Colin Cowherd’s Week 12 Herd Hierarchy: Rams, Seahawks, Broncos, Patriots, Chiefs | THE HERD NFL

Colin Cowherd’s Week 12 Herd Hierarchy: Rams, Seahawks, Broncos, Patriots, Chiefs | THE HERD NFL

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. Here we go. Hour two and a Tuesday. It is Thanksgiving week starting Thursday. Great NFL and college football. Ohio State and Michigan. Cowboys and the Chiefs. Lions and the Packers. Well, we do this every Tuesday. Um, it’s getting easier. I I think we’ve reached the point I kind of know what everybody is. Um, and I know what they’re not. So, let’s not waste any time before we get to Nick. Right. Here is our herd hierarchy on a Tuesday. [Music] Herd hierarchy. Time is now. Let’s go. The top 10 NFL teams according to college. Number 10. Okay, listen. And I got to put the Bears in here. 8-1 over their last nine games. Their defense leads the NFL in interceptions and takeaways. They have 24 takeaways. I don’t think they’re a great defensive team, but they take advant when the ball’s in the air, they fight for it. They’re also the second best rush team. Offense number six. I I don’t think Ben Johnson and Caleb are a finished product. This team wins close games. Same thing I say about Denver. There is value in that. Chiefs did it last year. I think teams that win close games are tight locker rooms. Bears at 10. Number nine, the Ravens. Obviously, Lamar Jackson is not 100%. Brock Pretty last night, no velocity, toe injury, he won’t say anything. Lamar won’t say anything. Fifth straight win. Their defense right now since week seven is the number one defense in the league. They’re not pretty. They’re out of rhythm. They’re a little broken offensively. I always say I put Baltimore in the top 10 because I just respect the culture, the ownership, the coach, the front office. I don’t know how good they are, but they make the list. Number eight, Green Bay. Here’s what’s weird. For the first time in forever, it’s just a defensive story. Their offense is conservative. Their defense is excellent. At home, opponents score 13 points a game. That’s the best home defense in the league. They’ve held opponents under 20 points in four straight games. They have a pass rush. Um, their offense does not give it away. This is rare. It’s a boring Green Bay Packer team led by their defense. Okay? And we look at all these offensive receivers and all these stars and we’re like, “Oh, I don’t understand it.” It’s just a different Packer team. But it’s a good one. They’re eight. Number seven, the Lions. Third game with 200 plus rushing yards. Jamir Gibbs is like fired out out of a cannon. The guy’s unbelievable. Their defense though. Major problem. They give up chunk play. They gave up 10 catches of over 20 yards to Jameus Winston. Um but they can control the game. They’ve got a home run hitter in the back field. They’ve got a culture creator and an accurate thrower. They’re an unimpressive and uninspiring. Not as good as last year. Number seven. Number six, the Chiefs. Listen, lead the NFL in yards per game. It’s not pretty. Yeah, they could have been five and six, but they held the Colts to season lows in points, total yards, and first downs. They’re good at home. Uh they’re not as good on the road because they’re not a great team, but they’re a good team. And they’re one of four teams to rank top 10. Only four in the league. Top 10 in all major four major categories. Scoring offense, total offense, scoring defense, total defense. Well coached, smartly quarterback. I have six. Number five, one inch behind Philadelphia, which like Baltimore has a broken offense. Jaylen Herz attended 30 attempted 39 throws against the Cowboys. That’s about double what people in Philadelphia are comfortable with. Nine of their 11 games have been decided by one score, but I can’t hold it against them because that was the case with Kansas City last year. They have a culture. They’ve got athletes. I trust them in big spots. They just had a disastrous second half against a hot Cowboy offense. Lamb Pickins, Dak five. Number four, Seattle. The one team I would not want to play in the playoffs. Young, confident, aggressive, great on the road. Seattle, highest rush percentage in the league. Uh, and they love to throw the ball down the field. And I number three in point differential. They’re going to go in as a wildcard team and they’ll be the only wildcard team that honestly I mean I I I would argue their roster could be better than the team that wins the division. They’re a little more mistakrone than the Rams, but I have them at four. Number three, the Patriots played like crap and won on the road. That’s pretty good. The offensive line now, it’s a little banged up, but they’ve only allowed three sacks over the last three games. They just don’t have a fundamental flaw. If they score 20 points, they’re 10 and0. Best record in the NFL. I think Josh McDaniel, offensive coordinator, once again, quietly, just like with Brady, is really, I mean, he is he is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain for this offense. They just call and perform a really smart offensive game plan every Sunday. Number two, Denver. Here’s why. There are certain stats you can’t ignore. They lead the NFL with a plus 36 sack differential. They have the number one ranked offensive line. They allow 4.4 yards of play, easily the best in the league. They get four and a half sacks a game. now way too many penalties, more than any in the league. I could see them beating themselves. They have terrible halves and are inconsistent. But there are stats in this league that tell me you’re