1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,960
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to

2
00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,720
Speaker 1: catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in

3
00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,560
Speaker 1: noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find

4
00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,119
Speaker 1: your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio

5
00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,880
Speaker 1: dot com, or stream us live every day on the

6
00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:22,120
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're

7
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:27,880
Speaker 1: listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. It is

8
00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:32,680
Speaker 1: a Tuesday, Ready to roll. Joel klatt Nick right, It's

9
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,320
Speaker 1: The Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening.

10
00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,760
Speaker 1: Thanks for making us, Jmack and I part of your day.

11
00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:42,560
Speaker 1: You know, Jamick, I was thinking about something this morning,

12
00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,640
Speaker 1: an overarching theme to start the show for the first

13
00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:50,280
Speaker 1: ten to twelve minutes. And I eat basically the same breakfast.

14
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,920
Speaker 1: I have the same roudine every day. I get up,

15
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,480
Speaker 1: I have a strong coffee. I'll get in the treadmill,

16
00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,920
Speaker 1: ma'am an English muffin, have a smoothie before the show.

17
00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:04,840
Speaker 1: And I live as much as everybody's searching for new stuff.

18
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:07,960
Speaker 1: If I, for instance, want to watch sports on TV,

19
00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,679
Speaker 1: I go to NBC, Fox, CBS. I know where to go.

20
00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:15,520
Speaker 1: I don't go to Netflix, I don't go to Hulu.

21
00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,680
Speaker 1: I go to the standard places where I've always watched sports,

22
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 1: And I have this theory about the NFL that we

23
00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,679
Speaker 1: think you never know who's going to win these games.

24
00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,480
Speaker 1: But I believe for two reasons, the NFL is going

25
00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,360
Speaker 1: to get Starting three years ago, you're seeing a trend

26
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,479
Speaker 1: much more predictable. And that's my jumping off point today

27
00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,440
Speaker 1: is this. So when I make NFL predictions, now I

28
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,720
Speaker 1: have two more tweaks to my predictions. I'm always looking

29
00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 1: for new teams to make the playoffs, and the one

30
00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:48,840
Speaker 1: team I've looked at is Joe Burrow's going to make

31
00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Right. So I want to go to a

32
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,040
Speaker 1: quote from the Washington Post about a general manager talking

33
00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,600
Speaker 1: about the Bengals, and he talked about Mike Brown and

34
00:01:57,680 --> 00:01:58,400
Speaker 1: he says, it's the.

35
00:01:58,360 --> 00:01:59,480
Speaker 2: Same old Mike Brown.

36
00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 1: BS said one general manager condition of anonymity to avoid

37
00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,400
Speaker 1: violating the NFL tampering rules. It's the same crap that's

38
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,320
Speaker 1: been going on since boomeras Siasin and Carson Palmer. History

39
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,920
Speaker 1: always repeats itself. And I've said this before. If Carson

40
00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,240
Speaker 1: Palmer would have gotten like a Sean Payton or an

41
00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 1: Andy Reid, we would consider Carson Palmer a top four

42
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,480
Speaker 1: or five quarterback ever, and I worry that Joe Burrow,

43
00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,519
Speaker 1: same organization, same ownership, It's going to be the same thing.

44
00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,960
Speaker 1: If Joe Burrow gets and Andy Reid, he's hoisting the trophies,

45
00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:30,959
Speaker 1: not Patrick Mahomes.

46
00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:32,480
Speaker 2: And I really firmly believe that.

47
00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,399
Speaker 1: So I've thought about the Bengals a lot because I'm

48
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,000
Speaker 1: always looking for new playoff teams, right because there's like

49
00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,320
Speaker 1: seventy year right, well not actually last three years.

50
00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,880
Speaker 2: It keeps coming down. Why is that happening?

51
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,920
Speaker 1: So we have many camps, OTAs and the first week

52
00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:50,959
Speaker 1: or so of training camp, so I have new information.

53
00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,880
Speaker 1: So I looked over my predictions. I've got one more tweak.

54
00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,560
Speaker 1: This will not be the official tweak, but I looked

55
00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,720
Speaker 1: over my predictions that I made a few months ago.

56
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,200
Speaker 1: So in the AFC, for instance, Josh Allen's gonna win

57
00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:05,120
Speaker 1: the division for as long as he's in his prime.

58
00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 1: The Patriots are the safest double your win total bet

59
00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,080
Speaker 1: in the league in five years, Dolphins Jets, I wouldn't

60
00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,240
Speaker 1: change a thing. AFC North prediction. Ravens are the class

61
00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,040
Speaker 1: of of this division, and I mean really one of

62
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,880
Speaker 1: the top three organizations in the league. I think because

63
00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,720
Speaker 1: of all the noise around the Bengals, all because of ownership,

64
00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,720
Speaker 1: I'd probably move the Bengals out. Steelers, Brown's just not

65
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,600
Speaker 1: good enough. AFC South is weak. Texans are gonna win

66
00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:35,760
Speaker 1: the division. They have arguably the best coach and absolutely

67
00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:40,680
Speaker 1: the best quarterback in the AFC West Chargers, Chiefs.

68
00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:41,320
Speaker 2: Broncos, Raiders.

69
00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,800
Speaker 1: If I moved Cincinnati out because I've predicted they'll make

70
00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:46,160
Speaker 1: the playoffs, I would put.

71
00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:46,800
Speaker 2: The Broncos in.

72
00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,840
Speaker 1: I mean, they added green Law to the Funga Evan Ingram.

73
00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,360
Speaker 1: They're over under on draft Kings as nine and a

74
00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,880
Speaker 1: half wins. So if I was to make an AFC

75
00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:01,120
Speaker 1: West prediction my final big tweak, I'd get the Bengals

76
00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,960
Speaker 1: out and I'd move Sean Payton in. I'd get noise out,

77
00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:07,200
Speaker 1: and I'd get a guy I've relied on for twenty

78
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:08,960
Speaker 1: five years in the league, Sean Payton in.

79
00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:10,400
Speaker 2: If I go to the.

80
00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:12,640
Speaker 1: NFC, it's the same basic theme.

81
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:14,440
Speaker 2: I like most of my picks.

82
00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:19,200
Speaker 1: NFC East Eagles, Commanders, Commanders Class of the NFC East,

83
00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,960
Speaker 1: not Close Eagles, Commanders, Class of the Division, Giants, Cowboys,

84
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,760
Speaker 1: and mess in the NFC North, here's where I would

85
00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:28,360
Speaker 1: make my change for the same reason.

86
00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:29,679
Speaker 2: I'd get the Bengals out.

87
00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:32,159
Speaker 1: I probably because I think the Bear has been very

88
00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,160
Speaker 1: noisy so far in Mini camp, OGA and training camp.

