Tag: Colin Cowherd

Colin Cowherd sprints to Joe Burrow’s defense over sideline outburst

Another take on the Joe Burrow outburst caught on camera.

Much has been said about Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in the wake of his sideline encounter with head coach Zac Taylor.

That includes another Bengals coach offering an interesting take on it.

Then, there is Colin Cowherd, who went and defended Burrow against any critics who took issue with it — pointing a finger right at the Bengals organization in the process.

“Joe Burrow is looking around this league at the financial commitment of Baltimore and Kansas City and the aggressive front offices of Philadelphia and Detroit and Buffalo, and Joe Burrow’s looking around, and he’s got Mr. penny-pinching owner,” Cowherd said. “And he’s just in no mood. He’s had bad body language for a month and we love Burrow.”

Zoomed in, Burrow was undoubtedly mad about a sloppy game that featured 14 penalties and a mere 10-point win over a three-win team while forcing six turnovers. The Bengals are only 6-8, after all.

But zoomed out? Cowherd is probably right that the season-long frustration of a failed roster-building job by the team has led to this point.

Hence, Burrow putting pressure on the team about Tee Higgins and that type of outburst.

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Bengals slammed for wasting ‘all-time greats’ right now

One talking head said the Bengals are like watching the NBA with the way they’re wasting Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.

The Cincinnati Bengals are easy to bash right now.

They are, after all, the team wasting an MVP-like season from Joe Burrow and a Triple Crown effort from Ja’Marr Chase, plus a stunning season from Trey Hendrickson.

At 5-8, and the playoffs extremely unrealistic, everyone seems to be hopping on the criticism train right now, including Colin Cowherd, on a recent episode of his podcast.

“These are all-time greats but they are stuck in a shaky organization that frankly has suboptimal ownership and a front office,” Cowherd said. “They don’t take any risks.”

This would, at least to some degree, partially explain why Burrow has seemingly put very public pressure on the Bengals front office to get a deal with Tee Higgins done.

Given the season so far, only big changes to the coaching staff and roster, if not how the team does business, will quiet some of these criticisms this offseason.

 

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Colin Cowherd: Bills are letting down QB Josh Allen (video)

Colin Cowherd: Bills are letting down QB Josh Allen (video)

Longtime FOX Sports analyst Colin Cowherd had a lot of praise for Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

But not a lot for the Bills (10-3).

After Allen’s history performance against the Rams in a 44-42 loss, Cowherd’s analyst was very much negative against the franchise.

Cowherd said he feels “terrible” for Allen based on the stats that Allen has put up in losses, similar to the way Week 14 went.

Cowherd’s full breakdown can be found below:

Drew Brees reflects on his most difficult games in the NFL

Which games caused Drew Brees to lose the most sleep? He says prime-time divisional rematches were his toughest challenges in the NFL:

Which games gave Drew Brees the most trouble in his storied NFL career? The former New Orleans Saints quarterback and future Pro Football Hall of Famer shared his take on the toughest challenges he and his teammates had to overcome during a Wednesday appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd.

Brees said it was those divisional matchups on a short week, played under the bright lights in prime time, that lost him the most sleep. He emphasizes greatly with what players on both the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers are going through ahead of Thursday night’s kickoff.

“These games were more difficult,” Brees reflected. “These games were more difficult just because of the level of familiarity between divisional opponents. And especially when it’s divisional opponents that are the caliber that Green Bay and Detroit are, the caliber of quarterback, the caliber of team, the caliber of coach. Because there is so much familiarity that going into the game you were constantly thinking about, ‘Well man, they know us really well. They know all these tendencies. So they know that I know that we know that they know,’ you go through that whole exercise.”

Mind games were certainly part of it; in some cases Brees and the Saints played the same Atlanta Falcons team twice in three weeks, and that recency and familiarity made planning for a rematch a unique challenge. And in those situations, Brees said he and his teammates leaned on days of careful preparation to win the day.

