THE HERD – HOUR 1 – Jordan Love Is UNDERRATED | Bears Are Super Bowl Contenders

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Find your local station for the Herd at foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening to the Herd Podcast. Here we go. It is a Friday. Blazing five picks in one hour. Been on a very good roll. It is wonderful to have you in our last day in Los Angeles before we head home.

You know Jordan loves good.

He got the defensive coordinator and the passing game coordinator for the Carolina Panthers fired this morning. He did.

What you watched last night, and I don't think either of these teams is great. Are they good? That's debatable.

What you watched is professional quarterback play. Green Bay is 29th ranked O-line. You have to go back to the 1946 Baltimore Colts to find a run game in the league this bad. Lead the NFL in penalties and drops. Both their star receiver left the field in an ambulance. Fumbled twice. And oh, by the way, with the Packers, there's no such thing as a chip shot.

Even short interceptions.

Field goals and P A T's are a real struggle. And yet Jordan love behind this whole line with no run game, number one in the league in passing yards, passing touchdowns, big pass throws and big time throws. How's that possible? His ability to be the lighthouse. There's a storm around him. He's standing tall. He's the light because the green Bay has got a million problems and he's not phased by any of them. I mean, they, Their run game is so bad. Last night, first team league history to have a winning record and to rush for fewer than 500 yards through eight games. So Jordan Love is the exception to my rule. Please have him throw over 40 times a game. Every other quarterback, I don't want you to have more than 34 throws. The numbers

tell you if you throw more than 40 times, it's a disaster, except Jordan Love.

Here's the other thing I love.

When Aaron Rodgers' teammates let him down, oh, you knew it. The body language, snarky, the moods. This guy's entire franchise has let him down.

Total pro. Not burdened with it. No big deal.

Aaron wore it like a scarlet letter. You'd never know. So no quarterback in the league this year has dealt with more negativity and crap than he has.

Most penalties, most drops.

Uh, you know, the knock is the coach, you know, they, they're not great in fourth quarter situations. It's it's in, by the way, the bears are adding Jeffrey Simmons, uh, and they're just adding more on Jordan loves plate. So it's, it's almost inconceivable. He has the shortest. This is weird. He has the shortest time to throw. That's how bad the old line is. He has the shortest time to throw in the league yet leads the NFL in explosive plays.

That doesn't make that'd be like leading the NFL in fumbles and being.

12 and oh, that doesn't make any sense.

So I just think he is, he is taking an extremely ordinary script and creating a pretty good movie. I don't think the Packers are great. I don't think they can be great. They do too many things historically that make you lose games, but he is the only quarterback in the league. Now, please throw over 40 times.

He has got nothing to work with here.

And here's Matt LaFleur after a semi-impressive win over Carolina.

I know who he is, and I know he'll learn from that.

But I thought outside of that play, I can't say enough great things about him because he's carrying the burden of everything right now.

Just, you know, just dealing the ball and throwing a lot of great passes. So yesterday, the Packers... the Chicago bears.

Went all in by getting not only the best defensive tackle in the sport, just to give you a sense of how good Jeffrey Simmons is last three years. He's the best defensive tackle against the run. And he has the most sacks. Micah Parsons is good on third and long. That's when he's good. Jeffrey is your ace, your middle reliever, your setup guy, and your closer. He does everything well. Now, there are critics that say he's 29, that's old for a guy in the trenches, and you're giving up first-round picks. Okay, so first of all, he's not just the best interior D lineman against the pass and the run, six-time captain, great in the locker room.

Okay, people.

It's like collecting coins. One out of a thousand may be worth something. Mostly they're just, you know, nickels and dimes and coins collecting first round picks, especially mid do late first round picks.

You got to get over it. I'll give you an example.

The classic late first round pick is Josh Simmons of Kansas city. Whatever the reasons he can't get on the field. Or it's Keon Coleman, the receiver for Buffalo, who was actually the top pick in the second round. It's a guy that's really talented, but really immature. So historically, the way general managers look at late first round picks, they'd like to trade them because what they are is their first round talents with red flags, immaturity issues, or their first round picks that have a bust potential. Lance Erlein was talking about it this morning. The Bears currently would have the 28th pick in the draft. And he went and showed everybody the last four years of 28 picks in the draft. And outside of Caleb Lomu for New England,

who should be a starting tackle, it's a bunch of guys you don't know who they are.