89
00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,880
Speaker 1: I'd probably move the Bears out and the Packers in again,

90
00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,400
Speaker 1: noise out like the Bengals, reliable Sean Payton, Green Bay

91
00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,599
Speaker 1: Packers in Vikings. JJ McCarthy feel like a fourth place

92
00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,320
Speaker 1: team or a third place team in the NFC South,

93
00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,320
Speaker 1: weakest division in my opinion in football Bucks class of

94
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,720
Speaker 1: the division, best GM, best quarterback, and you know I'll

95
00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:00,680
Speaker 1: take the Bucks. NFC West again, I'm not as high

96
00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,359
Speaker 1: as the Niners as jmac. I go ram Seahawks. The

97
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:07,040
Speaker 1: Niners have an easy schedule. I think they're old. I

98
00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,240
Speaker 1: think the roster has holes. I think they wanted to

99
00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,440
Speaker 1: keep Green Lawn Ufunga. I do think Robert Sala coming

100
00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,839
Speaker 1: in helps. So Again, like the AFC where I moved

101
00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,039
Speaker 1: the Bengals out, Sean Payton, I'd probably move in. I

102
00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,760
Speaker 1: would probably move the noisy Bears out and the Packers in.

103
00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 2: But it's very.

104
00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,400
Speaker 1: Interesting because I have spent as my staff knows, I

105
00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:31,000
Speaker 1: spend considerable amount of time trying to find new playoff teams,

106
00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:33,800
Speaker 1: and if I had made these two changes, I do

107
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,200
Speaker 1: only have two new playoff teams New England and.

108
00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:41,040
Speaker 2: The AFC and Seattle in the NFC. Wait a minute, I.

109
00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:47,960
Speaker 1: Can't do that, or can I. So there's more games

110
00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,560
Speaker 1: than ever. Right, they added a game, and they're going

111
00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,600
Speaker 1: to add an eighteenth game, and the league become more

112
00:05:55,720 --> 00:06:01,080
Speaker 1: quarterback centric. So those two things, in my opinionion are

113
00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:03,960
Speaker 1: making the NFL a bit more like the NBA.

114
00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:05,240
Speaker 2: I talked about this last year.

115
00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,000
Speaker 1: The bottom of the league is really bad and feels

116
00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:13,200
Speaker 1: miles away from the top of the league. You're seeing

117
00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:17,960
Speaker 1: more spreads that are like nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.

118
00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:19,760
Speaker 1: It feels like to me, last couple of years that

119
00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,480
Speaker 1: was always a college number. An NFL mismatch was like

120
00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,560
Speaker 1: eight eight and a half. Now you're getting double digit

121
00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,920
Speaker 1: spreads a lot, it feels like to me. So last

122
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,159
Speaker 1: year there were only four new playoff teams. That's tied

123
00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,599
Speaker 1: for the fewest in twenty years. We're on a three

124
00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:44,640
Speaker 1: year trend of fewer new playoff teams. And I believe

125
00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:50,520
Speaker 1: as much as everybody myself included, wants change, the NFL

126
00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,839
Speaker 1: is going to become the NBA. You kind of know.

127
00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,040
Speaker 1: I mean, go look at the AFC. I was looking

128
00:06:58,040 --> 00:06:59,960
Speaker 1: at this this morning. If you go look at the AFC,

129
00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,920
Speaker 1: who's made the Divisional Round the last two years, Oh Ravens, Bills,

130
00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,040
Speaker 1: Kansas City, And I feel like it's the same teams

131
00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:14,720
Speaker 1: every year. So my take is everybody says they want change.

132
00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,920
Speaker 1: I think going forward, when we go to an eighteenth game,

133
00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,120
Speaker 1: and I've said this is the danger of extending the

134
00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:27,920
Speaker 1: NFL season two more games from several years ago and

135
00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:34,520
Speaker 1: making the league incredibly quarterback centric. You're gonna have a

136
00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,640
Speaker 1: clear top and a really ugly bottom, and it's going

137
00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,400
Speaker 1: to become very predictable. So I don't think we're gonna

138
00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,320
Speaker 1: have six and seven new playoff teams this year. I

139
00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:49,840
Speaker 1: am struggling outside of maybe Joe Burrow and the Niners,

140
00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,000
Speaker 1: I'm struggling to find new playoff teams now. Last year

141
00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:57,840
Speaker 1: because of bo Nicks, who was exceptional as a rookie,

142
00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 1: and Jaden Daniels the Broncos and Arshington, whoa surprised us.

143
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,880
Speaker 2: But that was a really good quarterback draft class. This wasn't.

144
00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,120
Speaker 1: And from that, I'll talk about another part of football

145
00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:12,920
Speaker 1: that we thought we were going to see major changes

146
00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,520
Speaker 1: in and I think the opposite is true. So when

147
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:21,560
Speaker 1: the college football Playoff was created, here's what you heard. Oh,

148
00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,840
Speaker 1: finally the little guy can compete. I mean, when you

149
00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:26,920
Speaker 1: only have four teams at it was going to be

150
00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:31,520
Speaker 1: the big dogs. So there was this supposition, this belief

151
00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,240
Speaker 1: that you would have a lot of little guys that

152
00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:39,960
Speaker 1: would have a chance to knock off the big dog. Actually,

153
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,480
Speaker 1: now with teams playing up to sixteen fifteen college games,

154
00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,559
Speaker 1: same thing is true in the NFL. The deeper rosters

155
00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,280
Speaker 1: have a much greater advantage. I mean, Ohio stated in

156
00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,040
Speaker 1: the playoff was rolling through teams that just had more

157
00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,480
Speaker 1: good players. They had more NFL bodies. And this morning

158
00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,160
Speaker 1: I looked at up the coach's top twenty five pole.

159
00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,800
Speaker 1: The first seven teams Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia,

160
00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,360
Speaker 1: Notre Dame, Clemson, Oregon all made the playoff last year

161
00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:14,800
Speaker 1: an eight to nine or baman LSU football powerhouses where

162
00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,240
Speaker 1: all the new teams it's the same old, same old.

163
00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,640
Speaker 1: In fact, I'll make the argument in the last thirty

164
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:26,360
Speaker 1: years of college football, there is only one new top

165
00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:32,560
Speaker 1: ten powerhouse. One Oregon, and it took Phil Knight's money

166
00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:38,240
Speaker 1: and vision one new program. And by expanding the playoff

167
00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,480
Speaker 1: to twelve teams fourteen sixteen, that doesn't help the little

168
00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:47,080
Speaker 1: guy because a team like Arizona State cam Skataboo, great story,

169
00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,480
Speaker 1: but they emptied the tank against Texas. Texas right now

170
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,680
Speaker 1: has two five star freshman wide receivers. They're like fifth

171
00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:57,640
Speaker 1: and six on the depth chart. They'd start for SMU,

172
00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:01,720
Speaker 1: they'd start for Arizona State when you get the occasional upset.

173
00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:04,480
Speaker 1: But when you watched Indiana and Notre Dame plan the playoff,

174
00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,280
Speaker 1: did you think the little guy at a fighting chance?