going to win multiple playoff games. Oh yeah, they got a Hall of Fame level head coach. Number one. I I mean, honestly, the Rams, they’re number one in everything. Seven of their nine wins have come against teams with winning records. They’re blowing people out. Tampa’s not a bad team. They scored 31 in the first half. They don’t turn it over. They never get penalized. They take leads. Number one scoring offense. Number one scoring defense during this six-game stretch. Let me tell you something. Nate Landman, the inside linebacker, stole him from Atlanta. Devonte Adams, free agent, stole him. I mean, it it’s just incredible what they’ve done. I mean, they went and got the the the corner from Washington, Forbes. He looks like a number one corner. What an off season of acquisitions for very reasonable prices. Um there we go. Here we go. Tuesday on Thanksgiving week. We’re live. We’re in Chicago. It’s the herd. One hour from now, the herd hierarchy. What are we going to do with those Chicago Bears? Will they make their first appearance in the herd hierarchy? Great to have you in today. You know, it was so funny because um Brock Pury was obviously awful last night and in the first half I thought, well, he had a toe injury and I thought, all right, I said it on my podcast at the volume last night. I said he’s obviously can’t drive the ball. Every one of his interceptions was behind the guy and they kind of hung in the air. There was no zip on the ball. And Pretty came out after the game and said, “It had nothing to do with my toe.” Oh, so you were just awful against Carolina that has no pass rush. Listen, we watch Matt Stafford on Sunday Night Football. That’s a Hall of Famer. Mastery of the position. Big arm, pre- snap, looks left, fires right. Last night, you saw two average quarterbacks. One’s making a fortune and one wants to make a fortune. Five picks total, multiple bad throws to open receivers. And remember, the NFL is not baseball where we care about history. It’s not the NBA where style matters. The NFL, when you’re a quarterback, it’s about your last 20 starts. It’s about now. Last 20 starts, Matt Stafford, Brock Pury, and Bryce Young. Matt Stafford’s 43 and five. That is an elite franchise quarterback. 43 touchdowns, five picks. Bryce Young at least has a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio with a bunch of kids at wide receiver. Brock Pury, 30 touchdowns, 19 picks. And by the way, on Monday Night Football, he presses because he wants to show everybody in a standalone game, hey, I belong. Monday Night Football in his career, five touchdowns, 11 picks, 75 passer rating. So, I said in I said in August, Rams are going to win the division. Best roster. Seattle’s close. Uh San Francisco third. In fact, the only two things with the Niners this year that have blown me away, Robert Solid deserves a head coaching job, the what he is doing without Warner, without Bosa, without Hungus, now with Denver. I don’t know how they’re doing it. It’s just kids. And I mean, Bryce Young was great a week ago. He was atrocious last night. So, um, and Christian McCaffrey is I mean, honestly, he should get paid overtime. I mean, he is the offense, but um everybody keeps trying to convince Colin, you’re tough on Brock Pury. No, no, no. You’re trying to convince me he’s elite. If you’d stop doing that, I’d stop talking about him. Well, he’s smart. So is Aristotle. I need elite quarterback traits. Arms, size, mobility. Like Bryce Young is not a franchise quarterback. He’s a bridge quarterback. He’s not a backup. He’s a bridge. But nobody’s trying to convince me he’s an all-timer. So, so you guys keep trying to convince me, h this is what this is what it looks like. When he had a stacked roster and people didn’t have a lot of film on him, he was out of Iowa State and he was he was healthy. It was kind of fun and he moves pretty well. Said it last week after the Arizona game, he moves pretty well. But do you know since he entered the NFL, he leads the NFL in interceptions on first down. Leads the NFL. That is the easiest, most favorable down to pass on. So last night, his three picks, they were all behind the receivers. None of them had any velocity behind him. So he may say the toe is fine. It’s not. You can tell he’s not at 100%. But on on throws down the field last night, he was 1 for8 with three picks. But this year on throws just 10 yards down the field, he’s the NFL’s worst quarterback. One touchdown, seven picks. So, well, Colin, once you make 53 million a year, that’s more than Momes and it’s more than Matt Stafford, if you made 12 million a year or you had Bryce Young’s contract, I wouldn’t care. Or if you weren’t trying to convince me, my eyes don’t lie. Yours don’t either. Those three picks, those are not $53 million a year throws. In fact, ask yourself this. after the game. Listen to what the reporters ask Kyle Shanahan. Listen to this. I mean, you got to think about all of them why it’s happening. Um, you know, it makes me a lot more hesitant if they’re all bad decisions and stuff. Um, but he was seeing it right. Uh, they were all really good decisions. Um, just missed the throw on him. So, uh, you know, I think it’s it is a lot worse when you feel like he’s not making the right decisions. Yeah, he was asked to that answer. He was asked if he considered benching Brock Pury. Has anybody ever asked if Joe Burrow, Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar, Justin Herbert should be benched again? If you make 53 million, you can never ask that question. You I think you should maybe consider M. Jones. What? You’re paying him 53 million. I’m