, McDaniel, the front office.
I think they got some issues. We'll see what happens in this offseason.
I can't imagine them moving off of them, but I do think McDaniel could enter next season.
On the hot seat. Yeah, like this is at all possible. It's not good. Final story, Colin, this is interesting.
So Thursday night the Broncos smashed the Saints, and over the weekend people were, you know, going through film and some lip readers claim they caught Alvin Kamara telling Sean Payton to come and get me.
This was like at the.
Midfield at the end of the game, they embrace and this moment has led to a lot of trade shatter. Of course, Saints are two and five, five losses in a row. Camara though, I saw this stuff online and went to Twitter and said I ain't request a trade, so that's a lie.
I'm in an orange drove on the way to Knoxville, Tennessee Alabama game.
Whod that.
I think is unquestionable. The Saint should move off Alvin Kamara. I would sell everything, not.
Both of them. First of all, just get look at their cap situation. I would move all sorts of pieces. Lotim I keep al and I'd move a lot in New Orleans. And Kamara's got absolute value. Not with Dennis Allen. But if you go to a guy like Sean Payton, or you go to an offensive coach, I got Dallas.
You know, like Dallas could use a running back with some pop.
That's a good call. That's a good call. I mean he's also he can catch. Yeah, that's a really good call.
And Jerry Jones of course was like wait, wait man, by the way, if.
You don't want if so, then all of a sudden you go get Alvin Kamara. Dak's always been better with a good quarterback room, then you don't have to draft the Boise State running back first round. Then you could move off of Micah Parsons, get a second first round, and then you already got the running back taken care of. That's what That's a good one.
The problem the stuff that Jay and C consulting. See is we can see down the road. These coaches have the tunnel vision. We know what's best for our team.
We can win.
No, no, you can't. Like the Saints are not going anywhere. Dennis Allen's probably getting dusted, right, come.
On, it's over.
The GM could be in some trouble.
And why wouldn't you just move off, guys and get picks.
I just I don't see a path to success for the Saints two and five that two and oh hot start. Remember that when they scored on forty seven and forty four points.
That's like happened last season. They are terrible. I would move off Kamara.
I don't think you're wrong. I think that's a good call. Jmack with the news, Well.
That's the news, and thanks for stopping by the Herd line.
Now was Saturday was fun? Sunday was fun. Listen, you guys are all like, what do you think about USC over the weekend? I reserve comment. I was not in the space to comment about it publicly. I'm disappointed he's not recruiting Los Angeles very well. I think the criticisms are fair. I think Oklahoma has been good forever. He took over a program with Bob Stoop's momentum. Now he's been asked to build a program like Harbor Michigan. They were better the first year than probably they deserve to be. Harbor. Year three pulled back to eight wins. USC is super super super young. On offense. They return everybody but a running back in a center. I do think, for the first time that I can remember, they have like defensive linemen freshman. I mean I'm talking true freshman, not red shirt. They're gonna be Sunday players. They haven't had that since Pete Carroll was here. So but it's listen, you gotta they lead all these games. They lead. I think they've led every single game at one point in the second half. You can't be losing leads to a talentless Maryland team, Minnesota, you can lose to Penn State. But listen, they're not getting rid of Riley, and I think I think the team he's built. When you build a program, it's much different than inheriting a winning program. You've got to do the right staff. Well, his defensive staff stunk, so we hired a new defensive staff. You got to get into recruiting. I don't think they've done as good a job recruiting on the lines until last class as they should do. You're not going anywhere. It's been disappointing, but I'll just remind you you can go to Dabo Sweeney or a Brian Kelly or a Jim Harbaugh. You know a lot of those coaches have a great first year. Harbaughed at Michigan and then year three was back to eight wins and they were losing games to Michigan State, and everybody's like Harbaugh's a bum. Lincoln Riley is a very good play designer and play caller. I don't think he has a special quarterback, but the way they're losing is discouraging. Absolutely. It's the first year in the Big Ten and they've got a bunch of freshmen on the offensive line, and they're playing a bunch of juniors and seniors on the d line that they're facing for the Wisconsins and penn States, and you know, it feels like they're not quite ready for the fight. That's what it feels like.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern nn A EM Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Sunday, It's a huge day of football.
On Fox at one Eastern, Jordan Love and the Packers take on the Jags. Four at four, Josh Allen and the Bills faced Geno Smith and the Seahawks.
Yeah, check local listings for the game in your area.
