THE HERD – HOUR 2 – Herd Hierarchy: How Far Do The Chiefs Fall?

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Here we go. It's hour two. Cowboys win, score 38 points, finally discover a run game. Boy, Shottie likes to throw it, doesn't he? He loves to throw it. Apparently he had a short press conference last night. He got in his feels like, I don't want to deal with the press. It's like, I like the fact that he just ran the ball. Listen to this stat. So Dak last night threw 27 pass attempts. That's appropriate. This year... This weekend, the winning quarterbacks in the NFL this weekend threw 28 times.

Quarterbacks with over 40-plus attempts this year are 7-34-1, 0-4 this week. He's shoddy. Run the ball. Run the ball. Even Dak Prescott, you ask him to throw 45, 50 times, that's what the Bengals have been doing for years with Joe Burrow. He can't make the playoffs. And if you're trying to hide a mediocre defense, and that's what Dallas has, that's what the Bears have. What do you do? Ben Johnson, run the ball. Shorten the game. It's not that complicated.

Run the ball if you have Dallas' defense.

All right.

It is time. It is Tuesday. Here's our top ten.

Heard hierarchy.

Time is now.

Let's go.

The top ten NFL teams according to college. Number ten.

Listen, it's an offensive league in Cincinnati. Joe Burrow right now, 72% completion percentage, second and passer rating, offensive coach, two great receivers, top five scoring offense. Listen, they lost to the Steelers and the Jags. I don't think they're a Super Bowl team, but I do think they went and bought a defensive front.

It's better. They dogged Baltimore this weekend. Clearly the better team. I'll put Joe Burrow and the guys at 10.

Number nine.

Listen, the Rams are out gaining their opponents by over 97 yards. It's number one in the league. This weekend, they finally look like the Rams. I'd like to see Miles Garrett, Puka, Devontae Adams banged up as they are prone to be, but I did think the tight end usage, Stafford had an extra beat to throw. They look like a team that could make a playoff run. Rams still have egregiously bad special teams, so I put them at nine.

Number eight.

Listen, the Broncos have only lost to the Chiefs and the Niners. They are 4-0 in one-score games, but they are terrible on third down offensively. And I don't care if I like your coach, if I love your roster, bad third down teams end up being weak or below average playoff teams. I put Denver at eight.

Number seven.

The Lions, weird win over Green Bay, number one passing offense. It's their first win this year, however, scoring less than 30 points. And if Green Bay could catch, they would have gotten close to it. Their offensive line is excellent. Jared Goff needs that. We all love Jamison Williams, Amaran St. Brown, Jameer Gibbs, Laporta. This is just, you know, 90% of their talent on offense. I do think Brian Branch coming back matters. He had a pick. I put Detroit at seven.

Number six.

Well, for the fourth straight week, I have the Buffalo Bills at number.

No, that.

Do I did five yet? Oh, yeah, my bad. Bills at six. Number one scoring offense. But there are 29 points. Five times they've given up. 29 points. So again, I feel like it's a little bit like the Lions with a mobile quarterback. They got to score a lot to win. I don't think you can win a Super Bowl with that secondary. So trading deadline, Seahawks just made a move.

I'm the Bills. I make a move at the deadline, which is in a couple of weeks.

Number five.

Yeah, I forgot how to count. Kansas City's at number five. Listen, they had a lousy game in Seattle, and I think Seattle's the best team in the league. You just throw it away. I do worry about the wide receivers, and I'm sorry, and it's not just Kenneth Walker. I just don't like this receiving core. I don't trust it. But this was the first team in the Super Bowl era to have no rushes of 10 yards, no completions of 20, no red zone drives, no touchdown and multiple missed field goals.

That was an awful performance. They rarely have them. Burn the tape. I still think they're a team that can get to a conference championship, and if they're healthy, maybe more.

Number four.

I saw them play live. I think it's the most underrated team in the league. Top 10 in offense and defense, and that's with A.J. Brown, just not being anything.

A.J.

