The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 09/21/2018

Episode Date: September 21, 2018

Colin says people in Cleveland should calm down little instead of putting up a statue for Baker Mayfield after one win. He thinks Sam Darnol's struggles Thursday night are to be expected. Plus, Ian O'Connor comes on to talk about his new book on Bill Belichick and why Tom Brady almost left the team this offseason just to get away from Bill  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd 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, one hour from now, blazing five strongest picks of the year. We've already had two winning weeks, and Joy Taylor is checking in today. how much fun was that last night. Jets Browns was must watch television.

Good morning. It was great. It was amazing. I did not think that the Browns were going to pull it off. However, I did not think we were going to see Baker Mayfield last night. I don't think a lot of people did in one hour blazing five and a major surprise in one hour. A major surprise on this show in one hour. Let me start with this.

I tell my kids all the time. Your kids make mistakes. but over the course of your life, try not to make the same mistake two or three times. But as an adult telling my kids that, it's hard because adults make the same mistakes all the time. We fall for the same stuff in politics, in business, in sports. In sports, it's the worst. We keep falling for the same stuff. Hyperventilating over stuff and then getting burned.

By the way, the last number one quarterback pick to win his first game was David Carr. It was a standalone Sunday night football game. Oh, crazy. Next week, two picks, six for 25. His quarterback rating was an eight. Sam Darnold, stand-alone game. Monday night football for the Jets. Oh, my God.

Don't believable. Last night, he was not very good. Last night, standalone game. Baker Mayfield gets into the game. I never said Baker Mayfield was going to be terrible. I never said he was going to be bust. It was a standalone team. TV game, the only game on national TV.

He comes in against a bad team at home that didn't have a game plan for him. And Baker Mayfield did what a number one pick should do. He completed passes when he had time to throw and led his team to a win. He did not scale Everest last night. This was not Kilimanjaro. It was the Jets at home with a rookie quarterback on a short week. And by the way, I've always said this about Baker Mayfield. This was my pre-draft evaluation.

He can win with weapons. Who was the best running back for either team last night? veteran Carlos Hyde, two touchdowns, 100 yards. Who was the best wide receiver for either team last night? Jarvis Landry. From the Dolphins, pretty good. Eight catches, over 100 yards. Who had the better defense?

Browns. Who was at home? Browns. By the way, the two coaches for Baker Mayfield, Hugh Jackson, and Todd Haley, both super successful coordinators who have been head coaches. Okay, he didn't scale Everest. He's a number one pick.

We knew he was better than Tyrod. Eventually, he just happens to be better now. He's better now. He should play now. But folks, we keep falling for this. Sam Darnold, week one, amazing last night, not so great. Andrew Luck's first game, terrible. Next week, really good.

Cam Newton's first game, amazing. Check it out I did this morning, second game. Terrible. RG3 started red hot, so did Carson Went. And then by week four of his rookie year to week 14, Carson Wentz was just not very good at all. We're falling for it. Now what's going to happen with Baker Mayfield? Oh, now he goes on the road.

He's not facing a rookie quarterback. He's facing Derek Carr. And he's got to do a West Coast game. And, oh, by the way, now they can game plan off film completely against Baker Mayfield. He's a number one pick. A number one pick should do that. But Colin, you never liked him. No, I said,

I think we're going crazy comparing him to Russell Wilson. He'll never be that athletic. Or Drew Brees, crazy me. I said, I don't think he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame guy and be the most accurate passer in league history. I said, I think a more accurate comp

is a Case Keenham, who I think he's better than, but Case Keenham when you surround him with people can win. But we're just going, do it. in this again. Baker did some nice stuff and he deserves some praise. No statutes in parades. By the way, last night he was two for six

throwing to his left. Fifteen for 17 middle or right. Don't think the Raiders will see that on film? Come on now. Now he's going to face over the next several weeks. Derek Carr, Joe Flacco, Big Ben

on the Road, Patrick Mahomes, Matt Ryan, specifically tailored game plans. Cincinnati's defense twice. Wentz, luck, Darnold. Strap yourself in, man. It's the rookie roller coaster ride.

We never thought Baker Mayfield would not be competent. We never thought that. Jets didn't think they'd face him. He came in. When he got protection by the third, fourth, fifth drive, he did what a number one pick should do. He completed passes. He was precise, which,

the record's always been his strength. It's not big enough for me, not as good at athlete as Mahomes or Wents or even Darnold or luck. But he can throw. That's why I said he's not a bust. Dude can throw. Sees, throws, quickly accurate.

