The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 10/15/2019

Episode Date: October 15, 2019

Colin talks about the blown calls at the end of the Lions/Packers game and has a simple idea that would have fixed things. He doesn't want to hear excuses about Quarterbacks missing weapons because Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady are throwing to nobodies and still winning. He reveals his top ten teams in the NFL in this week's Herd Hierarchy. Plus, Peter King of NBC Sports talks about the job security of Freddie Kitchens and Jason Garrett after they both suffered tough losses on Sunday. 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, Miss Parker.

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This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on a Tuesday, live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. One hour from now, the herd hierarchy. What do we do with the Packers? What do we do with the Cowboys? What do we do with the Chiefs?

Heard hierarchy. Talk 10 teams in the league. We give it a lot of thought in one hour. And Joy Taylor is joining me after a controversial finish last night in Monday night football, which turned out to be a great game. It was a great game, but I do feel very badly for the Lions. I do too. So, you know, here's what's interesting about this.

The nation freaked out, the owners freaked out, America freaked out, when the New Orleans Saints, there was a really bad call against the Rams and the NFC championship. And the Saints certainly played the victim very well. But the thing about that bad call is there were three opportunities for the Saints after that call to win the game. Okay? After that bad call, Saints kick a field goal. The Rams got the ball back in regulation, drove all the way down the field. Saints' defense couldn't stop them.

kick a field goal, send it to overtime. So the Saints' defense could have won the game. Then we go to overtime in the Superdome. The Saints' offense gets the ball. They throw a pick. And then the Saints' defense takes the field. And the Rams drive down and kick a field goal win the game. Three opportunities.

Now the Saints play the victim. The owners wanted to support the Saints. And, oh, my God, can't believe. But the Saints had three opportunities to win that game. Their defense had two, and Drew Brees and the offense had one. I'm not saying the call was good. It was bad. But bad things happen in games and bad things happen in life.

Are you given opportunities to overcome bad things? Saints got three couldn't do it. Last night, Detroit didn't do to a bad call have any opportunities. Their offense sat and watched. Their special team sat and watched. And their defense made the stop, bad call. Watch Green Bay bleed the clock. So I feel very bad.

I feel worse for Detroit than I do for. New Orleans because Detroit didn't have any time to overcome it. And this begs the question for this caper. How do you solve it? I think the way to solve it is really, really, really in easy. For the 276 time, the umbrella rule, the umbrella rule, which means two minutes left in any NFL game, everything is reviewable, everything. It's the NFL's insurance policy that instead of this.

Nonsense the Ram Saints game created, which is now we're going to review every pass interference call, which has been a debacle. The last 25 reviewed PI calls, 24 are unchanged. Nobody wants to change it. It's nonsense. There's a reason for 100 years in football. We didn't have it. And now they bring it in because everybody freaked out because New Orleans complained enough. And it was a bad call in New Orleans.

But in the end, that's nonsense. What's not nonsense is insurance. It's the first thing you buy when you have a car and the first thing you buy when you have a home. And you buy insurance because insurance is like replays in sports. It's best used rarely, but it's used in case of dire consequences and an emergency, an earthquake, a flood, a car wreck, or a really egregious call with 42 seconds left in the game, and everybody just has to watch the clock bleed. I don't think it's hard to figure out.

Listen, these replays, we all agree, they take a lot of time and add it to games. We all acknowledge that, that sometimes they kill the pace of a game. I've always thought replays are innately unfair because sports is so much about momentum, especially in football, the big hit, the big set, the big interception. Then you go to replay, takes two and a half minutes, the crowd simmers down. It's a momentum killer. And in certain sports, I mean, you watch football, you watch NBA basketball, the big block, the big dunk.

The last thing you'll want is two and a half minutes at a replay just kills the momentum. So I'm not a huge fan of replays, but I do believe in certain instances, end of games, there should be a big insurance policy called the umbrella review. I don't think it's terribly difficult to figure out. I don't know why they haven't figured it out. But that's where we stand this morning. The pass interference nonsense due to the Saints Rams ending is a debacle. Bad calls happen.

Denver lost a game this year against Chicago on a bad call. In fact, you can argue Denver's lost two games on iffy calls. So let me segue from that, my umbrella policy, my umbrella insurance reviewable policy to this. You do realize this was the classic Matt Stafford game. The worst part about Matt Stafford, boy, he looks the part. His handsome quarterback, got a nice arm, makes beautiful throws, sees the feel. You're like, man, guy, good.

