THE HERD – HOUR 2 – Brady Quinn: Texas Lacks An Identity

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Brady Quinn in a couple of minutes. Excited for that. Been trying to get him on for a long time. Does a great job as a new article on the Michigan quarterback situation, which is really, really interesting. You were watching it. I was watching it. It felt much more functional over a course of one drive. It's great to have you in on a Tuesday. I'll tell you what's amazing last night about LeBron and the Sixers. LeBron's a jack of all trades, master of all of them. Whatever you need, whatever you need me to do, whatever holes you need me to fill, even as he ages, I'll do it. This is a Sixers team last year that got swept by the Knicks. It wasn't competitive. And last night, game one with all these pieces, yeah, it all worked.

Defensive rotations weren't bad. Offensively, LeBron's like, I'll score 14 points, but I'll be in the background. You're so lucky to have this guy. I know he can drive you crazy, and sometimes he's a little calculated with his social media. But the idea that in game one, against the Knicks, with all that continuity, and that's how slick it looked.

I'm telling you right now, it wouldn't with anybody else. And as much as you could love Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan didn't know. Certain guys just couldn't play with Michael. LeBron can play with anybody. 24 years of whatever role you need me to do. I asked Nick Wright. I said, how do you think this two-year Philadelphia Sixers thing is going to turn out?

So I would imagine.

He'll go to Philadelphia. It is hard to repeat.

They'll find themselves in the finals, probably come up short to, you know, Oklahoma City or San Antonio. And then next year, they'll just win the championship. And the final piece of the puzzle that makes historians from the future look back and be like, wait, they used to argue about who the best.

Player of all time was.

That was a debate?

Was that before or after they were debating whether or not the world is flat or round?

That's the category of debate it will be in. Shouldn't be that easy and look that smooth in game one. Jalen Brown needs his shots and B does Maxie. These are tremendous pro athletes. They want theirs. They want shots. You move LeBron and he's like, all right, I'll be the great. facilitator and I'll be, I'll, I'll, I'll create concession. Um, I mean, it's really something else. Uh, we've been trying to get Brady Quinn on for a long time. He does such a great job for Fox seven years in the NFL. He's got a column on Michigan's quarterback change.

And if you watch the game, it was really obvious that Bryce Underwood's got talent, but it felt dysfunctional and chaotic and hard. And they put the young guy, Tommy Caron, and you're like, yeah, that That's pretty good. So Brady's let's start with that because there's so many unbelievable topics in college football. I mean, I got eight of them here.

They're all great off. Maybe the best weekend I've ever seen a college football. So my eyes, you played the position. My eyes told me that Tommy Carr was just, Hey, listen, I can do this stuff. The coaches want me to do. It may not have a huge ceiling. Maybe it does. That's what my eyes told me. You played the position.

What did Tommy Carr do that impressed you?

He just operated within the offense right from the jump when he got inserted in in the very beginning of the second half of this past week's game. I mean, there's a couple of things that really stood out to me. He only threw the football eight times in this game in the second half. However, they started off the second half with him throwing an RPO over the middle. You know, typically coaches don't want to put, especially an inexperienced young quarterback in that position, throwing the football over the middle because that's where the interceptions comes, the tips, the overthrows, things of that nature.

He throws a strike to J.J. Buchanan and they're off.

And then the next on the third down, he throws a nice little sprint out, completion to Andrew Marashu. If he just ran upfield, trusted speed, probably would have gotten the first down, didn't. But even a flea flicker then later on. So there's an assortment of plays that they're basically saying, This young man's capable, even though he doesn't have the reps, of doing all these things we're asking of him. And then you go look at the 22, 23-yard scamper he had for a touchdown, and it's like, oh yeah, he's got that dual threat ability to running the football.

So it's no.

Surprise that interjecting a different quarterback in there, who I think did a better job with some of the run reads, but also the reads and the passing plays, helped open up an offense for over 220 yards and 21 points in a comeback victory. Now, it's a different challenge this week versus Indiana with as much pressure as they like to bring. And there was one play in particular where I'm not even sure he saw the corner cap, the corner blitz pressure, but the opposite line, the running back did a good job picking it up. He's going to get a heavy dose of that versus Indiana. They're typically a team that doesn't like to bring a lot of pressure, but they have the past couple of weeks turning it up.

And I would imagine they're going to test him often with his eyes and what he's seeing out there given his inexperience.

