Colin Cowherd’s NFL Week 4 Predictions: Colts-Rams, Bears-Raiders | THE HERD Blazin’ 5

Colin Cowherd’s NFL Week 4 Predictions: Colts-Rams, Bears-Raiders | THE HERD Blazin’ 5

Welcome to the Herd’s official YouTube channel. Make sure to like and subscribe. Don’t forget to check out the Colin Coward podcast, all of our NFL instant reactions, and more football content. They didn’t have the best week. I got some bad breaks. Undeterred, here’s our Blazing Five. That’s a hot one. Let’s blaze it up. Fired up. It’s Collins Blazing. Vikings versus Steelers. Favorite bet on the board. I’m going to take Minnesota minus 2 and a half. I get the better offensive staff. best better defense. Um I I think right now I I don’t know why I would like Pittsburgh. Minnesota’s won 11 of its last 13 regular season games and they’ve been very good on the road or away from home. I get Carson Wentz, Jordan Addison’s back. Uh Jordan Mason more than capable. Justin Jefferson. I I I think I get a better offensive line. So I like the offense and the defense ranks top five in the league. The Steelers offense is a mess. They can’t run the ball. They can’t protect Aaron Rodgers. This coaching staff can’t figure out a run game. I don’t know why this line is only minus 2 and a half. The Steelers under Tomlin have been a good underdog team. They’ll play like their hair’s on fire, but I I think Minnesota 27 to 20 covers here, better staff, better offense, better defense. I uh better road team. I’m going to take Minnesota. Panthers at Patriots. I’m taking the over 43 and a half. I don’t get the number. Listen, the Patriots outplayed the Steelers. They just kept coughing it up. Drake Maine the last two weeks is completing 74% of his throws. The problem for them is they don’t have a pass rush. They’re allowing the most big plays. So, for New England to win, they got to win. They got to score some points. And I think they will because Carolina’s defense, they don’t get to the quarterback either. I mean, they have one sack through their first three games. So, you’re going to get a very comfortable Drake May who’s going to have time at home to throw. The weather’s not an issue. The bad weather’s out of town. You have two defenses that don’t get after the quarterback. And two quarterbacks when they’re not pressured, who can complete a lot of passes and move the chains. I think it’s a I think we get points in this game. 2623 New England wins. Take the over. Bryce Young last week completed 67% of his throws. If he’s got time, he does that. Colt said Rams. I think this is a good spot for the Rams. Shawn McVey off a disappointing close loss. They come back home. They have the second highest grade by PP PFF of any team in the league. Rams are a really good team that dominated Philly in Philly for a half. Puka and Devonte Adams have been outstanding. The best receiving tandem in the league. And the defense leads the NFL in sacks. So Daniel Jones and he has a good old line is going to face real pressure. The offense last week for the Colts came back down to earth a little. They were two for eight on third down. They weren’t very good and their defense has major holes on the back end. This is not a great Colts defense on the back end. Puka, Kiran Williams, Matt Stafford, McVey at home. I think they look much more comfortable. They beat the Colts 34-24 uh 30, excuse me, to 24. I This is a good spot for the Rams at home against an average beaten up secondary. Take the Rams. Bears it, Raiders. I like the Raiders. They’re a slight favorite. I like the Raiders. Gino Smith, do you know this? Leads the NFL in big pass plays. second in passing yards only behind Justin Herbert. When Gino has time to throw often this year he hasn’t, he can sling it and I think it’s a great opportunity to get the running game going. The bigger story here is we’re concentrating on Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. But the Bears defense has not been good and they’re a terrible road team. 1-8 on the road last nine games. Caleb has been bad on the road. The Bears have been a bad road team and their defense is allowing 6.7 yards of play. We’re not talking about the fact that the Bears defense is struggling. Opposing quarterbacks are completing 75% of their throws against the Chicago Bears. Bad road team. The Raiders come back home trying to establish some offensive dominance up front against the team I think they’ll run the ball on. I do. I think Genty has a breakout game. I’m going to take the Raiders to win it 27-23. Bengals and Broncos. Okay, Broncos are coming off two rough road losses. They lost both games when time expired. Denver’s got the much better defense. Denver’s got the better head coach. Denver’s got tremendous personnel up front defensively. I mean, they have the second best red zone defense. So, even when you get down into the red zone, it is hard to get touchdowns out of Denver. They lead