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Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.

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This is the Best of the Herd with Colin

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cowher on Fox Sports Radio.

0:28

All Right, here we go. It is a Thursday,

0:30

live in Los Angeles. A lot of

0:32

things percolating. It's the Herd

0:35

wherever you may be and however you may

0:37

be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.

0:39

One hour from now, if you gamble on

0:41

football, Fantasy football,

0:44

want to get smarter at football? Greg Cosell

0:46

NFL Films one hour as is customary

0:49

on Thursday, jamac the

0:52

network at Fox, we have made a decision,

0:55

an executive decision, no more bad games

0:57

on the network. So this weekend.

0:59

Last weekend was Ohio State, Michigan.

1:02

This weekend it's Philadelphia, San Francisco.

1:05

So the executive sat down said no more

1:07

bad games. So we're starting this weekend. This

1:11

is the game of the year. Right, do you believe

1:13

that.

1:13

I would say, so, yeah, you know where I lay

1:15

on this one? Where my bank account is that

1:17

this one?

1:18

Yeah, in the game. So San Francisco

1:20

is going to Philly in their favorite We'll get to that in a second.

1:23

So the Eagles are ten and one, best

1:26

team in the league situationally, great

1:28

roster got to the Super Bowl last year. They

1:32

are so good in close games. I mean, I've

1:34

never seen anything quite like it, right, But

1:37

is there a downside to that? Oh?

1:41

There is. We

1:44

went back seven years super Bowl champs

1:48

ten plus point wins. You

1:52

see teams that win the Super Bowl flex

1:54

they blow out teams. Now, you know that in

1:56

college, but it's true in pro football. If

1:59

you go to the last seven Super Bowl

2:01

champs, Patriots

2:03

had ten wins over ten points.

2:06

Eagles twenty seventeen, Nick Foles seven,

2:08

Patriots, eight Chiefs, seven Bucks,

2:11

eight Rams, six chief seven.

2:14

If you go back a decade, there's only one exception

2:17

Denver Broncos twenty fifteen. But that was

2:19

that Brocoss Wider Old Peyton

2:21

Manning Circus year right, Like they couldn't

2:24

get the quarterback thing right. And that was also

2:26

the best defense we've all probably seen

2:29

in the last ten years. Philly doesn't

2:31

have that. In fact, in

2:33

NFL history, Philadelphia

2:36

has the second worst point differential

2:39

for any team that's won ten of their first

2:41

eleven. They don't flex because

2:45

they can't flex for

2:47

the record. The two current teams

2:50

that look like historically

2:53

they will win a Super Bowl take

2:56

a deep breath. Dallas

2:58

and San Francisco both have seven

3:02

blowout wins. Philadelphia's

3:04

got two. Philadelphia

3:06

went to overtime with Washington, was outplayed

3:09

at home. They weren't a competitive

3:11

game with the awful Patriots. They've

3:13

trailed I think at half last four games.

3:16

The numbers don't lie here. College

3:18

football national champions, be it Georgia

3:21

or Michigan or Oregon, the three best

3:23

teams in the country, they've got a half dozen blowouts.

3:27

Cowboys blowouts, Niners blowouts. Last

3:29

decade, everybody about the twenty fifteen Broncos

3:31

blowouts, and again that team

3:34

had a great defense, maybe

3:36

the best in the last ten years. And you

3:38

could say, oh, Colin, you're really

3:40

reaching here, am I. Let's

3:43

go back to the last several years. Who was

3:46

the best team Last year in one

3:49

score games, it was

3:51

the Vikings. They were eleven to zero.

3:54

Quick exit from the playoffs. Well

3:58

what about the year before, Well, let's go twenty

4:00

eighteen. The Cowboys nine

4:02

of ten wins one score games.

4:05

How did the playoffs go? They

4:07

lost early Seahawks

4:10

twenty nineteen, remember that team Russ

4:12

Cooking ten of eleven wins,

4:14

one score games. Seahawks

4:17

out early, lost in the divisional round.

4:21

History tells you how it works college

4:25

football. We've always understood it. The

4:28

Natty, the champions blow people

4:30

out like half their schedule, sometimes more.

4:33

But it works that way in the NFL too. You

4:37

flex lobsided San

4:39

Francisco going to Pittsburgh in the opener, beating

4:42

them by three touchdowns. Dallas

4:46

crushes teams, probably crushes

4:48

Seattle tonight. Philadelphia

4:51

squeaks by even against

4:53

average to bad teams. I

4:56

love them situationally, but I

4:58

like that one Cowboy team and the Seahawks team and

5:00

the Viking team. This is their reality. But

5:03

Kyle Shanahan says, I still don't

5:06

understand why we're favored

5:09

going there.

5:10

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But I don't really know how that stuff

5:13

works, So I

5:15

don't really know why they do such a good job

5:17

of balancing everything out with the dropbacks

5:20

to play actions, the RPOs, the quarterback

5:22

run game, the regular run game. So

5:24

it's really impossible to stay ahead of them in

5:26

terms of who has the chalk last, who.

5:29

Has the chalk last. This is not a

5:31

criticism. This isn't really even

5:33

opinion, and this is an

5:35

opinion based show. It's just data

5:37

in facts. Super Bowl champs

5:41

got to have about six seven flexes rollover

5:44

teams, suffocate them, pin them down, pull

5:46

away. Philly didn't have very

5:48

many. All right,

5:50

let's talk Cowboys. They play tonight, they'll beat

5:52

Seatlet's got thirty three seventeen written

5:55

all over it. Gino Smith a pick, Dak

5:57

throwing for two hundred and seventy five plus yards. Dallas

5:59

is a great team at home, a great favorite. They don't

6:01

lose it home against average teams. Seattle's

6:03

defense right now is below average. It

6:06

does feel like a Dallas winn who knows

6:10

it's interesting. I'll sit home like the rest of you and watch

6:12

tonight. But what I keep going back to,

6:15

and sometimes you know,

6:18

in our I'm a big believer in this. Like

6:20

if I was a pilot, and

6:24

you know, I got a weather forecast like pilots

6:26

do before the flight. We got a storm

6:28

that just moved in, I would alter

6:30

my route.