not anti Brock Pury. He’s fine, but he’s really inconsistent. not good throwing downfield. That’s all I’m saying. If you stop trying to convince me he’s in that upper crust, then I’ll stop talking about it. Okay. So, um I don’t think Shadur Sanders is upper crust, but I want to talk about this. He’s going to be the starter for the Cleveland Browns. I would imagine the rest of the way. I think we’ve seen enough Dylan Gabriel. So, over the course of my life, and you’ve probably noticed this, too, there are certain people that walk into a room and they take the oxygen out of it. They’re negative. They’re riskaverse. They’re rigid. They like just suck all the energy and oxygen and vibe out of the room. And then there are people that come into a room and they’re optimistic and optimistic and they’ve got a little juice and they’ve got a lot of confidence and they want to take a big swing in life. That should Sanders. I don’t care about the stats. Watching him and then watching Dylan Gabriel. One guy plays it safe and one guy throws it down the field and takes swings. And pro football locker rooms are 55 alphas. It’s guys who take swings. It’s aggressive men. And Robert Griffin III, RG3 on the show yesterday said he noticed that. When you watch the game, the Browns played with more energy, more purpose, and more excitement than they have all season long because of his ability to make the extended play. And with that comes mistakes. He threw a bad interception, but he bounced back really well off of it. I think he has the pulse of the team, the pulse of the city. He is self-aware that he believes he is going to be successful. So, he speaks confidently. He walks around confidently and that is why he’s not afraid. Yeah. I mean, when I watched him against the Raiders, and it’s the Raiders, but it’s an NFL team. It looked like Colorado Shad throws the ball down the field and he’s accurate. Dylan Gabriel plays it safe, right? And bosses love employees who play it safe and never get the boss in trouble. He runs all the plays. Shadur doesn’t. He plays with more confidence. He takes more risks. Dylan Gabriel, do you realize this? Led the NFL. He was last in the NFL in yards per attempt this year. Dylan Gabriel Shadur Sanders led the entire league this Sunday in yards per attempt. They’re the opposite. They’re literally the opposite kind of quarterback. So, and and my take if you’re Cleveland is you’re not going to get rich in life investing in 401ks. You can get comfortable or content. Dylan Gabriel is not even a 401k. He’s that savings bond grandma gave you when you were nine. Like, there just there’s just no upside. It’s safe. He’s not taking any risks. But I think in pro football locker rooms that kind of pulls the energy and the juice out of the room. You got 55 NFL bodies. I mean, Miles Garrett’s reaction to Shadur Sanders is, “Oh, this is fun. We got a guy.” So now I think Shadur is a little goofy. I like my quarterbacks to be serious and intense. I really like Pton Manning. I I I really like the intensity of Lamar Jackson who gets mad at himself. I like serious, intense, totally focused quarterbacks. And Shadur is a little goo goofy. He’s a little casual. I, you know, I think sometimes he’s a little juvenile. He’s he feels like a kid, but I don’t think you can deny um that there’s a different feeling when he’s the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. It just looks and feels differently, and that’s why he should start. Little goofy for my taste, but he does add something as RG3 talked about. Um, and and by the way, I I have no problem with joyful, funny professional athletes. There somebody told me this years ago. If you’re in a serious profession like accounting or tech, have a sense of humor. Lighten up. And if you’re in a funny or a or an entertainment field, music, sports, comedy, take it seriously. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld take comedy seriously. So did Leon and Leto. They take comedy seriously. It’s a real career. Ricky Jerves. It’s a real career. I like my quarterbacks in entertainment. My musicians, my singers, you know, it it’s Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Bono, they take it seriously. John Bon Joby still touring, making money, take it seriously. When you get into sports, I like really focused because there’s goofballs everywhere in entertainment, music, and the movies and comedy. There’s goofballs everywhere. In those kind of careers, I think you got to be a little bit more serious. To me, Shadur’s a little goofy for me, but he’s a joyful kid and I think he should start. All right, Jmack, listen. I know it’s a it’s a rough day. You love Brock Pury, but I I think America after the first half, we all sumearily agreed that was awful football, not just quarterback play. You know what? I couldn’t figure out this. Rico Dowel is one of these NFL running backs. You’re like, can you just give him the ball? Why didn’t Dave Canales get Rico Dow six attempts? He’s your Christian McCaffrey. I mean, say what you want about Kyle Shanahan. The entire offense drives through Christian McCaffrey. You have your Christian McCaffrey. Is he as good? I don’t know. But Rico Dattle is a really, really fun player. He got the ball six times out of the back field. Like, what are you doing? It was a wacky game, was it not? It just fell all around like the pretty interceptions. And listen, I I I’m going to I’m going to pull a you last week, you know, remember Sam Darnold threw four picks against the Rams and you’re like, I don’t really care about interceptions. You’re trying things. Brock Birdie was trying things