The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 02/09/2021 - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

Nick Wright filling in for Colin says Tom Brady always finds a new challenge to add as a chip on his shoulder but the only thing that stood in Brady’s way of playing till 45 as a Patriot was Bill Belichick. Russell Wilson finally got paid the big bucks by the Seahawks but wants the respect and power needed to make another Superbowl. Plus, Nick takes the stand to silence the doubters by defending Patrick Mahomes performance in Superbowl 55!Guest: Peter King 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, Marquis 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. Hey, everyone. It's Ryder Strong and Wilfridell from PodMeets World. And now the PodMeets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor.

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. Ah, ha, who. Again, we are experts. Listen to Podmeets Twirled on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta,

you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the T, everybody's talking about.

To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard 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. It is Nick Wright in for Colin Coward on The Hurd. A ton to do today. I tried to be pretty measured and reasoned yesterday.

But if I have to hear more about the negative legacy implications for Patrick Mahomes based on that Super Bowl, I'm going to lose my mind. And I will explain why, with evidence, later in the show. Also on the show, Kevin Clark, Peter King's going to join us, among others. Russell Wilson, flirting maybe, possibly with the idea of not being a lifelong Seahawks, so we'll get to all of that. We're going to start with Tom Brady. But before we get there, Joy Taylor, who betrayed me multiple times yesterday, publicly, privately

on the internet, I was going to say I need to lean on you today. because I'm a little tired, donating all that plasma to pay off my gambling debts. Tires you out, but I know I can't lean on you for anything, Joy. I just can't. So how are you? That's unfair. I can be a good teammate. The world wanted you to have your, you know, take your medicine on Tom Brady yesterday.

I didn't want to come between that, you know. And, you know, I'm a very honest person, as you know, and we all love Danielle. That's just, that's what it is. Okay, that's my, that's a call back to yesterday of Joy. tell him professing to the entire world that I am the least popular member of my own family. Before I get to the Brady stuff, just very quickly, your thoughts on the idea that a fair amount of this loss should be hung around the neck of Patrick Mahomes? Your quick version of that before we get to that in full. Well, I mean, when it comes to the quarterbacks, they get a lot of

the credit. So in a lot of ways, they should get a significant amount of the blame when things don't go well, but I also think you have to use your eyeballs and be reasonable. And if you did actually watch the entirety of that game, there were some moments where Mahomes wasn't spectacular, but I would lay a very small percentage of the outcome at that game at the feet of Patrick Mahomes. And I would argue that there is not a single quarterback in the league that you could have replaced Mahomes with in that football game and the Chiefs would have fared any better. But we are not going to start the bulk of the show with the losing quarterback. We're going to start at the bulk of the show with the winning quarterback, who once again is Tom Brady.

But for the first time in his career, it is Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. And Bruce Ariens had some very interesting quotes before the game, but they were just reported yesterday by Sports Illustrated about part of Brady's motivation. So we can show you these quotes. This is the short version of it. I think personally, too, he meaning Tom, is making a statement. You know, it wasn't all coach Belichick. And that's the first time we have heard what I would consider a firsthand witness

talk about what we in the media have spent a ton of time talking about over the last nine months, which is how much of Brady's decision to pick the box and to move on was about proving he could do it without Bill. and there are certain things that get discussed and they are purely media creations. And there are certain things, though, that the media is talking about because even though you can't get any of the actual parties on the record, you know them to be true, either through close sources or in this case, a few close sources, and just your number one best source on everything, logic. and reasoning.

And that logic and reasoning is this. Tom Brady has had a chip on his shoulder his entire career. What has changed is what the chip is. And I'll explain in a moment how Bill Belichick may have placed the single biggest one on there yet. But when he came into the league, what's the chip on his shoulder? 198. That's the number of people drafted before him. He's famously the 199th pick of the draft.

