The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Cowboys Weakness, NFL Sinking Ships, Buffs Bravado

Episode Date: September 27, 2023

John explains that the Cowboy’s woes on offense need to be solved by someone NOT named Dak Prescott, debates whether some of the NFL’s sinking teams like the Jets and Broncos can pull themselves out of a tailspin, and why Deion’s flair may have worn off a little too much on the players at Colorado… and why they need to back off the trash talk now that their schedule is tougher. He also answers questions from the “Middlekauff Mailbag”. Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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at John Middilkoff to get notified. when I go live. What is going on my people? How are we doing on this beautiful Wednesday? I'm recording this on Tuesday. And we have several podcasts out so far this week. If you miss yesterday's podcast, we reacted to the Monday night football games, as well as some other nuggets from Sunday.

Today we will piggyback on that. Talk a little cowboys, talk a little Rogers. Just talk the overall, you know, status, some teams, some buzz. some just football talk, get down and dirty in the trenches. And talk a little Dionne Sanders, Oregon. It's just a story that just kind of fascinates me. Not as much the story, but just the reaction by so many of these former players who I didn't see really getting mad over the Colorado player videos that were going viral today

of them talking about Oregon. I have a couple of thoughts on that. And yeah, so a lot of football talk. Plan is to have podcasts every day. We're just grinding here. Season's off and running. A lot going on and excited to talk ball. So that is the plan.

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast. If you listen on Collins feed, all the stuff's on YouTube as well. And we got merch on thevolume.com if you want to get a three and out hat. We will have the mailbag on this podcast as well. We're just doing it every podcast because I'm getting so many mailbag questions. If I've missed your question, I apologize. You definitely got in there. It's just it's hard for me to keep track of everyone in Zuckerberg.

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promo code John, save $20. Keep hammering that promo code, people. I wanted to start, I talked to briefly with Coward after on Sunday night, and we hit on the Cowboy situation. And clearly, the cool part about the NFL is the stats speak for themselves. Every year you have teams that made the playoffs previously miss the playoffs, and teams that missed the playoffs make the playoffs. And every year, we all pick teams like, this team's going to suck,

this team's going to be awful and then they're actually kind of competitive and we think this team might be a fringe playoff team and then they draft fourth overall. There's a ton of parity in this league, right? Every team has the same amount of money and same amount of draft picks. You just get to choose how you allocate it. And typically what changes for a lot of teams is who's your head coach and who's your quarterback. But even then sometimes people get injured, things change.

All of a sudden, we all thought Arizona was going to suck. Caleb Williams is going to refuse to go there. And now, listen, I don't think they're headed toward nine wins, but they're clearly pretty damn competitive. It's like, oh, maybe the Broncos will be decent this year. No, they blow. So you find out things even earlier in the season where you're like, wrong on that one, right on that one, and you know relatively quick. And one thing with the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL's hard, that there are a lot of cliches that come out of locker rooms, cliches that come out of post games, cliches that you hear at the beginning of the week when you're watching your favorite

team's coaches press conference some of it is true like it's very difficult to win in the league as a fan i would have been like give me a break this team's one and 11 you know you have eight wins you should win this game but i've seen it and i'll never forget going into david cully's office he was the wide receiver coach when i was with the eagles he ended up obviously famously getting the texan job won and done nice guy though you know good position coach probably not head coach, clearly. But I made a comment, like my first year in the NFL, I'm like, God, these guys suck. He's like, what did you say? He's like, don't ever say that, man. He's like, they have big houses and drive nice cars too. And it's true. This is not college football, where Oregon has

dramatically a much better roster than Colorado. Even in the NFL where teams have better rosters, all those guys are getting paid. And some of them are getting paid a lot of money. It's difficult to win. So to me, Dallas, like, I maybe over about. valued them a little bit, thinking they'd had like 15 win upside. There's still a 12, 13 win team. I feel strongly about that. But one thing came to light the other day is Mike McCarthy, and I saw them play live in Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers' young career several times. And it was a sight to be seen. You had Clay Matthews with the hair flying around, and you had Aaron just slinging it to guys like Driver Jones and Jordy Nelson. In the peak of his young power,

and he was really, really special. And you can look up his red zone numbers. They're some of the best in NFL history. Now, most great quarterbacks are good in the red zone. Just like most solid quarterbacks, like a Dak Prescott, is going to throw most of his touchdowns in the red zone. But what made Aaron Rogers really special for a long period of time, and he was even good when he was winning the MVPs a couple years ago,

was he get really ad lib. It's really one of his greatest strengths. When you think about the greatest quarterbacks of all time, at least in my life, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, like, they weren't ad-lib guys. They couldn't really move. They could ad-lib at the line of scrimmage. They could ad-lib a hot read to their wide receiver with a look or hand movement, but they couldn't move. They couldn't just all of a sudden juke a defender, scramble around, and make some laser

to the back corner of the end zone. That wasn't their deal. Well, Aaron, at least in my lifetime, you could maybe throw paper. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen now in that mix, but of a guy with a long career is clearly one of the great ad libbers and freelancers we've ever seen. When a play breaks down, he can not only keep it alive, he then can make a play that only a handful of guys in NFL history have the capability of making, which is a big reason his red zone performances are historically great, because in the construct of the offense,

he can dominate when the play called and it just works, right? You run a slant, an out, whatever. And it's his go-to read and the guy's open. He's going to hit it like a layup. But when those plays are covered, he then can move and make something happen. And his physical capabilities with his arm strength, his intelligence. And I'm talking about Green Bay Aaron and then the stretch he had, you know, year two and year three with LaFleur.

