September 13, 2021 • 40 mins
A huge week 1 of the NFL season where Colin compares the off seasons of Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson and what impact that had on the start of the regular season. He discusses Baker Mayfield’s duel against Patrick Mahomes and how Mayfield was ultimately exposed. He also tells you why he was right about Sam Darnold and wrong about the Eagles. Plus, 3-time Pro Bowl QB Carson Palmer joins the show to give his thoughts on what he saw from week 1 including Mayfield and Rodgers.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on
Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it is a glorious Monday live
(00:28):
in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be,
however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS
one one hour from now. Where Colin was right, Where
Colin was wrong, plenty of both. Michael Vick, Carson Palmer
(00:50):
loaded today Smorgus Board of Topics. Joey Taylor is joining me.
I sat there, wife's out of town, ME and the
Dogs and the NFL. I watched parts of every game
I am. I ordered chicken parm after the Rams Bears
game crash for seven hours. What a world we live in?
(01:13):
What I so much normalcy? Felt so great to see
the fans did all the fans were amazing around this
country this weekend. It did Yeah, I mean college football
fans even starting from last week was amazing to see.
But if it feels like we're back, the NFL's back,
and there were some great games yesterday. God bless America,
God bless American football fans. So I'm a big believer
(01:34):
in this. My life is not about actions. Actions are easy.
Got a coffee this morning and drove to work. My
wife's about seventy five to eighty percent about reactions. How
do I react when my kids have a problem at school,
when somebody's health goes sideways, life will be determined how
(01:56):
I act react to things that don't go as planned.
I think about that all the time, because life is
not linear. There's always a boss, a spouse, a kid,
a teacher, Something goes sideways. How will you react to it?
And you'll find that people's personalities are amplified in crisis.
(02:20):
Jerks are bigger jerks. Compassionate people are more compassionate. I
mean folks. We have a tiny percentage of America that
can't wear a mask on a plane. They just completely unravel.
It's too much to ask. That's how they react to
being asked to do something that we all think stinks.
I hate it too. I'm just a grown up, So
I want you to think about this. Russell Wilson and
Aaron Rodgers both got mad at their organizations this off season.
(02:46):
Now there was limitations on what Seattle or green Bay
could do because Russell makes so much money and Aaron
makes so much money. So the organizations were somewhat limited.
And so Seattle went out, got Russell, a new offensive coordinator,
an old left guard probably a one year player, and
a nice tight end. But they didn't have a lot
(03:08):
of money, They couldn't rearrange the deck chairs, and they
didn't have a lot of draft picks. Green Bay drafted
a wide receiver, tried to redo Aaron's contract. How did
they react to it? Russell Wilson viewed what Seattle did,
which was very small, as a positive step. He quickly
(03:31):
pivoted to what his agent, Mark Rogers told me was
the greatest offseason he's ever had. He became mister Seahawk,
making calls, trying to get players signed, and yesterday he
was brilliant eighteen of twenty three in a true road
game against a team that will probably win their division,
(03:52):
while the Colts will buttoned up slick. How did Aaron
handle his off Sea season, bumps, brooding, condescending, still talking
about it up until a week ago, taking shots at
the organization, making you know he does not need football
(04:12):
fifty fifty retirement. He actually said that publicly. Look at
how both of them handled an offseason crisis. It amplified
their personality. Russell tends to be optimistic and hopeful and
a unifier. When he transferred to Wisconsin within ten days,
didn't know a player, they named him Captain Farvin Rodgers
(04:36):
didn't get along for years. It amplified it. The moody, prickly,
condescending eron as they say, the sins of summer are
paid in the fall and winter. The Packers were disorganized,
looked lost, look ghasted. The Seahawks were brilliant. Green Bay
(05:00):
didn't even play a true road game. They played a
rebuilding team. Isn't it interesting? Life is overwhelmingly how you
and I react to non perfect situations because we mostly
control stuff. You get up, you drive to work, you
get your coffee, you go to work, you do a
good job to come home. Your dogs and cats love you.
(05:21):
A lot of action. That easy stuff. Our life is
only difficult Joey's mind, Ryan's yours stuff goes sideways, Teacher calls, spouse,
drives your nods, boss gives your limitations. How do you
react to it? Gonna throw a fit in an airplane,
Gonna be brooding, petulant all off season? Or do you
do a Russell Wilson and quickly pivot to I make
(05:44):
a lot. We don't have a ton of draft picks.
They got me a better guard, they changed offensive coordinators.
LFG let's go. That's what Seattle's quarterback did and what
you saw was a result of it, and Green Bay's
quarterback even after the game, kind of the typical no
big deal, relax our lax Aaron Rodgers, just one game.
(06:08):
You know, we've played bad. I played bad offensively, we
didn't execute very well. One game. We got sixteen to go.
We're coming off a couple of NFC championship games and
obviously feeling good about the unit that we have on
offenses that we talk about a lot. So this is
a good, good kick in the un where hopefully get
(06:33):
us going in the right direction, going back home and
playing division opponent next week. Is it just one game?
I don't know. I looked at your schedule. Steelers are
around the corner I saw your offensive line. Is it
just one game? Cincinnati appears to have a punch be
playing them soon? Is that just one game? Crisis amplifies
(06:58):
a man's personality. You see the two on TV right now,
you know which one I'd choose. And to that, let's
talk Baker against Mahomes. That was a really good game
and really fun. I know what you think this morning, Colin,
you gotta be very critical. Okay, listen, if you had
to boil down the difference between great quarterbacks and competent
(07:24):
ones in this league, it comes down to this. The
great ones are unaffected by score. They lead, they trail,
It doesn't matter. Tom Brady Thursday night, great example, he
gets the ball back minute twenty left. Every single person
on the Cowboys, everybody in the stands, every security guard,
(07:47):
every popcorn vendor, every player knows Tom's got to throw
in every down. So what it doesn't matter. I mean, basically,
Dallas pinning her ears back pass rush, He's gotta throw.
Tom was so effect he threw three straight balls out
of bounds because he got there so fast. And think
about Baker Mayfield when Baker had a lead a running game.
(08:12):
By the way, Kevin Stefanski is one of the top
five play callers in the world. He is a great
play caller. Baker's throwing on third and two, second and
four very effective. Now let's throw in some variables or
punter fumble. Nick Chubb fumbles games close. Now it's on me.
I've got a throw interception. Jared Goff in twenty eighteen
(08:38):
and Jimmy Garoppolo in twenty nineteen, playing with a lead,
a good play caller, an excellent running game. Got to
the Super Bowl Ryan Tannehill with with Derrick Henry playing
with a lead, very effective Goff, Garoppolo, Tannehill. But the
minute yesterday Kansas City knew, Oh, most couple of it's left.
(09:00):
Baker's got to throw. That changes everything because golf and
Baker and Garoppolo this league. The separation is this. Mahomes
trailed all first half and most of the second, and
especially as she got into the late third and early fourth. Oh,
Mahomes has to throw, so three touchdowns, no picks, one
(09:24):
hundred and forty three passer rating. Literally, the score is
irrelevant with Brady, it's irrelevant with Russell Wilson, It's irrelevant
with Patrick Mahomes. The minute you knew Baker in the
last two drives had to throw. Wasn't the same quarterback
because now everybody knows what the quarterback. Linebackers drop into coverage,
(09:47):
pass rushers pin their ears back and Baker's a guy.
And by the way, again, golf Garoppolo to a super Bowl.
Cleveland's gonna win twelve games. Don't take a ton from this.
But that is the difference Cleveland coaches. No, there is
a script with Baker. Do not let him addlib, do
not leave him to his own judgment, and devices manage
(10:09):
the game. And by the way, this offensive line is
good enough. They are going to manage this and control
the temple on almost everybody on their schedule. They don't
have to have Mahomes firing back at Arrowhead. That's the
toughest game. We told you all week. This is the
toughest game in their schedule. This is no fun. By
the way, I believe Mahomes now in September has thirty
five touchdowns and no interceptions. This was a loss, and
(10:32):
you played really well. But for the great ones, it
doesn't matter what the score is. Hey, I love Lamar Jackson.
He's better with a lead than trailing, and I think
he's great. Aaron Rodgers is great. He's always been a
better quarterback with a lead than trailing Owa's. It's got
very few come from behind wins. And to Baker Mayfield's credit,
(10:54):
he acknowledged the only time of the game that matters
is everybody knows you gotta make a play. Can you
or will you? It's just all the little things that matter,
and you know it's it's very frustrating because they're there.
