The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Old Man Brees; Viva Carr Vegas; Cam vs. Russ Classic; Start Herbert NOW; Week 2 Takes; Injury Wave; Mask Fines; Mailbag

Episode Date: September 22, 2020

In this episode, John talks Raiders/Saints, Drew Brees looking old, why it shouldn't be surprising to anyone, and on the flipside why he sees Derek Carr and the Raiders as a playoff team in their first year in Vegas. He also discusses the shootout between Russ at the peak of his powers and a healthy Cam with his swagger back under Belichick, why he thinks Mike McCarthy made a big mistake hiring Mike Nolan as his DC, why it's time to fire Dan Quinn in Atlanta, why Chargers HC Anthony Lynn is crazy for committing to Tyrod Taylor over Justin Herbert, why he thinks fining coaches for not wearing masks is ridiculous, other Week 2 takes, and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. 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, 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, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but the show. 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's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's 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. 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. Constant Contact, a digital marketing platform that helps small businesses and non-profits of all sizes build, grow, and succeed. With email marketing, contact management, industry leading list growth tools, social media ads, and more. Constant Contact helps small businesses connect with customers, find new ones, and sell online. all from one easy-to-use platform. They've been trusted by millions of businesses to help improve their marketing. With a 97% deliverability rate,

you can rest assured that your customers and potential customers are getting the right message at the right time. With a simple interface, constant contacts easy-to-use platform makes contact management easier than ever. Their list growth tools help you find a bigger audience fast. Lead generation landing pages, text to join,

and social media ads are proven to grow your list and drive engagement with your brand. With thousands of integrations, You can sync Constant Contact's tools with the tools you're already using. Powerful automation tools help you send the right message to the right person at the right time every time. To start your free digital marketing trial today, visit Constant Contact.com. What is going on, everybody? John Middellcop, Green Out Podcast.

Thanks for joining. How's everyone doing on this beautiful Tuesday? Maybe it's Wednesday? I don't know. It could be any day. It's a great part about podcasts. You can listen whenever you want. Just finish watching the Monday night football game.

Raiders got a pretty big win. Just beat the Saints by 10 points. Your boy had the over, made a little cash. Derrick Carr easily had his best game. It feels like in three or four years. Drew Breeze, not so much. We'll dive into that. We're going to dive into a lot of stuff, you know, coming up on

some things I saw with coaches around the league. this weekend. Justin Herbert had a big kind of, you know, breakout. The Sunday night game was fantastic. Is Cam Newton back? I mean, that was awesome. Cam Newton

looked like a grown man in that game, and Russell Wilson was exceptional as well. And we'll just dive some little things that I saw or I noticed as well as the Middlecoff Mailbag at John Middlecoff. It's my Instagram handle. Slide a those DMs and you will get your question answered here. If you don't, I'll respond on the DMs,

but this is how we interact, fire me a DM and we will talk. Also, for those of you that listen on iTunes, if you listen on Collins feed, I'd appreciate it if you subscribe to the three and out feed. If you like the podcast on iTunes, if you leave a review, would also greatly appreciate it. Also, probably going to have to dive into all the injuries.

But let's start with the Monday night football game. And I think the story coming out, We'll dive into the Raiders here in a second. But I do think it's fair to say that for my entire life, there was an age limit on playing professional sports. I remember growing up hearing these stories

about Nolan Ryan being able to play into his mid-40s and seeing that video of him beating Robin Ventura's ass and just like, this old guy, you should not be doing this. And forever it was about guys in their 20s, maybe to their early 30s. But you got caught off. off at like 35.

And then we had the baseball PED scandal when these dudes were in their late 30s hitting like 60 bombs. And it was clear that it was just all fake. And listen, I liked it. Barry Bonds, I'm a Giants fan. I thought he was a badass. But I never argued that like it's not humanly possible to do it without help. And the thing I think you see, Tom Brady, who is still really good, but he's not what he

once was. And Drew Brees, you saw it tonight. Listen, Drew Breeze is an A plus human being. He's a Hall of Flame quarterback. And I think he kind of gets considered the greatest quarterback, the most accurate greatest quarterback. I personally would go Steve Young. I don't know where you guys listening fall. I just know that if I had to take Peak Steve Young or Peak Drew Breeze, because I think they're both kind of in the same vein of being like the fringe, top 10, maybe 8, 9, 10.

I would take Steve Young and I wouldn't even flinch. But I'm not going to diminish Drew Breeze's career at all. For a long period of time, he has eviscerated people. But he's 40 freaking years old. And this is why I compared Baker Mayfield the Drew Breeze coming out. That Drew Breeze is not that tall. He's not very athletic. But the most important thing, he doesn't have a great arm.

And like Philip Rivers and like you saw even like Eli Manning over the last couple years, as you age, now Eli's arm was better than those guys. But his arm was never like, you know, Aaron Rogers. When you don't have a great arm, the moment you start slipping a little bit, your accuracy goes a little bit. And then you start questioning your ability to make certain throws. So your ability to play the position changes. And Drew Breeze right now, I don't want to call him a shell of himself.

And I wouldn't even say he's washed. But he's no longer the Drew Breeze that we knew him. loved. He's still a good player. And if your team is stacked around them, and when they're fully healthy, the Saints are pretty good. And when Michael Thomas is there and he can throw slants and outs to him for

14 times a game, they're okay. But he was gone the night. And Drew Breeze does not have this ability to slice and dice you down the field with other guys. That's not really his game. He had to dink and dunk the Raiders, especially in the second half, to death.

Now, Alvin Kamara, I don't really even know what Taysam Hill's position is. I just know what it is. It's not the backup quarterback. It's like this hybrid blocking back. But I just think we're seeing a guy. I don't know. Act is age? And I think the thing with Brady and Breeze, who when they played two weeks ago,

I think I said this on the podcast, their combined age was 83. When Kyle Shanahan coached against Cliff Kingsbury, their combined age was 81. Kyle's been a head coach now for four years. Cliff's going on his second year in the NFL. I think he was five years of Texas Tech. These guys are freaking old. So I expect, and listen, I haven't really,

I've watched Breeze. I haven't watched Tampa's game against Carolina. I mean, Carolina is just too terrible to watch. But I've watched both, Bree's games. I just think he's not the same guy. But I'm not shocked. Like, we need to start coming to grips with when guys get, I don't know, past 40 years old,

it should not look easy anymore. This actually gives me hope that I'm still watching the NFL, it's still a young man's game. Like this is not normal. Looking back, I watched Peyton Manning fall off a cliff last year. That's pretty normal. Like in the history of sports, that happens to great players falling off a cliff

unless you retire on your own before you fall off the cliff. And luckily Drew Brees, I'll give him some self-awareness points. He kind of waved the red flag on himself and basically announced this is his last year, signed a deal with NBC, which I think is kind of stupid. Like Drew, they would line up to sign you once you actually retire,

but I get it. You know, what is it, a bird in the hands, better than two in the bush, he just wanted to get the contract. Whatever. It's his prerogative. And he'll eventually, probably him and Mike Tariko will call Sunday night games.

When Collinsworth and Al retire, or they force Al Retires, Collinsworth, they forced out for the younger, more famous Drew Brees. Like, I can see that coming from a mile away. But I'm not going to write the same top. I still think their team's good enough. I think they ran into a team that matched up really well against them, and they exposed them. And Drew Brees at this point is not dominant of a player, not the guy that we saw go to like 10 straight Pro Bowls

and be in the MVP mix every year and put up these gody, stupid numbers. Those days are over. They just are. even Saints fans, I'm sure will agree that like, yeah, he's not the same guy. And he's 40 years old. We should have seen this coming. And on the flip side, I was a graduate assistant at Fresno State when my first year, Derek Carr was a commit.

And he, if I remember correctly, I think that he enrolled early and came that spring because he was like competing to be our starting quarterback. This would have been the spring of 2009. And then he competed to win the job my second year as a GA on the staff. I think he won the job. But Coach Hill went with the other guy,

the older incumbent, he was going to be a senior. And Derek ended up redshirting and didn't play for a couple years. And then got played his sophomore junior and had a historic senior senior. season and then ends up getting drafted. But when I left Fresno State and I got a job with the Eagles, so I went from Fresno State and I got hired with the Eagles in 2010.

