The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 02/08/2021 - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: February 8, 2021

Nick Wright filling in for Colin says besides Todd Bowles deserving huge credit for last night's win, Tom Brady let the world know, "I am the system!". Even though Patrick Mahomes had the worst game of his NFL career, no other quarterback would have played better. Brady has a collective 3 first ballet Hall of Fame phases within his entire 21-year career. Plus, a special edition of: Where Nick Was Very Wrong and Super Bowl 55 Report Cards!Guests: Mark Schlereth Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano.

It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to him.

He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Joey Dardano. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian.

I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. to help from a hypocrite Wednesdays on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month,

tune into the podcast Deeply Well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1, find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Nick Wright in for Colin Cowherd.

And we're going to find out today, Joy Taylor, if I could have had another career as an actor. Because we're going to see if I can go three straight hours pretending to not be just mentally, emotionally, and maybe most importantly, financially ruined. That's what we're going to find out. How are you doing this morning out in L.A.? I'm great. I am not financially ruined because that's not where I find my thrill.

although I do gamble and did lose every single one of my bets yesterday. I'll be all right. I just was enjoying watching greatness, Nick. That's what happened yesterday. That is what happened yesterday. If you all of a sudden start seeing a lot more Fox Bet ads all over the network, just know that I personally funded them. Just know Fox Bet's like, wow, we have all this extra money.

Let's throw it into a marketing budget. So congrats to the folks at Fox Bet. But congrats to Tom Brady for ring number seven. We're going to get to Brady in just a moment. We're going to get to, I think on Monday's Joy, Colin does where Colin was wrong, where Colin was right. Yes. He does that for a segment on Mondays, right?

Yes. Well, we could do a whole hour, a whole show, a whole week of where Nick was wrong and it just be repeated Tom Brady takes. We'll do something like that at 1 o'clock Eastern time. But where I want to start here quickly is with the MVP of the game, and that's Todd Bolts. And we'll get to Brady in 90 seconds, but first, let me give credit words to. What Todd Bowles did and what that defensive front did was wreck the entire game. Now, that's not a unique take.

People are going to have that take throughout the day. If you watch the football game, you understand that's what happened. but the way he did it, I don't know if people understand. Todd, that game yesterday was the least any Todd Bowles team has blitzed in five years. The way he approached that game saying, you know what, you know what I love to do?

You know what has gotten me here? Play man-to-man coverage and send people at the quarterback. Nope, we're going to play too high safety for 90-plus percent of the game. We're going to trust. that our front four can whip your beleaguered offensive line, and we are going to see if what had been an unstoppable offensive attack for three years can finally be stopped, and it was. And I understand the Bucks have excellent defensive players,

but they are not the purple people eaters, and they looked like that last night. And that is where Todd Bowles gets massive credit, and to partially steal a take from my buddy Kevin Wilds, I know all the head coaching jobs are full, but if I'm a team, I am at least calling a meeting and saying, how happy are we with our head coach?

Particularly if I'm, oh, I don't know, a team in the AFC West like, say, the Denver Broncos, that is running it back another year with Vic Fangio, that maybe I say, you know what, Todd Bulls just did this to Patrick Mahomes. We got to go through Patrick Mahomes. Let's quietly contact his agent, see if he'd be available. So Todd Bowles, that coaching staff, Shaq Barrett, JPP, Sue, Vita Vea, those awesome linebackers,

Devin White, and Levante David. They are the story of yesterday. But the story of the season and the story that is most interesting big pictures, of course, what this means for Thomas Edward, Patrick Brady. who is just, you know, for some, the greatest person ever coming to their sports life, and for the rest of us, just for so many years, the bane of so many of our existences. And when we were watching Tom Brady yesterday, I know a lot of the discussion was the NFL goat combo.

Can Mahomes make this a discussion, or can Brady put it out of reach forever? The answer to that is actually option C. Brady didn't put it out of reach forever, but there is now a Bob Beeman in the long jump in 1968-style gap between first and second. It is so large, it's incomprehensible that anyone come even close to it anytime soon. All the quarterbacks that have more than two rings are retained.

