The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 10/10/2019

Episode Date: October 10, 2019

Colin does not blame Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers loss, he blames the manager for not putting Kershaw in a position to win. He applauds Jerry Jones for how he is handling Dak Prescott's contract situation and explains why. Greg Cosell of NFL Films talks about what is wrong with Baker Mayfield and why some of the reason teams didn't draft Patrick Mahomes are starting to emerge on film. Plus, Colin makes his top 3 college football picks in this week's "Marquee 3" Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker 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. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to the best of herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go.

Pat can't wait. What a day we have. This is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles, beautiful sunny Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, one hour from now. One of my favorite 10 minutes, 50 minutes of the week, Greg CoSell NFL films 40 years. Our NFL

Meat Sandwich, if you play fantasy, if you gamble, or you just love hearing about who's going to win, why they're going to win, the most objective guy we have. Greg CoSell, one hour from now. Joy, how are you? We are in beautiful, sunny, and

sad. We got a lot of gifts in L.A. But our baseball team went down in flames last night. Let me start with this. So would you ever run an NFL team, an MLS team, an NBA team, anything. And in the biggest, most pressurized moment of the year, ask your, this is the crisis of the year, ask your team or a player to do something they don't naturally do.

I mean, in the NBA, five seconds left NBA finals, you wouldn't ask Ben Simmons of the Sixers to hit a three-pointer, even a jumper. You wouldn't ask in the Super Bowl, final drive, fourth and two Super Bowl, to ask a fullback on a fourth and three to run outside. You'd have him run a power run. But last night in the biggest most pressurized moment of the year, the Dodgers asked starter Clayton Kershaw to be a closer. And here's what happened next. Kershaw's back out there to start the eighth. Rendon in the air to left.

Taylor goes back to the wall and it's gone. Anthony Rendon, a leadoff Homer in the eighth. And here's Juan Soto. In the air to deep right center field. And there she goes. We are tied. Okay. You're asking A, in the biggest moment of the year, asking a starter to be a closer.

It's not what he does. baseball's always been incredibly specialized. Even among pitchers, you got your starter, you got your Aish, you got your two, you have your middleman, you have your setup man, you have your closer. You don't ask a starter to be a closer. You were not a desperate team. Okay? So the second thing is your bullpened pitch very well in the playoffs.

It's not a strength of the team, but it had been good in the playoffs and you had guys available. Number three is Clayton Kershaw had struggled in the playoffs historically after the six inning. His ERA after the six inning is like a 12. meaning this is not a great spot for him to begin with. Forget the position. That's not what he does well.

He struggled psychologically with it. And then finally, Walker Bueller was the guy throwing the starter for the Dodgers who throws absolute gas. He's 98-99. Kershaw is in the 89-90 range, so it probably felt like a little bit of, you know, foot off the pedal for Nats batters. I mean, listen, we don't ask Major League Baseball managers to do much in 2019 due to the analytics. We ask our football coach to be a therapist. Build the playbook. Manage the clock.

No personnel. Deal with the media. Babyset. We ask NFL coaches to do everything. Baseball managers in 2019, just don't screw up the bullpen. They don't even write the lineup anymore. That comes down from upstairs two hours before the game. All we ask you to do is don't butcher the bullpen.

That's it. And the Dodgers bullpen struggled in the regular season. It was not great, but it should be noted. it's pretty good in the postseason. You led three to one. There's no panic here. Dave Roberts, after the move and after the game. It's not about analytics.

It's about he's one of the best pitches in the game. And for him to go out there and throw four pitches and to go back out there and get two hitters, I felt really good about that. It's more of, I don't think it was an analytic question. You know, it's a guy that I believe and I trust. And, you know, it's a guy that I believe. didn't work out. Listen, whether you thought it was analytics or not, the Dodgers are built on

analytics. That's what they are. It's why they don't spend 10 million, 20 or 10 year deals, 12 year deals, 15, you know, they won't do those long-term deals. Analytically, they'd rather get an infield that's reasonably priced. They're very analytic driven, and you went, you know, perhaps the opposite of the analytics. But I come back to something. I've been doing this for like 25 years, Okay. The best management I've ever had is at Fox because Fox never asks me to do anything. I'm not good at. And for all you young man, I don't care if you run a car lot. I don't care if you're on a TV network. I don't care if you run a law firm. Here's, I'll never be a manager, but I know a good manager when I see them in any business. And good managers don't put employees in situations in the most pressurized moment of the calendar year. in spots they're not built to succeed. That's not where you use Kershaw. He's not great in the postseason after the 7th.