They're there. But like I said, when you play the Chiefs,
the teams of that caliber, if you don't execute, you're
(11:16):
gonna lose critical moments. You have to execute critical moments.
Nothing else matters before those moments. You know, it always
comes down to those three four plays, and those critical
moments are almost always for a quarterback. They know you're throwing,
they know you've got to throw. It's why Maholmes has
separated from the league. His Super Bowl run that he won,
(11:38):
he trailed in every playoff game. He trailed twenty four
nothing so so he is more than any quarterback in football.
Score irrelevant. The only thing that affects Patrick Mahomes is
the one thing that affects every quarterback that's ever played
the game. If he's running for his life on every
(11:58):
single play like a super manning Akman Wilson, it doesn't
matter that nobody wins with that Nobody wins with that variable.
We can't literally can't protect the quarterback he's running for
his life. But the other variables matter very little for
Patrick Mahomes, for the rest of the league mostly, and Baker.
(12:20):
It's the difference between great and good. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio app so Bears Rams. Matt Stafford averaged
twelve point three yards an attempt. That's why they got
Matt Stafford. So it's interesting when you look around, I mean,
(12:42):
you all do this. What I'm about to say, we
do this, joy and I do this. You look around
at your competition, You look around. What do they do
better than us? What do we gotta get better at?
Because there's a lot of things. We feel like we
come in every day, we do a good show. But
you'll look around. Fox looks around her what can we
do better here? What can we do? That's what companies
that's what your company does, That's what my companies do.
(13:03):
And the rams looked around. You know, I talked to
people in the front office. They looked around and said,
you know what we need. We got mahomes in this
league for ten years. Okay, we need more mahomes like touchdowns,
home runs, quick strikes, over the top. They liked Jared Goff.
They won ten games a year with Jared Goff, but
they felt like they had to coach perfectly with Goff.
(13:25):
Nothing came easy. It had to be nine play drives,
ten play drives, one fumble, one tip pass, one penalty
blows the drive up. And they felt like Stafford gave
them thirty percent more playbook the mahomes stuff. I mean
Mahomes and Zeke yesterday or Tyree Hill yesterday had a
one play drive. I mean even a Browns fan, you
(13:46):
just I don't even know if it was a good throw.
It was like, yeah, they just do that once again.
You just get a free seven points. Just let's just
start every game with the free seven points for Kansas City.
You can't explain it. McVay privately, like golf, but they
felt like there was a ceiling. They were limited. Nothing
came easy. You had to coach perfectly. One offensive line injury,
(14:06):
one tweaked ankle, one drop pass, blew it up. And
if you look at the chart of where Stafford through
last night, sprinkled it everywhere thirty percent more playbook deep laugh,
deep right, deep middle short laugh short right. And I
think that's the difference. And I also feel fit matters right.
Like in Los Angeles, Magic Johnson is a better fit
(14:28):
in Los Angeles than Boston. A guy named Showtime. Magic's
the greatest fit in the history of basketball for a city.
He literally his game was flashy, the big smile. The
nickname is Magic Showtime. That's what the Lakers star should be.
This is Los Angeles, Jack Nicholson, Diane Cannoner sitting five
feet away. Like, fit matters. And there's a reason when
(14:51):
the Pistons have been good, they're tough because Detroit's tough,
Detroit's physical. They make cars, they make trucks, they got factory.
When Pittsburgh in the seventies was dominating, it was Steeltown, USA.
They were tough. Bradshaw was tough. They threw it over
the top, they punched you in the neck. They felt
(15:13):
like Pittsburgh and the Pistons always feel like Detroit, Kobe
Magic big, and Stafford feels like the Rams. You saw
the stadium, The stadium feels like La the Stars. Golf
was a good kid. He's a good player. He never
(15:34):
felt big Stafford. The arm, the talent, the big plays,
the home runs, the quick strike. Stafford feels more like
what a Ram quarterback should be. And that's what the
Rams wanted, is that they didn't like golf. They won
ten games a year with golf, but the minute they
had to pay golf, there's limitations on what they could
(15:55):
do with the roster. And since they're not going to
get rid of Jalen Ramsey or Aaron Donald, arguably the
best players in the league at their position, they said, Okay,
if we're gonna have to pay for a quarterback, we'd
rather pay for a quarterback that feels more like us,
can do more things like us. And I thought the
whole night last night on NBC, just Stafford felt big.
(16:19):
The game's big, The stadium is big, the star power,
the Rams, everything felt big. And he fits perfectly. Sean
McVay after, He's got a great, great ability to be
able to change his arm slot and make make all
types of throws, whether it be short, intermediate, or down
the field. But he's uh, you know, there's you're not
limited in anything that you can do with him. In
the past game, you could just see there was a
(16:40):
look in his eye. He had confidence in his teammates.
He expected to play well, and you know, he did
a great job. I was. It's hard to say that
there was one thing, Jim. I loved everything that he
did tonight. I've never seen Sean McVay smile more. I
swear to god, it's like a honeymoon period. Wait till
Stafford throws a costly interception. We'll see then. But I
thought it just felt big. It felt ripe stadium to
(17:03):
Stafford to McVay. Mcvay's got star power, the stadium, the city,
the quarterback needs to as well. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Herd weekdays and newon Eastern a Empacific.
He's Mike Carmen, I'm Dan Byer. We have a brand
new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice
a week every Tuesday and Friday. We come up with
(17:25):
new episodes to not only look back at what happened
what you need to do at that minute, and also
look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world.
That's right, Dan. Every week we're gonna scour the waiver
wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sits, starts,
fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
(17:45):
the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike
Carmen and meet Dan Buyer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast and wherever you get your podcasts. There's certain things
in football that I would call them traits. Cleanlin has
very good traits this year. Excellent old line, strong running game,
(18:07):
and Kevin Stefanski is a tremendous play caller that is
going to wear very well every week. Pittsburgh is built.
They're so good in the front seven. Defensively, if you
don't have it buttoned up on your old line, they
are seek and destroy. They will completely disrupt you. And
(18:28):
so yesterday Big Ben average five point nine yards an attempt.
Ben is not accurate. Ben is not efficient. Ben's not
great at the line of scrimmage. Ben's a home run hitter.
Ben looked old in Week one. He looked old yesterday
they can't run the ball, they don't throw the ball
down the fields effectively. What are they going to look
(18:48):
like in Week seventeen. I don't see the traits. What
I see is a great front seven, and I mean
best front seven in the league, and that is going
to That's why I said they're at eight. Nine team
that's gonna win him nine games or eight games? Maybe
I'll win nine. Maybe I had them low at eight.
I said, they feel like a team that wins one
way their defensive line. And I said this about the
(19:10):
Dallas Cowboys Thursday, Cowboys can beat you one way shootout.
The Cowboys had lost seventeen straight games when they didn't
score thirty points. They have to score thirty. This team
has to face average offensive lines and when they do,
this is what will happen. So why I bet the
Steelers this weekend? But I don't see their traits. And
(19:32):
let by the way, it's week one. Super Bowls are
not one in September. If they were, Andy Reid would
have seven and Bill Belichick would have won. It's Belichick's
weakest month, Andy's best month. But if you look at
the best teams in this league, Cleveland excellent, Old line Rams,
excellent old line, Kansas City, Baltimore, Tampa, most of your goodness.
Buffalo is rare, good team, shaky old line. Most of
(19:56):
the good teams will not be completely utterly unrund traveled
by the Steelers excellent front seven. When I watched them yesterday.
It's not a shot, but they can't run the ball
last year, they can't run it this year. They get
no push nausea. Harris is fine, but he and Ben
didn't click. Chase Clayboll's amazing. Rest of the receivers you
can have. Chase is great, and this game played right
(20:18):
into it. They're a very proud team. Now. Now Mike Tomlin,
and he's impossible to argue with. He is the greatest
quote and the history of the league. Shuts guys like
me up. And he does make a point. We're not
worried about style points. We'll let you guys write whatever
stories you want to write. Man, we knew it would
be tough sledding. They got a great defense, they got
(20:39):
continuity not only in players but schematics. We're playing them
in their place. We had a bunch of new pieces.
You know, we weren't style point oriented today. We just
had to win this game. I'm not gonna argue with that,
and they and that's my point. They have to win
ugly because their offensive line is not good enough to
win pretty. Ben is a home run quarterback, not an
(21:02):
efficient guy, not the accurate guy, and he's averaging five
point nine yards an attempt. Matt Stafford average over twelve
and he's more accurate generally is a thrower. So I
don't see traits that were well. Cleveland has great traits.