I like Matt Stafford. But last night, three for 13 on third down, one for three in the red zone. Classic Matt Stafford. Eleven years in the NFL, he does not have a signature win. And in the second half, six possessions,

punt, field, goal, field, goal, punt, field, goal, punt. It's the kind of game Russell Wilson wins. It's the kind of game Tom Brady. always wins. And it's the type of game, Detroit and Matt Stafford always lose. In 11 years in that division, I want you to think about this. Mitch Trubisky has won that division.

Case Keenham has won that division. Jay Cutler has won that division. Teddy Bridgewater has won that division. Aaron Rogers, overwhelmingly with bad defenses, has won that division five times. Matt Stafford's never won that division. You can blame the refs last night. But in the second half, it was punning and field goals, and they couldn't do anything in the red zone and anything on third down.

And I don't want to hear about defense. Detroit's defense stifled Green Bay in the first half. Detroit's defense got two turnovers. Detroit was up 13-0. He had all sorts of help last night. When you go to Lambo and you can shut down Aaron Rogers for the first quarter and a half of a football game, that's all you're going to get from your defense. You cannot ask to shut Aaron Rogers down for four quarters.

There are times you can't shut Aaron Rogers down for a quarter. The defense did a great job for Detroit early in that football game. They came in with a great game plan. They jumped out to a big lead. He got to play ahead instead of like Dak Prescott always playing from behind. Matt Stafford had the lead on the road. The crowd got quieter because you take the crowd out of the game with a lead. And with Matt Stafford, he always looks the part.

That's the difficult thing. Like Andy Dalton just doesn't have the arm, right? Like Andy Dalton, you're like, well, he just doesn't have the arm. Kirk Cousins doesn't have the size of the arm. When you look at Matt Stafford, there was a very interesting moment early in the game. And this kind of sums up Stafford. First play of the game, they come out and do a flea flicker. And Matt Stafford throws an absolutely beautiful ball.

I mean, this is how you teach quarterbacks to throw. Look at that big. It's like velvety smooth. And you're like, oh, look at this. And yet, here's this 11-year veteran on the very next play. After this, I mean, this is just classic, beautiful, perfect. It's like video game quality. Next play, fumbles a snap.

When's the last time Brady fumbled a snap? Next play, and then all of a sudden they sell for a field goal. Like, that's Matt Stafford. It's like, ugh, it's always just this close. And this game, he got two fumbles, his team gave him an interception. He got a big lead. The defensive game plan was great. And the last six possessions, punt,

field, go, field, go, punt. So we can blame the officials, but this has come to define the Matt Stafford era. Looks the part, but why do they always lose these games and why does Russell Wilson and Tom Brady always win them? There's something

called it. Some people have it. Some people don't have it. Some people look the part. Some people can't deliver. And that was, I was sitting there watching that game last night. My first thing is, you know, he doesn't have a signature win in 11 years. I think. think this is going to be it. I thought this is going to be it. They finally have the coach.

They've got some nice, not great, but nice little pieces. Rookie tight ends good. They have a good receiver. They have a nice young back. They've got the coach. They got a couple of really nice corners. You're like, okay, this is going to be the signature win. And it ended up being exactly seemingly what every time Detroit has a chance to win a huge game, they always come up short for the last 11 years. By the way, Detroit has led every game in the fourth quarter. You know what their record is?

2, 2 and 1. Blame who you want. It's quarterback league. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays and noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 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. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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

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Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to. wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? This 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. 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 stopped by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running 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 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. The NFL is what it's really about is overcoming it. We can make excuses for Cam Newton and Andy Dalton and Matt Stafford and Kirk Cousins. This is about overcoming. Average quarterbacks can't overcome. They need everything to be right.

Great quarterbacks overcome stuff. So I'll give you three examples. Aaron Rogers is now 2 in the last two weeks without Devante Adams. Last night, he also had to overcome two lost fumbles, an interception which should have been a touchdown, but the wide receiver bubbled it and Detroit picked it off. And then he lost Geronimo Allison during the game. Okay, all you want to talk about is the bad call Matt Stafford dealt with. Aaron Rogers lost his best receiver, arguably a second best receiver, had a touchdown pass

bobbled and turned into a Detroit interception, and there's two fumbles. By the way, Russell Wilson won this weekend. He's lost Doug Baldwin his most trusted receiver. His number two receiver now is a rookie who dropped in the draft, and during the game Sunday he lost his top tight end, and he won on the road. And Tom Brady is 6-0. using a collection of wide receivers who are undrafted, rookies, one of them played corner back in college.