He is not a closer. He is an 89-mile-an-hour throw-er to 90 following a 98-mile-an-hour heater. This just didn't make any sense. And it's not like the NFL where we ask our coaches and our guys to be a million things. Baseball today, just don't see. screw up the bullpen and the Dodgers did. All right, let's shift to this. Very, very interesting.

There is this sense. I've been hearing this for months now. Just pay everybody in Dallas. Pay Zeke and pay DeMarcus Lawrence and pay Jalen Smith and pay Amarie Cooper and pay Dachas. It's just like a waterfall. Money's just flying everywhere. But of course, it's a salary cap league. And unlike the NBA, which is a salary cap league,

There's not a lot of exceptions and loopholes. It's kind of a hard cap league. So what do you know? There's a site called Over the Cap. And Over the Cap has discovered that one team in the NFL has nearly 41% of its snaps by its players, that the players are free agents at the end of the year. And do you know what team that is? The Dallas Cowboys.

So the Dallas Cowboys, Anthony Brown, Byron Jones, Jeff Heath, Randall Cobb, Amari Cooper, Dak, Prescott, they're all pending free agents. Well, you got to get a break on somebody, folks. You got to get a break on one of these contracts. And so Jerry Jones has a number. This is what I believe. He's got a number. And he paid Zeke early.

He paid the left tackle years ago, Tyron Smith early. He paid the athletic lineback. or Jalen Smith early. He paid Demarcus Lawrence to pass rusher early, and he has waited on DAC, the most important position, because I believe Jerry is smart. Jerry's been doing this a long time. He was an oil maverick early.

What do they call him, a wildcatter? He has been negotiating for years and years, and he has a number. And I just want you to think about this for a second. So if you were Jerry and you had a number, you would be hoping to have the most leverage, right? I mean, you certainly wouldn't want to sign Dak Prescott after the Miami game or the New York Giant game, right? That would not be the week that you call Dak's agent and go,

yeah, Dak just threw for 300 yards and had a perfect passer rating. Let's talk contract. I want you to look at the Cowboys contract. Now remember, November, it gets cold and windy and rainy and the Cowboys playing nice indoor weather. Look at that. Look at the upcoming schedule starting October 20th. Philadelphia, Minnesota, Detroit, New England, Buffalo at Chicago.

New England's the number one rated defense. Chicago is the number two rated defense. Buffalo is the number three rated defense. Minnesota is the number five rated defense. Philadelphia's got a great pass rush, and Detroit's got Matt Patricia playing their butt off. Jerry Jones. Jones looked at that schedule and thinks, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'll get on the phone.

Right after that Chicago game, December 5th, 9 degrees, windy, rainy cold, DAC gets shut down to two field goals. That's when you call the agent and go, hi, I've been so busy. Can we sit down this morning and talk about DAC's contract? Because I look at this over the cap site. Dallas has more players, more snaps, 41% of their snaps this year have been played by guys who are pending free agents.

The contracts are all up. Jerry's got to get a break on one of these deals. This is the NFL. It's a hard salary cap. It's not the NBA where you got Larry Bird exemption, this exemption, this loophole. It doesn't work that way. It's hard cap. Here's the number.

Look at the cowboy schedule. And sometimes you get breaks in life. Sometimes you don't. This has become a timing issue. You're going to pay DAC and that's your future quarterback. So that's not the discussion here. Like, don't worry about that. But now it's just timing and leverage.

And Jerry is looking at it and going, I play the number one defense, the two defense, the three defense, the four defense. Oh, what do you know? They're outside there. They're outside there. After that Chicago game, that's when you call the agent. You know what? I have been so busy. I feel terrible.

I feel terrible about this. Let's sit down tomorrow over a cold draft beer and knock that contract out as DAC had a 34.8 passer rating. So I just think it's very interesting, this waterfall of money. Jerry's got to get a discount somewhere. And we know he's going to sign DAC. And we know DAC's not going anywhere. We know DAC's getting paid. Jerry, the only thing he has to cling to is timing.