retired. The only quarterback active with two rings is Big Ben, and he is semi-retired. And then there's Pat and Aaron and Russell and a handful of others with one that have, you know, three careers worth of rings to win if you're going to do a count the rings discussion to determine the goat. Patrick Mahomes had a golden opportunity two years ago in the AFC championship game to prevent Mahomes from getting ring number six. they lost the coin toss, never touched the ball in overtime, and he had a golden opportunity last night to make the ring count six to two, and for a lot of reasons we will get into, Moehm's had the worst game of his career,

most of which is not his fault, but history won't remember that. History will not care that Eric Fisher was out. History will not care of Todd Bowles' defensive scheme. History will simply look at zero touchdowns, two interceptions, the first time in his entire football life from high school, his team didn't score a touchdown in a game. That's how they'll remember it in 7-1 Brady. So if the football goat discussion is not one we can have,

here is one we can have. And here is what Tom Brady, as much as it pains me to say, here is what he ascended to last night. He ascended to a level in American team sports that there is only currently, well, there was only currently, one person at. And that level is, I am the system.

I am the championship culture. I am the winning. Where I go, it goes. Now, some other guys maybe could have done that. We just never got to see him do it. Bill Russell, for instance,

the greatest champion by ring count in American team sports history. Maybe if Bill Russell would have left the Celtics for the Lakers or the Sixers, the winning would have gone with him. But we don't know that. What we know is he was in Boston for 13 years. They won 11 titles. Joe Montana tried it and damn near accomplished it, but not quite. Joe Montana won his four Super Bowls with the Niners, left for my hometown chiefs. A good chiefs team made them a very good chiefs team, but they got to one AFC title game and never any further.

with Joe. Farve tried it. Farv tried it. He left the Packers, went to the Jets, had them seven and five before the wheels fell off there, then goes to the Vikings. Damnear wins an MVP, gets him to a conference championship game, and then the why would you ponder passing play happens, and that's as close as he got. Michael Jordan tried it, went to the Wizards after a couple of years sabbatical. Now, we don't hold that time against Michael, and Michael played well, was a 20-point-of-game guy, but couldn't even get the Wizards to the postseason. And we understand he's 40 years old. It's not a knock, but it's the truth. And it's also the truth that with Michael, before Phil, and after Phil, there was no winning whatsoever. Tom Brady has now done this outside of the New

England cocoon. He has now done this without Bill Belichick. He has done this in his first season with a new team that was the losingest team historically in the history of American sports with a head coach that was a good head coach, but not a proven championship head coach. So what did Tom Brady gain with this Super Bowl victory? Well, he gained admission to a room that previously was only occupied by LeBron James, the room of I am the system. It does not matter what shape your franchise was in before I got there. You bring me in and we are competing for championships immediately and perpetually while I am here. And by the way, when I leave, everything will go to hell.

I don't know if that's how it always will be in New England, but that's how it was in New England this year. Brady also took another page out of LeBron's playbook, which was, let me try dabbling in a little coaching. We heard throughout the year they're installing more of Brady's game plan, more of Brady's offense. And Brady obviously throughout the year took a page, Vintage LeBron playbook.

I'll be the unnamed silent. partner that's not silent as far as the GM goes. I'm going to tell you some guys I would like. Hey, there's grunk. I'm familiar with him. Let's bring him in. Oh, Antonio Brown, he's toxic. Nobody wants him.

Toxic for good reason. Well, I'll let him live with me. Bring him in. And so when you look at the all-time greatest athletes in American team sports history, there are now two that we can confidently say where they go, the winning follows. And I do think this reframes the way people are going to look at the Brady Belichick era, because for some, it will simply become the Brady era. I don't know if that's

fair? And I don't know if that will be longstanding because if Bill has a good run without Tom, then he can reframe the conversation himself. But Brady set the bar so high. Even the biggest Tom Brady fans were not picking the bucks to win the Super Bowl going into this year. Most weren't. I think there were a few that were. I think what you saw was people saying, well, even if Tom's really good, Belichick has time on his side. Belichick's going to coach longer than Brady will. Belichick can control so many different things. I think people were ready for the conversation to be starting to tilt fairly or unfairly

in Belichick's favor. But what Brady ended any doubt about last night was he's the system. He is the culture. The winning follows him. And the fact that he went through Breeze Rogers Mahomes on the way to the Super Bowl only helps that. The fact that they were a middling team until the buy, they had the last buy in the NFL this year, and then since then they still have not lost, only helps that. And the firsthand testimonials of his teammates and of people in the organization that said,

our undying belief, our confidence, our faith, came from number 12, and their seemingly immediate blood-like loyalty to him, it only reminds you of one athlete ever, who happens to be the greatest athlete ever in LeBron James. And so that is what Brady secured last night. Not a bigger gap between he and Mahomes, because there already was a massive gap.