Brown's going to get better. Now, he may, I'm not saying he's going to be A.J. Brown, but he will become something more than he is now. I think Travion Henderson has been a disappointment as a second round pick out of Ohio State. I just like their coaching. I think Drake May is really special. You'll watch him live.

He's not working with a ton. I think they're underrated. I think they can win in cold weather. I have him at four.

Number three.

The Bears. Listen, they're 3-0, averaging 40 a game when Caleb plays, start to finish. They're a big play offense. They can also run, so they're built to play in cold weather. The last two games, Caleb's 75% completion percentage. I think they need a rush end. I think they should go after Khalil Mack of the Chargers. I really do.

If the Chargers lose, I'd go get draft picks. This team feels like... They're just missing one edge piece. I get the coach. I get the run game. I get Josh Allen at quarterback without the interceptions. Bears at three.

Number two.

They're falling apart. Don't take much from the loss. Their schedule lightens up. Brock Purdy, I mean, he's thrown to backups to backups. Christian McCaffrey off the bye will be available. I don't worry too much about it. But I do think when I do the herd hierarchy, you have to consider everything. And they're old. And the number one team just got better, and they're not old.

Number one.

Seattle's got a better defense. Seattle is younger. Younger players get hurt less, and when they get hurt, they recover more quickly. Quentin Nelson with Gray Zabel gives you two world-class guards. What Seattle is telling you with that move is, listen. We don't know if Jadarian Price and Charbonnet are going to combine be Kenneth Walker. So we're going to upgrade the interior O-line to guarantee a viable run game because we got a recipe and it got us a ring and the Niners are falling apart and the Rams and the Packers are not as good as everybody thought in the NFC. So I love the move. And I said this about the Brewers, and I'll say it about the Seahawks.

When you turn the sound down, some teams just look different. And Kansas City hasn't played that bad in, like, ever. There's only one team in the league that can make Kansas City look like that, and that is Seattle. And with that, Nick Wright co-hosts First Things First. I finally figured out how to count, and I can always count on Nick. All right, just look at the herd hierarchy, your macro, your overview of it.

All right, so let me just start with the Chiefs.

I would like to compliment you and thank you for not being one of the Pollyannas that are like, oh my God, the sky is falling in Kansas City. I understand they looked awful.

And they got blown out.

You know they hadn't lost a regular season game by three scores in five years. Mahomes has now lost five games in his whole career by three-plus scores, two Super Bowls, sadly, two games in 2021 and Sunday night. And Kansas City looked bad, and Patrick didn't play well, and all of it. But I agree with you wholeheartedly that that was more about a rested.

Almost desperate, certainly needed the win. Seahawks team saying we are not losing again at home on Sunday night football than it was about everything that's wrong with Kansas City. They probably need to add a receiver. Maybe they follow Seattle's lead. They traded for a guy, a great player in Quentin Nelson today. Maybe the Chiefs follow that in the next couple of weeks. But I agree with you that Sunday was more about the winner than it was about the loser. My only other critique is i think you have a team at four in new england that got beat 35 to 6 by a team in jacksonville that's not in your top 10 that seems a little unfair to the jaguars and trevor lawrence and liam go it well.

I told my guys i always preface it when i give it my staff looks at me i said jacksonville's 11 I like Jacksonville. They get a little loose with penalties. I think Jacksonville's very good. I want to say this about the Seahawks, though, adding Quentin Nelson. So what they're basically telling you is, listen, we lost Kenneth Walker. We know Sam Darnold play action can win a Super Bowl.

We watched it. But Sam, without play action, the picks come back. And so what I think they're telling you is Charbonnet is coming back, but he gets banged up. Price is good. He's not special. So we're going to make our own line even better than last year. And that will, we, I think what they're telling you is we've watched the Rams. The Niners are getting beat up and the Packers aren't as good as we thought. The Eagles are falling apart. I think part of Seattle's move, Nick, is we're watching all these top NFC teams, and they're not as good as we thought they would be. Let's go for it. That's what it feels like to me.