last night. None of them worked. Okay, he had a bad half. It was bad. You flush it, you move on. I am worried, however, about this Browns game because the defense at home is nasty. Oh, let me just tell you right now, I have revised what I said yesterday. Cleveland plus 6 and a half points at home with cruddy weather is the bet of the weekend against the Niners on a short week. That’s the weekend. Remember a couple years ago he went to Cleveland and had a loss. They were missing a couple weapons. Yeah. But uh this is going to be a difficult game for him. And I’ll be honest, if you ask me JBback, hey, what the hell was wrong with Perie? I think in an Island game, he was pressing a little bit knowing that M. Jones had a good run and he’s coming off the injury and it was in his head, you know, like it happens. Listen, Brock Pury has been bad on Monday Night Football. Five touchdowns, 11 picks. I think it’s a showcase. He feels a little bit of pressure. He wants to show he belongs when in the one:00 window or when he’s playing Arizona. He’s magic, but I think he was pressing totally last night. Fine. Um, I got some thoughts on Lane Keifin. I, you know, it just cracks me up how everybody’s after Lane Keifin. It just, I just don’t get it. And I got thoughts on Michigan Ohio State and Michigan fans aren’t going to like it. Uh, we got Herd Hierarchy, Nick Wright. Good show today. Today’s show brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. 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So, if you’re listening on to this later, just open the app, check it out any day of the week, doesn’t matter. Download the Hard Rock Bet app right now. Make your first deposit. So I watching this Lane Keifin circus just cracks me up. I mean Old Miss knew what they were getting when they were hiring Lane Keifin who will make a decision Friday or Saturday where he’s going to coach. They knew what they were getting. When I hear this even from people at Fox, well it’s going to ruin his reputation. Lane Keifin’s reputation is offensive wizard. That’s it. That’s why USC hired him, the Raiders hired him, Tennessee hired him, a school in Florida hired him, and Miss hired him. They didn’t hire him because he was relatable. He’s a nice guy. He was loyal. I know Lane. I like him. I’ve had a cocktail or two when he used to do that. He’s interesting. He knows his stuff. And Miss wasn’t naive. College football, folks, is Bitcoin. It’s unregulated. It’s the wild wild west with a lack of corporate structure. Every man for himself and college football allows you to steal another program’s coach. Don’t be mad at Lane. Be mad at LSU and Florida. I mean, you guys are supposed to all kind of be in a conference. You’ve defended each other for years when you were all cheating and recruiting pre-NIL. There was always a rule. Don’t rat on the SEC, right? like everybody kind of knew until Hugh Freeze was so ridiculous at Old Miss doing it they had to call him on it. So, but this idea Well, this is, you know, the only time anybody’s disappointed with Lane Keifin when Old Miss doesn’t score 35 points. That’s when he’s disappointing because since he arrived at Old Miss, they’re the number one offense in the country by a mile and that’s why he gets jobs. this idea. Listen, old miss, don’t marry the rockstar and find out he’s cheating on the road. That’s the reality of this sport. When I whenever I hear the media get precious about college football, it is Bitcoin with a whistle. It’s totally wild, wild west. They can’t even get the schedules right. And I love the sport. USC hired a guy named Klay Hilton. Wonderful guy. Family, faith, and football. You know where he’s at? Georgia Southern. There are certain traits the great coaches have. Sabin, Urban, Dabau, Harbaugh, Lane, Kirby, Smart, they all have the same traits. It’s not warm and fuzzy. It’s not loyal. It’s aggressive, intense, and hyper competitive. And I’ve met all of them and I like all of them. I love Urban and Lane and Jim and Davo and S. I’ve met all of them. Haven’t met Kirby Smart, but he kind of feels like it’s the same thing. So this idea, you know, everybody’s like, and the media cracks me up. It’s like, well, when are we going to get an answer? When Lane wants to give you one. Go ahead, fire him. See if he gets somebody that good. Well, you know him. You’re defending him. No, I know college football and I’m defending him. In the NFL, you can’t go poach Andy Reid in the middle of a season. College football allows it. I said this yesterday. Wall Street, Silicon Valley, or sports. If you allow aggressive men in the prime of their career to just jump from that job to that job, they’re going to they’re going to that’s that’s their nature. That’s who they are. Lane is an aggressive, dynamic wizard offensively looking for the next great challenge and wanting to be able to compete annually for national titles. Here was yesterday. I mean the the the old miss media is freaking out and Lane is just kind of rolling his eyes. Like Keith uh released a statement on Friday saying that you him and Chancellor Boyce had had a meeting about your future. Are you able to elaborate on the nature of that meeting at all? Very fair question, but um we’re not answering anything that doesn’t have to do with the game and the team and the season for you when you think about the how the last two weeks has kind of played out. Is there anything if you could you would change? Well, I mean, you say that, but people said the same thing about the Florida game, you know, that there was all this distraction and how could the team focus? When Keith says expects a decision on Saturday, is that a decision that’s been made or is that still in consideration? Like, we people were just curious about that. Yeah. So, I mean, you can just keep going. I’m not going to answer them. So, that’s three of them. You’re just going to have to wait. Yeah. You Sorry, beat reporters. You’re just going to have to wait on that. But Miss couldn’t possibly be naive when they hired Lane Keifin. They knew they were getting an A++ recruiter and an A++ plus offensive guy who has a history of like a lot of coaches in college football in their prime wanting to land at a job where you can compete for a national title every single year that often recruits itself. Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma. There’s a handful of those. Miss is not one of those. Good program, fun program. It’s not one of those. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Let’s get started with this Philadelphia Eagles debacle. Up 21 nothing, Colin, against the Cowboys and they choke it away and lose. Saquon Barkley said after the game he felt that Dallas quote wanted it more. Okay, let that sink in. and then listen to Nick Serriani who vehemently disagreed with him. Obviously, they went and and they got the win. Um so there’s always things that factor into it as far as you know our determination, our effort. Um I saw that it was you know it was high and I think like I said we were obviously Saquon felt something uh last night and you know he’s got a great pulse for everything. Um, but I, you know, if you, as you watch the tape, um, you know, as you look at the tape, which, you know, obviously after the game, we don’t have the luxury of looking at the tape before we we go in and talk to you guys. Um, but I felt like the effort was really, really high in that game. Yeah. I don’t offensively I I still I don’t understand how the offensive coordinator isn’t falling under more scrutiny, Colin. A lot of people are cutting up clips from these three and outs and the play sequencing is just awful. It’s very predictable. and the Cowboys defense, which got run early in this game, was able to stop everything. Yeah. I I don’t know what the concern level is for you with the Eagles, but Well, I it’s a really good roster and they tend to figure things out, but we’re just going to have to acknowledge Saquon’s not going to be great this year and the defense is better than the offense. Now, I still think they’re going to win multiple playoff games and it’s one game, but it that we’ve seen multiple halves where they’re literally 63 and outs or 53 and outs. So, it’s a reality of what they are. Defense is going to win playoff games for this team. I mean, a couple downfield throws. Jaylen is very good downfield ball like Russell Wilson, Devonte, AJ Brown, but they’re not going to run the football in the playoffs. They haven’t run it all year. They’re not going to, so they can’t rely on it. Yeah. You you wonder, you have a 14-point blown lead against the Broncos in the fourth. 14-point blown lead. If that doesn’t happen, if the offense can do anything, we’re looking at by far the best team in the NFL, right? Yes, absolutely. And yet, we’re all panicking about them. I don’t Very strange times. By the way, Bears, your Bears getting seven. Now, I know you’re a big Black Friday guy battling people at malls trying to pick up stuff. You’re going to you’re not going to miss Bears Eagles, right? No. No, I’m not. All right, let’s move on to the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson. So, I don’t want to say they got exposed a little against the Jets, but the Jets had traded Sauce Gardner, Quon Williams, and really bottled up this offense. And a lot of the focus now is coming on Lamar Jackson. He’s averaging career lows in rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns. Obviously, had the injury. Um, he’s been sacked on 11% of his dropbacks, by far the highest of his career. You don’t want to say he’s getting old because this guy’s still in his mid20s, but you know, is he not healthy at this point? Like what what do we know? And again, if I’m in that media scrum with Harbaugh today, I’m like, you know, is Lamar 100%. Cuz it doesn’t appear to anybody that he’s No, he does not have the juice. He’s not 100%. I I’ll I’ll say it again. Brock Pury wouldn’t come out and make an excuse. Brock Pury is not at 100%. his ball last night. All of his picks were behind the receiver. Why? He didn’t have any velocity. Okay? I mean, so Brock Pur’s at 100%. If you watch Lamar Jackson, he didn’t get slow in the last two months. He’s not at 100%. I’ve talked to players in the NFL about this. Even Tom Brady’s like, “Nobody’s totally healthy late November. Everybody’s dinged up. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing Pilates, yoga, everybody’s dinged up. You’re you’re it’s cold. It hurts more when you get hit. I watched Cincinnati. I I watched Baltimore this past weekend. That offense for Baltimore is You think Philadelphia is out of rhythm. They are just making it up. There’s no sequence to me when I watch them. They’re broken like the Packers were a few weeks ago. I feel like Baltimore’s broken offensively and has to reboot. Yeah, it it does not look good. And Kyle Hamilton, did you see he went down against the Jets? He is like a huge chess piece for them. I listen, I don’t like anything about the Bengals. The defense is a joke. The coach is not good at all. I’m considering taking the seven points here against the Ravens in the divisional matchup. Yeah. No. T. Higgins, by the way. He’s been ruled out with a concussion. Final story, Colin. This is an ugly