We saw in the, I think it was NFL network documentary like a decade ago. He could name all of the quarterbacks who were taken ahead of him. But that chip can only last so long. And Tom can say that still drives him. But that's hard to believe, especially because when within three months of his first NFL start, he's hoisting his first Lombardi trophy, nobody then doubted that the Patriots made a great traffic. Nobody thought the Patriots made the wrong decision

in sticking with Brady over Belichick, or I'm sorry, Brady over Drew Bledsoe. So then, what's the next chip? What's the next challenge? The next one was his rivalry with Peyton Manning. That's another one, if you remember, folks said, oh, that's a media narrative. That's a creation.

That's not how the, it's not quarterback, versus quarterback. It's quarterback versus defense. Some of those folks who try to be like, let me tell you how football people think of it. Brady's not worried about Peyton Manning. And then what happened? Spite, was it? Spygate, Deflate Gate, one of the gates, one of the many Patriots alleged cheating scandals happened. And Tom Brady's emails get released. It was Deflate Gate. And while it was an invasion of his privacy, those emails got released. And so I feel badly about that. There was a very telling email to his father that came in the public sphere. when he was talking about Brady versus Manning.

This was when Manning was now with the Broncos. And Tom said, he's got one or two years left. I've got seven or eight years left. That'll be the final chapter. Game on. So Brady versus Manning was always propelling him. Once he got rid of that 199th pick chip on his shoulder, it then was a Peyton Manning chip.

Doesn't matter you have more rings. He has more MVP's. He makes more money. A lot of football people say he's, the better guy. But then Brady kept winning and Manning retired. And so that chip goes away because nobody argues Brady versus Manning anymore. And you know what the next one was? The one opponent no one has ever defeated. Time. It's the old cliche. Father Time's undefeated. Tom did a whole documentary series called Tom versus Time. He told everybody. That's my new opponent. I'm going to play

till I'm 45 years old. People think quarterbacks can't play till they're 40. I'm going to totally reframe that entirely. And that was his new challenge. That was his new motivation. And then who stepped in front of that? Bill Belichick, which will eventually lead us to where we are today. But it was Bill Belichick that stood on those train tracks of Tom versus time and said,

this train's not going any further. And Brady, understandably, was apoplectic about it. Because it was the summer of 2019, everyone says, oh, Tom Brady put his house up for sale. He wanted to leave. That was the final piece of Brady leaving the Patriots. But every other piece was a Belichick decision, despite Brady giving him all the reason to make another decision.

So think if you're Tom Brady in the summer of 2019. The only goal you've ever stated publicly that's a personal goal, that's not a team goal, is I want to play till I'm 45. And by the way, I've got this guy, Alex Guerrero. I think he's an amazing trainer. You might think he's a quack. Don't care. He helps me with my body.

It's my secret to this incredible longevity. So I'd like to work with him. I'd like to keep playing. I'd like to be a patriot for life. and Belichick won't let it happen. And Tom, understandably, is like, wait, forget what I've done over the last 20 years. How about what I've done over the last three?

So this is a defense of Brady here. Listen to this. To the summer of 2019, think about it. Show the timeline. What I do in 2016? Well, I missed those first four games because of Deflategate. All I did was go 11 and 1 and then lead the single greatest comeback in Super Bowl history

to win my unprecedented at the time, fifth ring. What did I do the next year? Oh, yeah. I won league MVP at age 40. And in the Super Bowl, threw for 500 yards. And he's probably thinking,

and maybe, if you hadn't benched Malcolm Butler, we'd have won that one. What happened in 2018? Yeah, my numbers were down, my stats were down. But I did win a road playoff game against Patrick Mahomes, leading an overtime drive down the field,

and we won the Super Bowl. And now it's the summer of 2019. The only personal goal I have is to play till I'm 45, and you're telling me no. You won't give me the extension. And look up the Tom Curran pieces. I did it this morning. July 29th, 2019, Tom Brady's asked about an extension, says to reporters, ask Mr. Kraft. Do you think I've earned one?