Brady Quinn joining us for the radio audience. So, I mean, there was an article the other day that said, and I like Sark. I feel like I've watched Sark coach for so long. He's never... He does the big stuff well. Sometimes on the details, he drives me nuts. I feel like all SART games kind of look the same. They have a great half, a bad half. You know, they do some things brilliantly like recruiting and flash. And then some of the other stuff, I'm like, it shouldn't be this hard. But everybody was saying, well, Arch Manning, when are we going to get the best Arch Manning? When are we going to see this graduation to the next class?

And I'm like, folks, this stuff's hard. And maybe this is what he is, that he doesn't see the field brilliantly. He doesn't see it like Brock Purdy. Some guys see it. Some don't. That he's super athletic. He's got good traits. He's a big, strong kid. He's got the Manning family. But it is possible that there, you know this, there's an it factor. They're seeing the field. Maybe he was a little overvalued, dominating a smaller Louisiana high school. Or am I wrong that there is this massive ceiling? He's going to hit it. Or my take is maybe he's just, this is kind of what he is, which is he doesn't see the field quite as quickly in process. Herbert's got some of this that maybe as he, as other guys do, is it possible? That's it.

Well, look, everyone's going to process at a different rate. And that comes down to the individual, and that's something that we don't quite have the ability to measure yet. You can kind of tell based on their decision-making and on film. But you referenced Brock Purdy. That's a guy who played a lot of football during his time at Iowa State, and he fell into a position where I don't know that he could have fallen to a better team and a better coach and offensive line Kyle Shanahan.

And you mentioned something in asking the question, talking about details. If there's something that I'm concerned the most about this Texas offense, it is the details. It's the fact that their offensive line plays incredibly inconsistent, not only in pass throw, but also in one block. I mean, you see them turning guys free from time to time. You'd never see an offensive line that should be one of those dominant college footballs. Really highlighted in that way. And so to me, it starts up front with them in the trenches offensively.

Then you go back to the wide receiver group where there's not a ton of separation, which to me doesn't fall necessarily always on Wingo and Cam Coleman, two of their top receivers.

It's somewhat of a scheme, too.

It feels like when you're out there, you don't have plays building off of one another, where they're showing you the same formation, the same personnel grouping, and doing multiple things out of that to keep a defense on their toes.

That's, to me, good offensive scheme and good offensive football.

And so all these things add up to make it even more difficult for Archstead to make plays. And then when he has made plays this year, some of that stuff has backfired. I mean, I go back to the Cam Coleman catch where he beat his defender by five yards downfield. He dives, catches, and all of a sudden the ball gets tipped up and ends up being an interception.

You know, Ryan Wingo dropped a touchdown pass in that game. They were fortunate to come back in that game, but all that stuff ends up adding up to being thrown on Arch Manning's shoulders. So has he played perfect this year?

No.

No quarterback has.

You know, I don't know, maybe outside of maybe you say Darian Mensah, who from start to finish had a really solid, consistent season. All of these quarterbacks have had their ups and downs, and this has always been the case. I mean, the fact that we're making such a big deal about it only speaks to, I think, A, what his ceiling may be, but also the fact of what the expectations were, not only for Arch, but also for Texas.

And then it feels like it's more disappointing for Texas as a whole than anything else. I'll leave you on this, on this topic. Last year too, we'd kind of written arch off after the first half of the season, but we're halfway through now. And the problem was, is everyone stopped watching and arch play phenomenal second half. So that's where we're at now. I'm not throwing in the towel on Texas or on arch Manning. They've got some things to approve upon a fix, but it's not just him.

It's everyone who's a part of this offense. They need to find their identity. They need to hammer back down on the details. They need to get better up front and also run the football and take some of the pressure off of them.

Um, Listen, I didn't like the calls at the end of the game. I thought Notre Dame got kind of homered twice. Be that as it may, they didn't play great. They blew some red zone opportunities on third down. They did not play Notre Dame football. I saw criticism yesterday or the day before. People were saying, you know.

They lose a lot of close games to good teams, and they beat up, because of their schedule, half a member of a conference on a lot of average teams. And first of all, everybody loses close games to good teams. Ryan Day does. Kirby Smart does. But they all do. I like where Notre Dame's at. but I do think now with super conferences, SEC and big 10, nobody wants to play these out of conference games. Like nobody wants to play Notre Dame. Like they're getting on the phone and people are like, I got to play Texas, Oklahoma and the SEC. Now I'm not playing Notre Dame. I'm not going to South Bend in November. Forget it. So it's a weird spot. That's why I think 2014 playoffs good for them. Where are you on Notre? I still

think Notre Dame can play for the title. I still do. They're good at key positions, corner quarterback coach. I think winning in Pro Bowl is hard. BYU's got NIL money. They got NFL guys. I don't think we think of BYU. I watched BYU, Notre Dame, Brady. They look pretty even. They were both big. I don't think it's that punitive of a loss, but because of their schedule, it is.