Right?

So late first round picks, the Bears gave up two of them. And we've said this, GMs would rather trade all of those away and get another third round pick, second round pick. Those are, it's a bad place to be. You have to overpay and they're usually first round talent with a red flag or an injury history or something.

Here's the other thing. The bears need somebody who's good. Now they need somebody who can deliver two sacks Monday night against the Seahawks. Somebody who will be double teamed Monday night against the Seahawks. And this guy's been in an NFL weight room for eight years, but because he played at Mississippi state and then the Titans, you just don't pay attention to him. He is Aaron Donald dominating, but the games are, I mean, I couldn't even tell you the last time the Titans had a national TV game.

I think it was two or three years ago. So the other thing is about Jeffrey Simmons. He's one of these rare players. Calvin Johnson was like this, the receiver for Detroit. He works with any coordinator, every coordinator and head coach they've had in Tennessee. He's their best player. In fact, in 2020, they didn't even have a defensive coordinator.

He was great that year too. He's coordinator proof. Do you know how few players in the NFL are coordinator and head coach proof as like 12, I mean, even Caleb Williams, as good as he is, limitations with Mattie Robles. So, and again, this is the key. The last three years, he's the number one run stopper, like as a defensive tackle.

In the last two years, he has the most sacks. So a lot of these edge rush guys like Micah Parsons get all this love and flavor. But Micah's good on third and long. Micah can't defend the run. They tried him at linebacker. It didn't work there. He was too reactionary. He was too slow. Didn't see the play develop.

Simmons is everything you want. Plus, he's a team captain guy. But I also think there's a truth about the NFL. And about three teams at any one time in the NFL have the Powerball ticket.

Here's the Powerball ticket.

Superstar young offensive coach and superstar athlete at quarterback with a couple of weapons the bears have that ben johnson may be right now as good as any coach in the league offensively caleb is certainly the most talented young quarterback in the league i don't consider josh allen a kid anymore and they've drafted well enough offensively i mean they've hit on almost every offensive draft pick they've hit on so let's just go spend money on the best defensive player in the league I have no problem with it. That, that is the power ball ticket that about three teams have in the league at any given time, superstar, young offensive coach, superstar quarterback, and enough weapons where you don't

have to buy them. You've got them in house. That's when you go, that's when you go by, you know, I don't care if it's a miles Garrett, it's an Aaron Donald, it's a Jeffrey Simmons that it, because Superbowl windows close very quickly in this league. And it's the only professional sport in the world. There is a hundred percent injury rate. Everybody gets hurt. Caleb Williams never gets hurt.

And then he got hurt.

Everybody gets hurt. So these Superbowl windows, the variables change weekly. When you get that Willy Wonka ticket, that Powerball ticket, brilliant coach, rookie contract, superstar quarterback, and enough weapons, you don't have to buy them.

You do this deal.

By the way, Quentin Nelson, who just faced Jeffrey Simmons, best guard in the league a couple weeks ago, is facing him again on Monday night as the Bears face the Seahawks.

I mean, he's an amazing football player and competitor. And yeah, I was like, man, can't get away from this guy. So yeah, it'll be another battle against him this week.

I like draft picks but the Rams went seven years without a first round pick and got to the Super Bowl twice so you know giving up sauce Gardner for two first round picks that I'd push back on Jeffrey Simmons by the way Jeffrey Simmons with the bears first round picks buried at the bottom of the first. I have absolutely no problem with none. I remember years ago, Pete Carroll gave up a boatload for Jamal Adams. And I'm like, he's a safety. Who's not great in coverage.

Jeffrey Simmons is great. Not only at everything, he's a team captain. He's coordinator proof. And like any time, you know, in baseball, if a guy throws heat, you can be on a terrible baseball team. But if you're throwing one Oh four with movement, it doesn't matter who the team is.

You're going to win games. You have a low ERA.

