The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 08/30/2019

Episode Date: August 30, 2019

Colin thinks the Cowboys will gain leverage with Ezekiel Elliott when they start the season without him and win.  He explains why Tom Brady and the Patriots will look like they did in the early 2000's.  Plus, Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid tells Colin how Patrick Mahomes can improve on an MVP season and why he's glad the loss to the patriots in the AFC Championship game was so painful for the entire team. 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,

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 a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to the best of 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 SportsRodio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, it is a Friday. We are absolutely packed. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening.

We're live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. All sorts of interesting guests in 15 minutes. Great coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reid, stops by. Steve Burline today had those controversial thoughts about Andrew Locke, not necessarily controversial in my opinion. Many thought they were. Jason Whitlock stops by the way, stops by Jason McIntyre. Joy Taylor is joining me.

I've got my cowboy colors on today. I am ready to go and lead my show with Dallas Talk. What better to lead the show with? What better. The Dallas Cowboys have become a very functional team. Now, they haven't won Super Bowls, but I've been saying this for the last couple of years. They're a lot smarter than we think.

Jerry sometimes has the ego and the vanity, but if you look at their drafting over the last six or seven years, oh, my friends, it has been unbelievable. Even when they make trades, Amari Cooper, oh my word, that's good. They found their franchise quarterback in the fourth round. Dallas is a really well-run football team. Most of the analytic sites say Dallas has the first or second best. roster in the NFL of under 25-year-old talent.

Now, sometimes they look like a little bit of a clown show because of all this and that and craziness, but Jason Garrett Steady, drafting Stephen Jones steady, offensive line fantastic. This is an organization that looks at details. Okay, they find their quarterback in the fourth round. Their offensive line has been the best in the league. Details. Anybody noticed something with the Cowboys? This defense is interesting.

in the preseason they've been dominating. They've been the third best defense in the preseason. Last year, they were the sixth best defense in the NFL. And they haven't done it with easy fixes. In fact, I'm going to give you the last six years of the Cowboys defensive ranks. This is fascinating. Last 19th, 17th, 14th, 8th, and 7th. This is not a business organization.

that's going for a quick fix. Through smart drafting, they have steadily, no other defense in the NFL has gone six straight years of solid improvement. This defense, by the way, if you've watched the preseason in late last year, will be the best they've had.

Details matter. I'm going to give the Cowboys credit on this. I think one of the reasons they're playing hardball with Zeke is, they're looking at that defense, and they're going, We don't have to be as great offensively as everybody thinks. We can play Tony Pollard, average 4.6 yards of carry and win a lot of football games with our defense. Here's another interesting number.

If you think the cowboys are smart and you think they pay attention to details, we know New England does. We know New England always avoids a crisis before a crisis occurs. Here's the other thing about Jerry Jones, Zeke, and the leverage. It is very difficult unless you just throw a ton of money at it to go from bad to great in an area. The first three games the Cowboys play this year, they play bad run defenses. Giants, Washington, Miami. I think Miami was like 31st. What does that tell you?

if the Cowboys are as smart as I think due to their drafting, and drafting's all about details. Nobody's drafted more good young players than Dallas. Even when they did a trade last year, gave up a first round pick, Amari Cooper. They were seven and two once Amari and Dak worked together. All their moves work. They know their defense, this is going to be their best defense ever.

They know they face with a healthy offensive line still arguably the best in football. they face lousy run defenses and they can go two in one or three and oh and Tony Pollard's going to average five yards a carry. Translation, less leverage for Zeke. I think they're smart. Jerry Jones is a smart cookie. Think about this. The NFL has 32 billionaire owners.

Actually, Mark Davis and 31. of all those billionaires, there's two billionaires that the rest of them listen to. Jerry Jones and Bob Kraft. These guys didn't luck out into their success. They didn't. Belichick had a losing record in Cleveland and Bob Kraft saw something. He wasn't the hot coaching hired. He was a disaster with the media in Cleveland.

He had a losing record in Cleveland. He bailed on the jets. Belichick, a lot of people were done with Belichick. He was impossible to deal with in Cleveland. Go read the book about Belichick. It was ugly at the end in Cleveland. People don't want to touch Belichick. Kraft saw it.

