The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/07/2019

Episode Date: November 7, 2019

Colin says load management is part of the NBA now and it's not going to change because the players have all the power. He thinks everything about Odell Beckham Jr. in Cleveland has been forced and it might be time so send him out of town in the off-season. Greg Cosell of NFL Films explains why the Vikings might be in trouble against the Cowboys on Sunday and why Jimmy Garoppolo had such a great game last week for the 49ers. Plus, Alabama/LSU isn't a rivalry and Colin explains why. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. 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. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. you just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by search watching herd.

This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in beautiful Los Angeles on IR Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. I am rolling up my sleeves today in one hour from now. Greg Kosell will be on our NFL meat sandwich. Joy Taylor is joining me. Peter King 2. How are you, Joy? Rolling up your sleeves. It's a work day today?

You know, work smarter, not harder. I actually came to set with my sleeves rolled up. It's a work day for us. Yes. All right. I'm going to ask a question. Okay. Why do people play Powerball? To win money.

And what will that money allow you to do, Joy? Live comfortably. And you know what they call that in the financial? sector. That's go-to-hell money. You get so much money. You can tell your boss, blankety, blankety, blankety. I want to work three days a week. I want to work two days a week. I'm not going to go on that business trip. That's why we play the power ball. Because we know that the odds are terrible. You're never going to win it. And by the way, a lot of people win and don't quit their jobs. But they want leverage. I want to work three days

a week. I want weekends off. I want to say, and if you're good at your job, your boss is like, you know what, I'll take three days a week. I'll take it. I'd rather have you in the building than not. So, Kauai Leonard's taking time off. It's called load management. Everybody doesn't like it. I don't like it.

Okay, there's a dance being played in the NBA right now. He didn't play last night. And the dance is all these teams want to be viewed as player friendly. Because players are now conjoining. They're joining forces. Players now are saying, let's go here, let's go here, let's go there. and you want to be seen as player friendly. The Raptors and the Clippers don't love this.

But he's the best player in the NBA. Need a bucket? He's the best player. Need a stop? He's the best player. So he has leverage. And everybody's freaking out about it. But it's why y'all play the lottery.

Many of you, if you want even $6,7 million, wouldn't quit. Forget the $200 million. You won $6,700 million. A lot of you just want to have leverage. Kauai's got it. this is not the eighth best player on the box. It's the best player in the world. And for the first time in 15 years, the best player in the world's not named LeBraw.

It's named Kauai, and he's got leverage. Now, I had dinner last night. My wife does this from time to time. She, I've got to meet some new people. And I said, okay, let's meet some new people. So we invite some people over. And one of the guys, Charming Guy, owns a tech company. About 70 employees.

And all of his employees are young tech millennials. men, women. And during the dinner, he starts talk about, well, I mean, when you're good, they call the shots, I don't. They want a day off, I give it to them. They show up late.

I don't grumble about it. They want 1% of the company, 1% of a branch, 5% of a branch. If they're good, I give it to them. Why? Because there are not many great tech people out there, and there's a million tech jobs out there. You can't fill them all.

They got leverage. Kauai's got leverage. We're playing the lottery to get leverage. That's the game in life. We're all trying to get it. By the way, Kauai was up front about this. It was never deceptive. He negotiated this.

He's like, listen, I'll come. You got to keep Lou Williams. You got to get me, Paul George, and I get 20 games off. It was never deceptive. The Clippers knew it, Doc knew it. They got basically a clone in Paul George. He is Kauai. Not as good, but he is Kauai.

So it works perfectly. This doesn't work for everybody. And everybody can't get this. And load management started with the Spurs when they were a dynasty. Then it moved to LeBron. And now it moves to Kauai. You get what's happening. They're the young tech workers of the NBA.

Everybody, and I hear this one too. This is what I hear. Oh, this is going to hurt the league financially. We have 35 sports now. We're all dying for content. If TNT and ESPN tomorrow said we're bailing on the NBA, we'd get it, NBC'd get it, CBS would get it, Vice would get it, National Geographic, Fox News, MSNB, everybody would get it. We wouldn't have to be a sports network.

Somebody would buy it and create a sports network and just throw NBA games up. NFL, major college football, NBA World Cup Olympics. The networks are fighting over that stuff. It gets ratings. So now, now, Chris Broussard was on our show yesterday. He doesn't like it. And this momentum and this opinion is now building a real following. This is just beyond the pale, in my opinion.

