The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 12/15/2020 - HOUR 1 - Lamar, Browns, offense

Episode Date: December 15, 2020

Lamar Jackson found a way to win last night stop picking apart his gameThe Browns are better without OBJ and they need a better defenseMore proof this is an offensive leagueGuest: Peter King Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ah, here we go on a loaded Tuesday live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, Fox Sports Radio, Iheart Radio, FS1. What a pleasure it is today. One hour from now, my herd hierarchy, I thought I was getting hate mail last week. Cannot wait for it. Pack show. What a game.

last night and Joy Taylor is joining me. What? How much fun was that? It was unbelievable. That's just so much fun. Top five Monday night football game all time. We deserved that in 2020. We did. We really did. Bad beat though. Cleveland's always going to come through in some way. I was going to make it happen. All right. Let me start with this. Well, you know, you just keep telling me what Lamar Jackson can't do. And then my eyes keep telling me that's what he is doing. I thought he couldn't throw. I thought he couldn't come from behind. So you're either in the camp that I'm in, which is the dude is special. It's not always pretty, but I love him.

Or it's not going to work. So let me give you an example. Philip Rivers has won 56% of his games. He's the worst athlete at quarterback in the NFL and has been for most of his career. He's got a decent arm, good, not special. And his judgment, not great, led the NFL in picks twice. 56% of his games. Many of you argue for him to be in the Hall of Fame.

Lamar Jackson is the single fastest athlete to ever play quarterback. Nobody looks like him. Judgment is actually pretty good. He doesn't make a lot of terrible throws. Now, his arm is below average. But he wins 79% of his games in a really good division. And you guys are telling me, this isn't going to work. I mean, this is not going to work.

You keep telling me no and I keep seeing, yes, I'm all about special. Six to seven times last night. Minimum, Lamar Jackson did something you cannot duplicate in the NFL. No other player can do what he can do. And I'm saying six or seven times. He did two of them back to back. Baker Mayfield had a good night. He didn't do a single thing you couldn't duplicate that Mahomes couldn't do,

Russell couldn't do, Alan couldn't do, and Baker played well. It's not a criticism. But you can duplicate that. I can find that on the market. Lamar Jackson's had back-to-back plays at one point in that game. I'm like, in the history of football, the only player that maybe could do it is Michael Vic. Maybe.

Are we into special? His quarterback rating last night was 116. Now, I've heard this before. He cannot throw. No, no, I watched football. Tim Tebow couldn't throw. Couldn't throw. at one point was fourth on the Denver prize the first round pick was fourth on their quarterback depth chart

Colin Kaepernick had no touch swing pass he was thrown a 99 mile an hour heater I have watched Lamar Jackson go 10 for 10 against the Colts defense in the second half at Indianapolis and win and I watched him last time I thought he couldn't come from behind oh I guess he can they trailed he came in cramps threw him out there the game change Oh, there's also these things. You all love DAC. There's not a lot of special, but you love the intangibles. Lamar Jackson is a leader.

His teammates love him. His coaches love him. He's coachable. He's not defensive about his criticisms like an Aaron Rogers. He like embraces it. Like, I know it's not pretty. I know the slow-mo version of him throwing a football is not exactly NFL films. It's hide your eye stuff.

It's like, oh, this is painful. And he misses some open throws. but he is so unique and so gifted at so many other things, I don't get the argument. Tebow's career passer rating was 75. Kaepernick's was in the 80s, and you defend him to the end. Lamar Jackson's passer rating this year is 95, and you're all complaining it's an off year. It's at 95. And that division is arguably when Joe Burrow was healthy, the best division in football.

He didn't get a lot of days off. Philip Rivers also, who some of you argues a Hall of Famer, didn't start until 25. Lamar's 23. We're not seeing the best of Lamar. He keeps getting better and better and better. Listen, I always said this about Mike Tyson. When you're a boxer and you scare other heavyweight boxers,

Tyson was totally flawed. At the end of his career, he didn't even jab. But you pay to watch Tyson. Tyson was special. scared other heavyweights. Lamar Jackson, have you ever known a pro athlete? Have you ever been around a pro athlete? Like, I've had a few pro athlete friends, and like you play a pickup game with them.