I think Dallas knows our defense this year is stacked. It's the best it's been. And for six straight years, it's been fantastic. Have you watched it in the preseason? And I think they're looking at that schedule thinking, we face bad run defenses. They're going to get to Zeke. They're going to pay Zeke. But they're not paying him seven.

$17.5 million. I think this is a smart organization. And Jerry Jones, after the game last night, addressed it. He's ready. He's ready to play without him. I'm operating this, though. Right now is going to miss regular season.

My entire expectation for what we're putting together as a team right now would anticipate with the home account and not having made any of a training camp that is going to miss games. I just accept that. All right. By the way, I mentioned this yesterday.

The Dallas schedule has all sorts of soft spots and mini vacations. Three rebuilding teams to start. Soft with two New York rebuilding teams in a buy in the middle. The Rams at home late, 10 days to prep, and the bills on a short week. I think Jerry's smart. I think they know at least for the first month. The numbers add up. they can win and run the ball effectively without Zeke giving them leverage.

Let me shift to this. Daniel Jones, once again in the preseason last night, looked amazing. I'm going to give you Daniel Jones preseason numbers. They're almost cartoonish. They're like high school. He completed 85% of his throws. 29 of 34. 415 yards, two TTs, no picks.

Pat Schumer, we don't know if Pat Schumer's a good head coach. but with Case Keenham, Eli Manning, Nick Foles, and Sam Bradford, all four have had significant statistical elevation under Pat Shermer. But I think, and this is my belief, that Pat Shermer and John Mara know, after that bench Eli debacle with Ben McAude, they had to change the narrative. And they knew when they drafted Daniel Jones, there was going to be a little plan.

And I'm going to give you the three steps to it. The first thing they did is they released a video of Daniel Jones in camp. Do you remember that? Slow motion, perfect throws, all on target, came out. All of a sudden it was being reported only a handful of people. Oh, actually, no media there. He was just unbelievable. It was like a glossy video.

Remember that video came out and people were just saying, oh, my word, Daniel Joseph. the second thing that came out, CBS Sports in May, breaks a story. Eli Manning does not look good. He threw a bunch of interceptions today that conveniently was leaked to the press. And then in the preseason this year, and this is to take nothing away from Daniel Jones. I don't know if you notice this, but most good teams do not play their offensive. linemen in the preseason. The Crosstown Jets who don't even have a great offensive line, they haven't

played their offensive line starters. The New York Giants, have you noticed this? How much they've played their offensive line starters? Eli has played 28 snaps. That's it. The offensive line is played 60, the starters. Ah, make sure Daniel Jones succeeds in the preseason. Why? Because when you're one in four or two and five, you have now created momentum within the media and the fans that when the suggestion to bench Eli Manning comes out, WFAN Radio in New York is got to be honest, guys, the guy was unbelievable in preseason. It matters. Narratives matter. Optics matter. The giants behind the scenes release the video of Daniel Jones being perfect. then a story leaks to CBS.

Eli's really struggling. They play their offensive line starters through the preseason, double what most teams do to protect Daniel Jones. They give him good timing routes, things he'll do well. I mean, folks, 85% completion rate. These are throws, quarterbacks making their sleep. They have planted all of this knowing it's coming soon. It's a behind-the-scenes plant.

By the way, pro football focus.com, PFF.com. Sam Munson came on our show this week. He said, listen, if you really look at the film, Daniel Jones is not tearing it up. It's as almost if the organization is grooving his stats for the replacement eight weeks from now. Interesting, even his preseason grade hasn't been quite as good as I think the general perception of his play has been when you really break it down. throw by throw, and, you know, there's a bad fumble in there that we charge to him that won't show up in the box score, that kind of thing. He hasn't been quite as spectacular as I think a lot of people are thinking. But ultimately, for the Giants, you've got to ask yourself, what are you losing by starting Daniel Jones? So, you know, PFF wasn't in love with Daniel Jones as a prospect, but right now we'd be asking the question of why not start him week one. But again, when you really look at the play,

the numbers are better than reality. I think the Giants have a plan. I think it's smart. I think Eli is mostly a shot fighter, elevated last year by Pat Schumer, who's elevated Case Keenham and Sam Bradford and many quarterbacks. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd

weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes 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 question. questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

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

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

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart for chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balligan.