They don't. By the way, when Cleveland leads everybody at half,
they're not going to face Mahomes and Tyreek Hill and
(21:24):
Travis Kelsey. Cleveland's gonna win this division. Cleveland's traits are
excellent for the season. Pittsburgh is just gonna monster front seven.
But watch when Cleveland and Pittsburgh meet. Cleveland's offensive line's
the best in football first or second best. Cleveland will
not be completely disrupted by the Steelers front. I still
(21:47):
think I have the number right on Pittsburgh. Maybe they're
nine and eight not eight and nine. One more Herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
live or on demand when where you like. Where Colin
was right, shocker, distracted, noisy moody. Aaron Rodgers and the
Packers were awful yesterday. In fact, of all the teams
(22:11):
in the NFL, they scored the fewest points. Think about that,
Aaron Jones, Davante Adams, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Lafleur, worst offense
in the league. And this is a rebuilding Saints defense.
Maybe Aaron could stop discussing his off season and his
moods and how it's landing for him. Just go play, dude,
no touchdowns, two picks, didn't look prepared. Noisy off seasons.
(22:36):
Seattle's was noisy for about two weeks. Green Bay is
still talking about Aaron, still discussing how this all lands
for me. Get over yourself. Where Colin was right. I
don't think I've ever had a winning week. Week one
of blazing five, two and three. We had the Steelers
plus six and a half and we did have the
(22:59):
Panthers barely on that. I apologize for the Lions pick.
There are two teams I will never bet again, Detroit
and Atlanta. And I cannot believe I doubted Justin Herbert.
My apologies to the Herbert family. He is great. Where
Colin was right, it's amazing how effective Sam Darnold is
when you know he has weapons and a run game
(23:21):
and can play with an occasional lead. Darnald wasn't great,
but he went twenty four of thirty five two hundred
eighty yards, one touchdown, no picks, rushing touchdown in a
passer rating of one o two. Sam doesn't throw the
purtiest ball. Zach Wilson throws a prettier ball. Sam has
his flaws. Sometimes he plays a quarterback like a linebacker.
(23:41):
But he's a really talented kid. And when you don't
ask him to be the entire life preserver and you
just ask him to be a really important or in
the boat, he's a good player who can make plays,
and he played with a lead. It's funny, little protection,
little run game. Who wins games in this league? Where
Colin was wrong. Did the Philadelphia Eagles look as good
(24:06):
and as buttoned up as almost any team in the league.
I gotta give Nick Serriani credit. He may be bad
at a microphone. Jalen Hurts totally in control. I thought
they came in with an offensive and defensive game plan.
I mean, they really look buttoned up. Some of that
has to be coaching influenced. Listen, I said, I think
I have a verbal bias. If you're bad at the microphone,
(24:30):
I judge you too harshly. But I watched them plan.
I'm like, I don't know of a kind of decent
football team. I will say this. We did say their
tight end group is really good. And between Davonte Smith,
the rookie receiver, and the kid they drafted out a
TCU Rigger a couple of years ago, they got speed
at wide receiver. Their on line is healthy. It looks
like a fairly productive offense. Where Colin was right. We
(24:53):
told you that Miami New England, it's literally the same
team facing one another. And if you watch that game,
and I did, it was literally mirror images of each other.
The quarterbacks Mac Jones was okay, touchdown, no picks efficient too,
It was okay, had a touchdown, had a pick in
one bad throw. The coaching styles, the defenses, the special teams,
(25:15):
the excellent corners, the differences. Miami has got a little
more juice and speed on the outside. But I said,
New England this year is gonna look like Miami last year.
Not good enough to win the super Bowl, good enough
to wildcard team, get to the playoffs, maybe win a
playoff game. I thought yesterday, I don't even know. I
don't think necessarily the better team won and I don't
(25:37):
think the worst team lost. And I think if they
played ten times, they split them right down the middle
at five five. And that's what you saw yesterday where
Colin was row Listen, Andy Dalton, that's not gonna work.
He's not enough juice. Listen, I thought, listen, start a veteran,
don't put a rookie in the crosshairs of SOFI Stadium
and Aaron Donald and you know Andy can plan under control.
(25:59):
But if you look at the quarterback chart where he
throws the ball, everything's underneath, nothing over twelve yards. And
Chicago guess what they need? Juice. And also, this is
not a championship team. This is not like the Niners
who are going back and forth. That's a super Bowl roster.
Don't screw around in the NFC West like win games.
Garoppolo has been here. Chicago is not a super Bowl team.
(26:20):
And when you watched it last night, watch how the
Bear players reacted to the Justin Field's touchdown, like like
they want him to play. Can't fool the players. Where
Colin was right. I've been saying this for years. Aggressive wins.
The SEC is the most aggressive college football conference. They're
stealing your teams, they're stealing your girlfriends. The NFC West
has the most aggressive gms in the league. Yesterday, the Niners,
(26:44):
the Cardinals, Seattle won convincingly on the road. The Rams
won convincingly at home. All these teams they don't they
don't have first round picks. They get up their first
round picks. They go make massive trades. They get J. J. Watt,
they get Matt Stafford, they get These are the most
aggressive team teams, arguably in the NFL. They're all in
the same division. Yesterday is a great example of something
(27:05):
I preach constantly, aggressive wins in sports. Dana White, UFC,
We're gonna go Rheton Island, Middle of COVID, We're gonna
go Rheton Island. Aggressive wins. You're gonna get blowback on Twitter.
There's gonna be criticism if it fails. For the most
aggressive teams, all in the same division, all look spectacular yesterday.
Where Colin was wrong, that Jaguar situation was not great.
(27:31):
Ten penalties, three turnovers. Urban Meyer is known in college
as a turnaround specialist, but they were completely unraveled. They
trailed thirty four to seven at one point to Houston.
I'll say this, Tyrod Taylor and David Culley had been
in this league for a long time and it's Week one,
(27:51):
and so urban Meyer. A lot of this is I'm
not sure exactly what we're gonna be and what it's
gonna be like. And Trevor Lawrence had some nice throws.
I'll say this, Trevor, Trevor's really talented. That's not the question.
But as we've said from the beginning, this is a
rebuild outside a wide receiver every other unit, and to
be down thirty four to seven to the Texans is
(28:15):
concerning where Colin was right. Finally, the one AFC team
I was really concerned about was the Tennessee Titans, and
they were boat raced at home. Listen, young quarterbacks need coordinators.
Arthur Smith. I don't know if he'll be a great
head coach, but he was a great coordinator and Tannehill
(28:36):
doesn't have him. I think their secondary is week They
can't quite get the offensive line right. Arizona at one
point led twenty four to six. The final score is
not indicative of the game. It was never competitive. This
was the one good team the last two years. And
we know this happens every year. There's four new playoff
teams every year. I said, the one team that's been
really good for last several years I just don't buy
(28:59):
is Tennessee. By the way, they have the fewest returning
starters in the NFL, and in Week one they have
new coordinators. It really showed maybe they're better October, but
they struggled. Colin Right, Colin Wrong. Brought to you by
Jersey Mike Subbs. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays in newon Easter nine am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Well,
(29:22):
it was a great one of three time pro bowler,
a number one pick fifteen years in the NFL, Carson
Palmer now joining us live. First of all, I gotta
give I gotta give Joe Burrow credit. I gotta say this,
coming off an injury, Carson is hard. It's hard to
get back on that bike. And I'll tell you what,
(29:43):
He's a gamer. There's a something about him, and you
know you've had injuries. That first game back live Bullets
is tough. I thought Joe Burrows, as you could kind
of guess, was a total gamer yesterday. He looked great.
He was really smart with the ball. He didn't put
himself for his team in any bad situations, and then
(30:04):
at the end of the game when he had to
make the big throws in the big plays, he was
able to make them. So, I mean, there's a lot
been talked about this Bengals team in this offensive line.