It's not the way football is that, you know, Jonathan Ogden, remember the great left tackle coach and coordinator proof. Anthony Munoz, the legendary left tackle coach and coordinator proof, Aaron Donald. I'm telling you, there's about, there's a handful of guys at any one time in the league that Fred Warner, to me, with the Niners, he's going to be great regardless of who's coaching him. Not many of those guys, though. So, J-Mac, very interesting weekend. Casey Denver's fascinating. Buffalo Baltimore.

Well, the Lamar Jackson stuff's interesting. I wanted to float something to you. Cause I watched Bryce young struggle again, back-to-back weeks. He did not look like a starting quarterback.

I cannot extend him.

And well, Dave Canales in the off season was like, he's our quarterback for now.

So there's no guarantee going forward. Colin, I don't know.

There is a quarterback in this Buffalo Baltimore game who may not be long for his city. Lamar Jackson wanted a contract has not gotten it.

Oh, I think.

Does he want to head South perhaps? Is there a world where Carolina makes a move on Lamar Jackson? I'm just speculating because Bryce Young does not look like the guy.

I mean, this is two weeks in a row, just a boatload of turnovers. Yeah, is Bryce Young a really good bridge quarterback? Not a backup.

Yeah.

He's too good to be a backup.

Right.

But I'm not building around him with a huge price tag. We have like three different levels of quarterbacks. Like a franchise load up the Brinks truck.

Bridge. Like I can use you for a year. Gino Smith, perfect.

Or you're a backup. I think Bryce is too talented to be a backup. He's good enough to be a starting quarterback, but I'm not building around him at $ 62 million a year.

I can't do it.

He's a Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, $ 30 million. Not in quality.

Let's slow down on Sam Darnold. Darnold got like $ 30 million. Yeah, Darnold's worth about $ 50.

$ 50 right now because he won the Super Bowl, but before he didn't have that much.

But Bryce Young doesn't have Sam's arm, his body.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He doesn't have... I mean, Sam's a... 6-3, big arm, big body, run around. Bryce is a very, I would say.

Limited. Colin, I'm looking at the throw chart.

Zero passes completed over 20 yards through one last night. Now, I know the offensive line was banged up, but he's not looking to push the ball down the field.

How many balls were batted down at the line of scrimmage by him? Four? Four tips? I don't know.

I did not see it from Bryce Young. That's definitely a draft a quarterback or let's make a big splash. Canales does know quarterbacks. I think they're going to be in the market this offseason for sure.

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So I sold all my Lamar stock or most of it this offseason. Got a lot of pushback. It's like, guys, pay attention. put down the Ravens jerseys and the pom-poms. Josh and Lamar met in week one last season. They met in week one last year, over a year ago. The year before that, they were like one and two in the MVP voting. When you talk quarterbacks, it was Mahomes, Josh, and Lamar. Since then, Josh is still great, and Lamar is basically a 500 quarterback, and you're never quite sure when he's going to play, and there's weird communication, and a Baltimore Sun reporter.

This is a guy that covers the team.

It's like he falls asleep in team meetings because he's playing video games late at night. Is he a more talented Kyler Murray? I mean, honestly, this is the kind of stuff I don't want to deal with with a franchise quarterback. I want them putting out fires, not being the source of them. So, and if you looked at the last two seasons and you say, well, Lamar has been banged up. Lamar gets banged.

Up a lot. That's part of who he is.

He's about 62%, 65% of Josh Allen. Josh is just separated from him. And there's nothing that, you know, Josh is great. So I thought it was a big tell that John Harbaugh leaves. John Harbaugh was getting all the heat. John Harbaugh is on a third quarterback. He is flourishing in New York. Baltimore is now in last place and their division's good, but it's not great. Pittsburgh and Cleveland are not great. Cincinnati's not great.

No excuse.

And they also lose double digit leads with Lamar and without Lamar and Jesse mentor. talks about that. That used to be Harbaugh's issue. Harbaugh took the heat for that. Now, Jesse Minter's taken the heat for the same issue Harbaugh dealt with for years. This team blows double-digit leads. Lamar's the constant. They were blowing him last year. They're blowing him now. They blew him the year before. They blew him with Snoop Huntley. They blew him with Lamar. Harbaugh took the heat. By the way, the Giants blew all sorts of leads last year. Now they have Harbaugh.