And I don't know that much about the Eagle. I didn't know who Howie Roseman was. I just knew Donovan McNabb, Terrell Owens, right, Hugh Douglas, those type guys. Obviously, Andy Reid, but I get there. Donovan McNabb's not there anymore. Our starting quarterback is Kevin Kopp. Now, it turns out that lasted one game because he got hurt and Michael Vic came in, but I'll never forget.

I got hired in the spring. It's when you write around the draft, it's when a lot of turnover happens in the scouting world. And I went to a practice, and it's like, you know, it's pretty cool, right? I'd never been, I'd never been to an NFL game until I worked in the NFL, let alone been to an NFL practice. But I'd been going to practices long enough at Fresno State, and we were Division 1, and my first year we were ranked.

You know, so it felt like big time, but it was way different. Though practice looks the same. Football, I'm sure any, listening, a high school coach, like practice in football is practicing football. You go individual, then you go group, then you do team stuff, and you know, you spread it out over a couple hour period, especially in the off season when you're in shorts and T-shirts. You can only do so much. Most of the drills in high school, in college, and the pros, like coaches talk to other coaches, even at different levels. So they're all copying, especially now I would imagine with YouTube,

most of the drills are the same. But one thing that never changes is when you watch a quarterback, just spin the ball. Whether you're at high school and you're around a guy that's going to go to Alabama, whether you're in college and you stand next to Justin Fields or Trevor Lawrence or Justin Herbert, or whether you're in the pros and you go to a Green Bay Packer practice

or Seattle practice and you just watch Russell Wilson or Aaron Rogers Spinett. No different than if I went to a Minnesota or a New Orleans practice and I watch Drew Bree spin it. You just gauge some arm strength. You go to a major league baseball game. you watch a guy who's throwing 100 and you watch a guy who's throwing 88,

it looks different. And I get to practice, I remember going out on my first practice and seeing Kevin Cobb throw and thinking to myself, my God, Derek's arm is way stronger than this guy. And then the second team rep would be Michael Vick and he'd blow Kevin out of the water

in terms of arm strength. Derek's arm in high school was fantastic. And for the last several years, he's kind of got shit on. Now part of it he's brought this upon himself, might be the offense, might be a skill guy, as this dink and dunk quarterback, like he's Alex Smith.

Most dink and dunk quarterbacks, when I hear that word, I think guys that don't have the ability to push the ball down field. Derek Carr, just spinning the football, is a top 10 quarterback in the league. Just pure arm strength, arm talent. You just put a guy 30 yards away,

I landed up all 32 quarterbacks. He's not Mahomes, right? He's not probably even Herbert what I saw, but he's better than a probably more than half the league of just spinning the football. And he had a year in 16, and I was doing the Raiders post game that season where he was a legitimate MVP candidate.

He was fucking awesome. I saw it. I was going to all the Raider home games. And they made the playoffs. And if you remember, I think Week 16, he broke his ankle. Now, they ended up still making the playoffs, but like Connor Cook started and they got their ass kicked by the Houston Texans. But like Derek is a really, really talented quarterback.

You know, he's athletic enough. He's 6-2. I think he ran at the combine like a 4-840. He can move, but he has a really, really good arm. Now, one problem he has sometimes, like deep ball accuracy can be a little hit or miss, but that's true for a lot of quarterbacks. I thought tonight for the first time in years, he put together a game that just would have been, yeah, that's what it kind of looked like in 2016

when he was competing to be the MVP. Now, part of it this year is the Raiders have legitimate weapons around him. Darren Waller's atop. Him, it'd probably go, Kiddle, Kelsey, him. Like, those, if you just did a draft, those would be the tight ends you'd pick.

That guy's that talented. He's a freak athlete. I know a guy on the staff that told me he's the best player on their team. You watch them play, and the first thing you think is Darren Waller's the best player on their team. Josh Jacobs is a stud.

Brian Edwards, this dude they drafted in the third round, looks physically like he's D.K. Metcalf just standing there. The dude's jacked. And then Ruggs is like an Al Davis, you know, wet dream. The dude runs like 4-1. The dude hauls ass. Even though tonight he only had one catch for four yards, he had a huge penalty.

He had another play that Derek missed him on where he flew by the DB. I mean, the dude's a big time talent. So they have a lot more talent around him, and Derek looked awesome. And I saw before I'm recording this on Monday night, Colin tweeted something like, wasn't even close. Derek outplayed Drew Brees.

Well, physically, Derek, and I'm not saying he'll ever be Drew Brees, but just in terms of physical attributes, there is no conversation. Like, Derek is far superior, especially to a 40-year-old Drew Brees. And if he's going to have games like, especially against good teams, 28 of 38 for basically 300 yards and three touchdowns,

the Raiders are going to be good. Like, the Raiders have enough talent on offense to make the playoffs. Even though their pass rush sucks, and even though their DBs can't really cover, they just need to hold teams like under 30. Their offense should often score 28 to 35 points. They have that much firepower on the outside, and then they have a star running back

with several other functional running backs behind him. But the most important thing this team has is a quote-unquote talented quarterback. Now, there have been a lot of talented quarterbacks that haven't played good football. And for periods of time, Derek has played bad football. But tonight, especially after the first couple drives, the first couple drives were really bad. And a coach told me this a while ago back when I was around the Raiders a lot. He said one issue for Derek. And I think this happens to a lot of quarterbacks.

he gets too fired up before games and he comes out and a quarterback is in a weird way like Tom Brady has the best balance like you want to be fired up and excited for the game but once the game starts you need to be under complete control complete emotional control you don't want to be too amped up you're almost like somewhere between a golfer and a batter right like you're at the plate in major league baseball i don't want to be all jumpy and fidgety D, like you want to, there's a calmness to you, but at the same time, a focus and a power. And I think once he gets that under him, and they often said, like, after the first drive, he'll overthrow a couple guys, he gets his deep breath, and he gets control of it.

And that's what you saw him do tonight. And he eviscerated the Saints with Darren Waller, who destroyed Malcolm Jenkins. Malcolm Jenkins might not be good anymore. Here's what I do know Malcolm Jenkins can't do. Cover a guy like Darren Waller. if you're going to put them on Darren Waller, just say, we're going to give up completion time in and timeout. This is not a fair fight.

But listen, Gruden did some crazy things. Traded Khalil Mack, traded Marry Cooper. I didn't quite understand either. But he has an offense now, and he has a team, and he clearly has coached up a quarterback to put this team in position to be a playoff team because they're definitely talented enough. Now, we're going to learn a lot about them these next three weeks.

At New England, Buffalo, at Kansas City. That's a tough stretch. If they were to win, if they can win two of the next three games, I mean, they'll be four and one with wins either over the Bill, Saints, Chiefs, Patriots, I mean, they'll beat three of those four teams. That would be really impressive. Here's the other thing. Every sport should be in Las Vegas.

I went to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. Baseball and basketball should follow suit. Hockey's there and thriving. The Raiders, once Corona ends, right after the election, will thrive there. You could put an NBA team there tomorrow. It would thrive. I would also put a baseball team there tomorrow.

It is, we talk a lot about moving markets and stuff. I don't really know that many markets in America that are like underrepresented unlike baseball that has some markets that are just kind of stupid at this point like Tampa doesn't make much sense even in my backyard Oakland doesn't make any sense

they can't get anyone to watch no one goes to the games now I know a lot of diehard A's fans and it hurts me to say this this is a one-team market is the San Francisco Giants have the market cornered I think the A's would make a lot of sense there

I would move an NBA team tomorrow you know the Kings just built the facility they can't move. But if another team was thinking about moving or if you expand, I think all four teams should be in Vegas. Vegas is just no income tax. It's a bright light city. There's a ton of shit going on.

The population is growing just at rapid rates. I love the place. Now, I'm a gambler, and I just, I like to eat and I like to golf, and it's got all three of those. But it's an underrated. People talk about like, you know, you just go for the strip. There's actually a lot more, too, than just the strip.

I know people that live there that really enjoy it. 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 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, filtered 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 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 we? went down and tried 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 was 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, 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. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real. conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. And I just, it's kind of like Tempe, Arizona, just up Nevada. Now, it's a little different.