Listen, I support it wholeheartedly. I think they are looking at the NFC and saying, we can be the best team again. We can do what we in Seattle did more than a decade ago, which was had a quarterback that people had question marks about. Now, Russ ended up being a great quarterback, but people thought that was defense running game, and we can be a good enough overall team to get to back-to-back Super Bowls. I think this is a, relatively speaking... low risk trade that a, a list contender absolutely should go for. And when they look at it as we played the Niners once already, that was a good close game that came down to the finish.

We're going to get them again.

So we'll see how it looks when we play them a second time. I, I like their chances to at least split with them.

I don't think they.

Are eliminated from the division and, And then they look at the to me, the NFC is the Niners, the Seahawks and the NFC North with the Rams hanging.

On by a thread.

Right.

And I think Seattle says if we are going to get if the Rams end up turning it around, it will in part be cut be because Miles Garrett comes back and that D line is ferocious. The Vikings obviously have a ferocious defense, and I think the Seahawks are saying, we have to make sure we can protect Darnold. I love the trade for them. I don't know if I would yet have them number one in the league, but I do think, your point, I think they are the only team in the league that defense could have done that to Kansas City on Sunday night. That's a special defense, and they're going for it as they should as the defending champs.

Yeah, it's almost like the Rays swept the Yankees. They're very good. Milwaukee's humiliating them. They swept the dot. There are teams, and I compared them earlier, Brewers, Seattle, which is they got hot later in the season, and you're like, now they're humiliating people. Sometimes you have to chalk it up to on the road, desperate team, they're good, and it's like, throw the tape away.

J.J.

McCarthy was the one quarterback out of his draft. I liked Pennix. I liked everybody. I like Bo Nix more than people. I like Jaden. But with J.J. McCarthy, I said, it was more Harbaugh than it was him. It was more Blake Corm. It was more defense. Well, now he gets another Harbaugh. And I'm watching Sunday, and I'm like, okay, those are big boy throws. This is not turning in.

And I'm like, Scataboo is, say what you want, as odd and unstable as that will be over the course of 10 years, for now and Sunday, that's hard to tackle. Am I just wrong on J.J. McCarthy? Because that was not a mirage. Those were big-time throws.

Well, if you're wrong on J.J.

McCarthy, luckily for you, so was a third of the league and the team that knew him best. As excited as the Giants should be about what they saw from J.J., that's how nervous every person of power within the Vikings should be right now.

If J.J.

McCarthy ends up being a legitimate, the guy they draft, like think about this decision flow. We have Kirk Cousins. We're consistently in the mix. We need to get better. We're going to draft a quarterback, move on from Cousins.

Fine.

Quarterback gets hurt.

Our backup, Sam Darnold, wins 14 games.

Looks amazing.

We believe in JJ so much, we're going to move on from Sam Darnold. The next year, he plays half the season.

You sour on.

Him so much, you're like, Kyler Murray, come in and compete for the job, but it's your job immediately, and JJ can be had by anyone.

In the league.

If that player ends up being really good... And meanwhile, the Vikings, the biggest question mark is, is Kyler holding them back?

It's a catastrophe.

But as bad as it is for the Vikings, if I am the ownership of the Browns or the Jets or the Cardinals, I'm calling my GM in and I'm like, We couldn't have traded a fourth-round pick for this player? If he ends up being good, it's a disaster for so many teams, most notably the Vikings. And for the Giants, it would be an unbelievable problem to have if all of a sudden they have two high-upside young quarterbacks. I'm not ready yet to say that last.

Week was who he is.

I'm not either.

But he's making a hell of a first pick.

A second first impression in the league so far.

That was a great game.

And I think also bonus take, Colin, I think it killed the Texans.

Yeah.

I think the.

Texans are a scratch off now. I don't think there's coming back from this start.

So I said this and, you know, I was a little, you know, a little too braggy, but I said, oh, I said before the season, I said, Caleb will be a top three quarterback in the league. It'll be Alan Mahomes, some order and Caleb by the end of the year. It just will be. And I went and watched him live last week. And my takeaway was, he's Josh Allen without the occasional egregious mistake. With Josh in a lot of big games.