They don't.

Don't you think maybe Harbaugh wasn't the problem with blowing leads? Because the Giants last year before he got there, that was their big issue. They've solved that. And here's Jesse Minter talking about the Ravens lead issue this year.

There's moments in the game where it's like, You know, who's the guy that's going to grab everybody together and get them together on the sideline? And so I think we're, you know, as a team, we're working through, like, who that is. Who is that person? Or who are those players? There's guys that want to do it, and then there's guys that maybe they're dealing with something or they're not playing the way they want to play, so they don't feel like they can do it in those moments.

So Jesse Minter is begging for leadership. I never heard Andy Reid do that. I don't hear Ben Johnson do that. I don't hear Sean McVay do that or Kyle Shanahan do that. Jesse Minter is begging for leadership. You just heard him. And John Harbaugh, I think it's fascinating. It's a real tell. Is that John Harbaugh took the hit for all the blown leads. The Giants were the only team blowing bigger leads than Baltimore. He goes to New York.

They've solved that. Baltimore still has it. The other thing, I always think this is a warning sign in any relationship. Could be your marriage, could be your kids, could be your coworkers, could be your quarterback. Everybody in Baltimore walks on eggshells around Lamar. You ever notice that? Constantly placating him. Oh, this, he's there.

Well, we don't know.

If you're having a walk on eggshells about a coworker, stuff's usually worse than just the stuff we read about in the newspaper.

Jay Mack with the news.

This is the herd line news let's start in dallas where the cowboys host arizona sunday good one on fox and i say good one because dallas maybe is catching fire colin it's about damn time right the defense showed well against uh philly in the second half and uh dac knows like hey man we had a clunker last time at jerry world against tampa and uh we got a win in our own stadium here's dac.

You've got to win your games at home. That's a huge advantage. We've got to make it an advantage for us.

And as you said, we haven't had many, so we've got.

To take advantage of it.

And knowing that we've got a few more here in the back half of the season, it would be great momentum to create.

Did you put this game in?

No, I feel the– I've kind of stayed away from Cowboy games the last two years betting them.

Oh.

Because I like to bet things I'm absolutely sure of, like excellent coaching. or significantly strong D-line play. So I struggle. Like in Indianapolis, I don't have to love the quarterback, but I love the coach. I think Dallas is one of the hardest teams to predict because I think it's one of the weaker coaching staffs. And so sometimes, you know, it's a good matchup. like against the Eagles, and they pulled away. My takeaway on that Eagles game is how in the world did Philadelphia lead.

In the third quarter?

How in the world did they lead? So you can say, well, I mean, the Cowboys pulled away. Without that DeMarvian overshown interception, Philadelphia was driving down to make it a field goal game. So I stay away from Dallas games. If Arizona went to Dallas and it was a 24-23 walk-off Cowboy field goal to win, would you be shocked?

Well, that's a problem.

They seem to play up to their competition or down, right? That great game against Houston. Awesome comeback late. Houston's a good team. They better have the record. And then the great game in Brazil against Baltimore.

That's thriller.

They should have won that game. But Colin, I looked, these are the quarterbacks that they beat in this year. Tanner McKee, the CJ Stroud game where they won on the final drive. And then Marcus Mariota coming on. for jayden daniels okay i don't know if dallas is good but here's the problem they're chasing the giants you can't be losing to arizona because this is a one uh one bid for the playoffs here's the question for the teams you like in the nfl you can absolutely tie yourself to certain things like the giants if scataboo's healthy they'll run the ball john harbaugh team will be physical I mean, like those two are guarantees. They tend to get a pretty good edge rush. When I watch the Giants now, they're not a great team like Seattle that

does everything well.

But I think one of the.

Signs of coaching is they consistently deliver things. The number one tell for the Cowboys this year off an extra prep week against Green Bay.

In the first half, five first downs. That was horrible.

That was Bryce Young and the Panthers were better in the first half. So that to me was like, wow, an offensive coach with extra time, pretty average defense, five first downs with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Devontae Williams, and an above average O-line.

That is a coaching issue. That's not a player issue. So what do they want to be?