That's probably not fair. But Tempe Arizona's got all four teams. So I don't see why there's any reason that Vegas shouldn't in some way. They definitely should get a baseball team. And if there's an NBA team that needs to move, I would move the, one there tomorrow. Because it's going to be, it's just cool to have a team there. It is. And listen, as someone that went to a lot of games at the Coliseum, it's as big of a dump. It's every story you've ever heard and you've never been there about toilets overflowing and the dirt, you know, the dirt on those late Monday night games,

they should blow that thing up. They really should as soon as possible. The Raiders went from the outhouse to the penthouse. I mean, that stadium looks sweet. and they didn't have to pay for it, mainly because they couldn't. The owner didn't have any money. And Mark should thank his lucky stars. I know he does. He is just in a great position. And his team actually might not be too terrible.

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We reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. What grows in the forest? Trees? Sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination.

Our sense of wonder. And our family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, We reconnect with each other The forest is closer than you think Find a forest near you and start exploring At Discovertheforest.org Brought to you by the United States Forest Service

And the Ad Council Okay, let's dive into the Sunday night game And I was like this when I scouted into the NFL And now that I'm just a fan slash businessman, I'm even more like this But I've always really been like this Definitely in my adult life ever since probably college on.

I watch pro sports to watch the best. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, LeBron James, you know, I want to see the best players in the world, whether I'm watching Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, whatever I'm watching. I don't watch for overachievers. Now, if it's a huge game or a huge whatever and an overachiever wins,

like an upset in March Madness, I'm cool with it, the drama. But I'm really there to watch Duke end up playing Kentucky. I really want to see a guy become Patrick Mahomes. That's why I watch pro sports. I want to watch the best. If I want to watch overachievers, I'll go drive down to a high school game. I got De LaSalle right down the street from my house.

They've been running the triple option down people's throats for 25 years and not really producing that many sweet high-level college prospects. They overachieve. I know it. because when I go pick up Chick-fil-A or go to the Trader Joe's by my house, I drive by there 12 months a year, and their parking lot where the wait room is is always packed. And it's kids, and they're lifting.

It's why they always kick everyone's ass. They overachieve. But what I love about the NFL specifically is I get to watch the best of the best, and even the best 1%, because that's what these guys are, right? they were the top guys in high school they went to college and then they separated themselves in college and then they went to the pros

but even once you get to the pros you separate yourself now everyone's on a different path some guys hit immediately like an Andrew Luck and other guys take a little bit of time but that doesn't mean just we all don't and whatever you do it never matters where you start where you start is by far the most irrelevant thing in all in any aspect of life

it's how you finish and it's how you keep progressing to wherever you're trying to go. And Russell Wilson, I've seen Russell Wilson live probably four or five times. I think this is ninth year. I saw him last year. I've probably seen him four times. And when I first started going, it was when the Niners and them had that little rivalry with Harbaugh. And he was clearly talented, but they didn't ask him to do that much. Right?

because he came into a team that had a loaded defense and Marchon Lynch. And they didn't have the wide receiver weapons. Now, was he capable of doing it back then? Probably not. But over time, once they kind of hit the inflection point or where they had to either hang a left, go all in on him, or go right and kind of hold on to this great defense, they made a decision.

And even at the time when they made a decision, it's like, this is pretty bold, but the decision was right. And the decision, it actually probably wasn't that bold because you always lean with the quarterback. And once you paid him all that money, all your chips were in the middle of the table with him anyway. And the coolest part of someone that's probably watched, you know, I'd say 80% of his games in his career,

is the last three or four years. When this is, to me, the coolest part about sports and why I watch it is because when I'm watching the best of the best, when you just watch him in the peak of their powers. And I remember it in, like, college with Peyton Manning when he was just unstoppable. Obviously to me over these last like 12 years with Tom Brady, that 07 team on until about a couple years ago,

when their offense kind of fell off, but just for that 10-year run where it's like, I'm watching the greatest quarterback of all time in the peak of his power just eviscerate people. And Aaron Rogers, probably from like 11 to 15, when you're like, you know, I'm going to tell my kids about this. I'll never forget this. I might forget individual plays,

but I will go to the mat saying, I didn't grow up on Elway or Marino. Those guys were, I was born in the mid-80s. So I can't get into a legit argument and argue against Marino or Elway. But I can, for sure, go to the mat for three guys. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rogers. And I'm going to throw Russell Wilson in that category now as well. Because he is easily one of the best players in any sport, let alone the NFL, I've ever seen.

And what makes him unique is like, I've stood by Pete. Peyton Manning. He's fucking a monster. He's huge. Stood by Tom Brady. Also a monster. Aaron Rogers a little smaller, but I think I feel pretty confident, probably beside Far of like the most lively arm we've ever seen. I've stood by Russell Wilson. I'm in the same height. I got news for you. I would never sniff playing in the NFL. Why? Because most guys my size don't play in the NFL. He's not very big. A famous story, the Wisconsin Pro Day, everyone, we didn't know how tall he was going to be.

I remember working in the office, and everyone, I remember the Eagles, we loved him. I think a lot of people liked him. Every scout loved him. And he went to go get measured. And it was like 5-9 and a quarter, or like 3 quarters, and he kind of propped up, and he got to 5-10. And the rumor is every scout clapped. They were that happy that he hit the 5-10 mark. The reality is, he's not 5-10.

He's like 5-9 and 3-8. or four-eighths or whatever. Four-eighths would be a half. But you know what I'm saying? He's under 5-10. And he's easily becoming a top-10 quarterback we've ever seen. And they talked about on the broadcast on Sunday night, the voting and he's never received a vote.

It's not like baseball. It's not like basketball. You don't get second-place votes. Last year, I think Lamar was 50 out of 50. You just get one vote. I think pretty confident that he's going to get some votes this year. Right? I mean, he's a remarkable player in the play.

peak of his powers. This is like Rogers 2014. They added D.K. Metcalfe and it's just perfect. Sometimes you know when like you have a friend and he starts dating like some girl you knew or like a friend of a friend and it just works. It's like damn. They were just like meant for each other. A year later they're engaged or they're married. You're like you know, I knew it like the second time we hung out. It's like yeah, they're going to make babies. They're going to be together forever. it's like Russell Wilson and D.K. Metcalf. It's like, I remember going to the Seattle game last year at Levi Stadium, watching D.K. Metcalf against Richard Sherman on blocking plays.

And D.K. didn't hesitate. I'm like, that dude, that dude has it. And we all know Russell Wilson is the greatest deep ball thrower we've ever seen. Turns out D.K., his track speed translates to the league. And then he's tough as shit. Sunday, he's like, him and Gilman. Gilmore getting into it. Gilmore is the best corner in the league.

He's not scared, and he's talented. It just pops. Chris Carson, like the whole thing. Their team's really good. They're back-in cover-wise, a little flawed. But Russell's just the best player in the league right now. Now, Mahomes is overall, like if we had to build the team, the guy we'd pick for sure. And you still argue Mahomes is the best player in the league over the last couple years.

But just right now, the way they're playing, like these first two weeks, it just doesn't get any better than that. These first two weeks, Russell Wilson has been better in my homes. Now, I would rather have my homes, but you get what we're arguing. I mean, we're technically talking about the two best players. But this guy, like, I'm going to be able to go to the mat and argue him the rest of my life.

And I like that about sports. Like, I feel very confident about what I've seen with Russ, what he's become, and just how he's changed the franchise that up until he got there, the majority of my life, beside a couple of home green years, was pretty irrelevant and pretty shitty.

And now he's made them into an NFL stalwart into a team when you put on Sunday night football, you're glued to your couch. Well, you're actually jumping up off of it often because he's making plays that you've never seen before. Just enjoy him because that was awesome. And on the flip side, here's a reality. We all kind of look at Cam differently. He had moments in his career that I hated, always doing the first down stuff. I bet against him in the Super Bowl won money because I didn't trust him.

But one thing I know as a young guy as someone in their mid-30s, I matured a lot from the time I was 25 to 30. I've grown a lot between 30 and 35. I would imagine by the time I get to 40, I'll be a lot different than 35. And I watch Cam Newton, and I watch the way that Belichick and Josh McDaniels likes them. We know the standard set in New England.

like it's not exactly some country club environment. It's not a huge screw around place. And they've sang Cam's praises. They clearly really like them. And then you watch them play, you're like, here's what we do know. Cam had one of the greatest college seasons we've ever seen. Cam was the number one overall pick,

and it wasn't even an argument. Cam went to a joke franchise, made them relevant. Went to the playoffs countless times, won an MVP. His talent, when he is healthy, is undisputable. Like, it is elite. Now, he has flaws. He can be an inaccurate passer.