Overcome it. Overcome it. Okay, quarterbacks make their weapons. If your weapons are making your quarterback, you have what's known as Dak Prescott, which is certainly good enough to win games. And Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott, you can have good Sundays, you can win divisions, but if you want to win at the highest level,

Aaron's got a Super Bowl, Tom's got a bunch, and Russell Wilson has one, you've got to have somebody that can overcome stuff. And if you look at last night, and you really talk about who had to overcome things,

Green Bay's defense got worked for a quarter and a half, two fumbles, drop touchdown becomes a pick, lost his top receiver, and then arguably Geronimo Allison is his second receiver, and here's what Aaron Rogers does.

He goes to the sideline, he didn't even he said let's put number 13 in he didn't it's Alan Lazzard he didn't even call him by name to the staff he's like you know he's been pretty good at practice he's got a locker by me let's put number

13 in and of course you solved the throw here's Aaron after I may have put in a good word there in the fourth quarter to get him some opportunities the thing that that got me was what you love as a quarterback and that's

your receivers coming back and telling you he wants to ball and what routes he wants to run. You know, the big first down we had to him on the out route. That was him coming back and huddle telling me what play he wanted. And for a young guy to do that, how can you not have confidence in that? I got to tell you, this will be one of the more forgettable games for Aaron Rogers, right? This is when I love Aaron Rogers. This was really impressive to me. He didn't have aiming go right last night.

Good God, he threw a touchdown pass. The receiver babbled it and they picked it off. Two fumbles. Lost his best receiver. His second best wide receiver. He had to play from behind 13-0, which is always absolutely a disadvantage when you're playing from behind. The crowd was out of the game.

I was totally impressed with Aaron Rogers last night. This is the kind of game that nobody talks about at the end of the year, but this league has been defined by overcoming stuff. Russell Wilson this year, Tom Brady this year, and Aaron Rogers this year have separated. Hey, Patrick Mahomes, I don't want to hear about it. Deshawn Watson's winning with no offensive line until two weeks ago. I like Patrick Mahomes.

I don't want to hear about Tyreek Hill. I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to hear about the injuries. Because I watched what Aaron did last night, and that was really impressive. Hey, coach, put number 13 in. Didn't even know his name, apparently. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search Herd to listen live or on demand. whenever you'd like. So I'm going to read this. These are only facts. In fact, I'm strongly considering turning the show just facts, no opinions. Facts. Baker Mayfield this season. Less passing touchdowns than Mason Rudolph.

Less passing yards than Andy Dalton. Lower completion percentage than the recently cut Luke Falk. Lower quarterback rating than Eli Manning and the most interceptions. in the NFL. That's with a star running back to star receivers and a defense that gets in the ball back. Of course, the only way to solve this, it could not be Baker's fault, right? So now I'm going to go into the opinion thing. It's to fire Freddie Kitchen. I go to Twitter over the weekend. Oh, it's Freddie Kitchens. It is Freddie Kitchens. Okay, so let's solve it by firing Freddie Kitchens. So that will mean Baker will be on his fourth head coach in 19 games.

Yeah, that's the answer. And his third play caller in under two years. So let's just fire him this week. Fourth head coach, 19 games. So that's the answer. Let me ask you this. And do you know why Tom Hanks gets the best scripts? He doesn't deal with Porky's Four.

Tom Hanks only gets the best scripts. Why do the richest guys in Silicon Valley get the first crack at the best startups? like Uber. Because great people with a track record of success have options in life. If you fire Freddie Kitchens, best guy in the market, Rex Ryan, did you see what he did with quarterbacks? When you keep firing people over and over and over and over, it sends a message to the industry.

Toxic, stay away. Jimmy Haslam, stay away. All of you suggesting you fire Freddie Kitchens are out of the of your mind. That would be the sixth head coach in seven years if you fired him under Jimmy Haslam. And let me ask you this. Not only wouldn't you get an elite coach, what kind of staff could a Rex Ryan get? I mean, again, Tom Hanks only gets the best scripts. So you're going to get a coach that's probably been fired often multiple times, and then he's going to have to put a staff together. To get my wife, and it's not like Cleveland's a desirable place to live, to get my wife, any job I take, I got to sell my wife first.

