The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 11/25/2020 - HOUR 1 - Arians, Brady, NCAAFB

Episode Date: November 25, 2020

Bruce Arians and Tom Brady are complete oppositesPeople need to stop crying about BYU being left outBelichick and Brady needed each otherGuest: Doug Gottlieb Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 IHeart Radio app by searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a thanks. Giving Eve. To Wednesday, live in Los Angeles, this is The Hurd, wherever you may be,

and however you may be listening. Fox Sports Radio and IHeart Radio, no television today, blazing five in one hour. I only do about one of these shows a year now, maybe two, where I go back to my roots and do radio-only shows. This is where Joy and I started.

Not together, but I was on the West Coast. She was on the East Coast, where I did radio only. She's wearing a hoodie. And I'm wearing a shirt I wouldn't even wear on in public. But that's okay. We'll put all our stuff on digital today and have fun. And these are really rare opportunities for me.

Like this is what I did in Portland or did in Tampa. And I don't get to do this much anymore. So I love doing these shows, even though I know my audience won't be quite as big because I don't have FS1. But Joy is joining me. And Joy, how are you? I'm great. I love radio days.

And actually, weirdly, these are easier for us to do than it was yesterday. Oh, hell yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yesterday is all sorts of technology and crap. It's so weird. Stuff's going in and out. This is way easier. No, it is way easier.

And it's also a little looser show. I'm not going to get into the reasons why we do a show the way we do. But it's a loose fun show. And just thanks so much on this Wednesday. It's the last day in Los Angeles. A restaurant can be open, which breaks my heart. I still can't figure out how I can sit next to somebody. for five hours on a plane coughing on me,

but I can't be 10 feet away outside, eating next to them drives me nuts. But that's the rules in the state I live, so there it is. So cross my fingers, order out for the next three weeks. When restaurants are closed, I made a pledge. I'm going to order out every night and support local restaurants. Please, if you're listening in America, do all you can to support restaurant owners and employees

who are being punitively punished during this like no other industry. You know, the airline's got to bail out financially. The airlines are still running restaurant owners and employees. And I'm not picking on governments here. I'm just saying we need these people in America. Many are going to be losing their jobs right before the holidays. And it makes me sick to my stomach. And so instead of attacking politicians, I'm going to do something about it, which is order takeout every night for three weeks.

Blah, blah, blah. I'm off my soapbox. Thanks for joining the show. All right. So let me start with this. You know, they always say, opposites attract. They never say opposites make for great marriages. No, they're attracting to each other.

I like mob movies because it's a dark side of humanity that I could never do. But I'm attracted to it. But the saying is opposites attract. It's not opposites make great marriages. Bruce Ariens and Tom Brady, to be honest with you, are opposites. Bruce likes a good cocktail. Tom doesn't drink during the season. And that's just the beginning of it.

Now, they're both talented enough that they'll win nine or ten games. But yesterday, Arians talking about Brady's interceptions. It's always about the deep ball. Tom was never about the deep ball except the Randy Moss years. Ariens is always about the deep ball. And he was talking about that yesterday. We've had the guys open. We just missed them.

There are times when coverage dictates you go to that guy. So I think we can do a better job. utilizing the deep ball in our game plan more of or less of. So each and every week's so different. But when they're there, we need to hit them. We can't have them going off our fingertips and we can't overthrow them. Okay, Tom Brady was never known as an elite deep ball thrower, except for a couple of Randy Moss years.

Ariens' offense is all about the deep ball. So guess what? They're not really a perfect match. If you ask me, who would be perfect with Bruce Ariens? I'd be like, oh, Big Ben, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rogers, Josh Allen, okay? He's not perfect for Tom Brady. He's not. And if you ask me who would be perfect for Tom Brady, I would say, oh, Belichick efficiency details, Sean McVeigh, Sean Payton.

The reality is marriages can last when you're not perfectly suited for each other. but I could argue these guys are opposites. Let's do word association. I like to play this game all the time. I'll do this with my wife. If we have an argument, let's just do word association to clarify the argument. Brady, intense, workaholic, driven, details, precision. Clean living.

