The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 08/14/2019

Episode Date: August 14, 2019

 Baker Mayfield says he won't change and Colin says that's not only false but actually a bad thing.  He thinks Aaron Rodgers is trying to play the victim in a situation that simply does not have a victim.  Plus, NBC Sunday Night Football Analyst Cris Collinsworth tells Colin why he loves Baker and Gruden's persona is great as long as the Raiders win games  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, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played. with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast imagine an olympics

where doping is not only legal but encouraged it's the enhanced games some call it grotesque others say it's unleashing human potential either way the podcast's superhuman documented it all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to the best of herd 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 SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRartRour. Radio app by searching Herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Wednesday. This is The Herd.

Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in beautiful Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. My dogs woke me at 402 this morning. Did you ever get back to sleep? No. wanted to party. My dogs wanted to hang out. Wife gets back today, back to normal.

That's the voice of Joy Taylor for those listening on Fox Sports Radio. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Good morning. You know, Joy, you and I have been in this business a long time, and over the course of our careers, our business is very fluid. It changes constantly. When I got into this business, I was on AM radio. And then they started putting sports on AM and FM radio.

And then there was XMC. serious, and then there were simulcasts, and then I wrote a book, and now there's something called podcasts, and I'm on Facebook, and I have a YouTube channel, and I'm on Twitter, and my survival has largely been about one thing. I just keep changing. I'm constantly trying to keep up with all the new platforms. I am never loyal to a platform. I am loyal to growth. I am loyal to you listening to me. I'm loyal to honesty, but I'm not loyal to platforms. I got to change. By the way, the NFL is defined, the great players and coaches in this league. Tom Brady's the goat, he is really defined more than anything by change. Bill Belichick and Andy Reid,

in my opinion, are the two best coaches in the NFL. Andy Reed and Bill Belichick were the first coaches in the National Football League to consider third down and three a passing down. This league is cruel to the coaches, Mike Ditka, who won't change and get stubborn. It rewards those who are always about change. Silicon Valley is now bigger than Wall Street. Silicon Valley is about evolving, growing, adapting loyalty by new stuff in. Baker Mayfield talked yesterday or the day before or maybe the day before, but I just got my hands on it.

He was interviewed by something called Complex Magazine. So complex I couldn't find it. But the point is he had a lot to say. and here's one of the bites I want to talk about. I probably won't ever change. It's just me. There's growing up and lessons you learn, but you know, I'm always going to be who I am and I enjoy it.

Oh, Baker. You're changing already and you can't even admit it. First of all, Baker, you called out Duke Johnson, that running back and your teammates confronted you. Remember that a couple of weeks ago? If a player talked about playing games, time, would you do the same thing you did with Duke Johnson? I bet you wouldn't. That's called change. By the way, he was on barstool radio this week, was Baker Mayfield. They were goading

him to talk about me. He did not. He would have six months ago, but he is slightly matured and changed. He no longer takes big shots at me on Twitter. Browns told him to stop it. That counts has changed. By the way, he just got married, Joy. Here's how it was. works guys when you get married you got to make some alterations to your lifestyle baker mayfield sounds like a 24 year old boy you know how 24 year old guys are i am not going to sell out it's who i am i do not change oh it's a cute little saying but then you realize you're 27 and sort of a loser you live in cleveland you're going to Vegas and you have to share a room with eight other guys you're flying on the back of southwest airlines come on cleveland

guy, want to be a player for the first time in your life, sit in the front of the plane? 7,000 a night's sweet. You know how you do that? With change. Change is growing up, it's evolving. Baker Mayfield's going to evolve the rest of his life because he's smart. He isn't Cleveland. He has adapted.

Cleveland isn't techie. The smart cities in this country are going tech, Salt Lake is San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Boston, D.C., Seattle, LaSette. The cities that aren't evolving and growing and are tradition, rich, and holding on to the past, and haven't embraced tech, are dying. Baker Mayfield's changing now. He's just too young to admit it. He got married. He's changing.

Duke Johnson situation. Confronted, he's changing. No longer does shoutouts. Not as confrontational on Twitter. Barstool Radio goaded him. He didn't buy into it. Those are all. He's an agent of change.

It's exactly what he's doing. And it's why Baker Mayfield, in my opinion, is going to have a nice career. Don't brag about not changing. Tom Brady defines change. That's why Tom Brady's the goat. That's why Tom Brady aged better than Brett Favre. Because Brett was more rigid and stubborn. Tom wasn't.