But in terms of size, arm strength, and just the ability to make every throw on top of being able to run, you don't need to be, you know, Rick Spielman or Howie Roseman or John Snyder to realize how special Cam's talent is. One thing watching him on Sunday night is clear.

The last two years, you kind of got to throw away. way. His foot, his shoulder, he was really banged up. He did not look like he's looked these these first two weeks. Because these first two weeks, he looks like a guy that I remember seeing in 2014, 2015, 2016, just the elite talent. Now, it's going to be difficult in New England. Randy Moss ain't walking through that door. And Julian Edelman doesn't get to work Jamal Adams in coverage every week. And I don't think you can depend on basically, I think Julian Edelman almost had 200 yards in the air from Cam Newton.

That's not realistic. They're going to need more out of Nekele Harry. But Cam is special. And I give Cam a lot of credit. He's gone there because New England doesn't fit in for you. Like they don't, they're not going to change for whoever comes there. You're going to have to fit in for them. And it's clear that from the day one, now granted, it started, you know, two months ago, right,

when training camp, because we didn't have OTAs, we didn't have a summer. Hell, he got signed over the summer. is Cam's been all in. And the praises Belichick said about him while they practiced all during training camp going up to that week one game against Miami continued throughout this week, getting ready for this Sunday night.

I don't think he's just blowing smoke up his ass to make him feel good. Clearly Cam's worked really hard. And here's the other thing. Clearly Cam's healthy. So I don't know if New England, here's what I do know. They're not a Super Bowl contender

with the offensive weapons they have. but they are a playoff contender, and I would say if Cam's plays 16 games at his health, they're a playoff lock. Like, you give me Belichick, Josh McDaniels, and healthy Cam Newton? What do we know about all three? Well, one, I get the greatest coach of all time.

Two, I get a guy that's proven over the last decade. He's one of top five or six offensive coordinator in the league that is open-minded and can change his offense. What is Cam Newton proven? He's a pro-bowl level guy. So you give me a pro-bowl level. quarterback with Bill Belichick, a defense that's solid. I know Russ got him, but I mean, Russ's in the peak of his powers. And you get Miami and the Jets on your schedule? There's four wins,

right? They've already got one out of those three. And I'll take a coin flip between maybe they can split with Buffalo. I don't feel 100% confident. Sean McDermott's my guy, and hell, Josh Allen's balling right now. That Buffalo's just a lock to sweep them. Not with the healthy cam, not with the game plan of Belichick, not with their culture. And here's a reality. In football, when you act like an Antonio Brown or Terrell Owens and you truly can't get along, you're an outlier. It's a fit-in league.

So, yeah, and listen, Cam has gotten on my nerves before, but he fit in with Carolina. Ron Rivera, who is a old-school football coach just to begin with, who's a military son, who when I think Ron Rivera, I think discipline, I think toughness, love Cam. They got along very, very well. will. I don't, besides just some basic football disagreements, ever felt like they have an issue.

So maybe we... 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 I'm 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 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 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 you here, unpack what we. went down and tried 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 was 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, 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. Thank you 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. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, is we have real.

conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Overcomplicated this stuff. Like, Cam's not going to get along in New England. He ain't Antonio Brown. We're not talking about some loser here, like some criminal like Greg Hardy.

Did we overcomplicate the marriage between Bill Belichick and Cam Newton? A talented guy that has something to prove. who's not making much money, who when healthy is, you know, one of the more talented guys in the league, and no one's ever questioned his work ethic or heart or desire. And Belichick has enjoyed being around him,

and they've built their entire offense around them. And every time they get in that jumbo formation toward the goal line, direct snap to cam, I know what I thought I was coming, a touchdown, and he scored a couple. And I had Seattle in that game minus four. I mean, I just assumed once they got that final play, then he was going to find a way to score.

Great play by the Seattle defensive lineman call year, which was their first round pick last year, that was basically a healthy scratch for the majority of their games. But that game also shows you why the NFL is king. I mean, that game, Cam, Russ, Pete, Belichick, the effort on both levels, the physicality, the big plays, the drama. There's a reason the NFL's in a different strut. stratosphere as the other leagues.

And I'm not trying to bemoan or talk shit about basketball or baseball. I watch those sports. But the majority of Americans do not. And one thing is, like, even when you hear the ratings are down, 20 million people watch a game like that. You know what the NBA would give for a regular season game to get 10 million people? Adam Silver would give his left nut for that to happen. You know what Rob Banfred would do for 8 million people to watch a big regular season baseball game? Do you understand what they would do to get that type viewership?

and I'm not trying to be like Roger Goodell's mouthpiece here, but that's just a fact. The more segmented that media and entertainment gets, it's harder to get eyeballs. It's harder to get viewers. And the NFL, if it's up 5% or down 5%, is still getting a number that every other sport, you could combine them all.

They wouldn't even equal that. And it's because you just watch it. You're like, that is an incredible drama, incredible effort, and we bet and play fantasy as well. but Cam Newton's back, people. And listen, I've been someone to question him over the years, but I've never questioned his talent. And if he's healthy, they have themselves a pro-bow-level talent,

and we know that Belichick just finds a way to, he'll just find a way to make it work. 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. If I could be you. And you could be me for just one hour. If you could find a way to get inside. each other's mind. Walk a mile in my shoes. Walk a mile in my shoes. Walk a mile in my shoes.

We've all felt left out. And for some, that feeling lasts more than a moment. We can change that. Learn how it belonging begins with us.org. Brought to you by the ad council. Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about and we're here to change that. I'm April Dinwiddie host of the new podcast,

Navigating Adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling real-life adoption stories told by the families that live them with commentary from experts. Visit Adoptuskids.org slash podcast or subscribe to navigating adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Ad Council. Okay, let me talk about a couple coaching things that I saw around the NFL. I just, these things, bother me. Let me start with one. I know the Cowboys pulled a win out of their behinds with the Atlanta Falcons. Dack threw for over 400 yards and they were down huge and somehow won 40 to 39. But Matt Ryan threw four touchdowns on him and they were just consistently getting worked in

the air. And I like Mike McCarthy and I think that he kind of got a bad rap those last however long in Green Bay, maybe a year and a half. The last season, I think they went 8 and 8, and then that season where he got fired. People started talking about like the village idiot. He's not the village idiot. But when you're a head coach, it's more than just getting your team prepared.

It's more than just coaching an offense or a defense. One job that I don't think we really talk about until the season's going that is equally as important as basically everything you're going to do besides some game day stuff, and it's impossible to differentiate because it's part of game day. it's the coaches you hire.

And Mike McCarthy went to work for Jerry Jones, who surely told him, listen, whatever you need in terms of a blank check to go get yourself the top defensive coordinator, here's your check. And he came back with Mike Nolan. Now I get it. Everything in life turns out to kind of be personal, right?

Who gave you your start? Who helped you do this? Who introduced you to your wife? you know, what company gave you your first deal, wherever you made your first sale to, you become kind of, you know, have some obligation to an individual.

But there has to be a balance. And when Mike McCarthy hired Mike Nolan to be as defensive coordinator, I almost threw up in my mouth. And this was obviously back in January. But Mike Nolan hired Mike McCarthy, a guy that not many people knew that much about to be his offensive coordinator back in 2005.

The following year, he became the Green Bay Packers coach. So for, change his life, right? He became a Super Bowl champion. He just led a team that won a shitload of games that eventually because of that resume allowed him to get the cowboy job. He's gonna, you know, right now on his resume, he's been the head coach of the Green Bay Packers

and the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. They'd be like, oh, who have you been a coach of? You'd be like, Pat Riley. New York Knicks and the Lakers. You know, it's like Joe Tori, you know, Yankees and the Dodgers. Yeah, the Packers and the Cowboys. It changed his life. So I get feeling obligated to do something for this guy.