6:32

Right.

6:32

If I was a stockbroker and I have loved

6:34

a stock for seven years and

6:37

then I got some information that the

6:39

CEO is selling his stock, I

6:42

would sell mine. I've

6:44

never understood loyalty to

6:48

old news. I don't

6:50

think it's flip flopping. I think it's smart, new

6:52

information, new opinion.

6:56

Mike McCarthy is not my favorite

6:59

NFL coach, and I stand by that Situationally,

7:03

I just don't trust him late, but

7:05

I do keep coming back to this. We

7:07

all bang on Mike McCarthy. Gotta

7:10

be honest. It's the best dack I've ever seen.

7:13

So Mike McCarthy with Brett Farv went

7:15

twenty one and eleven very good. With

7:18

Aaron Rodgers he went ninety eight, fifty five

7:20

and one very good. With

7:23

Dak Prescott he goes twenty nine and fifteen

7:25

very good. And

7:27

with Cooper Rush you went five and one. What's

7:30

the common denominator? Colin

7:33

he got fired, so

7:36

did Pete Carroll twice, Tom Landry,

7:38

Bill Belichick, and Andy Reid being

7:42

fired is not the end of the world. Now,

7:44

I would say in the NFL, we

7:46

would have to agree that Bill Belichick.

7:49

It's the truth, right, He's the most accomplished

7:51

current coach, got all the rings. Tom Brady's

7:53

the most accomplished quarterback. You

7:56

can't argue it. I do believe

7:58

today, because the NFL has phivoted

8:00

to offense, that Andy Reid is the current

8:03

best coach in the league. And

8:05

I also think there are three other offensive

8:07

coaches that we hold in very high esteem

8:09

and should. Sean Payton, Kyle

8:12

shanahan and Sean McVay imperfect,

8:14

really really smart guys. But

8:18

he all comfortable acknowledging that Mike

8:20

McCarthy is in the next group of Pete

8:22

Carroll, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Mike

8:24

McCarthy, and Doug Peterson super

8:27

Bowl winners who

8:29

have clearly been able to more

8:32

than once build a winning

8:34

football culture. Yeah. I

8:36

know you're not comfortable with that. And

8:40

I've had my criticisms for the record of

8:42

Pete Carroll. I think he can be a little

8:44

stubborn at times, Mike Tomlin

8:47

little tone deaf with offense. I

8:49

think Sean McVay can get a tad cute

8:51

at times or as she ran more sometimes

8:54

Shanahan's a little too tied to his system.

8:58

So they're no perfect coaches. But

9:00

if you look at the coaching tier in

9:02

the NFL today, most accomplished, Bill

9:04

Best Now Andy, Offensive Gurus,

9:07

McVeigh, Peyton Shanahan, then

9:09

it's five dudes who

9:11

have won Super Bowls, hoisted trophies,

9:14

all of them for the record, you

9:16

know, I mean, Peterson is the only one

9:18

that can say I won with a backup.

9:22

I mean, don't we consider Tomlin,

9:24

Peterson, McCarthy, Hardbob Pete Carroll. I

9:27

know you want to pushback on McCarthy, and

9:29

my takeaway is he won

9:31

with Cooper Rush. It's the best jack I've

9:33

seen. It's arguably the best Aaron was.

9:36

He was good at the end with Farv And

9:39

by the way, he's made and he's known as a passing

9:42

guy over a running guy. He has made the

9:44

Ceedee Lamb Dak Combo top

9:46

three in the league. Kath deny it. You

9:48

watch it every Sunday. I do, so.

9:52

Yeah.

9:52

I just keep coming back to this. He

9:55

just keeps winning. Three

9:58

months ago, I didn't think Dak was going to play

10:00

like this. I don't think Dallas was going to

10:02

blow out seven teams. But

10:06

you get new information. Did do you

10:08

think Dallas would blow out seven teams

10:10

this year. Did you think Ceedee, Lamb and Dak would

10:12

become a top two to three combo in the league. Did

10:14

you think Dallas looks like

10:17

they could go to Philly and outplay him, lose

10:19

close, probably be favored the next

10:21

time they faced him. I didn't, but

10:23

it's new information. Mike

10:26

McCarthy's better than we want to acknowledge. He's

10:28

imperfect, like

10:30

all of them. All right,

10:33

j Mac, I'm feeling

10:35

it tonight. I don't.

10:37

I always have a hard time giving nine

10:40

ten points for a game, but Dallas

10:42

wins these home games. They

10:44

win them convincingly. Seattle's

10:47

defense, for whatever reasons, despite personnel

10:49

upgrades the last two years in the draft, has regressed

10:52

over the last several weeks. Gino's banged

10:54

up, so I think Dallas again, it's

10:58

a ten plus win we like going to head.

11:00

I'm on Seattle. I made the bet this morning nine and

11:02

a half waiting for the ten didn't show

11:04

up. Hey, could you pull back the coaching tears

11:06

for me? Because I thought there was a name missing

11:08

from there right, any chance we could

11:10

get it on the screen.

11:11

Here we go.

