The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Bears-Packers, Mitchell Trubisky, Antonio Brown and Blazin' 5!

Episode Date: September 6, 2019

Colin discusses Bears-Packers, Mitchel Tribiskey’s performance, what the Chicago Bears must be thinking, Raiders WR Antonio Brown not being suspended, and his Blazing 5 picks. Guests include Greg Jennings, Vic Tafur, Takeo Spikes, Brady Quinn, and Jason McIntyre.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Here we go on a Friday. This is The Hurd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. One hour from now are blazing five. My five favorite NFL picks up the weekend. By the way, ratings up last night for a pretty boring football game offensively. Why legalized gambling in America is now taking hold, and we bet football as a country. So we'll have our picks in one hour from now. Joy Taylor is joining us. Well, it was game one, so it was a little choppy.

The offense was a little choppy, right? It was a little choppy, but it was very telling, I think. It was. So I want to start my show. This has happened me four or five times in my life. The phone call. The phone call you can't make in front of a lot of people. You talk to your boss.

You talk to a, a, your wife. You have to make certain phone calls in life. Last year, the best game in the NFL was Kansas City at Los Angeles when Jared Goff outplayed Patrick Mahomes. And everybody knows Mahomes is ridiculous. But after that game, when Sean McBade, the winning coach of the Rams was driving home, that's one of those moments where Les Sneed calls him and says, we got our guy. Jared Goff got a contract extension on that game. Our guy went toe to toe with Patrick Mahomes and outplayed him.

that got in the contract. That was the phone call. That moment. Last night, Mitch Trubisky, and he is painfully limited. And Matt Nagy is one of the most clever offensive minds in football, a prodigy of Andy Reid. They tricks, movement, bells, whistles, couldn't move the ball against Green Bay.

Now, Green Bay's defense is better. We predicted that. But I think Matt Nagy had a phone call last night driving home. The kind of phone call you can't have in front of the players, the media, your coworkers. It may have been with Andy Reid. And Matt Nagy said, we moved up to get Trubisky in the same draft you moved up to get Patrick Mahomes. Man, did we mess up? Or it may have been with Ryan Pace's general manager saying, coach, I'm giving you everything I got here.

This is not good enough. But last night, you watched it. you are completely limited with Mitch Trubesky. The Bears defense is fantastic. And they will win a bunch of games this year, and they're going to win them like this. 17, 14, 2320. But Tim Tebow won seven straight games, too. It's not about just winning.

It's how you win. Because over the course of 15 years, a franchise quarterback's not always going to have a defense like the Bears or Tebow's Broncos. Some years, injuries, holdouts. You're going to have a terrible defense. That's when Brady, Aaron, Mahalms, luck can carry you to the playoffs. Listen, I think Tremon Williams, for the Packers, after the game, told you all you need to know about what NFL teams see on film facing Mitch Trubisky. We wanted to make Mitch play quarterback.

We knew they had a lot of weapons. We knew they were dangerous. We knew all of those things. But we knew if we could make Mitch play quarterback, that we'll have a chance. Just make him do the quarterback thing. Listen, it's three years. Nagy's brilliant. They've got really good players.

I never got Tribisky. I said it from day one. I didn't get him out of college. I don't get him. He runs around. a lot. You know, people have said Lamar Jackson's not a great thrower.

Lamar Jackson, I saw four or five times last year unleash beautiful throws. Now, I don't think he's Mahomes. But folks, there are phone calls made in this league and decisions are made in this league long before they end up on a press release. I'm telling you people in Chicago this morning inside that organization, they're watching that game.

That's it. At home. Matt Nagy, those weapons, that's it. The longest drive was seven plays. Against the Bears' defense, Aaron got a 10-play drive off. Like, decisions in life are made. Now, Chicago for the next couple years or the next year is going to say stuff like, hey, after the game, Matt Nagy.

So this is the coach of the Bears after the game. He knows what guys like me and the press are going to say about Mitch Trubesky. So he is already covering his tracks and taking the hits. Obviously unacceptable. It starts with me. So this, this, uh, just told the guys in there, this is, uh, um, not who we are. I was proud of our defense. I felt they played their ass off tonight. Offensively, not good enough. Um, and we're going to fix it. Uh, our guys know that. Okay. So, so they already, it's on me. Not anybody else. It's on me. That's not what the file, that's not what the private phone calls were about in Chicago.

Goff got his contract beating Mahomes. A year before he got his contract. They are making decisions in that Bears organization. Because Nagy's a brilliant, I mean, they move players around, first play, shifting this, it is smoking mirrors. They're trying to squeeze anything out of Tribeschi, and it's not there, and it's year three. Now, it's PR for the next year. It's PR.

My fault. Somebody else's fault, his fault, because they know if they go to Trabisky and blame him, it will be an avalanche in Chicago. Let's talk about Green Bay. Let's specifically talk about Green Bay's defense. We have been saying this now for about four months on this show. This year will not just be about the relationship between Aaron and Matt LaFleur. It's going to be about the front office of the Green Bay Packers starting two years of ago realizing we got to get Aaron Rogers some help defensively.

I hope you heard this. Did you hear Aaron Rogers after the game talking about the defense? This is as happy as I've seen Aaron Rogers in a long, long time. It's fun to watch. I mean, it's been a long time since I've seen a performance like that. What we did on defense, I think we showed. The league and the folks watching that we're not just an offensive football team anymore. We've got a defense.

Yeah, they do. And they should. The last two drafts, all defense. Last two free agency periods, mostly defense. It's paying off. It's been nine years since the Packers had a top 10 defense. They will have a top 10 defense this year. I never understood Green Bay's belief that let's not worry about defense,

let's just help Aaron. Why? Aaron's always going to elevate offensive people. What you don't want is Aaron doing this with his arm crossed on the sidelines, watching leads evaporate because Aaron doesn't tackle. Aaron's not a corner. Don't worry about the offense with Aaron Rogers. Make sure the offensive lines good and protect him.

But Aaron's going to take B receivers and make him A receivers. He's going to take B tight ends and make him A minus tight ends. Aaron's going to elevate all your offensive players. Aaron can't help your defense. I'm tired of seeing Aaron Rogers on the sidelines doing this, leading by four, and they can't stop a nosebleed. It doesn't make any sense. A great quarterback, Brady Breeze, can take players out of college, instantly make them special.

But Breeze, Brady, Rogers can't do anything if they're on the sidelines. Brady Papinga's a former Packer defense. He talked about the shift the Packers made about seven, eight years. ago in the front office, I couldn't figure it out, and the former Packer couldn't figure it out. Everybody always asks, why hasn't Aaron run more Super Bow, blah, blah, blah. Well, after we won the Super Bowl, I had the fortune to sit down with the guy who designed the team of Ted Thompson, and I got cut, by the way. That's why I was in the meeting with him.

He's like, the reason why we're doing that is because we just feel with Aaron, we're not going to stop teams on defense. We're just going to look out score teams. And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, Ted, you're a former linebacker. What are you talking about? I mean, the defense always set you up. I mean, just think about this. Tom Brady last year in the Super Bowl did not play well.

He won. The year before, Tom Brady was amazing, 500 yards and lost. Which Tom Brady did you think was happier? The 500 yards and lost or the play poorly and won. Aaron Rogers wants to win games. He's got a $100 million net worth, private equity funds, the girlfriend, the fame, He wants more wins.

I mean, Green Bay have finally given him through drafting in free agency a real defense. Now, it should be noted, most of the quarterbacks Green Bay will face this year are better than Trebisky. They won't look like this every week. But the end of the game, Al Michaels, Chris Collinsworth, I summed it up. Fourth and eight, Chibisky. And he's going to get six. sack and that really puts an exclamation point on a tremendous Packer defensive performance. And you see Aaron Rogers with that lovable shove to Mike Petton on the sideline?

Yeah, it's nice. Like Aaron's got the money, the fame, the legacy. He wants wins. You cannot win, even as a legend, on the sidelines. You want your quarterbacks with a ball, taking a knee. A bunch of quarterbacks running the ball. a bunch of quarterback's freezing the game. Can't do that.

If you have the 17th, 23rd, 29th best defense. Aaron's finally got a Super Bowl capable defense. Good for him. Now, there was one moment with Aaron last night that I did not like it all. And I have to be Uncle Colin and mentor Aaron because I watched the game and literally verbally yelled, Aaron, what are you doing? You're too smart to do something dumb. I'll address that.

It was my only knock on Aaron all night, and he's got to figure this out because it's not acceptable. That's coming up. All right, 66% of men lose their hair by the age of 45. There's a company out there called Hymns, and they provide discrete and confidential products, sexual wellness, skin care, and hair loss for guys. And thanks to science,

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slash column. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. 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

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Okay, I said all those nice things about Aaron Rogers, I have to be critical. I could not be the only person in America. 20 seconds left in the third question. quarter. Aaron Rogers, 35 years old, had multiple injuries. Pumping, pump and pumping, pumping, pumping, pumping, Aaron, get rid of the ball. What are you doing? It's the same play you got hurt on against the Vikings? What's the upside of that play? That little pass there for a five-yard gain? There

is no upside. The downside is you're gone again and at 35 have your fourth collarbone or third collarbone injury. This is where Aaron has got to figure out, I am the franchise. Yeah, Green Bay's defense is better. It doesn't matter if Aaron's not playing. This is a play that Drew Breeze and Tom Brady figured out years ago. Just get rid of the ball. Just get rid of the ball. And there's another play in this game. Aaron's going to have to, I don't want to show it to you yet. Aaron's going to have to change his game a little bit. Because we When you have a defense as good as Green Bay, and it's mostly young, and it's mostly guys going into their prime or in their prime, you don't have to play hero ball. You don't have to make the great play.

Instagram is not your friend. Try to get on Instagram with a Super Bowl parade shot. Aaron tends to be a hold-to-ball, six, seven seconds, pat the ball, hero ball, big play. You don't need to do that. There's going to be multiple weeks this year that Aaron can play. Hand it off. Don't get hit. Be smart.

let the ball go early, get it out of your hands. Aaron's great and any franchise quarterback as good as Aaron should be counted on about four times a year to pull your arse out of a tough spot. Andy Reid doesn't ask Patrick Mahomes to carry them 16 weeks. Belichick doesn't ask Brady to carry them 16 weeks. Fourth quarter playoff game trailing, that's when Tom Terrific takes over. But there was a play that Aaron proved last night. They're deep in their own territory. It's a very simple route.

Ron Rogers goes back. Just, boom, simple route concept, sit down route, catch it down. That should be Aaron. Don't need to make big plays. That's what the Bears gave you. The receivers open. It's not a complicated route. Take more of these.

Because your defense now, Aaron, is a big boy defense. Legitimate safeties, pass rushers, Preston Smith. Breeze and Brady, there were times in their careers. that they had to do more of the caring. Tom Brady now, that's a run team first. Tom doesn't need to go deep. Tom doesn't put himself in harm's way. Like, the defense for the Packers is going to keep you in every game this year.

They're not going to win you every game. They're going to keep you in it. So the four or five times a year that you have to make the play, Aaron can do it. But when you age and people around you get better, it's incumbent upon you to go, wow, I've got to adapt here. Brett Farr have often struggled to adapt. Brett made bad mistakes late in his career. Didn't want to adapt. He tended to be pretty rigid. Aaron tends to be a little more progressive, I think a little bit more of an evolver here.

I showed you two plays. One, don't extend stuff out to the right at 35. Get it out of bounds. And the second play, when the defense gives you simple stuff, take it. You don't need to be a hero. This is not the defense from four years ago where either you threw for 375 yards or you lost. You will win games this year like last night where you're not particularly effective. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. That's the exact same reaction. On the scramble rollout? I mean, I thought it was over. I was like, oh, okay, well, it was fun watching Aaron Rogers for a couple quarters.