Ariens, loose, gambler, casual, outspoken, not clean living. I mean, they're literally the opposites. And again, opposites. attract. I get that. Opposites don't always work in a long-term marriage. And so, you know, it's like there's a difference between bakers and grillers. Brady's more baker. You got to be precise with baking. I mean, I've made cookies before and just put a little too much butter in, and it's a mess. Like they're flat on the pan. You have to follow precision with baking. That is Brady. He is into precision.

Grillers, it's different. How's it look? You poke the meat. As it look. How's it feel? Maronades, dry rubs. It doesn't have to be exact. And so Bruce Ariens, though talented,

he only has one division title in his career. I think precision coaches win more. Belichick, Sean McVeigh's got two division titles. He's 34 years old. I have always said, prefer precision Aaron Rogers over loose and talented Brett Fav. So my point being, these guys are talented enough to win nine or ten games. But if you really do word association, everything Ariens talks about is always about the

deep ball. That's never been Brady outside of what he was in his prime with the first or second best receiver of all time Randy Moss, who nobody could guard, nobody could cover. And so, you know, I just look at this thing and I think it's imperfect. They're opposite. opposites can work, but it's not, the term isn't opposites create long-term successful marriages. That's not what people say. All right.

Secondly, the college football playoff rankings, the first rankings came out last night. Alabama 1, Notre Dame 2, Clemson 3, Ohio State 4. Shocker. Bama Clemson and Ohio State are in the top 4. Listen, I'm in the media, but I'm not always of the media. A prime example. Texas is in Texas. But if you've ever been to Austin,

it's not of Texas. It's very liberal. It's party. It's fun. It's music. I have a place in Park City, Utah. It's not of Utah. It's loose. It's fun. It's a lot of Dallas money, L.A. money, a lot of partying.

You know, when I look at college football, I am in the media, but sometimes not of the media. The media needs to stop arguing that BYU got ripped off. They're not in the top four or five. Shut up.

BYU's got two NFL players and they're two deeps. Clemson's got 41. Ohio State's got 38. Alabama's got 44. Stop it. It's a dumb argument. Folks, this playoff has been around for six years. Bama Clemson or Ohio.

Ohio State have been in it, one of them in every year. Watch recruiting. Yesterday, Ohio State in the last week, got the number one quarterback and the number one wide receiver in the country. Nothing against BYU. Nothing against the, you know, years ago, Hawaii. Can we stop with this, when I look at the media making this argument, I'm like, I'm not even part of the media.

I know I'm media. I'm not of the media. Stop it. I follow recruiting. Ohio State would blow out USC by 30 points right now. And USC has significantly better players than BYU. And I'm not saying BYU wouldn't beat USC because I think they have a good coach and they have a great quarterback, blah, blah, blah.

But we got to stop this argument. Oh, I can't believe this team and that team and this team and that team. Folks, college football in 2020 has become women's basketball 10 years ago. There's Yukon, there's tennis. and maybe Stanford or Baylor. Like it was nothing against women's basketball, but like you knew who the final four was. And maybe there'd be one outlier. That's kind of what college, I love college football.

I talk less college football than I ever have. It's become very repetitive. It's become, and that's not a shot at women's basketball, but it's become women's basketball 10 years ago. There were like two programs that were overwhelmingly favored, maybe three. And then there'd be a new team every year in the final four with virtually no chance to win. I think Notre Dame is really well coached. But I do think if they played Clemson again, neutral field, Trevor Lawrence is there. They lose by two touchdowns.

In six playoffs that we've had two of the three, Clemson, Ohio State Bama, have been in every playoff. And they will again this year. There's not a lot of diversification in college football. I mean, I've told friends this out west. The PAC 12 needs to add Oklahoma and Texas. Or they're going to disappear in five years. They just have no television expose. They've got to go and do the best job of recruiting ever.

Texas, Oklahoma, in the PAC 12, have a, and by the way, the big 12 is a two-team conference anyway. The PAC 12 is better academically. The West Coast, the economy's better. Come out West, Texas, Oklahoma, make it a super conference. But everybody's going to argue today. And I love college football, but everybody in the media is just making too much out of these annual arguments about does this team deserve to be in with Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio.