Where do you land today? Where are they going forward?

Well, I definitely think they have the chance to still win a national championship. I mean, they're that talented. That's their ceiling. The problem is there's no room for error.

And we saw that after last year dropping their first two games of the season, running the table, but 10-2 wasn't good enough. And I think that's the concern here is it all comes down to the Miami game. Assuming they win the rest of their games, you know, they really.

Need to be 11-1.

They really need that win, I think, for their strength of schedule and to prove to everyone out there they deserve to be a part of the playoff. I think if you lose that game or if you were to drop a game to SMU or someone else along the way, you then once again leave it up to the college football playoff committee and you might find yourself on the outside looking in.

And so this.

Past week's game, we can talk about the calls and officiating and why there should be more of a push for a national officiating group instead of doing it by conference. I have no idea how we've come to an agreement on an expanded 2014 playoff. and how we're going to play for a national championship, but we still have officials by conference.

It just doesn't make any sense to me.

We should bring it all in-house, all under one umbrella for replay, everything else, so everyone's understanding how we're trying to implement whatever changes it is, whatever calls we're doing this year, it's all under the same roof. That, to me, would be a great step for all of college football. Last week, though, what was disappointing was this is a team that was a 10-point favorite on the road. And so I think that speaks a little bit about the expectations for this team that in a big game, got off to a slow start.

They didn't look good offensively. CJ Carr didn't play his best game.

He still showed me flashes of why I think he's the best quarterback in college football. There's a couple throws he made down the stretch that, I mean, there's no one else who was going to make those throws or was accurate. But he was off. He missed a few throws. He had some mistakes along the game, but so did everyone.

I mean, the coaching staff, some of the play-calling players, You can look at Chris Ash and his resistance to wanting to play more man-to-man versus a team that I think you'd match up with very well. And I understand you lost your best edge rusher to start the game, and that can kind of be a shock to the system.

But that was a very winnable game. I mean, you had a botched punt. You had a fake punt, which was an awful call on the backed-up territory. and you couldn't take advantage of them in the red zone. So Notre Dame should look nowhere else but in the mirror and try to pick up the pieces, make the fixes they need to make, because they are capable of winning it all. They have the advantage of getting home field versus Miami, but you can't afford to lose it. I mean, you can make the case they're in the playoff now.

Every single week, they've got to win, and they've got to be able, in order to advance into the playoff.

You know, the NIL is interesting. So I think it's hurt the depth of the Georgians and Ohio State. It's a prime example that Ohio State once won a natty with Cardell Jones. Well, Cardell Jones would not be on their roster anymore because somebody like Oregon State would go say, here's money. You don't have a great third quarterback. That's not at least an experienced one. And so, you know, they've won titles with Craig Krenzel and Cardell Jones. But the Cardell Jones guys that are talented backups now, they want to start and they're going to play and they're going to leave. And so to me, when you lose Julian saying my take is they're not going to win.

They're out of the national championship. There's too many good quarterbacks. Notre Dame, Miami. There's too many good quarterbacks on good teams. I look at Ohio State and I'm like, Brady, NIL, you've got to play a three-star freshman. I don't even think Ohio State can win a natty now. I don't think it's possible.

Do you?

I think it's still possible.

I mean, you referenced obviously the season they did in 2014 with Urban Meyer. Now, they didn't have to go quite as long into the season in order to do that, right? It was a much shorter postseason for that team to win it all. But look, they're going to have to hang their hat on the running game. They have to get much more physical on the offensive line. And defensively, they have to start being more dominant on that side and getting more pressure, getting more tackles for loss and negative plays. which hasn't really been them so far this season.

So they're going to have to lean on a lot of other people outside of the quarterback position. And for all those people who aren't big Julian Sand fans, how are you feeling now if you're a Buckeyes fan? For a guy who completed his career over 70% of his passes, it's like now you're really concerned about whether or not you can even beat Michigan at the end of the season, let alone try to win a national championship.

So.

I'm still a believer in this team because I think they've got a hell of a coaching staff. They have a ton of talent, the best player in the country and Jeremiah Smith. It just comes down to, can they put together a game plan that allows, whether it's Luke Fahey or Tavian St. Clair or a combination of both, or maybe you use legend Bay who, you know, did used to play some quarterback during his days in high school.