Because all I kept hearing about the offseason was greatest offense ever, CeeDee Lamb and Pickens and Dak. make it 60 million. And then Javante Williams has 155.

On the ground.

And now it's like, we need to run the football. I don't know what they want to be on offense. Yeah.

And it's pretty clear. They should be a run first team. So Dak can throw on play action to two great receivers. It's, it's, this is, this has been the hole in Cincinnati for years. You have Burrow and two great receivers, but they don't consistently run it. That's why I think Jonathan Taylor at the trade deadline to Cincinnati makes so much sense. If you gave Burrow, Like, the Cowboys have their back in-house and don't use it. Javante Williams is a plus back.

He's an above-average back. He was in Denver before the injury.

He's a good player.

So Cincinnati just doesn't have the back. They have Chase Brown, more of a two. If Cincinnati had Jonathan Taylor in a power run game, you think Joe Burrell's good now.

Yeah.

How about if you don't know if he's throwing?

Now you know he is, and that's when you take advantage of him because the O-line's average.

So I think there's this trade deadline. There's some.

You called DeForest Buckner to the Niners. You know, we watched the Seahawks get Quentin Nelson. Then we both went, all right, Buckner is going to go to the Niners. I think Jonathan Taylor to Cincinnati is the most obvious move in the league.

Let me ask one thing on Arizona. Buda Baker was maybe mentioned in some trade talks. He is the leader of that locker room, the alpha.

He's been there forever.

If more were to come out in the next 24 hours, I would feel good about Dallas because I think at that point, Arizona.

Says, pack it in, boys. It's over.

We don't have our quarterback. Our leader on defense is gone. Marvin Harrison was shipped.

It's a rebuild. And I wonder if.

Guys start checking out because that can easily happen here in Arizona as they lose.

Well, week seven, eight, nine is a checkout time.

Oh, yeah.

All right, let's move on to no checking out here.

Just trash talk. Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Jared Burse, new guy on the block coming over from the Rams. He's running his mouth a lot. Remember, he said the Steelers were dirty after the week four matchup. Cam Hayward fired back. And of course, Jared Burse kept that war of words going yesterday.

I'm just going in there ready to dominate. Obviously, I've been waiting for this one for a good little bit. But, you know, the whole bulletin board material and things like that, I'm just ready to go put them hands on them. I'm not worried about Cam. I'm not worried about their O-line. I'm not worried about nobody they got on their team.

We're out there to go dominate. We're about to make Pittsburgh guards on Saturday or Sunday.

Listen, despite Deshaun Watson being the quarterback... I find Cleveland likable.

They got some swag. They got some attitude. It's like Yaxel Lindenberg.

I don't mind. I don't mind a little trash talk with my young guys. I'm Jared versus talking trash. I think Cleveland. You know, so far in the NFL, they're the surprise team in the league.

Yeah, five and two, certainly. Now, you could say, well, what about... Their win total was like five and a half. They can eclipse it with a win.

You could say, what about the Giants? But that division's in disarray. This division's not in disarray. This division is... We thought the Bengals would be good.

They are. We thought Pittsburgh would be solid. They are.

I mean, Baltimore's been disappointing. But this idea that Houston can't win the division... Or excuse me, Cleveland can't win the division.

Full stop. Yes, they can.

Again, Ravens, rookie head coach. Ravens, Lamar issues. Ravens, first time play call. This is not a mirage. Cleveland can absolutely win this division. Their personnel under 25 years old. They got like eight excellent guys under 25. That's a tough back end schedule. Bengals twice. You got a healthy burrow.

You do get the Falcons. It looks like a home game.

So we know outdoors are not going to be the same. That Baltimore game is tough, but Colts, the late in the season is not bad.

I don't know, man. I'm going to be shocked if they're in the playoffs. I'm sorry.

I just, Deshaun Watson. Do you remember how bad he was in preseason? We were like, Shador is going to be starting.

One of the great things about the NFL of the many great things. It's wonderful on TV. It's once a week.

There's a sense of urgency. One of the other great things is. You can have a Russell Wilson or Deshaun contract. If you get the right coach, Sean Payton, Todd Monk, an offensive guy, you hit on some draft picks. If you go look at the Deshaun Watson salary right now, it's like 40 million bucks. They've renegotiated it and they've hit on so many good young players. They're not that they're out of the Deshaun Watson salary stuff, but it's been mitigated.

