Colin Cowherd’s NFL Week 6 Predictions: Bears-Commanders, Chargers-Dolphins | THE HERD Blazin’ 5

Colin Cowherd’s NFL Week 6 Predictions: Bears-Commanders, Chargers-Dolphins | THE HERD Blazin’ 5

Welcome to the Herds 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. Now, I I will admit I’m going to stay away from Chiefs Lions. I want to watch the game. I think it’s a field goal game either way. I think Kansas City is better than people think, but I think Detroit’s run game is demoralizing and and clock controlling and difficult. So, I’m going to stay away from that. I’m taking some ugly teams this week. Yeah. Well, I have no fear. So, I’ll be discussing Chiefs Lions later. Some numbers for you. Not great for your number one team in the herd hierarchy. So, let me just say this. You feast on ugly teams. You bet Carolina more than like Carolina guy. But I um I I I got my picks this week and I like them. Here we go. That’s a hot one. Let’s blaze it up. Fired up. It’s Collins blazing fire. Seahawks and Jaguars. Uh Seattle plus one a half. Go money line. They’re going to win this puppy outright. One of five teams to hold a fourth quarter lead in every game. Even the games they lost, they could have won. Number two scoring offense since week two. They’ve been a great road team with Mike McDonald. Eight game road winning streak. And Darnold is on an absolute heater in his last three weeks. A passer rating over 130. The Jags on short rest off a highly emotional win. probably the biggest Jags win in several years. Offensively, they are terrible on third down. The Seahawks played their worst defensive game of the season. They’ll be in a bad mood. Watch Seattle’s defense come back, revert to what we know they are. The turnover regression for Jacksonville. They’re not going to keep getting three and four turnovers a game. Seattle wins outright in a bad mood. cross country 3027 Hawks rebound from that loss last week. Patriots at Saints take the under Patriots Saints under 45 and a half points. Neither team runs the ball, right? Patriots and Saints are scoring under 20 points in half their games this year. New England’s again coming off an emotional, dramatic, tough road win. I think they come back down to earth. I think they win, but it’s going to be ugly and low scoring. They’re a top 10 scoring defense. Christian Gonzalez, now he’s back. It’s hard to throw on them. The Saints, Spencer Rattler’s interesting. Nine touchdown passes and 11 career starts. These are two teams still finding their way. Can’t run the ball. Patriots win, but take the under. Let’s say a 2120 ugly, choppy game. Take the under. Chargers at Dolphins. Can’t believe it, but I’m going to take Miami plus the 4 and a half. Listen, Tua at home has been good. His last seven home games, he’s not the problem. 112 passer rating. Chargers could be on their third running back and their third left tackle. They are a mess. And what that does, they settled for field goals. They are struggling in the red zone. So, even if they dominate time of possession, they’re going to they’re not going to dominate in the red zone. Justin Herbert, three straight games with at least one interception. So, I get a team traveling cross country on backups to backups. A Miami coach fighting for his career and they’re getting 4 and a half at home. I think I’m going to take the Dolphins. Chargers probably win this game 24-23. I’m absolutely taking the points with the Dolphins. Titans at Raiders again. And I’m betting ugly this week. I like the Raiders minus three and a half. They’re coming off a humiliating road loss. What the teams do when they’re humiliated? The Giants got humiliated last week. They beat the Eagles. They have found a rushing game with Ashton Genty. Look at the last two weeks for the Raiders. 173 yards rushing yards per game. So, they’re going to lean on that. And folks, Tennessee is awful. Forget the win last week. They’re awful. Held to 20 points or fewer in four to five games, allowing six yards of play. So again, I don’t love Gino. I think they’re going to run the ball. It’s going to be ugly. The Raiders were humiliated. Maybe it’s one of their few wins on the year, but I’m going to take it. Swallow the points. 2617 over what I think in Tennessee right now is easily the worst team in the league. Bears at Commanders. My favorite bet of the week is the Commanders minus 4 and a half. They’re 2 and 0 at home. Both blowout wins last three weeks averaging 27 plus points in three games. Okay, so they’re getting points on the board. Jaden Daniels last week looked excellent. According to PFF, they also have the best special teams and their defense is getting after it upfront. So, I think you’re going to see the Washington of last year, Terry McLuren could play. The Bears, they’ve lost four straight in prime time. They’re not a rise to the moment franchise. They’ve been a bad road team forever. Their defense is allowing the most yards. Do you know that? Lost in all this Caleb Williams discussion. Their defense is allowing 6.7 yards of play. It’s atrocious. The Commanders win 33-26. J-AC doesn’t love my picks. I’m taking some ugly. I’m taking the points in Miami at home. I’m taking the Raiders. Raiders had the Bears beat last week if not for that field goal. You don’t like my picks. You know what happened when you lie down with dogs? You get