It really is. And Adam, look, the league doesn't like this. You think this could hurt the player's pocketbook. And maybe that's what will change. And that's why the Players Association's get involved because the next TV deal, that will lower their offers. So that will affect the salary cap and what the players are making.

So the Players Association should get involved to be like, look, you got to play when you're healthy, play the games. Now, I disagree with that. Again, I think if the NBA was on the open market, some rich zillionaire would create a TV network and just buy it. We'd bid on it. NBC, CBS, non-sports networks. We're all dying for content in cable news.

Cable sports, cable TV. But the other thing is, I'm old enough. I'm not one of these 22-year-old bloggers. I've been around for 40 years, 30 doing this. This has always been a players league. It's always been a Stars League. The two things people freak out about. Oh, my God, we've got a dynasty.

The whole league's built on a dynasty dating back to the 50s and 60s with the Celtics. The whole league's a dynasty. Y'all tell me about parity. I don't know. I've seen the Clippers and Lakers. One of those two is winning it. We got dynasties.

We just haven't figured out which one's the dynasty yet. It's one of those two. And players have always run this league. I mean, Shaq's like, get me out of here. I want to go to Orlando's too small for me. I want to go to Los Angeles. And he did. You made it happen.

So we're all good. No different between the great young tech millennial Kauai Leonard, and why we're all playing the powerball. We're all seeking leverage. And if you have it, use it. Let me shift to this. Oh, look at this story. This was called a hot take.

Well, well, well, once again, my perceived hot take is becoming reality. Some teams, according to NFL sources, an NFL reporter, two sources saying, If the Browns continue to struggle this year, OBJ could get traded. Where did we hear that first? Oh, yours truly. Let's be honest about this. OBJ to Cleveland hasn't worked, doesn't work, and will not work. And there's a word.

There's a reason why it won't work. The word is forced. Anytime a relationship is forced. The parents want you to get married, but you really, don't want to get married, it's forced. Great relationships are effortless. You know, the couple, the married couple's been around for 30 years together. They can sit and watch TV and have the time of their lives because they love their company. This has never worked. By the way, yesterday, once again, that forced word came up. Remember early in this season when OBJ, the watch and the Orange

Bentley and I said, you know, he's trying to create. This is an unnatural relationship. He's a global icon that got steered over and traded over to the clown show of the NFL Cleveland. From House in L.A., House in New York, models in Paris, Cleveland. So he buys an orange Bentley. He does the watch visor. He's trying to force Instagram followers. And then in about week two or three, we started talking about how Freddie Kitchens had him doing goofy plays.

He was forcing the ball to OBJ. yesterday Baker Mayfield came out. Listen to the wording on Baker Mayfield. I think, you know, people had this picture perfect thing that it was going to be sunshine and rainbows. He was going to have a whole lot of one-on-ones. It's O'Dell Beckham. He's going to have double coverage.

We have to find ways to format things to get him the ball and force feed him early on to where he can make an impact before we could, you know, have the perfect look to give him a shot play. And I think that's something that we learned the hard way. But, you know, I think as the weeks have gone on, we're continuing to improve on how to get the ball to him. Did you notice the word in there? Force feed him the ball.

OBJ, Orange Bentley, Viser, look at me, forcing the relationship. Freddie Kitchens having him throw the ball, forcing OBJ. Baker Mayfield, we have to force feed in the ball. Tell me the relationship that works when you use the word force. Great relationships. You can just go in a car. car ride with your wife or your husband. And you just like to be, you like to be together.

You just go watch a basketball game. You hang out in the couch. You watch a goofy show. They just like hanging out. It's not forced. That's when relationships work. Edelman Brady. It's like they're joined at the hip.

Akeem Talib came on a couple days ago. I said, who's the toughest guy to defend? He goes, Edelman. It's not the biggest, not the fastest, not the strongest. He and Brady are like, you know, Sympatigo. They're just like, they're like same brain wiring. It's natural.

Gronk, Brady, natural. Montana Rice, natural. They're not even always the most talented people. Some guys just work together. Some guys just Derek Fisher and Kobe. It just worked. Who can explain it? I mean, you can't, it just did.

