The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 08/31/2018

Episode Date: August 31, 2018

Colin says last impressions matter and he thinks the one Baker Mayfield made Thursday night could be a big problem for the Browns. He talks with legendary broadcaster Al Michaels about the upcoming NFL season. Plus, Colin spoils your Saturday by telling you exactly what will happen in the biggest college football games. Presented by Perky Jerky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is the podcast. Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Good morning. Welcome back. Good morning.

Great to be back. I'm the world's worst actor. You'll see that in the next month. I had to shoot a commercial yesterday, and I am ready to go for football season. I can't labor day weekend joy this is joy and I love football and it's all starting this weekend huge college weekend getting to that I have al Michaels today on the show in studio I've got to Greg cocell today Ryan Leaf Bucky Brooks can't wait thank you so much for joining us let me start with this the last memory of something often distorts reality you have a favorable

impression because it's the last thing you see You know, people always go into Facebook and they're hooking up with their, you know, their ex this and their ex that. And it's like, there's a reason you're not together, right? But, oh, she sent me a picture the other day. And you think back to maybe the last good time you had and you're like, oh, that was a great relationship. And it's like, no, you hated each other when they broke it up.

I'll give you an example, Peyton Manning. When you think Peyton Manning in his last year, everybody's like, Super Bowl. Peyton Manning was amazing. Drop the mic. Peyton Manning was terrible his last year. But the last thing you saw was him holding the trophy. He had nine touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He was benched for Brock Osweiler.

He was terrible. Remember that last year? He got benched for Brock Osweiler. But he holds the trophy and you don't remember a thing. How about Kobe Bryant? Scored 60 in his last game, Joy. What a performance. Kobe Bryant's amazing.

Yeah, I was here in Los Angeles. Did you watch that last year? Kobe acknowledges he was awful. He shot 36%. He averaged seven a game mostly because he decided, I'm going to shoot seven threes a game. Now, he was great in the last night. It was an amazing performance,

but Kobe would tell you. Kobe's only been bad once in his career. Most of the last regular season. That's about it. The rest of the career is unbelievable. But that last 60-point game. How about Derek Jeter? Now, when you think of Derek Jeter and how it all ended, you think about this, right?

This amazing baseball moment for Derek Jeter. Well, the script is there. The last page is in Derek's hands. Big deals. Big hits to right field. Here comes Richardson. Here's the throw from Marcakis. Richardson is safe.

Derek Jeter ends his final game with all Eric Jeter. We're a fantasy. He wants me to play. very good that year. No, he really scrapped. He had no range. Career low in Homer's four. Hit about 255. Peyton Manning, Kobe, Derek Jeter. You forget because the last memory of something distorts it. So I'm watching Baker Mayfield last night and I'm thinking, oh, oh, Baker Mayfield. Cleveland Brown's owner Jimmy Haslam. The last memory he's going to have a Baker Mayfield, is chopping through those third and fourth teamers.

He was facing a lot of UPS drivers last night. If you notice over the next month, that guy delivering a package for you for UPS is holding it like a football, that's because he played for the Lions like an hour ago. And he led 25-0-0-1-half, and Baker Mayfield sat down, and that is the last memory of Baker Mayfield. Just tearing it up in week four of the preseason. effective, productive, 25-0-0.

Man, he didn't even need to play the second half. And what is our last memory of Tyrod Taylor? Ugly 5-0-0-0-1, couldn't stay healthy, screaming in pain on the sidelines, comes back, can't move the football. And oh, by the way, the Browns open with the Steelers and the Saints and will be 0-2. And then facing the Jets and Sam Darnold,

who is starting, and probably looks pretty good for a rookie. And Jimmy Haslam is going to be in week three saying, well, how come their guy's starting? I mean, last time I saw my guy, it was 25-0. They're dominating. The last memory distorts things. It distorts things.

Baker Mayfield just looked terrific last night against UPS drivers. Tyrod Taylor had to face, you know, Philadelphia's starting defense and looked overwhelmed a little bit, thrown around a little bit, hurt a little bit, came back and did nothing a lot of bit, Baker's starting. All you Baker fans, he's going to start sooner than everybody is predicting.