Did you see how he landed? I was like, I mean, the landing was awkward. because he came down and his body was stretched and I'm thinking, Aaron, I'm invested in the Packers this year. Me too. I have no interest watching your backup again this year. No, none whatsoever. I think he's going to win MVP this year.

That would really ruin that prediction. I totally agree. So O'Dell has been dealing with a hip injury all preseason. He's not listed on the injury report and expects the play Sunday, but he admits he is not feeling 100%. I mean, this is something I've never had to deal with. It's like an extremely fast car with like a little alignment or something off, you know, and it's like right in the center of what you need.

Now, the car can still go, but it's dangerous, you know what I mean? So it's just something that I've just been trying to figure out in and out of rehab every single day. Never really dealt with anything like that. You worry a little bit, though, right? Yeah, and that description is pretty accurate when you have a, car that you're driving really fast and the alignments off, you feel like at any moment anything can go. And that's probably what he's dealing with. Injuries are mostly like lingering injuries like this are mostly mental. I mean, we saw what happened with Andrew Luck. Not saying if this has anything

to do with it. But if you're going out there not feeling 100%, you lose confidence. You lose confidence. And you may do things to compensate in different parts of your body, which then lead to other injuries, which is what he's talking about. So hopefully, you know, I mean, I don't know that anyone is ever playing football at 100%. No, but you would think going into your... You don't want to go in lingering with something like this. Yeah, and I think you go into your opener. I mean, when you look at his injury history and this is the opener, this is the time

you should be healthy. Right. Because he didn't play. And yeah, he mostly did individual drills and training camp and was rehabbing it all through the preseason. He obviously missed four games in 2014 with a hamstring injury. 2017 was the ankle. 12 games he missed.

And then the quad injury missed four games in 2018. So listen, he's at, you know, it's the finely tuned tennis racket or violin. It doesn't take much to get it out of tune. You know, those big 350-pound guards, play hurt all the time. It's in perfect body. When you're finally tuned, it doesn't take much. Well, I mean, his game is finesse. So you want everything well-oiled and working.

So I still think he's going to have a big season, but obviously you never want to go into a season not feeling great because you'll likely come out of the season. season feeling the same way. So now that the Zieg deal is done, we can move on to Dack Prescott. He will be next up for a deal. Both sides are still negotiating, but Stephen Jones is confident they'll make it happen. He said, I just can't imagine. Dak doesn't know what we think of him. We're trying to put the best team around him. We want him to win Super Bowls. He's going to be the quarterback around here for many, many years to come. Dak obviously has no plans to sit out while waiting for a new contract and they'll continue to negotiate throughout the season. But

The Zique thing in the holdout and Cabo and, you know, just all of the stories and not only say drama, but everything that surrounds Zique and his contract, it kind of felt like we just forgot about Dak and Amari. Now, Amari is not really pressed for a contract because he's going to make $13.9 million this year in his last year of his deal. So he's going to get another deal, but it's not something I need to be sorted out right now. Well, I think how Zique handle his holdout said a little bit about Zeek and how Dax handled his says a lot about Dak.

how you handle crisis often says a lot about you. And DAC has not been paid, and Zika has. And DAC's yet still handling it more elegantly, more privately. You know, every Little League dad is great when their son hits the game winning home run. But if he strikes out off a bad call, how does the Little League dad act? DAC, who's not made any money yet, who's probably now the most underpaid human in the league at the most important position,

is handling this with grace, privately. Zik, who already made money two years out went to Cabo. Like, I think how you handle these things does matter. And for the most visible and talked about a loud team in the league as well. I still don't think he's going to take a discount. There's kind of like a, you know, there's a little, little, everything slights in everything that said from the Joneses, like we're trying to put the best team around him, you know, like, oh, we're working on other people's contracts first.

And, you know, it's still kind of like hints towards we need a discount. But I don't think the doc is. There are certain numbers now in sports. Running backs, great ones are going to get 13 to 50. Right. And quarterbacks that win games, regardless of what you think of them, are going to get in the 30 to 32. Like, that's just the number now.

A couple years ago, it was 27. Now it's 32 as the cap goes up. So that's the number for winning quarterback. Right. And I think everyone needs to be stopping so dramatic about the talent level because the word you keep using is the only one that matters, and that's winning. And you can say all you want about the pieces that are around him.

He still plays the quarterback position, and he still has kept a steady ship throughout the past four years. So not only does he deserve it, just don't get caught up in the highest paid in the league. The next contract up is then going to be the highest paid and so on and so forth. Everyone loses their minds whenever they see it. And it's just, it's not really that serious. It's just what the market is. And the market will be then surpassed by the next guy who needs a contract.

If you look at the history of contracts in all businesses, two things usually get you paid. Leverage and timing. Try signing a big contract with any company if we're in a recession. Right. Like for any business, it's harder to get that money when the boss says we're in a four-year recession in America. Like the bottom line deck wins, timing's good. Cowboys need a quarterback. He's winning.

He's going to get paid. He's in the right position. Yeah. Finally, the Falcons have been working to get an extension done with Julio Jones this offseason. This is kind of interesting. He says he wants to play in the season opener, but he's not sure if that will happen. What I'm trying to do right now is be ready. You know what I mean?

Like, it's no, like, if I'm going to play, if I'm not going to play, like, you know, I'm trying to be out there. Regardless, you know, coming back from injury, things like that. But the ultimate thing is, is just being ready when my number is called. So, if you are concerned about what the Falcons are doing, this year. Julio Jones is a guy that you definitely want out there. This hadn't really even been a thought because the talk about Julio Jones contract was kind of a few months ago and then it sort of disappeared. Stop paying him. But, well, he signed a, that is what it is. He wants more money. So he signed a five years 71.21.25 million extension in 2015. So his base salaries, 9.6 million

this season is a free agent in 2021. So he wants an extension. But I'll be so glad when we stop talking money and we talk games. I'm so over the contracts. And the games are here. Well, It's kind of interesting because it's a lot of big name guys that are up for contracts this year. Because this isn't normal. We usually have like one or two guys that we're following what's going to happen with them. But it just seems like a lot of big names are up for extensions or contracts. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. The circus known as the Raiders, Jacina Anderson, a reporter, source the Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown just issued an emotional apology at a team meeting this morning. just now with a team captain standing with them. We will have Raider reporter, Vic Tafer. We'll join us in the next hour to give you an update. Vic was all over this stuff yesterday.

I don't know what the Raiders are going to do. They're not a well-run organization, and generally I find dysfunctional people and dysfunctional teams hard to predict. I think if they were New England, I could figure out what they were due, were the Rams. I don't know what the Raiders are going to do. Vic Tafer will join us. Greg Jennings now joining us for a good 10 minutes here.

we go. Packers won. Look at that defense. Last time the Packers had a great defense, Greg Jennings was on that team, 2010. So it was not an artistic masterpiece. The defenses were good. Matt Lafleur, Aaron Rogers, looked clunky in the first half, right? They didn't look good all game. I didn't think that it was impressive offensively at all game. Yeah. I was on undisputed yesterday. and I said I was expecting and hopeful for fireworks. And what I meant by that was things that I could show that I can build on, see that I could continue to make progress on offensively

because we hadn't seen what they could potentially become. Defensively, did they look good? Yes, they're playing the bears. You know, they're playing against a stout defense. But I remember this guy Aaron Rogers last year in the opening game in Lambo, coming back on the field, one leg, high. and he performed better than what we saw last night. And so...

Is it the new offense? You don't know what it is, but again, it's week one, but still, my expectations of Aaron Rogers is through the roof. So I'm not going to lower them because it's week one and he hadn't played any preseason games. Well, it's interesting because last year, Jared Goff didn't play the preseason and he was really bad against the Raiders in week one. So there is part of me that says these quarterbacks now won't play in the preseason

is the first half of game one their preseason where they're just, and the Bears defense is great. So part of me thinks it's that. I will say, I didn't think they were overly clever last night. I don't think they ever fooled the Bears last night offensive. No, which is honestly pretty surprising because when you haven't played, and even when you have played, week one, when you're scouting and you're doing your due diligence on both sides of the ball, you're preparing for unscouted looks. and it just didn't look like anything that the Green Bay Packers presented

from formation variation to innovation of their offense was alarming to the Bears or it caught them off guard. Nothing. Nothing. No, it was, and again, they had one great drive. It is easy to say, well, the Bears defense is great. But I would say where you are right optically is I never thought Green Bay fooled Chicago. No.

And that was the knock on McCarthy. that it became predictable. And it's, again, this whole idea of fooling defenses every time you're out there, it's a fantasy world. You're not going to fool the defense. You may get them on a couple unscouted looks that they are not prepared for. Right. And you've got to be able to do that as a play caller, put your team in a position where you feel like this.

I'm going to get them with this one. Well, that's what we saw the Philadelphia touchdown against New England. Yes. Yes. You do that once or twice a game where it's like, We don't have the personnel for this. Exactly. New England, by the way, has done that against opponents on trick plays, red zone plays,

where you just have nobody, they got Gronk in a set where you don't have anybody to guard him. Right. So I think that's a fair point. The New England, Green Bay last night did not, it wasn't just the struggles. It was it didn't look special. It didn't look special. And I mean, it was like a complete dud. Let me ask you this, though.

I made the point that when, and I've seen veteran quarterbacks do this, I think Peyton Manning when he finally got a great defense, the better the defense, the less hero ball I need from the quarterback. Green Bay's defense is good enough. There'll be Sundays they win games. Can Aaron, he's a ball patter? He wants to make the big play. I mean, the Hail Mary is kind of assigned to him as,

is Aaron capable of reeling back a little of the hero ball because now he doesn't have to do that? Can he? Yes. Will he? I doubt. When you look at the style that. he plays and what makes him so unique and special, it's being a hero.

You've compared him to Ben Rothersberger. Yeah. What has Ben Rothersberger done his entire career, even with good defenses, held onto the ball for what? The big play. Over the top. Extending the play, giving his receivers an opportunity to get down the field and then you hit them in a big play fashion.

This is Aaron Rogers. He's an unscripted quarterback that extends. the play, gets outside of the pocket, holds onto the ball probably a little longer than what his coaches, his office of linemen would care for him to do. That's what Greg CoSell and analytic people have said. It's not ideal. And the older you get, the more frightening that becomes. Yes.

Because last night, he rolled out one time, and I'm like, Aaron, throw it away. You got to get rid of it. I mean, I just listen to you say this, to get five yards just to scrow. to extend the play and take that hit, it's not worth it. It's just not worth it because you mean more to us as a team than just this five yards. Let's talk Mitch Trubisky. I mean, my eyes don't fool me. I think Chicago inside the building, Greg, they know, they know.

They're at practice every day. You tell me a lot as a football team. You tell me a lot by just the plays you run. you tell me as a fan or a media person, we can't do this, we can do that. All there are bells and whistles, smoke and mirror on offense, that's telling me what the Bears coaches think of Trubesky. They don't put them in positions to make great plays.

Their offense is a lot of gadgets and gimmicks and running. I just don't see it with them. I'm sorry. You know, I've called a Chicago Bears game, and I've sat down with McNaggy, and I've sat down with opposing defense. of the defensive coordinators. And defensive coordinators that have to go up against this,

they look at it as a magic show. Don't get caught by all the movement and the action and not pay attention. Trust your eyes. Don't get caught up with all the movement. Keep focus on what's most important. And the bears have to understand, and I think they know this, that Mitchell Chibisky is, he is what he is. He's just not a great arm talent.

No, he's not your prototypical quarterback and talent at that position. He said something last night that stood out to me in his presser, he being Matt Nagy. He said, you know, we have a lot of high character guys on this team, and our defense is not going to be one to point fingers at our offense. We know who we are. We know what the problem is. Yeah, you do. And the problem starts with, number one, the play calling wasn't great.