Brees continued: “At the end of the day it comes down to, ‘We need to be so on point on our execution. This needs to be a flawless execution type of game.’ And that really became the emphasis in all these divisional games, especially the ones that were prime-time and the ones that have so much meaning given these guys’ status and fighting for a division title. So I found that these were the most difficult games given all the factors.”

Still, the results suggest Brees and his teammates rose to this challenge. Brees started in nine games against NFC South division rivals on Thursday nights with the Saints, winning six times. He went 5-2 against the Atlanta Falcons and 1-1 against the Carolina Panthers (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers never warranted a prime-time slot like this). You don’t achieve a Hall of Fame career without relishing a challenge, and there aren’t many tougher games in the NFL than those against familiar opponents on a short week.

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Drew Brees on what coaches should do to help their quarterbacks

Drew Brees says hiring a head coach from an offensive background isn’t necessary to cultivate a young quarterback, but the best passers have positive influences:

Drew Brees has seen a thing or two in his football life, and he shared his thoughts on what teams should look for when hiring a new head coach during a recent appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd. Specifically, the legendary former New Orleans Saints quarterback advocated for coaches with background working on the offensive side of the ball.

While Cowherd’s question focused on the Chicago Bears, who need a new coach to mentor and develop Caleb Williams, much of what Brees spoke about could soon apply to the Saints’ situation, too.

“Whether that’s an offensive head coach or that’s just someone who is really responsible for his growth and development, certainly you need that person,” Brees said. “And look that might be a veteran backup quarterback rather than relying on coach to be that person. At the end of the day what I think and every quarterback would tell you is that early in their career they needed someone to help them develop great habits, great discipline and great process.”

Derek Carr isn’t a youngster at quarterback, but he may not be long for New Orleans, either. The Saints haven’t drafted a quarterback in the first round since they picked Archie Manning way back in 1971, and that streak is going to end sooner or later. It might happen as soon as 2025 if their next head coach doesn’t plan on Carr running the offense.

And if that’s the case? It isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for the head coach to come from an offensive background in order for a rookie quarterback to develop quickly. Like Brees said, someone needs to be there as a positive influence, whether it’s an experienced backup or a talented position coach.

We don’t know who will be coaching the Saints or the Bears in 2025. But if Brees is onto something here, both teams should be taking a hard look at the environments they’re creating for their quarterbacks, especially if New Orleans turns the page in next April’s NFL draft.

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Tom Brady breaks down Sean Payton’s trust in QB Bo Nix

Tom Brady spoke with Colin Cowherd about the confidence Sean Payton has in Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix.

Facing third-and-11 in the third quarter of Monday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton called a play that asked rookie quarterback Bo Nix to deliver a strike from his own end zone to midfield.

Nix pulled it off, connecting with wide receiver Marvin Mims on a 93-yard touchdown pass. That play was a textbook example of Payton’s confidence in his rookie quarterback.

Making an appearance on Colin Cowherd’s show on Tuesday, former NFL quarterback Tom Brady was asked about Payton’s trust in Nix on that play.

“The trust that a coach has in a player, it manifests itself all the time,” Brady told Cowherd. “I can always tell when I watch a play-caller try to manage a game from the sideline, he’s trying to manage the risk. And when you have a quarterback where you feel like, ‘You know what, I know he’s going to make good decisions,’ well, then you can actually go out there and — you don’t have to manage. It’s hard to manage a quarterback because you’re in the eye of the storm on every play; you touch the ball 70 snaps. So when you have a quarterback that you’re trusting who’s making good decisions, well then you want to give him more opportunities.”

Brady went on to say Payton is a phenomenal coach and Nix is embracing his opportunity to learn and grow under Payton.

Monday certainly wasn’t a perfect performance from Nix — he completed 51.4% of his passes and threw two interceptions — but the rookie continues to make progress every week, and it’s clear that Payton is the perfect coach to help mentor him.

