The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Bears-Seahawks, Josh Gordon, Steelers, and the Herd Hierarchy

Episode Date: September 18, 2018

Colin discusses the Bears-Seahawks game and their issues, why he feels the New England Patriots and WR Josh Gordon won't work, the continued drama going on for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Herd Hierarchy. Guests include Peter Schrager, Von Miller, Albert Breer, and Tony Gonzalez. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021.

And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of, Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA.

Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

This is The Herd on a Tuesday, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me, loaded today. Everybody from Von Miller of the Denver Broncos, their 2-0, Tony Gonzalez, Pete Schrager, joining us, breaking stories in Pittsburgh and New England. Joy Taylor is joining me on a Tuesday today. We've got Monday night football game to talk about? Yes. Good point.

Proud tradition. Chicago Bears, Monsters of the Midway, and Pete Carroll's Seahawks. I want to start with the Chicago Bears. Have you ever been driving down the road and there's like, there's a car up there and it's not moving very fast

and you're in traffic. You could be on a small country road. You could be, you know, I grew up in a small town. And you see this sometimes. You're driving on that small road. What's going on up there? Why is it so slow? And all of a sudden you move up. And about five minutes later, you look up and it's the driver's ed car with the driver's education teacher and the student driver. And on the back it says student driver, be slow. That was the Bears offense last night. The coach Matt Nagy is the driver's ed teacher and Mitch Trevisky is the student driver.

and that offense, that wasn't a win last night. That was an indictment. The Bears are the L.A. Rams if the Rams had no offense. You have this super clever offensive coach. Rams have Sean McVeigh. And the Bears have Matt Nagy. Super clever. I mean, you can watch that game and not even know football.

And the motions and the traps and the screens and the sets. The Bears look like the Rams. They have a different playbook. You've got tremendous special teams with the Rams and the Bears way above average. And you've got defensive studs with the Rams. And you've got defensive studs with the Bears. The difference is one has an offense. I mean, forget sealing.

The Chicago Bears offensive ceiling is a crawl space. That's a college offense. I'm looking at the box score from last night. You would have no idea. If you didn't watch that game and you'd took the box score. You would think that was an evenly matched game. And it wasn't.

Chicago's defensive line mauled the Seahawks' offensive line for three and a half hours. The Bears were at home. They had a 10-minute edge time of possession. They had six sacks and basically a pick six decided it. 24-17. What do you think the Rams would have done with that Seahawk team last night? That game wasn't even competitive, but Russell Wilson kept his team alive, and Mitch Trubisky kept his team in training wheels. I mean, think about this.

The first round quarterbacks picked in 2017 were Trubisky, Baholmes, and Deshaun Watson. Trubisky's got 12 touchdowns in 14 starts. Watson's got 24 and 8. Mahomes has 10 and 3 stars. Now, here's the good news for the Chicago Bears. is in the NFL, here's the thing you can't be at quarterback. You can't be chaotic. You can't be Buffalo.

That's what you can't be. And the bears in the last 30 years have been chaotic a lot. So the good news for the Chicago Bears, beyond the great special teams, the great defense, and that tremendously clever head coach, they are not chaotic at quarterback. And that's a thing. but the ceiling on that offense, if you put anybody, Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, I mean, you could put B guys in this league on that offense. Give Cam Newton those weapons.

That clever offensive coordinator, that defense, those special teams, wow. You can't win in January and February with that. By the way, you can win a lot of games with a low ceiling. quarterback. Ryan Tannehill wins 7 a year. Andy Dalton wins in his career 80 year, but you're looking at the L.A. Rams with no offense. That's what they are. I'm watching the Bears last night. That offensive coach, Matt Nagy, is so clever. Those special teams are so above average, and that defense has playmakers everywhere. The difference is, I don't want to hear anybody out there bang on the Rams and support the Bears, because that's the Rams. But the Rams have a

quarterback who also went number one, who has a much higher ceiling, who has a much higher ceiling. So let me talk about the other team last night, Monday night football, the Seahawks. Once again, Russell Wilson's running for his life. Once again, there's no running game. Once again, the offensive lines of mass. Once again, below average at wide receiver and tight end. Yeah. Yep.

Pete Carroll, USC, New England, and the Seahawks. Starts hot. Everybody's talking about them. Crazy fun, crazy wild. And then with USC and the Seahawks by year nine, the slogans don't work. There are four teams, five teams in the NFL, O and two. The coaches are guys like Steve Wilkes, Matt Patricia, Pat Schumer. in the NFC, the fourth coach with an O&2 record is Pete Carroll,

and he's the only one with the great quarterback. I always felt this. You ever heard of Tony Robbins? I've been watching Tony Robbins. I've known of him for 35 years. Tony Robbins at 29 years old, he's that big giant motivational speaker at 29 years old for $10 million, $15 million bought a resort in Fiji. And he is not a scam.

He is still working, selling out arenas. Tony Robbins, absolutely, that's a real business, and I do think he helps people. I have not seen Tony Robbins. I've watched a couple of documentaries on Tony Robbins. I've met Tony Robbins. He seems like a likable guy. He is flawed like all of us, but that's a real business. But the problem with Tony Robbins is when you're in the arena and a couple of weeks

after that stadium and that motivational speech, three or four weeks later, you're at home. you're preoccupied, you're tired, your dog's next to you, and you just want a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, and you don't feel like you're going to change the world. You fall back into routine and patterns, and once Tony's not there to go raw and sweat and yell and scream, you come back down to earth. Because in real life, nobody's that motivated every day.

Pete Carroll's very similar. Pete Carroll has Tell the Truth Monday. That's what he calls Seahawk practice. Tell the truth Monday. Be honest with yourself. Look at film. There's competition Wednesday. There's turnover Thursday when we talk about the importance of ball security.

There's no repeat Friday slogans. Last night was a mediocre Monday. That Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, the reason this dynasty lasts for 18 years, it's built on academics and those last. and the reason Nick Saban has a decade-long dynasty that appears to be stronger than ever because it's built on details and those last. And Pete Carroll, a lot of it's built on slogans and emotion. Bra, those don't last. Slogans, you know, you've all gone, seen the Hallmark card.

It's not the destination. It's the journey. You see that card, that poster, you put it on a wall, it doesn't mean anything. Maybe in the moment at Hallmark, you open the car, it kind of feels special. I mean, Tony Robbins is great, and Pete Carroll's a very good coach. I'm not saying either one of them is a scam. I'm not.

Pete won his Super Bowl was a great college coach. I mean, from the looks of it, he may get that USC job again if he wants it. And by the way, Tony Robbins, that's a real business. I'm old enough to remember Tony Robbins doing infomercials with Fran Tarkinton. I remember him as a kid when we didn't have cable TV. Not much of it. Okay, but in the end, Tony Robbins is a lot richer than all the people go into his auditoriums. Because once you're in the room and raw, raw and yeah, change your life.

Go to the moon. This is amazing. We're going to, yeah, sweat, slogans, awesome. Three weeks later, you get home. You just want a beer and some macaroni and cheese. Your kids are wearing your arse out. You're preoccupied. you really don't want to go to the refrigerator to get the beer you're tired your boss is driving

you crazy you got stuck in traffic that's real life real life's not slogans that's why belichick's dynasty last and that's why sabin's dynasty lasts because smarts and details last you can be smart every day you can be detailed every day slogans don't last tell the truth monday competition wednesday day. That was mediocre Monday right there last night. Nine years in at USC and nine years in with the Seahawks. Players have all heard the slogans. Remember Cliff Everill, the former Seahawks told us before the season. Cliff Avril before the season came on the show. Remember what he said about the raw raw stuff?

Me personally, I'm not going to lie, I never listened to Coach Carroll. I never needed him to kind of motivate me on game day or for practice. I understood it was a job. I understood what I needed to do. So I never really paid attention personally. Now, for other guys, I could see how, you know, the message could get crossed a little bit, especially after like the Super Bowl run

when guys started kind of questioning what our foundation was after that play. By the way, people always say to me, why don't you like Pete Carroll? And I'm like, I like Pete Carroll. And I like Tony Robbins. I'm not calling it a scam. I'm not saying what they're doing doesn't work, but there's an end to it.

It unravels. You can sell guys in the room, but Pete's not always in the room. And Tony Robbins can sell you on the tape and in the auditorium, but you don't have Tony Robbins energy. And you don't have Tony Robbins size, gravitas, history. And in the end, academics and details last. No repeat Friday. The only repetition I'm seeing is once again the offensive line's awful,

the running game's awful. The receivers are below average, and Russell Wilson's running for his life. I'm seeing repeat Sunday and Monday all the time. Coming up next, Josh Gordon. Is he going to be Randy Moss to the Patriots? Some are suggesting that. Peter Shregger this hour too, all coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Draft Kings, $2 million bucks in prizes this weekend. Go to their app or go to draftkings.com. Code is always heard. H-E-R-D-5-M-M minimum deposit required. DraftKings.com code heard Peter Schrager in less than 10 minutes. The update would join a second. So the Browns traded their enigmatic star receiver, Josh Gordon, who was really good for one year, five years ago,

to the Patriots for a lower round draft pick. I checked this morning in Las Vegas. The Patriot's Super Bowl odds did not change. The Patriots AFC East odds did not change. The Patriots game odds did not change. I don't think this long term works. Some stuff works briefly, but is not sustainable. But let me address the Randy Moss and Josh Gordon comparisons.

I don't buy them for a second. Randy Moss was never suspended for drugs, and Randy Moss was a football savant who could memorize a playbook in two hours. Josh Gordon is not focused enough to work long term with Brady. Comparing Randy Moss and Josh Gordon because they're wide receivers

is like comparing Christian Bale and Charlie Sheen because they're actors. Randy Moss and Christian Bale are world-class tax. balance, okay, who are difficult. Yes, they're difficult. They're not dysfunctional. Randy Moss is difficult. I work with him. And Christian Bale on a movie set is difficult. But first of all, Randy Moss is better than Josh Gordon and Christian Bale's a lot better than Charlie Sheen. Charlie Sheen's dysfunctional. Josh Gordon's completely dysfunctional.

I don't get these comparisons at all. Here's one of the things I've known enough people from Mike Lombardi to people, you know, Teddy Bruske's guys inside the New England Patriot Organization. Here's how the game works. They've got an incredibly demanding offense. And they ask you to figure it out really quickly. They'll put a package or two in for this guy. They'll throw over the top a couple of times. He may pop for a play or two.

But are you focused? Because if you're not, it's not sustainable. And are you going to work really, really, really hard? for the next 20 weeks, there's no history of this. I mean, the last time this guy was good, Peyton Manning was the best quarterback on the NFL, and Johnny Mansell was the talk of college football. I mean, even the Patriots in their press release.

When they talk about Josh Gordon, they're talking about the 2013 season. I mean, there's a press release. Oh, my God, it was a, oh, my whole Lord, he was great in 2013. I don't want to hear the Randy Moss stuff. Again, my entire life, I've worked in the media, right, 25 years. I've worked with intense, difficult people.

Here's what I know doesn't work. Disfunctional people. Josh Gordon's one of those guys. If you're a coach, you're looking out the window at the parking lot, crossing your fingers that he shows up. You never have to worry about Christian Bale. He'll show up. Randy Moss, he'll show up, and they'll test you, and they'll push you, and they'll poke you, and they'll prod you, and they're difficult, and they'll be demanding. I get that.

I mean, you can't play. If you're trying to get a locker room of guys who aren't demanding, you're not going to have a championship locker room. Golden State's locker room is demanding. They have fights. It's well chronicled. New England's had fights. Alabama's got issues.

I mean, coaches go, work, get out of there with Nick Saban. It's not easy. But there's a difference between difficult and dysfunctional. And I don't see this thing working very long at all. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So the Steelers' rollercoaster continues. Ed Breschetti of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that Antonio Brown did not show up for team meetings and film review yesterday. He also caused a stir on Twitter when he fired back at a former Steelers PR staffer who said Brown is lucky to be on that team that drafted him and that his success is because of Big Ben. And he responded that they should trade him. Mike Tomlin just spoke for seven minutes straight.