It's been controlled. talent to win games.

They hit on two receivers and a right tackle and a safety. So like Denver, remember when Denver, when he got there, Sean Payton, they were.

In cap hell. Like it was, it's just bad for a decade. And they had no draft picks.

They gave them up. They draft Bo Nixon, win 10 games. Next year they went 14. So the, the, one of the wonderful things about this league is even if you sign an egregiously bad deal, you're a year away from being a playoff team. It just doesn't, doesn't matter if you hit on your draft pick.

Certainly final story, new England Patriots. They go to South Florida to face the dolphins this weekend. And Drake may, I keep reading about this turnaround. I'll have some information for you shortly on that. Um, obviously he's been better. He could not have been worse than the three picks in the fourth quarter of the season opener. Josh McDaniels talked to reporters yesterday about how may has bounced back.

I think he's had a tremendous approach, honestly.

Um, All year.

None of those guys that make a mistake, whether it's a quarterback or somebody else, wants to do it. So, you know, it's kind of a gut punch initially. But I think the reality is we play 60 minutes of football. The game is never won or lost in the first quarter, second quarter, whatever it may be.

You know the advantage New England has? And this is a real unspoken advantage. So Vrabel's an excellent head coach, solid ownership. You don't have to worry. Crafts are going to be there tomorrow and today. And Vrabel's a good coach. Usually when a defensive coach has an offensive coordinator, even happen in Seattle, the OC splits.

Josh has failed twice at head coach. His kids are in a great school district.

Vrabel and Josh McDaniels are the one defensive head coach top OC.

They could be together for the next 15 years. That's a good point.

That, that, that, that is the problem with a defensive coach is Clint Kubiak leaves and you're hiring a 47 year old guy who's never been an OC and that's the best choice. So new England is really built. I still don't know if Vrabel and the GM are tight.

I don't know if they are. He's said a couple of things about.

The roster being thin and, but to have an OC who's like, yeah, I want to raise my kids here.

I don't want to leave. And he's elite. Yeah.

That is, I can't think of another situation like that in the league.

That's a good, that's a good point.

So one of the things I've done with this gambling model is broken the season into quarters. So last four games, how are you? Patriots are one of the best teams in the league, the last four games. And I'm like, well, what is that about? So you look at the schedule, who'd they face defensively? Buffalo, terrible defense, rotten Raiders defense.

Terrible.

Jets defense, eh, not very good. And then, of course, last week, the Bears defense, you know they're not good. So the Patriots appear to be ascending. Drake May appears to be back. But are they very good? And I say that because the Miami Dolphins are on the opposite side. They have been great the last four weeks against a tougher schedule. And I wonder if Halfley's finally getting guys to buy into his system.

Well, he is.

And this is going to come off to seven here more shortly because A.J. Brown's not practicing today.

You're blaming May and having watched the Patriots in person, they don't have a number one tight end, wide receiver, or running back.

And the O-line's okay. I don't know where PFF ranks it. I didn't look this morning. It's okay. Hunter Henry, I believe. Yeah, he's solid.

But Drake's problem is guys aren't that open. Now, Chicago before Simmons is blitz-centric, so that does leave gaps, and there are some gash plays.

And the other thing is when you.

Say, well, this defense isn't good and that defense isn't good, honest question, outside of Seattle.

What defense is great in this league? Well, he went to Jacksonville and was horrendous. No A.J. Brown. Well, Jacksonville, you go down to Jacksonville. That's tough. I mean, Denver's got a good defense.

Rams statistically have a good defense. But I'm just, I'm not bashing May, but he's got largely the same supporting cast as last year when he was an MVP candidate, 70% completions.

And none of that's there this year.

So our defense is adjusting to May because, I mean, I don't know.

I'm surprised at this. I'm leaning dolphins here. A bit of a surprise. I know you lie. You're on the Drake Bay bandwagon. Extra time to prepare.

Green Bay, Miami coming off a highly emotional first win.

They're feeling themselves.