I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise. prize if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. New England last year, and this is what the Patriots have done very, very well. They, they're a step ahead of the league on little alterations, seeing a crisis before it becomes one, seeing a trend before it becomes one. Last year, New England was 11 and 1 when they won time of possession. And as Tom Brady has

aged, did you notice what they did in the playoffs last year? What was their time of possession against the Chargers, 38 minutes, Chiefs, 44 minutes, Rams 33? What they're doing, did you notice their off-season acquisitions? Of all those fast

receivers in the draft, they went and got the physical one that can block, Nikiel Harry. Of all the receivers in free age, agency, Demarius Thomas. Big can block. They made a real effort to bring back Josh Gordon. Very strong can block. They didn't really need a running back.

But they went and drafted one from Alabama, not a clever back, not a make you miss guy, a physical running back. They just also upgraded their offensive line with a trade. Are you watching what New England's doing and you started seeing? seeing it at the end of last year. They are moving back to a power football team. Look at their time of possession in the playoffs. They see that the 40 touchdown years, those are gone from Tom Brady. The 30 plus touchdown years are probably gone from Tom Brady.

So they are smartly becoming a time of possession power offense. Look at their acquisitions, a power Alabama running back, and they didn't really need him. Nikiel Harry, the physical receiver, Josh Gordon, DeMario Thomas. Gone are the small guys outside of Edelman. Big physical receivers, backs from the SEC that can hit the hole, hit it hard, drag you down.

They are changing their MO in New England. If you watch their personnel and you watch what they're doing in the preseason and late last year. Be sure to catch live edition. of the herd, weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Listen, to be a billionaire, you know, maybe I'm being

too cynical here, but you've got to be a little self-absorbed. You have to step on people occasionally. Some of its market timing. Not every billionaire's a bad person. They philanthropically give millions of dollars. But, you know, these NFL owners, they like themselves a little bit, and they like to, most of them, like

to get a little love and a little acknowledgement. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. And so, you know, I look at all these Dallas cowboy holdouts. And Jerry Jones likes to tell a good story. He's kind of legendary at this. Jerry, you saw when he signed Jalen Smith, he just took over the press conference. Jerry is a legendary storyteller. You show up to a bar in Dallas, no boo in Malibu during training camp, and Jerry holds court.

And so I want you to think about that storytelling. Jerry has also heavily promoted Tony Romo to CBS, Troy Aikman to Fox, Michael Irvin to the NFL network. All three of those guys have one thing in common. They're all great storytellers. Troy Aikman waxes poetic. Michael Urban tells hysterically funny stories Tony Romo. So Jerry, who loves a great story, has spotted through the years his storytellers and pushed them on the air to tell more cowboy stories.

He's being very rough on Zeke of all these players out here that are dealing with contract holdouts. Zeke's the one dominant star player. And he's, that's the one Jerry is really stubborn on. Because maybe it's because Jerry likes a good story or at least a story that makes Jerry look good. So the first player they signed is, is DeMarcus Lawrence. DeMarcus Lawrence, it's a story that makes Jerry look good. He's a first round talent. They got him in the second round.

He overachieves. Makes Jerry, Dallas, Stephen look very good. They sign him up. Jalen Smith is the next story. Jerry took a big risk. Jerry's an oil maverick. Jalen Smith gets hurt. People passed on him.

Jerry rolls the dice. Signs Jalen Smith. Sits out a year. Comes back amazing. Jerry signs him early. Why? It's a good story and it makes Jerry look good. then Amari Cooper they trade a first round pick.

I remember the day that happened, I'm like, I like that move. I thought everybody would like it. It got major pushback. Amari Cooper, he had a bad last year. Jerry's made it a point. We're going to pay Amari Cooper. Why? Because the story looks good.

Jerry took a risk on to Marcus Lawrence. He took a risk on Dak Prescott is a good story. Jerry found his quarterback in the fourth round. It's a good story for Jerry. Jerry linebacker, Layton Van der Leyen Fondyche, eight-man football. When he got drafted in the first round, people were like, I don't know, eight-man football, rural Idaho.