Oh, he did. Yes. he was just up there filibustering before taking questions and his fourth question I believe was about Antonio Brown and he said that he is not going to address things that happen on social media publicly

and he also confirmed that Antonio Brown was not at work on Monday and will not get into whether or not he was excused from work. Well, as the world turns I would say this. This is what's amazing. There are three,

best players, Big Band, Labian Bell, and Antonio Brown. Name another organization in sports, have all in the last year said either, trade me, I don't want to be here, or maybe I'll just retire. Can you imagine in the Dallas Cowboys Hayday, if Emmett, Aikman, and Michael Irvin in a year would have said, I'm out, trade me, I want more money, I'm not showing up, maybe I'll retire. Like you'd say, Jimmy Johnson, what's going on in the locker room? Like, I don't know what's happening in the locker room. Sometimes it's not right in that locker room. I'm a very big supporter of Mike Tomlin, but it's starting to look like a little bit.

We started the show talking about Pete Carroll. It's a little bit going off the rails. Like, there's a lack of institutional control. Let me throw a sub-matchez. Who are the two coaches that everybody likes that in the last couple of years have unraveled? Pete Carroll and Mike Tomlin? What has happened in the last four or five years in America with pro athletes, social media? The Seahawks active on social media.

The Steelers, Facebook, Twitter, active on social media. These coaches both tend to be permissive coaches. Let players do what they want. Let them be outspoken. Let them get into politics. To me, Seattle and Pittsburgh feel very similar. Permissive enabling. coaches, not very restrictive, and social media is amplifying very quickly all of their

problems. I just think that you have to have a balance. If you look at, say, the NBA, I mean, NBA players are very active on social media. They're very socially active, have big brands and big personalities. Not banging on their teammates. But that's what I'm saying. You have to have a balance. You have to have a very strict understanding that this is, I mean, football is the ultimate

team game. Yes, everybody has a brand. Yes, everybody has an opinion. And yes, everyone has an ego, but at the end of the day, you can't just, you can't, this is just not acceptable. No. You can't do it. They're a math. It really is.

It's, it's starting to look that way. I've always defended Tomlin and obviously the Steelers are, you know, cornerstone organization in the NFL. But it's just starting to get bizarre at this point. So former Patriots linebacker, Rob Ninkovich, has some opinions on the Josh Gordon signing. He told W.E.I.I. That the environment in New England might not match with Gordon's. mindset. Say listen.

There's guys that fit and there's guys that don't. There's a certain personality that has to be considered when you're, when you play for the Patriots. And I question his love for the game if you're, if you've been suspended so many times to where, or you hurt your hamstring doing a video for some type of endorsement when you practiced all week. I mean, isn't that letting down your teammate? WEEI, excuse me.

I, I, I, I think he's right. I don't know. I think that. If there's any organization that can get him back on the straight and narrow, it would be the Patriots because they have a very low tolerance policy for any kind of nonsense. But I think he's simplifying the issues with Josh Gordon. It's not a matter of Josh Gordon being irresponsible. Some of it's drug addiction, right?

Yes, of course. I mean, he's in the drug program. He's been suspended for drug use. That's the issue here. That's far more powerful than any other device. that you're struggling with, is that? His addiction, of course. Like, this isn't a matter of him, you know, like not taking football seriously.

He has an addiction issue. So, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I just do think that the Patriots are the one organization that if he was going to get his career back on track, that's where it would be. Finally, Deshaun Jackson thinks that the Bucks should stick with the hot hand. That is Ryan Fitzpatrick. James Winston is eligible to return from suspension after week three.

But Jackson thinks Fitzmaid should remain the starter. he's playing on fire right now and the way the team is rallying behind him and just playing you know lights out football look you have to kind of honor it you know what I'm saying um you know you can't take the hot man out he got the hot fire right now it's like NBA Jim we used to play NBA Jim we're young whoever's got that hot fire shot you got to keep you shoot man Nice reference there. You do have to keep with the hot fire. Listen, Tampa Bay has been really bad for years, and they've drafted pretty well on offense, and now you're seeing the advantage. And Cleveland's been really bad for years,

and they drafted really well on defense, and now you're seeing the Brown's defense is like leading the NFL and takeaways. Like, you see it in baseball all the time. If you're like the Houston Astros are terrible for years, you're getting all these number one picks and these top picks, and after a while, three or four years later, they come through minor league baseball,

really good baseball team. Tampa Bay's offense has got some star players taken way high in the draft, and the Bears' defense has star players taken way up in the draft, and now you're seeing the dividends. This is a big endorsement by Deshawn Jackson. Normally,

if the starting quarterback is out for any reason for a suspension... You defend him. Yes. Or you say, you know, Fitzpatrick's been playing great, but we're going to get our guy back, and he's done a great job and maintaining the team, and we're happy to have wins. No, he's like, forget it.

That's really what he just said. Like, you need to stick with Fitzpatrick. It wasn't even a thought that James Winston wasn't going to be the franchise quarterback. Well, he's good. Before this suspension happened. Yeah, James Winston dug his own grave here. It's not like it was just an injury. Like, if it was an injury with James, it would feel different.

Right. But James, because of immaturity, put himself in a bad spot. I have no problem not playing James again. I would feel terrible if James was excellent, ripped up his ankle. and was ready to go in a week. James is not playing because of James. Right. This is all on James.

So I have no problem not playing him all year. I have no problem. That's the way life works. I think that that's probably what's happening here, is that if he was injured, I don't think you'd hear this from Deshawn Jackson, because players don't like to necessarily endorse someone losing their job because of injury.

But because this is something that James is completely brought on himself, and now Fitzpatrick's playing the way that he is, I mean, I don't play them. If I was gone for three weeks because of laryngitis, I deserve my job back. But if I lost my job because I was, BK, it was a meth dealer, and they took me off the air for three weeks to clean up,

and the guy that filled in was better than me, then if I don't get my job back, that's on me. That's why I don't do math. It's one of my life sayings. I never do math. That's the bottom line. Yeah. For sure.

Thank you. Oh, words to live by. Well said, Joy Taylor. The newly engaged, Joy Taylor, the very happy Joy Taylor. That thing's shining. Skate on that ice rink. Joy Taylor with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Senior NFL writer, Fox Sports.com. You see him as a Fox NFL reporter. He's on our Sunday kickoff show as well in New York via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Let's go to Peter Schrager. Let's start with Josh Gordon.

I don't think it works. And I don't get the Randy Moss comparisons. But, I mean, they're both very, very talented. What are your sources saying? Do you think it works in New England with him? Oh, well, I'll see how it works. But to the Randy Moss comparisons, you realize how insulting and disrespectful it is to Randy Moss and to Chad Johnson, to Corey Dillon, and all the other guys who had great careers.

Josh Gordon has played in four games or 11 games over the last four seasons, and he has won one of them. This is not exactly Randy Moss. Now, here's what people are failing to realize. It's not fantasy football. It's real football. And the Browns bent over backwards to do whatever they could to give Josh Gordon every last chance. He had last chances with three different head coaches. He had warning after warning after warning.

And like Joy said, he, look, he had a opportunity to make a great season here with the Browns. He showed up Friday. It was fine. Showed up Saturday and hurt his hamstring doing a promotional video on Instagram. And that's when the Browns finally cut bait. So you're not dealing with a generational talent who's coming in hot right now. You're dealing with a guy that the Cleveland Browns gave a million chances and said, and if you think Belichick is going to stop what locomotive they have going on in New England to make sure this guy has a thousand chances, be ready.

I would just say this. I'm sensitive to all the substance abuse stuff. I get it. I know addiction. I understand it. I would also say they're on a path to the Super Bowl, and if he gets in the way, there will not be a spot on that team. All right.

So I said to start my show, the Bears special teams excellent defense playmakers, coach wildly creative. They're the Rams, except the Rams can score. I watched that game last night, and if you look at the stat sheet, the Bears had a 10-minute edge time of possession, entering the fourth, the Seahawks had 80 yards of total offense, and that was a touchdown game. I felt like it was an indictment on Mitch Trubisky that with that coach, who's great, those defensive players who were remarkable, and those special teams at home on Monday night, that should have been a blowout.

I mean, the ceiling on Trubisky feels incredibly low to me. Does it not? It's an amazing situation because, you know who was taken right after him at the the quarterback position, Patrick Mahomes. You know who was taken after him? Deshawn Watson. So the Bears traded up to make Trubisky the guy. They gave him an offensive coach. They gave him Taylor Gabriel, Alan Robinson,

Trey Burton, they gave him all the Khalil Mack. They got everything. Is he the guy? And last night, there should have been two other interceptions that the players just dropped. Here's what I would say about it. You mentioned Matt Nagy. Matt Nagy is one of the most creative play callers

in the entire NFL. You saw last night in key situations, they put Trey Burton under center, and they also ran some plays where Trubisky went out wide, and Taylor Gabriel took the snap. He will protect Trubisky until Trubisky starts delivering. There were some bad passes last night by Mitchell.

I don't think he's in the same conversation as Patrick Mahomes yet, and I certainly don't think he's Deshaun Watson with his feet. I would say this, though. He might have the best play caller in all of football, not named Sean McVeigh, calling players for him and protecting him. I think the Bears will be fine because Matt Nagy is that creative as a play caller. No, the two teams I've watched, we'll get to Kansas City in a second, but when I watch the Bears, I see the Rams.

It's like they've got this new, clever playbook. that nobody else in the league has, the sets, the motion, the trapping, it's remarkably fun to watch. I want to say this before I get to Mahomes. This is unheard of. If in the height of the Yankees, if Jeter Posada and Mariano Rivera and Andy Petit had come out and all within a year said, we won out, trade me, I'll retire, we'd have fired Joe Torrey. I got Big Ben, Antonio Brown, Lavian Bell in the last year. One guy says I'll retire.

One guy says trade me. The other guy's like, I'm not going to play. At some point, do the Roonies look at the situation and say, we may have a coaching disconnect here? I mean, what's going on? You know, you say that in one breath and the other breath. They're down 21-0 at home and Tomlin fires them up and they find a way to tie the game at halftime. So he's a way to motivate these guys. I don't think it's a question about his ability as a coach and a motivator.

And even X's an O's. What was fascinating about this thing with Antonio Brown, the original tweet that went out was from a guy named Ryan Scarpino. Ryan Scarpino was an old PR guy for the Steelers. He recently left. And he didn't tag Antonio Brown. He didn't tweet at Antonio Brown. He made his observation.

And Antonio Brown, who's on the cover of Madden and showed up to training camp in a helicopter this year. And it's maybe the most decorated player in the entire organization for him to be searching out tweets the day after a loss and responding and saying, trade me. And then today, I don't know if it's out there. Apparently, he wasn't out. Practice on Monday. So something's weird going on in Pittsburgh.

Bizarre stuff. And, you know, this is an old colleague, but really didn't at Antonio Brown on Twitter if you want to get into the mechanics of it. So he sought it out or someone told him it just seems ugly, right? It seems muddy. It doesn't happen in New England, and it certainly doesn't happen elsewhere. I was saying this. If I was out for laryngitis, I get my job back. But if it's a self-sustained, self-induced problem I create for myself and miss a month,

then Fox Sports One has no reason to put me back if my replacement's better. James Winston is not playing because of James Winston. Does Dirk Cutter feel a pressure to replace Fitzpatrick? Because again, this is not an injury, Shragues. James is out because of James's immaturity. Does Dirk Cutter feel from the owner and the GM? You've got to get back to James. Or is he saying to himself, Fitzmagic works, baby.

We're better without him. I'm going to take you on a journey back to March when I spoke with Jason light, the general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they had a lot of looming contracts. They were going to spend a lot of money in free agency. I said, what is your first priority? He says, Mike Evans is my first priority. He said, okay, well, we got to beef up the defense. They were 30. He goes, Ryan Fitzpatrick's my second priority. This is before James was suspended. I said, Ryan Fitzpatrick. He goes, he's going to be a free agent. We need to make sure he doesn't go to free agency. He is that much of a leader. And he's such a leader that I will put

that priority over our defense, which was the worst in the league. These guys love Ryan Fitzpatrick. No one is happier for Ryan Fitzpatrick than his teammates and the front office. So I'm not going to put it in print. I'm not going to put it in ink. I will just say this. If Ryan Fitzpatrick keeps winning, Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers until something drastically goes wrong.