What do you want to be? Baker Mayfield, you are changing now. You're going to change your diet. You're going to change your attitude, your workout regimen. That's in your 20s, change is the enemy. In your 30s, it's a necessity. If you want to be a player, if you want to get better. By the way, Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, they're going to be changing that playbook and

changing that style and change in that offense. Andrew Luck a couple years ago. Frank Wright gets hired and says, we're going to change the. offense. No more seven-step drops. Start throwing the ball away. Make changes to your game. Andrew Luck went to Stanford. Andrew Luck's like, yeah, I'm tired of having a lacerated kidney. I'm going to change. Andrew Luck changed his game. Okay, Patrick Mahomes is going to change his game. And Baker, believe it or not, you got that 23, 24-year-old bravado. You are already changing. You're going to keep making changes. And it's going to be a necessity if you're going to be a necessity,

you want to be an all-time great. People say, you know, Baker is perfect for Cleveland. Well, look at the demographics, look at the socioeconomics, look at the industries, look at the economy. My guess is, Baker will not be just like Cleveland. He'll be a grower. He'll be potentially transformative. He'll be constantly evolving and constantly embracing new stuff. And I know young men don't want to say that, but do you want to fly in the front of the plane or the back of it?

Do you want your own room when you go to Vegas with the boys? Or you want to sit in a room with four beds and nine dudes. You're not getting there saying things like, Never got to change. I'm not a sellout. I am what I am. It is so adorably 23 and 24 years old. All right, let's shift to this.

You know, I've been saying during the Zeke, Jerry, Stephen, Dack, Amari negotiations, that Jerry and Stephen, dad and son, have been like a pro wrestling tag team partners, right? Like Jerry talks, then Stephen talks, and then Jerry talks, and then Stephen talks. And by and large, I think it's been smart. They're trying to curry favor with their fan base. They're trying to put pressure on Zique. And I think by and large, it has been very, very smart. But I thought Jerry made a mistake yesterday talking about comparing negotiations,

negotiations to something that was at best odd. Picture if you were a driver of a car and you had a wreck and your hand was almost severed off, but you didn't understand your anatomy. You look down, you're spurt and blood, you open the door and run to the woods and either die bleeding to death or shock. The educated man looks down. his anatomy, squeezes, and knows his best chances to wait for help. That's because he's been there a lot and done that. And so I'm waiting. I'm squeezing and waiting for help.

So apparently Jerry's had his hand severed several times and almost bled to death near a forest. Okay, I thought that was Jerry's first big whiff. He's now comparing signing a football player to having his hand severed and bleeding to death. I'm not Sigmund Freud, but if those are your dreams at night, something tells me you're kind of freaking out about this holdout stuff. If I'm Zeke's agent today, I'm saying the old man is losing it. He's freaking out. You know how I have snake dreams when I drink too much wine? Jerry's having holdout.

I'm bleeding to death in a forest with a severed hand dreams. Not great for Jerry Jones. He also said in the interview, he doesn't want to do what happened years ago when he had to let Demarcus wear go. because he paid Tony Romo so much. Again, anxiety, clutching. He's telling the players, this is painful.

That's the exact opposite of what Jerry Jones should be doing in this negotiation. Take the emotion out of it. We can win without you. Between talking about how great Tony Pollard and Alfred Morris are and the, I'm bleeding to death with a severed hand in the forest,

I thought this was a whiff by Jerry. Listen, I can have opinions all day on this stuff, but I'm just going to tell you what I would do if I own the Cowboys. Three different players, three different positions, three different offers. Dak Prescott, I'd sign him. Swallow hard, probably have to pay him 32. I'd deal with it. I'd sign Dak Prescott now. I would make calls and try to trade Ezekiel Elliott.

I think he's peaked. I think he's high maintenance. I think he's immature. I don't think he's a great teammate, and I'm not sure, like A, B, I think you'll handle it well with an excess of money. Amari Cooper shares more personality traits with DAC. I would hold for a year and probably franchise tag him, which will pay him, in my opinion, probably more than he's actually worth. Signed DAC, move Zeke, wait on Amari. And by the way, it's not about talent.

in the NBA, I will pay my stars. In the NFL, age, traits, maturity, character, position, all matter. I'm signing back. I'm trying to move Zeke, and I'm being patient with Amari. That's what I would do. And I would stop talking publicly about severed hands and dying and bleeding to death in a forest. That was not great. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays and New Needs.

Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs,

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth,

or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose

on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

Quarterback on office, Blue, 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. You know, I got into a conversation with my daughter not long ago. And, you know, she said something to me and I said, time out.

You're not a victim. Okay. Your mom and I had much tougher lives and we're not victims. Not abused mentally, not abused physically, had to work hard. A lot of jobs in college. we're not victims. One of the reasons social media to me is such a bad hang, such a drag, everybody's a victim. And there are real victims.

They're called burn victims and orphans. There are people who are victims. Professional athletes are not victims, especially superstar athletes. Aaron Rogers went victim this week. Aaron Rogers, movie star looks, got great DNA from his mom and dad. He's very handsome, grows a fine mustache. He was given through hard work. effort and DNA, an amazing talent.

He's got good size, great arm. He's in one of the great NFL cities. Green Bay treats their players like family. It's just, his life has been, he went to Cal Berkeley, by the way, which is one of the great public universities in America. I'm not saying he didn't earn it. But Cal, Wisconsin, Virginia could be the three best public schools in the country. Michigan's up there.

No victim here for Aaron Rogers. He had to sit for three years behind a legend. Actually, I would say that was an opportunity to grow and learn. So anyway, yesterday he's talking about his relationship with a new coach, Matt LaFleur, and he went victim. Look, I don't need to go out and prove to anybody how great Matt and I are getting on the wrong or him stand up there and say how great it's been. Look, look, we're having a great time. We're communicating.

And the conjecture is for clickbait news stories you guys can put on your websites. Nobody is doubting Aaron's going to have a good year. I'm his number one critic, right? I'm picking the Packers to win the division and Aaron to have an MVP season. Who is condemning him? Aaron, if you want to talk about clickbait,

you provided the bait. You called out your new, young, unproven head coach's audible system. We as the messenger had an opinion on it. You provided the joint practices are stupid decided on by your coach. You provided the bait. Sorry, bra, if it's clickable, but you're a superstar in America. If you question coming off a year in which you appeared

to run the coach or had a say in the coach getting fired, you get a new coach, and before the season starts, before the game start, you condemn the audible system and, you condemn the audible system and the joint scrimmages, we're not supposed to talk about it? If Blake Bordels would have done it, I wouldn't have talked about it. If Nick Foles would have done it, I wouldn't have talked about it. You're Aaron Rogers. These are the Packers. You guys win Super Bowls and stuff.

Again, stop with the victim. LeBron's done a little bit of this in the last year or two. LeBron's net worth is $700 million. Adam Silver basically bends to any wish or whim of LeBron's schedule changed, voila. All-Star break longer, voila. And by the way, I don't have a problem with that. Eastern Conference game times changed due to LeBron, voila.

LeBron will be like, they don't want us to succeed, Rich Paul. They? They is me. They is us. They is America. Your net worth is $700 million. They is on your side. They like you, LeBron.

You are not a victim. Rich Paul's not a victim. They is us. And they, me, us. TV, fans. We can't get another LeBron. He's one of the six NBA players in my life that moves the needle. Businesses, pizza change, basketball, sportswear, shoes, TV shows, movies.

They are in your camp. You got critics on Twitter. Who cares? Who doesn't? It's almost a badge of honor. If you have critics, you have something to say. It's the same with Aaron Rogers here. You're trying to condemn people.

I don't have anything to prove. Who said you did? I don't think any of us think you have anything to prove. Now, I think all of us believe Matt Lefleur has something to prove. I don't feel Aaron has anything to prove. I do think Aaron could do himself occasionally a favor by biting his tongue and not going public with his every thought. But he is verbal. He's interesting.

He's captivating. He says smart stuff. Pop culture, he's kind of clever. He watches the Game of Thrones. He is interesting. He does good commercials. He's a hell of a talent. And I love watching him on TV.

But this is victim talk. Aaron's not, nor has he ever been a victim. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays and noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. So I watched a little bit of HBO last night. You know, they're doing this whole Raiders thing. And, you know, HBO does this. A lot of you were hoping for a lot of Antonio Brown.