Look at all the players whose contracts are coming up. They're all either really good stories, Jerry the Great Storyteller, or their stories make Dallas, Jerry, Stephen look good. The brand look good. Now we go to Zeke. Well, everybody knew Zeke was going to go high. And Zeek has not been a great story. Zique has had problems with women.

There's allegations. There's judicial issues. Zique was an easy draft pick, and he has not been a good story, and he's not been good for the brand. So Jerry, the legendary storyteller, who loves stories, people who tell them, and stories that look good being told about Dallas, he's going to make Zeek pay. He's in Cabo, not good for the brand, holding out two years early, not good for the brand, didn't show up at camp, not good for the brand. Judicial legal issues off the field, not good for the brand.

I mean, Jerry could pay Zique right now. Is he punishing him because, you know, everybody says, Jerry pays his players. But older Jerry moved off Des Bryant. Older Jerry is looking for good stories that sell the brand, are good for the organization, are good for his daughter, Charlotte, his son, Stephen, good going forward as he hands the organization off.

Maybe I'm reaching, but he's not budging on this Zeke thing. According to Clarence Hill yesterday, they are miles apart. Zeke and Jerry are not close. Okay, just want to remind everybody that. What is up, everybody? John Middlethoff, three and out podcast. Go subscribe. You like Colin Coward's podcast.

You'll like mine. I talk football, football. and more football. Coming up on this show, we're talking all about the big cutdowns, the Washington Redskins, why are they such a disaster, the pressure on the Oregon Ducks,

and could Tony Romo be the next voice of Monday night football? Three and out podcast, go subscribe. He's got 195 wins in the NFL, 7, all-time 7th. Entering his 21st season as head coach, he's the one guy that's given Belichick fits through the years. The city of Denver is given Belichick problems, and Andy Reid has given Bill Belichick problems. And Andy's one of my friends and one of the guys I listen to

and makes me think about football. Andy's joining us now. You know, it's interesting. The last football memory I have of the Chiefs is that New England game. And Andy, when you draft, when you acquire free agents, are you building now for teams like New England? Because with you, Mahomes, your O-Line, your personnel, your general manager, you're not going to be bad anytime.

soon. When you build in the offseason, who are you building against? What are you building for? Yeah, well, you build to be the best, and then you pick out who the best is, and you evaluate what they've got, their strengths

and weaknesses, but you do that with every team. So in your personnel department, they give every team and every player a grade, and then they have a system where they say, okay, this team here has more blue players than the other team. And this is what we need to increase in this area on our football team.

When you look at certain positions in this league, yesterday I counted down 24 running backs that I considered to be elite running backs, but yet teams struggle to find a kicker. There are positions that are harder to fill. I look at your offensive personnel, Andy, and I wonder, is this the most talent offensively you've ever had in your career? I think if you go by position, it would be. as a collective group. Have I had somebody that's more talented at one spot than I do here?

Yeah, I probably did. But collectively, I think it's a pretty good group. Andy, when you have somebody as gifted as Patrick Mahomes, there is something called paralysis by analysis. There are instances of overcoaching in all sports. what's the balance between letting Patrick add live a little and then being within the system? Don't mess them up, Colin. Let him just let his personality show.

You start messing with that part of his game and you've got a problem. And so I learned that with Brett and Donovan and Michael Vic. They all put their own stamp on it and their own personality shows through the offense. and you go different places with the offense. One of the great things is you have flexibility within the offense to do different things. And, man, you play to their strength and you cut them loose and let them go. Is there an audible system? Are there things now that he is entering another year?

So he sits for a year, then he plays for a year. Now it's year three. Are you adding more to the playbook? Are you allowing more audibles? Where will he be this year emotionally intellectually? Maybe that he wasn't 18 months ago? Well, one of the smartest players I ever coached was Alex Smith. And I thought when Alex left us that we might have to back up an inch, didn't have to do that.

We just kept adding and adding and adding and the kid wants it. I mean, he wants you to give him stuff to make him even better than what he is now. And so if you say an area that he's gotten better, he's been checking since he was here. he just picked up where Alex left off and don't worry much about that. He's got his aptitude is top-notch. He's been blessed with a beautiful mind and so and then he puts that together with that athletic ability and that great vision that you need. You know, Andy, it's a hard cap league.