Wow, little news there. Okay, that's good to hear. Now, finally, you came on our show a while back, and you made this prediction on Patrick Mahomes. I want to play the tape. Go ahead, run it now. Colin, I hate to hype this up like a summer blockbuster. The Patrick Mahomes era is a,

about to begin. This kid is going to take the league by storm this year. And Colin, everyone I talked to in Kansas City is like one of those things where they're like quietly like just like, all right, we're not going to be the ones to say it. Just wait. This is the guy that a franchise is really banking on. And Colin, I'm telling you, because I know you love being on a stock early. Get on the bandwagon now because every week there's going to be a pass like this. Okay. He's been amazing. I mean, he has been pretty good. I mean, I like Sam Darnold, but in terms of raw arm talent, Darnold's not close to Patrick Mahomes.

In just terms of raw throwing the football down the field. And you know I like Sammy Darnold playing Thursday here. What is your takeaway on Mahomes? Has he even greater than expectations to Andy Reed? Yes. Here's why it's so amazing. All right, this is a guy from Texas Tech, and the big knock on him was he runs the spread offense

that 700 yards of Texas Tech doesn't translate to the NFL. Andy Reid has a completely different offense for Patrick Mahomes, Bill. than he did for Alex Smith last year, for Donovan McNabb back then, and for Michael Vick and Kevin Cobb and whoever else. This offense, it's like the air raid offense. They went empty last week. I hate to sound like Greg Kosell, but they went empty last week 22 times. What does that mean?

No running back in the backfield, shotgun five wide receivers. You don't see that in the NFL. That's what he ran at Texas Tech. So they're taking the Kingsbury elements of what worked and what made Baker-Mafield transfer or what made Davis Webb transfer because this guy was that good and they're using it in the NFL Andy Reid has built the offense around his skill set.

It's a completely different look than what Alex Smith ran last year, which means there's no tape on them, there's no way to solve them, and these passes are incredible. I think it is the real deal. He's got 10 touchdowns, zero interceptions, and last week he threw six touchdown passes and five incomplete passes. It is something to enjoy. I think it keeps on going.

They play the Niners this weekend, home opener Arrowhead on Fox. I'm telling you, watch out. This guy could shatter records this year. Shregg's this may have been your best appearance. You just had so much information. God, you were really good this week. You were really good. Colin, how good is our Sunday show, though?

Oh, it's so much fun. It's so good. We can't tell our bosses that we have fun because they'll reduce our pay. We just go and screw off for an hour on Sunday. Shrague's great seeing you. Love seeing it. Congrats, Joy. Awesome stuff.

Yeah, what a go, Joy, who now is wearing a gigantic ice skating rink on her hand. coming up next, John Gruden talked about Khalil Mack. This is something I wonder if the Raiders thought about what I'm about to say, if they thought about this on Khalil Mack. Because I'm not sure anybody could have thought of it, but it's true, it's happening, and it's going to happen for the next four years about Khalil Mack. That is coming up.

Borrow up to 40 grand to pay off credit cards, Lendingclub.com slash ports. Go to Lendingclub. com slash sports. So you saw Kahliel Mack. So in his first two games, he's not with the Raiders joy. We saw him on Sunday night football

and we saw him on Monday night football. He is a high profile player. And you can make an argument. I certainly would have re-signed him. And there's not many defensive players. I would pay a ton of money. But my theory on Kalee Mac was this. As long as Mitch Trubisky is my quarterback.

And I have to face Aaron Roger. my primary rival twice a year. The only way I can reduce Rogers, therefore making Tribisky more competitive, is a guy like Khalil Mack. In that division, in that division, if you've got to face a Drew Breeze, if you've got to face a Tom Brady,

if you have to face an Aaron Rogers, you're never going to find a quarterback that good. The chances are almost nothing, Big Ben, in his prime. So that's when I say, overpay for a great transformation. defensive end. That was always the thing whenever you face Peyton Manning. Everybody in that division was trying to find a defensive end to get Peyton Manning.

So I'm not a big believer in paying a fortune for defensive players. Aaron Rogers, you got him. Mitch Trubisky, I got him. I want to bridge the gap, then overpay for Khalil Mack. Because you are overpay. He can't change games generally like a quarterback can. And you're paying him like quarterback money. But here's something I want to.

if the Raiders thought about. If you break up with somebody, it's better that you don't get reminded of it constantly. Like they become your neighbor or they work at the same place. If you separate from somebody, you'd like not to be reminded of the pain. But here's the thing. Khalil Mack played in Oakland.

Oakland didn't get on TV much in the last 15 years, and here's why. Because they play in the AFC. Tom Brady, Peyton, Manning, and Big Ben also play in the AFC. So the network, CBS, has the AFC games. Who do they put on those late games? Peyton, Tom, and Big Ben.

So the Raiders, although they're well-known, don't have a huge national profile. So Caliol-Mack was great, but you didn't see him play much. And Oakland's also a small market. It's the third biggest market in the Bay Area, San Francisco, San Jose, then Oakland. But now he goes to Chicago. So two times a year he plays Aaron Rogers.

Those will be national television games. Chicago's the number three TV market. Networks like Fox and NBC are dying to put the Bears on whenever they can. We are Thursday night, Fox late game. We're all begging for the Bears to be good. And when they're at least eight and eight, nine and seven, I mean, you ever notice how often the New York Giants are on? The New York Giants are unwatchable.

And the networks keep putting them on. Why? Because of Eli? No, because of New York. Chicago's one of those markets at Fox. We're praying they'll be functional. Okay, here's the other problem. Because Mitch Trubisky is so limited,

Khalil Mack is the face of the team. So the pregame show, the halftime talk, the highlight stuff, is always going to be Khalil Mack. Nobody cares about Mitch Trubisky. It's going to be Khalil Mack. I mean, as great as Kalil Maq

Mac is, if he went to the Packers, Aaron still the face of the franchise. Khalil Mac in a major market that networks are dying to put on, the Aaron Rogers game, they play on Thanksgiving this year, they also play New England, you're going to be reminded of this Khalil Mack trade over and over and over. And I'm not sure they thought about it. But it is one of these things. You guys, you had a breakup. And you're going to be reminded of it.

He's going to be walking through your work every 15 minutes. And also because, and also this is something to think about. And I'm sure the Raiders didn't think about this. But when you say Bears linebacker, that's like saying Lakers Center. You think of Butkus and Singletary and Erlacker and Bronco Nogerski. That's a narrative. That's a discussion. If the Lakers got another great center, you'd think of Wilt and Jabbar and Shaq.

So you've got this great linebacker, the best in the last. league goes to this legendary franchise, which is high profile now because between their special teams, their defense, and their coach, and a little bit their division, they'll be, they'll be viable. They'll be viable. And the Raiders are going to be reminded of this over and over and over again. Yesterday, Gruden was asked about the trade, and he's losing patience, but he was pretty good about it. No, it doesn't make me regret.

We made the trade. We made the trade. You know, there's, there's got to be hindsight, 50, 50, all that stuff. But we would have loved to have him here. I'm not going to keep rehashing this. Hopefully we prove that in a long term, we did the right thing. He is just, he is the best at being irritated with a smile.

Like, he says something, and he just, he's just, he's the best at that. The three best podium guys in league history, Dittka, Gruden, and Tomlin. You just put them in a podium. They talk in eight-second sound bites. Like Mike Dicka would be, stupid. You're stupid. We're not talking about it. Got it.

Cut at it. Put it on TV. Like Ditka Tomlin Gruden. They talk in these, you know, these perfect sound bites that you just want to hear them talk. I mean, Belichick mumbles. Bill Walsh was boring. Parcells could be aserbic, but those guys are great.

I'm telling you something. You're going to see a lot of bears. And I'll tell you, I work at Fox. We have the NFC. We want the Bears to be great. When Chicago's great, it's a great market. It's a great market. Right in the middle of the country, everybody's been to Chicago.

It's a big brand. Now, if they're eight and eight, nine, like the giants, giants are on television every week. They're unwatchable. That's not because of Eli Manning. That's because of New York City. The herd hierarchy in Vaughn Miller coming up next. This hour number two is the herd, wherever you may be.

and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles. For IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, Joy Taylor is joining me. Fast first hour. Peter Schrager had all sorts of great information. On fire. Less than five minutes from now, Vaughn Miller. When you think of great pass rushers in the NFL, there's two guys you think of. Von Miller and Khalil Mack.

We saw Khalil Mack last night. Vaughn Miller's teams off to a 2-0 start, joins us in five minutes. Now, every Tuesday during the NFL season, I do something called Herd Hierarchy. It's not just based on your record. The Miami Dolphins are not making my list. They're 2-0. That doesn't mean just because you have a loss. New England's on this list.

They have a loss. But they also, does coaching and quarterback matter in the NFL? I'm going to take New England. These are the teams that I believe this morning are the best teams in the NFL, that I can get my arms around and I see something I can explain. Let's hit it. Heard hierarchy. Time is now.

Let's go. The top 10 NFL teams, according to college. Number 10. I don't think Cincinnati's ever made it. They're in now 2 and 0. They're not in just for the record. First of all, Andy Dalton is what he is, a lower ceiling. But he doesn't turn the ball over and they've got playmakers on the defensive side.

They're fourth in points per game and fourth in points. differential. Now they've started very quickly before. Remember a couple years ago? 2015, they were 8 and 0. I think their defense right now is humming. I think going to Indianapolis and beating the Colts is more impressive than people think. Bengals at 10. Number nine. I don't know how long this thing's going to last. I don't think the Buccaneers have ever made the list, but I'm not doing it just for record. Yes, they're very explosive. But when you're bad for years, you get great draft picks. They have got a lot of good young players that they've been drafting over the last three and four years.

The thing that blows me away is not just they lead the NFL and total offense. They're number two in rush defense. They got some dudes up front defensively. I would stay with Ryan Fitzmagic as long as I could. Again, James Winston didn't lose his job to injury. He lost it due to personal behavior. I'd stay with Fitzmagic as long as you. he's winning.

Number eight. L.A. Chargers. I love their roster. Listen, they got ambushed by Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes, who nobody had tape on in the first week. But they do a lot of things

really well. Third in time of possession. They can keep the ball away from you. Third in total offense. By the way, that wide receiver, Mike Williams, got hurt that draft pick a couple years ago. Dude can play.

They've been a little sketchy on the perimeter last few years, but good on the interior. their third now in passing. They got playmakers on the outside. Chargers at 8. Number 7. Kansas City. Now, again, you're thinking, why are they so close?

Okay. Kansas City, Andy Reid does this every year. All off-season, he works on his bag of tricks. He comes out, and everybody's like, dang, Andy came out with some new stuff. And I do like Patrick Mahomes. And they're one of the three teams in the NFL that hasn't even played a home game yet. but their defense gives up explosion play after explosion play. And I think in the end, an offense that can get those seven-yard chunks,

seven-yard chunks may keep Patrick Mahomes off the field. They are first in point, so I've got him at seven. Number six. Carson Wentz is back. I don't care that they lost. This morning, Carson Wentz is the quarterback. So the Philadelphia Eagles are number six. They're still first in the NFL in rush defense.

They're just averaging 10 fewer points a game because that's what Carson Wentz is worth over Nick Foles. And they've been outscored badly in the first half. They won't be now with Carson Wentz. This team still has, in my opinion, offensive, defensive line combination, the best in the league. Great O line, great D line. Eagle 6.

Number five. Patriots. It's typical Patriots. Does coaching matter? They got the best one. Does quarterback matter? They got the best one. They're also the least penalized team in the league.

I can't put them, though, on my top four for one reason. Their defense up front does look better. But again, this year, through two games, they're struggling to get offenses off the field on third down. They're 26 in the league. Third down defense. That's why at number four, number four. I have the Jags.

Not much. I think in a neutral field, they're very even with New England. But Blake Bortles looked really good on third down, didn't he? Doesn't have Marquisley, didn't have Leonard Fernett. Alan Robinson, Alan Hearns gone to free agency. I thought Blake Bortles, that's the best he's ever looked on third down. Now, they're always good at home. The Jags were, what, 7-0, 7 straight home wins.

And it's a sauna down there in September. So to bring a Northeast team up, to play down in Jackson, Jacksonville in September, that's an edge. Here's what worries me. Their left tackles, Cam Robinson. They'd only allowed one sack, lowest in the NFL, out for the year. That worries me long term. Number three.

I think the Minnesota Vikings have the best roster in the league, top to bottom. Almost no C players. They have good receivers. They have a good back. They're linebackers, a pass rusher. Tremendous corners. Maybe the best first or second best safety in the NFL. And by the way, here's a good.

where the Vikings are really tough. Even Aaron Rogers. Once you get them in the red zone, if you can get them in the red zone, it's hard to score. Through two games, their opponents are two for nine, 22% in the red zone.