But there is not another coach in America that would have made Mike Nolan a defensive coordinator in the NFL. Mike Nolan was never going to be a defensive coordinator again in his life. And he might be a nice guy. I think he works hard, all that BS. He's not good enough. and listen, I believe sometimes winning can band-aid issues and that win because some bozo on the Atlanta Falcons

couldn't jump on the ball when it's right in front of his feet and the Cowboys can't touch it on an on-side kick is beyond me. But I know then they celebrate in the locker room and Jerry rips off his mask and his woo-hoo! It's like I can't take the Dallas Cowboys seriously with Mike Nolan as her defensive coordinator. I would imagine most cowboy fans listening would agree with me that for as cool as that win is,

these first couple weeks have to just have you scratching your head. Is Mike Nolan? This guy's going to be the defensive coordinator of the team for the next couple years. Mike McCarthy can have the balls to fire a friend. It's just a bad situation. And then two other guys, like on the flip side, when you know, you know. Think about how often when you're dating someone

or you're working for someone and you're just telling yourself every day, like I got to get out of this relationship. I can't keep working in this for this company or for this boss. I am miserable. This sucks. I know it. But you keep doing it because let's face it, a lot of times the easiest thing to do is the

opposite of the hard thing. Quit the job. Dumper. You know, it's difficult to do that because it creates uncertainty. Well, where am I going to find another job? Am I going to be able to find another girlfriend? Am I going to be able to do it? Think how many people that get done?

divorces. I've known so many people and so many friends of friends that have got divorces. I was told about a couple that got a divorce. The guy was like 78 years old. And someone saw him like a week later and he's like, it's crazy. It took me 50 years to do this. It's been the happiest week of my life. You meet so many divorced men that are like, I should have done this 10 years ago. But it's complicated. You have children. You have shared assets. So many people just work at a job. They despise. Even talented people that can get another job. and they never leave just because they're scared of the uncertainty. Well, the Atlanta Falcons last year, we know.

Dan Quinn's not good enough. Who cares that he won some meaningless games down the stretch? Oh, he beat the Niners week 15. Richard Sherman wasn't there, and Julio Jones went for like 150 yards. If Richard Sherman had played in that game, do they win that game? Is Dan Quinn still the coach? Like Arthur Blank, you created, I mean, you became a billionaire for a reason. Your gut instincts.

You know what you're doing. you allowed, really your last two coaches, him and Mike Smith, like once you get enough evidence, get rid of the guy. Why do you keep hiring basically the same type coach? And if I hear Dan Quinn give fake optimism about where they're going or what they're doing well, it's like, bro, you're the head coach of a team that was in a position up, you know, 20 plus points in the second half. But even for blowing a lead, that happens sometimes.

They still had to kick an onside kick within their two minutes to put themselves in a position to beat you. And then the onside kick, the kick was so terrible. It was standing right in front of your guys at like seven yards. The Cowboys could not touch the ball, and your guys just looked at it. And as Belichick would say,

you're either coaching it or allowing it to happen. So you can point at the special teams coach, you can point at the player. It starts with you, the head coach. That was embarrassing. I can't take the Falcon seriously. And listen, I have a lot of respect for Arthur Blank as a businessman. I can't take him seriously.

He should have fired Dan Quinn last year. He took the easy route, staying with Dan Quinn, and he got the easy result, not making the playoffs again, because that's surely where the Atlanta Falcons are headed. Adam Gase, I've watched the Jets the last two weeks. I watched them much closer this week against the Niners. In defense of Adam Gase, I will say this. He has the worst roster in the NFL,

even after these injuries, for all these crappy teams like the Giants Luce Sequin, I don't even think it's close. His team is the least talented NFL roster by a decent margin. I feel for your Jets fans. But I think you all will acknowledge. You've had some down. And obviously, if you're my age, you've seen some good teams, right?

You've seen some AFC championship teams. Some of those teams in the early 2000s with Herm were really competitive. Like, you guys know what a good team looks like. You know what a crappy team looks like. But when's the last time your team has been this bad? When Keeshawn Johnson went number one overall, this team is a joke. Now, Adam Gay's got to go. But it's not totally his fault.

Now, Greg Williams and some of his antics, I mean, I can't take any of them seriously. But whenever this ends, whether they fire them when they're 0 and 5, whether they wait until the end of the year, however they do it, and they'll blow out the entire coaching staff, there is going to be a ton of pressure on Joe Douglas. To hire a right coach, you know, because a GM is about more than just the draft. And, you know, who are you going to cut when the 53 man cut down happened September 1st?

You better hire the right coach. Because you could argue that's even more important than picking the quarterback. And Joe Douglas didn't pick this quarterback. So there's no lock that Sam Darnold is just going to stay here forever. Now, I'd say Sam Darnold is the least of their worries. And Adam Gase would probably be two. More talent would be number one. But it's just Adam Gait, lifeless team, zero creativity.

You know, these, I remember reading a story last year. I think on Bleacher Report, he stays in the office. He's there to like one in the morning. Like, bro, what could you possibly be doing to one in the morning? Just go home at dinner time. What are you doing with this? Like, why are you staying in the office this late? You're going to scheme some backup practice squad guy open?

You won't. So just enjoy the money that's coming your way and try to do some creative because who's going to hire Adam Gase next year to be their offensive coordinator? Seriously, is he going to be an offensive coordinator again this year? I don't remember a guy that became a head coach, even like Josh McDaniels became a head coach,

and then boom, as bad as it was in Denver, remember he immediately became an offensive coordinator again. A lot of guys, like Pat Schumer, ugly in New York, but offensive coordinator immediately with Vic Fangio. You see it, guys bounce back. I don't know if you could, you know, I couldn't hire him if I was a head coach or allow it as a general manager. Next year, we hire a coach. He needs an offensive coordinator.

I wouldn't touch Adam Gase with a 10-foot pole. The most embarrassing thing I saw on Sunday was Anthony Lynn. And if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know I've been hard on Anthony Lynn. and I'm still not really sure what he does, but after watching Hard Knocks, here's what I know. He's a very, very impressive guy. I would like Anthony Lynn to be my friend. I understand why people would hire him as a coach on their staff.

Is he a good enough head coach? Jury's still out. But after Tyrae got banged up and Justin Herbert's thrown into action, and if you watch Justin Herbert play, get some good things, he had some bad things, but a little like a young Cam Newton, I actually saw some like young Kaepernick in there. He didn't, he's not quite as fast.

But I got to, I stole that from my, my other podcast partner, Guy Haberman. And he's kind of right. He kind of compared the situation when Justin Herbert went in for and injured Alex Smith and Wally Piped him. The difference is the 49ers never flinched and never went back. And Alex had accomplished a lot more than Tyrod Taylor. Again, these are just words I judge you off action. So I hate being hypocritical. to my own life modos.

So until I see it in action, I'm going to preface this. I'm just basing this off what he said. And I'm going to take him at face value because I know Colin and Doug and Gottlieb. And these guys know a lot of people with the Chargers. And they've been adamant. Like they're going to stick with Tyrod. They have a plan.

They know Telesco. Which I don't agree with. It's 2020. Herbert had been a four-year starter at Oregon. I know Tyrod Taylor's ceiling is not very high. I don't know what Justin Herbert is, but I just drafted the guy six. Throw him in there. He's not Mitch Trubisky.

He didn't start one year in college. He's been a full-time starter since like 2017. Excuse me, 16, 16, 17, 18, 19. I get no OTAs and all that crap. I understand it. Play the kid. But Anthony Lynn says, when Tyrod Taylor is healthy, he's our starter. It's just, how do you say something like that?

Were you just watching the same game on Sunday that I was watching? watching. Like he made throws physically that looked like the other quarterback on the other side of the field. Who happens to be Patrick Mahomes? Who happens to get a 10-year $450 million contract?

And we all think it's kind of undervalued. Now, I don't think Herbert's ever going to be that good, but physically he is super gifted. And I'm a huge believer. I learned this is where I went to college at Cal Poly. You learn by doing. I don't learn on boards.

reason I don't like politicians because they always talk in theories. It's why I have nothing, not that much in comedy with academia. You know, if you do this, this is the outcome. Well, it looks great on the whiteboard. Let's get in the real world. It's easy to talk about selling in a class. Let me give you a product and tell you to go to five people you don't know and try to sell that product. I would anyone listening who's in sales goes, that first year trying to sell stuff is a mother. It is. It's tough. But you know what? You learn. You then create a couple relationships.

You find out what you're good at. You find out what you're bad at. And you go from there. No different with quarterbacks. He threw a pick in that game. It was my favorite play of the game for him. Because you know what he'll realize? You know, I could have done that against Oregon State.