It's just all-time great stuff. Just because you pay a player a lot of money, whether you give a baseball player, an NFL player, $100, $200 million in the NBA, max contract, does not mean they're a max player. It's just the market value. Typically, front office or the coach feels we can't upgrade if we don't pay this guy. A lot of times you're backed into a corner. Maybe you have a higher opinion of the player than other people, whatever. He's just as good as you're going to do, so you pay him whatever the market determines that you owe him.

right and you know in the NFL you start franchising it actually is you know more you have more options on your salary cap if you give him a more lucrative long-term deal because the way you're able to manipulate on the books so just because dac prescott is making all this money doesn't mean he's that level of player deck prescott has been the same guy now for about five years and there's nothing wrong with it he's a really really solid player great guy team captain if you can't have one of the top seven, eight guys. If you do a good job team building, which the Cowboys do, you're going to win a lot of games with that guy playing. But here's a problem is McCarthy kind of, I don't want to say, you know, became a high-end NFL coach when he had peak Aaron Rogers, right? And now he's got

Dak Prescott, who is nowhere near the version that put Mike McCarthy kind of on the map and made him a guy that Jerry Jones would immediately offer out of a year out of the NFL. And now that McCarthy has taken over play calling. You watched him the other day in Arizona. Like, Dak Prescott's not going to pull plays out of his ass consistently like Aaron Rogers. There's going to be a lot of pressure on McCarthy, the schemer, the chess player, to get him some easy looks. And there isn't really any excuses.

Tony Pollard, a very unique, talented, skilled running back. Can catch the ball, obviously can run the ball between and outside the tackles. You got C.D. Lamb, a guy that can be. basically run every route, right? But it's easy, and they did this a couple of times. Like, let's just run the fade. And listen, I'm not anti the fade, but I like scheming a guy to get an easier look than that. And Brandon Cooks, who's a smaller player, but with his speed, you can utilize it, you know, to get him in some open space, i.e. the Cardinals, when they ran Hollywood Brown late in that game for basically the game clinching touchdown. He just ran them across the field,

and he eventually got open, Dobbs kept to play a lot, ad libbed a little bit. So I think there's going to be a lot of pressure. Everyone's going to constantly be critical of DAC. It's the nature of playing that position and making a lot of money. He is what he is, right? It's on the coaching staff, really, and the play caller to get him easier looks. Like, he's not going to make Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Aaron Rogers, in his prime place. He never really has, and especially now, like, his arms, okay, his mobility's solid, but like the guy Dak Prescott has been the last couple, years is the guy you're getting right now. So there is pressure. He's kind of established where he's at. 9, 10, 11, somewhere like that as an NFL quarterback, which is good why the Cowboys probably

want to keep the guy, but he's going to be a little dependent on the guy moving the chest pieces around as the play caller. And that to me, watching that game against Arizona, most good teams in the NFL, the Eagles, the 49ers in Miami could all go 14 and 3 or 15 and 2. One of their losses is going to be stunning. They easily could lose a game at some point in the season, especially late in the season, overlooking opponent to a team where they're a 14-point favorite. Teams in the NFL get upset all the time. I don't want to even make that big a deal over the one game, but specifically in the red zone, it's pretty clear like, Dax's going to need some help. And to me, there's a lot of pressure right now if I'm Jerry looking at Mike, because who do I got to beat in the conference?

Well, I know Kyle can move chess pieces around, right? Even the Eagles, they just have so much talent that me and you could figure out a way to score some touchdowns when we got in the red zone with that offensive line, with that quarterback sneak, with A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Goddard, it's just hard not to. But the Cowboys, listen, this might not be the 93 Cowboys on offense, but they do have a lot of talent. And they should be scoring points. And it's going to be a lot of pressure on them if they're going to want to compete with the Niners and the Eagles to get it done in the Red Zone. And to me, that doesn't start with Dack, because we've established what he is. It starts with a head coach. Speaking to Aaron Rogers, I watched some clips of him today with Pat McAfee, where he goes on every week.

He continues to go on as he's in Southern California, listening to Dolphins have sex, trying to heal his Achilles. And it seemed like he was in pretty good spirits, which it has to suck, watching your team get dominated by Belichick where you're sitting at home. and it's a shitty situation. Like I said yesterday on my Zach Wilson thoughts, no one signs up for this. Like this, this is something you can't control. You can control who the backup is,

but you can't control a guy Taryn as Achilles, especially someone who your entire season depended on. But we're here. And Aaron clearly watched the game and kind of, I would say, took some shots. I didn't know if he was going to take shots at like the coaching staff or even specifically Zach, but he kind of just took shots at the entire offense.

He's like, we kind of got to be a little more mature than we were. Because one clip that went viral on Sunday was the backup running back screaming at the running back coach. And there was another visual, don't totally blame him, Garrett Wilson kind of being frustrated with Zach Wilson. And clearly any time, and this happened last year with the Jets, your offense is just incapable of operating. Like, it's beyond anemic. It doesn't move. It's just, it's unwatchable. Like the bears and the jets, this version of their offenses, are unwatchable.

People get mad, especially skill guys. For the most part, you know, you see blowups every once in a while with linemen. A lot of their blowups typically, at least in my experience, happened behind closed doors. It can get really ugly in the office, in the meeting rooms, in the locker room. But they tend to do it. Now, we've seen it. Remember, the two Washington guys, the two D linemen. fought. I was like, I wouldn't want to be in the middle of those guys.

I think we have a long history of skill guys kind of losing their cool. Right. It's just, it kind of is what it is. And those guys aren't happy because they know nothing's going to change and nothing's going to change fast. But on Thursday, after the Giants got their butts kicked by the 49ers, by the end or middle of the next day, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan had been extended. And a big reason they had been extended is because in the NFL, like, they had just traded Trey Lance, what, three weeks, three and a half weeks, less than 30 days ago, a guy that is easily the worst draft pick.

I'm not the player, his career's not over, I'm just talking about the compensation, what it took to get him, the guy didn't even last until week one season three. It doesn't get any worse than that. Even Jermarchus Russell and Zach Wilson, they've lasted year three on their team. Trey Lance did not. It doesn't get any worse. But guess what? You're not paid to draft in the NFL.

You're paid to win. And the 49ers are 15 and 1 in their last 16 games. That includes the playoffs, the loss of the Eagles. The last two years are 26 and 11 with four playoff victories. They're currently obviously 3 in 0 right now. Looks like they're headed toward 14, 15 wins. But their operation is just very stable. And like the Jets, like shit goes wrong all the time.

Last year they had Trey Lance breaks his ankle in the second game. Later in the season when they're rolling, Jimmy Garoppolo breaks his foot. Constant adversity. Yet players, hell, players even in the offseason ask for trades, Debo Samuel.