I got to sell my wife and my kids. So the idea that you could hire a coach after Freddie Kitchens and then he'd hire 17 assistants and you'd get an elite assistant staff. No, no, no. The top 10 special teams coaches are not taking the job. The top 8 to 10 defensive coordinators either have now head coaching jobs or not taking the job. job. So this idea, the answer in Cleveland is always fire the head coach. The problem is you get left with Freddie Kitchens as a head coach. That's who's available. So if that's what you think, I said day one, if Baker Mayfield succeeds in this league, and I've said from day one, he is a franchise

quarterback, I don't think he'll be a bust. He's too accurate of a thrower. But if he succeeds, he's going to have to overcome organizational chaos. And I am already right on that. He's already on his third coach 19 games in. You want it to be his fourth. So this is what I don't understand. Like we're all sending messages. Our hygiene sends messages.

Our hair cut, our dress. Did you brush your teeth? You smell okay. All of us are sending messages every day in our lives, how we dress, how we look, how we talk, how we verbalize, what do we like in the room? What is the message you are sending to the industry of football coaches and top scouts if you run out Jimmy Haslam?

You're going to give a guy six, seven games? I mean, in my opinion, you've got to give Freddie Kitchen two years. You've got to even 32 games. It's why when I said, be careful about firing Hugh Jackson. Let me ask you today. Are you sure Freddie Kitchens is better than Hugh Jackson? and I said, be careful about firing Hugh Jackson, whether or not he's the right coach,

he's an offensive coach, he's an adult, he's been a coach, just let him get through the season with Baker Mayfield. You know, I don't care what the record is. You weren't going to make the playoffs with Baker last year, but you just ran him off, and then it's Greg Williams, and then you offend this guy,

and now Greg's actually with a team that's got real players and feels great about themselves this morning, and you've got a coach you want to run off. And it's just a mess. It's just that is not the answer. You're sending a terrible message to the coaching fraternity if you fire Freddie Kitchens. This is just on Baker. Stop making excuses.

If Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady and Russell Wilson can overcome what they're overcoming, I don't want to hear about that thing Sunday. That was a mess. He's a mess. Baker's a mess right now. That's just stop with the offensive line. He had nothing but time to throw the ball Sunday. Okay.

Russell Wilson was under much more direct. from Cleveland's D-line, then Baker was under, was Seattle's D-line. Baker had plenty of time to throw. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Heard hierarchy. Time is now, let's go. The top 10 NFL teams, according to college.

Number 10. Minnesota, and they're actually now becoming a very easy team to figure out. When they play a good defense, Kirk Cousins is 0 and 2 with a quarterback rating of 73. When they play a bad defense, Kirk Cousins is 4 and 0 with a quarterback rating of 135.8. It's real simple. Kirk Cousins is limited, and when you put a fearsome pass rush and a top secondary against him, he's not very good. But Philadelphia had back-end issues, and he looked great.

Delvin Cook, by the way, is a monster. He's being overshadowed by Christian McCaffrey. Dalvin Cook right now to me is the first or second best running back in this league. We're just talking so much about McCaffrey. And they've got such great receivers in Minnesota. We forget about Dalvin Cook. He's having a monster year. Number nine.

Kansas City. You complained last week when I had them like seven. Their defense has spent an average of 38 minutes on the field in the last two games. They can't get people off the field. And by the way, I like that. Patrick Mahomes. But this is the first time in his career, Joy. He's having to overcome stuff like injuries, and he's not, he's struggled with it. So he's completing last three games, 56% of his throws. That's with Travis Kelsey. That's with Andy Reed. So listen, Wilson, Brady,

Aaron Rogers have spent years having to overcome injuries. So Mahomes now for the first time has to overcome some stuff and he has regressed. Doesn't mean he's not great. It doesn't mean he's not great. It doesn't mean he won't get good again, but this is the growth of young quarterbacks. You come out, you blow everybody away. Oh, you take away this guy. You take away that guy. That guy's hurt. And Mahomes is pulled back, Kansas City at nine.

