The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Baker Mayfield, Joe Burrow, LSU, Tom Brady, and Luke Kuechly

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

Colin explains why Browns QB Baker Mayfield wasn't prepared to play, why LSU QB Joe Burrow isn't as good as some people think and why the Tigers will take a step back next season. Also, he talks about why the newest Tom Brady story isn't a big a deal and why Panthers LB Luke Kuechly retiring isn't a bad thing. Guests include Nick Wright, Mark Schlereth, Bruce Gradkowski, and T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to The Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching herd. To find the Fox Sports Radio. I have in Los Angeles. It's a Wednesday. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and

however you may be listening. We're live on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Packed today. Nick Wright joins me in 20 minutes. He's one of my faves. You know that. Joy Taylor this morning. Joy, how are you? I got a haircut this morning. I'm getting ready for the Super Bowl. I got my shoes all lined up and a haircut this morning. The haircut looks great. So do you have a new lineup of shoes? Because you're starting, we're slowly turning Colin into a sneaker head.

Anna's been on this. I have. He's got him a couple pair of golden gooses. My wife's into it, get better shoes. I wear the same shoes all year. They look like nonsense. So I'm getting into it. Sneakers aren't an expensive habit, Colin.

I know. It beats math. But it does. There's such a good habit, in fact, that Rob Parker is not cheap about them. Yeah, Rob Parker's the cheapest guy at our network except sneakers. Yep. So I want to start with this. I tell my kids this.

I tell my daughter this. Be ready. The minute you get out of college, be ready to go. Because you don't know that the first company you interview with is the next Amazon or Microsoft. Don't get a backpack. Don't go to Europe and find yourself. I ain't paying you. for it. Find yourself in college. You got Fridays off, three-day weekends. Find yourself every weekend,

hopefully not at senior frogies. Find yourself in college. Be ready to go. A lot of people backpacked to Europe, going to swim around for a few years, bartend. Opportunities. Companies love to hire young people. You're cheap. We're looking to mold people all the time. You're wasting, you're wasting days off the clock, baby. Be ready at 21 to go. intern in college, travel in college, go to Europe in college, but be ready to go. And Kevin Stavansky is the new Brown's head coach. I think it was a good hire. Cleveland doesn't, but Cleveland's instincts right now are not great on football.

I don't know if he works, but I kind of like the hire. I thought it was the best of all the non-well-known guys like Mike McCarthy. This was the best. But I'll give you an example of why Baker Mayfield is trouble. He's immature. Sure. This was the perfect year for Cleveland to take advantage of a situation. I was going to give you this. Just in the AFC, think about this, Joy.

Andrew Luck retires. Big Ben gets hurt. Misses the season. The L.A. Chargers implode. New England misfires. Sam Darnold gets mono. Patrick Mahomes gets hurt. six different breaks, but you're too busy doing commercials, too busy calling out the medical staff,

it was a wasted opportunity by Cleveland and Baker. He was not mature enough and they were not organizationally strong enough. And I think the window closes for Cleveland. This is not a shot. They're just not as interesting. I was fascinated by Cleveland this year, and they got several huge breaks. because Andrew Luck retires. There's a playoff team, gone.

Chargers imploded. Playoff team, gone. Big Ben hurt. Are you kidding me? Lamar's still young. But now, look at next year in the AFC. Oh, the kicker in the center come back for the Patriots. So is Josh McDaniels.

Buffalo's staff is outstanding. Josh Allen now. He'll be better. The Jets, Sam Darnold's not getting mono. Baltimore and Pittsburgh are better organizations than Cleveland. And Cincinnati now has, Joe Burrow. Tennessee, appears Mike Vrable can really coach.

Houston has Deshawn Watson. In Indianapolis, they'll go after a Brady, maybe a Bridgewater, but one of the best GM coaching combos in the AFC. Then there's the Raiders who, let's be honest about this, Gruden and Mayock can draft. They've got all sorts of good offensive pieces and the energy of moving to Vegas. Patrick Mahomes is back and healthy. And the Chargers.

Denver, by the way, let me throw this out. there. I'll already make a bet Denver's the most improved team in the league next year. Sneaky good hire by Pat Shermer, offensive coordinator. This is a prime example. Don't waste my time backpacking across Europe out of college. Find yourself in college. I'm paying for four years. And my daughter's good about it. She's interning. She's moving. She's traveling. I'm like, it's four years. Dad's paying all the bills. Find yourself. Friday's off. Stay home. Think. Where do I want to go? What do I want to do? Don't need to backpack and go to Europe.

Go now while you're in college. Because you can walk out these little opportunities in life. The windows are brief. They don't last very long. And last year for Cleveland, all these misfirings and injuries and retirements and Big Ben, well, guess what? Big Ben's coming back. Lamar, Josh Allen, Donald have another year.

Vrable and Tennessee, Buffalo and Sean McDermott. Those are well-coached teams. Chances are Patrick Mahomes doesn't get hurt. And now Joe Burrow is in your division. Be ready. Backpack to Europe when you're retired. Don't do it right out of college. Take your time in college to be a grown-up.

It's why I rip quarterbacks at 21 if they're not ready. James Winston, Johnny Mansell, Baker Mayfield. Teams don't have time for you to screw around. You're going to get people fired if you're not ready to go. I mean, Baker's gotten two coaches fired already. Lamar Jackson got John Harbaugh an extension. He was ready to put in the work and not do commercials. All right, I want to talk about Joe Burrell because it's kind of fascinating.

We got into this big discussion yesterday about Joe Burrell. And the way it works in the NFL, and I was told this years ago by a guy that's now big dog at the Atlanta Falcons, Rich McKay. Rich McKay built the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into a Super Bowl team. And Rich, I would interview or talk to Rich all the time. And he said, what I asked my scouts to do when he ran the Buccaneers is give me comps on players. If you see a linebacker, who would he be at best?

Who would he be the lower end? And so yesterday, Joel Clatt comes out and he gives you his comp. A little high end here, a little luxury version. His comp, I disagree, of Joe Burrow, the LSU quarterback. I've been trying to come up with a comparison for Joe Burrow, and there's not a current quarterback that you can compare him to. You know who Joe Burrow is? Who?

Joe Montana, coming out of Notre Dame. It's eerily similar. Throws an ridiculously catchable ball. Have you ever noticed that it just like floats right into the hands? Okay, that's a little much for me. Now, I do this every year. So when Jared Goff came out, I said, you know, high end was Matt Ryan, low end, Joey Harrington.

And I think he is closer to Matt Ryan. When Carson Wentz came out, I said high end Andrew Locke, low end, Blake Bortles. People were outraged Baker Mayfield. I said low end, Johnny Mansell. He's a mass high end. He's a better version of Case Keenham. By the way, Case Keenum 13 and 3 got to an NFC championship. I don't think Baker's going to do that anytime soon.

But good enough to win if you give him the elements. So I was thinking about Joe Burrell. And we're watching him, and I'm thinking the way he ducks in the pocket, he's elusive, not a, not a burner. He throws a beautiful deep ball, often throwing it up for grabs, not afraid of interceptions. But then he can be very accurate, 60, 65% when he's really humming. Watch the way he runs. Look at his elusiveness. He's not Lamar, but he's a very good athlete.

He was also a good high school football player. And you didn't know who Joe Burrell was until he transferred. to a big school. Do you know who his comp is? Low-end Nick Foles, but high-end Tony Romo. Even where the same number. He's Tony Romo. And had Tony Romo transferred to LSU or Georgia, Alabama, or Oklahoma, you would have known who Tony Romo is, and he would have been drafted very high, and Tony Romo would have won 10 or 11 games. Nick Foles, by the way, was offered basketball scholarships to Baylor and Georgetown. But he's not quite as elusive as Joe Burrow.

Joe Burrow is Tony Romo. He's got a good arm, but it's not special. He's athletic, but he's not a freak. Basketball, excellent at. Came from a family with some coaching. Likeable, smart, excellent leadership skills, willing to throw the ball up for grabs. He's a risk taker.

Burroughs a risk taker. my kind of risk taker. He doesn't play cautious football. Both are talented, but Romo was never gifted enough to overcome mostly bad offensive lines in his career. And Burrow is talented, but he was not even winning big at LSU until he got the right coach. He's not Deshawn Watson. He's not Russell Wilson that can just win despite average coaching, despite a conservative offense. Joe Burrow is Tony Romo. Same number, basketball skills, athletic, good arm not great, athletic but not a freak, willing to take risks, but can also be in the pocket a very accurate thrower.

But I never felt Romo, like maybe an Aaron Rogers, was gifted enough or a Russell Wilson to overcome mediocrity on the O-line, the coaching staff, the coordinator, or wide. receiver. Russell is, Aaron is. Romo wasn't. By the way, this is not a shot at Joe Burrow. Tony Romo has the fourth highest passer rating in league history. Tony Romo, had he transferred to a better school, would have gone very high in the draft. They're both six three. They, Burroughs a little thinner than Romo, eight to ten pounds, but Joe will probably put on weight a little pudding after getting smacked in the forehead a few times in Cincinnati. There's your comp.

And I'm totally, every time you give a comp, people always take offense to it. What do you mean? What do you mean that Jared Goff is only Matt Ryan? Matt Ryan got to a Super Bowl. Jared Goff got to a Super Bowl. But Jared Goff's not good enough to overcome Todd Gurley's injuries. And Matt Ryan's not special enough to overcome average offensive cordon. golf is Matt Ryan. He can get you to his Super Bowl when the coaching's perfect and he's got

elements, but he's not going to carry average stuff. Both throw a beautiful deep ball, but neither has a hose and neither is hyper athletic. I think Romo and Burrell look alike, same number, same basketball, same clever, same ducking, same willingness to take risks. I always love Romo. He had a short memory. Tony did not give a rip. He had to be coached out of risks. I'm for that. That's why I like Darnold. I think it's right on. And you guys are all going to say the same thing.

Oh, he's way better than Romo. Fourth highest passer rating in league history. By the way, you want to know who's ahead of him? Brady Russell Wilson and Aaron Rogers. Don't tell me if Tony Romo couldn't play. I actually don't have a problem with that meter. Nick Foles won a Super Bowl and was a Super Bowl MVP. I mean, you could say whatever you want about it now.

He's in Jacksonville. What quarterback has overcome? Jacksonville. This is the lower end if things didn't go right. If Folls, if Joe Burl doesn't turn out to be Joe Montana? Yes. I think,

I think Romo is the high end and then Foles is the lower end. And for the record, my low end on this just got. Just won a Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl MVP. And got 22 million. Yeah. So there it is. Joe Montana is,

by the way, you guys were all saying Baker is Drew Brees. I was like, come on, come on. Well, I don't think it's fair to, again,

I said this yesterday. I don't think it's fair to compare these guys to legendary all-time NFL 100 unique one in a literal existence on planet Earth, men. Comparing's bad. Yesterday I compared our dogs and my wife got mad at me. I said, I like Yosey more because she's sweeter. She goes, why do you have to compare everything? I said, because Yosei, Yosemite, Yosey comes up and licks my face.

And sometimes a buddy is not as nice. And she goes, they both love you. You can't both love them? You're always comparing everything. That's a fair argument. And I was like, you're right. I like both our dogs. But I kind of like Yosey Moore because he looks to face more.

Coming up next far, Brett thought he was giving Rogers Aaron a compliment. And I don't actually think when you think about it. It is a great compliment. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending.

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A deductible may apply. So I just saw a stat this morning. Patrick Mahomes is 27 times more likely to come from behind and win a game he trails than Aaron Rogers. Now, that's pretty remarkable, right? And I believe one of the reasons is I always loved Andrew Luck. He throws picks. I love Carson Wentz.