I could have done that against Utah. I can't do that against the Kansas City Chiefs. I can't do that in the NFL. But the only way to learn where your physical gifts end and where you have to make plays with your mind is by playing the sport at quarterback. You got to play. There's no way to get around it without playing.

And clearly, he's way more talented than Tyrod. Now, I could have told you that six months ago. For some reason, Anthony Lynn, I don't know, doesn't want to admit it, loves Tyrod. I get it. I get loving a guy. Tyrod just scouting him in the league. Always liked him. High character guy.

You watch Hard Knocks. He's an impressive individual. he's going to be successful the rest of his life when he's done playing football. And he's not close to being done playing football. He's going to be in the league as a backup for three or four or five years. But he's not a starter on a good team, especially when his backup for the number six overall pick named Justin Herbert. Just put him in the game.

Making the starter moving forward. Make Tyrod the backup. It's not that complicated. You don't need to be Bill Walsh to just watch that game. And Anthony Lynn had a better seat than me because he was literally on the sideline to go, this guy gives us a better chance to go farther. And he definitely gives us a better chance to go farther in years to come. If he can learn this year.

So if I was Dean Spanos, if I was Tom Telesco, I would throw my body in front of this decision. Under no circumstances, if Justin Herbert's healthy, is he not the starting quarterback moving forward? Honestly, I think it's embarrassing to even say that because it's an easy one. Listen, we don't know. We'll have to reevaluate Tyrod's injury.

everything's up for discussion now. It's a simple one. Players aren't dumb. Do you think Keenan Allen and Mike Williams don't realize what they just saw and the balls are getting thrown their way and the arm strength? Now, he needs to develop much more touch.

Like 2012 Kaepernick, a lot of power, not much touch. Now, Kaepernick never developed touch, ever. It's one thing the media has forgotten about as the Kaepernick discussion. Now, it's really convoluted. and there's a lot of different elements to it. But just from a football standpoint in a vacuum,

never had any touch. Couldn't throw a wheel route. Couldn't throw a little lob passes. And Justin Herbert was just throwing fastballs. And when it hits, it looks fantastic. He threw a ball Keenan Allen over the middle against Chiefs. So it was like, whoa. But he also threw some outroutes, you know,

that flew 10 feet over the guy's head. But the only way to improve is to play. What does Josh Allen done? Played from the jump, gotten better and better, and better. And three years into his career, he's on a team that we think is going to compete to win 12, 13 games. Because he's better.

Well, if you want to be talking about in two years, you know, this charter team's going to be really good. Why? Because Justin Herbert is ready. Hell, it could be next year. When Derwin comes back, you have all these guys in our contract. This team's built for the next several years.

But I like this team a lot more next year. Hell, even this year. when Justin Herbert's under center or in the shotgun, which he's clearly comfortable doing. Here's why I don't like the chargers, when Tyrod Taylor plays. And if Anthony Lynn can't figure that out, maybe I'm back to crushing him again. Okay, let me hit on a couple quick stories

that have happened over the last, materialized. Really materialized on Monday, one kind of late Sunday, but definitely one during Monday night football. And I've talked about this before, about the NFL getting mad about the coaches wearing masks. Well, Pete Carroll, Kyle Shanahan, Vic Fangio. I mean, I haven't watched every snap of Vic Fangio.

I did the first week. I watched a lot of the second week, actually. He had some money on the Broncos. Somehow with Jeff Driscoll, they covered that game. Vic Fangio doesn't even pretend to care. Pete Carroll, same thing. Kyle Shanahan has not once put the mask over his face. I'm sure by the time you're listening to Sean Peyton will have also been.

fined, even though he's had the corona and has the antibodies and cannot transfer the virus. But they're fining coaches $100,000 for not putting the mask over their face. And then on top of that, finding the team $250,000. So I think someone tweeted over a million dollars of fines were handed out on Monday. And by the time you listen to this, I would be shocked if Sean Payton doesn't get fined as well. I'd say Gruden would probably be on the fence, though he might be on the fence close enough that he'll survive. Here's my take.

I texted some people in the league, and I didn't hear a response. Maybe it's a really sensitive issue, and some people on a team that this just happened to. And my question was simple. Did they find Kyle because of the optics of it, or because that they are just doing everything to cover their ass and keep the ability to make money,

which is the games alive, even though every single person on the field, players and coaches are tested daily. And the players are literally sweating and spitting all over each other all game. And they are tested just like the coaches every day. And the coaches, as you see, all these citizens are wearing them, a lot of times it's just the head coach, and a lot of these head coaches are play callers,

like Fangio calling the defense, Kyle calling the offense, whatever. And I can't imagine in the heat trying to wear it and be a pain in the ass. But if they're just doing it for optics, and maybe they are, because a lot of people are like, they're just doing it to,

because the media, I don't think the NFL gives a shit about the media. If I ran a business, I couldn't, if you're trying to placate to the media, you've got it all wrong. Do not worry about the media. So I don't think the media has any pull.

Now, one thing that might have happened, the NFL threatened everyone after week one. And my take was a CYA strictly all about the money because that's what the NFL has been all about from day one, the money, as they should. They run a business. They don't run a charity. They're not teaching the youth life lessons.

They're trying to make money, and the games are their cash cow for themselves and the players, given that they're revenue sharing partners. but if the reason they find them was because they threatened it and basically guys like Kyle Shanahan said, I'm just going to keep operating, that to me is so stupid. If you're finding them because they're being defiant for wearing something that makes no sense. I mean, none. Sean Payton has literally had the coronavirus.

Has the antibodies. Can't catch it or give it. No, I have the antibodies. I've been around a lot of people that have had it for whatever reason. I can't get it. Whether it was the first time I got a flu shot in 10 years. I don't really know. I mean, I've been around a lot of people that got it.

I was at an area where a lot of people got it, and I'd never been phased. Kind of crazy. I can't quite sum it up, but it just, because my immune system just kick ass, you know? 35, going strong, baby. I just think it's really stupid.

And I despise when people and businesses do things for optics. And it's why that I really am uncomfortable with a lot of commercials from different companies. about the coronavirus and mixing things in. It's like they're trying to profit off these times that absolutely suck that are ruining so many people's lives. It really bothers me. And if the NFL are fining these guys,

and I don't care if you make $6 million and $100,000 relative is not like $100,000 to me or you or to 98% of America is a ton of money, right? I mean, the average of American income is like $50,000. The fine's huge. And $250,000 to a team, and granted the team makes a lot of money, but still, I mean, that's a hefty fine, right?

Think about some of the bigger fines in recent memory like a million dollars. I think that's a little egregious. For people, the testing numbers are out. They have been fantastic. Clearly, the players and coaches are doing everything in their power to avoid, you know, they're not fucking around here,

and they're taking it very seriously. And if you're getting mad on game date, when clearly when they're around the facility and doing stuff, and they're interacting with people, they're not wearing the mass 24-7. if you're doing it for optics, shame on you NFL. Like, get over yourself. Like, what are we doing here?

You know, because it's just, to me, it's just so stupid. That really, it's just, I, if I was, if I was fan Joe and I got fine, I'd refuse to pay it. Kind of like a parking ticket in college. And my other thing would be, a lot of people have asked me, like, do you think all these guys are getting injured? Because the turf, because they didn't practice, because there's no preseason games? There was a ton of injuries, right? I'm sure many of you saw the list or the tweets or whatever of all the names the boasas the sayquans guys dropping like flies the Niners had three plays

in a three play stretch two guys get carted off with torn ACLs never seen anything like that before in my life they're starting quarterback they're starting defensive end they're starting running back all go out within like a handful of plays it was insane as they're already missing their starting corner they're starting tight in they kind of have the market cornered, but obviously around the league, guys dropping like flies. I'm not a medical student. I don't understand, like, I can't tell you anything about the human body besides just,

when I see a guy limping, I can kind of go, oh, it might be his ACL, right? I'm just a sports fan, I've seen enough injuries, I got a decent idea. I don't necessarily believe just because they did not play preseason games that were getting these injuries. Now, I do believe texting with some people with the Niners, and I'm sure you saw some of the tweets. There are a lot of people that played in that game that MetLife turf is bad turf. Now, I've never been there. I've been to games there before. They changed the turf this year. The old turf, I never even, when I was working for the Eagles going to advance scout stuff,

it always looked fine to me. Maybe this new turf screwed up. Clearly the players were uncomfortable on it. That and Zach Banner, the Steelers, offensive linemen, Tories, ACL the previous week. they've had a bad stretch there. They might have a turf problem. But I just think overall around the league, it's up in Malik Hooker, Achilles, obviously Marlon Mack, you know, Torres ACL was it last year, Sutton ACL, we've just had a ton of injuries.

