The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 10/19/2018

Episode Date: October 19, 2018

Colin is not at all shocked with the struggles the Lakers had in LeBron's debut because this team was not built to succeed right away. He thinks the Cowboys are in big trouble this weekend and explains why. Plus, former pro bowl LB Shawne Merriman comes in studio to talk about Khalil Mack and why people need to start paying attention to the Chargers as a contender  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is the best of the herd. with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is The Herd on a Friday, wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me in one hour from now. Blazing Five, including my bet of the year. Bet of the year? My strongest feeling of the year in one of the biggest games.

That's the Blazing Five. which last week was an ugly two and three, our first losing week. But the numbers are great. I love it. It's great to be here on a Friday. I got thoughts on the World Series, why I'm rooting for the Dodgers, not because I'm in LA. I love Washington over Dallas this weekend. Let me start with this.

Let's just start with the story of the day. LeBron debuted, number one basketball player in the world last decade. debuted last night for the number one brand in the NBA. It is. Not the Warriors, but the Los Angeles, Lakers. And I watch that puppy. By the way, LeBron lost. lost all four of his debuts in the NBA.

He lost as a high schooler to Cleveland, and then he lost his first game in Miami, and he went back to Cleveland. He lost that one. And so with a lot better players that he's got now, and he lost last night in Portland. So, and by the way, and those seasons all ended up, you know, they ended up as a playoff team, and I still think they'll win 47, 48 games. Listen, there's a lot of things in life that are hard. Calculus is hard.

Algebra is hard. Traveling sometimes can be hard. Here's what's easy. Be nice to people. You'll make friends. It'll lubricate life. Don't outthink the room on this. The Lakers don't have enough shooters,

and that is not going to change one iota all season. Okay? This is an easy one. What you watched last night is what you're going to watch a lot. Now, they'll be better at home. They'll shoot better at home. and the chemistry is really rough. So this team's going to be way better than you saw last night.

And they were in this game late. But I said this two weeks ago on the show, and it's not like I'm, you know, Copperfield here. David Blaine, I can read your mind. I said this two weeks ago. It is very obvious. The Lakers were 29th in three-point shooting last year

and didn't bring in any more great shooters. In fact, the guys that I brought in, Javelle McGee, Rondo, and Lance Stevenson, three-for-three-three-can't shoot. That's what LeBron's going to need for Brandon, because he's not getting it from Rondo and he's not getting it from Lance and he's not getting it from Javail and he's not getting it from KCP and he's not getting it from Lanzo ball. This team has some strengths, but it's going to be LeBron and Brandon Ingram. Okay, and those are the two best players last night where LeBron, Brandon Ingram, and then Rondo.

And by the way, so that's the team and it's not a championship team. But they'll be better at home, but their big issue. Folks, it's 2018. The Golden State Warriors have the three best shooters arguably in the history of basketball. They're the current dynasty. The only real challenger, in my opinion, is Boston, who has three great shooters, though not as good as Clay, Steph, and KD. And then Houston's got a bunch of guys who shoot mid-range jumpers so they can get close, but they won't beat them. That's what we have right now in the NBA.

The Philadelphia Sixers have two unbelievable talents. Neither can shoot a three. Simmons or Embed. so they're not going to win the championship. In the NFL right now, you can have Jacksonville's defense, not winning a Super Bowl with Blake Portles. You can have Cincinnati's defense. You're not winning a Super Bowl with Andy Dalton.

I don't care what Miami's doing. They're not winning a Super Bowl with Ryan Tannahill. In 2018 in the NFL, all the rules are to help the quarterback. I don't care how good your defense is. Blake Portals can't win a Super Bowl. I don't care if you do everything right. You can't win a championship with this Laker roster. By the way, Luke Walton knew this.

Magic Johnson knows this. They knew this. They've told everybody this. That's why they went out and got tough guys. Because that's what was on the market. Rondo's a tough guy. Can't shoot. Get him.

Lance Stevens is a tough guy. Can't shoot. Get him. Javelle McGee. Can block shots and dunk. Can't shoot. Get him. This is why they created this roster.

Because they knew the market did not have any great shooters available. Or at least ones that they wanted. So Kenny Smith and Charles were arguing about this last night. But this is not calculus. This is be nice. to people. It's an easy one. Here they were last night. You're saying, I don't look at any of these guys. These are great shooters. None of them. And today's NBA, you got to shoot threes.