That would be pretty good.

I'm not joking. And I watch him. And the fact that now in a clean pocket, he's Brady. The numbers are ridiculous. I don't think it's... I think it's one of these things where it's... We don't want to say it. I think we are looking at kind of a... A Jordan-esque, like a guy that you get a lot of upside and not a lot of downside. And by the way, Michael Jackson got Quincy Jones. And MJ only won big with Phil Jackson. Part of this component is, you know, LeBron never got the coach. Spolstra was darn close, and they got to four. But I think the Ben Caleb thing, I honestly believe this. It's going to be 10 years and trophies. I believe that.

So, listen, I think that it's, you know, I got a lot of flack five years ago.

Was it five years ago? God, I'm old.

When he was a sophomore in college and I ranked him as the sixth best quarterback alive, I think, on Mahomes Mountain.

Like, and.

So I thought from the moment he walked on the field in the Red River shootout as a freshman at Oklahoma and turned that game around, and then what he did at USC, I just thought the combination of doesn't throw picks, crazy athleticism, one of the strongest arms in the world.

It's insane. It's insane.

It was just totally unique. It's one of the reasons why I.

Dislike so much how much rabbit ears he seems to have about what is said about him, only because I think that's one of the only things that could at least temporarily derail him is getting too caught up in some of the noise surrounding him. He is a unique talent. I called him when he was coming out of school, Mahomes 2.0, not better than Patrick, but the evolution of crazy arm angles, crazy arm talent.

He is faster than Patrick.

And so I, I think that, I think I said to you that going into the year, if the whole league were free agents, my draft picks would go like, and you could have anybody, it would go moving forward. Patrick, Josh, Caleb. I think we were in lockstep on that. And I think that he has only buttressed that point.

So let me, can I ask you a question?

And again, I'm not, I won't hold you to this, but are you looking at Monday night football as a potential NFC championship game preview?

No, it is.

San Francisco is great every September, and then whether it's the substation or they have old players, they'll fall apart. So I'm watching. That is the NFC Championship, which, by the way.

That's what I thought you were thinking.

It's probably the Super Bowl, like last year. It feels like I don't trust the Chiefs receiving core. I just don't in a big game. By the way, I don't know what's going on at left tackle, and I don't want no supposition. Okay, I got to throw this. I want to give you a LeBron tie.

Yeah.

So sometimes divorces, both teams win. I said, before LeBron went to Philly, I said, there's only one choice. You have to protect your defensive liabilities. You have to choose Philly. It's the only choice veteran coach, Jalen Brown, BJ edge comb. You got a rim protector. Philly is the only choice. Don't put your career in Donovan Mitchell and hardened quirky.

Don't play defense. So it's been good for him. It clearly works. He's the stabilizing EQ IQ force of a great roster. But I said yesterday, and this is not a criticism, part of being LeBron is his presence is so ubiquitous. It just steals so much oxygen. The Lakers are better without him. They can afford a rim protector and a couple of decent wings, and there is now a clear pecking order. Like it or not, Luka one, Austin two. That could never be with LeBron. LeBron's presence, not that it's burdensome, but the Lakers were actually right.

It's a lot.

They were right moving off him. They looked like a team that could win a playoff series.

I mean, they were a team that won a playoff series last year without Luka and without Austin, thanks to the 41-year-old. I mean, thanks to the 41-year-old who just carried them, you know, as a huge underdog. They did win a playoff series. So better off?

I don't know. They made round two last year.

We'll see how, you know, we'll see if they go to the conference finals this year.

I love Luka.

And given the all of a sudden, you know, pretty sad situation, I say that totally sincerely, by the way. Like, sad injuries that Oklahoma City suffered.

Oh, brutal.

It's just awful.

And you feel sick for Jalen Williams, who's just had some terrible injury luck. So they all of a sudden are shakier, given the fact that somebody hypnotized Victor Wimbinyama yesterday. into thinking he should model his game after Kevin Durant, who's half a foot shorter than him, and 100%—that's 100 out of 100 for folks who are confused about percentages, by the way— 100% of a better shooter than him, as opposed to modeling his game.

After Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which is what he should do.

The Spurs are maybe a little shakier, so I am giving the Lakers a real shot because I have seen Luka, with a roster similar to this one, make the Finals. With Austin playing the Kyrie role, Walker Kessler playing the rotating Daniel Gafford role.

I see it happening.

My beef with the Lakers is I don't think they maximized the last few years of the LeBron tenure, but I do understand them wanting... to totally turn the team over to Luka, which, to your point, was just going to be impossible from almost a media and narrative perspective with the greatest athlete to ever live still being on his team.

Nick Wright, how'd you do this weekend? I had another good one. How'd you do this weekend?

Well, you know, I was going to win a $ 21 million Survivor Contest, Colin. We were down to 1,000 people. I had the third most valuable entry, and I put my fate in Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets' hands.

So I did not do well.

And I knew I was going to regret that 98% of the time, which is 98 out of 100.

Good to see you, Colin. Good to see you too, Nick Wright. I asked him that because I knew that was rough. That is, I mean, you just see that gigantic lottery ticket out there. Can't sleep. Every lottery ticket I've ever purchased, by the way, I'm absolutely sure I'm going to win it.

When was the last time you played the lottery?

I always buy a ticket. Always?

Why not?

Like every week?

Well, I mean, when it gets, you know, big.

Somebody once told me that's called the stupid tax.

Well, I guess I'm stupid.

I haven't done it.

If it's like $ 750 million, I'll buy a couple tickets.

I'm not buying $ 600 worth. I'm buying like $ 10. If I have a $ 10 bill in my pocket. There's $ 10. No wonder you.

Haven't offered me to take me out to a meal or anything lately. You're spending all your money on lottery tickets.

I think I had, I'm not going to give the name, but I had somebody who I respect greatly years ago in the financial sector say, If anything gets to a billion and you have as good a chance as anybody else to win that billion, go buy a lottery ticket.

Okay.

Just go buy a couple.

Can you text me next time it's at a billion? I don't check the lotto numbers regularly.

Uncle Colin does.

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I don't think I could be a football coach at the highest levels, obviously, but there are things that drive me nuts. The winning quarterbacks in the NFL this week averaged 28 pass attempts, and Dak had 27. So when they give, since he became a Cowboy, when Javante Williams gets 20 plus carries, the Cowboys are 7-1-1. When he doesn't, they're 3-11. It's not complicated. So Dak last night, 27 pass attempts. Last night is the balance that works for Dallas.

This week is The quarterbacks with over 40 pass attempts this year in the NFL are 7-34-1 and 0-4 this week. So Shottie just falls in love with the pass. Eight times with Schottenheimer, Dak has had 40-plus throws. What are you doing? Like, just keep running the ball. Like, I love salt. It makes everything better. But even with salt, they say a pinch. Add a pinch, not a handful.

And I love C.D. Lamb and George Pickens. But this team is a playoff team, potentially, and a team that can win games, potentially, if they just run the ball and commit to the run. That's why I'll tell you this. I don't think it's crazy that the Cowboys go after Jonathan Taylor. I don't think it's crazy. I mean, everybody wants to have that one great running back. But what if Kenneth Walker goes down for the Chiefs? What made Kenneth Walker so great in Seattle? They had Charbonnet. And then Sam Darnold can run. So it's like, I don't think that's crazy. Jonathan Taylor to Dallas, because when they run the ball, Dak wins. When a running back 20-plus carries, 7-1-1. Like, there it is. Doesn't matter the team. That's when they're good.

J-Mac with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the Herdline News.

Always fun when the show has breaking news.

We had the Quinton Nelson trade earlier. Big upgrade for Seattle on the interior of that offensive line, adding Quinton Nelson from the Colts for.

A third next year and a fifth in 2020.