We didn't get a ton of that story. We got some Sean McVey stuff that was cool. We got a lot of John Gruden, which is what you should do. John Gruden is very good on TV. He was the highest paid employee at my former employer. People used to ask me all the time, what do you make a Gruden's contract? And I'm like, they're stealing him. He's worth double.

The quarterback camp he did was the number one segment on football at the company. Ask yourself what Monday night football was like when he left. An utter disaster, and that's being kind. when really good people leave companies and companies hemorrhage, that's a sign of how talented they are. I always laugh for years and years when media critics around the country would, you know, they take shots at Gruden. And I'm like, if you're a media critic, your job is basically an easy one.

Watch TV and tell people good, not good. Gruden's good, period. It's not arguable. If he got fired by the Raiders tomorrow, there'd be multiple networks lined up to hire him. He's great on television. Quarky, different, intense. Not always easy to work with, but talented. Oh, hell yeah, on TV.

Now, the problem with TV is you can leave TV, but it never leaves you. If you stay in TV for 10 years, it'll make up people and you're performing and it changes your voice. Sometimes my wife will turn to me and she says, we'll get into an argument and she'll say, I'm not a caller. You're not on the air. And I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, I got to click that thing off. John is performing. Now, he had two objectives when he did this show Hard Knocks on HBO. Protect A, B, he is, and entertain you.

He is. There's a billboard in Las Vegas right now. It's not about the Raiders. It's not about the players. It's got John Gruden on it. He is Cirque de Soleil with a whistle. I'm coming to town. Buy your tickets.

And he gets an A plus for marketing. He has been unbelievable. We have not talked about the Raiders this much in 25 years. He is a television star. He should be on Hard Knocks every year. I loved him as a coworker. I think he's funny as hell. I think he's intense.

He jumps through a television screen. He hits you like a strong drink. He's just, pow. His personnel decisions, I'm not in love with. We don't watch stars. Just bluffing. We got A-B. We will not pay for anybody.

Kidding, Trent Brown, highest paid right tackle in football. Character matters. Not really. Here's Vontes Burfect and Ritchie Incognito. I think its personnel decisions are all over the map. I don't see his vision. It's confusing to me. I imagine it's confusing to others.

But when I watch Hard Knocks, they're just making it more Gruden, and they should. This is what he is. He left TV. TV clearly has not left him. I still think he projects a lot. I don't know how it will play with all his players. I think we have a bite from last night. If you did not watch Hard Knocks on HBO, marketing, promotion, television, he gets an A-plus

from me. What are you doing? Overlapped corner. Huh? Overlapped corner. I know. It's a midpoint corner. The hell are you doing. What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you going? Single high. I don't care. Where are you going? Just thought take carrier on the corner. All right. All right. I can't turn a ball over, man. I ain't going to be a part of that. B. Bion ridiculous. I got a quick cussing. I got a quick cussing.

And I said this yesterday. I do think the Raiders are in a they're in a very unique space in the NFL. The NFL is very corporate. It's very IBM. It's very Amazon. It's very corporate. It's very Goldman Sachs.

Whereas the NBA tends to be about the individual player. The NFL's about the shield, the logo, the culture, the coach, the owner, the GM. then the quarterback, and everybody else, not worth a point. The Raiders don't feel corporatized. They feel like they're kind of rebels with a cause. Last couple of years, we don't know where they're playing.

They tarp off the upper deck. They have the poorest owner. They hire TV stars. It's a very different franchise. But what Gruden has done, and it's indisputable, he has brought this TV personality, this sort of moxie, this understanding of the business, this acute, intense self-promotion over to the Raiders.

And right now, frankly, they need a lot of it. I mean, Vegas has a hockey team. It's not a city with a ton of corporations, Fortune 500 companies. They've got to sell 30 suites. They've got to sell 40,000 tickets. And it works. And I think everybody in the league sort of understands it. I don't like the football part so far.

Raider fans have this weird self-esteem issue. It's always difficult when Joan Collins is a former actress. she said it's hard aging when you were once beautiful. It's very hard aging when you were once a movie star. It's hard because the Raiders used to be kind of like the coolest group in the league for my entire childhood. Like the 70s, it was the Steelers and the Raiders. And then it was 80s as some San Francisco, as Dallas, and he still cared about the Raiders. And the 90s, Gruden gets kind of still about the Raiders.