Even Aaron Rogers. You get the best guy in the league down there in that congested area in the red zone. If you can get there on that defense, good luck getting touchdowns against that defense. Number two. Atlanta's good.

Let's not overreact to Atlanta losing twice to the Philadelphia Eagles. in Philadelphia. Okay? They're 11th in total defense. They were 4 in the red zone against Carolina, and the Panthers front sevens got dudes. They generally start very well.

They're 9 and 2 in September over the last four years, but this is Steve Sarkesian's second year with Matt Ryan. It took Kyle Shanahan two years to work with Matt Ryan. You've got to give these players time to work with their coordinators. I still think Atlanta, I picked them to make the Super Bowl, not win it but make it, I still have them in. Number one. L.A. Rams. Folks, I know a lot of you hate L.A. because it's L.A., but they don't give the ball up.

To have that explosive of an offense and only one giveaway, their third in total defense, Indomac and Sue, Aaron Donald, good luck moving those guys on the interior. Fewest points allowed. First and point differential. I said this from coach Sean McVeigh to punter and kicker, return guys, defensive coordinator. The only weakness I can see for the Rams, I don't think they're special at linebacker. But good God, their secondary's got Marcus Peters, Akib Talib and Sam Shield, and a good young safety. This is the best team in the league I've seen.

I didn't think they played great Sunday and they dropped 35. Now the team I did not have on there. Yeah, what's going on? I didn't have the Denver Broncos. The Broncos, where's the Packers? I don't have them in. What do you mean? I don't have the Packers in.

They play two home games. They should be 0 and 2. I mean, you don't have the Packers above the Bengals, at least? No. Cincinnati's got a much better defense. They're better at one position. Aaron Rogers is the second best schoolback in the league. And he's playing about 80%.

I don't have Green Bay in. By the way, Von Miller's not going to love this. I don't have the Denver Broncos in. He is joining us via the Coward Global Satellite for Old Spice. So let's start with this, though. When I say pass rusher, my audience thinks Vaughn Miller, Kalil Mack. But that doesn't mean, Vaughn, that all you guys rush the passer the same way. You've all got different skills.

When you watch Khalil Mack, do you see a different player or a guy that has similarities? What was the question again? You and Khalil Mack, do you see similarities? Do you play the game the same way as pass rushers? I mean, we both get to the quarterback, but that's it. You know, he's more of a power guard. He's super strong. I don't think it's a defensive end in the league.

That's the strongest Kalil. Or offensive line, that's as a strong as Kalil. So he's super strong. Double teams really have no effect on him. He just hasn't acted against. And you don't think you're as strong, but you're probably a little faster, straight line speed. Are you faster than him?

I mean, I'm sure he would have, you know, beg to differ. But I feel like I feel like I'm pretty fast. Yeah. I think people in league think you're pretty fast. Okay, I got to ask you about Clay Matthews had a tackle, and people are freaking out. And fans don't like it, and players don't like it. Do you, Von Miller, when you're rushing the quarterback,

are you now thinking, I can't hit him this way? I have to hit him this way. What do you make of the new rules and the Clay Matthews tackle? For me, I'll start with the new rules. I mean, the new rules are set in place to take care of the quarterback. The game goes as the quarterbacks go. So I totally understand. I play a safety, especially when it comes to quarterbacks.

the hit on Clay Matthews, it was tough, especially at that moment in the game, you know, extended to drive. It's a tough one. I mean, for me, I've had some of the worst rushing the passenger calls out, so I totally understand. But what works for me is I just go for the ball each and every time. Whenever I get back there, it doesn't matter. I'm going for the ball 100% of the time. And I think that really takes you off of the quarterback and onto the ball. And if you're focused on the ball when they throw it, you know, you're not going to hit them because they don't have the ball.

Vaughn, do you hit differently today than you did four years ago? Like, have you in the offseason literally worked on hitting a quarterback differently then? Have you worked on it? No, I haven't worked on it. I guess the younger Vaughn when it comes to hitting the quarterback, I really just didn't, I didn't care when I was younger at, you know, rough from the past, the late hits, okay, fine me, you know, whatever. Okay, that's what I'm supposed to do.

But now it's like, hey, no, I'm, you know, I'm trying to, I'm not trying to get fine. You know, I'm trying to get the ball. I feel like, I feel like Sack Force Homba is the biggest play in football. So that's what I'm trying to do each and every time. You have had seven quarterbacks since entering the league in Denver. And Denver's always been a very well-run, reliable, winning organization. But you guys have had a lot of different quarterbacks.

Case Keenham, how do I know he's the one? I mean, has it been difficult not knowing who your quarterback is every year? I mean, it hasn't been too tough at the quarterback position. I mean, we had the goat for a long time before that. We had Tim Tebow. We had Payne Manning for about five years, and, you know, we had Trevor and Paxon, they did well for us. But, you know, now we got, you know, Case King. You know, the organization is run by a Super Bowl quarterback.

I mean, we know how to get quarterbacks in here, and I feel like Kay's Kingdom is very special, and we're out to a great start with him. And, you know, for the foreseeable future, he's going to continue to do the same thing. You know, Vaughn, you and Khalil Matt got your money, but offensive guys now are getting more money than they've ever received. And defensive guys, you got it, Khalil Matt got it, but Aaron Donald did not every defensive guy is getting the money. do you believe or do you sense Vaughn that there's a little animosity in this league by defensive players now

you can't hit you get penalized more and you're not getting the money does that bother you no i don't think it's i don't think it's that serious i mean this is my opinion you know this is my i don't think it's that serious i mean we got a great league we got a great organization you know the offensive guys are getting paid like they never had before but also it's the defensive guys If you look at, you know, DBs, I mean, the contracts are as big as they've ever been before. Defense a lineman, de-tackles, linebackers. I mean, they're big across the board. So we're at a great spot right now.

We just got to keep playing. Now, Vaugh, you were a Super Bowl MVP. And when you win the Super Bowl, the history in the NFL is you don't repeat. So the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl. If you could give advice to a team that just won a Super Bowl, is it harder? following year, do you get a little sloppy or do you become more of a target? What is it like after winning the Super Bowl? I mean, usually after a Super Bowl season, you know, a lot of guys are going to leave.

You get a lot of guys in, you get a lot of guys out. You know, guys want Super Bowl champions. So whenever you win a Super Bowl, it's a market for those players. So you're going to lose part of your team. For the Eagles, I mean, they're returning almost everybody. If not, they got some pretty good guys in. So the Philadelphia Eagles is totally different from what we experienced. They still have a great team.

They still have their quarterbacks. And they still have pretty much everything. So it would be different for the Philadelphia Eagles. Vaughn Miller, a Super Bowl MVP, joining us today thanks to the new Old Spice foamer. It's a body wash, lathers in a flash, partnering with Old Spice, the Foam Zone obstacle course game show on their YouTube. Twitch and Facebook live today from 5 to 11. For the record, on a Tuesday for an NFL team, generally Tuesdays are an off day.

So on an average Tuesday, you play Sunday afternoon. What is your average Tuesday like as an elite NFL player during the season? My average Tuesday will be this. You know, it's still working. It's not really the off day. You know, I mean, it's the only day that we have off in football. But, you know, for me, it's all the type of other stuff that I would be doing today for existence is Old Spice, you know, promoting the foam zone and then an new instant foamer. I'm other than that, you know, in the afternoon, I'm just, I'm just chilling at the home.

I'm just chilling at the house. Vaughn Miller, great talking to you. Congrats. Denver's 2. No, appreciate it. All right. Thank you guys. You bet, Von Miller.

Kalee Mack and Vaughn Miller, two best pass-roshers, both got their money. Both got theirs. You know what it seems like in the NFL? Well, you don't have to be elite to get great money on offense. Brandon Cook's a good player. He's not elite. He got good money. Defensively, you've got to be Vaughn, Kalee, Mac, or Aaron Donald.

That's when you get the big money. Like an offense, sometimes just pay guys. I mean, nothing against Jarvis Landry of the Browns. That's a lot of money for a slot receiver. Well, I mean, points win games. So the league is trending more towards an offensive-friendly game anyway with all these rules changes. We just got a step before the season even started. So it's becoming those type of big yard playing outside receivers and quarterbacks and left tackles.

Those are becoming more important than ever with the way that the league is trending. Yep. Coming up next, did anybody notice the word Tom Brady used when discussing his new receiver, Josh Gordon? It's not a good word. and that is coming up next. Blazing 5-1 last week. New set, new graphics, feeling good. Vaughn Miller stopped by.

Albert Breer is going to join us live in Boston with the latest on Josh Gordon, Tony Gonzalez last hour. Don't be that guy in the room with a long, sloppy-looking tuck shirt, untucked shirt. Go to untucket.com. Code heard 20% off H-E-R-D. So Josh Gordon is this enigmatic wide receiver,

super, super talented. We've seen this story. Come on, we've all seen stories like this in all these sports over and over and over again. Super talented guy, can't get his act together, sometimes has personal behavioral issues. In this case, you got some of that, some drug addiction, been suspended a couple times. Not a couple times, a lot of times, probably shouldn't be in the eyes of many in the league anymore. Browns brought him in. Browns need talent. Browns, even the Browns said, we're out. I mean, Baylor football and Art Bryles, we know the story there. They said, we can't handle him.

The Cleveland Browns are desperate for players. We don't want. him. So now he goes to New England, and the theory is it's, you know, football, pro sports can be a lot like the adopting agency business. You look for a good family that can help a troubled kid. A kid's had some chaos in his life and he's up for adoption and you try to put him with a big, strong, successful, organized family. And New England, everybody's like, well, look at New England. Did Albert Haynesworth work in New England? They didn't work in New England. And then you, certain guys, you're not going to save. They don't want to play.

They're not focused. New England's a very demanding business model. And I don't think Josh Gordon's going to work. Tom Brady, I want you to just listen to this, Joy. Here's Tom Brady. Here's what he said about Josh Gordon. I hate to make projections and expectations. That's not fair.

I never met Josh personally, just like I have met some of the guys that have come in the last couple weeks. So we'll see how it goes this week. Hopefully he can work hard, put the team first, and, you know, end up, helping us in any role that he can find for himself on the team. The word is hopefully he can work hard and put the team first. Those are basic requirements. Listen to it one more time. Hopefully he can work hard, put the team first, and, you know, end up helping us in any

role that he can find for himself on the team. Hopefully he can work hard, put the team first. Listen, if you walk into a restaurant with your wife and she says to you, hopefully we don't get food poisoning. Walk out, go next door. These are basic life things. I want everybody to think about this. When's the last time when discussing an event or a person that you use the word hopefully?

I did this morning. Hopefully there's no construction on the 405 driving to work. I used it Sunday, had to pick up somebody from the airport. Hopefully, security. not brutal at the airport. I mean, hopefully your nephew doesn't get fired again. Hopefully is resigned of very low expectations. Tom Brady's an optimistic guy.

Team first. Go team. Love my guys. Tom Brady is, hopefully he can practice hard. Hopefully he puts the team first. That's not going to work. That's telling you they didn't give up much for. him. And by the way, I think there's a, we'll have Albert Breer in about 15 minutes.

New England tends to protect themselves when they make a move like this. But, I mean, nobody in a good marriage should ever say, hopefully I don't cheat tonight. That's kind of a basic thing. You probably shouldn't. And if you're a good marriage, you're not ever saying that. I just don't, I don't see the Moss connections. I don't think there's any chance. This is a long-term success story. Joy Taylor with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Carson Wentz is back.

But will the Eagles ease once back into the game and back into the playbook and simpler play calls just to get him back into the flow? Doug Peterson says no, he's going to let him loose. Think about the game yesterday. How many times a Nick get hit? You know, and it's part of the game. You know, I mean, you can't. The thing is, I'm not going to coach, I'm not going to coach scared.

I'm not going to coach paranoid. I'm not going to go. in thinking, oh, no, we can't do this, we can't do that. You know, we just have to continue to go play. And I got to coach that way. And that's where the confidence with the team comes, you know, by doing that. But now, if there's opportunities to, you know, max the protection and do some things there, we'll do that by game plans, by design.

