The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 09/15/2021 - HOUR 2 - USC, Aaron Rodgers

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

More on the head coach opening at USCDespite what Aaron Rodgers has been saying, what's going on in Green Bay is a big dealGuest: Joel Klatt Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The herd brought to you by Jersey. Mike's subs. Be a sub above. Live in L.A. It's the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio FS1. By the way, big brands in sports never die. You know, talk about USC.

Oh, they'll never be good again. Big brands don't die, baby. Alabama was dead for a while. Oklahoma was dead for a while. They don't die. They never die. Nothing's changed. California's where a lot of people want to live.

live. We got a lot of good high school football players. USC's a huge brand. Now, it doesn't mean they're going to get the coaching hire, right? My argument is go big. But, I mean, Lakers are a great example. Lakers were dog meat for five years at the end of the Kobe years. They were the worst team in the league over five years. They had the worst record, worse than rebuilding Philadelphia.

LeBron had a choice of where to go. Get me to L. I'll play for the Lakers. Houston Wanavan, Philly, everybody wanted LeBron. Good teams, good owners, good. He wanted to go to the Lakers. He chose an awful Laker franchise with ownership issues and front office issues and a lousy roster. And that's what LeBron wanted.

And that's where he won a title. Big brands don't die. The Yankees may not have the best manager right now. I don't know. I like Aaron Boone, but a lot of people don't. But it's by far and away the biggest brand in baseball. When they get the guy right, players are going to go. Plan in New York is different than playing in Pittsburgh.

Even if Pittsburgh's winning in New York's losing the fans, the investment. the history, the legacy. It's different in New York and it's different. When USC was rolling, I remember, I worked at another network. I'm not sure what happened to it. But people would come out here and they said, you know what this reminds me of, the Miami Hurricanes. When the Miami Hurricanes and USC were at their height, it wasn't college football.

It wasn't, it was something beyond college football. It wasn't the NFL, but it was in the middle. Alabama's college football. Clemson's college football. Ohio State's college football. Miami and L.A., You go to the sideline. It is rock stars and yachts outside, and it is wild.

Well, in all fairness, that that reputation was fair, that it was a little above college football. I mean, it's the argument about the cowboys. People always complain. Why are you guys always talking about the cowboys? I don't know, because it's the biggest brand in all sports on planet Earth. By the way, opener, Brady against Dallas. The ratings were insane. 25 million Americans watch.

Why? It wouldn't have been, if Tom Brady would have faced half the league, you would have broken all those records? No. Because the big brands do not die. Almost. There's a Nebraska football ain't the same, but most big brands don't die. Because there's something in your brain that is triggered when you hear certain brands. You have a response to it, whether it's positive or negative.

You have a feeling. You remember a feeling. This is a great example. My wife does this. We go all the time. This is one of her favorite. things to do. We'll sit down, pour a glass of Vino, and we'll sit on the couch, and she'll turn on 80s music. And we'll get emotional. And she's like, why am I crying over banana ramma?

No, but the point is, why do we get emotional about music in the 70s and 80s? Because it takes us back. Yes. You remember what Michigan was like with Bo Schembeckler. So these massive brands in sports, there's something about USC. I go back to forget Pete Carroll, I go back to John Robinson, I go Because you remember what you feel. Yes, and sports makes us feel. That's all sports is. It's a visceral connection between what's on the field and fans.

Sports makes us feel stuff. Movies make us feel stuff. Entertainment, I mean, yesterday, Norm MacDonald passed away. I literally was in a funk all day. I got up this morning at 4.30. I watched Norm McDonald's clip for 90 minutes. Because Norm made me feel a certain way. And USC and the fight song and the song girls and the Coliseum. And when they were good and I got Will Ferrell to the right and Jerry Brockheimer and Denzel, you ain't getting that at Auburn.

Not getting that. You're not getting that everywhere. Let's bring in the clattster. Joel Clatt, the voice of college football. What's up? Great to see you. We had a very friendly discussion yesterday. I was eating soup.

You make me feel something. too. You know, you do two with me. I don't know if it's positive. So, okay, let's start with this. I got very little tolerance for this. USC is dead forever. Brands dead. No, no, no, no, no. USC is a top three job in college football, maybe top five job in football. This is a massive moment in the landscape of our sport, our sport being college football. And the reason is is because in the next three to five years, well, three years, really, the PAC 12's television deal is going to get renegotiated.