State. Stop it. Stop it. The reason Notre Dame is good now and they weren't 10 years ago isn't just Brian Kelly drawn up plays. He's a great recruiter. They've got NFL bodies all over their offensive lines. They have four NFL offensive linemen every year at an NFL tight end. They're winning the recruiting war. I follow it. Why is USC not as good? Because they can't keep the best kids in Southern California like they used to with Pete Carroll. You know who's going to compete for the national championships every year in college football. You know when you know it? February 3rd.

That's national weather. I mean, it's the same thing in college basketball. Do what's the recruiting? Now, there's occasionally an outlier in college basketball like Gonzaga, which has like one NBA player and a bunch of borderline guys and they're juniors and seniors. But college basketball is unique. In college football, everybody's got juniors and seniors, right? Like, like, it's not as, you know, in college basketball, Gonzaga has an advantage.

They play a bunch of 19-year-olds sometimes. Now, they're more talented 19-year-olds, but they're kids. Alabama's got plenty of juniors and seniors with great kids. So, but, you know, these arguments about BYU. And again, nothing against BYU. I've watched BYU for 40 years. They've always had a great program. Zach Wilson is terrific.

But you're, what are you smoking? None of these teams, Cincinnati, BYU. Listen, I have Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern on today. He's a great coach. I think the Bears should give him a call if things don't work with Nagy. But I mean, Northwestern, every third year, they have a little pullback year because their academic standards are higher. It's private.

You know, it's hard. It's harder to win at Northwestern. So when they win nine or ten games, it's like Pat Fitzgerald should be coach of the year. I can make an argument in college football. Pat Fitzgerald. is second to Nick Saban as the coach of the decade. They win 9 and 10 games all the time. At Northwestern, a tiny private school with bad weather.

So sometimes media, I'm just over these poor blank school, not near the top four, eight, eight. Enough. Enough! College football now is Ohio State Clemson, Bama. And occasionally, then there's a couple of like Notre Dame, Georgia, They're darn close. Florida this year is darn close. But they're not as good as those three. They're not.

I just, I have so much. I don't even, I don't even need the tease the next story. I'm just going to talk all day. It's going to be splendid. I don't have to play by any TV rules today. Doug Gottlie, Pat Fitzgerald, Lesney, the GM of the Ram stops by, and Joy Taylor's here as well.

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. Somebody just tweeted me. How can you say the California, West Coast economy is better than, like, Texas? Folks, Silicon Valley, Texas is a blip economically to Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley right now, four companies, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Microsoft. Those four are bigger than the Canadian economy.

The biggest economies in the world, we're number one. I think Japan's two or three. Those four, I think, are neck-and-neck-neck-with- Japan. just those four Silicon Valley companies. Our economy, the Dow Jones growth, the last 10 years, is really five Silicon Valley companies. That's all it is. That's what it is. 90% of the companies on the market aren't growing much.

Silicon Valley used to be Wall Street. Silicon Valley runs America's economy. Tech. And the companies, the young companies that haven't exploded yet or just did, like Zoom, are the next wave of it. TikTok, the next wave of it. So it's nothing against any other economy. Silicon Valley now for the rest of our lives will all be controlled by two things. The Supreme Court and tech.

Everything else is commentary. Trump got a conservative Supreme Court. Big advantage for conservatives who run Silicon Valley, liberals, big advantage for liberals. We're going to be a 50-50 split on elections for the rest of our lives. We're going to have a Supreme Court for a long time that rolls right and a Silicon Valley that moves left. And by the way, I'm okay with it. I like gridlock. Just don't let politicians get in the way of my life.

I'm good with gridlock. Good to have you in. Joy Taylor is joining me, Doug Gottliebren. There's a story this morning, Brady and Belichick. Ben Volan wrote this of the Boston Globe. It's New England-based. He said, forget the debate. It's clear.

It wasn't Brady or Belichick. It was both. Neither is as good without the other. And it's interesting because this is generally true of all divorces. right? Like outside of Hollywood and actors, people don't get married for an hour usually. There's value in the marriage, even during the divorce.