If the offensive line continues to protect Joe and he
doesn't have to beat you with his feet and he
can throw the ball and distribute it to all the
playmakers he has, that's when this Bengals team is at
their best. You know, it's interesting Cleveland lost, but I
(30:26):
felt Carson, there are traits that I think that were
well in the NFL. If you have a good oldline
and you can run downhill and control clock and tempo,
you can make a guy like Patrick Mahomes be a
spectator for large chunks of the game. And I thought
Cleveland lost, but my takeaway was that team's going to
(30:47):
lead a lot of people and they're not going to
have to face Mahomes an arrowhead. I thought the most
impressive losing team yesterday, maybe by far, was Cleveland. Your
takeaway on that performance in that game? Well, and if
you look at Cleveland's defensive line, I mean, they've got
two number one picks a defensive end and Jadeveon Clowney
and Miles Garrett. So they are built to play with
(31:08):
a little bit of a lead and make you have
to throw it. And it didn't work. I Mean, the
thing that jumped out to me is Baker Mayfield is
exactly what we've all been saying he is. He's a
really good quarterback. Is he great? Is he good enough
to put that team on his shoulders and go out
and win game in game out, week end week out?
I don't know yet. I think that's the biggest question
(31:30):
this year is that they're in this position in Cleveland
where they have to decide are they going to extend
Baker Mayfield's contract. They've given him everything he could want.
He's gotten not only one great running back, he's got two.
He's got an offensive line. They've got some playmakers on
the back end of the secondary, and they can rush
the passer and play with the lead and force you
to have to drop back and deal with those two
defensive ends. But at the end of the day, it
(31:53):
was just drastic. It was the difference between Baker Mayfield
and Patrick Mahomes is stark. I mean, you look at
that team that got That team is built to make
a super Bowl run. We'll see as the season progresses
if Baker's good enough to win a super Bowl. Listen,
I don't want to take too much from week one,
but there's a saying in sports that players you know
(32:15):
will win the off season. They'll win in the off season.
Teams will win in the season, so you know, the
sins of the summer, he'll be paid in the fall.
You know, Russell Wilson an errand both had issues with
their organizations and because they're both expensive, Carson, there's not
much the Seahawks could do, and there's not much Green
Bay could do right they had to. You know, they
resigned Aaron Jones in Green Bay, they went and drafted
(32:37):
a wide receiver. Seattle got Gabe Jackson. They got him
a better tight end and offensive coordinator. But in the end,
when you're paying your quarterback, a lot of money. There's
limitations on moving the deck chairs. But the difference to
me was Russell appreciated it and quickly pivoted to work
in his butt off and getting ready for the opener.
And I know everybody loves Aaron, but he's brooding about
(32:58):
this thing. He talked about it till last week. And
I watched yesterday green Bay and I think to myself,
that just didn't look right. That didn't look right at all.
And there's a difference between a loss Cleveland lost and
that something doesn't sit well when I watched Green Bay.
They're too talented to be the worst offense in the league,
(33:20):
even if it's a game. Your thoughts, My thoughts are
the quarterback is hard. Playing quarterback is extremely difficult, even
if you are Aaron Rodgers. But when you bring on
all this criticism and all the doubt and you're asking
for a trade and demanding certain things in the front office,
that's just a lot for you to have to deal
with throughout training camp, going into week two after an
(33:43):
embarrassing loss. It's something that your teammates have to deal
with and constantly get asked questions about. You know, as
Aaron Happy, do you what do you think the organization
needs to do to get Aaron happy, and just all
those things that your teammates are constantly burdened with, and
every press conference and every open locker room where the
media is available, and Aaron looked uncomfortable. He looked uncomfortable
(34:04):
from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. He never
settled his feet, he never just dropped back and ripped
the ball into a seam or a nice long completion.
Everything looked challenging, everything looked different. I just think the offseason,
he's gone through the training camp, he's gone through all
the questions, you know, all the stuff he's got going
(34:25):
in his personal life that those things can burden you,
those things can weigh you down. And Aaron looked like
he had, you know, Cement boots on. At times. Something
was holding him back and holding him down. And you know,
at the end of the day, he is Aaron Rodgers.
He will shake this rust off. He will come back
and play great. He'll probably end up going to the
Pro Bowl and throw for thirty eight touchdowns and five
(34:45):
thousand plus yards. But he just looked uncomfortable. He looked
burdened by a long offseason. And you know that that
like I said, I think that'll wear off in week two,
will be a different story. But you know all that
talk that was going on in Seattle, that only lasted
for maybe a month. Yep. And then Russ was happy
and Russ. Russ looked happy. Russ looked like he was
having fun. And then it's the polar opposite for watching
(35:08):
that Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers looked miserable and uncomfortable all day.
Really great stuff. Carson Palmer joining us the from a
poor Bowl quarterback. You know, it's interesting I could I
could say that you and Matt Stafford have some similarities.
You come out, your number one picks, huge arm talents.
Even when you were losing early in your career, people
said it's the organization. It's not it's Cincinnati, it's Detroit.
(35:31):
And then finally you guys have to move and it's like, oh,
this is what a winning cultures like. They spend money.
And I watched Matt Stafford yesterday and I thought to myself,
what a wonderful break in life. I can move anywhere
I want. Mostly in my career, quarterbacks, the better you are,
you get drafted the worst team. And that's where pro
(35:52):
sports is totally unfair, you know, and it's like, take
me to your career when you finally got a lead
support a run game. Because I watched Stafford last night
and I'm like, oh my god, this is a brand
new life for Matt Stafford. And it's immediate. It's not
like the light bulb turned on for Matt Stafford in
(36:14):
Sofi Stadium in you know, midway through the third quarter
last night. Matt Stafford felt a difference in the organization
from day one. So Matt's probably just been licking his
chops to get to leak one since he got there.
It's a totally different environment. You got a coach that
you completely trust. You got an organization that you know
(36:34):
is is willing to do what it takes to go
out and get a Jalen Ramsey and resigned in Aaron
Donald and to you know, bring to Sean Jackson in
and you know, he's been feeling as good as he
looked last night since he got to LA, since he
started putting on number nine of the of that of
that uniform. I mean, this is not new. This didn't
(36:55):
just happen overnight. We all saw it as fans last night.
Matt Stafford was this pumping and smiling ecstatic yep, had
you know, slap on the helmets of teammates. We haven't
seen him do that in Detroit because there hasn't been
much to high five and butt slap about. Now he's
with the right organization, the right coach, and there was
so much talk. You know, there's so much misdirection in
(37:17):
this offense, and you got to be able to throw
on the run. There's all these bootlegs. Matt looked as
comfortable as any quarterback outside the pocket last night. I
mean he I think he's gonna thrive in this offense.
The talent, the depth of talent, the offensive line play,
and now he doesn't need to throw for four hundred
and fifty yards a night to win. Got a defense
that is best in the league year in year out
(37:39):
since Aaron Donald got there. So it's a perfect combination
for Matt to thrive in that system. You know it.
We were talking about this in my lifetime. Generally either
quarterbacks or pocket guys or they move and there's a deficiency.
Tom's not gonna run for first downs or Philip Rivers
and you know, you know their quarterback, You're like Michael
Vick would admit like he ran too much early, didn't
(38:00):
develop his passing game. And then I watch Russell and
Kyler Murray and I watched Connor Murray yesterday and it's funny.
They're both baseball guys, so they're both great sliders. When
they run, they never get hit. And I watched Kyler
Murray and I went back to the first ten weeks
of last year and this is a rebuilding team, and
his numbers were insane. And I watched him yesterday and
as a guy that was a pocket guy, when you
(38:22):
watch Kyler Murray or even a russ is there, do
you look at it and think, oh, I would have
just because you were an athlete, But how do you
view the guy that can move as well and throw.
The thing that blows my mind about Kyler's game is
that he can still see when he is in the pocket.
He's extremely accurate inside the pocket, and he's got a
(38:43):
lot more arm and a lot more touch than I
think any of us thought coming into the league because
his sample size was so small with just one year
at Oklahoma, and you can't see that touch ball he
throws right there. You can't see how much touch a
guy has until you've seen him play not one year,
not two years, but into year three and year four,
(39:03):
and you start realizing the consistency of the touch balls
that they're throwing. Kyler's got a ton of touch. He
can actually see somehow, some way. He's always been short, right,
he can find a way to see lanes in the pocket,
and then once he gets outside the pocket, it's game over.
I mean, if you can't contain him, he's gonna find
a way to either beat you at his feet and
(39:24):
score touchdowns like that, or he's gonna find a way
to get outside the pocket, extend to play and find
somebody get open late like he did a couple times yesterday.
It was like Houdini or like watching the old Russell Wilson,
where he would just continue to back pedal and move,
make it a fender miss, and then find a nice
eight or ten yard completion. So his ability to make
plays inside the pocket has really surprised me, and his
(39:47):
touch ball gets better and better each week. We're so
lucky to have Carson Palmer, the former pro bowler. I
know where he lives. I'm not saying it. I wish
I was there, and he's probably gonna go fly fishing
multiple times this week, and I'm completely jealous of them.