Thank you. And the reason the Big Ten is making the money that they are right now and the SEC is making the money that they are right now is that the cornerstone brands in their conference are at an all-time high. Alabama has never been more successful in their history than they have been under Nick Saban. Ohio State is as successful right now as they've ever been from a winning perspective and at the top end of college football. Guess what that does for those conferences. It brings in massive dollars. Massive. There were 7.73 million people watch Oregon, Ohio State at noon week two of the college football season. Ohio State is the cowboys of college football. The Pac-12 and the West Coast to a bigger extent are desperate for USC to be the big corner.

It's always been the, this is a massive moment of inflection for this point. And that's what I said yesterday. If they go small, I'm going to drive next to the athletic director's house and pelt his house with, with eggs. You know, Mike and I have history. Mike, Mike, Bone, the athletic director. Mike Bone and I have a little, so I knew him. I played at Colorado when he was the athletic director at Colorado. The biggest moment of his career. By far. Oh, yeah. He's never at a moment like this. No, not, not even close. And he doesn't have a great track record of hiring coaches, by the way. This is not, listen, and this is, Mike understands that I'm about to say this.

If I was picking one guy to make this decision for this institution at this moment in college football, he would not be on a very mildly long list. But this is the position that he finds himself in, and he's got to get it right. He has to get it right. He failed miserably at Colorado when he was hiring coaches, okay? He fired Gary Barnett, hired Dan Hawkins. Fired Dan Hawkins, hired John Embry. Fired John Embry, hired Mike McIntyre.

Then he was fired. The Luke Fickle was a good hire, but remember, a guy played in Ohio, it's in Ohio, it's a mid-major. I mean, it worked out, but it's not like you went out there in a national search and said, oh, I picked this guy, needle out of a haystack in order to lead a program and build it into a national powerhouse. This is a massive deal, folks, for college football. And I think people that just pass it off don't quite understand the enormity of the moment right now for our sport as a whole. I said this. I said this. We don't do car dealers. I mean, it's against car dealers.

dealerships. But the NIL is great. A lot of these even southern powerhouses. I got a car dealership giving a guy something. A sandwich shop. Joe Chevrolete. Okay. YouTube's here. Google's here. Facebook's here. USC if they got rolling. And I said to you, they have 12 players making over a million dollars. Probably. Yeah, that's probably right. It's different here. The world's biggest economies are United States, Japan, China, California, Turkey, you know, then you go to countries. it's different here. So the potential for USC is huge. Let's get to your list. Well, let's start with the philosophy of what this has. And this leads directly into the list then of who you're going to call.

So today we're going to play here. If I'm the AD, who am I calling and why? If you were the AD, you'd never return my call. So I'm not rooting for that. That's by the way, that's a thousand percent factual. Okay. So let's start with the philosophy. Okay. So I've got four pillars to the philosophy that I would use as the AD. The first philosophy is that, I'm sorry, I'm totally blanking right now. Guys that will make me say no. So I got to swing big. The second thing that I've got to do is get a recruiter. The third thing I got to do is get a guy with charisma. And the fourth thing is I think it's got to be NFL DNA. It doesn't have to have to have to have NFL DNA. Here's the list of guys that would make me say, make them tell me no. All right? Urban Meyer, Dabo Sweeney, Lincoln, Riley,

Brian Kelly, and Ryan Day. Call him and make him say no to him. That's right. And I'm not saying that these guys would move or they should move or they will be the next coach. But if I'm the athletic director, I'm the athletic director at USC. So I'm forcing them to tell me no. And in the rare half percent, one percent chance that Lincoln Riley or Brian Kelly says, you know what, I am interested, then I've got to vet that out and at least go down that road because those guys are right now the royalty of college football. No, Nick Sabin's not on that list because he's 70 years old. He's not taking the job. He's not going to take that job. Next round of calls.

The next round goes into the rest of the philosophy. Recruiter's, charisma, or NFL DNA? All right? You're going to hear a lot of Matt Campbell and Luke Fickle. No. They don't fit at USC. Nope. Mario Cristobal is owning the West Coast.