And like the football player among a bunch of basketball players is so much better than everybody else on the court. Much like Mike Tyson scared other heavyweights. Lamar Jackson makes other professional athletes look so much. stupid and so inept and so slow. You love Philip Rivers, terrible athlete, iffy judgment, decent arm. Lamar's the best athlete in the world. He has good judgment. It looks like crap. A lot of times it looks terrible. But he's got touch. He could come from behind. I don't get it. If you didn't see, by the way, the reason Baltimore won, they trailed when he came back from cramps,

Let's give you, if you didn't see the game winning kick, here it is. Morgan Cox for the snap. Sam took the hole. Tucker's kick is traveling down the middle. It is long enough. It is good. And with two seconds left to play, the Hayes in the barn. And the Ravens are on path to make the playoffs with an unbelievable comeback.

It's fun. All right. Now, let's address it from the Cleveland side. And it's not about Baker. Well, not really. So a lot of you are saying, well, I mean, Colin. I mean, Lamar was great in South. But Cleveland's defense is terrible.

Yet the reasons for Cleveland's defense being inept, especially in the back seven, is that Cleveland has such a sad and embarrassing history of whiffing on quarterbacks that when John Dorsey and Cleveland drafted Baker, Mayfield, a reach at number one, they created an overspent to build a fortress around him to ensure he would look okay. So when they signed this contract with OBJ, I said at the time, why he doesn't want to be there? You're spending a fortune on Jarvis Landry. Why are you doing this? What are you doing? Last night, they dropped 42 without OBJ. The offense is better without him. When they signed Austin Hooper at the time the highest contract for a tied-in, I said, I like Austin Hooper. But they had David In Joku, and they went out and drafted a tied-in in the fourth round who won the award for the best tied-in in the country. Why did you go have to spend for

Austin Hooper? So you have OBJ and Austin Hooper neither played last night, and you scored 42 points. That ain't the problem. The problem is Cleveland's back seven, doesn't have any players. Folks, they overspend so much on the offense. There's a salary cap in this league. The Browns spend $5.5 million on a swing tackle. He doesn't start 5.5 in Chris Hubbard. He's a swing tackle. That's more than they pay anybody in the back seven.

That's why your back seven's terrible. They pay their backup quarterback, Case Keenham, $6 million. That's more than anybody in the back seven to sit and watch the games. Cleveland self-esteem is so low at quarterback. that they've built this incredible all-star fortress of receiving and tied-end and offensive line and running back town around him to ensure, see, we told you, that wasn't a reach, he's really good. And that's why you're not a Super Bowl team. Your defense in the back sevens awful.

There's guys back there that are not starters in the NFL. It's awful. So it'd be one thing if it was just, you know, like Baltimore's got a good defense, but their secondary, which is their strength, was all banged up last night. And you can say, but Baker, Baker looked good. You know when Baker started looking good last night? When the Baltimore secondary got hurt. You know, when Jimmy Smith got hurt,

Marcus Peters got banged up, came back, was never the same. So you can blame the Cleveland defense, but there was no reason, no reason to bring an OBJ. He didn't want to be there. You already had a star receiver. Wide receiver and weapons were not your issue. And though I like Austin Hooper, I liked him, but then you drafted another tight end and you had David and Joku, and he didn't really need it, but he is good and I like him.

But OBJ and Austin didn't even play last night. You dropped 42. And the reason you lost the game is because you're not spending any money on the back seven. And when you lead football games in the NFL and the AFC and you're going to face Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes or maybe a Derek Carr and you lead a game and you need a stop, You ain't going to get it in that defense. So I thought Baker was fine. But I think this organization, to overcompensate for him, you can't babysit Baker. Josh Allen has an average offensive line.