So you've got to make tough choices. We just watched Andrew Luck retire. He got beat up in the first three years. You know, you have always been able to elevate talent offensive. How valuable in terms of the cap is your offensive line knowing that you have an asset in Patrick Mahomes that many consider the best quarterback asset for the next 12 years? Well, you know how I feel about this. I believe that you take care of the bigs, both sides of the ball. And it's no more evident than when you get in the playoffs.

Those guys start, that's their time to shine. But you've got to take care of your quarterback. and the guys up front are very, very important. If you don't have those guys, the run game and the past game... How painful was the loss to New England? It was so close. Are the losses harder now? Were they harder in the 30s?

Was that a tough one for you? Well, yeah, you want it to be tough. I mean, you spend a lot of time doing it. I wanted it to be tough on the players. We had a young football team. And so what a great experience to get in there and learn and see what it is. You sit here as a coach and you say,

listen, the further you go in the playoffs, the tougher it gets, the faster the game is. And so until you experience it, you know, firsthand, you can't quite quantify exactly how that thing goes. But I think, you know, I look at it as a very valuable lesson. Andy, your teams historically start very hot in September.

And I've talked to coaches. coaches and scouts about this, and they're like, Andy's a great play designer. He'll bring wrinkles in and he can humiliate you if you're not ready. Is there, when you look at the season now at 16 games, are there things you'll hide where you throw it all out there and experiment? Is September football different than, say, November, December football, the way your archetype, the way you build it? You know, what we do, Colin, is we try to utilize the system that we're in. We have these three phases in the off-season. We try to load the players up with new thoughts and plays. We put them in our computer and on a big old sheet of paper that we've got,

and then we work on those through training camp, and then we bank them. And so you've got enough plays there to get you about through the season. There's enough new things, new little wrinkles on that sheet that you can pull from or draw from, throw from, throw them. throughout the year. Yeah. Andy Reed is joining us. 21st season, 195 wins seventh most of all time. Andy, the NBA is a very star-driven league. The NFL has always been about the trenches and the GM and the coach.

But as we, you know, as we age, there is Odell Beckham now as a shoe deal and A, B, is going to have a helmet deal. Players are different today. I think you've always been, you and Belichick, I've given you both credit for this, You have always been a step ahead of the league in development, in trends. Are players different today for you entering the league? Yeah, I think they're smarter, just technology-wise. They're more advanced, and so they're used to standing up in front of a camera or speaking into a microphone.

They're polished with that side of the game. And I think that gives the impression that they're different. Once you get down to the base of learning the plays, that part's the same. And they're still young men. And they're blessed to have the opportunity to play in this league and to make money. And so they still need the guidelines for that. But as far as being just educated in the world, they're a little bit more worldly than maybe you and I were coming up. Yeah.

And you still find players coachable. Patrick Mahomes to me looks incredibly coachable. Just the body language when I watch him on the sidelines. Do you find most players today coachable? Yeah, absolutely. These guys are the best in the world, and all they want from you, they just want you to go find one more thing to make them even greater.

And that's what drives you as a coach. I mean, that's the beauty of this thing. So, you know, we go out and we do that. We're teachers, and we go out and we try to find things to try to exploit their ability and talent. You know, when you got Patrick Mahomes, he was not a number one pick, you traded up to get him. And I remember saying on the air, I'm like,

I don't know if that air raid stuff, I don't know. When did you know you were right on Patrick Mahomes and the rest of us were sort of wrong? Was there a moment in that first chief's camp? Well, you jumped on this thing early. That was in his area and he went out and he started laying down these plays on my desk from the first time Patrick started. He said, this guy is unbelievable. And I put the tape on and I looked at it. So I had a chance of watching for a couple of years there. and then I'm going, well, I'll be curious to see how this transfers into the National Football League. All these no-look passes and no sudden he comes in. He starts whizzing these things off of people's ears in practice.

And you go, all right, I'm feeling it. Let's just keep growing here. Yeah, well, you've grown quite a young man. And Kansas City's loaded this year. It's going to be a fantastic decade or more. And we hope you're around for all of it. Andy Reid, it's great talking to you on a Friday, coach. All right, Colin, your best.

