The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Baker Mayfield, NCAAFB, LeBron James, and NFL chances

Episode Date: November 13, 2019

Colin breaks down another reason Baker Mayfield doesn't get it, the problem with the Browns, why he agrees with the College Football Rankings, his thoughts on LeBron James playing PG, and his new NFL teams he feels have a chance to win it all. Guests include Nick Wright, Bruce Gradkowski, Marcedes Lewis, and Joel Klatt. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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, 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 Podcasts, 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 harmed. 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

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One hour from now, Joel Clad and I will argue about the college football committee's newest top four. I agree with it. I'm sure he won't. Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, how are you today? I'm great. Good morning.

You're from Pittsburgh. Tomorrow, the Steelers who have once again proven culture matters in the NFL. Right. No Big Ben, no Leveon, no A-B, and they are a playoff team today against Cleveland, which has been a mess. And I want to start with that because it has been now, I counted this morning seven straight weeks, that there's been a mini-controversy or a distraction during a Browns game. And it's almost always them talking about last week's game as the Steelers are coming up their rival on a short week on Thursday. Now, I'll get to the bites by Baker Mayfield, which he should not talk about it, but we'll get to that in a second.

But it's funny about the NFL. It changes really fast. Really, really fast. I want you to think about this. Ten games ago, end of last year, Baker Mayfield Mania hit the NFL because of two big games against awful Cincinnati. where he had seven touchdowns and no picks. And I kept saying he's short. He's not getting taller.

He's not athletically dynamic. That's not going to change. And he's cocky, and I don't think that's what the best quarterbacks of my life are. Slow down, everybody. He's going to face much better teams and coaches next year. Ten games later from Baker Mania, Lamar Jackson's clearly the most dynamic quarterback in the class and may end up getting many, many MVP votes.

Kyler Murray, though you're not watching him in Arizona, is a dynamic, much better athlete than Baker, much better accurate thrower than Baker, and doing amazing things with far less talent than Baker. Baker's now going to be on his fourth head coach in two years, according to reports, Freddie Kitchens in trouble. His accuracy has eroded. We have Tua, the greatest quarterback prospect,

they say, you know, in a decade coming into the NFL next year, forget Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert, who are 6'4 can throw it. The following year, you're going to have Justin Fields at Ohio State and Trevor Lawrence, who, in my opinion, that's Elway Marino. Those are two absolute can't-fail home runs. And this morning, Baker, 10 games removed from Baker mania, is just a guy. 30-second in-passer rating, 30th in-completion percentage, second and interceptions. That's with an elite running back, an elite receiving core. He's just a guy. A 5-11 and a half guy who's too cocky, accuracy is eroded and not dynamic athletically as the quarterback position changes to more dynamic athletically. This year, Baker Mayfield wasn't even the most interesting quarterback in the AFC with a mustache. That was Gardner Minchu.

Cleveland's now closer to the Miami Dolphins than the Pittsburgh Steelers without Big Ben. The NFL, what do they say? NFL, not for long. This is why you don't do 15 commercials. This is why you come in humble. This is why you come in hungry. This is why you don't make bold predictions. The interest now in Baker is simply about the disaster known as Baker.

This league's got two a coming. We're two years away from Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence coming. We've got Kyler's here and better. We got Lamar's here and he's dynamic. Baker is this morning just a guy. And my least favorite thing he does is that he, you know, there's an old Bill Belichick line when you ask him about something, he goes on to Cincinnati.

It's like the running joke in the league. Look, do not live in the rear view mirror. So here are the Browns this week facing their rival, short week, red hot Steelers, national TV, and Baker's talking about the crowd noise. against Buffalo last week. No, it wasn't that. It was just the fact that we're an offense.

We needed to be quiet. It might have ruffled some feathers. Once again, that's okay. But when we're an offense and a critical down, we need to be able to have silence in our home stadium. It's got to be an advantage for us. And then when they get the ball, it's got to be really loud.

It's just, you know, the basis of football. You're not wrong, except for the fact you're talking once again about last week, and not the biggest game of the year. Ten games removed. He's just a guy. He doesn't look anything close to Lamar.

You're not watching Arizona. I am. I'm paid to watch him. He ain't close to Kyler Murray. He's not going to be close to Tua. Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields. Hell, Sam Darnold last week looked really good. Eric Mangini on First Things First this morning

about Baker's comments about the crowd against Buffalo. Just take a step back. and focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers, not the fans, not your facial hair, not your sneakers and whatever design they have, not the $100,000 watch that you have. Can we please focus on the task at hand as opposed to everything else? The Browns just find a way to create more problems and distractions themselves. Just a guy, 10 games removed from Baker Mania. The league changes.

fast and humbles you quickly. Ask the Rams. That was the future. Everybody was copying the Rams a year ago. Ten games ago, the league was copying the Rams. Now they have a crisis at running back, offensive line, and salary cap. All right, let me shift to this. College football, what do you want me to pay attention to? Okay, when I look at college football, I consider recruiting. What kind of players are going into your conference? I look at the NFL draft. What kind of players are coming out of your conference. And I can say unequivocally, without an argument, for the last 10 to 15 years, the SEC is the best conference. So yesterday, the committee came out and had LSU won, Ohio State 2, Georgia, and Clemson are in, and Bama 5.

So what they are saying is three of the top five teams are from the SEC, and people are all worked up about it. clearly the committee wants two SEC teams in. I don't have a problem with it. Ohio State, Clemson, and two SEC teams. I watch the SEC every Saturday. Bigger, stronger, faster. I watch the recruiting rankings every year. I'm kind of a dork.

Every year, six SEC teams in the top 10 to 12. By the way, Oregon faced Auburn. Auburn had a freshman quarterback starting his first game, neutral field. Oregon has a quarterback, many believe, is the first or second best in college football, and three offensive linemen in the NFL returning their entire offense. Auburn won. And then Georgia beat Notre Dame.

And then LSU beat Texas. What do you want to count? I look at the recruiting SEC's got better players. The mock draft, I looked up two mock drafts this morning. Four of the top five players are SEC. Half of the first round is SEC players. Am I not supposed to look at that? They got better players coming in.

They got better players going out. Half of the first round is SEC. LSU beats Texas. Auburn with a first year quarterback beats Oregon with a stud quarterback. I got Georgia beat Notre Dame. The committee is saying we want two SEC teams in the final poll. I agree with that. Give me Ohio State Clemson and then let the guys down south sort it out.

But I don't know what people get. worked up over. Oregon's going to win the PAC 12. They could not beat the SECs. I'll say fourth best team, Auburn. Some think they're worse than Florida. Maybe they're the fifth best team with a true freshman quarterback. So I try to pay attention to this stuff. I watch games. I watch recruiting. I watch mock drafts. I'm a nerd. I spend time on it. I keep getting the same answer. SEC's got more good teams, more good players, more NFL bodies. How do I not consider that? This is all subjective, right? I mean, the schedules don't work up perfect.

Well, that team played that team and that team played that team. You got to win these September games, Oregon. That's why you schedule them because you want to make a statement. And you have a junior senior superstar quarterback. Auburn's got a freshman and Auburn beats you. We outplayed them for the entire game. That makes it worse. Can you imagine if Auburn outplayed you for the entire game that had beaten you by 20?

You outplayed them and still lost. So I look at recruiting. I look at September games. I look at the mock drafts. at the speed of the games, LSU, Alabama. No other conference gives you a game like that. I mean, Utah play Oregon. They're both very good.

It won't look like that. Won't have 25 NFL guys on the field. So I don't have a problem. The committee is saying, listen, we like Clemson, we like Ohio State, and we like the SEC. That's what my eyes tell me too. I like Oregon. I like Utah. I like Oklahoma.

But that conference down South has got more. good players every year coming into the conference and leaving the conference. I'm okay with the committee. I'm not sure what you want me to pay attention to. I mean, I have some attention deficit disorder issues in my life, but I can pay attention to see simple stuff like recruiting rankings and mock drafts and what my eyes tell me on Saturday, LSU Bama played. That didn't look like any other conference. That game didn't look like any other conference. Sounds like you and Joel Klau have a lot to talk about today. He's probably going to try to sell me Kansas State or something. I'm not going to buy it. Coming up next,

Listen, you don't have to like LeBron. You're going to be blown away by this. You're going to be shocked by this. Nick Wright here today. Mercedes-Louis, Joel Clatt, all coming up, and Nick's around the corner. 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. 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 middle 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.

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This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, 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

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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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcasts presents soccer moms.

So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast.

We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Well, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white claw or something here? Just take it.

Oh, what are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, come on. You would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky I'm not a drug addict.

You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. I'm lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's great to have you. By the way, casper.com.

Code heard, $100 toward the purchase of select mattresses. Casper.com. Most loved and trusted sleep company. Had a great night sleep last night. So there's a couple NBA stories. Paul George is going to come back to the Clippers here on a road trip. That's nice.

And Lakers won last night. It's November. I don't care. Kyle Kuzman pretty good. Here's the story I care about. Nick Wright in 10 minutes. It's pretty amazing. I've said this about LeBron James forever. I've been watching the NBA for 40 years.

I was watching it when there was Spencer Haywood, Calvin Murphy. I've been watching the NBA. since I was like eight years old. LeBron is the Swiss Army knife. There's never been a player. In fact, there's nobody ever been close to LeBron. He is great at more things than any player ever.

Michael was a better pure score. Kobe was more artistic. Kareem had the unstoppable shot. Bill Russell, the better defender. LeBron's the greatest player at multiple things. And 538's a website. And they were talking about this this morning. His move to point guard.

first of all, he was a power player for years. Then he decided I got to shoot threes. In the last three years, he is a top five three-point shooter, which again, for a six-nine forward's remarkable. And then this year, he's like, I'm going to play point. Well, statistically, he's now the NBA's best point guard. So, I mean, it backs up what I believe is he is either the first or second best player in my life. The three best players to me, and I don't count centers. You know, Jordan Magic LeBron.

Centers, a little bit just, I mean, come on. You're 7-2, you should score a lot. Nothing against big guys. But it's Magic who's always been better than we think. Michael, the greatest score, most relentless player, mind control, Michael. And then LeBron's great at everything. So everybody's trying to sell me parity this year in the NBA. And there are a lot of teams I like.

I think Utah's really good. I think Denver's good. Milwaukee's good. The Sixers are good. Portland's interesting, not good yet. But to me, I don't buy it because the NBA has never been about parity. It's about the best players joining forces. And the best team in the NBA to me is the Clippers, and the second best team is LeBron.

And the question this year is the question every year except last year, which is, who's guarding LeBron in May? Because that's been the NBA for eight straight years. A healthy LeBron has made the finals eight straight years. So the question is, who's stopping LeBron? And for four years, about four and a half, we had an answer, Golden State, because they had a bunch of great shooters hitting threes, and they threw a bunch of guys at him. Draymond a little and Iggy a little and a clay and threw it.

Okay. So now that's imploded. So the question is, who's stopping LeBron? Because now he's the best point guard in the NBA. Who's stopping LeBron? And I believe the answer is the Clippers because they have guys who can hit threes, Paul George, Lou Williams, and they also have a bunch of guys. In fact, I could make an argument.

They have the three best guys in the league to stop LeBron. Paul George, Kauai Leonard, and frankly, Patrick Beverly, who loves guarding him and is a pain in the rump. And they, so, you know, we talk about all this stuff about the NBA, and this story, 538 comes out. LeBron once again, I mean, as much as you love Michael Jordan, he was never the best point guard in the league. He was never a great rebounder or a great passer. But I come down to you tell you're selling me parity, and I'm like, if LeBron's healthy, late April, May, June, Who's stopping him? One team.