the NFL in sacks. They also get their tight end Evan Ingram back. This is big. This is big because Bo Knicks hasn’t been great throwing the ball deep this year. They’ve missed on big plays. So Evan Ingram is in that 12 to 14 yd space. Big for Denver’s offense. The Bengals worst rushing attack in the league, putting more pressure on an average quarterback, Jake Browning. They don’t do a lot well offensively. You see the screen. I think Denver is an undervalued team with a much better roster against the shaky O line, an excellent pass rush. I think Denver controls the game. Bon Knicks, by the way, not great in September last year. Finally clicks 3020. They cover the spread. Take the Denver Broncos. So once again, looking at our picks. I like favorites this weekend. Vikings good road team. I think they have the better staff. better weapons, better run game, and playing better defensively. Minnesota to cover. Panthers Patriots, I think, score points. I’m surprised that the overunders only 43 and a half. The weather’s cleared. I think it’s a great spot for the Rams to cover. I don’t like the Bears on the road. I can’t go crazy. Bears are probably the worst road team in the league. And I’m going to take Denver. So, I will say this. I think the one team in the league that’s actually really, really good that hasn’t looked like it is the Denver Broncos. 39 years coaching pro and college football, six seasons as the Bears head coach. How did that go here in Chicago? Are they You’re still beloved. How’d it go? Well, you know what? When you’re winning, there’s there’s not a city better. I mean, they’re good. You know, you got the Dolphins to the playoffs. Yeah, I got the Bears in the playoffs. And uh No, it it’s a great sports town. you know, it’s a big Pittsburgh, so I can relate to it good. You know, I mean, I think that’s why they like me. I smoke cigars, I drink wine, and I got a mustache. You know, it’s Chicago. It’s Pittsburgh. Here we go. Um, so I said this weekend, I’ll I don’t they’re not they have not been a good road organization. They don’t play well on the road. Caleb struggled. Um, it is uh there is something that you feel you can tell the city is so I mean I was on the train yesterday and I heard people talking about it and it was a couple guys talking about the game. They’re like I don’t trust them on the road. I don’t trust them against the Raiders and the Raiders are not a great team. Do you have a sense? Um I don’t love their defense right now. I think their offense they’ve gotten some stuff figured out. I I just don’t trust them on the road. Do you? Um I trust them on the road versus the Raiders. which I know you don’t, but but I you know, couple things happened last week. Number one, there were against Detroit, we had there were guys open and Caleb threw the ball 10 yards over their head out of bounds. DJ Moore in this game when there were guys open for big plays, he made the plays. DJ Moore’s touchdown at the end, pressure in his face down in the red zone and he did not try to get out. He didn’t look at the rush, which some quarterbacks will do. Uh, and he did not try to escape, which he loves to do. He stayed in the pocket and hit DJ Moore for a touchdown. That’s improvement. And then the third thing, which I love about Ben Johnson, which we saw at Detroit, coach, you know me, I I ran Ricky Williams, I think 13 times in a row, one game, you know, so I will run the ball. He had a nine and a half play drive. it 19th place and 11 of them more runs. Yeah. So those three things to me said, you know, Ben Johnson, if you let him run the ball on you, he will. And and he had to. I mean, the defense, as you mentioned, uh they’re just so hurt in the secondary, you know, having been at practices, watching Dennis Allen, what we saw at the end of that game where the guys were six, seven guys at the line of scrimmage and then they’re bailing out and he rushed four, rushed three. I thought Dennis Allen liked the blitz. He does. But the secondary, Jaylen Johnson’s out. Their two best defensive backs are out. Jaylen Johnson, Kyler Gordon, and then uh their top sub who might have been a starter, uh Terrell was I think it’s the kid from Minnesota, secondyear player. He got hurt, blew his knee out. He’s out for the year. So, they are banged up in the secondary. You blitz, you’re gonna play man, you play man. And guys can’t cover, you give up touchdowns. So, I I want to go and talk about Sam Darnold because I was always a huge fan, but I didn’t think he came into the league, he was 21 years old, and I don’t think he was on multiple levels. He was not ready to carry a bad franchise. And then he goes to Carolina. That’s a worse franchise, but he won in high school. He won at USC. He won at Minnesota. He won at Seattle. He is tied for the most game-winning drives with Momes. I always looked at him and I was just like, he’s big, he’s an athlete, he’s got