One guy's been in the league 20-plus years, the other guy just got here. What he secured last night is certifying that you can say the winning is about Tom, first, second, and third. And there's only one other team sport athlete we can say with evidence that's true for it. So it's Tom and LeBron in a room by themselves.

Hope I don't come up in any of those conversations. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Rural. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast point game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding

ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker is going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us

on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball.

Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the Army.

I'm Todd Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions.

If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us.

Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Hey everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. And now the Podmeets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor.

So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of this show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Like what was...

Yeah. Just because we... Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of...

Ha, hoo. Ha ha, ooh. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune into PodMeets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Obviously, I didn't play the way I wanted to play, but I mean, what else can you say? All you can do is leave everything you have on the field, and I feel like the guys did that. They were the better team today. They beat us pretty good. The worst, I think I've been beaten in a long time. But I'm proud of the guys now they fought until the very end of the game.

So there's Patrick Mahomes dealing with the worst moment of his professional career with a fair amount of grace. I understand the conversation is going to be, in part, what does this do to Mahomes' legacy? Because the tax in American sports of being awesome is a level of dissection unlike anything else in the culture. This is not, there is no discussion if Daniel Day Lewis puts out a bad movie. Like, oh, what does this do to do?

and the pantheon of actors, we don't do that with, I don't think we do it with musicians. I don't listen to talk radio, so I don't know much about music. Joy could help me out there. I don't think we do it with musicians. I know we don't do it with actors, and we don't do it with really, really, really good athletes. We only do it the greatest of the greats, right? Every game is a referendum. And Mahomes has been so great up to this point in his career that it's fair game to ask

what does a Super Bowl where you score zero touchdowns, where you throw two picks, where you're the favorite and you get annihilated due to your legacy? And while a win here would have been massive for his legacy and his ability to climb the quarterback pyramid, if you watched the game and you are being honest and you have any sense of, fairness or accuracy.

I think it is incredibly difficult to come away with any take other than there is not a quarterback in the league that would have fared better yesterday. There's not one. And that's not to say that Mahomes doesn't have weapons. He has amazing weapons. And it's not to say the Buck's defense

is the greatest defense of all time. It's very good. And it's a very good defense. But it's not the greatest defense in Super Bowl history. even the greatest defense in the NFL this year. But in last night's game, with that Chief's offensive line lost from the beginning, with Andy Reid and Eric B. Enemy, two men I have enormous respect and affection for,

inexplicably, not having anyone helped the offensive line on 92% of the snaps, 92% of the dropbacks, they blocked with five, didn't have a single extra blocker, out there, even when it was clear those five could not block the Tampa front. I think it is incredibly intellectually dishonest to ding Mahomes for this one. You can say it's a missed opportunity. You can say, you know, he left some meat on the bone of the season. All of that's fair. But if you watched the game, not only did I not think he played poorly, I think he made

two of the most remarkable throws I've ever seen him make. The third and 11 early, and I will think, for the rest of my life, I am going to replay. What if Tyreek comes down with that third and 11, and what if the pass interference shaky calls aren't made? But neither here nor are there. This play right there when it's zero-zero,

it looks like, oh, that's a tough catch. Hit him in the face mask. Hit Tyreek in the face mask. He's avoiding a rusher there. He steps up. He throws without planning his feet side-armed in the face mask. And then this other throw, now the game's mostly decided at this point, but it's the very beginning of the fourth quarter.

Chief scored 21 points in seven minutes in the fourth quarter last year Super Bowl. Maybe it's alive. That throw is a magic trick. He is on, he is horizontal to the field. and once again, it hits Damien Williams, I'm sorry, Daryl Williams in the face mask. And I don't know how that's humanly possible that throw there, but to me, the level of physical agility that it takes to make that throw is the level of mental agility you need if you make last night's game about Patrick Mahomes.

as opposed to about Todd Bowles, the defensive front for Tampa, and the way the Tampa's offense, by the way, after the opening two drives of the game, went up and down the field at will on Kansas City. Kansas City's defense had been bent but not break for a couple of years and had stepped up in its biggest moments. They seemed to have the wind taken out of their sales after the Matthew pick was negated by a, you know, off a defensive holding 30 yards away from the play.

But the defense didn't show up either. So if I'm laying blame, Patrick Mahomes is very, very far down that list of folks who have accountability for what happened to the Chiefs last night. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but it. encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Sending on to Ernie Stewart for chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back.

The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if, if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us.

Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest point. to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series

because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. It's Ryder Strong and Will Ferrell from PodMeets World.

And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality. TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor.

I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Like? Yeah. Just because we? Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay, to the desperate plea as a finalist

to a bunch of ha, ooh, ha, ooh, ha, ooh, again, we are experts. So make sure to tune into PodMeets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You mentioned, you know, I dug myself deep.

Let's just show the audience how deeply I dug myself. I posted yesterday my Super Bowl bets. Now, you can go through all these if you'd like. The moral of the story is this. There's 11 of them on there. That's 0 for 11, Joy. Do you know how hard it is to go 0 for 11? When you're budgeting out your gambling, you're like, all right, what's the worst case?

Three for eight, so that's like minus five. O for 11 really put you in a tough spot, including what I thought was the sharpest bet of the day. Look at that second and the last one. Tommy Townsend over 38 and a half yards for his shortest punt. The logic was the Chiefs aren't going to be punting inside the 40. They're going to be going to be going for it or kicking field goals. So no problem. He's not going to have to do one of those corner kicks.

No, he didn't have to do one of those. You know what he did do? Shank it right off his foot. Just dead shank right. Then dead shank left. Two of his first three punts went under 30. Forget under 38 and a half. They went under 30.

It was maybe the worst bet ever made. Sammy Watkins, first touchdown. Sammy Watkins, I bet it later over 38 and a half yards. It's not on the screen. He had one catch for 13 yards. But somehow, Joy, that wasn't my worst tweet. You all see my worst tweet? I'm going to show you the worst tweet.

No, this is the worst tweet. Tweet. What it says at the bottom is out in a blizzard in New York City shopping for a Chiefs Red Blazer. Do you know how many places I had to go to find a perfectly colored velvet chief's blazer? in New York City? I'm sure many because that's a very specific color, too. Like, Chiefs Red is a very specific red. It's a very specific red, and I needed it to be velvet,

because I do everything the last minute, I was shopping for it on a Sunday in a blizzard. I found it, I had it tailored in store ready to wear. That will never be worn. I need to burn it. So that's where Nick was wrong. That plus all my Tom Brady takes. That's where Nick was wrong.

So now in order to, you're really enjoying this. This is not emotional support. I'm trying. This is nonverbal taunting. Here's what it is. You know what? I say that, yeah. I know that America wants you to take your medicine,

but I also understand that no one, no matter what they say, predicted that they were going to lose in the fashion in which they lost. So to that, to that level, I dismiss any take that anyone has. You can say that you pick the book. bucks and that's great, good for you. But you did not predict that Patrick Mahomes was not going to score a touchdown that it was going to go down the way that it did. So that I don't want

to hear. So that's what I'm saying. I don't think that you should hang your head so low. Your Tom Brady takes, I never agreed with, and you have to take your medicine for that. But the Chief's loss was so dramatic in fashion that I don't think you should actually feel that bad about it, if that makes sense. Well, I appreciate that.

The problem is, while no one predicted the Chiefs to lose that way, the way that game went, is exactly how I predicted just 100% wrong. I did predict a blowout. I did predict one team to look awesome. I did predict one quarterback not to have any touchdowns, and I just had it all wrong, which is why I now pay my penance, do my rosary beads by giving Tom Brady fans this. Okay? I said a couple years ago, that Tom Brady and Jerry Rice were the only two NFL players ever, that if you bisected their career, if you cut it dead in the middle, they were a first ballot hall

of famer on either career, that they had two separate Hall of Fame careers, the first half and the second half. After last night, I have to amend that tape. Tom Brady becomes the first football player ever and this one I'm confident he will be the only football player ever

he has had three distinct Hall of Fame careers and I can prove it to you he's played 21 years cut his career into seven year bites

first seven middle seven next seven no funny math don't have to do any twist and turns let's just look at it So that first seven, let's call that the Aikman phase,

where the numbers aren't overwhelming, but is the best clutch quarterback in the league, is not a game manager in a negative way, but the best version of a game manager. Tom Brady's, for seven years, almost the same amount of division titles, same number of Super Bowls, one more Super Bowl MVP,

neither won a regular season MVP. So Tom Brady's first seven years, first third of his career, that's the Troy Aitman phase. That in and of itself, by itself, gets you into the Hall of Fame. Now give me the next seven years. This is the Dan Marino phase. Division titles about the same. Super Bowl appearances.