I do think there's just some randomness to football, and it feels really crazy, that at the end of the day, football is a very violent game, and we see a lot of non-contact injuries, let alone contact injuries. Maybe there's something to, not, you know, playing in games, but they all played last week, right? They were doing scrimmages and hitting and practices.

Like, they did have a lot of physical practices. Maybe not full-on games, but I don't know. I don't think it says crazy conspiracy because they didn't play preseason games. College never plays preseason games, and they don't have a ton of injuries, right? Just or not anything it feels like out of the realm of craziness. So I guess my overall take would be I do think there's just some randomness to it and just some bad luck to the situation

not just because they didn't play preseason games. Okay, let's go a little Middlecoff mailbag at John Middilcoff Instagram handle. It's how we interact in 2020. We DM each other. People like, I DM and definitely text, but I DM a lot too. Way more than I talk on the phone.

I mean, I can count on two hands the people I talk on the phone do. I mean, I DM and text just how we communicate. I'd say it's just how my age, I would much rather just text you. Now, there is something in business for sure to, you know, you got to get on the phone everyone. If I got to call coward, you got to call coward, right? Guy who I do the other podcast with, I got to call him. I got to call him.

My mom or brother, I didn't call. Girlfriend, whatever. But the list is short, you know. List is short. I'm stoned watching all these games so far this season. Kind of wish I was too. And I'm blown away by all these damn injuries. If I was a GM, I would be scared to pay big for anyone right now.

Do you think it's simply because guys are going so hard in these early games without properly getting into game shape this offseason? Like what's going on? Maybe one thing I missed talking about it earlier. I have had this thought and I've watched probably like most people listening the Thursday night game

a ton of Sunday games both weeks and the three Monday night game so far I think the effort and for the first time week two I think you really notice besides obviously the cowboy game Jerry had 20,000 people and it actually looked like a lot of people

like Seattle I almost said the Oakland the Vegas game it does look a little weird when just no one's there in these primetime games it's the first time I didn't notice at week one, I noticed at week two. The place is being empty.

But the effort has been elite. I think the effort, I mean, it's been as close to a 10 out of 10 as you can get. And sometimes, you know, I think in the other sports, we always re-ripped the NBA. Because it's true, right? In the regular season, they don't try hard. Most of the games you watch,

it can be very hit or miss. Baseball is not really a huge effort sport. It can just look kind of slow. In football, there is, something like when you watch two SEC team Georgia play Florida and both teams are playing well you're just glued to the TV Penn State, Ohio State. It's a close game and they're playing

their ass off. The best part about the NFL is like besides the Jets well actually in fairness to the Jets I don't think they don't play hard they just suck I watch them against the Niners like I didn't think they were just not playing I just don't think they're any good I really do believe most teams are playing their ass off

and despite no one being there. And part of it is just the sport of football when no one's there, if you don't play hard, you will just get hit and knocked out and just hit hard and it hurts. So you just naturally, like if you go, and I've been lucky enough, I know probably a lot of people listening,

I haven't gone to NFL practices. If you go to an NFL practice, you start going live, the effort's pretty damn good. It's not quite game effort just because you are going up against your teammate, but it's pretty damn good. If anyone listening has got, You guys go to big schools and you go to a spring game

or been lucky enough to go to like a big college practice. Like, you go live in practice. Like, it's no joke. Anyone that played high school football, like, you go live. And the NFL, the best players in the world, I think the effort has just been unreal. And these guys train. The thing is with the modern day athlete,

you know, back in the day you always heard the stories of like the 70s and 80s. You know, he just showed up fat and used training camp to get in shape. You know, Larry Bird just drank beers all year, all summer long, shows up to camp and just gets himself in shape. Like, those days are over. Like, the one thing we know now, especially with social media, is these guys work out all year long. And I don't blame them. I was a pro athlete, like my body would be in elite shape 24-7, 365, just building up toward games. So it's clearly not like these guys showing up fat, right?

Every guy that I see, for the most part, like, looks fantastic. The speed of the game is wild. I really, I don't have a good answer. I don't know. I really just, I really just don't know. Chiefs fan here. I'm watching the Browns game and can't stop thinking about how scary the chiefs would be if Kareem Hunt was still on the team.

I also don't understand how Hunt is not starting over Chubb. He's a better pass catcher and a better runner. I know he's had multiple off-the-field issues, but there's no ways to number two back. I don't see him being there long. If he were to move, which team would he fit in his best besides Cleveland? Well, he signed a contract extension, I think, before the Thursday night game. I do think Nick Chubb's a better runner.

Now, I'd have to really study it. You're right. You know, Kareem Hunt is a great pass catcher. I'd have to really, I'd have to text some people in the league about Chubb as a pass catcher. Like, Kareem Hunt is really good at that. Chub is an elite. As a running back, he's probably a top four. or five running back in the league.

Now, Kareem Hunt's probably like a top 12 running back in the league. I think it just speaks to, Baker Mayfield has by far, let me repeat, by a country mile, the best running back tandem in the league. He had a running back that started on one of the best offenses in league history three years ago.

Kareem Hunt, who I think was a rookie that year. And clearly he has Nick Chubb, who went to Georgia, premium pick, who's been a star. So he has two basically star, running backs. It's pretty crazy. So, yeah, I don't think he's going anywhere. I think he's just going to be on the Browns. As a lifelong Bill's fan who's been forced to listen to the national

media tell us this year how Josh Allen and Sam Darnold is a close debate, I appreciate you being certain for a while that Allen is the number two quarterback in that draft. Yeah, I mean, right now it's just not a debate. You know, clearly Lamar Jackson has established himself as the best quarterback in that draft, and he's a superstar. I wouldn't call Josh Allen a superstar yet, and he's going to play in big games this year. You know, both New England games against Cam will be huge. He's playing the Raiders in a couple weeks. That'll be huge.

He plays the Niners in a couple. Like, he's got some big games. I think Josh Allen has clearly gotten better. I think the Bill's 11-12 win team, and Josh Allen's going to be a big reason for that. Now, his first two games have come against the Jets and the Dolphins. He's been fine. He's been solid, and he's clearly really talented. but they're the one thing with him,

and I'm a huge Josh Allen fan, and I think he has the chance to be like a multiple time pro bowler. I was texting with a buddy in the NFL that told me, because when he was coming out, one of the things, I think I was, I had this podcast, I kind of cry, I said I would not mess with that guy. I don't mess with inaccurate quarterbacks coming out. I said the same thing about Lamar.

I've been burned on both guys. Now, once Lamar started like, nobody cares, work harder. I'm like, I love this guy's attitude. I became a Lamar guy fast. Now, I don't, like, I'm still with Lamar. Like, can you just play like that forever? I think we know that's not possible, right?

And does that work in the playoffs? No, it hasn't historically. It's never worked in the playoffs. A guy like that doesn't win the playoffs. So for them to win the playoffs, we know Lamar is going to have to pass, and sometimes I look up and Lamar's thrown so he passes, so they might be okay. Unlike Lamar, Josh, touch is still a little bit of an issue,

and we'll just see them against the really, really good teams. Like Lamar's already played in a lot of huge games. And I've seen them play well. Like Josh is going to have to play in those two New England games, the game against the Niners, the game, I mean, if that Raider game, if the Raiders were to beat the New England and I got to look who the bills play this week, be two three and O teams playing in a couple weeks. That'd be a big game.

So it's just something to keep an eye on. But I'm a Josh Allen fan for sure. Falcons fan here. What are the chances the Falcons final? finally get rid of Dan Quinn and the rest of the subpar coaching staff. Since the Super Bowl loss, it's been embarrassing to watch. So much talent on offense and our defense, when healthy, have had enough good players to be decent. At this point, watching these games, it has to be the scheme in the play calling, aka the coaching.

Do you think they should try to throw everything and try to land Eric Vianamy? Would love to get your thoughts on how the Falcons could finally turn the page to consistency. Side note. The loss to Dallas pushed me over the... 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, 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and.