Not Utah, not Denver, not Milwaukee, not Boston, not the Sixers, not Portland, not Houston, the Clippers. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So the Cowboys had a tough time stopping the run against the Vikings on Sunday nights. Minnesota rushed for 153 yards in a touchdown. And when asked how he would describe his team's poor run defense, Jerry Jones gave a very,

interesting analogy. Oh. Two handfuls full of jello. And about the time that you stop it from coming out the middle finger by the forefinger, about the time you started over there, then it starts coming out the other side. And that's what makes this game so great. That's what makes the challenge so great. And you think you've got it figured out.

And two games later, the defense you face will have had it figured out for you. figured that for you. Well, he's right. It's a weird analogy, but he is right. The game changes really fast. Who's ever tried to hold two handfuls of jello? Not me ever, but, you know, he's getting older. As he's getting older, maybe he's eating more jello.

I mean, I love jello, but I don't eat it with my hands. But he is so, he is so intricate in his description and his analogies. As if he's been eating jello for years with two hands. He just paints a picture with the words. I remember that analogy he did about the, the severing your hands, like, picture you were a driver car and you wrecked and your hand was almost severed off. Yeah.

Which didn't understand your anatomy and then he like went through that whole thing. And then in 2017, he said, we're going to have to burn some wagons and float the Mississippi with some of the others. When he's talking about player injuries and suspension. Maybe these are Texas metaphors we don't get. I don't know. But they're very descriptive.

And he's right. That that's like was what it looked like when they were trying to say. Stop Dalvin Cook. Yes, against the Vikings. I mean, when I think of the issues with the cow, though. My initial thought does not go to their defense. It's just like the Vikings played a better game at the end of the day than the Cowboys did. And I don't think it was a bad loss for the Cowboys. I think you and I agree on this. I would what's their offensive identity? I think they have the pieces. I don't think their coaching staff knows what their offensive identity is. Well, to me their offensive identity is Dak.

Well, that's what I think. But they're not a team that's built for Dak to be that. Okay. When I said that, if you gave, if you put Nick Chubb behind Dak, this team. is not less. But if you put Baker in instead of DAC with Zeke, the teams of mess. Dax's the identity and secondly is the offensive line. If Tyron Smith is healthy, Travis Frederick healthy, they move the football. I don't think, I never thought it was Zeke.

I've never thought it was Zeke. And that's not taking away from how great Zeke is. That's right. Zique is a top running back, top one or two running back in the league. By the way, Cleveland's identity is Nick Chubb because Baker's limited. Dax not as limited. He's a bigger,

better athlete, more of a leader. he's a more mobile. So on that team, Nick Chubb is the identity and should be. I just, I'm kind of, I'm growing exhausted with trying to pitch Jack Prescott. I feel like, you know, I feel like you and I are Dax agents. Well, listen, all the speculation was fine. After Sunday, people need to acknowledge that Dac, you know,

you and I had some questions about Tua. And we both and you and I were like, he throws the one side of the field. he gets hurt a lot and then I watched him against LSU and I'm like, okay, he's two weeks off the surgery table and that's the best I've ever seen him. Yeah, you can't, you really can't pull clothes on it. Yeah, two and now.

And now I got prototypes in the league that looked like two and I'm like, okay, two is the number one pick. I personally am still leaning towards Joe Burrow, but I'm not, I don't have the anxiety that I did about, about Tua after the game. That's exactly how I feel. You want to see how you play at the highest level with the highest level of competition.

Tua was better Saturday than I've ever seen it. against the real team, a real defensive coordinator. And I was like, okay, he's number one. Okay, that's all my doubts are gone. By the way, you know, it's funny how it's 19 years old, people get better at stuff. It's remarkable how it works. Yeah, I mean, you do, you develop. Improved and stuff.

So Josh Gordon made his debut with the Seahawks on Monday night. Seattle is the third team he's played for in his career after the Browns and the Patriots. And when he was asked about his transition from the quarterback carousel in Cleveland to Tom Brady and now Russell Wilson this season, he said, seems like in this part of my career, I'm trending upwards in quarterback. Woo! Shot at TB. Well, Russell is better than Tom right now.

Yeah. Right. So. I don't think that was mean-spirited. I just think he was talking. No, I don't think he's, I don't think he meant for it to sound like a jab at Tom. It's just, it just sounds like a jab at Tom.

For the record, let's make sure everybody knows this. Josh Gordon had two huge catches. And by the way, when the Patriots let Josh, let Josh Gordon go. My sources tell me that didn't play well in the New England locker room. I don't know how it would unless there was something really going on there, which it didn't seem like it was. It was kind of a shocking move.

You have an offense that could really use some dynamic players. One. I mean, it's a huge get for Seattle. When A.B. got pushed out of New England. That didn't sit well with players. Like New England knows, Gronk left, they have no deep threat. So the Josh Gordon thing, he's had a relapse issue. issue. I'm not discounting that, but he was a factor on Monday night, a big factor.

Right. And I don't think he's necessarily taking a shot at Tom Brady. No. But I'm also not ready to say that Russell Wilson is, I mean, he's having a better season than Tom Brady, I suppose. He's better than Tom Brady. Yes, today, yes, absolutely. Yes, he's better than Tom Brady. Yes, of course he is. I like Tom. I like Tom. I mean, Tom Brady's an excellent young man. Oh, my gosh. But now he's not young. All right. of the Patriots and their loss of the Ravens.

They were down by 17 points in the second quarter. England was never able to dig themselves out of that early hole. And Julian Edelman says that being better to start the game this week was the main focus in preparing for the Eagles. He said the team like Baltimore, you can't get behind because they're so dynamic at keeping the ball away from you. So starting fast, getting back on that program, being able to come out and start fast and get a rhythm established. A lot of this week was more about self-scout and we're just kind of working on us on all the things that we have to do better. Kind of how we feel about the Cowboys that they need to start. a little faster.

This is, again, this is why the Josh Gordon move was interesting to me, because if this is the case, like, you want to keep, you want to score every time you're getting the ball. We're paying a lot of attention to Lamar gave the Patriots trouble, right? Right. Why aren't we paying attention to the other thing that Baltimore's good, not great defense, gave the Patriots trouble? Like, this is not just a Lamar's a pain in the butt. New England's stats.

I went and looked at them this morning. They're 16th in the league and everything against bad teams. except Baltimore. This is not like an outlier. New England's offense is a pop-gun offense. There's no deep threat. There's no tight end. Third left tackle, third kicker.

And I'm a New England guy. And yet still, I fear them the most. Wow. That's that Miami-Pitchburg thing. I mean, I've just been conditioned. Like, it's just, I'm like Michael Rappaport yesterday. I've given up. There's just something.

Sometimes you just got to give up. I've given up. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. I got some NFL things I want to talk to Nick Wright about, but I do want to address an offensive thing because I know he is giddy this morning.

That LeBron, and he was the first to really get into this, LeBron's now a point guard. Oh, he's the best in the league at it. So via the Coward Global Satellite Network, I cannot deny this. I said this. In the last eight years that LeBron's been healthy, he ends up in the finals.

Golden State's the only thing that's given him an issue. And I do think the Clippers have some Golden State components, a little bit. Wing defenders, shoot threes, but you are loving this whole thing, aren't you? Yeah. Oh, yeah, I mean, if this whole thing, you mean the last

17 years, it's been pretty great, I would agree. Being able to sit here, have a front row seat to watching the greatest, most durable, most versatile athlete in human history, continue to reinvent himself and continue to be at the top of profession. It's been amazing.

I would, and by the way, your takes this morning have been shockingly spot on. I just heard me you said about the Patriots. I welcome you to reality on their offense. I'm glad you finally got here. But on LeBron, it is surprising to me, because people don't know this about you, Colin. You're a student of history, much like myself.

I can't count how many times you've called me, we've discussed the Crimean War, pardon me, and many of those things. But your history is a little off when it comes to LeBron, because I heard you say, what has stopped LeBron aside from the injury over the last four years was the Warriors threw all these wing defenders at him. And I'm going to do this in my head off the top of my head. But so just tell me the year those wing defenders, because that is what the clippers

have. They have all these wing defenders that the wing defenders slowed down LeBron because there was the first year of the finals where he went 36, 13, and 9. And the guy who held him to that won finals in being. and Andre Aguadala. There's the second year of the finals where he had the greatest three-game stretch in the history of the sport and coming back from 3-1 down. There's the third year in the finals where he averaged a 34-point triple double. And then there's the fourth year of the finals against the Warriors where he opened the finals with a 51-9 and 9 and then played the

rest of the finals with a broken hand because J.R. Smith forgot the score. So I would say those waves of wing defenders, they threw it in. didn't do nary a thing. Golden State beat them because they could outscore them. I don't know that the Clippers can outscore the Lakers. The thing that actually has given LeBron trouble offensively, the only thing in his career, aside from maybe at times having to play for Luke Walton, is Bigman, is rim protectors.

Once upon a time, there was a giant named Roy Hibbert who gave LeBron legitimate trouble. You live in L.A. who's the Clippers big guy? Is it the 6'7 Montrez-Harrel or is it Zubach that's going to give LeBron trouble? I don't know, but I'm yet to see that person exist for that basketball. These are all fairly reasonable arguments. I'm going to move to football, give you a win on that one, give you a W on that one. So let's move to football.

I am seen as very critical of Baker Mayfield, but I said 10 games ago it was Baker-Mania. Today, he's not close to Lamar. nobody's watching, but he's not close to Kyler Murray. Two is coming into the league. Deshawn's now a star. Dax's getting better. He is now not even the most interesting mustache in the AFC. Am I too critical of Baker as he plays tomorrow, or was I right on this?

Well, you know, I have a deep, unwavering commitment to take integrity. And if I say something, I need to be pulled off it by Hurricane Force wins. but the more Baker plays and the more Baker talks, the more right you appear to be. It's frustrating. It's disappointing. I still think one day my Baker-Mayfield stock is going to be worse something, but right now it's trading on the same exchange blockbuster is, and it ain't great. I hate the, you said something that I had never thought about a few weeks ago, and it's when you were talking about his judgment, and you were talking about the moments you knew it would be a problem.

And you brought up the moment in college with the cops. And what you said that I hadn't even thought of was the moment he ran from the cops, he wasn't even the one in trouble. And, you know, before I became the man I am today, I don't mind admitting this. I might have been someone who ran from the cops a few times. every damn time I was in trouble.

It was the right decision. I had to go. Baker didn't have to go, but his instinct was, I got to go. And his instincts are bad. You were right. His instinct this week, when he has more turnovers than anyone in football, except for, I think, Jared Goff and James Winston, to start lecturing the fans on proper etiquette is abysmal.

And if you were to be 30 minutes late twice a week, week to your own show and the ratings fall apart and then you say well you know what our gaffer guy is really blowing it for me it the lack of accountability is unacceptable so maybe baker will mature but that is the very long way of me saying this appears to be where colin was right and it really is frustrating thank you i mean i gave you a w on the first friend i get a w on the second one um i met russle wilson when he was very very young at a college and i turned to my producer at the time at the other network and I said he'll be commissioner by 45. I said, I don't know what it is, but he is different.

And that was before he had just beaten out Matt Flynn. And I watched him Monday night. His stats, he doesn't care about stats. He's a remarkable human being. After interceptions, he's over it in less than a second. He is the most optimistic. His alpha, his leadership, every receiver works for him. I don't even know who half these guys are.