Sure, feels like the timing would be good just after that Bears game. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsClyce brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClyce 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

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

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you. conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. podcast. What's up fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano and our podcast point game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nasree. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives

us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to flyin. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the bar like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up. Get your ass up. and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So OBJ, you know what I've said for years about wide receivers.

They're icing, they're not the cake. If your offensive lines bad, the cake, it doesn't matter what the icing is. The icing can't save a terrible cake. You can't just eat icing. You can eat a lot of cakes without the icing. But icing does make generally the cake better, but you've got to get other stuff solve first. Do not spend big money on icing if your cake's

crappy. Once the cake's good, then you can go get icing. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying, right? That's an easy one to figure out. So Freddie Kitchens was asked about icing yesterday at the press conference. The Cleveland media is like, you're not targeting OBJ. Why won't you throw to OBJ and Freddie Kitchens? I'm starting to really like this guy.

He is so bottom line and relatable. Freddie Kitchens is like, what are you guys looking for? Why, isn't he getting targeted more? We have plays. We have reads to go through. Coverage dictates that. You know, there's several reasons.

But, you know, I think we threw the ball 24 times the other night and he got targeted six times. So, you know, I don't know what the magic number is. I don't know what you guys are looking for. Here's the truth is. So let's go look at his five games. The targets, the catch is the yards. So what you're going to notice here, is nothing, and that's the point.

So in week one, oh my God, he was targeted a ton, and the team was awful and got blown out. In week two, he was targeted a ton, had his biggest game, and the team won. And then in week three, they targeted him a lot, and they lost. And then week four, they started scaling back the targets, and they won.

And then in week five, they really scaled back, and they were terrible. There is no trend. There is no correlation. There is no cause and effect. They target him a lot. They're terrible. They target him a lot.

They win. They target him very little. They win. They target him very little on Monday. They get crushed. He's talented. There's no correlation to his performance to anything that happens on the scoreboard. Yet we do have a correlation with this team.

that when Baker Mayfield is sacked multiple times, the Browns are 3 and 8. Uh-oh, that's a problem. So when he's not sacked or sacked just once, this is a playoff team. They're 5 and 2. When they're sacked 2 or more times, they're 3 and 8.

It's not just about paying your most talented players. That's not what you do in the NFL. There's a lot of talented players I'd let go. It's paying talented players who correlate 2. wins. The Cowboys feel Zeke equals more wins. The Eagles feel Fletcher Cox equals more wins.

Anne Carson Wentz. So you have an issue in Cleveland. Oh, wow. When we don't protect Baker, we're terrible. When we give OBJ huge looks or small, it's irrelevant. It doesn't matter.

This is why I'll double down on it. You've got plenty of weapons. It's not about paying your most talented people. That's not what sports is about. You pay LeBron because he translates to wins and Steph Curry and Clay Thompson and James Harden. That's why I wouldn't pay Russell Westbrook as much. It's why I wouldn't pay Ben Simmons as much. In the NFL, OBJ is talented. But go look at his five games. Big game, little game, lots of targets, no targets, doesn't matter. And this is not only

true in Cleveland, it was identical in New York. Where the Giants were often worse on his big games than they were when he was rarely targeted. Cleveland, you've got a fixable issue. Figure out the cake before you become embedded with the icing. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Thursday night football tonight, Joy, will be interesting, I hope. Competitive, I doubt. interesting. You're going to watch the team that's favored to win the Super Bowl and they're going to put on a clinic tonight. Is that interesting?

Well, yeah. I mean, of course. Anytime the Patriots are playing, it's interesting. It just feels like I wish there weren't so many injuries. Like, I wish we were seeing Sequin Barclay with Daniel Jones in this game. And Evan Ingram. Right. And Sterling Shepherd. So there's just so many injuries that the Giants have. So Belichick's 12 and O all time against rookie quarterbacks at Foxborough. Tonight, Daniel Jones, talented young guy, he doesn't have his number one back, his number two back, his number one receiver. is number one tied end. So it would be, it would be, it would 17 point spread. It would be, I think it's, I do not bet double digit spreads very often.

If you've watched Blazing Five for the years, I don't take those big games. They're trap games. It's wet and rainy, which may make it ugly. This has a chance to be, you know, a decisive win. In fact, we did this morning. We sat down and I said, who are the 10 best players in this game? Remember last week when I took the Vikings over the Giants? Yeah.

