Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Steelers Offense, Discord In Denver, Staley Hotseat, Cowboys Defense

been in my life. Also, the practices, there's less hitting, fewer players, star players play in the preseason. I think they're gonna cut the preseason down to two games. And so, you know, if you generally look at the end of the year, the final four teams, they're overwhelmingly healthy. Very few players are lost for the season. Though it happens Trayvon Diggs for the Cowboys at practice. That's just a

gutting loss for Dallas. But as a sport becomes more quarterback centric, you're going to have these wider gaps in point spreads. But you know, one of the things I was thinking about this today driving home from work, is that you know, the NFL has certain advantages on other sports. Let's take baseball. Well, there's one hundred and sixty two baseball games seventeen football games. So there's always been an

urgency advantage to the NFL. But as we're a more distracted country, why has the gap in baseball and football the ratings and interest? Why is it so great now? And I think a lot of it is. And I've noticed this in terms of consumption. People tend to read headlines, they don't read entire stories. We're less patient because of our iPhones. We want things that meetly. We want big headlines, big stars, big brands, and people just don't have the patients.

And you have to have patients to watch baseball. And I think we're a less patient nation. But I also think the reality is the NFL has always thought of itself as a football show at a TV show and baseball. I'll give you an example. You know, in analytics, if you can get a two percent three percent edge in baseball, you just do it. You don't think about how it hurts the TV product that it takes a star pitcher

out of a game. Can you imagine in the NFL, if you had a one percent advantage over the course of a year in getting two more first downs per game and half a point a game over the season, If it was determined that you pull your starting quarterback with five minutes to go in the third quarter, that you'd on this season average and a half more first downs a game and half a point, you say to yourself, Oh,

you would do it. No, you wouldn't. In football. Part of the drama and the fun in football and part of what's been lost in baseball and baseball you go to the bullpen. If the analytics say pull the starter, it doesn't matter if he's pitching, well, it's six and a third, it's arm fatigue. He's out. And in football, you just play a star quarterback even if he's struggling, right,

You just do. And I think the sport of football, you know, tonight's a prime example of you know, you had to mismatch giants, row a lot, a lot of injuries to deal with, beat up a little bit. This was not your classic star quarterback, average quarterback. San Francisco is really the only team in the league that is a Super Bowl contender and doesn't have what's considered like a high end quarterback. But you know, as I was thinking about this today, is I watched this game until

the very end tonight. Why it wasn't competitive? And I think a lot of it is you play your stars, You play your starters. If they're healthy, they play. You don't pull them out because of analytics. You don't pull

them out because of weather. You don't rest people just because you know, you watch this game tonight and Christian McCaffrey is running that football in the fourth quarter, and you know, over the course of the season he doesn't need those extra six seven carries, and Deebo Samuel's getting hammered, and George Kittle is getting hammered until the very end. And I think, like the NFL, even though this was a ten and a half point spread, it really never felt in the second half like it was going to

be competitive. You're just waiting to see if the forty nine ers hold on and cover.

to be just a really good television product. That's not to say that baseball doesn't have its moments, but you pull starting pitchers because pitch counts, even if they're pitching well. And tonight is like the power of the NFL to me, not really competitive. Ten and a half points spread. I mean at halftime it felt like, I mean, the Giants could not run the football. Daniel Jones trailing without one of his better young receivers either available or playing many snaps,

no chance to win that game. But it held me. And that's the power of football. As far as the Pittsburgh Steelers, they won a game with nine first downs. I don't know how long Matt Canada is going to get in Pittsburgh. I don't get it. Five years, The offensive line still suboptimal, the run games hit and miss. I don't see clever. But Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, they're all about continuity and loyalty, So Matt Canada retains employment.