Maybe he comes in as a wildcat quarterback, whatever the case is putting together a game plan that might not be what the identity of your offense has been so far this year. But it plays to their strengths and allows you to be successful. That's going to be the formula moving forward. And they've got to figure out what that's going to be over the course of the next week or so during their bye before they play a tough SC team. So I'm not counting them out because history has shown us otherwise. But the Big Ten now is wide open. And I think for the SEC, because you haven't won the national championship now in the past four years, the door is open. You've got some teams that are going to be in contention for it, obviously,

despite some of the struggles we've talked about. with Texas and Arch and whoever else, LSU and Sam Leavitt, the door's wide open now because Ohio State was the team to beat in the Big Ten.

You know, people forget John Wooden actually took a few years to get UCLA rolling. We're all impatient. We want you to be great. Ryan Day wins 88% of his games, and he's always under attack from Buckeye fans. I've told USC fans this. Listen, the NIL means you have to go to the boosters and ask for $ 35 million a year.

They just spent $ 250 million on facilities. You want to buy out Lincoln Riley? That's $ 70 million. And the new guy is going to cost you $ 12 million a year or $ 9 million a year. So NIL has actually helped coaches keep their jobs for a lot of these schools because you can't just blow them out. And my other thing is, I want your opinion on Lincoln. If I just said, Lincoln Riley, write a paragraph. Where are you today? Obviously, the defense remains an enigma today. But they're just tremendous offensively, throwing the ball in a throwing era. Where do you land on his position and his space and his ascension right now?

Well, that's been kind of what he's been. He's a great offensive line. And I think that gets you only so far as a head coach. You have to be able to pair together with a solid defense. And how you go about constructing that is a separate conversation. But from his time taking over for Bob Stoops, who really built the foundation of that program and kind of just gave him the keys and let him run it, they obviously had success. And you have guys who are winning Heisman's and making a college football playoff berth, but you're never able to get to the pinnacle. And so then you go to SC and that was the expectation. I think that the tough thing for a guy like Lincoln Riley is you've had good recruiting classes. You've had now

Heisman trophy winner and Caleb Williams. You've had, other talented players come through there. But it hasn't equated to the postseason success. Never winning a conference championship, never having a college football playoff berth. And when you watch what Kurt Cignetti has done, where he takes an Indiana program that was arguably the worst ever in college football history and turns it around in basically two years' time to win a national championship, you have to be scratching your head if you're an SC booster or if you're an SC fan going, Why can't we do this? Like, we're in a recruiting hotbed. We're in an easy place to get guys to come to. We suppose we have enough money to do so. Why can't we do this? They just

did it in the Big Ten. And so, you know, there's obviously some difficulties for both those teams and the challenge they have. But Kurt Cignetti has made it harder for a lot of Blue Blood programs who aren't having that quick turnaround like they thought they were going to that are well-funded. Where everyone's kind of looking at him saying, well, why can't you do what he's doing if you're such a good coach? We're paying you all this money. And that's a legitimate question. So, look, he's a great offensive mind.

No one's going to deny that. What they do this season, though, that's still all out there for them. They've got some big-time games ahead. I think at the end of the day, if they are a 10-2 team with their schedule, depending on who they beat, if it is Ohio State, maybe they don't get quite as much credit for it.

Maybe that UCLA win, all of a sudden, it.

Would look a lot better on the resume, given even their circumstance, even though they're playing with a backup, too. You still look at a couple of those teams and go, if they're able to be one of those two at 10-2, they'll definitely be in contention for the playoff. And if they win them out, obviously, they're playing the Big Ten Championship, and that narrative is changing completely for him.

Finally, by the way, Indiana at Michigan on Fox. Brady Quinn, part of the big noon kickoff. That's a really interesting game. Michigan's secondary is pretty good. Indiana's got great ability to beat you down the field. That's a really interesting matchup for me. And Michigan's offense does look like it's more functional now. So the 2014 playoff, my argument is generally, Brady, that in life, if something, the quality is good, it could be a restaurant. It can move. You and your wife will still find it. It can expand and lose its charm. You and your wife will still go. College football's product is so damn good. Last week, Saturday, was so much better than NFL Sunday. The product's so good.

We can expand. We can move. It's going to be okay at 24 teams. Or there's the traditionalist that says, you don't love the romance of it, the charm of it. It's a fair argument. Maybe I don't. Where do you land?