Thank you, man. 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. Rocker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 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? 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. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this guy, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Come on. Quarterback on office blue with 42.

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You had a long NFL career, Steve Burline. Now as CBS analyst, you also had 18 or 19 surgeries. Interesting, you almost replaced. You were very close to replacing John Elway at Stanford. They were offering new scholarships. You chose Notre Dame. It's been a great life for you and a great career for you. So let's get to the Andrew Luck retirement.

You said, listen, I just can't defend it. Now, initially there's blowback, but I do think, as we've all kind of contextualized it over the last week, people don't love the timing of it. It's brutal. So let's go back to and address your initial comments, which were on Andrew Luck. The initial comments were. Right. And first off, I played 17 in the NFL. They don't give me credit for some reason for the three years I was on injured reserve.

So I played 17 years in the NFL. People get confused with those numbers. I don't know why, but the bottom line, it was a long time. And a lot of surgeries, a lot of different injury issues over the course of the career. But with Andrew Luck, for me, number one, I love Andrew Luck. I'm a huge fan of Andrew Luck. And my tweets, I made that very clear. And I've never said a negative thing about them.

It's all about the timing for me. And going into the season, I just felt and still feel very strongly that you cannot do that to your team and to your organization at that point, especially when you come out and admit that you've only been thinking about it for 10 days. That's what he said. Yeah, he said that. He's been contemplating it for 10 days, in my opinion, and I guess it's come out that the Colts organization tried to get him to go on to IR. To me, it's a no-brainer.

That would have been no sacrifice by Andrew Luck, no sacrifice for his family, for him to just say, I'm going on IR for the first half of the year, going to get my head right, going to get away for a month, if I need to get away for a month. Maybe his foot needed to do nothing for a month. We don't know now because he didn't give it that opportunity. But I felt IR would have been the right way to go to give him the opportunity to really consider all of his options. And also as important as anything else, not to throw that whole organization in a chaos, which is what it did.

And his teammates, if they knew he was going on injured reserve, they would still have hope that, hey, maybe we're going to get him for the second half of the season. If we can keep it together and play decent enough in the first half of the season, they would still have. the season, he may come back in the second half and take us to the Super Bowl. By retiring, he's eliminated that hope and that belief and that possibility in their minds. Yeah, I mean, these days it's very difficult and come out and have a contrarian opinion. People have watched how Andrews been kind of taken apart physically. Now, you had many surgeries. He talked about, he just made up his mind about a year ago or two years ago, I'm not going to do this again. I'm not going to go into a season and hurt all year. Talk about your mental exhaustion because

you had rehab 15 times. Like you were in constant rehab. Did you ever get to a point eight, nine years before you retired? And did you think on those car rides going back to camp, I can't do this again? Well, many times those thoughts enter the picture and enter your mind. And number one, you can't compare my career to Andrew Lux. And a lot of people on Twitter are doing that. And I don't know how it gets to that.

You know, what did you do in your 17-year career or his numbers are greater than your numbers in seven years? And they get into all this comparison type of stuff. And that's not what this is all about. It's not about what Andrew Luck has accomplished, what I accomplished in my career. The bottom line is the timing of his announcement. I felt was just not acceptable to do what he did.

It is a grind. Believe me, I mean, every rehab is difficult. The more they stack one on top of the other, and you get a little bit older, it's harder to come back from those things. Yeah. As Eric Dickerson was saying earlier, the nagging injuries become a lot more difficult to get through it. It is a grind mentally. I mean, there's no doubt about it.

I get that. And if he would have retired three months ago after the previous season, I would have had absolutely no problem with it. Or if he retired after this coming season, I would have had no problem with it. He has every right in the world to retire whenever he wants to. I just felt like the best decision would have been, for the timing standpoint, would have been to go on injury reserve at this point. keep hope alive. You never know how he might change his mind. And you give at least the option of him coming back and then he can retire at the end of the year. Yeah, I mean, one of the narratives I didn't like is, hey, players can retire whenever they want.