He still wins. Lamar Jackson has below average wide receiving talent. He's still winning. They're trying to create this perfect offense to ensure Baker works. And in the process, they've overspent it tied end. They've overspent it wide receiver. They're not even spending any money at running back right now. They're going to eventually have to pay Chuck, Nick Chub, a fortune.

And he's probably going to be worth it. So, you know, this is what I always say. There are certain, like, cities in America, they have low sport self-esteem. And to ensure Baker isn't a bust, they've built a fortress. But that back end is a bunch of low-earning, average talent guys. Stop babysitting Baker. Nobody's got a perfect offense outside of Patrick Mahomes. Like, nobody's got one.

He's got at some point win games with an average O line, with OK to below average receivers. Because Lamar Jackson did last night. He won a football game, and it's a bad receiving core. It really is a bad receiving core in Baltimore. All right. You know, I always, I've got so much stuff today. Heard hierarchy top of next hour. Great news.

could not be better news for Aaron Rogers. And I am Mr. Optimism, Mr. Glass Half Full with Aaron Rogers. Tremendous news for Aaron coming up. 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 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. Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skis. hits, 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,

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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 a little Kim? 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 you're just so you. 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. So, oh. Thank you for 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway 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 Fantine, Ryan Clark.

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Discovery Plus streaming service brings you the great collection of real-life entertainment from your favorite brand plus exclusive originals. Discovery Plus. U.S. only a new streaming service. Peter King around the corner, a herd hierarchy, which I don't know why I love it so much. I don't know. It's just the top 10 list. Nobody cares, right, except me.

And so we do it every week. And for some reason, people freak out over it. It is great to have you in. So Albert Breer wrote a column. And we've got to give Albert, who comes on the show every couple of weeks, credit for this. This is something that was out there, but he wrote about it. And he talked about Mike Shanahan is one of the great all-time coaches. And I tend to be a believer in, it's not just about you in life. What is your legacy? What do you leave? Andy Reid's coaching tree is amazing. Mike Holshin, Bill Walsh's coaching tree. Mike Shanahan's is just unbelievable. And Mike Shanahan, the legend, was in D.C. a few years ago, an RG3 won rookie of the year with Mike Shanahan. And on that staff was Matt LaFleur, now come. coaching Green Bay, Sean McVey now coaching the Rams, and his son Kyle Shanahan, very successful coach in San Francisco. And Mike runs, it's kind of the Shanahan offense. It's a zone-blocking,

a zone run scheme with some West Coast principles. It's very complex. And the key to it is year two. So it takes quarterbacks a year to figure it out. In year two of this system, Jared Goff with McVeigh got to a Super Bowl. In year two, Matt Ryan with Kyle Shanahan got to a Super Bowl. In year two, Jimmy Garoppolo with Kyle got to a Super Bowl. In year two with Matt LaFleur, Aaron Rogers is having by far and away the scariest season in the NFL. He's just great, you know, at everything. And this is the offense that John Elway had, and in year two of it, Elway went 13 and 2.

By year three, Elway won the Super Bowl. By year four, Elway had won back-to-back Super Bowls. So that's why we try to add context to this stuff. And Albert Breer, go read his column, did a great job. Some of this stuff is just hard. We don't have a preseason. We don't have camps. You know, if you go look at Tom Brady's numbers this year,

he's set to blow away all of Tampa's historic quarterback numbers, and we're all crushing him. So, Goff, Matt Ryan and Shanahan and Garoppolo in year two got to Super Bowls. Aaron's better than all of them. And in some cases, a lot better. Year two, Matt LaFleur, absolutely on fire with the Mike Shanahan system. And what is also amazing is that the Washington football team had Sean McVeigh, Matt LaFleur, and Kyle Shanahan in the building at the same time.

I may have wanted to retain one of those guys. Nothing against Ron Rivera, but it is an offensive league. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Colin, there's a lot of conspiracy theories floating around out there in the world today. Yeah.