Number eight. I think Buffalo does have a ceiling offensively. They are so good, though, situationally. The number that jumps out to me, they've had 14 red zone trips this year, and they've scored 10 touchdowns. So that is a team. The play calling's good. They went in the offseason and they upgraded their offensive line. And I liked their staff last year and I like their defense,

but their offensive line has taken all that chaos and all that inconsistency last year and just pulled it down a little bit. It's a great defense, a great staff, a limited offense, but a pretty good situational offense in Buffalo at number eight. Number seven. Carolina. Again, I think Kyle Allen has some limitations. but let's be honest, the defense right now, again, another Ron Rivera defense,

most sacks in the NFL and tied for the second most takeaways. This is what Ron Rivera does. He gives Cam Newton, wherever the quarterback is, he's like, listen, I'm going to give you a top 10 defense. And in the NFL, if you have a top defense and you're a top quarterback, you generally have a winning record. Add to the fact they've drafted very well at wide receiver and it running back with Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Allen is now one of four undefeated quarterback.

in the NFL. Brady, Garapolo, Bridgewater, and Kyle Allen. Carolina 7. Number six. This is mostly Russell Wilson. He's just great. He leads the NFL in passer rating, second and passing touchdowns, second in completion percentage. Oh yeah, no interceptions. And Chris Carson has become a complete workhorse running back, that seventh round pick. He's second in the league in carries, fifth in yards. But this is really about Russell. Wilson. He is situationally the most unique quarterback I've ever seen. He's a pocket passer

yet a playmaker, yet sometimes a running quarterback. Doug Baldwin retired and I said on the air the defense is too young. Doug Baldwin's retired. I don't love their offensive line. I think they could be an 8-8 team. And then Russell Wilson just happened to

have the greatest year of his career and they're a 5-1 team. Number 5. Number 6. Green Bay is at 5. I think we saw him last night. They're not a perfect team. But one of the things that Green Bay has done very well with Aaron Rogers at quarterback. They draft the offensive line well and they coach up offensive lines. They do a good job of developing offensive linemen. And Aaron Rogers has only been sacked four times in the last four games. They went and got Billy Turner. They have drafted the position very well. So

Aaron's got a nice offensive line. That's allowed obviously Aaron Jones to flourish. And by the way, what that does, it allows Aaron to more often throw on play action. So what does that do? Well, Aaron Rogers on play action has 103-passer rating and complete 73% of his throw. So Aaron's good anyway, but when you let Aaron throw on second and four and third and two, linebackers have to play up. He is absolutely lethal, Green Bay at five. Number four.

Houston Texans. Bill O'Brien got ripped for trading first round picks for a, left tackle. Guess what? Deshawn Watson doesn't get sacked anymore. Guess what? He's really good. Here's the other thing. This is a Deshawn Watson. This is very Russell Wilson. Houston leads the league in red zone touchdown percentage and third down percentage. What does that mean? Deshawn, like Russell Wilson, just makes plays. This is what I knock on Matt Stafford. Red zone, third down last night. Matt just doesn't make the play. Deshawn Watson right now. now, best in the league. Red Zone touchdown percentage. Third down percentage, best in the league.

That's just the guy making plays. 90% of this sport is off script. You know, the first two series are scripted. After that, you've got to make stuff happen. Nobody makes it happen like him. And by the way, has not been sacked in two weeks. It's not a coincidence. The offense has scored 84 points in two weeks. Deshawn now has time when he prefers, as he's always said, to be a pocket quarterback. Number three. San Francisco 49ers, best defensive front in the league. What I thought was impressive about winning in Los Angeles, they were missing their fullback, who's a big component, a big cog in their offense, and both offensive tackles,

and they were on the road, and the Rams were more desperate. So you can just say the Rams are no good, but that, you know, the wise guys in Vegas thought the Rams were one of the bets of the weekend. So they've allowed the second fewest sacks and the second fewest yards per game. So they're doing it on both sides. You're not getting to Garoppolo, and they're getting to your quarterback. And this league's not hard. Get a quarterback, protect him, and then draft guys that can get their quarterback and make

him uncomfortable. So San Francisco goes into every game, and their quarterback is more comfortable than your quarterback. That's why they're number three. Number two. New Orleans Saints, it's really, we're talking about Bridgewater. It's really about line play. They're top 10 in the league in sacks, and top 10 in sacks allowed, meaning like San Francisco,

They're doing a lot of this on the lines. Teddy Bridgewater's terrific. Bridgewater has essentially become Drew Breeze. If you look at his numbers right now, what does Breeze do? High completion percentage. What is Teddy Bridgewater? 69% completion percentage. What does Breeze do?