You got to simplify things, but let's be. be honest, Mitchell Chubisky is not going to cut it. If you're in a dog fight and it comes down the quarterback play, you're not giving your team a fair shot with Mitchell Chibisky. I'm sorry. Last year in the playoff loss for Chicago, and I said this over and over, body language matters. That's why there are people in America that are body language experts. You can watch body language. I was critical of Aaron Rogers' body language seven years ago. Stuff comes out. Matt Nagy's body language in that playoff loss to Mitch Trubisky was bad. It was eye-rolling.

It was like, I'm doing everything I can do here. I was going to say, it's almost like when you've done everything and you've tried everything, and at some point, a quarterback has to become a quarterback. In the first 15 scripted plays, Mr. Trubisky is typically great. But after that first quarter, now teams have made. adjustments. Now you get that play call and now you have to play quarterback and you have to put your team in positions to where we can be successful and we can methodically move the ball down the field. Mitchell Tribisky has not proven that he can do that. It's year three. It's year three.

Yes. People criticize Goff's contract. I've seen a ton from Goff. Yeah. I don't worry about Goff. I see that and I'm like, okay, Antonio Brown just apologized according to a report to the team very emotional. I have no idea what the Raiders are going to do because I can't figure the Raiders out. They hired a TV personality who've been out of the sport for 10 years. They got rid of Cleo Mac. They brought in Antonio Brant.

I can't, I got, I'm guessing here. They're dysfunctional. I find it highly difficult to guess what dysfunctional people will do. What do you make of this situation? Now, what do you do? You know, this is, even for me, like I'm disgusted.

It's nauseating. It's one of those deals where if I had Antonio Brown in front of me, and I've sat down with Antonio Brown, I would simply, Antonio, be true to who you are. Like, stop trying to make it about brand, make it about what you're going to get with all these deals, all these other things. Like, be true to who you are. Like, to whom much is given, much is required. The expectations are high for you.

You are a father, you are a friend, you are a role model, whether you believe it or not, be that example that we know that you can be. Be that example that you are to your sons, like to your, like, this is him, you apologizing, him apologizing today, that's a step in the right direction. Despite what he's done and what the baggage that he's brought with him, no one cares about what you did in Pittsburgh anymore. because you haven't been on the field. And so you have to now write that ship. And what he's done with this apology, build on that, build on that. Start to work and look in the mirror and self-reflect and self-assess and be true with your self-assessment and say, you know what, I have fallen short.

I haven't lived up to my end of the bargain and then move forward and start playing football games. You know, it's funny. I talk to my daughter about this. You have kids. I said, the internet is never your friend. Sometimes you think it's your friend. You take a picture of yourself and you look really good. But I tell my daughter, it's not your friend. Okay. You can look at teen suicide rates. Depression has exploded in 10 years with all these platforms. I think Antonio's young and I think sometimes he thinks the internet is his friend and it's hurting him. The letters, the helmet, It's like, dude, you're a great football player. Everybody I talk to likes you as a guy. To your point. Reassess, be about team. By the way, it's okay if you have 20. Everybody wants you get touchdowns.

Yes. I think some young athletes, they start to think, hey, this internet thing is making me a lot of fame and a lot of money. It's like it's never your friend. It can only get you fired. It doesn't get you rich. Colin, what's so intriguing to me about this is he already has a brand. Yeah, like he doesn't.

You don't need anything else. Like, just allow your legacy to be so important, not just from a football perspective, but as a man. Like, when people reflect back and the problem is that I have is nothing that we see hasn't already been done. Like, we've seen this show and this performance with Terrell Owens. And, oh, Joe, it. Yeah, it never went. It never turns out well. It never turns out great.

Ever. For wide receivers, the dynamic players, we know how this is going to end up. So reel it back in, come back in the fairway, be a great player and a teammate, a dad, all that stuff. Greg Jennings, we got to go Blazing Five top of the hour. Coming up next, it's easy to rip the bears for something last night. But I'm going to rip them for something else. Then everybody's ripping them four, and that's going to come up next. It's the hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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

Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me. your host and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field

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Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clifford 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.

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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

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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 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. Aluminum carry-on luggage from Away Luggage, best on the market.

Go to AwayTravel.com slash Colin, 20 bucks off when you enter the promo code, Colin, away luggage. Great stuff. I'm going to throw a theory at you that coaching staffs tell you. you, as I just mentioned, they tell you what they think of their quarterback by the plays they designed. Jared Goff of the Rams, the Rams tell you they trust Goff. They throw a ton of deep balls, a ton of intermediate, difficult throws. The Rams were 8 and 2 last year when their defense gave up over 23 points.

They don't need the defense to be great. They trust Jared Goff. The Bears were 0 and 4 last year when the Bears gave up over 23 points. The Bears are telling you. by all their trickery and gimmicks and shifting, we got to fool people here. We got to fool people here. And so the Rams,

Rams run a very simplistic offense. They run the same nine plays over and over and over and over. New England took advantage of it. But they tell you, we trust Goff to throw it down the field, throw it intermediate. We don't need to trick people. Rams are not trying to trick you. They run the same stuff over and over.

They think their quarterback can make throws. Bears don't. And it's interesting, here's something to remember. Running quarterbacks do work in this league. They just don't last. I mean, RG3 got you to the playoffs. Lamar got you to the playoffs. Russell Wilson won a Super Bowl.

Cam got you to there. The question isn't can a run-around quarterback win games? Yes, Tim Tebow won seven straight. But the question is, does a GM and a coach want to invest for 13 years on a guy that runs around? But if you're Chicago, and I think Chicago knows Trebisky has a very low ceiling, if you don't think he's a 10-year asset, just run him.

What do you care? Mahomes? Protect him. Limit running. Because running works in this league. It's worked. Steve Young, before he became a developed passing quarterback won games. Russell.

Trubisky won games last year. Nobody's just been able to win running. the knock with running quarterback says they will not last, and factually, they do not last. Cam's 6.6.250, he's always hurt. But if you don't consider Tribisky, and I don't think Nagy looks at him and thinks, I'm rolling with this guy for 15 years. Now, I think Andy Reid thinks that. I think the Colts thought that.

I think the Rams think that. I think the Eagles with Wens think that. I think the Seahawks with Russell think that. I think most of the team. I think Houston thinks that. I don't think Chicago thinks that. So let him run. Let them run.

Why not? Because you can win games running. And I think the decision, I think win games now. Because there's always this situation where when a quarterback runs, guys like me and the announcers, remember last year with Lamar Jackson, okay, let's take 12 design runs down to six, let's slow it. But it feels like the Ravens, this is how it lands for me. I think they feel that Lamar can develop as a passer. That's what it feels like to me, that he's a better runner now.

But I feel like Baltimore sending me messages by drafting tight ends. They went out and got a deep threat this year. They think they can develop him into, over the course of two or three years, a runner and a thrower. I don't feel that with the Bears. I watch their offense. I don't feel it. I mean, last night, he basically, he, he, he, completed passes to one wide receiver.

One. And by the way, the NFC's got a bunch of good defenses. Minnesota's defense is probably better than Green Bay's. So, like, in the division, I mean, I just, I think of that as quarterback is the asset. And so you get an offensive line to protect your asset, your insurance. And then you don't have them get hit too much. You're protecting your asset. But if you don't think it's a 12-year asset and you just think, we got to win games now.

Let Trubesky run. That's not a knock on him. I mean, he was the number two pick. He's already made a lot of money. But I don't think this morning, I mean, wouldn't you be shocked? I would be. Would you be shocked this morning if I said, Bears just signed Trabiski to an extension?

I would be shocked by that. Would you be shocked by that? Yeah, I wouldn't recommend that either. Okay, so my point is, in Chicago today, we got this window here with these defensive players. We've got to win now. Let Trubisky run around. Let him just win games.

Just don't worry about the future, because I don't think he's part of their future. I don't. Nobody was shocked when the Rams signed golf to an extension. The timing, but we were like, yeah, he's their guy. Wentz.

He's their guy. I think Baltimore, I think Baltimore, if I'm watching Baltimore's drafting patterns, they're going to be different, but it feels like to me, they feel like he can develop. I think Chicago thinks.

Limitations, low ceiling. This is what we are. I'd let him run. Blazing five around the corner. And numbers. Steelers Patriots, they play Sunday night, that are hard to describe our two next. 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. Ah, this is the herd. Hour 2, live in L.A., wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Five minutes are blazing five picks. Last year, 66% of the time we had a winning week. That's hard to do. 57, 58%. Joy Taylor is joining me. Green Bay, Chicago last night was an inartistic mess. It did get a massive number.

And I think legalized sports gambling in America is now taking hold as state after state after state legalizes it. People now watch even ugly, boring games later to see if they cover the spread and they make money. And I think in America we tend to bet football. So I think Fox, 40% of the games in the NFL are on Fox. We've made a bet as a company that football is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger because of legalized gambling. Last night, the impact is clear because that was an ugly game. That's just, I mean, it's very interesting because Aaron did not look very good. but I think we're all saying, well, it's the Bears defense.

Tribisky didn't look very good, and we're just saying it's Trubisky. I will say this about Green Bay's offense. It wasn't clever. It wasn't efficient. This is the downside to not playing any snaps in the preseason. Jared Goff did not play snaps in the preseason last year for the Rams. He was horrible early on against the Raiders. So don't be surprised with this kind of culture that's been created in the NFL

where don't play your star quarterback in the preseason. The downside is they don't look very good in the first game. By the way, remember that game about two weeks ago, the Florida Gators played Miami in the first college football game. Yeah. That was a clown show. I mean, it was the worst played game ever. Football is a game of choreography. We all memorize a playbook.

If Joy and I are next to each other and she moves her hand before the ball snap, we have to take five steps back. Like this is the sport of choreography, like choreographed offense. Remember the old routines on Saturday Night Live? the synchronized swimming stuff they did. Like that's what football is, essentially, without the water. You've got to be all aligned. If you don't practice full speed, game speed, you can look really bad. I thought Green Bay looked like Aaron will get better.

It looked a little rusty, but it's, again, it's so hard to judge when you're looking at that Chicago defensive line. It's like who's going to be able to do anything against them? They couldn't block. By the end of the game, they were still good, but it did feel like Green Bay got a 10-play drive. and again, when Trubisky can't mount long drives, his longest drive was seven plays. Chicago's defense over the course of three and a half hours, I thought at the end of the game, not that they were gassed, but they weren't as fierce late.

So I think Chicago games are all going to look the same this year. Bears' defense will dominate the first half. And all of them, the question will become, as the bear's defense sits on the field, the entire game, how much is left in the tank in the fourth quarter. Aaron had his big drive, his 10-play drive late. he couldn't get, he was three and out, three straight drives to start. So Chicago's defense is going to own everybody in the first half. Will they be able to maintain that edge later in the game?

And at the end of the game, they didn't look as fierce because Trubisky's drives, you know, he can't mount long drives. All right, I want to say this, though. It is easy to bang on the bears for passing on Patrick Mahomes in the same draft they moved up to get Mitch Trubisky. I'm not going to. Kobe Bryant was drafted 13. None of you, none of you, none of you thought Patrick Mahomes was going to be this good.

Don't fake it, don't lie. That's fake news. I didn't, you didn't, nobody did. I'm not sure Andy Reid did. I'm not sure the Chiefs did. And the Big 12 had given us clunker after clunker after clunker at quarterback. That's the conference that doesn't play any defense. He was erratic in college.

He didn't win a lot of games in college. I'm not banging on the bears for passing on Patrick Mahomes. A lot of people passed on Kobe. You just didn't have enough film. Where I will bang on the Bears is you drafted Mitch Trubisky over Deshaun Watson. They played in the same conference. The same scouts who watched the ACC, come on now. Deshawn Watson played Nick Saban twice.

