The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Middlekauff's 3 for the $$$ Week 12 NFL Picks

Episode Date: November 28, 2021

John runs his top 3 Week 12 NFL games - and exclusive bonus pick - by Action Network sharp Stuckey to see if there's professional agreement or disagreement! Lock in.Make sure you follow John and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1-800 Flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1-800 Flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1-800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. That's 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. Okay, here with Stucky, a little weekend podcast. We've been hammering this

home now for a while. He's battling back, action network podcast. Every Thursday, you can hear him. Big back-to-back weeks. You went two and one last week. You went three and a week before. four. That's a nice little five and one stretch. You're now 17, 15, and one on the season. But as you and me were BS in a little bit before we hopped on, tough, tough stretch of games here on Sunday in the National Football League. Let's start with, you know, I mean, I would say even preseason, but definitely this week, probably the biggest game on paper. You got Matt Stafford, the Rams, McVeigh, off a buy coming off getting their ass kicked by the, really, I guess they've lost two games in a row, right? Titans in the 49ers.

Going to Green Bay with Aaron Rogers says he's got a little something that's worse than turf toe. It sure didn't look like that when I watched him play against the Vikings, but you know, maybe he's a little bit of a drama queen, hyping it up. Rams plus one. I don't know. I would take the Packers in this environment

though Stafford has probably played a lot of games in Lambo over his life so it's not an uncomfortable place for him, but this is a tough game to pick, Stucky. Who you like? Yeah, I went with the Rams here. And yeah, last week. It was a good week. We also had the good segment, too. We also had the Texans. We talked about in Utah, which absolutely trucked Oregon. But, and by the way, we lost with another backup

quarterback. We can't, we can't bet against Cole McCoy anymore. But the, yeah, I mean, the look, Sunday's tough slate, but one of the games I did better are the Rams off of a buy. I think the buy is important here because I believe Stafford was dealing with some back and ankle issues. He wasn't practicing leading up to a few of their games before. the by week, back stiffness, and you could see it in a couple of those throws, especially the Titans game, just very uncharacteristic throws. Whenever he's dealt with back stiffness in the past, he's kind of struggled, that by week, I think, will probably serve him really well. All word out of Rams campus, he's fully healthy. He can attack here, a Packers defense that I think

was overperforming up until last week when you saw Kirk Cousins shred them. I mean, they're still missing two of their best defenders. Rishan Gary's still bagged up. And so I think Stafford and company can do work here. He can do work. on the outside, and they can run the ball. You can run the ball on Green Bay, and that's how the Rams like to do everything. Everything starts with the run. They should have success doing that here. McVeigh also off of a loss.

Didn't cover last time out, but he's still 14, 7, and 1 against the spread. And on the other side of the ball, this is what the Rams defense is built for to stop an offense like the Packers, right? They're not really built to stop the 49ers, like the 49ers, the Ravens in some aspects. Those are like the anomalies in the league, right? these just, they can go really run heavy on you. They're built to stop, you know, hey, we got to stop Brady. We got to get pressure. We got to stop Rogers.

All these NFC teams that they might face in the playoffs. And, you know, the Von Miller is now in the mix. You have Jalen Ramsey. He's been playing kind of a star position. I'm curious to see if they use him here on Devante Adams. But not only is Rogers using, you know, dealing with his foot issue, the offensive line is a mess. I mean, if you look at the projected starters this week, it's bad. They just, you know, back to you already just had another surgery.

They lost Elkton Jenkins. They're without Myers. Their center is playing really well. This offensive line is very problematic. And if Rodgers really isn't practicing, it's a really good spot and I think a good matchup to get the Rams. And who knows? Maybe Rogers says, look, we're in good position. We're going to win our division.

I'm sitting out. You don't know. We've seen that with a lot of teams lately. You have a bye next week. They're one of the most cautious teams in the NFL with injuries. He sits out here. You get, you know, three weeks of rest. So I don't think that's going to happen.