Which feels a little bit like a steal. Now they have to pay him. But if you're telling me who won the trade, I like what the Seahawks got. Seahawks got a top. Seahawks now may have two of the top three guards in the league.

Yeah, and seeing what happened in Baltimore, they're down multiple centers and their rookie guard just got hurt again. He was playing center and it's like, geez, they had to get Cam Juergens. I'm telling you, offensive line, you need to pay a premium to have a stacked offensive line and some depth because we know it's a war of attrition in the league.

No, I mean, if you look at Seattle's sort of recipe last year, relentless defense, Excellent special teams. They have both of those. Darnold can make plays with his feet. Loves the big play with JSN. Still remains. Coach remains. GM remains. Switched offensive coordinator. They lose Walker. Well, how do you solve that? You make your O-line better. And so, I mean, I think it's a Seattle knows when Darnold throws on play action in Minnesota and in Seattle, he is an elite quarterback. When he doesn't, you get picked.

Yeah.

By the way, given what's going on with the Chiefs, the Josh Simmons, I'm sure you read that story. Tried to put his feet up in the meeting room and Andy Reid's like, stop.

He's like, no. And Mahomes had to intervene.

He goes on IR like now their offensive line depth is going to be questioned.

I've got a couple of names for you.

All right.

Let me throw them at you. I think it's a long.

Shot that they move off of him because he's a clubhouse leader. Jeffrey Simmons of the Tennessee Titans. I mean, he's elite. I think Sala would fight that with all his might. That would be my guess, no. DeForest Buckner of the Colts. I think that's very interesting. He's a pro.

One of the best run-stopping defensive tackles in the league.

And he's just a pro. He just head down, delivers. I think he's one of the more unheralded, really good players in this league. I could see them moving. I think if you sold Jonathan Taylor, it might kill the locker room because that's the offense. I think if you move some offensive and defensive line pieces, that's an easier sell maybe to the locker room. It's hard when you have one home run piece and you trade it. because the quarterback play is not good. So DeForest Bruckner is somebody that I think, you know, Niners could look at.

I was just going to say six defensive linemen on the IR.

Somebody's going to need to stop the Bears.

If you're the Niners, Seattle just made their O-line, which is top 10, noticeably better. Are you going to sit there? If I'm the Niners, I go after DeForest Bruckner.

You can't get fat and happy if you're the Niners, though. A couple more. Buda Baker, safety on the Arizona Cardinals.

Great safety.

He's like the heartbeat of that team.

I mean, I don't know what. Is he like 27, 28? He's in his late 20s.

I was going to say you could almost get a first round pick for him.

Maybe it's for a safety not a premium position.

Well it's more premium than it used to be who is he's no nick amanuari okay well they're different players but if i said do you what team is really good that could use a safety well theirs i mean i know they drafted they got their secondaries horrible no no first of all they've got a safety out of oregon they got a corner right now malik muhammad could be their best corner i don't think it i don't think it's as bad they don't have a consistent pass rush But I don't think the defense is as bad as people think. I think in this league, when you face elite quarterbacks, you've got to make them uncomfortable. And they don't make quarterbacks on the edge uncomfortable enough.

I look what the Seahawks are doing with the nickel. They're playing almost exclusively nickel because Amanwari can be at the line rushing. He's everywhere. You need that chess piece. Anyways, last guy. Jacksonville is a contender, but Brian Thomas is kind of on the outside looking in.

Good wide receiver. Had an amazing rookie year.

They got Parker Washington, Jacoby Myers, and then Travis Hunter is starting to emerge. I wouldn't move off Thomas, but if you could get a third for a guy who's not playing, I think there might be some locker room stuff.

Is there a team that could use a wide receiver?

Oh, absolutely. Seattle.

Seattle certainly could. Rashid Shaheed did go down. Cooper Cup was okay, but yeah, they need some depth.

That's a good one. Seattle.

Yeah.

All right, let's move on to the next story. The Chicago Bears, Colin.

They are really in the mix for, as you noted, several defensive players ahead of the trade deadline. Players they've been linked to are Khalil Mack, DeForest Buckner, Josh Sweat. According to a report, the Niners are also going to be a team aggressively looking to bolster the defense.