Six days later, August 5th, 2019. reported Tom Brady signs and extension. But then we find out it was a fake extension. There was no actual real years tacked on to the end of it. He got a raise and the Patriots couldn't franchise tag him. That's October 5th, 2019. And on October 6th, he put his house on the market. On that day, that moment he said, okay, fine. I've done all this. I have always performed. I've always been the commensurate teammate. And you don't believe in me. Bill Belichick agreed with me more than he agreed with Tom. Bill Belichick said, I see the numbers going down.

I see the trajectory of every quarterback ever once they get to a certain age. I cannot invest in you into your mid-40s. It's an insane proposition. And so guess what? That then became Brady's newest chip. 199th pick, beat you. Peyton Manning, long gone. time while I won league MVP at 40 and I won my sixth Super Bowl at 41.

But now my coach, the man who's been on this journey the entire time with me, the man who should know to doubt me the least, the man who our success is inextricably tied together, he is telling me, as much as he very well may love me, I don't believe in you. I think you believe in yourself more than is realistic. I think you believe you can do something, and for the first time, I don't believe you can't. And so you can come to me and ask me for an extension, an extension that my boss, Robert Kraft, wants me to give,

that the fans of the team want me to give, that your teammates want me to give. And I am going to say no. Not because I don't like Tom Brady, not because I have some grudge against Tom Brady, not because I have something to prove to Tom Brady, but because in my head, in my heart, in my belief, you're not going to be worth it.

And that moment right there, Tom Brady was the 199th pick all over again. The person who knows me more than anyone in football is telling me I can't do it. he didn't have an heir apparent. Jimmy Garoppolo wasn't there. They didn't have some great draft pick. We saw, by the way, what their quarterback situation was. They were going to have to go with Stidham. And Stidham couldn't even,

he ended up being third on the depth chart when it was all said and done this year. But Belichick was that certain that that cliff that I'd been talking about, that this is now Nick talking, that folks on television, myself included have been talking about, that Brady was approaching it. And maybe he was already falling off it.

And you saw it in the play calling in 2019 as last year with the Patriots. You saw it where they put their resources in 2019. And Belichick flatly said, I am not tying my team's fortunes to an old man quarterback who's going down. And so, of course, Tom Brady's motivation is not about proving that he was more important than Bill for those first six Super Bowls. That's what people are missing. It's not about retroactive credit over the 0-4 Super Bowl against the Eagles.

It's about right now, present day. I was in the building. I was here every day. You saw how I did meetings. You saw how I did practice. You saw how dedicated I was to my body, my craft, how this is my life. You saw all of it. We had just won a Super Bowl.

We were the defending champs. We had been to three in a row. The one we lost, I threw for 500 y'all. I'm two years removed from a league MVP, and you are looking in my eyes saying, I can't trust you. I can't believe in you that this is who you're going to be moving forward. And so that's the motivation.

It's not about who gets credit for what happened in New England. It's about that Tom Brady was forced, he feels, I'm sure, to not continue in New England. Because the guy who should have believed in more than anybody believed in him as much as Nick Wright did, which was not much. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart 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 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. 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 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'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, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. 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. Ramel sending on to Ernie. Score the chip. Score! 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 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.

Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Will Ferdell 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? 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, who. Ha, ha, ha, who. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune in to Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaking of money, Joy, there's three ways an employer can show respect to an employee. And I think Jada kiss said it once. Money, power, respect.

And Russell Wilson already has the money. He doesn't have the power. and I think he's looking for the respect. And there have been these kind of odd rumblings. Like, is Russell Wilson happy in Seattle? Could Russell Wilson be available? Brandon Marshall, on a really brilliantly produced, wonderfully broadcast television show called First Things First,

that's on from 7.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. every day on this very network. A few weeks ago, just kind of like almost in passing, said, I'm hearing that Russell Wilson could potentially be unhappy in Seattle. And it was an odd thing because Brandon Marshall had played in Seattle seemingly, he has a good relationship with Russell. But that was like the first I had heard of it

since on this show a year ago, Colin Coward was floating the idea that, eh, do Russell Wilson and Sierra, who he inexplicably always calls Sierra, I don't know why that has, It's just like in his head. Are they happy in Seattle, or do they want to go somewhere else? But then Seattle gave Russell Wilson the money.