I just don't see it when you watch the Rams and McVeigh and the Niners and Kyle Shanahan and the Dolphins where they spend their money, the coaching, the schematics, the adaptability. They're just playing a different game than the Steelers. They won a game. It never breaks my heart when Deshaun Watson, who I think the creepy guy, loses a football game. I just don't think he's I think you take a year and a half to two years off

in the NFL. I mean, you can make it as a coach, I don't think you can do it as a quarterback. I just don't think he's that good. I don't think he's a top twelve quarterback in the league. I never loved how he threw a football. He was a playmaker in his best years. But we've had so many young quarterbacks get drafted in the last three years and emerge in the last year or two. I just

don't consider Deshaun Watson an elite quarterback. You know, he probably should have gotten the benefit of a pass interference call, and that one that's sailed out of bounds you're on the road, you don't get the call. But the Steelers won with nine first downs and being dominated in time of possession. You're not supposed to win that game if you're a star quarterback and you're Deshaun Watson Nick Chubb, injury is gross. I saw the video once. That was enough.

I don't want to see it again. But you know, Pittsburgh one in one, they find ways to win. But I just I feel like they're playing a different game. They feel very much like New England with better players. I just don't think there's much of a ceiling offensively. And if you don't have home run plays, if you're not creative and clever and adaptable, I just don't think you can you can get the conference championships or beyond

the Broncos. And Russell Wilson and Sean Payton's thirty five thirty three loss to the Commanders, but I had said this before. I didn't think Russell played particularly well. Eighteen of thirty two three hundred yards had already really bad pick He does not have the juice he had previously. And I thought there were large portions of the game that Sam Howell was much more mobile, much more of a playmaker, and was frankly better from the pocket. And

Sam How's not as good as Russell Wilson shouldn't be. Also, Russell Wilson as Sean Payton a coaching edge. And I said this before is you don't have to be best friends with your coach. You don't have to be Belichick and Brady didn't have dinner for twenty years, but there were a lot of things they did have in common. Both were driven, aspirational, no nonsense adults. Russell Wilson and

Sean Payton have the opposite personality. One is harsh, authentic to the point, doesn't beat around the bush, doesn't care about being polished, and is willing to be intense vocally. And then there's Russell Wilson, who is polished, optimistic, refined. And by the way, it's okay for a quarterback to be more optimistic than pessimistic because people make mistakes. You play with young guys. You want Brady try to be optimistic.

But sometimes optimism can veer away from realism. And so in order for Russell Wilson and Sean Payton to work, they have to win games. You can't go zero and two to start the season, both games in Denver. You can't lose to Sam Howell and Ron Rivera as a favorite. You can't lose back to back games as a favorite against the raid and the commanders, and so this relationship

only works because the personalities are so different. It only works if they win these close games and they're zwer And to the very first day he had the opportunity he did, Sean Payton acquired Jarrett Stidham for a pretty healthy backup quarterback salary, which told you when he got to Denver, the first thing he did was look at Russell Wilson film. How do I know, because he told me that was the first thing he was going to do. He was going to look at all his plays. What

does he do well? What doesn't he do well? Let's avoid the latter, let's go toward the former. So he obviously saw stuff on film where he wanted somebody who could sit in the pocket and make throws. Remember in New Orleans, once Drew Brees got older, they had Taysom Hill, they had Jameis Winston, they had Teddy Bridgewater. He was cycling people through as Drew Brees aged. Well, Russell Wilson is thirty four and he looks like he's thirty nine. He just simply does not move as well as he

did four years ago. I don't know if some of it's confidence, emotional, no major surgeries. Thirty four, he plays much much older than his age. Brady obviously played much younger than his age. Aaron Rodgers largely plays younger pre injury than his age. But this thing doesn't work, and you know, again the Hail Mary makes this game look more competitive. Very early on Denver scripted plays had some success,

that Sean Payton doing the work. But when you get to late first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, early fourth that's quarterback play, that's pre snap, that's you quarterback line of scrimmage. Quarterbacks I don't even like Daniel Jones had very very good fourth quarter, late third quarters today, just on athleticism and some big time throws. So I think this, I think they're headed for major turbulence in Denver next year,

starting next year for five years. This is a massively punitive contract to the Broncos with a coach and a quarterback with completely different personalities. And I think there's nothing wrong with being optimistic, but I think it gets frustrating when somebody's really optimistic and there's obvious problems. I mean, I like optimistic people. I don't like negative people. But you know, if the walls are caving in. You know, we're in the middle of an earthquake. I don't want optimism.