We just never learn, do we? And speaking of that, let me segue and we got a lot of stuff today. In less than an hour of the Blazing Five and a major, major surprise on the show. So Sam Darnold, oh boy, Colin, bet that hurts, doesn't it?

Bet that burns. Okay, let's take a deep breath and think about this. So Big Ben, who has two pro bowlers on the offensive line, Antonio Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, and a veteran head coach, had a 60 passer rating against the Brown's defense. The next week, Drew Brees, first ballot hall of famer, 30 NFL passing records with Alvin Kamara eventually. No, he says Alvin Kamara now, Ingrams said, Joe Thomas, very good receivers,

rated the third to fourth best offensive line at home through for well under his home average, 240 yards. So you thought, you thought Sam Darnold on a short week with what pro football focus ranks as the 31st best offensive line, the 28th running back set, and the 28th best tight ends and receivers. He was going to cut it up against this defense, against a veteran defensive coordinator, Greg Williams. This defense gave Big Ben and Drew Bree's fits.

Those guys have Elito lines, world-class perimeter weapons. Those guys are veterans. You thought Sam Darnold? Listen, Sam Darnold led. The only surprise last night is that Sam Darnold led 14 to 3 in the 3. How, I'm not sure. and he not only led, he completed a very nice first down throw to Robbie Anderson,

who then fumbled, Cleveland got it, and the game was never the same. But not only did Sam Darnel have nothing to work with, and we knew it, and I told you this was one of the bets of the week. Six of 13 Sam Darnel drives started at his 12-yard line or worse. So with that line, no weapons, no backs, young head coach, on the road, short week, veteran defensive coordinator, he was pinned in 50% of his drives. Only surprise last night. Jets led midway through the third. By the way, Troy Aikman had a thought about Sam Darnold last night as everybody was going crazy.

Baker's great. Sam's terrible. Troy Aikman, who covered the draft, who knows both. Baker, Troy was really good last night, so was Joe. Talked a little bit about Sam Darnold. Here's a little nugget. I'll tell you an interesting thing about Sam Donald and visiting with Jeremy Bates, the

offensive coordinator. He said when he comes in for the meetings, right from the beginning, he doesn't write notes. He does not take notes in the meetings, and I've never heard of that. And Jeremy Bates was getting really frustrated. He's getting angry about it, saying this guy's our number one pick, and he's not writing notes. But they go out on the practice field.

He never forgets anything. It's the way that he's always been. smart. His work ethic is incredible. And it's just pretty impressive that the guy can just absorb it by hearing it and doesn't have to take notes to remember it. He's going to be okay too. The rest

of Baker Mayfield games won't turn out just like that. And the rest of Sam Darnold's games won't turn out just like that. Let me add something else which has been discussed among NFL people but is not really discussed I notice among media or the fans.

If I'm standing next to a guy, and I'm 54, and he's 52, we're the same guy. If I'm not going to ask Joy's age, but if there's two women standing next to each other and one is 39 is, one is 37, it's sort of the same age. But Baker Mayfield is 23 years old. Darnold's 21. Baker Mayfield threw 1,500 passes in college. Sam Darnold threw 8.50.

Baker Mayfield started 48 college games. Sam Darnold started 27. Like, that's a gap. That's not two 50-year-old guys and two 39-year-old women standing next to each other. It is not a shock that Sam Darnold, two years younger, with half the throws and only about 60% of the starts, isn't quite as developed, precise, and buttoned up as Baker Mayfield. Sam's got work to do. Sam's still reckless. Sam's still loose.

You do get last week he was the youngest quarterback in league history to throw for over 300 yards. That word youngest is kind of what makes the record, not the 335 yards. Sam's going to be okay. He needs help like some. He doesn't have a Carlos Hyde. He doesn't have a Jarvis Landry. He doesn't have an offensive head coach. He's got a defense.

one. Short week, on the road, no weapons, pinned deep, younger, less experienced. These guys are both going to work. The winner last night was us because a Jets Brown's game was wildly fascinating.

And when's the last time any of us outside of New York and Cleveland said that? 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. Everybody's beating up.

I mean, everybody is crushing Hugh Jackson. So let me contextualize this a little bit. When Hugh Jackson went Owen 16, everybody wanted him fired. And Joe, you weren't on the show yet, but I came out and I said, first of all, the Browns are going to draft a quarterback. Okay, you probably want an offensive guy who's been in the league a while, not a rookie head coach, okay? Hugh May, everybody, you're not going to get the best candidate anyway.