Envy is a bad trait, but I'm envs of you
and I love you coming on the show, Bud. Thanks
for having me come and join me. I'd love to,
(40:08):
by the way, Carson Palmer
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on
Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it is a glorious Monday live
(00:28):
in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be,
however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS
one one hour from now. Where Colin was right, Where
Colin was wrong, plenty of both. Michael Vick, Carson Palmer
(00:50):
loaded today Smorgus Board of Topics. Joey Taylor is joining me.
I sat there, wife's out of town, ME and the
Dogs and the NFL. I watched parts of every game
I am. I ordered chicken parm after the Rams Bears
game crash for seven hours. What a world we live in?
(01:13):
What I so much normalcy? Felt so great to see
the fans did all the fans were amazing around this
country this weekend. It did Yeah, I mean college football
fans even starting from last week was amazing to see.
But if it feels like we're back, the NFL's back,
and there were some great games yesterday. God bless America,
God bless American football fans. So I'm a big believer
(01:34):
in this. My life is not about actions. Actions are easy.
Got a coffee this morning and drove to work. My
wife's about seventy five to eighty percent about reactions. How
do I react when my kids have a problem at school,
when somebody's health goes sideways, life will be determined how
(01:56):
I act react to things that don't go as planned.
I think about that all the time, because life is
not linear. There's always a boss, a spouse, a kid,
a teacher, Something goes sideways. How will you react to it?
And you'll find that people's personalities are amplified in crisis.
(02:20):
Jerks are bigger jerks. Compassionate people are more compassionate. I
mean folks. We have a tiny percentage of America that
can't wear a mask on a plane. They just completely unravel.
It's too much to ask. That's how they react to
being asked to do something that we all think stinks.
I hate it too. I'm just a grown up, So
I want you to think about this. Russell Wilson and
Aaron Rodgers both got mad at their organizations this off season.
(02:46):
Now there was limitations on what Seattle or green Bay
could do because Russell makes so much money and Aaron
makes so much money. So the organizations were somewhat limited.
And so Seattle went out, got Russell, a new offensive coordinator,
an old left guard probably a one year player, and
a nice tight end. But they didn't have a lot
(03:08):
of money, They couldn't rearrange the deck chairs, and they
didn't have a lot of draft picks. Green Bay drafted
a wide receiver, tried to redo Aaron's contract. How did
they react to it? Russell Wilson viewed what Seattle did,
which was very small, as a positive step. He quickly
(03:31):
pivoted to what his agent, Mark Rogers told me was
the greatest offseason he's ever had. He became mister Seahawk,
making calls, trying to get players signed, and yesterday he
was brilliant eighteen of twenty three in a true road
game against a team that will probably win their division,
(03:52):
while the Colts will buttoned up slick. How did Aaron
handle his off Sea season, bumps, brooding, condescending, still talking
about it up until a week ago, taking shots at
the organization, making you know he does not need football
(04:12):
fifty fifty retirement. He actually said that publicly. Look at
how both of them handled an offseason crisis. It amplified
their personality. Russell tends to be optimistic and hopeful and
a unifier. When he transferred to Wisconsin within ten days,
didn't know a player, they named him Captain Farvin Rodgers
(04:36):
didn't get along for years. It amplified it. The moody, prickly,
condescending eron as they say, the sins of summer are
paid in the fall and winter. The Packers were disorganized,
looked lost, look ghasted. The Seahawks were brilliant. Green Bay
(05:00):
didn't even play a true road game. They played a
rebuilding team. Isn't it interesting? Life is overwhelmingly how you
and I react to non perfect situations because we mostly
control stuff. You get up, you drive to work, you
get your coffee, you go to work, you do a
good job to come home. Your dogs and cats love you.
(05:21):
A lot of action. That easy stuff. Our life is
only difficult Joey's mind, Ryan's yours stuff goes sideways, Teacher calls, spouse,
drives your nods, boss gives your limitations. How do you
react to it? Gonna throw a fit in an airplane,
Gonna be brooding, petulant all off season? Or do you
do a Russell Wilson and quickly pivot to I make
(05:44):
a lot. We don't have a ton of draft picks.
They got me a better guard, they changed offensive coordinators.
LFG let's go. That's what Seattle's quarterback did and what
you saw was a result of it, and Green Bay's
quarterback even after the game, kind of the typical no
big deal, relax our lax Aaron Rodgers, just one game.
(06:08):
You know, we've played bad. I played bad offensively, we
didn't execute very well. One game. We got sixteen to go.
We're coming off a couple of NFC championship games and
obviously feeling good about the unit that we have on
offenses that we talk about a lot. So this is
a good, good kick in the un where hopefully get
(06:33):
us going in the right direction, going back home and
playing division opponent next week. Is it just one game?
I don't know. I looked at your schedule. Steelers are
around the corner I saw your offensive line. Is it
just one game? Cincinnati appears to have a punch be
playing them soon? Is that just one game? Crisis amplifies
(06:58):
a man's personality. You see the two on TV right now,
you know which one I'd choose. And to that, let's
talk Baker against Mahomes. That was a really good game
and really fun. I know what you think this morning, Colin,
you gotta be very critical. Okay, listen, if you had
to boil down the difference between great quarterbacks and competent
(07:24):
ones in this league, it comes down to this. The
great ones are unaffected by score. They lead, they trail,
It doesn't matter. Tom Brady Thursday night, great example, he
gets the ball back minute twenty left. Every single person
on the Cowboys, everybody in the stands, every security guard,
(07:47):
every popcorn vendor, every player knows Tom's got to throw
in every down. So what it doesn't matter. I mean, basically,
Dallas pinning her ears back pass rush, He's gotta throw.
Tom was so effect he threw three straight balls out
of bounds because he got there so fast. And think
about Baker Mayfield when Baker had a lead a running game.
(08:12):
By the way, Kevin Stefanski is one of the top
five play callers in the world. He is a great
play caller. Baker's throwing on third and two, second and
four very effective. Now let's throw in some variables or
punter fumble. Nick Chubb fumbles games close. Now it's on me.
I've got a throw interception. Jared Goff in twenty eighteen
(08:38):
and Jimmy Garoppolo in twenty nineteen, playing with a lead,
a good play caller, an excellent running game. Got to
the Super Bowl Ryan Tannehill with with Derrick Henry playing
with a lead, very effective Goff, Garoppolo, Tannehill. But the
minute yesterday Kansas City knew, Oh, most couple of it's left.
(09:00):
Baker's got to throw. That changes everything because golf and
Baker and Garoppolo this league. The separation is this. Mahomes
trailed all first half and most of the second, and
especially as she got into the late third and early fourth. Oh,
Mahomes has to throw, so three touchdowns, no picks, one
(09:24):
hundred and forty three passer rating. Literally, the score is
irrelevant with Brady, it's irrelevant with Russell Wilson, It's irrelevant
with Patrick Mahomes. The minute you knew Baker in the
last two drives had to throw. Wasn't the same quarterback
because now everybody knows what the quarterback. Linebackers drop into coverage,
(09:47):
pass rushers pin their ears back and Baker's a guy.
And by the way, again, golf Garoppolo to a super Bowl.
Cleveland's gonna win twelve games. Don't take a ton from this.
But that is the difference Cleveland coaches. No, there is
a script with Baker. Do not let him addlib, do
not leave him to his own judgment, and devices manage
(10:09):
the game. And by the way, this offensive line is
good enough. They are going to manage this and control
the temple on almost everybody on their schedule. They don't
have to have Mahomes firing back at Arrowhead. That's the
toughest game. We told you all week. This is the
toughest game in their schedule. This is no fun. By
the way, I believe Mahomes now in September has thirty
five touchdowns and no interceptions. This was a loss, and
(10:32):
you played really well. But for the great ones, it
doesn't matter what the score is. Hey, I love Lamar Jackson.
He's better with a lead than trailing, and I think
he's great. Aaron Rodgers is great. He's always been a
better quarterback with a lead than trailing Owa's. It's got
very few come from behind wins. And to Baker Mayfield's credit,
(10:54):
he acknowledged the only time of the game that matters
is everybody knows you gotta make a play. Can you
or will you? It's just all the little things that matter,
and you know it's it's very frustrating because they're there.
They're there. But like I said, when you play the Chiefs,
the teams of that caliber, if you don't execute, you're
(11:16):
gonna lose critical moments. You have to execute critical moments.