11:12

I'm looking for the guy who's

11:15

number one in the league right now? He went

11:17

to the Super Bowl and Nick Sirianni did

11:19

not make in the list nowhere, not

11:21

one of the top coaches in the league. Colin McCarthy,

11:25

by the way, has one playoff

11:27

win in his last five seasons coaching.

11:29

That's it.

11:31

How is McCarthy ahead of Siriani just because he won

11:33

a Super Bowl?

11:34

Yeah?

11:35

Yeah, because he's built twice

11:38

powerful teams and hoisted a trophy. Now,

11:40

Siriani, if you recall in Philadelphia

11:43

struggled early Shane Steike

11:46

and took over play callings.

11:48

They were great Stike

11:51

and leaves. The offense has not been the same

11:53

and they're in far more close games. Last year

11:55

Philadelphia blew out eight teams.

11:58

This year they go to overtime with Washington

12:01

as an offensive coach. The offense

12:03

has regressed.

12:04

So we're penalized, Yes, I would agree, a little

12:06

regress. We're penalizing.

12:08

Well, what I'm saying is it's all

12:10

contextualization of a of a topic.

12:13

Sirianni calling plays early,

12:16

and Sirianni now Philadelphia

12:18

is can win games.

12:20

The shamestich and superpower

12:22

left, They're not the same team.

12:25

I would agree.

12:26

By the way I can like Nick

12:28

Sirianni, there's thirty

12:31

two coaches. I just adaim like eight. It's just not

12:33

many.

12:34

I don't know.

12:35

I also have to judge them on the postseason, and McCarthy

12:37

has been an immense letdown in the postseason.

12:40

O.

12:40

Good for the record. That's interesting you bring that up.

12:42

I also don't have Matt Lafleur. Matt

12:45

Lafleur with Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs

12:48

two and three. McCarthy had a winning

12:50

record and a trophy. So who's

12:52

better, Lafleur or Mike McCarthy.

12:56

Who's better?

12:58

I would lean McCarthy.

12:59

I'm not as sold on Lafleur

13:02

as you are.

13:03

I wouldn't say I'm sold. He didn't make my list.

13:05

But you got Lafleur or Sirianni.

13:08

Close. Yeah, I think they're both

13:11

more than capable, more than capable.

13:14

But it's funny your pushback.

13:17

Think about that, and then this is really my point. Your

13:20

pushback is, how is Sirianni

13:22

not over McCarthy because

13:24

one has a ring and one is one has

13:26

built two powers.

13:27

Well, Shanahan does not have a ring.

13:30

He's known as the guy who cannot come

13:32

back to win games oh and thirty seven when trailing

13:34

by eight or more in the fourth and all

13:36

Nick Sirianni's Eagles do is come back and win games.

13:38

That's all they do. They dominate fourth

13:40

quarters.

13:41

It's I mean, the Sirianne stuff is wild.

13:43

How good he's been so quickly.

13:46

I'm not denying he and Lafleur are very

13:48

good. Mike McCarthy's been doing this five

13:51

times as long. I mean, it's

13:53

it's and for the record, winning

13:55

in green Bay. Everybody just thinks it's easy.

13:58

No owner, you don't get top free agents,

14:01

holmegrun won, McCarthy won last

14:04

year with Aaron Rodgers, Matt

14:06

Leffleu didn't win, and this year

14:08

they're not winning. So we've all made and I think

14:10

green Bay drafts and developed very well. So

14:13

it was all of this. When McCarthy left, Aaron kind

14:15

of pouted and didn't Aaron right and

14:18

then save the day Lafleur. Lafleur

14:21

just off a losing season in a weak

14:23

division and now

14:25

this year, so who's the

14:27

better coach? A final question? New

14:30

information Now McCarthy's rolling,

14:32

Lafleur's crossing his fingers that Jordan loves

14:34

the guy was the better coach.

14:36

What's the best performance McCarthy and the Cowboys

14:38

have had this season?

14:40

Well, they've blown out seven teams I think. I

14:42

think going to Philly when they outplayed him

14:44

was really impressive and losing. Yes, all

14:48

right, there's a trick question.

14:49

Because I started to look this morning, I'm like, well, you

14:51

bet up with most impressive performance.

14:53

But you if you go to your average Reddit board,

14:55

I don't do that. I know either do I but I've

14:58

been before and it at this time of

15:00

the year, here's what you hear from everybody who

15:03

if they beaten Well, we have

15:05

to acknowledge there's ten to eleven very

15:07

good teams in this league. Okay,

15:09

so let's not I mean

15:11

again, if they beat Seattle tonight

15:13

by seventeen points, that's

15:15

heart. Pete Carroll does not get blown out a lot.

15:19

So you have to give teams credit for blowing

15:21

out other pro football teams. Washington

15:23

went toe to toe they beat Denver, who's

15:26

hottest team in the league. Like Washington went toe

15:28

to toe overtime with Philadelphia, Dallas

15:31

beat them by what is it, twenty five thirty points?

15:33

You got to get you gotta get people credit for the knockout.

15:35

You know, in boxing, if you knock people out in the first two

15:38

rounds, you get credit for it more

15:40

than a decision in eleven twelve, you know, ten

15:42

rounds, right, So there is something

15:44

to be said. Knockout power, as I showed

15:46

you with the Super Bowl Champs, is a real thing. Super

15:49

Bowl Champs eight blowouts on average.

15:51

They blow, they flex, they blow teams

15:53

out point more

15:56

than just winning best record.

