The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/01/2019

Episode Date: November 1, 2019

Colin explains why Jimmy Garoppolo's face has a lot to do with his success, NFL scouts agree. He thinks the Cardinals have a good young QB in Kyler Murray but might not have the ability to help him.�...�The Ringer's NFL Writer Kevin Clark comes in studio to talk about the Patriots toughest test so far against the Ravens and why he was so right about Mitch Trubisky. Plus, Colin thinks the AFC North is still up for grabs between the Browns and Ravens and explains why. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,
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Starting point is 00:00:39 Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.
Starting point is 00:01:03 Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever 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.
Starting point is 00:01:26 What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Starting point is 00:01:48 Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Rivera, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sacks, Wait, what sex? Is it just me, or does every woman my age, want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with the Anna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:02:23 Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1, find your look. local station for the herd at fox sports radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Friday. We are absolutely loaded. This is The Herd. Live and outlife, wherever you may be, however you may be listening,
Starting point is 00:02:56 IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, one hour from now, blazing five. Love my picks. love, love, love my blazing five picks this week. Some fascinating games. I'm going with some favorites this week. Last week I went with dogs and they were all dogs. Joy Taylor is joining me. We had the World Series two nights ago. We had an NFL game that we didn't know about but ended up being wildly entertaining.
Starting point is 00:03:22 It was a great game, actually, which you pretty much called. I said it would be closer than people think. So not to get caught up in that, not the hype, but I think, I think it delivers. It was very fine. San Francisco had a bunch of dominating wins. It's the NFL, go on the road, come back to Earth. Let me start with this. I've been doing syndicated radio now for about 15 years.
Starting point is 00:03:45 I was a local guy, right? And about 14, 15, 16 years ago, I started talking about something on the air. And nobody had ever talked about it. And some people said it was ridiculous and absurd. And people wrote articles about it. And I said, you ever notice that there's a lot of quarterbacks in the history of football? A lot of the best quarterbacks are really handsome, like, would walk into a room full of men, and you'd be like, oh, that's, that guy's really handsome. You know, there's, you know, obviously, there's some Brett Favre guys out there, but like there's quarterback position more than any other position.
Starting point is 00:04:16 And I started getting calls. And back then, emails from NFL guys saying, hey, I like your show. You talk a lot of football. And there's something we call quarterback face. And it is a real thing. we're looking for confidence. Yes, an arm, yes, you started for three years in college, yes, all the requisite skills. NFL scouts call it quarterback face.
Starting point is 00:04:43 And Jimmy G. has the league's best quarterback face. My wife doesn't watch a lot of sports. She goes, boy, San Francisco's good. Who's their quarterback? And I showed her a picture of Jimmy G on my phone. She goes, oh, my God. Oh, my Lord, he looks like a quarterback. And I said, yes, it's called.
Starting point is 00:04:59 quarterback face. And it matters. And he reminds me of a young Tom Brady, who he said, well, he's got a coach, Brady's got Belichick, and a defense in a running game. But there was an it quality to Tom Brady. And that it to me was always confidence. And I know it sounds absurd.
Starting point is 00:05:17 But he was so great on third down last night. And third down in the NFL for a quarterback is not only the money down, it's the confidence down. Garoppolo is great on third down. He plays cocky. He goes for it. And I know it sounds absurd, but I started talking about this years ago. And if you look like Jimmy G.
Starting point is 00:05:39 And walked into rooms from 15 years old until 28 years old, I don't even have to ask Joy. I can figure it out. You'd feel pretty darn good about yourself. You'd turn heads. And look at baseball. Look how many great players going to hitting slumps. They don't forget how to hit. They lose their confidence.
Starting point is 00:05:59 Look how many great golfers get what they call the yips. They don't forget how to chip and putt. They lose their confidence. Derek Jeter used to always say, I don't want a lot of things negatively swimming in my head during a baseball season. I want to go to the plate and feel good about the game and feel good about myself. It's easy to feel good about yourself when you look like Jimmy G. And last night on third down, I'm watching him.
Starting point is 00:06:26 And I'm like, God, he plays. I mean, the guy has only started like eight days. games. He plays with so much confidence on third down, 86% completion percentage, 153 pass-harr rating, and Kyle Shanahan talked about his third down after the game. And that's usually where quarterbacks earn their money. I mean, you can do a lot of things on first and second down. And, you know, you can mix and run or pass and kind of even out the game. But on third down, that pass rush is coming. They always have their best coverage as a blitz called. And you need a good guy back there. He was on a night throwing.
Starting point is 00:06:59 he got to the right spots. And when it wasn't there, he made plays with his legs. You know, it's funny about this topic. Golan, you're really silly and this is, but when the scout started calling me and saying, no, it's a real thing. You go back to the Dallas Cowboys. If you look at their franchise quarterbacks, it's, you know, Aikman and Stoback and Dack and the square jaw and the Tony Romo.
Starting point is 00:07:19 It's like, and then the Niners, all-time quarterbacks, Joe Montana, Steve Young, and Garapolo, Drew Bledso, and Tom Brady. And I grew up in Seattle. All the girls love Jim Zorn. and then it's Russell Wilson. There's a confidence thing. When you're a handsome guy, it's called quarterback face.
Starting point is 00:07:37 You walk into a room, high school, college. You walk in and guys are like, that's the guy. On the recess, on the playground, in seventh grade, who gets the ball? The popular boy. Who's popular on the playground? The girls think he's cute.
Starting point is 00:07:52 The guys think he's cool. It's called quarterback face. And I told my wife last night, her initial reaction was, oh my God. He looks like a quarterback. And I'm like, it's funny how that works. You think it's nuts.