I land on the inclusiveness of the expansion is obviously going to be a good thing. I mean, to your point, if more teams are making the college football playoff, it probably slows down the quick trigger to move on from coaches. You probably don't see as many players being as transient, although the Protect College Sports Act is going to limit that a little bit, too. reducing the amount of times players can transfer before they graduate. So there's some caveats to saying that. But I think the hardest transition for all of us is that you can lose a couple of games now and still feel like your team has a shot. yeah and that didn't used to be the case in college football that's where it really differentiated itself

from the nfl that was one of the hardest things transitioning to uh to the nfl as a college football player when you win a lot of games you're sitting there saying yourself i i can't afford to lose you know five six games like that's an awful season in college well in the nfl you're probably a playoff team you're probably winning your division So, you know, it's changing the thinking, I think, of how a lot of fans and even some of the coaches and players feel about it and their response to losses, knowing that in a 2014 playoff, you're going to have two lost teams, you're going to have three lost teams who are going to be a part of it. And that just hasn't been the nature of college football. It's traditionally been a regular

season sport where it comes down to it, the team that's undefeated or a team with one loss.

And based on how that ballgame goes, that was how they're going to be voted or that was what it was going to look like.

Well, we've strayed away from wanting to make it a regular season sport, and it's becoming a postseason sport.

So, you know, there's some different.

Feelings I have about that in general, you know, but at the end of the day, if this is the direction that we're going, I think it will make the sport better. Having more teams involved in a world of parody right now where you just said it last week, we had five teams in the top seven lose.

Like who's that great team right now in college football?

I really, I really don't know.

Maybe it's Miami, but you know, that was a controversial ending to that game.

Like you're telling me Florida state shouldn't have, you know, had that touchdown for Deuce Robinson had a chance for a two point to extend that game. There's, there's just so much parody out there. I think it's going to make for a great 2014 playoff when we get there.

This was great stuff. 20 minutes of Brady Quinn, first-round pick, seven years in the NFL, Indiana at Michigan, big noon kickoff. I think that's going to be a really interesting game. Indiana off a loss. They don't lose much. Brady, I really appreciate you.

You've got to thank Dave Coelho. Dave was the one who was supposed to pound the bees, like, we've got to get you on this week. I was like, all right, let's just find a time to make it work. So thank Big Dave for that.

Big Dave, if you can hear us, thank you, Big Dave, for that. We appreciate that. Brady Quinn, awesome stuff. Yeah, it's hard to get these guys doing big noon kickoff. They're traveling around the country. It's hard for us to get them on Mondays and Fridays. So that is fantastic.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, the other thing with USC is that Bob Chesney walks into UCLA, brings a bunch of James Madison guys, and they're 6-0, and they play defense, and they've got the best O-line maybe in the Big Ten. It's like, what are we sitting here for years waiting for? I get it. In Chicago, it's the herd.

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Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon, and comment away. I just saw where Patrick Mahomes has tied Tom Brady for the fewest games it took to get to 100 quarterback wins. And I'm looking at the numbers. Brady was 131. Mahomes, 131. Obviously the same. Mahomes' numbers are slightly better, but it is more of a passing era. So some of those are a tick up just because people are more pass-centric in the NFL. You know what's really cool about the NFL?

They're literally opposites. If you look at their career arc, Whereas Brady is on script and surgical, and Mahomes, especially early, was off script and creative. Brady is about process and information and execution. Mahomes was about creativity and performance. Brady inherited the best defensive coaching. The defense carried him for the first couple of years, and then eventually the offense caught up. But outside of the Randy Moss years, it really wasn't a deep ball offense. It was get it out quickly to the playmakers. They beat you with brains and efficiency and discipline and do your job. And, you know, occasional they were great in cold weather games, whereas Mahomes came in and Kansas City's defense the first couple of

years was like 31st in the league. It took them years to catch up defensively. They had Tyreek Hill. They had one of the best tight ends ever right out of the gate. It was an offensive head coach, one of the greats of all time, Andy Reid. So it was the opposite of Brady. Now, by the way, at the end in Tampa, it was a lot of Tom with Mike Evans and Gronk and a great offense and Bruce Arians. And now Mahomes is doing it more with Spag's defense and a run game. So their careers could not be more different in terms of stylistically and arc.

But the one thing that they are both unbelievable in, and this is why they're, to me, the two best quarterbacks I've probably ever seen. It's fourth quarter overtime, and they either trail or they have to throw, and everybody in the stadium knows they have to throw. They're the two best I've ever seen with Joe Montana. Brady, 74% winning percentage. Mahomes, 73% in one-score games in the fourth in overtime. Sometimes they've had great defenses. Sometimes they've had no running games. Sometimes they have Randy Moss. Sometimes they have Tyreek Hill. The difference between Mahomes, Montana, Brady, and the Mannings, but really Brady and Mahomes more than anybody to me, is when everybody knows they've got to throw.

That's the great separator in this league. Yep. Bring heat. They got to throw. It's third and eight and nobody better than these guys. Here's Mahomes on tying Brady for the fewest games it takes to win 100.