He throws picks. I love Sam Darnold. He throws picks. I love John Elway. He threw picks. I love Bradshaw. I love Troy Aikman. Peyton Manning.

They threw a bunch of picks. I'm not really into I never throw picks. It's what Bill Parcells used to tell Phil Sims. I'm not looking for, you know, 11 of 11. You got to throw the ball down the field and make stuff happen. And especially, I think the Mahomes number with Aaron Rogers is in, important because Mahomes will throw some picks, not a ton, but he is a risk taker. And I think Aaron Rogers used to be more of a risk taker, but I think he's very sensitive

with criticism, and I want to throw this out there. So yesterday, Fav has a radio show on some network, and he's talking about how impressed he is that Aaron Rogers doesn't throw interceptions and never turns it over, so here is the audio tape here. It's tough to be good weekend and week out. in and year out. And new faces, new receivers, new running backs, new offense. So this is more of a statement. I think what you've done obviously has been incredible. And I'm thoroughly impressed of how well you have played, how productive you have played, and how little you turn the ball over. To me,

it's just baffling. Okay. It is a little baffling, but it's not necessarily a good thing. So I'm just going to throw this out. I'm going to speak for men here because men do this. I'm not going to speak for women. Guys tend to protect their space in life. They like to protect their little spaces, right? Like, we don't enjoy the journey as much as we do the destination. We've got to win and compete and get that. So Brett Farve has a bunch of records in the record book. And Tom Brady's got a zillion records and six rings. And Peyton Manning's all over the record book. And Drew Breeze is all over the record book. Aaron Rogers is not. He has one record that really means something to him. Passer rating, number one all time barely.

Interceptions are not good for his efficiency rating. And I think over the last four or five years, he's gotten too safe. Troy Aikman twice in the Seattle game pointed out, why isn't Aaron throwing the ball there? Aikman threw picks. Aikman didn't care. Aikman was into winning. Is that we tend to protect things. Aaron tends to be a little sensitive to criticism.

I think it's fair to say that. And all of his contemporaries are littered all over the record book for yards and wins and time. And here's Aaron now with a couple of injuries. He's not going to last as long as Brady. He's not going to last as long as like a farve. And I think he's gotten protective of that passer rating thing, which goes down if you throw picks. It's also why Mahomes is 27 times more likely to be able to win a game he trails. Patrick's more of a risk taker.

I love Andrew Luck. I love Carson Wentz. DeShon Watson throws picks. I like playmakers. I think we make way too much of never throws picks. I'm not asking for him. Stretch the field. I've said this this year.

If you take DeVante Adams out, Aaron won't throw to anybody else. He just won't throw the ball up. And this week against San Francisco, you are not beating the 49ers with a safe, you know, Aaron led the NFL and throw them. ways last year. Just get it away. Throw some of those puppies up. And you cannot...

Minnesota lost this weekend of San Francisco. And there's a lot of reasons, but one of them was Mike Zimmer's game plan was way too conservative. When you fight Mike Tyson, you've got to come out swinging. You've got to land punches or Mike Tyson can sense your fighting scared.

Minnesota played scared this weekend. Run the ball. Don't put Kirk in situations. No, no, no, no. You've got to go right after him. Jackson beat him. He went right after him. Russell Wilson doesn't play scared against San Francisco. Kyler Murray didn't play scared. They go right after him. Aaron Rogers, I think too often now in the last four or five years, is a play it safe guy. Leads the NFL in throwaways, doesn't throw any interceptions. And it's not that he's not great. I'm not saying that. But do you know the last

year that Aaron Rogers, the last year Aaron Rogers had double-digit picks, he won the Super Bowl. Sometimes, babe, got to let it go. You just got to throw it up the sidelines to somebody beyond Devante Adams. And if you play safe against the Niners, it's over, fast, because they'll sense it. You're playing safe. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. So some pretty shocking news happened yesterday in the NFL. Luke Keeckley shocked everyone, retired at just 28 years old and made the announcement with a video explaining his decision. I think now is the right chance for me to move on. And it makes me sad because I love playing this game. I played it since I was a little kid and it's my favorite thing in the world to do. And there's only one way to play this game since I was a little kid is to play fast and play physical and play strong. At this point, I don't know if I'm able to do that anymore, and that's the part that is the most difficult.

He got a lot of reaction from former players that play alongside him. Greg Olson, Eric Reed. Eric Reed said after playing with Patrick Willis, I didn't think it was possible for me to touch the field with another linebacker of his caliber. Then I went to Carolina, enjoy retirement. Ron Rivera said I have the privilege of playing next to Hall of Famer Mike Singletary and coaching Hall of Famer, Brian Erlacker. And Luke Keekeley is worthy of that honor someday. but more important, I will remember Luke's sense of humor, leadership, and for being a great teammate. He has 1,092 career tackles, which is the most in the NFL since he entered the league, 18 interceptions, most by a linebacker since 2012, 75 tackles for loss.

That's tied for fifth most for linebacker since 2012. He is actually a Hall of Famer. Oh, God, yeah. Which is very impressive, considering he's only played for eight seasons. Sandy Kofx is considered the greatest baseball pitcher ever. He had three unhittable years. Six good years, but three of them were unhittable. And Sandy Kofax, nobody would dispute he's a Hall of Famer.

I've never been into this. You have to play for 20 years. I led the National League in doubles in one year, but I compiled a bunch of stats. Were you great for about a decade? Luke Kikley was as good a linebacker as the sport. He was seven pro bowls and eight seasons, five first team all pro, 2012 defensive rookie of the year, 2013 defensive player of the year.

And I mean game plans, people game plan around him. Luke Keeckley. That's a Hall of Famer. Yes. Well, congrats on a great career and enjoy your retirement. Yeah.

So LSU passing game coordinator Joe Brady just helped Joe Burrow and the Tigers win a national title and now he's moving on to the NFL. I feel like this was kind of expected. Yeah, yeah, a little bit, yeah. His name was mentioned pretty much multiple times about every broadcast, as it should be.

Strike when the iron's hot. Right. And the Panthers have reportedly hired Joe Brady to be the team's next offensive coordinator under new head coach Matt Rule. He's 30 years old, so he would be the league's youngest. offensive. I think it's just great. I think, you know what? I think this is what

pro football is doing. It's getting younger. That doesn't mean everybody that is young is good. But I'm Kyle Shanahan's young. And by the way, we talked about this last week. John Madden got a job at 33. Well, I mean, to be fair, 30's not that young. Well, especially 30 today. When I was a kid 30 was young, but the transparency in the internet, my kids are so much smarter than I am today. Also, I mean, if you figure you get out of college and you start working at 22, Yeah. I mean, so I mean, I started in the business when I was in college. So what?

Like, I've been in the business since 2007. So, like, I'm only 32. I'll be 33. So I'm 33 years old, you know, like, which is in that area. But, like, I've been in the business a long time. So 30 really isn't that young. It just seems young when you're comparing them to, like, weight Phillips. Right.

But I think this is a great move for the Panthers. Oh, I like it a lot. And if you just compare Joe Burroughs stats from last year to this year, because I know that's what everyone is loving to do right now. Oh, God, it's not close. 57.8 completion percentage this is last year. 2,894 yards, 16 touchdowns,

5 interceptions. This year, 76.3 completion percentage, 5,671 yards, 60 touchdowns, 6 interceptions. You know what you figure out? This is not the case always in basketball or baseball, but it is always the case in football. Better coaching changes everybody. Changes the record.

It changes the players. Freddie Kitchens, if you would have given Baker Mayfield a veteran coaching staff and Sean McVey Do you think Baker Mayfield's numbers would be, of course they would be better. They would be a completely different team.

I think to your point, I think in basketball and baseball, you can superstars can overcome average coaching. You can't overcome average or bad coaching. You have to be good or great in the NFL because there's too many moving parts. And it's also, It's the only sport you have to memorize a playbook.

You're audible and get the line of scrimmage. It's a playbook league. Yeah, you can't overcome that kind of dysfunction. So Tua Tuna Volo is still recovering from hip surgery, but the belief is that he will be healthy and able to work out by April. His agent said Tua will attend the combine on February 25th, but he will not participate in any workouts. But he'll be there.

Instead, he gave two possibilities for 40-minute throwing sessions, either at Alabama's Pro Day or at a separate workout sometime before the draft. I like that. He will also be with his agent. in Miami for the Super Bowl. So if you want to come on the show, Tua. You know, also, by the way, go to the Commod and do the interviews. Talk to people.

Yeah, of course. He should be at the Combine. Sure. He should be as, Tua especially, because of the nature of his injury, should be out in front of as much as he can. I will say this again. This is who I would pick if I had a quarterback choice. All right. Well, at the draft order, the Bengals are obviously picking first.

We know they're going to take a quarterback. I actually think that the Redskins might take a quarterback too. I don't know. I don't have the answer to that. They could, but I do think you have to give Dwayne Haskins. into another year, don't you? I don't think it would surprise me. No, we don't. After what happened with the Cardinals,

I don't think teams feel like they have to do that anymore. And they shouldn't. Like, if you don't feel like you have the guy, do it. Why not? I mean, are you going to, is your goal to be picking second in the draft again next year? No. So then the lions, giants and dolphins, obviously. And then there's teams after that that need a quarterback too, but they're going to be not getting the top quarterbacks available. I think, too, it will go in the top five, regardless of this injury.

Yeah, so do I. Yeah, so do I. Absolutely. There's too many teams that new quarterbacks. You know what? In a weird way, if I wanted him, I would hope the recovery is slow and it scares off people. Because if I'm the Chargers, I don't give a rip. I'm drafting him. I've already made my mind up if I'm Carolina with the Chargers. All the teams that potentially could need quarterbacks have someone in place that can keep the team afloat for another year while he, you know, works through his rookie year, works through the injury and sits behind someone.

Even the Dolphins of Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yeah. A lot of moves we've made. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. stopping by. The herd line news. So I started the show today saying I think everybody has a comp. I think through the years I felt very confident with most of my comps on quarterbacks. And I think Joe Burroughs comp is high-end Tony Romo, even where the same number. Good basketball players,

athletic, not great, athletic, not super, B-to-B plus at everything, A, at probably nothing. And the low end is Nick Fulz, who has offered a basketball scholarship at Georgetown in Baylor. Again, can win a bunch of games with the right people. But I think he's, I think Burroughs got more talent. than Nick Foles. And with that, via the Coward Global Satellite Network, my buddy, Nick Wright, brought to you by Mercedes Benz, the best or nothing. Okay, let's start with my comp on Joe Burrow. I do not think he's Joe Montana.

I think he's good at a bunch of stuff, great at nothing. I think he's Tony Romo. Does that make sense to you? Yeah, I'll throw a different comp out at you in a moment. But you and I, we didn't talk about this at all, but we landed on almost the exact same place, which is, I think he has the, highest floor of any of the prospects this year and maybe of most of the prospects last year.

But I also think he has a very defined ceiling. I think Tua's floor is, he never plays. Like, it's bad as it can be because of the hip, right? But his ceiling is superstar. Trevor Lawrence, I know Burrow went out there and totally outplayed Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence is more than three, is three years younger than him. and Trevor Lawrence's ceiling is the best quarterback in the NFL. Well, of course, aside from Patrick Mahomes, but we can discuss him later.

And so I, Burrow to me is safe and Burrow will be solid. How about this? What about a way overqualified rich man's Andy Dalton? And I'm not saying that because they both are going to the Bengals. But Dalton, five years ago, when he had A.J. Green and Marvin Jones and a great offensive line and two running backs. Before he got hurt, we saw how good he could be. He's a better athlete than people giving credit for it.

