Colin Cowherd Podcast - TNF Reaction, Russ Is Cooked, MLB Playoffs, Sharp Or Square

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twenty bucks off. Download game time today, last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. All right, little reaction on the Phillies wrapping up their series headed to the National League Championship Series again and the Broncos getting sort of humiliated nineteen to eight. Didn't feel anywhere close to that. Chad Milman sharper square in ten minutes. So two things. One, Kansas City needs to go get a wide receiver at the trade deadline. Jerry Judy Cortland Sutton. I think Denver at

this point would trade in division. I think Denver's got to figure out Denver. I think they know they're not in the same stratosphere as Denver knows they're not in Kansas City's galaxy. So they used to be sort of an unwritten rule. You just didn't trade in division, try not to trade in conference. If you're Sean Payton, you're staring at Russell Wilson's contract. You got to solve your stuff. You can't worry about that. You can't where anybody you trade them is not going to be around in two

or three years probably. Anyway, Kansas City moves off star receivers, they move off all receivers, including Tyreek Hill and others, Juju Smith, Schuster, one and done. So. Kansas City is a really good football team. But I think the entire league looks at San Francisco and looks at the way they thrash Pittsburgh's roster and the Cowboys. You're going to really struggle to move the football if you're the Chiefs against that San Francisco defense, if you event faced them,

or Philadelphia's defense for that matter. So Chiefs go get a wide receiver to deadline. We've been talking about that for a couple of weeks. When you have Andy Reid and Mahomes and you're scoring nineteen and dominating time of possession, you need another pop on the perimeter. You know, as far as Denver, there's just no way Russell Wilson's going to last half of this contract. New owner Sean Payton.

You can say what you want about Sean Payton, but he next to Andy Reid, is the most innovative offensive guy in the last fifteen years in the NFL. I know half a dozen players that have played for him and loved him. Thought he was just a brilliant coach. And there's a reason, you know, many people wanted to interview him. He's the smartest football coach I've ever interviewed on a consistent basis in terms of knowledge of offense.

It's I mean, just layered, beyond layered. He won with Teddy Bridgewater, Drew Brees, he won with a Taysom Hill, a winning record, never been shut out. I mean, he knows what he's doing. I know people didn't like the call he made tonight at the end of the first half. It doesn't matter. There's no salary cap for coaches. He's going nowhere. The GM might get replaced now. The good news for Denver, even with Russell Wilson's contract, you can

turn things around really quickly in this league. This is not Major League Baseball, where you need like four drafts and certain teams have spending limitations. Right like a third of Major League Baseball, maybe half, just can't compete with the Houstons and the Dodgers and the Mets. Financially, it's not the NBA where you really have to have three high end players to compete for a championship. I mean, Kansas City has one elite defensive player. Bolton's a very

good linebacker, but Chris Jones is your Pro bowler. The bottom line, young and cheap on defense works. You know you're going to spend your money on quarterback, left tackle, star receiver or tight end. That's where the smart teams in this league, like Kansas City spend their money on offense. The teams like Pittsburgh that are spending their money on defense,

when's their last big playoff last decade? Right? So you know, you get rid of some players, you get yourself ten or eleven draft picks, you hit on seven of them. I mean the Rams had fourteen guys make the team this year out of the draft. I think it was fourteen. It could be wrong on that number. And they've been much better defensively than anybody thought, so you can turn it around. I mean, the Seahawks had back to back drafts where they they nailed their first four or five picks.

That's ten players, and that's what Denver has to do. They've got to nail five or six players per draft over the next two years and have a lot of you know, for lack of a better term, cheap labor. I mean, they got to have inexpensive players, a lot of third, fourth, fifth, sixth round guys. And when you're not a great defensive team like the Rams coming into this season, you can do that fifth round guys have

an impact. So but this just isn't gonna work. I mean, ninety five yards passing, seventeen yards passing I think, or thirty two yards passing in the first half for Russell Willson. It's just not going to work. And you know, people say, well, it's not Russell's fault. Listen, when that game was thirteen nothing, it felt over. It would not have felt over with Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurtz, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence.

So Russell Wilson is the problem. If you trail thirteen to nothing against a good defense and the game feels over at any point other than the last five minutes, the quarterback's the issue. It doesn't mean he's the worst player on the team. It doesn't mean there are other issues, but his salary combined with his lack of juice, he's the issue. Right. It's really unprecedented where you see a star quarterback with no major injury drop off a cliff.

