The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 12/18/2020 - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: December 18, 2020

-Justin Herbert is providing the Chargers with clarity, don't screw it up-Jon Gruden just isn't a great coach-Drew Brees named the starter vs the Chiefs-Patrick Mahomes may not have an easy path to the Super Bowl much longerGuests: Albert Breer, The MMQBEric Mangini, former Jets & Browns Head Coach Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversation. 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 IHeard 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.

Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for The Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherg on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a loaded Friday live in Los Angeles. It is the Hurd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, Fox Sports Radio, IHeart Radio, FS1.

It is a pleasure to have you in today. What a treat that game was last night. What an absolute treat. That is, maybe I don't know. Maybe I'm just becoming more appreciative in COVID of anything other than isolation. I had a ball watching that game with a buddy last night. Had an absolute ball watching the Chargers and the Raiders. No way.

That game was so fun. It was so fun. It was crazy. Marcus Marietta comes out like from where running all over the place. making big plays and then of course turns the ball over. It was wild. I loved it. I know.

Sometimes, you know, everybody was criticized in the NBA bubble and I'm like, are you kidding me? We're in a pandemic. We got virtual fans and I get to watch this NBA basketball with all this intensity. I'm like, I'm having the time of my life locked into my house. Wonderful. So I want to start with this. I remember watching Charles Barkley in his first couple years in the NBA.

He played in Philadelphia. And you didn't have all the games on all the time. So you'd see highlight. We didn't have YouTube. You didn't have Google. You didn't have all the cable stuff where you'd see every game every night. But I remember getting glimpses of him. And he could shoot jumpers.

He could score in transition. He had a big butt. He could score down low. And I remember I remember thinking, watching him, I'm like, God, points come so easy to Charles Barkley. He can score out. He can score in. He scores in transition. He could dribble for a big guy.

And I'm like, good God. What can't he do? That reminds me of Justin Herbert. He's big. He's strong. He can run. He's 6-6. It shouldn't look this easy for a rookie with no preseason.

It should not look this easy. Joe Burrell's good. It doesn't look easy. Baker Mayfield's got talent. Tuah's got talent. It doesn't look easy. Josh Allen is exceptional. Do you remember his rookie year?

He completed 52% of his throws. He had more picks than touchdowns. It was never easy for Josh Allen. Okay, this just is easy. This is throw and catch. And I want to hear about the Raiders defense. It shouldn't look like this. This is not the way it's supposed to look.

First of all, the great news for when you get a great quarterback, it creates clarity. So the chargers will know going forward. If you're not scoring enough points, you've got to fire the offensive coordinator. And if you're not winning enough games, you've got to fire the head coach. If you get a guy like Mitch Trubisky, it's finger pointing. I thought Matt Nagy was a good coach. Maybe he's not. Is it the offensive line?

Is our GM clueless? Trubisky wins games, but it's always question mark. you drive to the facility now with the Chargers knowing if we don't win and score, then it's got to be the coordinator or the coach or we have a bad offensive line. It creates complete clarity. When Andrew Luck showed up and he was winning, but you weren't winning enough, it's like, oh, they had to fire the GM. GM is not good enough.

We got to get rid of the coach. When you get one of these once a decade talents, Trevor Lawrence, if he doesn't win in New York, you're going to be like, okay, we got the wrong coach or the wrong GM or a bad offensive line. and listen, I like Anthony Lynn. I know Anthony Lynn, but they've lost 16-1 possession games in two years. Atlanta, Detroit, those are the two other teams that kept losing close games. They fired their coaches. I think Anthony Lynn's in trouble.

I thought he took the ball out of Justin Herbert's hands last night. I mean, good God, they couldn't stop him. He stopped using him. Then when they went back to overtime, they're like, all right, kid, crank it up. Boom, they won the game. I didn't love that. I didn't think it was a great night for Anthony Lynn. But here's the good news for the Chargers is that this kid is so talented.