I'm from the Pacific Northwest. To you, so I was in on the Russell stuff early. Some of that may be because of where I grew up and my sister doesn't like sports and then he made her like football. But what did you make of Monday with Russell? I made a Monday with Russell, even though it was far and away not his best game of the year, one of the only two games all year where he's made a legitimate mistake, the other being against Baltimore and Marcus Peters,

that it further reinforces everything he's been since the moment he walked, into the NFL, which is a future first ballot Hall of Famer who does nothing but produce. The history is unimpeachable, and I can do it very quickly, his rookie year, his rookie year, they're down 14 nothing in the first round of the playoffs. He brings them back. They're down 20 to nothing in the second round of the playoffs. He brings them all the way back to where they have a lead over Atlanta, 28, 27 with seconds remaining for Matt Bryant wins the game. Second year wins the Super Bowl. Third year comes within a game of the Super Bowl. over the next four years, one year leads to the league in pass rating, one year leads the league

in touchdown passes, never misses a game, never is below 500. When they're rebuilding, they make the playoffs. And this year he's going to win the MVP. But the thing you said about your sister is interesting, because he does, listen, Russell Wilson is a true believer. And I don't say this with any judgment. I don't say this tongue in cheek. He talks as if he believes he has been touched by God. And whether or not, he's not, he doesn't. not you are inclined to believe that, he makes his teammates believe it. He makes his teammates believe things they otherwise wouldn't. And that is that extra 5% that separates the great quarterbacks from the greatest quarterbacks ever. And through eight years, Russell Wilson is in route to being

one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. For a long time, people argued luck over Wilson or this shiny new toy over Wilson. He's always been that dude from NC State to Wisconsin to when he took over for Matt Flynn days after Matt Flynn was given 40 million bucks. And I'm glad he's going to win the MVP this year because he damn well deserves it. Finally, I didn't give out my, I do my Wednesday Super Bowl bubble. And it's just so much fun here. We do bubble music and stuff. And I have my bubble this week, and I'm not going to unveil it yet. But Kansas City is the one really good team with Dallas out. Dallas is out because the coach and the identity, I don't know what their offensive identity is. I don't think they know or they wouldn't give the ball to Zique late

that let Dak do it. In Kansas City, so I know you're from there, but I'm going to just throw this out there. You can tell me how great you are. I need to see you be great. LeBron is great. Michael was great. Of the eight biggest games in Mahomes' career, he's one and seven. They don't win enough. Yeah. They don't win enough for me. Go ahead. Yeah, so the one in seven.

I, again, you've done this once before with Patrick Mahomes, which is you go to what I assume is the Colin Cowherd Big Game Index. And you look at the ones that he has lost and you circle them and say, okay, well, he lost it must be a big game. Oh, well, damn it, he did win that one playoff game. So I guess I have to include it. I'm not certain where you got that stat, but I'd like to dig into the numbers on it. Here's what I know. Can City is a flawed team. There's no doubt about it. There's no question. They are not as good as I thought they were before the year. But one thing you can't argue is against their ceiling. Lamar Jackson is 13 and 4 in his career. Half those losses to that guy right there, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Your golden god, Tom Brady, has played bat. Mr. Holmes twice in the last 12 months. Both of those games, Patrick Mahomes, led the Chiefs back to take a lead in the fourth quarter. One game they were done in by a coin flip, one game they were done in by their defense. Now, what's problematic for Kansas City is while they can beat anybody, they also have proven they can lose to anybody. But I don't know what your Super Bowl bubble is going to be, but I'll tell you what it should be. Green Bay, New Orleans, Baltimore, Seattle, New England, San Francisco, Kansas City. There are seven teams that can win the Super Bowl.

Philly, Minnesota, Houston, you're out. Those seven teams they are in. That is the what's the Nick Wright Super Bowl bubble that I just stole from you and I might try to do on my television show tomorrow and pretend you never came up with it. Nick's right. By the way, a new haircut boy. He looks really good today, doesn't he? Last week he had kind of a sweeping thing. It was unkept today.

You look just terrific. I don't really know, man. I'll be honest with you, Colin. LeBron moved to the West Coast. I get about an hour and a half of sleep each night. I sleep before I talk to you and I wake up and sometimes I even fix my hair. Today I did. That's the only difference.

Good seeing you, buddy. Nick Wright. See you, man. One of my favorite spots every week. Coming up next, the Super Bowl bubble, I'll deliver it to you. Fascinating story on the bears and two guys didn't want Mitch Tribisky and the bears wouldn't listen to them. and they were sort of important guys. It's fascinating story

because Chicago now doesn't have a first round pick and doesn't have a quarterback they like, sort of a big deal in the NFL. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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, as 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 hard way and listen now. 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 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Look. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett, my mama want you to weigh better.

What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet.

Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years. later. We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my

Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white collar or something here? Just hit it. What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Come on.

I would. I would buy it. Cut through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are.

You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team, and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. I said this before, and people get mad when I say this, but by the time you're 45 years old, you are where you have, you deserve to be in life. Now, you can have bad parents and struggle in your 20. money's economic hardships. That can take you a decade or more to burrow out of. But think about this. We all make thousands of decisions a day. But let's borrow it down to about 12 decisions a day.

You know, cutting in traffic, maybe I shouldn't. Talk to your boss. Open a door. Twelve decisions a day. That's as little as you could do. 12 decisions a day. Seven days a week is what, 84. 84 times four weeks in a month is 360. 360 times 12 months a year is about four. 4,000 decisions a year. There's probably that many made in a week, but I'll say a year. At the time you're 45, you have made millions of decisions. People that make better decisions end up in a better place by 45. I'm not saying at 22 you can overcome a bad childhood, or even 32.

Mid-40s get it together. Most of the people running the NFL are in their mid-40s. You deserve to be where you're at in the NFL. Don't blame the officials. I don't want to hear about the officials. I don't want to hear about anything. Pittsburgh and Cleveland have the same topography, weather, and division. One's great.

One stinks. Always. There's a reason. The Roonies are smarter. The GM is smarter. Mike Tomlin's smarter. There's a reason Pittsburgh and Cleveland. There's no reason Pittsburgh should have any topography, geography, or economic advantage.

They do. So I was thinking about there's a story out today that John Fox, former Bears coach, and the quarterback coach of the Bears did not want Mitch Trubisky. They were like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We want Deshaun Watson because they're in the same conference. And Deshawn's way better, which me, just a radio TV moron, said before the draft. Everybody here is my witness.

How do you draft Mitch Trubisky, who I did not see really as a starting NFL quarterback, front leg thrower, ball dies, marginally athletic, over to Sean Watson? They played in the same conference. What are you doing? Nick Saban twice, six weeks, couldn't stop Deshaun. What are you doing? Dabo Sweeney, I know it's bias, but sometimes bias is right. Dabo Sweeney's like, he's Michael Jordan.

I'm just a dumb old college coach, but that's Michael Jordan. Okay. So Cleveland has passed on, think about this. Cleveland passed on Deshawn Watson, Patrick Mahomes, and Carson Wentz for a 5-11-and-a-half two-time walk-on cocky guy. Chicago navigated, gave up picks to move up, not take Mahomes, not take Deshawn Watson to get Mitch Trubiskey. Cincinnati, you've always been Cincinnati. Tua's available.

If you don't pick him, that's why you're Cincinnati. Joe Pearl's good. Tua, Trent Dilford does an 11 for an 11 camp. Bucky Brooks and Trent have been doing that for years. They have both told me on the record and off. Tua is the best prospect.

they have ever seen. This was Trent Dill for on my show this week. I think Tua is the single best prospect I have ever studied in my years of doing it. He is so uniquely gifted in so many ways that I think he is head and shoulders better than Burrow and Herbert. Tua has a chance to be a generational type talent in the NFL and go down as one of the better quarterbacks that's ever played in the NFL. He was two weeks off a surgery table and nearly flawless against LSU. He's completing 71% of his throws with a conservative defensive-minded head coach, 31 TDs three picks. Well, Alabama doesn't run the kind of offense that highlights quarterbacks.

They play it safe. And now you have Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray who are really giving you the prototype for him. There's no excuse. Like Lamar Jackson, I can get people going, I haven't seen anything like Lamar since Michael Vick and that was like 15 years ago, you got two guys in the NFL right now flourishing that play like Tua. Russell Wilson on Monday night

and Kyler Murray in Arizona, you're not watching their games. He is Tua, but probably not as good. So, you know, again, you deserve in the NFL to be where you're at. And there's a reason Cleveland could have had all these guys, Carson went, and there's a reason Cleveland's Cleveland. And there's a reason Chicago, Chicago, which is mostly outside of a very brief run

with Mike Ditka, Chicago's been dysfunctional. Good for a year, bad, good, bad, mostly bad, mostly mediocre. Two is out there, go get him. By the way, Joy and I both a year ago, I was like, he gets hurt a lot. He tends to be kind of a one side of the field thrower. He has gotten better. And for him to play at 75%, two weeks off a surgery table, be that accurate and that good. Gary Danielson said, I saw him on Friday.

He doesn't look right. Well, I saw him on Saturday. He looked really right. when you have multiple people who've seen him since high school saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is, this is the best ever. And so, I mean, you can like the other guys. I get it. But I think this kid's getting better.

His numbers are insane. And we got, he's a left-handed Russell Wilson, which I think has always been his prototype. But now that Kyler Murray's in, and Kyler's, you know, for the record, two, I believe, is over six feet tall. Let's, two is not, he's six-one. Okay, so he's taller than Russell Wilson. He's much taller than Kyler Murray. He's 6'1.

Two is not that small. All right, good stuff. Super Bowl bubble coming up. Mercedes-Louis. Joel Klatt stops by. SEC, three of the top five teams. Doesn't bother me at all. My dad was an optometrist.

I have good vision. The SEC's better. Joel Klat's going to argue. That's all coming up next an hour or two. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Hard Radio app. Search Hurd to listen live.

or on demand whenever you'd like. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardaway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field

and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that'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 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 trials the trashes 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. What's up, guys? This is Clifford 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? Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean.

I'll bet you a perimenopausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive.

Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How high can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard, you know? Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be?

I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Heart Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura podcast network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, hour two live in L.A. This is The Heard. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Mercedes-Luitt at the Green Bay Packers in a couple of minutes. Do you know I am having a really? ribbon cutting event today for Herd Burger. Torrance, California. I've never done a ribbon cutting.

You've also, do you get the giant scissors? I think I get the giant scissors. Could be the mayor of Los Angeles. George Lopez, the comedians there, very big deal. It's very fancy. Glamo Mall. You said that the, I've never had an impossible burger before. We have a vegan burger, although I'm not vegan. We have a lot.

It's a herd burger. We have all sorts of stuff. So the vegan burger is good, too. Oh, yeah, those are great. My wife eats those. We eat burgers in our house a lot. You love burgers, yes. I'm a burger guy.

Yeah, that's what I like. I never had a vegan burger, so I'm going to try it. They're good, they're good. They have, yeah, no, they're all good. The B Burger. Great to have you in. That's Joy Taylor, if you're listening on radio. So I do this.

I think we should make it a tradition. You know, on Monday we do Colin right, calling wrong. And then Friday we do Blazing Five. And, you know, we got Joel Clatt in 45 minutes, yelling at each other on Wednesday during the college football season. I think we should make the Super Bowl bubble. Bubble music, John. Eight, it always comes down to eight teams.

I truly believe it out. It's always eight teams. teams in my Super Bowl bubble. What is bubble music? Just bubble sound effects by Super Bowl bubble. Oh, okay. So can we do Super Bowl? That's a bong, John.