The Khalil Mack one. It feels right to me. So Khalil knows this city. He's played there. Also, I have had people inside the Chargers building say he's a good team guy. Even when the team struggles, he helps young players. And again, I think when you've got these rookies like Caleb on a rookie deal, you know how expensive? Caleb is going to be making $ 70 million a year when he signs. He's going to be making $ 70 million. You better make the run now.

Yeah.

This is the year for them. I think it's open in the NFC.

Oh, I think it's wide open. I think it's Seattle and the next slot. Seattle won? No, I think Seattle is going to make the NFC championship. And I think whoever faces them, I think Chicago. getting an edge ask me.

Next tuesday uh on seattle i want to see what they do against this bears team i don't think they're gonna be able to stop chicago like everyone else does oh that's gonna be a game final story the seattle seahawks back from paris they got the third straight win over the browns everybody's excited in pittsburgh pittsburgh um except for mike mccarthy he recognizes hey we got a tough one against the browns this week look what they've done this season he's nervous.

Let's not lose sight of what we've accomplished in the last three weeks. Recognize what they've done over how many weeks. They have four or five victories coming back in the fourth quarter. So just recognizing those specifics of what's being done, how they're doing. But at the end of the day, we need to play to our play style, play to everything we believe in, the specifics of it. And our performance will be where it needs to be to win the game.

I think they're exactly what everybody, including honest Steeler fans, thought they'd be.

Good.

Punching above their weight class early.

Good.

I think they got worked a little on the DK Metcalf signing. I think they got worked.

Pittman's underwhelmed. He can't stay on the field right now. Well, Pittman, and I don't love their front office. I did for years. I'm sorry, the wide receiver they did hit on, Bernard, he's shown really well as a connection with Rodgers, so we've got to give.

Him credit for that one.

Um, I, I think they're exactly, I think, I think most dealer fans are honest and I think they're, I think this is exactly what you hoped and thought they'd be very low ceiling. I mean, they average like three yards of play that they literally, they take out Jalen Warren. I don't know how they move the ball. He is by, he is by far and away. their best player. Like, not Cam Ward, TJ Watt. I'm talking offensively. You take Jalen Ward out, this is the Titans. I'm serious. They got no offense.

That sounds to me like you think that three and a half may be a little high.

Oh, I think it is. I think it is. A division game against a BB gun offense.

Revenge spot for McCarthy.

And the defense, which got embarrassed by Deshaun Watson in Cleveland. The question mark is coming back from Paris. We don't have any data on that.

Like, I don't know.

Coming back from London and playing, not easy. Look at Houston.

Came back, laid an egg against the Giants. So I would think it's slam dunk for the Steelers here. Browns on the road are not as good.

They were down 14-0 to the Titans.

Come on.

I know you love that one.

Oh, jeez.

You and Deshaun Watson.

Listen.

He has delivered in the fourth.

Yeah, he's not. It's like bone eggs. He's not the reason they're winning.

Right, right.

But he's... You know, it's funny. I went last night, and I looked up Deshaun Watson's cap hit. Because remember, they redid his contract. It's only $ 40 million. And because, like Seattle, they've hit on so many draft picks who are not just playing, they're high-end starters. They got like nine guys in the last two years, draft picks, who are really big-time players. In the NBA, if you have a bad contract, it is hard to get out of it. Yankees, John Carlos Stanton. You can't get out of it.

It's an albatross.

In the NFL, pay a little bit of it off and have back-to-back drafts where you get eight starters. Suddenly, you look at their cap situation. It's not ideal. I mean, what Denver did with Russell Wilson. All of a sudden, you get Bo Nix.

He can win games.

It's amazing. The NFL... is not as punitive if a GM makes a really big mistake, which is, that's one of the reasons the NFL is great. Nobody's perfect. No, and not everybody's John Snyder. Like you're going to have bad draft picks. Don't punish teams. So J Mac with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by the herd line news.

You watch the Miami heat.