And the reason I said it was, now that Barclays out, who are the 10 best players in the game. And nine of my 10 best players were the Vikings over the New York Giants, even though a lot of people bet the Giants because they're getting hot. They're at home. The 10 best players in tonight's game, and we went to pro football focus and looked at the grades. Brady Wands, Stefan Gilmore, Julian Edelman, Devin McCordy, Jamie Collins. You see a trend here? Dante Hyattower, Kyle Van Nuoy, Shaq Mason, Josh Gordon, James White. Now, Sequin Barkley would be in there. Right. I think Evan Ingram may be 10. Sterling Shepard could be in there. there.

Sakeland Barkley would be two. Probably two, but they're not there. Right. So it does appear to be, now the good news is the first. A bit of a mismatch. Yeah, the first Nor'easter of the year is hit in the Northeast. And nor'easters are not always just snow. It's cold, wet, damp, windy, crappy weather.

And so that generally hurts the better offense. But I'll ask you tonight, watch the way the Patriots use their backs in the receiving situations. They're just the best in the league of the league. that. And with that, let's go to Greg Kossel. 40 years NFL film. Just can't wait for today. All sorts of interesting stuff. Greg, how are you? I'm great, Colin. Do you like watching games in bad weather? Generally, ratings go up. People say they do. I like watching the best players in the perfect weather.

Me too. I liked watching Mahomes and golf on a 70-degree day. I don't like snow games. Yeah, this might be a night to keep up with the Kardashians, Colin. No, don't go too far here. Okay, so you know what? Maybe it's because I'm from Seattle and I like him. I've always felt Russell Wilson's a very unique player. He is hard to categorize. He's his own category.

The offensive line is better than years ago, and they do have a real running game. I think the defense is a work in progress. But what are you seeing from Russell this year? Is it the best version of Russell you remember seeing on tape? Oh, I think he's the same, and I think he's really good. I think that there's no mystery to how they play. You know, I think they start with the run game. They do a lot of play action off of that.

He's a very good intermediate to deep ball thrower as far as accuracy. He doesn't miss throws, and that means a lot. People should not take that for granted. He does not miss throws. It's funny, the more I watch the Seahawks, the more I believe they count on Wilson making second reaction improvisational plays, which theoretically you can't count on, but I think they count on that. And he seems to do that every week. But I think the thing that can be lost sometimes in his movement is the fact that he's a very good thrower at the intermediate and deeper levels.

And can do that on the move. That's the other thing. He can do that on the move. So he's just a very, very good player. I don't think he's any different than he has been. It's just maybe the numbers are better because he hasn't thrown in interception. Yeah. You know, it's funny.

I want to talk about Christian McCaffrey. So when Cam gets hurt, my instinct would be, oh, that's going to hurt. McCaffrey, because now people are going to jam the box and say, yeah, Kyle Allen beat us over the top. But yet, Cam leaves, and McCaffrey feels better and more important. What do you see? What are they doing with him? They're just running base plays with little wrinkles. This week, for instance, they ran a ton of zone concepts, and what they do is they add wrinkles,

such as jet motion, which most people are now aware of, or orbit motion, which is where receiver goes behind the quarterback. And they do that to impact second-level defenders, create movement or hesitation and uncertainty. But Christian McCaffrey is an outstanding player. And what I love about him is his nuance and detail running routes, because he doesn't just run routes. He understands how his routes impact defenders. The touchdown this week was a phenomenal example of that, the way he set up Miles Jack. So I think McCaffrey, he's one of my favorite players to watch.

I love watching him. He's got great lateral agility and quickness and suddenness. He's strong. He's powerful. He's a finisher. And he has explosive straight-line speed. So there's nothing not to like about Christian McCaffrey. Let's go to the Saints.

Defense has been better than I predicted. They have a real pass rush twice this year. They've gotten six or more sacks in a game. Listen, Breeze and Bridgewater. We all know Breeze is great. Is the gap perhaps a little less than we think is Brise? Bridgewater the best backup, perhaps, in the NFL? Well, he certainly was, they protected him quite a bit the first two starts, and I think that's because Bridgewater needed time.

He needed to get back into the flow of the game. He's not a spectacular player. He's a volume player. He needs a lot of snaps. This week, I think they expanded things a little bit, and they called some more intermediate and deeper routes. So they expanded their past game, and he made a couple of really big-time throws. So I thought that he played extremely well. But you made it a very interesting point.