one. College football. So, Brian Kelly is really getting in a legal back and forth with LSU over his firing. Colin, this is ugly. I mean, this is going to get expensive. this. Hopefully we get this sorted out quickly, but essentially Kelly and his lawyers are alleging that LSU is holding him back from getting another head coaching job. LSU is saying, “Hey man, we don’t owe you 54 million because we fired you with cause.” And they’re like, “What’s the cause?” And LSU has nothing. They have shown nothing. And they’re like, “Well, we didn’t actually fire you. It was a dismissal.” And it’s like, Colin, again, I I know you think this looks It looks It looks shady. LSU looks really shady to me. Yeah. Are if you’re Lane Keifin and Jimmy Son, I know he watches the show. Are you advising Lane? You want to go into that? No, I don’t. I mean, listen, again, I would stay at Old Miss or go pro. Go to the Tennessee Titans. That’s what I would do if I was Lane. I would I think Florida is a better job than LSU for me. Lifestyle, quality of life. Gainesville, not that far uh you know, from the Atlantic Ocean. I I I think Florida is a great job. uh top five or six job in the country. But I my guess is LSU more desperate will pay more money. Well, you you’ve talked about this all the time with jobs. Management matters. Oh, and like I I know LSU, oh my gosh, they won national championships. Ed Ojeron, Joe Burrow, look at currently right now what’s going on there. And you really want to go into that? Do you feel you could trust those guys? No. No. No. That’s the answer. J with the news. Well, that’s the news and thanks for stopping by the Herd Line News. So, I saw this headline this morning. I I’m going to throw something at you um that I think is an arbitrary number that everybody in sports sees it as a number having value. And I see it as an arbitrary number that doesn’t really mean anything. So, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have not had a losing season in uh 21 seasons. But there’s a story this morning. Is the hot seat heating up? Well, he hasn’t won a playoff game in eight years. He would be fired if he was the Eagles coach or the Cowboys coach. He would be fired if he was I mean I the New England coach, the San Francisco coach, the Green Bay coach. Green Bay, you got to win playoff games. He’d be fired if he was the Ravens coach. But in Pittsburgh, it’s old school and they take pride in stuff uh like we have not had a losing season in 21 years. I I want I want you to think about that. I went and looked this up this morning. In that same stretch, 21 seasons, to show you how little that means, we haven’t had a losing season. In that same stretch, 21 seasons, 60 NFL teams with winning records missed the playoffs. Winning record doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t guarantee anything. In 21 seasons, four times they were 500. Another four they were a game over. What does it mean? It’s just an arbitrary number. So, let me give you five, four or five teams that in 21 seasons have had losing seasons. The Chiefs, Philadelphia, Rams, Tampa Bay, the Patriots, they they bottom out. They have losing seasons. So, you know, this whole thing about Mike Tomlin not having a losing season. Let me throw this at you. You know who has the longest streak in the NBA of not having a losing season? I want you to think about this. Give it Give it 10 seconds. What NBA franchise has the longest streak of non- losing seasons? The Clippers 14. In their own city, the Lakers make fun of the Clippers. Jeannie Bus, the former owner, used to make fun of the Clippers privately and publicly. They were a laughingtock. Didn’t matter if Steve Balmer had 10 times the net worth. The Clippers are like the eye roll of Los Angeles. And they got good people in the building and Tyoo’s you’re the Clippers. I mean, you got a bunch of banners, but it’s just to me it’s just I Pittsburgh is um it’s a small city, you know. I get it. It’s old school. Uh you know, I mean, you you go to a party in Pittsburgh, you talk about it’s like St. Louis. Where’d you go to high school? That’s that’s like that’s like not a conversation in New York, Chicago, Philly, Boston, San Francisco, LA. St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Hey, where’d you go to high school? I don’t know. I’m 44. Who cares? But that, you know, I get it. But this whole arbitrary number, I would rather have the Steelers bottom out this year. And if Dante Moore is available, go grab him. I mean, that to me, go get a legitimate franchise quarterback for 15 years, 12 of it in his prime. So, um, but I I this whole Tomlin thing, Bellich and Andy Reid got let go. It’s nothing against Mike, but this arbitrary 21 years without a losing record, it means nothing. Winning record, 60 teams in 21 years have had a winning record or we’re not sub 500 did not have a losing season and they make the playoffs. I don’t know what everybody’s getting worked up about in Pittsburgh, but yeah, I mean, I’ve been saying this for four years. They’re tonedeaf offense. They don’t take quarterbacks seriously. Um, all right. Herd hierarchy top of the hour. I saw this. Um, so Michigan Ohio State is Saturday. And, uh, I I strongly believe that Ohio State, as long as at least one of their two star receivers, at least one plays like Carnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith, if both play, they’re going to win easily. If one plays, they’re going to win. If neither plays, it kind of changes the calculus like like you don’t have to play defense the same way. And I do think Michigan between the quarterback Underwood who is a baller