The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 10/08/2018

Episode Date: October 8, 2018

Colin wonders how the Eagles feel after talking all off-season about how great their culture is and lecturing the Patriots on how having fun is more important than winning. He defends Odell Beckham Jr. for calling out some of his teammates because OBJ was right. Plus, Super Bowl Champion Greg Jennings tells Colin why you can put a lot of the responsibility for the Packers loss on Aaron Rodgers shoulders. 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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Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1, find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. This is the best of the herd. with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, it's a Monday. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles.

Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio on FS1, Joy Taylor, who was covering that Rams Seahawks game up in the Pacific Northwest yesterday. Crazy game. Wild game from one hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, and there is a bunch of both. We have an absolutely great show. today, Trent Dilfer, Michael Vic, Greg Jennings, Tony Gonzalez, and where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong in one hour. Let me start with this. Winning is hard. It's hard in life. It's one thing to be successful, but then to maintain success, I could argue, is even harder. What New England has done for 18 years is amazing,

probably never be duplicated. But when the Philadelphia Eagles won a Super Bowl, oh, remember what Lane Johnson said? I'd much rather have fun and win a Super Bowl than be miserable and win five like the New England Patriots. Well, you're going to get your wish there, Chief, because Philadelphia is a mess right now. Didn't we predict this? Didn't we tell you that Philadelphia, the puffier chest city, led by Lane Johnson, suspended twice, by the way, for PEDs? You know, you know guys like that, the shortcut guy. He was also the guy that was the impetus for the dog masks.

Ow! Who let the dogs out? I don't know. They get let out all the time in Foxborough without the masks. Lane Johnson, it was his guy that created that fumble slash interception yesterday. Lane Johnson did a terrible job on that play, an absolutely terrible job on that play. Virtually unblocked, creates the ball in the air, it gives the Vikings a touchdown, and game officially over. It should be noted that last week, fun guy who let the dogs out guy. also did a terrible job on a blocking play that created a hit and a fumble and created the inertia for the Tennessee Titans to win their biggest game of the year over Philadelphia.

Hey, Lane Johnson, 24 hours in a day, eight of its work, eight of its sleep, and eight of its fun and social. But the work part is called work for a reason. Okay, we all have, we all go to a Christmas party. it's called, you know, the Christmas slash holiday party. Work is not designed to always be a good time. But Lane Johnson's history is shortcut guy. You know, happy hour, two hours early when there's a lot of work to still get done, guy. Hey, instead of committing to a project or a game plan, who let the dogs out mask guy?

Zui is. I mean, first of all, the idea. that you'd rather win one Super Bowl than five, if you have to put in more work, is such a loser comment in any business. It's called work. But Philadelphia fell into a trap, and we predicted it. Even in their own division,

the Cowboys have five Super Bowls, the New York Giants have four Super Bowls, Washington has three Super Bowls, Philadelphia has one, and they're suddenly lecturing everybody else in football on, hey, this winning thing, here's how it's done. Stop, you're embarrassed.

yourself. Marginally, briefly successful guy doesn't get a lecture Nick Saban or Belichick on how to win it football, Lane Johnson. Your guy this week and your guy the previous week is the one that shot through and created leverage and opportunity and inertia for the other team. The Eagles got a real winner here. They got shortcut guy, create a dog mask guy, work should be fun guy. I mean, Chris Carter nailed it on first.

things first. It is embarrassing when briefly successful guy suddenly lectures the NFL's greatest dynasty on what winning is all about. We have more fun, how much fun you have it now? That's what I want to ask, Lane Johnson, how much fun you haven't? Like, you're not the best right tackling pro football. That offensive line, there was a dominant force. There are no dominant force. Nope. Again, it's hard to win Super Bowls. Troy Aikman worked hard. Tom Brady works hard. The great ones. Ray Lewis worked hard.

It's not all fun. The thing that's truly fun in football, because it's the only sport where you practice six times as much as you play. Basketball doesn't work that way. Hockey doesn't work that way. Baseball doesn't work that way. Football's the only sport where you practice six times more than you play. And the one thing that's always fun, even in a bad locker room,

is winning. And Lane Johnson took it upon himself, dog mask guy, to lecture New England on the winning thing. Embarrassing. All right, so let me defend Odell Beckham. Oh, people are going crazy on Odell Beckham. And by the way, Odell Beckham just signed a massive contract. He is the face of the franchise, not the quarterback.