And you propose conspiracy as much as it's a theory about what Bill Belichick and the Patriots might do. Week 17, they play the Jets. Week 17, to stick it to the Jets. If they lost to the Jets, the Jets wouldn't get Trevor Lawrence and Belichick wouldn't have to face him in division. The Jags would get him. Well, he's remained committed to Cam Newton as a Patriot starter so far. But Jared Stidham did get some action last week against the Rams. So once again, Belichick was asked about the possibility of making a change at quarterback.

Talking about Stidham going into this game, it was a little bit different than maybe in that Chargers game when he was 45-0. But he was putting that game at 10 minutes because he felt like he gave you the best chance to come back and win in this game. Is that right? You know, want to give him an opportunity to play. So that's what we did. Would there ever be a situation that you would be open to playing both guys, Stidham and Cam? Kind of like the same.

That's not where we are right now. So, yeah, we're out there now. Okay, so that's the key. We're not there right now. The word is now. If somebody went to you and was something, Joy, and people thought, you know, Joy may do this or that. And somebody said, Joy, are you going to do this?

And you're like, well, I'm not there. Now. That basically the now gives you the opportunity. You're not held to it. You're not culpable. You're not beholden anything. Right now, I work here. I do this.

I'm willing to go there. So Belichick is setting up a week 17 start Jared Stidham. The door is open. Now. That was not a conclusive statement. Thank you. you might be on to something there. The current draft order is the Jets

still have the number one pick. Then the Jags, and the Bengals, Chargers, Cowboys, Panthers, Falcons, dolphins via Houston, Eagles and Giants. Chargers have a lot of talent to be picking forth. I mean, they had a very, very rough season. I know, but God, they got a lot of players. And they got the

quarterback right. So, I mean, they could trade down, but seriously, with the Chargers, how many players can make the roster? I mean, outside of offensive lines, they may look out and get that Penae Soule, that left tackle. If the Chargers get him for Herbert and he gets the best left tackle prospect in five years, wow. Well, the Bengals, Chargers, and we're assuming the Cowboys don't need quarterbacks. So that's three of the top five.

But I would say this. The Bengals and the Cowboys, Joy, could benefit from moving down and getting multiple players. The Chargers couldn't. Right. What they could benefit from is getting the best left. left tackle for 10 years to replace Justin Herbert. Okay, so the first two teams taking quarterback. The third team should take Penae Sewell.

That's exactly what the Chargers need. This could work out. I mean, if the Bengals trade down, if someone's going to trade up in the drafts, they're not going to trade up to get a left tackle. They're going to trade up to get a quarterback. So if someone trades with the Bengals at the third spot, that makes it perfect for the Chargers.

They don't have to move, and they can get him. I could argue the Bengals don't need the left tackle. They have Jonah Williams, the kid from Alabama, who's a terrific player. I got to tell you something. When you look at the Chargers, what do they need on that roster? A left tackle to protect Herbert for a decade.

Wow. This draft's going to be something. So the Chiefs moved into the top spot in the AFC with the Steelers' loss of the bills and with only the one seed getting a buy this season. Patrick Mahomes knows how crucial it is to hold on to that position. It is important. We believe that no matter what's happened,

we would have a chance to find ways to win football game and make our run. But obviously, to be in the number one, now, I mean, you've got to make sure you hold on to it. Get that by. Make sure you have everybody healthy. Everybody ready to go. And then in the AMC, you're going to play a great team no matter who you play.