There's things that you were connected with and you made each other better. And most marriages end after 7, 8, 10, 12, 15 years, right? They don't end after like eight weeks, except in Hollywood. So I think you can make the argument that Brady and Ariens

probably don't win a Super Bowl. Brady at 43 is too inconsistent. And Ariens DNA as a coach is too inconsistent. And unless Belichick lands one of the top two or three quarterbacks and hands the draft over to somebody else because he clearly has too much power, that he's not going to win another Super Bowl.

So now, that doesn't mean they both couldn't. And I'll give you the example. If Belichick does land like a Zach Wilson, they'll probably end up with a ninth or tenth pick and they get a Zach Wilson at BYU. And he's great. And Josh McDaniel's an excellent coordinator and Zach Wilson, they connect.

And Belichick's still a great coach. The defense is really good. And they eventually land a receiver or two in free agency. Then they could win. And you say, well, how, and right now, how could Brady win? Well, nobody is bringing this up, but I think it needs to, I'll be the first guy to bring this up in America and people can react to it probably harshly. Anybody considered Bruce Ariens would retire after this year? Because Brady would basically go to the GM and say, this guy's got one division title.

This is too loose. I mean, Bruce Ariens already retired once. He's had health scares. Tampa Bay's got one of the biggest coaching staffs in the league. Why? Because he doesn't want to grind like that. Belichick's got one of the smallest. Why?

Because he likes the grind. So Ariens has retired. Ariens with health issues. Ariens is driving Tom Brady nuts. I could see very much after the season, Ariens saying, it was fun. I made my money. I want to go back to hanging out with my wife.

He's very much a lifestyle guy. And Brady's saying, get me one of these young smart guys. Give me Josh McDaniels. bring him down from New England. I totally see that. So I'm not saying Belichick and Brady couldn't win, but in the current circumstances, New England's not going to get Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields.

They're not. So, and Belichick's got way too much power in the draft. They have struggled mightily drafting offensive players. Just look at the numbers. Teams like the Saints never miss. Teams like the Patriots on offense outside of the offensive line seem to always miss. But if Belichick gave up some power in drafting and got the right quarterback, they could win

again. And if Brady got a coach who matched his personality more, they could win. But right now, like all divorces, there's a reason you got married. Brady and Belichick needed each other. Ben Volan, Boston Globe read the story. Joy of the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Well, the Ravens have lost three of their last four games and are out of the playoffs right now. And getting back in the wind column would be a challenge this week because they face the undefeated Steelers on Thursday in what feels like the main course of the day. It feels much bigger for Baltimore than Pittsburgh. Oh, it absolutely is. Pittsburgh is undefeated. They can handle a loss. Baltimore cannot.

But tight end, Mark Andrews is confident. and his team can turn things around. He said, people are starting to count us out, and that's fine. Our back is up against the wall. We've got a lot of good character guys in this team, and they're going to fight their way through this. Now, they are in kind of a tricky situation because they're going to be missing Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins tomorrow.

And Gus Edwards is going to be the starting running back. They are both out with COVID. So that presents a huge challenge for the Ravens, obviously, and considering that it's a short week, But this is a must-win game for Baltimore. I really don't know which way to go on this. I think the line was... Four and a half.

It's four and a half now on Foxbet. I don't know where to go with that because it's a vision game and the Ravens are desperate. Well, this is something that's important. These teams historically, it's always close. But I think I told you yesterday, the COVID running back situation, that's why this year has been... Listen, I've been doing football for 15 years. I've never had a losing season. And I've never had a season like this.

where I'm like 4-1-1-4-1-4-1-4. This is a prime example. You don't have COVID in any other year. What am I supposed to do when your top two running backs are not available suddenly because they test positive? Like, I don't know. That's what's made this year so difficult. That's why even Vegas and odds makers, it's, I don't know. In the history of this division rivalry in the last 10 years, it's not even a question.

You would always take Baltimore plus four and a half. That would be a no-brainer. Division games are always more. Everybody knows everybody's personnel. So you're not going to fool anybody in division. But this year, with those COVID problems, I didn't make it one of my blazing five picks. And this is the division game for the AFC North.