But I don't think that things are going to change too much. You know, there's certain things that you shouldn't do scared. Like, drive. Well, when you watch the Bears last night, Matt Nagy is coaching conservatively because he doesn't trust Mitch Tribesky throwing the ball down field. Carson Wentz, when you have a talent like Carson Wentz,

you just let him go. No, but I mean, I think it's, Trubisky is more of he just doesn't, he's not advanced yet. Whereas Carson Wentz is an injury. So, I mean, he's clear to play. Let him play. Let him do what he does.

And he should be out there feeling like he's 100%. It's when you're afraid that you start compensating and then you injure other things. Yeah. Like if you're ready to go, you're ready to go, get out there. There's still a defense on the other side trying to hit you. They're not going to make an exception because you just happen to be on your first game back from your major injury. So if he's back and it's time to go, then it's time to go.

They should not be cautious about how, and especially with the playbook. Like, you want to, this is, the season has started. You want to get him going full 100% as soon as possible. This morning, they're 10 points better than they were Sunday because they have Carson wins. Well, I know Philly fans are excited. So this is interesting. Members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame are threatening to boycott future induction ceremonies unless their demands are met. So 22 players, including Eric Dickerson, sent a letter to Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director, Demar Smith, and Pro Football Hall of Fame president, David Baker.

To inform them, they won't be making the trip to Canton anymore unless they're given health insurance and an annual salary that includes a share of the league's revenue. So like I said, there's 22 players that signed off on this. Eric Dickerson is the Hall of Fame board chairman. Marcus Allen, Jim Brown, Earl Campbell, Marshall Falk, Joe Nameth, Jerry Rice, Dion Sanders, Bruce Smith, Lawrence Taylor, Kurt Warner, and Sarah Wright, who is Reggie White's widow. So there's some really big names on this list. I mean, all the famous are big names. I agree with the insurance part of it. Of course.

But if you go back to a company you work for for years and you negotiated your own deal through an agent, and you're asking for more money and a pension. If you weren't signed up for it, you're not getting it. I do, I agree with what you're saying to a certain extent. Like, this is the CBA. This is what was negotiated before. So it's kind of tough to go back and make these demands now. However, they're fully within their right to not show up at the Hall of Fame ceremonies

if this is something that they want to demand. I always felt, this happens about every two or three years. I always felt you should cover the insurance because it's good PR. It feels like this very tough physical, violent game that you take, from a PR standpoint, listen, we're going to take care of you, we're making billions of dollars, we'll take care of your insurance. I don't necessarily think I owe you money, but if you're on an oil, Derek, you know, for years and years and years and you come back and want more money, not interested. But if you need health insurance and I'm a public company, I'll put you on the health insurance. Well, it's just hypocritical that you're making these sweeping rule changes. to protect the players' health, and you've got this whole situation with CTE and everything going on,

but they don't have lifetime health insurance? Yeah, you should. Now, they did reference MLB, which is tough to do because they have the best unions in the world. Football player, the NFL union's not as strong as the baseball umpire union. MLB union is very strong. If you appear on a major league roster for one day, you have health insurance for life. So they did reference that in their letter. The problem is the CBA has to be negotiated.

You have to get the current players to negotiate for health insurance. but I'm with you. I don't even understand why this is a thing they should have to negotiate for. Don't be so greedy that you're contradicting yourself. Here's what happens when all these players are asked in negotiations while they're playing at 27 years old. Money or insurance? They all go, give me money. Sure. Because they're 28. And at 58, they're like, it kind of blew some of the money and I want insurance. So what the NFL does in negotiations, they'll give you a little more cash and a little more money.

what they don't want is to be hooked to you for life physically from a negotiating standpoint. So players tend to be susceptible to this. Football players want the money now. At 27, nobody's thinking about insurance at 57. Well, also, it's such a top heavy league with the salary. So you have a very small amount of guys that are making the amount of money that can just sustain them throughout the year. If there's a lockout. And you have way more players that can go over the line in a union negotiation.

keep an eye on that story. So Patrick Mahomes has had a wildly successful start to the season throwing a record 10 touchdowns in the first two games, and Andy Reid insists that his success is a large part in due to sitting behind Alex Smith. I'll come back to last year being in that room with Alex, having that opportunity to see how he worked for a young guy that's invaluable. And Alex wasn't one that was going to hide anything or play games with him or that. He kept it all out in the open and wasn't worried, you know, he's secure enough where that's not problem. He came into a good situation with Alex, and I said that that was priceless for him.

There was nothing he could repay Alex with having that experience. I mean, that was phenomenal. That's why Sam Darnold with Josh McCown, like people don't understand how valuable Sam Darnold is with Josh McCown because Josh McCown's like this veteran guy, he's made his money, he's got his pension, he just wants to help Sam. Alex Smith made his money. If he didn't make it in Kansas City, he was going to make it somewhere else. So he's securing himself and said, kid, watch the linebacker, watch the free safety.

This is telling you that. It was basically being, having a great college professor for a year before you went abroad. You had all this mental exercise in gymnastics for a year. There's no question. That's been a huge part of Patrick Mahomes. That's a big testament to Alex Smith as a professional because it's very difficult, especially in a sport, where you have a very short window to be successful that you're going to offer up that kind of teachings and to beage to someone who you know is replacing you. When guys replace me, they go, Colin, what can I give me some good advice?

And I always tell them, swear on the air and be terrible to teammates and advertisers. That's what I told Doug Gottlieb, talk lacrosse all day. I don't want to help people. I want this job forever. I'm very, I'm not Alex Smith. You're not. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. You know, I was thinking about the Pittsburgh Steelers, what's happening in Pittsburgh this morning, Antonio Brown, he didn't show up for workout. Yesterday, he told somebody on the internet, trade me. This is so odd that your three stars, Big Ben, Lavian Bell, and Antonio Brown in the last year have said, trade me, all retire, I'm not going to play. Can you imagine if Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, and Kevin Durant, all within a year, said, trade me, I'll retire, I want out of here. You would be like Steve Kerr's in big trouble.

It would be an indictment that Steve Kerr didn't know the temperature of the room. If Jeter, Posada, Petit, in their primes, in their good years, had said, I want out, I want to be traded, trade me. You'd have said Joe Torrey didn't understand the temperature of the room. I don't know what's happening in Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin. Let me just throw this out, though, because yesterday, a former Steeler employee went online, Twitter, Antonio Brown found him out and said, trade me. Let's find out if I can star somewhere else. Here's what I'm thinking about, though. When the Steelers have lost to the Patriots the last five times, they've given up 27, 36, 27, 28, 55 points. Are those Steelers offensive players? Because

they're the ones that are all making noise, the offensive guys. Are they saying to themselves over the last several years, we're doing our part? Mike Tomlin's the defensive guy. We scored 42 points against the Jags in the playoffs. And our defense lost us the game. We scored 37 points this Sunday. And our defense couldn't hold up. Mike Tomlin's responsible for the defense. Have you noticed the guys calling him out are offensive guys?

Hall of Fame quarterback, Hall of Fame wide receiver, superstar running back. Is there a tension in the room here? We can't beat New England? Yeah, because we're giving up 28, 37, 55. We can't beat the Jags, though. We score 42. We can't beat Kansas City, a young rookie, basically a rookie quarterback, and we scored 37.

Is that creating the tension? Something's happening. It's not good. We'll talk about it with Albert Breer. He's around the corner, joining us live, plus Josh Gordon of the Patriots. I don't think it works. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Sunday, it's a great slate of NFL action, starting with Sekewan Barkley and the Giants,

taking on the Texans. Then it's America's Game of the game of the game. week as Russell Wilson and the Seahawks try to bounce back from a rough Monday night against Zeke and the Cowboys. It's all on Fox on the Fox Sports app. Check local listings for the game in your area. Good week. I will say this at Fox. Our ratings have been up about 15% on Sunday as those early games have been absolutely fantastic. The game so far, we got Carson Wentz back. And the reason, you know, everybody wants to say, why are the ratings down? I mean, last year we had a huge hurricane in Florida. And, you know, that didn't.

help numbers on Monday Night Football. I think a lot of it is. At the end of last year, I don't care by Kaepernick. I don't care the anthem thing. I think a lot of it was. We were missing five great quarterbacks. Football's better with good quarterback play. And now we go to New York City via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Lead content dude for Monday morning quarterback, a guy I rely on often for information. Albert Brewer is joining us. Okay, Josh Gordon. You know, people are comparing him to Randy Moss. I'm sorry. There's a difference between difficult and dysfunctional. I don't think it works. Do you think it works?

I think there's probably, what, a 20, 30% chance? A serious boomer bust. There's no question about that. I do think he's going to the right place. There aren't very many teams equipped to take on this sort of risk that have the infrastructure to deal with him. The way he needs to be dealt with, and New England's obviously one of the few.

I mean, to me, this is a lot more like the Albert Hainsworth trade. Yeah. The Albert Hainsworth trade, to me, shows exactly, you know, why New England's equipped to deal with this in a way other teams aren't. I mean, if you want to go back to 2011, Colin, they traded for Chad Johnson and Albert Haynesworth within hours of each other. They got almost nothing out of those two, and they still went to the Super Bowl that year. Most teams have to worry about a guy coming in and infecting their locker room or maybe creating a problem on the field. The Patriots have shown over the years they can withstand all of that.

No matter what, the machine's going to keep rolling. So you roll the dice here. If he's gone in two or three weeks, it probably won't affect them much. By the way, Edelman's back in a couple of weeks. They've started one in one in September before, and Jacksonville is a very good football team. I did think it was interesting that Blake Bortles was very good on third down, and that was without Leonard Furnett, without Marquise Lee. I'm not saying there's panic, but when I watched them, you know, I said to myself, it's a little like last year. Their details are great.

I don't see a lot of dynamic players out there, did you? Yeah, I think the defense is still a little slow, and there's still a little bit of a talent problem on that side of the ball. That's not to say that it won't look good in week six or seven because you remember last year it was a disaster to start. They get through the first month. They sort of figure a few things out. And then by the time they get to November, December, they're rolling. But that problem was still sort of hiding there in the weeds and, you know, as good as they looked towards the end of the season. And again, the playoffs, Blake Boyle has played really well against them for three quarters in the AFC championship game.

And then Nick Foles lit them up in the Super Bowl. We're not talking about Drew Breeze and Peyton Manning here. It was Blake Boyle's and Nick Foles in the playoffs. And so I think a lot of the issues that they had last year still exist. And the one thing to watch here, too, they've had a real problem creating a pass rush. Yeah. Keep an eye on that concussion with Trey Flowers. If that takes them off the field for any extended period of time, it's going to become a bigger problem for them.

You're in New York today, and I think it's an obvious story that we're going to see Sam Darnold play Thursday in Cleveland. Now, I think he's going to struggle a little bit against Jacksonville and Cleveland. Cleveland's defenses. He's a puppy. Okay? So did Cleveland short week on the road? That's a real defense. But he's obviously a super talented kid. Even in the loss of Miami, he had some really nice moments. And you can tell. That's what a franchise quarterback looks like. Then Saquan Barkley, Giants could have had him and went running back. Well, God, the Giants can't move the chains. You know, 30 completions, they can't get first downs.

When you talk to camps about the darn old Barkley thing, because we're going to be, this going to be a real story, Albert, for 10 years. What are you hearing? Well, it's about positional value. I mean, to me, if Sam Donald becomes through the Jets, firmly believe he'll be common, who he'll be in five or 10 years. There's almost nothing that Sakewan Barclay can do short of winning a Super Bowl that'll make this look like the right move by the New York Giants. It looks like the Jets hit on the quarterback. And if the Jets hit on the quarterback, again, there's almost nothing that Seekwon can do because of positional value. And that's not to say that it's always a mistake to use a top 10 pick on a running back.

I don't think the Rams would say that Todd Gurley was a mistake. I don't think the Cowboys would say that Ezekiel Elliott's a mistake. The thing is, how hard is that position to find? The last year in the third round, you had the NFL rushing champion in the third round. That was Kareemann, and you had the offensive rookie of the year, Alvin Kamar, in the third round. So it's not even about how good Seek Juan Barclay is going to be. And I think he's going to be a great player in time.

It's about the value of the position and how hard it is to find one. It's very difficult to find a quarterback. And as the Giants try to replace Eli Manning, I'm sure they're going to find that. Even as, you know, as great as some of the top running backs are, these new prototypes, the new 230-pound guys you can play on all three downs. It's not that hard to find guys to fill that position out, which I think is part of the reason why a lot of teams looked at what the Giants did and roll their eyes at it. Finally, Steelers dysfunction.