16:00

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16:02

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17:10

KAYLEB Williams, USC quarterback told

17:12

the La Times it is a game

17:15

time decision that's

17:17

brought to you by Credible Noble

17:20

Zone, sponsored by Credible Great Rates, none of the bull

17:24

His dad told g Q in September

17:26

that his son Kayla Williams, had

17:28

two shots at the Apple could return

17:30

to school. I don't believe this is true. I

17:33

think he's going to go pro. I think it would be a big

17:35

mistake to stay in college. Probably go

17:37

pro. Don't get hurt, go challenge

17:39

yourself. So there is and this

17:42

has to be acknowledged. There

17:44

is, and I've heard it around the league, a

17:46

growing concern about certain entitlement

17:49

stuff, intangible

17:52

concerns. This, of course, was Caleb Williams

17:54

first bad season, bad in terms

17:56

of winning and losing. Nobody questions

17:58

the talent. Nobody can questions the traits. Go

18:01

to your message board. He's the number one

18:03

pick. Nobody questions that. Nobody

18:05

questions that. But

18:08

this is the first bad team, and he showed

18:10

signs of sometimes not feeling like he

18:12

was really engaged. And

18:14

you better get engaged fast because Chicago,

18:17

Arizona and New England have the top three

18:19

picks and bad rosters, and you're going

18:21

to lose. In fact, the staff

18:24

looked it up this morning. The only number one

18:26

quarterback pick ever with a winning record

18:29

ever, Andrew Luck

18:32

for the record, he got pushed back. I had to defend

18:34

him for years. That's it. So

18:37

he's Caleb's going to lose a lot of games. But

18:40

here's where I would back him

18:42

first of all traits. Talent indisputable.

18:46

But anytime anybody

18:48

in life is

18:50

the first person or the

18:52

most significant person of note

18:55

to experience something, where

18:57

do you go for advice? What's

18:59

themap? He is

19:01

the first and highest paid nil

19:05

star at quarterback five million bucks a year

19:07

or more. While in college

19:10

he made half. He made more than

19:12

half the LA Rams last year. Does

19:15

he go to his college coaches for advice? What

19:18

advice could they give him? They've never

19:20

had a five million dollar college quarterback.

19:24

LA's a glitzy town. He made

19:26

more money than fifteen

19:28

of sixteen USC coaches, half

19:32

the Rams, the

19:34

fifth highest paid person on USC's

19:37

campus, that includes the president. Where

19:41

do you go for advice? What is

19:43

the roadmap? He's twenty?

19:45

What three?

19:48

I mean, look at your social media account.

19:50

Most of you haven't achieved this much,

19:52

and you've got all sorts of attitude.

19:57

Nobody's ever experienced this. Well,

19:59

what about college?

20:00

Colorado?

20:00

Quarterback? Stop Colorado? USC?

20:03

Different brands, different world, different

20:05

markets, Boulder to La. So

20:08

I will push back on this. He

20:10

made more than fifteen or sixteen USC

20:12

coaches and all the players knew it. He

20:15

was on national commercials all season,

20:19

made a lot of money, and

20:22

there's nobody he can lean on and

20:24

go dude, how did you handle it? What's

20:27

it like when like teammates are coming up to you and you feel

20:29

like you got to buy everybody everything every day. So

20:33

this is new territory. It's uncharted

20:35

territory. It's no advice territory.

20:39

By and large, I thought he was fine.

20:42

I think sometimes he could get and

20:44

this is this happens to younger

20:46

people can get a little moody and bad games.

20:49

Whatever I've

20:51

seen, I've watched a lot of NFL

20:53

quarterbacks bark at people on the sidelines.

20:56

You know, some people are confrontational. Some people go

20:58

off into shell Aaron Rodger would

21:00

grab that, you know, grab his jersey up

21:02

front and stand by himself. So would Jay Cutler.

21:04

Quarterbacks, you know, Kyler Murray can do

21:07

that. They all do it differently, right when they're having a

21:09

bad game of bad Sunday, a bad Monday. But

21:12

he's going to lose a lot, and he hasn't lost

21:14

a lot. But this is actually now

21:16

losing is not uncharted territory.

21:19

But this year for Caleb Williams make

21:22

it half. I mean, seriously, go

21:24

look at the La Rams annual

21:27

salary chart. I think it's on like real

21:29

GM. I mean more than like seventy

21:31

percent of the Rams. I think he's

21:34

a college campus, eat in a dining

21:36

hall or the pizza joint across from

21:38

the USC campus. He was a little

21:40

moody, got

21:43

kind of full of himself a little it's

21:45

uncharted territory.

21:46

I get it.

21:47

One more.

21:48

Heard.

21:48

The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,

21:50

seven days a week within the iHeartRadio

21:52

app. Search Herd to listen live or

21:55

on demand whenever you like.

21:57

So J Mack got really upset during

21:59

the break stop it. That is not

22:01

a US Sports Illustrated name.

22:03

Dion Sanders Sportsman of the

22:06

Year. So all the you know Dion

22:08

haters, they don't like that at all, And I just

22:10

say, hey, first of all, it's probably AI generated.

22:12

They probably wasn't even written by a human. The

22:16

second part is or

22:18

it's the liberal media. Oh

22:22

boy, listen. It probably

22:24

wouldn't have been my choice. But

22:26

Sportsman of the Year is not a standing. It's

22:29

not like who finished first. It's

22:31

a broad there's a broader scope,

22:34

broader context of what it means.

22:36

And Deon Sanders in September literally

22:39

changed network television ratings

22:42

and I thought it was a fascinating

22:44

story. So Sports Illustrated

22:46

or one of their computers wrote a story and selected

22:49

him. Uh, you know the sports

22:51

writers who were people actually voted

22:53

Dion Sanders Sportsman of the Year. I just see

22:56

so much there's so much hate

22:58

for Dion Sanders. And I'm telling

23:00

you, I'm a West Coast guy, right, I've lived here a lot of

23:02

my life. Colorado football has been good, like

23:04

twice for an hour. The

23:06

fact that it's interesting is

23:08

remarkable because the state doesn't

23:11

produce high school stars. They don't have any money.

