Dwight Freeney discusses his HOF nomination, Joe Flacco, Shane Steichen-Colts success | THE HERD

you know it's interesting the knock on Harbaugh is he's a lot to deal with and my takeaway is there's not a lot of Tony Dunes out there okay most guys they bring a lot of stuff you had one of the easiest goinging chill decent coaches ever did did dunie ever raise his voice ever I mean listen he I mean if he did if may have happened one time I think there was a fight in practice it was a you know early like 2003 2004 there was a special teams fight and I for the first time heard Tony raise his voice one deciel one more deciel than normal and and you know what the guys who got in the fight they were cut off the team wow um it doesn't happen often it didn't happen often um you know Tony sometimes yells at the refs you know from time to time um but how he deals with us he always dealt with us like men and treated us with tremendous amount of respect and this is one of the reasons why we love him so much so I um I watch the Dolphins Cowboys game and Dak pulls Wilkins into him and Micah can't get a holding Micah hit Tua and in in real time it was bang bang I don't know what in the world Micah Parson is supposed to do yeah I don't know how you go full stop at 250 lbs running full speed full stop like I don't get it um I understand macro level Dwight why they're doing it we got a bunch of backups planned this weekend but um yep what would you have done to alleviate penalties and still play with a regulated level of speed and violence what would you have done as a d lineman well I mean to be quite honest with you I think you hit you know the nail on the head it's it's virtually impossible for a defensive lineman going at the speed and acceleration of of a Michael Parson's those guys are undersized okay so when you're an undersized I guess defensive lineman or linebacker you're the way that you win the way that you beat your offensive tackle guard is with momentum right because you're not going to just be able to push a guy once in a while you'll be able to do that but most times you're going full speed around the corner so as you're going full speed around this corner you got somebody who's 350 pounds who does not want you to go around the corner you have a quarterback who wants to avoid you and and and throw you off you know look this thing about all the times Josh Allen is fighting back there throwing guys off it's literally impossible for a guy especially Micah's stature to come around the corner and then ask him to then slow down and then gently lay this quarterback down what what it is is he's gonna play as hard as he can play and if the ref's gonna decide hey you know what I'll call it this time then that's what's gonna happen you know it's it's based on what the refs want to see and how they see it and that's just what is I think it's left up to Too Much interpretation and and how is the glass half full half empty type of you know mindset or vision from the offens from the um from the refs I think it should be reviewable I think it's something that needs to be reviewable and it's it's too detrimental to the game it's too big of a penalty um you know I just think it's just I understand what they're doing like you're saying from a Maco standpoint protect the quarterback I get it the money money makers I guess right but I'm just saying is other guys have jobs to do and the team has a job to do defense has a job to do and they have to have the ability to do so and play the game as it was meant to be played hard and Reckless so I'm watching flacko last night and my my interpretation is Cleveland's quarterbacks Baker and desan had enormous pressure and Flaco's got none and he's laughing and he's smiling and I think people feed off it and I you know years ago somebody talked about pton Manning I remember Bill poon telling me this story he said pton was intense he was a teeth clencher you know he was he was intense and he said sometimes we'd say pton you're you're making everybody a little anxious you got to loosen up a little bit and I think there is value when I watch flacko in Cleveland is there is a a temperament I want my Dwight freenes to be ticked off and coming off the edge I like my quarterbacks to be a little bit mentors and quarterb heal out there what do you make of flacko this Resurgence this success the happiness it just looks like the team feeds off him I mean do you have any stories that relate to that that that there is a casualness and the team doesn't feel pressured and uptight with Baker and Deshawn they feel collaborative and fun and competitive with flacko well I I think this you know for us all right the defense we worried about what we need to worry about and the offense they need they worried about the things that they need to worry about all right so I don't know collectively how much that is a factor from a defensive perspective other than what happens on the scoreboard what happens in the game whether he be cool calm Collective or intense clinching his teeth but that being said from an offensive