It's Rogers, and he still looked phenomenal last week. He won't make this easy in Lambeau. But I like the Rams here. Good spot and a good matchup, I think, on both sides of the ball. When you consider the Packers injuries, two of their key defenders, the offensive line, Rogers with his toe. And if, look, if they want to go heavy run here with AJ, I think the Rams will be happy with that. I think the ball out of Rogers' hands. So I like the Rams here.

Won't be easy, but it's a good spot. Okay, Panthers at Miami. Miami's just not very good. I mean, they had to struggle to beat the Jets. The Panthers clearly are a better team, but their quarterback situation is a little, you know, I mean, the more can play is just the more inaccurate the guy's going to be. Now, he can run, he can make plays as an athlete,

but I just don't trust him as a pastor. But I mean, I just don't think Miami's any good. I guess I would lean Carolina here minus one and a half. What say you? Yeah, I took some Carolina here. This is not going to be any advanced handicap. I don't think either of these teams are going to be able to throw the ball. You can't really throw the ball.

the ball on Carolina. And I don't think Carolina, Carolina just can't throw the ball in general. And this Miami defense has some talent on the back end, now that their corners are healthy. So what does this come down to? Come down to who can run the ball more. It's going to be ugly. Who can sustain a couple more drives. And I think that's Carolina now with Cam, you know, with McCaffrey back in the mix.

If you look at most of the advanced metrics for the year, and McCaffrey hasn't been playing most of the year, Panthers grayed out right around. And you got to remember Darnell was playing quarterback for a bunch of the games. Panthers grade out right around 15th in the league in rush EPA yards per play. The dolphins are dead like 30 or 31st. They cannot run the ball at all. So what does that mean?

They're going to be in passing situations with one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL going up against a ferocious pass rush. That's number one in a adjusted sacrate. I think that they're not going to be able to sustain as many drives the Panthers. Tua is going to make mistakes under pressure. I think that's going to

be the difference here. Miami can't run it. Carolina can in passing situations is probably not going to lead to a lot of success. Okay, this is probably my favorite game that you've ever been excited about. The Houston Texans hosting the New York Jets. Zach Wilson's back. Texans are hot. Just kick the crap out of the Titans. I mean, Zach Wilson, you know, by all metrics is one of the worst players in the league, any position this season. So obviously it'd be hard to against the Texans in this spot just because you'd be shorting.

If Zach Wilson plays, you short the Jets. How about you? I guess to take the Texans two and a half. That's my thinking right there. I took the tech line points for the Texans. Didn't think I would be doing that this year. But here we are. And yeah, as soon as I got word that it looked like Zach Wilson was going to be back,

and Flacco looked pretty good last week. I think he threw for 300 yards. So, but if you're the jets, you got to throw the, you're going nowhere. You've got to throw the kid in there and just see. Okay, we've got to get more of a sample size to see. But yeah, by every metric possible, he's been the worst quarterback in the league, and it's not close. And now you get him coming off of an injury, rusty, and almost every single quarterback we've seen this year that's coming back off of an extended break has looked really poor.

I'm not sure if Russell Wilson is still hurt, but we saw Dak Prescott barely could, you know, couldn't even complete a pass against Denver. we saw Tyrod Taylor, who he's going up against when he went to Miami, throwing just uncharacteristic picks and looked awful. So, you know, he's not only might be just a complete bust, he's also coming off of an injury here. I think the Texans are just going to like sit back and their cover two shell, force them into some mistakes. And it's not a really good Jets defense. It's one of the worst in the league. This is, it's scary. But under three, my very basic handicap here is I have Tyrod Taylor.

and they have Zach Wilson. I'll lay the two and a half here. Got to go with one bonus pick. We've talked about this guy, a Tomlin spot. I saw this number and I just like it. I mean, the Steelers getting four and a half

on the road to Cincinnati. And clearly the Bengals are not what they've been in the past. They're much feistered this year. But I thought Rothersberger looked pretty good on Sunday night. Now, granted, it was in a dome, the controlled environment. But I just, I don't know, this is my favorite line of the week,

Steelers plus four and a half on the road, which I mean, it's not really, I mean, I bet there would be a lot of Steelers fans there. It's a divisional game. I just love this line, Stucky, plus four and a half. I'm hammering the Steelers. Good. Tomlin, 66% against the spread as an underdog overall, just as an underdog at any time. When he plays a team with a better or worse record at 70%, excuse me, the same or a better record at 70%. I go on and on road against teams that have a 500 or better record, 70%. I mean, all he does is cover on the road in these spots. He's a great motivator, right?