He is a superstar in the NFL. And unlike the NBA in baseball, where contracts are guaranteed. in that New York Giants locker room, there are very few people that can say how they feel and not get cut and not get demoted. There is a responsibility in professional football for the handful of players

who can say whatever they want and not get demoted to bring up the elephant in the room. So the New York Giants, O'Dell Beckham, had an interview before the game. And he said regarding Eli Manning. I don't know. I feel like he's not going to get out of the pocket. We know Eli's not running.

Can he still throw it? Yeah. But, you know, it's been pretty safe. You know, it's cool, catching shallow stuff. But, you know, I want to go over the top someday. Is he wrong? Is that inaccurate? Do you call him a terrible teammate?

Did he say, I think we should demote him? It's the elephant in the room in New York City right now. The elephant in the room. Every family's got an elephant in the room. It is the responsibility of the outspoken, successful member of a family to talk about the elephant at the room.

Hey, grandma, no more driving. You're dangerous. Hire a driver. Somebody else drives for you, grandma. Uncle Phil, those comments at Thanksgiving are totally inappropriate. It's no time for politics. Dad, you're drinking too much.

down. Somebody in every family has to express an opinion that's uncomfortable. It's called the elephant in the room. And by the way, the owner of the New York Giants won't do it. They should have drafted a quarterback. They wouldn't. The GM of the Giants could have had Sam Darnold, could have had Josh Allen, could have had Josh Rosen. He didn't. So nobody else in the room wants to address the elephant in it, which is, Eli appears to be mostly a shot fighter. So if O'Dell Beckham won't. And by the way, he did it respectfully. He just basically said things that are true. Like, you know, he's not going to run. He's dealing with underneath routes. He's not going to get out of the pocket. We know he's not running. This is outrageous. No, that's just telling Uncle Phil.

Uncle Phil. Cool it on the Donald Trump comments at Thanksgiving. It's not cool. Dad, you're drinking too much. Grandma, you shouldn't be driving anymore. Somebody's got to say that stuff. Somebody has to say that in every family. or the problems fester and nobody talks about them. I mean, good Lord, the giants keep giving Eli. They spend a fortune on a left tackle. They draft a running back. They sign another wide receiver.

How many gifts can they give Eli Manning? New coach, check, star running back, check, left tackle, check, draft another offensive lineman, check, get more receivers, check. They're checking all the boxes. and it's still a bad offense. I mean, at this point, they're overcompensating for it. So I'm going to defend, remember, football is unique. You can get cut.

Tom Brady could be cut tomorrow. It'd be a cap hit, but you could cut him. You can't cut Aaron Judge. You're not going to cut Bryce Harper. You're not going to cut Steph Curry. So in a sport where very few players, I mean a handful of players, have real power, have real leverage. are a face of a franchise.

Odell Beckham talked about something that made everybody a little uncomfortable, and he didn't regret it after the game. Like we don't, if we're not all on the same page, if it's not authentic and real, and we can all understand each other, then there's going to always be miscommunication. I'm just excited about the way we pulled together.

Like I said, we came up short, but we fought today. I haven't felt any more closer than I have in the last 24 hours. And like I said, if it took that to bring us together, I could take that. At the end, they came out with the win. But I'm proud of where we stand. Even though we're 1 and 4, this game today is going to be monumental for our season in my eyes. Okay. If those comments were so disruptive, and I watched every snap of this game,

it was one of the craziest games in the NFL this season. It was a weird game. But if they were so disruptive, why did the judge? Giants finally play well. Some of you are listening to me. Some of you are watching. There's stuff happening in your family. If you're the one that's the strongest, the safest, the smartest, you owe your family to bring it up.

Odell Beckham, Jr., somebody had to talk about Eli Manning, the elephant in the room. 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. tend to say that coaches, these coaches are go for it, gutty guys, and these guys are conservative. All football coaches are conservative. They are. They all vote almost all of them vote conservative. They're conservative guys. The history of football, you think Bill Belichick's a big go-for-it guy? Yeah, when Tom Brady became great and he already had two Super Bowl trophies, Bill suddenly got much more courage because he had job security. Coaches are all conservative. When the two-point

conversion was offered several years ago, coaches didn't want it. just didn't want the two-point conversion, even though it was good for football. Why? Because it would put the onus on them. They would lose games going for it. Coaches are all conservative. Coaches don't want to go for it on fourth down. Now, situationally, if you have the great running back Todd Gurley, if you have the great offensive line Rams, and you're on the road and you've been playing four hours, but Jason Garrett's getting crushed because he didn't go for it. Now, I would have gone for it, but I understand what he's thinking. Our offensive lines not as good as they should be.