High passer rating, very few picks. Teddy Bridgewater, seven touchdowns, two interceptions. Very coachable, good line play Saints at number two. Number one. New England Patriots. Yes, we know they, played the dregs of the NFL. But their special teams have been outstanding. The special teams in defense have scored more touchdowns than they have allowed this season. So their special

teams are better than last year. Their defense is better than last year. They've got a ton of secondary and running back depth. Nikiel Harry comes off the IR soon, the rookie first round wide receiver, which had helped Edelman, Philip Dorset, and Josh Gordon, 6 and 0. Usually in September, they are at their weakest. They lead the league in takeaway, so it's not just about one thing. The running games back in the fold, best quarterback in crisis, best coach in the league, special teams, New England number one. Heard, Heard, be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m.

Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice 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. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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.

Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

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I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

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

Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam, this 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 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 running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. 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.

With that NBCSports.com via the Coward Global Satellite Network, Peter King joins us. Are you surprised at all? Matt LaFleur, Aaron Rogers, seems to be working. Any surprises for you with Green Bay? No, because I think, Colin, I mean, the big surprise, obviously, is how seamlessly two huge free agents came in. You know, the Smiths, Zadarius and Preston, came in in free agency and have totally changed the character and the personality of what had been a porous defense.

That has been the biggest surprise to me about this team. You sort of knew that Aaron Rogers, he heard the chatter on the outside, quietly and privately, he's got some rabbit ears. He knows what people are saying about him. Well, could this be he's 35 years old, decline of Aaron Rogers? You know, he could not overcome some of the problems he had with Mike McCarthy. So is this it for his greatness? He had not been great, really, consistently great in a couple of years.

So this was a big prove-it year for Aaron Rogers. And I'll tell you, he made a couple of throws last night, especially the touchdown pass at the pylon that was absolutely that in its own way was as lovely and as on target as Russell Wilson's throw, you know, in the corner of the end zone the previous week, when he was under so much pressure. So I thought that was a great, great night, a great prove-it night for Aaron Rogers,

especially to overcome so many of the mistakes that his teammates made. Yeah, I love watching games at Lambo. Let's talk about the Saints. We said when Breeze got hurt, we said actually on this show, Teddy Bridgewater is a little bit like a younger Drew Breeze, high- IQ coachable,

almost a savant learning quick playbooks, limited vertically, would rather pass but can move a little, and he's become that. Go back to the day Drew is hurt and Teddy takes over. He addressed the team because, man, it's been smooth. Yeah, I wrote about that this week in my column. That was the week, if you remember, when Breeze got hurt, he gets hurt in L.A. And the Saints, because they were at Seattle the following week, decided that week that they were going to stay out on the West Coast rather than travel home and then go back.

So they went up to Seattle and on that first night in Seattle, Teddy Bridgewater invited the entire offensive team to a restaurant in Seattle. And he had Michael Thomas speak. They had a couple of people speak, couple of teammates. And then he got up and he basically said, listen, I am not Drew Breeze. I'm Teddy Bridgewater. I can't be Drew. But I'm going to do everything in my power to make everybody in this room proud of me. And I'm going to be a great teammate and we're going to win. And they're four and no sense. Yeah. And it also shows the line play there has been good. They get to the quarterback and they protect theirs. Line play in New Orleans. Mickey Loomis has done a very good job. The talent overall in this roster is really strong. Now I'm going to go to two stories that I've

I think are both ridiculous, but they're out there. The first one is Freddie Kitchens is on the hot seat. If he was fired, it would be the six coach in seven years under the Jimmy Haslam, which I think is a terrible sign for the organization. It's toxic. I don't think you can get good staffs built. I'm not going to bring my wife and my family across country to Cleveland if I think I'm going to get 10 games.

I don't think firing Freddie Kitchens is the answer. Do you think some of the talk now is, legitimate, though. I don't. But I do think this. This is a team that after its seventh game, I mean, barring one of the upsets of the year and of many years, Cleveland winning at New England after their buy this week, they're going to be two and five. So they are going to have a major crisis on their hands. But I just don't see John Dorsey doing a panic move. at that time firing Freddie Kitchens. I just don't think he would do that.