It's the same reason why you see the Steelers as a double-digit favorite at home come out flat, right? Because Tomlin loves to play up at us against the world. And when they're playing just a really bad team, that energy is really lacking. I mean, you know, the Lions game. I hope Ben doesn't practice. Ben last year came off the COVID list on a Saturday. and he threw for 350 yards and four touchdowns against the Bengals of all teams in a route. And then this week he looked good.

I think because he's older, like practicing doesn't do him any good with his arm. He knows the offense and everything. But yeah, I think there's some questions about the Pittsburgh defense who's going to play. It's still early in the week here. But, you know, with Watt and Fitzpatrick and Hayden. But, yeah, this is just this is a Pittsburgh spot. Not only because they pretty much need the win for their playoff hopes. this is a big time revenge spot from earlier in the season

when the Steelers were embarrassed by the Bengals. So you know Tom was going to be playing that up. And this CINCY team has talent, but they just are not well coached. They have inefficient play calling. And yeah, I think Ben Rathesberger and Pittsburgh, they own the state of Ohio. This won't be a road game.

You might have 50-50 split in fans. You can even see more Steelers fans at this game. It's a little better now in Cintzzi with, with Barrow there. But yeah, I agree. Grabbing the points in this spot with Tomlin is never a bad idea. Okay. Sorry.

One quick bonus, one, you have to say, well, we got a playoff game in my backyard this weekend for a wild card spot, basically, Vikings Niners. You and I have been talking on and off the air. The Niners are kind of a sleeping, you know, beast, and they've kind of got their swag back the last couple weeks. But the Vikings, holy shit. I mean, their offense. I mean, those, Jefferson's a star, Cook's balling.

Thelan's a touchdown machine. I was at the playoff game a couple years ago. go, they destroyed cousins. But this defense, especially the defensive line with the 9%, you know, Bose is a star, but I just don't see that be able to get pressure. Is this, I'm looking at the over under, you know, 48, 48 and a half, 49. Could there be a lot of points scored in this game? Or do you just, you know, do you like someone specifically?

Give me your take really quick. Yeah, I think that the look here has to be on the over. I don't want any part of the side. I have a big bet on the $40 to make the playoffs. I consider putting a future on them. But they've been extremely underrated, and they've gotten, they were unlucky early in the year. Same with the Vikings. I mean, the Vikings had all these wins that they could have won.

And yeah. So, you know, I, this is just, I think it's going to be a war. It's two teams that are playing really well that are desperate. The 49ers at home, well, some of the fans say they're cursed there. I don't know what is going. The stadium's cursed. I don't know what goes on at home with the 49ers. But like Shattahan is like one and 11 against the spread at home as a favorite.

But it's ugly. Yeah, it's gross. But yeah, I think that this sets up for both offenses to succeed. That game you talked about a couple years ago in the playoffs. 49th secondary was also better. And this Vikings, how you attack the Vikings is on the ground. Their run defense is not strong this year. They also are missing some key pieces on their defense just overall.

So I think the 49ers who are number one on offense, an EPA per player over the past four weeks, that offense is humming on every level. I think they should have success. And then Cousins is playing at a top five level right now with those receivers, you got to worry about the running game as well. So, yeah, I think this sets up for a lot of points. I think that there's some value in this over here.

And hopefully the 49ers show up at home for us. I know. Well, Stucky, have a good Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoy potentially your last weekend with Mark Stoops as your head football coach. There's some buzz out there. Florida, people sniffing around now. You know, sometimes if you're not the first option, if other guys drop out, you still, you know, you still slide in there.

Have a great weekend and talk to you soon, man. Absolutely. Happy Thanksgiving. See you, bro. The volume. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1-800flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1-800 flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options

that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1-800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great. values. To order today, visit 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. That's 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. 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 headwriter, Streeter

Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement home. 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 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a hear, 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. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.