Starting point is 00:08:05 Now, I, you know, I'm not saying, I'm not saying it's always works. And I'm not saying if you don't have perfect facial symmetry, you can't be great. I don't need to mention names. But it is funny. Farve into Rogers, into Montana, into Brady, into Russell Wilson. I watched Carapolo last night. He plays with so much confidence for a guy that hasn't started very much. And much like Brady, when Brady,
Starting point is 00:08:29 when Brady came into the NFL, all we talked about was his coach, just like Kyle Shannon, is defense, just like the Niners. Well, I mean, they run the ball at will, just like the Niners. And it's like, no, there's an it quality. And by the way, you got to have the, you know, by on, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by. By and large, you want to be about six to in the NFL. Exceptions, obviously. You want to have the requisite mobility arm, obviously. You want to be a two to a three year starter in college.
Starting point is 00:08:54 Obviously. I'm not saying it's the number one box of check check, check, check, check. But there is a box for quarterback. the it box, the confidence box. And I asked Jimmy Johnson once. I said, what's leadership? And Jimmy Johnson, one of the great coaches ever goes, I don't really know what it is.
Starting point is 00:09:11 Yeah, I think it's a lot of confidence among other guys. I can't really explain it. But, you know, do you have the confidence, you know, if you succeeded at something a lot in life? And I'm like, and Jimmy Johnson, I said with Troy Akeman, he's like he just had the, Troy just was a it was, it. Well, it, it, it, it. There's an it.
Starting point is 00:09:34 And I think the it, part of it is quarterback face. That dude, he plays confident. I would too. I mean, that razor stubble, that's after shaving. I mean, it's absurd. All right, let me shift to this. There is a player who's very talented. He has been in and out of rehab, struggled, personal struggles.
Starting point is 00:09:56 Josh Gordon. Very talented. New England, basically letting him. go. And so now they waited a while. He'll go what they call like a waiver wire list, meaning bad teams get the first chance at Josh Gordon. So there's a team in the NFL that may not get a shot at him. But there's a team in the NFL. I would absolutely go get him. Hey, he's imperfect. He's had relapses. There's a story in New England. His work ethic tailed off. If I'm the New Orleans Saints, you have to go get Josh Gordon.
Starting point is 00:10:30 Because I got news for you. If you're the Saints, the Dallas Cowboys give you trouble defensively because you have no vertical passing threat. You have none and you have no mobility at quarterback. So the New Orleans Saints are not getting past San Francisco's defense. Because to beat San Francisco's defense, there's only two ways to do it. Arizona showed it last night. You got to beat them over the top and you have to have a quarterback that's mobile.
Starting point is 00:10:56 So Green Bay could beat. Green Bay could beat San Francisco. Aaron Rogers can move and they can beat you over the top. New Orleans cannot beat San Francisco. Dallas has shown you. Dallas last two times they play the Saints. Beat us over the top. We're going to go into the box, put a pass rush on Drew Brees,
Starting point is 00:11:17 who's not very mobile, and stop Alvin Kamara. Saints can't score. Now, the Saints have a great quarterback, a great defense, and a great coach. and I'm not saying San Francisco would blow him out. But the Saints culture, like New England's, can certainly handle a player who's had some personal issues. Josh has. Don't know him very talented, but he's a guy that struggles with some things that football coaches don't love. But if you look at New England, what was the whole of their team receiver?
Starting point is 00:11:46 They went out and got one at the trading deadline. San Francisco, what was the hold in their game? A veteran receiver, Emmanuel Sanders, they went and got one. what is the hole in New Orleans game? No vertical passing threat. Michael Thomas averages 109 yards a game. Their second best receiver, Ted Ginn, averages less than 40. They don't have a number two receiver.
Starting point is 00:12:07 And they don't have any deep threat, nor do they have a quarterback who's mobile. You're not getting through San Francisco without one of those two. You've got to beat him over the top or you're going to beat him with your legs at quarterback. And Kyler and Marie could do both, especially the latter. He can move by time, outrun their defensive ends. New Orleans, this is absolutely worth the risk. You have the culture to withstand it, and he gives you a dimension you desperately need. Don't kid yourself.
Starting point is 00:12:37 I mean, you know right now in the NFC, I like a lot of teams in the NFC, three of them look different. San Francisco Green Bay and New Orleans. They all look different. New Orleans is going to have to face either both or one of those two. And if you face San Francisco, with Breeze's lack of mobility and no deep threat, you're not moving the football. You are not moving the football. I think Josh Gordon to the Saints makes a ton of sense. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.
Starting point is 00:13:08 Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves.
Starting point is 00:13:28 Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters, to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action, with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo 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,
Starting point is 00:14:04 Kier 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.
Starting point is 00:14:28 Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.
Starting point is 00:14:46 Join me, Keer Gaines, is we have real. conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of
Starting point is 00:15:06 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? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42.
Starting point is 00:15:23 Hey, Rhett. 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. American soccer is about to explode.
Starting point is 00:15:43 The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney.
Starting point is 00:16:05 My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos
Starting point is 00:16:34 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. So I'm watching Kyler Murray last night. He's having a great year, by the way. He's fun as hell to watch. He's having a terrific year. You know, the Russell Wilson comp, I always said that this is the closest to Russell Wilson and they're both baseball players. He throws a beautiful ball.
Starting point is 00:16:53 Tight spiral. You know, I always say about Tribisky as ball dies. Kider's ball just elevates. He throws a much better ball than the other young quarterbacks. I think he's more accurate. I like his throwing motion better than Sam Darnold. I like him athletically more than Baker-Mayfield.
Starting point is 00:17:07 I think he throws a better ball than Lamar Jackson. I think he throws a much better ball than Mitch Trubisky. He's small. And, you know, it's hard for me to get over that because he just doesn't even look like any quarterback I've ever seen. But he had a great night last night, 71% completion percentage, pass-er rating of 131 against the Niners.