Houston has got much better defensive personnel right now at front than we do. And by the way, if I lose this thing on national TV, now I would have gone for it because I thought Dallas got outplayed. I thought the field position was a go-for-it field position. And I think when you're on the road for four hours, you're into overtime, you've got to kind of create an identity. And the one knock I have on Dallas this year, They don't have any identity.

And this was a chance to be, hey, this is our identity. We're going to be a go-for-it team offensively. We're not going to be the most clever or the most intuitive, but we're going to be a go-for-it team. But let me just tell you something. Everybody this morning is saying, look at Sean McVeigh. Look at Sean McVeigh. Okay, now think about this.

Sean McVeigh has Todd Gurley, a great quarterback, a tremendous offensive line, the best offense in football, and he had to be talked into it. he sent his punter out initially. And Pete Carroll called a timeout, thought about it, went, okay, an inch, all sent my guys back in. So even clever, crazy, wild, Sean McVeigh, boy genius, Sean McVey. Initially, he was going to punt. They all want to punt. They didn't want the two-point conversion.

They didn't like it. Sean McVeigh's the, he's the riverboat gambler. And he didn't want to go for it with Todd Gurley and Sean McVeigh and Majer. Garrett Goff. He didn't want to go for it. And then there's a timeout and he can think about it. And he's like, yeah, let's just go for it. So we're going to crush Jason Garrett.

And I would have gone for it too. You were outplayed. You were on the road. You're four hours in. I think you need to send a message. You don't have an identity. I would have gone for it if I'm Dallas. But this idea that Garrett's clueless and McVeigh is a gambler, it's not true.

Bill Belichick, once he had a couple of trophies and he had job security, they don't fire left tackles. They don't fire centers. They don't fire running backs. They don't fire coaches. And coaches, if you look at the history of this league, they're all guys that would prefer to not go for. Even the riverboat gamblers, even the crazy guys, they'd rather not go for it. Because that's how

you get fired in this league. Going for it and failing is very simple for media and fans to point to and go, that's the reason. Because we don't look at, we don't look at game film. It's a very sophisticated sport. 99% of media could never even drop one football play. But the easiest thing for a guy like me to go, right there, fire him, right there is situational, fourth down. You go forward it to dumb play.

And by the way, Doug Peterson got a book deal because of his crazy play on a fourth down and goal. It's one of those plays that's high or low, homerunner strikeout. And most coaches don't want to ever go for it. So I'm not going to crush Jason Garrett, even though I would have. And I'm not going to elevate Sean McVeigh to the greatest coach of all time because he did because he had to be talked into it. Here was Jerry Jones Cowboys owner. He didn't like what Jason Garrett did.

We were being outplayed there, not out of effort, but we just were being outplayed. But it's time for risk. That I agree with. Jerry's belief is mine. When you're getting outplayed, you're on the road. you really should have lost this thing and you have a chance to do it you go for it you know it's just like anything else in life if you know if your vacation's been crap it's rained the whole time and you're like oh should we spend money on the helicopter tour well the vacation's been crap anyway why don't you

salvage the vacation and spend a little extra money and do something really fun for the kids like this game Dallas got outplayed they should have lost that game earlier so Dallas if i'm to coach the cowboys I'm like you know what man four hours on the road I got a bunch of bunch of alphas. I got to create some inertia and energy here. I'm going to go for it. But don't make Garrett into a bomb and Sean McVey into a genius this morning. None of these guys really, really deep down in their soul are risk takers. They're really not. They're really not. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. When you get older, I would not, of course, ask Joy's age. I'm, you know, in my 50s.

and when you look back at life, there are certain things that are absolutes. They call them truisms. They're absolutely true. And they'll never change. Like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will always taste good to me. I don't care if they invent eight different kinds of kale. I'll always like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Always the rest of my life. And one of the things that I've noticed, and I don't think at 20 years old, no matter how smart you are, you don't have enough life experience to look. look back and go, wow, this is true. You can read all the books you want. You got to live it. One of the things I've come to terms with, and this is just the way human beings are, you can separate people into two groups. Those people, change is really hard. They can't change.