Mark it down. Speaking of last night, pre-season week four, I've said this before, there is a real division in the NFL with cowboy quarterback, Dak Prescott. Now there's one camp

overrated. It's all about Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys' offensive line makes him look way better than he is. That's one camp, and that camp's got a lot of people in it. Then there's my camp. My camp is, did you see the preseason? The Cowboys were o'n four. And Dak almost didn't even play. Now, when he did play, 13 for 18, 72% completion rate,

a couple of touchdowns, no picks, 128 pass-er-vades. And you say it's just a preseason. Let me say this again. I now know what the Cowboys looked like before Dak Prescott arrived a couple years ago. They were 4 and 12, and it wasn't just 4 and 12. You remember, Joy, it was utter chaos, 4 and 12. Then I've seen what they've done with DAC the last two years. 32 starts, 22 wins, and of the 10 losses, 5 or 1 possession, in a very tough

Division and in the Superior NFC. And then I have this last month of preseason games where DAC basically doesn't play, and they were only effective for about 30 plays to 50 plays in the preseason. Those were all the ones DAC played in. Okay, that's the camp I'm in. Okay, when I watch Dak Prescott, I want you to remember something. And I've said this before. The ability to stabilize chaos is a massively underrated skill.

Chaos before DAC, chaos in the preseason, wins. 22 of 32 with Dak Prescott. This is the loudest franchise in the NFL. It is the most watched franchise in the NFL. It is the most scrutinized franchise in the NFL. These are the choppiest waters in the NFL. The captain of this ship doesn't have to be the world's best captain. But I want somebody when the seas are that choppy that can take a little of the chop out of the choppiness.

And first season, Dak Prescott, never ending questions about Tony Romo. Last season, never ending questions about Ezekiel Elliott. And not once did he ever step in it. not once did he ever unravel. I remember asking Jimmy Johnson, legendary football coach here at Fox, I asked him about leadership one time, and here's what Jimmy Johnson said to me. You know, Colleen, I really don't know what leadership means.

I think it really depends on the individual what they're looking for. I think there's inspirational players. Okay. I think they're players that set an example. I think there's motivational players, but I don't know what a leader is. Either do I, but I know it when I see it. I don't know how to describe it either. It's a bunch of it quality stuff, but I know it when I see it.

And in the loudest owner, a troubled running back, massive injuries, biggest brand, always in prime time, pre and post, awful, chaotic. With him, 22 or 32 wins, and could have won five of the remaining 10. They were won possession games.

There's two camps with him. You watch the preseason. I'm in the camp that says this guy is underrated, not being carried by Zeke and that offensive line. Can't wait for the season to start for the Cowboys. I have them as a winning record and a team vying for the playoffs. more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Jalen Ramsey has become

the provocateur of the NFL. He's talking a lot. And I said this last week and earlier this week, he's mostly accurate on his criticisms of players. He did go out yesterday, though, and crush Gronk of the New England Patriots who's going to be a first ballot hall of famer. He basically said, I don't think Gronk's good. Let me say, I don't think Gronk is as great as people think he is. Well, Gronk is good, but the argument, I don't think

Gronk is as great as people think he is, I would say there is some truth to two facets. Gronks missed 26 games in six years. He missed a Super Bowl, and they won. And he missed the second half of the AFC championship last year,

and they didn't miss a beat, and they won. And the other thing, if you look at the Patriots over the years with him and without him, he's worth about a field goal. So that's something. There is absolute value with Gronk. But, you know, how much value? Is he a little overrated? Would he be as good without Tom Brady? No, no, no, no, no.

Wes Welker was never as good before Tom and after Tom. Dion Branch, before Tom and after Tom. So yes, Brady has made virtually every receiver who can memorize a playbook way better than largely what we think he is. Even as great as Randy Moss is, the oh my God season was with Tom Brady. But let me just say this about Saxonville and Jalen Ramsey. I'm always very cautious when somebody in life, a person of business has a little bit of success and they get real chatty. Spurs don't talk a lot. Steelers, I don't hear a lot of guarantees.

New England's pretty quiet. Same with Alabama. Saxonville was good for about, I don't know, three months. 10 and 6. Andrew Luckin, Deshawn Watson got hurt in your own division. The AFC is down. It still is down. And Saxonville can't stop talking.