Starting point is 00:17:25 And he's had a tremendous. tremendous year. I mean, he throws a beautiful football. But here's what I worry about. NFL organizations, it's kind of crazy. Some just drafts certain positions well. Steelers, wide receivers and linebackers. Whatever it is, it's a certain scout in their organization. Steelers draft wide receivers and linebackers. Chicago drafts linebackers well. Green Bay drafts offensive linemen very, very well. An organization similar, even good organizations don't draft certain positions well. New England can't draft a wide receiver to save their life.
Starting point is 00:18:04 Chicago historically in Miami, struggle with a quarterback position. And frankly, Arizona is lousy, for whatever reason, at drafting offensive linemen. They just quit doing it about four years ago. They're bad at it, like Belichick. Now, the problem is you need offensive linemen. But they started going inside the league to get offensive linemen.
Starting point is 00:18:23 They don't do it well. And I'm watching last night, Kyler Murray has been sacked. Now, think about this. Think about this. Think how athletic he is. And I think his size helps him in terms of scrambling, because sometimes he kind of gets lost behind those offensive linemen. He can't see him. He'd been sacked 29 times. That's with his mobility, with his size, and the fact that he's got a coach that's very much about getting rid of the ball quickly. The rest of these guys that lead the NFL in sacks, Flacco's not mobile, Dalton's not mobile. James Winston has had, for most of his career, really bad old lines. I don't know if Arizona can fix this. And it sounds strange. You would think a team drafts every position equally. They don't. Pittsburgh never misses on wide receivers.
Starting point is 00:19:10 Chicago historically, they can't get quarterback right. Maybe it's a lack of this scout, preponderance of this scout. Maybe there's, you know, I've talked to NFL teams about this. Sometimes you just put your best region, your best scout becomes your southern region. And the South gives you great linebackers and defensive linemen, and you just have a bevy of them and you draft it well and you go back to it. I mean, certainly New England is great drafting defensive backs, struggles with wide receivers. But I think Kyler Murray is good for the league. I think he's incredibly accurate.
Starting point is 00:19:44 There's a lot of Russell Wilson here, a lot of Russell Wilson. Both are baseball guys. Unlike Russell, he was drafted number one. He'll have ultimate support. for the first three to four years, and I think it's going to work. But I do worry. Nothing. Look around this league.
Starting point is 00:20:02 Nothing punctures a promising quarterback like an O-Line. Andrew Luck retired. Darnold and Baker-Mayfield are running for their lives. Deshawn Watson had to take a bus to a game last year. Jared Goff's first year with a battle line was a disaster. Second and third year, they upgrade Andrew Whitworth. He's pretty good. Derek Carr is as good as his offensive line.
Starting point is 00:20:24 Good old line, he can be fantastic. Bad O' line, he looks like a CFL quarterback. So I worry about it. I don't know if Arizona's got the personnel people to solve their offensive line issue because they do it lousy and it looks like they've almost quit trying. 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.
Starting point is 00:20:50 On Halloween last night, Kevin Clark for the ringer went as a brilliant, funny sports writer. Oh, it wasn't much of a stretch. He's one of my favorite guests. We don't get him off and let's bring him on from the ringer. Kevin Clark, NFL writer, Wall Street Journal. How are you? I'm good, Colin. How are you?
Starting point is 00:21:06 I am great. It's good to see you. You know, you took a lot of heat. I did. You come on this show, and you were very critical of Trubisky. Chicago tends to be extremely vocal. That's why we love Chicago as a city and a sport city. Yep.
Starting point is 00:21:21 And last time you were with us. What did you say about Deshaun and Trubisky? I said if Deshaun Watson becomes Michael Jordan, Mitch Trubisky is Sam Bowie. Now, at the time, that was not a ludicrous take. Then Trubisky makes the playoffs. Chicago spent four months reminding me of this take. And now I'd, you know, like to remind Chicago a bit of that way. By the way, Deshaun, we said yesterday if he, in Halloween, he would go as Harry Potter.
Starting point is 00:21:49 Deshaun has become the wizard. He makes losses into wins. Chicago, Jake Laser came on this week and said, listen, that you just, you drafted him this high. You just have to go with it. I said at the trading deadline, I'd have made a move for Teddy Bridgewater. But Glazer's reasoning is,
Starting point is 00:22:06 when you draft a guy this high, the wheels have to come off completely. Do you agree with that, not Jay, but the reasoning behind it, you just play the string out this year with Trubisky? I think the disaster that was the end of the game last week shows that there needs to be a total overhaul of whatever is happening.
Starting point is 00:22:23 Okay. I think if Matt Nagy spent eight months trying to fix the kicker situation and you don't trust your offense to get a couple more yards for the kicker, the problem was never the kicker. The problem was the offense and the trust you have in them. I think Matt Nagy is a very, very good coach. I just think that right now, I think you have to move up to Trubisky, quite frankly, or at least bring in a really good veteran who's going to push him next year
Starting point is 00:22:47 to where you have the option to go with another guy. I don't think Chase Daniels is that guy for next training camp. You know, it's interesting. We are, there's a lot of breakups coming up. You can feel like Cam and Carolina, we saw Eli benched. Andy Dalton, Marioita, James Winston. These are James Winston and the box are in therapy and counseling, but the breakup's coming. You can sense like six, seven years, and there's a lot of different reasons.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Winston and Eli too many picks, Dalton Marioita, lower ceiling, Cam inconsistent. But when you look at the, so we have this movement away from guys who aren't winning enough into young guys. and I like a lot of the young guys. But I worried with Baker and Sam Darnold, I said, are they talented enough to overcome the dysfunction of the organization? I thought Adam Gase was the right hire. He's to blame, right? Yes.
Starting point is 00:23:41 You know, I saw a stat the other day. Baker Mayfield's quarterback winning against pressure is 38. Sam Darnold's is 39, right above that. Those are two quarterbacks who don't this year deal well with pressure in their face. And they're getting a lot of it. And they're getting a lot of it at this point. Yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, at this point,
Starting point is 00:23:56 Adam Gase's weird press conference where he was looking around, that's the high point at this point. You know, there was a stat that the football perspective put out last week that was Adam Gase is now more likely to lose by double digits in his career than win a game. In his coaching career. I mean, Joy and I said this, Kevin. His optics are terrible. He instills no confidence.