I don't know if he would leave Oregon or if he would leave Phil Knight, but you've got to call him because he would build a juggernaut here. Jeff Hathley, NFL DNA, a head coach at Boston College, and a guy that, in hindsight, was maybe the reason. why Ohio State played such great defense in 2019. Eric Bienemy from Los Angeles, charismatic guy, a lot of energy. He's obviously got the NFL DNA. Josh McDaniels speaks for itself.

Joe Brady, the OC with the Panthers, won a national championship as an OC with LSU. Now he's there with Matt Ruhl with the Carolina Panthers. And then why not Dion Sanders? No, no. Hire a staff around Dion Sanders with a great coordinator, a great offensive and defensive coordinator, a great recruiter. I think he puts you on the map like you can't even believe at USC. Those are the guys that I would call. And let me just say this about the charisma aspect and the NFL DNA aspect. The charisma isn't that your head coach has to be the star of the team. That's a

falsity at USC. Was Pete Carroll a star? Yes. Reggie Bush was more of a star. Oh, he was. Yeah. Charisma means that you've got to be comfortable enough in your own skin to be a star and to have your players be bigger. That's what NFL DNA is and that's what charisma is. Okay, so if you look at these guys that had success and you and I talked about this today and it makes a lot of sense, you've already talked about it. John Robinson, Pete Carroll, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson, Bush Davis. They all had NFL DNA. They didn't have to come from the NFL, but they have a lot of the NFL.

NFL DNA, meaning that you're okay coaching a guy that makes $30 million when you make three. That's a big thing. That doesn't mean they had to come from the NFL, but they saw the world bigger than Insular college football. They liked the NFL. A lot of these guys, like, Davo is not an NFL guy. To me, he just has no interest. I don't think so either.

He's also a control guy. Love him, but that's not going to work in LA. I said this yesterday. L.A. is not a place you can control. You can be Tom Hanks. Two straight bad movies, you're a bum. Just the way the city is. This is not a control city.

Are you hot now? everybody's in. And that may last like Pete Carroll, six years. Yeah. And then they move on. Like the city, nobody owns this city for long.

Like that just, this is not, you know, Tuscaloosa. It's not what it is. That's fine. It's great. Not here.

Okay. Let's go to this. I got a couple issues here. Ohio State now, how long, when I watched Oregon, missing five defensive starters, walk in there and push them around.

Yeah. Okay. That wasn't. There's losses and there's losses. That's a bad loss. Okay. Oregon, from the soft Pack 12 missing five defensive starters, line of scrimmage pushed Ohio State around. That's a problem somewhere deep in that program.

So I think that Ohio State has a lot of soul searching to do. I think they'll be okay on the offensive sign because I do think that that offensive line will be fine. They've got serious NFL talent on that offensive line at Ohio State. The problem is on the defensive side. And Ryan Day has addressed it now and he said, listen, there's going to be changes coming. I will just tell you this, though, it's not just Kerry Combs, the defensive coordinator, although they definitely made some mistakes from a schematic standpoint,

and they weren't adjusting during the course of the game. But the problem was the execution of their players. You talk about just absolutely like getting out of your gap as a linebacker, the corner not falling off on a crackback and becoming the support player. These are like 101 type of deals. And the players didn't do them at all. The safety took terrible angles. He was late reacting.

Oregon also looked faster. They looked really, really good. I think that that recruiting that Mario Cristobal has laid out the last couple of years has come to fruition. They weren't out of place. And then I think it showed up while they gave up 600 yards of offense, Ohio State had to work really hard for those 600 yards. How many times do we see Ohio State gain 500, 550, 600 yards? And it's easy. Why?

Because they get big explosive plays. that the only thing stopping them is the end zone, right? The only reason they don't have 1,000 yards is at the end zone. Oregon tackled them every time. There wasn't explosive plays. They tackled in space. The athleticism of that back end at Oregon, those secondary players, was crucial to the success of that game because they gained over 600 yards of

offense but only scored 28 points. Why? Because there weren't explosive plays. They forced a young quarterback to keep snapping the football and eventually he made a mistake. All right. So a little worrisome, Sark. One game in. Sit down, quarterback.

New quarterback. New quarterback. What do I make? I like Sark, but what do I make of that? Interesting. I think that there's probably way more to this than meets the eye. I also think that when you've got a very thin QB room, which he has right now, really he only has those two guys. And you've got to keep Casey Thompson around.