standpoint I would have to believe that you know the more comfortable you are um with the system in the scheme you know the more confident you're going to be um I always said that being a veteran in this league counts double you know and I've always said that I wish I knew the stuff I knew when I was 34 when I was 24 you know because I had all the ability in the world and and athleticism when I was 24 but didn't know much right you know but when I got 34 it was like I knew everything but I didn't have the abil athletic ability to match it the way I wanted to match it up so at the quarterback position you know you have a chance to sit there analyze know read coverages and have confidence about what you're doing and so that experience that you're seeing that's I think that's what you're really seeing is experience and that you know the more experience that you have brings calmness and that commas you'll see he'll make the right throw when he's time to make that right throw he knows when to gamble he can see what's happening before it happens and the only reason why you can do that is because you played as long as Joe has yeah Dwight you're you're um a Hall of Fame finalist take me to the your life right now is great that jacket that moment uh what does it mean for somebody that played at a high level how does it how is it the icing on the cake or is it the cake it's definitely the icing on the cake um and and the you know for me you know I love to live that life of you know hey you only worry about things that you can control right you know and I I've done I think a pretty decent job at that but the Hall of Fame is a little different because you can't you can't control it and it matters and even even though you want to tell yourself ah you know what if I never get the call it's okay I played this many years I had a great career but it does matter yeah because it's it's the top of the top and you know if you are at this level especially a f a final 15 guy you know you have a certain mentality and you want to you know achieve the greatest and the best of of it all you know and I think the Hall of Fame would be that you know I don't have control over it I've done what I've done and it's up to those who decide um whether if I done enough to get into that prestigious Club um so hopefully God willing this is the year and um you know if it's not then hey I have to wait another year and it is what it is I can't control it for the record you got to like Shane styken because Gardner menu may make the playoffs and that's nothing against Gardner but in Indianapolis I feel like I'm watching the next McVey honestly the next brilliant coach I honestly think that's what I watch your thoughts watching I think he's done an amazing job I mean you go from what they did last year okay and you think all right this team is going to be a rebuilding team don't expect much from them they have a rookie quarterback are coming in they're going to draft early and and now you turn on the TV and you're like wait a minute they're tied for first how did that happen you know you know this wasn't part of the you know the recipe or the plan per se of of of viewers kind of going in tuning into the Indianapolis coachs I think he's done a great job um he's had a whole bunch of injuries okay obviously the issues with Jonathan Taylor in the beginning of the year him not playing for a big portion of the year um so the rhythm of him is still coming it's still not where it was a couple years ago you know you have a starting quarterback of Garner mchi who's a backup okay he is a good quarterback um but that's not what the plan was all these rpos and having Jonathan run downhill and you have Anthony um Richardson coming off of that they don't have that um and they're doing a great job um offensively and defensively the big thing that they're doing is they're getting turnovers yeah and that is what the Indianapolis Formula is and hopefully they can keep that thing going you know I love turning on the tube and watching the old Squad do what they do Seven Pro Bowl Super Bowl champ Dwight FY good luck to you always good having you on man have a great weekend oh man thank you for having me you take care of yourself happy New Year hi everybody thanks for watching subscribe here to get the latest from the show also be sure to check out more of the best clips from the herd or watch a few segments from other shows on FS1

Channel: The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Views: 22,429

Keywords: fs1, football, dwight freeney, the herd, nfl, joe flacco, hall of fame, indianapolis colts, cleveland browns, shane steichen, NFC, AFC, Colin Cowherd, The Herd, Fox Sports, Fox Sports 1, sports, sports news, sports debate, NFL on FOX, AFC South, AFC North, NFC South, NFC North, NFC West, NFC East, AFC West, AFC East, 2023 NFL, National Football League, nfl news, nfl talk, sports show, 2023-24 NFL Season, 2024 HOF Class, HOF, NFL Week 17, sports interview, interview

Id: tVGpE5W1wzk

Length: 10min 33sec (633 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 29 2023