175
00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:09,880
Speaker 1: The thing was over two series in. You watch the

176
00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:15,560
Speaker 1: SMU game. So the old system, which Boise State could

177
00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,600
Speaker 1: have one big Bowl game against Oklahoma. Chris Peterson uses

178
00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,720
Speaker 1: a trick play and they knock off the Sooners and

179
00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,880
Speaker 1: the season ends in Boise, Idaho on a great note,

180
00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:30,800
Speaker 1: unbelievable TV game. Everybody in Idaho feels good. Those days

181
00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:35,240
Speaker 1: are over. You're going to all those teams that have

182
00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:37,600
Speaker 1: not You're going to end their season with losses and

183
00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:39,040
Speaker 1: often ugly losses.

184
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:41,040
Speaker 2: So this idea that.

185
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,640
Speaker 1: The NFL, you extend, extend, this season, you expand the

186
00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:52,880
Speaker 1: playoffs in college football, you expand it now, Folks, everybody

187
00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 1: is trying to engineer parody and.

188
00:10:56,559 --> 00:10:57,640
Speaker 2: It doesn't exist.

189
00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:07,280
Speaker 1: People always separate, businesses always separate, and so that's kind

190
00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,120
Speaker 1: of my theme is college football now can have up

191
00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,000
Speaker 1: to fifteen games. In the NFL is expanding to seventeen,

192
00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:15,360
Speaker 1: and now they're going to expand to eighteen games. Many

193
00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,240
Speaker 1: believe next year. It's not gonna help the little guy.

194
00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,679
Speaker 1: It's gonna help the deeper roster, the richer organizations, the

195
00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,520
Speaker 1: better quarterbacks, and a handful of great owners. All right,

196
00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:28,320
Speaker 1: Jay Meck, I know that could be a downer, but

197
00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:32,040
Speaker 1: my guess is you basically watched football on the same

198
00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,120
Speaker 1: three channels you did twenty years ago, and you also

199
00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,440
Speaker 1: eat the same thing for breakfast most days. Yeah that

200
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,160
Speaker 1: we're all creatures of habit and everybody's seeking new stuff.

201
00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:42,520
Speaker 1: But you know, in New York, if you could get

202
00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:44,160
Speaker 1: a ticket to a concert for a lot of people,

203
00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,320
Speaker 1: to be a Billy Joel concert, which was in the

204
00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,760
Speaker 1: case twenty years ago for New Yorkers.

205
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:51,600
Speaker 3: It's funny you bring that up. I mean, you know,

206
00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:54,520
Speaker 3: like I'm we're very similar in terms of creatures of habit.

207
00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,440
Speaker 3: Like you know, last week on vacation, I didn't wake

208
00:11:57,520 --> 00:11:59,640
Speaker 3: up and go on Twitter and see what the news was.

209
00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:02,040
Speaker 3: But now you're back and like, that's kind of one

210
00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:03,400
Speaker 3: of the first things you do, right, You got to

211
00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:05,079
Speaker 3: see what's up on sports and what's happening.

212
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just I think I understand people seeking new.

213
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,720
Speaker 1: Uh it could be a mayoral race in New York.

214
00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,520
Speaker 1: Everybody wants new and new and new, but in the end,

215
00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:22,760
Speaker 1: people basically go back. What makes people happy psychologically are

216
00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:27,200
Speaker 1: certainties and habits. That's what makes you happy, not waking

217
00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:29,640
Speaker 1: up every day with no idea what's going on. People

218
00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:31,760
Speaker 1: like want to work out, they want to they want

219
00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:33,720
Speaker 1: to walk their dog, they want to have their coffee,

220
00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:35,680
Speaker 1: they want to play wordle, they want to read the

221
00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:39,360
Speaker 1: local paper. We are creatures of habit and we're all seeking.

222
00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:44,400
Speaker 1: We think football collegen pro, adding more playoff teams, expanding

223
00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,360
Speaker 1: the playoffs and adding more games. That all benefits the

224
00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:53,640
Speaker 1: big Dog. That all benefits the big that benefits Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia,

225
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,840
Speaker 1: the New Texas that's who it benefit. Doesn't benefit SMU,

226
00:12:57,960 --> 00:12:59,440
Speaker 1: it benefits the Longhorns.

227
00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,440
Speaker 3: I do wonder if you know, we've briefly discussed the

228
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,000
Speaker 3: Packers yesterday as a team that's going to probably rise up.

229
00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,280
Speaker 3: I'm surprised you're not on the Falcons. I got some

230
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,400
Speaker 3: really interesting data when we eventually talk about Atlanta, and

231
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:13,480
Speaker 3: I think, remember when you were on Tennessee earlier this

232
00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:17,560
Speaker 3: summer and you suddenly backed off off the Titans. What happened?

233
00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:19,719
Speaker 1: Well, I didn't love them. I had him as a

234
00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:23,920
Speaker 1: wild card team. But when they their supposed number one

235
00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:26,640
Speaker 1: receiver gets hurt, they get rid of him. Now they've

236
00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,080
Speaker 1: got a roster full the number three and four receivers.

237
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,520
Speaker 1: Cam Ward is acknowledged. You know, they're saying in camp

238
00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,000
Speaker 1: they're struggling. It's become more and more of a wide

239
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,920
Speaker 1: receiver quarterback league. They're struggling. I mean, it always feels

240
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,520
Speaker 1: like they're light offensively. So I didn't love them. New

241
00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:45,520
Speaker 1: England's my guaranteed double your win total team. But I

242
00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:47,640
Speaker 1: did think cam Ward would add some electricity.

243
00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,600
Speaker 2: But you know it's c J. Stroud is the best

244
00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:52,600
Speaker 2: quarterback in the division.

245
00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,280
Speaker 1: C J. Stroud made the playoffs. My guess is c J.

246
00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,080
Speaker 1: Stroud will make the playoffs again this year.

247
00:13:57,120 --> 00:13:59,240
Speaker 3: So just for the record, your c J. Stroud is

248
00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,559
Speaker 3: a better quarterback right now than Trevor Lawrence. Correct, Yes, okay,

249
00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:04,000
Speaker 3: I would disagree.

250
00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,000
Speaker 1: But well, I did not believe that two years ago.

251
00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:11,240
Speaker 2: I believe it now. I think, to me, I don't buy.

252
00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,800
Speaker 1: He had an off season, tuns al to left tackle,

253
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,320
Speaker 1: didn't play well. They were missing two of their top receivers.

254
00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,440
Speaker 1: He had a lot to overcome. I think CJ. Stroud's

255
00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:20,360
Speaker 1: really really good.

256
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:23,200
Speaker 4: Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays

257
00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,800
Speaker 4: and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio

258
00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:29,280
Speaker 4: FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

259
00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,640
Speaker 3: Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning

260
00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:37,640
Speaker 3: on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't

261
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,160
Speaker 3: your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down

262
00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:44,640
Speaker 3: your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions

263
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,920
Speaker 3: on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help

264
00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,720
Speaker 3: you win big at the sportsbook, and all the best guests.

265
00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,600
Speaker 3: Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with

266
00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:58,640
Speaker 3: Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever

267
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:02,280
Speaker 3: you get your podcasts.

268
00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,560
Speaker 1: Nick right top of next hour Joe Klatt two. This

269
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:12,080
Speaker 1: is a story that's had tentacles. So look, Lebron James

270
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,800
Speaker 1: did not show up for the press conference when Lucas

271
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,160
Speaker 1: signed his new deal. Bronny James wasn't apparently there either.