If he leaves for the transfer portal after the third, third or fourth game. I mean, you're screwed at Texas. So the backup needs to start a little bit, get a little love. He's got to get a little bit of a taste. And what better week to do that than when you get trounced by Arkansas and you can sit down a young kid and have some teaching, teaching moments with him in Hudson Card and then go with Casey Thompson. All right, Oklahoma's going to beat Nebraska. That's your game. Here's what I want to talk about. They have that white out thing, Penn State Auburn. I'll say this, though. You media types, very hyperbott. You're not involved. I am not a member of the media. No. I am a

judge. I'm the judge. You are. Yeah, I render the verdict. I see. On the silliness of Americans. I am America's honesty broker. So everybody in the media is like... Oh, this is hysterical. What? Called facts.

So the media is like, oh, it's a whiteout. Penn State's going to beat Auburn. Homework, journalism. Last six whiteouts, Penn State six and six. Auburn goes in there and beats them. Why? Because the whiteout thing's overrated by the media. Oh, it's so hard to play there.

No, no. No, no. But what about You just said Big J journalism. Tell me about Auburn. What about Auburn? Better quarterback. Bo Nix. Bo Nix is a better quarterback than Sean Clifford. I think that remains to be seen.

I think that Auburn is going to have a tough time moving the football because that athletic defense from Penn State is very good. They have recruits. Talk about recruiting. Penn State's defense is fast. And transfers, too. They've got a couple of transfers on that side. Jaquant Brisker.

His game against Wisconsin was amazing. That interception late. So I disagree with you. I think that Penn State is going to win. I think that the environment one is a huge help, but what does it help mostly? The defense, and that's the strength of the team.

Their coordinators, by the way, one of the best defensive coordinators in the country, Brent Pry, and he's going to have a plan for that Auburn team. Auburn has basically a mid-major head coach. Oh. It's kind of a shot there.

Brian Harson has worked nowhere except for Boise. Everybody works in Boise. Boise, every single coach I've ever had with. Everything works in Boise. So where is it? Brian Harsen worked outside of Boise? That's fair. Listen, if I'm not a journalist, if I don't push back on some of these

wild opinions. That's not a wild take. Okay. Here's another one. Let's circle back. I had a USC question. Hold on. Let me look at it. Hold on. I had a USC thing I wanted to get to you. Let me just throw this at at you right now. I'm hearing this.

You hear this a lot. The media can be really soft sometimes and it just wears me out. Man, you're all over the media today. Go ahead. Well, no, you're, that's not my family. Am I a part of the media? I consider you a top analyst.

Wrong. I'm an analyst. You're an analyst. Just wanted to say you were wrong. Okay. Oh, you know, you fire Clay Hilton after two games. This is classic USC overreacting. And my takeaway is it'd been six, seven years.

Okay, they weren't getting better. Well, and. You had to prevent what Clay was best at, just doing enough to save his job. Like, if you just keep him around, there's a chance they win eight games in a row against this conference. And it's like, well, should we keep him? And like, that's where we've been for three straight December's. Should we? Should we not?

Do we have the money? Well, he's just done enough. You had to prevent that. And as much as this is an indictment of yourself as Mike Bone, right? You fire somebody after two weeks of the season. and you're basically saying, I made a mistake last December. I shouldn't have kept this guy last December or the December before that. But it's also an acknowledgement of this guy's really good at doing the bare minimum to keep his job.

We've got to prevent that. We've got to get away from just enough because that's not good enough at USC. So the minute they had an opportunity, by the way, Clay's first game got blown out by Stanford, Clay's last game blown out by Stanford, my problem with Clay, nothing ever got better. They're just the same. They beat the bad teams. They struggle with average teams and they can't beat the good teams. Now they can't even beat Stanford.

Just did enough. Enough. All right, Clat, very good. Nebraska, Oklahoma. What times that game starts? A noon game. Noon Eastern. Yeah, that's what we do here.

That's a big noon. Have you heard? Yeah, a lot of people talking about it. Big J journalism. Great. 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 like. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me.

Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life. mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because. of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tript Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

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Saturday on Fox. It's a fight to keep pace in the wildcard standings. As Bryce Harper and the Phillies, take on Pete Alonzo and the Mets or the NL Central leading brewers. Hosts the Cubs. Check local listings for the game in your area only on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Defy your age with MDrive. Drive supplement for driven men. Go to MDrive for Men.com. 20% off with the code H-E-R-D.

Mets, Phillies. I feel bad for baseball until the playoffs get here because football is so glorious. that's September baseball, unless you're a diehard, I'm just waiting for the Dodgers to get healthy and win another world series. We'll see. The whole year has been injuries. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, the best or nothing. The Brown's lost the Chiefs 33-29, and some people are blaming Baker-Mayfield's interception in the final minutes. Who would that be? some people. But Miles Garrett has come to the defense of his quarterback.

He said, like I always said, he's going to try and make that play. I'm not mad at him for trying at all. I'm going to ride with him wherever he takes that. So at the end of the day, he's the captain of that side of the ball, and I have confidence in anything he puts in the air, whatever his choices are. He's shown he can make those plays. Well, he can make plays. We'll see if he can make those plays consistently.

He's got six come from behind wins. He can make plays. He's not as athletic as he thinks. but I do like Miles Garrett, the best player on that team, having us back. They have a lot of good players, by the way. Miles Garrett's won. That's a good team. Cleveland, for all the criticism, I have you winning the division.

This is a very good team. And they're not only a good team. They're really built for Baker, which is he doesn't have to carry him. They are going to lead. They're going to win time of possession in almost every game they play. And I can't say that about many teams. Well, because they have an amazing running game. offensive line. And Baker's an accurate

thrower if you give him time. So, you know, can he be a $40 million a year? Mahomesie, Alan, Brady. That's not who I believe he is. But I will say this roster is built for him. Great play caller in Kevin Stefansky.

Great run game. And this is a fantastic offensive line. In fact, I can make the argument. It's the second best offensive line in the last 10 years. The cowboy offensive line when Dak came into the league, that has three Hall of Famers, or two Hall of Famers minimum. I don't know if this has it, but this is, when's the last time we walked into a year and said,

oh yeah, that's the best offensive line in the league? Yeah, it was probably the Cowboys. And then this. We liked the Colts O line, but they got mauled last week by Seattle's young defensive front. Cleveland wasn't winning this game. Andy Reid doesn't lose early. Patrick Mahomes is perfect in September and season openers. It's not a knock.

It was a great game. They lost. There's no shame in that. Nobody goes undefeated, except for the 72 Dolphins, as we've discussed many times today. So it's okay to lose games. You just don't want to lose a lot of them, obviously, and I don't think that the Browns will. I also have them winning the division.

I also think the Brown should pay Baker. Probably going to have to have a little bit more of a team-friendly deal. Yes, I think so. To pay him. Yes. He's made a lot of money in commercials. Give some back and keep your right tackle. Baker's the guy for the Browns for the future.

Like, don't get greedy. You've suffered for a long time in Cleveland. You've been awful for a really long time. You finally have a quarterback. You finally have a defense. You finally have a culture. You finally have a coach. Don't mess it up.

And they have the Texans at home on Sunday and our favorite bites 12 and a half on Foxs. Cleveland's going to blow the doors off the Texans. I don't think you should overreact to what happened with the Texans and Jacksonville. Jacksonville is an ultimate rebuild. Obviously Houston's not a good team either. but that was some veterans taking advantage of some young guys and a young coach, at least in the NFL level in Urban Meyer.

So, yeah, 12 and a half on Foxbet. I don't know if I would go near it, but I would think that the Browns would cover that. So Rod Rivera was forced to turn to Taylor Heineke with Ryan Fitzpatrick on the IR with a hip injury. And he thinks that Heineke has the makeup to handle the starting duties. Well, I think just understanding the game even more so, you know, his importance and the fact that he doesn't need to put himself in harm way. I think that's one of the things if you watch the way he played. He's learning to be patient,

take what's given to him. And I think he has a real good feel for when he takes his shots, too. Well, Heineke said that this is something I've been dreaming about my whole life, being a starting quarterback in the NFL. Here we are. I really try and take it one day at a time, one meeting at a time, one play at a time. I feel like I just live in the moment. Everything else will take care of itself. I understand Ron Rivera temporarily feeling like this is a good, situation because they have a short week against the Giants in division, which they are favored by three, according to Fox Bet. I just, I don't think that this is a good situation moving forward. I would, I would make a trade if I was Washington because your defense is good. You have good

offensive weapons. Not that I don't think Taylor Heineke is a competent backup. It's interesting. It is interesting. So you say you would make a trade. Well, I would have done something in the office. We agree on that. It is funny about make a trade. I'm trying to think who I would trade for. Who is a safe quarterback? Well, this is we talked about.