Because of Breeze and because of Sean Taden, this defense gets overlooked an awful lot. And I think their D.C., Dennis Allen, does an outstanding job. They do a lot of really good things. They had a specific game plan two weeks ago against Dallas. We spoke about that. It dominated the game. They do a really nice job, and that really gets spoken about. Yeah, Marshawn Lattimore can really close out.

I mean, he gave Mike Evans is a remarkable talent. and, you know, Lattimore's going to make it difficult. So they got somebody they can put in an aisle, and that helps. Now, on the Thursday night game, Russell Wilson's great. But I live in L.A., and all I hear when I turn the radio on is, you know, Jared Gough is the problem. And I thought that last drive against Seattle, I'm like the problem. He's the only thing now I can trust. They don't run the football anymore.

I like golf. I thought against Seattle he played very, very well. I don't think their offensive line is nearly as good as it was two years ago. you and I both like golf, right? Like Thursday, that final drive, I thought a tempo was good? Nothing I didn't like about it. Well, he led two outstanding two-minute drives

at the end of each half in that game. Yes. I think Jared Goff has played extremely well, and I think that because they've lost, people point to the quarterback. He's dropped back 120 times in the last two weeks, Colin. That's not sustainable. You can't do that in the NFL.

This is not Washington State in the Pac-12. You can't do that in the NFL. Jared Gough is playing really well, given what he's being asked to do. When you do 120 dropbacks in two games, not every dropback will be pristine, and not every throw will be perfect. He is playing really well, and I like what they're doing, expanding Gerald Everett's role. So I think they're doing a lot of good things in the past game. The problem is the run game has disappeared, not only in terms of production, but in terms of usage. And I don't believe that's sustainable, given their offensive line, when they have a little,

center and a little right guard. So, you know, I think that they need to kind of figure that out. We love Kyle Shanahan, and they're very clever and multiple. Is it possible the 49ers defense is the key to their four-and-o start? I've been talking about that, as you know, Colin, all, even before the season started. I think, let's talk about their front six, because teams play sub-package more these days. Their front six is as good as any front six in the league. When you line up, Bosa, Ford, Buckner, Armstead, Quine Alexander, and Fred Warner. Nobody might know Quine Alexander and Fred Warner. They are as a duo as good as any nickel duo at the linebacking position in the league.

Juan Alexander's a great athlete. I mean, you talk about Twitchy. He's terrific. I remember when he came in of LSU, everybody said he was too light, and I said, well, it depends on the scheme that he's in. And Fred Warner, you know, you go over on the West Coast. He went to BYU, and he played. He was almost like a hybrid safety linebacker slot corner.

at BYU, so he's another great athlete. So this is a front six that has a chance to be as good as any in the league, and they're the driving force of this defense, and it's a very good defense. Yeah, well, you know, they've drafted this defense. I mean, Solomon Thomas hasn't worked out, but Bruckner and Armstead. So it's not like they haven't used some, you know, some draft capital on it. Now, like, to your point, is paying off. And Bose is going to be, you know, he's really good now, and he'll just get better and better.

Let's just hope he stays healthy because that kid's really good. Yeah. Okay, Patrick Mahomes last couple of weeks, numbers are down. Some of me believes it's, listen, they got eight key injuries. Is it just a matter of? He doesn't have his weapons. He doesn't have his protection. Or are there like secret sauces here to Detroit and Indy's defense?

Well, they played more 12 personnel, meaning two tight ends in the past game than they did have all season because they were missing people. But, you know, it's funny. I watched that tape. And to me, that was very representative of what he was at Texas Tech. And it's why when I was at the combine that year after when he came out that a lot of offensive coaches didn't fall in love with him. He was a little loose. He was a little undisciplined. Obviously, he has the ability to make special throws and special secondary action plays, but also missing throws that were there and needed to be.

And he did, yeah. And that's what happened in the loss to the Colts. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that that's what he's going to be. They'll figure this out, and he's a ridiculous talent, and they'll be fine. But he does have that tendency on occasion. And in that particular game, lacking his weapons, it played out pretty much for four quarters. Yeah, and by the way, he was sitting on the bench watching most of it, 22 minutes time of possession, missing. Great point.