And it never gets that weird. So basically, Jed York clearly is extending them and the 49ers ownership as parents because they win. That's first and foremost. That is what you were paid to do. Not to draft, not to land guys in free agency, not to develop coaches win fucking games on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday.

That's all that matters in the NFL. It band-aids everything. Sean Payton, that Russell Wilson could be worse than last year. If they were two and one, they'd be singing his praises. But he's 0 and 3, and they're giving up 70 points, it feels like a disaster. And I think sometimes as coaching staffs, and it obviously, once you're there longer, you have a much better rapport with your guys. but for example now, Robert Saul has been there long enough with these guys.

Most of the guys, especially the young players, he drafted them all or is part of drafting them. And he's in charge of hiring the offensive coordinator. And shit's going to go wrong. It's the NFL. Hell, McCarthy has been part of seasons where I remember when Rogers broke his collarbone. I think it happened on Monday night. And remember that season, they ended up figuring out a way to get to the playoffs as a wildcour. So part of being a good coach is handling some rough waters.

Things are not always going to go smoothly. Things are going to be difficult. Injuries are going to happen. And I think sometimes in the NFL, like it's one thing to win, like I said, most important thing. It's also another thing to win and just be pretty normal and pretty stable. The Chiefs are a good example this year. Their first game, Travis Kelsey at one moment, they probably thought he had torn his ACL. His knee was all messed up.

He was standing on the sideline. They got their star defensive player up in the stands. It's like, God, this isn't easy. And they lose the game at home to the Detroit Lions, to the Detroit freaking Lions, who are honestly pretty good. I feel pretty good about them winning that division. Even with the Packers, you know, being feisty and they're going to have a lot of guys returning for injury.

But listen, like, it's tough. It's never easy. Even the Detroit Lions. They draft Jameson Williams, comes back off the ACL, and they starts making parlayes and can't stay out of trouble. Get spending for six games. And you see some of these teams, like the Jets, like Aaron Rogers, Tears Achilles. That sucks.

A lot of players have gotten hurt in the history of the league. Happens all the time. do does your team just unravel? Do your players start fighting other coaches? Because that's a reflection of your coach. And that's when shit starts hitting the fan and things get weird. That's when owners get antsy. Like the Bears.

Listen, Justin Fields sucks. That's not your fault. You didn't draft them. But your defensive coordinator is forced to resign. You haven't won a game in almost a calendar year. Like players are starting to get antsy. Things get weird. And you just have to wonder like, listen,

I was told this, uh, this off. season about Jonathan Gannon. And listen, a lot of people listening, if you're a Cardinal fan, I don't know if we have that many Cardinal fans listening, but no, I was pretty critical. Just thought it was kind of crazy that the guy got hired. You know, he bought a $10 million house. Now listen, I'm pro getting a $10 million house, but first time head coach is like, just a crazy world we live in.

And I had guys with the Eagles tell me, listen, John, he might not be Belichick or Vic Fangio when it comes to just dominance of defensive scheme. But he's an impressive guy, and he is a fantastic, just kind of leader. And some of those videos this year went viral, right? Of him doing the pew, pew, pews to Rondale Moore, of him having the video inside with the players about fire in their gut. And everyone was shitting on them. Well, that's what Twitter does. Everyone just is negative.

It's just an area where the angry congregate and the media lives most of their days. But Jonathan Gannon, you give him credit, like clearly his team feels very motivated. as trying really hard. And he doesn't have that many guys that feel like would be huge core pieces of contending teams. But you watch the Jets, it's like, you guys are kind of unraveling of one injury. So you really were just,

obviously your success this year of going deep in the playoffs was going to be because of Aaron Rogers. But I just remove them. You're just a five, six win team because that's where it kind of feels like you're headed. Now I'm pretty sure you're playing the Chiefs this week, at home, Sunday night football. I'm sure you know who's going to be in the house.

A lot of eyeballs on that bad boy. You put Taylor Swift in a suite at an NFL game. See those numbers? Like 10 extra million people watch. So this could get ugly. This could get ugly really fast. And owners, to me, get very, very uneasy. It's one thing if I like you and I'm rooting for you.

And I think clearly they like Sala. They like Joe Douglas. But like, so shit hits the fan? It's no guarantee if we draft Caleb Williams. He won't get hurt. well, so your backup comes in, we're just automatically going to suck. And that's what I wonder. And you're seeing it with the bears, you're seeing it with the Jets.

Obviously, Sean Payton's getting a little time because he's just only coached three games, but it can't go much worse, much, you know, more quickly than it has. Right. 70 to 20. I still can't get over that. I really can't. 70 points. 70 points.

And they had 70 points, like seven minutes remaining in the game. That's insane. I've said over and over. I said it yesterday. I'm going to say it all week. I'd rather lose like 50 to nothing. They lost my 50 points. I'd rather lose 50 to nothing. If you give up 70 points, that's basically three more touchdowns from 50 to nothing. That is so many touchdowns. Has that even possible? How is that possible? How did anyone ever show up to the meeting the next day? How could you walk into the office? I used to be petrified in college in the pros after a loss. How angry everyone was. How tense everyone was. These are like games. winning field goal losses or a late interception loss. These are close games. Can't even imagine walking in. I was at the Fresno State game a couple weeks back, and I was hanging out with a guy

that played in the NFL for six, seven years. He was kind of like a journeyman, tight end, and he played all over the place, and he said that he played for the Patriots for a couple years. In their heyday, it was like Randy Moss. They never lost. And he said, every meeting was so intense because the coaching staff didn't miss. They never missed a, miss a. assignment. So if you fucked up, not even talking like a drop or a miss block, like a misstep,

running, just angling your body the wrong way for half a yard that might screw up the coverage to cheat. He said, you got undressed. The standard there, he's like, was stupid high. Everywhere else I would go, I was terrified to go into these meetings because I expected to get that. Yet most places this guy went and he went to some success. successful places. He's like, it wasn't nearly like that. Not that he didn't get yelled at when you had a missed assignment, but the standard was nowhere near what it was. What is Sean Payton doing? And I followed the stories of, you know, some of the local media, especially some former Denver Broncos are kind of being critical because he's being short with the reporters. And he's a classic,

like, good to the local reporters, bad of the local reporters, good to the national reporters. I don't really care about any of that because ultimately none of that means anything if you're losing 70 to 20. Like I don't, no one, Adam Schaefter, Colin, no one can justify

giving up 70 points in 2023 in the national football league. It's, no one can defend that. Not even your biggest, you know, fanboy. It's impossible.