I mean, there's three organizations right now. The Jets are going to get Trevor Lawrence and they're going to get a coach. The Texans have Deshawn Watson and they're going to get a coach. And the Chargers have Justin Herbert and may get a coach. Boy, Los Angeles becomes very attractive. If Brian Daibold's out there or an Urban Meyer, you live in L.A., it's a built-to-win roster. you're just losing close games. Herbert's only getting better.

Very rarely do you take over a job in the NFL and get this? Or Deshaun Watson or Trevor Lawrence. You end up taking over a job and getting a quarterback who's probably a backup that you forced into a starter and you got to draft one and you can whiff on the first one. That's a very Cleveland experience. No, no, no, no. The Texans, the Jets, and the Chargers. You got a star ready to win.

and this kid unlike Deshawn Watson's never had injuries and this kid unlike Trevor Lawrence, we've already seen him play in the NFL. Charger ownership is very sensitive. They can't sell tickets. They've gotten a lot of negative press for the move from San Diego where I do think they fit better. So charge your ownership, prove us wrong.

Prove us wrong. Because if you can't win with that kid, then you got the wrong coach. If you can't score a lot of points with that kid, then you've got the wrong offensive coordinator. Because it does not look like that for a rookie. Ever. Elway didn't look like that. Nobody looks like that.

Mahomes didn't even play his first year. That's not what it's supposed to look like. I mean, the only time he wasn't flying up and down the field is when the coach took the ball out of his hands. So do what you want with Anthony Lynn. I worry about the one possession losses. That's, you know, as games get. late, the decisions get harder. I don't know.

But I'm just sitting there and I'm like, this has such a Barkley feel to it. The kid's big. Quarterback sneak, he's great. Run him, he's great. Arm, great. 4.2 biology major. Brainiac, great. I said, he's Andrew Luck, but a way better arm.

That's unbelievable. All right. So I want to talk about John Gruden for a second. I know John. I like John. but the Raiders have been blown out 14 times by 17 or more since he took over the Raiders. Only the jets have been blown out more. I just want that to sit there for a second.

Raiders get blown out a lot. And we are seeing a trend now, and I am not a believer as joy as my witness, in coincidences. Things happen. And when they happen over and over and over again, they happen for a reason. The Raiders and Gruden are getting worse at the end of years. Assuming the Raiders missed the playoffs, I want to read this to you. It'll be the third time John Gruden has coached the team, started 6 and 3 and missed the playoffs. The 98 Raiders, the 2008 bucks, the 2020 Raiders.

I am not counting this team. It should be four, but they started 6 and 4. Since the NFL expanded playoffs in 1990, there's been 140 teams. that have started six and three. No other coach in the NFL in that stretch. Three times has done that and missed the playoffs, except Gruden. Now, why do they keep getting bad at the end of seasons? Now, I can go with a bunch of hunches.

You know, does Gruden's personality wear people out? That seems like kind of a reach, right? There's a lot of personalities that Nick Sabin wears you out. His teams are good late. You know, Belichick can be harsh. His teams are good late. Is it possible or is it probable that Gruden's an average coach and he's more media marketing maven than football genius?

Listen, Chuckie, best-selling team, TV star. Brian Billick and Gruden won a Super Bowl. They're both known as offensive guys, but their Super Bowl teams were about defense. guy without the big personality, Billick never got another job. John gets a 10-year deal. Why? Because he used television to leverage himself and do another job. I'm not saying he's a bad coach, but we've always elevated him to kind of a level

that why do his teams get bad late? Let me ask you this. Is that every boss I've ever had, the more I'm around him, the better I get. Bill Belichick is the best late-season coach in the NFL. I could argue Sean Payton a second. Why? Because the longer Belichick teaches and mentors young men, the better they get. That makes sense, right?