We're excited for it. We're excited to be able to control our own destiny. So their remaining schedule is at the Saints, Falcons, and the Chargers. The Steelers remaining schedules at the Bengals, Colts, and at the Browns. But even if the Steelers win out, the Chiefs would only need to win one of their remaining NFC matchup, so they'd have to beat the Falcons or the Saints and beat the Chargers. Week 17 to clinch the number one seed. So they basically have to go two and one,

but they obviously have to beat the Chargers. Steelers, obviously, we're going to assume they're going to beat the Bengals. And the Colts and the Browns are not gamey games. So this is looking like it's set up for the Chiefs to get the number one seed, which makes things so different for the Steelers this year. Because not only is that buy very valuable, and there's only one of them, the Steelers' buy week was a long time ago. So they're going to have been playing game after game after game,

after game with no rest and then have to go on a playoff run. Also, Joy, who's the best coach in the NFL off a buy, Andy Reid? So good luck to the team that faces the best team in the football off a buy with maybe schematically the best coach we've had in 20 years, Andy Reid. Yeah, and it's set up for them to do that. So Mike McCarthy's first year with the Cowboys was a little disappointing. There's been some speculation that they might not stick with him and he'd be a one and done.

But Stephen Jones put any rumors about that to rest for Dallas in 2021. No, there'll be absolutely no change with Coach McCarthy. You know, if you look at his track record and his pedigree, he's consistently won year in and year out. And we have the utmost confidence that this ship is going to be riding quickly. And Mike's going to be the leader of this group. And he's certainly a great head coach. This morning, Jerry Jones also said it was ridiculous to think that they'd be making a head coach change. Now, in fairness to Mike McCarthy, since the buy, Goulet, I know you're a hater on the Cowboys,

but since the by, they've been a limited team based on offensive line injuries and Andy Dalton. But since the by, they've beaten Minnesota, they've beaten Cincinnati, they gave Pittsburgh a real game. Let's be honest, let's be fair with the Cowboys. There was pre-bye, fire everybody, post-bye, you're like, well, if you put Dak and a healthier left tackle, you win eight, nine games. Since the by, they've only been blown out twice. John, you always go to the negative. They've also got a win over Minnesota, a win over Cincinnati? Well, he isn't his first year.

He lost his franchise quarterback. Thank you. It's a COVID year. O-lines a mess. The O-lines a disaster, and so is the defense. Now, you could argue that he's responsible for any side of the ball being a mess. But he can't control DAC. You can't control COVID.

If you look at the coaching records for teams with first year coaches, Kevin Stefansky's 9 and 4. Ron Rivera, 6 and 7. Joe judges 5 and 8, and Mike McCarthy and Matt Rule are 4 and 9. Now, when you look at the situation with Matt Rule, you know, you could argue maybe he should have more wins, but we knew they were going to struggle this year. Okay, but McCarthy lost his...

Yeah, yes, he lost that. Yeah, okay, so I... Let's just, McCarthy's going to be here. I had no thoughts at all that they were going to move on from him, even if DAC had the entire season. It's just, that's really not how organizations should be running. Like, you need more than one year to establish anything. And I mean, now listen, if they're winning three or four games with Dak,

maybe you have that conversation, but I still think he needs more time. And they're going to give it to him. Yeah, it's fair. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. You know, I was thinking about this this morning when

my wife sometimes we have a lot of kids and so we talk a lot about kids and I always have this rule I was just talking to a really good friend the other day about this as I say whenever you have issues with your kids and there's just you can't have five or six kids and they're just all perfect like they're little humans

they you know their brains are forming and whenever my wife kind of gets really concerned I always say would you have signed up for the current situation 10 years ago. So I'll give you an example. Let's just say, not saying this happened, but if it did, one of our kids got caught smoking pot.

And my wife would be like, okay, this is, and I would say, time out. If I'd have told you 10 years ago, we got six kids. We live in California, the most liberal state in the country. And one of our kids may have smoked a joint. I'm just going to tell you as a dad, I would have signed up for that. there's a lot worse stuff. So I always have that kind of rule as a parent is I made a lot of mistakes as a kid. But I think if you'd ask my mom, would you sign up for a goofy kid who loves sports and one time almost blew the house up?

But it was a pretty good kid. He got B pluses. My mom would have said, yeah. So the Tom Brady thing. Everybody is freaking out. So I just want to remind everybody on this Tom Brady thing. if I would have said this before the season, he is on-paced,

the throw for 37 touchdowns, 14 picks, 4,300 yards, 96.5 passer rating, and a 65% completion percentage, and go 11 and 5 or 10-and-6. Would you have signed up for it with no pre-season for a 43-year-old quarterback? Tom Brady is on, he is on pace.