Now, if they believe Freddie Kitchens has lost control of the team, which I can tell you is not the case. If they believe that happens at some point, all bets are off. But I think Freddie Kitchens will make it through the year just fine. Now, there's a Jason Garrett hot seat story. You know, I think it's pretty ridiculous. If they win Sunday, they're in first place. Even if they lose Sunday, they get a buy and get the Giants.

whereas Philadelphia, if they win Sunday, their schedule gets harder. So I don't buy this nonsense at all, but it's out there. And I do think Jerry's getting older. Jerry wants the ring again. This, I do think at the end of the year, Jason could be in trouble. But as let's just let's not talk today. Let's talk end of the year. Do you think he has to make the playoffs to retain his job?

At least. Wow. I would be very surprised if they go nine and six. seven and he doesn't make the playoffs. Now, Colin, just remember this. His contract is over at the end of the year, so they would have to sign him to a new contract.

How in the world does Jerry Jones bring Jason Garrett back if they're nine and seven and don't make the playoffs after the Cowboys Brass said at the start of the year? Some, in some, I'm not going to say the quote exactly,

but it's something like this is the best talent we've had. since we won the Super Bowl. And so if that be the case, how do you justify in an okay division, but with two-week sisters, how do you justify bringing Jason Garrett back with a new contract?

I don't think that would happen. I think that if Jason Garrett, if they make the playoffs, they win a game maybe two, then Jason Garrett comes back. But I doubt if they don't make the playoffs, Jason Garrett has much of a chance at all to come. Yeah, by the way, Peter did not pick the Cowboys to make the playoffs.

I had them at 9 and 7 battling for the final wildcard spot. So Peter and I were not as high on the Cowboys. By the way, Vegas had them at 9 wins too. So I don't think they're underachieving to this point. I think they're achieving. I want to move to Kansas City. One of the great things about Russell Wilson and Brady this year in Rogers, they've had to overcome the losses of receivers,

offensive line issues. It's interesting, Peter. Patrick Mahomes, for the first time in his career, now is having to overcome, I lose a receiver, we got offensive line issues, quarterback is hard to play. And I think Patrick will be fine. But is there a little concern with you not only defensively, but he's now completing 56% with Andy Reed, Travis Kelsey, in the last three weeks that Patrick, at some level, has not done a great job overcoming what is known in the NFL as Sunday, losses, you know, roadblocks.

Colin, I would have zero worries about Patrick Mahomes. I'd have less than zero worries. There's two problems as I see it right now. Number one, Patrick Mahomes has an ankle injury. And even though he's not going to win a 40 against Tyreek Hill, part of his game, like Russell Wilson, is moving around in the pocket and instinctively making almost everybody miss. So that is an issue. The second issue is that their defense basically is allowing 5.3 yards per carry for opposing running backs

and are getting killed in time of possession. So it's almost like every possession for Patrick Mahomes is vital. He's only got the ball for 22 minutes on average in each of their two losses. So think of that. normally you'd have the ball if you're the Chiefs 31, 32, 33 minutes. They've got it for 10 minutes less in each of the last two games. They've lost both games. And there's also to me, Colin, a little bit of a mental aspect of this.

If you are Patrick Mahomes and you're Andy Reid the play caller and you know that you're going to have to take advantage of every possession, because you don't know how many you're going to have and you know your defense is a sieve. That's a little bit of a different approach than getting a 17-0-0 lead and just doing whatever you want when you get the ball on offense. Yeah, that's a good point, knowing, as his said,

scarcity of possessions, you have to make the most of the possessions. I think it can change play calling and change the way you think. NBCSports.com, multiple-time sports writer of the year. Peter King Football Morning in America. Thank you, Peter. You're welcome, Colin. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week,

within the IHeard radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. I thought today we needed clarity on the officiating. So many of you were complaining about it, and I watched the game last night. I think it's a very difficult game to officiate. But with that, I want to go to the former vice president of officiating in the NFL to kind of create clarity for all of us,

Mike Pereira via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So let's start with this. Am I overstating it by saying there's a little bit of an officiating crisis in the league with another layer, the pass interference review. We're adding a lot, it's like an aeroplane. We're adding more for the pilot to figure out in flight. Do we have a little bit of a crisis going on with officiating, Mike? No, I think we have more than a little bit of a crisis, quite frankly, because if you're the pilot,

