Colin Cowherd’s Instant Reaction - Divisional Round: Cowboys/Niners, Bengals/Bills, Giants/Eagles

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Time for an instant reaction on a Sunday night, Let's start with Dallas and San Francisco. Could I make the argument I think I can that the four best quarterbacks all won their playoff games this weekend. Mahomes over Trevor Lawrence, although Trevor's really sounded, Jalen Hurts over the completely limited Daniel Jones. Joe Burrow has elevated above Josh Allen. We talked about that on Fox last couple of months. And

brought Purdy absolutely outplayed Dak Prescott. People just kind of freak out because he's a rookie and because he got drafted. Is the last player in the seventh round. But this league has got a lot of really great players, Hall of famers who are undrafted. I thought brought Purdy. I think he's twitchier, I think he's quicker. I think he's got as good an arm, great self awareness. You know, Dak Prescott almost threw a pick six late in the game after two earlier picks. You know, I've said this

for years about Dak Prescott. He is Kirk Cousins with a better brand. He needs everything to be in place, He needs the breaks to go his way. He can't miss a Tony Pollard due to an injury and beat this team on the road. He can't have his field goal kicker in his head. I thought, Mike McCarthy late in the game deciding to punt on a fourth and ten. You know, that's the coaching staff. That's very Kirk Cousins.

That's the coaching staff telling you they have real doubts about Dak's ability to pick up first downs and key spots. So you know, for years and years I was a doubter early. I do think he has intangibles. But the pushback on Dak Prescott at this point, folks, He's now gone from a player who didn't have a ton of turnovers early in his career behind a great old line,

but they didn't ask him to do much. Well. Now the Cowboys old lined been in a little bit of a rebuild, so it doesn't quite have the time to throw. Now they ask him to throw more often in games in which they don't have a great consistent run game, and this is what you get. Kind of a B B minus quarterback. That's what that gives, which is why when he signed that contract and everybody screamed he deserved it, I said, you start paying people based on deserve instead

of earn, you're going to be in trouble. So listen. I felt San Francisco would win. The game looked mostly like I thought. I thought there was two excellent defenses I don't always love. I think Mike McCarthy has real reservations about completely turning Dak Prescott loose. It's why they don't go for it as much as I like. But the game kind of looked like I think what most people thought it would look like, which is San Francisco's

the better team. Once Tony Pollard was out at halftime, you know that you're taking another weapon away from Dak Prescott against the best de fence in the NFL. That's an uphill battle Going forward, San Francisco at Philadelphia, it's gonna look a lot like what we just watched. I think it's going to be lower scoring, very competitive. Keep our eye on Jalen Hurt's health, but Philadelphia is well armed. That's going to be the two most talented rosters in

the NFC going toe to toe. You know, what do we say about Dallas going forward. Mike McCarthy's went back to back twelve win seasons. They've got a lot of talented players, but no great units. The Niners have great units, a really great defensive line, excellent linebacker corps. I think they're secondaries underrated, tremendous run game, excellent wide receiver and tight end group. You know, the Niners have great units. The Cowboys just have some great individual players. So they

have to hit it with another draft. They have to find another elite corner. They are kind of a football team with one corner. I think they have to go to the offensive line again. I'd go draft another running back to go alongside Tony Pollard. At some point Zeke isn't worth the money. They have to get another wide receiver. And I do think you get to a point now where Dallas, with those third, fourth, fifth round picks, you may want draft quarterback. I mean Tom Brady. Every other

year Belichick drafted a quarterback. If I was Minnesota, Kirk Cousins. If I was Dallas with Dak, you get to about the third fourth round, I'd roll the dice on quarterbacks if for no other reason you'd have a young, cheap, very capable backup. But I think Dallas is eventually what we thought they are. They're a good football team, not good enough to go on the road and beat Brock Purdy, who just doesn't make mistakes, and I just almost did, came close to doing it. But he made a half

a dozen big, big time throws. One to George Kittle, one to Brandon Auk, one to Christian McCaffrey. I think, one to Deebo Samuel over the middle, pass rush in his face, fourth quarter teeth of that defense. Brook pretty's pretty good. It's not great. It's not Burrow, not Mahomes. Nobody says that he's not going to have the career I imagine of Trevor Lawrence. But when you watch him on the field with Dak Prescott, did you feel there was a big gap and talent. I didn't. I didn't.