Like this is the game that they always, both teams always get up for. If they can get a win against the Steelers, the schedule does ease up a little bit for the Ravens. They have Dallas, Cleveland, Jacksonville, the Giants, and Cincinnati left on their slate. So if they can get this win on Thursday, they can get back on track. But this feels like the season for the Ravens on Thursday. So Zechio Elliott hasn't put up the numbers.

We're used to seeing him put up this season. But he's coming off his best game so far with a season high, 103 rushing yards. And Stephen Jones is expecting things to only get better for his start running back. He said, I think it's just a matter of him getting in the right situations at the right time. But I do think Zeek still has it. He's been real close a couple of times. And I do think it's just a matter of time before he puts up. some big runs.

This game usually would be a much bigger game as well, Cowboys and the Washington football team. I think I'm going to go Cowboys in this game. But again, with this division, I really feel like the only value in winning this division lies with, to me, the Giants and a little bit with the Cowboys because they're going to stick with Mike McCarthy. So maybe at least it's a little bit of a,

a culture building block that they won the division, even in a crappy division, without that. So they can kind of just, you know, maybe slowly start to build some sort of winning atmosphere if you want to look at it that way. To me, the most value lies with the Giants because they are legitimately trending upwards with the quarterback they're going to have next year and the coach. And the Giants defense is really good. So like, you could see the Giants winning this division at 7 and 9 and then being a huge underdog in the playoffs. because remember, what always travels well in football is good defense and good coaching. And you could see them going on the road against the division winner and making it as a big dog and making the game incredibly ugly and close.

I watched them play the Rams earlier this year. They gave the Rams offensive line more trouble than anybody the Rams of face this year. Like they just couldn't block. So the Giants, you know, there have been teams in this league that are 8 and 8 or 7 and 9. they win a division and we've pooh-poot him. Carolina once years ago with Jake Delome, Seattle beat the Saints. There are teams that have injuries.

They're not great teams, but you wouldn't want to play them in the first round of the playoffs. Yeah, and I don't feel that way about the Eagles or the Washington football team at this point. I'd love to play the Eagles right now. Yeah. So, speaking of the Eagles, they are staying committed to Carson Wentz

as their starting quarterback when they take on the Seahawks on Monday night, but some of their opponents are rooting for a quarterback change. In an Instagram post, ESPN analyst Jordan Schultz asked Should the Eagles give the keys to rookie quarterback Jalen Hertz

and TK Metcath and DJ Dallas of the Seahawks both replied with an emphatic yes They would love to see that They're going to stick with Wentz as they should. They are going to give Hertz more snaps. He has talked about that Doug Peterson and at this point why not they should they should you know dabble in that

He'll get more snap and by the way if they lose four more in a row they'll probably go with Hertz. I mean, seriously, I would. I'd say, like, listen, last three starts, what do I got with a kid? Why not? I mean, you might as well. And if anything, he looks good.

He's a trade piece. Because you have to stick with Wince. He's too expensive to move off of him. Oh, you're trapped for two more years. This year and next year, you're trapped. There's no way to move off of him. He's 3, 6 and 1 record this year, 58.4 completion percentage,

14 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, and 10 fumbles. It's just unbelievable stateline for Carson Wins. And I don't know how things get better, at least this year, for him. Yeah. Good stuff, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News.

So Doug Gottlieb is joining me. I was saying this earlier, Doug, about word association game. If you do a word association with Brady, Doug Gottlieb now joining me, has his own show, 3 to 6 Eastern Fox Sports Radio. And then you do a word association game with Aryans. It's not that they're not the same guy.

You can argue one guy doesn't drink. One guy loves a cocktail. One's precision, one's loose. One's not a big risk taker. One is defined by risk-taking. And it's not that they can't win, Doug, but could you make the argument? This was never an ideal fit. It's a nine-and-seven fit, but big Bannonarians are built for each other. This is not a great fit.

You mentioned it's like relationships, right? And this is very much like a relationship where opposites do attract. Like the idea of an opposite makes you think, yeah, that'll work. and then when you start living together, like, wait a second. That's not my jam. I mean, look, do you know the Yiddish term chutzpah? Oh, yeah, of course. Okay.