The longer Sean Payton, who struggles like Belichick in September, the longer Sean Peyton has his team. He's a great coach, a great boss. The better they get. It makes sense. Every boss I've ever had, the more I'm with him, the better I get. With Gruden, the more he barks and teaches, the worse as teams get. Maybe he's just an average coach who's got great media.

We know the media can sway and alter and bend narratives. But in September, Gruden wins 57% of his games. You know what he wins in December? 38% of his games. It's not supposed to go this way. He says, if you look at Gruden's career, he's slightly above 500. His last playoff win was 18 years ago. The last two playoff games he was in, wild card games, he lost.

I mean, he took a Super Bowl roster, tweaked the offense, and won. Does that make him a genius? He had a best-selling book. He's absolutely wonderful on TV. He's great. The quarterback camp is great. Monday night football has never felt the same. No shot at anybody.

It just doesn't feel as good. We see the media do this all the time. They play favorites. The media likes people who are verbal and talk. The media loves Daryl Morey of the Houston Rockets because he talks and he makes our job easy. Gruden makes our job easy. He's got great quotes. He's likable.

He's got a bunch of media friends. Is it possible? He's just an average coach. coach. That's what he is. That's what the numbers say. Not everybody that's won a Super Bowl is a genius. Brian Billick, another offensive genius won a Super Bowl.

Why didn't he get second and third chances? Because he didn't leverage his TV personality into another job. If your teams consistently get worse, the more the players are around you, how in the world could I call that a great coach? That's not the way it was with Don Correel or Andy Reed or Sean Payton. or Bill Belichick, the more you get of them, the better you are. Here's Gruden after. I have a one-track mind, and that involves winning.

And this is going to help us in some ways, but it's really, really painful right now to lose. And we've had a lot of tight games go down to the buzzer. And this one was tough. You've got to win these tight games, and oftentimes that's a reflection on the head coach. I'm not saying he's a terrible coach. He won a Super Bowl. But I see this a lot. And it's ridiculous to deny this.

The media, they've done studies on it. More media people, you know, lean left and right. There can be a Fox News, but that's a fact. And here's the second thing that's true about the media, because I've been in it 30 years. They like people who make their job easier. I'm as guilty as anybody. I go to the talkers.

Gruden's just big and funny and great in the mic and says things. And he's kind of available. and his teams get worse the more they're around him. That doesn't sound like a great coach to me. 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. 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 is a win. I don't care which 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? 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 you 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 age.

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 IHeart Radio 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,

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on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. I'm not into your words. I'm into your actions. A lot of people talk, yep, yep, yep. How do you act? Sean Payton, love taste him.

hell. This guy's unbelievable. Drew Breeze is starting this week. Little gamesmanship by the Saints. If he's starting this week, they knew he was starting on Monday or Tuesday. The quote today, Drew Breeze will start against the Chiefs, cleared him to play. He's fully healthy. He wasn't banged up on Monday and now can play on Friday. Gamesmanship. He had Kansas City and the Chiefs looking at Tassum Hill footage, and now they're going to play Drew Breeze. This tells me a couple things.

This is what Sean Payton really thinks of Taysam Hill. He's a really cool chess piece. That's it. There's none wrong with that. He's unique. He's cool. I can play around. I can show you how smart I am.

But in the end, he's got a better arm than Drew, indisputable. And a significantly better athlete than Drew. That's not arguable. And they score fewer points with Taysam Hill. He's a chess piece. That's what he is. By the way, the Saints aren't getting the number one C. this team is uniquely built to win on the road,

nor is home as advantageous as it has been now because no fans. I don't know why they don't play Taysam Hill. I actually disagree with this. When Sean Payton decided to use Taysam Hill and everybody said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I said, he's smarter than me. Let's just watch. They're paying Taysam Hill.

He wanted to get him starts and reps. What do I have? I'm paying for. I'm not paying James Winston anything. But in this instance, I still think the smarter play, you're not getting the number one seed. Play Tayson Hill against the Chiefs. You're really a favorite to meet them again. I would rather let the Chiefs see all this Tayson Hill stuff and then you give them a totally different game.