He's accurate. Doesn't have the greatest arm. To me, that is what, and people think Dalton now stinks, but at one point, he was, you know, then eighth best quarterback in football. Yep. To me, that's what Burrow could be. There's no shame in that. I will say this.

I'd love drafting Joe Burrow at number six. if I'm taking him at number one, I'm saying myself, man, I kind of wish we had the number one pick of the draft a different year where there was more superstar potential coming out. And it's why to me, if I'm Cincinnati, I do think long and hard about Tua, even though maybe he's too risky at number one. Yeah, I like Kyler last year and Trevor next year as quarterback talents. By the way, Joy's rolling her eyes because I said Andy Dalton yesterday and I was mocked on my own set, very disappointing and discouraging. Let's move to Kansas City. Really? Yes.

I said he's a better. more athletic Andy Dalton. But let's move to this. So this is big for Kansas City. Now I said last week, I said Brady dynasty ending, Mahomes starting. Now, I still feel we got a year left to watch Brady compete. And one year more, you know, Mahomes has to beat the Titans. And then I think we see it.

But what if they lose to Tennessee as a chief's advocate? How damaging is it, Nick? Okay, well, first of real quick, you say Chiefs Advocate, I say truth teller, dare I say bit of an oracle, as I've been telling you this all year. And secondarily, before I, I know this is your show, but I am going to make it, before I answer the question, I do have a question for you. All right. Did last week's game count as a big game on the Patrick Mahomes big game meter? Yes, it did. Does he get another check in the wind come?

He's smart. Okay, just checking. Yes, smart allocate. All right, my bad. if they lose, it's crushing. It is, the season becomes a failure. If they lose at home to the Titans, here's what.

I agree that I think Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are going to be in the conference championship round at least, I don't know, seven of the next 10 years. This is an organization that had never hosted a conference championship game and now has done it both years. Patrick was there. They've never been to back-to-back conference championship

games. They've now done that in Patrick's first two years as a starting quarterback. But here is what is going for them this season. They are as healthy as a team possibly can be at this point in the season. Juan Thornhill, the only major contributor lost for the year. They have had incredibly good luck in that week 17, they thought we were going to get Titans at Chiefs wild card weekend. If it wasn't for Ryan Fitzpatrick beating your beloved Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, then that is what we would have gotten wildcard weekend. Also, the chiefs have four guys who could be head coaches in this league on this staff. Andy Reid, obviously.

Eric Bien of me should already be a head coach. Dave Taub is the best special teams coordinator in the world. And we just saw special teams coach get a head coaching job. And if the defense keeps improving, I wonder if specular. Gagnolo gets a second chance. How long will this core of coaches be in place? And Patrick Mahomes is playing for $35 million less right now than he will be making in future seasons. So you must take advantage of this opportunity. Last year, they were a coin flip in overtime against the Patriots away from going to, and I believe winning the Super Bowl. If you don't, you didn't take

advantage of that. If you then lose to the Titans, then that is an enormous. missed opportunity. You don't get those years back. Thankfully, I can sit here and report they beat the Titans by 17. We just haven't seen it happen. Okay, finally, I got four questions I want to ask you, but two minutes left. So I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask this one. Tom Brady, cleaning a sweet out. There's a multitude of stories that he's moving to New York. What do you make of it with two minutes? What do you make all this stuff, Nick? Listen, this is where I would defer to you because you are the only person in my phone that has Tom Brady money, connections, multiple estates. I feel like this is what rich people do.

Like, I got a house here. Sometimes I live there. I got a house there. So I don't want to read too much into going from one eight figure home to another. I will, though, and I did it at the time, when Tom Brady put his Brookline house on the market publicly, The day after we all found out the Patriots did not give him a contract extension, that was noteworthy. Yeah. Because Brady knew it would be noteworthy.

So I think that, and I think the fact that whatever the cleaning out of the suite was, maybe it's regular course of business, the fact that Brady has not leaked to one of the half dozen reporters that's close to the Patriots, guys, I do this every year. that part to me is a little curious, and he continues, I think, to put the pressure on the Patriots. How badly do you want me back? Because I feel very confident that the team in your neck of the woods, the Los Angeles Chargers, if for no other reasons, then they really need people to, it's eyeballs focused on them, and they have so much skill position talent. And Brady has one of his many homes in LA as well is a real viable option for him. So I think those are to me the more noteworthy

pieces of this, more so than him and the kids and his wife moving to Greenwich. Nick Wright, very, very talented, as he called himself an Oracle. I think that is fitting from this point forward, my friend. It is great seeing you first things first. Thanks, buddy. You too. Thank you, Colin. Good to see you guys. All right. Coming up next, you saw it as sad. You saw it as a bad day. And I think it was absolutely wonderful and is the future of the NFL and is great news for the league. That is coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

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So many people saw it as sad, disappointing, and I thought it was great, and I think we've seen a lot of it from Gronk and now Luke Keeckley and Patrick Willis and Andrew Luck and Calvin Johnson. Retiring really early, or the perception is retiring very early. But Luke Keekely did not retire early. He retired at the perfect time. Had a couple of concussions, has a Hall of Fame career, got 30, 40 million in the bank, could now do broadcasting, can now coach, executive work, or just be Luke Keekely and live a nice six,

seven-figure life the rest of his days. This is the new normal, and it's a much safer normal. And as long as you don't hang out with meatheads, this is what all the smart people in football understand. There's five reasons we're going to see more of this, and football's never been safer. Number one is, there is no reason to hit and tackle for young boys before you're in high school. You can learn to tackle at 16. You don't need to know at 10. That's why flag football is picking up steam all over the country, and it should. Number two, less hitting in high school college and NFL practices. That's happening.

And it should. TV ratings went up for college and pro football this year with less hitting in practice. The game's going to be okay, meatheads. Number three, rule changes, less vicious hitting. Again, ratings are up. I'm watching more football than ever. I didn't need the cheap shots over the middle. Number four, improved equipment and rule changes.

The equipment's better now. It's better. The helmets are better. And I've seen, I almost invested in one about two years. years ago, there's more helmets coming out. Some are revolutionary, and they may not look the same within about four to five years. And finally, players are making more money, more guaranteed money, and they can retire earlier. In the 60s and 70s and 80s, you started hitting at 11, and then you played and played and played till the wheels fell off at 36 to 37. That's 29 to 30 years

of collisions. Now you don't hit until 15 or 16. Practices are much lighter. Hit mostly primarily in the games with safer rules and you retire at 30 to 31. You have cut in half the years of hitting. This is the way football was meant to be, but all sports have challenges. In baseball, the pace of play can be very slow and everybody's got devices and technology and we want our information.

And baseball tends to have kind of a slower pace of play. And it's a real challenge. They're trying to speed it up. In basketball, there's kind of the apathy of the regular season, you know, seven-game first-round playoff series. There's not real urgency in the NBA. It feels like until June, that's when the ratings spike. They've got to address that commissioner, Adam Silver, has talked about a shortened seasoner,

a mid-season tournament to spark urgency. Oh, you got to watch. They struggle with that. And in football, it's violence often above the head or above the shoulders. And this is the way football should be. Less hit later, less hitting, better equipment, and retire at 29, 30, 31. I don't think less of Grom. Hall of Famer.

Luke Keekley Hall of Famer. Calvin Johnson Hall of Famer. Patrick Willis, to me, absolutely Hall of Famer. I think I wrote somebody else down that retired early. I'm missing one. Oh, Andrew Locke. Now, he won't make the Hall of Fame, but he had a great career. So, you know, years and years ago, there's two sorts of football fans.

Meathead guy, loud guy at the bar, don't listen to him. And then there's people that I try to hang around that love the game and are trying to make the game as safe as it possibly can. You're always going to get pushback. You know, basketball guys, oh, I love the old physical. I don't want to see guys getting banged and thrown to the floor. I like the new basketball where it's less cheap shots, you know, less hand-checking, less elbow to the throat.

I didn't think that was great basketball, although it's now romanticized on 30 for 30s, which was free-throw shooting contests and tackling people. I think the game now is built for Kevin Durant, LeBron James, to play for 20 years. Why don't I want my stars to have longer careers? In baseball, again, they're trying to speed the game up. They've got real challenges now because everybody now,

because everybody now strikes out or hits home runs. There's not as many base runners, not as much activity. I think that's the sport that is really struggling to figure out a way to attract young people. But this is how football should be coached, played, ruled, and retired. 29 years old, 15 years in it, and you walk out and you're a Hall of Fame-level guy, you got your sense about you, you got your money. That's why I've said, you know, the NFL guys don't give out as, the owners don't give out as much guaranteed money.

And I think it's one of the strengths of the NFL. You've got to earn your keep. And no 10-year deals like baseball. But I do love the idea of big upfront guaranteed money on contracts. You get $25 million. You know, after taxes, you get 17 of it. You put it in the bank. You're set for life.

And then you get a reasonably high salary. But I like the guaranteed money for football players. I think in the long run, it allows them to retire a little bit earlier. And by the way, I love the draft. even though it stinks to lose a gronk or a Calvin Johnson, I'm more invigorated in April watching new stars come into the game. I mean, draft has always been one of my favorite things.

I don't want to watch old broken-down wheel barrels limp to the sidelines. I can't wait to watch Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson grow in the NFL. So I didn't think it was a sad day at all yesterday. I thought every sport's got obstacles. The NFL is tackling theirs, college football. The ratings are going up for all.

football. College football was up. NFL was up. You got high school football games on TV now that people watch. The quality of the game, we never ever watched football for the violence. I'm not saying we don't love a good checker of fight in hockey. I'm not saying we don't like a big hit in football.

But we watch it when the quarterback play is dynamic. That's when football's at its best. And quarterback play is dynamic when they're healthy, not hurt, and stumbling around. All right. Coming up next, I'm going to make strong prediction and it goes against what you want to hear, but it's honest and it's going

to happen and it's the reality of a guy we love today but still have questions about. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to

hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier 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, of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because

you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me. Kier Gains is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win.

matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richard We dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing.

That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, here we go, hour two. This is the herd.

LA, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Good stuff today. Joy Taylor is joining me. You know, I learned something last night. I cannot eat rich food. I cannot do it. My body just rejects it.

Rich food? Like anything that's too rare. That's why I'm like... Rich, like expensive or rich like... Yeah, I can't eat. No, like creams and sauces. I can't do it. Like heavy food.

I can't eat heavy food. I can't do it. Bologna sauce is about it for me. My body just doesn't like heavy food. Yeah, I can eat anything. Really? The only thing I don't eat is hot dogs. I don't think...

My brother, Jason, showed me a hot dog eating or like a documentary about how hot dogs are made when I was very young. So that was canceled for me. So now I have like a phobia of hot dogs. I eat cottage cheese. I'm not into pickle loaf or bologna. Never heard of pickle loaf. Not in that either. So you're not missing anything.

Yeah. That's pretty much it. I can't do heavy. Can't do heavy. I found that out last night. I can't do it. What did you have? I'm not going to get into it.

Can't do it. So I want to start with this. Mark Schlarith in 15 minutes. That's the voice of Joy Taylor, obviously. So, you know, I have always had kind of a theory in this business. I would rather get it right than be first. I used to work in local TV. This used to drive, I'm not going to mention names of the people that would do it,

but it drove me crazy. You would be in a newsroom, and you would have all the stations on. You'd have all the stations on. And a story would come up. And everybody would be like, oh, they got it first. And I had an argument once with the news director. And I'm like, yeah, but they got it wrong. I worked in Portland.

And one of the stations said, they're getting an NHL team. And so I made two calls, one to a facilities manager. And I said, are you getting an NHL team? He's like, no, why? I said, because it's on the news. And my news director's yelling that I don't have the story. And he goes, well, the story's false. And I'm like, that's what I told him.