So for people who don't, it means like nerve, gall, if you will. I mean, Bruce Arons had the chutzpah to, you know, twice say that he's a little, maybe a little confused by coverage and it doesn't make any sense he's missing these throws in games. He's not missing, you know, the deep throws in practice. Now, look, even if that's true, You're going to say that about a guy who's won six, two or balls and been in nine, and I'd be confused by the scrimmage. Well, this is a complete opposite of how he's always played.

He's gotten rid of the ball so quick that you couldn't get him off his spot. Super frustrating for defenses forever in New England. He just got rid of it so quick. That's not what Bruce does. And so, yeah, this is one of those opposites of track. I'm sure Brady's sitting there thinking, man, they got all these great, talented players. You got a quarterback guy. we'll figure out a way to work it out, even though we see the world differently.

And then you get into it, and you start to understand why the Edelman, why the Rishay Caldwells, why the West Welkers. Those were his main targets, guys that may not have the athletic ability of a Mike Evans, obviously Randy Moss notwithstanding, but they understood to be exactly where they were supposed to be, exactly when they were supposed to be there. And he could read a defense and get rid of it quick and just nickel and dime you down the field. That's what he's done for the last decade, and you're asking an old dog to learn new tricks, and it just doesn't feel like long-term. It really ends up in a Super Bowl.

You know, when I was in my career, I don't know why this sticks in my mind. I always wanted a clean ending to my career, like an Elway, Jeter, or Johnny Carson, where I have a great last show, and then I'm done, and I don't want to be doing Winnebago commercials. You know, I don't want to be doing that. I don't want to be selling cleaner. duct tape on TV. And it's not a shot at people that have, but I tend to be dug a minimalist in life. I like clean endings. I just do. And I look at Brady and I think to myself, I wish he just would have retired. It would have been just so clean. But I get it. You live in a tunnel. I mean, you're walking, talking commerce, people talking into it. But I look at it right now and I'm like,

wouldn't it have just been better if you just wrapped it up and just said, tip of the cap, I'm going to go run my global business. It feels like there's so many ugly stories every five days about Brady. Yeah, I think the problem is, you know, Peyton couldn't even throw and won his last game, right? And

John Elway was not nearly the quarterback he used to be and he won his last game. And you kind of talk yourself into it. You sit there going like, look, we won with nothing in New England two years ago. We were competitive last year at very little.

You know, you just start to kind of convince yourself. I mean, you get, you get greedy. You know, you wouldn't be, he wouldn't be Tom Brady if he didn't believe in himself and believe that he had kind of superpowers. And, you know, he kind of, I'm sure his life wanted him to retire years ago. And you just fight it because never again in your life are you going to have 10 eyes on you, 52 other guys, you know, depending on you to lead a team to a super. And if you win seven, you know, you pass Jordan and, you know, you're the modern-day goat of all sports.

So you get greedy towards it. So, yeah, I'm with you. I do wish that, you know, you would just drop the mic when he won his last Super Bowl. You dropped the mic and say, done, it's good. Perfect ending. Beat the Rams. But that's not the case. By the way, can we give a little credit to the Rams?

I know. The way in which they demolish Seattle is the way in which they really. really wrecked havoc on Tampa, which is the same way that the Giants beat Brady's Patriots and the Super Bowl. The ability to get to the quarterback rushing four doesn't necessarily confuse them. It just makes it a whole, very, very different.

And what they've kind of rebuilt and reconfigure changing coordinators, all their coordinators are under 40 years old. Really, they've done a great job with the Rams rebuilding themselves, and they're a team that doesn't have to blitz and they still get to the quarterback.

Yeah, no, the other thing is, have less need on later. They have done such a good job drafting wide receivers and secondary. Their secondary, Doug, Jalen Ramsey is such a big corner. Well, God, when you're in a division with DeAndre Hopkins and D.K. Metcalfe. And by the way, Debo Samuel, you can just put him on that island and just say, take him out. And maybe, you know, they didn't know they were going to, when they got Jalen Ramsey, they didn't know Seattle would draft D.K. Metcalf.