You could space the floor in guys who got, but when he was in Cleveland, the first time, he didn't have a lot of, he didn't have a lot of shooters. That's why he left. You know, but they went to the finals. And they got swept. Okay, there it is. Now, there are good things. They got 10 guys that can play. They have a very good second team. Josh Hart, is surprisingly good. He's going to be a great player, 15 points off the bench. Tough can shoot a little bit.

And Brandon Ingram looks like he's better, although Kuzma looks like he's regressed. And Lonzo's going to get better because he had surgery. And so Lonzo's not in playing shape. He's on restriction minutes. Don't freak out about that, although I still don't know how much playing time he's going to get because it looks like Rondo and LeBroner coaching the team. In fact, Rondo's arguing with the refs during timeout. He's not listening to coaching.

So there's some good things, though. they got young, hardworking players. They're all going to get better. They'll play better than last night at home. Give them 20 games in chemistry. But don't out think the room here. This is an easy one. You can't win big in the NBA.

You can win 47 games. You're not going to win big if you don't have shooters, and they don't have enough of them. All right, so let's switch to football, and there'll be more on this, Joy Taylor, in 15 minutes. Changes will be made in Arizona. Last night, Josh Rose and I told her everybody, Watch Josh Rosen.

He's a rookie quarterback. And he was not great. And so what you saw last night was a rookie quarterback behind a bad offensive line against the great pass rush. And he got the you know what kicked out of him. But you know what I really noticed? And I noticed it very quickly in that football game was not Josh Rosen. I noticed the first or second best pass rusher in the NFL, Von Miller, going for a strip sack. Did it twice.

By the way, Vaughn Miller bulldozed a 300-pound offensive lineman. He could have been violent on Josh Rosen. But he chose to strip sack. By the way, that was one of Lawrence Taylor's specialty. He's the greatest defensive player of all time. Folks, declining people always complain about new stuff. New rules, new legislation. Talented people adjust and use it as an advantage.

Years ago, Mike Shoshchevsky almost went old, crotchety man. He's the coach at Duke. The one and done came out, and Mike Shoshchewski fought it for two years. Hey, I don't like this new change among this. kids and then Mike Cheshefsky went, wait, I'm smart, not an old meathead. And Coach K shifted and now they have the best one and done system in the country along with Duke. That's what non-meatheads do.

They evolve. Do you ever hear a comedian say, man, you can't tell the old jokes you used to? You mean the racist ones? No, you can't. Do new stuff. The great comedians adapt. I go to YouTube all the time, looking for new comedians. There are thousands of hysterical people, men and women in this country.

But if you can't get past your 1980s jokes, you're not going to be great. Adjust. Don't be a meathead. Coach K. at Duke almost went meathead. Von Miller strip sacks. And by the way, this is what happened. It's a burn. If you ever hung out with somebody and all they do is complain about the new stuff, get rid of them.

It wears on your life. Von Miller destroyed a 300-pound lineman. He could have done far more damage to Josh Rosen. He didn't. He went after the football. Lawrence Taylor went after the football. In fact, Lawrence Taylor was one of the first guys that ever did it. Lawrence Taylor could be decimating.

But Lawrence Taylor would go for the ball. He wanted possession. He wanted a touchdown himself. And Khalil Mack goes for the football. So that's what jumped out to me. Yeah, Josh Rosen was not good. Don't go too crazy on that. This is a battle line, a ridiculously conservative offensive coordinator, and a rookie defensive

head coach. But the top defensive players in this league, none, by the way, I'm just going to throw this at you, of the top defensive players in this league, J.J. Watt, Vaughn Miller, Fletcher Cox, and Kaleo Mack. Those are the four best pass rushers in the National Football League. None of them have a roughing penalty. None of them. Because Vaughn Miller and Jay J.J. Watt and Kalea Mack and Fletcher Cox are talented and talented people adjust and they use what a appears to be a negative, one and done, Coach K, into a positive. One and done. Coach K's killing it.

That's what I noticed last night. 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. Yes, I'm rooting for the Dodgers. They lead three to two in the series. Milwaukee next two games. Still not over. Routing for them, yes, not because I live in Los Angeles,

because the Boston Red Sox just made the World Series. And I like tradition in sports. I like Fenway Park. I think it's going to be cool to watch two guys who could be MVP, J.D. Martinez, and Mookie Betts in the World Series at Fenway Park, and Ben Affleck in the crowd, and Matt Damon in the crowd, and a historic Fenway Park, and one of the great pitchers in baseball, Chris Sale, and all sorts of history and pressure. I've been to Fenway Park. It's awesome.