My honest first reaction is like, they've said this from like 97 on. I'm like, when did Tom lose another game? Because I feel like every game I win, I tie him. And so, no, but in all seriousness, it's always an honor to be in any conversation as far as winning football with him. That's the GOAT. He knows how to win football better than anyone really in any other sport.

And so if you can be mentioned in any category with him, it's special.

By the way, they met in a Super Bowl. How'd that turn out? I don't play favorites, I'm just saying. Now, Mahomes' line wasn't great. Remember that AFC championship game in Kansas City, overtime? I forget who, oh, Brady won that one. I love Mahomes, what am I saying? He's one of the nicest guys ever. He's unbelievable, but it's just so funny, they're One got the great offensive coach. One got the great defensive coach.

One had a terrible defense early. One had a great defense early. Then as they've aged, Mahomes has the run game and the great defense. And Brady and Tampa was mostly he and Mike Evans and Gronk. And we can win shootouts. A great offensive line when Tristan Wirfs got drafted from Iowa, put him at right tackle. It was like they bulldozed you. more creative than he'd ever been offensively because he had the offensive eyes of Bruce Arians, very different careers, but boy, they are both great late when you got to throw. Jay Mack with the news.

Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.

I can't believe I'm going to defend Mahomes, but weren't those the old overtime rules, that AFC playoff game? Brady won the coin toss, went right down the field, and then that was ballgame?

They weren't old then. That's what Brady played within those rules at that time.

Well, Tom, hopefully Tom's not watching.

Sorry, teammate.

But I was on the Chiefs in that game, and I remember watching with my family.

It was fantastic.

That was painful. Anyways, let's go back to the NBA last night. Jalen Brunson, the superstar from last year's postseason. He was on the struggle bus yesterday. Six of 19 just did not get it done. You know, he got outplayed by Tyrese Maxey. But afterward, Brunson had a good point. Here's what he said about the loss. A very good perspective from the wise Jalen Brunson.

It's good for us to kind of get knocked down off the nine.

Yeah.

Humble ourselves, put our egos in check and see what's going to happen. I've told you guys since day one, whatever happens these first couple of weeks of the season, that's going to show who we truly are.

Brunson's maybe the most relatable NBA star. I mean, he's just like humble. He's yeah. I can't hear you, Jay Mack. You have to turn your mic on, maybe.

It feels like last season, the Knicks really struggled for the first 40 games to separate and become awesome. And then they really crested late in the season. I would not be surprised if they did not finish top three in the East this season.

Once you win the title and you're proven and you have veteran players, you're going to try to protect those players' legs. So I always say this. Remember the Derrick Rose Bulls? They didn't win anything. They played so hard every night. When teams don't have the title yet and they've got young players or old players, they play much harder in the regular season. Once the Spurs or the Heatles, once you start stacking those things, if I'm the Knicks right now, I don't want Brunson playing 82 games. I want Brunson taking eight nights off and get an all-star break. I'm going to give him extra games maybe in and out of that. I don't need to play cap now that Robinson's gone. So I think you're... Not only your perspective,

but your performance has to be changed. Once everybody's been minted, you're all made men. You won a title. Cat was huge. I don't need the Knicks to win 64 games and Brunson to lead the NBA in ball usage. I just don't need that from this team.

Totally agree.

I would not be betting that. Knicks at all the first two months of the season. Let's move on to the nightcap, and that was Spurs. versus OKC, big revenge game. And boy, did SGA and company look very good. He had 32-5-4. Wemby really could not do anything. Looked like a guy, basically, who was celebrating like he won the title all summer. I mean, Wemby, 1-13 shooting. Here's SGA on the victory and what they can take from it.

Obviously, this is the team that eliminated us from achieving our goal. But for us, I think it was more we're just, like, happy to be back.

NBA's back.

It's a longer summer when you don't win, and we felt that this summer. So, yeah, we're just happy to be back. One of 82. Like, this doesn't prove anything. This doesn't mean anything besides the fact that we won tonight. We took a step in the right direction, and we got to do it 81 more times and be ready for the playoffs if we get a chance to make it.

NBA is lucky right now. Brunson, likable, pragmatic, SGA, humble, likable, all about the game. They've gone through weird stars where they're not. They're needy and weird. It's just right now the guys at the top are just committed to basketball, got some humility, worked their tail off, play a lot of games. I will say this for OKC. That roster, it fits. Sam Presti's brilliant. Mara didn't even play a big minute, and you're like, Man, they got multiple bigs, multiple perimeter switchable defenders. They've got a bench. They've got size.