And no, you can't. The defining quality of all great quarterbacks is not arm-sized mobility. It's really leadership. Great men, generals, our military, people running companies, quarterbacks. We consider it a leadership position. You don't bail on your infantry men going into battle. if Patrick Mahomes retired before the Super Bowl and said, you know, I'm just mentally exhausted. Right.

That'd be not acceptable. No, not acceptable. It's not acceptable. This is a leadership position. These guys are now making $35 million a year. They're not the best athletes. They don't do the blocking. They don't do the tackling.

Well, come on now. Sometimes you tackle after an interception. But bottom long, we are paying a premium for leadership. Right. I mean, that salary, some of it is just we trust him running our organization as a on-field coach. So I never bought the narrative that anybody can retire whenever they want. Half of your salary in the NFL is, is he a grownup? Russell Wilson, day one, you're like, oh, I can hand in the franchise for 15 years.

Right. And there is an obligation. And as a leader, as a franchise guy, that they're investing hundreds of millions of dollars, literally, and Andrew made right around 100 during the course of his career, they're expecting you to at least give them, you know, they have a window. They kind of know where your mind is most of the time, so they know what they were hoping to get out of Andrew Luck. And I guarantee you it was at least five more years.

They were expecting to get out of him. So I believe when you reverse that, it's not a matter of what did the Colts do to protect Andrew Luck during the course of his career. What does he owe the Colts from the standpoint of, they can cut him at any point they want, they can cut anybody else. These are a lot of the arguments I've been hearing.

The bottom line is as a leader, as a franchise quarterback, there is an obligation to try to make the right decisions that are in the best interest of the organization of the team, with the right timing. And I just think this is an example where the emotions, the frustration, the mental state that he was in at that point,

he just felt that he couldn't do it anymore. And I think somehow at some point he's going to regret that. That's why I said it will haunt him. I don't mean it's going to be a big black cloud following him around the rest of his life. I just meant he's going to, at some point, I think, look back and say, I wish I would have handled that a little bit differently. Yeah, I don't think that's an outrageous thought. Aaron Rogers, Matt LaFleur. Matt LaFleur's never been a head coach, was a coordinator briefly with Tennessee, and it was not, by the way, a great year for him. He and Vrable didn't see eye to eye, so he gets a job.

The kind of the momentum currently in the NFL is young, progressive, offense, give him a head job. But the knock on Matt LaFleur was he didn't really own the room. in Tennessee and to be a head coach, you got to own the room. You had said you thought it was a little bit of a reach as a coaching hire. You know, I did. When the Packers made that decision, it surprised me. I don't think a lot of people were considering Matt LaFleur for that position or any head coach position around the NFL.

So obviously there was something that resonated with the decision makers of the Packers that they felt this guy was something special. There's no doubt coming up in the Shanahan system. I know Mike Shanahan very well is one of my best friends. I saw Kyle Shannon raised when I was playing with the Raiders and through my time at the Broncos. A lot of respect for Kyle. And Matt had a lot of years of both of those guys and he knows offense. The question is, is he ready to be a head coach?

And we're going to find out. We're going to find out. And there's going to be some roadblocks and some adversity that's going to come their way this year because the Packers, I don't think anybody is really expecting them to make a Super Bowl run, even though they have arguably the best quarterback in the NFL. Well, I will say this, between the Bears and the Vikings' defenses, whether they win a division or not, it's going to be, it's tough. The division, you know, Aaron's first six or seven years in that division, it was kind of a sloppy mess. The Bears were a mess.

The Lions were, and Minnesota was just sort of talented. Chicago's good enough to win playoff games. Minnesota's got a great roster, and I think Detroit's the best fourth-place team in the NFL. So win this division or not, this is going to be bumpy. It's a strong division. doubt about it. And I guess my point is, we don't know what to expect out of Matt LaFleur, how he's going to handle those situations, how he's going to command the room, like you said. There's a question about that until he's done it and he's established himself doing those

type of things. We just don't know how it's going to go over. And my question is the history between Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy was documented. There was some tension between the two of them toward the end. When things get bumpy, is Matt LaFleur going to be able to keep that relationship strong and as Aaron Rogers is going to be able to handle it and be able to control and manage the relationship in a way that doesn't affect the team negatively, it's going to be an issue. But it can very well end up being a great marriage. We're not going to know until we see how it plays itself out. You're a CBS NFL analyst.