Nick had six weeks both times to prepare. Could not stop him. We had all sorts of tape on Deshawn Watson. We had him in the national championship. I said it at the time. I'll say it again. Yes, Deshawn Watson's critics, I was one of them out of college. He's not a natural thrower.

I mean, Jared Goff, Matt Ryan, the ball just, phew, beo, beo, beo. Okay, but he had a huge upside. Mitch Trubisky wasn't a natural thrower without the upside. Like, that's where all bang on scouts. You can whiff on Patrick Malhomes because you just don't have enough video, big game experience. He's wild. He's erratic. And you're just not sure, can we rein this dude in?

But Deshaun and Tribeschi played in the same conference. To choose Tribisky over Deshaun, I didn't get then, I said it then, I don't get it now. Neither was a great natural thrower, but at least one guy had remarkable upside. I've never seen it with Trubisky. All right. It is time. This is the first one of the year. Now, it should be noted here.

Is I, Goulet, you've been with me a decade doing this. this stuff. The first week's the hardest week to bet. These quarterbacks haven't played in the preseason. I don't know. I mean, good quarterbacks could look, I mean, New England is hard to figure out in September. So the first couple of weeks of Blazing Five, last week, last week, and two. Sixty-six percent of the time we had winning weeks last year. But week one, I mean, last night, Aaron Rogers didn't look good. You don't know what you're getting. So I'm just saying, if you've got a big pile of money you're going to bet this year, I would bet a little less on week one. By week four, eight, nine, twelve, you have a sense of injuries.

You really, people unveil who they are. But here we go. Here's our blazing five. That's a hot one. Let's blaze it up. It's Collins blazing five. Rams and Panthers. Okay, I'm going to take the Rams minus one and a half here. First of all, they were a very good road team last year. They were six and two on the road. That's not an issue with them. They travel well. The second thing, is they had the third best point differential in the league. They didn't just win last year. They beat people up. They've got great personnel.

We paid a lot of attention to Todd Gurley. It was the Cooper Cup injury that slowed the offense. Without Cooper Cup, Jared Goff was not the same quarterback. He returns. Gurley now is back. I think this Rams team is better personnel. I don't think Carolina's necessarily always a great home. favorite here. I'm going to take

the Rams to win. Again, Gough didn't play in the preseason. I crossed my fingers on this. I'm going to take Rams 28, 24. Falcons and Vikings. I'm taking Atlanta plus four points. I'm betting the number here. I get Matt Ryan and over a field goal. I'm betting the number more than I'm betting the team. Listen, Atlanta

played very well last year at the end of the year when they finally got healthy. They fell apart in September. They had cluster injuries in the secondary. They were a mess. they have addressed their offensive line in the draft. Matt Ryan is still a top 10 quarterback. I think they have upgraded an offensive coordinator, and I get over a field goal.

Other thing is, Kirk Cousins has not shown to me in these big must-win games that I can trust him. The Falcons had the NFL's fourth-ranked third-down offense last year. What does that mean? Keep the ball away from the Vikings playmakers. I'm going to take Atlanta and the points to win. 27, 26.

Colts and Chargers. I'm going on an upset here. I'm going to take the Colts plus six and a half. Now I know what you're saying. Colin, no Andrew Lough. Okay, but I love the offensive line. It's ranked fourth best in the NFL. I like the infrastructure.

I like the coach. I like the GM. I like their corner upgrades. The Chargers don't have their best athlete on defense, Derwin James. Their offensive lines fourth worst in the league according to pro football focus. and Russell O'Coon won't play.

They don't have Melvin Gordon. They've had a noisy offseason. And frankly, I don't know. I don't know what I get with the Chargers right now. Listen, the Colts allowed the few with sacks in the NFL last year. Jacoby Burset's going to have time. They've added a wide receiver. Their young players are getting better.

I'm going to take the Colts here. This is a lot of points. I think they have a roster that's not quite as good as the Chargers. The Chargers arguably don't have two of their four best players. Okay, I'm going to take the Chargers to lose at home. Upset. Colts win 2827. Steelers at Patriots. New England has dominated this series, but the number is ridiculous. I get Pittsburgh in six points. First of all, New England's not been a good September team. They had a weird camp. Demarius Thomas hurt. Nikiel Harry hurt. Edelman hurt.

Josh Gordon late. Gronk out. No Chris Hogan. I think they're going to be disjointed offensive. I don't know who's playing tight end. They've got a lot of disparate parts at wide receiver. I know they'll be good late. But in New England, I'm getting six points. I think it's a very low-scoring game. I think New England's defense was good. It'll be better.

I think Pittsburgh led the NFL in sacks. They've gotten better. Last year, Pittsburgh led the NFL, and I think they've upgraded their pass rush. Steelers have the NFL's number one ranked Red Zone scoring offense last year. And that was without Levian Bell. This is an elite offensive line.

The Patriots offensive line lost their center. The number here is with Pittsburgh. I'm going to go with an upset. Now, they may not win. I just like the number. Let's have some fun. I'll go Pittsburgh Upset, 2723. Texans at Saints.

Like it? I love it. I think Houston's got better players. I think Houston was good on the road last year. I think Houston has a dynamic playmaker at quarterback who now has an elite left tackle. Listen, the Saints have come off back-to-back emotional, of their season. At the end of the year, Drew Brees looked tired. I think there's going to be my feeling with Houston this year.

They wrap it up along with New England sooner than any team in the league. They were five and one last year. Texans were in six road games. Laramie Tunsell added left tackle. They won 11 of their final 13 games to close out the season. Remember, they started slowly, but by the end of the year, they were on a roll. And I think, I'm telling you right now, I think Houston's got more good players. I think Houston's a better football team. I am going to take the Texans to win outright. Remember last year with the Saints.

Remember last year, they started slowly. Like New England, the Hall of Fame quarterback, the Hall of Fame coach in September, it's an extension of the preseason. New Orleans, New England, not great September last year. Texans win it outright, 24 to 20. That's my blazing five. Very excited for that. Colin, all road teams.

What's wrong with that? There's a thing called home field advantage. That's a little thing. I am going. I like my road teams this week. I'm actually surprised that one of those picks you've been talking about a lot is not on there. The Cleveland game?

Well, I talked to some very important people in the gaming industry, and they said, stay away from that game. But I believe you did mention you had already wagered on it during the summer. Yeah, I already did. But it doesn't mean I'm going to tell you to wager on it in my blazing five. Well, that's very responsible of you. I'm always looking out for the American consumer. Yeah.

He's got to win us over because he needs a place to stay once he loses his house. No, what I'm being told, what I was told by somebody who does this for a living, you don't know what you're getting out of Cleveland early. Like OBJ's not healthy. We got a new coach. It's a young roster. The feeling on Cleveland is let's just watch them for three weeks before we bet them. Yeah, that's smart. It's too late for me.

I already bet them. but I'm not going to tell you to bet him. Vic Tafer is a reporter for the athletic that covers the Raiders. A.B. had an emotional meeting with the team this morning. We're going to have Vic on next. He was great yesterday on this stuff. What's going on in Oakland? Because it's man overboard or is it?

That's coming up next. Better sleep benefits. I think we'd all admit this. It benefits everybody. I mean, there's nothing worse. My cat got me up at 4.15 in the morning this morning. Yeah, I know. I'm about done with that cat.

What a meanie. Not good. very disruptive. She's very manipulative. She knows it. She puts her paw on your eyelid. Her whole thing is, I'm done sleeping. So are you. Casper mattress. Thankfully, I got seven great hours of sleep before that. They have zone support, providing extra support to keep your back aligned, which for me is I've gotten older, back alignment's a real thing. So they have something called Sleptember. They created it, okay? 10% off all of September, Sleptember, if you buy,

a Casper mattress. All right. Casper.com save 10% on any purchase that includes a mattress. Casper.com. Terms and conditions apply. See casper.com slash terms. Listen, outrageously comfortable. They have beds, duvets, pillows, sheets, a dog bed at the herd household. We have all of them. Casper sleep. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed.

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 controversy, 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 Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't 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, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, rep, my mama wants 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 parameda possible 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 Ness 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, 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 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. SimplySafe offers 24-7 police monitoring. SimplysafeColon.com, free shipping 60-day risk trial. Vic Tafer worked at the San Francisco Chronicle for over a decade. He covers the Raiders now for The Athletic. And in the Bay Area, the Niners are hopeful. The Raiders are crazy. Yesterday, Vic was all over this stuff on the Antonio Brown meltdowns and the Mike Mayock situation.

You can blame whoever you want. It's just, it looks like a tire fire. And Vic is joining us by the Raiders facility via the phone. Vic, let's start with this. There's a report out this morning. Thank you for joining us that Antonio Brown apologized in front of the team. Vic, what is that say to you? What's the message?

What is that, how does that land for you? What's the takeaway? No, they need him. If he wants to be here, he wants his money, I think. So I think the team captains didn't make him. They apologize, got a little emotional. But to me, I'm step one. It had to be done.

I'm sure Mike was in the room. I'm not sure if it was a personal apology to Mike. But that was the first step. I think now they've got to figure out what they want to do as far as punishment. They're going to find them for a game, making him inactive. But that's the next step. So I think all the roads are leading back to him being here, I think, you know, playing at some point. There's kind of been a good cop, bad cop thing with Gruden and Mayock.

That's my interpretation on the outside looking in. As if John has to get along with the players and Mike will deliver the bad news. Is that how it feels when you're there in sort of the belly of the beast? Yeah, I think it did it. But in John's perspective, he's the play caller. He's one of the offense. He's definitely got Antonio Brown to be the centerpiece of his offense. Everything's built around Antonio.

He's been so excited about it. he's kind of pining for him when he's gone. So I think John wanted to keep that relationship very good, very positive. So obviously Mike had to handle the bad part of the job, the bad news, the fines and the notices, which got Antonio so upset. So I think that was necessary. I think that's why he did that way. And I think that's why Antonio got so mad at Mike.

Let me ask you, the situation with Mayak yesterday, you were among others reporting it, that there was a verbal shouting match. I've seen one or two of these in my life between a player. and an executive. Was it hostile? Is it overblown? What do you believe to be true? Or what did you see?

In practice for an hour and a half after we're gone, that's what happened towards the end of practice. So my couch is through players that were their eyes. And so what I was told was that Antonio was, he mad about the fines, said something to Mike, yelled at him. Mike may have yelled back or they kind of yelled back and forth. Antonio moved towards them,

and a couple of players held them back. come out since then that one of the words that Antonio used was Cracker. But it didn't get, you know, there weren't no punches, though it wasn't that physical of a thing. It was two guys holding Antonio back to make sure it didn't get escalate any further. Vic Tafer is joining us. The Athletic, the Bay Area covers the Raiders. I've been, the messaging from the Raiders, Vic, has been confusing. First of all, their initial move is Khalil Mack, Amari Cooper, good guys, great players, gone.

So my takeaway was, all right. I get it. They're going to do it the New England way. No stars, a lot of draft picks. And then they go out and get Antonio Brown, who is a star, and does have some baggage. And I'm confused. Then they go to the draft, and the draft is, we want to draft character guys. And then they get Richard Eincognito.

And to me, I'm confused by the direction. Again, my perception is, I don't know what they are. Is that an accurate perception that there is some confusion here about going forward? What exactly is their worldview on this stuff? Yeah, I think the answer would be that, you know, John's a very emotional guy. I think his opinions and his message probably changed daily and what he wants to do. I think that last year he wanted to rebuild this the right way, good young guys kind of built it slowly. But then he realized his has no patience for that.