fleas, Colin. And there is some there’s some grossness here. So, I respect that. By the way, did you look at the Seahawks injury report? Three of the four starters in the secondary may be down this week. Not great at all against Trevor Lawrence who’s slinging it. So, you’re going to take a team that is literally kind of bipolarish at home after the most important win for the franchise national TV game in years. They they they I mean, let’s be honest about Jacksonville. When’s the last time they played backtoback great games against good teams? Here’s what I’m surprised at. You’re taking close spreads. There’s some big ones out there. Rams are big. Looks like Lamar’s not going to go. Interesting. Colts are big. Looks like Kyler’s not going on this show. What did I do a week ago? Bills are going to crush the Saints. Packers are going to crush the Cowboys. Chargers are going to crush the Giants. Last, what was last night? Eagles going to crush I stayed away from all of them. All right. You know what game I actually like? I could be out of my mind here. Don’t tell me Dolphins. Raiders. Yeah, that you’re out of your mind for sure. When you when you they’re running the ball now. Raiders have a good run defense. I mean, Titans just stink at everything else. I mean, they’re not good. Played in the NFL for seven years, a Heisman Trophy finalist. He’s one of the voices of college football at Fox. It’s great to have him on. Brady Quinn is joining us. He’ll be at that Ohio State Illinois game where USC didn’t exactly uh didn’t exactly light the world up. So, that was pretty disappointing. We’ll get to USC Michigan in a bit. Um, listen, Ohio State, I’ve always felt, Brady, it’s the SEC program up north. But that’s when I felt the SEC was better than the Big 10. I don’t I think Indiana is the equal of Old Miss. I think I mean, you live in the Midwest. I think times have changed. I was watching Dave Portoy this morning on social and he did all these matchups and I didn’t disagree with him. It does look different, Brady. When I watch Big 10 games five years ago, it looked different. I think Ohio State’s the best team in the country and I’m not sure Oregon’s not second. How how’s that land for you? Uh that’s about right. I mean, I think you got to throw into Miami into the conversation right now, and I know that doesn’t play into the Big 10 SEC debate when it’s all said and done, but the reality is the last two national champions were Big 10 teams. You go back and look at the teams that are playing for it. Even the semi-finals last year, Penn State, Notre Dame, that is not obviously the Big 10, but still a Midwest team. You’re seeing really a lot of these Big 10 teams, Midwest teams have caught up. And it’s important for Big 10 specifically because they’re getting more money in for NIL. You know, they they’re just schools with a little bit more money to be able to pass around. And when you think about the transfer port, when you think about how you construct a roster, that plays a huge role. And so before NIL really became legalized for a lot of these players, I think the SEC was able to dominate. And now players are willing to go wherever uh they can to get an opportunity to play, win a national championship, but also, you know, maximize their their market ability and maximize their ability to make as much as they can. So, they’re willing to leave the warm confines of the South to be able to go up to the north and be able to take over on some of those teams and go win national championships. So, again, I I think we’re seeing that passing of the torch right now. Still a lot of football left to be played. We’ll see how it all plays out. Uh but I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. Ohio State Oregon looked to be two of the best, if not the two best teams in the country. So when when when the West Coast teams joined the Big 10, you know, my take was Oregon and Washington already play in cruddy weather all the time. It won’t matter. The flights are three and four hours. They’re not eight. You’re not playing in Beijing. It’s fine. Uh but USC has been different, Brady. They haven’t looked physical. They look like a warm weather team. They got pushed around last week by Illinois. And I said yesterday, this Michigan game, you got Notre Dame coming up. You’re not beating Notre Dame there with that quarterback play and that coach. You’re not beating Oregon and this is a defining moment that you have pivoted to Big 10 foot. I think it’s that big of a game for USC. I don’t think it’s that big for Michigan. I mean, how is your feeling going into this game in LA? More curiosity than anything else. I mean, very similar to Illinois, who you talked about a little bit ago, disappointed you when when they knocked off your uh, you know, Southern Cal Trojans, but they responded after a really tough loss to Indiana. I mean, you’re watching that tape going, how can this be the same team? The the way Brett Billing was able to get Illinois to rally and respond to that. It’s going to be very similar to Lincoln Riley. He’s got to find a way to get his team to rally, stay in this thing, realize that, you know, it’s just one loss. It doesn’t define your season or you can’t let it define your season. So, their physicality will be challenged once again by Michigan because yes, the passing attack has