Not interested in the... Bongs have bubbles. Yeah, but that's not the kind of... Kids are watching this show. And that's legal in California, but we got $19 a gallon gas out here, so it's crazy town. Let's go for the non-bong. Again, that kind of sounds like a bong to me, but great. It could be like a boiling cauldron.

Okay. So here are my Super Bowl bubble teams. These can win the Super Bowl. My eight teams. New England, Baltimore, Houston, Green Bay, Minnesota. I've wedged them in after beating the Cowboys. I thought Kirk Cousins managed the game well. Seattle, San Francisco Saints.

Dallas and Kansas City are out. I like Dallas a lot. My question becomes, what's their offensive identity? I don't know it. It should be DAC. I don't think they know it. And I say that because I watch their play calling late in the game. They don't know what they are.

Seattle knows what they are. Russell Wilson take the game over. LSU knew what they were. Joe Burrow, take the game over. Minnesota knew what they were Sunday night. Delvin Cook, screens, take the game over. And Kansas City is the other team that I've moved out of the bubble. I love the coach.

I love the quarterback. But you've got to win more games. So Nick Wright made fun of my big game index. But I was thinking this morning the eight biggest games in Patrick Mahomes' career. AFC championship lost. AFC division round one. Monday night football against the Rams game moved from Mexico lost, against New England Sunday night football lost,

in Seattle Sunday night football lost, that Thursday night game against the Chargers with playoff implications lost. This year, Mahomes against DeShon Watson, that was the game we were like, oh, that's the game of the weekend, lost. And Sunday night football against the Colts, when we were shocked, Jacoby Brissette went in there, ball control lost.

One and seven in your eight biggest games. Yes, you blow out bad teams. Yes, you're unbeaten in September. Yes, you can throw the ball and not look. I get it. I need you to win more games against TV games. You know, we always roll our eyes at Kirk Cousins. And we all know Mahomes is better than Kirk Cousins.

But you've got to start winning those Sunday games and the Thursday games and the stand-alone games and the pressure games. You've got to start winning those games. Kansas City doesn't win those enough. And so they're out of my Super Bowl bubble. What was that? That was one bubble. That wasn't even a series of bubbles.

Well, we only have one Super Bowl bubble. What do you mean? There's not multiple bubbles. You're very particular about your bubble sounds. Well, we've got kids watching. I prefer a kick. Kids love bubbles. All right.

Is Mercedes around here? Okay, I got something else, but I'm going to hold it off. We had him on a couple of weeks ago, and he's nice enough. He went to UCLA. He decided, I'm in town. I'm coming on the herd. Let's bring him on 14 years in the NFL. Mercedes-Lewis, by week for.

the Packers, buy week for the Packers. How are you, my friend? Good. First of all, buy weeks are nice, right? 14 years in the league. Do you just go out, eat chicken, parm, hang out, pasta, drink wine. What are you doing your, like, I would just be like, oh, I'm just going to just hang out and have a good time. Yeah, well, I think it all depends on, you know, what you're standing is when the buy week comes up. If you're on a team that you're not doing so well. I think you absolutely try to get away from football as fast as possible.

But, you know, in our case, we're 8 and 2, and we're doing really well right now. I think, you know, mentally it's all about ball still. And right now it's just trying to get my body right so we can get ready for this second half. Interesting moment. I think Green Bay is a good team. I do worry about teams have at the point of attack, Philadelphia, I thought, kind of pushed him around a little bit. and I think I've seen twice this year where I thought offensive lines pushed them back.

They do have a running game. The defense is better. It was interesting. Chargers were the other team that I thought at the point of attack gave them trouble. Aaron had a very interesting bite. I thought this was funny. A very interesting bite about coming out to L.A. and not focused. Let's run the bite here by Aaron.

We've got to be, you know, honest with our, you know, our routine and decisions we made the last 48 hours and make sure that our head's in the right place the next time we come on a big road trip. Aaron was as brutally honest as you can be. We got a young team. Some of the guys went out to Hollywood, came home late. Is that what he was saying? I mean, you're a veteran.

You live here. You're not in awe of L.A. Yeah, no. When you flew home, was there a sense that we just weren't ready to play? Well, it's one of those things to where, you know, obviously, you know, we have good leadership on our team, but for the most part, we're still a pretty young team.

Very. Right. And so, you know, when you go into West Coast trips, you know, normally you would leave Friday instead of Saturday. And we have curfews. So it's not like you can just be out in the club, but, you know, a big part of it is like actually staying off your feet, you know, as well as just, you know, staying out of trouble.

And so, you know, when you get the young guys, you know, being out and seeing LA for the first time like that, staying off your feet is not going to happen. I totally get it. Yeah. But for you, you live, you got a house here. You went to UCLA over in Bel Air. So for you, no, but you come out here.

It's a business trip. And Aaron, by the way, is got a place out here. For sure. So, you know, Aaron does get, you know, I know he doesn't like me and he gets some pushback and stuff. But you are, again, you're a veteran smart player, went to a very heady academic school. I would think you and Aaron connect. I would think it's a good relationship.

Yeah, we have a really good relationship. And, you know, it started, you know, even being there from last year. it was something that just wasn't forced to just kind of happen. We respect each other very much. It was a situation, you know, being in Jacksonville the entire time, my whole career, you know, I was always, even as a young one,

like I was always like the leader, you know? Right. And, you know, coming over to Green Bay and, you know, getting a chance to, you know, be around a guy kind of like myself as far as not a rah-rah leader, just leaves by example. Pro.

You know, and just a good pro. And, you know, for all the things that he's accomplished, MVP, Super Bowl, all of that, I wanted to be a part of that. And, you know, we kind of share the same ideas as far as, like, how we should lead. You know, being the older guys in the locker room and, you know, he kind of bounces ideas off me, so it works really well. You have played in the two smallest NFL cities, Jacksonville and Green Bay. It's not like you'd get in trouble anyway, but it's different. I mean, just take our audience down. So you're a big city kid.

Right. And then you go to Jacksonville, which makes, is sleepy by sleepy standards. For sure. And then you go to Green Bay where they got a hotel. It's different, right? Like you guys know in Green Bay, it is not the rest of American pro sports. Nah. Like, I thought that when I was in Jacksonville.

I remember when I got there in Jacksonville as a rookie. I was like, is this is what the NFL is like? This is not like why we were at the rookie. Symposium and they're telling us to watch out for all these things coming our way and all these different obstacles we'll have to watch out for it because Jacksonville definitely didn't provide any of that. A lot of old people who golf. Yeah. And then when I got to Green Bay, I was like, okay, Jacksonville, but 25 degrees. So I've honestly been blessed to being, you know, two spots to where I can just totally focus in on ball and, you know,

pay dividends for me. I'm in, you know, my 14th year and I'm still ascending and still learning and getting better. So I'm definitely blessed to have that. Take me to, it's an interesting team where even Devante Adams is a kid, but he's been out, meaning Aaron's going to have to deal with some young receivers. So take me in our audience sort of inside practice, a week of practice. You got a big game against Dallas. And Aaron teaching young players, what's it like?

Well, obviously, Devonte being, you know, amazing. He's a dope guy. And, you know, what he does on a football field, I mean, I haven't seen it like that. You know, his release is off the line. And, you know, he's just a technician and everything he does. Isn't he a Fresno State guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's just a technician as far as running his routes, great hands.

So when he went down, it was just like, okay, obviously it was a blow. But throughout the whole entire process, you know, Aaron is, you know, grooming guys. just in case something like this happens. And what do you mean grooming? You know, Aaron is one of those guys that, like, if he notices that you care about it and you really love what you're doing and you love to be in a building

and, you know, you're at practice and you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing to prepare to be a pro, he's going to take to you more. Okay, so he's not, listen, you've got to show him you're into it. You have to. And if you don't, then you're here for the wrong reason.

So, you know, fortunate, we're fortunate, we're fortunate enough to have young guys that, you know, kind of take the bull by the horns and understanding that when you're on this offense is so intricate, it's simple but intricate. And what I mean by that is, you know, we have, like our passes will, for the most part, match up at least from the outside with our run plays, right? So we'll go to the line and have a certain set of plays that we can run from the line. And then you have Aaron and you have Aaron's plays. okay so if Aaron gets to the line and he doesn't like what he sees he'll check out of it and get us

into the best play possible and so from having those two things and then Aaron has signs and signals for at least three for every pass right what means signals like he can look at you and do if you looked up and he would give you you know he'd give you the cross yeah so he'll look at you he'll give you a signal and for depending on what play he wants he has three different signals for one play, right? So defenses can't get a beat on what it is. When, will Aaron ever say, like people say he ad-libs a lot? Does he ever practice ad-libs?

I always watch Russell Wilson and Aaron, and I'm like, I think he practiced that. Yeah, Aaron is, we practice off-schedule plays. Okay, you practice them. Yeah, so obviously, you know, we'll have our set plays or whatever. And then, you know, sometimes Aaron will, no matter what the play is, he'll just start, he'll start scrambling and expect you to be in certain spots when he's scrambling. And Aaron has the ability to, he can throw the ball anywhere on the field from anywhere in the pocket, you know, so you always have to be alert, you always have to be doing

exactly what you're supposed to be doing and in the spot that you're supposed to be in. And he throws no looks. So it's kind of like, you just always got to be like on your toes because you can get hit in the face with the ball at any moment. By the way, is, you know, Aaron can be, Aaron's very confident. He looks like a movie star. He's always in commercials and stuff. And he is the biggest star in Green Bay. I mean, we have this, you know, this great-looking legend in the smallest city, right?

Like, his life can't always be easy. He's even dating a celebrity. Like, he can't go to the grocery store, right? Yeah, no, I don't think. I asked him that last year, like, bro, how do you go to the grocery store? He was like, you know, I wear my. sweats and you know I don't I don't waste time I just get in and I get out I'm like okay I'm pretty sure you get mug as soon as you walk outside can you imagine going to a grocery store in

green bay and you're grabbing lettuce and that's Aaron Rogers next to you wouldn't it be different I'm trying to figure out why Aaron has a prince voice he just saw spoken so-spoken so how do you feel um when you look at your team I'll say to you what do you think the strength Fizz that you really like, and is there any little thing you're a little concerned about you feel you need to get better at? I think as a team where we are resilient. I think that if you take a look at our schedule and go back to the games that we've won, we've won them in every way possible that you can win them in. From injuries to, you know, having to come back to win games, to count on young guys to help you win games. Haven't played an easy schedule. No. You got offensive struggling a little bit at the beginning. The defense, was right there, right?

Defense struggling, you know, in the mid, and the offense was right there. So I think that... You've shown different ways to win. Different ways to win. And I think, you know, our resiliency is what, you know, has us in this position that we're in right now. What worries you a little or you have to get better at?

We have to always remember to eat crumbs. And what I mean by that is stay humble. You know, it's not always about the big meal. Focus on the details and everything else will fall in place. Goulet. It's a good message for you out there. Always looking for the big hit. Weren't ready when I asked for bubbles today. Did Bongwater. See, we got a producer over there.

That's a good one. Worry about the crumbs in life. That's a great line. Where did you get that? I was fortunate enough to meet Gus Bradley when he was coaching in Jacksonville. And, you know, obviously he helped me become a better football player at that time. But just a man in general and a psychological part of it was, was huge.

And he was one of those guys that, you know, from the Pete Carroll tree, it's all about being on the energy bus and focusing on the process. And, you know, it's not always about the end result, you know. We're not focusing on wins and losses. We're focusing on being the best that you could be that day. And you always attaining like your personal legend.