And I like Jalen Ramsey, but they can't stop talking. I just want you to remember that the NFL is a lot like music, there are a lot of one-hit wonders. Remember this song? Remember the one you dance to? Joy Taylor was the hit of Miami dancing. Remember? That was the Macarena Queen.

Okay, do you know? This is played on every cruise ship. Everywhere. But do you remember the second hit by that band? No, there wasn't. There wasn't. There wasn't. for about a year and a half, it was the most played, disgust, and dance two song in America.

You do realize Vanilla Ice, you actually memorize the words to Vanilla Ice songs. Yo, VIP, let's kick it. You thought he was cool. You thought he was going to last forever. You love Vanilla Ice. You won't admit it now to anybody, but you were walking around and be like, I am Vanilla Ice. Also, remember this song? Oh, yeah, you love this song, too.

Yeah, the Baja Man. Music in the NFL, you get a lot of one-hit wonders. Steelers are going to be good for a long time. Patriot's going to be good for a long time. I have a feeling Philadelphia is going to be good for a long time. The Seahawks got a little vanilla ice. Seahawks got a little vanilla ice. San Francisco with Hardball, a little Baja man.

like Saxonville. Last 10 years, one playoff appearance. I like Jalen Ramsey, great player. But Gronk is good. No question. He's better with Tom than he would be with Ryan Tannihill. But when you look at the numbers,

he is worth a field goal. He is worth a field goal. Just remember this. Outside of quarterback, Vegas doesn't think most NFL players, even the great ones, are worth more than a point. point. He's worth three times that.

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Check it out. Go to simplysafe.com slash herd today. Simplysafe.com slash H-E-R-D. Family assets protect both. Simplysafe.com slash H-E-R-D. ERD. Didn't have a lot of idols growing up. This guy was one of them. NBC's Sunday night football, one of the most memorable empirical greats in our industry. Al Michaels is joining us in the herd today. I mean, listen, I'm just going to embarrass you with the compliments and... I want to know what empirical means. I mean, you are at the top. You are somebody that we, there's a standard in life for certain. If you want organic, food, you go to whole foods.

I don't want organic food. Trust me. You don't eat vegetables. I don't eat any vegetables. Okay, move that mic next to you. Move that baby right here. First time I've, you know, used one of these mics. This is pretty cool. By the way, we're debuting a new set in a week, so you'll have to come back for that very exciting. Josh Rosen, you actually did one of their games. We're talking about all these young quarterbacks. UCLA kid. He was a tennis player over in my stomping grounds, Manhattan Beach. You did one of their preseason games, so I imagine you sat down with them. What are your impressions? I hadn't met him before.

This is one sharp kid, I got to tell you. He said something the other day that I thought was fascinating. And you don't learn very much from a 23-year-old when you're my age, but I did. So we're talking about the fact that he still had eligibility at UCLA. Could have come back for a senior year. Chip Kelly gets the job. Rosen said he was an eagle fan growing up of all things. He grew up in the South Bay here in Southern California.

So he's thinking about maybe coming back. he meets with Kelly. Kelly, he said Kelly was terrific. He said, I'll support you either way. You want to come back? That's great. You want to go to the NFL? I'll help you there as well.

So then he walks out of the meeting with Kelly, and he's so impressed. And now he's thinking about, does he come back and play his senior year at UCLA? And he said, I could not let emotion get in the way of logic. And I thought about that. That's a brilliant statement when you think about it. So then he said, you know, I really need to come out.

and go to the NFL and declare for the draft, which he eventually did. But that's how close he probably came to coming back to UCLA for another season. Baker Mayfield, what are your impressions? He is an incredibly accurate thrower, which sounds obvious. Right. But not everybody in the NFL is. Now, some guys, Big Ben can overcome some of his inefficiencies with precision. But I think Baker will be fine.

I would have picked Donald number one, but what do you make a Baker? Or maybe Rosen number one or Josh Allen number one. They could have gone any number of ways. You know, I like what I see so far, but you know as well as I do in the Yiddish vernacular. The preseason is bookus, right? It means nothing. I don't know what the record was.