23:13

Uh you know, it's not an athletic department

23:16

of note in America. And he made it fascinating

23:18

and I think we all sort of fell

23:20

for it. I don't care I was wrong, it

23:22

was I had a I love watched all their snaps

23:24

for about a month.

23:25

I think the runner up to this award was Travis

23:28

Kelce. So they could maybe sell more copies. You know,

23:30

Dion's gonna move some some copies. People are

23:32

gonna buy Sports Illustrated because they care. You

23:34

couldn't put like Nikola Jokic, who

23:36

was amazing in one of them. You can't just put them on the cot. Nobody's

23:38

buying that.

23:39

Nobody cares.

23:40

So this is more of like an award to sell magazines,

23:43

right and Deon Sanders. People

23:46

are interested in the story he's created

23:48

it.

23:48

Use your credibility if you start doing

23:51

that. But as Sports Illustrated

23:53

got busted the other day for ai articles, so

23:55

maybe they've lost a lot of their credibility to begin with. So

23:57

I'm not gonna take shots. I'm not taking shots. I'm just

23:59

saying that's what happened. Yeah, yeah, So

24:02

I didn't think that was shots. I think it was losing

24:04

credibility, not a shot. Well,

24:06

you're using fake people. It's not great.

24:09

So we

24:11

was thinking this morning. There's a lot of talk about

24:13

Sean McDermott getting fired, and I have been

24:15

very critical of Sean McDermott. But just

24:18

be careful. You better have somebody lined up

24:20

because everybody knows Sean McDermott's a good

24:22

coach. I don't know if he has a second gear.

24:25

He looks like a cleanup guy. I'm

24:27

already Shottenheimer a Chuck Knox.

24:29

I'm not sure if he's the next level when the Super Bowl

24:31

guy, but there's no question it. It's a very

24:34

good football team. So it's

24:36

interesting. I'm gonna give you a chart here

24:38

and I'll go slowly for the radio audience.

24:41

So here are the coaches

24:43

that have already been fired. In the NFL,

24:46

Raiders and Panthers fired

24:48

their coaches. Here are the

24:50

coaches on the hottest of hot seats,

24:53

and I don't think McDermott's one of them. The

24:55

Tampa coach, the Bears coach, the Jets

24:58

coach, the Washington coach, and the Chargers coach.

25:01

Seven franchises either

25:04

losing franchises ugly

25:07

recent history, or

25:09

talented like the Chargers and perpetually

25:11

underachieve. Businesses

25:16

that aren't successful always think they're

25:18

just a coach away, just in a ceo

25:20

away. It is so much deeper than

25:23

that. And the truth is, great

25:25

candidates in any industry are

25:28

rarely available because

25:30

they're locked up by better organizations

25:32

and better companies. Andy Reid

25:35

was available for an hour, Kansas

25:37

City scooped him up. Sean Payton

25:39

was available for a year. Denver scooped

25:42

him up. Pete Carroll had

25:44

gone to the playoffs twice in New England,

25:47

USC Seattle. He was a very

25:49

good candidate. Belichick got

25:52

to the playoffs in Cleveland. When

25:55

he went to New England, that was a very good

25:57

candidate. Doug Peterson and Jacksonville

26:00

won a Super Bowl. Was on the beach for

26:02

a few years, we kept saying over

26:05

and over, somebody hired Doug Peterson. And

26:07

also, I know you don't want to hear this, but Mike

26:09

McCarthy was super

26:11

Bowl winning coach who'd built a culture before.

26:14

So none of these candidates

26:16

that I just mentioned McCarthy, Belichick,

26:19

Pete Carroll, Sean Payton, Doug Peterson,

26:21

Andy Reid had to learn how to

26:23

be a head coach, and none

26:26

had to learn how to win as a head coach. They'd

26:28

all done it. So using

26:31

that criteria, there are only

26:33

two great candidates available

26:35

this year. Dan Quinn

26:38

and Jim Harbaugh. Both

26:41

winning records, both got a team to

26:43

a Super Bowl, both know how to win.

26:46

Those are your two great candidates. Maybe

26:48

Ben Johnson Detroit OC is good.

26:50

Maybe Shane Walder and Seattle OC

26:53

is good. But there are only two

26:55

great candidates. Dan Quinn,

26:57

Cowboy DC more

27:00

than he lost in Atlanta, got to a Super Bowl,

27:03

and Jim Harbaugh. Joel

27:05

Klatt I asked him yesterday

27:08

about Harbaugh. Has the mood changed

27:11

on Michigan NFL for Harbaugh recently?

27:14

Two weeks ago I would have said

27:16

Nope, like he's he's

27:19

going to be a Michigan.

27:20

Now I'm not as sure.

27:23

I believe that the

27:26

week of the Maryland game was a real

27:30

point of demarcation.

27:31

You know where the hearing

27:34

was dropped.

27:34

We're gonna go ahead and just Jim's gonna

27:36

serve the three game suspension. We're

27:39

going to fire this linebacker coach. And

27:41

even though they didn't do this, there was some

27:43

like almost an acknowledgment

27:46

or admission that like, okay, like

27:48

handing the cookie jar, this is the way it's going to go.

27:51

He doesn't feel that that's the case.