Maybe there is maybe over the course of time you'd see it. But he moves well, he's accurate, he put velocity on the ball, his decision making. His cognitive cognitive discipline was excellent. His self awareness is strong for a rookie. Now, Dak was very good as a rookie thirteen and three. And I said this about I think Dak at the time, this was years and years ago, that you got to look at his ceiling, like Mac Jones very quickly because of the maturity of a Mac Jones or Dak Prescott,

you get to his ceiling very quickly. That could be the case with Brock Purty. What you're seeing is what you're going to get. This is it, but this is it. It's pretty good, especially with this roster on this head coach. Let's talk Bengals Bills. That was an embarrassing performance by Buffalo. So I've been on this now for two years and I know, ad nauseum, it's getting tedious to some of you who watched me. I think you have to hire

offensive coaches. I mean, Tom Brady, you know, makes jokes about Belichick the best football coach in the history of the game, about his lack of offensive understanding, multiple stories about that. But the fact that Cincinnati came in with an absolute identity and a game plan with three backup offensive linemen, short, crisp passing game, pick up first downs, protect a banged up offensive line, eat the club, get

rid of the ball quickly. Of course, that's burrows specialty three four steps, bang, bang, accurate deliver, distributor of the football. But there was a real identity. The CounterPunch was the run game, often going outside. You could sense it from the first series on. They weren't just calling plays. Zach Taylor crafted a game plan knowing with backup offensive lineman. He leaned into burrows precision and accuracy, and they did it for three and a half hours. The Buffalo Bills

called the place for three and a half hours. Their first drive three and out, all week three and out. I don't know what's going on with Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen, but he was throwing too often to Gabriel Davis, who's not close to the same level of player. By the way they ate the Buffalo defense alive, I did not see any adjustment in pressure. I didn't see any adjustments offensively. Sean McDermott of the last eight coaches, one

was a defensive coach. That performance was completely embarrassing. They didn't make adjustments. They didn't really have a game plan. They just called plays. I've said this multiple times. They're the Chargers also have a defensive coach. They're just calling plays. What are they? And like the Chargers, Justin Herbert regressed a little this year. Josh Allen regressed a little this year,

especially post Thanksgiving. The further away, the longer he was away from Brian Daybole more interceptions, a little less accurate. Here's an example. You could say, well, Colin, what do you mean? They didn't have an identity. So Greg Kosell talks about this all the time, how the Niners offense meshes Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Kansas City. Either offense with an offensive coach meshes with the run game, pass game. So in

the first half, Buffalo didn't run Josh Allen. When you take Josh Allen's rush yards out of Buffalo's attack their thirtieth in the league in rushing, I didn't use them all the first half. I mean, you start falling behind fourteen nothing. It's one of the most lethal weapons Buffalo

has offensively. Go to it now. They went to it in the first offensive series of the second half and used it effectively, but it took so long for Buffalo to kind of come to terms with, wow, we need to make a big in game adjustment from our game plan. Defensive coaches are always slow to do this. For the record, love Mike Tomlin can't get his offensive line right in five years. Sean McDermott can't get his offensive line right in five years. Andy Reid did it in an off season,