Starting point is 00:24:18 I talked to an NFL coach two days ago, not a head coach, an assistant. He said, it's great play caller. And he can design his way to completions, but he's not liked by a lot of people. That's a thing, right? Yeah, I mean, and you look at him in a press conference setting. He doesn't look like he instills much joy or motivation in his troops, quite frankly. So I think that there's, if you're going to be an offensive guru, you have to be an offensive guru.
Starting point is 00:24:44 You can't be 32nd in scoring. You can't have Sam Darnold say he's seeing ghosts. And I understand that was, you know, I think a lot of quarterbacks have said they were seeing ghosts. It just wasn't miced up. But I think just the optics of the situation are so bad. If you are running a bad offense as the offensive guru, what is it you do exactly? Because Greg Williams has it going on on defense, okay?
Starting point is 00:25:04 And so your one job is to improve Sam Darnold, and he looks broken right now. He looks broken. And that's with Levy and Bell, Jameson Crowder. They've got some components here. It should be better. They weren't tanking. I mean, they were not tanking. This is not, you know, the Miami Dolphins here.
Starting point is 00:25:20 They should not be this bad. And they are. And that's an Adam Gaste. Kevin Clark, one of my favorite NFL guys, he writes for the ringer, formerly the Wall Street Journal. You move to Baker Mayfield. And it's well documented. There's a certain personality trait I like. I've always used the story. When Russell Wilson broke into the league, I worked for another company out east.
Starting point is 00:25:40 And his rookie camp, I would follow him. As a Seahawk fan growing up, I would follow him on, you know, social media Twitter. And at 4.45 in the morning, he would be tweeting, on my way to look at tape. And I'm thinking, it's June. And I liked the guy. Baker, I struggle with his temperament, grabbing stuff, throwing balls, police video when he did nothing wrong. And I watched these interviews.
Starting point is 00:26:09 And I, you know, I could say, I told you. But is it all Baker? Should we blame John Dorsey? It's easy for me to say I want on this Baker thing. He's a mess. But I don't care about that. What I care about is they should be good. They have players.
Starting point is 00:26:23 In your opinion, at the fabric of it, at the base of it, what's the problem? It can't all be Baker. I think installing a new coaching staff is really hard now, especially when you have a lot of new faces around them. So you try to integrate Odell into this offense. Baker Mayfield, you know, he started the second half of last year, but he's still a young quarterback. You bring in a guy Freddie Kitchens, who was never even a coordinator before last year, and make him the head coach of one of the most. dynamic rosters on paper in football.
Starting point is 00:26:53 That's a lot of pressure. And especially when you don't get full training camps like you used to, 10, 15 years ago. That's right. I mean, there's no more two a days. It is really hard to get up to speed now in the NFL. But Cliff Kingsbury looks like he's done it. Exactly. And so what's the problem there?
Starting point is 00:27:06 I think Freddie Kitchens may not be up to it. I think that's what I'm looking at right now is that if you just look at Baker's regression, and like we said, he can't, you know, he's turning the ball over way too much. Listen, zero teams in the last seven years turned the ball over three. three straight times until the Browns last week. Okay? That's not, I know the Patriots defense is amazing, but you can't turn the ball over three straight times,
Starting point is 00:27:28 including one, like, Baker was basically handing the ball off to Lawrence Guy. You're making a very good point here. You don't have two a days. You don't have the camps. So for a rookie quarterback, at least Cliff Kingsbury had been a head coach. There are certain jobs that you have to do it to learn it. Like, like, I mean, again, you can be a pilot and work your way up to bigger planes. But like in the NFL, there is a grand canyon gap from,
Starting point is 00:27:50 coordinator to head coach half fail. So I think to your point, Freddie's just, he's over his head a little. Yeah, I think they were, I always thought they were going to start slow because of that. I didn't know it would be this slow where the quarterback through half the season looks broken. I still think that Baker Mayfield is a really good player who's going to have a good career ahead of him. But whatever's happening this year, I mean, I think there's probably something instructive where I know there was a quarterback injury last year, but we hyped up the 49ers so much last year and they were a year away. even the defense.
Starting point is 00:28:20 They were a year away. And I think the Browns, maybe we hype up teams one year or two early in this league instead of one year too late. Maybe next year is the year we should pinpoint for the Browns. I don't know. I mean, just the way that teams explode onto the scene now, it seems like the timing might be right for 2020. Well, to your point, Freddie Kitchens is never been a coordinator. Out of the gate, he faces a competent Mike Vrable, Sean McVeigh, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll. And Vic Fangio, actually, feels fair.
Starting point is 00:28:49 That's a fair fight, at least. Let's move to Lamar Jackson. I said last week, I missed watching Baltimore play. They're fascinating. You were early on Lamar Jackson. I always said I worried about third down. When you can run for a first down on third down in high school, Pop Warner High School College, you will.
Starting point is 00:29:07 It's not that he can't complete passes. His mindset, Mike Vic told me this. He goes third and seven, I ran my whole life. Why wouldn't I in the NFL? But he's sitting in the pocket, mostly. do they have a shot this weekend? Well, I think they do. They're scoring on over 50% of their drives.
Starting point is 00:29:25 They're the only team in the NFL that is scoring points. The Patriots are giving up points on 7% of their drives. This is what you want if you're a football fan. If there was an alien coming down and you said, explain football to me, you would show them this game as far as the chess
Starting point is 00:29:40 match, the strategy, what's going to happen. I mean, I can't wait to see what Belichick throws at him. I've always said this, said this about Mahomes, too. A young quarterback does it as a Macaubon. become a veteran quarterback in this league until Bill Belichick is game plan for them. Because he's going to show them things they've never seen in their entire lives. I remember when Mahomes went into England last year, he threw that weird interception almost out of the gate because they were throwing so many confusing looks at him. I think you're going to see that with Lamar.