a big arm and like no ego. You get the alpha without the ego. Are you surprised he’s had this two-year run? Um, no. I I think Kevin Oonnell did wonders for him at Minnesota, but I’ll go back way back when he was at USC. I was doing the college football then and we were doing a game in a coliseum. I think they played Texas or somebody and Liner, Matt Liner, SC guy, was talking to him after the game. I’m standing there. We were all talking and then Matt I know had a couple meetings with him and Matt was kind of encouraging, take another year and then he went out and had the big game against Penn State in the Rose Bowl and he got hot. And he got hot. Exactly. And I always looked at draft picks. There’s an old philosophy that says, uh, talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling. and he was 21 in New York’s a big loud city and he’s a small he was in a small oceanside California. He didn’t grow up in LA. He grew up in a little beach surfer town down in Southern California. Yes. You didn’t listen what I said. Okay. Talent sets the floor. Character sets the ceiling. So his character is outstanding. I mean you listen to him in the post game last night talking on TV. I mean he’s talking about the team and the defense. Nothing about him. the next win. I I think the guy uh is is probably I good in the locker room. I bet you the guys enjoy playing with him and have him as a teammate. And he’s one of those guys you want him on your team, he’s going to make you better. And and and the Minnesota thing just gave him a shot of confidence. That’s that obviously we saw yesterday. I always thought I my comp when he came out was I said it’s Andrew Luck. He’s not that good, but Andrew could be a little reckless. And I think Sam is one of those guys, coach, you have to give him a certain structure. Y cuz he he can he can add lib pretty well. And and you’ve probably had quarterbacks like that. I think with Sam, we’re going to throw 28 times. We’re going to run the ball. Seattle likes to run the ball and I think it works with him and play defense. And he talked about that. That’s the great thing. The when a quarterback comes out and says, “Boy, our defense really played good.” And you talked about running the ball. You’re right. I mean, he fits into that mold. It’s not going to be a drop back, uh, you know, Joe Burrow and throw it 50 times. That’s not what he is. That’s not what he is. They know what he is and they really take advantage of it. You know, I said I’ve I’ve loved Kyler Murray for years. I’ve been a huge fan, but there is something that sometimes he feels a little detached, his body language, and and there are certain guys like Baker Mayfield where I honestly think Baker Mayfield is buying beers at halftime. He he looks at me he’s like he is just like or Lamar Jackson feels like the soul of the Ravens. I get I get Mahomes yelling at his teammates or Pton Manning sometimes with him I feel like he’s a little detached. He’s bad in one-score games. He he has a terrible record coming from behind and I think late in close games people don’t look for talent. They look for guidance. They look for leadership. Yeah. If you ran them, would you? I I feel that. I mean, I I can’t get the contract dispute, you know, the so many hours in the office. I mean, that that’s tough for me to get out of my mind when I see some things, throw him interceptions or something. You wonder just were you prepared enough, you know? I’m sure he is. Uh I I always thought that he would be more of a Lamar threat with his legs and running the ball. He doesn’t like running much anymore. That’s not happening anymore. And his supporting cast, I’m gonna give him a little bit of help here now. God bless him. You know, I’m a pit guy. James Connor Pit guy when he went through his cancer battle they weren’t sure he was going to come back and play at Pit and how many years has the guy been but he’s been their star running back they they haven’t stepped up there you know Marvin Harrison Jr has been a real all over the map a real slow starter let’s be real and and who else you know the tight end McBride I like McBride I like him well if if if Mc tight end’s your leading receiver and your go-to guy coach you ain’t going to score many points in this league, you know, really. And that’s that’s kind of where they’re at. So, I don’t think he’s had the great supporting cast that some of these other quarterbacks have. Um, Chiefs, Ravens, um, one of them is going to go one and three. Um, I said a lot of times, coach, I just I trust my eyes. Great teams usually have a juice like Seattle defensively. They’re fast and they’re a Royo, uh, JSN, the receiver. Like, these guys are play. You can see on the television Darnold’s athletic ability, Walker the running back from Michigan State. You watch Seattle and you’re like, they got dudes in their prime. They have a lot of good young players. You watch