272
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,720
Speaker 1: And my take is, we all know the deal here.

273
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,720
Speaker 1: Lebron is a global superstar. He's like in the Ronaldo

274
00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,920
Speaker 1: Messi level. They play by different rules. If Lebron and

275
00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,640
Speaker 1: Savannah and Browny were on a yacht in Santrope, I

276
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:33,720
Speaker 1: don't have a problem with it.

277
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:34,600
Speaker 2: I really don't.

278
00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,200
Speaker 1: We all know that the Lakers drafted him and there

279
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 1: was behind the scenes workings on that deal. It's the

280
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,440
Speaker 1: off season. It just doesn't bother me. And reportedly Lebron

281
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:48,160
Speaker 1: called him. That doesn't bother me. What bothers me going

282
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,880
Speaker 1: forward into this season is that it was okay last

283
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,760
Speaker 1: year when Lebron often dominated the ball with lumpy Luca.

284
00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:00,600
Speaker 1: But Luca and I'm looking at men's health like everybody else,

285
00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:04,000
Speaker 1: and the video clips, Luca is in the best shape

286
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,720
Speaker 1: of his career since like his rookie year and his

287
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,400
Speaker 1: second third year in the NBA, and his usage rate

288
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:12,200
Speaker 1: I discovered this.

289
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:13,760
Speaker 2: Morning is the highest in league history.

290
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,920
Speaker 1: So I didn't have a problem Lebron sharing the ball

291
00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:23,640
Speaker 1: a lot with lumpy Luca. That's not what Luca's gonna

292
00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:27,760
Speaker 1: be this new relation. I would make an argument this

293
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:33,840
Speaker 1: Luca in shape Luca fits better with KD old KD

294
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,840
Speaker 1: than old Lebron because Lebron's always had to you have

295
00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,560
Speaker 1: to reshape your basketball ecosystem with Lebron. He always has

296
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:42,840
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands. He doesn't play as well

297
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,520
Speaker 1: off ball. He's also a great passer, but so is Luca.

298
00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 1: So the problem with the Lakers now, Austin reeves, Lebron

299
00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:54,200
Speaker 1: and Luca are all much better with the ball, but

300
00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,360
Speaker 1: in shape, non lumpy Luca should have the ball eighty

301
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,840
Speaker 1: percent of the time. Last year, I was fine with sharing.

302
00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:05,560
Speaker 1: He's been injured in camp, the trades, mid season, he

303
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,760
Speaker 1: worked his way into shape. He just looked big and

304
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,919
Speaker 1: puffy and lumpy, and a lot of times Lebron was

305
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,560
Speaker 1: the twitch year athlete. He will not be this year.

306
00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:19,280
Speaker 1: Lebron's average keeps going down. My sense is it will

307
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,520
Speaker 1: go down more this year because he just won't have

308
00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,840
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands much. So. The whole thing

309
00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,520
Speaker 1: about Lebron, you know, not showing up for a presser

310
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,000
Speaker 1: or even brawny. It doesn't really bother me. I think

311
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:34,640
Speaker 1: I think we all know the game. They're certain athletes.

312
00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,359
Speaker 1: I mean, it was great that Brady was as obsessed

313
00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,920
Speaker 1: as he was. But Aaron Rodgers has a lot of defenders.

314
00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,320
Speaker 1: When he goes to Egypt in the offseason, he's got

315
00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,160
Speaker 1: a lot of defenders. Teammates like it's Aaron, he's been around.

316
00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:49,720
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do it, but he's not the first guy

317
00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,639
Speaker 1: to do it. But my take is this year is

318
00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:54,880
Speaker 1: going to be different. I said this yesterday. I think

319
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,840
Speaker 1: you're going to see a huge gap in Luke and

320
00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,800
Speaker 1: Lebron on the floor. One will look like a top

321
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 1: three player in the league and one will look like

322
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:07,480
Speaker 1: he's forty good but not nearly as consistent. And what's

323
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,320
Speaker 1: going to happen statistically is Lebron should not have the

324
00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:14,399
Speaker 1: ball in his hands like last year. Absolutely not Lumpy Luca,

325
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,040
Speaker 1: No problem with it. The Luca I'm seeing on these

326
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,200
Speaker 1: videos at the presser Men's health. That's like year two,

327
00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,240
Speaker 1: three and four Luca when he led the NBA and

328
00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:27,560
Speaker 1: usage rate and was virtually unstoppable as a kid.

329
00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:29,560
Speaker 2: Unstoppable.

330
00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,520
Speaker 1: Hey, by the way, here's Rob Polanka, the GM you

331
00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:36,760
Speaker 1: know last week on the new contract form.

332
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:42,000
Speaker 5: Make no mistakes, we're in win championship now mode. Always.

333
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,200
Speaker 5: We've been very intentional with keeping our optionality to make

334
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,640
Speaker 5: now moves if there's good now moves to may or

335
00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,879
Speaker 5: to have sort of our flexibility in the future. But

336
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:58,560
Speaker 5: I say all that that the optionality is there for

337
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,720
Speaker 5: us to use now if the right move comes its way.

338
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:04,399
Speaker 5: We want to make smart moves, but to be in

339
00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:08,080
Speaker 5: a position of flexibility versus being stuck is really promising

340
00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:10,000
Speaker 5: for how we're going to build this team moving forward.

341
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,440
Speaker 1: Just look at how Finn in a suit Luca looks

342
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,639
Speaker 1: compared to last year in a uniform. So he's got

343
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,199
Speaker 1: a heavy suit on, he looks thirty pounds lighter. And

344
00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:27,080
Speaker 1: just remember that Luca, like early Luca totally Baal dominant

345
00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:29,520
Speaker 1: and completely unstubble. Last year he couldn't be guys off

346
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,399
Speaker 1: the dribble. He couldn't be an attack mode. So I

347
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,600
Speaker 1: was okay with Lebron Lebron beating guys off the dribble,

348
00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:40,400
Speaker 1: but you go to young Luca, rookie Luca. I think

349
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,199
Speaker 1: we talked about this once, had twenty five dunks. Lebron

350
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,760
Speaker 1: last year, Luca last year had one dunk. Like we're

351
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,399
Speaker 1: going back to twenty dunk Luca.

352
00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:52,400
Speaker 2: Lean Luca.

353
00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:55,320
Speaker 1: He's got to have the ball in his hands eighty

354
00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,040
Speaker 1: percent of the time. Austin Reeves can't have the ball

355
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,600
Speaker 1: in his hands, and Lebron shouldn't have the ball in

356
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:05,680
Speaker 1: his hands. Lean Luca is not lumpy Luca. J mckle

357
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,879
Speaker 1: the news.

358
00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:11,480
Speaker 4: This is the herd line news.

359
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,480
Speaker 3: All right, let's go to the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings. Colin.

360
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,360
Speaker 3: Big news out of the Vikings camp is that JJ

361
00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:24,240
Speaker 3: McCarthy he is going to start Minnesota's first preseason game.