Brady has more. Regular season MVP's. Brady has more. Passing touchdown leader. Marino by one. Also, in this seven-year stretch, Brady had the O. seven season where not only are you undefeated and go 60-0 in the regular season, quarterback statistically speaking, it was up to that point in time, the single greatest

quarterbacking season ever. Whose record did he break? Marinos. The touchdown record, all the records he broke that year was Marino's. So those middle seven years where he went to two Super Bowls but didn't win any, he accomplished in those seven years as far as the big shiny object accomplishments, what Marino did in his entire career. And now the truly unfathomable part, the final third of his career, the Joe Montana phase. From 2014 to now, four rings to four rings, three Super Bowl

MVPs to three Super Bowl MVP. Brady has one regular season MVP in this stretch. Montana had two. Montana also went to another team just like Brady did. And Montana took that team, Chiefs of the AFC title game, Brady took his team to the damn Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl. Brady also, if we were to add another line, Super Bowl titles is four apiece to four apiece, but Super Bowl appearances would be five to four because in these seven years, Brady went to another Super Bowl, the one against the Eagles, where you threw 505 yards and lost the game. So think about that for a moment. Tom Brady, first seven, middle seven, next seven.

and if you saw me swallow hard it's because I'm choking down the vial that I'm feeling just by having to say this. First seven, middle seven, next seven. Hall of Fame first ballot, Hall of Fame first ballot, Hall of Fame first ballot. The first seven years, the Aikman phase.

The middle seven years, the Marino phase. The next seven years, the Montana phase. That, my friends, we will never see again. There is, it is not, realistic no matter how long the time horizon goes, that we will see another player in the first seven years of his career, win at the level Brady did. Now, Mahomes might, but it's all of the, that follows. When at the level of Brady did in the first seven, in the next seven, continue statistical

and team excellence, got to a couple Super Bowls, won a couple MVP's, they had a buy almost every single year. They were in the conference championship game, two out of every three years. And then in the next seven, which means you've got to play 21 years to even be in this conversation, you somehow do more winning

in the final seven than you did in your first 14 combined and your first 14 combined already we were talking about you as one of the three greatest quarterbacks ever. and you do it in a new system with a new team. That will never be done again. What Jerry Rice did, being able to have 20 years of sustained excellence

where you could say he had two separate Hall of Fame careers was unprecedented. Brady matched that. But for Brady to now have upped the ante to three separate Hall of Fame careers and you could do a blind stat test of Troy Aitman's career, against Tom's first seven years, Dan Marino's career against Tom's middle seven years, and Joe Montana's career against Tom's last seven years, it is not to be believed.

And that is what everyone must acknowledge. Everyone already acknowledges he's the greatest quarterback ever. I've acknowledged that for a long time. I just foolishly thought he was done. When he threw the pick six against Tennessee, I took my victory left. You see, I told you so. And then he shoved that victory.

lap, well, you know where. So there it is. Tom Brady, I doff my proverbial cap to you. Some would say I doff my proverbial clown suit that I'm wearing to you. You got it done again. And you got it done under circumstances that I did not think were possible. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd Now, I normally would say this next guest is one of my favorite people at the company, someone I consider a friend, someone that I think that all fathers and grandfathers can look to as how to treat their family and how to raise a family. But after our interaction during the break, I just think he's a bad guy. His name's Mark Schlerth.

You see him all over FS1, and I think he's certifiable bad guy because he just came on and started laughing at me and said, how you feel, I couldn't even get the sentence out before cackling in his palatial Denver estate. So how are you feeling? Stink? I am, I'm feeling great. There was two things I thought about during that game as it was winding down. One, did Bill Belichick watch this game or was he like playing fetch with his dog? And two, I need to text Nick Wright. Those were the two things I thought. And then I thought, you know, that's just me. That is just mean. So I'm not going to do that right now. But I did think about you yesterday. That's great. I'm glad.

A lot of America thought about me yesterday while they were laughing. And the members of America that weren't laughing at me, it's because they were texting me because I owed them money. So it's just great for everyone except me. All right. So I don't think anybody saw this coming. Even if you picked the box, Joy said this earlier, she's right.

Nobody saw this coming. So how did this happen? Well, I think there's several things. Now, Tampa Bay, their defense is remarkable at all three levels. They've got great defensive players, great team speed. But I think ultimately, the way this happened, this to me is a lot of football hubris. This to me is we can have multiple changes, three different guys up front on our offensive line change positions. We still think we can get five guys out at all times, block five-o protection, and we're going to be okay.