improved. Bryce Underwood probably had his best passing game this past week versus Wisconsin, but different challenge. And the past defense for Michigan is going to be challenged big time with Mai Lemon, uh, Jacobe Lane, all all the playmakers that USC has on the outside, as talented quarterback as Jade Mava is. So, we know that they can match up in that respect. The question is if Michigan starts to play bowl very similar the way Illinois was able to run against them, are they going to be able to get off the field? Are they going to be able to get stops? Because that the Illinois USC game was not as close as the score predicted. We had his two fumbles that were going into the end zone. One of which never should have been overturned or never should have been called in the first place. He was already down. So when you look at this matchup, it’s really a challenge to USC to see how they can respond physically more than anything else. And it’s going to speak volumes about where this this program’s at. And the tough thing for them is they got to play Michigan. Then you go on the road to play Notre Dame, another physical team. They’re going through a gauntlet this season of physicality. They got to play Nebraska at some point, too. All those matchups, it’s going to be whether or not they can not only survive and then meet that physicality, but sustain it throughout the rest of the season. So, um, before I get to your Ohio State game, uh, Notre Dame plays NC State, then they play SC. So, it’s one of those weird games where your big rivals the following week. Yeah. Uh CJ Car trap game. Trap game is probably fair to say. Yeah. Yeah. CJ Carr is playing out of his mind. He is he a freshman? I think he’s a freshman, isn’t he? Is CJ a freshman? Yeah. It’s about I mean he the kid can play. So I look at Dante Moore and CJ Carr and we came into the year with all these bigname quarterbacks and I’m like no that those are the two best quarterbacks. Talk a little bit about CJ and talk a little bit about Dante because I don’t think it’s close. From what I’ve watched this season, those guys, that’s Sunday football. I mean, and it’s way too early for CJ, but those guys look special. What do you see? Well, let me first say this. I’d throw Fernando Mendoza at Indiana into that conversation, too. He’s been phenomenal this year. And also Carson Beck. He’s responded well so far. So, I would say those four are playing the best quarterback and Julian S as well as as number five of anywhere in the country right now. But specifically CJ, I mean, look, his grandfather was Lloyd Carr. We we all know that as Pop’s played as well. You can just tell the way he plays the game. He’s been brought up to be able to read defenses, understand what offensive coordinators are trying to execute on any given play. He he’s able to manipulate the defense with his eyes. He does things that are just so far beyond where he’s at in his playing career at Notre Dame. It you get gives you the sense that you feel like he’s almost NFL ready because of how he plays the game. He’s ridiculously accurate with the football at all three levels in the field. And he can move around. He can create. he can make something out of nothing. So, uh, this young man to me, and I’ve said this before, I said it when he signed, um, I think he’s going to be the greatest quarterback in Notre Dame history. Like, that’s that’s how that’s how special he is. When you watch him play the game, it feels like everything’s playing so slow for him. And very similar to that, Dante Moore, who was a big Notre Dame recruiter, ended up going to UCLA, obviously found his way to Oregon. Same thing. I mean, these young men, Colin, they nowadays come in so prepared mechanically. There’s no flaws in their throwing motion. They’re accurate as all get out. They understand what offensive coordinators are asking from them and these different concepts how they’re trying to attack a defense and you just saw on a big stage versus Penn State how he handled in that clutch moment. So Dante Moore is draft eligible. He is the guy that if I was a team looking at this quarterback class would have up there as one of my top quarterbacks that I’m evaluating potentially taking number one overall. So big game for him this week obviously versus IU. He’s got a lot more to display I think. But I I think the world of Dante Moore, too. He’s very poised. Very another another wise young man. When you talk to him, he just feels ready for the moment. Nothing’s ever too big for him. So, you have Ohio State, Illinois. I I got to give Ryan Day credit. When people beat up on Ryan Day, my take is, well, he’s losing the Harbaugh, Wolverines, and Georgia. Let’s let’s slow down. Um, but I think it takes some some security to go, I’m going to go to the NFL and get Chip Kelly. Now, they’re friends. I know that. But then he does it again with Matt Patricia. And last year the Buckeyes were kind of about their offense. This year they’re kind of about their defense. And I got to tell you, when I when I watch that defense, how much of it, Brady, is the scheme, Patricia? Cuz I think Chip Kelly by the end of that year, they had good players. I mean, I obviously ridiculous. Yeah. But when you watch Ohio State’s defense, they shut Washington down. Is it the talent? Is it the players? Is it Matt Patricia? What does the film tell