They don't like change. They fear change. And then there's another, and by the way, it's not just education levels. Some people grew up in traditional families. They went to church. It's mom and dad, they don't like change. They don't like new. They're going to live where they grew up and they're not going to move. My sister's more like that. I'm less like that. Then there's the other people that change is inevitable.

I kind of like change. I kind of like moving. I kind of like being forced to do different stuff. I mean, my whole life I've seen this. I see it in politics. I see it in sports. I see it in families. I see it in life.

People that struggle with change, they don't even like to bring it up. They'll complain about it. and people that, you know, change is inevitable. Let's embrace it. So, all weekend long, Clay Matthews, my whole life I've been hitting this way. I can't change my whole life. This is how you hit a quarterback guy.

And the media freaks out. It's killing the game. I can't believe it. Did you watch football this weekend? All weekend long in the NFL. All weekend long in the NFL. Detroit against Aaron Rogers twice. Did you watch the Lions?

Twice. They went for the strip sack on Aaron Rogers. Watch this. Strip sack. Oh, you mean they were coached all weekend long. Aaron Rogers, the lions were coached to not squish him, to not land on him, to evolve and adapt to the rules. Von Miller, Khalil Mack.

I watched all weekend long and all I saw was this Aaron Donald of the L.A. Rams is grabbing quarterbacks, watch this, and throwing them down. He didn't do that two and three years ago. Aaron Donald now, new rule, I'll grab, twirl you down. The elite players, just like the elite people in life, are willing to change. Be stuck in the mud. Live one way. Never adapt.

I mean, this idea that you can't hit quarterbacks. Did you watch the Cowboys Texans game last night? Those quarterbacks got the snot hit out of them. I mean, Dak got pounded. Deshawn Watson got pounded all. This idea that you can no longer hit quarterbacks. Excuse me. Did you watch the Texans and Cowboys play last night?

Those quarterbacks took a pounding for four hours. Folks, look at America. The two hottest companies in America are Netflix and Amazon. And both radically midstream changed their game. Amazon just sold books. Netflix DVDs halfway through the game panel and they're like, wow, we've got to survive.

We've got to change the way we do business. There's other opportunities here. So this idea, whenever I hear people, I mean, you just, Clay Matthews, this is, it's just all the media, it's just killing the game, just like pilots. Every year they add something to the cockpit.

And they force you at Delta Airlines, they force you at Southwest Airlines, they force you at British Airlines to get a new manual, memorize that, and learn the new stuff. And it was never more clear than in the Green Bay Detroit game. Very smart plays. By the way, not only are those guys stripping the ball,

I mean, the first guy especially, they are going, I mean, Aaron in one hand and the ball, look at this right here. I mean, and by the way, he even flips off of Aaron. He doesn't want to land on Aaron. He hits the ball and then he flips off. Aaron. I bet if you ask most quarterbacks, they'd rather take the sack than

have a fumble. Oh, God, yes. But this is what's going to start happening. This is what's going to happen. And by the way, it's all the top guys. All the top guys in the industry of the NFL are like, yeah, this is how we've got to do it now. I mean, Jadavian clown, he's grabbing you with one hand, he's flipping you, and he's going for the ball.

So, you know, folks, homework doesn't stop in high school. You're going to have to do homework the rest of your life. You're going to have to come home from work and be like, oh, I've got a change. We have a new manual. We have another meeting. We got another product. We got to, like, that's life. Can I just say this? Speaking a Green Bay is that I know everybody is going to beat up on Mason Crosby. And I don't like kickers either. I really do. I have a bumper sticker on my

car. Don't like kickers. They're a headache. They're headcases. You can't depend on them. But I just want to throw this. This is kind of crazy. This is kind of crazy. You do get that they trailed 24-0 and Aaron Rogers wasn't any good in the first half. And so when Aaron Rogers has all these great stats in the second half, in the first half, his passer rating was 72. He lost two fumbles.

They both led to scores. He passed for 140 yards and his completion percentage was under 50%. Those fumbles led to 10 points. That second half was garbage stats. They were out of the game. So, you know, Aaron Rogers, as Greg CoSells said last week in our show, Aaron's hard to coach. Aaron's an improviser. Aaron's an ad libber.