And whatever that is, it's going to help the team. Wow. That's great having him on the show. You should be a broadcaster when you're done. When are you going to hang this, you know, this little side job up? When are you going to get rid of it? I mean, I still love it when I wake up. I'm still in really good shape.

You love going to practice? Yeah. I love the process. I love getting better. I love the competition. Great. And I've never had any surgeries or major injuries. Isn't that crazy?

You've never had a surgery? Nah. That is crazy. Yeah. No load management in your future. No, I'm straight. It's great having you on. I love it.

Every time you're available. Packers on a bye week, which isn't good for the league because we like watching the Packers. All right, coming up next, how fast things go sideways in the NFL. Joel Klaat will argue with me as well. Plus, Joy's got the herd line news 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with. so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip 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 Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. 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. though. 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 Slicelife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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, A, 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? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Diana Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean.

I'll bet you a perimenopausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be with the Adamani Areva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive.

Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How high can it be getting naked at 50 with? the new guy. That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered

and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of My Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tomorrow on Thursday Night Football, we've got one of the great rivalries in football. The Steelers take on Baker-Mayfield and the Browns. It all starts at 7.30 Eastern, 430 Pacific on Fox NFL Network and streaming on Prime Video. I can't even tell you how excited I am for that game.

Pittsburgh's Front 7 is so young. And the San Francisco 49ers and the Steelers, those teams have just loaded the box up with unbelievable young talent. Now Minka Fitzpatrick comes over, fits right in. Cold and flu season. Try Vic Synex. nasal spray starts working within seconds and works up to 12 hours. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Adam Gates is only two and seven in his first year with the Jets, but the team is not thinking about jumping ship. Jets CEO Chris Johnson said today that Adam Gase will not be fired now. Thank you. Or at the end of the season. Thank you.

He said that the Jets organization trusts Gase and they are committed to him as their coach moving forward. Greg Williams, defensive coordinator, I hear they don't get along, gays and him, that I'd change. You have a right to change, make staff changes. Yeah. I mean, if you don't get along, you don't get along. But I do think that Greg Williams has had success in this league and is, I mean. So old school.

Yeah. So barky. I mean, yes, I agree with all those things. This sounds weird, and you probably couldn't do it. You couldn't do it. I'd bring Todd Bowles back as defensive coordinator. He said, I think Todd Bowles is, I think Todd Bowles is the best young defensive mind. He and Brian Flores in the sport, but you couldn't do it because he used to coach the Jets.

It's a little too soon. But the Jets are last in the NFL in total yards per game and 15 in the NFL and total yards allowed per game. They haven't had a great season, as we know. That is in part to the fact that Sam Darno was out for several weeks. Also, with Mono. And they don't have a number one receiver. And they've had major injuries. Their offensive lines awful.

Yeah. There's no, I mean, Pittsburgh and Dallas have great O lines. everybody else's are okay. The Jets is awful. I mean, it's a disappointing season for the Jets. We wanted to see what Sam Donald was going to be able to do with Levy on Bell this year. You wanted to see them take a step up in development hasn't happened. But I don't believe in firing coaches midseason.

And I don't think that they should fire gates after the season either. Let me throw this out to you, Joy. So Cleveland is disappointing because if you came out before the season and didn't say Cleveland was a playoff team, you got pushback. When I came out and said, I think the Jets have a chance to be eight and eight. I got pushback. So if the Jets roll off four wins here in the next six weeks and end up 6, 10, 7, and 9,

with missing Darnold for a month, you would look back and fire gaze if they end up going 7 and 9, which, by the way, their schedule tells you they can win four or five of their next games. They're not that much worse than what we thought they'd be in June. Cleveland is much worse.

Well, you say it all the time. What creates problems is expecting? expectations. Like if you don't have high expectations, then you can only overachieve. By the way, we all think Brian Flores is great. They've won two games. We're very happy with Cliff Kingsbury. They've won three. Because there are no expectations. So what were the Jets expectations? I came out and I said, I think they can go eight and eight. And people were like, whoa, you're a darnel Homer. Seven and nine is what they are. They're bad at corner. They're bad on the offensive line. They don't have a number one receiver. And by the way, that's not a good team. Right. So what are you really saying? Like the only thing I wanted to see from

this year is a Sam Donald take a step up in development. And there have been games. He's been very good. Levy on Bell into the system. That's all you can ask for. This is a marathon, not a sprint when it comes to teams like this and specifically the Jets. So I'm glad they're not moving off of him.

The Bears traded up to the number two spots in the 2017 draft to take Mitchell Trubisky. As we know, he was the first quarterback taken with Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson's still available. And now it's being reported that John Fox, who was the Bears head coach at the time, was not on board with the Trubisky pick and actually wanted Deshawn

Watson as his quarterback. I'm with you. I never saw it with Shibisky. Yeah. I didn't get it at the time and you know, whatever. We're not scouts or talent evaluators. It's just what we do and we say what we think is going to happen. Sometimes we're right. Sometimes we're very wrong. But I will say in this situation and this is what it always comes down to for me, really in any sport, not just the NFL. If the head coach

and the front office aren't aligned on who the guy is going to be. And you don't have the guy. Not only do you not have the guy, because it's very easy for everyone to be on the same page with the same page with the guy, you're not going to be successful because you're going to have to fire that coach because you're not going to get rid of the front office, right, in most cases, because otherwise the coach would have enough power to veto what the front office is saying, like say Bill Bellochek or Pete Carroll. So if you guys aren't aligned, you're going to pick someone that one part of the organization doesn't agree on. And unless that person then ridiculously overachieves and then everyone can say, oh, well, you know, I played some part in it. It's going to be a disaster. So what's happened with Mitch Trubisky is not surprising.

When you find out that this, well, obviously Fox hasn't confirmed this, but this is the report, which is, you know, not difficult to believe. How is he going to develop if the coach didn't want him? Yeah, it's. Like, that's not a position you can be unsure about. You know, I always try to be fair because there are guys. I thought Lamar Jackson was a second round pick who was a project, and he's been very good. Josh Allen, who I did say, I thought could be the bust of it, has been, you know, I was right on the Baker thing.

I was right on the Josh Allen, wrong on Lamar. I think Sam Darnold's unproven yet. Josh Rose and I'm wrong on. Although it's not easy, it is not easy to pick a quarterback. Nobody thought Mahomes would be this. Right. It's almost like Kobe Bryant. You knew he was good.

You didn't think he'd be Kobe Bryant. That's why he didn't go in the top five or Steph Curry. But it's easy to spot trouble. It's not always easy to spot great. Trubisky, the trouble was really easy to spot. He didn't have a lot of starts. He couldn't beat out a non-NFL guy as junior year. He was a front leg thrower.

I mean, like, it was the turbisky, there's no excuse. It was, I went to Greg Kosell at a camp. And I said, Greg, I don't get Trabisky. And he goes, yeah, it's not. going to work. I think sometimes also what happens is guys fall in love with the personality. And the personality of your franchise quarterback is important. It is. And the leadership factors are important. But at the end of the day, you also have to have the talent. Got to have it. Right. And so I think what happens is a lot of times through the interview process,

you know, you fall in love with the guy. And then you start ignoring all the things that all of the football people are telling you. And look, this is not my job to evaluate and pick franchise quarterbacks. But what I do know is anytime the disaster happens and then all the stories start to leak out about who picked two, if the front office and the coach aren't aligned, it never works. There's always some fallout and people get fired and you end up having to move on because he wasn't the guy and the development wasn't there because he didn't believe in him in the first place. Finally, Ohio State won't be without their star defensive end for much longer. Chase Young will be reinstated next week after a two-game suspension. He will miss this weekend's match up with Rutgers.

will be available for the last two games of the season, which are huge against number nine Penn States and number 15 Michigan. Yeah, no, and they'll play in the playoffs. So I think, I think I just talked to somebody yesterday, and they think he's going to go number four in the draft. Because since he's taken Tua, dolphins are going to take Borough like that. Burrow or Justin Herbert, whoever they,

and then who's crappy also up there? There's another lousy team that needs a quarter, somebody's going to move up to get a quarterback and then Chase Young will go to if the Jets didn't win he'd go to the Jets who they need yeah he'll be the first non-quarterback he'll be the first position by the way I will say this he'll be the first non-quarterback taking that's great

check out the left tackle for Georgia just that kid is the closest thing to Tyron Smith of the Cowboys I have seen since Tyron Smith came into the league watch that kid is really good well Bucky Brooks was trying to convince us that the Bengals should take him because he's the best prospect I told him out for though, like you were giving me so much anxiety. I don't want to hear.

I think you've got to take a quarterback if you are the Bengals. You can't go with the best guy on the board. Okay, so you take Chase Young in Cincinnati. You're the Bears. Okay, great. You don't have a quarterback. If Cincinnati does this, that's just a gift to everyone else. Thanks.

Which they've been a gift to the Steelers for 30 years. That's what that happened. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. talking about this. The NFL, you know, I was talking about Baker about how, you know, 10 games ago, Baker mania, now he's not even the best guy with a mustache in the AFC playing quarterback. Just think about this. You know, and there's really, there's no rhyme or reason why it happens. It's just unlike the NBA where you, you know, if Anthony Davis and LeBron played together for the next three years and are mostly healthy, they're going to win a bunch of games. Kauai and Paul George is going to win a bunch of games. I'm going to look at Utah's roster. They're going to be good for the next four or five years. Same with Denver. Milwaukee. Boston. You can see, it doesn't work that way in the NFL. Just think about this. Think about

these three teams. How easy it is in the NFL to fall into crisis mode. L.A. Chargers, last year, number one seed in the AFC. Philip Rivers had a great year. Now they're in third place. Philip Rivers, they're ready to draft another quarterback. Melvin Gordon contract, not great, a little bit of a sore issue. Battle line. Not going to make the playoffs. Suddenly don't look nearly as captivating as the Raiders. Let's go to the Chicago Bears. We don't have a first round pick in a year of good quarterbacks, and we don't have a quarterback.

You don't look nearly as talented as Minnesota, and Aaron Rogers now is a running game and a defense. Man overboard. Rams. People were copying the Rams in the offseason. They were copying them. If you had lunch with Sean McVay, you got a job. They are now crisis on the offensive line,

crisis with Todd Gurley. I still believe in Jared Goff. I think that's offensive line issues. Very top-heavy. And you continue to ask yourself, how are they going to pay for all these people? Like, the Rams were being copied. We were saying on this show last year,

do the Chargers have the best roster in the league? And the Chicago Bears looked like, oh, Aaron Rogers is just going to slowly disappear into the NFL ether and three teams, bears, chargers, Rams. Crisis happens really, really fast in the NFL. Appreciate what you have. Rams have multiple crises on their hands.

O-line, running back. Nick Wright talked about this on first things first this morning. The Rams went from the high. hottest item out there to something that's going to be left on the shelves for years to come. I fear because they got the biggest cap hit in football for a running back next year. The biggest cap hit in football for any player next year in golf. They've got the second biggest cap hit for any player in football in Aaron Donald. They just traded for Jalen.

Like they have a team that is built to win right now and they don't show the ability to do it. Yeah, they are way, way top heavy. All right. A Joel Clat around the corner. SEC's got three of the top. five teams, LSU, Bama, Georgia. I don't have a problem with it. I'm sure the Clatster will. We'll argue about that coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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. Trip 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, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. 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 SportsSlice 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 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett.

My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a perimenapausal chin here you do.

So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with the Animani Arriva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her,

so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be?