He can't do that. So then he had a chance to get Antonio Brown. They made Trent Brown on the highest-paid tackle in the league. So now you've got a chance to win games now and hopefully also get younger. They have 11 rookies get younger and build something, but I also try to win now. because I think John himself said last year was miserable. They won't go through that kind of year again, so he wants to get guys who can help them win games this year.

Vic, if you pulled players in the locker room, I mean, they'll never agree on anything, right? Like just the general populace. We don't agree if the sky is all blue on a sunny day. But if I said pull the players in the locker room, how many would say, just get A.B. out of here to circus, and how many would say we want him if you had to pull the players? Oh, I'm sure most of them would say they want them,

and they want to win games. And the thing about AB is you watch him, all the drama, all the distractions this past few months, when he's out here and he's actually practicing, like, now that his feet are held up, I mean, he's dominant. He just kills the DBs. He gets open. He works harder than anybody else. He's got a different level of speed. So you can fully see, like, Derek Carson's the other day.

He's unstoppable on practice. He can't guard him. And they want that guy on their team. They want to win games. So he's definitely still, you know, top three receiver in the league. So everything else kind of, you know, falls by the wayside. you want to win and you need that guy to win games. All right, Vic, appreciate you stopping by.

Great stuff. We follow you daily. Thank you so much. All right, man, take care. Vic Tafer. Yeah, I, listen, yesterday I was reading a story that actually David Carr, the older brother of Derek Carr came out and said, you know, Raider captains are behind John Gruden in the Antonio Brown situation where whether you get rid of him or keep him,

will defend you either way. I find, you know, I mean, this is what Derek, or David Carr, older brother of Derek Carr said yesterday, NFL Network. They've gone to bat for this guy with the helmet, missing practices. Through all that, John Gruden, Derek, a lot of the players, they like Antonio Brown. They want him to be part of this team. But then you do things that are irrational,

and we try to sit up here and explain irrational moves and the things and the actions that he does and try to defend them. It's almost impossible to do. do. And so you find yourself in a situation where as a player, as a team, you go in, as the captains did today, and talk to John Gruden and say, whatever you decide to do, because it was so bad, because of what happened to Mike Mayock, what happened on the field was so bad, they're fine with whatever they decide. And again, I think well-run organizations, not just football, are much easier to predict what they're going to do. I mean, it was pretty easy to predict

the Steelers at the end. They're like, okay, it's getting noisy. We're out. Pete Carroll with the Seahawks got noisy. out. Through the years, trying to predict what the Bengals and the Browns and the Raiders are going to do, I've got no idea. I mean, I think New England not only would let him go, but New England would do it privately. They'd do it quickly. I mean, the Raiders are essentially just keeping this thing up for us to discuss. I mean, they're basically, if you look at what Oakland's doing, they're making it, players are commenting on it, brothers of players are commenting on it. Like, I think New England would do something fast, whatever they did. They would just do it fast.

privately, quickly, move on. The Raiders, everything. I think Vic Tafer just made an interesting point. He goes, John Gruden's really emotional. What he thinks today isn't what he thinks tomorrow. That's exactly what it feels like with the Raiders. We have a highly emotional coach who's all over the map. Bill Belichick shows virtually no emotions.

I think Bill's very easy to figure out. Gruden depends on what side of the bed he woke up on. I have no idea what the Raiders are doing. Here's Joy with the News. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Lake reports Mike Freeman released an article today about the Steelers dysfunction

surrounding Big Ben, Antonio Brown, and Levi-on-Bell. And there is a lot going on in that article. He said that Mike Tomlin and Ben Ruffisberger have a very close relationship and other players felt like Tomlin gave Ben power that made him seem untouchable. Sources said Ben was not required to stay at the team hotel for home games like his teammates. He would show up late to meetings and not receive any repercussions. And once Troy Palamalu told Tomlin that the team captains and veterans wanted to talk to Ben about being late, and Tomlin gave the quarterback a heads up, which obviously deteriorated some trust there with his other veterans and captains on the team.

And Paul Amal was eventually cut through a voicemail from Tomlin. So also in the article it mentions that Antonio Brown calls Big Van Phony. Now, Todd Haley is a big defender of Tomlin. He said that Tomlin did a good job bringing all the egos together. about as good of a job that you can do. Basically, what I got from it was pretty much what I felt was going on with the Steelers all last year and what the actual issue was, which is the Steelers have had a breakdown in culture. Nothing that came from the Steelers last year, nothing about that situation is Steeler-like

or Pittsburgh-esque in any way. It's very individual. It's very odd over-the-top. I mean, we're not even talking about some of the things that Antonio Brown did well, that got out because there was no choice but to get out, like going live on Facebook from the locker room. There are so many things that happened with the Steelers organization, and your source was talking about we didn't get everything out.

Look at what did come out. So you can imagine the level of dysfunction. And when you're reading this article, you really get the sense of what I've really felt about the Steelers, which is that Tomlin clearly chose Ben above all else, which we know that the quarterback is the most important position. But if you do choose the quarterback above all else, that quarterback has to be the leader and has to show that he has to set the standard for everyone else.

Big Ben coming late to meetings? Yeah, it's Pittsburgh's culture, and it's funny because I started criticizing Mike Tomlin three years ago and I got huge pushback. And I was like, guys, they got pro bowlers everywhere. They can't win their division every year with Cincinnati and Cleveland at the time. So I've actually softened on Tomlin in the last couple of years because I think aging quarterback bends a handful. Pete Carroll and Mike Tomlin are going to be Hall of Fame coaches, but I think what you're seeing with both of them,

player empowerment is fine, but as long as the quarterback, to your point, Russell Wilson is there early. So the player empowerment, even Pete, though, got a little too loud and it hurt him. Like this league is really about choreography. It's not about, it's not the NBA. And I think Big Ben started being like, hey, I can show up late.

I don't have to invite guys offseason in my cabin. And it's like, no, no, no, Ben. Tom Brady is still grinding with rookies in the offseason. And that's what it's really about is every single year resetting and coming in with the mentality that you have something to prove. And I feel like that was long. with the Steelers. Yeah, I think we too. And it's an all-time failure that they didn't win a championship with Big Ben,

Levian Bell, and Antonio Brown on the team. Like that's something that's fair to criticize. I like Tomlin a lot. Just get to the AFT championship. Right. I mean, it was a colossal letdown. And when you're reading some of the things that were going on, it makes sense why. So the Cowboys will take on the Giants on Sunday.

There's been plenty of criticism for Eli Manning over the past few seasons. But Jason Garrett still looks at Eli as an elite opponent. He said Eli has been one of the greatest players. at that position throughout his career. His resume speaks for itself. He's a great ambassador to the NFL. I hold him to the highest regard. He's been a really good player for a long time.

There's no question in our mind that he still is. He's an elite quarterback. I'm getting a little crazy with the Eli praise there. He feels a little over the top. Although it's best, I think, with Jason Garrett to only say nice things about Eli. I mean, look, I think Eli gets beat up on a lot. It's kind of unfair and unfortunate because he did beat Tom Brady

in his prime twice. No, when in his prime. And has kept the Giants relevant for his entire career. And he's always available. Like, Eli gets a lot of stuff thrown his way, but. But he's also now out of his prime. Yeah, he's no longer, I mean, I don't know if we're elite around, but like. He's, I'm not sure, you know, bang on DAC.

I take DAC today over Eli. Right now? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, but I mean, we're all banging on deck all the time. You take him 2019 football today, five years? Two years. This year, I take that.

We don't have enough time to get into this dark conversation. But yeah, I totally agree. I think that that's delusional to even consider that. So finally, the Cowboys held a press conference yesterday officially announcing Zeke's new contract. And Jerry presented Zeke with a new jersey. And it posts a little fun at his Zeke who comments during the holdout. As is customary, we take shots with the jersey or take jobs.

I want to present Zeeke his New Jersey that I want him to wear. You'll stand up Zee. What's it saying? It says Zikku. There he is. Zikud. The front of the shirt says Zikoo. Turn around.

That's true. So I guess Jerry and Zique are cool again. Yes. Zik's $90 million, $50 million guaranteed. Probably ease that over for him. There was no question that this relationship was going to be smoothed over pretty quickly. The Cowboys press conferences.

Yes. They're television shows. Yeah. They have skits. It's like a, yeah. They literally practice skits. Yeah. I have no question in my mind that Jerry went over that real quickly.

And then we'll have the big reveal and turn it around. I mean, obviously he had it made for him. It's funny. I'm glad they got it sorted out. Yeah. Dax's the next thing. But I think that'll be a, I actually think Dax will be a surprise in the middle of the season. Yeah.

We work for Fox. We like the Cowboys to be good. Enjoy to the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. There are some things in sports that are not explainable. Pittsburgh goes to New England this year, this week.

And I do think the best time to face New England is now. The worst time to face them is later. I'm going to take Pittsburgh this weekend. I'm crazy. I'm betting a number more than I'm betting teams or players. But what Tom Brady has done against Pittsburgh doesn't make any sense. not just that he's 11 and 3. He's completed 69.5% of his throws.

His quarterback ratings at 1-11, 31 touchdowns, 5 picks. Most of that is against the greatest defensive coordinator of my lifetime, Dick LeBoe. It's been against great pass rushes, Hall of Fame and Pro Bowl players. It makes no sense. It makes no sense. Tom Brady's numbers are better against Pittsburgh than they are already. against Buffalo. And since Tom Brady came into the league, Buffalo has made the playoffs once. Pittsburgh's made the AFC championship six times and won two Super Bowls. It makes no sense that

Tom Brady is better against Pittsburgh and often Dick LeBoe than Buffalo. That would be like failing your driving test and getting a 1600 on your SAT. It doesn't make any sense. The only thing I can compare it to is Brooks Kepka. Brooks Kepka is a golfer. He's won seven times on the tour. Four are majors. So against the better field and the tougher courses, Brooks Kepka wins more than 50% of the time.

If you send him to the 3M open or the Canadian open, he either misses the cut or finishes 73rd. But with Brady and Brooks Kepka, the only thing I can do to explain it is Brooks knows the tournaments that matter, and in Tom Brady's worldview, Peyton Manning and the Pittsburgh Steelers are emotionally his obstacle to get to Super Bowls because he played great against Peyton and great against Pittsburgh. Brady's numbers against the Steelers make absolutely no sense.

None. And yet I have Pittsburgh this weekend. What am I doing? Again, I bet numbers not teams. I like the number. I don't know what. It's just incredible. They'll play Sunday night.

It's 31 touchdowns, five picks. 70% completion. It's a little edgy. 111 passer rating. Forget the wins, losses. Look at those numbers for our television audience. That's against Dick LeBoe and the Steelers. I mean, that's what Brady does.

Against the Steelers. I get it against the Bengals, the Jets, the Bills, the Dills, the Diels. Dolphins, the best numbers against the Steelers. But that's the definition of greatness, right? Not only rising to the occasion, but being able to come in every single year and play at the highest level against the highest level opponents. Former Pro Bowl or T.O. Teal Spikes. Linebacker's been on the show before.

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Search Heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. 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. SportsLice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host and your favorite therapist, Kier Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the 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, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

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

Time out. Quarterback on office, Blue, 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode.

The World Cup is. coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast,

Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Polic. I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried

about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and

numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team.

It wouldn't be huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart radio app, Apple podcast, wherever you get your podcast. The NFL is finally back and we've got a huge doubleheader to open the season.

First, the Redskins take on Carson Wentz and the Eagles. Then it's America's Game of the Week as Sequin, Barclay and the Giants take on Dack and the Cowboys or other regional action, all on Fox or the Fox. Sports app. Check your local listings. By the way, anybody's seen how well Dak Prescott's done against the New York Giants. Now, Goulet is our cowboy fan, does not like Dak. We'd literally cut him for Cooper Rush tomorrow. Dak was unbelievable against the Giants.