the Eagles, their power game, or you watch Herbert. When I watch Kansas City, I don’t see any juice. No, no, no. Zero juice. I I agree with you. You know, it’s surprising because I said this last week, maybe it’ll happen this week. uh that Eagles Super Bowl when they were behind by 10 at halftime and Mahomes was limping and they came out the second half and what did they do? They ran the ball with Pacheco, remember? And and that’s how they won the Super Bowl. They ran the football. I was I thought that that would Andy Reid would get back to that more. You know, when you got a a one receiver not in there for whatever reason, one’s hurt. Kelsey’s, you know, up in age a little bit. what’s the easiest thing to do to help your quarterback run the ball? And they just haven’t really made a big, in my mind, a big commitment to running the football. I think that may help give them a little bit of juice. I don’t know. But it’s uh they’re they’re a onesided team right now. A lot like Baltimore. You mentioned Baltimore. They got a great offense and no defense. I don’t know what’s going on with that defense. They put up their, you know, talent and draft picks and money. I mean, these guys should be a top 10, top half in the league minimum, minimum defense, and it’s not happening. But, uh, but at least their offense, they can win the ball. If you, if you just go to the Ben, I I would probably go to a bend but break don’t break defense because, you know, your offense is going to score points. I mean, those guys, talk about talent and playmakers, that Baltimore offense is unbelievable. It really is. Okay. you do a ton of college football, so you’re you’re as good as anybody in this Big 10 building we’re sitting in right now. So, Oregon, Penn State, that’s a long way to travel. When you were coaching college football, and you had to go into a harsh environment, uh remember in the NFL, you know, guys are 27, 28. You got 30 year olds. Some of these kids are 19, 20, 21. In college football, I almost always say take the home team if they’re even take the home team. How how would you when you went on the road in these big road environments, is there a trick to getting the best from your team? Well, you’d like to have Yeah, leadership is going to be the key because you can say what you want as a coach, right? And and you can show them all the movies and read all the books and all that stuff, but when they get out there and the crowd goes, you know, you’d like to have a veteran group on offense, okay? because the noise is going to be a factor. Yes. And and unfortunately, Oregon’s going in there. I mean, coach, they when they played Northwestern, 12 guys caught passes, seven of them ran the ball, two freshman score touchdown. So Dan Lenning who does a fabulous job. You got a new starting quarterback and you’ve got these young players at most of the positions because you graduated a lot and you know he it it’s I think it’s going to be a difficult challenge for him as long as Penn State doesn’t give up the big play. As long as they don’t give up the big Right now Penn State’s leading the nation in sacks. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. USC was. I’m sorry. Penn State’s right behind them though. Penn State starts four seniors on that defensive line. I mean, they are they they are really good and u so they’re going to put a lot of pressure physically on this Oregon offense and quarterback. Um see how the young guys respond. Yeah. And and Drew Allard, you know, here’s an interesting point to think about because I kind of went through this a little bit at Miami with we had Vinnie Tester Birdie. Okay. Drew Ellard, a quarterback from Penn State. He comes back for another year. where he would have been drafted. Who knows? In fact, a lot of those players did. Singleton, Allen, the two running backs. Though they’re backfield players, two off two they got three offensive linemen. Two of them are going to be top five picks. Okay. Um first, second or third five rounds. My point is I want to see Drew Rall their quarterback because he comes back and now you are expected to take us and win a Big 10 championship. you are take we’re expected to win a national championship and he’s playing to be a firstround draft pick. That’s a lot on that kid’s plate. Now to to your point about Oregon, this should be noted. Oregon’s road games, Dante Moore is the quarterback for Oregon. Here’s the road games he’s played in his college career. San Diego State, Oregon State, Stanford, Arizona, Northwestern. This a whole different ballgame. Whole different ball with a with the best defensive line he’s ever faced. Yes. So it’s it’s a it’s a big ask. I want to ask you about USC. You know, everybody think I said this earlier, everybody thinks Lincoln Riley just throws the ball. Actually, this SC team, they’re a run team. You’ve seen them, coach. They’re 55% run, which shocked me