I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He's the voice of college football at our network, Joel Clatt. Don't be the guy in the room with the long, sloppy looking untucked shirt on tucket.com. GQ calls a perfection code heard 20% off. I'm pretty fast at reading that stuff. It's called a professional.

How are you, Joel, Clatt? Good to see you. I'm good. What's going on to that? Well, your guys give me notes. And so, you know, the notes this week are all you making crazy statements. So let me start. Oh, you're off the rails with some of your takes today.

Okay, first of all. Go. And this is just my theory, and I made this theory last week, is that I watch the draft, and I watch mock drafts, and I watch recruiting, and I watch the games. No other conference can give me, I don't think LSU Bama. It just looks different. So the guys come out and they go LSU 1.

I got Georgia 4. I got Bama 5. They're telling me, and I don't have a problem with this. Committee is saying, I kind of like to set it up so we can get two SEC teams in here. Maybe. I think that they clearly value that conference. They've got the top undefeated team, the top one loss team. In fact, the two top one loss teams.

They got the top two loss teams. So they clearly value the SEC. Do you have a problem with that? Hi. Not in the sense that I think that the top five teams in the SEC are really good. They're all top 15 programs in the country. Auburn could be five. They beat Oregon.

Yeah. I mean, listen, they're really good at the top end. I think the hard part, and this is not a knock against the committee because I think it's a really tough job in particular, this instance. Colin, there was not a great way to slot four through 10, four through nine, right? There really wasn't a lot of easy answers. The frustration comes in. for people that aren't in the South or in SEC country or aren't, you know, SEC people,

the problem is is that you can see them use one rationale in one spot and then it's not afforded other teams not in that conference. What do you mean? Be specific on that. Okay. Specifically, they clearly value the fact that Georgia has really quality wins, right? Yeah, it should matter. Okay, it should matter.

They also lost to South Carolina. And by the committee's own admission, the second best win of any team in the top 10 is, Minnesota over Penn State. So why isn't that honored? So that's where I'm going to at Penn State. Maybe they don't think it's highly of them. But they do because they rated them ninth. It's not a great number.

It's better than Auburn's number. Right? So you're telling me that they're like, oh, Georgia carried the day with great wins. And I'm not disputing that fact. They do have really quality wins. But to suggest that Minnesota's win over Penn State is not more quality or at a higher

capacity is flat wrong. factually based on the rankings that them, the committee themselves, gave us. All right. So that's the only point. Okay. So we got Tua here is going to go number one in the draft. Oh, no, no, no. Come down.

Come down. Well, you've fallen into this camp. Joe Burrell throws a couple nice screen passes. Now you've got it was Tom Brady. Couple nice screen passes. A couple throws down field with those athletes and suddenly this guy's going to change the league. Listen, you want everything to be definitive, right? Like, that's the, you want everything to be, this is not definitive.

Most stuff is. No, it's not actually. This is going to be incredibly fluid. In fact, the top three, maybe four, five quarterbacks, I think teams all over the NFL are going to have them slotted very differently. Joe Burrow very might well end up being the number one pick in the draft. Tua might end up being the number one picking the draft. Herbert might end up being the number one picking the draft. There is not going to be a consensus around these quarterbacks.

They all have strengths. They all have some weaknesses. I think that the most well-rounded of those three in particular is actually Joe Burrow. And what he's proven out. How come Ohio State to get out of here? Urban Myers pretty smart. Yeah, get out of here. Dwayne Haskins was pretty special.

He broke Drew Brees' single season records in almost every single category. So they had two guys that were clearly special quarterbacks. One of them was younger, Dwayne Haskins, and they actually thought he was going to be around for longer. They thought they were going to get more fierce out of Dwayne Haskins. So they went with him. Joe Burrow then was afforded the opportunity to transfer out. What do you not like about Burrow?

That's the, I guess that's a... It's not what I don't like about Burrow. You could have a room full of models. When the super model walks in, you're like, she's a supermodel. Tua is Russell Wilson left-handed. He doesn't even look the same. Maybe, and I love Tua. I love Tua. He came off a surgery

table an hour later. Part of the issue with Tua is that when you look at his splits and watch his games when he faces his toughest competition, the level of his play goes down. Well, yes, should. They're better teams. Well, then why does Joe Burroughs go up? Well, I mean,

why did Baker Mayfields go up? Why did Kyler Murray's go up? Like, there are other quarterbacks that play better statistically against their better competition. And one of the other things that two is going to have to at least show is that he can be healthy. Remember, in a lot of these games that he plays against tough competition, he hasn't been healthy. No, that's fair. That, Joey and I have both said this. So he's wonderful. Call, I'm with you. Like, he might be the number one pick. There's no doubt. To say it's concrete or definitive at this point is short-sighted at best. All right. Another shot at me, cheap shot. All right, I try to make this thing work. I try to be a professional

over here. Guys throwing arrows at me every 15 comments. Well, you're trying to be definitive in November. It just doesn't work down there. By the way, Chase Young might get selected number one. Oh, God. Don't even go there. Well, he's the best prospect. There's no doubt in the draft. Oh, seriously, don't even go there. Is he not? Is he not? If the Cincinnati Bengals, they may, they may not. I'm just telling you, I would be, I will, I will demand this network, take the Bengals logo off all of our cards. You will. You're going to demand that. I'll go upstairs the shanks. I said they don't exist as a franchise. Interesting. So if they take the best overall player, that's what you'll say. He's not, Kalil Max not worth a point in an NFL game. Okay, that's fine.

Aaron Rogers is worth 11. You've got to take the quarterback. That's fine. I don't, listen, I don't disagree with you. I'm just saying that none of those quarterbacks are the level of prospect that Chase Young is. I believe that there's only one guy a draft where you can be like, that's a Hall of Fame talent. And Chase Young is is that guy. You can see him with a goal. jacket. There's no doubt. And by the way, the second most, I would say, advantageous aspect of any team is the ability to rush the passer. You got to get a lead. Like Bill Walsh said, you get a lead, and then what do you do? You've got to rush the pass. I totally disagree with that premise. The first thing is you get the house, the quarterback. The second thing is you get insurance for it,

offensive line. There's not a bad team in this league with a good O line. Pittsburgh, Great O line. Dallas Great O line. Rams have all sorts of, you know, wide receivers and Aaron Donald. Can't get a first down. You're telling me that definitively, you know, see, I know Chase Young's going to work out in the NFL. I know it. These quarterbacks, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. You know?

Yeah, but you just said get a lead. I get it. No, listen. You guys are going to gang up and you do it all the time. That's fine. I'm just telling you the best prospect in the draft, the only one with NFL talent, or excuse me, the only one with Hall of Fame projection talent is Chase Young.

They're going to select the quarterback. Someone's going to select the quarterback number one, as they probably should because you can't win anything without a quarterback. I'm telling you, There's not a consensus number one quarterback in this draft. You've gone 15 seconds without a cheap shot. You want to take one before I go to the next segment? No, no, no, no.

Keep ganging up. Let's go. So I said this. Again, it's outrageous how I'm marginalized. I just said, Sabin's 68. Okay. TV offers out there. Two is leaving best player he's ever had the position. The game now, unfortunately, is not moving toward him away from him.

Six weeks to prepare. He can't stop top quarterbacks. He's losing really good assistant that wore Pete Carolyn McBrown out and urban in Florida. Oh, by the way, a transfer portal, a control freak, guys can leave. Early signing period. You can't go to his Lake Georgia house.

And I think Nick thinks about retirement. I think he thinks about it. More driving to work, listening to this show, which he always does, he thinks about it. Am I nuts on that? Closer than we think. I'm sure everybody at that age and at that point in their career at least thinks about it. I'm not telling you wrong. I'm just going to tell you, I don't think

that the game has passed him up. I jumped off of that cliff with you a couple of years ago, and I'm not going to jump off of that. You pushed me. I didn't want to go. Oh, really? I feel like you put like we both kind of jumped off there. It's like being on, you know, you pushed me. I was head I was head first. Sabin is still, I think, the elite coach in college football. Not denying that. But he has been the best coach of this generation. I'm sure that at some points he thinks about, hey, you know, when is it going to be my time to pass this off to somebody? But the hard part is, is that you had Urban Meyer with a succession plan with Ryan Day. You had Bob Stoops with a succession plan with Lincoln Riley.

That's not Nick's problem. Well, it's not, but it's also, it's hard to think about what is this program going to be when you lose that many assistant coaches. Yeah, but that's not Nick's problem. I'm not saying that it is his problem. Nick should worry about Nick. Do you want to step away knowing that there's not a succession plan? Hey, I always said when I leave here, I hope my time slot plummets.

That's so good. You think I want to leave here and the ratings go off. Well, you're a level four leader then. You've read Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, haven't you? No, I want to leave this network someday. And literally, all these guys upstairs like, turn the lights off. So, I mean, okay. You're one of these guys that worries about the next guy.

Sure, because I worry about the health of the thing that's bigger than me. But that's all right. the narcissism aside I got a cheap shot you're a level four leader you're a level four leader level five leaders build an organization

to have success after they're gone level four leaders enjoy the success while they're there and then it plummets after they're gone narcissists is strong yeah

I'm just tendencies I'm rooting against this time slot the day I retire it's like a sprinkle of narcissism that is he just said actively I'm rooting against this time slot after

and you say that's a sprinkle of narcissism like it's like a sprinkled cookie I don't This is not the sugar on the donut. That's the donut itself. It's a little truffle shaving. Hey, hey, skip bales will be 108.

Routing for him. Whitlock will be 98. Routing for him. This time slot, down in flames. Okay. I'm going to take over this time slot. I'm going to take it over and it's going to go through the roof. I think I'm the only honest one.

Hey, okay, one thing there, we're not going to do your ridiculous upset of the week. This is a very interesting weekend. Lou Holtz once told me personally, we were friends. He said, you never get the same 19-year-old back-to-back week. in college football. Girlfriend midterm. I agree. We got upsets happening this weekend. By the way, watch out for Iowa over Minnesota. They're going to beat him.

Minnesota had that, they won the Super Bowl last week, right? Iowa's beating them. On the road to Iowa. Remember two years ago, Ohio State beat in that epic game with Sequin Barclay and J.T. Barrett, what happened the very next week? Both lost. Ohio State goes to Iowa and got their doors blown off. Watch out. Watch out. And by the way,

LSU goes to Ole Miss, back-to-back road games. LSU won their Super Bowl. bowl last week. I could see that being a little bit of a tangle late in the game. People like, what's wrong with LSU? Just watch out. Those are bify games. For the first time, a real upset.

I think LSU could lose this weekend. I really do. I wouldn't be shocked. I'll just say that. They're much better, obviously, than Ole Miss. But again, the Lou Holtz theory. You don't get kids the same on back-to-back weeks. All right. Only at Walmart, Michelin Endurance X-D, silicone and wiper blades. They

clear out the windshield so you can see. college football takes clearly. You can see your sprinkle of narcissism there and then it wipes it away. It's a series of shots. That was from Joy. I was just saying what Joy said. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd

weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeartRadio app. Discover.com slash travel. They have the Discover at Miles card. Use it. New card members. They got a deal. All your numbers, all your miles first year, get doubled. 35 could be 70,000. I've been scheduling a lot of off-season travel this week, Ann and I.

So, you know, when the season, football season ends, you get some Fridays off. We're going all over the place. Crazyness. Big plans? England. Oh, that's right. My mom's home country. Go over there. I'm very popular. Will it be cold there when you go? Yeah, it's always cold. August is cold. It'll be wet and rainy.