I want to figure out a way to get safe and clean the house up. And so I think we're looking at a situation here in Denver. This is only going to get worse. The schedule's only going to get tougher. Now they go on the road. And again, if you watch the game, and I did, once they got off scripted plays, second, third quarter, fourth, I thought Sam Howe played more confidently, really really hard to figure out. Never seen a quarterback have it lose it without a major

injury pre thirty five years old. Never seen it. I have no comp Well, well, well here we are again. It's like a repeat of last week. So Brandon Staley's defense could not stop Ryan Tannehill the last time he had the ball in the fourth, nor could they stop Ryan Tannehill in his big possession in overtime. Ryan Tannehill

with an offense that's searching for a second receiver. You can blame Justin Herbert, But Justin Herbert has averaged more points in his first three year starting than any quarterback, including Patrick Mahomes, Dan Marino, John Elway in league history. It's not an offensive problem. That's not the problem. Brandon Staley and Brian Daboll interviewed for the Chargers job. Brian

Dabell is who I would have hired. Staley was cheaper, and he was on the Rams staff, and perhaps the Spanos family felt like, you know, we can pluck him away and slow down the momentum of the Rams. Maybe that's what they were thinking, But Brandon Staley had much less experience in football. So much of the Rams success is centered around Sean McVeigh. You have to be careful about plucking people from his staff. We know that Daboll resurrected Josh Allen and got Daniel Jones to the playoffs.

I just think they hired the wrong coach. I watched this defense, Bosa Derwin, James, J C. Jackson. They've drafted well. They could probably use another interior defensive lineman, but by and large, this is an experienced defense that brought back almost all their starters. Like they're a team that shouldn't be fooled or out of sync like they were against Miami. Okay, it's Miami, but again, the last two big possessions by Tennessee.

Tennessee can't get a stop. So the Spanos family has never paid a lot of money for coaches, so they're not going to run him in season. Plus they made the playoffs last year. You know, the athletic the subscription sports writer model, which now is owned by The New York Times, there's a great I think they do a really good job covering the NFL. I think the individual

team writers are fantastic. The Chargers individual writer this week to look back at the Miami game and picked it apart on some confusion in the secondary, and his primary issue was, these guys are all returning, how can they make so many mistakes on third and long and coverages. You can see it on television. They just can't make big stops. So, you know, it was interesting. I was

talking to Chad Millman this week. He comes on for Sharper Square, and he said, this is a major coaching mismatch, which is why, by the way, I thought Denver would win today. I thought it was a coaching mismatch. But Brandon Staley, I mean, you're that front office right now.

The Spano says Tom to let's go the GM. I can assure you they're not happy, and I do believe one of the reasons they brought Kellen Moore over not only did they feel it was an upgrade, but they were concerned on what they saw in the first two years of Brandon Staley's defense. And my guess is Kellen Moore, I don't know if it would happen at the end of the season or Thanksgi. This team is just simply too talented to be zero and two. There's too many

good players on this roster. There's almost no holes. I've been reluctant for years to embrace the Chargers. This is the year I finally did. It's just inexcusable. There's too many good players, too many returning starters, they're young, just a sprinkle of the right veterans Keenan, Allen, Mike Williams, just enough veteran presence. Gotta be better than this, all right, John Middlecoff, I think Dallas. You know, there's not a lot of great quarterbacks in this league. There's about six

great ones and another six good ones. Anybody that's not on that list is not beating Dallas this year.