So I've never been into breaking the story. If I once or twice a year, I'll have information. I'll give you to break a story. But it's not my job. There's real reporters out there doing real, you know, but soldier work. So yesterday, this Tom Brady story just went sideways where Brady's moving to Connecticut. He's cleaning out as sweet.

Well, Tom Curran's, the guy I trust, said he doesn't have a house in Connecticut. He's got a house in New York and he's had it forever. And the sweet thing is overblown. Listen, there's only three teams Brady's going to go to. He's going to stay in New England. And the other two that even make any sense are the Colts and the Chargers. He's not, and I'll tell you why the Chargers doesn't work. Everybody thinks it's L.A.

They have a dubious offensive line. I would say the Spanos's have never been big spenders. Is Anthony Lynn a good coach? Who knows? Tom's not going to give his career up to a coach. Could be good, but Tom beat him by 30 the last time they faced him. And by the way, do you want to face Patrick Mahomes twice a year? I don't.

I mean, Tom's had the luxury of facing a lot of average quarterbacks. At 43, he wants to face Mahomes twice a year. I don't think it works. The Spanos has historically have been a little frugal. We don't know if Anthony Lynn's. good. Offensive line is an issue. It's the only part of the team I don't love, especially guard center guard. And I don't think it works. And it's a new stadium that don't have a fan base much in Los Angeles. The second thing is the Colts. I think it's a great fit. I actually

think if he was going to move, this would be it. Great young offensive line, terrific GM, smart head coach, a ton of tight ends, a decent running game, one over the top receiver. I think it works. But Giselle Bunchen, his, you know, wife is a supermodel and they don't have any runway shows in Carmel, Indiana. And I think Tom has acknowledged many times how much his wife has sacrificed for him. Once you get to be older and you have choices like that, it's one thing in your 20s where you make a lot of money and you tell your wife, hey, let's sacrifice for the family, blah, blah, blah. Once you get later in life, she now makes more than him, I don't think he would pull her to Indiana.

I just don't think. It's nothing against it, but it's not where supermodels hang. And I think he's coming back to New England. I think they get their center back, they get their kicker back, they got more draft picks. Although I think they need to go out and spend, get a veteran Amari Cooper wide receiver. But I think it's much easier for Tom to stay in New England for one more year than, you know, getting his Gulfstream and go to another town and learn other places and learn a new staff and GM and all that stuff. I think it's just, it's too labor intensive. Tom Brady talked to Jim Gray yesterday about the contract stuff and everything that's out there.

The contract things I think a week after the same. season, I would say these things haven't even started to pick up. So that's really not my concern at this point. Like I said, I love playing football and I love playing for this organization. So I really don't know what it looks like moving forward. And I'm just taking it day to day. So we're weak removed from the end of our season. There's a lot of time to figure these things out. I don't think any player or team is ready to make any commitments at this point. And I'm sure as the offseason progresses, you know, those things will take care of themselves. Let me shift to this.

The media loves stories, and I understand it because the media writes stories, and we report on stories. But the best story isn't the best coach, and the best story is not the best player. When Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook broke up, the better story was Russell Westbrook. The loyal soldier that stayed in Oklahoma City and got a triple double, and the writers gave him the MVP, and he wasn't the most valuable player. Kevin Durant's a way better player, and actually was more valuable because the team he went to was then unbeatable for several years. But the story Westbrook was a neat story.

You know, LeBron, he's not as coolest story anymore. Let's be honest, we've been telling it for 15 years. People are looking for new stories. Ed O. is a great story. It's a great story. As they joke on the internet, he sounds like an alligator if an alligator talked. People doubted him at USC.

He was fired at Ole Miss. He's an incredibly likable man with simple tastes. He told Scott Van Pelt the other night, Coach, what are you doing after the game? He goes, going home to get a ham sandwich. I love ham sandwiches. That is Ed O. And I couldn't be happier for him.

But you do realize Nick Saban loses stars, assistants, and coordinators for a decade. And they'll be way better than LSU next year. Because yesterday, Joe Brady, his offensive guru, left, and so did Joe Burrow. And people forget this about Ed O. His first year he went six and two and got beat by Bama. His second year he got beat by Bama

and lost to Troy at home. his third year he had to win certain games or he was gone he lost three and again lost to Bama and was shut out two of the three years against Bama and then Joe Brady happened and it turned it all around. Ed O is a great story but Florida next year is going to be better. George is going to be better. Clemson's going to be better. Bama's going to be better and there's no Joe Burrell and there's no Joe Brady and my guess is

they take a step back. And that's okay. He got his title. He's a great story. But I do think it's funny sometimes how the media falls and loves and picks and chooses. People forget this about Ed O. He'd been fired at Ole Miss. USC passed on him.

And he lost to Troy at home in his second year. And he was given one more year. That was it. It was understood. And that next year he lost three games, went 10 and 3. And they brought him back. But there were people, booster, saying, you know, I don't.

Urban Meyer was on our show yesterday and he said, Ed O. admitted he almost got whacked. He almost got fired at LSU. Last year at the NFL draft, I'm sent with Coach Ogeron and he said, you realize your boy saved our jobs.

And he was talking about Joe Burrow. And he wasn't talking about necessarily how great of a quarterback because he was still learning. He had a very workman-like career last year. But his leadership, his ability to motivate others, inspire others, lift everybody else around them, their level of play. He looked me right in the eye and said, your boy, saved our jobs.

And that's one of the reasons I picked them to be in the playoffs right out of the jump because Ozoron and because of Joe. By the way, the SEC West, which LSU is in, is easily the best conference in college football. Bama's going to be better. Auburn's got Bo Nicks back. Lane Kiffin's now in the conference. Jimbo Fisher's got his own team. Mike Leach.

it will never be tougher the next year. And Joe Brady's gone. And Joe Burroughs gone. And I think Ed will be successful. But if you told me six, seven years from now, is he still there? I say, no, he's a legend. It's the 85 Bears team. You don't think the Bears were, bears weren't just great in 85.

They were good in 86, good the year before, but they were great in 85. I think the LSU team is going to be one of those teams. We'll talk about the 2019 LSU team. But I think this is the peak. I don't think there's a repeat. I don't think you're going to see it again. And I do think it's interesting. I like it, O, and I'm rooting for him.

But it's revisionist history. He lost to Troy. And if not for Joe Burrow, a transfer, he is now fired twice. I mean, that's college football in the SEC West. Winning nine games, but losing the Bama three straight years shut out twice, it gets you fired.

All right. Baseball's got a scandal on its hand. What does it mean? But first, Mark Schlereth, O is outspoken. We'll be joining us. It's a Wednesday, big NFL playoff games. I know he loves Tennessee. I can guarantee you that. Smash mouth football. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to SportsSlic on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life

becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet

famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win, no matter. what? He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stopped by, like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court,

and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're heading to Miami, starting on Monday, January 27th, The Herd, and all of our FS1 shows, We'll be live at Limous Park on South Beach as we get ready for Super Bowl 54.

We'll have great guests. Wall-to-Wall coverage, giveaways, and a whole lot more. FS1 Super Bowl Week, live from Miami, is just two weeks away. I said Mark Schler is joining us. I said, Mark, I'm going to step to midnight every night, and you looked at me and said, no, nothing good happens. I mean, like, I don't know about you, but I don't care where I'm at.

If I lay my head on this floor right now, I'll fall asleep. I am asleep every night by around 8, 8.30, and I'm up in 415 every morning. Just the way it works. I went to bed at midnight last night. Yeah, she doesn't sleep. I sleep all the time. I like going to bed early.

Do you take naps? I took a nap yesterday, but like an hour. I get up at 5.40. I love going to bed early. I do too. I wish I could go to bed early. The only time I don't is during the NBA playoffs for our show, so I'll stay up and watch the NBA games.

Other than that, but I'm C-Crested out. I'm very proud of it. Yeah. Oh, that's one of the reasons I love me in a hotel. A king-sized bed in the sheets, yourself and it turned up the air conditioning turn it up cold and you're just like oh my gosh this is awesome

my wife used to say it all the time when I worked at the other place he goes you to L.A., what do you do? And I'm like bed by eight. Sometimes I order some hummus so the room smells like garlic fall asleep. That's it. I set my I set my heat in my room at 65. It's like it's almost snowing in my room right now. There's like there's ice on the windows. You grew up in Alaska. I grew up in

damp Washington State. I love it. By the way, Luke Keekley retired. I think it's the new NFL and I think it's incredibly healthy. Don't hit to your 16. Lighter practices, high school college pro, more guaranteed money, Seacrest out at 29, live a great life. Sure.

You weren't allowed to do that, though, for a couple of reasons. One, I imagine, was money. Yeah, absolutely. It's different. You know, you're empowered as a player now. If you're a good player, you're empowered. And you're empowered because, you know, Luke Keekley probably made $60, 70 million over the course of his career in eight years, right?

And you've got more education about what you're doing to your body, what you're doing to your head from the neck up. And, you know, one thing about Luke Keekely, and I'll say this, you know, a lot of people will say he's one of the smartest football players that ever been around. He's one of the smartest people have ever been around. Like the guy is super intelligent and the guy thinks, you know, he's got other things that he wants to pursue.

Like Andrew Locke. Right. And so, like, I'm good for him, man. I tell you, he's one of the, he was one of the best interviews since I came to Fox and started calling games three years ago, I've had the opportunity, just a pleasure to sit down with him.

And I'll ask him a question, and he'll grab a napkin and start diagramming stuff. And he's like, and then you've got to move it to, and it's just, I mean, it's phenomenal. And he's just articulate, he's well thought out.

He'll be successful in whatever he wants to do. And good for him, for being empowered enough to say, eh, I'm good. What'd you make your rookie year in the league? 45 grand. Yeah. Started as a rookie.

How about your biggest year, if I could ask? I could look it out. I could look it up. My biggest year is a million. That's good money. A million two. You have a beautiful house right now, beautiful family. Yeah.

You've done well. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know we're backing up a Brinks truck for you, so you've done fine for yourself. Okay. All right. Joe Burrell, I said, everybody's talking about comps. And I said, my comp's Tony Romo.

Where's the same number? Kind of clever ducks around. Athletic, but not a freak. Good arm, not special. 6-3, 21-215 to 220. Right. But not good enough, Romo wasn't either, to overcome average O-lines or dysfunction. I think Burrow is going to go to Cincinnati.

Sure. And struggle because of Cincinnati. Absolutely. Of course. Listen, one man, regardless of how good a man you are, and he seems to have it together, right? I mean, the Heisman speech and the donations to the food bank locally and all the great stuff he did. one guy can't come and change the culture of an organization if the organization isn't willing to have the culture changed.

Do you see, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like you can come in there and have great intentions of changing the organization and the culture of the organization. But if the organization just basically says, this is who we are and we're going to spend money and we don't really care about winning. I think about it this way.

There are 12 teams in the National Football League in my mind that are committing to winning championships. Now, everybody will take a championship. Don't get me wrong. Everybody will say, yes, we're in. If the stars align and things fit and we win a championship, kudos to us. But I think 20 teams are in there for, hey, every year we're going to grow at, what, 12, 14%, you know, we're going to buy the Cowboys at $189 million and they're going to be worth $500 million, or $500 or $5 billion, excuse me, you know, 20 some odd years later.

Like everybody signs up for that, right? but there's few that really sign up for being a world champion. By the way, the Bengals have always had one of the smallest scouting departments. Sure. They would not commit, unlike the Steelers, they would not commit to an indoor facility. They don't make deal. Like the L.A. Rams are dealmakers. They are moving to Patriots or dealmakers.