It's, and the other thing about Aaron, I'm watching, you know the guys that take shots in this league? Russell Wilson takes a lot of shots. A lot of shots. He runs around. Deshawn Watson takes a lot of shots. He runs around. Aaron Rogers takes too many hits. He takes too many hits.

Those are on Aaron Rogers. It's impossible to block for someone that's running around in circles. That's right. But you know who doesn't take hits? Tom Brady doesn't take hits. Drew Brees doesn't take hits. I see a lot of guys in the NFL. They don't take hits.

Aaron's been in this league 10 years. Aaron takes hits a lot. He had libs a lot. He wasn't good in the first half. He hasn't been good this year a lot. It's not all on the kicker. I mean, Aaron didn't play well yesterday. They got into a huge hole.

And in the second half, he piles up guard. garbage stats. It's not always somebody else's fault. Like Greg Kosell came on our show. He's even a hard guy on film to get your arms around. Rogers, for me, is a very, very difficult evaluation. Because he's in rhythm when he's moving and out of rhythm when he's playing from the pocket, which is the exact opposite of most quarterbacks. He's more jazz musician than classical pianist. He is now going to be 35. He's had multiple surgeries. He's not very big. He takes a lot of hits.

Drew Breeze does not get hit like this. Tom Brady does not get hit like this. Now, yesterday Matt Ryan got hit like this, but Matt Ryan generally doesn't get hit like this. So, you know, I like Andrew Luck. But Andrew Luck gets hit a lot because Andrew Luck held on the ball too long. Aaron Rogers holds on the ball too long. It's not always somebody else's fault. I'm watching Aaron yesterday.

He's bad in the first half, missed open receivers. they're down 24-0. That changes the complexity of the entire game. You're going at halftime. It's a different football game now. You have 3% chance to win. Want 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. Every Monday we do it at this time. Every single Monday we do it. In fact, it's gotten so popular we do it during the course of the year, where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. so let's not waste any time. Let's hit it.

Where Colin was right? Listen, our blazing five, right now I'm hitting 65% on the year. That is, we're on fire. And it's not just that we're winning. We picked underdogs. We picked Arizona as an underdog to go on the road and win. We picked the Jets over Denver, Sam Darnold. We picked the Vikings over the Philadelphia Eagles.

By the way, I've got Monday night. I've got Washington as an underdog beating New Orleans tonight. So I think the thing that makes me proud is, Not only that we've had four to five winning weeks, but these games are very close. There's a lot of offense, translation. That means what they call in the business, backdoor covers where a team gets outplayed, but they score a late touchdown when touchdowns are easier, take underdogs to cover. That's been my theory, and we've been right.

Where Colin was wrong. For years, I have defended Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys. He's not the most creative coach. But I thought yesterday was a moment, and I thought he was. failed the moment is that he's got to know. Outplayed for three and a half hours on the road with a struggling offense. This team has no identity. And Jason Garrett, and I don't like to crush coaches on game calling. It's hard. They've looked at film. But when you're on the road and you've been outplayed and you can steal a W, you got to know. That is a moment and you have to go for it. And I got to take one for

the team here, I was wrong. I've been so, so favorable toward him, and I thought in that moment he kind of butchered it. Where Colin was so right, it's getting annoying. I think my greatest prediction in the history of this show happened this weekend. So all these rookie quarterbacks, three of the four were underdogs, and the Jets was a pick-em, and I said on Friday, I think the rookie quarterbacks are going to go four and oh. Because I think if you look at the games, I said, Sam Darnold, Denver on a short week, Jets played the worst game they've played in years, watch them be buttoned uptight. They did.

I said, watch Josh Rosen. Nobody watched him the previous week because we were watching Baker Mayfield, watch him come out and be great. I said, watch Baker Mayfield. They've got weapons. He's shown he can play. Baltimore's coming off an emotional win. And what do you know?

All the rookie quarterbacks want, even Josh Allen, who wasn't great. But I'll tell you this about Josh Allen. That kid can run. He's a big kid that can move around and make throws, maybe run too much. But I said on a Friday, even though they're underdogs, this is going to be the weekend of the rookie quarterbacks coming out and all kick and made your butt. Got to be honest with you.

That's the greatest right in the history of this show. Where Colin was wrong. Yeah, Connor McGregor met his mismatch from hell. This was not really competitive. Now, Connor's always one of those guys that. It doesn't look like he trains as much as everybody else, but I thought by the second round he looked gassed. But this was really about fights.