He's been very good against the Giants. Let's get Tikiot Spikes over here. Seventh-most starts in the history of the NFL at linebacker, 15 years in the NFL. By the way, Tiki, you covered Mitch Trabisky, because you're an analyst for the ACCC network pull that mic in. So I never understood moving up for him. I like Deshawn Watson that same year. Patrick Mahomes, I didn't know enough about to have a strong opinion. Why do they draft, why did the Bears draft Trubesky? You watched him. You analyzed him. Why? Yeah, I had the opportunity, used to be an analyst for the ACC network, but had the opportunity to really sit down and

call two of his games. And I thought he showed a lot of promise. And he had a lot of ability, which everybody knows that to be drafted number two overall. The thing that was surprising to me was him being drafted that early in the first round. They moved up, second pick. Yeah, second pick. You gave up something to get him. And so when I look at it overall, I was like, the pick is risky, but I know this kid has talent.

I had the opportunity to spend time with him both times. And listen, he checks off the boxes when it comes to, of course, the intangibles. make every throw. You're supposed to make every throw. But when it comes to loving football, first one in the building, last one to leave. He's good with that. Doing camaraderie stuff with his teammates, bringing everybody together. I've heard he's a guy's guy. People like him. Listen, he's a man's man. That's exactly who he is. But when you look at what he put out as far as his resume last night, it just doesn't match his up with the number two pick overall. Let me, let's talk about Aaron last night, Tekeel. You covered him before.

I know it's the bear's defense. Listen, we all know it's loaded. But it was, can I say this, Aaron didn't play in the preseason. Let's give him a pass last night. Is that fair? That's more than fair. I know it's a high standard that we want and that we've seen from Aaron Rogers. But the reality of it is is this.

You only can get so much better as a player when you're going against your number one defense. Because your ceiling is here. you know the tendencies, you know certain players can't do certain things. Yeah, and they're not going to hitch anyway. And they're not going to do it. So, like, you know, it is what it is. So now I expect to see this right here from this offense, the new offense that he's learning and he's getting adjusted to maybe another two weeks.

But I know for sure we got to give credit to the Chicago Bears defense. Yeah, to your point, to Keo, to go from not playing in the preseason to the NFL's best defense on the road is a massive leap. Jared Goff last year, didn't play preseason, looked awful against the Raiders defense early. You can't go from practice to live bullets. I mean, Chicago's defense at home is a nightmare. But even put it into perspective, when you look at what he did, Aaron Rogers last night,

at the end of the game, he went to Mike Patton, pushed him, gave him, bro, like I love you, but I'm not going to say it, but I appreciate you. He understands that it's going to take a little time to get this offense, moving in the right direction and as far as him being able to do some of the things that he's done in the past. So when I saw that push that he gave last night,

it really verified everything to me that he knows, hey, thank you for showing up, finally showing up. And I know that I don't have to change my playing style. I know I have a little time because I know you guys are going to hold me down. Okay, Antonio Brown apologized to the team today. to K.L. Spikes joining us, 15 years in this league.

If you're in that room, is it sincere? Is it authentic? What am I supposed to think about it? What would you think about it? Well, if I'm a teammate, I appreciate the apology, number one. But I'm also listening to that apology with the rock eye. One eye up and the other one is like, I hear what you're saying, but I need to see what you're going to do. And so that's where they are right now.

And I'm pretty sure when you get the comments, Coach Gras, Bruton, all of the captains came out and said, you know what, whatever you decide to do, we're in favor of it. That pretty much lets you know. We're tired as players. We're tired as the leaders of this football team because it's important for them to understand this and know. I want to say they are the top team that has the most undrafted rookies on their team. And so when you have a lot of young guys coming in and let me remind you last year,

he sent Khalil Mac packing because he wanted to create the culture. So now are you saying this is what the culture is going to look like? Well, that's been me. You know, it's funny because you played for the Bengals for half a decade. And they had some dysfunction. You were a dominant player for a team with dysfunction. Take my audience in to Keough to being in a locker room. And again, Cincinnati, you were a great player for at times an enigmatic franchise.

Is it frustrating when you're a pro to be in a locker room with guys? that don't take it as seriously as you. Oh, it's very frustrating. It's very. And I know your next question may be, what would you say to him? And my thing to AB would be this, because, you know,

I've talked to several guys on that team and they say he's in and out. So they really don't really have a chance to really have a good conversation or really get to know him. But I've always took this method. I'm going to talk to you directly and see how can we bridge the gap.

If you can't help us, then you know what? You may be better off just doing what you do. And that's what I hear when I hear the captain say, Coach, whatever you decide on. We're good. We're good because we're ready to go into the season, and we don't need all of this trauma.

By the way, speaking of drama, OBJ has been relatively quiet for the last month. He has not practiced as a unit's more individual drills. I talked to OBJ for about 30 minutes on my face time about three or four months ago. I like him. And I told him, I said, I don't worry about your, you know, the end zone stuff.

I worry about your health. I'm like, OBJ, you're hurt a lot. He's now dinged up again. It's weird. Joy and I talk about this. I have my son never gets sick. I have a stepdaughter that gets sick a lot. It's just weird.

Like some kids get sick. Some kids never catch anything. There's no, they're all same house, same genes, same DNA, right? Right. Like, is OBJ just one of those dudes? He just gets dinged up all the time. Well, I mean, yeah, you can say that. You play the guys like that.

I play with guys like that, but let me tell you the difference. When you got a guy and let's act as if we're playing Madden, if he's rated 100 and if he's dinged up and he's still rated in the 90s or maybe high 80s, he's still better than 80% of the guys in the NFL. So that means he's still going to be productive. I more so when I hear this and I'm going to take you back, if I'm a player and if I hear OBJ say this, I'm not believing it. because you want me to let my guard down.

I know you may be dinged up, but guess what? Hell, I'm dinged up too. We just came through training camp. So I don't think anybody is 100% healthy. Now, granted, he is dinged up from time to time, but I truly believe this. With OBJ, even if he's dinged up just a little bit, I'm not falling to sleep as a defender thinking he can't run top speed,

which he already put that out there. Don't be surprised the first play of the game. he's going deep and he's going to run by the defensive back. That's interesting. Do you like Cleveland's the youngest team in the league, a lot of different players, free agents, Olivier Verdon, Sheldon Richardson, OBJ, a rookie head coach. I mean, there's a lot of stuff moving.

A brutal early schedule like week three to week 10 is brutal. Do you buy them? Do you think they're a playoff team? I would like to say they are a playoff team. And simply from the reason of how they finished last year, and I know they don't have the same defensive coordinator, They don't have the same head coach. But I truly believe this.

You have some continuity when you look at the guys who are playing with each other. OBJ, Jarvis Landry. And that's the accountability that nobody's not even talking about. Jarvis can have conversations with OBJ that the head coach can't. He can have those intimate conversations. He can challenge him in front of everybody because they've had these talks before, even going back to college. Yeah.

No, I know that people said that that was a real thing. OBJ to Cleveland, because I mean OBJ is sort of international. It works in Cleveland with Jarvis Landry. Takeo Spikes 15 years in the NFL. We got to go to hour three. Our show is flying by on a Friday, Sleptember. Go to Casper.com slash terms. Check it out, Sleptember.

10% off. Any mattress. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio. Notre Dame Heisman trophy finalists now part of a Fox kickoff on Saturday's Brady Quinn smart guy is joining us Fox Sports College Football analysts so we get a lot to talk about first of all I want to do a Notre Dame question before we get to the biggest game of the weekend I'm a fan of Brian Kelly I think the optics sometimes Brady are not good his face is orange he's screaming optics matter in life I think sometimes I mean if you go to his Wikipedia page there's a picture of him with his Notre Dame hat on he looks freezing unshaven and not I'm like, somebody's got to get a new Wikipedia picture. But I will tell you something. They adjust, and you know this. NFL teams are pretty good at adjusting, half to half.

College football, it is a coin flip. Notre Dame in that first quarter against Louisville was lost. By the third quarter, they had completely figured it out. When I watch Brian's teams, I see a well-coached, often-adjusting organization. Have you always been a fan? has he gotten better? How does it land for you? No, I've always been a fan for him just from my interactions with him, but I think as I've started to pay more attention to, even over the years,

the changes he's made to change with the times and remain competitive, it's what stood out to me. I mean, the fact that, you know, he at one point really wanted to take his hands off of things. And I think when he hired Mike Elko, is now the defensive coordinator at Texas NM. He brought in Chip Long as his offensive coordinator. You could kind of tell at that point in time, he really took his hands off. He was just going to manage everything. And I think that's where you've seen him.

Even calm down to some degree, much more on the sidelines. Tom Coughlin did that in his NFL career. He gave more away and came off the ledge a little. And I think to be able to change this late in his career, this old in life, just tells you he's still growing, he's still improving as a head coach. And I think there's something to be said for that. It's hard to do that. It's not human nature to be able to make those changes.

Usually you've built in those habits, and it's hard for you to get away from things that you may feel uncomfortable about. taking your hands off of some of the offensive play calling or defensive play calling. And I'm sure he chimes in from here time to time. But he's managing the team now. And now he's got the ability to watch what's happening out there on both sides of the ball. We're in all three phases and say these are the changes that we need to make. Here's what I'm seeing.

And then the coach can get together and come back with whatever their response is. And I think that was pretty evident Monday night watching them their opener versus Louisville. Lincoln Riley is a really smart guy. And he's taken now three transfers. and I didn't know much about Baker Mayfield great. I follow recruiting, so I knew Kyler Murray transfer great. And then Jalen Hertz, I watched at Alabama, and thought he was a liability throwing the ball. And then I watch him and I think, all right, what?

Where's the wizard coming from? What is the secret sauce? Is it the communication, the schematics? This is uncommon where you take three transfers. You don't even know the odometer, and they're all instant. Constantly, Powell, what's the secret sauce for Lincoln Riley? Well, it's, it starts with Lincoln, right? I mean, he's had a prolific offense dating back to his days at ECU and before he even became the head coach.

So it's in part the system. I think it helps you play in a conference in the Big 12 that, let's be honest, the defense isn't that good in comparison to the rest of the Power 5 conferences. And then you talk about elite talent at the quarterback position, right? Baker Mayfield is one of the most accurate quarterbacks I'd ever seen college or NFL level. Kyler Murray had the same ability to make special throws, but also her. hurt you with his legs. And now you've got a different type of quarterback who

is very capable throwing the football, but probably just as much, if not more so capable running and making plays with his legs. And so I think the thing that stands out to me is besides the talent that he's had, it's also been the fact that he's been willing to be flexible and creative with how he changes his

scheme to fit the strengths of each one of his quarterbacks. And that's usually the sign of a good coach, where sometimes other coaches will say this is my system. If you can't run this set of plays or this base package or whatever I feel comfortable with, I got to find a guy who can because I don't want to have to adapt or adjust. I'm going to run what I know.

I don't want to spend the time to go out and try to do something else that I haven't done before or figure out how to make you work in a system that I'm not comfortable with calling. So I think that's been something that's kind of flown under the radar is his flexibility to be able to make whatever his system is, work for whatever quarterback, and his traits or skill set is. You know, it's funny. Harbaugh is such a polarizing figure. I think he has his best offensive personnel.

I always saw Urban Meyer as more of a CEO. It's about the unit. Jim, to me, is more Elon Musk. He's more of the individual entrepreneur, lead by my chin. He would be the small business owner that gets rich. Right. You know, you can't really manage Jim. Jim is his own entrepreneur.

if Jim Harbaugh doesn't win the conference this year without Urban Meyer in it, is it now fair? Because I've been a Harbaugh proponent. Is it fair to criticize him? Is it fair to say you have underachieved at Michigan? Well, I think that story isn't done yet. I think it's fair to give him criticism, right? Because everyone's looking at their team now and looking at the fact that this transition

out of Ohio State from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day. Like, if you don't do it now, when? Right. And that's fair. So it's fair to criticize. but I also think that he's probably the most underappreciated coach in college football. When you look at really what he's done since he got there, right? The seven years prior to Jim Harbaugh, they're averaging six and a half wins a year.