If they don't win the title, they got problems. Because remember, they've been the one seed three years in a row now, Colin. And they have one title, one final strip to show for it. I'll say when you could come Jared McCain off the bench and he hits six threes. I still can't believe the Sixers gave him up last year.

What a disaster.

Daryl Morey, I think he's currently unemployed, probably because of that deal. I mean, McCain looks like a starter around the league. Couldn't get minutes with the Sixers last year, and now he's a flamethrower off the bench. I mean, Caruso comes in. He's a good team. Now, again, I'm going to bet on the Spurs in a seven-game series if everybody's healthy.

Now, they may have to move one of those bigs eventually. Like, they're going to keep Holmgren, and they're going to keep Mara. But I mean, Hartenstein, he's good. But I mean, there's there's what's the interesting thing for Presti and they've drafted really well. It's like the Seahawks. Well, you got to sometimes, you know, you got to move off some guys that you really like. And so their roster is almost too deep.

It's so deep now. At some point, they may have to move off somebody. But it's the most complimentary roster to me, the Knicks and Astros. OKC. And I like San Antonio, but there's some duplication and there's some holes in that roster.

Yeah, for sure.

Final story, Con, listen, I'm just going to preface this. Take a deep breath. It's going after one of your sacred cows. But there's a report from Mike Sando at The Athletic. Listen, you know he's plugged in, talks to a lot of folks around the league. Sam Darnold's been having a tough season. He's got seven interceptions in just four starts, second in the league to Herbert, who has played in six games. So a defensive coach in the NFL, anonymously, said no one feels good about Sam Darnold having to play a two-minute offense to win. Now, you're smiling. I know you're smiling through the tears. Let's be real. Darnold, in the three losses, has not been good, Colin. You can admit that. He has six interceptions. In the three losses,

directly responsible for the loss to Denver with the overtime interception. He had a brutal pick six against Washington and another pick. And then he had two against San Fran. One right out of the gate gave San Fran a touchdown and another San Fran should have scored but missed. Darnold, look at the numbers. OK, fourth quarter and overtime against Denver, missing their top two quarterbacks, you know. These are not good numbers. We like Sam Darnold as a human. He has a Super Bowl ring. You can't take that away from him. But the reality is.

No running backs and they're using a 47-year-old first-time play caller. It could be that.

This is why I love the show.

It's no big deal.

So what's your concern on the panic level? 10 is, oh my gosh.

Get on the phone. Charbonnet will play this weekend. That helps their run game. In two weeks after that, Price will be back. And Seattle is going to be a viable Super Bowl team. Oh, that's a hot. Charbonnet is a great number two back. He's a planted and go guy. If you can have him. What's the guy Watson they have right now? And then price. Eventually, you've got three, three backs that I like. Wilson, Wilson, Wilson. I'm sorry.

You'll have three backs I'm comfortable with. You know, I think another thing they have here, I mean, they haven't used Rashid Shaheed in the backfield. Another thing is, and it's not like they've drafted poorly, I think at the trade deadline, Seattle does need to consider going and getting another receiver. Cooper Cupp is a short yardage guy. JSN, obviously, is like 39% of the catches. I think they're a receiver light, and I think they have drafted so well they could give up a pick. But Denver has an extra receiver they don't use. The Rams have some interesting wide receivers who just don't eat. I think Philadelphia would certainly take phone calls these days as it looks like that's circling the drain. So I think they're a receiver

shy is my take. A solid receiver. Uh, an experienced number two, that's been in the league two or three years. Mims in Denver's interesting to me.

They're not giving it to me. They're a contender, but you're onto something. I think Seattle is going to be a major player at the deadline. Remember last year or two years at one of the years they got Rashid Shaheed and that was that paid dividends instantly. I think you've got to pick up the phone and call Philadelphia about Saquon Barkley. I don't care if Price is healthy.

He's a rookie. He had fumble issues, and Charbonnet ain't—he's not a star. So I think you call about Saquon.

I would talk to— I don't think that's a bad idea, by the way.

What about Tampa Bay? Chris Godwin, the wide receiver.

Tampa Bay's 1-5.

They're not going anywhere.

Godwin's hurt a lot.

Well, he is, but you're not getting Nabuca.

Fine.

I'm just saying, you start looking around the league at these bad teams looking to get off players. You know, Arizona already shipped Harrison. You know, I would start targeting. I mean, honestly, if you are the Chargers, you know, Quinton Johnson, he's not your guy.

But I don't know.

Fifth round pick? I would take a five on Quinton Johnson. You know, I mean, he's got stone.