Philadelphia's dealmakers. Cincinnati gets its eight picks and takes its eight picks and doesn't make a lot of deals. Cincinnati is not Cleveland disfirm. but there's still dysfunction within the organization. I think what we're going to do is you know how time, you take time and it tends to change the lens with which you see things through, right? I think over time, the Marvin Lewis discussion will change from a guy who couldn't win a playoff game to a guy.

Can you imagine how many times he got the Bengals to the playoffs? I said this. He's the Doc Rivers. Doc took over for Donald Sterling. people wanted to run Doc out. I'm like, time out, time out, time out. Do you understand what this organization was 30 years prior to Doc? Give him players. Now Doc's got a great team.

Marvin Lewis got a lot of playoff wins. He got playoff appearances out of Andy Dalton. Don't tell me Marvin Lewis can't coach. Right. You know, it's one of the interesting things. And I haven't done it a lot, but I was watching Hard Knocks. This is years ago when the Bengals were on Hardnogs, right? And Mike Brown, who is the owner,

slash, you know, self-appointed general manager and, you know, the grand pool ball of all things football. They're having a meeting. And I think it was they lost a tight end. And so he comes into this meeting with all the coaches and they're discussing what they're going to do because they lost a tight end to IR and he's on, you know, he's done for this season. And instead of like, they're discussing where they're going to go, how they're going to get a tight end, we need to get, you know, we need to revamp the position.

We need to go find somebody, right? And Mike Brown goes, well, we'll just move this deal. defensive end to tight end. Anybody got a problem with that? And they all like, all the coaches just were like, uh, he, nobody said anything, but you could see it all in their face. They're like, yeah, I got a problem. He plays D. N. He's not a tight end. He's like, anybody got a problem? All right, consider it done. You know, move on. That's who they are. That's who they are. Right? And that you can't, I'm sorry, you can't win like that. You can't. You can't win consistently like that. Mark Schlerworth's joining us. So I was saying this, that I saw a stat today, Patrick Mahomes, 27 times more likely to come from behind and win than Aaron Rogers.

There's a lot of metrics data, blah, blah, blah. But I have felt this for years that Aaron's peers and contemporaries, Breeze, Manning, Brady, they're all over the record book, and they've got more titles. Aaron's got one record that is his, number one passer rating of all time. It's an efficiency stat as well as an excellent stat. Interceptions are bad for it. He doesn't have all the rings. He doesn't have all the trophies. He doesn't have all the records.

He's been hurt a couple times. I think deep down in the recesses of his mind, he's gotten more conservative as a quarterback, more throwaways, less chances upfield. Troy Aikman this weekend twice said, why didn't he throw it? It was an observation, not really criticism. And I think to beat a San Francisco,

you have to be hyper-aggressive. It's the old Mike Tyson theory. If you don't punch him early, he'll sense it, smell it, and attack you. And I don't think you can beat San Francisco with Mike Zimmer's game plan. You've got to go after them. Is it fair to say he doesn't throw interceptions? But at times he feels padding the ball, holding the ball. He plays safe.

You know, I think that there's a lot of things early this year. And, you know, a lot of people will say, ah, he fell off this year to a degree. new coach, new philosophy, new system. I mean, let's face it, Devante Adams was the guy, the target. From a receiver standpoint, I mean, is there anybody else that's the number two guy that you really feel confident in? No, Jimmy Graham, but he doesn't feel confident with him. Right, but Jimmy Graham isn't the same guy either.

So I would say this. Not throwing picks and being conservative in those situations is probably a plus because it gives you a chance to let that deal. defense play. It's complimentary. It shows maturity to me. It's the same people that said, well, Brady has really fallen off. His completion percentage went from 66 to 61%. So he's really falling off, really, because he throws the ball away eight times because his guys run the wrong routes and they're not at the right death. Is that falling off or is that being smart? So Aaron Rogers, to me, when I watch him, he does unbelievable things with the football. He is

the most, and Patrick Mahomes is now precedent, but the most accurate off-platform thrower that I have ever seen in my entire life. And he puts the ball in places that only he can put the ball from platforms that nobody else can even throw it from.

So he is so gifted athletically, armed talent-wise, but he's so gifted mechanically. You know, he can do things that historically have been, well, you can't throw from that platform. Well, he can throw from that platform and you can throw it accurately from that platform because even when he's

off platform, he's still on balance. You know, you know that I have a son that's a pitcher, right? And people always like to compare pitching and quarterback play. They're completely different. Pitching is always recreating your mechanics, always being exactly the same. Playing quarterbacks like playing an elite level shortstop. I've got to be deep in the hole. I've got to, I've got to charge the ball. I've got to throw it from the side. I've got to throw it from over the top. I've got to, if I can gather myself and I've got a slow runner, I can take a couple of steps before I throw the ball accurate. But I've got to throw it from whatever platform I have to throw it from, and it has to be accurate. And that's where he is like the best shortstop that I have ever seen play.

That's what Aaron Rogers is on the football field. Good answer. I like that one. Hey, I know you're an offensive lineman guy, so you probably just love Tennessee Titans football. Oh, yeah. A little boring to me, but it has a Washington. Redskine feel when you were there. Yeah, sure. Very much bashing people up front, Derek Henry. It's interesting because I think Green Bay is going to be a little overwhelmed against San Francisco.

I could actually see Tennessee going in and just eating clock for three hours. It is, I think it's the worst possible matchup for Kansas City. Now, I still think Kansas City wins this game because they're Uber talented, but you're 100% right. You know, it's so funny. because I got this a bunch. People have caught up to Sean McVeigh. Sean McVeigh's offense is now antiquated, right? He doesn't know what he's doing. They've caught up to him.

And then I watched Roger Saffel play for the Tennessee Titans and just dispensing, I mean, thunder punching people on the lips and knocking them 14 yards off the line of scrimmage. And I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah. It's Sean McVeigh who forgot how to coach, right? They just lost one of their best linemen. And they lost John Sullivan, the center. So, I mean, you, and you didn't replace those guys with dudes that were even close to the same caliber football players, right?

And you wonder why your offense isn't the same, right? Why people don't buy into the play action because you're not running it, why your quarterback is struggling. Like all these things, you know, are building blocks. They all stack one upon another. Here's the thing that's interesting, because I'm with you. The thing you want to do to an offense like that is you want to keep that offense off the field, twofold. one because it's off the field. That just makes sense, right?

But the other reason is because when you have a dynamic offense, that offense wants to run plays. And when you get them to the point where all of a sudden, they're in the second quarter and they've had two possessions. And they're like, guys, we're chomping at the bit to get going, right? And now we press. Now we throw the pick. Now we're inaccurate on third down because we want to go.

We want to run plays. We want to go. the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, I will tell you this. Most teams, protection with the offensive line, people think it's just the offensive line. It's the play caller. And most teams, if you throw it 30 times, Colin, you've got what I would call, you know, five, like five times you're going to throw a three-step drop or a quick throw, right? You're going to throw a bubble screen. You're going to, right? So now let's call it, you know, five times that we're in that situation five times we're going to run a run action where it's kind of an

RPO run like we're running so we're not even pass protect up front so now we're down that 30 now becomes 20 times that we have to protect now we're going to run you know five different we're going to run some boot keeps out of that and then we're going to run some play action so all of a sudden I've taken 30 attempts and I've condensed it to 10 to 12 times where I actually have to pass protect where actually my five have to hold up right I like that. I like that my odds. I like my odds. That's called coaching. That's called taking care of protection through the way you call plays, right? Kansas City is unique. I have never seen a team that says, hey, we've got five guys up front, we're going to throw it 30 times, 25 times you guys have to protect. And what they do

is they'll get, I'm telling you 80% of the time about, this is just from me watching, I don't have the exact number. But 80% of time, they'll get five guys out on the pattern. And they'll say this, we're so athletic and we're so, we're so fast and we're so quick that we'll beat you right off the bat before your pass rush can get to us, or our five guys will just hold up, you know, and we'll burn you over the top. Right. Eric Fisher on one side, Mitchell Schwartz on the other, we're as good as it gets on the edge. We'll hold up, we'll burn you over the top.

And the times we break down, the four or five times we break down, guess what? Our second reaction is as good as Seattle, and our quarterback, number 15, can scramble around and buy some time, and then we'll eviscerate you that way. They are uniquely constructed because they are the most talented team that we have in the NFL when it comes to offensive personnel. Iron Rogers trusts one receiver. Mahomes has five he trusts. Sammy Watkins is his three to us four. I mean, it's incredible. Like, it is such an advantage to Mahomes.

He has five guys he'll throw him to entrust. He's like, Hartman, what is? 1711. Harbin and Robinson are running 434. It's ridiculous. All right, Mark Schlaherth, good to see you, bud. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, the best or nothing. So Baker Mayfield took a step back in 2019 after a pretty strong rookie season. But Brown's owner, Jimmy Haslam, stands by his squad. quarterback and says every candidate interviewed for the head coaching spot raved about Baker's talents. I think Baker was given a hard time, I will say this year, by a lot of people. We talked to eight head coaches, some of them offensive, some of them defensive, and their

comments in terms of his ability to play quarterback were all outstanding. Now, Baker's like all of us, he can get better and he has some things to work on. but the confidence in when these outsiders looking at our team, and particularly looking at Baker, was outstanding. Is Jimmy Haslam clueless? When I interviewed here at Fox, I did not tell the executives. You know, when I come here, I think I'll really, it's good, but I think I got Colin.

He could really improve in a couple spots. It's not really how you go into an interview criticizing the franchise quarterback at the number one overall pick. To get the job, you had to come in and say, I love him. If you came in and said, I'm not sure, because they're stuck with him. Jimmy Haslam as an owner doesn't get that. Good Lord.

That's it. I'm not saying. It sounds silly to say because that's so obvious. First thing you and I both hear. You wouldn't hire someone who said they couldn't work with them. Because what would be the point? You're stuck with him. So who's going to say that?

Also, he was given a hard time by some people. Not me. I mean, well, let's see. Was that deserved? His completion percentage dropped a 59.4 this year. I mean, 22 touchdowns, 21 interceptions. I hope fans. Are fans smart enough to get how dumb that comment was from a billionaire?

They all loved him. Of course they raved about it. You don't get the job if you come in. And listen, that's not on Baker. No, no. I actually don't even put this year on Baker. I mean, I didn't really love what I saw from Baker from an intangible perspective.

and then on top of it, I don't really get too much into the commercials or not, but I do think it was really bad optics after everything that happened this year. I mean, calling out the training staff and yelling at fans to come down and fight him out of the stands, walking out of the press conference. Like, it was a disaster in Cleveland this year, but let's not make it seem like the criticisms were unwarranted. And of course, every coach that comes in there is going to say that they can work and improve Baker and they love him. This is also the seventh head coach under Jimmy Haslam since he purchased the team in 2012. Jesus.

He's got a five-year deal. So Kyler Murray will get another season with his veteran receiver. The Cardinals announced that Larry Fitzgerald has signed a one-year contract with Arizona to remain there. And Fitzgerald confirmed the news with this post of Twitter. He said this season was among the most fun of my career. The future is so bright for this team. And I relished the opportunity to build with his talented young Nuculus. Arizona is where I started and where I will finish 2020.

Let's get to work. By the way, 17th year playing. Don't listen to the media. All these football guys, they limp out. 17th year running over the middle. Larry's in amazing shape. He loves this game. He takes care of his body.

He's super, super smart. 17 years in, he can still play at a high level. Everybody's body is different. Every position is different. And more than anything, I think, when it comes down to, if you take care of your body, first of all, is your desire to go out there and go through another season again? It's not just on Sunday.