Nothing else matters before those moments. You know, it always
comes down to those three four plays, and those critical
moments are almost always for a quarterback. They know you're throwing,
they know you've got to throw. It's why Maholmes has
separated from the league. His Super Bowl run that he won,
(11:38):
he trailed in every playoff game. He trailed twenty four
nothing so so he is more than any quarterback in football.
Score irrelevant. The only thing that affects Patrick Mahomes is
the one thing that affects every quarterback that's ever played
the game. If he's running for his life on every
(11:58):
single play like a super manning Akman Wilson, it doesn't
matter that nobody wins with that Nobody wins with that variable.
We can't literally can't protect the quarterback he's running for
his life. But the other variables matter very little for
Patrick Mahomes, for the rest of the league mostly, and Baker.
(12:20):
It's the difference between great and good. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio app so Bears Rams. Matt Stafford averaged
twelve point three yards an attempt. That's why they got
Matt Stafford. So it's interesting when you look around, I mean,
(12:42):
you all do this. What I'm about to say, we
do this, joy and I do this. You look around
at your competition, You look around. What do they do
better than us? What do we gotta get better at?
Because there's a lot of things. We feel like we
come in every day, we do a good show. But
you'll look around. Fox looks around her what can we
do better here? What can we do? That's what companies
that's what your company does, That's what my companies do.
(13:03):
And the rams looked around. You know, I talked to
people in the front office. They looked around and said,
you know what we need. We got mahomes in this
league for ten years. Okay, we need more mahomes like touchdowns,
home runs, quick strikes, over the top. They liked Jared Goff.
They won ten games a year with Jared Goff, but
they felt like they had to coach perfectly with Goff.
(13:25):
Nothing came easy. It had to be nine play drives,
ten play drives, one fumble, one tip pass, one penalty
blows the drive up. And they felt like Stafford gave
them thirty percent more playbook the mahomes stuff. I mean
Mahomes and Zeke yesterday or Tyree Hill yesterday had a
one play drive. I mean even a Browns fan, you
(13:46):
just I don't even know if it was a good throw.
It was like, yeah, they just do that once again.
You just get a free seven points. Just let's just
start every game with the free seven points for Kansas City.
You can't explain it. McVay privately, like golf, but they
felt like there was a ceiling. They were limited. Nothing
came easy. You had to coach perfectly. One offensive line injury,
(14:06):
one tweaked ankle, one drop pass, blew it up. And
if you look at the chart of where Stafford through
last night, sprinkled it everywhere thirty percent more playbook deep laugh,
deep right, deep middle short laugh short right. And I
think that's the difference. And I also feel fit matters right.
Like in Los Angeles, Magic Johnson is a better fit
(14:28):
in Los Angeles than Boston. A guy named Showtime. Magic's
the greatest fit in the history of basketball for a city.
He literally his game was flashy, the big smile. The
nickname is Magic Showtime. That's what the Lakers star should be.
This is Los Angeles, Jack Nicholson, Diane Cannoner sitting five
feet away. Like, fit matters. And there's a reason when
(14:51):
the Pistons have been good, they're tough because Detroit's tough,
Detroit's physical. They make cars, they make trucks, they got factory.
When Pittsburgh in the seventies was dominating, it was Steeltown, USA.
They were tough. Bradshaw was tough. They threw it over
the top, they punched you in the neck. They felt
(15:13):
like Pittsburgh and the Pistons always feel like Detroit, Kobe
Magic big, and Stafford feels like the Rams. You saw
the stadium, The stadium feels like La the Stars. Golf
was a good kid. He's a good player. He never
(15:34):
felt big Stafford. The arm, the talent, the big plays,
the home runs, the quick strike. Stafford feels more like
what a Ram quarterback should be. And that's what the
Rams wanted, is that they didn't like golf. They won
ten games a year with golf, but the minute they
had to pay golf, there's limitations on what they could
(15:55):
do with the roster. And since they're not going to
get rid of Jalen Ramsey or Aaron Donald, arguably the
best players in the league at their position, they said, Okay,
if we're gonna have to pay for a quarterback, we'd
rather pay for a quarterback that feels more like us,
can do more things like us. And I thought the
whole night last night on NBC, just Stafford felt big.
(16:19):
The game's big, The stadium is big, the star power,
the Rams, everything felt big. And he fits perfectly. Sean
McVay after, He's got a great, great ability to be
able to change his arm slot and make make all
types of throws, whether it be short, intermediate, or down
the field. But he's uh, you know, there's you're not
limited in anything that you can do with him. In
the past game, you could just see there was a
(16:40):
look in his eye. He had confidence in his teammates.
He expected to play well, and you know, he did
a great job. I was. It's hard to say that
there was one thing, Jim. I loved everything that he
did tonight. I've never seen Sean McVay smile more. I
swear to god, it's like a honeymoon period. Wait till
Stafford throws a costly interception. We'll see then. But I
thought it just felt big. It felt ripe stadium to
(17:03):
Stafford to McVay. Mcvay's got star power, the stadium, the city,
the quarterback needs to as well. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Herd weekdays and newon Eastern a Empacific.
He's Mike Carmen, I'm Dan Byer. We have a brand
new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice
a week every Tuesday and Friday. We come up with
(17:25):
new episodes to not only look back at what happened
what you need to do at that minute, and also
look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world.
That's right, Dan. Every week we're gonna scour the waiver
wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sits, starts,
fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
(17:45):
the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike
Carmen and meet Dan Buyer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast and wherever you get your podcasts. There's certain things
in football that I would call them traits. Cleanlin has
very good traits this year. Excellent old line, strong running game,
(18:07):
and Kevin Stefanski is a tremendous play caller that is
going to wear very well every week. Pittsburgh is built.
They're so good in the front seven. Defensively, if you
don't have it buttoned up on your old line, they
are seek and destroy. They will completely disrupt you. And
(18:28):
so yesterday Big Ben average five point nine yards an attempt.
Ben is not accurate. Ben is not efficient. Ben's not
great at the line of scrimmage. Ben's a home run hitter.
Ben looked old in Week one. He looked old yesterday
they can't run the ball, they don't throw the ball
down the fields effectively. What are they going to look
(18:48):
like in Week seventeen. I don't see the traits. What
I see is a great front seven, and I mean
best front seven in the league, and that is going
to That's why I said they're at eight. Nine team
that's gonna win him nine games or eight games? Maybe
I'll win nine. Maybe I had them low at eight.
I said, they feel like a team that wins one
way their defensive line. And I said this about the
(19:10):
Dallas Cowboys Thursday, Cowboys can beat you one way shootout.
The Cowboys had lost seventeen straight games when they didn't
score thirty points. They have to score thirty. This team
has to face average offensive lines and when they do,
this is what will happen. So why I bet the
Steelers this weekend? But I don't see their traits. And
(19:32):
let by the way, it's week one. Super Bowls are
not one in September. If they were, Andy Reid would
have seven and Bill Belichick would have won. It's Belichick's
weakest month, Andy's best month. But if you look at
the best teams in this league, Cleveland excellent, Old line Rams,
excellent old line, Kansas City, Baltimore, Tampa, most of your goodness.
Buffalo is rare, good team, shaky old line. Most of
(19:56):
the good teams will not be completely utterly unrund traveled
by the Steelers excellent front seven. When I watched them yesterday.
It's not a shot, but they can't run the ball
last year, they can't run it this year. They get
no push nausea. Harris is fine, but he and Ben
didn't click. Chase Clayboll's amazing. Rest of the receivers you
can have. Chase is great, and this game played right
(20:18):
into it. They're a very proud team. Now. Now Mike Tomlin,
and he's impossible to argue with. He is the greatest
quote and the history of the league. Shuts guys like
me up. And he does make a point. We're not
worried about style points. We'll let you guys write whatever
stories you want to write. Man, we knew it would
be tough sledding. They got a great defense, they got
(20:39):
continuity not only in players but schematics. We're playing them
in their place. We had a bunch of new pieces.
You know, we weren't style point oriented today. We just
had to win this game. I'm not gonna argue with that,
and they and that's my point. They have to win
ugly because their offensive line is not good enough to
win pretty. Ben is a home run quarterback, not an
(21:02):
efficient guy, not the accurate guy, and he's averaging five
point nine yards an attempt. Matt Stafford average over twelve
and he's more accurate generally is a thrower. So I
don't see traits that were well. Cleveland has great traits.
They don't. By the way, when Cleveland leads everybody at half,
they're not going to face Mahomes and Tyreek Hill and
(21:24):
Travis Kelsey. Cleveland's gonna win this division. Cleveland's traits are
excellent for the season. Pittsburgh is just gonna monster front seven.