They made him the highest paid quarterback in football. And now we're hearing, Jason Lockenford tweeted last night, he's frustrated about the Seahawks' inability to protect him, that maybe Russell Wilson wants a little more power and a little more respect as far as a seat at the table. he was on this morning with Dan Patrick, and here's what he said about that. I think that ultimately, for me personally,

I think that I want to be able to be involved because at the end of the day, it's your legacy, it's your team's legacy. It's the guys you get to go into the huddle with. And at the end of the day, those guys, you've got to trust. Are you involved in personnel decisions? Have you been involved in personnel decisions? Not as much.

I don't, you know, I think that, you know, for me. Do you want to be involved? to us. Yeah, I think it helps. I think it helps to be involved more. But I think that's, that dialogue should, should happen more often. So that's pretty telling from a guy who never says anything. From a guy who every interview I've ever seen him do, he finishes with go hawks. From a guy who literally just won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award and is as respected across the league as anybody and as team first as anybody across the league, that is Russell Wilson, not privately, not leaking to a friendly writer who will source it vaguely.

Russell Wilson going on camera saying, yeah, I'd like to be involved and no, I'm not involved. He also then was asked about the reports that teams called about his availability, something that Brandon Marshall put a fine point on this morning on my mind. show, on our show, I should say, when he said the Saints, the Bears, the Jets, the Raiders, and the dolphins have all shown varying levels of interest in acquiring Russell Wilson. Russell was asked about trade rumors, and here's what he said to that. I definitely believe they've gotten calls for sure. I think that, you know, I think anytime you're, you know, a player that, you know, tries to produce every week and has done it for, you know, consistently, I think people are going to

call for sure. And I think it's part of the process. Yeah, but you're a franchise quarterback. You're a Hall of Fame quarterback. You're not available, are you? Well, I'm not sure if I'm available or not. That's a, that's a CYog's question. So that right there is a really interesting answer. And I'm not criticizing Russell Wilson here, but I am saying that I think in happier times with Seattle, this would have been Russell Wilson's very polished, very clear, very calculated answer. Well, of course, it's flattering to be wanted, but I can tell you my plan is to play for one team only,

the Seattle Seahawks. I never want to go anywhere, and I would be shocked if they are even considering trading me because this is the only place I ever want to play. I don't think that's how Russell Wilson feels. and I do not blame him. And there are two different avenues to walk here, but they take us the same place. The first avenue is the respect, which is if he wants a seat at the table, give him a seat at the table.

What I think some of these franchises don't understand is that if you want to, are the Houston Texans. Do you know what everyone's job with the Texans should have been the last three months? Make sure Deshaun Watson's happy. Oh, he likes the equipment manager and somebody in the building wants to fire him has happened this weekend. Not only equipment manager are you not fired. You're Deshaun's buddy. You can have a raise. You can have a new office. What do you want? and the same goes with Seattle. Your franchise must be kept happy. Your franchise must want to be there.

That is the whole purpose of the NFL is to get a player such as Russell Wilson. So once you have him, you hold on to him for dear life. You are happy and count your blessings that for the better part of a decade, He didn't, there was no extra drama surrounding him. But the moment there is though, you deal with it. That's your job.

But here's the other thing. And this is where it gets to the modern NFL and Kevin Clark mentioned it. I don't think Russell Wilson would want or demand a seat at the table if every time he sat down for a seat at the table's the road. Yeah, seat at the table's wrong I'm trying to say. if he had full faith that the Seahawks were as all in as the teams against whom he's competing. But think about Russell Wilson's experience in the NFL and what he has seen work. He comes into the NFL. The Seahawks made a very bold move.