I've also been to Dodger Stadium. In L.A. at night in October, looks amazing. And I get Clayton Kershaw. and Ysio Pueek and Mani Machado and Justin Turner. Yes. Yes, I want that more than Craig Counsel going to the mound for the 11th time playing an analytic chess match. I'm sorry. It's nothing against Milwaukee.

I root for Aaron Rogers to get the Super Bowl over Blake Bordels. I'd root for Aaron Rogers to get to the Super Bowl overall, but about five guys. I'd, you know, I mean, there's five or six guys I'd love to see in the Super Bowl. I'd love to see Brady again. I'd love to see Russell Wilson again. I'd love to see Drew Breeze again. I'd like to see Andrew Luckin one. I'd like to see Aaron Rogers in another.

I would choose Milwaukee in Green Bay in a Super Bowl over 90% of the NFL teams. But I don't want to watch Milwaukee. I don't want to watch Milwaukee in October. It doesn't take me anywhere. It's too analytic. Greg Counsel was a boring player. He's even worse as a manager. I'm not into analytics.

I'm into stars. That's why I watch sports. I watch Michigan football and Ohio State football and Nick Sabin and Tom Brady. I'm not looking for analytics. I didn't like math in high school or college. I don't like it in my sports. Don't get me wrong. I get analytics, but I don't want to talk about it all day.

I want to watch Kobe in his prime and LeBron in his prime, and Manny Machado and Clayton Kershon, Ysiel Pug and Mookiee Bats, and J.D. Martinez. I don't want to watch Craig Counsel walk to the mound 13th time. I don't want to watch middle relievers. Listen, if you get invited to a party, I'm just going to speak for me. When my wife invites me to a party, the first thing I say is, who's going to be at the party? and if it's nobody I know, I'm like, pass.

If it's people I know, then I want to go to the party. Isn't that the way you operate, guys? I don't want to go to parties where I don't know anybody. I like to go to parties where I know people. I know these people. I know Fenway Park. I know Dodger Stadium. I know Clayton Kershaw.

I know David Price, who had a great night last night. I know Chris Sale. I know Dodger Stadium. I have no problem admitting what the truth is. By the way, a Dodger World Series with a Dodger World Series with the Red Sox on Fox. It's going to get a bitter rating than anything with Milwaukee. So, yeah, for my company, it's great.

But it's also because I know they're players. By the way, David Ortiz works for our companies, a former Red Sock. He freaks out every time the Red Sox win a big game. He was freaking out last night. He's freaking out all the time. And that's going to be fun to watch too. Yes, there's David Ortiz. So, yeah, I have no problem with it.

When I get invited to a party, by the way, Milwaukee, your middle relievers are awesome. They're awesome. you have the world's best middle relievers. Knock yourself out with that. Miller Park's one of the loudest stadiums of baseball. Josh Hader's amazing. But if you're giving me people I know at a party and people I don't know, it's not real tough for me.

It's not real difficult. That's why I'm going to watch Michigan football this weekend. Jim Harbaugh. I didn't like him with Brady Hoke. I like him with Jim Harbaugh. He's a rock star. Okay, mostly in the NFL, this is the way it works.

Dallas Cowboys go to Washington and take on the Redskins. In the NFL mostly, We think we know who the good teams are, and we think we know who the average teams are, and we think we know who the bad teams are, and you know what? I think we're almost always right. There is one exception, and that's Washington. The Redskins are the exception. They're better than you think.

They're actually a good team, but they've had a series of bad breaks. Let's go to three years ago. They made the playoffs. They were nine and seven. In the better NFC, they made the playoffs. Then the following year, they were eight, seven, and one, and were in the playoffs until week 17, and oh, by the way, lost four one possession games late. And then a year ago, they were seven and nine.

That's no good. Oh, no, actually, they were good. They went to Los Angeles early and dominated the Rams. I was there and watched it. They pushed them around the field. Jared Goff, the defense, the offensive line. Then they went to Seattle, and they beat Seattle. And that was early in the year in Seattle, when the Seahawks were healthy, and they beat them too.