It's their three offensive stars. I said this earlier. If Aikman, Emmett, and Irving would have come out in a year and, They'd trade me, I'll retire. And literally, I'm not going to play. It would have been an indictment on Jimmy Johnson. You know, if Clay Steph and Clay Thompson, Steph Curry and, you know, Durant said in a year, trade me, I'm out. At some point, offensive stars now have gone public with their unhappiness in Pittsburgh.

What is their resentment toward Tomlin, who's their defensive coach, and the defense isn't holding up their end of the bargain in recent years? I just think, no, Colin, I just think this is who the Steelers have always been. And we can go back to the 70s. This is a legacy thing with them. I mean, this is why they've always had sort of the battleship commander head coach. And that's what Chuck Noel was. That's what Bill Cowher was. That's what Mike Tomlin has been.

It allows you to cast a wider net for players, right? Like, you can bring in different personalities. You can bring in guys with off-field issues. They were able to take the risk a couple years ago on someone like Martavius Bryant, knowing that you've got a guy in charge who's basically specializing in managing personalities and leading the locker room. And so this has always been who the Steelers have been. You know, that healthy tension that everybody talked about in Seattle over the last few years

that eventually boils over. We've seen that sort of tension in Pittsburgh for a long time. It's been who they've been. And unfortunately, this can be the downside of it. You hope that it doesn't happen with your best players. I mean, this is the second and third highest paid guys in the team. This is the second and third best players in the team. I think you would say are most important players in the team.

And so, I mean, this is just part of the deal. with Pittsburgh. I would tell you right now, I think Mike Tomlin is very confident. He's going to be able to work it out, but clearly there are going to be some bumps before they get there. Yeah, defense given up about 470 yards a game. Good stuff. Albert Breer, Monday morning quarterback. Good talking to you, bud. All right, Colin. Yeah, you know, the Eli Manning thing, and it really, they, it crystallizes everything. They upgraded left tackle, upgraded wide receiver, upgraded head coach, upgraded running back. can't score. And it's funny because we keep putting them on TV. And like it cracks me up.

Like the giant, we, the league wants the giants to work in a perfect world. And this is a lot of things have worked out for the NFL. The St. Louis Rams became the L.A. Rams and they score a bunch of points. That is exactly what the NFL wanted. The St. Louis Rams were kind of defense boring. They move them to L.A. Sean McVeigh gets high. Rams are a blast to watch. so much fun to watch. Perfect for the league. The Steelers are newsworthy. Great for the league. The Packers are newsworthy. Philadelphia is newer. Now Chicago's newsworthy. Great for the league. San Francisco's viable. Cowboys are good enough. These are all great. Great for the league.

But the league is praying the Giants are fascinating. And I got to tell you something. The Jets are interesting right now. I can't wait to watch Thursday. The Jets, you can't wait to watch it because if Darnold stinks, you're going to rip me. But the Jets are interesting. The Giants have all these offensive stars. They are a complete and utter snooze. A lot of things working right for the league right now. The quarterbacks are all healthy.

That Giants thing is not working. Tony Gonzalez around the corner. This is the herd hour number three, baby live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, you told me a secret yesterday. You got engaged.

It wasn't really a secret. Can I tell you a secret? That's not really a secret? Yes. I bet a thousand dollars last night legally on an NFL game this week. I'm not telling you which game it is. It's a legal bet. It's the most I've ever bet on a regular season football game.

Tuis looking at me like I'm crazy. Goulet's like, that's not who you are. What do you usually bet? You know, a little hundred bucks, 50 bucks here. I'm not, I'm not a thousand dollar bet guy. What inspired this bet? I'm back of the plane Southwest Airlines guy. I'm not $1,000 bet guy. That's how strongly I feel about a game this week. I'm not going to tell you what game it is because I don't want you jumping on the bandwagon and then betting a lot of money. And if I'm wrong, that's very responsible. I thought it was because you didn't want to be shamed if you lost. No, no, no, no. If, If I lose, I can handle the thousand bucks, but I don't want to tell us if you lose. Yeah, I will.

Okay. I will tell you if I lose. And it's on one of Sundays. I'm just, I'm getting a thousand dollars. That's a lot of lettuce. I did it legally too. There was no law enforcement included. Did your wife approve?

I didn't really get into talking about it with her. Yeah, I don't ask her about my gambling issues. But the point being, she would support me. She's a loving wife. I mean, listen, if. that is your avenue for entertainment. Yes. Like when I go, when I gamble, which is very rarely, I take a certain amount of cash out.

Yeah. And then that's it. If I lose it, that is my, that's my, that's my entertainment dollar. Does $1,000 sound like a lot, though, right? I would not bet the $1,000. I know. I never have in my life. Simply because I don't like, the thrill of winning money doesn't outweigh the disgust for me of losing money.

Totally agree. So that's why I'm not a gambler, obviously. But if I were to bet on any sporting event, a thousand, $1,000 and lose it, I would probably just despise the team that took my money for me for the best of time. And that's just not a good idea. Well, coming up in 15 minutes, Tony Gonzalez, we won't ask him if he's bad games. That's probably not appropriate. But we'll get his thoughts on the chaos for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Best for last. They'll give some very helpful news to a team in the NFL, hint, not the Cleveland Browns. But the Bears beat the Seahawks last night on Monday

night football. And it reminded me of something I saw this weekend. Have you ever been driving the road and there's like there's a car up there and it's not moving very fast and you're in traffic you could be on a small country road you could be you know i grew up in a small town and you see this sometimes you're driving on that small road and what was it what's going on up there why is it so slow and all of a sudden you move up and about five minutes later you look up and it's the driver's ed car or the driver's education teacher and the student driver on the back it says student driver be slow. That was the Bears offense last night. The coach Matt Nage is

the driver's ed teacher and Mitch Trevisky is the student driver. I'm looking at the box score from last night. You would have no idea. If you didn't watch that game and you took the box score, you would think that was an

evenly matched game. And it wasn't. Chicago's defensive line mauled the Seahawks offensive line for three and a hours. The Bears were at home. They had a 10-minute edge time of possession. They had six sacks, and basically a pick six decided it. 24-17. What do you think the Rams would have done with that Seahawk team last night? That game wasn't even competitive, but Russell Wilson kept his team

alive, and Mitch Trubisky kept his team in training wheels. I mean, think about this. The first-round quarterbacks picked in 2017 were Trubisky, Baholmes, and Deshawn Watson. Tribisky's got 12 touchdowns in 14 starts. Watson's got 24 and 8. Mahomes has 10 and 3 stars. Now here's the good news for the Chicago Bears. Is in the NFL, here's the thing you can't be at quarterback. You can't be chaotic. You can't be Buffalo. That's what you can't be. And the bears in the last 30 years have been chaotic a lot.

So the good news for the Chicago Bears, beyond the great special teams, the great defense, and that tremendously clever head coach, they are not chaotic at quarterback. And that's a thing. But the ceiling on that offense, if you put anybody, Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, I mean, you could put B guys in this league on that offense. Give Cam Newton those weapons. that clever offensive coordinator, that defense, those special teams? Wow. You can't win in January and February with that. By the way, you can win a lot of games with a low-ceiling quarterback.

Ryan Tannehill wins seven a year. Andy Dalton wins in his career 80 year. But you're looking at the L.A. Rams with no offense. That's what they are. I'm watching the Bears last night. that offensive coach, Matt Nagy, is so clever. Those special teams are so above average, and that defense has playmakers everywhere.

The difference is, I don't want to hear anybody out there bang on the Rams and support the Bears, because that's the Rams. But the Rams have a quarterback who also went number one, who has a much higher ceiling. Who has a much higher ceiling. So let me talk about the other team last night, Monday Night Football, the Seahawks. once again Russell Wilson's running for his life once again

there's no running game once again the offensive lines of mass once again below average at wide receiver and tight end yeah yep Pete Carroll USC New England and the Seahawks starts hot

everybody's talking about them crazy fun crazy wild And then with USC and the Seahawks by year nine, the slogans don't work. There are four teams, five teams in the NFL, O and two. The coaches are guys like Steve Wilkes, Matt Patricia, Pat Schumer. In the NFC, the fourth coach with an O&2 record is Pete Carroll, and he's the only one with the great quarterback.

Pete Carroll has Tell the Truth Monday. That's what he calls Seahawk practices. Tell the truth Monday. Be honest with yourself. look at film. There's competition Wednesday. There's turnover Thursday when we talk about the importance of ball security. There's no repeat Friday slogans. Last night was a mediocre Monday.

That Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, the reason this dynasty lasts for 18 years, it's built on academics and those last. And the reason Nick Saban has a decade-long dynasty that appears to be stronger than ever because it's built on details and those last. And Pete Carroll, a lot of it's built on slogans and emotion. Bra, those don't last. Slogans, you know, you've all gone, seen the Hallmark card. It's not the destination. It's the journey.

You see that card, that poster, you put it on a wall. It doesn't mean anything. maybe in the moment at Hallmark, you open the car, it kind of feels special. I mean, Tony Robbins is great, and Pete Carroll's a very good coach. I'm not saying either one of them is a scam. I'm not. Once you're in the room and raw, raw, and yeah, change your life. Go to the moon.

This is amazing. We're going to, yeah, sweat, slogans, awesome. Three weeks later, you get home. You just want a beer and some macaroni and cheese. Your kids are wearing your arse out. You're preoccupied. You really don't want to go to the refrigerator to get the beer. You're tired.

Your boss is driving you crazy. You got stuck in traffic. That's real life. Real life's not slogans. Tell the truth. Monday. Competition. Wednesday.

That was mediocre Monday right there last night. Nine years in at USC and nine years in with the Seahawks. Players have all heard the slogans. Remember Cliff Everald, the fourth. Seacock told us before the season. Cliff Avril before the season came on the show. Remember what he said about the raw raw stuff? Me personally, I'm not going to lie,

I never listened to Coach Carroll. I never needed him to kind of motivate me on game day or for practice. I understood it was a job. I understood what I needed to do. So I never really paid attention personally. Now, for other guys, I can see how, you know, the message could get crossed a little bit,

especially after like the Super Bowl run when guys started kind of questioning what our foundation was, after their play. By the way, people always say to me, why don't you like Pete Carroll? And I'm like, I like Pete Carroll. And I like Tony Robbins. I'm not calling it a scam. I'm not saying what they're doing doesn't work,

but there's an end to it. It unravels no repeat Friday. The only repetition I'm seeing is, once again, the offensive line's awful, the running game's awful, the receivers are below average, and Russell Wilson's running for his life. I'm seeing repeat Sunday and Monday all the time.

Coming up next, Tony Gonzalez says, Josh Gordon is going to work in New England. Hmm. See if I buy it. Plus best for last. Congrats to Joy Taylor. Engaged over the weekend. Very, very romantic.

It was very romantic. Very romantic. I'm not going to get into particular. It was very romantic. Speaking of a romantic. Tony Gonzalez. This is a romantic. 17 NFL seasons,

Chiefs and Falcons. Only missed two games in 17 years. Were you a romantic guy in that whole thing? Absolutely. You are kind of a... You can't tell? You're kind of a romantic guy. You think so?

I think you're soft for a big, strong guy. I think you're... I think you're a... I will cry. You're a family guy? You don't cry at movies? Oh, I cry all the time. Really?

What movie made you cry the most? I cried at movie. Mission impossible. I watched... Mission impossible. That's one of the greatest movies of all time. I will say this. I cried this weekend.

There's a thing on YouTube about moms, and I put it on my Twitter account. I didn't know if anybody watched it, but it made me cry. It was a really... I cried about the Patriots Lost of the Jags. I cried about that. By the way, you think the Josh Gordon thing's going to work, and I look at them, and I just think, sometimes you work at a... There's a difference between difficult.

I've worked with Difficult. people. Little people are difficult and dysfunctional. He falls into the... He's Albert Haynesworth. Randy Moss was difficult. Albert Haynesworth with the Patriots was dysfunctional. I don't think it works. Did you ever... I even have to mention names. Obviously, you

played with difficult guys. Yeah. Did you ever play with dysfunctional guys? Yeah, of course. Of course, we had a... Go ahead. We had a guy. I don't know if I don't even remember his name. He wasn't with us too long. But he showed up to

to our team, and he's starting on the offensive line. This is with the Chiefs. With the Chiefs. And he comes in, and he misses practice. When Mrs. Practice turns out his grandmother passed away. Okay. And so everybody's like, so we get together and we sign like a little card, send it to him, tell him. That's very nice.