But watch when Cleveland and Pittsburgh meet. Cleveland's offensive line's
the best in football first or second best. Cleveland will
not be completely disrupted by the Steelers front. I still
(21:47):
think I have the number right on Pittsburgh. Maybe they're
nine and eight not eight and nine. One more Herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
live or on demand when where you like. Where Colin
was right, shocker, distracted, noisy moody. Aaron Rodgers and the
Packers were awful yesterday. In fact, of all the teams
(22:11):
in the NFL, they scored the fewest points. Think about that,
Aaron Jones, Davante Adams, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Lafleur, worst offense
in the league. And this is a rebuilding Saints defense.
Maybe Aaron could stop discussing his off season and his
moods and how it's landing for him. Just go play, dude,
no touchdowns, two picks, didn't look prepared. Noisy off seasons.
(22:36):
Seattle's was noisy for about two weeks. Green Bay is
still talking about Aaron, still discussing how this all lands
for me. Get over yourself. Where Colin was right. I
don't think I've ever had a winning week. Week one
of blazing five, two and three. We had the Steelers
plus six and a half and we did have the
(22:59):
Panthers barely on that. I apologize for the Lions pick.
There are two teams I will never bet again, Detroit
and Atlanta. And I cannot believe I doubted Justin Herbert.
My apologies to the Herbert family. He is great. Where
Colin was right, it's amazing how effective Sam Darnold is
when you know he has weapons and a run game
(23:21):
and can play with an occasional lead. Darnald wasn't great,
but he went twenty four of thirty five two hundred
eighty yards, one touchdown, no picks, rushing touchdown in a
passer rating of one o two. Sam doesn't throw the
purtiest ball. Zach Wilson throws a prettier ball. Sam has
his flaws. Sometimes he plays a quarterback like a linebacker.
(23:41):
But he's a really talented kid. And when you don't
ask him to be the entire life preserver and you
just ask him to be a really important or in
the boat, he's a good player who can make plays,
and he played with a lead. It's funny, little protection,
little run game. Who wins games in this league? Where
Colin was wrong. Did the Philadelphia Eagles look as good
(24:06):
and as buttoned up as almost any team in the league.
I gotta give Nick Serriani credit. He may be bad
at a microphone. Jalen Hurts totally in control. I thought
they came in with an offensive and defensive game plan.
I mean, they really look buttoned up. Some of that
has to be coaching influenced. Listen, I said, I think
I have a verbal bias. If you're bad at the microphone,
(24:30):
I judge you too harshly. But I watched them plan.
I'm like, I don't know of a kind of decent
football team. I will say this. We did say their
tight end group is really good. And between Davonte Smith,
the rookie receiver, and the kid they drafted out a
TCU Rigger a couple of years ago, they got speed
at wide receiver. Their on line is healthy. It looks
like a fairly productive offense. Where Colin was right. We
(24:53):
told you that Miami New England, it's literally the same
team facing one another. And if you watch that game,
and I did, it was literally mirror images of each other.
The quarterbacks Mac Jones was okay, touchdown, no picks efficient too,
It was okay, had a touchdown, had a pick in
one bad throw. The coaching styles, the defenses, the special teams,
(25:15):
the excellent corners, the differences. Miami has got a little
more juice and speed on the outside. But I said,
New England this year is gonna look like Miami last year.
Not good enough to win the super Bowl, good enough
to wildcard team, get to the playoffs, maybe win a
playoff game. I thought yesterday, I don't even know. I
don't think necessarily the better team won and I don't
(25:37):
think the worst team lost. And I think if they
played ten times, they split them right down the middle
at five five. And that's what you saw yesterday where
Colin was row Listen, Andy Dalton, that's not gonna work.
He's not enough juice. Listen, I thought, listen, start a veteran,
don't put a rookie in the crosshairs of SOFI Stadium
and Aaron Donald and you know Andy can plan under control.
(25:59):
But if you look at the quarterback chart where he
throws the ball, everything's underneath, nothing over twelve yards. And
Chicago guess what they need? Juice. And also, this is
not a championship team. This is not like the Niners
who are going back and forth. That's a super Bowl roster.
Don't screw around in the NFC West like win games.
Garoppolo has been here. Chicago is not a super Bowl team.
(26:20):
And when you watched it last night, watch how the
Bear players reacted to the Justin Field's touchdown, like like
they want him to play. Can't fool the players. Where
Colin was right. I've been saying this for years. Aggressive wins.
The SEC is the most aggressive college football conference. They're
stealing your teams, they're stealing your girlfriends. The NFC West
has the most aggressive gms in the league. Yesterday, the Niners,
(26:44):
the Cardinals, Seattle won convincingly on the road. The Rams
won convincingly at home. All these teams they don't they
don't have first round picks. They get up their first
round picks. They go make massive trades. They get J. J. Watt,
they get Matt Stafford, they get These are the most
aggressive team teams, arguably in the NFL. They're all in
the same division. Yesterday is a great example of something
(27:05):
I preach constantly, aggressive wins in sports. Dana White, UFC,
We're gonna go Rheton Island, Middle of COVID, We're gonna
go Rheton Island. Aggressive wins. You're gonna get blowback on Twitter.
There's gonna be criticism if it fails. For the most
aggressive teams, all in the same division, all look spectacular yesterday.
Where Colin was wrong, that Jaguar situation was not great.
(27:31):
Ten penalties, three turnovers. Urban Meyer is known in college
as a turnaround specialist, but they were completely unraveled. They
trailed thirty four to seven at one point to Houston.
I'll say this, Tyrod Taylor and David Culley had been
in this league for a long time and it's Week one,
(27:51):
and so urban Meyer. A lot of this is I'm
not sure exactly what we're gonna be and what it's
gonna be like. And Trevor Lawrence had some nice throws.
I'll say this, Trevor, Trevor's really talented. That's not the question.
But as we've said from the beginning, this is a
rebuild outside a wide receiver every other unit, and to
be down thirty four to seven to the Texans is
(28:15):
concerning where Colin was right. Finally, the one AFC team
I was really concerned about was the Tennessee Titans, and
they were boat raced at home. Listen, young quarterbacks need coordinators.
Arthur Smith. I don't know if he'll be a great
head coach, but he was a great coordinator and Tannehill
(28:36):
doesn't have him. I think their secondary is week They
can't quite get the offensive line right. Arizona at one
point led twenty four to six. The final score is
not indicative of the game. It was never competitive. This
was the one good team the last two years. And
we know this happens every year. There's four new playoff
teams every year. I said, the one team that's been
really good for last several years I just don't buy
(28:59):
is Tennessee. By the way, they have the fewest returning
starters in the NFL, and in Week one they have
new coordinators. It really showed maybe they're better October, but
they struggled. Colin Right, Colin Wrong. Brought to you by
Jersey Mike Subbs. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays in newon Easter nine am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Well,
(29:22):
it was a great one of three time pro bowler,
a number one pick fifteen years in the NFL, Carson
Palmer now joining us live. First of all, I gotta
give I gotta give Joe Burrow credit. I gotta say this,
coming off an injury, Carson is hard. It's hard to
get back on that bike. And I'll tell you what,
(29:43):
He's a gamer. There's a something about him, and you
know you've had injuries. That first game back live Bullets
is tough. I thought Joe Burrows, as you could kind
of guess, was a total gamer yesterday. He looked great.
He was really smart with the ball. He didn't put
himself for his team in any bad situations, and then
(30:04):
at the end of the game when he had to
make the big throws in the big plays, he was
able to make them. So, I mean, there's a lot
been talked about this Bengals team in this offensive line.
If the offensive line continues to protect Joe and he
doesn't have to beat you with his feet and he
can throw the ball and distribute it to all the
playmakers he has, that's when this Bengals team is at
their best. You know, it's interesting Cleveland lost, but I
(30:26):
felt Carson, there are traits that I think that were
well in the NFL. If you have a good oldline
and you can run downhill and control clock and tempo,
you can make a guy like Patrick Mahomes be a
spectator for large chunks of the game. And I thought
Cleveland lost, but my takeaway was that team's going to
(30:47):
lead a lot of people and they're not going to
have to face Mahomes an arrowhead. I thought the most
impressive losing team yesterday, maybe by far, was Cleveland. Your
takeaway on that performance in that game? Well, and if
you look at Cleveland's defensive line, I mean, they've got
two number one picks a defensive end and Jadeveon Clowney
and Miles Garrett. So they are built to play with
(31:08):
a little bit of a lead and make you have
to throw it. And it didn't work. I Mean, the
thing that jumped out to me is Baker Mayfield is
exactly what we've all been saying he is. He's a
really good quarterback. Is he great? Is he good enough
to put that team on his shoulders and go out
and win game in game out, week end week out?