All right, so I go to pff.com, and what I love about it, if you're a fantasy football player, and there's a lot of you that play fantasy football, if you're a good, gambler, I think the information is great. And I love they brought in Bruce Radkowski, who's a former NFL quarterback for over a decade in a league. So he can watch film. They can give you the analytics. Let's go to Bruce via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

So let's start. We don't have to get all into the data in rankings. Let's just start, though, PFF grades every quarterback and every guard and every tackle. But what I like what you guys do in your grading system, an interception isn't always the quarterback's fault. There are throws, then there are tough throws. You watch every play. So based on your rankings, all in, what's your top five at PFF?

Well, right now, Colin, especially coming off this last week, right? Our top quarterbacks, look at it. Trubisky is top. He's number two this past week. So a lot of things got wild this past weekend in the NFL. But overall, look, Russell Wilson, number one, he's our guy, he's our man, 27 big time throws this year. Only six turnover-worthy plays. two interceptions on the year.

I mean, that's going to be his lowest total. He's embarking on. The guy is playing out of this world. Lamar Jackson coming in at number two. We see what he's doing with his legs, with his arms, command of the huddle, what he's bringing to the Baltimore Ravens. Carson Wences is even up there, number three. And this is talking overall all year so far, Aaron Rogers.

And then it rounds out top five with Drew Breeze. And as we know, Drew Breeze, that, you know, that short-level passing game, Just how accurate he is. That's why he grades so well for us because his accuracy is just so much better than we see week in and week out. Now, I thought Dak Prescott played his best game as a cowboy. I thought he moved well. I thought he was accurate. You know, it's funny, Bruce.

I don't feel he's a natural thrower. He often feels like a pitcher who doesn't get good until the fifth or sixth inning. I think he ends up throwing his best balls later in the game. He gets into a motion. I don't think he's a natural thrower like an Aaron Rogers. What do you see, not only with the analytics, what do you see on film with Dak that you like and may concern you? The thing I love the most about Dak right now is his poise, his confidence, his command of the offense. You see him out there audibling to his offense line, to his wide receivers, getting the offense into the right play at the correct time and the right down the distance.

Third down, he's executing well. You know, this past week, he played, he plays so well this whole year that we've graded, so far for Dak in a clean pocket, the dude is playing out of this world. So he's very good from a clean pocket. I have some concerns late in the ball game that fourth down at five. He took his matchup with Zeke, a running back on a linebacker. We like that matchup. Not quite sure, though, Zeke, he's not the best pass catcher type receiver where he had, you know, Randall Cobb in the slot he could have worked on that fourth down at five. That's situational. football. Those are big plays at key moments. I want to see him continue to elevate his game

in those moments. But I'll tell you what, Dak from a clean pocket playing well. And the best thing I love about him, like I said, his poise, his composure, his command of the offense. I love seeing his growth. Now, Cowboy games are on nationally every week. Arizona's or not. The kid I'm watching that I've been really blown away with, rookie head coach, below average offensive line, is Kyler Murray. Again, what are you seeing when you look at the 22 film and the game film? What are you seeing? I love his competitiveness. Look, we like Kyler Murray coming out of college. PFF here. We grade him high. We knew he'd be playing basically the way he's playing now. So we're not surprised. But the thing I love about Kyler Murray, I think his game is more sustainable

than a Lamar Jackson. You see how accurate he is with the football, the way he can ad lib and make plays. when he's running the football, he looks like a Barry Sanders out there. He's not taking these nasty hits to his body. And I love the competitiveness. Every game, Kyle Murray's in, it's going to be a close game. He's always playing from behind. You see him in that two-minute offense. So I think he's doing a terrific job.

So do I. And I think this needs to be said. He's playing from behind a lot. It's much tougher for these quarterbacks. Lamar, when he had to play behind against Cleveland, did not look like the same quarterback. So I agree with you. I think Kyler is not getting the love because he plays for the fourth best team in his division.

Now, I want to talk about Lamar because I do think he adds a dynamic. I don't think GMs look at that and go, get me Lamar. I don't think he exists on the market. I do think Tua is Kyler, is Russell Wilson. I've seen that. Lamar's just unique. I don't think there's another Lamar on the market. Are there things you like and are there things you don't love?

I'll tell you what, Lamar Jackson had me sold in Seattle the game he played. Not because of the statistics. You know, he can run for third downs. He can make those plays, but his competitiveness. I watch him out there when he went to John Harbaugh on the sideline on fourth down and said, let's go for it. When I saw him be competitive out there trying to get first downs, he crushes the defense on third downs when he dropbacks to pass.

Nothing's there. he takes off to get the first down. The guy I'm seeing to make plays too from the pocket. He's being accurate with the football. Can he come from behind and win some big games throughout their stress? They have some tough games that they're going to play the rest of the season. How can he come from behind and play well? Lamar Jackson, I love what he's doing.

But more importantly, what John Harbaugh and that coaching staff is doing is very impressive. And to me, it makes me realize there are coaches out there that put their egos to the side and say, look, let's build the offense around players we have and the talent we have in this building. And that's what the Baltimore Ravens are doing. And that's why they're playing so well. I think the surprise of the league Bruce Gradkowski over a decade in the NFL, pff.com, by the way, go there. Premium analysis. The promo codes QB 25, 25% off. I go there. I love it. The Raiders have shocked me. And, you know, Derek Carr, who I always feel is the comp is like, He's a little Tony Romo, good on his feet, lively arm, not a great arm,

a little bit of a playmaker with his feet, willing to take some risks, throws the ball downfield, but not ideal size, not the ideal canon. But I'm not sure if Derek Carr leads this team. You look at the film, Bruce. Who does? Well, you have to look at the quarterback position first. And Derek Carr is leading PFF in a clean pocket this year. He's playing very well.

he's making the necessary place he has to. I think John Gruden is doing a great job with the scheme. Derek Carr is hitting the big time throws down field when he's getting them, but you have to look at Josh Jacobs and what he's doing. Highest graded rookies so far this year, he is explosive, he's efficient, he has great vision, and his balance when he gets hit to break tackles is probably second we have right now breaking tackles.

So you have to look at that offense and not just Derek Carr, but what Josh Jacobs, a young rookie, has really brought to this Oakland Raiders football team. Yeah, it's funny, Bruce. I watched the Raiders Thursday night, and all three running backs, they're all a little Josh Jacobs. He's the best of them. They're very small, their power, they bounce on. It's so John Gruden, who you know well, it's such a Gruden running back position. Now, I want to shift to this.

I've said this before. I watched New England. I lived in Connecticut for a decade. and, you know, it's efficiency, there's no question. But they have no vertical threat. A, B, and Josh Gordon gone. They don't really have a tight end threat. They're on their third left tackle and their third kicker.

I'm not trying to be hyperbolic after losing to Baltimore. But Bruce, I do not see in this league right now the kind of offensive players that force defensive coordinators to make choices. I think they're an easier team to defend. The Red Zone numbers show it. I don't buy New England's offense. It doesn't feel like a Super Bowl winning offense to me. What do the numbers say?

What's the tape say to you? Well, Colin, you're right. They don't have the weapons that they're used to around Tom Brady. I love the addition of Mohammed Sunu. I played with him in Cincinnati. I feel like that gives Brady a big target in the middle of the field that he can work. They don't have tight ends that can win and make plays like Grom did. I look at Muhammad Sanoon, Julian Edelman.

of the tight-end versions of a wide receiver. Let them work the middle of the field. Let them bring you the plays that they can make. But you have to look at the defense and what Bill Belichick does. Every week, there's a little nuance to the defense and how to stop teams. They're very talented defensively.

So for that, that's why they can possibly make a Super Bowl run. And you know Josh McDaniels and Tom Brady. They'll find a way. They always do. But I'm very eager to watch what happens because you're right, Colin. With the weapons around Brady, how far can this Patriots offense go?

By the way, finally the Rams, everybody's bailing on Jared Goff. Okay? And Sean McVeigh, the genius cards expired. What do you see as a 10-11-year NFL quarterback? What is the tape say? Well, this year, you know, Gough, number one, is not playing as well as he did last year from a clean pocket. And you have to understand, he's not playing with a clean pocket often.

That offensive line is struggling. Now they're dealing with some injuries, losing out. Allen for the year, the right tackles out, probably a week or so. So now they have to supplement new guys in there. Last year, they had a lot of continuity with the offensive line. Todd Gurley was playing good early on in the year. They just, they can't find the rhythm. Look, Cooper Cup, 200-some yards against the Bengals last week against the Steelers,

zero catches, only four targets. So I just really think this offense needs to come together and figure out what their identity is. And I think Sean McVeigh, he'll get back in that laboratory. He's like a mad scientist. He'll figure it out. I think Whitworth, I play with him in Cincinnati. He's a good team leader. They have to figure it out.

They have to protect the quarterback first and foremost. And Sean McVeigh, getting that lab and dial something up because you have to scheme better and make more plays offensively. Yeah, they have a little crisis guard, center guard right now with injuries. Bruce Radkowski, 11 years in the league pff.com. Thanks, Bruce. Good talking to you. Thanks, Colin.

You too. Yeah. By the way, I was just looking at this real quick. Right now, the difference between the NFC and AFC, I was just looking at this. It's incredible how much better the NFC is. The last two teams to make the Super Bowl and the NFC, the Rams and Philly would not make the playoffs today. All the teams in the NFC right now that lead their division, or if we had the playoffs today, the season ends today, the NFC playoff teams are Dallas, Green Bay, Minnesota, San Francisco, Seattle.

Those are, those, all of those, borrowing a health issue, can get to the conference championship. This morning, if the season stopped, here's the AFC standings. A Buffalo team that can't score, 23rd, a Steelers team with Mason Rudolph, Kansas City's abysmal on defense, and Houston who nobody trusts. The gap between the AFC and NFC, by the way, if New England loses this weekend to Philadelphia off a buy, then that Baltimore thing is not an aberration.

They just don't have the offense. Everybody's spending all this time banging on the Patriots defense against Baltimore. They didn't move the ball very well. And I was looking at the numbers this morning. Look at this. And again, this is with Bell Belichick, Josh McDaniels and Brady. They are 16th, New England third down offense, third down efficiency, 15th total offense, 21st red zone offense, 23rd in rushing.

Tom Brady is like, we don't have an identity. They don't. New England's offense, you can't win a Super Bowl with this offense. Joy with the first. news. No. No. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Again, I'm not ready to say they can't win a Super Bowl with that office. If they, if they, if there was any other team in the NFL, I would adamantly agree with you. Sunday night, they lose to Philadelphia 2824, off a buy and can't really move the ball. You're not going to. I'll believe it when I see it. All right.

I am not rooting for that, but I just, they always seem to find a way. So the Cowboys had a tough time stopping the run against the Vikings on Sunday night. Minnesota rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown. And when asked how he would describe as team's poor performance with the run defense, Jerry Jones had an interesting analogy. It's like holding two handfuls full of jello. And about the time that you stop it from coming out the middle finger by the forefinger, about the time you started over there, then it starts coming out the other side.

And that's what makes this game so great. That's what makes the challenge so great. And you think you've got it figured out. And two games later, the defense you face will have had it figured out for you. He may have had a martini breakfast. I don't understand what he's saying there. I'm lost on. I mean, I've never tried to hold jello in my hands.

It usually comes in sort of a container. Or, you know, if you're for jello shots, it's in kind of like a smaller paper container. But none of them are just, you know, fistfuls of jello. But very specific. He is a storyteller. He's a story. Jerry, he holds every year. He likes to paint a picture.