The work is during the week. The work is training camp. The work is staying in shape during the off season and going to the same meetings that you've gone to. Like that's, if you still have that desire like Tom Brady, like Drew Breeze, of course you could keep playing. It's not about money at this point. Obviously, Larry Fitzgerald's a Hall of Famer.

They do have the eighth pick in the draft this year. Arizona does. They need O'Line help. Well, mock drafts have them taking CC Lam or defensive lineman Derek Brown right now. Yeah, I think, yeah, Derek Brown's the Auburn guy. He's good. Listen, line play, I think their receivers are okay. I think they need line play. I do like this, though, for Kyler Murray to have another year with Larry Fitzgerald.

I mean, obviously, he's an incredible leader. Yes, that's a good point. That's my favorite part of this. Yeah, I mean, him being there for Kyler Murray, especially as they move into, you know, the deeper parts of his career, obviously, no longer being a rookie is going to be huge for them. Well, finally, Terrell Owens was not selected to be one of the. the 10 wide receivers in the NFL 100 all-time team. And he said he felt snubbed by being left out. He said, oh, absolutely, I'm not on it, but I know I'm one of the top 100 athletes to play

the game. I'm a bit pissed off. It's disrespectful. You make a list like that. Your first three receivers have to be Jerry Rice, myself, and Randy Moss. You can add whoever else you want after that. The receivers that made the team are Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Raymond Barry, Don Hudson, Paul Warfield, Lance Allworth, Steve Largent, Marvin Harrison, and Elroy Hirsch.

Yeah, T.O. is better than about five of those, six of those. He's third all-time in receiving yards, eighth in receptions, and third all-time in receiving touchdowns. Well, this is not the Hall of Fame. This is a list that is subjective and a lot of people don't like him. So on a subjective list, as my dad used to say, most employment decisions are made when you're out of the room. So on an all-time list celebrating football, a lot of people saw him as a negative influence. that's the kind of list he won't make. He never got in any trouble. I really don't understand. Like if you have, listen, and obviously we all love Randy Moss as well, but it's not like Randy Moss

didn't have his share of controversies as well. So I really just think it's a matter of preference. But listen, I'm on T.O. side on this. It's gotten a, the whole situation with the Hall of Fame obviously got ridiculous. Of course T.O. is a Hall of Famer. And of course he wasn't a first ballot hall of famer

because some writers felt particular ways about it, which I don't like that that's play the part in it, but that's the process for everybody. And if you're in, you're in. So it doesn't matter if your first ballot or 10th ballot, you're in the Hall of Fame. By the way, Paul Warfield's not as good as Steve Largen, so I don't even get that pick.

T.O. should be on this list. He has a, he has a valid complaint. Or if he just feels disrespected, it's because of the same things that always come up with TEO, and it's people just being biased, like you said. Good stuff. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News.

Bruce Gradkowski, former NFL quarterback works at PFF. What are the numbers saying about all these quarterbacks coming into the weekend? Is Tana Hill good, not good, special, not special at all? A liability or a strength. Bruce Gadkowski coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice

Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't really really. that we are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now.

What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the Army Stewart. I'm Taboramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. worried about Polisic, I'm not worried about Balagan, I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern

is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. You're going to look at stats and numbers. He has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. I don't want to waste any time. He spent over a decade in the NFL well-traveled. Now works at pfff.com, Pro Football Focus via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

Bruce Radkowski, love having him on the show. Let's talk some quarterbacks. I've said today Aaron Rogers doesn't throw picks. Yesterday, Brett Farve said it's amazing, it's baffling, he throws no picks. Could I make the argument that he has become too risk adverse, averse at times, And he should take more chances against teams like San Francisco. No, I think he's just playing smart football. He realizes what he has around him now.

He has a running back. He has some weapons. He has a good defense that's playing well. But you look at this past week, right? Third down and eight, two minutes, 19 seconds remaining. The ball game on the line, what's he do? He sees his matchup. He has one-on-one coverage across the board.

He looks to Devonte Adams, gives him a little signal. And bam, a quick outside. release fade route, beautiful ball. It ends the ball game. So he still does make those plays. The thing I don't want to see him do is hold on to the ball too long and try to make the biggest play.

So if he can continue to play the way he's playing and win as a football team like they are, I think Green Bay has a great shot. I said there's a difference between a referendum and a reminder. And I don't think Lamar Jackson's struggles were a referendum against him, but it is a reminder

that, you know, the more you develop in the pocket, the better chance you'll win games you trail. What bothered you about Lamar? What did you see in the loss? Well, I think, you know, there's a microscope on Lamar. Everyone wants to see him fail. No matter the pinnacle, your game, you're going to win MVP, and people want to bash you for certain games. And look, some of it's, you know, do credit of how he played. But what I saw was a lot of miscommunication. You have a receiver running a comeback that ran two. deep and Lamar Jackson's letting the ball go. He misses the throw, but the receiver's route

was bad. Same thing on an en route, a miscommunication of what hole to get into. The receiver kind of stops his feet. Lamar leads him into the next hole. So just miscommunications like that. They were 0 for four on fourth down, which that was one of their strengths during the season, going forward on fourth down, getting those fourth down conversions, love what hardball has done. So when I watch the game, anytime you ask a quarterback to drop back 71 times in a football game, you're not going to stand a chance unless it's Patrick Mahom. So I just watched that game and I said, look, it's realistic mistakes and just a bad loss by a good football team. Yeah, by the way, he's still a kid.

He's young. I like Jimmy G. I think he plays confidence, but I don't think he's ever going to be a stat monster in Kyle Shanahan's offense. You know, Kyle Shanahan likes to do his own run. He's a power coach like his dad and Mike. But I like Jimmy G. Some have said he makes too many mistakes. Do you buy that?

I mean, I buy it in a sense of every time I graded his game throughout this season, I knew a turnover worthy play was going to come up at some point in the football game. The thing I love about Jimmy G is he does have that it factor. So no matter what time of the ball game, a big situation, you know, the last two minutes of the first half, end of the game, he finds his way to make plays. Now, if he can limit, you know, the turnover in the pocket, a fumble in the pocket, or a bad decision on a throw, this Niners team's going to be almost impossible to beat. But that's the X factor in this game.

Can Green Bay get pressure on them, make it feel uncomfortable, and take away some of those screens that Kyle Shanahan does a great job designing. It's interesting with Ryan Tannehill. It is easy for guys on the radio or TV to say, I mean, come on, he's throwing for 80 yards. But you at PFF grade, that doesn't mean me. he's not effective, it means they're built around Derek Henry. When you grade Tannahill, is he playing quarterback at a high level? They're just not asking him to make the throws or carry the offense. Hey, at this point in the season, all you care about is moving on to the next round. And Tanna Hill has done what they've asked them to do. He has hit big time throws in that football

game last weekend. He hits a huge pulse. He hits a nice little touchdown pass on a skinny post or whatever. So he's making the necessary plays. I think Tannahill in this football game, he has to throw for a little more than 80 yards, but I mean, stats don't matter. At the end of the football game, I want to see Tanahill make some plays with his legs on key third down situations. Yeah. He's done it a lot throughout this season, and that's what makes him dangerous. Converting those third downs, dropping back to pass, nothing's there, boom. Use your athletic ability and get that first down, and he's done that consistently, but he can also make those throws from the pocket. Just don't fumble in the pocket like he did the last time they played the Chiefs.

This is going to be a good football game. Yeah, by the way, it should be noted. Not every running quarterback has to look like Lamar Jackson. Joe Burrell ran, Trevor Lawrence ran, Justin Herbert at Oregon ran. We're seeing young quarterbacks in these college games run. You don't have to be spectacular, but it's that third and four. You pick up six. You keep Patrick Mahomes off the field.

Finally, I said earlier today, people are talking about Joe Burrow. And I'm like, listen, he's got a good arm. It's not great. He's athletic but not a freak. He is a playmaker, but mostly a pocket guy. He'll throw a deep ball and take a risk, but he's not a, you know, he's not a guy that scares me about multiple picks. To me, he's toning Romo. I see a Romo, and if Romo would have played at LSU and not Eastern Illinois, we'd know who Romo was in college. Who is the comp for you on Joe Burrow? Well, you know, I think that's, those are good points, but, you know, Burrow is too systematic to be a Tony Romo. I think, you know, Burrow can operate and execute your system if he's in the right system. I think Zach Taylor and Cincinnati

will do a good job with this system. Burrow has great footwork and timing and rhythm. You see how accurate and beautiful those balls are downfield. Now, he has the monsters around of all that ability at the wide receiver position at LSU. I look at Burrow as being like a more athletic Drew Brees, you know, a guy of Tom Brady that has the poison composure in big games. You know, and that might be reaching a little too much because Burrow has a lot to prove, but also like a Dak Prescott, maybe a more accurate Dak Prescott. He's athletic enough to make plays with his legs, but he's going to be smart. He's going to execute the offense.

The only thing I worry about Burrow is, you know, going to Cincinnati, does he have the pieces around him to help him? It's going to take a few years, but I think he's going to be very successful. So you could just tell he has that it factor, something you can't coach. Bruce Radkowski, by the way, PFF, whether you like fantasy football, you bet or you just love the game. Go to PFF.com. The promo code is quarterback 25, QB25, get 25% off. Bruce, love having you on the show.

Thanks, bud. Yeah, thanks, Colin. Have a good one. All right, pff.com. Boy, baseball's got all sorts of stuff going on, doesn't it? Well, you know, baseball has he hit. So I'll talk about it next hour. Baseball has a history of passive aggressiveness with its cheating.

Not like it loves it, but it kind of looks at it and goes, maybe nobody will notice. I mean, literally, they used to have, pitchers would have files with their. I mean, there's always something. You'd put spit on the ball, the PED stuff, the sign stealing. Baseball's always had kind of a weird passive aggressiveness. It's not like golf or if you cheat you're a bum. Baseball's always sort of allowed a little bit of this and a little bit of that

and kind of hopes nobody catches it and there's not a whistleblower. I don't think it hurts the sport. I think it makes it more fascinating. This is a wide gray area. Baseball's got an incredible gray area for stealing a sign occasionally. Hour three coming up in L.I. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I Hard

radio app. We are headed to Miami, starting on Monday, January 27th, The Herd, and all of our FS1 shows. We'll be live at Luma's Park on South Beach as we get ready for Super Bowl 54. We'll have great guests, wall-to-wall coverage, giveaways, and a whole lot more. FS1 Super Bowl Week live from Miami is just two weeks away. I'm going to be jogging on the beach every afternoon. You're going to go for jogs, huh? Every afternoon.

I'll play tennis. I already called the tennis center down there, hitting some backhand. You jogging in your speedos on the beach? I'm not really a speedo guy. Miami is very pro-Speedo. It's an incredible place in America because as you walk on the boardwalk in Miami, it's one of my favorite cities, it feels like you're, you could be anywhere. There's a million languages.

It's a very international city, yes. Very international city. So T.J. Hushmanzada is joining us. Okay, so here's the thing about T.J.'s, very humble guy. So he works out with a lot of these players. I don't want to, can I give some information away? Yeah, go ahead. Okay.

So T.J. works out with all. all these guys. He's going to work out with Burrow here. Yesterday he worked out with Justin Herbert's the Oregon quarterback. So I lean on this guy a lot for some of the information. He sees this stuff. So the first thing he said when he came in,

Justin Herbert for Oregon. Animal, man. Oh, man. Unbelievable. Cannon, big. Like, he's so big. Great arm, good touch. Like, it was probably ran routes for about 45 minutes to an hour. did. I didn't. I was out there watching, working with the guys that I work when he, they're running

around. This is Oregon's quarterback. Oregon's quarterback and guys getting ready for the draft. And the way he's throwing a ball is, wow, it's unreal. And by the way, calf's size. He's just a big dude. Like, his lower body is huge. He's tall. It's just real thick. No, this kid, I mean, everybody, you know, Southern football fans don't acknowledge Denver West. I know there's one GM. I know. There's one GM. I no one he's their number one quarterback on the board. I mean, even out there. Stephen Montez from Colorado, great arm. We got some young quarterbacks right now are incredibly talented.