They had signed Matt Flynn two weeks into practices. Nope, Russell's our guy. They were rewarded with two trips to the Super Bowl. World. Right before Seattle started going to the Super Bowl, who went? The Niners. You know how? Oh, Colin Kaepernick, he's a backup. Nope, he's the starter. He gives us our best chance. We'll make that change midway through the year, make the Super Bowl the next year and be for a short period of time, one of the two best teams in the conference. Keep going, Philly. Oh, we don't have a quarterback. We'll trade multiple first round picks to move up, to get a quarterback. During

the year, we will be a super aggressive at the trade deadline. We will borrow from tomorrow's cap to pay today, we'll win a Super Bowl. The Rams. Oh, we don't have a quarterback. We'll trade multiple first round picks to get him. Oh, he stinks under Jeff Fisher. Jeff Fisher, you're out. Sean McVeigh, you're in. Oh, we need more weapons. Brandon Cooks. We'll trade a first round pick for you. Go, go, go. They all went to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs, chiefs make the playoffs with Alex Smith. They win the division year after year. Not good enough. Trade up for Mahomes. Trade for Frank Clark from Seattle, by the way. Go, go, go. win a Super Bowl, make another one.

Tampa, we're not satisfied. Go get Brady. Trade up in the drafts for worse. Go get grunt. Go get AB. Go, go, go, go. That's everyone that has made the Super Bowl in Russell Wilson's career as a star quarterback

with the exception of the Patriots. All the other Super Bowl appearances I didn't mention were made by the Patriots who were doing things their own way. Seattle, one wonders, if it fancies itself a bit of the Patriots of the Northwest. Players play,

coach is coach, we're building something long term, we're building something sustainable, we're building a dynasty. The problem is there's no dynasty. They made the Super Bowl in Russell's second year and won it. They made it back in year three

and haven't been back since. And haven't been particularly close since. And Russell Wilson is, watching, I would imagine with frustration, as the Rams in the division, say, nope, trade for Stafford. We need to get better. The Niners. Oh, I left out the Niners.

They're another team that made the Super Bowl. What did they do? They went and traded for Jimmy Garoppolo. They kept pushing, pushing, pushing. Watch the Niners make the Super Bowl. Watch the Cardinals. Spend a first round pick on a quarterback. After one year, nope, not going to be good enough.

We're going to change everything up. And Seattle is just standing pat. And I think Russell Wilson is sitting there saying, guys, let me get involved. Because this idea of just all bail you out, all get sacked 25 times more than Mahomes did this year, 26 times more than Brady did this year, and you'll just expect me to solve everything.

That ain't going to work. You know, to quote Fredo from Godfather 2, I'm smart. You can listen to me. Give me a seat at the table. So Russell Wilson, watching the Seahawks, just say, no, we're going to build slowly when everyone else is go, go, go. And all those teams are making the Super Bowl.

And his team isn't. His team is instead following the blueprint of. And you can be like, what blueprint is better? The Patriot Dynasty blueprint. But the Patriot Dynasty had two ingredients that the Seahawks don't have. They have Brady, and as great as Russ is,

he ain't Brady, and they have Belichick, and as great as Belichick is, I'm great as Carol is, he's not Belichick. And by the way, as soon as one of those guys left, maybe it was, you know, Brady's back in the Super Bowl, Belichick's 6 and 10. So I don't think the

Russell Wilson story is a non-story. I don't think he's going anywhere. I don't think that's going to happen. but I do think they, John Schneider and Pete Carroll need to look around that war room they have and say let's make room for another chair

because Russell Wilson wants to pull up a seat to the table and if anyone's earned it, it's him. You can pay a guy with money, power, and respect and the best of the best in the world of what they do want all three. He's got the money, he kind of has the respect, now he wants some of the power.

You better damn well give it to him. 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 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. 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 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's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nasree.