27:54

So in review,

27:57

bad organizations are always

28:00

sure they're just a coach away. It's

28:02

never that. It's usually an impulsive

28:05

owner, a cheap owner, a medaling

28:07

owner, bad line play,

28:09

wasted draft capital, multiple

28:11

whiffs week roster. It's never a

28:13

coach away and the

28:16

best candidates. And there's only two really

28:18

good ones this year that are gonna

28:20

be able to win because they've proven they can win

28:23

before and get to Super Bowls. It's Harbaugh

28:25

and dan Quinn. Both

28:27

come with straints. Both Harbaugh

28:29

tends to like the pickest players,

28:32

dan Quinn probably not as dogmatic

28:34

on that. Harbaugh's better offensively

28:37

building an offense. Dan Quinn's better on the

28:39

defensive side, I would suspect, but

28:42

they'd be very careful in Buffalo, and not

28:44

a lot of candidates yet, Harbaugh get Dan Quinn.

28:46

Okay, but and again

28:49

I've been critical to McDermott. But Ben

28:51

Johnson, Shane Waldron. Maybe

28:54

the hit rates about twenty five thirty percent.

28:57

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays

29:00

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30:07

We got into a discussion this morning. We were talking

30:09

about running backs

30:12

in the NFL, and it's very rare in

30:14

professional sports, in any league when you can

30:16

kind of separate from your position, and

30:18

we were talking about Christian McCaffrey, and we're like, who's

30:20

the second best running back? Best

30:23

hands, elusive,

30:26

tough, he's just been.

30:29

I remember when that trade was made. The Niners

30:31

picked him up and a lot of people said, oh, look

30:33

what they gave up, and we're like, timeout, when

30:35

you give Picasso an empty canvas, when

30:38

you give Kyle Shanahan Christian McCaffrey,

30:40

it's like the ultimate Swiss army

30:42

knife. It's going to be a steal

30:45

of a acquisition. And it has

30:47

been a classic steal

30:49

of an acquisition because he can do so many

30:51

things. And his dad is Ed McCaffrey,

30:54

who was a great player in the NFL fifty

30:56

five touchdowns, three and zeroe Super Bowls.

31:00

How many five hundred yards receiving. Humble guy,

31:02

but Ed was a great player. Little

31:04

did he know his little son would end up

31:07

being so great that Ed

31:09

can walk in now, put glasses on, and nobody hounds

31:11

him anymore. Let me ask you. I want

31:13

to ask you first of all about christian Is

31:17

and Carolina was a great place and they used

31:19

him appropriately. But San

31:21

Francisco does feel different.

31:24

And Ed, I think you would state this. You

31:26

were nine years with the Broncos, then Giants

31:28

and Niners. Where you land in

31:30

this league matters. Did

31:33

you think it would be this good?

31:35

Knowing your son's style and Kyle's

31:38

history.

31:40

Well, I certainly hoped it would be. And he fits

31:42

in perfectly in San Francisco. And I

31:44

knew that he would because I'm familiar with Kyle

31:46

Shanahan, their head coach. I played for

31:48

Mike Shanahan in Denver. I was familiar

31:51

with Bobby Turner and Anthony Lynn and Brian

31:53

Greasy and a lot of the coaches on their

31:55

coaching staff. I knowe Jed York and

31:57

he's an incredible owner. They really care about

31:59

their organization and they invest in

32:01

players and coaches. They've done a great job

32:03

of developing coaches that have gone on to become head

32:06

coaches, which will, by the way, given them a lot of draft

32:08

picks which made up for anything that Carolina

32:10

had given up for Christian. But more

32:12

than anything, they have consistency, stability,

32:16

and veteran leadership, and you know, that's just something

32:18

that wasn't in Carolina. They went through. It was in

32:20

the beginning and then slowly,

32:22

you know, Cam and Greg Olsen and Keithley

32:24

and all those guys retired and the new

32:26

ownership, multiple head coaches,

32:29

multiple general managers, multiple

32:31

coordinators, a different starting quarterback every

32:34

year that he was there to start the season,

32:36

and they just didn't have the stability and consistency.

32:38

They were in a rebuild and they're

32:40

still in a rebuild. But when he got to

32:42

San Francisco, he has

32:44

run a lot of like minded veteran leaders

32:46

who have committed their lives to

32:49

this game. Smart coaches, dedicated

32:51

players, and it put them in a position where

32:53

you know, he can just do his job, and that's

32:55

where he's at his best. When he

32:57

can just go take the field. No one can count on his

32:59

team mates, they can count on him, and he can just

33:01

go play ball.

33:03

So you know, you don't have to give me private conversations.

33:05

But when Brock Purty, mister irrelevant

33:08

comes in. Obviously

33:10

Shanahan saw something very early

33:13

in practice because they were getting him out there.

33:15

I mean, give me a little story. If you can most

33:18

last picks in the draft, you were a third round

33:20

pick. I think Christian was a first round pick. Like

33:23

you don't get a lot of seventh round guys who

33:25

are spinning it like that. Do you

33:27

remember the first time Christian said to you,

33:30

Dad, this dude he can play.

33:34

Yeah, you know. I watched him in training

33:37

camp and watch him in preseason, and he looked pretty

33:39

good. The one thing I couldn't tell about Brock Purdy

33:42

was, you know, how he would compete in a real NFL

33:44

game, and also how mobile he was. They didn't realize

33:46

how mobile he was. He does a great job of extending

33:49

plays and making plays with his feet. But he's also

33:51

incredibly smart. And I did know that because

33:53

when Christian first got there, he

33:56

didn't even practice with the team. The only reps

33:58

that he got were with Brock perty who

34:01

was running him through the entire game

34:03

plan and going over all the rules

34:05

with him and reviewing all the protections and

34:08

going over all the routes, and Christian

34:10

told me after a day of working with Brock

34:12

that you know, hey, this guy is pretty sharp. You

34:14

know, he knows the whole game plan. It really helped running

34:17

through those plays with them before Kansas City.