362
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:27,040
Speaker 3: You know, no point in waiting. Let's just throw it

363
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,399
Speaker 3: right into the fire. Here's Kevin O'Connell talking about JJ

364
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:31,800
Speaker 3: starting a preseason game.

365
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,520
Speaker 6: You'd love to play him, you know, as much as possible.

366
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:37,480
Speaker 6: But I think with those two days a joint practice,

367
00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,000
Speaker 6: the guys the you know, the type of repetition that

368
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,080
Speaker 6: they got, the other guys on the offense will get

369
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:46,280
Speaker 6: from a physicality and workload standpoint, we'll more than likely

370
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 6: use those two days as are our real days. Obviously

371
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,200
Speaker 6: subject to change based upon how those practices go, how

372
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,320
Speaker 6: we feel coming out of those If we need to

373
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:57,879
Speaker 6: get a little bit more work, we will, and then

374
00:20:57,880 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 6: we'll assess that final preseason game when it comes.

375
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 1: Okay, am I a little over the top saying I

376
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,200
Speaker 1: really want to watch this game. I want to see

377
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:14,240
Speaker 1: JJ McCarthy play this. This is a classic. Okay, remember

378
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, we used to joke that

379
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,399
Speaker 1: you had more footage of Bigfoot than Jordan Love backing

380
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,280
Speaker 1: up Aaron Rodgers like you, they hid the video. You know,

381
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:24,560
Speaker 1: they only let you look at so much in camp

382
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: to begin with. But we've gotten real glimpses of Shador

383
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,640
Speaker 1: Sanders and real glimpses of Caleb Williams. I can't wait

384
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:32,320
Speaker 1: to watch JJ McCarthy play. Well.

385
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:35,080
Speaker 3: More interesting, is he gonna have his starting offensive line?

386
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:36,960
Speaker 3: Is justin Jefferson gonna be on the Apple?

387
00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:37,200
Speaker 1: Like? Yeah?

388
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,480
Speaker 3: Are they gonna play everyone or I mean, I can't

389
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,000
Speaker 3: imagine they put McCarthy back there behind like backups and

390
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,840
Speaker 3: guys trying to make the roster. So now you're talking

391
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 3: about playing a lot of starters, because I know you

392
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,800
Speaker 3: were overreacting a little bit to the Lions. They I

393
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,680
Speaker 3: don't know if they played any starters, Colin, And now

394
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 3: you're talking about JJ McCarthy starting QB starting from Minnesota,

395
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,000
Speaker 3: so kind of crazy. I will say that. Do you

396
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 3: want to guess what their win total was last season? Okay,

397
00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:08,720
Speaker 3: last season Minnesota was Sandarnold huh eight and a half?

398
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 3: It was seven? They won fourteen games. That's absurd. The

399
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:18,199
Speaker 3: more you look into the schedule, they were nine and

400
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,320
Speaker 3: one in one score games, Colin, you know what that

401
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:23,240
Speaker 3: usually mean Member Kansas City eleven or no Minnesota nine

402
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:26,359
Speaker 3: and one in one score games. If you really dig

403
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 3: in deep, it seems like maybe I overreacted this summer

404
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,359
Speaker 3: on the Vikings and they profiled more like a nine

405
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,800
Speaker 3: ish win team, yes, as opposed to eleven.

406
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,359
Speaker 1: Well, and also something about green Bay and I talked

407
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,720
Speaker 1: about this to start the show. How many games did

408
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 1: green Bay win last year? And they started and they

409
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: had a backup quarterback Jordan Loved wasn't great at the

410
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,200
Speaker 1: end of the year, and the division was pretty interesting.

411
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 1: Lions were great, Vikings were outstanding, and green Bay still

412
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,800
Speaker 1: won double digit games. So my take is if Jordan

413
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: Love is just healthy with their draft. In additions, green

414
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 1: Bay is about as predictable as your morning coffee.

415
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:07,600
Speaker 2: You kind of know what you get with Green Bay.

416
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,360
Speaker 3: I don't know if we can get the Vikings schedule

417
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 3: on the screen, but I was looking at it here

418
00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:15,560
Speaker 3: during the commercial break Colin. It's really rough. A lot

419
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:19,440
Speaker 3: of early standalone games for the rookie quarterback. The lights

420
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,920
Speaker 3: are bright, and then they have back to back international

421
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:28,240
Speaker 3: games in Dublin and London. I'm starting to pull back

422
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 3: a little bit on my Vikings love, and I think

423
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,120
Speaker 3: the Packers are zooming past them in the.

424
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:38,360
Speaker 1: That game at Sam Darnold hosting JJ McCarthy Week thirteen

425
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:39,159
Speaker 1: at Seattle's.

426
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,120
Speaker 2: That is a great That is a great. Yeah, yeah,

427
00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:44,119
Speaker 2: that schedule.

428
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,240
Speaker 3: Look at that Eagles after the Bye, Chargers, Lions, Ravens, Packers.

429
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 3: Those are all teams projected to be playoff teams.

430
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 1: I'll make the argument that the schedule gets really rough

431
00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 1: about week seven. It gets I mean it's Jalen Hurts

432
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:03,919
Speaker 1: into Herbert, Jared Goff, Lamar Jackson, Green Bay at Seattle

433
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,879
Speaker 1: Jaden Daniels. But I would say in the first few weeks,

434
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,640
Speaker 1: we don't know if Atlanta or Chicago are any good.

435
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,399
Speaker 1: We don't know if Pittsburgh's any good. If you're gonna

436
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 1: make Hay and you're the Vikings. You can make it

437
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 1: in the first five weeks better. There's some do w's

438
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: there because I do believe they have an argument to

439
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:23,919
Speaker 1: be made. It is the best coaching staff in the

440
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:26,840
Speaker 1: sport right now if you look at coordinators and head coach.

441
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 3: I mean, I love Kevin O'Connell. Can he win a

442
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:31,640
Speaker 3: playoff team like.

443
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 2: I just won?

444
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 7: It's hard.

445
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:36,959
Speaker 3: I like him. I like him a lot. I'm bullish,

446
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,240
Speaker 3: but you're right, Floreses is a monster Vikings. It's gonna

447
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,400
Speaker 3: be a great season. Interesting for sure. Next up, let's

448
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 3: go to the Steelers and new wide receiver DK Metcalf.

449
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 3: He's saying all the right things since joining Pittsburgh. Most

450
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:52,680
Speaker 3: of the attention has been on his connection with Aaron

451
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:57,159
Speaker 3: Rodgers GB one there. Metcalf has really been impressed with

452
00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 3: the other side of the ball as well.

453
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 7: And you don't want my opinion because I think they're

454
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 7: the best defense I don't ever seen man.

455
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 2: Really.

456
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,959
Speaker 7: Yeah, Like bought some dogs everywhere on the field, and

457
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:11,000
Speaker 7: I tip my head to him because they come to

458
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 7: work every day and you know, we don't have any

459
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,720
Speaker 7: toys but to get better, all right, Yeah.

460
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:17,200
Speaker 2: We'll see.