And that's just not the case. I don't think Andy Reid did a good job of coaching. and I'm telling you, he's been phenomenal last several years. But in this particular instance, in this particular game, Tampa Bay played a too high safety look, the entirety of the game, and basically begged you to run the ball. You gave your running back nine carries. He averaged 7.1 yards per carry,

and he only touched the ball nine times. So that to me is not taking advantage of what the defense is giving you, and then ultimately not mitigating your own issues. like this is this to me is saying we're going to win the way we win with our quarterback and get five guys out and you didn't take you didn't take into consideration that you've had massive changes along your line of scrimmage and you did nothing to mitigate that potential disaster you basically said we're going to play it the way we play it and you took i mean pressure from a four man front disruption of routes a cover two man a bunch or cover two there was always two safety's deep. This to me was a failure of coaching more than it was anything else. There was some gameplay and arrogance there that, you know, listen, I was arrogant going into the week. I thought, listen, guess what? You know how you stop the Chiefs? Nobody knows because nobody's done it. They score 30 points when they want to. They go on these basketball-style runs.

And I thought, while it sounded bad missing four starting offensive linemen, in my head, I'm like, well, three of those guys have been gone basically all year. So it's one offensive lineman that you're missing from last week when you dismantled the bills in Eric Fisher, and I thought the chiefs would be able to overcome in that regard. As an offensive lineman stink, one of the stats that jumped out at me, the chiefs blocked with just five on 92% of dropbacks. That means from start to finish, they were not helping their guys.

How surprised were you that they didn't adjust? within the game. Even if they had one game plan going in, you have that long half time. How surprised you they didn't make the adjustment at any point? Well, I was very surprised, but that's who the chiefs are. And it's like, we're going to win the way we win. And ultimately, you couldn't do that. I thought Todd Bowles, the defense coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, did a great job of disrupting routes, disrupting the timing of the passing game. And then ultimately, finding ways to get pressure, changing fronts, changing positions, using stunts, twists, and games to get to Patrick Mahomes. And, you know, ultimately,

you could see even when Patrick Mahomes had time in a dropback, he didn't have guys open immediately. And I think, you know, again, I look at that going, how do you not run the football when they're begging you to run the football? How do you not run it? You know, we used to have this theory. If they're going to play us in too high, we're going to cram it down their throats until we get them out of that and get our one-on-one matchups on the outside. They just never forced the Tampa Buccaneers to do anything other than they came into the game plan

wanting to do. And the end result is, you know, they scored nine points. That's, it's, I can't believe as a football analyst, that that's what happened, but it's exactly what happened.

How do you think, how would you grade Patrick Mahomes on his day? Well, I mean, I think ultimately you look at Patrick Mahomes. I mean, I don't look at this like, hey, Patrick Mahomes failed. You know,

here in Denver, where I live, people like, now we've tamed the beast. You know, now we know how to beat him. Well, listen, you've got to have a certain style of play to be able to do that, a certain style of player. And I thought, you know, Levanti, David, I thought when he was asked to play man coverage on Travis Kelsey, he was remarkable.

He was exceptional. I thought Devin White was incredible, running down guys, sideline to sideline, doing what he does. And then I just thought, from my standpoint, it was more about Tampa and the lack of understanding or the lack of willing to adjust. by the Kansas City Chiefs. Again, it comes down to football hubris. We're going to win the way we always win. And to me, not taking advantage of what Tampa was asking you to do that.

They were saying, go on a 10-play drive, average six yards of carry, set up a play action, and we'll tip our cap to you because you're going to score if you do that. But they just refuse to do that. They just said, no, we're not going to do it. We're going to win the way we win. And ultimately it cost them a football game. Mark Schlerth with us, of course, FS1 analysts. So Stink, on the other side of things, I want to talk about Brady.

And sometimes we give the quarterback too much credit, obviously. But also, when you talk to guys on the team, it does seem like to a man, there was a level of faith, confidence, and inspiration that came from the acquisition of Tom Brady. You won two of your championships with a Mount Rushmore-ish quarterback in John Elway. And even at, you know, he won those the last two years of his career when he was not the, as far as if we're doing Madden rating, the Madden rating that Elway was in the late 80s, early 90s. But how much confidence was filtered through the rest of the team just by having that guy back there as your signal caller? Oh, it's huge. Anytime you have a guy like that, a Mount Rushmore quarterback, as you mentioned, it's one of those situations that regardless of

where we find ourselves. We've got a guy that can make a play that will get us into the right play that we have ultimate confidence in that in those crunch time situations, he's just going to make a play. And from a leadership standpoint, this is a team that knew how talented they were, but just didn't have that piece in place. Where Tom Brady, I mean, Bruce Arons, they'll give Bruce Ariens a ton of credit. Tip your cap to him because he understood that I can coach this team and I can say something and they go kind of in one ear and out the other. But Tom Brady can reiterate it. He can say the exact same thing I just said.