34:19

They played Kansas City, Christian heading and practice yet,

34:21

but Brock really helped get him ready. And

34:23

so I'd heard some really good things from

34:26

Christian about Brock before he even became

34:28

the starter, and then wow, once he got in the games,

34:31

you know, even better than advertised.

34:33

So I'm going to come back to Christian and his initiative

34:36

and the cleats in a second. I do want to ask you two questions.

34:38

Your son, Dylan played for a couple of years with Harbaugh

34:41

and then he transferred. I've had enough

34:43

sources and coaches that know Jim. He's a lot,

34:46

he's intense, he's unique. I think

34:48

he's a heck of a coach. But Jim

34:50

is unique, he's different, He's a bit of a disruptor.

34:55

Do you I made the argument that he's

34:57

more important for college than pro

35:00

he works at both. But I

35:02

think I can make an argument that

35:04

Jim's personality could wear you out after

35:06

about three years like Sabans and

35:09

college is a better fit because

35:12

about the time in Jim's

35:14

you know, Jim's personality could wear you

35:17

go to the NFL. Your take

35:19

on Harball, what you know from your son and

35:21

what you've heard, is he

35:23

a better college than pro fit? He won

35:25

it both obviously, ed.

35:28

Yeah, No, I think you're pretty accurate

35:30

in your assessment. You know, I know Jim pretty well. He's

35:32

always been really cool to me. Treat

35:35

it my son well, I

35:37

you know, I would say I remember the first

35:40

time I met him. Although

35:42

I did get recruited by Michigan and bo

35:44

Sham Beckler had me out on the sideline when

35:46

they were playing Ohio State and Jim Harball

35:48

was the quarterback. I didn't know him then, but I was at

35:50

one of his games as a recruit. But I got to

35:52

know himhen I was in the NFL and we went to Anaheim

35:54

for the Buffalo Bills Dallas Cowboys

35:57

Super Bowl, and you

36:00

know, we were doing like the NFL players stuff

36:02

before the game and hanging out and eating and they bring

36:04

us all over in a bus to watch the game. And

36:07

there was like these little circus games set up

36:09

right, you know, like a carnival and one

36:11

of them was the football toss. And you know, they give you this bloated

36:13

football and you throw it through

36:15

a little circle. It's, you know, it's a gimmicky carnival

36:17

thing. It's not a real assessment of your football

36:20

prowess or skill. But you

36:22

know, I was with this guy that

36:24

was super unathletic and a

36:26

little, you know, short chubby guy, and

36:28

we were sitting at this table with Jim

36:30

and he

36:33

was with some other people as well, and my

36:35

wife, and we went into this football throw and my friend

36:37

is the most unathletic of the group somehow

36:39

gets it through in like two tosses, and it takes me a

36:42

couple more times to get it through the circle.

36:45

And it's luck, right, It's mostly luck. It's not football

36:47

skill. But Jim was having trouble throwing

36:49

the football through the circle, and and so

36:52

you know, he tried a couple more times. We left,

36:54

went back to get some food, and then looked

36:57

over. I'm not kidding, like twenty minutes later,

37:00

he was still over at this

37:02

little carnival game trying to throw

37:04

this bloated football, which is not a real football,

37:06

through this little circle. And I

37:08

guess My point is he wouldn't leave until he threw

37:10

the football through the circle. He's that

37:13

competitive. So the one thing I'll say about him,

37:15

he wakes up thinking about football, he goes to bed

37:17

thinking about football. He's ridiculously

37:20

competitive. I think it's one of the reasons

37:22

for his success and also the reason

37:24

sometimes he crosses the

37:26

line. And this year maybe he has gotten in a little

37:28

bit a trouble for things that have happened within his

37:30

program. But he's incredibly

37:33

competitive. He expects

37:35

his players to be incredibly tough and physical.

37:39

When he makes bad decisions, he

37:41

recognizes it and he adapts because he

37:43

knows if you don't adapt in this sport,

37:45

yeah, and in this game, you're going to die. So

37:49

I got to give him credit for that. He's

37:51

tough, he's competitive, he expects

37:53

that out of his players. He's a good recruiter,

37:56

great recruiter, and he's done a really

37:58

good job of picking

38:01

the right schools to coach for and

38:04

the right teams to coach for. And I don't think

38:06

coaches get enough credit for that. You need

38:08

a great organization, You need a school that invests

38:11

in in sports in their football program, that

38:13

allows you to build the program the way you

38:15

think you need to build it, and he's done a good job

38:17

of picking the right team. So in terms

38:20

of Michigan, I mean since I was

38:22

in high school and way before that,

38:24

that team has had a football tradition, with

38:27

Bosham Beckler being one of the people that's influenced

38:29

him in him in his life, but also his

38:31

dad, like he's from a football family, him

38:33

and his brother John are. They believe

38:36

in tough, physical football and

38:38

they've been They grew up with a great

38:40

football coach who has had a huge influence on

38:42

their lives. And so you

38:44

know, when they stick to what they believe they need

38:46

to do to win football games,

38:48

and they don't deviate from

38:50

their core values, which maybe once or

38:53

twice, you know, you make a mistake with personnel

38:55

or coaches or players, but then you

38:57

write the ship. When they

38:59

do that. They they know what it takes

39:01

to build a great program and

39:04

he's had a lot of success doing it. If he's asking

39:06

me, you know, if you want to make more money, go to the NFL.