461
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,840
Speaker 3: Let's settle down there. I mean the Prime Niners when

462
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 3: you were in Seattle, bro stop.

463
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 1: It's really interesting if you look, go look at the

464
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,439
Speaker 1: athletics piece about the four things at camp that had

465
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 1: been a bit of a struggle.

466
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 2: And I said this yesterday, it's the Jet. You could

467
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:34,959
Speaker 2: have written the article about the Jets.

468
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,640
Speaker 1: I think the Steelers are a more organized, better run

469
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,479
Speaker 1: version of the Jets. They don't have a number two receiver,

470
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,439
Speaker 1: Aaron won't trust the offensive line, they won't consistently be

471
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:47,680
Speaker 1: able to run. And the on line in New York

472
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,920
Speaker 1: and Pittsburgh, despite draft capital and money spent on it

473
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 1: isn't very good. And Aaron at this point does not

474
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: want to get hit. He has no interest getting hit.

475
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:01,439
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna look and it'll feel and New

476
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 1: York and Pittsburgh both have really good players. They don't

477
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:06,879
Speaker 1: have a ton of depth offensively, but they you know

478
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 1: Nausea Harris last year, Brees Hall. You have a Garrett Wilson,

479
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 1: you have a dk Metcalf. They just don't have depth

480
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: at running back or wide receiver. Mark my words, Aaron's

481
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,919
Speaker 1: gonna look a lot like like Week ten on Jets.

482
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 1: Last year, a lot of short stuff and and doesn't

483
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 1: have a second receiver he can trust.

484
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 3: That's not bad, I will say, for as bleak as

485
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 3: it looks in Pittsburgh, and I would agree with you.

486
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,000
Speaker 3: I would definitely take Mike Tomlin on the Jets.

487
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 2: Jets ten cases, yes, beat yeah, No.

488
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: Much more well run, buttoned up organization than the Jets,

489
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,520
Speaker 1: but players win and lose games, and it's they're They're

490
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,359
Speaker 1: a glossy, well constructed version of the New York Jets

491
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:52,879
Speaker 1: with Aaron he's just one year older.

492
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,760
Speaker 3: The final story, Colin is, let's go to the Jets

493
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,119
Speaker 3: and uh new head coach Aaron Glenn. He's trying to

494
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 3: revamp the cure in New York. The Jets led the

495
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 3: league with one hundred and thirty seven penalties one thousand

496
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 3: and thirty four penalty yards, and they had five games

497
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 3: with at least ten penalties last season. Column five. I mean,

498
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 3: that's just undisciplined. I think some of that had to

499
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,680
Speaker 3: do with Robert Sollagan shoved out. Glenn hopes to make

500
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 3: that change by having as many officials, yes officials Zebra's

501
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 3: reps A ten practice as possible. Colin, this was this

502
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:29,320
Speaker 3: was all bad.

503
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 2: For the Jets.

504
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 3: But what do you think about the officials at practices.

505
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:34,879
Speaker 3: I don't know how common that is.

506
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,119
Speaker 1: I don't think that's new. I think I think teams

507
00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 1: have done that before. I think college teams have done that.

508
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: Where you invite officials in for practices. Yeah, I don't

509
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 1: think that's I don't know if it's customary, but I

510
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 1: NFL officials are have been at camp forever. Yeah, this

511
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:53,960
Speaker 1: is again. Yeah it's a story because it's a New

512
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 1: York team, But I don't think that's a I don't

513
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 1: think that's a big deal.

514
00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 3: This further illustrates the lack of discipline this team last year.

515
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:02,880
Speaker 3: I mean, so many dumb penalties.

516
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 1: At in opportunity doesn't have any the ownership doesn't have

517
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:06,719
Speaker 1: any discipline, Why would the players?

518
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, top down, it's an embarrassment.

519
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: Uh. J Mack with the news, Well that's the news,

520
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:14,479
Speaker 1: and thanks for stopping that.

521
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 4: The herd line news.

522
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,200
Speaker 2: So there was a it was funny.

523
00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 1: We were I was doing some homework on bow Knicks

524
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,160
Speaker 1: this morning and Sean Payton came out and said, we're

525
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 1: looking at a superstar, which can sound crazy on its face,

526
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 1: but what is really interesting about bow Nicks. So Denver's

527
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: in I mean, Denver gets overshadowed by Mahomes and Andy

528
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 1: Reid and then last year Jim Harbor Herbert and they're

529
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:42,560
Speaker 1: in the Rocky Mountain, that weird time zone, whereas Washington's

530
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 1: in a big media center and Jaden Daniels with the Commanders.

531
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,400
Speaker 1: So the thought is, but Jaden Daniels was unbelievable and

532
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: bow Nicks was clearly second. But what's fascinating if you

533
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: really look at what happened bow Nicks in a better

534
00:28:55,080 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: division against arguably the two best defensive coordinator Nators in football,

535
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 1: Steve Spagnola twice Kansas City and Jesse Minter, who took

536
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 1: the Chargers from thirty second to first in defense. Bo

537
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,960
Speaker 1: Nicks had more completions, more touchdown passes, more total touchdowns,

538
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,080
Speaker 1: more passing yards. And we were talking about this this

539
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 1: morning as a staff. If you had a week four

540
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,600
Speaker 1: on for bon Nicks, it's like a top six quarterback

541
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: in the league. That was twenty nine touchdowns, eight picks,

542
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 1: got one hundred and one passer rating. So we were

543
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 1: talking about Bonnix as a staff and Seth Wickersham, great writer,

544
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,920
Speaker 1: came out with a piece on Sean Payton and bow Knicks,

545
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 1: and I want to bring him out on the show next.

546
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 1: Trustinwill dot Com makes it easy. You don't want a

547
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 1: state controlling your assets or documents when you pass away.

548
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,800
Speaker 1: Go to trust and Will dot com today for total

549
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:54,360
Speaker 1: peace of mind.

550
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 4: Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays

551
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 4: and noon Eastern a em Pacificaturday.

552
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 3: It's Baseball Knight in America as rising star Pete crow

553
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,560
Speaker 3: Armstrong leads the Cubs against the Cardinals, or Bryce Harper

554
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,520
Speaker 3: and the Phillies battle the Rangers. Check local listings for

555
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 3: the game in your area Saturday, seven Eastern on Fox.

556
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 1: Seth Wickersham has been a senior writer and a great

557
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,479
Speaker 1: one at ESPN for more than two decades. A New

558
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 1: York Times bestseller, he writes books. We put him on

559
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: the air. He has a new book coming out September ninth.

560
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 1: I can't wait, American Kings, a biography of the quarterback

561
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 1: arch Manning, Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas, Warren Moon, John l

562
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 1: what not, J Yeah, Johnny Unitas. He talks about that

563
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,560
Speaker 1: he's got stuff on arch Manning, Caleb Williams, and I

564
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,320
Speaker 1: want to bring him on because we were talking as

565
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 1: a staff this morning about bow Knicks Seth Wickersham joining us,

566
00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: and you got some access to bone Nicks. And I've

567
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 1: made the argument before that Jade Daniels is remarkable, but

568
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:57,680
Speaker 1: in the division with the Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, he got

569
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 1: a lot of big market press, and quietly in a

570
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 1: better division and a better conference from about week four

571
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 1: on was fairly stupendous. You got access to Sean Payton

572
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 1: for this book. I don't know if you got it

573
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 1: pre drafting Bonex. We can talk about that. What is

574
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 1: your takeaway on why Peyton is so fond of him?