You're Cleveland. You're not going to get the best candidate. there were several jobs open. The Bears had a job opening. There were several in the NFL open. You weren't getting the best one in Cleveland anyway. You weren't getting the best candidate. And the other thing I said was,

if you look at the history of the Browns and all their movement and chaos and dysfunction, send a signal to other executives around the league in scouts, hey, for the first time in like a decade, we're not going to blow a coach out. We're going to retain a guy because we want to create some continuity the symbolism around the league matters. And oh, by the way, Hugh is now one, one and one,

and a field goal kicker from 3 and 0. That Cleveland's got a real defense here. They're a field goal kicker from 3 and 0, and that's having faced Big Ben and Drew Brees on the road. So now Hugh Jackson this morning is getting crushed, and he's getting crushed for two reasons. Number one is, man, how could you not start? Baker, Mayfield, and week one.

Has anybody considered this, that Hugh Jackson was sitting there thinking, looking at the schedule thinking, okay, tie rod's a six-round pick. Baker's a number one pick. We know Baker's going to be better eventually. He probably is as good now. But we open up with Big Ben and Drew Breeze. I don't want to get this kid engulfed in shootouts,

and I don't want to take that chance. We're not winning the Super Bowl anyway. And then all of a sudden, they go, oh, one and one, and they're like, we're in these games. I may pull the trigger a little earlier than I thought. And then he's getting beat up for saying this after last night's game. Obviously, I like to watch the tape. Obviously, Baker did some great things.

I mean, again, we don't play until next Sunday. We got some days. Let's not get into those debates tonight. You know, obviously what he did tonight was outstanding for the football team and for his teammates and just the way he competed. But again, I have. have to watch the tape and we'll go from there. Okay. So a football coach is saying, let me watch the tape and you're freaking out. He may know more than you do about this.

He actually has tape. Now, do I think it's Baker's team? Yes. Should Baker start? Yes. The team had a little more energy. And I also think we all knew Baker was eventually going to be better than six-round Tyrod Taylor. He just happened to be better right now. Just like the Jets made a decision, Donald's as good as Teddy Bridgewater now. Let's go for it and trade him and get picks. But just think about this for a second. If you'd have blown out Hugh Jackson, there is a possibility that last night,

the coach for Baker Mayfield would be Matt Patricia or Mike Vrable, defensive guys. Because that's who would have taken the job, first time guys. Matt Nagee would not have taken that job. Andy Reid would have told him, don't take the job.

So last night, Baker would have come into the game with Matt Patricia and Mike Vrable. Let me give you a heads up on what's working currently in the NFL. Anybody know who Carson Wentz has as a head coach? Offensive guy. Patrick Mahomes. Andy Reed, offensive guy. Jared Goff struggled.

Oh, wait. He got an offensive guy. Jimmy Garoppolo. Kyle Shanahan, offensive guy. Oh, oh, Deshawn Watson. Last year he really popped. Bill O'Brien, offensive guy. Mitch Tribesky.

Oh, my, he's looked okay. Offensive guy. By the way, Andrew Lucknow. first time in his career has an offensive guy. Andrew Luck's completing 71% of his throws, a career high. You wanted to blow out Hugh Jackson. Hugh Jackson was a successful offensive coordinator. Todd Haley, now the Brown's coordinator, was a head coach and a successful coordinator.

You want to just keep blowing guys out. Look around the league. These young quarterbacks, Dirk Cutter, When James Winston wasn't doing stupid stuff, his last two years, James Winston got better, passerating, passerating, completion percentage, yards per pass. Up, up, up, up with Dirk Cutter, offensive guy. You want to blow Hugh out. I got news for you.

One of the advantages last night for Baker, he had two successful offensive coordinators in his ear making his first NFL start. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. If I had told you, let's say a few years ago, I came up to you a few years ago. And I said, listen, do you want to invest in a play, a Broadway play? You want to be an investor? Okay, what is the play about? And I said to you, okay, it's about a founding father.

And you said, oh, George Washington? And I was like, no. No, not George Washington. Who? Alexander Hamilton. So the play is about a founding father, but it's not George Washington. Washington. No, it's Alexander Hamilton. All right, who are the actors in it? Well, I mean, that's not really, well, I mean, they mostly are, the actors are rappers. And, and, and they're, so let me get this straight. You want me to invest in kind of a hip-hop play about a founding father, a musical about Alexander Hamilton? You want me to invest in that? No way. That is a ridiculous premise. It's the number one play in the history of Broadway. great. Number one playing the history of Broadway.