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 running up the court, licking his fingers,

why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. 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. Ramers sending on to earn a story of chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boke. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policicic, 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 to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Wilfridell 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? 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, ooh, ha, ooh, ha, ha, ooh. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune

at a pod meets twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to Pod Meets Twirled on the IHeard Radio Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. But now I want to talk about the losing quarterback of Super Bowl 55, Patrick Mahomes. Because I see the tweets from semi-reputable sources. I see the takes.

I see the, you know, just the, hey, just throwing it out there. Patrick Mahomes, passer rating in the Super Bowl lower than Rex Grossman. I see that. I see folks saying, okay. Guys, if we're going to talk about him as one of the all-time greats, we have to judge him as such. And we've got to, pardon me, we've got to figure out what this does to his legacy, having this bad game in the Super Bowl. And I'm not even going to parse whether or not he actually played that badly in this Super Bowl if you watch the game. And you recognize that he was under pressure more than any player.

was under pressure in any playoff game all year and for the last few years. When you look at the incompletions that literally bounced off Tyree Kill's face mask and Darrell Williams face mask, just take the numbers for what they are. Zero touchdowns, two picks, only nine points, team blown out. The reason that even if that is circumstance independent, even if we're not doing any dispensation for the offensive line, the game plan, the drops, any of it. A scourge in sports commentary that must end is penalizing guys for playing poorly, if we want to call this playing poorly, in the final game of the year,

and giving guys passes for playing poorly in one of the games leading up to the final game of the year so poorly that their team does. doesn't get there. Because the reason this is an albatross for the time being around Mahomes' neck is because he played poorly in the Super Bowl. Now, if you argue he played poorly in last year's Super Bowl, I'm not even going to talk to you. He scored 21 straight points to lead the second biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. Dismiss that.

The argument is it's his first bad playoff game ever, and it came in the Super Bowl. Yikes. So I just want to show you guys. some playoff games from what I think are mostly considered the three best modern era quarterbacks ever. Montana, Manning, and Brady. Here's one from Joe Montana,

if we can show the numbers. Now, this wasn't in the Super Bowl. This was a 49 to 3 loss in Joe Montana's first game of the 86 postseason. And now he got knocked out of this football game, but before he got knocked out of this football game, He threw two picks at a 34-pass rating, and his team was getting annihilated.

Now, he stays undefeated in Super Bowls, in part because he played so poorly in that game. Nobody cares. Nobody hangs that around Joe Montan's like, and they shouldn't, by the way. He's one of the five greatest quarterbacks of all time. Some would argue the second greatest quarterback of all time. But that game happened. Peyton Manning. We know he had a bunch of bad ones.

but this one in particular, a 41 to nothing lost, not to the great New England Patriots, but to the Jets in the opening round of the postseason. Zero touchdowns, two picks, a 31 passer rating in a total and utter annihilation. Again, these are their first games of the postseason. And now, wait, Tom Brady doesn't have any of these. No, he'd never have any of these.

Oh, wait. Tom Brady in the opening game of the postseason, 33 to 14 loss. That almost sounds like the Super Bowl score. 150 passing yards. Three picks, a 49 passer rating to Baltimore in the opening round. The point that I'm making is twofold. One is there is not a single, not one quarterback that has been to more than one. postseason that doesn't have a few, at least if you just look at the box score, awful performances. In fact, basically all of them have multiple.

And even how Russell Wilson, look at the box score from the NFC championship game he won when they were defending champs, the onside kick game against Green Bay. Both Rogers and Russell Wilson had really rough nights that night. Even Russell was a pretty close to impeccable postseason resume. He's got one. has two that stand out. Everybody's got one. But this idea that there should be extra penalty paid

if your bad game comes in the Super Bowl when if you had just been smart enough to have your bad game in the divisional round or the wild card round and your team not make it to the Super Bowl, then we don't care about it. It's insanity. And it doesn't obviously just apply it the NFL.