and Marsh uh one of the better receiving talents they’ve had in that decade. Those guys are playmakers and they’re playing at home. But let’s just be honest about Ohio State and Michigan, the football programs and the history here. I’ll try to be as honest as I can next. So, uh, Michigan hosts Ohio State this weekend, and I have said I like Ohio State, uh, comfortably. So, I’m a huge Jim Harbaugh fan. I think he’s, there’s an argument he’s, if you count college and pro, the NBA basketball hall of fame counts college, counts pro, counts everything. You know, our pro football hall of fame, it’s just pros. If you had a Hall of Fame in football, like basketball, there’s an argument Jim Harbaugh is one of the great coaches in the history of the sport. For nine years, I defended him against what I consider to be short-sighted critics and and and reactive critics. I think he’s a great football coach, but make no mistake, Ohio State’s the better football program than Michigan. Michigan’s the superior university. The law school’s better. The business school’s better. The medical school um it Michigan is a top three public university in America. Try to get my daughter to go there. Dad, it’s too cold. Okay, whatever. Good school. Um, but you say Buckeyes, you think college football. Uh, they have an SEC commitment, an SEC tribal passion, uh, an obsessed nature to them that Michigan doesn’t quite have, and they’re proud of it, like SEC schools. So, on Saturdays, Columbus is the most northern southern city in America. Um, it’s just different. So, and I always said this, Harbaugh is the reason they won the natty. If you go look at all those Michigan stars that dominated Ohio State the last couple years, none of them have hit in the NFL. Blake Cororm, Invisible, JJ McCarthy, Mason Graham, Roman Wilson, Kenneth Grant. Go look around the league at Ohio State, guys. They’re the top of every roster they’re on. So, in fact, that national championship in Michigan, if you go and look at what they call talent composite rankings, Michigan’s was 14th, the lowest since the college football playoff has existed for a national champion. That was a Harball national championship. They won games without throwing a pass in halves. So, Ohio State football is a machine. Michigan is very head coach reliant. Ohio State, take away interim coaches, Ohio State wins with everybody. And don’t forget from 2001 to 2019, Ohio State was 17-2. Okay, go look at Urban Meyers, you know, record in in the matchup. So, as long as Ohio State’s wide receivers, one of their two superstars are healthy, they’re going to win the game. But um I I said this before, college football is very much a coaches sport. The NFL is a quarterback sport and I don’t think you can replace Jim Harbaugh who who um you know people say, “Well, it took him a while.” Again, Michigan is Notre Dame. Not everybody can get in. It is rigorous academically. Michigan graduates, I know, they love football, but business first. Ohio State people I know it’s football first. It’s not a criticism, it’s a reality. So, um, you know, on this show from time to time, we’ll, uh, talk odds. So, people ask me a lot. I ran into somebody yesterday in Chicago, what do you think about the Bears? And I said, you know, I don’t know, but I know Vegas doesn’t like them. So, the Bears are in first place, eight and three, and they are a seven point dog to a team that can’t run the football and very frequently can’t score Philadelphia. Now, think about that. Cruddy Carolina against a defense in San Francisco with no pass rush. Cruddy Carolina was a sevenpoint dog last night. Um, last week 3-7 Cincinnati, 3-7 at the time without Joe Burrow or Jamar Chase was a 7 and 12 point dog to number one seed New England. So Vegas is telling you you’re basically Cincinnati with no Joe Burrow against the Patriots. You’re cruddy Carolina against Kyle Shanahan and Robert Solom. So, Vegas does not buy the Chicago Bears. Who, it should be noted, are the second best rushing team in the NFL. What does rushing do? Helps you on the road. The number one rushing team in the league is Seattle. I think Seattle’s won 10 of their last 11 road games. Why is Seattle so good on the road? Cuz Seattle runs it and plays defense. That’s what wins on the road. Vertical passing games. Miami Dolphins when they had Wadd and Tyreek Hill does not win on the road late in the season. So Chicago to me is actually if they had a better defense, the run game should help them on the road. Take the crowd out of it. Long drives. Um but it’s it’s kind of remarkable to me that Chicago has this great record and and and Vegas looks at them and goes, “Yeah, you’re kind of Carolina going to face the NerS. You’re kind of Cincinnati hosting New England.” Seven-point spread in the NFL is a fat number. Here’s Ben Johnson. this week on this group of guys and the closeness they have. I think we got the right type of guys and and that’s you know Ryan’s uh really done a great job with uh constructing the roster that way. But the veteran leadership is outstanding. Um Kevin Bard, Joe Toney, Grady, um probably have 10 or 12 guys that I really lean into on a weekly basis just to get a pulse of the team and and they do a really good job of keeping the main thing the main thing in the locker room. Um, yeah. I mean, I don’t think you can go six and one in close games. Kansas City last year was great in close games. You got to have a good locker room. It’s not just the coach and the quarterback. You got to have a good got to have a good room, you know? I mean, when you get when you get in close games and you trail late and you watch