If I'd have told you a year ago, I'm not joking. The Jets and the Browns will play, and you won't be able to turn off the television set. What? No, no, I'm not joking. So the Jets are going to draft this guy, and it's going to be, it looks like he's going to be really good, but he's up and down and up and down. And then the Browns draft this guy, kind of controversial guy, grabbed his junk in college. He was kind of a brat, had police video, and it was all sorts of stuff you got to watch out for it. You probably wouldn't want to draft him. He's small.

He's cocky. I don't know if I get him. He comes in and he beats the other quarterback. Oh, my guy. He'd be like, that happened? That's what happened last night. That was three and a half hours of drama. You had the cocky college kid who won the Heisman.

Everybody's talking about him. Guys like me don't like him as much as everybody else. He's being compared to Drew Brees, and I'm laughing at it in a police video. And he grabbed himself and a bunch of stuff I'm not really fond of. And he was a star last night. Came in at halftime. Jet didn't think they were going to get him. and he leads his team over Sam Darnold,

who two weeks ago we thought was the next best thing in the world. That was great. A third of the NBA is tanking. A third of the league's tanking. Now the Jets and the Browns are must-watch television. And they are because this is what drama is all about. What's happened with young people in America? We look at research all the time.

Millennials tend to root for players over teams. They don't buy the jersey of the team. They buy the jersey of the player. Now, when I grew up, In my generation, you rooted for laundry. You rooted for a team in a city. You were a Knicks fan. You were a Lakers fan.

But Laker fans now, they're Kobe guys. They're loyal to Kobe over the Lakers. Well, it's a different world now. When we were growing up, you watched whatever team was on television. You didn't have the Sunday ticket. You didn't know about, if it's on the other side of the country, you don't watch Seattle games in Pittsburgh. Right. You watch the Steelers games.

And it wasn't social media. The Internet has changed all that. So, yes, millennials are, and younger kids are fans of players. not teams. Think, look at the games this weekend. In college football, there's 60 games a weekend. You pray that seven are good. If you look at the NFL schedule this weekend,

last night was the first game of the week. Look at these games. There's one dog. Even the Raiders, dolphins, I want to watch the Gruden story. The dog is, of course, Buffalo at Minnesota, and Minnesota is a 16 and a half point favorite. And by the way, the people in Minnesota will love watching that,

but that game's going to be hard to watch for anybody that's not a Viking fan. that's going to be ugly. But I'm getting, I am getting, I get luck against Wentz and Aaron Rogers hobbled going on the road. I mean, these are, these are go. Cowboys now, y'all love them. They got to go to face Russell Wilson, who's like 36 and 10 all time in Seattle. Even the Buccaneers at Steelers on Monday Night Football. What if the Steelers lose? What if they're 02 and 1? Matt Patricia faces his mentor, Bill Belichick, Breeze and Nassie. Breeze and Matt Ryan, Chargers, Rams in LA, first time they've collided regular season.

I mean, it's, Lamb watching last night, and I'm sitting there thinking to myself, Jets and Browns are must watch. That was the NBA equivalent of watching the Brooklyn Nets and the Orlando Magic. I couldn't turn that thing off last night. And it's a credit. I said this yesterday. I get so tired of hearing this from NFL coaches. You know, these quarterbacks just aren't ready.

No, they are. Sam Darnold's ready. Baker Mayfield's ready. They're ready to play. Carson Wentz was ready as a rookie. Andrew Luck was ready as a rookie. Jared Gough would have been ready if he had the right coach. Marcus Moriota was ready to play.

I think he's over-ready but ready to play. James Winston was ready to play. He got better the last two years before he went juvenile, which he's done several times in college and the pros. But, I mean, when you're talking about Browns and Jets, and that is a must-watch TV event, we're in a good spot in the NFL. I also want to mention this.

You may not have seen this. Maybe you saw this after the game. So maybe you saw this after the game. I know you just love when guys go out and they rip cowherd and they crush cowherd. So after the game last night, Joe Thomas is one of the great Cleveland Browns of all time. Going to be a Hall of Famer, 10 time, 12-time, all-pro left tackle. He is now a broadcaster. He's got a podcast.

He was on our show two weeks ago, and he's very, very, very funny. And so he was on the air last night. and here's what happened with Baker Mayfield and Joe. How much would you pay right now for Colin Coward to be sitting in the seat that I'm sitting in right now? Do you think I want to celebrate this with him? No, seriously, though. Take that, Colin, did you have a plan? I know what you're saying.