It's unprecedented in the history of the NFL. I've never seen anything like it. I mean, I saw Peyton Manning at the end five years older than Russ is now and four next surgeries go from really good to you know, clearly not the same quarterback. Russ is never a major injury. He's a workaholic. It's just you know, Pete Carroll saw a lot of things. He saw him age quickly, and now it's Sean Payton's problem. So it's just not going

to last very long. This owner and this coach. I think they're going to try to accumulate a lot of picks and somewhere in this draft, a very strong quarterback draft, try to get themselves the next guy. I'm dead serious. I just don't think they're going to be patient, especially in the AFC. You know, patients is what fired coaches say. You know, that's what they preach. You got to get

stuff solved. Phillies National League Championship Series again. So a lot of people in baseball are discouraged or disappointed that the Rays and the Orioles and the Dodgers and the Braves who had dominating regular seasons all got flushed out of the playoffs rather quickly. But I talked about this on FS one to day. I don't think it's a terrible thing. I think the Phillies with Bryce Harper are

a great watch. And I mean it's you know, the Rays, the Orioles don't have national followings, So I don't think it's bad for the networks, you know, at all. I think the reality is baseball is an everyday sport and when you give favorites they don't have to play in that wildcard round, they get five six days off. I think that's problematic for those teams. I don't think it's problematic for baseball, because again I think the Phillies to me are as much fun or a better watch due

to Bryce Harper than the Braves. But the bigger issue is the Yankees weren't very good this year. In the Red Sox weren't very good this year, and the Mets were a complete disappointment, and so if the Yankees were a viable franchise, Houston's gonna following, Phillies have a following, you'd be fine. But you know, baseball did a lot of things right in the last couple of years. The speed the game up at tenant and TV ratings are up about ten percent. They got rid of the defensive shift.

I thought that was very smart. They'll never get rid of Bay games and get down to like one hundred and twenty games a year, which I think they should. I think they should start a month later, finish six weeks earlier, and wrap it up by October first or September fifteenth. By the time the NFL's cooking getting into it second week, you're done. NFL is so popular now that baseball stands very little chance of pulling away audience.

You know, if you get into late October, you have to have the Yankees or like the Cubs going for a World Series. You're just not going to be able to do it unless you have the biggest brands. And there's some crappy TV football games on which you know, it's Thursday night on Amazon. Those games are usually pretty dull. But I don't think it's necessarily a problem that wildcard teams win. I think it's the reality of baseball, that it's an everyday sport. The Dodgers offense dried up, the

Braves offense dried up. Okay, But if you're really honest about it is that season baseball is a different experience entirely in a different sport than regular season baseball. So you know, regular season baseball is a marathon, it's a triathlon, and the postseason is about getting a hit, getting a stop, getting an out. You'll bring a star pitcher out of the bullpen to get an out and get a win.

If you want to seal a series, or you have a weaker pitcher going the next night against their superior pitcher. You need outs. You need to create momentum. Now you need urgency. That's not the regular season. So you know, I just think analytics are true, and they work in both the NBA and baseball, and they're and they're smart. But postseason baseball is completely different, and the NBA playoffs are different. Sometimes you just need a bucket, you need

a mid range jumper. So you know, I use the analogy today that when you take your kids in a five or six hour drive, same kids, same car, it's different than taking a nine minute drive to school. Right, it's a different sensibility and a different strategy with young kids in a car for six hours, and so you know, same kids, same car. You know, same teams, same players, same manager, different strategy in the postseason. So the time

off I think can be problematic for favored teams. And you know the Dodgors didn't you know, they had a domestic issue with a pitcher, domestic violence issue with the pitcher, Kershaw's age and injuries, so they didn't really have a true ace. And Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betch just didn't hit, which is it's harder to hit in the postseason. It's superior pitching, more pressure, So golf and baseball are that way bigger the tournament, more pressure, those putts get harder,

So listen. I can't wait to watch the Phillies. I think they're a great team, and I think Bryce Harper is the biggest star remaining in the sport. So I do not think it's terrible news for Major League Baseball. The NFL season. It's going strong and drafting sportsbook hooking new customers up with an offer even stronger bet five books. That's it on any game this week to score two hundred dollars instantly in bonus bets. How easy is that?

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get cocky, no reason to get over confident. I have an zero to five and a five and oh, and we're only five weeks into the season, so take a deep breath. There are there are some trends though I see are you ready to hear them?

start with some favorites. So I'm not getting the best line. But if you watch the raven Steelers play, Baltimore was a much better team two drop touchdown passes. Lamar Jackson is having a spectacular season. Dropped passes are like fumbles and fumble recoveries. They go in spurts. Baltimore is a really good team getting healthier. I don't think Tennessee is it's four and a half. I'd like it four. It is what it is. I get the much more dynamic quarterback.

I also get a great coach, no coaching disadvantage. The rabel Baltimore minus four and a half Sharper square.