Styles make fights. This was a terrible style. Dana White had never given Connor McGregor this kind of fighter, and now we know why. He just looked awkward. He lost two fights. He lost the fight in the ring. And then when the fight was over and then the melee,

he lost that one too. This was a bad night. Who was right. You were right. I tried to tell you. Yeah. Kabib, I'm not. going to feed my kids for a couple days because I bet a fortune on this and I went down in flames.

Where Colin was right. Did I tell you or did I tell you that puff your chest, Philadelphia would come back down to earth? I thought they'd still be a good team. But when Lane Johnson said, I'd rather have fun and win a Super Bowl than be miserable and win five, that is an awful, embarrassing comment for an athlete. This is about winning. This is not like society where you have social nets for those who fail. People who live. People who live. loser losers. People win or winners. It's not about having a good time. It's about winning games and in the process creating relationships and environments that we all flourish. But it's hard. Football players work hard. They get hit. They get hurt. There's no guaranteed contract. This is a

sport for men. It's a hard sport. So if you want to be get to work and screw off and do a dog mask, know that Jonathan Ogden and Walter Jones and Ray Lewis and Brady, it's hard work. And we sleep for eight hours. We have fun with our families for eight hours. And we work. And there's a reason it's called work. And there's a reason it's called a holiday party. Because football is the hardest of all sports.

And Lane Johnson, we predicted it. Where Colin was wrong. I have supported Hugh Jackson forever, even last year. But when they went to overtime, and he didn't know. Did you see him put his hand up here? He said two seconds left. Hey, do.

Hold on, hold on. There's a moment here. I don't think Q Jackson quite knows. He doesn't quite know if we have the picture of it. I think he doesn't know overtime's over. I don't think he knows it's over. He's waving his players back off the field and the game's over. Listen, I get players, especially young players, not knowing every overtime rule.

I get that. I'm not saying every official has to be Mike Pereira, but a head coach's job is in all the overtime stuff. And I've supported Hugh Jackson. I supported him. I said he deserved to keep his job, and he went 0 and 16. But you got to know the rules, Hugh. The game was over, especially in Cleveland.

You got to know the rules when the game's over, because you don't win many of those when it's over. Where Colin was right? Listen, we didn't have the Packers last week in our top team. and got a lot of pushback, and I said, folks, they don't have a running game. Their leading Russia yesterday had 40 yards. Yesterday it was their kicking game. They got into a whole 24-0-0.

I can be critical of Aaron Rogers, but I don't know. When I look at this team, I don't see Baltimore's talent. I don't see Pittsburgh's talent. I don't see New Orleans talent. I don't see the Rams talent. I don't see the Houston Texans talent. I don't see it. When I look at Green Bay, I just do not see dying.

dynamic, offensive, defensive, pass rusher, running plays. So I'll say it again. I don't think they're a top 10 team in the NFL. And frankly, I thought Aaron Rogers had a bad first half. He didn't look like a top 10 quarterback in the first half yesterday. Where Colin was wrong. Listen, I had Baltimore as my number one, number two team in the league. And yesterday, Joe Flacco went back to Joe Flacco.

I got a question. Joe Flacco is 6.5. How does he have that many passes batted down? I can't. Colt McCoy didn't have that many passes batted down. I can't figure it. out. They had a red zone pick. They didn't have a touchdown all day. And frankly, they got too many weapons, and they have a nice running back. This team has too many weapons to not score a touchdown.

And Cleveland's got all sorts of alphas. They got all sorts of dudes. But Joe Flacco, with that, those tight ends and those receivers, and that back and that coaching staff, there's been a lot of continuity here in Baltimore. A lot of continuity. You can't go, you can't give me yesterday. And I defend Joe Flacco. And I said he was going to have a big year. And I'm not taking anything away from Baker. He threw for a lot of yards. But that was, everybody's been telling me for three weeks I'm crazy on Joe Flacco Love. You were right. I was wrong.

Where Colin was right? I said I didn't like the Gruden thing. They're one in four. Derek Carr is struggling. And Derek Carr's a heck of a player. But he's got seven TDs and eight picks under John Gruden. Marshawn Lynch is a good back. Doug Martin's a good back.