until I started doing my prep work. Uh, and then I think Joe Clad, somebody made the comment when Lincoln Riley was at Oklahoma, they had the they were number one in the nation in yards per rush. So, he has run the football. Oh, he likes to run it. A lot of it might be quarterback, which they can do enough out there at USC. But, but I’ll tell you what, it’s kind of interesting because when I was coaching at USC, I went there, they were coming off probation, not not I I wasn’t involved in that. That’s one I wasn’t involved with. Okay. Okay. One of But my point was two years later, we’re playing Ohio State and beat them in the Rose Bowl, you know. So this program they they’ve had a resurgence a lot faster. No one’s talking about them. I think their booster stepped up. Oh. Like they’re the nobody’s talking about them right now. But Jen Cole and the athletic director, they built a $300 million facility. They’re paying Lincoln$80 million. And their boosters came in hot. Their defensive line, they went and bought size. They’re big. They’re the ones that are leading the country in sacks. 16 sacks. and their offensive line are being talked about for the Joe Moore award, which is, you know, the best offensive line because they got four of the five guys back. These guys have been in the program. I mean, they they they’ve got them at at all levels. They really do got a nice football team. So, um, I said this earlier. I always thought the Big 10 was a little topheavy and I always thought the Pack 12 had better quarterbacks, more creative coaching, a little more speed. I think the Pack 12 is exactly what the Big 10 needed. I when I and I I also think the Big 10 weather and style forced USC and Oregon to go buy bigger players with the NIL. Yeah, I would I would I would I think the meshing has been perfect. Yeah, it it has. Uh think about last year, who was the Big 10 champ? Oregon. Oregon. You know, Oregon speed the speed team. They come in with the speed and they win the Big 10. Uh there has been a little bit of transition, I think, with both teams. You know, the style of play a little bit. Uh you look at the quarterbacks. I mean, the Big 10’s got some great young new quarterbacks coming up. Um, yeah, it has meshed well and I but I think you know these fancy uniforms Penn State’s guys are wearing the black shoes. Big 10’s got better tradition, but they don’t look as fast. Penn State right now their guys take them out there and put them on a track. They’ll run foot foroot with Oregon. You don’t think so. you know, you’re a West Coast guy, but I’m telling you, you don’t think they do because they got the fancy uniforms and Penn State’s got black socks on and shoes, you know, and and they No, James Franklin can recruit. They can recruit. They They got players that can run. Trust me, the best backfield in the country is Penn State. Can can Washington at Husky Stadium, you’ve you’ve coached there. Can they beat Ohio State, their quarterback, I have had two people, an N a former NFL quarterback and a current NFL exec said Washington’s quarterback will be the best quarterback in this game. Yeah, it’s here here’s the here’s the story line for this game. Uh Matt Patricia, the defensive coordinator, Ohio State, how I would agree with you. Washington is running for 250. They’re throwing for 250 a game, scoring 55 points a game. They are getting it. And their quarterback, everybody says, “Oh, he’s a dual threat.” Well, a dual threat for run for five yards or dual threat to go 90. This he can go 90 yards, okay? If you don’t get him on the ground, this I want to watch is what m how’s Matt Patricia going to handle it? Is he going to put Caleb DS on him? You got to have somebody else watching this guy. You have to have a spy on on the Huskies quarterback. Absolutely. Or is he going to use one of the linebackers or drop a lineman? What’s he going to do? But they’re going to have to come up with a different scheme to deal with the quarterback or he can beat himself. Yeah, we got great college football weekend. Oh, absolutely. One of the best Saturdays in a long

Colin Cowherd reacts to the latest in the NFL. First, he lays out his Blazin’ 5 picks for the NFL’s Week 4 slate including the Indianapolis Colts vs. the Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears vs. the Las Vegas Raiders. Then he is joined in studio by Dave Wannstedt. They talk about Caleb Williams and the Bears going on the road to face the Las Vegas Raiders, whether Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold should be considered “elite,” and the disappointing start for Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs and Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens.

0:00 Blazin’ 5 picks for NFL Week 4
6:33 Dave Wannstedt in studio

All lines provided by @hardrockbet

Subscribe to The Colin Cowherd Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@ColinCowherdPodcast