575
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 1: He just called him this week a superstar in the making.

576
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 1: Did you see that a year two years ago when

577
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:28,440
Speaker 1: you started this project.

578
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:31,880
Speaker 8: Well, so, thank you first of all. And I think that,

579
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 8: like anytime you're going to write about quarterbacks, you have

580
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 8: to write about that age old question. You know, how

581
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,680
Speaker 8: do you know a pro quarterback when you see one?

582
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,360
Speaker 8: Is it possible to know? We always talk about how

583
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:47,800
Speaker 8: difficulty the difficulty in predicting college performance to NFL performance.

584
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:50,480
Speaker 8: And I sat down with Sean Payton and this was

585
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,400
Speaker 8: in March of twenty twenty four. Everybody knew that the

586
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 8: Broncos were in the market for a quarterback. And he

587
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 8: looks me in the eye and he says, do you

588
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,720
Speaker 8: promise with every you know, shred of your integrity that

589
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 8: you won't share this with anyone? And I said sure,

590
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 8: And it was you know, obviously, don't share it before

591
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,960
Speaker 8: the draft. And he said he opened a folder and

592
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 8: there was all this data on the folder and bo

593
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,040
Speaker 8: Nix was at the top of the list, and I

594
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,280
Speaker 8: was like, what is this? And Sean Payton had developed

595
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 8: his own analytics formula to try to judge processing speed

596
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 8: of college quarterbacks and he started it back when he

597
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 8: scouted Patrick Mahomes in twenty seventeen. And when he ran

598
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,760
Speaker 8: the twenty twenty four quarterbacks through the formula, bo Nix

599
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,160
Speaker 8: was by far the most efficient and it wasn't even close.

600
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 8: And Caleb Williams, by the way, was one of the

601
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:42,960
Speaker 8: last ones of the first round of the guys who

602
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:44,320
Speaker 8: ended up going in the first round.

603
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: Wow, Well that you know that that is interesting because

604
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: your book, you know what book's going to be successful

605
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 1: when it makes news. Well before it comes out, you

606
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 1: already made news and confirmed stuff that I had said

607
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 1: about a year ago I think we about Caleb will James,

608
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:04,680
Speaker 1: his dad, his nervousness about Chicago and after many camps

609
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 1: and OTAs. There is video seth of Caleb struggling his

610
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 1: reputation in college, accuracy issues.

611
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 2: And a bit moody in the NFL. We've seen both.

612
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: Is are you surprised when you talked about Caleb with

613
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 1: multiple sources? Do you think these are not just brief

614
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: hiccups and maybe this is what Caleb's going to be

615
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:27,959
Speaker 1: as a pro quarterback.

616
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 8: I mean, I think that a rookie year is about

617
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,160
Speaker 8: survival first and foremost, and I think Caleb not only survived,

618
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 8: he showed a lot of flashes of a pretty rare

619
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 8: skill set. I think that you know, what Carl and

620
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 8: Caleb wanted was some agency over his future employers, saying

621
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,280
Speaker 8: thing that Jack Elway and Archie Manning wanted for their sons.

622
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 8: And even though they didn't get it when they wanted it,

623
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:54,479
Speaker 8: I think they got it now, which is, you know

624
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 8: what they wanted was it was an innovative offensive mind

625
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,560
Speaker 8: who is really invested in Caleb Williams. And I think

626
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 8: that trying to draw too much from training camp, you know,

627
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 8: I think that like that's often a mistake that we make.

628
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 8: I think that Caleb Williams is a pretty special quarterback.

629
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 8: That doesn't mean he's perfect. I think that Bill Belichick

630
00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:14,959
Speaker 8: had a point when he said that there were open

631
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,440
Speaker 8: receivers on the field, especially over the middle, that Caleb

632
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 8: either failed to see or failed to pull the trigger on.

633
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,759
Speaker 8: But you know it was only his rookie year. I

634
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,759
Speaker 8: think that he flashed some pretty special quarterbacking potential, and

635
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,359
Speaker 8: I think that now he has a chance to kind

636
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,919
Speaker 8: of realize his potential with the new head coach.

637
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 1: So Arch Manning's a fascinating story. I said the other

638
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,840
Speaker 1: day in a world of the transfer portal in Nil,

639
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,319
Speaker 1: when the minute a quarterback doesn't think he's number one

640
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:47,160
Speaker 1: on the depth chart, they bolt. And here's Arch Manning, who,

641
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,759
Speaker 1: in my opinion, is more talented than quin yours. Not

642
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: a peep, never disgruntled. And I said, that is so Manning.

643
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,840
Speaker 1: He's got just the Manning quarterback gene in the t

644
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 1: rams for portal, the ability at Texas, and maybe you're

645
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: the better player to sit as a backup. That's all

646
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,759
Speaker 1: I needed to know about his maturity now. A lot

647
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,400
Speaker 1: of I think the media has been pretty responsible with

648
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,719
Speaker 1: Arch that we're all saying, can we at least see

649
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 1: him play Ohio State when you did when you when

650
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,720
Speaker 1: you did your book on Arch, what should we expect?

651
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,480
Speaker 1: What did you learn about him?

652
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:28,839
Speaker 4: Well?

653
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 8: I think that the interesting thing with him is exactly

654
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:34,399
Speaker 8: what you mentioned, and that's that when your hype from

655
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:36,160
Speaker 8: such a young age, and in the book, I go

656
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 8: into the very first moment when he was in eighth grade,

657
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:40,759
Speaker 8: when everyone was looking at each other going like, oh

658
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 8: my god, this is for real. And you know, people

659
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 8: think that anything other than being the first pick in

660
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 8: the draft and having like a very solid, if not

661
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,600
Speaker 8: Hall of Fame NFL career is a disappointment, which is insane.

662
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,799
Speaker 8: You look for little things like that to gauge you

663
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 8: know where this person's head is that and you know,

664
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 8: I think you're right if you know Tom Brady didn't

665
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 8: come into college Tom Brady. Of course, we know that

666
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:11,840
Speaker 8: he was broken and then had to rebuild himself at Michigan.

667
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 8: And the fact that Arch who picked Texas you know

668
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 8: for two reasons among many, one that the head coach

669
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 8: was the offensive play caller, so he wasn't going to

670
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:25,319
Speaker 8: go anywhere. And there'll be continuity, and two that in

671
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 8: Austin he might be it might be a big enough

672
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 8: talent for him to kind of blend in and he

673
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 8: wouldn't be as big as he was in like Oxford, Mississippi.