Tampa Bay has been around since 1976. It is now 20, 20, 50 years of a franchise, right? He's going to set their passing touchdown record, their passer rating record, and he's probably going to go because they play Atlanta twice and Detroit once. He's probably going to go 11 and 5. Let's just say 10 and 6, they split with Atlanta.

Context, context, context. In fact, I was thinking about this this morning, is that because he's Brady and we tend to overreact on Mondays or after. after stand-alone games. We all freaked out about that Chicago loss. He's screaming at teammates. They had 13 penalties.

So I thought to myself, okay, let's go back. What have been the five craziest losses in the NFL this year? The first one was week one when the Jags in a tank mode beat the Colts. The Jags haven't won since. So the Jags beat the Colts in week one. And we were all rightly thinking, this is nonsense. This is not the NFL. The Jags have not won a game since. In week five, the Raiders go to Arrowhead and beat Kansas City.

In week eight, the Bengals beat the Titans and actually kick their arse. In week 13, the Giants with Colt McCoy go to Seattle and beat them. And this weekend, Jalen Hertz beats the Saints. Tom's not even in one of the five crazy losses. Context. They went on the road to Chicago, a team that just blew out Deshawn Watson. Crush them. And they lost by one to the Bears, again, with a bunch of new parts, against a very good defense. We've got to slow down.

Like, what Tom is doing, we would have signed up for. I think Tom would have signed up for. Tom, you're going to throw for 37 touchdowns, 4,300 yards, and go 10 and 6 or 115. Privately, Tom Brady would have signed up for that. He would have signed up for it. Peter King now joining us Football Morning in America. Peter King, NBCSports.com brought to you. I'm Mercedes-Bens, the best or nothing.

So I am in the Lamar Jackson camp. He wins 79% of his games. He's the best athlete in football at his position. He has shown he can come from behind. And my argument is we defend Philip Rivers for years, who was the worst athlete in the league at the position, had sometimes spotty judgment, and had a good arm not great, and won 56% of his games.

And there are people that will argue he's a Hall of Famer. My argument is Lamar's having a down year as passer rating is 95. I thought he did six or seven things last night, Peter. Nobody in football could duplicate. Nobody. I love the kid. I think he's got passion and spirit. But there are those who still question him.

This morning, how do you feel about Lamar Jackson franchise quarterback? In July and August, and I had this conversation with somebody with the Ravens, I said, man, I don't feel good about sort of the way that I think Lamar is going to play, which is to run 10, 12, 13 times every week, 8, 10, 12, let's say. And this guy said, this is what Lamar does. I think, you know, basically, I mean, I don't remember exactly, but I mean, it was basically, we don't want to neuter him, okay? And so last night, I watched that game, and I said,

Lamar Jackson should play like this. Yeah. He should take off. Yeah. Because he is a weapon unlike anybody, unlike Russell Wilson, unlike Mahomes, unlike Taysam Hill, I mean, unlike anybody, even unlike Deshawn Watson. And the reason that he is is that he can be a blip on the radar screen. He can make people miss who are right in front of him.

And so I think last night showed me that, I mean, look, last year, I think it was kind of fluky that he led the NFL in touchdown passes. I don't know that he'll ever do that again. But he needs to play with his legs. He's not only an exciting player, but he is a winning player with his legs. Yeah, thank you. He's a winning player. You know, it's funny. Not everything also.

I've talked to this about friends. Not everything lasts a lifetime. You know, you don't marry everybody a date. I mean, let's say he lasted seven years. Seven years of Lamar, he got hurt. Like, winning 79% of his games, I'll take that for seven years over 14 years of average. Not only that, Colin, but think about this. Think about it this way.