But God, he is just, they have just, you know, you got to give credit. Some teams draft well, some teams don't. The Saints draft incredibly well. Less need, receivers, D.Bs. He's hit it out of the park. He's just going to. Look, they've done a really good job. And if there was a weakness to that defense,

it was in the linebacking core. And guess what? You don't use your linebackers nearly as much as you used to, right, with many of these teams. So if you can have a weakness, sometimes that's something you can cover up. Look, they made a, they made a ballsy trade to go and get Jalen Ramsey,

who was a pain and, wanted to get paid, and you know what, it worked out. And, you know, last year they had some holds in the offensive line and replaced it with youth. That's come together. They fixed Jared golf. You know, you go back a couple weeks ago, Jared golf was bad against a little double-A gap blitz, and he got better as well.

So they've coached him up. They've drafted well. They made some huge swings as far as trades. And, oh, yeah, by the way, let's be honest. The running backs are a lot better. They got rid of Todd Gurley, who was a malcontent, who there was questions about his work And they got guys back there that run hard and get that extra yard. The whole thing seems to be coming together.

And it's not crazy to think the Rams could get back to the Super Bowl after a year in which they're 9 and 7 last year and seen as a disappointment. Yeah. No, I watched them the other night and I'm like, you know, I'm not sure. I'm not sure they have a big hole. Like everybody else outside of this, you know, the Saints don't throw the deep ball, the Steelers don't run the ball. But Rams, almost everybody in this league, Green Bay is a good team.

They can't play physical football. Colts are a good team. Low ceiling. Titans are a good team. Seattle, you struggle with the back end of the defense. Doug Gottlieb joining us. I want to spend a few minutes on this. We got about three minutes left.

I want to spend it on this. A year ago, at least I did, I thought, Lakers, I don't know, Clippers. I really like their direction. Then Montrez, Harrell, Landry, Shaman, are gone, bench isn't as good, new coach, chemistry issues. And here you have the Lakers. All these guys taking pay cuts. Anthony Davis may take one eventually to get Janice.

One of the Morris twins is going to take less. I'm starting to watch all these guys coming to the Lakers take less. And literally what a difference of championship makes. I really feel like, Doug, this morning, the Lakers are back on top, and they've kind of separated from the clippers. Are you on the same page? Yes and no. I think we've got to be really careful of cementing who we think the clippers are.

you and I discuss this a little bit on air and a lot off there. Everyone who is in the bubble told me like, Clippers do not want to be here. It is not a good side. Yeah, you told me that, yeah. Right. I mean, it just, the Lou Williams thing was just a, you know, was just a microcosm of the macro, which was going on there.

So I do think that the clippers are better than they looked, and they're trying to reconfigure their chemistry. I still believe they need a point guard, and they don't have one. I don't think you can win a championship of Pat Bev. as your starting point. But whatever. The clippers are kind of a, let's just see what the painting looks like when the artist is finished. But for the Lakers, I mean, like, look, what was the big thing when Magic was there?

That any time they were thinking about doing something, there was always a story from Brad Turner that covered the team or some of it. There's always a leak. It's not just that they pulled off these moves. It's that there have been no leaks, right? You haven't seen it coming. and I think Rob Polinka has smartly kind of adjusted and metamorphosed himself into a really, really good GM. And yeah, you get these older players like a Marcus Sol.

Look, as long as he, I think he'll love his role and understand his role. The question is those older players, do they break down? I love the upgrade with Dennis Schrooter. Now, we don't know how he'll play in a big playoff series. You still wonder how they'll replace the shoot. Danny Green looked washed up. got rid of that contract, which was smart, but can they replace that shooting? But otherwise, yeah, I think they've done a really, really good job.

You know, it's going to be different outside of the bubble, but the big thing was that that Lakers team was really tight and really good culture. And I do think that veterans around the league, they respect that, they like that. They're willing to take a little less money to play for a professional organization that's run the right way and it's only about winning. and that's what LeBron, Polinka, the coaching staff has all put together. You know, the other thing, Doug, is once you win a championship, LeBron and A.D. now, everybody's going to fall in line. I mean, nobody's going to come in there and disrupt, because A.D. now is a made man. Yes.