Yes. Now, Burrow or Tua, I'm more Tua than Burrow. What about you? I'm more Burrow. And I go back to number one, Tua's injury history. He gets hurt a lot. I get it. I love his accuracy.

So do I. I love his confidence. But it's like, Joe Burrow had a, year that we've never seen before. And Tua has played with great players his entire career at Alabama. Trevor Lawrence has all these quarterback. They've never had a season like Joe Burrow just had. That has to be.

And we can't give, oh, man, Joe Brady comes in. What, is Joe Brady just putting guys on the moon all of a sudden? Like, he didn't invent football. Like, Joe Burrow had to be able to execute that. Yes. And so you have to give him that credit. Oh, he didn't start at Ohio. state, could it just be that he just wasn't physically as talented as those guys right out of

high school? So we never really got the chance he should have got. By the way, this happens all the time in life. People are late bloomer's intellectually, emotionally, physically. Some guys, you know, Zion Williamson, probably at eight years old was the biggest kid in class. There's all sorts of athletes who are late blooms. I grew seven inches as a senior. Like some guys grow later. My son's grown much earlier. Anthony Davis, a prime example. He was a guard in high school and then grew eight inches. So Joe Burrell could have been one of those kids just developed later emotionally, physically,

and he got to the right spot. And it's also when you come into college, and it's just the truth, the guys that are the four and a five-star recruits, they're going to get more opportunities than a two-and-three-star. So they get more opportunity to fail. And so being behind Dwayne Haskins, high recruit, J.T. Barrett, high recruit. It was too much for him to climb up that depth chart because they would have to be terrible and you have to be perfect. This is just like baseball.

If you're a high draft pick in baseball, a first or a second pick, the organization is going to give you a million opportunities. If you're a 37th round guy and you hit 350 in the spring, they're still going to give the prospect who they spent money on who hit 280 in the spring and go, well, he's got a much higher ceiling. Of course. When I used to be in minor league baseball, there were all these guys. The question was, oh, well, where did they get? drafted. If you were invested in the player, then he got called up in September because everybody wanted to validate their draft pick. They were like, listen, I'm not going to. Now, I want to ask you about this about Joe Burrell. I read this on the internet yesterday. And I have defended players who have

done this. I can be pro-owner for some things, but I think organizations have a responsibility and that if you work as a college player and you're the number one pick and the Cleveland Browns are there, I don't have a problem if you're like, time out. You've fired nine coaches in 10 years. I'm not playing for you. John Elway did it and I defended him. Eli Manning did it. He said, I'm not going to go to the Chargers. I'm going to go to the Giants. By the way, in both instances, it paid off. Joe Burrow looks at the Bengals and says, that is very from Ohio. His dad is a coach. They should have. have some type of idea of what they want to do.

Now, you just got to meet with people, hopefully make the right decision. Because, and I've said this to Joy, I believe it was last week. Carson Palmer is one of the best quarterbacks to ever playing the NFL. And I'm probably one of the few people that believe that. Because you played with them. I played with them. But I've also trained with other guys in the NFL that you guys consider the best. Who do you train with?

I mean, when I was, I've trained with Brady. I've trained with Aaron Rogers when he would come out and throw. Train with Drew Breeze, AJ Feely when he was playing. So many different guys. Was Carson as good as any of them? He was better. The way he threw the ball, his arm strength. And the ball, when you touch, when he threw you a ball, it was so catchable.

It was like, it was so easy to catch. And that's what it's very accurate, very big. Carson was fast. never got credit for being athletic because he was taught to stand in the pocket and throw the ball. But just straight line speed, Carson could really run. And so he'll never get that credit. I don't know if Joe can go to Cincinnati and all of a sudden things change. I don't know.

This is one of the reason I'm not as high on him. They've always been cheap with scouting. They're not a deal-making organization. They've never had the kind of ownership that I trust, like in Philadelphia or New England, that I think can win championships or Baltimore. I mean, you played in Cincinnati in Baltimore. You told me the first week you were in Baltimore, you're like, oh, this is how an NFL operation should be run.

I never thought of it. This is the thing that will help him in Cincinnati is weapons. If they can resign AJ Green, he can play. They have Joe Mixon, Tyler Boy, John Ross, Tyler Ifer. So offensively, he'll have weapons. That right there, but when we played at Cincinnati, we had weapons. And so it's like, I refer back to that, and you just don't know. Let me read this spot real quick.

Michelin Endurance XT Silicon Wiper Blades, Real World Proven, last two-time longer, available at Walmart. I'm way back on spots. There you go. T.J. Hushman's Auto. Okay, let's talk about this. Luke Keatley's retirement. I thought it was a great day for football. I've said, no hitting until high school, lighten up in the practices, more guaranteed

money for pros. And you guys can say, bye-bye at 30 and have $28 million in the bank. I thought yesterday was a great day. I thought it was a great day when Patrick Willis, Calvin Johnson, said, I got my stacks of cash, I got my health. I'm going to go on TV and talk about football. What was your initial reaction to Luke Keekley retiring?

I was shocked, to be honest with you. And then when you delve into it, a ton of concussions. If you ever met him in, he's not very big. He's not a big deuce. You're like, he played a little linebacker? He's just not big. And the last concussion he had, he cried. He literally cried on the field.

And this is something that he's thought about self-awareness of saying, man, if I feel like this at 28, 29, dude, in 10 years, how is my quality of life going to be? Tough decision. But the decision is much easier when you have $30, $40 million cash in the bank. That makes the decision a lot easier to say, God, I love football, but financially I'm okay. and for me, it's a good thing

and it's also a bad. You don't want parents seeing this. Like when I have a son, he's going to play football if he wants to actually plays flag now. By the time he gets, he's not going to play tackle football until he's in high school. But the game is safer than it's ever been

that awareness. Guys, by the time he starts playing, they're not lowering their head anymore to hit. They're just going to tackle you. TJ, you know this. High school college and even pro practices, they don't hit. They're not in pads like they.

used to be. You get a high school coach that really is aware, yes. It's just because of the awareness that's being brought about these big hits, head problems, coaches are so much more aware and your physical well-being is taking into account more than ever at a lower level. Yeah. So let me, we've got two games this weekend, Titans, Chiefs, Niners, Packers. I'm just going to concentrate on one. I watch the Niners Packers and I think Green Bay's in trouble. The last five Aaron Rogers playoff losses, he's lost to all those teams in the regular season two. There are times when I watch games and I think, I don't care about the schemes, they got way more dudes than that team's got dudes.

How does Green Bay win? They can't. They can win if San Francisco turns the ball over four times, and that's still going to be a close game. As great as Aaron Rogers is, as good as Devonte Adams is, they're not blocking Nick Bosa, DeForest Bonham. Donkner, D Ford, Eric, they're not blocking off. Now they have Klon Alexander back.

The 49ers up front are so good. Richard Sherman is playing very well in a secondary. How about Richard Sherman? How about that year? Boy out there, I thought he was done. That's what when you're smart, that's self-confidence, that self-belief in yourself that he has, you think they're going to let Devonte Adams beat him? They're not going to do that.

They're not going to let DeVont. Seattle single-handedly let Devante Adams beat them. The 49ers aren't. And they have a defensive line that can say, okay, we're going to put pressure on you. Whether we put Richard Sherman on Devante Adams or not, he's not going to be. I don't see any way Green Bay can win unless Jimmy G. And those guys implode and turn a ball over. T.J. Hushman Zada.

Can I read one more spot? Let's go. Listen, sometimes you get, you know, you're good with finance. You're very, you're very frugal. I try to be. You're very frugal. I try to be. You ever have to say to the significant people in your life, hey, no more shopping.

I don't know if my wife is watching this. There's been plenty of times. I'm like, man, if you buy another purse for that price, do not do it. Oh, plenty of times. You know what I say to my wife? Yes. You know what I say to my wife? I'm going to go broke with you saving money.

I told my wife, if she spent money like I did, we'd have a lot more. Yeah, I don't know what it is about you women. I really don't like these person. Unbelievable. We like to shop. Have you ever tried it? It's really fun. I don't get it. Now like Amazon, it's

like Christmas like every week. She just said that I really like shopping on Amazon. I'm like, huh? Like, you know, stop buying stuff. I'm sitting on you tube looking at curl routes. Man, I don't get it, but yeah, I'm very yeah. Flyers Blues, today's

Discover card key matchup, cashback you earn into your first year automatically no limit. Go to discover.com. slash cashback match. Joy with the news. Thanks, bud. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Got your tennis, Colin, I've got my shopping. So do you go to Amazon.com every day? Every day. Goulet, when's the last time you were on Amazon.com? Shop up? I bought one thing on Amazon for myself in the past, like, a year. Wow.

That's really good. That's very impressive, actually. So you like, you just like like going. I don't like going to the store. So you just go there and just, do you look? Like it was up to me. I'd get everything. I've never been on Amazon.com.

I've never been on Amazon. Dude, I know the UPS and FedEx drivers by name at my house. Yeah. Like they, like, I see them outside of their job and we speak because they're at my house so much. Yeah. It's unbelievable. You got to put your foot down. I'm going to do that today.

Put your foot down. You're here. I'm putting my foot down today. I'm putting it down today. There will be no foot being put down for either one of you. So Zion Williamson is finally going to make his NBA. debut, Pelicans GM David Griffin told reporters today that Zion is expected to get his first start next Wednesday, January 22nd when the Pelicans take on the Spurs.

I thought it was tonight. No, next Wednesday. So we were thinking it was possibly going to be Thursday. Against the jazz. Yes, but they pushed it off. So Griffin also said that Zion will not be on a minute's restriction. He won't. He will not be on a minute restriction.

Will he play back to backs? I'm going to guess no. I'm going to guess they're probably going to ease him in. I don't know. I don't think I'd play him back to back. I don't think you need to. No one's expecting him to play. I certainly wouldn't expect him to pay.

I wanted him to see a tomorrow against the Jazz who have won 10 straight. I was there the first night Jordan Clarkson played. They gave him a standing on Utah. They have not lost a game since. Utah's on fire. Is Utah number two seed right now in the West? I'll buy jazz season tickets if they win the West. You want to just, do you want to buy season tickets or something?

You're trying to buy season tickets and something. You know what? Almost but just. I don't you do the Chargers are solid and buy it. If they get Brady, I will. Yeah, you and a lot of other people will. That's why the goal. Zion's missed nearly half the season.

Recovering from a torn meniscus, he suffered in the preseason. They are 15 and 26 this season. Obviously, we're all looking forward to seeing what Zion can do. Of course. I mean, he moved this summer. Listen, this kid, Duke automatic ratings. Summer League, he broke the ratings. I think he is a guy.

NBA doesn't have as many players as you think that move the needle, but they do have something. Durant does, the Warriors did, LeBron does. I think Zion's a needle mover if he becomes a good player. I think he will move the needle in the NBA. Absolutely. And they have a fun young core. Like, they have a fun, exciting team.