You and I talked about Teddy Bridgewater to Washington. They didn't make the deal. A perfect guy for them would be Teddy Bridgewater. Tyrod Taylor. But I would also go with someone like Gardner Minshu. Well, it's too late for him too. Yeah. You got to be aggressive.

If you're not aggressive, somebody is. But this is why I didn't understand what Washington was doing. Thank you. Don't get it. I don't understand it. This is why it wasn't high on them this offseason. I like Ryan Fitzpatrick, but this is a very

winnable division. It's the most winnable division. And it felt just very like we've got every, like Ed, we'll deal with that later. You know what it is? It's sometimes like in the NFC West, the Rams, the Seahawks, the Niners, Arizona. They're all super aggressive. The SEC in college football is super aggressive.

Why? Because there's a sense you have to be. Right? Right. Washington took the approach that, well, I mean, we don't have to be great. My takeaway is, no, that is the perfect time to go super aggressive because, let's be honest, in the NFC West, it's like cannibalism. If you don't go aggressive, you just, you have to disappear.

You disappear. In the SEC, if you're going to sit around with Ed Orgeron here for two more years, you get irrelevant fast and lose NFL players at a high school. So we always know in a competitive. competitive environment, you've got to be aggressive. The Western Conference, the NBA. You've got to be aggressive. It's why I don't understand how Green Bay does business.

It's like being really good every year. Because Green Bay maybe thinks we don't have to be super aggressive to keep winning this division because we had Far of an Aaron Rogers. Yeah, they love winning the division. That's their favorite thing to do is winning the division. I love winning the division. I love winning the division. Crystal baths in Green Bay every time they win the division.

Seriously. Like what about Super Bowls? Is that not what we're playing for? Isn't it amazing? Rogers and Farr for like 30 years now. Yes. You've had two Super Bowls. In fact, how many have been to?

Three? It just seems like, to me, it's just... Yeah, they love being really good. They love it. They love being really good. So for 30 years, you've had arguably the best quarterback in the NFL and you've been to... You've won two and you've been to what? Three?

It just doesn't feel... Yeah, they're not dysfunctional. Think about this. Tom Brady has been in Tampa one year. He's been to as many Super Bowls as Aaron Rogers. in Green Bay. In what will now be 17. It's crazy.

Well, you know, this is waterproof dockers. You know, very dependable. We know the Packers are going to be dependable. Do they still sell those? I don't know. Waterproof dockers. I don't know.

It would not be a bad pair of pants for me. I'm constantly spelling stuff. So despite benching Ronald Jones after his second quarter fumble against the Cowboys last Thursday night, Bruce Ariens isn't going to hold it against him. He said Rojo was ready. We started throwing the ball a bunch more.

But he's starting this week. He is ready to roll. So Ronald Jones will be the starting running back for Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They play the Falcons on Sunday. And they are favored by 12. Yeah, I mean, he is their best running back. So they should play him. He's the most explosive running back they have.

He finished with 14 rushing yards on four carries. But that's not really where they need to rely on. Tampa Bay is a very balanced offense, obviously with Tom Brady, so this is in a situation like, you know, Dallas, where you clearly need to run the ball more if you want to translate to winning. Can't have everybody throwing the ball 50 times a game. But don't you feel good about not going with the Falcons and trusting me? Oh, I'm not, listen, I overthought week one.

I tell you, like bears and lions. I'm like, the NFC West has the best. teams. Let's stop betting against them. So it was just a mistake by me. Made more than one in my life. It's all right. Joy with the news. So this morning, here's the way our show works. I come in and they lay out a bunch of stories.

And the staff this morning is like, oh, Aaron Rogers talking. And I spent the whole off season doing Aaron Rogers segments. I'm exhausted. And I've said this. Everybody, I have two things in my life that turn me off from God. I'll just talk about relationships with men. If you're a poor tipper, I'll never hang around you.