You guys have the AFC. I want to talk about New England. They've been very good at being a little ahead of a crisis, a little ahead of the game. Very interesting to me. So there were a lot of speed receivers available in this draft. They went for Nikiel Harry, who is more of an Anquan Bold than physical receiver. There was a lot of free agent receivers. They got Demarius Thomas.

Big physical can block. They went out and got Josh Gordon again, above average blocker. They didn't really need a running back, but they went to the SEC and got a Bama guy who's a bulldozer. It feels like to me, they just made two trades on the offensive line. That as somebody who sees the Patriots, it feels like they're not getting 40 touchdown years out of Tom. They're not getting 30 touchdown years out of Gronk. it feels like they're turning into a power time of possession team. Last year in the playoffs, Steve, 38 minutes time of possession against the Chargers,

33 against the Rams, 44 against the Chiefs. I just watched their personnel moves and I'm like, okay, they're going to be a power team this year. This is what they're going to be. All those receivers now, Edelman's the, for a long time, Steve, there was all these slot guys, these little guys. They're going big. They want to block you and take the ball away from you.

Well, I agree with that. And the one thing that I do know is that in Tom Brady's incredible career, he has reinvented or they have reinvented that offense many times over. Yes, they have. You think about it when they were tied in heaven when they had Aaron Hernandez and Ben Watson and Gronk was young, you know, just seven, eight years ago. They were a tied-in featured team. Then they went through a few years where they had Danny Woodhead

and the other running backs that they were using a lot, kind of incorporating them into the passing game. And then they had the years with Randy Moss, and they brought the receiver. More vertical. They've reinvented themselves many times. And what I think they believe is whatever they put out on the field with Tom Brady, he and Josh McDaniel are going to find a way to make it work, make it very efficient. But I think you're 100% right.

They're realizing they've only got a limited amount of time with Tom Brady left. They want to try to take as much pressure off of him as they can to keep him healthy, to keep him feeling really good going into the postseason. and then if he has to win a game for him, he'll be able to still step up and do it. They know that. But if they can reinvent themselves as a power running football team and not have him throwing the ball 40 times a game, I think they'd love to win that way.

Let's talk finally, Steve Burline, about Cleveland. Youngest roster, rookie head coach, very talented, outspoken quarterback. A lot of stars on the perimeter. Don't love their offensive line outside of their center. A lot of people are saying, Homerunner at implodes. I don't. I think they'll be somewhere around the middle nine.

and seven, what do you forecast? I think the over-under would be about nine wins for them right now. And personally, I think with the confidence they've got right now and with the way that young defense is playing and with coming off of Baker's first year, which wasn't surprised to me. I didn't expect them to have that much success that quickly. And I was very impressive what he did last year.

And then bringing in OBJ and having another year with Nick Chubb now to really get that running game going. I think they're going to be a really good football team. I would take the over on that. I'm thinking they're going to win nine to 10 games this year. They're going to challenge for that division. They're going to challenge the Steelers for that division. And I'm drinking the Kool-Aid right now.

I think they're a pretty good team, and they believe in Freddie Kitchens. And I think that they're going to ride that wave. And the question is going to be, if they do run into a little bit of a roadblock, are they going to be mature enough to keep this thing on the path and be able to right the ship in time to get it straight for the playoffs? back to your career. Did you ever have an immature locker room you're in? Oh man, we probably had plenty. We had several immature locker rooms that were led by different coaches that I had. I was one year of Buddy Ryan in Phoenix and I don't want to get into that,

but that was a very immature locker room just the way a lot of things were handling. It resonated from the top. But yeah, there are a lot of teams that just don't have a strong enough leadership element. Or history. Whether or history, whether it be with the coaching staff, whether it be just with the history of the organization, or whether it be with veteran players that have been there before, that know how to get the job done and know how to keep

a team focused, no one to lighten it up, no one to push a little bit harder. That's a very important part of winning a championship, having those people in place. Long time, 92 Super Bowl Cowboys team, pro bowler, drafted by the Raiders, college at Notre Dame now at CBS. Steve, great seeing you again. Hey, great to be here, Colin.

Thanks for having me. Last night, 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 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 Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's he at?

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