So getting Zion back is going to be huge. Now, I don't, because of this injury, I don't have any expectations for Zion this year. Just want to get him out there and get the season healthy. I don't give a rip about that. I don't need to see a lot from him. But next year, I don't know. year it's going to be exciting. So Kevin Durant took over the boardroom's Twitter account to

answer some questions yesterday and someone asked him who the five toughest players to guard are and he listed LeBron James, Kauai Leonard, Lou Williams, Paul George and Joelle M.B. He also then later tweeted that he would add Hardin to the list, but he didn't take anyone off the list. He doesn't guard Lou Williams? What's he talking about? I mean, he has, obviously, if he feels this way. Lou is very underrated, obviously a walking bucket. But Three clippers are on the list? Damn. That's pretty impressive.

Three clippers are on the list. This is a three-time sixth man of the year. What about no Warriors? That sounds petty. Yeah, well, that was the first thing that I noticed. Kind of petty. Not the clippers. Well, maybe he just doesn't feel that way.

He feels like they're not difficult for him to guard. Kevin Durant is, I mean, what is his wingspan? Like, eight feet? 10 feet? I mean, he's a very, very tall person. LeBron's just so strong. He tweeted, I'm an idiot. I'm forgetting James Hardin.

I apologize. Yeah, that happened. James Hardin's hard to guard. He is. Well, the stepback is just impossible to go out. Especially when the reps are giving you traveling. And John Moran was giving him a little... Tooey, between your Astro cheating and James Harden, you should be ashamed of yourself

for liking those teams in Houston. Seriously. I'll start rooting for somebody else. You can stick with the rockets, too. Got the Astros out there using telescopes to win the World Series. You got blowing the biggest lead in NFL history. And you got James Hardin traveling every time of... great week, Colin. Let me tell you. Finally, Luke Keekely's not the only player who's stepping

away from football. Antonio Gates announced his retirement yesterday with a statement saying, I never dreamed that I would play this game of football for so long or how fortunate I would be to play with just one organization. I want to thank the Chargers Organization, the National Football League, Dean Spanos and the Spanos family for the opportunity to live out of dream and play the game I love. That's a player. He did not play in 2019, but he never officially announced his retirement. Yeah, that's a, I mean, Hall of Famer, of course. How about his story? How about his story? How about his story. He's a college basketball player. Didn't play football. By the way, don't the

Seahawks have a right tackle fant? It was just kind of a guy. They just liked his body and they're like, hey, we can teach you how to be a tackle. And somebody else in that, I think there's another guy in this league that didn't play any college football or not much of it. And I thought the Seahawks have a right tackle. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

Yeah, scouts now, this is a good point, as Goulet said. Because of Antonio Gates, scouts now go to basketball games. As they should. especially for that position. He spent 16 seasons with the Chargers, third all time among tight ends in catches and yards,

and first all time among tight ends in touchdown. So he, two future Hall of Famers. He's one of the top. I've said the best tight ends I ever saw, Winslow, Gonzalez, Shannon Sharp, Antonio Gates. Rob Gruncowski. And Rob Grunkowski. Travis Kelsey's got a chance to be there.

Yeah, well, Travis, yes. We have a lot more to see from Travis, luckily. There was a guy years ago, nobody will remember this. I'm old. guy named Dave Casper that played for the Raiders. You guys remember that Dave Casper for the Raiders? Dave Casper 87 was good for the Raiders.

And nobody remembers Dave Casper. I'm it. Why don't you get that telescope? The Astros are used and look into the past, too we? Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Yeah, he played with Kenny Stabler for years.

It was Dave Casper with the Raiders, and Winslow was with the Chargers. Those Charger teams back then. John Jefferson, Chuck Muncie, Dan Fouts, Ron Yerry. Those were, that was one of the first track. That was a fast break offense. Remember the Rams team that was the fastest show on turf? Before that was Dan Fouts and the Chargers. The Chargers have had some really legendary players.

They have had so many great offensive players. We have the Chargers a hard time, but. No, no, no. They've been, you know, they have been wildly entertaining for almost all of my life. They've always been offensive-minded. John Jefferson, look him up. There's another Arizona State kit, all-time player. Coming up, I'll give you my grade for all the NFL new coaches

that have gotten jobs. Five new ones, and I've got some thoughts on some grade. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Definitely winner. Get cozy inside. Winner's sleeping on the Casper.Casper.com. Code cozy, 10% off, casper.com. Yeah, by the way, it's funny today, so everybody's freaking out.

Pearson didn't make the Hall of Fame. It's not a Hall of Famer. By the way, ask yourself this. If I said to you, Joy, there's certain things in life, you don't have to think about a lot. If I mention somebody's name, and I go, are they a nice person? If you pause, they're not a nice person. If I ask you... Well, isn't there

a spectrum of nice? Not really. I think so. Oh, time out. If somebody said... Do you think I'm a nice person? Yes. I didn't pause. That doesn't mean you can't be petty. You did say really fast. But I said, you're nice, but I think you have a good heart

and you're a good person. That doesn't mean you're flawless. There's like two of those. I'm one of them. Anywho, the point being is there are certain questions in life you ask. If I said to you, okay, here's another one. Here's another question. Anybody listening in your car watching on TV? If I said this about a guy,

can you trust him? If the answer ain't yes immediately, get out of town. There's not really a huge spectrum on trust, though. So this whole thing about like Hall of Fame, is he a Hall of Famer? Just say a player to Michael Urban. Yeah, Drew Pearson. I don't know.

No, but I think it's, I think for the NFL Hall fame, that is the standard, right? There's a little bit of a spectrum on some of the other halls. But the NFL, I'm with you. Like, it's a Hallfamer or he's not a Hallfamer. But he's the only player from the 70s all decade team that's not in. Listen, I wasn't around in the 70s. I was. I saw, I watched the team play.

Roger Stauback, Hall of Famer. When I think of the Cowboys, I'll give you my Hall of Famer. Emmett Smith, Hall of Famer. Michael Irvin, Hall of Famer. Troy Ackman. Hall of Famer. I mean, there have been cowboys that I'm like, boom, Hall of Fame. By the way, the center right now, is it Travis Frederick?

Hall of Famer. Tyron Smith, left tackle. Hall of Fame. Those guys, if you got to sit around and argue about it, then they're not Hall of Fame. Generally, I would agree with that sentiment. Drew Pearson was. I didn't see him play, obviously. He was a nice.

It's almost like Andre Reid, the wide receiver. Very good player. But when you start getting into this sympathy stuff, well, you know, he's the only guy that, all right, so. He's a good player. I mean, he was a Dallas Cowboy. It could be put him on the Ring of Honor and stuff. But once you start getting into the sympathy stuff, because the reality is, like, I remember

one time I was talking to a friend of mine as a Seahawk fan. He's like Matt Hasselbeck Hall of Famer. I said, so you're going to have Dan Marino and Matt Hasselbeck in the same room. I like Matt Hasselbeck. I like his family. But you can't have Matt Hasselbeck in the same place as Brady, right? Yeah, I would agree with that comparison. Yeah.

Hall of Fame should be like Mount Rushmore's. You should have to be, to be a Hall of Famer with very few exceptions, you should be on Mount Rushmore, top four for your team ever. Now, if you get to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they've got like 20. There are organizations, but generally... If you continue to be like a finalist, years after years after years, don't you think that you're in that conversation like you are a Hall of Famer? It's not like college...

It's not like it's... It's not like it's Hasselback. I like Drew Pearson. I watched them. He's a good man. I don't care what kind... I don't want to get into these good man stuff because T.O... Because that's not even what we're talking about.

Like, T.O. is a Hall of Famer. Right. And you watch him. You're like, oh, yo, yo, he's good. That guy's a hall. Steve Largett, Jerry Rice. Like, you know, I don't know. I think everybody today's all.

I just think once you continue to be a finalist year after year after year after year, it is the conversation like you are a hall of fame. Well, we're starting to treat Hall of Fame like college admissions. Well, or as parents donors today. It's not getting that crazy. It's not getting crazy. I still think the NFL Hall of Fame is the most prestigious Hall of Fame that there is. Like the baseball Hall of Fame, it always becomes about the

writers and who it's all this politics. The whole conversation is always about the writers and never about who's getting in. And obviously the basketball hall of fame is a little bit more of a spectrum about who's a hall of famer or not. But I don't think NFL's gotten that bad. All right. Here we go. Best for last. We're doing it today. We're grading. We're handing out report cards to all of the new coaches, Joy. All right. Professor Colin. Yes. What grade does Washington get for hiring Ron Rivera? I like Ron Rivera. I would give them an A minus. Now he did have six losing seasons in Carolina. I do think Cam is harder to coach than people subscribe to.

But here's what I get. They have players in Washington. They really do. They've got some nice players. Ron is a no-nonsense alpha, highly disciplined. And in Carolina, in I think it was five of the eight seasons, not counting this year because Cam didn't play, five of the eight seasons Cam played, they were a top 10 defense. I think he's the perfect fit.

No nonsense, got a long contract. He's a grown-up. We'll make the defense better, and they do have some talent here. All right, Professor Colin, what grade does Dallas get for hiring Mike McCarthy? I would give them a B. He is tied for fourth winning percentage among constant current coaches. Here's the thing. Is he better than Jason Garrett?

Yes. But there are similarities to Jason Garrett where you feel like he can win a division, but when you put him in that elite category in the playoffs against the Andy Reid's and the Payton's and the Belichick's. You don't quite feel like he's progressive and evolved as a head coach. But I think he's a good B. I was a B student. He's a good B coach.

He won five division titles. So the guy can, and by the way, Farrv swears by him. Aaron didn't love him. Farve swears by him. And a Super Bowl. I would give him an A. I did see a story today that Jerry is allowing him to choose his entire staff by himself with no influence.

So I think that's a good thing. What grade does Carolina get from that rule? B plus. I like this. I think they're going and getting a smart young guy. They've given him a long seven-year contract, so they are committed to him. They're expensive. So if he has to bail water for a year on the cam thing or bail water on putting his staff together,

part of these deals when I grade him is, are they committed to you? Teper, the new owner, David Teper, is all in on this, seven years, $60 million. Now, this guy is not as young as you think. Joy, he spent 22 years as a coach in college of the NFL. This is not like Sean McVeigh, who was interning, working the drive-thru window at Burger King, and then he's an NFL coach and we're all freaking out. This is a guy that's been around football for a long time. That wasn't exactly Shaw McVeigh's dirty to the Rams.

What grade does New York get for Joe Judge? I was going to go C-minus. I'll go C-plus. Sabin said this week, He's one of the brightest young coaches he believes in the profession. And Belichick said he thinks he's one of the few coaches he's ever had that could coach every part of the team. He's been very good in front of a microphone, special teams coordinator. Again, I was a little hot on my initial take, which is good hell.

You got to give me a break. But John Harbaugh was also a special teams guy. He has gotten rave reviews from Sabin and Belichick. Same thing. I've never heard Balichick speak this highly about Josh McDaniels as he had about Joe Judge. Jason Garrett is interviewing there today for an offensive coordinator. For New York? Yes.

That would be a very good hire. I agree. What grade does Cleveland get for Kevin Stafansky? I am going to go out in a limb here and say B minus, but I like it more than everybody else. And I would not have given Josh McDaniels a B. I would have given him a C because I think he's too impulsive. The downside of Stofansky is he. He's only worked for one organization.

I tend to like people who have bounced around and had more worldviews. The other thing, he's only been an OC for one year. He got the interim OC, and now he's been the OC. He does not have a ton of experience, none outside of the Vikings. But he has been a quarterback coach, a running back coach, a tight-end coach, before being named an offensive coordinator. So on multiple levels, he's had to take over units, be responsible for them. Then the interim OC, there's been a progression, a linear progression,

progression to it I like. And I do think he has the right temperament. He's a total grown-up. He's a very serious football guy and that I appreciate. There's my grades for all the new coaches. I like Stefansky more than everybody else in Cleveland. I think it's a better higher than Josh McDaniel. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama wants you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.

And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human