A coward burn! Listen, when I come on the air, I'm not straddling the fence. I'm taking aside. Now, I'm wrong regularly. In fact, I created a segment on Mondays because I thought it would be really funny to remind the fans where I nailed it and where I got nailed, where I was right and where I was wrong. So every Monday I come on, it's one of my highest Reddit segments, and I say, I got this right and I got it wrong. But what I'm not going to do with Russell Westbrook and LeBron James and Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield and Sam Donald is Waffle. because I do this for a living

and you expect me to have strong opinions. Nobody's ever come up to me and said, you know what I want from you? Waffling. Nobody's ever said that to me. Nobody's ever said come up to me and also said this. Who's your favorite governor? That's why I don't talk about politics.

You tell me every day when I walk up to you at the car wash and the grocery store and we bump into each other at restaurants what you want and you don't want straddle it on the fence and you don't want me talking politics. So I don't do either. And I love that dabble. Sweeney. Remember a couple years ago?

Dabo Sweeney won the national title. Five minutes later, went to the podium and said this. The guy that called us a fraud. Ask Alabama if we're a fraud. Was his name Colin Coward? I never met him, don't know him. Ask him if we're Alabama for a fraud. Ask Ohio State if we're a fraud.

Ask Oklahoma if we're a fraud. The only fraud is that guy. Because he didn't do his homework. I hope y'all print that. Oh, it's so good. I take a side. I take sides. By the way, Joe L. M. Bid.

He didn't like that I said the Sixers. And they don't win in a title. They're too young. Called me Colin Coward. Not very nice. Dabo Sweeney, Joe L. Embed, Baker, Joe Thomas. My job is to have an opinion. I don't do the prep work to straddle a fence, so I'm not bothered. We had Baker on the show.

We had Joe on the show. I'd love to have Joe Embed on the show. And by the way, Daboie, you know, you. You are welcome anytime in our new chairs. 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. I did something this week that I've never done. You know, I'll bet $50 in the game.

I'll bet $100 in the game. I'm not, I wouldn't consider myself a big gambler, but I've always embraced it. I used to live in Las Vegas. And, I mean, people are giving their money to Wall Street. We can't get $50 every week to Vegas. I mean, it's just gaming analysts. Those guys are market analysts. So it's like I know guys that are in that industry.

I like it. I don't bet big money until this week. When I made an unprecedented move to bet $1,000 on a regular season game, I threw up five minutes later. So we have a new show at the network called Lock It In. And let me just give you a little piece of tape before all the fun happens here. Go ahead and roll the tape. I think it's going to be Browns.

I think there's a reason he's taking this Thursday game, you know, putting it in the case today. I'm going to say he's taking the Browns. He's on the Furman bandwagon. We'll take the Brown. All right. Well, let's bring in Cousin Sal, writer-performer Jimmy Kimmel, has a gambling podcast. Todd Furman, a former odds maker at Caesar has a podcast. Cesar's Palace.

That's where I've met Todd had dinner. He picked it up. Okay, you guys run a new show called Lock It In. So you are bringing out. the mystery suitcase. I feel like this is a sexier version of deal or no deal. Kind of. Yeah.

Okay. So now, it is interesting that you're bringing out the suitcase today, which would infer Todd that last night's game was my bet. I was clearly off then. I thought you had a little insider information on a game on Sunday. So I'm as curious as anybody to know what's going on inside this suitcase. So Furman thought, Todd thought I was doing the Packers game because I did have a source the week before in Aaron Rogers.

drum roll if we could here this is the biggest bet of my life all right a thousand by the way before my cousin Sal how often do you bet a thousand dollars every three hours or something yeah not that often I've slowed down a little bit

by the way when you were at Caesars and Todd you know the industry for like professional gamblers of which I'm not is a thousand dollars a lot or minimum blue plate special what is it you know it all depends on the sport and the national football league professional betters are going to have larger limits extended to them. If you're talking about the WNBA or a college basketball total in the sunbelt on a Tuesday

in February, everybody for a professional bet is a little bit different in terms of the overall impact they can have on the market. So it's not uncommon in the NFL to see somebody come up with a brown paper bag, especially around the big game at the end of the year for the NFL and go, you know, I want 20 or 25,000 on the side to try and plunk down cash. Colin, we had a player with us who would bet $200,000 a game in the NFL. NFL. He would bet 12 to 14 games a weekend. Now, that might be like a five or $10 bet to everybody else. He didn't even blink when he had to square up his figures at the end of the month.