So you know, I know everybody loves Sean McDermott. But that was such an absolute coaching mismatch for almost four hours. The game plan, the adjustments by Cincinnati. It was jaw dropping to me. And I can like a guy, I can like a coach. But every year, due to safety concerns, the league continues to push for more safety measures, less extreme hitting, more things to give the quarterback the on line advantages. It feels like it's getting the gaps getting

bigger every year between offensive coaches and defensive coaches. Sean McDermott, that was a complete swing and a miss. For the record, they haven't developed a dependable run game in five years. The weakest unit on the field is their offensive line. They haven't developed a consistent number two receiver. Josh Allen is regressing. They don't really have an identity. They just sort of call plays. Those all fall on the head coach. Those all fall on the head coach. Even if you're

a defensive coach, you gotta hire the right people. Belichick for years, Josh McDaniels, Dante Scarnekia, he knew what he didn't know. So there's some soul searching going on. I'll say this about Joe Burrow. The perfect comp is Brady. We never thought Brady in his entire career. He wasn't the biggest, he wasn't the most mobile, he wasn't the strongest, he didn't have the best arm, but he made it

look so easy. Accuracy late in games, laid in downs late in a series, right before half, just this effortless accuracy in crucial situations. Burrows the comp He's got, Tony Romo's athletic ability, Tom Brady's self awareness and precision, little Joe montana persion as well. But Kansas City's gonna have their hands full. I've been saying this all year. The Bengals are the one team that match up really well with Kansas City. My gut feeling, without researching either, I'd

probably take Philadelphia at home close I don't know. I think i'd probably take Cincinnati close, but those are tough. I don't want to take up too much time. Eagles Giants was a shocking mismatch. I felt like the Giant players almost quit defensively. But there's real limitations here. We've just got to be honest about Daniel Jones. There's just not much there. Jason McIntire and I on like Friday.

I think we listed Thursday or Friday, we listed one to eight the quarterback rankings, and I think we had Daniel Jones eighth. I think Brock Purdy is more accurate. I think he's twitchier. I think Daniel's bigger in price, straight line, faster, but I I don't see a lot with Daniel Jones. He wasn't that accurate in college Duke. He's gotten better, but I don't trust them in big

spots to be accurate delivering the football. He's not twitchy, and I think Philadelphia played him like they didn't respect him and forced him to make big, tough throws. Yes,

he could use another tight end. Yes, the O line for the Giants isn't great outside of left tackle, but remember Justin Herbert walked into this league with a bad head coach and an atrocious offensive line, and through thirty one touchdowns and ten picks as a rookie, Burrow got to a super Bowl with an atrocious offensive line Josh Allen forty one wins last three years, bad offensive line. Daniel Jones is simply not productive enough. He's just not

productive enough. He got to be able to overcome stuff. Go back to Herbert's rookie year, Burrow's second year. Even Kyler Murray in his first couple of years, he had a terrible old line in Arizona. You gotta be able to overcome. Philadelphia really put the hammer on him. I didn't quite know what we'd get with Philadelphia. You know, last year, the two teams that got to buy both lost. Jalen Hurts was not one hundred percent. Lane Johnson actually you saw him early in the game kind of limping.

He's not one hundred percent. But I gotta tell you something, last twenty years, is there a coach that has been more shockingly effective than Nick Sirianni. I mean, he didn't have that much responsibility with the Colts, like it was kind of a late hire. He ate butchered the opening press conference. I mean, I remember reading four or five different articles in Philadelphia in Indianapolis, big concerns. If he was ready, I'll tell you he coaches with confidence. That

was amiss by me. His first press conference was as bad as anything I've ever seen. He just stammered. Apparently he jokes about it. But that team, he's got kind of a physical presence, kind of a bigger guy. That team plays hard, they play downhill, and what he's done with Jalen Hurts is nothing shy of remarkable. Philadelphia is San Francisco is going to have their hands full because that's the only team in the NFC to me that lines up body for body upfront. That's it. Eagles Niners

is exactly what we all deserve in the NFC. And Bengals Chiefs likewise, two best teams, two best quarterbacks on the face of the planet today, Instant reaction, fun weekend, See you tomorrow, n FS one, iHeartRadio the volume. Looking to get more out of the NFL season, Now is the perfect time to download fan Duel, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers get a no sweat first bet up to a thousand dollars. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. The promo code

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