Nix and Co. now head into their bye week with an 8-5 record, putting them on pace to make the NFL playoffs this fall.

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Matt Hasselbeck gives his take on Broncos QB Bo Nix

“It’s not a dink and dunk offense,” Matt Hasselbeck said of Bo Nix’s success with the Broncos.

Colin Cowherd is a Bo Nix and Sean Payton supporter, and he has been on that train since before the 2024 NFL draft. As Payton used to be a frequent guest of his show The Herd while he spent a year away from coaching, Cowherd built up a fond respect for the Broncos coach.

After Payton became Denver’s coach in 2023, Cowherd was a great supporter of his potential culture change and loved the idea of Nix being his quarterback.

So when he brought on Matt Hasselbeck to become a guest on his show this past week, it should come as no surprise that Hasselbeck is a fan of the Nix-Payton dynamic.

According to Hasselbeck, Payton has Nix running a legit pro-style offense: it isn’t a gimmicky offense that relies on deception. You can watch Hesselbeck’s full thoughts on Nix in the clip below.

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Colin Cowherd: ‘This is the best version of Buffalo’

Colin Cowherd: ‘This is the best version of Buffalo’

Longtime sports talk host Colin Cowherd from “The Herd” liked what he saw from the Buffalo Bills against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“This is the best version of Buffalo,” Cowherd said.

The Bills (9-2) beat their rivals in a 30-21 final. But more than that, Cowherd said he likes the 2024 Bills than the way the team was assembled in previous years.

Cowherd breaking down the Bills’ win can be found below:

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Drew Brees chimes in on Bo Nix, says QB’s confidence is at another level

“His confidence level was just at another level,” Drew Brees said of Bo Nix’s performance against the Falcons on Sunday.

Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix has been turning heads with his play in recent weeks, and former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees recently weighed in on the rookie’s rise.

During an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Monday, Brees noted that Nix’s big game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday was actually set up by a loss last week.

“The biggest thing for Bo Nix is what happened last week against the Kansas City Chiefs,” Brees told Cowherd. “Even though they lost that game, it certainly was through no fault of his own. He put his team in a position to go win that game in the end and they got the field goal block. But from a confidence perspective, you basically went into Arrowhead and playing against the gold standard of organizations here over the last few years and you put your team in position to go win that game. So I think coming into this game, I think his confidence level was just at another level.”

Brees went on to praise Nix for making plays without having elite weapons around him, and he noted that the rookie has a great coach and playcaller in Sean Payton (who coached Brees in New Orleans).

Nix is certainly trending in the right direction, and getting praise from a future Hall of Famer will only increase the QB’s stock going forward.

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Colin Cowherd admits he was wrong about the Steelers

Steelers fans may not accept Colin Cowherd’s opinion overnight, but his confidence in Pittsburgh’s potential marks a surprising shift.

Steelers fans, mark the calendar: Colin Cowherd finally gave Pittsburgh credit.

Cowherd is often regarded as one of the biggest critics of the Black and Gold, and while he is frequently vilified for his outlandish predictions and speculations, he has seemingly admitted to his lapse in judgment regarding the Steelers’ potential.

Cowherd predicted earlier in the offseason that Russell Wilson would lose the starting job to Justin Fields, but quite frankly, the opposite took place. Cowherd had previously admitted his mistake in assuming Mike Tomlin was “tone-deaf” to the offensive side of the ball, and he seemingly doubled down on his admission during a recent episode of The Herd.

While Cowherd’s “Seattle-East” comparison may rub some Steelers fans the wrong way, Russell Wilson has undeniably turned back the clock on his career in 2024 with Pittsburgh.

Cowherd’s newfound confidence in the Pittsburgh Steelers to beat AFC powerhouses such as the Chiefs, Bills, and Texans won’t fully redeem his reputation in the Steel City, but it’s definitely a start.

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