They're going down to South Beach having a good old time. Here comes boring New England with extra time and a bad mood.

Maybe Drake May has a South Beach flu, you know, going out on the scene down there.

He's not that kind of kid. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by.

The Herdline News.

You know, we put a clock on the World Series. We may not put a clock on the Blazin' Five. This thing, five, four of the last five of the last six weeks. So, I love my picks this week. I do like, four of them I like a lot. I'll just say that. Ohio State, USC, some sobering numbers to look at if you're a Lincoln Riley supporter, which I have been for years.

And Kansas City, Denver.

One thing all Chiefs fans may have to admit by Sunday night.

That's coming up. It's the Herd.

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Two is a trend. If you do something twice, it's a trend. That's why Kansas City, Denver is fascinating. Okay, Kansas City did not make a trip to the red zone.

Think about that.

I have Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, and Andy Reid. We couldn't get to the red zone once against Seattle. So to me, it's a throw the tape out. Seattle does that.

They're desperate. Best roster. Throw it out.

But there are three things about Kansas City's offense that are not an opinion. The wide receiver room for the last several years is immature, underwhelming, and often injured. Left tackle Josh Simmons now, whatever the reason, is not available. I won't speculate. And Travis Kelsey's 37.

He leads them in yards. He leads them in catches. He leads them in age. Those three are not great.

And the other thing is Mahomes' last 20 starts with his supporting offensive cast. He has three 300-yard passing games, two against the Colts. So that's what the offense is over the last 20 starts.

Season, season and a half. That's what they are.

They are overly dependent on Kenneth Walker more than any NFL team. They're more overly dependent on a running back delivering their explosive plays. So I like Kansas city this week, but I don't like them for the offense. I like them because I think Bo Nix will struggle to generate any drive over 45, 50 yards. Here is my homes on, you know, the Broncos football. which they're number one and Seattle figure this out. Just stop Kenneth Walker. You stop the chiefs.

Here's my homes.

Whatever teams are going to try to stop Kenneth, we have to be able to counteract that. And I think that's something that'll be big. The rest of the season is obviously Kenneth is a special player and he makes a lot of big plays happen. And we're not going to stop running, trying to run the football, but if they're going to put so many resources in the stopping, stopping him and playing a shell at the top, we have to be able to hit them in that intermediate area.

And the guys have to be able to run after the catch and break tackles. And that'll put defenses in a bind where they have to decide kind of what they want to take away.

So much. in life and in sports is momentum.

So USC and Lincoln Riley face Ohio state, Ohio state program right now has unbelievable three-year momentum.

Okay.

They got the Michigan series back from Harbaugh.

They've got natties. They're recruiting through the roof. They have great momentum. Lincoln Riley.

This is his worst yards per play offense of any team he's had at Oklahoma or USC is the worst rushing offense he's ever had.

It's going backwards.

So when he took the job, USC, his first year, he had Caleb Williams, first two years, and they were in the Pac-12. He went 19-8, which was kind of impressive because they didn't have NFL talent outside of Jordan Addison and Caleb Williams, who he brought. So the first couple years, you're like, all right, they don't have much.

They're winning games. Well, then they moved into the Big Ten, a much stronger conference. And in the last two and a half years, just in Big Ten play, They're 14 and nine kind of around Minnesota and Illinois. That's not good enough for a team with a football tradition in Southern California.

So it's not working. I was wrong.

I was also wrong on Kiffin at USC and Sark at USC. I even for the first year thought Clay Helton was a smart decision. I'm wrong virtually every time on if the quarterback will work at USC. So for those still clinging to it, I would ask you this. And I do think some of the criticisms about his personality are overblown. All these coaches are prickly, defensive, and arrogant. Like, just deal with it. But when's the last time they faced an elite program? I'm not talking like Penn State.

I'm talking Oregon last five years, Ohio State, Bama, Georgia, Notre Dame. When's the last time they faced one of those teams and you thought, oh, roster, coach, player, they're better? It was four years ago, November 26th, USC. Basically, Caleb Williams put on a show with four touchdowns. They beat Notre Dame, 13th ranked team in the country. Marcus Freeman had just kind of taken over the program, getting his stuff right.

That was it.