Kansas City against the Colts this weekend, I think Chicago’s got a really good locker room. And I also think their secondary is a little bit better than people think. They take the ball away. They got their DBs catch like wide receivers. But I will tell you, Matt Hasselbeck has yet to buy in and his opinion is one I hear a lot privately around the NFL on Caleb Williams. I guess where I’m not like putting him in the Hall of Fame and fitting him for a gold jacket like you want to do. Uh I just don’t think this Bears team has played anybody quite yet. Now, we will get to know who this Bears team is because the, you know, five of their next six games or whatever are against teams that are way better than the teams that they’ve beat. They haven’t beat great teams. I think this is Ben Johnson has proven he is a great coach and he is the guy. If if someone can take him to that next level, I think Ben Johnson would be the guy. Uh I want to go back uh and again I think Philadelphia off a loss, nothing pulls a locker room together like blowing a three touchdown lead in the game and losing to a rival. So it’s going to be an angry, intense week of practice in Philadelphia. And the last time we saw the Bears really go east of Baltimore, they lost to Tyler Huntley. So, I think the Bears are a good team. Are they a herd hierarchy team? We’ll see. They’re not a great team and they have beaten bad teams in close games. That’s okay. Winning is winning. Denver’s winning a lot of close games, some over bad teams. Winning is winning. So, I want to go back to something I said at the top of the show is I really think Brock Purd’s fine, but if you make more than Momes and Stafford, I’m going to hold you to a different level. Cam Ward is not winning games. I thought he played great this weekend. Nobody’s trying to convince me Cam Ward is great. Bryce Young is mid, but nobody’s trying to convince me he’s not. Jay Mack isn’t the only person that keeps telling me and this guy is special. And I do think there’s something to be said. He’s not been good necessarily. I think he puts pressure on himself. And I’ll give you an example. In the early Sunday window, Brock Pury is Tom Brady. Now, obviously in the early Sunday window, you play a lot of Carolina’s, you play a lot of Atlanta’s, you play a lot of Arizona, you know, you you play average teams in the early window. By and large, the NFL puts the better teams late Fox window, Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday, they want some marquee quarterbacks in the early Sunday window in his career. Brock Pury has 11 touchdowns, two picks, and a 110 passer rating. He is elite. Those were elite numbers. on Monday Night Football when the league’s watching. And I think he wants to put on a little bit of a show. He puts pressure on himself. Not showing off, but he puts pressure on himself. He gets a little more reckless. Five touchdowns, 11 picks, 75 passer rating. And generally, you play better teams. Last night was an exception. Carolina is not in standalone games very much, even in Charlotte. Okay. Just they’re just not. So, um, you know, again, I think he’s got a bad toe and he’s just not going to he just he’s just not the kind of kid. He’s a good kid, good family. He’s not going to go out and say make excuses and play a victim. He’s not going to do that. I I mean, I think it’s pretty obvious if you watch him last night. He’s not getting velocity in his ball. And he doesn’t have a bad arm. He doesn’t have a great arm, but his arm is good enough. And he’s a and a very aggressive player, which I like. That’s the thing I like about him. He’s a smart kid. He’s a good kid. And he’s aggressive. Like, he’ll throw the ball down the field. He’ll throw picks, but if you watch the interceptions last night, that is not Brock Pury. Though those interceptions were the ball hung, it was behind. It was the same interception three times. It was literally the same interception three times and it was a velocity issue. Wasn’t necessarily accuracy. It was just a velocity in you. The the the ball hung. So, I think he’s too good of a kid to say, “My toes terrible. He’s not going to do that.” But you can’t tell me. It’s like Lamar Jackson’s the same way. Lamar’s never gonna play a victim. Lamar’s never gonna say, “I’m not healthy.” It’s just not who Lamar is. He’s too competitive and Brock’s super competitive. Lamar Jackson, watch him. He is not 100%. Brock Pury is not 100%. But he wants to play. Kyle wants him to play. And if you’re substitutes playing his ass off, you want to get out there and take the job back. Herd hierarchy Nick right

Colin Cowherd gives his Week 12 Herd Hierarchy top 10 NFL teams. Will Caleb Williams keep the Chicago Bears in the top 10? Are the Baltimore Ravens officially back despite an injured Lamar Jackson? Are Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs not done yet? Colin discusses how Drake Maye, Sam Darnold, Bo Nix, and Matthew Stafford keep their teams in the top four. Will anyone dethrone the Los Angeles Rams? Next Colin reacts to Monday Night Football’s match up between the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers. Colin discusses Shedeur Sanders and his why he will be the Cleveland Browns starter for the rest of the year. Finally Colin discusses the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ohio State vs. Michigan matchup, Caleb Williams, and Brock Purdy.

0:00 Herd Hierarchy
7:30 Panthers vs. 49ers
12:54 Shedeur Sanders
20:47 Lane Kiffin
25:42 NFL News
36:58 Ohio State vs. Michigan
40:29 Caleb Williams
44:35 Brock Purdy

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