And then what happened to Washington? The strangest thing I've ever seen. every single player on the offensive line got hurt. They had 36 different offensive line combinations last year. I look it up. I don't know how that's possible. They must carry 20 offensive linemen on their 55-man roster. They also had 23 different players on the injured reserve,

which is about three times the league average. They fell apart. And oh, by the way, this year they're healthy again, and they thumped Aaron Rogers, and they just thumped Cam Newton. They're good. I'm not saying they're great, but this is a good roster with good players, and Alex Smith doesn't turn it over.

They're fifth and total defense. They've always been good at home. The Cowboys are seemingly never good on the road with DAC, and I'll make a prediction here. In about five to six weeks, starting this weekend, Washington's going to start winning a bunch of games. Then they're going to go to New York and beat the Giants. Then they're going to beat Atlanta at home.

Then they go to Tampa, and they're going to beat Tampa, and then they're going to beat the Texans at home. I think Washington's going to go on. on a five-game winning streak or a six-game winning streak, or they're going to win six of seven and five a six, and you're going to look up, and we're going to be into late November, heading into Thanksgiving or coming out of Thanksgiving,

and the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins are going to be on the top of the NFC East. This is a good football team. It's not a great football team. It's not New England. It's not the Saints. It's not a great football team, but it's a good football team.

Three years ago, playoffs, last year battling for it, until they fell apart. and this year Aaron Rogers, Cam Newton, two of the best quarterbacks in the NFC, beating them both.

Beating them both. Yes, they were awful on Monday Night Football against Drew Breeze. Anybody ever play badly in New Orleans on Monday Night Football when Drew Breeze

is setting an all-time record? That kind of smelled like, uh-oh, real quick. I like him. I like him a lot. I think the Cowboys are in trouble. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays

and noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. So everybody's watching Josh Rosen and you're like, yeah, a guy's no good, he's terrible. I watched him. Well, he just fired their offensive coordinator. Their offensive line is one of the worst in football. And, oh, by the way, Denver's got a really, really great pass rush of Vaughn Miller and Bradley Chubb.

So, yes, he looks terrible. And I went to Twitter last night because I was on The Little Angry Bird and everybody's going, he can't play, he's a bus, he's a bum, Josh Rosen's no good, he can't play. Colin, you're wrong, he's terrible, he's terrible, I can't believe it, he can't do this, and he can't do that. And I'm like, oh, is that so? his first Thursday night game on TV when you watched and you have just definitively made it clear that he can't play at all.

Okay, that's not what my three general managers in the NFL I asked. They all thought he could play. By the way, I want to remind you of the first Thursday night game for Jared Goff. It was his rookie game. I think we have the tape of this. They played Seattle in those Nickelodeon-themed uniforms up in the Pacific Northwest, those hazmat spill uniforms. Do you remember Jared Goff's first Thursday?

Thursday game. Let's roll the tape on that if we could. Remember that? He got blasted by Richard Sherman. And I remember what happened after he got blasted here by Richard Sherman. You all said, too thin, too small, not athletic, can't play, guys a bust. By the way, no touchdowns. They scored three points. He couldn't do anything. Got sacks six times. Looked absolutely physically overwhelmed. By the way, then recently he played another Thursday night game to Gough. I believe we have a tape of it. Roll it, Sam. Gough, end zone, girly, touchdown. Goff floats, cut, downfield. What a throw. Seam throw, Woods, touchdown. Now in the end zone, Codd, come on. Going for the whole thing. Cooks. Have a night, Jared Gough. That was against one of the

NFL's best defenses. It's funny, you told me he couldn't play. Got a new coach. new coordinator, better left tackle. By the way, Jared Goff's last three-night games since that debacle in Seattle, he's 10 touchdowns, no-picks, quarterback rating of 139. 3-0, 330 yards. And an MVP conversation. Yeah, yeah, you can play. It's funny, the definitive opinions we have on guys when they have a bad coach, a bad line, a bad scheme.

Or just rookies. Jared Goff and Josh Rosen are mostly the same guys. Tall, thin, Pac-12 guys who came from some money who people think are a little finesse but throw an absolutely beautiful football. They are, now I think golf's a better prospect, and I said that coming out. But they're the same guy played at academic schools, Cal and UCLA in the Pack 12, tall, thin, not real mobile, but can move if they have to and throw the prettiest football in their draft class.