And now they're just not cool anymore. They're dysfunctional. They're weird. They don't feel like the rest of the league. And Raider fans get very defensive about it. But, I mean, I'm watching this thing. It's just, it is a summer camp with not enough counselors. And one really wildly entertaining counselor with cameras following him around.

That's how it falls for me. What's up, everybody? I'm John Middlethoff. My podcast is three and out. Brought to you by Colin Coward and his podcast network. I Talk All Football. coming up on the show this week. Dak Prescott, $40 million a year.

Antonio Brown, can he actually find the helmet and are big hits? I'm talking to the secondary guys getting laid out, coming back to the NFL. You can hear it all right now, three and out podcast with me, John Middlecough. I want to talk about the Cleveland Browns, Baker Mayfield talked to Complex the website. It has been misidentified as a magazine. I was unfortunately misled an hour ago. It is not a magazine. It's just a website.

and the nothing wrong websites are I mean they're all going out of business but beyond that it's fine so anyway he talked to a complex and he said a bunch of stuff and most of it was fine joy and I did agree that he said that nobody's rooting for us people want to see us lose because the hype is so real that's totally

false everybody's rooting for Cleveland outside of Steeler, Raven and Bengal fans the country's rooting for Cleveland the networks are rooting for Cleveland Vegas is rooting for Cleveland I've got to be honest with you Baker Mayfield segments on my show usually do okay I look at the overnight ratings They're not the biggest, but they're doing okay.

I want to talk about Baker and the Browns. They're fun. So I don't want to see him go 0 and 16. I think if he and Donald can both be like, you know, in the playoff hunting week 14, good for the league, good for my show, good for Vegas, good for you, good for fantasy. Nobody's rooting for him to lose. Nobody outside of their division is rooting for Cleveland to lose, Baker. Everybody wants you guys to win.

Cubs, you know, everybody was rooting for Steph, little Steph before KD got there to beat LeBron. After LeBron had won in Cleveland. Yeah, man, that's just the way it is. We kind of tend to root in March for the little guy. Now, I do think with Cleveland, though, if you look at their youth, if you look at the strength of their team defensive line, I do think there's a best case, worst case scenario for Cleveland. Okay, so I want to give you what I think could be their best case scenario.

Now, I'm not saying Super Bowl like this team. but it could be really exciting. My prediction is they're going to go 9 and 7. Best case scenario, they become the 2015 Carolina Panthers. Now, let's go and remember that team. They too had a very confident quarterback Cam Newton. They had a series of stars who almost all stayed healthy. They were a small market underdog, Charlotte,

in a division with a Hall of Fame first ballot favored quarterback, Drew Brees. They got hot early. Like Cleveland, their best unit was their defensive line, and it was dominating. And they ended up, remember that Carolina team had come off a 7, 8, 8, and 1 season, just like the Browns did. And Vegas predicted they'd win 8 and a half. Vegas has Cleveland at 9.

Best case scenario. They look a little like Carolina. Their stars stay healthy. They're led by their defensive line. They have a playmaking, confident at times, cocky quarterback. They get hot early. The small town underdog in their division. Everybody else in the division is fine.

That year, Atlanta was 8 and 8. New Orleans about 8 and 8. Tampa, I think won 6, 7 games. Nobody was terrible in their division. But they just roved this emotion. They hadn't won a lot in their history. So the town bought into it, the league bought into it, the media bought into it.

And it felt like a little bit of a Carolina avalanche. That is the best case scenario. A lot of them. motion, star stay healthy, cocky bravado at quarterback, underdog team gets hot early, win some games, you thought they'd lose, and all of a sudden, you got yourself a home field advantage in the playoffs. Best case scenario. The worst case scenario would be the 2011 Eagles.

Vegas had them as top three or four to win the Super Bowl, like Cleveland. They're in the discussion. They brought in a bunch of big names, a bunch of free names. a bunch of free agents. They rolled the dice on personalities. They made a lot of noise in camp, did those Philadelphia Eagles. And then they had a tough early schedule. In their first five games, they were trying to figure out chemistry.