Starting point is 00:30:03 Lamar's averaging, I think, 14 yards per scramble when he's going up against man defense. Wow. Bill Belichick's going to know this. And so he's going to throw different things. And I think Seattle, they have an athletic defense. They have people like Bobby Wagner. Bobby Wagner couldn't contain Lamar Jackson. I talked to a couple coordinators for a story earlier this season about how to contain Lamar.
Starting point is 00:30:23 And they were saying, look, don't put a linebacker or a safety on him. He's faster than the cornerbacks. And so if you're going to try to use a defense, you've used on somebody else, you're going to fail. And I think Belichick is the king of not using defenses he's used for somebody else. He builds the game plan. He will have something for Lamar. But Lamar, remember, the Patriots defense is probably the best tackling defense in the NFL. Lamar is probably the hardest guy to tackle right now in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:30:46 This is the matchup you want if you're a football fan. One of my favorite NFL riders totally tied in. Kevin Clark, the ringer used to be at the Wall Street Journal, which had an underrated sports section now at the ringer. All right, Kevin Clark, this is going to sound dumb. I started talking about it 15 years ago when I was just becoming an American icon. I called it quarterback face. All these quarterbacks were handsome guys, and I said, it's so weird.
Starting point is 00:31:07 I grew up with Jim Zorn. Everybody had a crush on him in Seattle, then Russell Wilson, and then Dallas has, you know, Staaback, into Romo into Acme, Niners have Steve Young, Montana, Garapolo, and I showed my wife a picture. She's like, oh, God, he looks like a quarterback. And I'm like, it's called quarterback face, scouts, use it.
Starting point is 00:31:24 And it's a third down, there's an it quality. And I've asked Jimmy Johnson, what's leadership? And he goes, I don't know. Aikman walked in the room and you're like, yeah, he's got it. He goes, I don't know. And it's Garapolo's confidence. It's something, right? I think confidence has something to do with it.
Starting point is 00:31:40 I don't know if looks does necessarily. But I think the ability to, I mean, quarterback is a confidence position. It is. You have to commit. You have to make throws that you don't feel comfortable making. I mean, if you are a weak-minded quarterback, you will fail very, very quickly. This is the Kirk Cousin thing. People said, when Kurt Cousin said, it's all my fault.
Starting point is 00:31:59 People said, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't say that. Quarterbacks don't say that. Right, right. They live, like when Steve Jobs used to say a reality distortion bubble, right? That's what quarterbacks have to live in. They have to basically fake their. their way through everything. Okay, you throw four interceptions. Fine. We're going to win on Sunday. The quarterback is the only position that has to operate like that. Everybody else can sort of do their
Starting point is 00:32:21 jobs and stay in their own thing. You become essentially the de facto mayor of your city when you're the quarterback of your football team. You have to be the spokesperson. You have to be an optimist. And I think that confidence is, look, I don't want to go, you know, Moneyball 15 years ago said, you know, we're not selling jeans here. So the actual, how somebody looks doesn't necessarily matter as much as how they feel. And I think maybe that's tied into a little bit of the quarterback. By the way, Howie Longo's jokes. You cannot have two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in the same room. To your point, he's like, there is a alpha to it. And I just think he plays with incredible confidence on third down, which is a money down and a confidence down. Okay, Kyler Murray,
Starting point is 00:32:56 this may be crazy. Love watching him. Yeah. There are organizations in this league that do not draft certain positions well. Arizona stinks at the offensive line. There's is terrible. he's been hit he's been sacked 29 times with his mobility am i nuts on this is this an unsolvable issue i've seen organizations that can't draft units right yeah it's yes i mean this is a problem and when kailer was coming into the league there were scouts and coaches who told me they hadn't seen anybody better at avoiding getting hit in the college level than kailer murray i mean this is a guy there's a reason he's under six feet tall and has been able to stay as healthy as he has been able to be as good as he has. It's because he knows how to take a hit, when to fall down before hit, when to run out of bounds.
Starting point is 00:33:40 We've seen that. He's run out of bounds to a fault points this season. You know, I just think that what Kyler Murray's been able to do has been really incredible. And I think Cliff Kingsbury's made some really cool adjustments, playing less four receiver sets as the season goes on, that sort of thing. He's coach every week. Cliff Kingsbury has every week, Kevin, to different game plan? Getting better. Every week. Yep. I was in Cincinnati, and I saw a guy named Rodney Anderson, who was a running back for both Kyler and Baker. And I went up to him and I said, you know, are Baker and Kyler's success?
Starting point is 00:34:10 That's going to lead to more short quarterbacks? And he said, no. He said Baker and Kyler are two of the most special players who've ever played the game. And they're not replicable. It's not like they're going to start some trend of small quarterbacks. They're just going to start the trend of Baker and Kyler being special. And I know maybe you disagree on the Baker part, but I mean, I just think their ability to play in the way, a style that nobody else is playing because of their side. in the modern game and make it work is amazing. And when Kyler's been able to do this half season, it's been really impressive.
Starting point is 00:34:40 It has. Finally, I'm shocked by the Raiders. Noise, drama, 10 years out of the league, hires Mike Mayock been out of the league. They're a real team. They've played a brutally tough schedule. They've been all over the world. And I like them this weekend.
Starting point is 00:34:55 And I think they have shocked me. They have been shockingly competitive. I watched them go to Indianapolis, and I'm like, well, no, Indie's good. Indie's great at home. what do you make of the Raiders? Yeah, could have won last week, too. You know, one of my best friends is a Raiders fan,
Starting point is 00:35:11 and he's really plugged in. And he said at the beginning of this, when I was being in front of the Gruden hiring, he said, listen, who launched Sean McVeigh? Who launched this whole offensive revolution 15 years ago? It was John Gruden. And I think there's probably something to that. John Gruden, as a personnel czar, has hurt himself.