Jared's now an MVP-level guy. Rosen needs a left tackle. He needs a pro-bowl center. He needs a better coordinator and could use a deep threat. He'll be fine. Maybe not Jared Goff fine. He'll be fine. By the way, I asked all of you last night,

go online and give me watch rows and play good and bad and give me a rundown consider yourself a scouter a GM and I'll put the best one on the air well we found one this comes from Grant Swinton and by the way I don't all agree with all of it and here it is Grant

he said pocket presence is questionable brings trouble upon himself doesn't allow play design to work for him misses wide open targets trust his protection too much not sure if he can command an offense immediately when down and able to deliver on third down. Straints, deep ball touch, great feet, trust his protection. Don't agree with all of it, but Grant Swinton, I do appreciate playing along with us. By the way, there was something else that happened in this game.

There's great and then there's like ridiculously great. The Beatles are like there's great and then there's the Beatles. The Beatles have had 275 million of their albums purchased. second place is like 50 million fewer. There's great and then there's the Beatles. There's great and then there's Jerry Rice. Larry Fitzgerald last night had a touchdown catch. It was the 111th of his career.

He's been playing like Tom Brady late 15 years, decade and a half, and he was really, really good first day on the field. I'm not a trivia guy, but he is now only 86 touchdowns behind Jerry Rice. I want you to think about that. Jerry Rice is the Beatles of the NFL. Randy Moss is second in receiving touchdowns behind Jerry Rice,

and is only like 7,000 yards behind. Okay. Think about how great Larry Fitzgerald has been and how long Larry Fitzgerald has been great. if you added Calvin Johnson of the lion's entire Hall of Fame career, and he will be a hall of famer, if you added

Calvin Johnson's career to Larry Fitzgerald's career, they'd be shy of Jerry Rice. There's the Beatles and there's everybody else and then there's Jerry Rice and there's everybody else. I would like to congratulate the most decorated current NFL receiver in terms of records.

Larry Fitzgerald. Only, I looked it up, 10 more great seasons left to equal Jerry Rice in production. You know, he should call Alex Guerrero, Tom Brady's guy. And I would ask Larry Fitzgerald this, do you like avocado ice cream? And would you be willing to sleep in kale pajamas? because all you need is a decade more to catch not only the greatest wide receiver ever, but in my opinion, probably the greatest player in NFL history is Jerry Rice. And to give you some sense of how great he is, think of how good Larry Fitzgerald has been for 15 years.

He's been great for 14 of the 15, and he'd need another decade of that to catch Jerry Rice. I don't know if kale pajamas is worth it, but... It's something to aspire to. You know, it's funny about that because my wife's vegan now. And I like to eat right. And I take it seriously. And I deeply care about it because I want to live long and I have young kids. But I got to tell you something. At the end of the night, sometimes I just want chicken wings and a beer. And my body doesn't care. My body now is saying, I want chicken wings and beer. And the other part of my brain is saying live to be 98. And I'm like, I don't want to be old 98. I'm going to go to about 77 and call it quits.

You know, my grandmother lived to be 94 and she always told me not to get old. so whatever that means. But she did not eat kale. She told you not to get old. Yeah, she said, don't get old. Whatever you do, don't get old. Yeah, so I mean, at 77, it's like, I'm just going to eat a bag of chicken wings, and whatever it does to the-

And call it quits. I respect the determination and discipline it takes to be vegan, but. Yeah, but you know what? As much as I love my wife, you know, we go out to eat, and it's, you know, it's a process. Can I replace this with this and this with that and this with that? It's much easier to do in California. Oh, can you imagine being a vegan in Cincinnati? Yeah, Kansas City might have a little trouble.

I think Kansas City, you would struggle to be a vegan, Cincinnati. L.A., it's pretty easy and it's still a lot of work. So congrats to Larry Fitzgerald, and don't worry about Josh Rosen. It's going to be okay. Don't freak out. Jared Goff was... Everyone was calling him a bus. Jared Goff looked lost.

And Jared Goff was a Pac-12 guy and didn't have mobility and was tall and was thin and didn't have a massive chest and didn't look like a great athlete He got rolled over by people. And then he got a left tackle. Then he got a good center. Then he got the right coaching coordinator. They grabbed him a deep threat. You wake up and you're like, oh, he can play.

So much of football's coaching. Baseball managers, analytics, the guys upstairs are doing the work. Football, it's about coaches. What's up, everybody? John Middlecough, three and out podcast on Colin Coward's podcast network. If you like Colin's show, you will like mine. I talk a ton of football. football. This week got a big show. Drew Brees breaking records. Jerry Jones, Jason Garrett,

how long will that last? Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers' relationships falling apart. Again, you can listen wherever you find your podcast. Just look up three and out with John Middell Cough on Colin Coward's podcast network. Warning, Colin is about to reveal the outcomes of the biggest college football games this week. If you don't want to know exactly what's going to happen, turn away now. All right, Michigan is going on the road to take on Michigan State. This is a tale of two different teams. Michigan, it's Jim Harbaugh's best team ever.