They're averaging nine and a half now. And the Big Ten's better. And the Big Ten's gotten more competitive. And I think part of the reason why he's underappreciate is because, you know, around the time when Jim Harbaugh gets hired, Urban Meyer was hired. So you've got these big names now, right, that are entering the Big Ten. And look, growing up in Columbus, Ohio, you were, were always comparing Ohio State to Michigan and Michigan to Ohio State.

That was what it was. You know, that was what it was forever. And I remember when John Cooper was there and he didn't beat Michigan enough, he didn't win enough bowl games. And eventually that was his demise, even though he had some good football teams. Oh, he had some very good teams. But again, you got to beat the team up north and you got to win more bowl games. And so Jim Kressel came in and he did that.

But the unfair part, I think, for Harbaugh and this whole comparison between the two is, you know, Jim Harbaugh took over a program that was an entirely different circumstance than what Urban Meyer took over. I mean, look at the success that Jim Tressel had. He won a national championship after that 2002 season versus Miami. Recruiting was great. Recruiting was great. He went to back-to-back national championship games. Urban beat them in 2006 or after that season.

In 2007, they went again, lost LSU. But they were still right there. I mean, the cliff that Michigan fell off of through the Rich Rod to Brady-Hoke years was significant. You had seven years where they just weren't really competitive, at least not consistently. Yeah. And now he's brought them to a point where nine and a half, is the standard. They're probably playing in a New Year's sixth game pretty much every

year. And then this year, I think, could very well be the year that they compete, not only to win the Big Ten, but ended up making a run for the college football playoff. And look, national exposure. He came up with the idea to take them, you know, these kids over to Europe and let them travel and all that. He's made Michigan matter. Yes. He's

brought Michigan, one of the Blue Bloods in college football, back to the forefront. And that's something that I think has been underappreciated in all of this just because he hasn't beaten Ohio State and because he hasn't won enough bowl games. Brady Quinn joining us, of course, the big noon kickoff for Fox Sports. Urban Meyer,

Reggie Bush, Matt Liner, Brady, Rob Stone. Rob Stone, by the way, the only human on the air that never ages. He's 74 and still Benjamin Button. It's incredible. Okay, Texas LSU. I watched Texas beat Georgia last year and physically push

him around, but I say to myself, that game meant more to Texas than Georgia. My gut feeling is, Texas is a year away in recruiting to go toe to toe to with LSU. But Tom Herman's been a great underdog coach. Like last 15 games is an underdog. Like just as a betting guy, like they've covered 13, they've won most. Oh, yeah.

So my gut feeling is Texas takes this to the last possession. But I don't think Texas is quite there yet. Is that fair? I think that's fair. You know, when Sam Ellinger announced staff of the ball game that Texas is back, you know, it's easier to say that after that particular win, right? Now is the time where you need to prove that you're back because it's not just about winning the Big 12

because I do think they're back in contention for the Big 12. They very well could win it this year. Yes. But it's national contention. That's where people are talking about, are they back? Are they back to the Vince Young kind of era, Cole McCoy, where they were competitive and they were close? You know, so this is a time now where I'm saying,

if you think you're back, you've got to win this game. And I think the odds are obviously against them. If I was a gaming man, right? I might take the points. Right. Right. But at the same time, I think if you look at the changes that Ogeron has made, bringing in Joe Brady.

Yes. To me, that's going to be the difference in this one. I agree too. Finally, weird story. Kyler Marie had an interview with Dan. Patrick. Dan's a very good interviewer. It was awful. He didn't talk.

There's a story that came out this week where Cliff Kingsbury said, you have to pull words out of him. And I said, all quarterbacks in the NFL that work have one thing in common. Not all them have a great arm, not all move. Eli's not an athlete. They're all verbal. That's why most of you guys end up on TV. You've got to communicate to your tackle, to your guard.

The tight end that you didn't throw to enough. You've got to tell them, I love you, big fella. Next week, the coverage is different. I hear that story on Kyner Murray, NFL, and I think, oh, no, this is the Marioota problem, where Marcus is not a verbal person and quarterback's a verbal, you're a very verbal person. Can you win in the NFL not being verbal?

No, you can't. But let's also remind ourselves, Kyle Murray played one year, one year of major college football. Started one year. So when you look at him, he's still got a lot of maturing and growing to do in that regard. And even Dwayne Haskins last year, when I remember going to see him early in the season before he called a ball game, and then later on in the year, that was what the coaches were telling you,

is he's not verbal enough. He's not speaking up when we feel like something needs to be said. By the end of the year, he was starting to do that. So maybe that's a little bit of the case with Kyle of Murray. But also you have the thing about the offense is that they're running now. You know, like back in the old days, when you actually huddled, you know, you were having someone either signaling the play and you're telling everyone what the play is. You're communicating to each individual guy that's an eligible receiver, what their route is, what you're expecting from them. So naturally before the play even starts, you're already communicating and working on that with them.

That was part of the job. Now these guys in college, they just look to the sidelines. They get a signal. Guys are signaling elsewhere to the receivers and maybe the linemen. And that's how they're moving forward with the way they're playing the game. So I think that kind of plays a role too because it's not, they don't necessarily have to anymore to be successful at the college level to communicate at that level like they need to at the NFL level.

So I think that's something that can grow over time and probably will for Caller Murray as he gets more experience. Okay, it's called the Big Noon kickoff. Brady's on it, Urban Meyer, Reggie Bush, Matt Liner at Rob Stone, 11 a.m. in the morning, another weekend of college football, some good games. By the way, UCLA and Chip Kelly will win this weekend. That's my paper. That didn't work out last week, did it?

They played 22 games against San Diego State. They've never lost. I'm going with UCLA this weekend. It's great having you on the show. Love to have you back. Yes. All right, joy with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I'm going to trust you on that UCLA pick, Colin. It's my pick of the weekend. I'm going to trust you. I mean, it makes sense. It makes sense. They were missing four offensive starters.

They're a bunch of freshmen. They had to go on the road. They're going to blow out San Diego State. Okay. Well, Antonio Brown, reportedly, apologize to his teammates today for his confrontation with GM Mike Mayock. Jacina Anderson reported that it was a very emotional apology with the team captains standing alongside him. And apparently that apology paid off. Here is what John Gruden said at practice today.

Antonio's back today. We're really excited about that. Ready to move on. He's had a lot of, obviously, time to think about things. We're happy to have him back. And I know Raider Nation is excited about that too. All right, guys. Thank you very much. Good Lord. That's the plan. That's the plan.

Yes. So the plan is to have Antonio Brown play on Monday. I'll watch. I'll watch. Oh, we're all going to watch. The whole world is going to watch this. The Raiders source told Josina Anderson that the team treated AB like a family member during the apology. I remember during Hard Knocks, he said, Mark Davis said we are a dysfunctional family, but we are a family.

Yes, they are. Look, who knows what's going to happen with? Who knows what's going to happen next? We're all just watching this unfold. As you said earlier, no one can predict what the next step is because there's no formula that the Raiders have for handling any of this. They don't use that. You know, it's funny, though, in most sports, in the NBA, a bad team's not interesting.

In baseball, a bad team's not interesting. The NFL has a history where sometimes teams that are bad are fascinating. I can't take my eyes off the Raiders. I mean, tell me a sport where a team that's going to go four and 12, or win that percentage of games, I'm going to watch Monday night. You have to watch the ratings. Because in general, most of those sports,

especially if you're just comparing it to the NBA, you can't have a superstar, a superstar like Antonio Brown's level and be that bad in the NBA. You're going to win enough games to be somewhat in the middle of the pack. So there's a difference there. And there's multiple superstars in the situation because you have John Gruden and Antonio Brown.

But this just goes to show that the Raiders really don't have a set culture for how they're going to handle anything. I'm glad Antonio Brown's going to be out there, but what does this mean? What does this mean moving forward? Here's my question. So Mike Mayock wanted to suspend him.

A day later, he's starting. I don't know how you swing from, okay, he's going to be suspended. He's not going to be back with the team. He likely could lose $30 million of guaranteed money. He's being held back by his teammates. Yesterday, he was going to lose. All is guaranteed money.

Today, Gruden says he's starting. So did Mike Mayock basically, did Gruden take him in and say, no, no, no, I got a tenure contract. He's starting. Or. I mean, I seriously. I mean, now I don't know what to think. What really happened in that room?

Was it really as dramatic as we heard yesterday? Or maybe it was not dramatic. Or maybe Mike Mayhock said something that triggered Antonio Brown into that space. Like, who knows what could happen now? Because we don't, this is honestly, this is crazy. I'm going to say, this is crazy. I don't know any place on Earth where you can. do what Antonio Brown allegedly did.

Not just this situation. Like everything that's led up to this, the posting of the fines, the helmet Instagram post, the confrontation, and missing training camp for those things. And then allegedly saying what he said to Mike Mayock and acting how he did.

Starting. There's nothing. I don't. Again, I find bizarre people and dysfunctional organizations impossible to predict. So I'm going to watch that. which, by the way, is why they went on hard knocks,

which is why they're selling a bunch of tickets in Vegas. They're wildly entertaining. I just don't know where you do that at. Where can you talk to your boss like that? Nowhere in the world, mostly, yeah. It's crazy. So O'Dow Beckham has been dealing with a hip injury all preseason. He is not listed on the injury report and expects to play Sunday,

but he admits he is not feeling 100%. I mean, this is something I've never had to deal with. It's like an extremely fast car with like a little alignment or something off. you know, and it's like right in the center of what you need. Now, the car can still go, but it's dangerous, you know what I mean? So it's just something that I've just been trying to figure out in and out of rehab every single day. Never really dealt with anything like that. Again, the second most interesting team in the league or maybe first is Cleveland.

There's just a bunch of moving parts, and I think they'll be good, but no, no. Yeah, I don't think anyone knows what to expect of Cleveland. expectations and the public loves them obviously. By the way, three teams I did not put in my Blazing Five today because I think they could be really good, but I have no idea. The Jets, the Browns, and the Niners. The teams I bet in my Blazing Five, I know what I'm mostly going to get. I think the Jets and the Browns are going to be in that nine and seven space battling

for a playoff. I think San Francisco is going to be in the nine and seven space battling for a playoff. But man, you talk about the Browns are the youngest team. The Niners have the youngest weapons, and the Jets have a young quarterback and a new coach. Those three teams, I'm like, I have to watch them for three weeks. I don't know what I'm going to get. And with Odell, it's like everyone's excited, even if you're not really interested in what the Browns are going to do, it feels like Odell is a story all in himself.

Oh, absolutely. So him coming into the season, not being 100 percent, obviously, isn't great to hear. But then again, coming out of training camp, like who's really at 100%. You want to be your healthiest at this point, but I don't know if anyone's at 100%. Finally, Zika has this new deal, and the Cowboys are hoping that Dak will be locked in next. Both sides are still negotiating, and Stephen Jones is confident they'll make it happen. He said, I can't imagine Dak doesn't know what we think of him. We're trying to put the best team around him.

We want him to win Super Bowls. He's going to be the quarterback around here for many, many years to come. I know a lot of people don't believe in Dak. I do because I think that winning is the most important thing at the end of the day. Stats are fun and they're great for fantasy football, but at the end of the day, I want you to win. Goff to sign a four-year $130 million extension with $110 million guaranteed. Obviously, we know what Jared Goff's start to his career was in the NFL.