I don't know yet. I think that's the biggest question
(31:30):
this year is that they're in this position in Cleveland
where they have to decide are they going to extend
Baker Mayfield's contract. They've given him everything he could want.
He's gotten not only one great running back, he's got two.
He's got an offensive line. They've got some playmakers on
the back end of the secondary, and they can rush
the passer and play with the lead and force you
to have to drop back and deal with those two
defensive ends. But at the end of the day, it
(31:53):
was just drastic. It was the difference between Baker Mayfield
and Patrick Mahomes is stark. I mean, you look at
that team that got That team is built to make
a super Bowl run. We'll see as the season progresses
if Baker's good enough to win a super Bowl. Listen,
I don't want to take too much from week one,
but there's a saying in sports that players you know
(32:15):
will win the off season. They'll win in the off season.
Teams will win in the season, so you know, the
sins of the summer, he'll be paid in the fall.
You know, Russell Wilson an errand both had issues with
their organizations and because they're both expensive, Carson, there's not
much the Seahawks could do, and there's not much Green
Bay could do right they had to. You know, they
resigned Aaron Jones in Green Bay, they went and drafted
(32:37):
a wide receiver. Seattle got Gabe Jackson. They got him
a better tight end and offensive coordinator. But in the end,
when you're paying your quarterback, a lot of money. There's
limitations on moving the deck chairs. But the difference to
me was Russell appreciated it and quickly pivoted to work
in his butt off and getting ready for the opener.
And I know everybody loves Aaron, but he's brooding about
(32:58):
this thing. He talked about it till last week. And
I watched yesterday green Bay and I think to myself,
that just didn't look right. That didn't look right at all.
And there's a difference between a loss Cleveland lost and
that something doesn't sit well when I watched Green Bay.
They're too talented to be the worst offense in the league,
(33:20):
even if it's a game. Your thoughts, My thoughts are
the quarterback is hard. Playing quarterback is extremely difficult, even
if you are Aaron Rodgers. But when you bring on
all this criticism and all the doubt and you're asking
for a trade and demanding certain things in the front office,
that's just a lot for you to have to deal
with throughout training camp, going into week two after an
(33:43):
embarrassing loss. It's something that your teammates have to deal
with and constantly get asked questions about. You know, as
Aaron Happy, do you what do you think the organization
needs to do to get Aaron happy, and just all
those things that your teammates are constantly burdened with, and
every press conference and every open locker room where the
media is available, and Aaron looked uncomfortable. He looked uncomfortable
(34:04):
from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. He never
settled his feet, he never just dropped back and ripped
the ball into a seam or a nice long completion.
Everything looked challenging, everything looked different. I just think the offseason,
he's gone through the training camp, he's gone through all
the questions, you know, all the stuff he's got going
(34:25):
in his personal life that those things can burden you,
those things can weigh you down. And Aaron looked like
he had, you know, Cement boots on. At times. Something
was holding him back and holding him down. And you know,
at the end of the day, he is Aaron Rodgers.
He will shake this rust off. He will come back
and play great. He'll probably end up going to the
Pro Bowl and throw for thirty eight touchdowns and five
(34:45):
thousand plus yards. But he just looked uncomfortable. He looked
burdened by a long offseason. And you know that that
like I said, I think that'll wear off in week two,
will be a different story. But you know all that
talk that was going on in Seattle, that only lasted
for maybe a month. Yep. And then Russ was happy
and Russ. Russ looked happy. Russ looked like he was
having fun. And then it's the polar opposite for watching
(35:08):
that Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers looked miserable and uncomfortable all day.
Really great stuff. Carson Palmer joining us the from a
poor Bowl quarterback. You know, it's interesting I could I
could say that you and Matt Stafford have some similarities.
You come out, your number one picks, huge arm talents.
Even when you were losing early in your career, people
said it's the organization. It's not it's Cincinnati, it's Detroit.
(35:31):
And then finally you guys have to move and it's like, oh,
this is what a winning cultures like. They spend money.
And I watched Matt Stafford yesterday and I thought to myself,
what a wonderful break in life. I can move anywhere
I want. Mostly in my career, quarterbacks, the better you are,
you get drafted the worst team. And that's where pro
(35:52):
sports is totally unfair, you know, and it's like, take
me to your career when you finally got a lead
support a run game. Because I watched Stafford last night
and I'm like, oh my god, this is a brand
new life for Matt Stafford. And it's immediate. It's not
like the light bulb turned on for Matt Stafford in
(36:14):
Sofi Stadium in you know, midway through the third quarter
last night. Matt Stafford felt a difference in the organization
from day one. So Matt's probably just been licking his
chops to get to leak one since he got there.
It's a totally different environment. You got a coach that
you completely trust. You got an organization that you know
(36:34):
is is willing to do what it takes to go
out and get a Jalen Ramsey and resigned in Aaron
Donald and to you know, bring to Sean Jackson in
and you know, he's been feeling as good as he
looked last night since he got to LA, since he
started putting on number nine of the of that of
that uniform. I mean, this is not new. This didn't
(36:55):
just happen overnight. We all saw it as fans last night.
Matt Stafford was this pumping and smiling ecstatic yep, had
you know, slap on the helmets of teammates. We haven't
seen him do that in Detroit because there hasn't been
much to high five and butt slap about. Now he's
with the right organization, the right coach, and there was
so much talk. You know, there's so much misdirection in
(37:17):
this offense, and you got to be able to throw
on the run. There's all these bootlegs. Matt looked as
comfortable as any quarterback outside the pocket last night. I
mean he I think he's gonna thrive in this offense.
The talent, the depth of talent, the offensive line play,
and now he doesn't need to throw for four hundred
and fifty yards a night to win. Got a defense
that is best in the league year in year out
(37:39):
since Aaron Donald got there. So it's a perfect combination
for Matt to thrive in that system. You know it.
We were talking about this in my lifetime. Generally either
quarterbacks or pocket guys or they move and there's a deficiency.
Tom's not gonna run for first downs or Philip Rivers
and you know, you know their quarterback, You're like Michael
Vick would admit like he ran too much early, didn't
(38:00):
develop his passing game. And then I watch Russell and
Kyler Murray and I watched Connor Murray yesterday and it's funny.
They're both baseball guys, so they're both great sliders. When
they run, they never get hit. And I watched Kyler
Murray and I went back to the first ten weeks
of last year and this is a rebuilding team, and
his numbers were insane. And I watched him yesterday and
as a guy that was a pocket guy, when you
(38:22):
watch Kyler Murray or even a russ is there, do
you look at it and think, oh, I would have
just because you were an athlete, But how do you
view the guy that can move as well and throw.
The thing that blows my mind about Kyler's game is
that he can still see when he is in the pocket.
He's extremely accurate inside the pocket, and he's got a
(38:43):
lot more arm and a lot more touch than I
think any of us thought coming into the league because
his sample size was so small with just one year
at Oklahoma, and you can't see that touch ball he
throws right there. You can't see how much touch a
guy has until you've seen him play not one year,
not two years, but into year three and year four,
(39:03):
and you start realizing the consistency of the touch balls
that they're throwing. Kyler's got a ton of touch. He
can actually see somehow, some way. He's always been short, right,
he can find a way to see lanes in the pocket,
and then once he gets outside the pocket, it's game over.
I mean, if you can't contain him, he's gonna find
a way to either beat you at his feet and
(39:24):
score touchdowns like that, or he's gonna find a way
to get outside the pocket, extend to play and find
somebody get open late like he did a couple times yesterday.
It was like Houdini or like watching the old Russell Wilson,
where he would just continue to back pedal and move,
make it a fender miss, and then find a nice
eight or ten yard completion. So his ability to make
plays inside the pocket has really surprised me, and his
(39:47):
touch ball gets better and better each week. We're so
lucky to have Carson Palmer, the former pro bowler. I
know where he lives. I'm not saying it. I wish
I was there, and he's probably gonna go fly fishing
multiple times this week, and I'm completely jealous of them.
Envy is a bad trait, but I'm envs of you
and I love you coming on the show, Bud. Thanks
for having me come and join me. I'd love to,
(40:08):
by the way, Carson Palmer
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