And the jets are at the point, like, how do you defend keep running out Zach Wilson? Right? The Bears, what else they're supposed to do? I would run fields into the ground.

So no one has any excuse. But the Zach Wilson, Trevor Simeon, like much is going to change? there. And I don't know, man, crazy league. One more thing I wanted to hit on because this story, some of the discourse on this has just been kind of laughable. I talked about it briefly yesterday. And then this morning when I woke up, about 50 people had forwarded me and it was on my Twitter account and Instagram account as well, the video that the Oregon Ducks put out

about basically the entire week of the Colorado week. And the thing I wanted to focus on was the pregame. I have no problem, and I've said this over and over. The NFL and college football don't really parallel each other beside the football game on Saturday or Sunday. And even there are some different rules in the games and the hash marks are different. But the money all comes from the games.

But Monday and for college Sunday through Friday is completely different. In college football, there are elements that an NFL coach never has to deal with. In the NFL, Monday and Tuesday, are 100% just game planning. That's all you do. You just play chess against the other team on film. You try to figure out your game plan. And then you completely, you know, implement at practice what's going to work,

what's not going to work, and you continue to change, adapt, add, or subtract throughout the week. Now, while you do that in college, you game plan, practice, add, subtract, subtract, throughout the week. You also spend a lot of time talking to recruits on the phone, texting, interacting. You also, with your players, have to do some stuff academically. And you can only spend so much time with them. So your days are much different. Recruiting is an area in the NFL that's irrelevant. Andy Reid this week is not recruiting anybody. Pete Carroll, Kyle Shanahan, Belichick, their only focus is first, second, third down, offensive defense

and special teams against their opponent. That's the only thing that matters. Where Dion is hosting, I saw the 2025 number one recruit. You're constantly marketing. And Dion's one of the great marketers of all time. Nick Saban, underrated marketer. Pete Carroll was a great marketer.

Honestly, I'm not a great marketer. It's one thing in this profession I think I could be better at. I'm a good salesman. I can talk. I can sell the shit out of anybody. But marketing's not really my strong one. Leon can fucking market.

He's been great at it since I was a little kid. He's just, he's a lead at it. It doesn't get any better. And he's clearly a pretty good salesman too once he gets in the room. But any of this stuff that the coaches said, it didn't trigger me. I thought the reaction was moronic. Dan Lannning, Dion Sanders, you can say whatever you want. But some of the clips of the Colorado players talking shit to Oregon on the field,

it was like, yeah, I think this is a little much. you guys are acting like you're Dion Sanders or like this is the U in 1998 or you play for Urban Meyer and the Florida team in 07 like come on guys let's pump the brakes talking about we're going to kick your ass staring him down

I don't know about that that that's where I think sometimes Dion who his bravado his confidence is earned it for 30 years all he's ever done is be successful dominate in or on and off the field in football in the marketing sphere of selling himself in ads of just

being the ultimate cash cow. But beside like Travis Hunter and Shador, I think most guys on Colorado should just kind of ease in when they're playing opponents like Oregon, like USC. And to do like that, I was thinking about this morning. If the Oregon players had been on video saying, I'm going to beat the shit out of you, just talking a bunch of shit, and then got mulled. I can't even imagine the outcry of all the former players. And the other thing that's bothering me about the former players who are all pro Dion, which I am too, right? I just think that like his team now, we got to pump the brakes.

Like we got to come back to Earth. Not in terms of recruiting, but like you don't get to act like you're the equals of Oregon. Because clearly you're not. You have to prove that. Like once we get to the field, you have to prove your worth. Dion's proving his worth. as a marketer as a coach, right? I think sometimes these guys,

and these players all on TV, who played at a high level, who played at all these colleges, if other players on a team that was not their equal was talking shit about all the guys on TV, they would all want to fucking fight them right there. It would be a brawl. So one thing Colorado is going to have to be careful in this group

is it feels like they've taken on Dion's bravado, but they're not playing Nebraska anymore. they're playing some of these squads that are the real deal. They got NFL dudes ever. Like Oregon, if I played for Oregon and I was walking out, and I saw all these Colorado guys talking all this shit when we're at home, how many guys on Colorado do you think Oregon would not just want, but would have offered coming out of high school besides Travis Hunter?

I bet it's a pretty, pretty small list. Well, guess what? The players at Oregon know that. So they don't view Colorado as the same, just like USC this weekend, will not view them as equals. So this notion that like, I feel like Colorado, because of Dion, is almost being held to this other standard, like the players. I didn't see any criticism besides from former NFL Oregon players. All these other NFL players are always critical of all this stuff. Like, you got to earn it.

Can't just run your mouth. And then Colorado does it and not a peep. I just, I don't get it. I really don't. I mean, it's kind of baffling to me, though not surprising because no one wants to really piss off Dion. But I would imagine Dion tells these guys, let's rate it back in a little bit. Not like me and the social media videos, but on the field. Like, I wouldn't be calling fucking saying something to Caleb Williams pregame, right?

It's probably not a good idea because you're not, they're equals, even though you've had some success. Now, it is amazing. And this is the power of Dion, and this is why his confidence is so high. They had more people watching that game, Colorado, Oregon, a blowout than Notre Dame in Ohio State. And you could argue the two biggest brands in college football, definitely two of the top four are Ohio State and Notre Dame. Two brands rate. NBC has literally signed an exclusive deal to have Notre Dame games because they rate. Ohio State printed cash for Fox forever on Big Doom kickoff just because they get 7, 8 million people in Colorado.

And this shows how polarizing Dion is, right? Because of everything he's saying. He just caused everyone to have an opinion, right? In my business, I don't care if you hate me or love me. Just listen, right? Just have an opinion. Once you get apathetic and don't care, I'd be in trouble. Right.