It's the, and we don't have to get into it here. It's the exact same thing we do with LeBron and with the finals record versus guys like, oh, I don't know. Say, just pick a name out of a hat, Michael Jordan, who repeatedly got knocked out in round one, round one, round one. But it's like, oh, nope, well, those losses don't count. Those losses we don't care about. It's insanity. And it's triply insane with Patrick because he actually didn't play poorly. The least of the Chief's problems on Sunday was the play of Patrick Mahomes.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. The great Peter King joins us now live on the herd. You can read his column every Monday morning during football season, and you should read his column every Monday morning during football season. Football Morning in America on NBCSports.com. Peter, it's Nick. thank you for joining me. I'll dive right in. Let's do something I love to do. I don't know how much you love to do it. I'll make you do it anyway, ranking things. Do you think this is Brady's most

impressive of his incalculable seven Super Bowl rings? Well, I think it was probably slightly more impressive to win the first one with the Patriots because remember, that was against the greatest show on turf. That was when John Madden and Pat Summerall all upstairs, We're saying, no, no, no, no, just sit on the ball, go play for overtime. And Brady completed four passes on this drive to put him in field goal range. Vinuterry kicked the winning field goal. I thought that was awfully impressive. And, you know, look, this is incalculably impressive to me because Tom Brady didn't have an offseason.

He went to a new team. He's 43 years old. but the only reason why I might say that first one is more impressive is because the level of talent he had around him on this team was fantastic. You know, it is the best all-around talent that he's had on any team since he's been a quarterback in the NFL. And so my feeling is I could make an argument for either one. But that first one to me was awfully impressive too.

So we've talked a lot about Brady Belichick and, you know, does this make you reevaluate who gets more credit for the six Super Bowls they won? That to me is less interesting than the ending of it. Because pretty clearly, Bill Belichick felt that, okay, Tom Brady can be the greatest quarterback of all time, but it doesn't mean he's still a great quarterback. And Brady said, I am. You're not giving me a chance to show it.

So how and why do you think Belichick miscalculated there, which now it's pretty clear he did, when he saw him every day. I got it wrong, but I don't see him every day. I just watch football. I'm like, yeah, it looks like he's going downhill. And so how do you think Belichick got it wrong? I don't think he necessarily got it wrong. I think this is about the way that Bill Belichick wants to build his team.

He, of all the great things that Bill Belichick has done in his football career, and he's done an incredible number of them. Building a team with even good offensive weapons has been one of the hardest things for him. And he could not do it and did not do it with this team, this past team in New England in 2019 and 2020, because the skill position players, you could see. And I sat with Brady for 10 minutes after the Tennessee playoff game. His last game was. a patriot. And you could just tell how frustrated he was. It wasn't angry at anybody. He was just frustrated because he didn't have enough, I think he didn't have enough weapons at all. And now you saw the same thing with Cam Newton. Everybody said, man, Cam stinks. Well,

you tell me a quarterback who's going to look great when your best weapon for the whole year is Jacobi Myers. I don't, I don't see it. And so to me, I look at this team at, at this time right now. And I think any quarterback would be hard pressed to win. All right. You, I mentioned Belichick. I, I would have thought 72 hours ago, the two most out of this world Super Bowl defensive performances,

Belichick was, had his fingerprints all over both of them. The 1990 Bill's giants, like people forget, that Bill's offense, I mean, you know this, it was unstoppable. And Belichick was the de-coordinated for that Giants team. I agree, yeah. Yeah. Now, he did have Lawrence Taylor, but still there's the de-coordinator for that Giants team. They hold him in the teens.