This doesn't work. It's forced. OBJ is their fourth leading receiver in the red zone. And for that talent. One touchdown, you know, for the record, He has the same number of targets as Jarvis Landry. But yet, and they're both terrific, yet we feel like OBJ is being ignored. No.

We try, we try, we try, well, we're trying to force this thing to be more than it is. Nobody's complaining about Jarvis Landry's targets. He has 90 catches, average last four years. But he feels natural to Cleveland. Jarvis Landry was with a bad football team. and then he goes to Cleveland and you're like, oh, Jarvis Landry's going to be elevated. OBJ is a superstar. Let's jam him into a team that has a rookie head coach in a city he never really wanted.

He told you with a goat shoes. He told you on Instagram he wanted to be a patriot. He wanted to play with Brady. He wanted to go to L.A. I talked to him one time. He never mentioned Cleveland. He mentioned three teams. He never mentioned Cleveland once.

This is not going to work. It's never worked. It's not working now. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lou Al-Sah. cinder was in Milwaukee. It just, it wasn't big enough. Shack was in Orlando. It wasn't big enough. My entire life, I've watched businesses merge. And you can tell within six months, you're like, oh, yeah, that, that, that cable company buys that media company and that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, uh, that, uh, Amazon buys whole foods. Is that working?

I don't like whole foods as much as I. And it's like mergers all the time. Does it work? It doesn't work. It doesn't work, it doesn't feel right. But in life, when stuff is right, it's right fast. We were talking about this the other day. Joy and I talked about this yesterday. You watched the Lakers and the chemistry is really good, really fast. Not saying they're going to win a championship,

but it's really good five games in. It's probably going to be good. It's probably going to be good. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, five years in, they still didn't like each other. It didn't look good early. It didn't look good late. It just never felt right.

Chris Paul didn't respect him. Blake Griffin thought Chris was annoying. DeAndre Jordan was the guy in the middle. Lobb City gave you highlights. It never really fit. It never really fit. In this idea that, well, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham, or boys, it'll be great. They're friends.

Friends isn't business. Russell Westbrook and Hardin are friends. I'm sure they are. That's not business. This is business. I can have friends. That's what I do after work. I got business.

But my business doesn't get in the way of my friends, and my friends don't get in the way of my business. And sometimes I don't even need a friend at business. And I don't need my business people to talk to my friends. They're separate entities. There are separate areas. So these talks, I've said it before. I know you gave up a lot.

A starter, a couple of draft picks. I'd move OBJ. It's never felt natural. It doesn't work. I don't care about Jarvis and OBJ or guys. They hang out. I don't care about any of that. It doesn't work.

Force, force, force, force, force, force. Baker yesterday. We got force feed him the ball. No, that, thank you. If I have to hear that word again, if you can't figure it out, if you're not hearing what I'm here, and I can't help you. But that's the word I keep hearing. Force OBJ, force OBJ.

We've got to force feed him the ball. Even OBJ in his private life, he's forcing it. Visor, watch, cleats, pants, look at me. Does he want to do all this stuff? No, he wants to be on a good team, less chaos, veteran quarterback, where he can be icing on a great cake. Here, if he's not the cake and the icing, they don't win. Doesn't work. 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.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health. field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. 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, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer-beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. 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 Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah.

This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later. We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. Wider.

This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Well, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white claw or something here?

Just take it. What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. Could you imagine? I would buy it.

Cuts through the defense like a hot, knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh.

Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, so Mitch Trubisky, I'm not a big fan of Mitch Trubisky, Chicago Bears. I'm not. But apparently there was a bunch of TV. and stuff on the facility. When you walk through an NFL facility, I used to cover the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a couple years. There's TVs all over the facility.

You know, they're in the hallways. Players are watching them. GMs are watching them. By the way, I get text during the show from NFL people. People are watching stuff all the time for breaking news and stuff, right? Well, this show's journalism, so of course you'd watch. So anyway, Trabiski said yesterday, I had to turn the TVs off because it's like all they're doing is ripping us.