Well, every year the Cowboys hold camp in Thousand Oaks, California, he comes down to Nobu, which is a real popular restaurant in Malibu one night and holds court with all the reporters. He likes to tell stories. As he always says, I don't have time to schedule a bad time. He's a storyteller. I mean, when you're Jerry Jones, you have bad times? Not really. Not too many.

But he is not happy with the run defense. That said, Dallas is 14. in the NFL allowing 103.4 rushing yards per game. So not awful, not great, but the defense is to me is not the issue with the Cowboys at all. It's wrapping your arms around the offensive identity, which to me is Dak. So Baker Mayfield got the one at home on Sunday. You were not impressed with this win.

I was. But he wasn't very happy with the Browns fans that were there. He mentioned after the game that the crowd noise was a factor and clarified that he wasn't talking about the visitors. No, it wasn't that. It was just the fact that we're an offense. We needed to be quiet. It might have ruffled some feathers.

Once again, that's okay. But when we're an offense and a critical down, we need to be able to have silence in our home stadium. It's got to be an advantage for us. And then when they get the ball, it's got to be really loud. It's just, you know, the base football. But, you know, it's interesting on this, Joy, if I said to you, guess the line for the game Thursday.

Now, it's Pittsburgh at Cleveland. Now, it's interesting because I just guess the line. I'm amazing Rudolph, though. I'm guessing that the Steelers, well, I don't know. The Browns is this one. I don't know. It's interesting. I would think that the Steelers would be favored.

By seven. The Steelers are favored by seven? Isn't that amazing? And by the way, it's one of those lines. I know which way I'm going on that. They're begging you to take. Vegas is saying, please take Cleveland. And when they do that, there's another line,

I'll give you another one. I'll just throw this one out. So the Jets look very good this weekend. Right. The Jets are an underdog at Washington. Vegas is begging you to take the Jets. Well, I mean, that's silly. You would think that.

But every time Vegas is saying, please bet the Jets and please bet the Browns, that tells me. That's a lot of points. Seven in the NFL. Listen, what time out. That's not what it says. Is the line changed?

Somebody's Yale. in my ear. Hold on. Who's that Alex? Hold on. What line am I looking at then? The wrong one. He says Browns are favored by three. What line am I looking at? That sounds more reasonable. Steelers favored by

seven after a bill's win feels a little ridiculous. My thing rebooted. My bad. Okay. Yeah. I got so many sources on here. I can't. Browns by three is much more realistic. Although I still could believe that the Steelers would be favored. By the way, now I get Pittsburgh plus points.

Now I kind of love the Steelers. Anyway, Baker talking about games that have already passed. Just stop talking about the games that are already over. It's very simple. Don't talk about the games that are already over. And don't criticize Browns fans. They've been through a lot, all right? I've never been a Browns fan in my life, except for one time when I lost the bet.

But other than that, they've been through a whole lot. And I can't relate to it unless you want to call being a Dolphins fan that. We've got sunshine down there. So I don't know. Just stop criticizing them. They can cheer as much as they want. They have anything you cheer for for a long time. Finally, we had some huge news last night on WWE backstage here on FS1.

We did. C.M. Punk made a surprise appearance and announced he will now be a part of the show. He retired from the WWE five years ago and went on to be an actor and UFC fighter. But now he's back. And you can see CM Punk on WWE backstage Tuesday night at 11 Eastern here on FS1. on my show once. He was becoming a UFC fighter, which is, I think that's a tough job to transfer into.

Remember, he'd never done UFC fighting? He did it, fought, and it wasn't good. Well, you know, wrestlers are extremely tough and have a very, very high pain tolerance. But obviously, UFC fighting is a very specific art. So, you know, making the transition into that can be

difficult for anybody. But he's back to WWE now on WWE backstage on FS1, so we're happy to have him back. He's also a huge Chicago sports fan. Yeah, he's kind of crazy. By the way, if you took the best, like if you took Floyd Mayweather and you took Connor, when they boxed, obviously Mayweather won. Right. What if you allowed Mayweather and Connor McGregor or Nate Diaz to do some UFC principles? We all realized the UFC guy could win too, right? Like if I, if Floyd and Connor would have met and you could kick. No, no, no, no. That's,

yeah, of course. Like that was the big. discussion surrounding that fight. You're not going to put Floyd in the Octagon. That just doesn't work. Floyd wouldn't let it. No, because there's too many other ways to lose UFC fights. That's why people don't go undefeated in UFC because there's too many

factors involved in it. No word on his future yet, but find out more on CM Punk next Tuesday on WWE backstage here on FS1. All right, Joy with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Cleveland, Cleveland, favored by a three,

my bad. That's my bad. The number was kooky. But the Jets number is still out there, which is a nutty number that Washington's favored over the Jets. They're begging you, begging you to bet, and Vegas is begging you to take the Jets, which tells me Washington's going to win. That's how Vegas works.

They don't give away money. That's casinos are big. They're not built on winners. No, they're not very charitable on the money thing. Coming up next, a playoff or takeoff of the 7, 8, 9, 10 teams, you know, we know, we know New England's going to make the playoffs, but largely, we know the Saints are going to make the playoffs, probably San Francisco unless they

dovetail. But playoff or takeoff, do you buy the teams, the eight or nine that are on the bubble AFC, NFC. That's coming up in Best for Last. 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. MDrive supplement I use every morning. MDrive from N.com code Herd, 20% off. Good stuff. Best for Last today. We thought there's so many teams, seven weeks left in the NFL season, don't know the complete playoff picture yet. 17 teams, 17, over half the league are above 500, only 12 make the playoffs. So we thought there's all these things, you know, these teams sort of hanging in the

balance. Do we think they're playoff teams or their takeoff teams? They're done. So John, here we go. And now, Colin will decide if a team is headed for the playoffs. Playoffs? Or taking off for vacation. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please turn yourself in securely. It's playoff or take off. All right, Colin, let's start with the Philadelphia Eagles, playoff or takeoff.

You know I like a lot about them. You do. GM coach quarterback, take off. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please drop yourself in securely. Deshawn Jackson's gone. I don't get the deep threat. I think they're a very good running team who throws well on play action.

But when I look at them, they've been inconsistent. They've never beaten Zeke. They can't seem to stop Zeke. Their remaining games, I got the Patriots. I got Seattle. I got Dallas. By the way, at Miami is no gimmy the way they're playing. I think Deshawn Jackson leaves.

They lose their deep threat. They'll be on the outside looking in. I agree. The Minnesota Vikings playoff or take off. Playoff. Way off. Yeah, this is a playoff team. Listen, they have an identity.

They play really good defense. They're kind of conservative on offense. I think there's a ceiling because of. that and they run the heck out of the football. They've got some real winnable games. Chargers, Detroit, got a by Denver, Chicago. It's a playoff team. All right, the Carolina Panthers.

I liked him for a long time after this weekend. They are a takeoff. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please strap yourself in securely. Okay, Kyle Allen, nobody had film on him, right? It was pretty good. Didn't have a pick for his five games. Now he's got five in the last three.

They're last in the NFL and Red Zone offense. You know, again, he's a nice transition piece. But as people get more and more video and film on DAC, he gets better. They get more on Kyle. He hit a wall. By the way, 26 third down offense. They just don't pick up enough first downs for me. We saw it last week against Green Bay, not enough first downs.

The Los Angeles Rams playoff or takeoff. Take off. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please drive yourself in securely. They don't, they have a crisis. It's called Guard, Center Guard. Their offensive line isn't good. It's mangled.

They're walking on eggshells regarding Todd Gurley. I do think their defense is good. Jalen Ramsey's a nice pickup. And I do think they'll be in games. The Pittsburgh game is what they're going to look like against Chicago. They're going to be in every game because they play real defense with Wade Phillips. But golf now has got 14 turnovers, third most in the NFL. They have 16 turnovers most by a winning team.

They're just not very good and very efficient offensively. The Dallas Cowboys playoff or takeoff? Playoffs. Playoffs. There's a ceiling. I don't know what their offensive identity is, but you can't get past these numbers. Number one in total offense,

number one in third down offense, and only 11 sacks allowed. This team is DAC and this offensive line, and they remind me, to be honest, there's a little bit of a stealer look to them, although I think they're significantly better at quarterback. When you have the best offensive line in football and multiple pieces around the O line,

that's a playoff team. Now, now, sealing, because I don't like their offensive identity, but it's a playoff team. Steelers and Cowboys fans would fight you on that one. Buffalo Bills playoff or takeoff. I think they're a takeoff. I think they're going to wilt down the stretch. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please strap yourself in securely.

They haven't beaten a team of the winning record. Again, they're just not very good offensively. The more we see on Josh Allen, the less I like him, the more I see on like Lamar Jackson, Kyler-Marie. The more I like him. I think it's a really well-coached team with an incredibly low offensive ceiling. The Pittsburgh Stillers. I think they're a playoff team.

Playoffs? Mike Tomlin never had a losing season. By the way, Mike Tomlin has had to play a coach a lot of games without Big Ben. Do you know what he is without Big Ben? 15 and 10. Okay. If you look at their remaining schedule, winnable games, this is an offensive line story. Only 11 sacks allowed.

That's with Mason Rudolph, who's not a runner. They run the football well with second and third tier running backs. This offensive line and that front seven defensively in a weaker AFC, they're going to end up winning tomorrow night and make it to the playoffs. It looked like it was going to be a disaster and they really turned that around. The Colts playoff or takeoff? A team I liked early. Take off.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please drop yourself in securely. I know when Andrew Luck retired, it was fashionable to say, look at Jacoby Brissette. Yes, look at him. He is hurt and he's not Andrew Luck. Let's stop. Andrew Luck is a generational talent. Jacobi Brissette's a franchise quarterback, but they're just not special offensively anymore.

They feel very T.Y. Hilton dependent on the perimeter. They're a very young team. They're a well-coached team, but you don't trust Adam Vin & Terry. Jacoby Brissette's coming back hurt. I see a lot of loseable games down the stretch at Houston, at New Orleans, Carolina at Jacksonville or tough games. Like so much about them, but not that. The Oakland Raiders.

Playoffs. Playoffs. I think the Steelers and the Raiders make the playoffs. Again, I'm going to give you some numbers here that tells you Gruden's helped the offensive line. So they're fourth and third down offense. they pick up first downs, offensive line. Only eight turnovers.

Quarterback, what did Bruce Radkowski say? Derek Carr, clean pocket. Only 12 sacks allowed, third fewest. This is an offensive line story. It's not a Gruden story. Josh Jacobs very good. This has become a very above-average offensive line. Derek Carr throws in a very clean pocket.

They can run the football. They pick up first downs. I mean, the other night, on Thursday, Philip Rivers played Derek Carr. Philip Rivers looked a little lost. Why? Under duress. Derek Carr looked great in that game.

So I think the Raiders and the Steelers, by the way, that is good for football. Yeah. If I get the Steelers. Oh, humongous NFL brands make the playoffs. So there you go. We didn't do like the Patriots, right? We didn't. Well, I mean, teams that you have to question whether they're going to make the playoffs or not.

17 teams, Joy, are above 500. 17. Can't be mad at that. This week we've got a couple of interesting games. I think it's Baltimore, Houston, and Philadelphia hosting New England are the two games I really, really want to watch. And tomorrow night, obviously. Yeah, tomorrow we have a great show. We have our NFL meat sandwich Thursday.

We have Greg Cosell stops by. We have Peter King on the show tomorrow. So Thursdays are great as we get ready for the Browns hosting three-point favorite over the Pittsburgh Steelers. That feels, Baker-Mayfield against that front seven feels like a couple of picks. I'm not, I'm, it just feels like problems on the horizon. It's the herd. We'll see you tomorrow. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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