When Marvell Evey took the bills to four straight Super Bowls, they were something like four and 16 in preseason. It means zero. By next week, nobody would remember anything that happened in preseason. So, you know, what I've seen are Mayfield so far, just watching him on television a couple of times. He looks pretty good.

You know, he's a kid who has a lot of energy, obviously. You have a team that's 1 and 31 over the last two seasons. So I like what they did. We'll see how it plays out. These days, it's just so hard to predict. Well, you know, who's going to be wide in the whole thing. You got Ryan Leaf coming in here in the next hour, I understand, right? So you've got to talk about him.

There's a guy who knows what it's like to be picked up. the top and we know how that worked out. You know, Aaron Rogers signed a massive deal. I was telling my staff this morning as we were the team we were preparing for the show and I said, you know, this is a great contract. But in the NFL, you don't make much annually, but they'll give you a boatload of money up front. I mean, the Rams just gave Aaron Donald. And it's, I've always felt the franchise tag just awful for NFL players that Eli Manning said, I'm not going to go there. And John Elway said, I'm not going to go. Because if it goes wrong early in your NFL career, very rarely does it become Drew Brees.

And you look at, you've covered the NBA and you've covered the NFL. It is interesting, isn't it, where in the NFL, the team really, even if you're Aaron Rogers, mostly controls you. You almost never see a quarterback become a free agent, a great one. LeBron's a free agent every year.

The two sports, and you've covered both, are so different how they treat their athlete. I'd rather be an NBA player if I was a business guy, right? Well, maybe, you know, on the labor end, they've made the right deals. Look, you know, the interesting thing is that I think to me, probably the best commissioner I've seen in my lifetime is David Stern and Adam Silver is, you know, grew up with David and Adams done a fantastic shop.

So the NBA's done a really good job of figuring out, you know, how to meld with the players. They're in, you know, pretty good shape as a sport right now. they're in very good shape as a sport where the NFL has a lot of issues and a lot of problems. And look, to this day, we still go back to what's happening between the players and management right now. They still can't get some of these things down pat. I mean, you know, the anthem thing obviously is one of them. But this has been going on for 35, 40 years. I know.

I understand. Well, it's better for the players right now, too. It is. It is. There's no question about that. You know, I always think, too, you know, it's so funny because these numbers come out, Colin. and I always think to myself, hold on for a second. We live in a country, the average salary in this country is about $60,000 a year.

That's the average salary. Yeah. So you forget, you know, inflation and all of the rest. But if you're going to make, on average, if you're an average worker in this country, $2.4 million in your lifetime. Think about that. In your lifetime. So we're not going to throw any, you know, charity affairs for the players or the players

or the owners or frankly anybody else in sports these days. Every year I go into a season, Al Michael is joining us, and I have a pretty good sense of teams. But there's always a team or two that all kind of call like a dark horse team I can't figure out. For me, it's the Giants. I love Pat Shermer, upgraded left tackle, Odell's back. I think they have some decent defensive personnel and Saquan Barkley. That's my team I've said.

They could be six and ten or ten and six, I don't know. Do you have a mystery team? You can't quite figure out. My mystery team probably would be Seattle at this point. There have been so many changes up there. But I have a lot of faith in John Snyder as the GM. He's done a great job. You know, Pete Carroll has done a great job as well.

They've lost a lot of guys. You know, Sherman's out the door. Chancellor's not there. Who knows with Earl Thomas. But you still have a great quarterback. I mean, Russell Wilson is something special. I look at Seattle as a team that can go anywhere from, I don't know, 11 and 5 to 5 and 11. They're in a tough division.

So I don't think they're going to go 11 and 5, but I just can't figure them out at this particular point. Yeah, I'm the same way. And Pete, by the way, is last year of his contract. And, you know, again, here we go with Garoppolo and Jared Goff is rising. Of all your great moments, everybody knows Miracle and Ice. I've said this for years and years. if you didn't hear Al do baseball years ago, as I was growing up in my career,

in my opinion, you were the best that's ever done it. You and Scully are the best that have ever done. And by the way, Joe Buck's amazing. But I'm going to take you to my favorite Al Michaels moment, not called Miracle on Ice. You and Chris Collinsworth in one of the most perplexing, hard to describe things in NFL history.