The young guys weren't clicking with the veteran guys. There was a lot of noise. And they went one and four out of the gate. They were called a dream team by Vince Young. We've had that dream team, you know, OBJ, Baker, look how great. By the way, they had Michael. Vic is sort of an iconic star-driven, confidence-boosting quarterback. And then they went four and eight, bad start, unraveled, locker room wasn't great,

coach a little overwhelmed, and it just went downhill. That's the worst-case scenario. So now, I'm predicting they're going to be right in the middle of that. I don't think it's going to be Carolina best-case scenario. I don't think it's going to be Philadelphia, 2011, worst-case scenario. I think Cleveland's going to be somewhere in the middle. I think they're going to struggle a little early with their schedule. You know, it's got Niners on the road.

It's got, you know, you've got a Baltimore in there. I think you've got like a Chargers or a Rams or a Seahawks at New England, at Denver. I think it's a pretty choppy for seven weeks. It's a little choppy. New guys, new coach, got to get OBJ the ball. you know, a lot of talk, a lot of hype, more of a target. What if one or two guys in the O line get dinged up? It's not a great O line.

And then I think Cleveland's going to get rolling and they're going to get really hot and America's going to fall in love with them and everybody's going to be rooting for them and they're going to peel off like six wins in seven weeks. And they're going to be in that week 16, 17 window. And they're going to be vying for the division, but will land very close to a wild card spot at 9 and 7. And I think Pittsburgh by this point will have moved on, less drama, better align, better leadership. Pittsburgh will have a one or two game lead late.

Cleveland makes a run at them. And Pittsburgh finishes, you know, 10 and 6. Cleveland goes 9 and 7. They split the two games they play. Both teams win at home. And that's where we stand. But I do think there's a best case scenario. And I do think this thing could unravel.

But I know you think I'm a hater. But I think 9 and 7, that's where Vegas lands. That's about where I have the Browns landing. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast. network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me,

your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough, Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth?

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep, my mama wants you to wave at her. What?

Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Played for eight years in the NFL with the Bengals and a multiple three-time pro bowler, but for many of you younger viewers, you know Chris Collinsworth,

perhaps only as a broadcaster, and he's a great one. With Al Michaels on Sunday night football, he is joining us via the Coward Global Satellite. network, PFF majority shareholder, PFF.com, one of my absolute favorite sites. All right, let's start with this. I watched Hard Knocks last night. Gruden's a TV star, and you can leave TV, but it never leaves you.

You had Sam Weish similarly big, big personality. Do the coaches that are big personalities, Chris, can they wear out players quickly? Anything can wear out players quickly if you're getting beat, right? I mean, it's really easy to be a head coach if you're winning. And everything you say is funny and every criticism is taken the right way and there's no problems. But now all of a sudden, you're starting to lose and you lose on a consistent basis and the coach isn't funny and his ideas aren't so clever. So, you know, people talk about Bill Belichick and being so hard on the players, but he keeps putting rings on their fingers. So it really just comes down to the bottom line.

Players are going to buy in as long as you're winning, long as you're successful. We got a couple new relationships in the NFL, Matt Lefleur and Aaron Rogers. Aaron's, you know, been fairly public on the audible system he didn't love, you know, joint practices, what-eves. Do you think it works? What is your gut feeling on the new coach and the iconic star quarterback? Well, I know, Matt. Personally, he was at Notre Dame for a little while, and I think he's a great guy,

and I think he'll be able to get along with Aaron Rogers okay. The issue is that more often than not, Aaron Rogers is the smartest guy in the room. I mean, this guy blew through the Jeopardy, Celebrity Jeopardy, and when we interview him, I don't know how many times you've interviewed them, but you just kind of are blown away. We end up, Al will throw out sort of like Sean McVeigh, some situation in the third quarter of a game four years ago, and he'll start going, oh, yeah, well, we opened with the outside zone.

We came back to the inside zone. Then we hit the little dig across the thing, and you're just sitting there going, you've got to be kidding me. And so there's something to be said, no matter how great a play caller is, you're only guessing, right? I mean, if you're right, 25% of the time, that's pretty good for a play caller as far as matching up with whatever the defense was going to do. The quarterback at the line of scrimmage, on the other hand, is going to see the defense

and is going to be able to react to it in a way that the play caller can't. So I think ultimately there has to be that trust and that belief between those two people in order for it to work. Matt's not a huge ego guy, you know, so I don't think that's going to be an issue. But we'll see. I wouldn't mind having Aaron Rogers as my quarterback. And I think people have to keep in mind. It wasn't his best year last year.

year, but we did that opening night game in which he hurt his knee. And it really, I've been studying them because we have Green Bay on opening night. It really was six or seven games later that you really started seeing Aaron Rogers again. I'm sure you'll do a Patriot game or two. I noticed a couple years ago, I did kind of a deep dive on Tom's stats. And it did look like there was some December decline. I felt Drew Breeze at the end of last year. Last six games for the Saints.