Everyone remembers it's the Norwood game, but the reason it could come down to that is because of that performance. And then, O-1, greatest show on turf. They held him to three points through three-quarters before the Rams kind of exploded for a couple touchdowns at the end. I don't know if this performance by Todd Bowles matches those, but it comes damn close. what do you make of what Todd Bowles and the Bucks defense was able to do to a previously pretty

unstoppable offense? You know, I'd also add the Giants in 07 shutting down one of the great offenses of all time, you know, Spagnolo. But I, you know what? I think, Nick, what is so interesting about the Todd Bowles job in this is that you need to remember that his secondary, the six guys who played the most. snaps in that secondary this year are all 24 years of age and younger. And every one of them has been drafted in the last three years. So this is a secondary almost of tots. You know, as as Todd

Bowles told me last week for my pre-super Bowl column, he said, you know, our guys don't even know, like when they went to Lambeau Field, they don't know what the frozen tundra is. You know, so, so they don't have these sort of built-in memories that make it really hard to teach them or to erase what just happened. And the first time that they played the Chiefs this year, they were awful on defense. And their secondary, especially Carlton Davis was awful. They designed a different game plan. And what I love about Todd Bowles game plan is very, very simple. Andy Reid had a half to recognize that Todd Balls was disguising almost everything. And in a 30-minute halftime,

Andy Reid couldn't do anything about it. And that is when you know you have a great game plan when a fantastic offensive coach like Andy Reid has 30 minutes to say, okay, all right, let's see what we got and let's fix it and couldn't do anything about it. Yeah, that was shocking to me. as someone that's watched the Chiefs my whole life

and very closely since Mahomes has been there and Reid's been there. They didn't, even if they still would have lost, maybe, that they didn't have a counterpunch the entire game. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was coming. I thought maybe it was too late, but I thought it was coming.

It never came. All right, let's leave the Super Bowl for a moment. What's your, if you're a Seahawk fan, what should your level of concern be right now about, Russell Wilson's future with the team? I just simply don't believe that they will trade Russell Wilson, nor should they trade Russell Wilson.

I have no idea what the progress would be if you trade Russell Wilson. I don't see how that's a step in the right direction, even if you get a whole bunch of first round picks or whatever. I think over and over again, it's been proven that a great quarterback, his value is almost incalculable. And if you've got one, I don't understand how you get better by either, like, drafting one because you think he's really good or whatever. I just don't believe John Schneider's going to trade Russell Wilson. We'll see, but I just, I can't see it. I just want to follow up quickly because I agree with you.

I think you're, unless the play, you know, Deshaun is so clearly wants out that maybe he would hold out. I don't think Russell Wilson's anywhere close to that. But even if you're not going to trade him, you also want him to be happy. Do you think he went on Dan Patrick's show today and said, basically, I want a seat at the table. I want to be a part of the decision-making process. Do you think in your experience around the NFL that that makes sense for them to grant him that and that that's something the Seahawks would grant him? It depends on how big a seed at the table that he wants.

Like for instance, John Schneider, you know, who's a great scout, he's the one who drafted Russell Wilson 75th overall in 2012. You know, so, and if you ask for a seat at the table, and again, I heard what Wilson said, and I do understand what he said, but, but let's just make one thing clear. If you ask for a seat at the table, then you have to be willing in this particular case, are you going to watch tape on all the receivers in the draft? Are you going to watch tape on the offensive linemen in the draft? Are you going to do all those things and then say to Schneider, hey, if I were you, I would draft John Doe of Oregon Tech. You know, that those are the questions that I think need to be answered.

I think more logically, I think Russell Wilson saying to John Schneider and to Pete Carroll, listen, we have got to spend some free agent capital or some very high draft capital. We need a long-term tackle in this building right now. And we haven't drafted great on the offensive line. So I think that is probably more likely what Russell Wilson meant instead of saying he wanted a part-time job in the offseason as a scowl. Peter King, Football Morning in America, NBCSports.com. Peter, extraordinary coverage all season, as it is every season. Thank you so much.

Hopefully coming up, you get some well-deserved time off. I appreciate you. 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 occupier Pella 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 part of it. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, 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. Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Wilfridl from PodMeets World. And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. 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.

Again, we are experts. Listen to PodMeets Twirl 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. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.