Hands, but he's better than nothing. I need a reliable. I don't need. JSN provides volume. Cooper Cupps, a nice third down receiver. I think when they get Charbonnet and Price back, they'll be fine in the backfield. I do feel and it's not like they drafted receiver poorly, but I do feel if you want to do this, because remember, they've paid Witherspoon. They've paid some guys.

Yep.

They don't have Leonard Williams, one of the only older players they've paid. So the reality is you're getting two or three years out from having to write some big checks. So I think if you can kind of go all in. Shaheed's been a really good get for them. He feels more gadgety than a number two receiver, though.

Okay, the Titans went and got Wandale Robinson. He was good with the Giants last year. People are going to roll their eyes. He's kind of wasted on.

A team that's going nowhere. I think he's a very interesting piece.

Again, you just got to, and I think Schneider has to make moves. If you want to go for the back-to-back, You know, go for it. Because this roster, as currently constructed, they're not going anywhere, Colin.

They're not.

I don't even know if they're a playoff team.

Oh, let's slow.

Listen, this Chiefs game is.

A big one. Okay?

Okay.

This was three. Came off the three. Two and a half. That's market moving money.

You just want to dump on Slingin' Sammy D. Print your playoff tickets. They'll be fine.

I'm not dumping on the guy when he's second in the league in picks. And he led the league in turnovers last year. And it ain't Zach Charbonnet. He's not putting on a cape and saving the day.

Charbonnet is the way. They'll be just fine. J-Mac, anybody with UCLA these days, any UCLA lineage, everybody's good with the Bruins. J-Mac with the news.

Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by.

The Herdline News. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the iHeartRadio app.

Sunday, it's a huge NFL doubleheader on Fox. First at 1 Eastern, then Niners take on the Falcons or other regional action. Then at 4, in America's Game of the Week. We've got Jordan Love and the Packers against Jared Goff and the Lions.

Shootout.

Or Rams Raiders. It's all part of Foxtoberfest Sunday on Fox.

So Ohio State will not have their B-plus-A quarterback, Julian, saying he's out for the year now. So they're going to go to a backup where you're probably more C, C-plus. And now the margins get really tight, right? When you have a B-plus-A quarterback saying... You don't have to play as perfectly. When you have a backup, the margins get tight.

Every penalty is more punitive. Every turnover is a death sentence. Like, it's really tough. So what's going to happen? Ryan Day and the lunatic fringe in Ohio State is going to be very judgmental, play to play to play. But football is not meant to be perfect. No other sport are you getting tackled by guys that can bench press Delaware.

It's the reality of the sport. It's really hard. Practice can be tedious and hard. A great example is Kurt Cignetti, A-plus coach at home, two turnovers, four penalties, wide receivers out of bounds on the game-winning potential play, missed a chipped field goal from 30 yards. And that's the great Kurt Cignetti. who never makes any mistakes. So isn't it funny?

Last year, the Hoosiers went 16-0, and they made mistakes, but nobody talked about them because Fernando Mendoza is a little bit of the whiteout. You know when you used to make a mistake with a typewriter and you white it out? LeBron had that effect early in his NBA career. He made every coach look better than they probably were So I think I said this once Fernando Mendoza leaves, Cignetti is going to look more human. I mean, by the way, Indiana had no penalties against Rutgers, but they were imperfect against Ohio State at home. Why is that?

Because Ohio State speeds the game up. So I think Ohio State has a bye week before they go to L.A. to face USC with a backup quarterback. I don't think you can win a natty. I think you used to be able to because your backup quarterback, like a Cardell Jones, he's no longer going to be a backup quarterback. Somebody is going to come and buy him. So you have to play like a three star freshman who you'd like to be in the program two years before you put him on the field. So I think that's the downside of the NIL for the Georgians and Ohio States, that if you have a key injury at left tackle or quarterback, your backups aren't as good because they got paid by somebody else. Because everybody's poaching Ohio State. Everybody's looking for

their guys. So here's Urban this week on Ohio State on a bye week without Julian Sam.

We went through this, obviously, it's well documented, the Cardale Jones and You know, everyone else is kind of tired. Everyone else is kind of, but you have to practice your ass off. And I apologize to the players. Say, listen, we got to go win these next few games. And we have got to go. Because normally it's a time to rest, guys. And you'll rest some. But from my understanding, Ohio State's got a very unselfish team. They're going to go practice a bunch this week.

Let's look at their schedule. It's not the most difficult. They're going to be favored in a lot of games. I don't know. I have to wait until USC, who's been a very good team in Los Angeles. It's a different game without Julian Sand. With Julian Sand, I think they'd have moved the ball up and down the field.

Without him, you're going to need some breaks. I'll say this about Lincoln and USC. At home, they're good.

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