They run the football. They pounded it for 300 yards and three TDs against Wisconsin, and you can't run on them. They have the best rushing defense in the country, not Alabama, not Clemson. To me, they have the best defense in the country, but easily the best rushing defense in a rushing conference, the Big Ten.

At quarterback, they've turned it around, with Shea Patterson. They had an awful first quarter against Notre Dame and since then have been the best team in the conference. Meanwhile, Michigan State, it's an in-between year. Offensively, they allow the second most sacks in the conference, which is big trouble against Michigan's defensive front. And also Michigan State, one of the rare Michigan State teams that doesn't play great defense. Their running backs only average three and a half yards of carry. You can get to their quarterback and they don't get to yours. Spoiler alert.

Michigan wins this game 28 to 20. Let me just say this, is that this game starts early. 9 a.m. Pacific, noon Eastern. So by about noon, my time, and about 3.30, 3 o'clock to many of you, Jim Harbaugh will be in control of the Big Ten after winning along with Ohio State.

It'll be 1 in 1A. Let me give Jim Harbaugh credit. One of the things I like about the NFL is even if you go 0 and 2, 1 and 3 to start a season, who cares? You got a lot of season left. In college football, if you have a bad quarter, fans bury you. The media buries you.

Yeah, they had a really bad first quarter on the road against Notre Dame that's 7 and 0. Yet, Notre Dame should have beaten Georgia last year. Remember when Notre Dame lost to Georgia by a point? George ended up playing for the national championship? Yeah, Notre Dame's good. NFL guys. They had the top two offensive line drafted in the NFL in April. and Michigan had the guts to schedule a road game.

Alabama won't go play anybody on the road at a conference. Home or neutral site. Jim Harbaugh's a grown-up. Been to a Super Bowl. Didn't bomb in the NFL like Sabin. More secure with himself. We're going to play big boys. Sabin, you know, has got this complex where,

I've got to have a bye week here and neutral game. No, no, Harbaugh's a grown-up. And Harbaugh after the weekend. And here's what's amazing, is that the, People think that we all know the political media is biased. The sports media is just as bad. They don't like Jim Harbaugh. Because Jim Harbaugh doesn't rush to Twitter and say snowflake and PC things.

He doesn't. He's old school. He drinks milk with his steak. He's not always appropriate. He's clunky. Believe me, I know. He's rigid. He's hard to interview.

And the media doesn't like that. The media wants people that say progressive things that are cool and her hip and are coastal and stuff they don't really believe. Harbaugh won't play that game. Harbaugh isn't liked by the media. But the media is biased because Stanford was 1 and 11 when he took over. By the time he left, he was 12 and 1 in one in an Orange Bowl. That's pretty good coaching.

He went to the 49ers. They were 6 and 10. Eight months later, they were 13 and 3 and playing in the NFC championship. And then Michigan was 5 and 7. And nine months later, they were 10 and 3. Yeah, you can kind of coach. Hate to break it to your media. but he drinks milk with his steak, and he's not PC,

and he doesn't rush to Twitter, and he's not saying things that are progressive and cool and coastal. No, he's old school. He wears Dockers in that goofy Michigan shirt, and he drinks milk with his steak, and he's rigid and he's rough, and he's hung up on me, or maybe I hung up on him, and I don't remember, but it was odd, and he's difficult.

And I love him because I like characters, and he's a character. And, oh, by the way, Michigan's really good. They schedule really tough teams, and after the weekend by about noon my time, one in the afternoon my time, it's going to be Ohio State 1 and them 1A. And by the way, Joel Clatt was on our show this week. He's watched both. He'll be doing this game and said this.

I just saw Ohio State last week against Minnesota. And I've seen Michigan, even in a game in which they didn't play well, they were down 17, nothing to Northwestern before they came back in one. From what I've both seen on tape evaluating both teams and what I saw live, my new favorite to win the conference is Michigan. And Michigan just had, I would say, a top two, three team performance of any team in college football last week. Last week against Wisconsin, they were unbelievable.