Now, Sean Payton is probably even smarter than me. He's thinking, I am going to meet the Chiefs. But I'm not going to play Taysam Hill at all. So when you see Taysam Hill for the... first time in the Super Bowl. You're not going to have any idea what you're getting. Maybe that's the way he's thinking. But the Sean Payton-Tasem-Hill relationship to me has always felt like it's 75% genius and mad scientist of Sean Peyton and 25% Taysom Hill's talent. Whereas Brady and Belichick, I think we could argue, is 50-50. Mahomes, Andy Reid feels absolutely they're both better with each

other. You know, one coach won without him. Mahomes didn't win much without Andy, but there's No question, and he's winning more with him. I think it should be if you got the right coach in the quarterback, it should be 50-50. Right now, Justin Herbert feels like a 65-35 edge over the coaching staff there. But this one feels like overwhelmingly about the genius mad scientist coach manipulating the marginally talented 30-year-old quarterback who's got a unique skill set, but you don't build around. So Breeze is starting. I like the Saints. By the way, with or without Drew Breeze in this game.

live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Senior NFL reporter for Monday morning quarterback brought to you by Mercedes Ben's the best or nothing. Albert Brear is connected as anybody who does this for a living. So, you know, I was saying when Andrew Luck, when you get a great quarterback, Albert, it creates clarity. Like with Andrew Luck, you knew if he wasn't winning or scoring. You got the wrong coach, the wrong coordinator, or wrong offensive liner GM. I feel that with Herbert, that he makes the game look so easy. It should not look this easy.

it didn't look this easy for Tua, for Burrow, for Josh Allen. So the question becomes they're not winning enough. Does it fall on Anthony Lynn? Will they get a new coach? I think so. I don't think it's going to happen until a day after the season. If you look at the Spanos's history, they've always liked to take their time on this

and make those sorts of decisions with a full season to assess things. It happened that way with Norv Turner. It happened that way with Mike McCoy. And my expectation is going to happen that way again with Anthony they're going to take the full season in and then make a decision. But I do think they'll move on. And Colin, it's like you said. They're going to be moving into a critical, critical time for the franchise. That is a golden opportunity that they're going to have in front of them to build around a quarterback of this level on a rookie contract. We saw how the Rams, the Chiefs, the Eagles took advantage of that sort of dynamic in recent years.

So this becomes a very attractive job for whoever the next guy is. And so I think that they're going to hire somebody that's got quarterback background. And some of the names I've already heard are interesting ones. Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, Bill's offensive coordinator, Brian Daiball. How about this nugget, Colin? He went to high school with the GM of the Chargers, Tom Telesco. And then Panthers' offensive coordinator, Joe Brady's another name that's got some low-level

buzz for that charger job. Obviously, he's done a great job the last couple of years with quarterbacks with Joe Burrow last year at LSU. Then, of course, this year with Teddy Bridgewater. By the way, I don't know if it would happen. I think Mike Zimmer's a really good coach. If it went sideways, my first choice would be Mike Zimmer of the Vikings. We have a history in this league.

Star quarterback, defensive coach. Yeah, that's true. We do. Have you heard anything on Mike Zimmer? Because I think he's a good coach, but I think he's intense. Some people think he's stubborn. He hasn't won enough. Would Minnesota make a mistake and get rid of him?

I don't think so. I think that was on the table at the end of last year. Yes. I'm told the extensions that he and Rick Spielman got. in Minnesota, the general manager there, those are real extensions. Okay. And Zimmer's making north of $8 million, and he's under contract for the next few years. So in these conditions, Minnesota would have to swallow a lot of cash to get rid of Mike Zimmer.