Okay. If you told Lamar, stay in the pocket. We only want you running three times a game and only when forced, okay? do that and you're going to last 13 to 15 years or who knows, maybe even longer, or you could be relatively speaking a meteor across the NFL sky and be at the peak of your game for 10 years. What would you take? Easy.

I'll definitely take the 10. I'll worry about 2030 in 2030. Or 2029 for the draft. I believe I think Buffalo The history of the Steelers in Buffalo is not that different except one won all the Super Bowls they were in

and the other one had lost it but they're both proud franchises that have won it had a lot of great players and I said the other day watching the Steelers bills it was like watching the Steelers 13 years ago Ben was in like year four he was taking off the coaches from William and Mary defensive coach

and he may not be the best young quarterback there was this kid named Manning and Tom Brady. But I got to tell you, when I look at Josh Allen and Sean McDermott, I honestly think this morning that is a top three. I don't think I'm hyperbolic. I think it's a top three franchise for the next decade in the NFL. That's how strongly I feel about Buffalo this morning. Your thoughts?

Yeah, I don't know. Top three, we'll see. I think they've got to do something first, Colin. And again, I think right now that Josh Allen has got a good chance to be a Jim Kelly type force in the NFL. But again, look, I'm a little hesitant of, you know, handing Buffalo, this title, that title, and every other title because they haven't won anything yet. They haven't want anything basically in 25 years. And again, I'm not holding that against them. I just want to see it. You know, I want to see what happens in a huge game in January. That's when legends are made.

That's when great franchises are made. Jalen hurts. Let's say he goes, I think they're going to lose to Arizona, but let's just say he won. He beat the Saints. He's got three games left. He goes two and one. So he ends up being three and one, but he completes 61% of his throws. You know, it's more run than throw.

Do you have a solution or a problem in Philadelphia? What do you make of what happened this weekend? I think that I want to, at the end of this season, Let's assume that the Eagles don't make the playoffs. Okay? And at the end of this season, what I want to do, if I'm Doug Peterson, if I'm Howie Roseman, if I'm Jeffrey Lurie, I want all the emotions to die down for six weeks, okay? I want everybody to go away.

I want everybody to think. And then February 15th, a week after the Super Bowl, let's have either a meeting or a Zoom meeting. you know and if if we can let's have a meeting and discuss where everything is and what everybody wants okay and by that i mean if if in that meeting carson wents says i want out i absolutely want out make the best deal you can for me i'm not going to be a good guy if you don't trade me okay well and i don't think he would do that but who knows i don't know what'll happen And, you know, if I'm the Eagles at that time, I have to determine whether I want to take a pretty

major cap hit in 2021 and go with the kid who's making nothing on the cap and go with the kid and basically try to do the best deal I can for Carson Wentz. And that's probably the way I do it. To me, Colin, I think the team that would be most interesting and the most interested is Indianapolis. It makes all the sense in the world. Reunited with Frank Reich. It's in central Indiana. Everything is nice, calm, and cool. And there's not a WIP there. Sports radio is just obnoxious. Okay, finally. I think I would vote Aaron Rogers MVP. You could make the argument for Mahomes. I think we'd kind of know where that's at. Let's go coach of the year. I do not

remember a year where there's more legitimate candidates for coach of the year. I love what Sean McDermott's doing. I just, I think what they have done to Josh Allen is amazing. I think I'd probably go McDermott. Do you have a coach of the year this morning? Yeah. I love that pick because I think the one thing I really, I always say about these awards is that there are 16 game awards.

We have 1316th of the evidence right now for this award. So all you can do is say if the season ended today, who would I, vote for. Two weeks ago, I would have said, number one, Mike Tomlin, number two, Stefanski, number three, Brian Flores. Today, there's a good chance I would say Sean McDermott, although I want to see if Mike Tomlin gets them out of the muck in the mire. And if the Steelers can come back, I don't mean like this week in Cincinnati, okay, but I mean, you know, finishing off the season in style, winning week 17 at Cleveland. If they can come back and play well down the stretch, there's a good chance I'd still go with Tomlin.