Drum roll, John. This is it. Cousin, Sal, you're going to unveil. All right. This is your big, big. Can I just say I was surveying the scene that I think this is the closest Todd has ever been to a woman. I was waiting for the jet, but you know what, Sal is going to be disappointing? That's still not going to say Handmaid's Tail on when you open up that envelope and get your bankroll back to the rocket. That is so very good show. So rude.

All right, here we go. This was Collins pick. $1,000. $1,000. I called it Cleveland minus three over the Jets. Are you lucky S-O-B-U? That's ridiculous. Okay, can I give you my reasoning?

I guess, yeah. Okay, so first of all, rookie quarterbacks are all over the map. I compare rookie quarterbacks to backup quarterbacks, up down, up down. The great quarterbacks give you same stuff every week. So Big Ben, with tremendous weapons and pro football focus ranks as a top five offensive line was a mess against Cleveland's defense. Drew Breeze at home averages about 350 yards, average 20.

Tremendous weapons. Camar Joe Thomas. So I get veteran defensive coordinator, Greg Williams, short week, a reckless, albeit talented rookie with arguably bottom two offensive line and running back help. The only surprise to me last night, how did the Jets get in the end zone twice? Now, Todd, as a professional odds maker, was this the sharp side or the sucker side? Did I get lucky, or is there some validity to it? You know what?

There actually wasn't a consensus on last night's game. I talked to some professional betters who thought Cleveland didn't warrant a three-point price tag, given the fact that it meant they had to go out there and play somewhat convincing level of football, which for long stretches they did early in the first half. And you had other guys who went, you know, this is the perfect spot. Just like you said, to go against Sam Darnold, three games in 11 days for rookie quarter, two on the road in prime time. It was a lot to handle.

The question I have for you, though, Colin, in terms of a conscience and crisis, were you okay rooting for Baker Mayfield against Sam Donald against Sam Donald? This game is what we want to know. Would you have bet him had you known Baker was starting or would play most of the game?

That's a good question. Probably not. I wouldn't have gone with a rookie quarterback, even on a deal. He didn't play the previous week in a short week. To me, this was, as Todd said, 11 days, three starts,

veteran coordinator. And by the way, everybody's freaking out about Darnold. Six of his 13 drive started, 12-yard-liner worse last night. Donald was, there was no way he was pulling that thing out. Okay, so by the way, I have my Blazing Five.

These guys know what they're doing. Cousin, Sal, Jimmy Kimmel, you've seen... Do you still do stuff for Jimmy? Yeah, yeah, sure. Jimmy's a great day. Yeah, I clean his yard. I do a lot of things.

I'm not on the show, but... No, I'm back on. Is there anyone on that board that you... Give me your favorite Blazing Five pick for the audience. If you had one to circle, you like. My favorite is Cincinnati, Mattie plus three. I think they went outright. I think they're better. I think they're a

playoff team. And I don't know why you like the Giants and you went after the Texans offensive line. Did you see the Giant? Like Eli was on his back six times last week. I don't like the Giants. I like the number. It's too many points for a bad Houston team. Todd, you're a professional. Is there a game you like? I like the Redskins. I'm right there with you. Look at Washington is the perfect opportunity to buy low given how they perform last weekend at home. They were embarrassed by the Colts. Green Bay off of an emotional game. within the division each of the last two weeks. Wouldn't be surprised if that knee pain is a little bit too much for Rogers.

There's been actually professional money coming in on the under as well. I think this is a game where we see Alex Smith at his absolute best. The important thing to take from this whole thing, Colin, is that you are hooked. You will never be able to bet $50 again. I have a $1,800 number for you to give to you after the show. Welcome to the club. That's how it starts. He's exactly right, Colin.

I mean, $50 bets won't give you the sweat. You used to get out of them every single weekend. Lock it in. You'll see it today. Fridays are their best. shows 4.30. It's after Speak for yourself. Clay Travis, Rachel Bonetta, who's crushing it as well.

Great having you guys on the show. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. I dove in last night to a book, the Belichick book, 350 sources. A New York Times best-settler and a friend Ian O'Connor wrote it.

And he is joining us now via the coward global satellite. network. So, Ian, I dove into your book last night. You also wrote a book about Derek Jeter, Arnie, and Jack. So you've taken on these iconic people. One of the quotes that we discussed yesterday, and it's really become one of the two quotes getting talked about,

that you were able to garner, is that somebody on the staff or somebody inside the organization for New England said, we're not saying we could win a Super Bowl with all 32 quarterbacks, but if you give us any of the top 15, we could do it, Mr. Kraft thinks Tom's the greatest gift ever. The coaches don't. My takeaway on that is, I believe the quote, because I believe you and trust you and know you.