Yeah, so he's not in a rhythm. He's trailing. He's trying to, and then the mechanics go down. So, yeah, I mean, there is a reason. Yeah. And by the way, you should only throw, and you know that you're a quarterback guy. We've had this conversation. We've talked high school quarterbacks, college quarterbacks.

You should only throw with less than perfect mechanics when the defense demands that. you throw with less than perfect mechanics. Otherwise, you should be throwing with perfect mechanics all the time. Yeah. Let's go. This is interesting. Raiders have been the shock of the league. I didn't think Derek Carr and Gruden were great last year. There is a little magic this year, but is it just Josh Jacobs? Well, he's a really good player. Look, he's a great zone runner. He's got vision. He's got one-cut ability. He's a desirable combination of decisive and explosive. And what Gruden is doing now is what he did back in his day. He's very multiple with his personnel, his formations, and his motions.

That's his MO. It's kind of the illusion of complexity running base concepts and plays out of different looks because they line up with two tight ends, with six-all-alignment. You know, they just try to make everything look different. But I think he's doing the right thing by making Josh Jacobs sort of the foundation right now because the receiving core is lacking. And then they sort of have to try to order. orchestrate and create past game plays.

So I think they're doing a really good job. Yeah. And you know what? For all the noise and the nonsense and the A-B stuff, I will give Gruden credit, Greg. He's kept the locker room together. There's some pieces of video that come out and you can see him after games. He's got, you know, it's something. He's got an alpha to him that, you know, guys buy into him.

You know, there's something. Last year, you know, Greg, last year they didn't quit. No. They did not quit late last year. They played very, very hard with very limited offensive line and defensive secondary people. No, I think given what their talent level is at this very moment, I think they're doing the right things on offense, and their defense has probably played a little better than people might have thought. And then you start winning a few games, and we'll see where this goes.

All right, so it's easy for me to bang on Baker-Mayfield because I've been critical of some of his off-field stuff. Here's what worries me that's real, though, that's tangible. He looks wild. He looks high and wild. The further he gets removed from Lincoln Riley, I wonder if he should spend some time in Oklahoma this summer. He doesn't look. Last year, you could not watch Baker Mayfield. You could not be critical of one thing.

His accuracy was excellent for a rookie quarterback with sometimes so-so protection. Is it me or is his accuracy dipping now? Well, I think there's a lot of factors at play. But the result is, here's the result, and it's not all his fault, but the result is, to use the term we use, is he's seeing ghosts, he's not delivering the ball within the timing and structure of the called play. He's not comfortable right now. He's playing way too fast. He's not playing with the needed pocket poison composure, and he's totally out of rhythm. That's the result.

There's many reasons, probably too many to discuss right now, but that's the result of what's going on with their offense. and I still don't believe they have a true offensive identity at this point. You said he's seeing ghosts. You think the hits are accumulating. By that, I mean, I think he's anticipating and perceiving pressure that's not really pressure by NFL standards. All right, let's go to another young quarterback. We'll see him tonight, Daniel Jones. What have you seen so far?

Some wins, some losses. Yeah, but I think he's playing really well. I think he's poised. He's comfortable. He's composed. I think he's accurate. He's decisive. He knows where to go with the football.

I think everything's been positive, even in the lost. to the Vikings. They're lacking weapons. Even if tonight was going to be a beautiful night in New England, he just doesn't have any weapons. So tonight would be a tough game for him no matter what the weather was. But I think overall, the short sample size

up to this point has been very positive. By the way, the Giants O' line has improved the last two years. Without question. I bang on Gettleman, but they have upgraded the interior offensive line substantially. That can't be denied, right? No. Great for Kevin Zaitler, who is definitely a top six-seven right guard.

in this league. Hernandez, the U-TEP kid is a solid left guard. They're clearly better. Yeah. All right. We got our play of the week. I am so happy that it's a New England play because they are the standard of the league

and they play tonight on Fox. What do you got for me? Into it. Let's start it right now. So let's start this play and this was a touchdown to Brandon Bolden. Not a name you hear often in the context of their offense. But obviously they use a lot of players. This was a fascinating play, and I loved what they did, something very simple.