674
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,400
Speaker 8: Those two things have held relatively true for him. And

675
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 8: the fact that he was willing to stay and sit

676
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,880
Speaker 8: and learn and be patient I think as a good

677
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,319
Speaker 8: sign for him long term. I think that, like if

678
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,839
Speaker 8: he had tried to get out, it would have been

679
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:53,919
Speaker 8: very understandable. But I think that the way that he's

680
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 8: handled it, I think it is a very very positive sign. Now,

681
00:36:57,640 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 8: I mean, look, he's got to go out and play.

682
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:01,640
Speaker 8: We'll see how that goes. But I think that, like

683
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,360
Speaker 8: the way that he's handled his career so far, I

684
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:05,520
Speaker 8: think is pretty impressive.

685
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 1: So you you you've got Arch and Caleb and Bo Nicks,

686
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,600
Speaker 1: and you've got the old guys l way At, Johnny

687
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,160
Speaker 1: unit Is, Peyton Manning, Warren Moon, who I always thought

688
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: was historically underrated. And you know, there's been this kind

689
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,840
Speaker 1: of narrative that the NFL is flipping a coin on quarterbacks,

690
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:25,279
Speaker 1: they don't know who's going to be great, And I

691
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: push back on that. Take out Brady most of the

692
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:34,400
Speaker 1: great quarter of Elway, Marino, Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson. Right now,

693
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,840
Speaker 1: even guys like Big Ben that played at non traditional powers,

694
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:43,240
Speaker 1: most of them went first round. Overwhelmingly they go first round.

695
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:47,400
Speaker 1: But Mahomes is fascinating because he may be the most

696
00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 1: talented ever and he didn't even have a winning record

697
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,320
Speaker 1: in college. That when you when you did your homework

698
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 1: on this book, which comes out September ninth, American Kings.

699
00:37:57,960 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 2: Are their stories.

700
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:00,919
Speaker 1: I mean, his dad was a Bay in the big

701
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 1: so he's got some athletic jeans. Were there stories about

702
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:08,720
Speaker 1: Mahomes that surprise you and that I mean Andy Reid, Brett,

703
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,800
Speaker 1: Veach Gruden. What did you take away from the Mahomes

704
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 1: journey college to pros.

705
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:15,840
Speaker 8: Well, one of the main things that I hit on

706
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 8: with Patrick Mahomes is him and his religion. I mean,

707
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:20,880
Speaker 8: obviously he's very much into his Christian religion, and I

708
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 8: think that that's fascinating within the context of his gifts,

709
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 8: his God given gifts, and his success as a quarterback

710
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 8: and his notoriety as a quarterback. I think as a player.

711
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:32,879
Speaker 8: I think one of the most interesting things is that

712
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 8: his career at Texas Tech, like he was under the radar.

713
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,440
Speaker 8: He didn't even get make it to a Lead eleven finals.

714
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:40,960
Speaker 8: I mean, e Lead eleven is like a beauty pageant

715
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 8: for physical skills with quarterback physical skills. He didn't even

716
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,560
Speaker 8: make it to the finals. And at Texas Tech he

717
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:48,480
Speaker 8: was a little under the radar and he got to

718
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:52,000
Speaker 8: have the quarterback equivalent of like free play, where he

719
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,440
Speaker 8: could make mistakes and keep going without worrying, whereas like

720
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,920
Speaker 8: Tom Brady, of course, when he was at Michigan, he

721
00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 8: was conditioned that one snap at practice might mean that

722
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,280
Speaker 8: he doesn't even play that week. So it's a really

723
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,759
Speaker 8: interesting case study. And I think that you know, when

724
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 8: when Sean Payton was first looking to replace Drew Brees

725
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,719
Speaker 8: in twenty seventeen, he came up with this formula again

726
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,080
Speaker 8: to try to understand processing, and it's kind of like

727
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 8: a failure index. It's really interesting and Patrick had a

728
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 8: great score on it, and he was gonna pick Patrick. Obviously,

729
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:27,480
Speaker 8: the Chiefs traded up with Buffalo took him away, but

730
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 8: he kept the same analytics formula and when he used

731
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 8: it this time around, bo Nix's score was the very

732
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,120
Speaker 8: best since Patrick Mahomes's. I mean even though Patrick Mahomes

733
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,040
Speaker 8: threw a ton of passes and put up a ton

734
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 8: of points and was under the radar, he didn't have

735
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:47,040
Speaker 8: a ton of turnovers. And I think that like the

736
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 8: formula that he developed, he had a lot of confidence

737
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 8: in it, and I think a lot of that had

738
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,440
Speaker 8: to do with Patrick Mahomes.

739
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:56,080
Speaker 1: So Seth Wickersham, Senior writer, ESPN been there for a

740
00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 1: couple of decades, American Kings. Let's put it up again

741
00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:02,720
Speaker 1: for our team audience. A biography of the Quarterback book

742
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:06,319
Speaker 1: releases September ninth. It is already made news. Listen, you're

743
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 1: gonna be sitting on the couch watching a lot of football.

744
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:13,120
Speaker 1: This is what you should have next to you as

745
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:16,800
Speaker 1: a constant reference point. Seth, I appreciate you. You basically

746
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,919
Speaker 1: text me this morning. We got you on within an hour.

747
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,400
Speaker 1: I totally appreciate your flexibility on this and thank you

748
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:23,760
Speaker 1: so much, and good luck with the book.

749
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:25,560
Speaker 8: Hey Man, great talking to you.

750
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,520
Speaker 2: As always. I appreciate you so.

751
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:31,200
Speaker 1: Inn't that grade he got access to this formula and

752
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 1: the Bonnicks numbers from weeks four to eighteen. Again, you're

753
00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:38,279
Speaker 1: a rookie quarterback. You come into the league it's a

754
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:43,240
Speaker 1: great division at kids. Sixty seven percent completion percentage, twenty

755
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 1: nine touchdowns, eight picks, passer rating of one oh one two.

756
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 1: And remember Denver spending their money on defense, like even

757
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 1: this show hafunga Green Law. They're doing it again. They're

758
00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:57,600
Speaker 1: doubling down on defense. So they don't have a number

759
00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:59,680
Speaker 1: one receiver. Courtland Sutton's great too. They don't have a

760
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,319
Speaker 1: number one back, they don't have a number one tight end.

761
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:04,880
Speaker 1: I think Garrett Bowle is a very good left tackle,

762
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 1: but I'd argue they have a majority of their elite

763
00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,399
Speaker 1: talent is on the defensive side. So and then again,

764
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:16,560
Speaker 1: Jesse Minter Steve Spagnola had a big lift for a

765
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:21,360
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback, and that kid by week four was on one.

766
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:23,879
Speaker 2: Was on one, all right?

767
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:30,520
Speaker 1: Nick writes around the corner, tom Brady's actually talking soccer,

768
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:35,240
Speaker 1: and well, yeah, I know, he actually got interesting comments.

769
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:37,719
Speaker 2: We'll talk about both on a Tuesday.

770
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:40,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sorry, Chicago, I think I have to demote

771
00:41:40,719 --> 00:41:42,280
Speaker 1: you and put the Packers in the playoffs.

772
00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 2: I know it's things a little, but then the truth