Starting point is 00:35:27 Yes. As a coach, he's helping himself. This is why you make that hire, because he's a good coach. Maybe if Mayok were in at the beginning, And it's somebody that maybe he would listen to a little bit more than maybe this situation doesn't get to the point where he's rid himself of all this talent. But I think that having three first-drawn picks last year was a positive. I think he's in a place now where he can build.
Starting point is 00:35:47 It looks like he likes Derek Carr at this point, which we were touch and go on at this point last year. So I think that this is John Gruden, the coach. And we're seeing now he's much better than John Gruden, the organizational leader. By the way, and I'm sure John has had some influence on draft picks. His offensive draft picks and his offensive free agent moves, now he's overspent for a couple of them, but they're working, Kevin. The offensive side of the ball,
Starting point is 00:36:15 I think he does know personnel a little bit. I like their draft picks offensively. Josh Jacobs has been terrific. He's been a rookie of the year at this point. Is he a rookie of the year at this point? I mean, who's been better? Kyler? Possibly?
Starting point is 00:36:28 Yeah, that's it. Josh Jacobs has been really good offensively. I had picked Hardman from Kansas City because I thought he would just get more targets with Mahomes and all that. And let's be that put that aside. I think it's Jacobs right. I think you're right. Hey, good stuff.
Starting point is 00:36:41 Kevin Clark the Ringer, read his stuff, terrific stuff. He's all over the internet. And we're out of time. Good luck to you. I love having you on the show. You're always welcome. What's going on, everybody?
Starting point is 00:36:51 John Middlecock, that's me. Three and Out podcast. That's my show. Go subscribe if you like football. That's all I talk. Coming up on this show, Jimmy Garoplo, Kyle Shanahan, moved to Aid No. and Carson Palmer joins me in retirement talking about the NFL, his career, what he sees now,
Starting point is 00:37:10 offensive coordinators that he likes in the league for over an hour. Again, John Middilcock, three and out podcast, go subscribe. In the NFL right now, there are some divisions we feel very strongly about. I feel very strongly that New England's going to win their division. I feel very strongly that San Francisco is going to win their division. I feel very strongly New Orleans is going to win their division. I feel very strongly Green Bay and Minnesota will both make the play. playoffs. There is a division in the NFL, though, that I think could flip. And I like Baltimore
Starting point is 00:37:40 a lot, and Cleveland is a circus. But if you start looking at what's going to happen here, keep your eye on Cleveland. Cleveland now is going to face in the next eight weeks a series of backup quarterbacks. This defensive line for Cleveland is the strength of the team. They're going a backup with Denver, a Josh Allen less than 20 starts, a backup in Pittsburgh, a backup in Miami, a backup in Pittsburgh, a backup in Cincinnati, a rookie in Kyle Allen, young quarterback Lamar, and a rookie with Cincinnati. That defensive line is going to have a heyday. Baker doesn't have to be great, and they get Kareem Hunt. Conversely, and they're two and five right now, right, conversely, Baltimore, the schedule gets much tougher. And we know this to be true. The NFL
Starting point is 00:38:31 has decided post- Thanksgiving, not in September and October. I like Baltimore, but if you look at the next games coming up, they're facing very, very interesting defensive fronts, New England's defense, then Houston. And, you know, so just think about this. They go up against Brady and the Deshaun Watson and Jared Goff and then Jimmy G. Baker beat him the first time. And there's a lot of defenses in here. I think Baltimore is a little overvalued. I think Baltimore, I'm a little overvalued. I think Cleveland is a little undervalued, and I think there's a real possibility here that 5 and 2 Baltimore and 2 and 5 Cleveland in a month are tied,
Starting point is 00:39:15 and in eight weeks, it comes down to that Baltimore game and Cleveland game in Cleveland. I think the division will come down to that game. I really, really do. It looks crazy today. But most of these divisions, I have a real strong feeling about New England winning theirs, the Saints winning theirs.
Starting point is 00:39:33 You know, I think Kansas City, when Mahomes come back, they're going to go in a nice streak and win theirs. But I think this division could be the flip division, where what you see is not what you're going to get. And you know, I love to bang on Cleveland, and you know how much I like Lamar and Baltimore. But there's a little fools gold now with Baltimore, and Cleveland is not this bad.
Starting point is 00:39:55 They're just simply not. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.
Starting point is 00:40:18 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. 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.
Starting point is 00:40:46 Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices 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. 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 Fantine, 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
Starting point is 00:41:27 becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing,
Starting point is 00:41:47 growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.
Starting point is 00:42:06 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? Come on out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What?
Starting point is 00:42:25 Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the. the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on the Army Stewart for Chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boe.
Starting point is 00:42:52 On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. You're going to look at stats and numbers. he has no shot at making this World Cup team.
Starting point is 00:43:12 And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Rich Ornberger was drafted by the New England Patriots.
Starting point is 00:43:40 I love bringing them on our show. He does loose cannons down in San Diego, show. He's on Fox Sports Radio on the weekend, former NFL offensive lineman. So here goes New England into a very big game week. It's the big game. You've been in these weeks. But this is a little different because of Lamar Jackson, isn't it? Oh, it's completely different because of Lamar Jackson. I'll start from the start. Come November, we got the speech every year about how the season changes. You have the speech about the preseason. You have the speech about how the regular season, everything ramps up. And then come November,
Starting point is 00:44:13 when everybody's starting to think about their Thanksgiving plans, the NFL football season ramps up again. And Bill was very, very sensitive to this. So it didn't matter who the opponent was. Once you hit November, this is the point in the season where you really have to turn it on. And then obviously the postseason after that. Lamar Jackson is a problem.