My expectation is that Mike Zimmer is going to survive there and get another year. This is obviously a little bit of a turning the page year. And they have made some progress with some of the young players. There are some young pieces in place now, guys like Justin Jefferson and Jeff Gladney. So my expectation is that Mike Zimmer's going to survive there. I want to say this about Gruden. I know John and I like him, but Brian Billick and him are both offensive guys. They both win a Super Bowl.

But Billick doesn't have the big star personality. Gruden does. And he leverages TV stardom into another job. Once again, his team, and this has happened in Tampa. It's happened now a couple years. They're bad. They deteriorate. That is generally not the sign of great coaching in the NFL.

Is it possible with Gruden? he's more media maven than football guru and that he's he's okay but we've overstated his brilliance. I think I think he's still a good football coach, Colin. I think the question with him going back 15 years has been handling personnel, developing young players. Like if you look, like he had older teams in Oakland on the first time around. And then with Tampa, the one he won in the Super Bowl with was a very veteran team. He took over from Tony Dungey where he's struggled in the past is identifying and developing

young talent. And that's what's so interesting about this time around with the Raiders, and that that's what they went all in on. They piled up assets. They traded away Cleolmac. They traded away Amari Cooper. And they really went all in on going young. And so they've got a very young defensive group now. They've got some youth on the offense. And now it's on John Gruden to develop that talent and maximize that young talent. And again, it's a very different looking roster than what he won with when he was at his peak back 20 years ago. And so that's what's so interesting. interesting about it. I think that's what the Raiders really have to assess now, too, is what sort of job is he doing, developing, and getting that young talent in a position to win.

And again, I don't think he's in any sort of jeopardy right now. This was Mark Davis's white whale, you know, landing him. And the contract is prohibitive, I think, to have to move on from him after this year, especially in these conditions with the pandemic. But I think the questions that you're asking, there are real questions that go back beyond just this tenure with the Raiders. So the Tayson Hill Drew Brees thing, I think is fast. So I have theorized this week is I would play Taysim Hill against the Chiefs because the Saints aren't going to get a number one seed. They're uniquely built to win on the road, unlike most Saints teams. It's about defense coaching and they can pound it.

And I think it's, I would not give you, I wouldn't let you see Breeze Saints. I want to see Mahomes. You don't get a C's with Breeze. And then part of me thinks this morning, oh wait, no wait, wait, flip the telescope around. what they don't want to do is potentially face the chiefs and let them see any of Taysam Hill for the 12 plays in those. Okay, am I overthinking it on the Breeze Taysam Hill stuff? I think you're getting in your own head a little bit there, Colin, huh?

I mean, you took it one way and then you took it another level. I mean, I think really this is, there's a team that's in a window right now to compete for a championship. They're way over the cap next year. They're going to have to make some big decisions on certain guys coming out of year that 2017 draft class they got alvin kamara signed up but they're going to have to take care of guys like ryan ramshik and marshawn ladimore and marcus williams and so this is really it for this particular group of players and i think that they got to do everything they can to get in position to try and get home field and that means getting drew breeze back on the field and you say that home field isn't

as big a deal right like and i understand what you're saying that this style of saints team is a little different, a little bit more equipped to win in all conditions. Well, the number one seed right now is the Green Bay Packers. I actually think the Packers' home field advantage is enhanced by the conditions that we're all in right now. Because can you think of a more miserable place to go play a football game than in the dark, in January, in an empty stadium in Wisconsin? I mean, I look at this. I think teams like Buffalo and Green Bay. I'm serious about this column. Like, like, I think their home field advantage is enhanced because if you're if you're if you're a team that goes into green bay or goes into buffalo in those conditions right and now all of a sudden you maybe fall behind 10 nothing 14 nothing early on

I mean that could be a very very miserable place to try to come back so I think right now the saints have to do everything that they possibly can and I know they are doing everything they possibly can to try and get that number one seed back and make the NFC playoffs go through the super dome I think the idea of going to lamo for anybody right now especially a team that plays this games indoors, it's going to be a tall task come January. All right. I thought a lot of the harbour, I want to do coaching rumor real about a minute of this. So I thought a little of a, it's funny about college coaches that make a lot of money.