And it was, since then, I mean, you have to watch the Odyssey to see the Trojans do anything. Right.

Like the Trojans haven't done much.

And so the reality is they moved into a stronger conference and they're basically slightly better than Illinois in that conference, living in a state and an area of that state with a vast recruiting base. So if you also look at the top 10 right now, it's instructive. It shows you look at the top 10 teams right now and look at the coaches. So Mario Cristobal, Year five, last year and this year, maybe the best team in the country. Signetti, you see them at number four. He's in his third year in international power at a non-traditional school. Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman, I think we could say the last three years they've been elite. He's now in year five, but they were elite in year three. Then you got UCLA, Kentucky,

and Utah. They have first-year coaches, and they're ranked first. You know, they're ranked in, you know, UCLA seven, Kentucky's nine, Kalen DeBoer's in year three.

So guys are doing it in the first year.

Kalen's got them to some degree, maybe not to a Bama standard, but humming in year three. And the other guys that are in year five, they have established powerhouse programs by year three. So it's not working. And you can point to a lot of stuff that I will say this. This is the only time in recent memory, at least that I can remember, that Ohio State is vulnerable.

Ohio State's almost never vulnerable. You can go to the last 20 years. They win with every coach. Any coach that's there at least two to three years, it could be John Cooper. I mean, it can be Earl Bruce.

It can be Urban.

They win with everybody. Now, Ryan Day wins more, but Trestle, Woody, they win with everybody. So they have a backup quarterback, and he hasn't ever started a game. They're in L.A., rainy weather, could be sloppy. USC's desperate with a veteran first or second round NFL quarterback.

This is the game to win.

Ohio State in this conference will never be this vulnerable. Chris Peterson yesterday talked about the state of USC and Lincoln-Riley.

Even with a really good defense, you just don't see Lincoln Riley's offenses, you know, can't run the ball, no explosive plays, giving up a bunch of sacks. So this game to me is going to be so intriguing.

And I think you're right.

You know, Ohio state kind of limps into this one with this big question market quarterback. So the time you got them at home, the time is now to strike.

And you're not going to get this ever again with Ohio state.

First of all, half the time, you're going to play them in Columbus, Ohio, And they're one of the programs that, you know, they can overcome injuries.

They recruit so well. They're so well coached.

So if you don't win now, it's like what you gotta and i've seen these teams they have a wounded team a wounded coach they're you know everybody's bailing on them i think usc j mac and i agree i think it's going to be close i think it's going to be kind of low scoring and close i think it's going to be kind of a 24 20 maybe 27 20 you know, rain. I think Ohio state's going to come in very conservative offensively. Their old line is not like one that's going to dominate time of possession.

USC's defensive front's got some players. I think it's low scoring. I think it's close. I would take Ohio state because I think their defense is so good that late in the game, they'll just make a big play, a big pick, a big head, a big sack. I would take Ohio state, but this should be a close game. Not because the programs are close, but the circumstances, this should be a close game.

Certainly.

I'm on the dog in the under. I just wonder.

Ryan Day has had two weeks now with this this young kid. I know he's a true freshman, but Colin, there is a concern level for Lincoln. I was feeling good. And then, you know, you read some stuff online about Ryan Day and. he's highly motivated to kind of put the stake through the heart of USC here. I.

Well, they recruit against him in Southern California. This is, there'll be, there'll be 12 to 15 recruits probably at this game that are considering.

And they go right back into the hopper for everybody else.

If Lincoln Riley loses this one, because then there's uncertainty who's going to be the coach next year. I, it's a tough spot for the Trojans big weekend out here in Los Angeles for sports.

And, uh, You know, things have been sinking a little in LA. We need you back. Chargers Dodgers. Do I need to call and put in a text?

Come on.

We need you back in LA. I have a great time. She never comes with me. Never once. I have a great time. Last night. I'm at the bungalows in Santa Monica. Oh, wow. Living it up. It was just unbelievable. Nobody says that. Yeah, you're right.

All right. Blazing five is around the corner. Danny Parkins. I don't think he liked the bears move.

THE HERD – HOUR 1 – Jordan Love Is UNDERRATED | Bears Are Super Bowl Contenders

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