Dion knows as a recruiter. Like, you got to move the needle. It doesn't care if, like, the media or former players were pissed off. But it does matter when his players are crossing the line. And I thought it wasn't a good idea. And clearly it was not because Oregon, made them pay. 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 is a win. I don't care what you're saying. 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 Jett. 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 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. Okay, let's dive into a little thing we like to call the mailbag. At John Middlecock is the Instagram fire in those DMs.

Here is Jay. Question. When scouts are looking at a talent, do you give all players full credit for plays? They may not technically have netted any stats, i.e., a quarterback throws a dime, but the receiver drops it. DB gets a pick, but a DT was lined up off sides, et cetera.

1,000 percent. You are, you know, there are going to be some very, very talented players drafted in the first several rounds and honestly throughout the draft whose stats don't look great,

right? Some of it's predicated on the offense. If you're a wide receiver, do you not play with a great quarterback? If you are, you know, a corner, are they not playing you correctly, but you would have the skills,

in our defense. To me, the key is to make a good scout is to know exactly what your NFL team is looking for. And it's why once you have these franchises that have consistency, Pete Carroll, obviously Andy Reid, now the 49ers in McVeigh, you know what those guys like. So when you're out on the road evaluating these guys,

you're not just looking at the stat sheet when you're walking in. Now, sometimes the stat sheet, let's say you're low on a guy or haven't really been paying much attention. and he's at, it's one thing. If you're putting up numbers at a Texas, USC, Oregon, whatever, right? It's impossible to miss you.

But if you're at like, let's say a random school, McNeese State, a Weber State, a non-Division 1 Power 5 program, and you start putting up big-time numbers, sometimes that draws a scout to you. And then you could see it and you go, I don't really see it. I remember, you know, you're going to find guys sometimes that have eight, nine sacks on the season. well, if five of them are unblocked, what does that actually mean?

So it goes both ways. You have to scout with context, right? It's why a lot of these quarterbacks in this modern-day college football, throwing a lot of touchdowns. But are they throws that are going to translate to Sunday? Because let's just pick a number. Let's say you throw 38 touchdowns. Let's say like 14 of them, the guy is borderline wide open

or a screen pass that a guy takes the whole way. Does that really do much for you? The whole key with scouting, a college player is putting him in context. Is this going to translate? Do the skills he has translate? It's why you see guys that don't have a lot of production get drafted high because you view their skills as translating. And sometimes they don't, right?

Because sometimes like, well, he didn't have, he only had four sacks this senior year. But he's six, five, he's got long arms, he can bend. You're like, this is going to work. And I'm like, well, maybe there's a reason he doesn't have sacks. He's not the most instinctive rusher. So it's why it's so hard. It's why it's difficult. What's up with McDaniels?

This dude is a straight clown. Down eight with two and a half minutes left in the game and he opts to kick a field goal. Fireball offense. Jimmy Garoppos stinks. And McDaniels handpicks this dude. And let's talk about his recent draft picks. We needed immediate impact with our draft pick. And he takes Tyree Wilson, who is a Project D.N, who has slow off the snap.

and that only has one move and it's the bull rush, and he's ineffective and allergic to pressure. And second round pick, Michael Mayer, who can't get on the field, and when he does, he's a damn liability. Mark needs to clean house. Yeah, man, it's not pretty. I don't know if I'm a sucker for Josh,

or I bought into the hype, or I don't know, man, but I just, thumbs off. And I just don't understand why coaches are so unwilling to coach a guy they don't know, right? Like one of the reasons the Raiders gravitated toward Jimmy Garoppel because they were around him in New England. Jimmy Garoppel is not good anymore. Newsflash, not that good anymore. Chandler Jones, well, we had experienced him with him in New England. How's

that going? Not good, clearly. So does he get that much credit for Devante Adams? Devante Adams, like the only place I want to go is the Raiders. Does he get credit for Max Crosby? He inherited him. Newsflash, Crosby's good for several years. So, Josh McDaniels is a disaster right now. Disaster. Love the pot. I appreciate your grind. Niner fan myself.

Wanted to know your thoughts on Purdy from a three-week sample size. I think he's been solid. I wouldn't call him some huge star, and I wouldn't call him some just full product of Shanahan. I would say he's been very good for stretches. He's looked a little rusty at times. Overall, the team is so freaking good, they've gotten away with it. I thought Thursday he was clearly rusty early.

Every time you're like, God, what is off? He'll put together a driver like, okay, feel pretty good. I love the way he carries himself. Like he's a confident player. He clearly benefits from having an excellent play caller and playing with really good skill guys. But he doesn't turn the ball over. Now, there's a luck involved. Some picks have been dropped.

But I'm bullish on where he's headed. Now, is he good enough to win the Super Bowl? As I said, after the Thursday night game, that's the big question mark. That's really the question mark. Can he play really good in the playoffs against really good teams? The Chiefs, who else? The Dolphins. Though when the 49ers played two of last year, they made him look pretty terrible.

Chiefs destroyed the Niners. The Eagles, like, that's going to be the test. The Cowboys defense, they're going to beat so many teams just based on town alone. It's going to come down to four or five games. Question for the pod. What would be your dream broadcast team? Heard you talking about bad Michaels and Herb Street. And I got to tell you, I don't think Joe Buck is that good either.

A lot of times he doesn't sound interested, and he also takes these 15-second pauses in the middle of the game. You think anyone would give Gruden another shot. Say what you want about the man, but he was excellent on Monday Night Football with Toriko. Well, he's currently suing the league. I agree with you. He's just kind of a wild card.

It was really more entertainment. I would call him like the poor man's John Madden than he was giving you incredible insight, but he was a good entertainer on TV. He was natural at it. I would say it's going to be difficult because you can't really justify it for ratings, though he would give an initial ratings boost.

As a partner of the league, you want to be in good standing. He clearly hates with all of his guts Roger Goodell in the NFL league office, and he's suing them. So I would say right now, Gruden, no-go. I think Joe Buck's better than you do. And again, I don't think Al, I think Al's one of the greatest of all time. You could argue he is the greatest of all time.