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Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack 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. 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 Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer 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, Tript 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're We don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

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Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free. Our Heart Radio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. Edge with the staff finally. The problem you have right now is, take a quick sip of water,

is that it's week two, and he brought these guys back. You're stuck with them this year. So you probably got a 6-7 win team where you're going to lose some heartbreakers. You're also going to win some games because you have an explosive offense. Maybe you know it wins 7. Your defense is pretty shitty. but like I said earlier when you know you know

and they knew last year and they let some meaningless games down the stretch influenced their decision that I that onside kick I still every time it like I'll just be like I was in the car today and just across my mind I just thought of the

onside kick spinning kind of like a dreidel and the dude on the falcons just staring at it like I can't even imagine being like a diehard falcons fan watching that play. I would have thrown something at a wall and broken something for sure. And maybe you did. Eric B. Anami, one thing, though, is like, you have a good offense.

So who are the top coaches? Someone DM me a while ago. Who are the top coaching candidates? It's like, I can't even quite get there yet. Clearly, Eric Bianami is going to be at the top of the list. I'll be a little shocked if he doesn't get a job. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know that much about Eric Bianami. I know talking to Andy just ask him at the combine, just asked him about him, he really likes him. I have buddies, obviously, in Veach and some other buddies on the staff that really like him. So, yeah, I mean, I'd give him a shot for sure. But it's not like you just get Eric B.

enemy and you become really good. Like, you're not guaranteed that, right? To me, if I'm the Falcons, the one thing I'd try to do, I mean, I actually think the Falcons need, like, when I say the retread sounds bad, but like, you know, a Ron Rivera type off that second. job we'll see about Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan but like that type coach like they don't need

can this guy do it? Like they don't need to take their chance on like I know it's working out with LaFloor but that was a pretty big risk they need when a guy like I'm trying to even think of an example I can't even think of one it wouldn't be Anthony Lynn if he were to get fired maybe there isn't a guy out there

like that now that I think about it you know like Bruce Ariens again that's it's like Bruce Ariens just aren't walking around the street. See, it's like, maybe you just take Eric Bianimi. My point is, you get Eric Bian and me or the next LaFleur, your team

might still just be average the next year. You know, there's no guarantee for it to work. But you got it, Dan Quinn's got to go. Should the Bears make a play for Gardner Minchu this offseason? The Jags will likely have a top two pick and have a chance at Lawrence, and Minchu seems like a large step

up on Trubisky. Well, I would one million percent rather have Minchew than Trubisky. So if you get Gardner Minchu, yes, I would get Gardner Minchu. Do I see the Jags getting rid of Gardner Minchew if he's good? I probably don't. But if Gardner Minchew is available, I'm with you. 100% they should get Gardner Minchew.

Falcons fan here. After watching this weekend's game against Dallas, do you think our loss was more because of our defensive injuries, mid-game, tack, and Allen, or just proof that we don't have a real coach in Dan Quinn? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've clearly talked about this a lot. and listen, I've been around

the impact coaches have on games like there's a reason Belichick just doesn't lose that game or Andy Reed doesn't lose that game or Sean Payton doesn't lose a game when they're up 20 points in the second half it's just it's not possible I think we've all seen the stat I have to go look it up now that I've already kind of forgot it that a team up 20

that didn't give any turnovers and they got three turnovers like never lost a game in NFL history it's just it's unheard of seems like a nice guy he really does And he's a bald guy like me. So when you're bald, for those of you with hair,

we just naturally root for our own. But I don't, I'm not rooting for Dan Quinn anymore. And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the, and there they go. Almost on time this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-armed kid carry. Looks like dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear.

Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't closed. diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh, but Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag closed, and they're off. Ah, but looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on the roof of the car, and there it goes!

Oh, that's a shame. That mug was a fam favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just nail the big stuff. Like making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat for their age and size. Learn more at nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Visit nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Brought to you by Nita and the Ad Council. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest.

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Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree.

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at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. It seems like a disproportionate amount of starters are going down with serious injuries. Could it be because starters went from zero to 100 with live contact and everything? They didn't have a chance in preseason games

to get used to the speed. Okay, here's one other pushback I'd have on the fucking preseason games. McVeigh hasn't played a starter in preseason games in two, three years. I watch Seattle doesn't play starters. Maybe Pete Carroll does. But I'm just trying to think like every year I just find myself watching a couple preseason games and it'd be like, oh, their whole starting lineups down.

It'll be week three. A lot of teams have kind of gone against the grain and not played starters. Matt and Aggie hasn't played starters. Andy Reed, I think Andy does play him. Aryans. Do you think he would have played Tom Brady in the preseason? Even as a new player? I don't know. Probably not.

Like I'm just thinking off the top of my head. A lot of guys don't play in preseason games. Like Rafflesberger, historically, he's just sitting there and sweats. So it's like, or you're star running back, your star corner. I really don't think a lot of these guys

play in the preseason games. I just think there's some randomness to this. That's my take. Now, I don't know. it's just a feel for watching football. I just don't think it's like, why does this randomly get hurt in week two? Because there's some wear and tear from week one?

I don't know. Like, would Nick Bosa have torn... Like, Nick Bosa has torn in ACL before. Nick Bosa tore his ACL in college. So it's not like, you know, Nick Bosa's never been hurt. He's been hurt in high school. He got hurt in college.

I was at his first ever mini camp, pulled his hamstring. He got hurt in his first training camp. Now, he was, pretty durable his rookie year and he was awesome. And he tore his ACL on the other knee that he hurt in high school, I think.

Week two. But I saw an independent doctor on Twitter, for example. I saw the Sequin play. To me, that looked like a play that just kind of a freaky injury. I saw the independent doctor said that type injury would have happened

on any turf or any year. Like, his leg kind of got caught as he was getting driven to the ground. So, I don't know. I mean, I just, that one's a hard one for me. Because I'm not really on one side or the other. But I actually tend to lean that there's just, I don't think it's, I just, my pushback is maybe if you want to factor in off seasons and not being around and build up as a team,

I can hear that. But the preseason games, I don't think they mean a goddamn thing. I really don't. I see people get hurt in preseason games. But again, I get back to most good players now in the NFL, when's the last time Aaron Rogers played in a preseason game? I'm pretty sure thinking about it last year with LaFleur, he didn't play in the preseason. I could be wrong, Packer fans.

I definitely know he didn't play in that second game that he went to Canada where they had the crappy turf against the Raiders, and they played on like an 80-yard field. He definitely didn't play in that game. But if I'm thinking back correctly, I don't think he played in the preseason game. If I was a head coach, I'd go Sean McVeigh, I wouldn't play any of my guys in the preseason game. I'll end it on that.

I'm so tired to talk about these preseason game. preseason games because in these injuries. I'm with you. I want them to go away. This sucks. No one wants to see Nick Bosa, Saquan Barkley. These guys go down. It's terrible. I mean, it's awful. Sutton, Drew Locke. I enjoyed watching Drew Lock week one. I want to see all these guys play. I think sometimes we need to remind ourselves when a guy's laying on the turf, shitty as it is, it is football. And guys do just get hurt. I think it is somewhat unavoidable. Now, Maybe they're more, I mean, we'll never know. This is something, that's a great part about, I mean, it's not a great conversation,

but I guess the interesting part of this conversation is there's not like some finality to it. We can't quantify right or wrong. Now maybe next year if there's less injuries because there's a preseason. But aren't they trying to get rid of the preseason? Which I'm fine with. There's no preseason college. My pushback is I'm not blaming preseason games. I'm just not.

How many snaps would Seekwana played in the? preseasoned. Do you think Joe Judge would give them 50 snaps? I bet you'd play like 10 max. Okay, I'm out. I got to 10 o'clock. Send this off and go to bed. Godspeed. Talk to you guys next week. Reclaim your Saturdays. Call 1-800 God junk and two smiling. Happy people will magically appear at your front door. They'll be driving a clean, shiny truck. And they'll be wearing snappy, happy uniforms. All you have to do is point, point, point. Point. And that junk will be gone, gone, gone. Hooray, you have a Saturday. Give us a call. And we'll give you back your Saturdays.

Call 1-800 got junk. Or visit 1-800 gotjunk.com. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a 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. It was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled 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. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.