Starting point is 00:44:32 And what I mean that is, I mean, think about the military schools in college. It's a problem when you have to plan for, for one of these triple option offenses. You have one week. They're so unique. You can't do this ahead of time. You have other opponents. Those are other potential losses on your schedule
Starting point is 00:44:53 before you reach this triple option offense. So you only have a week to prepare, and it's so different. And that's what the Baltimore Ravens have right now with Lamar Jackson. It is so unique. It is so different from any other offense you're going to see on your schedule. And only having a week to prepare is such a liability for a defense. And so really what it comes down to is you have to stop Baltimore at what they do the best and hope that he doesn't make deep throws, sideline throws, and leave the rest up to his arm.
Starting point is 00:45:25 Yeah, take Mark Ingram out and cross your fingers. They got big tight ends and they hit on some of those. But I do believe that's kind of the game. Stop Mark and just say, listen, if Lamar beats us on the edge running, there's nothing we can do about it. Because by the way, it's very interesting. Think about this. In the NFC, most of the good teams have guys who can't. run but don't. Breeze, Garoppolo, DAC, the AFC, you're going to have to face either Mahomes
Starting point is 00:45:49 who moves, Lamar who moves, Josh Allen who moves, Gardner Mincha who moves, all the quarterbacks run. So this is your first real test. Oh, this is what it's like, guys, for the rest of the season, we're going to have to meet guys like this because the AFC outside of Brady, Rich, it's all moving guys. Oh, I know. And the really funny thing is I do agree this is a big first test, but there was a exam in the bills. And that was a close game you'll remember because Josh Allen, well, I think he's better suited to be an hback or a tight end in an offense. He's not as good of a quarterback. And I mean a passer as some of these other guys you just mentioned. It's still a dual threat quarterback. He can still hurt you downfield improvising and he's a good enough athlete and big and strong enough to hold up
Starting point is 00:46:36 against a rush and make you pay. So they had a pre-exam. But Lamar Jackson, this is a Ferrari right now. going against and he's got the keys to the kingdom in Baltimore. Let's go to something that, and this week, Joy and I were struck by how many, and I've said this about my White House and my pro teams, leaks tell me people are covering their butt, that whether you like a president or a team, no leaks means everybody's on the same page. When you get leaks politically or leaks in a sports franchise, Clippers, by the way, get no leaks. Credit Chris Paul, no leaks. acquired Paul George, no leaks.
Starting point is 00:47:14 Got Kauai, no leaks. Lakers, every 15 minutes there's a leak. That means magic polinka, house divided. Jets, rumors everywhere. Why doesn't New England signs Muhammad Sanoo crickets? What's the secret for Bill? So this is just a rumor, but I think it makes sense because if you want to find a rat, you just basically make a, it's so simple.
Starting point is 00:47:41 you take a sheet of paper and you write down all of your potential leaks names. And then you feed each rat, not rat, right? But each assistant or whoever in your organization, a little piece of information. And whatever hits the news, you know who's responsible for it. It's as easy as just making a list. I told this guy this. I told, you know, Coach A, we're trading Edelman. I told Coach B were trading Brady.
Starting point is 00:48:07 I told Coach C were targeting Muhammad Sinew. and guess what? News breaks two days later. You know exactly who to come to and you know exactly who to snuff out after the leak comes out. And that was the rumor in New England? Well, that was the rumor. I don't know. I can't substantiate it, but you can't substantiate a lot because, again, things don't get out of it. It's the way it works. Let's talk about OBJ came out and supported his quarterback this week. I'm not a baker guy. I think he's talented. He's not my personality prototype to be a quarterback. What did you make of him and the Baker and the Tony Grossi, the reporter, and the going back and forth. And what did you make all that stuff? I didn't like it. You know, look, I mean, it's some fortunate reality of playing quarterback in this league.
Starting point is 00:48:53 You are going to be held to a different standard than the rest of the players. And I know he is who he is. And I know he's an emotional guy. And it's passionate, you know, when it fits or whatever he wrote in the follow-up tweet. But the deal is this. I don't want to walk into surgery with a. guy who's losing his mind in, you know, in crisis. I want my surgeon to have a deft hand. I want the guy who's heading up the operation to see composed. When these firefighters who are fighting wildfires
Starting point is 00:49:25 head into danger, they're not losing their minds. They have a plan. They're working their plan. They're staying on a script. The most composed person wins in crisis. Right now the Browns are facing crisis and he seems erratic. It's not what I want to see in leadership and it's really what's been presented over the course of this season so far. Yeah, I don't blame him for all
Starting point is 00:49:50 of it though. I do think Freddie Kitchens, I had an assistant coach in the NFL Tommy this week. Situationally, when you watch them on film, they're just calling plays. It's not really head coaching. Freddie Kitchens is just calling plays. They look lost situationally.
Starting point is 00:50:06 And if you look at their penalties, You can make the argument that what the coach told me is largely what we're seeing is they got a coach that's bail in water. He's just not ready to be a head coach. He's a coach. But you know, you've been in this league. Half the coordinators, he was never a coordinator. Half the coordinators, they whiff at this thing. No, no question.
Starting point is 00:50:23 I mean, it's a very difficult job to do. Here's Freddie Kitchens, a guy who I like, a guy who have a tremendous amount of respect for. And he did something at the podium when he was asked about situational awareness and things at the end of one of the games earlier this season, it resulted in a loss, and you could argue there were moments where the head coaching decisions gave the game away. And he said, I'm going to make mistakes and I'm learning on the run, something to that effect. I'm paraphrasing from, but you cannot hear that. Go back to the surgeon. Do you want somebody post-op to be telling you about all their mistakes? I mean, if I'm going to have a shoulder surgery, do I want a guy going, yeah, I'll tell you what, sort of screwed up in a
Starting point is 00:51:04 couple of spots. We'll see. You need to be certain. Look, a head coach like a politician, you mentioned a White House, whatever. You want a crafted orator. You want someone who, even when it's all going wrong, makes you feel right. And Freddie Kitchens needs to learn that in a hurry. Two quarterbacks we watched last night. Let's start with Kyler Murray. That's interesting, right? He throws baseball background.