Good stuff. Peter King, NBCSports.com. Pro football Hall of Fame on that committee since 92, a member of the board of selectors. As always, Peter, great seeing you. Thank you, Colin. I do think he makes a good point. Indianapolis is just less yelling, more calming. Nothing against Philadelphia. Why we love Philadelphia is the passion,

but maybe it's engulfing a young quarterback, Carson Wentz. It's just engulfing him. All right, coming up next, why something about last night really, and maybe Baltimore and Cleveland fans will hate hearing this, and it's a compliment, but it doesn't sound like it. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd,

weekdays at 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 I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 Jek. 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 there's a through line We also have AIDS

on the table right now so that you're finishing that sentence and 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 podcasts

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway 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, or 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, as 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 hard way and listen now. Sometimes, just do something that's fun.

So I am going to just spend a minute on here a story time with your favorite uncle, Uncle Colin. So John, if you could, let's have a story time with Uncle Colin. Some story. So years ago, my kids are small. And I used to work at another big sports company. I don't know what happened to them. I've heard it's not all good news. Anyway, there was an amusement park right next to the company I used to work for.

It was called Lake Compounds. It was predictably awful food. They bragged they had the world's oldest roller coaster. It was wooden and it hurt to ride. I'm gangly and tall. It was painful. At least once an afternoon it would get stuck at the top. And you'd be up there like, oh, this is not great.

My son loved it. So we would go like three times in the summer and eat crappy food. and they had this pirate ship that had water flying everywhere. It was so unhealthy. But yet, I knew it wasn't Disneyland, but I felt like a good dad every time I went. Like, I'd drive home. I'd look at my son. He was sunburnt.

He was soaked. His teeth were rotting because of the cotton candy. But I felt like, that was a good dad moment. I always slept well that night. All right, the story time's over. It didn't really go anywhere. But the point being is sometimes fun is good enough. Just last night was fun.

These are not Super Bowl teams. They're not. Cleveland has spent way too much money on offense. Their back seven is atrocious in a conference with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. You could outplay the Chiefs and the Bills and lead by 14. And you couldn't hold the lead with that defense. And Baltimore today is not a playoff team. Both may make it.

But I'm watching that last night and I'm like, This is kind of a mess. Quarterback leaves. He's got cramps. I mean, let's be honest, Cleveland's offense started looking good when Baltimore was having these secondary issues, which their teams really built around. But don't compare this.

Remember a couple years ago, we had the Rams play the Chiefs on Monday Night Football. But those teams were both 9 and 1, and those teams, we were talking about a Super Bowl preview. with Mahomes and Goff and McVey and Andy Reed, 9-1. It was a wild, and that game was better than this game because it just was. This was two good teams. One may not make the playoffs, neither has a shot at a Super Bowl.

And I think Baltimore has a better shot because Lamar. Lamar just does stuff nobody else can do, and Lamar can, you know, would it be the craziest thing in the world if Lamar Jackson goes to the playoffs, they get in week 17, out of a buy if they play Kansas City, and Kansas City's a dog a little tight, and Lamar goes nuts. And all of a sudden, one or two fumbles by Kansas City and Lamar Shortfield and you lead and all of a sudden he didn't have to play from behind. But like last night to me was I was sitting there watching. I'm like, this is just a top five circus on Monday night football ever.

It was a circus. It was, I mean, everything. It had all the elements, the comeback, you know, Baker and Lamar and you're seeing stuff you'd never see in the cramps and he runs out on the field and he saves the day. But like Uncle Colin's story about Lake Compounds, the wooden roller coaster wasn't that safe and it hurt to ride. Somebody could have really been injured seriously. They weren't and we all take a deep breath on that.

But it was more about feeling like a good dad than it was feeling great riding a wooden coaster. Did I say this? Hurt to ride. Rec Tech Grills. RecTech for the Q.com built by. grillers for grillers. Stainless Steel built. Heard hierarchy next.

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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 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. 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 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, 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 Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrating.

So let's get to it. 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's podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.