I just think it's 78 years old. You know, Peyton Manning had to retire when his arm didn't work. Rathusberger couldn't throw it 15 yards down the field, had to retire. In football or in basketball, Marve Albert, all-time great. He couldn't figure out who was on the court. There's 10 guys in basketball. It was like, God, this is hard to watch. I think Troy Aikman's really good.

I think Toriko's probably right now the best. And clearly, like, his high end is not Allen is prime. Marvin is prime. What's his name? Kevin Harlan's really good. But listen, most tantams aren't great. I think Greg Olson's excellent. I don't know if I've actually met him in person,

but we've definitely exchanged texts. I think he's come on this podcast before. I really like Kevin Burkart. I think that is an excellent duo. Olson's really, really good. I like Nance. You know, he can be a little cheesy, but I know people that have met him and say he's like awesome,

so it's not like he's some elitist in terms of the way he treats people. But him and Romo, I wouldn't call them my favorite. Romo has his moments and other moments where he kind of annoys me. But that's the nature of that job. He's going to, all these announcers, unless you're John Madden, are just going to ultimately piss them people off. Now, there are some terrible crews. Here's what I all say, though.

Broadcasting football is difficult. It's not easy to have everyone watching go, God, love these guys. Because think about this. They're not local, so they're a national traveling group. They don't do most of your games. If you are the fan of Dallas Cowboys, bad example, but let's just pick a random team. the Chicago Bears or the Minnesota Vikings or the Atlanta Falcons,

you're going to know your team better than that guy. And for the most part, once your team kind of gets derailed and has a bad season, you're going to get the lower level crew. And you're going to feel like, this guy doesn't even know what he's talking about. You know, when Joe Buck and out, these guys see the top teams so often, they're the national story. If those guys just watch sports television or listen to sports radio, you know what's going on.

So I'm critical. of Al just because I think it's time to go, not because I don't think, I mean, he's Al Michaels. And I think they forced Herbie on him because McVeigh and John Lynch didn't want to leave the NFL. That's what they wanted to do.

They wanted to put Sean McVey first, and then when he said no, they wanted John Lynch, and they both said no. They ended up with Herbstreet, who like Jim Nance, I've heard great things about. Awesome dude. I would love to be friends with Herb Street.

Don't really want him calling my NFL games. He's in a tough spot. There's really, it's very, very difficult for him to impress me and you sitting where we sit. And I just feel like their chemistry, they just don't have much. It's, you know, Herb Street's one of the most famous college announcers or analysts of all time, right? He's been doing the biggest games now for a long time. But it does feel like Al views himself like, he's like the Michael Jordan of broadcasters. So even if he sits next to Herb Street, he doesn't view him as an equal.

Say what you want about Joe and Troy. They just feel on level playing field. And that, to me, Burkhart and Olson, they just feel like there's chemistry. Now, you don't need chemistry like it's a podcast, but you need some. And I just don't think they have any. You should talk about your expectations for the Lions a little. Curious your thoughts. I think they're a 10-11 win team.

Same. I mean, I think they're really good. Their offense, once Jameson comes back, listen, it's one of the rare win-win trades, like clearly they had just moved on from Swift. And you can have a good player who for whatever reason doesn't fit your culture, doesn't fit your scheme, doesn't just, you just don't like him. Not personally, but just he just doesn't fit. And that was Swift, and that's why they traded him to the Eagles.

He's clearly pretty talented. No one ever disputed his physical attributes. But they wanted to go in a different direction. They get Gibbs. Once they get him with Jamison, St. Brown, their offensive line gets healthy. That offense is top-notch. And their defense is just going to get tougher as a season. goes on, I don't see how they don't win the division.

Even if the Packers get healthy, I still like them over the Packers. Now, I could see a world where if it's Eagles Cowboys make the playoffs, Niners make the playoffs, a team from the South makes the playoffs, Seattle makes the playoffs, that's six, and then maybe, you know, the Lions and the Packers both make the playoffs. So maybe the Packers are a playoff team. Big fan of the pod, huge Eagles fan. Carter is a monster. I believe you were in Philly when they drafted Fletcher Cox.

I believe Carter will be better than Cox. I think Cox is at the twilight stage of his career and that Carter eclipses them as a full-time starter next year. 100%. I mean, it was, they were somewhat on the fence about Fletcher Cox coming back. Remember a couple years ago, they thought about trading Fletcher Cox. So I think it's fair to say there's a decent chance. This is Fletcher Cox last year as an eagle.

Now, maybe he comes. comes back on a very reduced salary. But yeah, this is why you draft players to replace other starters. It's the nature of the beast. What are your early thoughts on CJ Stroud? I know it's only been three games and it's a long season, but he looks natural and very poised. Do you think Carolina will ultimately regret taking Bryce over him?

I just don't see how Bryce will be successful in the NFL. Full disclosure, I haven't watched a lot of Texans football. That was a game, like, I'm not watching this. then all of a sudden you look at the score and they're kicking their ass. Now, because this weekend, they're a standalone game. I'm going to watch, or no, they're not playing. It's Atlanta, Jacksonville, excuse me. Clearly, I've seen some of the stats, his records, you know, reading about him.

Listen, he clearly has been impressive through three games from a poise standpoint. That offense can be very quarterback friendly if you are a smart and accurate player. He also has a real coach. D'Amico Newsflash is going to. to be a star. I would say he's like the younger version of Rable. He's going to be big time. So I'd be lying if I said I thought he was going to be some stud as a rookie, but it's impressive what he's doing. I got to go back and at least watch some highlights of him. I just haven't made time too busy to watch Texans highlights. I do think the concerning thing about

the Bryce Young experience is I loved him in college, but he's clearly playing on a superior team. and listen, his toughness was evident a couple years ago when they played Georgia, even in the national championship, when Metchie and James and Williams had been injured, and he was getting peppered by the team that had seven million NFL players on defense. You can't really do that in the NFL. He's already injured. He does look really, really tiny. And their team just stinks.