I didn't think they were as vertical. I didn't think they had the pop offensively, certainly not against the Rams. When you watch Brady and you play it for a long time in this league, Chris, do you see little bits and pieces of the decline? Or is it just guys like me reaching and trying to draw a conclusion that's not there? I don't think you get to 40, whatever he is, 1.5, 42 years old, and you don't decline in some way. I mean, Tom Brady used to be able to throw a ball.

about as far as anybody in the league. Now, there are some guys, the Michael Vicks of the world, that really were off the chart with how far they could throw it. But you go back to 2007, and some of those balls that he threw to Randy Moss were to take your breath away. Probably the one I remember most was in the Super Bowl when they were getting beat, and he sort of moved at the end of the game. They're behind, had to take a big shot, move slightly to his right,

and threw one back across the field. that a guy made a really nice play on, or it could have been the greatest play in Super Bowl history. And that thing had to go 65, 70 yards in the air. So has he declined? Of course he has. I mean, he's not that age. But if you're declining and winning Super Bowls, that's pretty good, right? And so I think that Howie Long used to say that as your physical elevator starts to go down,

your mental elevator starts to go up. And I think that's true for Tom Brady, too. PFF.com, a charity shareholder. I'm a huge fan of that site, PFF.com. I want to go to Baker. I've said this before. I'm not in love with, you know, some of the stuff. We don't need to go over it. You know, Baker and I have gone back and forth. I do think he's talented. I do think there's some Drew Breeze there. I do. I like the chip on the shoulder. I like most of the NFL quarterbacks I like, got rejected, went to junior college, went to nontraditional powers. I'm not in love with chugging beers as a franchise quarterback. back, but it is what it is. How does it sit with you watching Baker do Baker? I've got to admit, I love Baker Mayfield. A, first of all, we went way out on a limb way before anybody else even thought he was going to be the first overall pick in the draft and said he's the guy. So, you know, we've been kind of all in.

And I played with Boomer Ossiason. So believe me, there's nothing to Baker Mayfields. going to throw at me that Boomer Ossison didn't throw at me times 10. There's something about, and I had a college quarterback that was like that too, a guy named John Brantley, who was just so cocky in the huddle and just believed that everything he did was going to work, and there's no way it wasn't going to work. And there's something about the quarterback position that has that sort of swagger, charisma, whatever it is you want to say,

that in the darkest of times during football games, when everything hurts, and you're getting whipped, and nothing's going right, and if that guy still believes, it gives you a chance. Yeah.

And I think Baker Mayfield has that in him. You know, I think that when he walks into the huddle, and he could have thrown four straight inter-scent, one of my favorite breadfarb games of all time, I think it was the playoffs, maybe against the Rams. He's already thrown six interstores. This is my recollection. Maybe I've got the number wrong.

Already thrown six interceptions. And most quarterbacks at this point are just, they're not going to throw another one no matter what. Brett's back there firing away. They're probably down three touchdowns. And he still believes he's going to win a game. And I think that the Baker Mayfields of the world, the John Elways of the world, the boomer Assaisans of the world, those guys really do mentally give you a chance in the worst of times. and that's really what you want out of your quarterback.

By the way, Browns are on Sunday night football week three at the Rams. We've got a minute left, and you guys have at PFF, you have a preseason NFL draft guide. I do not have it. I have not been sent one, and as majority shareholder, you have the ability to send me a free one, and I want it. So give me a minute. What is in the magazine? Well, we have about 150 breakdowns on the top college players already at this point in the season, before they've ever even started the game.

And if you don't have one, I'm sitting in the guy right outside this door in a car, driving from Cincinnati to L.A. to hand deliver it to you because you are the man, brother. I'm just telling you there's no way you shouldn't have one at this point. Well, I'm a dad of guy. I love it. Chris, you're a terrific broadcaster. Have a great reputation in our business. And you're welcome any time here in our herd studio. Chris Collinsworth, thank you so much. and congrats on PFF.

Thanks, Colin. Good talking to you, buddy. 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 SportsSlice 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. 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 home. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.