Whenever their jobs in jeopardy, their name suddenly pops up for NFL jobs as leverage. So I didn't buy the Harbaugh and NFL stuff, although I do think he could coach in the NFL, but I thought it was a little gamesmanship and agent stuff. Just New York Jets. Today, what do we feel like here? I don't know. Trevor Lawrence to me opens the door to college coaches like a Lincoln Riley in New York. I don't know that it would be Lincoln Riley.

I would keep your eye on Matt Campbell. The old front office presented Matt Campbell's name to ownership two years ago when they wound up hiring Adam Gase. Now, if you remember that Matt Campbell wound up saying no to an interview there, but they went through it. They vetted him. They really liked him. And Christopher Johnson and the guys, you know, in charge in New York have a full idea of what Matt Campbell, the Iowa State coach can do. And so that's the one name at the college level that seems realistic to me. He's done so much with less at Iowa State.

And I mean, Joe Douglas, he made his bones in his road to becoming a general manager on the college scouting trail. So he's got a really, really good understanding of the way things work at that level. And among NFL scouts, there are very few coaches who are more. more well respected than Matt Campbell. So if they're going to go down the college road, I mean, we've mentioned Jim Harbaugh's name there because Woody Johnson has a little bit of an infatuation with him. Obviously, Joe Douglas worked with Jim Harbaugh's brother in Baltimore.

But if we're going to get like a little bit more realistic here, I think a name that would be realistic for the Jets might be Matt Campbell. Good stuff, Albert Brewer, Monday morning quarterback. Good seeing you, bud. Awesome. Thanks, Colin. Have a good weekend. 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. Patrick Mahomes is favored to win the Super Bowl. We warn him to not waste opportunities because when you watch Justin Herbert last night, you're going to face him twice a year. And if they end up getting a coach, a dynamic coach, a Brian Dable, or better, that is an absolute roadblock to winning Super Bowls. And I was thinking about this this morning.

if you look at the AFC and NFC, and I said, okay, where are the young quarterback stars? I'm not going to count the bends and the breeze and the Brady's. The young quarterback stars, they're all in the AFC. These are 25 and younger. Josh Allen, Tua. Say what you want about Baker. He's productive when he has a good offensive line. Lamar, Burrow, Deshawn, Patrick Mahomes, Herbert.

And I'm going to put Trevor Lawrence on. I believe he's transcendent and succeeds. fight the Jets. That's like eight, nine guys. In the NFC, there's Jared Goff and Kyler Murray. If I'm going to count Baker, I'm going to count Jared Goff, whose Goff has been better to this point. But the NFC's got a lot of, you know, it's got Aaron's older and Brady's older and Breed's older, and

Stafford's older and Matt Ryan's. So what does this mean? This is the roadblock, the impediment for Patrick Mahomes. I'm not even counting Justin Fields, who's going to end up in Jacksonville, who I think, unless Jacksonville butchers the coaching hire, I think the Jets could hire the wrong coach and Trevor Lawrence is going to be a Hall of Famer. He's going to be Andrew Luck.

He's going to be great. I don't think Justin Fields is that kind of kid. I think he needs the right coach to be great. I don't think he's a Justin Herbert talent. I don't think he's that good. I think he's good. So if they get the right coach, there's another one. Not to mention all these other quarterbacks could go to AFC,

but I won't count that. So the seven highest passer ratings right now, in the NFL for quarterbacks 26 or younger, they're all AFC. This is your roadblock. Okay, I'm not counting in this Joe Burrow, who we love and will be in that. Okay, the deep dark secret of Tom Brady's success was the bad quarterback playing his division. So he always won his division. He got a buy and then played a low,

seed at home in Foxborough, and if he won the game, he was in the conference championship. That is why Tom. I love Tom. Tommy's got a 500 playoff road record. It's a whole different ballgame going on the road, facing good quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, Big Ben. This is the secret, and I love Aaron Rogers. But one of the great advantages to Aaron Rogers, since he was named the starter, the Vikings have had 14 quarterbacks. The Bears have had 14.