Zay Flowers dropped the pass that was wide open, like there were there were three or four spots where that game was over if the Ravens receivers catch a pass open open, like wide open, wide open, and so it was. It was a very fluky, fluky game. Right, Like in what universe right now should Kenny Pickett and the Pittsburgh Steelers be tied with the Baltimore Ravens for first place in the AFC North right? So your your logic is sound, and it's why a lot of wise guys have had

a hard time with this game. It opened at five and a half, got that down to five, got to four and a half, got down to four. When it got to four, that was sort of the breaking point, and people started betting on the Ravens again. The challenge here that I think is screwing a lot of people up is the fact that it's a London game, and if it was, if it wasn't a London game, you'd have Vrabel as more than a field goal underdog. And there are a few coaches in the NFL who wise

guys will automatically bet if they're underdogs. Vrabel is one of them. Mike Tomlin is one of them. John Harbaugh is one of them.

I'm taking the Jags minus four Sharper square.

has been the past couple of years. Defensively, they have the leading tackler in the NFL. Jonathan Taylor has come back to run behind that offensive line against the Jags defense that is just not very good, right, And so the wise guys here they're not agreeing with you.

I do Andy Reid or McVeagh. So I get a more rested Seattle team, but I get a significantly better quarterback who now is healthy. So the Bengals for three straight years have been a lousy September early October team why Earl had two surgeries and a calf injury. It's about this time Cincinnati hits. These games are also urgent for them, so they play with great urgency early in this division. That's good. Minus two and a half, I think it's a great number. Minus three, I'd still bet

at three and a half. I move off at sharper.

time to get his timing. Jamar Chase the past two weeks has basically against the Rams and then against the Cardinals has basically had a season's worth of receptions and receiving yards, like he's really found his rhythm with Joe Burrow again. And what the wise guys liked about Joe

Burrow last week. It's not the fact that they beat the Cardinals, who probably are a team that has been overperforming regardless, and kudos to their coaching staff for getting so much out of that talent, But it was the way Joe Burrow was able to move into the pocket. He was able to get around offenders, maintain his stance, step into throws, find his timing with Jamar Chase. That's what they like about it. I mean, I'm sure you and Cosell probably talked about this on the show this week.

But that's why they're betting on the Bengals a two and a half, and they do feel if they had looked a little bit better one week earlier, they might be getting the Bengals and minus fours. So there's about a point and a half of value. But at three, they buy back the Seahawks or they pass the market.

Numbers came out this week showing that home field is now down to one and a half points. Well, the Rams is less than that, so it's really do I think a Rams team off a Philadelphia game in which they got beat up physically. I don't like teams that play the next week after they play the Niners or the Eagles in the NFC. The seven here, the six and a half is screaming Arizona for the record division rive game. Arizona played San Francisco tougher than you'd expect.

I'm going to take the point sharper square.

Because the Cardinals everyone expected them to be the worst team in the league, and certainly there was a lot of mocking of Jonathan Gannon before the season began with his social interactions with his players, right that sort of became a meme on social media and what you've seen with the Cardinals and what you've seen with the Colts, and a byproduct of this is what you've seen with the Eagles is how good Gannon has been and putting his pilayers in a position to succeed, making the right

play calls that give them confidence in high risk situations that put them in a better position statistically to win. Shaan Stikeen's done the same exact thing with the Colts, which is why professional betters are liking the Colts and not so worried about Gardner Minshew. You've also seen with the Eagles the lack of those two guys has had an impact on how they play on defense and how they play on offense, which is a testament to how good they were.

Rams at six and a half. It's at seven. We're going to kind of pass from here.

their magic. I think you're going to get a Minnesota team that I think the messaging is waving the white flag. I take the Bears. I love it. At three two and a half, I still like it.

themselves in, which was winning in prime time. So bookmakers will automatically inflate their line, right, they would be a little bit higher than they normally would because they think the public is going to come in on a team that just dominated in primetime. What's interesting here is a lot of what you just said about the Vikings. They might be the better team, but strategically they have not

been making the right calls on defense. This is a team that is blitzing at an extraordinary rate, one of the highest blitz rates in the NFL, with the least amount of success. Right, so they're getting to the quarterback on blitzes half the amount of time as other teams in the NFL, even though they're running so many more blitzes. I do think that plays a little bit to the Bears advantage with the way they're starting to use Justin Fields as a runner a little bit more. And also

DJ Moore and him have started to click. And if you look pat, if you look back, one of the reasons people were so excited about the Bears this year is because Justin Fields, who had been developing, got a number one receiver in DJ. Number one receivers make young quarterbacks better. Their catch radius is better, they get fifty to fifty balls more often. They make young quarterbacks more accurate and more confident. You saw it when Stefon Diggs joined the Bills and Josh Allen. You saw it when