Sunday on Fox So two his passed concussion protocol. He could play in that Arizona game in Miami, so wish him well. So I don't even know what to make of the Washington Commanders. Jaden Daniels got hurt yesterday. They still won forty to seven, and Marcus Mariota looked like year two promising of sending Marcus Mariota. They're doing everything right. They have the number one point differential in the NFL. That is something that's usually a team that ends up in a conference championship. They're bludgeting people. Everybody in the building's new, and Jaymack and I talked about this all off season. I said, I got no problem with everybody in the building being new when everybody in the old building's stunk. So everything's fresh. But Cliff Kingsbury, they went to a backup quarterback Mariota look great. I don't know what to make of them. I mean, the roster is not Detroit, it's not Philadelphia, it's not Green Bay, it's not San Francisco. I don't think it's Seattle. I don't think it's Atlanta. I don't think it's Tampa. I don't know what to make of them. But when you have the point differentially, you're going to a backup and look like Carolina quit. I'll acknowledge that if you can quit in the NFL. But so I was doing my Super Bowl bubble this morning and Jamax's pushing back. But I usually have about seven teams that are in it, and for the radio audience, I have Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City in the AFC I think can end up in a super Bowl, Detroit, Minnesota, and Green Bay I have. I don't know what in the heck I'm doing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But they're five and two and they play great defense with a Super Bowl winning coach, a power run game, and if they're Russell Wilson what I watched last night, what am I supposed to do with them? I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do with Washington. They're blowing everybody out. I watched them play Baltimore, who maybe the second best team in the league. They went toe to toe with Baltimore. San Francisco is about as good as you're going to be outside of a Super Bowl bubble. I think Houston to your point, when Joe mixons available, they're a very good team Without Joe Mixon. CJ. Stroud still feels like they're protecting him a little. But I now you have questioned why I don't have Philadelphia in. They're the only NFL team that has not scored a single point in the first quarter. Not great. That not great. Change you're gonna trail every week.
Indicative of the coach clearly. Well, there's two teams. I'll get to the other second.
Okay.
The problem with Philadelphia is when they face some of these teams, like they totally dominate the box score dominated the box score against the Saints dominated, the Browns didn't.
All those are bad teams.
But they're crushing them in the box. Throw by like two hundred yards of offense. Yesterday they pulverized the Giants. Giants couldn't move the football.
They had like one hundred and fifty.
I don't doubt Philly's roster. I don't doubt it at all. Yeah, I mean, it's just like an offensive coach. This isn't an old school defensive coach. This is an offensive coach with the elite receivers, tight ends, running back, better than average quarterback, go to line. We haven't even had a field goal in the first quarter.
Did you see that he pulled the plug on Jalen Hurt's early fourth quarter? Just you know, Hurts had like one hundred and fourteen yard passing puts in Kenny Pickett and didn't throw a I don't think he threw a pass in the final like eight minutes of the game.
Just handoff. They were fine, We're fine, We're good. It was twenty eight three.
Like, I don't know what to make of the Eagles. I think they should be on the outs carriers. Now, let me ask the Cincinnati Bengals.
No offense. You cannot be that bad defensively. You don't have to be great anywhere. If you're good in a lot of places, I can put you somewhere.
Well, they're trending better.
The Giants could do anything.
Browns couldn't do anything. I know those are bottom feed.
Those are the two worst offenses maybe in the league.
They're they're quite bad.
That being said, at least they're not getting torched, you know, like weeks ago, they were just getting credited.
You cannot put where in the world when you give me Burrow, Chase Brown, who's emerging is this?
This is not fantasy for Tie Higgins and Jamarches. They're going to be able to hang with anybody.
They lost to your Mighty Chiefs by one on a terrible call.
That's funny, the late flag. They keep losing all those games. They lose too much. You have to win at some.
Partly it's early. I think the calendar turns to November and the Bengals wake up.
Philadelphia has a would be in the bubble just on talent. I love their players, I love their owner, I love their GM. And it's nothing against Serrianni. I mean, I think he's trying. I think he's a young guy that's trying to connect generationally with players. I just don't I feel like they come out and they're just kind of hamming egging it, like what are you doing?
What are you by the way, Steelers come on, I practice her hierarchy all year, and now you're.
Putting them on this Super Bowl.
It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassing. I don't know what to do. I just came out of that game last night.
That was about Aaron Rodgers that one pick and then off Garrett Wilson's chest that other pick like that that flipped the game. The Steelers are not a good offensive football team, Colin. I do like Naj Harris though. He's that guy's a monster.
He's becoming the back we thought he would be.
Yeah, I don't know what I mean. If you have the number one point differential, you We're seven weeks into this thing. We know exactly what everybody is. I'm at the point where, Okay, Washington's really good. They're blowing everybody out. What am I gonna do?
Let's see what's up with Daniels. By the way, the ribs, I don't know.
He came back to smiling at the crowd. He was good.
He didn't come back in the game though.
Well, but Mariota was playing well. How about Mariota. Cliff Kingsbury gets Coordinator of the Year. If that's an award, I.
Think he's got to get a crack at another head coaching.
I don't think he wants it. I don't think he wants it.
Do you get him on the show. That's your buddy.
I should get him on the step. I would love to have him on the show. Sharp offensive mine, No, he's super smart. I'm a Cliff fan. Edelman's around the corner last hour