Brady Quinn? I think it’s the combination of all of it. I mean, I think you know, first off, where you give Ryan Day a lot of credit is the fact that you lost Jim Kelly. You know, he lost Jim Nolles. And so, you’re find you’re, you know, finding new people to come into those spots and for Matt Patricia to come down to the college level, there’s a bit of a learning curve there, but also eight new starters on defense. So, when you take that into account, this group is playing as good, if not better, than last year’s defense. And that’s really saying something for a lot of guys who are jumping into roles like Kaden Curry who’s starting this year as one of the best edge rushers in the country right now. Orville Reese, Sunny Styles. These guys have really um you know kind of popped on burst on the scene as two of the best defenders at the linebacker position you’re going to see in all all of college football. So it’s it’s part of obviously the players and the skill they have. It’s part of the development. I also think it’s part of the scheme because this is a very different scheme than what we saw, you know, last year from Jim Nolles who typically had kind of come from more that 335 and Matt Patricia is so multiple with that NFL approach where you’re getting a variety of fronts, a variety of coverages, a variety of looks that you have to deal with and and throughout the course of the game, he’s not allowing you to get a beat on things. So, uh, defensively speaking, they have been absolutely lights out. And it’s in part because that talent and obviously their coaching staff, but also on the flip side, looking at their offense, it’s because of how scary they are on that side. I mean, teams are so afraid to give this offense opportunities with the football. Go back to the Washington game. Look at seven drives in the entire game. You’re averaging usually 12. So, people are almost running four-minute offenses to start games just to keep Julian Sand and Jeremiah Smith and Carell Tate off of the field. Now, I know Ohio State doesn’t run at a break neck pace either on offense, but still it goes to show you the respect that I think a lot of teams have and what they think of this team as a whole, but a lot of credit goes to Ryan Day and, you know, giving Brian Hartline that opportunity, who’s done a tremendous job with the offense, bringing Joy Sand along uh and and really, you know, finding a freshman and Bo Jackson who’s really emerged as probably their best running back at this point, too. uh for a team that I think is going to be in the national championship hunt once again. You know, that’s that’s that’s a lot of credit you’re giving a young man to be able to take over at that specific position to be able to carry the rock for you. But that’s how this Ohio State is kind of Ohio State team has emerged this year after all the talent that’s gone on the NFL. Big noon kickoff 10 Eastern, Ohio State in Champagne. I was there last week, but the outcome was not my favorite outcome of all time. It a lot of us loved it actually, Colin. A lot of us here in the Midwest were not surprised by it. loved it. I bet. No, no tears. Great seeing you, man. You do such a nice job. Thanks, Brady. Thanks, G. Yeah, great stuff from him. Um, you Ohio State, you can just see on the highlights we show that that defense is, I mean, you know, it’s different in the NFL. I was telling uh the president uh of uh Indiana University was here today a football fan and we were talking and it’s like in the NFL the worst team in the first you still have great players like it it’s a lot of it’s just like who’s your quarterback but in college there’s a gap between okay that’s Georgia and that’s you know uh Georgia Tech or something and Georgia Tech’s fine but when you watch Ohio State play the last couple years just turn the sound down the offense last year The defense this year, it doesn’t look like 99.9% of the rest of college football. That offense at the end of last year, it was just the running backs, the wide receivers. It was just like everybody was a Sunday player. That defense right now is stacked and fast. Ohio State’s defense is fast. I mean, what was amazing about last night is you had seven or eight of the best hitters in baseball and it was eventually the bottom of the Dodgers lineup that got it going, but it was palpable. And the Dodgers do this. They put so much pressure on your manager and your pitching staff. And last night, Orion Kirkkins, a young pitcher for the Phillies, super talented, should have gone to first base, right? Bouncer, boom, first base, you’re out. But that’s what the Dodgers do. They get in your head. I mean, Otani was 0 for one for 17 in the series. Otani. And they walked him to load the bases in the seventh. Otani, Betts, Muny, Freeman, Edmund, Tasks, Hernandez. Constant pressure. Dodgers didn’t even hit in this series. They didn’t really hit in the series, but they won. And it was the bottom of the lineup that did it. You know, it’s Kik, it’s my Edmond. It wasn’t even the top of the lineup. It’s constant pressure. Then Roi Suzaki came on and the Dodgers bullpen has been a problem all year. So, they’ve moved him to the bullpen to be the closer. Three innings last night, untouchable. So the Dodgers are now in the NLCS and you got Freddy Freeman and Otani hitting a buck 80 12 strikeouts. That’s