By the way, but he can't beat Ohio State. They can't beat Michigan State. Okay, he got a bad spot in Columbus, Ohio. He got a bad spot. If not, he would have played in the playoff. And then against Michigan State, night game, they had it won out play. him and a punter couldn't catch and did something a college punner would do.

He's really good. It's inarguable. You look silly arguing the opposite. He went to some school called San Diego and won. Stanford was the worst program in the country he won. The Niners were a train wreck. He won. And at Michigan 5 and 7 to 10 and 3.

And they're going to win this weekend. And I know he's not cool and he's not PC and he's not a snowflake and he's rough and he's rigid and he's old. school, but the dude can flat coach. Deal with it. Quirky's fun. Quirky's necessary. It's sports. Have fun. Weirdos make sports better.

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. Sean Merriman, one of the all-time great pass rushers. Eight NFL years, three Pro Bowls.

40 sacks in his first three years. By the way, Khalil Mack had four sacks as a rookie. You had 10 and a half and you missed eight games. Yeah. So when Bill Belichick, somebody asked him about this week facing Khalil Mack, and they compared Khalil Mack to Lawrence Taylor. He said, timeout. There's one Lawrence Taylor.

Let's slow down. What do you know about Lawrence Taylor? Well, he's the reason why I wore number 56. You know, Lawrence Taylor, he kind of revolutionized the game and making quarterbacks throw the ball fast. You were an East Coast kid. Yeah, yeah. I was, you know, from Maryland, PG County, Maryland.

So, you know, growing up, I always wanted to emulate my game out to Lawrence Taylor. And I ended up getting number 56 because of it. So just making that comparison right now with Kalil Mack, you can't. It's still too early. Bill Belichick obviously was there with Lawrence Taylor. So he's seeing him on a day-to-day basis. So to go out and ask a coach who was there firsthand how good Kalil Mack is, it's really unfair.

I did the same thing with John Pagano. So John Pagano was my linebacker coach with the Chargers. Yeah. When, you know, my first couple years. And then went up, he was a defensive coordinator with the Raiders. I called Coach Pagano. I said, I said, you know, how real is Khalil Mack? He said, he's probably the best I've ever seen.

And I said, you do know, I play for you, too, right? He got, you know, he got quiet because he just knew that Khalil Mack was just a whole different breed. Yeah. The roughing the passer, I've been pretty strong on this, whether I'm right or not, that I believe pilots have to relearn the cockpit. And I think I've been in this business 20 years and there's new technology every 15 minutes and you can complain about it. The one and done came into college basketball. And Mike Schozyffsky's like, all right, I got to get the best players.

J.J. Watt, Vaughn Miller, Fletcher Cox, Kahlil Mack, none of them have a rough in the passer penalty. isn't it just like the responsibility for a defensive lineman to figure out the new rules? Well, it is. But when you play the game for a certain way for so long, like I wouldn't be able to last. You know, I can tell you, it's probably five or six sacks that would have gotten me multiple penalties. But would you have adjusted and gone for strips? It's hard because I only had a mentality to play a certain way. Now, these guys have adjusted their game, but, you know, let's not forget that they were calling the penalties on, like Clay Matthews, a really big name.

They wanted to make a statement. You thought so? Oh, yeah. I mean, because those are two terrible penalties, I thought. I don't think he should have been called for that at all. But if you're going to call it on somebody and you want to make a statement to the rest of the NFL, let's call it on Clay Matthews. You know, he's had some questionable things in the past.

We've jumped on guys out of bounds. He's done some things late after the whistle. Let's come down on him so we can show the rest of the league. Like, you're not above being called on as well. So I think that's where that came from. And it wasn't necessarily what he did because I thought he did everything correct. I think you'd figure it out. You figured out after you get 30 or $60,000 worth of fines.

Right. I mean, my takeaway is, listen, the goal hasn't changed, get to the quarterback. The difference is it's catch and release like fishing. Right. You catch it and let it go. But the goal is still catch the fish. The goal is still get to the quarterback. You'd still get to the quarterback.

Yeah, well, how many times we've seen guys really do. just let go of the quarterback this year. And he throw the ball 30 or 40 yards down the field. No. You know, I've seen at least five times this year. So it's going through guys' mind during the play. But you got a split second to make a decision. That's hard.

You know, this week, Peter King came on and Trent Dilfer came on. And they both said the same thing. They said, everybody's paying attention to the Rams. The Chargers may have a better roster. I watched the Chargers last weekend literally pull. push the Cleveland Browns around the field. I mean, Baker Mayfield was overwhelmed. And Baker can play.