You got Griff Whalen ready to take the snap. He'll snap it actually. Colt Anderson is behind him. What in the world? Illegal formation. The whole right side of the line was not on the line of scrimmage, offense. This penalty is declined. The result of the play is first down for New England.

You got a guy on either side of him. What are you doing here? I've never seen anything more bizarre than that. What was the plan? I don't know. I mean, completely nuts. I mean, I watched that. I watched that a hundred times.

I almost felt like that was the end of Chuck Pagano, a wonderful man. It felt like, oh, boy, that's not going to work. Well, when they came up to the line of scrimmage, I mean, I'm looking at this thing going, what am I seeing? You know, am I having, you know, I'm a blacking out? Nobody had ever seen that formation. And then I was trying to figure out, as I said, on the air that night, what was the plan?

What were they trying to do with this thing? So it didn't quite work out. Speaking of this, and it really showed you kind of juxtaposition of Belichick, the genius, and Pagano, the struggling, you know, coach. Let me ask you about Belichick. In these pre-game meetings you have, you know, I've heard, oh, he can be sharp and acerbic and funny. Does he give you anything? Yeah, I mean, I've known Bill for over 30 years.

You know, New him as the defensive coordinator of the Giants. You know, when they won the Super Bowl back in 1990 against Buffalo. So we've been in a lot of meetings with Bill. You know what he loves? He loves the history of the game. He knows as much about the history of football as anybody. So in these meetings, the coaches are not giving us the game playing, really. You know, nobody watches more film or tape than Chris Collins.

We can figure it out, or Chris can figure it out in terms of what they're trying to do. But we go into these things, into these meetings with these coaches, and talk about personnel, get some of their feelings about certain things. You know, look, with Bill, it can be anything. But if you get Bill engaged in a conversation about the history of the game, loves to tell a story. And I love to tell it, too, about he worked for Ted Marcha Brodo when he started. He made $25 a week or something like that. You know, he's, Bill can be, he's very, very good.

But we don't go in there expecting him to say, you know, here's what the plan is. You can kind of figure out what the plan is. And then you just want to get a sense of where he's coming from and where the team is. And, you know, that's the essence of those meetings. When you do cowboy games, it's the biggest brand in North America. Outside of maybe Manchester United, it could be one of the biggest brands in the world, right? Do they feel different as a broadcaster? Jerry, the Cowboys, the brand, the audience is going to be bigger.

They do. There's no question about it. I don't know what it is. You know, I've been asked a bunch of times, you know, Sunday night football. How come the Cowboys are on the maximum number of times, no matter what their record was the year before? They get your attention. They certainly, you know, you go back to and people mock it now when they were known as America's team years and years ago. I don't know if they're America's team right now, but they always get your attention.

With the Cowboys, I liken them to the Yankees in a way. You either love them or, you. You hate him, and there's rarely anything in between. People want to see them win. People want to see them lose. Jerry's one of the most fascinating people I've ever met. You've known him. Oh, tremendous, yeah.

You've known him forever. I've known Jerry since he bought the team back in 1989. At an owner's meeting, you know, I walked up to him and I said, hey, I just want to, you know, tell you one thing. Good luck. I said, you just fired Tom Landry. You're getting killed in the Dallas papers. But let me tell you something. Over the last three years doing Dallas games, the papers were killing the team for not firing

Tom Landry. So you just did what they want you to do, and now you're taking it in the neck. So that was our first conversation. And then through the 90s, he would show us the model of a stadium that he wanted to build. He wanted to build it in downtown Dallas. Couldn't get that done. But then he got it done in Arlington. And I mean, to me, we go to all of the stadiums around the country.

And Colin, I mean, this place is going, it's 10th season. And you know what I love about that stadium, too? How it's maintained. because we go to stadiums that are 8, 9, 10 years old, and all of a sudden you begin to see the, you know, the leakage in a way. You walk through, you walk, you know, into the lower reaches of a stadium and you smell the dumpster. Yeah.

I mean, believe me, we've been to a number of places like that. You walk into, we weren't there the other night. The place is pristine. Not only is it beautiful. Not only is it the best stadium I've ever seen, but it's maintained perfectly. Oh, Michael. It's so great having you on.