Their offensive line isn't that good. They had to get DJ Moore to trade for him. They got Thielen who's old. I just think it's very, very difficult. in the NFL when you have a lot of flaws around you and you need help right he's not able to just turn into like kailer murray this is one of the things about him coming out was like you know he's tiny and he's not really that fast you know kiler was small but he was actually he weighs 20 pounds more than bryce and he can run like he's dion sanders so when shit hits the fan and he can't see anything they can just take off

and pretty evident when he's healthy not many people can catch him bryce is actually much more closer to like a pocket quarterback. So I was bullish on Bryce Young, liked him a lot coming out. The eye test has not been good. The eye test has not been good. Do you think Jimmy G's embarrassing performance in the Steelers game and him possibly having concussion?

Do you think the Raiders will move to Aiden O'Connell for week four against the Chargers? Well, why wouldn't they have Aiden O'Connell's the backup? That's why I don't understand. They have Brian Hoyer. So if they loved Aiden O'Connell, wouldn't they just make him the backup? Okay, Jimmy goes down, you can't just roll with Aiden O'Connell? if Jimmy goes down, you're not winning with Brian Hoyer.

Hell, you're not winning with Jimmy Garoppel. I never understand when coaches draft a player, right? They draft Aiden O'Connell. He looks really good. He's clearly a smart player. You clearly liked him enough to pick him. And he does enough to not only make the team, but prove that he probably should be the backup,

and he don't make him the backup. I have nothing personal against Josh McDaniels. But God, he's terrible. Everything he does, I'm like, what the fuck are you doing? Do you think Nick Siriani is an undervalued head coach? They lost both coordinators last year and are coming off a loss in the Super Bowl, and they still are 3-0. What are your thoughts?

He's got an excellent team. I mean, that squad, we talked about it on Monday night, is loaded at every position group with high-end impact pro-bolar guys. And not the pro-bowl player that needs like three guys to drop out, like the guy you call first. So he has a lot going for him. it's been a little rocky, right? He clearly's a good motivator.

Players really like him. It's unknown how big of an influence he has offensively. I don't think he does anything with defense and how he picks all the players. So undervalued, I'd say no. I think he's getting his proper respect. He's winning a lot. He's celebrating.

People think he's good. I think it's proper. But I'm not going to anoint the guy as some genius just yet. He's not bad. I mean, I'm not acting like he sucks. but it undervalued feels like he's not being properly talked about, and I probably wouldn't agree with that. Do you think the Colts are ahead of schedule?

I know it's only been three weeks, but Shane and Anthony appear to be trending up, and they are currently in first place in the AFC South. I fully expect Jacksonville to catch them. Well, it's hard to be ahead of schedule when your quarterback has had to leave both games and then missed the game. So I'd say that's somewhat concerning,

is the way your quarterback's going to have to play because he is, he's like a Cam Newton level menace with the ball in his hands in the open field. He's enormous. He can run. The passing is a major work in progress. So the only way to ever be on schedule is that's going to have to improve. And the only way it can improve is with him playing. It's hard to play when you're constantly getting K-Oed. And I know he's not like getting knocked out. I just mean he's going to take a lot of hits because he's running quarterback.

So I think it's a delicate balance. How do we improve this guy, compete to win? because our best chance to compete to win when he's in is to kind of run him around, but give him 30 pass attempts a game or whatever. I don't know. This is why you pay Shane Sykin to be your head coach, who's clearly pretty innovative offensive mind. So I think it's a major challenge.

Head of schedule, I would say no. But definitely it's going well. You feel bullish about the draft pick, your head coach, and then I think you just ask yourself how we take steps in future years, infuse more talent, get more playmakers around them, get an elite weapon on the outside, figure out this Jonathan Taylor situation. Still got a lot of questions around Anthony Richardson.

What's the deal with Trevor Lawrence and the Jacks? They were supposed to be building off last year and dominate the AFC South. Instead, they look like crap. I saw a headline today that I guess Doug kind of denied that he yelled at all his coaches at halftime. I thought coming into this season, they were going to be like a top five offense

and their defense talking to some people around that operation was like, listen, our defense is not going to be that great, but our offense should be dominant. We should score points on everybody. Calvin Ridley, Kirk, Etyn, Lawrence takes a big step. Every time you look up, they're struggling to score. What the hell's going on? And part of the reason I was so confident on them winning the division

was young stud quarterback and proven head coach, who's an offensive guy. And it's just not working. And now they're rumblings about Doug, Press Taylor, who's his guy, but get mad about the situation in regards to the offensive game plan. A lot going on. I would, big week. They're in Europe, Europe, England, for a couple weeks, play the Atlanta Falcons. Like, you should beat the Atlanta Falcons.

You got Trevor Lawrence, they got Desmond Ritter. I had a question regarding my bears. Obviously, this has been the most disappointing season in Bears' history. With Rogers leaving the north, DJ Moore coming in, and Fields turning out to be a more athletic Mitch Trubisky. It's a rough line. It's apparent that the Bears will be taking a quarterback again in the upcoming draft, and hopefully it's Caleb Williams. A buddy of mine in the NFL text meet, do you remember what he was saying? Do you remember when you used to call this guy Uber Fluse?

I used to call him Uber Fluse, and then it turns out his name is actually pronounced Iberflus. And then he beat the 49ers Week 1, and a bunch of Bears fans last year was like, call him by his correct name. So I started calling him Iberflus. Maybe I should call him Uberflus again because he cannot win a game in the NFL. If you were the Bears, who would you hire as the perfect fit for Caleb Williams in the NFL? Would you let Caleb have a say in the hiring process even as a rookie? The problem is, is that let's just say USC is in the playoffs or playing a bowl game like January 1. You're communicating with his agent about who he wants as a head coach, not implausible, not even that crazy.

I mean, this is business. It's just they are not exactly the most progressive organization, feels a little far-fetched from the McCaskey family. It has to be an offensive guy. I think you would ask, now look at the coaches they've hired. They're not exactly, you know, fishing in the Sean Peyton barrel. But I would say Lincoln Riley would be of interest. Now, I don't know if he leaves, but I think you would ask him,

Would you be interested in, I don't know, following Caleb Williams? I think Jim Harbaugh would have to be of interest. He's played there. He's a tough guy. He's also an offensive guy. He's clearly turned around Michigan and has them rolling. He's won in the NFL. So I would say Lincoln and Jim Harbaugh.