If you screw over stewardesses or not stewardesses or waiters or waitresses or something, poor tippers. I've broken friendships off on poor tippers. It's so tacky. Take care of people. Well, it's expensive. Don't eat at the restaurant. Like if you're going to go spend 150 on a food, then tip well. It's the worst.

So I will cancel people who tip poorly. The second thing is high maintenance guys. Can't do it. Won't do it. I need. Be there for me. I'll take you to the airport once every five years. Or if you get sick, I'll take it to the hospital.

Other than that, leave me alone. So Aaron Rogers, I don't know how he tips, but he's gotten incredibly become very high maintenance. Turnoff. It's very Hollywood actory. Look at me, project. I'm over it. But it is a story.

The staff wanted me to lead with it. it and I've gone an hour 47 and not talked about it. So I'm going to address it, show you the bites, have brief thoughts, because it is a story today and it probably led everybody's show. But I tell you, you tip

poorly and you get high maintenance, I'm just not interested. I'm not interested. And he's just crossed a threshold of making stories up and projecting constantly. I'll address it next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays and noon Easter.

9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeartRadio app. He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byard. We have a brand new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes to not only look back at what happened, what you need to do at that minute, and also look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sits, starts, fantasy football players' rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer, on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, and wherever you be your podcasts. 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. Bet it 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to? I do a little kill. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS. on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Marcus by Goldman Sachs, personal loans, fixed rate, no fees ever. Go to Marcus.com.

Learn more. no fee personal loans. So Aaron Rogers talks to Pat McAfee. I know Pat love Pat. He talks to him every week, NFL guys hang out. And so Aaron puts it out there every week and he talks. There's always a comment or two. But I spent so much time in the offseason talking about Aaron.

I think it's boring now. And he's got a quality that wears me out, which is high maintenance, projecting all the time. Look at me. I'm over it. So anyway, he had a couple of things to say. Aaron's got a real playbook on this stuff. Aaron is always denied, deny, deny, deny, relax, no big deal. And then months later, Aaron controls the narrative and acknowledges, yeah, it was way worse than everybody thought.

Like when he went to the Packers, went to the podium and sat there for 20 minutes when he came back and detailed all his complaints the previous six months. It's denied, deny, deny, deny, then he can control it. And then when he controls it, he acknowledges, I don't like this. like that. I argued about this. I argued about that. It's a playbook. Everybody's got a playbook. That's Aaron's playbook. So here's the first comment from Aaron after that ugly loss against

the Saints. A game like that allows all these speculation to come into play. Should we have played in the preseason? You know, should we have done this? Should we have done that? And we got to deal with it because we just got our asses whooped. That's fine. Right now

we're taking on the chin, which we should. And pretty soon it'll be flip. Nobody's speculating anything. Nobody. I'm not, nobody in the media is speculating anything. We are just connecting the dots. You know, media people are a little like detectives. We get sources, we hear things, we get evidence. You literally were odds with your front office all off-season, and you had the worst performance of any team in the league. You're a reigning MVP. You're in the NFC championship. I mean, if Bruce Ariens and Brady fought all offseason and Tom Brady had three points

and looked awful against the Cowboys, do you think we wouldn't cover it? The ultimate compliment is you're Aaron Rogers. Of course we cover it. So nobody's speculating anything. Literally you and Devante Adams on Instagram put up the last dance. You're driving all this speculation. You're feeding the speculation. All right, here's the second bite.

And it was one of those days. You know, if I thought long enough, you're going to have one of those. We had one of those last year, too. So we've had a couple rough ones in Florida, unfortunately. But, you know, I got a few. The few text messages that I did get went something like this. Hey, there was a team that lost 38 to three last year to the Saints that won the Super Bowl. It's like, okay.

Thanks for that. I don't know what kind of lining that is. You're just like, you know, trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit there. Okay, that's not analogous at all. Tampa lost 38 to 3 to the Saints. The Saints last year were A viewed as a Super Bowl team, like a high-end team. We were in a raging pandemic. Tom had no camp, no practice.