So let's start by looking at this now. You see the three receivers, the two tight ends and Bolden right behind Brady as an eye back. Okay? Watch what happens with Bolden. He's going to move to his right, and there's a reason for that. Now look at the three-man route combination to that side of the field, the boundary side. The reason they wanted him to move is they wanted to create a one-on-one matchup with Ryan Anderson, the linebacker. and that's exactly what they did.

And you're going to see the route combination and how it plays out. You're going to see an in-breaking route here. You'll see these two routes. They're going to eat up those two defenders. So now what you get is you get the one-on-one with a back, bolded, on an outside linebacker who is not a past coverage defender. It's Ryan Anderson, the linebacker from Alabama. So they created that.

That was really well done something as simple as a move. Now watch Cole Holcomb here, the linebacker. He initially, before Bolden moved, had him in man coverage. Yes. But Bolden moved now. Okay, so now his eyes are on him, but he realizes, hey, I don't have him anymore. What am I going to do? I'm going to add into the pressure.

Watch Brady move, beautiful, and then make that throw to the matchup that he created with the movement of Bolden before the snap of the ball. Look at the feet by Brady. Just a little move. And that's just something as simple as that creates a one-on-one match-up. You get the match-up you want. A good receiving back against a linebacker who's not. not used to playing in space. How great is that for Brady?

They know what they're trying to do. They do it. That must be so satisfying. It literally worked perfectly for them there. You know, he's probably, he's done that a few times, you know. I imagine a few times in his career. He's noticed a few things and moved a few people, you know. It's kind of what he does.

Yeah. Greg CoSell NFL films, great talking to you. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the iHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand

whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays,

the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway with me. and your favorite therapist, Care Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

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We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted. this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some

playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the guy. Get your ass up and down the court and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So tonight, the Patriots obviously host heavily favored over the New York Giants. And then Sunday, we got a handful of games that are very important. I do think, and I'm not just saying this because the Baker-Mayfield thing, I think

Cleveland has to win Sunday. And I think they're going to play really, really well. They've been hot and cold throughout the season. Fans tend to bail on teams after they play lousy on TV games. You know, stand-alone, Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night football games. I don't think the Niners are nearly as good as they look Monday. They'll pull back against the Rams. I think the Browns will play very well against the Seahawks.

But I do think it's a really important game. I made a mistake earlier saying that New England and Seattle both get extra prep time. Cleveland plays this week. They're at a disadvantage. Seattle is healthier, gets extra prep time. But then they get a buy before they play the Patriots. I made a mistake there. I do think Mike Freeman had a story Bleacher report.

that players around the league are saying about Baker and not in insignificant numbers. Plenty of players are saying, you know, he's just too cocky, actually he's won two Super Bowls. He hasn't won any. I think Baker is tremendous for the league. I think he's tremendous for merchandise sales. I think he's tremendous for, I mean, I know on Sunday, Baker's one of the three or four games I'm going to watch every Sunday. So I think he's a villain. I think villains are important.

Baseball used to have villains. Reggie Jackson was a villain. Pete Rose was a villain. Al-Roboski. Baseball had villains. They don't have any villains. And so baseball doesn't have a bunch of... Mani Ramirez was a little bit of a villain.

Even the Yankees now are nice. Aaron Judge is nice. Aaron Boone is nice. Kurt Schilling was a villain. He was cocky and Manny Ramirez. Baseball is better with villains. The NFL doesn't have a lot of them. When I was a kid growing up, the Raiders were villains.

LeBron James went to Miami. That was a villain. It was great for raiding. I can make an argument now. The NBA could really use a villain. Everybody's nice. The guys are all nice. And a villain does not mean a bad guy, like a bad person. No, but the narrative somewhere in America, like Baker is the NFL's dark hat.

For sure. Yeah, Duke basketball, Notre Dame football. If you look at the sports right now, the leagues that may be struggling, like tennis right now. Tennis, you know, I mean, Federer is the nicest guy in the world. Nadal, Jokevich. When I grew up, it was McEnroe was throwing rackets, and Connors was throwing rackets, and then you had Bjorn Borg was the nice guy. So sports in my life, tennis right now, we don't have any American.

I mean, Serena, once every five years is controversial, but by and large, advertisers like her, fans like her, she wins every match. Like tennis, you know, golf, Tiger Woods, I never understood it, but he was a little bit of a villain. He would throw, well, I understood it. He was a disruptor. Yeah, and he would also throw his clubs. and he would swear.