It's hard with coordinator. So it's like, what offensive coordinator in the NFL? My Kafka? Eric Bien of me? There's just no guarantee. It's like you could just be in the same situation. The hard part with asking Caleb Williams, like, how the fuck does he know any of these NFL people? But if he says, I want Lincoln.

Well, of course. Yeah, we do too. But he's like, I want this coordinator. You know the guy? You ever met him? Looking at the speed on Miami, do you think these new offensive minds are going to change the way scouting departments evaluate talent? Obviously, guys like Jamar Chase and Jefferson are studs. But when you start getting to the later rounds, are track stars more likely to be drafted highly because these offensive minds of McDonough?

Daniel, Kyle, and McVeigh can utilize their speed compared to be considered football players. Hope this makes sense, but I think you know what I'm getting at. I think it's always been whenever you're scouting and you have a guy who can fly, right, who may not be a first or second round pick, but he's in the mid-round. You go, this guy's going to run like the four-th threes. He's on the radar of NFL teams, and teams are intrigued by that. but you have to be able to play. Like the reason Tyreek and Waddle are so fucking good

is they are elite football players. I mean, Jalen Waddle played at Alabama. Tyree Kill went on one of the great stretches for one of the best teams we've seen in recent memories. Like, he's a dominant, dominant player. So when you see some of these guys, like Tutu Atwell, really fast guy. Took him a couple years to figure it out.

But every team was intrigued by the guy thinking about the Packers guy's is injured right now, but Watson out of North Dakota State. You know, he's a raw player who's, you know, going to deal with some drops, but his speed is evident, right?

How fast he plays. I don't think it's changing anything. I think teams have always valued speed, you know, historically Al Davis valued it more than anyone else. It felt like at times Belichick was on the opposite in the spectrum.

Andy Reid always really liked it. Tyree Kill, Deshawn Jackson, Jeremy Macklin. thing about Terrell Owens, thinking about the players he likes, speed. Offensive coaches like explosive players. Part of what makes Waddle and Tyreek is, I hear what you're saying about quote-unquote football players leaning in the track guy. I can't have a track guy if he doesn't want to get hit or if he gets injured

or if he doesn't know how to play with the ball on his hands. So there is an element of being a really good football player because there's like an instinctive nature once you get the rock and knowing how to track the ball. So it's a hard balance. it's why when someone asked me the other day, like, when you go into these different programs, do you evaluate based on, well, Ohio State always struggles with quarterback, we got to stay away from the quarterback. Well, if you had done that, C.J. Stroud, you wouldn't have touched him. And now he's have more passing yards through three games than anyone else, I think in NFL history.

A little skewed modern day NFL, but you know what I mean? So no, I think every player's his own entity. And the history of the league, there's always been a ton of fast guys in the draft. Some can play, some can. And it's on the evaluator. the scheme, you know, to kind of figure it out. Mail bad question. The Cowboys lost to the Cardinals, more of an indictment of Dallas, or more of a statement for Arizona, who we thought was a lock for the number one pick, but

looks competitive. I understand being short-handed without digs and three guys on the offensive line, but I feel like we're quick to call Dallas a contender after two wins over bad teams, Giants and the Jets, with no Rogers, and the offense doesn't look special with Dax's limitations. I talked about it earlier. I think a lot's going to come down because they're going to be able to run the ball. Pollard's a stud. Their run game translates. And their passing game is going to be more than good enough with cooks and CD Lamb. It's going to come down to Red Zone.

It's going to come down to Mike scheming guys for DAC and having special plays and having unique play calls, which I would say is not really his specialty. But their defense is really good. And like you said, even without digs, their defense is still going to be good. And when you have that good of a defense and, you know, more than capable offense, you should be able to cruise to 10 wins. and if you don't lose games like Arizona, 12 or 13. They were a 12-win team last year.

So I would say, yeah, and I was a little guilty of this too. Super Bowl contender, listen, Dak and McCarthy probably holding them back, but they're going to be one of the better teams in the NFL. Now, I think sometimes I'm guilty of this. I think, you know, if they can just get hot for three or four weeks, can you close your eyes and picture Mike McCarthy and Dak just rattling off these three wins?

Because this is what, let's just say, this hypothetically will take to win. win the Super Bowl. Eagles, second round in Philadelphia, Jalen Hertz, that operation. Then go to San Francisco. This could also be opposite, right? I'm not trying to act like the Niners are going to get the number one seat. It could be vice versa. Go to San Francisco, Levi Stadium, beat Kyle Shanahan and that squad. And then in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, beat an Andy Reed. It feels unlikely, right? It feels unlikely. And I've always said, like, all he's got to do is just go on one Joe Flacco, Eli Manning type run. looking back on those runs, it's pretty fucking crazy how it happened.

It really is. It probably shouldn't have happened, but it did. Knocking out like Peyton Mannings and that 49er team and the Patriots, when Eli did it, he's taken out like Brett Favre and Sweet Cowboys teams. It's very, very unlikely. So it would, for them to win the Super Bowl, they're not good enough at quarterback and head coach. I know Mike's won one, but let's be real.

Like the combination. but could they just have their greatest month stretch? It feels like it would take a miracle. So it does. I'm not acting like just because they lost a game that they suck. They're going to be right in the mix. And they're going to be, depending on how their games look against the Niners and the Eagles, in the playoffs, three or four point underdog.

It's not like they're going to be a 10 point dog. They can win the game. Can they win back-to-back games? They've got to play them both because that's what they would have had to done last year. It feels unlikely. It feels really hard. for them to get at the Super Bowl. Hell, I think people that don't like the Cowboys,

and a lot of people don't, just because they're like the Yankees or Duke basketball, they're just a polarizing team. They go, John, win the Super Bowl, they haven't been to the NFC championship game in 25 years. You're talking about a team that hasn't been to the NFC championship game in 25 years. Hell, the Jets and the Bears have been to NFC and AFC championship games,

you know, way more recently. Right, the Jets were there in, what, 10 or 11? The Bears were there, the year Rogers won it. Think about that. Have a great day. Adios. See it. The volume.

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 starting.

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. In 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. 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.