He was doing secret practices at a local high school. They had no preseason. He and Bruce Ariens literally see the world completely differently offensively. New playbook, new coordinator, new coaches, do everything, new receivers. You bring everybody back. The Saints are at least in semi-rebuilding, and you were worse than Tom last year. Like, it's not analogous at all. Tampa losing 38 to 3 last year, and this Green Bay team all know the plays, all know each other.

No division between Lefleur and Rogers. They clearly work together very well. they've gotten two years they've worked together. Literally it's a perfect marriage. People are saying it's perfect. What Matt likes is what Aaron does. It's not analogous. Okay, that's, it sounds like it, right?

38 to 3. This is not the same Saints team and not the same situation. So I'd like to say again, we're not doing anything. Aaron now has a playbook and the playbook is just relax, deny, it's no big deal. And then months later, it comes out off. driven by Aaron's actual words is, yeah, it was bad here. Remember when he stepped to the podium? Like, we knew it wasn't great, but he stepped to the podium for 20 minutes and literally

listed 10 players they should have retained. It's a laundry list of he wanted to help the Packers and overcome their mistakes. So this is his playbook now. Relax, no big deal. The media is making stuff up. Nobody's making anything up. Nobody's speculating at all here. We just, this is what we do.

we connect the dots. You know, I mean, by the way, you know, prime example, you know, of connecting the dots is Mike McCarthy has a history of being an average coach. Dak was hurt. And there was a story in the camp where Dak wasn't throwing the ball particularly while he had a shoulder injury. So watching Dak in that first game, it was really important. What does Dak look like?

and DAC was great. But we would have let our show. If DAC was 12 for 32 and couldn't throw a deep route, I would have spent all day on, we got problems here. I'm an investigator. I look for evidence. So there was a lot of evidence. This DAC thing ain't good.

Zach Martin's out. And Dallas and DAC were terrific. And so speculation. You know, we're sitting there waiting for stuff. That's what we do. We have all these stories. We connect. And then the games happen.

And we want to see, like a prime example. Urban Meyer, week one, disaster. I mean, we expect him to lose, but we're going to look for over the course of 16 remaining weeks. Will Jacksonville like week four get better, week eight? And if they don't, because Urban's never been interested in the NFL until now, then you look and go, wow, maybe he's a college coach and not a pro coach or whatever. That has nothing to do with the USC job. It's just we're going to look for things because the clues tell us.

Urban never showed any interest in the NFL at all, and college guys that work in the NFL generally have an interest in it or were position coaches or coordinator. So that's all we do in this business. We look for clues. You know, Baker's not been a good come from behind quarterback. Clues. Doesn't mean it's true, but it's clues.

So when he loses again, he has two big drives late against Kansas City, three and out in a pick. It's like, okay, we're seeing now, maybe he's not that guy that can do the come from behind stuff. By the way, a lot of quarterbacks can't. But 12 do really well. Most of the rest of the guys don't come from behind. That's all we're doing here.

Nobody's speculating. Nobody's lunging. And I'll say this. The media gets up. And by the way, the media has agendas because the media is of human beings. And we all have biases. I have them. But I would say this.

Mondays, Joey and I joke about this, Mondays or overreaction Mondays in the NFL. Almost every single sports person, man and woman I watched Monday was cautioning everybody to not overreact. Like, don't go crazy with the Texans or the Eagles. The media, I think the sports media does a much better job of contextualizing stuff than our political media, which is just S show on Twitter every day. And I think overwhelmingly the media Monday looked at the Green Bay thing and said it doesn't define them, but when you connect it to the off season, it's something.

It was embarrassing. Nothing is everything. Everything is something. You'd a really loud offseason. And he said it. Like they came out with no energy. Why was there no energy? Yeah.

It's week one. You spend a lot of energy in other places that might be part of it. Well put. And the Saints are not an awful team. Like we think they're rebuilding. They have some steps to take. They're moving on from their Hall of Fame quarterback. But they're still the Saints.

They're still well coached. It happens. Maybe New Orleans is better. than we think. Maybe. That's not overreact. That's not. 38 to 3 over Green Bay, but it is possible.

My two clues from that game are New Orleans, maybe a little better than we think. Right. And Green Bay lacked energy and it was weird and is probably at some point it didn't help that the quarterback fought all off season with his front office. Just throw it out there. I don't think it's crazy. Hour three. Next. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smiley. and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say. Yep.

That's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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. on The Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to Look Back at it on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.