So from here, you're just going to go hit golf balls. Well, on radio, you can't see it. But obviously, I've got my golf channel shirt on a freebie. So you're going to go. I never wear light-colored pants except on warm days on the course. So you're going to go out and hit golf balls today. I'll go out and play golf today. What a life you live.

Well, yeah, but then next week is, you know, back to school. I've got my crayons. I've got my composition. You know what my wife, I've told you about my wife always says. She goes, if you look like, ow, she goes, that guy, looks great. That's a guy that takes care of himself. No vegetables.

I've told you this many times. So my wife's a vegan. Al doesn't believe in vegetables. You guys would never click. But she does think you, she's like, look at that guy. He is so buttoned up. I walk past a restaurant

called the, or drive past something called the veggie grill once in a while. I get nauseous. I really do. Steaks and chops, baby. Steaks, steak and potatoes. Occasionally some fish. 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. Well, most experts try to predict the outcomes of games. But what happens when you know exactly what's going to happen? So I feel, I'm going to do this every Friday,

I feel like I almost have to warn you about this next segment. Warning, Colin is about to reveal the outcomes of the biggest college football games this week. If you don't want to know exactly what's going to happen, turn away now. Yeah, I don't need to predict. I know exactly what's going to happen. First game. Michigan at Notre Dame.

I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. First of all, Michigan to me as the better coach. Michigan's got the better quarterback, Shea Patterson. Michigan has the best defense for Sean Gary up front. Generally, I got the better coach, I got the better quarterback, I got the better defense as a better team. There is immense pressure on Jim Harbaugh. He finally got the quarterback right.

Now they finished 8 and 5 last year, but they had all sorts of injury issues with quarterback down the stretch. They get a transfer of quarterback. I got to tell you something. Nothing against Notre Dame, but they're rebuilding. Not only did they lose offensive line. to the NFL. But their two best were top 10 NFL picks.

They lost two great offensive linemen. They lost a top running back. I think Michigan's defensive front is going to overwhelm Notre Dame's offensive line over the course of three and a half hours. Now, Notre Dame finished 10 and 3. Their quarterback is Brandon Wimbush. And he's kind of a run guy, more than a throw guy. about a 50% completion guy.

I think this comes down to I get the better coach, and I think the rebuilding of Notre Dame's O line, which not only lost starters, but lost, Quentin Nelson was the best offensive line prospect in years, and the right tackle goes to San Francisco 49ers. Spoiler alert, turn away. Michigan, on the road, beats Notre Dame 26 to 23. All right. Next game, turn away if you don't want to know the precise outcome of the next game.

Washington goes to Atlanta to take on Auburn. Now, these teams are both capable of getting into the playoff. They're really, really good. Auburn has a quarterback, Jared Stidham, who's going to play in the NFL. Jared Stidham's probably, in my opinion, the one NFL prospect at quarterback that nobody's talking about. I really like him. Now, here's the issue. They're rebuilding their offensive line. They lost a couple of wide receivers in spring practice due to injuries. But in this game, I get an NFL quarterback, and Auburn's defensive front seven is a bunch

of NFL dudes. It is the best unit of both teams. And they're playing in Atlanta. This is an hour and a half from their campus. This is almost like a home game for Auburn. So I get them playing mostly at home. I get the better quarterback, and I get an unbelievable defensive front. Now, Auburn's Secondaries Week, and they're rebuilding the O-line. Let's talk about Washington. Now, I get the better coach in this game in Chris Peterson. Jake Browning is a great college quarterback.

I do not believe he's an NFL quarterback. He's a great college quarterback. I get Miles Gaskin, who is a tremendous NFL prospect at running back. Washington doesn't have any unit as good as Auburn's defensive front seven. But Washington, outside of maybe being soft at linebacker, is pretty good everywhere. They got a real running back, good offensive line, nice college quarterback, couple of nice receivers, terrific corners, NFL safety. Don't love them at linebacker, but outside of that, Washington is going to be really solid.

They're the most complete team of these two. but I get Auburn at home, I get an NFL quarterback, and I get an unbelievable front seven, which can go toe to toe to toe with Alabama. We've seen that in toe to toe to toe with Georgia. And those are the big boy football. So once again, spoiler alert. Auburn 27, Washington 24,

in an incredible football game. Listen, I gave you a heads up. I am not making predictions. This is exactly what's going to happen. Let me throw this out. out there, Miami Hurricanes beat LSU. I don't have the complete layout, but the Miami Hurricanes will beat LSU. That's the other game.