39:09

But if you want your statue up next to bo

39:11

Schambeckler outside

39:14

the big House, you know, stay at Michigan.

39:16

Yeah, you played

39:19

for a year with Dion Sanders. I

39:21

think he won the Super Bowl that year? Yeah,

39:23

I think you did. And now he's at

39:25

Colorado and when the when? The when? When the when

39:27

he first got hired? I said, Oh, this isn't

39:30

gonna work. He's a lot of flash,

39:33

but the transfer portal flash matters.

39:35

You get people in. But if

39:37

you do too much transfer portal USC

39:40

and Colorado, you don't have any chemistry

39:42

and it's a grab bag of guys who just want a

39:44

paycheck. I

39:47

thought Dion was fascinating in September,

39:50

so I leaned into it. It was new and fun.

39:53

You live in Colorado in

39:57

that state? Now, how is it viewed

39:59

like it was fun? But it was a lot of hype?

40:02

Or do you know Colorado football is not a powerhouse?

40:04

Ed? You know that it's hard to win there. The state

40:06

doesn't have a ton of high school football stars.

40:09

What do you make how long do you think deon stage

40:11

there? What do you make of the whole situation with he in Colorado

40:13

football?

40:15

Well, I'll tell you what. He created more excitement around

40:18

Buff's football than I've seen since

40:20

I've lived here, and that was in nineteen ninety five.

40:22

Now, they did win a National Championship and I played against

40:24

him in the eighties. So they did have a

40:26

good, good program at one time, but

40:29

they had kind of fallen off the map, and in terms

40:31

of the investment the school made in the program,

40:34

in terms of the support that the football

40:36

program got from the school, it didn't seem to be there.

40:38

It's there now. Dion has done an

40:40

amazing job of shaking

40:43

it up a little bit. And I think, you know, love

40:46

or hate what he did. He kind of had to do it. Now. A lot

40:48

of coaches would probably get fired for saying

40:50

and doing some of the things he said. But he's gotten

40:52

the support from the president in the ad and

40:54

he brought in a lot of incredibly talented

40:56

players. They went from one win to four wins

40:59

a year, in an amazing victory

41:02

over TCU early on, and they scored a lot of

41:04

points against you know, USC and some other teams

41:07

where they lost, but it was impressive. And

41:10

you know, Dion is Dion. He

41:12

does it in his own style. I played with him. He was a phenomenal

41:14

teammate. He was Defensive Player of the Year in San Francisco

41:17

in nineteen ninety four, the year we won a Super Bowl. The

41:19

last Super Bowl at San Francisco won. Hopefully there's

41:21

more to come, and I think he

41:23

he knows exactly what he wants to do

41:26

with that program, and so he's going to

41:28

be controversial. He's going to be a mercurial

41:32

figure within the sports world.

41:34

But you know, if there's

41:37

one guy that has a chance of turning CU

41:40

into a perennial winner in

41:42

football, I think it's Dion and he

41:44

I think he's exactly what they needed at

41:47

a time when they needed it. Now, the

41:49

slippery slope of being a college football coach right now

41:51

is how do you build a long lasting culture

41:54

and still build a team every year to win and

41:56

not turn into a feeder team, not turn

41:58

into a team where you're start players are always going to

42:01

leave for a better opportunity as soon as they

42:03

have some success. That that's

42:05

the real challenge he's gonna face. How well

42:07

does he do rebuilding

42:09

his roster from this year to next.

42:12

Finally, your son, Christian McCaffrey.

42:15

He has a My Cause, My Cleats initiative.

42:18

Your family, Christian had

42:21

charities, which is awesome and

42:24

I think it's part of your family. You're all athletes

42:27

and charities and doing well for others

42:29

and is the is the initiative still going on?

42:31

How can people participate it

42:34

is?

42:34

You know he puts something out on Instagram. Should just

42:36

look for Christian on Instagram or go to

42:38

his website, the Christian McCaffrey Foundation dot

42:40

com. He has two causes he really believes and one

42:43

is supporting military families that's really

42:45

really important to him. And the other

42:47

is the Logan Project supporting

42:50

Logan Hail and that story will just

42:52

tug at your heartstrings. It's a young

42:55

young man in Carolina who unfortunately

42:57

passed away and who just wanted to play

43:00

video games with his friends in the hospital during

43:02

his last days. He had a great attitude, love

43:05

of life, a lot of enthusiasm, and all he

43:07

wanted to do is play video games with his friends. So Christian

43:10

has made an effort to partner with other NFL

43:12

players and other teams in hospitals

43:15

and NFL cities to put gaming consoles

43:17

in children's wards in the hospital so that

43:20

they can play not only with their friends

43:22

and family, but maybe even other celebrities. He put

43:24

on the Logan Bowl last year and a lot of NFL players

43:26

participated and played against each

43:28

other and shared with some of the

43:31

children in hospitals in their NFL city. So

43:33

it's a great cause and just an amazing

43:35

story and means a lot to Christian and

43:37

so check them out on Instagram, check out

43:39

the website. Too late to

43:41

vote for which kleed he's gonna wear this week. He's thinking

43:43

about wearing one of each on

43:46

his left and right foot, but definitely

43:48

not too late to donate and make a difference.

43:50

And you took time first today, fifteen minutes.

43:52

I know you're busy. I always appreciate that, and

43:54

I just want to thank you for.

43:55

It anytime, Colin, thank

43:57

you for having me on the show. All right.

43:59

Ed mccaff who was a great player three to zero

44:01

Super Bowls, seventy five hundred yards,

44:03

fifty five touchdowns, Stanford

44:05

guy. Heck of a player,