Oh Lord.

One of us here.

And the Heat is like a play-in team. I was roundly mocked all summer.

That feels a little optimistic.

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, catch another big day of NFL action on Fox. Justin Jefferson and the Vikings take on the Lions in an NFC North showdown. Or the Cardinals visit Dak and the Cowboys or other regional action. It's all part of Foxtoberfest Sunday on Fox.

Yeah, I am really fascinated by Vikings-Lions because I don't have in my herd hierarchy.

I do not have.

I noticed that.

I don't have Minnesota.

You have something.

I mean, you have something against them.

Come on. I've been so pro-Vikings on this.

But they're not a top 10 team 6-0?

It's not standings. The other network does that, but not this one. I don't care. If you told me today Minnesota played the Broncos at nine, I'm taking the Broncos. I mean, I'm sorry.

I am.

That's the kind of things I'm thinking about.

You're taking Bo Nix against that Minnesota defense.

All right.

Give me Kyler Murray in that one, big guy. Head-to-head for a jet ski.

No thanks. So... Miami's 0-4. They're so slow and plodding. I mean, Klay Thompson, love him, but he's starting. Like, it's bad. We knew it would be clunky. It didn't fit. It's too old. But Giannis is a top five player in the NBA. Maybe top three in the last decade. And there was about a six-year stretch. He was the best player in the league. And he won that title in 2021 with Milwaukee. He has won one playoff series since.

And that's in the East. That's in the East.

So.

The Bucs, he should have left early, but he was loyal. They got old really fast. And Miami was desperate to be relevant. Pat Riley's getting older. Spolster has been around a long time. They make a run on him. The roster doesn't work. And the moral to the story with Giannis is you should have been more like LeBron. You should have been more like LeBron. All I've been hearing for years. LeBron, ring chaser! Anytime I've had an opening in my career, I go to the best available company.

What are you, out of your mind? Do you think good attorneys look for the weakest law firms? Tech mavens look for the weakest tech company? Like, not ring chasing. When he sniffs weakness or age, he moves. And Giannis was super loyal. I'm a good guy. And he's not LeBron because he can't shoot. He's never developed an outside shot.

So he's a very specific player that needs a specific team. So loyalty is for personal relationships, kids, marriage, friends. It's not for professional relationships, especially for pro athletes. I mean, I can broadcast for 50 years. What's an NBA prime?

Eight.

Like you can't be loyal. LeBron had it right. I'm going to squeeze all the juice out of this career. And what are the chances? It's just going to be in the team that drafted me Cleveland? But, you know, Giannis kept, I got to be loyal. That's for marriage. That's for personal stuff. Jeff Teague, who has a great podcast, 520 on the volume, he talked about Giannis is that Giannis needed to be ahead of the game on his career because his game is not easy to play with.

I thought Giannis was going to have a different attitude. Like I'm going here because I want to win. So that means. I might be a 25-8-8 guy.

Yeah. Not a 35-8-8 guy.

I might get all these dudes involved. I'm about to lock up on defense. And the way they play defense is terrible. They could be decent, but Giannis got to change the way he plays. Like I told y'all, it wasn't fun playing with Giannis. That don't mean he's not a great player. He's a phenomenal player, MVP, one of the best to ever do it. But he's a very tough player to play with.

That's right. That's why LeBron can play with anybody. um, Giannis can't, and you have to self identify. What am I, what can I do? And this guy was the best player in the league for seven years and a top three player in the last decade. And he's been irrelevant for five years and it shouldn't be that way. Um, you know, and sometimes players get bad owners or bad GMs. Uh, he's got Miami, but you know, when he and Bam are on the floor, like if you, you start looking at their net rating, it's bad. Like the spacing's weird.

It's, It is.

But, you know, again, Riley's getting older. Spolska has been doing this a long time. It's the first of a couple pieces. But it's a bummer because Giannis, it's like Jokic. I want to watch Jokic matter in the playoffs. And it feels like Denver's just been bailing water for the last several years. Joel Klatt, our three.

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