Those were golf's highest ratings. So as much as I'm critical of Baker Mayfield, he's wonderful for the league. I mean, Sam Darnold and Andrew Luck, I mean, they can't sell tickets across. I mean, they're the nicest guys in the world. They got no personality. They don't drink.

They're part of book clubs. I mean, I love Sam Darnold, but on his birthday, he said, yeah, I didn't drink. I had to go to bed. I mean, Aaron, Andrew Luck had a book. He's Daniel Day Lewis. He wins awards, but he can't sell tickets. So I don't want this to see that Baker's a bad guy.

Baker is absolutely institutionally vital to success. These guys are great. Sports is always better. The NCAA tournament loses when Duke is out. The pristine private school, Duke, elitism. Oh, you love having Duke around to root against, right? I root for them.

Some root against them. That's why this year was so weird, because everyone was rooting for Duke. Yeah, New England Patriots, by the way, in Baker Mayfield are the league's two villains. He's good for that. I'll say that. I'm not sure if it's good for the standings, but it's good for the league. 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. College football is a very good weekend.

I'll be glued to the TV Saturday, some huge games. Of course, I live in Southern California, where USC will be looking for a coach in about eight weeks. There's no question about that. And that's my lead game as we go to our Mar-C.'s. key three college football picks. Ready to make some sweet cash, Colin's going to give you his three sure bets for the college football weekend. It's time for the Fox Bet Marquis 3.

USC at Notre Dame. Very easy. I'll take Notre Dame in a blowout win. They're minus 10. They'll easily cover it. Listen, since the start of last year, Notre Dame is 16 and 2. And their only losses are to Clemson and Georgia. Notre Dame is really good, by way.

And the other thing is, 10 sacks in two games, 14 takeaways, third most in the country. This is a really, really well-coached football team. Brian Kelly knows quarterbacks. Their defense is excellent. And it's a program really that's on the up. Notre Dame is better now than two years ago. USC's the opposite. They're an absolute disaster.

They've lost, USC has lost seven of the last 11 games dating back to last year. I mean, they're a bad football program. Helton as an underdog, meaning when he goes in out-armed, he's 2 and 13 straight up. Listen to this. The most consecutive games without winning a turnover battle, USC leads the country, meaning they're not well-coached defensively, and meaning they turn it over too much offensively. This will be a blowout, a well-coached team at home against the poorly coached team fading on the road, 3623 Notre Dame.

It could be worse than that. Penn State at Iowa. This is actually a sneaky pick. I'm going to take Iowa plus three and a half. Now they lost at Michigan, so everybody sells their Iowa stock. But Iowa's a top five defense in the country. Nate Stanley, the quarterback, has actually been excellent at home. Three and O, eight touchdowns, no picks.

Remember, Penn State hasn't faced a ranked team all year. They struggled with the best team they face Pitt. And this is the beginning of a really tough schedule. And in their last 24 games on the road against ranked teams, Penn State's awful, 2 and 22. Again, Iowa's at home getting more than a field goal with a better quarterback coming off a tough loss. I like their coaching staff. I like them in this spot. I'll take Iowa to upstet Penn State 22 to 20.

Florida and LSU. This may be my favorite college pick of the year. I'll take LSU to blow out Florida. It's LSU minus 13. This is easy stuff. Their offense, they may be the best offense in the country this year. They're first in everything. Points, yards, passing, third down percentage.

They're five and one in their last six against top ten teams. Only lost to Bama, so they're a good big game team. And Joe Burroughs been very good for them, the former Ohio State backup. He had his worst game of his career last year in the loss of Florida. He was awful, nine for 34. This year, Burrow has been remarkable. He's a Heisman. He was a backup at Ohio State.

He's a Heisman favorite right now. First in completion percentage, first in passing yards. And the Gators just came off a huge upset win against Auburn. So it's very hard to get 19 and 20-year-olds to get to that emotional level. Back-to-back weeks, I don't think Florida can do it. I think LSU blows them out. 40 to 21. These are the strongest picks I've had this year.

LSU blowout win, Notre Dame blowout win, and Iowa, three and a half at home, close over. Penn State. That game's going to be low scoring, by the way. Penn State, Iowa. You could also bet the under. It's going to be a very low scoring game with very good defenses. And there you go. My marquee three picks. 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 the source, the athletes themselves.

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You know these kids. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

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