And so it's like, man, that championship, that builds a wall around A.D. and LeBron. And I think, Joy and I talked about this, like, those guys seem to hit it off faster than D. Wade and LeBron did. Like five games in, you're like, oh, this is perfect. Well, because, you know, LeBron and Dwayne Wade had, they had been kind of superstars and both had one champion. Well, I mean, Dwayne Wade had won a championship on his own. Whereas Anthony Davis, I think he knew, he was topping out in New Orleans. He knew he needed LeBron, and LeBron knew he needed him, right? Whereas previously they both seen a way to succeed, Wade and LeBron, without each other.

So I think therein lies the difference. But a big portion of it, LeBron was willing to sacrifice his ego, understand where his body is. And really, like, he's, A.B. is basically his comptus sigliary, right? LeBron knows what he wants, pumps up Anthony Davis. And then Anthony Davis, it, like, leads the rest of the team, whereas LeBron just kind of works through Anthony Davis. And that's the way it works. We're way late. Doug Gottliebys on after us.

I can't do the Turkish. No, I have to read spots. It's very popular show. I've got to read these spots or my sales people, school. scream at me on text. You said, I don't want to be the guy that reads spots. I know. I just, it's nothing.

You know, like, flex tape guy? I don't know. My kids love flex tape guy. I got to go. See you, buddy. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Rec tech. Nothing says holiday cheer like.

Rec tech, smart grill technology. Precision cooking from an app. Grill it right this holiday season. Rectecke with a Q.com. Blazing five. top of next hour. So I'm one of those people. My wife has a family with a culinary background.

But I like doing dishes. And the reason I like doing dishes, Joy, is because I don't, I like clean endings. I don't want to wake up in the morning with a sinkful of dishes. It stinks. And it's harder to get off, you know, your pizzas and, you know, all your sauces and stuff the next morning. They sit there overnight. And I think a lot of this is just the way, and we're all different this way. It's not because I'm Mr. Clean, but I like clean endings.

I like the meal to be wrapped up. We clean it and we go to bed and the house is clean. Whatever. Are you the same or different? I'm not as particular about it, but if it's a big meal, yeah, I can't do it with all the dishes everywhere. I do it while I'm cooking. Okay. So that it's done.

All right. So I read a story this morning about Tom Brady. Is he the sorest loser of all time? because he didn't shake Jared Gough's hand. And what I get from the story is this is about the 12th bad Tom Brady brand story. Now he's a bad sport. Now he can't win games. Now he's a system quarterback.

And I think that myself, one of the reasons, and one of my idols in this business has been Oprah and the other has been Johnny Carson. And I love the way Johnny Carson ended his career. Last show, Bet Midler, I think it was. He still got ratings. it was a great last show. He was still funny in his last year. And then he, and then he ends. And he disappears. You don't see him on infomercials. Like Johnny's done. He's playing tennis. And with his wife, now may have been his fifth, but that's how he ended. In Malibu, playing tennis, had a production company fiddling around. And I'm like, that's how Jeter ended. That's how Elway

ended. And I wish Brady would have just called it quits. His brand is clean. Clean living, clean playing, no mistakes. That's his brand. Good dad. Like it's a clean brand. Like Brett Farf wasn't. Brett's the gunslinger. Brett's hard living.

Southern hard living. A lot of fun. Came into the league, partied too much, played and made too many mistakes. Brett Farb's great, but his brand wasn't clean. Brady, I think I like, I would love to have had a clean ending. Just lose to Tennessee and just say, have a press conference, emotional, and just say,

I had the best football coach of my life. I can't get better. I had the best owner of my life. I can't upgrade over this. I can't do any. That's what I've always, that's what I want to do. I want to literally, my last show, we're still relevant, we're still funny. It's still sold out.

We still get a number. And I'm like, Joy, I'm going to go golf. And we both have enough money put away that we don't have to, you know, we can do DoorDash twice a week. That's how I want it to. All right, hour two, Blazing Five. Coming up next. One more herd.

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