The O lines above average. Jared Cook's a good tight end. Amari Cooper can catch. Mertavius Bryant's a good deep threat. Jordie Nelson can still play. I don't want to hear excuses. I don't want to hear excuses. Two years ago, Derek Carr was an MVP candidate.

Now he looks like he's lost confidence. And by the way, the Raiders are last in sacks. They gave up Khalil Mack, which I hated. I'm not an expert here. But when you have that kind of offensive personnel, and you got Derek Carr, and you got that tight end and two backs and three wide receivers in that offensive line, I don't want to hear about Derek Carr's seven TD's eight picks.

Right now, the Gruden thing, I look ripe. where Colin was wrong. I had Atlanta in the Super Bowl. Yeah, I kind of whipped on that. Now, some of its injuries, but they did solve their red zone problems, and there's so much about this team and this staff I like. But in the end,

yesterday was classic. They just got bullied. They got bullied at the line of scrimmage. And this is the thing that I always struggle with Atlanta, and I just, I do this all the time. That football is about moments, and it's about toughness, and you can't teach a lot of that toughness

and a lot of those moments, gosh, I always feel like Atlanta in those moments gets bullied, gets pushed around, and doesn't deliver. And I can't put my arms around it, but I just, I went all in on it this year and how many times in the moment? I mean, yesterday wasn't even competitive.

Those were two reeling teams. One showed up, one didn't. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. Ten years to Super Bowl ring. Multiple time pro bowler. Used to be a friend Aaron Rogers.

Probably is, but wouldn't admit it. Okay. Greg Jennings. So listen, it's easy to blame the kicker. I don't think Aaron was very good for the first hour and a half. I don't think he had any energy. Can we blame Aaron a little bit for this? We can.

Absolutely, of course. For me, if I look at it from percentages, I would put 60% of it on Mason Crosby because he just, he can't do that. Worst game of his career. Yes, and he knows that. But 40% of it, I put it on Aaron Rogers. I mean, you have the presser. You talk about the lack of offensive play calling and creativity and all of these things.

So you create a spotlight even more of a microscope on yourself. And you come out and you have the start that you had. Now, mind you, they've struggled in Ford Field the last few years, but Aaron, you can't, you can't do that. And it's not so much what his numbers ended up because did he do enough for them to win? He did. That's not what I'm most concerned about. For me, what stood out was his body language, his demeanor, his lack of involvement with the guys during the game, meaning he had a look on him like he was disgusted. But it was kind of that, whoa, here we go again.

There was one image that they shown during the broadcast of the game where he went to the sideline, he put his hands across his lap. He's sitting there. They show his receivers there on another bench. They're looking as lost as little puppy dogs as well. There's no fire. There's no, if we have to operate, if we have to execute these plays, if this is all we have, then guys, let's make it happen.

Let's make it work. When I see Drew Brees, when I see, Tom Brady. They get fired up because it's no longer in the coach's hands. This is on us now. And you set the tone, you being Aaron Rogers, you set the tone

and that's what I did not like. Did he eventually play well? Yeah. By the way, I heard this years ago by a coach, he said, Jay Cutler and Aaron Rogers, there's some similarities here. That they kind of go off by themselves. They grab their thing, they do their thing. They're kind of in their own space.

The difference is Aaron's an unbelievable talent. and Jay Cutler wasn't as good a player. But this is very rare for a player like you to talk about this. Quarterbacks are more than arm and feet. It's messaging. It's body language. Aaron can be kind of passive-aggressive. He can be, I would say, disengaged.

He can't. And I know guys who have played with him, not you that have said he can be moody. He gets into his own space. It was evident in the first half. And when you look at, like, we talked about him when he made the comments early in the season, I think it was training camp about, or maybe early in the season when he talked about their practices and how they were underperforming.

But coming into this game, I had an issue with him talking about the way practice went. And we'll get into Odell eventually, but Aaron Rogers, he was asked about how was practice this week? It could have been better. Like, it wasn't great, you know, with the young receivers, kind of calling out the young. And this is all you have to.

to go in the game with. You don't have Randall Cobb. You don't have your you don't have your nucleus of guys that you typically go into a game with. So if I was going into a game with a backup quarterback, that would not be what I'm saying. I would be saying, oh, we have all the faith in Matt Flynn in the world.

We'll be just fine. We're good. He advertised their issues. Yes. And so now all of a sudden we go into this game with this expectation of these young guys not pulling it through for him when it was him that came out flat. It was him that didn't set the tone with the start of the game the way that they wanted to.