It feels like there's a little animosity toward Tom inside some rooms in Patriotville. Were you surprised that somebody said that to you? And is there kind of a festering animosity that Tom is untouchable in the organization and they could have done this with several other guys? No, I'm not surprised. Colin, because that quote really originates in the period before they drafted Garoppolo in the spring of 2014. And if you look at Brady's performance in 12, 13 going into that draft, there had been some slippage

and there was concerned about his arm strength and diminishing performance to some degree. Bill Belichick said it that night that he drafted Garapolo in 2014. He cited Tom's age and his contract status, and he said, I'd rather be early than late at that position. Obviously, he'd rather be early than late at every position. That's the way he's run his program. But he said it. I was actually stunned that he brought up Brady's age that night. So I was not surprised that that quote represented a feeling among the staff,

not that Tom Brady is not a great player. Obviously, that would be silly to suggest otherwise. But if we had the top half of that position in the league, not that we would win at that point Brady had three rings, but we could win at a high level consistently. and to me that was the spirit of that quote. Belichick is more, I don't know, fear-driven is one of the things. I read a quote last night in your book, and I want you to extrapolate on it,

that Brady has said a couple of things publicly that sound like that you qualified. It's a little bit of jabs at Bill regarding their leadership methods, and if you could go on about that, I think that's interesting for our audience. Well, he said something in the Facebook series about not leading through fear, and I was told by someone that, or fear or anger, and I was told by someone that that was a reference to the way Belichick has run his operation there for so long. But here's the thing. What it comes down to with that relationship, it's been the best transactional partnership coach quarterback in the history of the NFL. and when Brady has needed love and warmth and affection in that organization, he turns to Robert Kraft. That's where he gets that transformational relationship. But here's the thing.

The way Belichick has coached Brady has been a staple of that organization and has been a big reason why they have won five Super Bowls. Because Dante Stallworth, he told me a story early in 2007 preseason. He's sitting in a room, a meeting room next to Randy Moss. Belichick is absolutely teeing off on Brady. about the mistakes he made against the Colts in the 2006 AFC championship game. And Stalworth and Moss look at each other like, we cannot believe he is saying these things to maybe the best quarterback ever. But that tone represented something that it established something for the rest of the team.

They realized that if Belichick is going to hold Tom Brady to that standard, he's going to hold the rest of us to that standard. And to me, that is a big reason why they're probably the greatest dynasty in the history of the league. Now, I started diving into your book last night, so I'm 60 pages in and I bounced around. There's been some speculation that Bill Belichick was forced to trade Garapolo. And I don't know if you've addressed that yet in the book. And I also want to ask you about the Brady Garoppolo relationship. Can you confirm through your 350 source?

Did they get along? Was there some tension? Did Tom force a trade? Do we know the answers to those? I would say yes, yes, and not really. Okay, there was tension in the relationship because Tom Brady, when Garoppolo walked through the door, he could see that Belichick was in love with that prospect.

And I think deep down, and one of his close friends speculated that Tom felt this way, it was almost like Drew Henson showing up at Michigan. Tom had waited so long to start for Lloyd Carr, and then all of a sudden, car recruits everybody's All-American. And I think in Garoppolo, he saw that kind of figure. And that did bother him. I think they had a fine relationship.

Tom Brady's never going to get too close to his backups. And as far as whether or not he forced Belichick to make that move or Krafted, here's what I was told and what I believe. I do believe Belichick left a meeting with Kraft thinking he had a mandate that he had to make a move. Did Robert Kraft say to Bill Belichick, you have to trade Jimmy Garoppolo? I don't believe those words ever came out of his mouth. but I do believe he told Belichick, Tom Brady is going to retire a patriot.

Whether he's 45, 46, 44, 47, whatever it is, we're not trading him. And Belichick took that as a mandate, an effective one maybe, perhaps a clear one, to go ahead and make that trade. I think the question is, why did he only get a second round pick? And why did he not hold an NFC-only auction for Jimmy G

because you've got to believe somebody would have given up a first-round pick? I also touched on your book last night. You touched on it. And I just didn't understand this initially. I thought it would blow over in a week. And you addressed this in your book. The Malcolm Butler Benching resonated. And shortly thereafter, Tom started taking shots on, you know, social media stuff.