Yeah, it's very nice. And then the next week we're talking to somebody who knows him. And we're like, yeah, it sucks about, oh boy. I mean, his grandmother passed away. And he's all, what? his grandma he goes I played with him before his grandmother passed away back then and and I'm like I think it might have been his mom and his mom passed away again and then uh they go yeah and then he goes he actually it's happened twice already so this was the third time that it was dysfunctional obviously there basically he would disappear for a couple days and he would have an excuse that was that was an excuse yeah but we're all feeling sorry dysfunctional stuff I mean that's it's I would say this in the NFL there's a substance abuse probably he had a substance abuse probably that was that was an excuse Oh, he did? Yeah.

And to me, that's where Josh Gordon doesn't work. I just don't see it. Because Randy Moss, he may have had fun up in the hills of West Virginia from time to time, but he never got suspended for drugs. No, no. Like, T.O.'s got his dysfunction, but T.O. never had drug issues. If that's an issue, you know, I always said about Johnny Mansell is I wish the guy the best. But, you know, when people compared him and Baker, I'm like, Baker doesn't have a substance problem. Baker's not Johnny Mansell. You can't overcome that stuff.

That's a great thought. But I will say this. If anybody can handle this, it's new and a Patriots, isn't it? I mean, they're, and he's got to understand, Gordon, that this is his last stop. I mean, after this, there is no going to another team. This is your last chance. And they're strict enough. They don't play games. Belichick's not going to mess around.

You come in here. I'm sure they put it on a nice platter for him. You have a chance to play with one of the best quarterbacks ever who can make you a superstar. You can win Super Bowls here. I hope that he's looking at all that and decides, hey, this dysfunction that I'm having, that I've been having. It's over. It's tough to do, though.

What do they do? Give him like four plays out of two sets. Like if you came to a team and you had four or five days to prepare, how could you implement him in an offense for the weekend? I think you give him just a small set of plays. You don't put him out there. And they won't. I mean, a lot of the stuff, too, this is,

Tom Brady, he knows this offense, obviously. So you can have him come in, learn these 20 plays. That's it. You're going to come in on third or second down. We're passing situation. doesn't matter. And then go to Tom. Tom calls the play.

Tom says, come here, and tells you the play. I've done that. I've been part of that type of office. So you've had to literally tell a guy a play? Yes. Have you ever been in the huddle?

For a new player or a guy that maybe some guys are, they're not great visual learners to have to do things. Have you ever been in the huddle and it literally is like a playground? Like if Brady came up and said, listen, man, do a curl, do a chair, you know,

whatever it is, do a seam. If you ever been in the huddle and a guy has had to literally describe what to do. You're kind of making it up. Not really making it up on the fly, but I mean, if people forget, we had a, remember Dale Carter? Yes. So I remember he was a great player. He was a great player. He was playing offense though. He played a little bit of offense with the Kansas City Chiefs. So they would call the play. They'd be like, ego, solar right, double troubled, all go something slant Dale out for when he came into the huddle.

So they could tell him. Like so Dale knows what he's doing. I would put that. Tom Brady comes in, yeah, we're going to go, I'll go, this, and, you know, Josh, come back. And that kind of tells you what it is. Absolutely. He's got to know, once he hears Josh, and here's the comeback, he's got to know that that's his route. That's how they do this stuff.

This is what they'll do. They'll do something similar to this to make it easy on them. I don't remember Dale Carter playing offense. I remember how darn good he was. God, he was a great athlete. He was, he's one of those guys. Jets have a kid named Jamal Adams. and when a safety jumps off the television set,

like Ed Reed, you know a safety's good, because when the play starts in the NFL, the safety's not on television. When a safety literally becomes the guy you can't keep your eyes off of, you're like, that guy's a whole, that guy's special. Dale Carter was one of those guys. Dale Carter was a great player.

By the way, and I've said this before, is that there's all sorts of different coaches. Tony Dungey was very quiet. Nick Saban screams. Okay, Pete Carroll and Mike Tomlin, let me just concentrate when I watch Pete Carroll. at USC nine years. Seattle now nine years.

And a lot of energy, a lot of slogans, competition Wednesday, turnover Friday, and about nine years at USC, nine years now in Seattle, it's unraveling. And my takeaway is it's like Tony Robbins. Tony Robbins, like Pete Carroll, very qualified, very smart and very successful. I'm not saying what they do is a scam. But unless you have Tony Robbins energy and gravitas,

When you get home in four weeks, you want to have a beer and macaroni and cheese. Like that stuff doesn't last forever. Yeah. Right. And I kind of feel with Pete now in Seattle, the message isn't working. Uh-huh. Herm Edwards had a little bit of that high energy. And after about hearing those slogans, is it possible it's just time for in Seattle?

Like Pete's, it's 10 years of the same message. Yeah. Ra, raw, energy. Wow. I mean... Yeah, it could be. I do think, yes. Okay, when we had Herm, he was that guy

that would get up in front of the, you know, the locker room and give you these great speeches. It's great for the first, yeah, year or two. And then you get a little jaded by it, I guess. Good word. But to me, it can't hurt the production. And maybe some guys do get tired of it. It just falls on flat ears.

And that's why I always say, the best example of this is the New England Patriots and Bill Belcheck. He's always coming out. He's so consistent. He's not high. He's not low. It's just here's what we do.

And maybe that's why it works. I will say this about Pete Carroll. Come on. He's lost his horses. He's got to regroup now. He's got to reload. Well, some of that, yeah. But how many years can they have no running game and a bad offensive line?

Like when I start seeing things, New England loses Nate Solder. New England has injuries. Their offensive lines always stable. Yeah. Like when I watch Seattle, I'm like, it's been man overboard for two and a half years on that offensive line. Like man overboard. Russell's running for his life.

I mean, the NFL is awesome. You know, Tony, you know this. You can replace almost a third of your roster in a year. Nine draft picks, free agency. Bill Parcells went down to Miami, and he replaced a third of that dolphin roster from 1 and 15 to 11 wins. And it wasn't starters and stars like you. Yeah.

Special teams, backups, tight ends, contracts you can move. You shouldn't be bad at any one. thing for three straight years in this league. You shouldn't be. It's true. Baltimore went out and said, we're going to draft two tight ends and acquire three receivers. We're going to solve the problem. You can solve problems in a couple years in this league, right?

You either pay for it or you draft it. Yeah. Yeah. But then sometimes your ego gets in a way. And that's why I've said before ego has no migo. That's a very good, yeah. That's his big line there. Remember that.

You ever heard that? Joy. I've not. It's very good. Ego's got no friends. We're about to get married. So. You're going to get married now

You've got to understand ego has no ego It serves me well Tell Earl that No ego in this house I get one Earl You do not get one No space for two egos Did you know

When Patrick You played for the Chiefs Patrick Mahomes First of all Just in terms of arm Oh special Oh my God It doesn't even look like everybody else

Uh huh Who is it You think We're talking about Mahomes Obviously it's a big topic around my house because the affiliation with the chiefs, is if you're comparing him, we're thinking Aaron Rogers, right?

I mean, this kid, except a more athletic Aaron Rogers. No, I don't see Aaron Rogers. You don't see it with the legs, with the arm strength, just, you know, he can gun sling it. Aaron's not,

he definitely has a different arm. Like, listen, I like Sam Darnold. He doesn't throw the ball like that. He doesn't throw the ball like that. No, no, no. No, no. You know, I always said Tony Romo was the closest thing in the league to Aaron. He wasn't Aaron, but he was the closest thing.

Yeah. So what we're basically saying here, it's a little wrong. I think he's more Romo than Rogers, which is prone to a few more mistake. Aaron's precision. Like, Aaron will hold on to the ball and not throw a pick. Aaron doesn't throw picks. He hasn't thrown a pick. What are you talking about?

He's got 10 touchdowns, no interceptions. No, I know. So far he doesn't. So far. So far. So you think he's Aaron Rogers. I will say, okay, let's talk about who this kid learned from. Alex Smith, he's sad, everybody's talking about Andy Reid and the weapons, and I'm like,

don't forget about Alex Smith. He had a chance to learn who does not turn the bowl over. Alex Smith does not turn the ball over. In fact, that's been his knock is that takes some more chances. Right. And I think this kid with that athleticism, he's definitely more athletic than Alex Smith. He's probably got a better arm than Alex Smith. And now he's learned not to turn the ball over like Alex Smith.

I just think he's in a great. situation. I don't see any sign of it stopping anytime soon. He's going to hit some adversity, but I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. Who is the best arm you ever played with? Probably Rich Cannon. Rich Cannon had a cannon. Really? Yeah. It was a big arm. Big arm. It was hard to catch some time.

Really? When I was younger, when I dropped those 17 balls. That was your first year in the league. That was second year. Second year. You had the drops your second year. Dropsies. I took you off my fantasy team that year. It's not that you really disappointed me that year. Oh, sorry. That was eight years before draft games, I think. Did anybody ever come up to you and say that?

I got you on my fantasy team. Come on. They always say that. Really? That's like the number. That's the lead end now. Hey, I had you on my fantasy league. We should hang out.

We should talk for a while. Let's be friends. You're on my day. People say that? Well, they feel close to you because of that. People, even today would be like you were on my fantasy team. Still, people like, I miss you on my fantasy team. That miss you on my fantasy team.

That's all they say to you. That's all, because we had a connection. We had a connection. I helped them out. I tell them to buy me a drink then. You know, you made money on it, probably. Yeah, good for you. Always thinking.

Hope Earl has those qualities. Free drinks. Always thinking, moving. Earl's on top of it. Earl's on top. All right. Joy, Taylor, with the news. No. No. No.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. This is very important, Colin. football is very important. I know. I got nothing against it. I tend to be a better. I'm not going to get into this. I bet $1,000.

Yes, you meant you were going to tell him. Legally last night, I've never done this in my life. I've never done it in my life. I bet $1,000 on a regular season football game. I've never bet that much money on a college or pro regular season game. I'm not going to say what game it is because if people think I'm that confident about a game, they'll go in on it and I don't want that. I don't want the pressure with that responsibility.

I've never bet. on a regular season game, that's 10 times more than I bet. That's how strongly I feel about one NFL game this week. I bet it legally. Is it going to be on your blazing five? His name is, he's in Hoboken. It was total legal bookmaker and hoboken. All right.

All right. So the Steelers are, they're having some trouble right now. A little bit of a dumpster fire there in Pittsburgh. Antonio Brown was apparently absent from meetings yesterday and was nowhere to be found. Here's Mike Tomlin being asked about it earlier. Like he was here yesterday? He was not. No, I'm looking forward to visiting with him today and discussing that and some other things.

I'm not going to get into the details of why he wasn't here or whether he was excused and all of those things. I just assumed leave those things in house. Does Antonio ask to be traded? No, no. Okay, so according to Adam Schaefter, his Antonio's agent, Drew Rosenhouse, said, Antonio had a personal matter. I talked to the team about it. issue was unrelated to the tweet or his relationship

with the team and AB has an incredible drive to win. He just wants to win. That's all that matters. The tweet yesterday was not in reference to anything other than Antonio responding to a person he knows. It was not directed towards a trade or wanting to be traded. Any idea he was asking for a trade is not accurate.

Antonio could just not tweet trade me then. Yeah, what happens on Twitter is not real life. You can't take when people, you know, get emotional on Twitter, Twitter's not, you can't take somebody's tweet. It's a vortex of insanity. Yeah, you can't. Still, you should not do this. You should not tweet, trade me then. No, there's a lot of people in our business. They tweet stuff and their world

changes. Like, don't, don't tweet. Mostly stay often. I just feel like at this point with the Steelers, there has to be some sort of epiphany or something that needs to happen in the locker room. It's not just us creating this narrative that there's some sort of dysfunction there. Like I told you, there's a level of expectation in Pittsburgh when it comes to the beginning of each season. It's not, let's see if we can make the playoffs this year or let's improve from, you know, to two wins. Yes. That's Cincinnati. That's not Pittsburgh. Exactly. There's an expectation of we're going to be in the playoffs. That's not a question. We're going to, we need to win the Super Bowl. And the way that the Steelers are set up, obviously,

Levin Young Bell is not there, which is a whole other discussion. It's like they've underachieved at this point. And now you're starting to, you know, see things unravel. I don't know what needs to happen there. So former Patriot shoots linebacker, Rob Ninkovich, has some opinions about the Josh Gordon signing. He told W.E.E.I that the environment in New England might not match with Gordon's mindset. Say, listen. There's guys that fit and there's guys that don't. There's a certain personality that has to be considered when you play for the Patriots. And I question his love for the game if you've been suspended so many times to where, or you hurt your hamstring doing a video

for some type of endorsement when you've practiced all week. I mean, isn't that letting down your teammate? There's a lot you can say about this Josh Gordon situation in many different levels. To me, I feel like if you're going to go somewhere other than Cleveland, who has been very supportive of him and it obviously feels like they can do no more for him, then New England is a place to go.