Is Micah Parsons the best defensive player in the league.

move him around like a chess piece. I thought this last year in the second round, they went toe to toe with the Niners, who are clearly, if not the most but right there now with Dallas is the most physical team. I mean they are violent on defense, and the Cowboys were ready to win a championship on defense, but Dak threw the two picks and that the game was tight. Perty didn't play that well because it's hard against the Cowboys. This defense feels even a little bit better.

Maybe Micah's five percent better. All the guys have played together a little longer. They kept Dan Quinn. I'm with you. I picked Dallas to win the East at the beginning of the year, not because I don't think highly of the Eagles. I think both of them are thirteen fourteen win teams. But I've seen what the Niners do. Separating with an elite defense and an elite pass rush, it just takes over. I mean, Zach Wilson, listen, has he improvement? Who knows? You weren't gonna find much out this week.

Probably have a better idea next week when he's playing Belichick. But that team, I'm telling you, if they just need to get the four game stretch, if they stay healthy like Eli got, like Joe Flacco got, whre Dak could just under control. They don't need the wild card game where he throws five touchdowns every week. Can he just play a couple game stretch where he's not throwing the ball to the other team and they can win a Super Bowl, because that's how good the defense is. The

same with the Niners. The Niners could have won several Super Bowls. Their defense was right there. Jimmy just let him down a couple times.

the Eagles play the Cowboys twice. You know, it's these games are gonna come down to a fumble here who doesn't throw a pick? And it's gonna decide because all three have number one seed talents. Right. I think clearly the Niners have the most established head coach right now in terms he's the play caller. Also, McCarthy say this, when you have that good of a defense, it hardened

your team because you practice against it. And now this team so the Cowboys to me just look a little bit better than they did last year, and they were pretty good last year. And the Eagles, you and I talked about this, anytime you change. If we got we went to the store and got a set of ingredients, you know two X I cook a meal, and you know Gordon Ramsey cooks the meal. Even though it's the

same ingredients, the meal is gonna taste different. So just because the players return new coordinators, doesn't look.

that's worth the contract. He's a power running quarterback. Lean into what he is. It's almost like some of these guys that run around with they signed the big contracts, they think, okay, that's for a pocket quarterback.

they called some quarterback powers. Well, if you're gonna tell him he can't run fast, don't call those plays anymore. But that's a huge element of why he's a fifty million dollars player. So now they're kind of caught in no man's land. He's thinking he's not running as fast. He's never gonna be. He's more of a rhythm player, kind of like Russell was in his peak. He's not just gonna sit back and throw forty times and go

thirty seven to forty. That's not his style. It's blended in with the runs like Lamar and he can outplay Mahomes in the Super Bowl. But when you take away one of those elements, new play caller is clearly not as good as Shane's ssiching. It's just it just it looks a little weird.

I mean I watched him on a lot of different views, almost like drone footage or behind him. There's wide open guys everywhere he has time on certain plays. Do you think in the you know, you know this, the GM and the head coach can say we didn't draft him, he's not our guy. And next year there's six to seven first round quarterbacks. The Bears could have two top six or seven picks. Coach, I think it's really hard if he ends up. I mean he's five and twenty two.

If he goes seven and ten, six and eleven, yeah, they're not sticking with him in Chicago. There's no way.

last year they led the NFL in sacks. The Bears can't, but they the strong safety was the leading socker for the Bears last year, and you saw him against Baker Mayfield.

it's Zach Wilson. He's got some gifts, but he's a big, strong kid who moves. Kid.

he had personal reasons. I think it was a family thing. So they started a guy they drafted in a seventh drawn last year never played Lucas Patrick the center. He didn't take one snap in a preseason. He's starting at center. The offensive line, too, is struggling bad. And so again, by the.

And by the way, they've used a lot of draft capital and money on it. They've drafted a lot of offensive linemen. Yeah, yeah, I just I think no. It's their first round pick this year, darned. Now, right out of Tennessee, he's going to be a player.