Were you surprised? I was, and then you confirmed it in your book. Were you surprised, kind of the depth? of what that Malcolm Butler benching provided going forward? Well, we saw what Danny Amandola said to Mike Reese, and I think Mike Reese of ESPN, and I think that that represented the feeling of the vast majority of players on the team,

including Tom Brady. Remember, Malcolm Butler meant a lot to Brady's legacy. If they lose that game against Seattle, Brady's three and three in the big game, and he hasn't won the big one since 2004, and their legacies are entirely different. That interception set up the rest of sort of where they are now in terms of legacy historically. A lot has changed and would have been different had Malcolm Butler not made that play,

and Brady realizes that. That's why he gave him his Super Bowl MVP truck. And so he was very upset about that. And here's the thing. Belichick, and Brady knows this better than anyone. Belichick maybe is the best coach in the history of the league as far as putting his team in the best position to win.

And that's why you put up with what you put up with in terms of his coaching. But that day, that night, he did not give his team the best chance to win, therefore the reaction to me represented the players saying, hey, we're not going to put up with it now because you didn't do your job, right? Mr. Do Your Job didn't do his, and that's why we're going to act out, and I think Brady did.

By the way, I could argue that Jeter and Brady, iconic Northeastern and International Sports Legends, have some similarities. They talk don't say much. They avoid controversy, handsome, beloved in their city, and have been surrounded by a controversial Steinbrenner or a controversial Belichick. As you research both books, do people feel the same about Brady as Jeter?

They're mostly beloved and adored the circles around them. Were there any similarities right in the book? Yeah, I think that's a great comparison. Colin, and also you left out one thing. Jeter signed with Michigan too. And he actually attended Michigan for a semester. And so they have that in common as well. Very distant figures, hard to really get close to them, don't say much, but professional, cordial.

I think in the long run, Tom Brady is the greater figure historically in sports and American sports. If I were to list in doing this for more than 30 years, the three or four greatest athletes I've ever covered, I would put Tiger 1, Michael Jordan 2, and Tom Brady 3. And then LeBron and Pete Sampras. I don't really think Jeter would make my top 5. He'd be close after that. And so, but very similar in terms of how they handle the public. You never see them generally in an awkward or a negative situation, but they don't let you in.

So through my reporting, talking to 350 people, I spoke to a lot of people very close to Tom Brady to get a sense of really what he's all about. But did you talk to Tom? I talked to Tom last year for ESPN on the phone for the better part of an hour. That was for ESPN, so I did not ask him questions for the book. I later, I didn't think it was right to do that to him. So we talked about him, his legacy, and so forth. I did send him an email, and later he politely declined through the Patriots and Stacey James and PR to talk to me for the record for the book.

So he didn't know me anything. I certainly am not upset about that. I was a little disappointed, but I actually wanted to end the book with Kraft and Brady in the same room talking about what Bill Belichick has meant to them over the years, and the Patriots also politely declined that requirement. quest. Ian O'Connor, the book is called Belichick. He's a New York Times bestseller.

He's written the Arnie Jack book, the Jeter book, and now this book. You know, when I look at that, it's obviously the age thing. I mean, Tom, he's aging. We know that. He's going to retire. When you get, I do feel like Belichick has at some point, if he was having a Sean McVeigh relationship, a young coach who has. had a higher energy. I do feel like Tom's going to retire probably a little earlier because

he's simply in a relationship that's staying married for the kids. Do you sense that that Brady will probably end it a year earlier than he would if he was in a more joyful relationship with his head coach? I don't know about that, Colin, because I think this relationship has now survived the biggest challenge it was going to face. Barely. Barely survived because sources told me in late March, he was still considering walking away rather than play for his head coach one more time. Yeah. But I think it's one of those.

It didn't kill them, so maybe it makes them stronger. When I was on the phone with Brady last year, he talked, we talked about going to 46, 47, 48. I think there's a greater chance of that than at 43 him saying, you know what, I've had enough. I do think he's going to win one more ring with Belichick. I think that six one is very important to both. It breaks the tie with Vince Lombardi for Belichick. and for Tom it gets him to Jordan 6, which is something that Kobe didn't do, Jeter didn't do, Magic didn't do.

A lot of guys didn't do. I think Brady getting to 6, even though he'll never say this, I think would mean a lot to him. Good stuff, Ian O'Connor. Good luck. The book is Belichick, the making of the greatest football coach on the NFL of all time. Continued success, best wishes to you and your fam, and keep it up. Thanks, Colin.

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

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

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