AJ Brown joined Jalen Hurtz. We hadn't seen that with the Bears the first three weeks. We have seen it in the past two weeks, where Justin Fields and DJ Moore have been lights out. I think this is a really good spot. The Vikings secondary is not very good, and if they are blitzing, then that gives Justin Fields an opportunity to get Dj Moore in advantageous situations.

backs don't matter. They're not a good fourth and one, third and two team without Austin Eckler. They will lean heavy on him. Keenan Allen Eckler, Gerald Everett significantly better quarterback and a Chargers team where Kellen Moore. The Chargers have gone from a bad second half offense to a great one, a bad red zone team to a great one. The Cowboys reverse all those. It's the Kellen Moore factor. It's a show off game with an extra data prep.

I'm gonna take the points and the Chargers sharper square two and.

I had him a twenty five to one to lead the league in passing yards this year, and I think he's gonna go on a hot streak right now, starting with this game against the Cowboys. Who look, we talked about this last week. I hated the Cowboys last week. I'm not a buyer on Dak Prescott. I'm not a buyer. And Mike McCarthy the Niners were probably my second biggest bet of the year. I got a little bit over extended on the Steelers last week, but it worked out

okay for me. But I just think Mike McCarthy he had the benefit of Aaron Rodgers and still didn't do everything he could have done with Aaron Rodgers. The Cowboys are in bad shape wise, guys.

dominating wins. This team is playing after losing to Philadelphia. They're playing to go seventeen to zero. They are physically mauling teams early. Backups trailing are not going to move the ball in this defense. I didn't put it in there. I could be talked into it. Where are the wise guys?

They act like they can win games by themselves. Remember the eighty five Bears. Ye like they would get on the field, it didn't matter what their offense was, they would get on the field, and you would assume, all right, the Barrels will just score two touchdowns on defense, Like that's what the Browns can do, and you are getting the Niners right now. Look, Rock Purdy is seven to one to be MVP because he threw four touchdown passes against the Dallas Cowboys, and the Dallas Cowboys who did

not have their best cornerback playing for them anymore. So, this guy brock perty looks like a brilliant, brilliant quarterback, and I think he is. But is he going to look that good against a Browns defense that is as good as they are from front to back. He's not playing the Cowboys secondary. He's playing Jim Schwartz defense that is going to be incredibly aggressive and by the way, that has dominated in scenarios like this against Kyle Shanahan.

Deniz Allen to be a head coach. But he's a very good defensive coordinator, and he's got that defense playing at a really high level right now.

enormous amount of Baker mistakes that he's made in the past. Right, he seems to have learned something in his travels from Cleveland to Carolina to la Certainly Sean McVay put something in his ear that made him realize he's making the same mistakes over and over when it comes to risk taking. And I also think you naturally are better when you have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. He's never had receivers like this, so I think there's a big opportunity here to buy a little bit lower on the bucks and

sell way way way high on the lines. Like look, Jared Goff, most profitable quarterback against the spread the past five years in the NFL. But he's a much different quarterback when he's in a dome than he is on the road. And he's under five hundred against the spread on the road. People love the lines right now, they're dominating, but this is a tough.

it with the Jets. And the number seven, isn't it six and a half or seven? Yeah, big that I could be talked into that. That's a pretty interesting I looked at that game. I wonder if I would be buying top of the Zach Wilson market or is this the new Zach. But I will say this, Jalen's great. He's a top seven guy in the league. But it doesn't quite look the same as last year.

is as competitive as the Niners. I love their offense, like I think that they remind me of the Patriots circa twenty ten to fifteen, where they might not get it all right early in the year, but their coaching is so good, their play calling is so good, and the players are so confident that they can fix it while they're playing. They can change the wheels on the truck in real time. But that doesn't mean they're going to cover every week, and we've seen that. We've seen

that against Washington, We've seen that in certain scenarios. So this to me feels like a spot on the road against a really good defense against a team that clearly has a lot of spirit and a lot of pride. I don't know if it's Zach Wilson thing like the he is playing better clearly and against the defensive backfield for the Eagles that are struggling and injured.

think Tennessee's very good. I really don't, and I don't even think I think you're betting on Vaybel, but I think that's muted somewhat by Harball. And so by the way, Tennessee leaving late every Thursday in London game everyone one team isn't ready to go Buffalo Commanders every You don't ever get two teams in London and you're like, that's the best they've played in years. You don't get Thursday games.

Bears ready, Washington came out of overtime against Arrival. If you're telling me one team's gonna click, I'm going to be the team that got there thirty six hours earlier, undervalued by the market, and I get a superstar quarterback against the quarterback the other team keeps drafting quarterbacks to replace him, and he's just better than those bad guys.