Baker's going to last on this league. You know, he's a little guy, so you cross his fingers on health. But you look at this charger roster. It is stacked. They're stacked all over the field. And it's a good thing for them, right? Because they're still flying under the radar. I mean, Philip Rivers alone is second behind Patrick Mahones in yards.

Yards. You know, being able to throw the ball, I think, 48 times past 15 yards. He has 15 touchdowns this year. No one's really even... And he's always been aggressive. I think it's a good point. We're paying attention to Kansas City

because Mahomes is new. The second big play offense in the league is this team in Los Angeles playing in a soccer stadium. The Chargers have three receivers, Melvin Gordon, probably a Hall of Fame quarterback, good left tackle.

They brought Pouncy over at center. They're stacked, and they're aggressive as hell, watch them play. And it's funny, you say that about a Hall of Fame quarterback because when I talk about it, people want to call me a Homer. But I think the Phillip Rivers,

when it's all said, no, we'll be a... I was thinking about this this morning, Sean, driving in, is generally a guy's a Hall of Fame or not? I thought about this. I think the Chargers are as good as anybody in football right now. I really do. And that includes the Rams. Rivers is one of the few players,

one of the few players in American sports that I think a Super Bowl visit and a win would tip the scales. Generally, it's like, Man, Hasselbeck got there, is not getting in. We don't in football. It's not like baseball.

It's not a stat sport. I do think Philip, there is a lot of voters on the line. I think Philip gets there. I think he ends up in the Hall of Fame. Now, you played with him. You know him. What was his best asset?

He's the biggest competitor I've ever played with out of anybody, ever. You know, Phillips just wants to win all the time. And more importantly, I think that, you know, people have the stake. about Philip, right?

I mean, he talks too much and all his other stuff. And I felt that way when he was at NC State. I played at the University of Maryland. I felt the same exact way. I didn't like him. But when you play with him, you get a total different vibe. You want to play on the same team with him. When you have this perception about a person or how he is,

then that stigma is always going to be there, which is why he'll finish up in, you know, top three or top five somewhere in all time, passing yards and so forth when he's done and why he should be a shoeing for the Hall of Fame, but it's going to come up. Did he win his Super Bowl? Well, he's considered one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game. You tell me. I always said this.

Think about this, Joy. He's the opposite of Eli. Eli's had crap regular seasons, but twice it's ended well. Phillips' regular seasons are almost always good, and he's disappointed late. Now, for the typical fan, they'll be like, I'll take Eli. But if I'm voting on the Hall of Fame and I don't have a jersey, I'm not a local fan, If you give me 12 really, really high-end seasons and no Super Bowls or like 12 me and two Super Bowls, who's the Hall of Famer?

But do you not think that Eli is a Hall of Famer? I don't. I don't. Does this two Super Bowls mean anything? Well, they mean something. But just say this. Just take away the Super Bowls. He's a C-minus quarterback.

He's been in the league 14 years. Goulet, you lived out in Connecticut. Do you think if you take the Super Bowls away, from Eli, he's a C quarterback. Right, but how do you take away two Super Bowl? Because the Super Bowls, those were won by dominating legendary defensive fronts.

Even look back in some of the teams that I played on. When we had LT and we had a stack defense, you know, I'm still sitting around. I got no jewelry in it, and it sucks. I mean, being a former player, no, you had those teams that should have won at least one, maybe even two Super Bowls. But if you go and look at, because I was also a part of that trade when Eli didn't end up

going to the charges. And that following year, they got the extra pick when I went 12 over all. So you always hear about it your whole entire career. And I'm looking like, man, he got two Super Bowls, but he's not better than Philip. He's not performing. Carson Palmer's better than Eli. But Carson Palmer didn't have dysfunctional raiders, dysfunctional Cincinnati. Well, I mean, they may both still get in the Hall of Fame. It's not like we have to choose either one. I would vote Carson in. I would vote Philip in. But I'm saying, but if you're looking at both of their careers, like Gulae said, you can't take those Super Bowls away. Would you vote Eli into the Hall of Fame? I wouldn't. I don't think I can. I think without those complete teams that he've had, you know, there's no shot of he's a David Tyree's super glue catch from being released two years ago.

Come on. Sean Merriman, great seeing you. Thank 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 Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the big, 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 SportsSlic. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicel Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

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