what the Dodgers are. We talked about this with the Yankees. Yankees are home run reliant. The Dodgers are reliant on no single player. Otani the last two years he has struggled in the postseason. I mean last year it was Freddy Freeman in the World Series. I mean, earlier this year, Mookie Betts got sick, couldn’t hit in September. He’s now on fire. It was the bottom of the Dodgers lineup last night. So, when you play the Dodgers, and this is really true about all sports, they put it. It’s almost like KD, Steph clan, Draymond. Remember, for about three years, like pick your poison, who’s hot tonight? There were games Draymond took over. There were games Clay Thompson hit six of eight threes. Who do you guard? Who is it tonight? That’s what it is with the Dodgers. It was their young pitcher throwing 101, a nasty splitter. It was the bottom of their lineup. And it was the crowd. It was the crowd. It wasn’t Otani. It wasn’t Freeman. It was the crowd and the pressure. And it’s never ending. And they keep putting it on you. Here was Dave Roberts on the play that sent the Dodgers to the NLCS. It’s brutal. Um, obviously they played great defense tonight. Um, and uh, you know, it’s one of those things that it’s it’s a it’s a PFP, a pitcher fielding practice, and he’s done it a thousand times. And, you know, just right there he was so focused, I’m sure, on just getting the hitter and, you know, just sort of forgot, you know, the outs and the situation. Yeah. You’re not doing that against most teams in Major League Baseball, but in that spot against that team and they’re in your head, you lose yourself. The Phillies did and in the process lost their series. By the way, um you know, Otani and Freddy Freeman aren’t the only ones struggling. Trey Turner struggled. Bryce Harper struggled. Kyle Schwarber a couple of bombs. He struggled. So, the Philly, when you get into the postseason, I mean, think about all the great hitters. Otani and Freeman, Trey Turner, Schwarber, Bryce Harper. Nobody’s nobody’s hitting in the series. So, it comes down to moments. It comes down to base running. We talked about this with the Yankees. They are so beholden to the home run. It’s so much of its pitching, so much of it circumstantial, so much of its timing, so much is the bottom of the lineup and base running. I mean, the Dodgers could not depend on the big bats in this series and still found another way because this is what they do. I’ve said this before. I think the Dodgers are the best run sports organization in North America. Drafting, developing, free agency. They just don’t miss very often. So, we all know that Show Otani is not only our Babe Ruth, he’s much better than Babe Ruth. Uh Babe Ruth wasn’t pitching and hitting simultaneously at this level. Babe Ruth didn’t run like this. Um but as great as Otani has been in the regular season as a Dodger, he has struggled in the playoffs. Last year and this year, he’s hitting .205. This year he’s 4 for 27 with a ton of strikeouts. And so my take is it’s the Payton Manning syndrome. He’s too great not to eventually be great, but he’s putting a lot of pressure on himself. Rory Mroy didn’t win the Masters, you know, until his 17th try. Went a decade without winning a major. Rory Mroy is too good not to eventually break through. It is really, really hard to hit in the postseason. I mean, Trey Turner, former Dodger, by the way, uh, won the National League batting crown. Trey Turner struggled in this series. Clayton Kershaw, best curveball of this generation is R. Sandy Kofax. He scuffed it in the postseason in his prime. Scuffed it a little bit. So I I I just think what happens is and you know a lot of the old athletes didn’t grow up with Tik Tok and Instagram and this you know back in the 70s you didn’t have relentless talk radio. It was newspapers. You know, I mean, yeah, our our media now is loud and it’s multi-platform and these players make a lot of money and fans tend to be more outspoken and verbal and costic and obnoxious and there’s just a lot to deal with. I think Otani uh is putting too much pressure on himself. Here was Dave Roberts talking about what he’s going through. His decision- making hasn’t been good. Um, you know, you can see, you know, it’s it’s balls in off. Um, and he’s really not giving himself a chance to, you know, hit a mistake. Um, I I just think that he’s in between a little bit, but the swing decisions are just not where they need to be right now. Uh needless to say, the Dodgers got through it despite that because they have the ability to win several ways.

Colin Cowherd reacts to the latest in sports. First, he lays out his Blazin’ 5 picks for the NFL’s Week 6 slate including the Chicago Bears vs. the Washington Commanders and the Los Angeles Chargers vs. the Miami Dolphins. Then he is joined by Brady Quinn to discuss this weekend’s college football action. They talk about Ohio State facing Illinois, Notre Dame QB CJ Carr, and the USC Trojans hosting the Michigan Wolverines. Finally, Colin reacts to the latest in the MLB playoffs, including the Los Angeles Dodgers wild win over the Philadelphia Phillies to advance to the NLCS and Shohei Ohtani’s postseason struggles.

0:00 Blazin’ 5 – Week 6 picks
07:01 Brady Quinn interview
18:43 Dodgers advance to NLCS
22:58 Shohei Ohtani

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