Here's Mitch Trabisky. Trying to get some of these TVs in the building turned off because you got too many people talking on TV about us. and what they think about us, what we should do, what we are and what we're not. But they don't really know who we are or what we're capable of people or what we're going through or what we're thinking. It's just the outside viewers looking in. So, yeah, tunnel vision, earmuffs, and just come to work every day

and try to get better and get back to what we know we're capable of doing. By the way, totally agree. I could not believe the media criticizing Mitch Trubisky. Listen, sports media people are incredibly thin skin. We criticize for a living. So if you rip me, I don't give a rink. rip, because I rip, you rip. It doesn't matter. I don't care what your rip is. You shouldn't care what mine is. I have an opinion. So do you. I'm not going to respond to your opinion

of my opinions. It's been my rule from day one on this show for 30 years. I got opinions. You have yours about me. I'm not reacting to yours about mine. Bottom line here is, would you want to work at a place? If you were a sports writer and you were in your, you know, the LA Times, the New York Times, and there was a TV up there ripping your work, do you think it would make you a better writer or create self-doubt? You wouldn't want to watch that. When you go to Best Buy, I got a Best Buy right next to my house. What do they have on TV? Planet Earth, Avatar, or an in-house feed giving you the brightest images ever. Here's what they don't have on TV. A guy saying, why would you buy a television? You can watch this stuff on your

laptop. This place stinks. What do you think Best Buy sell when you walk in? TV, best image possible. Derek Jeter. Somebody wants to ask him about, how do you get through slumps? And he goes, I don't surround myself with negative people. I don't want to be, I don't want negative people around me. I don't, I try to turn it off if it gets negative. You know, everybody's like, oh, you're surrounded by yes, man. And he's like, yes, man, I am all season, off season different. But in baseball season, I don't want you around in my coconut when I'm in an 0-14 slump and I got a Red Sox series coming up at Fenway. I don't want these athletes, these are professional athletes, all athletes, college or pro, so much of this is psychological. We've seen great,

players, David Duvall the golfer, Greg Norman the golfer, Chris Weber, Arod, great athletes. The game gets into their head. They can't hit free throws and they're 75% 80% free throw shooters. We've seen LeBron in a final against Dallas. Can't post up J.J. Perea. The game gets into his head. So I have no problem with me. And I'm not a big Mitch Trubisky fan, but would you rather have Baker Mayfield who reacts to

everything or Mitch Trubisky who doesn't want to listen to. anything. I'll take Trubisky. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 40 years, NFL film, a guy I've been bringing on for Thursdays for a long time in the football season and sometimes out of the football season. NFL films Greg CoSell. Let's start with the game of the weekend. Lamar Jackson against New England. There were times it looked like New England was guessing. Sometimes when you face Lamar, I think you do have to guess, and they guessed wrong. And when they guessed right sometimes, times, his escapeability is just tough to defend.

When you'll watch the tape professionally, Greg, anything jump out that you saw in film that you didn't notice during the game, or did you have some great conclusion when it was all done? Well, truth be told, Colin, and I don't want to ruin your view of me,

but on Sunday night, because it was postponed from April, I did not see the game live because I was at Fleetwood Mac. Oh, hey, listen, Fleetwood Mac is excellent even today. Sunday night, I could not go. I mean, I was sitting in the 11th row center.

How can you pass that up? So on film, what did you say? On film, you know, I still think that Stevie Nixon sounds pretty good. Oh, anyway, you're talking about the Ravens. So anyway, they're really multiple with their personnel packages, their formations, their shifts, their motions. They give a defense an awful lot to digest before the ball's even snapped. And obviously, because of Jackson, he is a major part of that. So, and they spread you out, they expand you horizontally because they attack you that way.

They expand your defense. It's not just like you can get tight and stop the run game. So there's an awful lot to digest. And then they give you the Jackson designed runs, which they did quite a bit. I think there were three of them on the first possession of the game. Yes. And now all of a sudden, you know, that's a factor as well. The thing that was fascinating to me in the game, as the game progressed, is for the most part,

and the tape tells you this, because the. tape tells you how they want to play offense, is they played offense really limiting what Jackson did as a passer, and they were able to score 30 offensive points because they had the one defensive touchdown, and that fascinated me. Now, there were a few key third-down completions, and they were third and short for the most part where they could use natural rub elements, the natural pick elements, and define the read and the throw. But for the most part, they played this game with their run game, and they were able to score 30 points. Yeah. Well, you know, it's funny sometimes. You know, the Dallas Cowboys run offense. And, you know, everybody wants to bury the run offense. But Baltimore and Dallas are near the league lead in points. And they run the football. It's not Green Bay and Aaron Rogers.