quarterbacks. And it feels like Matt Stafford's talented, but he's had 14 head coaches, it feels like. That is a big advantage. Aaron gets a buy. Aaron plays at Lamb ball. It's cold weather. He's used to it. He just has to win a playoff game, and he's in the

conference championship. He's done that less than Brady. But this is the big secret to all this stuff. I've always said this. Part of Nick Sabin's success is, most of his time, LSU can't get the coach right, Tennessee can't get the coach right.

Auburn can't get the coach right. Florida finally has the coach right. Because Urban Meyer left and they ran through guys. When Pete Carroll was crushing it at USC, only Cal had the right coach. Washington had the wrong guy. UCLA was a mess. Stanford had a bad coach.

The minute Oregon got Chip Kelly and Harbaugh went to Stanford, Pete Carroll started losing. You need breaks for this. I've said before, one of the great breaks of Michael Jordan. is in hockey, Chicago is in the West. But in the NBA, Chicago's in the East. He didn't have to go through magic in his prime for years.

He didn't have to. He didn't have to go through a lot of the... When he was going against the pistons in their prime, he couldn't beat him. Going against the Celtics in their prime. He couldn't beat him. They got old. So sometimes... And I'm not saying Michael wouldn't have been the best player of all time.

I'm saying there are geographical advantages. There are divisional advantages. Mahomes, Herbert's a baby and may not have the right coach now. But if you start looking at over the next 10 years, Mahomes is going to face significantly better quarterbacks than a guy like Aaron Rogers or a young guy like Jared Gough is going to face. Because Brady's going to be around for a couple of years. Now Breeze is gone, but Matt Ryan Stafford, there's a lot, NFC's got a lot of

quarterbacks that are good, not great, and they're expensive and teams are tied to them. So it is amazing. The seven highest passer ratings in the NFL right now, 26 or younger, all AFC. And Burrell's coming back and here comes Trevor Lawrence. So it is a disruptor. It is in the way. Greatness generally happens. Part of it's you and half of it is people around you screwing up.

Nobody's that smart. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays, noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the 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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, CliverTaylor 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 conversation.

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-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 do with 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 a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survive including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all 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, so... 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 IHeart Radio 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 or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that 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 Hardway. Open your free Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Eric Mangini, Three Rings with the Patriots, Browns, Jets head coach is joining me now live on a Friday. Let's not waste any time. All right. John Gruden. I think he's a good coach, but once again, this is third or fourth time in his career, his team's deteriorate in December. I mean, Eric, that's not what Andy Reid's team, Sean Payton, Belichick, Pete Carroll.

What does that tell you? It doesn't make a lot of sense. And I was actually reading an article this past, I think it was August, out of an Oakland newspaper that talked about the fact that they knew. needed to be better in December if this team was going to be different than last year. And last year was the same deal. They were six and four and struggled late. And I think he's only had three winning seasons in December.

And I'm sure, look, John's pretty self-aware in terms of trying to fix problems. To have that pattern over and over again, sometimes you look at it and you think maybe you're driving the team too hard. sometimes it's a function of having a team that's that's too old. Maybe it's the relationship that he has with his quarterbacks. He's retooled this team. I think there's six guys left from when he got there, but the piece that he hasn't retooled is the quarterback spot. And, you know, he gushed over Marietta when he came in.

He always has multiple quarterbacks on the roster going into training camp. Maybe a change in the relationship with Carr and, and a fresh start with someone like Mariotta, maybe that's something that can help him. I have his guy. Yeah, Mario dao has always been a reckless player to me. He gets hurt a lot. And I have this theory that when you're 6'4,

you're 2, 25 in high school and college, you can run over people, and that's hard to coach out of people. Carson Wentz. Big. They don't want to duck. Russell Wilson and Murray, they slide. They've always been small guys.