I'm concerned about that plane that it's going to crash at some point. point when it means most. And I'm speaking about the pass interference rule here. We've created a monster. And I hate to say it because it's put Al River on in an impossible position, even officials in a tough position, coaches an even tougher position. And I think what the league did was overreact and brought in a rule change with making pass interference reviewable. And to me, it's all about one play. It's all about one play. And now all of a sudden you have two different standards of what is or what is not pass interference. You have the standards that the officials look for. And then you have the standard that replay looks for, which means that if they don't call defensive pass interference

on the field, and Pat Schumer challenges the Golden Tate was interfered with, and New York looks at it and says, yeah, really he was. But that doesn't rise to the level of what we're looking for in replay. everybody's going to be flummoxed. And so I think you've created more attention on officiating because of this rule. And if that happens in week 17 and keeps a team from getting into the playoffs because replay doesn't add pass interference, even though it is pass interference. If it happens in the playoffs, it happens in the Super Bowl. It's going to be awful. What is your initial reaction to the two calls?

against Trey Flowers of the Lions last night? Well, I mean, look, I feel terrible about it, but they're so easy to call in slow motion when you're seeing them on TV. You have to realize that you can't go to the head or neck area when you're either rushing a blocker like that or past protecting either way. And in fact, he wasn't the first one.

He wasn't on the neck. He was on the collar. He was right here below the neck. Look at the difference. What's the difference from being on the neck to there? I can see what he called. And then the second one, you know, he's actually on the left shoulder, close to the, you know, close to the neck, but off to the side.

So easy to call in real time. But when you look at it in a flash, I mean, in real time, it's so hard to call. In a flash, I can see why it's called. And I feel bad about it. And I know that the umpire, who's a veteran, a 20-year vet, you know, feels bad about it. But it's pretty hard in real time to look at that. say it's an egregious miss. A miss, yes, but not an egregious miss. I have a theory. It's called

the umbrella rule. Two minutes to go in a game, you can review anything. Is that just for two minutes left when another team doesn't have a chance to overcome it? Even in the Rams Saints, the Rams did have chances to overcome it in overtime. The umbrella rule, the insurance policy, two minutes left. Nonsense or does it make sense? Well, I wouldn't, I wouldn't call it. nonsense because I think what we have going on now is nonsense. So, you know, to me, you should shorten the period of when you have like pass interference, even to the last five minutes of the fourth quarter. Let's think back to that championship game. There was a blatant interference that was missed in the first quarter. Anybody talking about that? No. No. It's just because

this happened at the end of the game and had a direct, really, impact on who won and lost the game. I wouldn't be opposed to your theory at all. I would worry a little bit about how time gets manipulated there because if you are in a situation where a team is out of timeouts and then you stop games to look at something, you stop a game, but something that is not clear, somebody's going to gain an advantage. But I don't think you throw any idea out the window at this point.

I think you just have to look at it. I'd be more inclined just to have replay, period. in the last two minutes of the first half and maybe the second half, because replay's grown so much into judgment into what is it, catch, catch, no catch, you know, did he have the ball long enough to perform an act, is past interference, is it egregious, is it stuff? They're all in, it's getting so far into subjectivity right now that I personally would love to cut it to the most important part of the games, and maybe that's the last two minutes of the first half

and five minutes of the fourth quarter. Maybe that's a better idea. I'm not giving up on you on this one. You might have something. Finally, got a minute and a half left. I think college football has eight officials. NFL has seven. They're not full-time.

Many would subscribe to the theory that the NFL has never given the commitment to officiating it deserves. I don't know if that's right or wrong. But do you think the league has grown? Technology has grown. Television replays are so accurate here. You can see everything that it is time that the league just spent more money on officiating, made the refs full time. Is that reasonable? I don't think making all the reps full time.

I think making the referees, the 17, 16 referees full time, 17 referees full time. I think that's certainly something that could be looked at. But I agree with you. Look at these guys are so important that they need to have more support. And, you know, there shouldn't be guys like me, honestly. me and Blantino and Macaulay and John Perry and Gene Sterector, all good people involved with the league of left of the network. That's right.

Why? Why? Because, A, it's more money and one-tint to work. You know, so they don't, they don't, I shouldn't have said that in my option year. That was the wrong thing to say. But can you strike that back? But, but I mean, they don't, they just don't appreciate as much, officiating as much as they as much as they should. But, you know, I

think they just have to look at changing the structure of what they're doing now. No, I think, Mike, actually, we brought that up in the meeting this morning, that the reality is all these reps are leaving because the money's great, and you know, there's a lot of stress officiating, not as much

talking about it on TV. We've got to run, Mike Pereira Fox, NFL Rules Analyst. He's the best doing this in the country. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Colin. See you. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.