And everybody's like, okay, Tom, whatever it takes. And I thought it was funny early in the season when Bruce Ariens cussed out Tom Brady, you know, called him out publicly. And everybody's like, oh, that's not going to go well. I mean, that's how Tom Brady's been coached his whole life. And if you know Bruce Ariens, that's how he coaches everybody. I mean, there is no virgin meat left on your behind after you've been coached by Bruce Ariens. He's going to let you know exactly the way it is. And that's authenticity.

And guys that understand they want their coaches to be authentic. I think that's the most important thing. And we see this all the time with new hires, guys that aren't comfortable in their own skin, that try to be somebody that they're not. Bruce Ariens, that's the way he coaches. Tom Brady has always allowed himself to be coached hard. And in turn, is coaching his players with his work ethic,

with the way he shows up and the way he brings guys along. So a remarkable, remarkable season for Tampa Bay. All right. Before you go, I got a quick list for you. The three people in America who should feel the worst this morning. Number one is me. Yes. Number two is Bill Belichick.

Number three is Kyle Shanahan slash new Hall of Famer, our friend John Lynch. Belichick because Brady wanted to stay. I know at the end Brady puts his house on the market he wants to leave, but he wanted to stay. He was clear about that. and Belichick said, nope, I think it's near the end of the road. Shanahan and Lynch in that, I think it's pretty well reported. Brady's first choice was San Francisco, and they looked and said, you know what, we're going to stick with Jimmy Garoppel.

The younger guy, he just took us through Super Bowl, we're going to stick with him. What do you think both of those parties, the Niners and Belichick, are feeling and thinking this morning? Well, I mean, I think ultimately it's, you said this while I was waiting to come on. It's remarkable. Like the guy is not human. And I think you look at that and maybe you say, hey, you know what? I truly underestimated who Tom Brady is and what he's capable of.

I tell you, the leadership thing for me is big. I know we constantly talk about leadership and we think we know what it is, but we can't quite put our finger on it. When you elevate the level of everybody on your football team from the start, standpoint of not only their preparation, but how much they care and how much they're committed to one another and what they're willing to sacrifice for one another, that truly is. That truly is the essence of leadership. And I will say this about Tom Brady, man, when I watch him and I see him interact with his teammates and the report of him texting guys at 11 o'clock

at night saying, we're going to win this thing going through everybody on the roster, this guy elevates everybody and he truly celebrates everybody else's success like it was his own. And that's why ultimately he's the goat. That's why guys will follow him. Mark Schlerth, great player, extraordinary analyst, amazing father, husband, grandfather, and a terrible friend. Thank you, Sam. You got it, my friend. Take care. Goodbye. There is Mark Slarith. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. All right, we don't have a ton of time left.

So it is time now for best for last. Joy Taylor is going to ask me grades or ask me players. I'm going to give grades, something like that. I give out a grade card, something like that. Joy, please take over. You know this better than me. What grade are you going to give Patrick Mahomes? Oh, boy.

Got to be fair here. Got to be totally unbiased. Totally. I'm going to give Patrick Mahomes a B-My, is because I do not think there is another quarterback in the league who could have done better than he did last night. I truly, now maybe they would have scored a touchdown. And she doesn't score a touchdown.

But I don't think you can look at that game and be like, man, if the chiefs had X, it would have gone better for them. And while the stat line is not B minus worthy, the stat line is more like. D worthy. Two of these throws that go down as incompletions are two of the greatest throws I've ever seen. The third and 11 early, that again, this play here, I know this sounds dumb, I don't care.

If Tyreek makes this catch, I think the Chiefs might win the game. I think everything's different. I think the Chiefs are feeling good. The Bucks maybe change the game playing a little bit. And it hit him in the face mask, conked right off his head. And then the other one that hit a guy in the head, The game was over at this point.