Would you give Mario a chance to, do you think he's an NFL starter? Yeah, you know, I think a lot of guys do better with their second chance. And Marcus Marriott is a guy who came out, second overall draft pick, high expectations, didn't achieve at the level that they thought he would in Tennessee. But who replaced him, Ryan Tenehill, who people felt underachieved in Miami. And there's a lot of history of quarterbacks doing better in a new spot. You look at, I mean, Kurt Warner's guy that wasn't even found and was playing in arena football.

Steve Young didn't win for his first seven years. Jim Harbaugh was better in Indianapolis than he was in Oakland, Alex Smith. So until you give these guys a second shot, I don't like to write them off. Breeze instead of Tassum Hill, why not just give the Chiefs who you could play later in the year at the Super Bowl? give them three and a half hours of Taysam Hill, don't give them any Drew Brees. Just throw quirky stuff out there for them to have to work and study. Why rush Breeze back? Well, this is a borderline playoff game. They're trying to maintain and have the number one seed. So you're going to do that with the best possible player you can have. And if anything,

these guys should understand that looking past an opponent will, well, has been a huge problem. You know, they've been guilty of it a little bit in the past. And my experience, the first time we won the Super Bowl, we had a chance to play the Rams early in the season. And that was huge. It was huge from a coaching perspective. It was huge for our players because you're not looking at a team going, you know, who are these guys?

You know who they are. And now you're at a different level of, um, of understanding what you can do, what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, and you'd want your starting quarterback to be able to have that opportunity. Yeah. So I saw Peter King mentioned it this week. Peter King mentioned something this week, and it was beyond rumor. It made sense.

Patriots have cap space. Patriots probably don't get a top three college quarterback. Cam doesn't appear to be working. Matt Stafford, who has every, he's got money, he's got stats. He doesn't have wins. He wants to win games. Does Stafford and Balachek to you make some sense? Yeah, it makes some sense.

One of the greatest things that Bill does is bringing free agents. You know, the draft record, you could argue, isn't as good as it should be and isn't as strong an indicator of the success as what he does in free agency. And the great thing about free agency is you get to look at it with like with like tape. And you understand who the guy is playing against. And with Matthew Stafford, Bill's played against him a bunch of times. So he appreciates the problems that he creates. You know, he played for Jim Schwartz.

Bill has a good relationship with Jim Schwartz. He's going to understand who the player is. So if Stafford makes sense from a culture fit, from a being able to pick up the system fit. I think there's a good chance of that. Now, Matt Patricia. I mean, Bill's got a great relationship with Matt Patricia. He'll be able to tell Bill everything about Stafford from a personality standpoint.

Only one minute, Justin Herbert, your thoughts. He looked good to me. He looks really good. And he's impressed in a lot of ways. He obviously tied the rookie quarterback. quarterback record and all that being said, I like to just slow down people's enthusiasm. We're so quick to annoy people. And I get caught up with it a little bit too because of some of the impressive things that he's done. But when you look at that list of records that he's on

the verge of breaking, you know, it's Dak Prescott. It's Carson Wentz. It's Baker, Mayfield. You know, you're not saying that those guys are elite guys or you could argue one way or the other as the weather or not the elite guys. So it's exciting. I think there's a lot of reasons to think that he's, you know, going to be able to tear it up moving forward. But, you know, the league's pretty smart. Coordinators are pretty smart.

And they've got to see what happens when people start catching up with what he does well and what he does poorly. Eric, Man, Jeannie, have a great weekend. We only got 30 seconds. What's the weather like in Cleveland today? The weather is cold, as you can imagine. I know you're probably headed to ski. We need snow skis here.

It's pretty consistent, consistent that way. All right, good talking to you, coach. Yeah, we'll talk to you soon. 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.

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. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 here, 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.