So I can't give him a pass for that. Speaking of setting the tone, OBJ set the tone, came out before the game in an interview. It was critical of Eli Manning, not harsh, just honest, elephant in the room. For one of the few times I defended him, your takeaway. I did defend him. You did. And I think most of you receivers are icing and crazy people. Yeah, yeah, you don't have to go there.

proud of you for that. You proud of me? I'm proud of you for defending him. He could have said a lot more. Are you kidding me? I listened to, I listen to Trent. And, you know, we are taught to be politically correct and going to these situations with a certain way. But there comes a point in time in your career when you're just tired of being fake and phone. You're tired of just saying what everyone wants you to totally get it. You're tired of it because it doesn't provide you with anything progressively. You don't get any answers with it. So it's you get asked the question and it's up to you to then say, you know what?

I'm going to be as honest as I can be without really stirring the pot. We want all you athletes to be leaders. Yes. Leaders say uncomfortable things. He said an uncomfortable thing. That's what leadership is. And all this, all these headlines about. Should the Giants regret?

No, because before they paid them, everything was predicated on, well, he's going to have all these antics, his celebrations, sideline, and penalties, and this and that. He hasn't done anything but produced this year. Then the first thing that he says, it's really to motivate or to really address what everybody knows is there. Ben McAdoo ben benches Eli Manning. Get run out of town. He's done. Get rid of him.

By the way, in football, unlike basketball or baseball, no guaranteed contracts, there's about three guys in every locker room that can say that. And if you're one of them, do you have a responsibility. You have to do it. Because everybody in the locker room is looking at you like, oh, hell, man, you're going to say something?

Like, that is locker room code. Guys in the locker room know that, okay, if I'm not the one that coach will listen to, you are, you got to say it. You have to be the one to say it. By the way, Dallas, Jason, Garrett, two minutes, defend him. Jason Garrett made the right decision.

He made the right decision. He went with who he trust in that moment. Their defense was playing excellent. They had stopped them in the red zone. And when you look at their offense, 20 rushes, 54 yards, averaging 2.7 yards to carry. The play before, they

lose a half a yard. Again, I'm listening to you and Vic talk and Vick's like, oh, yeah, we got to go for it. A couple of dudes. A couple of alphas. I told I told Vic, man, no, man. Absolutely. not because he said the offensive line feels like oh you don't believe in it no i don't believe in you right now and that should that should fire you up that should tick you off to where the next time we're we're not in the situation because you did get us to one yard on third down so you would

have sent the punter out absolutely because my defense that's who i trust right now if we're if we're watching the warriors and clay thomas clay thompson has the hot hand with the game on the line yeah we have Durant, we have Steph, we have all these other guys, but Steve Kerr's going to try to find a way to get Clay the ball because he's had the hot hand. You don't go away from that. You go with what's gotten you there. By the way, I got to be honest. A minute and a half left, I think what's happening to Philadelphia is funny.

Hey, New England. It's so good. It is so good right now. Hey, New England, let me tell you how to win games. In your face, dog mask Guy Lane Johnson. Let me tell you where I could stand up here. I could come over there and just. What?

kick you out of the scene. New England will tell you people how to win. You wait until five weeks then and he, Lane Johnson gives up a strip sack on Carson Winston all of a sudden, it's Lane Johnson. Well, you do have to admit it's unfortunate timing for Lane Johnson. I mean, unfortunate timing, did we talk about

them week one? No. We pick and choose the timing. You're defending Lane Johnson for I want to have fun. I'm defending the Philadelphia Eagles because the season is not over. They lost to a Minnesota Vikings team that gave up over 500 yards of offense.

The last Thursday, they got embarrassed when they went to Philly last year in the playoffs. Of course they're going to come out like this. And then you got a quarterback that is your guy who's played, this is his third game back. He hasn't had an entire offseason or training camp

to really develop the rapport that he has developed in the meeting rooms to put in action physically. That matters. He needs that time. I'm not concerned about the Philadelphia Eagles and this whole hangover stuff. I don't want to hear that because we went 15 to 1. I keep saying this. There's no such thing as a hangover. The Cleveland Browns, do they have a hangover of being

the worst team in the league? No. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the 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 and 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. 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 IHart Women's Sports. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kier Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe

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