Obviously, the expectations, like I just spoke about with Pittsburgh, are very high in New England. So it's not like you're going into an organization that, you know, needs you to be successful. they are already successful, but they clearly feel like they can do something with him. And Bill Belichick has done this before. He's taken in someone who has had, quote, unquote, issues

and been able to get them into the system and get them back on the right track. So it's the place I feel like he should be if this is going to be his last chance. But if he causes any problems whatsoever, he's not going to be there. That's just the Belichick way. That's just the way it works there.

Yeah. So finally, everyone's freaking out about the roughing the ruffing the passer penalty against play Matthews in the Packers game against the Vikings. Mike McCarthy shared criticisms about that controversial call. So let's take listen.

I felt that he did what he was coached to do. I mean, you can see he tries a brace, the weight distribution. I addressed it with the team. We don't focus on the uncontrollables. I don't focus on officiating. I know the way our players are taught the game. We focus on the fundamentals,

doing things right, footwork approach, strike and finish of any tackle. And I felt Clay did what he was asked to do. So obviously they saw it differently. I mean, for me to sit here and dispute it is really a waste of everybody's time. It kind of is, but I understand you get to a point, is this a tipping point where the NFL is saying that's a legal hit? Like the NFL's not backing down.

They're like, that's an illegal hit right there. In fact, we're going to use this. and the only thing I can argue is he puts his weight and shoulder into him, that looks clear to me. I don't have nearly the problem everybody else to watch him put his weight into it. I just don't know how physically how else you're supposed to fall. I mean, would he roll to his left as he's falling? Let me ask you this, though.

Khalil Mack hasn't been penalized. Von Miller hasn't been penalized. You don't, it's not, listen, this is a very bang, bang play. If this was a, you know, a real issue in the NFL, you'd be getting like seven. of these a weekend. We got one play in the first two weeks. Everybody's freaking out about one. And I can make an argument. It's bang, bang. And he does, watch him here. He drives his body into his shoulder. That to me is what the NFL does. I think people are overreacting to this. Well, it's the Packers. So it's a little bit of irony there because this rule exists because of

Aaron Rogers last year. Everybody overreacts to everything. I mean, that we all can agree on. Sure. I just, to me, physically, I don't see how you can tackle someone differently. when, because listen, we're watching this slow down, okay? We're not, this is not, look at that, that's slow down. You know what it does to me? You know how fast that is? Clay Matthews grabs him, then grabs him from behind in order to upend him and drive. Now, he doesn't perfectly drive him into the ground.

But what the NFL is saying is, the minute you lower your head after the hit and you're driving a guy like a sack of potatoes into the ground, we're not going to allow that stuff. I get it. I just feel like it's almost impossible. for, I just feel for defensive players. I don't know what they're supposed to do in that spot. It's not like Kirk Cousins is this tiny guy that you're just going to push and he's going to fall over. Like he's playing, he's playing full speed. This is, this is a fast game. These are

giant men. I don't, I just physically don't know what else he was supposed to do in that spot. But the bigger issue is that these are calls that are going to change the outcomes of games. And that's what I think everyone is more upset about. Not necessarily that this call could have gone either way. It's that when we're watching it in slow motion, it's easy to say, well, he turned this way and if he would have done that. Again, how many penalties did Seattle get every weekend? I mean, coaches can complain about officiating,

but when you watch NFL teams, they beat themselves constantly. Green Bay should have won that game in regulation. Green Bay had two defensive backs, let a ball go right through the middle of them. That's on the Packers. Well, I mean, that's what Mike McCarthy is saying. There's no point in us to continue to discuss that.

This is for us and for fans to continue arguing about. He's not going to focus on that call. Nobody's winning or losing an NBA. final or a World Series or Super Bowls. Eventually, Atlanta and New England got there because they were really good that year. And they overcame some bad calls. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. I got a question for everybody watching right now. We're listening. So Buffalo has their quarterback, Josh Allen. So even though Buffalo's bad and may end up with a number one pick, they've got their quarterback, and they like him. And he showed this weekend, he can play.

Their offensive line will be better. and Arizona is not very good, but if they ended up with the number one pick, they have Josh Rosen, they have their quarterback. And if Cleveland's real bad, they have their quarterback. Here's a question for you. Who's going to end up with a number one pick? Would it be Buffalo, Cleveland, or Arizona?

They all have their quarterback, and they all like their quarterback. Because the number one player, I was told this by a scout last night. The number one player in college football is guys going to go number one in the draft is Justin Herbert the quarterback for Oregon? He's going to go number one. He's the number one quarterback. And we all know somebody's going to trade out to get him. What team, I'm just going to throw this out there.

You can send it to Twitter. You can give me ideas. Name what team is going to have to move up to get the quarterback. Like who right now in the NFL? Because it's not going to be the Jets. They got their guy. Not going to be the Browns. They got their guy.

Not going to be Buffalo. They got their guy. Not going to be Arizona. Got their guy. San Francisco is not going to be great. They got their guy. Goulet. Who?

What about the Giants? So the Giants could have had Darnold. Now they'll use picks. Or you're saying they're going to be so bad, they won't have to go off. They might not have to trade far to get the number one. I know that's a very interesting point. I was told by somebody a very reliable source. He said, listen, the Oregon kid's going to go number one.

Joey Bosa, the Bosa kid's going to go number two from Ohio State. Dolphins? No, they're going to win too many games. They're going to be middle of the pack. They're going to be seven and nine, nine, and seven. So you're going to have to give a lot of picks to get up there. And just an interesting thing to think about for the next couple of weeks is that the number one player in college football in terms of who's going to get drafted, that Oregon kid's going to come out. He's going to be the guy and all the bad teams in the league have their quarterback.

So they're going to trade out to get more play. I mean, Buffalo would love to trade out of the number one spot and get three draft picks. Buffalo would do that in two seconds. Buffalo would love you to offer four picks. Buffalo would be like, we'll take it. So it's going to be really interesting. This next draft's going to be fascinating. Who moves into that spot?

Don't be shocked. New England. Don't be shocked. New England moves up. Watch them accumulate picks over the next eight, nine, ten months. You heard it here first. Garoppel's gone. They need a quarterback.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Great to have you in. Speak for yourself in 10 minutes after us. Peter Schrager, Vaughn Miller, Albert Breer, Tony Gonzis.

Zalas, we have been loaded today. I thought we'd play a little game to end our show today. Let's go to Best for Last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, Cowherd. It's the best for last. Okay, there's a lot of surprises. There's several 2-0 teams, and many won't make the playoffs.

There's some 0-2 teams that will make the playoffs. In the past five years, when a team starts 2-0, they make the playoffs only about half the time, 57%. So here are the 2-0 teams. Of these 2-0 teams, I'm going to make a prediction on which one won't make the playoffs. Now, here are the teams that are 2-0. Miami is 2-0. Now, they get to play the bills twice, and they've already beaten the Jets once.

So regardless of how they fare against New England, viable wild card team, I think they're in that Baltimore Raven group, or they could perhaps, Vi for a wild card. I pick them to be an 8-and-8 team. I don't think they're going to go 16-0 despite their start. You've got the Bengals. I think, again, it's a wild-card team. I do think their defense is for real.

The Jags are 2-0, and let's not deny, great defense, terrific at home. And when Leonard Fournett and Yeldon are both healthy, it's a really good offensive running game. Chiefs are too good offensively to suddenly go into the tank, although I will say we're getting all worked up. That defense right now is giving up massive gash plays. Broncos I'm not sure what to make of. Rams are going to finish number one, in my opinion. Buccaneers right now are playing great defense, great run defense,

and lead the NFL in scoring. So which one of these teams? Envelope, please. Oh, very dramatic. Which one of these two-and-o teams is most likely to miss the play? playoffs, the Buccaneers. You're on the Fitzmagic bandwagon? Here's why.

They gave up 40 points to the Saints, and they did beat the Eagles with Nick Foles. The division is really tough. Carolina's defense, Atlanta's offense, the Saints offense. By the way, their next three games are not easy. Steelers at the Bears, at the Falcons. Of the 2-0 teams, I think the Buccaneers come down to Earth. Now let's go to look at the O&2 teams. In the past five years, at least one team that started O&2 has made the playoffs.

So we have the bills are O&2. It's not going to be them, I don't think. Their offensive line is rebuilding and they have a young quarterback. That's a really crappy combination in the NFL. The Raiders, I will give them credit, looked very, very interesting this week. Winning in Denver's tough. Did the Raiders lose but turn a corner? The Texans, listen, Deshawn Watson struggled in the first couple of games, but outside of offensive line, it's a pretty stacked roster.

The Giants appeared to regress defensively, but don't give up hope. New York is often a late starting team. Matt Patricia and the Lions? Okay, they're probably not going to make it. He did turn his hat around. Matt Patricia did turn his hat around. And the Arizona Cardinals, outside of the Rams in that division, there is a lot of, there's a lot of wins. So here's the envelope P.

Oh, the Seahawks are O and 2. Well, they have Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll. They have Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll. So here we go, envelope please. Which O&2 team will make the playoffs? Sealed very tight. The Houston Texans are the best shot. Okay, here's why.

So they lost to the Patriots in Foxborough 27 to 20. Not exactly an indictment of a football team. They lost to the Titans on a game that could have gone either way, 20 to 17. The AFC South, the Colts have Andrew Luck and a lot of guys playing really hard. Do you really trust Tennessee? Jacksonville, get them away from home. Last year lost to San Francisco and Arizona on the road. By the way, their schedule is not tough at all. The Houston Texans may be 0 and 2. Now they host the Giants, go to the Colts, host the Cowboys, and have the bills at home. So the Buccaneers of the 2-0 team that I think is going to fade,

the Texans are the 0-and-2 team, I think has a real chance. And that is today's best for last. Very excited. All sorts of good stuff today. So Antonio Brown did not show up for practice yesterday in Pittsburgh. Is what it is. I mean, it sort of is what it is, right? I mean, it's...

You know what's confusing about that story is? is, and look, it could have been an emergency, like, who knows? We don't, we'll eventually find out what it was. But if it was an excused situation, why would Tomlin not just address it to the media to avoid the assumption of chaos? There's going, it's kind of a noticeable thing Antonio Brown's not there.

And we all know about the tweet. Wouldn't you just get ahead of it? We'd be like, Antonio Brown is, we are aware Antonio Brown is not in the building. It's an excuse situation or personal matter. There's no issue here. Well, you wouldn't want to be dishonest. Well, I mean, if you're just, we're aware of Antonio Brown's absence today.

Like, you don't have to say anything else other than that. But the fact that it came out in a report, and now today he's talking about it, I just feel like if you knew that that was happening, why not get ahead of it? We're just going to pretend like Antonio Brown's not there and not ask questions. Here's what Big Ben said about it today in Pittsburgh. I don't think that. I don't think he wants to trade it. I'll speak to him tomorrow, and maybe I'll have a different.

answer for you after that, but I don't think that. I think it's just a competitor and him, a guy that still fired up, and, you know, I think he enjoys being here. Listen, somebody on Twitter gave him crap basically saying, if it wasn't for Big Ben, you wouldn't be great. Let's not kid ourselves. OBJ has been irrelevant this year because he doesn't have the right quarterback. And A.J. Green has largely never won a playoff game, and Calvin Johnson never got to the playoffs. I mean, it's a dependent position. It's a dependent position. and Big Ben has, by the way, Big Ben's not only a great quarterback. Big Ben is one of the greatest deep ball throwers in league history,

and he has an offensive line that gives him time to throw it deep. So Antonio Brown may be offended by that tweet, but it wasn't totally inaccurate. Big Ben and that O line have helped make Antonio Brown, who by himself is great. I'm not saying that. Speak for yourselves around the corner. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the Internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlyce comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy, Guy not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clifford 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. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clipper Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports.

And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.