I don't have all the, you know, I don't have the bells and whistles. I don't have all the bells and whistles, but I do like Miami to beat LSU. LSU is returning nobody. They're one of the younger teams in college football. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, cowherd. It's the best for last.

NFL season kicks off in less than a week. There are several coaches that are on the hot seat. I would not be shocked if we had a handful of coaches. A couple of them replaced Joy during the season. So let's go in our coaching hot seat list, our top five, as we start the NFL season. I would start with Pete Carroll at number five. They missed the playoffs last year for the first Siamton, 2011. Major losses defensively, Richard Sherman, Cam, Chancellor, Michael Bennett, Sheldon, Richardson, Earl Thomas Stilke holding out.

Pete is getting closer to 70. He's in the last year of a contract. They have Russell Wilson. They have Bobby Wagner. They have Doug Baldwin, who's not at 100%. But this doesn't mean Pete's a bottom five coach. Pete's got a Super Bowl. He's going to go into the Hall of Fame.

My guess is. But this is, again, coaches on the hot seat. You got a bunch of young guys coming into that division. Steve Wilkes, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh. If they finish in fourth place, you may get an impatient owner and a general manager under the gun. Number four. Jay Gruden, last year finished seven and nine leading Washington, but they were one in five against the NFC East. They've only made the playoffs once in Jay Gruden's four seasons. And when they lost, Sean McVeigh. They've been about a field goal less and 80 yards less a game. They don't feel the same. They've got Alex Smith, but, you know, that's a new coach, you know, a new system, new quarterback. The other thing, he's 28 and 35 and won as Washington's head coach. And the division's better than it's ever been. Giants are a lot better this year. Looks like the Cowboys got their edge rushers and their linebackers in Philadelphia just won a Super Bowl.

So I'd say number four is Jay Gruden. Number three. Vance Joseph, 5 and 11, first year is the Denver Bronco head coach. They finished in last place in the AFC West for the first time in eight years. And they were not good defensively. 23rd in scoring defense. Denver has a history of being a tough physical kind of defensive team. And at the end of last season, Adam Schefter reported that the odds of Vance Joseph coming back were low.

but John Elway kept him because I think John didn't know exactly what he had at quarterback, didn't know what he had at coach, so they decided to keep him. But he's going to need a big year from Case Keenham for Vance Joseph in Denver to succeed. Number two. Dirk Cutter, a couple years.

He was 5 and 11 last year. He's sub-502 years. And since John Gruden, no Tampa Bay coach has lasted more than three seasons. This will be his third season. James Winston's not starting for the first three games. That division's outstanding. I have Atlanta in the NFC championship.

I think New Orleans is really, really good. Carolina's got Cam, a veteran coach, and they've also got the best front seven, in my opinion, Carolina does in the entire NFL. I think it could be a really ugly season. I don't even know if inside the building, truthfully, they think Jamis is the future. And number one...

And number one coach in the hot seat, Hugh Jackson. He has one win in two years. and the owner's going to want Baker Mayfield to play sooner than later. No LeBron in town. When NBA camp opens up in October, Indians are out of the playoffs, that owner's going to say, Baltimore's coming to town. I want Baker to start.

And they got a couple of rough games early. Pittsburgh Saints at Oakland, they could be one and three. And I think Baker's going to end up playing really early. In fact, we have a live shot of Hugh Jackson in the hot seat. It's actually, I would say it's a, it's a. of hot. It's an inferno. So there's hot seats,

and then there's what Hugh Jackson's doing right now. It's tough. He's in a really, really tough spot. What are the wise guys wear? I get asked that from time to time. The answer is the new gear from theherdnow.com merchandise store. We are now officially open for business. We have all the apparel, diehard herd fans need to represent the show.

Go to theherdnow.com. If you don't, that's a you problem. And that's a you problem is one of our shirts. Check it out. Theherdnow.com. Theherdnow.com store is open for business today. 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 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 SportsSlicse on the IHeartRadio 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and

wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on.

A Mormon polygamous and an Armenian businessman. multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.