Darrell Williams. It's fourth and nine, down 22. Down 22, 13 minutes left. They had like a 3% chance. But that play is impossible. Look at him. He's horizontal to the field. Four defenders around him,

hits him in the face mask. So for all those things and the fact joy, I'm giving him a little extra credit. He had a C plus, got bumped up to a B minus. For the way he's stuck in the pocket, down 22 with four minutes left. Just kept getting crushed.

and kept popping back up, so I give him a B-minus. What grade are you giving Tom Brady? A little worse than my home. See, I'm kidding. I give Tom Brady an A-minus. I think Tom, I was kidding, Joy. I'm kidding, Joy. Joy's going to get all mad at me.

No, A-minus. I thought Brady was very good. I do not think he was the driving force behind the buck's victory. I think that's Todd Bowles and we'll get to them and the defense later. I also think he threw a pick that I, I'm not certain how to offensive holding was called. The ball was thrown within 1.5 seconds, and they called that. It still bothers me, but neither here nor there. But A minus. He got downgraded. He had an A, but our reporters on the ground say he used very dirty language to Tyron Matthew, and you're not

supposed to taunt your opponent so he gets downgraded a touch to an A minus, the near pick, and that's all. He had, you know, 200 yards passing, but the best passer rating for a Super Bowl he's ever had for his career. So a solid A minus for Tom Brady. Andy Reed. Oh, God. A deed. I thought Reed struggled from the beginning and never got better.

I thought that the Chiefs had, this is a good, I talk about how I'd love to be a GM one day. I never say I could be a coach. Clock management coordinator, maybe, but not a coach. But Andy Reid had my game plan, which was change nothing,

throw all the time, dare him to stop you. And he never adjusted. But I'm not the coach. Like, don't go. with my game plan. I just have ideas. And I thought the timeouts at the end of the first half was a

massive moment. You have that long first half. You're down 14 to 6. The bucks are trying to run out the clock. You can say we're getting the ball back down a score. We've played terribly. We're down one score. And that he called back-to-back timeouts, which dared the bucks to go down the field.

That to me was huge. So he gets a D. What is the grade for Bruce Ariens? Oh, he gets an A. I thought he was great. I thought he was, and I think that is a grade he's earned over the course of the year. And over the course of how he built that staff, he hired the best person available for every position,

no matter other preconceived notions. He empowered Byron Leftwich. Todd Bowles is exceptional. I think Todd Bowles probably earned himself another head coaching job. Byron Leftwich, nobody will even give him a head coaching interview. And I think the way he, free of ego, empowered Tom Brady. I think the way he throughout the year said, listen, we're going to do this collaboratively, collectively. It doesn't have to be my way or the highway.

Sorry to use the cliche. We're going to do this together. And I like it. Like, guess what? Teachers give you a better grade if they like you. I like Bruce. I like the way he carries himself. I like these a little different than most coaches.

So I give him an A. That's an easy way. What grade do you give Todd Bowles? A plus. Perfect score if you could do it. 100%. I thought it was the only thing I could compare it to

is Belichick when he was the D coordinator for the Giants 30 years ago in the first Super Bowl the Bills went to that Bills team was the number one offense, dynamics, seemingly unstoppable

and they held them in the teams and that was kind of Belichick's like claim to fame was what he did coordinating that game plan and Boles did it without Lawrence Taylor. They have good players. They don't have Lawrence Taylor. So I give him an A plus, a near perfect score for Todd Bowles.

What about the Chiefs offensive line? Oh, God. What's worse than an F? Incomplete. You kicked out of school. No, no, no. They get an F. No, incomplete means you didn't do the work. You did the work, and you just failed at it. In fact, I would say I need you to repeat the grade, but I don't want to see you again.

No. So they get an F. They're, sorry, guys. I love. Love you. You get an app. All right. What grade are you giving the halftime show by the weekend? Oh. Non-applicable, incomplete. You're going to have to tell me, Joy. Do you know?

I enjoyed it. You know how much of the halftime show? Okay. Well, then you give it a grade because I didn't see a second of it. Why didn't you see it? Because I was circling my house, chain smoking black and miles. Because I was stressed out, Joy. That's what.

That's why. People were very critical of it. People were very critical of it, but I think you have to grade it on the curve because of COVID. Like they couldn't do the normal crowd interactions that you have, like down on the field and, you know, in the stands and stuff. So I thought he did a good job. It was fun.

And I like the choreography. Okay. Okay, good. I give it joy's great. I didn't watch it. I was stressed out. I was walking around smoking a black and mild, and then one of my neighbors was walking a dog and just said to me,

like, hey, how about that game? and I yelled at him, yelled at my neighbor. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel,

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app. Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow.

Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Joey Dardano, and on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions.

Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast Deeply Well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.