Starting point is 00:51:31 He throws a beautiful ball. He sure does. He made to the tightest spiral in the league. What do you make of him? I really like him a lot. I like them pre-draft. I didn't like some of the press that he did. It seemed like he was still making the decision all the way up until the decision whether or not he wanted to play football. But it's clear he wants to be out there. And he's dangerous in all the ways you want a quarterback to be. You know, it's funny. We're just talking about Lamar Jackson. I see a lot of the same traits. Now, I think Kyler Murray throws a better football. Yes, he does. And he's a more accurate passer. But a dual- quarterback in this league is a soothing bomb for everything.
Starting point is 00:52:08 It's like the vitamin C of the NFL. It's a cure-all. If you want to get good fast, draft you a dual-threat quarterback. Rich, I always say, they all work. They just don't last. Mobile quarterbacks all work. The really good ones. RG3 just worked for a year.
Starting point is 00:52:24 Right. Mike Vic worked for four. But the idea they don't work, oh, no, they do. Can work for a long time. Then you get beat up. Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:52:32 So a dual threat quarterback is leaving his prime at 30. A pocket passer is entering his prime at 30. Great point. So when Tom Brady, if you look at all of his Pro Bowls, the majority of them are post-30 because you really find out who you are. You mature in offense. And of course, he stayed in the same offense with only two coordinators, Billy O'Brien and Josh McDaniels during his tenure there in New England.
Starting point is 00:52:58 He was able to mature and become the player of prominence that we see him today. A lot of that has been done post-30. You could say the same thing about Drew Breeze. But a lot of these mobile quarterbacks, they're leaving their prime at 30. Yeah, they've gotten dinged. Cam Newton. Andrew Luck. Carson Wentz is heading in that direction.
Starting point is 00:53:16 We'll see how long it lasts with Russell Wilson, but some of the best may already be behind him. Jimmy Garoppolo, I'm just joking all day, quarterback face. My wife said, that looks like a franchise quarterback guy. But boy, he plays with confidence, doesn't he? Oh, he certainly does. He certainly does. And I'll tell you, the knock on him right now is too many turnovers. And a lot of people are referring to him as a game manager.
Starting point is 00:53:39 And I'll get caught up in that. And people will think I'm being negative about Jimmy Garoppolo. I need to see if he's an elite quarterback. But what I certainly know is he has elite football intelligence. He's not going to give away games. He's a winner. It's a short sample size. But he's a winner.
Starting point is 00:53:57 I really love his accuracy. I love his command of the huddle. I love how these guys fight for them. I love when they're down in the red zone, how confident you feel about the 49ers' chances of scoring, whether it's on the ground or through the air. Yeah, no, no, he plays with, John was saying this, John Goulan, or pre-meeting.
Starting point is 00:54:14 He plays cocky on third down. Yes. He's like, no, it's my team. All right. And it's like, Derek Jeter used to always say, baseball's long, going to slumps. I don't want a lot of negative people around me. I don't want to be, I want to be optimistic going to the play.
Starting point is 00:54:28 I don't want negative thoughts. A. Rod was an overthinker. Sure. I'm going to have a therapist. want to talk. Jeter's like, I want to hit the ball hard. Let's go have a steak. You know, I mean, it's like there is something to be said about confidence in big moments.
Starting point is 00:54:39 Jimmy G. plays confident football. Again, you know, you talked about composure earlier and turning to the calm, deft hand in the room when crisis comes. I mean, short sample size with Baker Mayfield as well. Who do you want on third and long, Garoppolo or Mayfield right now? Who do you want in the red zone when you absolutely have to have it, Garoppel or Mayfield?
Starting point is 00:54:58 You may argue that Mayfield may have had more success in situations. I don't have the stats in front of me. But I look at Garoppelow and I see a steady, deft hand, somebody who seems like he's got the leadership I need in crisis. And when you have that confidence and then you back it up with good play and a winning record like they have in San Francisco right now, that it just bodes so well for their future. And Kyle Shanahan, he is coaching his tail off right now.
Starting point is 00:55:24 Finally, I was totally wrong on this. Raiders are a fun watch. start looking at their schedule. It's the toughest in the league. They had to go to London Bears at Indy, KC, at Green Bay, at Houston, outside of Green Bay. They're in all these games. This could have just unraveled teams. They're buying into Gruden.
Starting point is 00:55:46 Offensively, they've got put, they've got a group of guys. I think they're well coached. I think they built this team right. They drafted offensive linemen. They paid for offensive linemen. They have a quarterback who, if you surround them, with more talent on the edges could end up being a lead in this league. You have
Starting point is 00:56:03 a potential all-pro player and Josh Jacobs. Good job on that Mac trade, making that number one pick or it should say first round pick. He's been great. And by the way, that Darren Waller, they got it tied in from Baltimore. Does he leave the NFL in receptions? He did a couple of weeks ago.
Starting point is 00:56:19 He's been a monster. I mean, and that's what good offenses do with maybe marginal players or players that sort of are unknown. They turn them into stars. It happens in New England all the time. George Kittle with the 49ers and a great offense is a star. Cooper Cup, who knows what he would be if he was playing for the Bengals, but in this Rams offense, we believe he's a star.
Starting point is 00:56:39 So yeah, it's building in the right direction. They've had some really tough losses handed to them. If they improve this defense, look out. The Raiders, when they head to Vegas, they may have a squad. 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.
Starting point is 00:57:01 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.
Starting point is 00:57:21 And for more, follow Timbo Sliced 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, S&L'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. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my mind.
Starting point is 00:57:59 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What?
Starting point is 00:58:23 Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clivert show on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.
Starting point is 00:58:44 And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was calling it. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game 7, Marquis keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love.
Starting point is 00:58:57 This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

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