But if you look at the regular season wins, like he's going to be compared to Jared Goff and Carson Wentz. Dak has 32 regular season wins. Gop has 24. Wentz is 23. And Goff has one more playoff win than Dak Prescott does. It'll be interesting. So last year, you didn't have Amari Cooper to start the year. You didn't have Randall Cobb.

You didn't have Jason Whetton. and Michael Gallup was a true rookie. So now a year later, the O-Lines healthier. Michael Gallup had a great preseason. Amari Cooper's ready. Randall Cobb's here and Jason Witten. Like, DAC now has real weapons. Like, this is the best group of players around DAC easily in his third year.

It's the best offense that he's had in his career. No question. They, this should be, and I believe this with Dak, I thought the last seven games last year, I thought he was a better quarterback. I don't think he's Mahomes. But I watched him last year and I'm like, oh, he's getting better. He's not done growing. But, like, why does he have to be Mahomes?

Well, I would, I think ideally, Mahomes is Brett Farve. I would love that kind of talent. I think Mahomes. Well, yeah, I mean, everyone would love to have Mahomes, but, like, that's what makes those talents so special is that they're so unique and rare and outliers. Like, I don't, I get that you want Dak to have all of those factors,

but to me, the ability that he has had to keep the Cowboys, not only relevant, but a steady ship, considering what's gone on in his careers. It's been with the Dallas Cowboys is pretty remarkable on top of actual winning. So I don't know. I think he's going to end up getting the contract that he wants. And I don't think he's going to take a discount. All right. Joy with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurdline News. Coming out one of my favorite segments up the weekend of Friday, wrapping it up. Jason McIntyre, tomorrow's headlines today coming up next. Sleptember is an entire month dedicated to Casper and Sleeping. as well as you can.

Pillows, duvets, everything from dog beds, mattresses, obviously. Sleptember, go to casper.com. Right now through September night, 10% off all mattresses. Third. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies,

and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls,

we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to 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. 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

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growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. What's up guys? This is Clever-Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff,

like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This line's, You know these kids. 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 of 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on.

I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions.

You're going to look at stats and numbers. He has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarter. quarter finals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Car Shopping's confusing. A lot of terms. Don't be confused at TrueCar. Newer used. Doesn't matter. You'll know what the fees are before you get to the dealership. Truecar.com. Jason McIntyre founded the big lead. Now he's at Fox Sports Radio. FS1. He joins us every Friday at this time. He's a former news. guy that ditched that industry, moved into radio, TV, digital, and all that stuff. And so when we got Jason McIntyre, we said, we want you to be our newspaper publisher, our newspaper editor. So you give us the headlines, which you think we will have on Monday morning.

So you're ready to go? For week one, yeah. Are we going to watch any games together or no? Or are you an isolation guy when it comes to watching games? I'm an isolation. I am kind of myself. I have three TVs. I've got to watch the jets on my phone because obviously they're not live here.

And I do love Sundays. I order some unhealthy food and just nine hours of football or whatever the number is. I can't wait. I'm so excited. Okay. Who will win the Giants Cowboys matchup tomorrow's headlines today, Giants Cowboys? Well, I used to play this game with my kids called Duck Duck Goose. And I think the headline Monday will be Dak, Dak lose.

I've got the New York Giants pulling a massive upset. They're big underdogs here. And the great research team on the herd pulled up some numbers. Dak Prescott's played in three week one games in his career, right? He's only going to his fourth year. He's been ordinary, Colin, one touchdown, one fumble, that's it. Notoriously slow starter. Look at these week one numbers.

Wow. And again, this is not against awesome competition. Two games against the Giants, and they played the Panthers last year in Carolina, big let down there. Zeke is late to the party. The Zeeke is late to the party. Amari Cooper's barely practiced for the last month. Two of their best defenders are coming off-season surgery.

I think it's a slow start, and I got to create. crazy number. You know, I do a lot of gambling stuff for Fox Sports. Divisional underdogs in week one, the last five years, are 18 and four against the spread. Wow. Because they're coming in with a chip on their shoulder. We're big underdogs. They don't know they're bad yet. Rivalry game, exactly. And the Cowboys, let's be realistic. They're thinking Super Bowl. I saw Joy has picked the Cowboys to go to the Super Bowl. Nobody's talking about Cowboys Giants.

They're just overlooking this game. I think the Giants shocked them in Dallas and Cowherd. Monday is going to be a big one for your show. Okay. Tomorrow's headlines today. Colts Chargers matchup. Well, it's sell Colts stock week, right? You're in with the Colts, obviously. And I disagree. I think the headline Monday will be Colts make their own luck.

I agree with you. I've got them going to the Chargers and winning. We know the Chargers don't have a home field advantage. Right. Okay, out here, there's none whatsoever. Against the spread last year as a home favorite, just two and five. They don't deliver when everybody expects them to. I think with the left tackle injury to Russell Okung,

That's significant. I think they, first of all, their old line is a bottom seven-old line in the league, and now they don't have their left tackle. That's significant, especially since the Colts went out and upgraded their defensive line in the off-season. Justin Houston. I like the receiver additions, Paris Campbell and the draft,

Devin Funches. I think they're going to be fine without Andrew Luck. That's not a knock-on luck, just to be clear. No, their ceilings lowered, but their infrastructure is exceptional. 100%. The GM has done a great job putting this team together. They're going to be able to run on this defense. Remember, no Derwin James, the great safety for the Chargers.

I like the culture. I think Vegas is off on this line. It's six and a half. I think it's going to come down by game time. Tomorrow's headlines today. Let's talk Steelers Patriots. Big game Sunday night. Obviously, you know, the Patriots.

They own the Steelers. Tom Brady 5-0 at home against the Steelers. I believe the headline will be Big Ben, small Tom. Sorry, Brady. I like the Steelers to go in and pull off what's going to be an upset. Remember two years ago, Alex Smith and the Chiefs went into New England,

the opener, hung like 40 points on Belichick. Belichick and the Patriots starts slow. Now they're down. Their center. Left tackle questions. No Grankowski. This Steelers defense is going to be nasty this year. We saw them last year. We can say all we want about the preseason. The preseason

means something. The Steelers' defense looked great. James Washington looked great. T.J. Watt is a sleeper to lead the league in Sacks. The Steelers were tied for the NFL lead in Sacks last year. Mike Tomlin, nobody's talking about the Steelers. Strangely, it's all Browns, right? It's all Chiefs. It's all Patriots in the AFC.

Everybody's sleeping on the Steelers. I like them to go in, and the guy want to keep an eye on is their new linebacker. They got out of Michigan in the draft, Mr. Bush. He is going to control Sonny Michelle. I like the Steelers to shock the Patriots. Yeah, Devin Bush, when Ryan Chaser got hurt. They lost their sort of sideline-to-sideline. Linebacker.

Bush can get sideline to sideline. Very rangy. They were missing that. So I agree with you. All right. Tomorrow's headlines today, let's talk Rams' Panthers. So I heard you going off about Goff and all this stuff this week. We're going to get to him in a moment.

I got bad news for the Rams. The headline Monday will be Ram Bam. Thank you, Cam. I've got the Panthers pulling the upside here. Now, listen, Colin, this line in the summer was three. It's down to one and a half. There is big professional money coming in on the Carolina Panthers. And let's get to golf for a moment, okay?

Very nice quarterback in the McVeigh's system. If Goff's worth $100 million, what's McVeigh worth? Because you know McVeigh with that system can make people stars. I'm not knocking Goff, but his home stats last year, 22 touchdowns, three picks. What did you do on the road? 10 touchdowns, nine interceptions. Away from home, the friendly conference. finds. We saw him in a big spot in Chicago last year, lay a massive egg. I think Goff's in for a tough

week one game. Remember, we talk about the trenches a lot because we want to help people get smarter. Two offensive linemen left the Rams in the offseason. There are a couple new guys in there. I think what the Panthers did, getting Gerald McCoy from Tampa and the defensive end, the kid burns from FSU. He was lights out in the preseason. Panthers are going to win this game. My only concern is Goff didn't play in the preseason, and last year he didn't play in the preseason. He was dreadful against the Raiders. I do think, and Aaron Rogers, by the way, last night, didn't play in the preseason. It was a really bad first half.

Mr. Trubisky, at least he was very good. All right, tomorrow's headlines today. Finally, let's talk Jags cheese. Yeah, I lobbied hard for Jets bills and they nixed it because, obviously, you know, it's the Jets. I think the headline will be, the lights are on, but no one's Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes, everybody's gassed up about him. Oh, he's going to duplicate it. Just a quick reminder, last year against the Jags.

Only game he did not throw a touchdown. Lowest passer rating of the season. Jags kind of bottled him up, and this was without Leonard Fournette. They were in that game. If Bortles doesn't throw four, you're laughing. You think they have no chance. I think that's the best headline you've ever had on this show. Ever, wow.

The lights are on, but no one's Mahomes. It's very good. I don't think it's accurate, but it's very good. I don't think it's accurate. Listen, everybody's got Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Regression is the key word for the Chiefs this year, Oh, regression. They're going to come back a little bit.

How many games they win last year? 12, 13? I think it was 13, yeah. They're probably a 10 or 11 win team. That's a little regression. Did they win 12, Sam? Okay, I think they went 11. So you come down to 10.

You got a first place schedule. You have a defense with like five new guys. I don't think the Chargers are as good this year. I don't know. I think L.A. is going into the year with a lot of mess. All right, so we're done with this stuff. I want to talk about last night. Greg Jennings came on earlier and he said, listen.

The Charger, or the Packers didn't show you a lot. Now, we know the Bears' defense is good, duh. But it was really a green bait didn't do anything. Well, listen, we talked about them in the offseason. They added two awesome pass rushers. They stole a safety from the Bears. Right. And their defense was incredible.

Trubisky throws two passes that were basically interceptions that the Packers dropped. And you could see the confidence instantly wane. It was like when we played tennis. When I started hitting the ball hard into the net, I'm like, no, no, not doing that. I'm going to hit the lobs. And Trabisky started to do the checkdowns, the like four or five-yard passes. You're not looking downfield. You're not threatening the defense.

They can come play up and they just bum rushed. Yeah, no, you can see. Confidence is a huge thing in quarterbacks. A-Rod. I mean, you can look at historically great players in sports. Like, you lose confidence fast. And I, like Trabisky last night, but the end of that game, like, I don't think Mitch trusted Mitch. I got guys tweeting at me, hey, maybe the bear should call the Dolph

about Josh Rosen. Like, that's the level of panic around the bears after one game. Like, that's a little silly. Trubisky's going to be okay, right? We're not writing him off as total garbage, are we? It's one game. I think he's a very limited player. Okay, well, I mean, is he better than Dak Prescott? No, no. Is he better than Andy Dalton? No. Wow. Really? I mean, Trubisky's a guy who threw for 300 yards in a playoff game against the Eagles last year at home. Now, they lost. I don't necessarily think it was his fault,

but Trubisky was fine last year. He's a good quarterback. He's a 15 to 20 guy in the league, right? In that 15 to 20 range. Jacoby Berset just got 50. No, no, I don't mean million. I mean quality, like a 15th or 20th best quarterback in the league. Which is where Dalton and Dakar.

He's no way he's top 15. Closer to 20? I think he's closer to 24. Woo! 24, that's bottom of the barrel. That's like Eli Manning. Listen to Goulet. Goulet in my ear.

More touchdowns than DAC last year. In two less games, by the way. Yeah, but that's because Matt Nagy is an exceptional. Hey, I got to say Nagy last night was questionable. Dude, he ran the new running back five times in the first quarter. The kid had one carry the rest of the game. Like, what is that? What's your game plan?

Too much Mike Davis? I thought Nagy had a rough game, but it was more about the Packers being awesome last night. You got any good upsets this week? I miss the Blaz and five. I'll go look at it online. Do a little homework. All right, MDrive. Competing today takes efforts.

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