You know, I think sometimes we forget that you can control the clock with the run game. And an offensive lineman love the run game. I mean, I think this, you know, it's the pendulum swinging, Greg. More teams are playing with a fullback, Colin. Have you noticed that? Yep. By the way, San Francisco. you think it's Garoppolo. Go look at their, they run 50 like 7% of the time. San Francisco's now a run team. Baltimore's a run team. Dallas is a run team.

Oakland. Oakland's a run team. Let's go to Oakland, by the way. So they play tonight. This Josh Jacobs kid. Love him. What a first. Nobody gets a good shot at him.

His first, Akim Taleb the other day said, you come in and you're just like, okay, that guy is game one. He's a player. What's the film say? I think he's a top five back in the league right now. I think he's a combination of power, agility. He makes people miss his lower body. I mean, from the waist down, he is strong.

I mean, he's a 220-pound back now. He's not a scat-back, although there are times he looks like one. And what John Gruden does, and he's always been this way, and he's always talked about it, it's the illusion of complexity. He gives you a lot of different personnel packages, a lot of different looks, a lot of different formations, just to run basic plays. and he'll line up with three tight ends, two tight ends, a fallback, three wide, all different personnel packages, all different looks, particularly on the first 10, 12, 15 plays of the game. And then you've got to figure out what all that means, and then he'll run basic plays.

So there's a lot of – you know, I don't want to call it window dressing because coaches don't think of it that way, and nothing's really window dressing. It's all done for a reason. But that's what he does. It's the illusion of complexity with a ton of different looks, and then they run base plays. Yeah. I want to go last week. I was shocked. Brandon Allen moved the ball on Cleveland. Baker couldn't move it on Denver. And either Denver is a team that's lost four games by one possession, three on the final element, the final kick. Is Denver better than we thought? Is Cleveland worse than we thought?

Let's talk about the Brown's offense now. OBJ doesn't feel he's getting it. What is the film saying? Is it saying anything different than a month ago? You know, I think what you're seeing is, when it comes to Baker, I think what made him a really good prospect and made him very good as a rookie were two things. Number one, he was an aggressive turn at loose thrower, and number two, he was accurate. And I think this year he's, for the most part, not all the time. I mean, you know, it's easy to bury him now because, for many reasons, unrelated to football. But I think there have been too many examples this year, too many snaps in which he's not turned it loose, and he's been in a healthy. accurate. And he's particularly missed

routine that in the NFL. And he's missed a few, too many of those this year. And their run game, look, Chub's still getting the ball. It's not as if they do not give it to Chubb. You know, even this week, he had 20 carries. Now, he only had 65 yards. But I still think to stabilize

their offense, it needs to be Chubb. And particularly this week, they play the Bills, who have now started to struggle a bit with their run defense. And there's reasons for that, obviously. But I think this is a week. where they need to work off Chubb. But Mayfield needs to become more accurate,

and he needs to be a little more aggressive. But I think there's a little bit of a loss of confidence, just watching him. I want to shift to the Vikings Cowboys play this weekend, and I made the argument yesterday. They're the same team. They both have a great back, excellent roster, stars everywhere. One team has both coaches win, but they're both on the hot seat. One quarterback got paid, and people complained about it.

One's going to get paid. And people are going to complain about it. They have nice elements on the perimeter. But the difference is I like Dak more than Kirk Cousins because I think he's a little more clutch. That's just there's just something about him. I trust him. I would agree with you. Whatever that is.

And I think he's a little more mobile in an era where I like my quarterback to be able to move. So when I list quarterbacks, I get to about the 13th, 14th best guy in the league. And I got Dak and then right beneath him cousins. I like Dallas this weekend. Is Minnesota statistically? Kirk is great. But do you see that team trying to make it Delvin Cook's team and not Kirk? What's the coaching staff say when you watch Minnesota? I think they want to be a run first team without question. They want it to be Delvin Cook and then work off that because their play

action past game is what makes their past game go with straight play action and a lot of play action boot. The issue they are having is the interior three on their offensive line has not played particularly well throughout much of this season, which sort of gets pushed aside because Cook has done very, very well, but they've struggled inside. Just to make a point in this particular game, I think one area to look at is the Dallas pass game and their receivers, because I don't think that the corners for the Vikings, Xavier Rhodes, Trey Waynes, they now mix and Mike Hughes and he'll start to get more snaps. I don't think Wade and Senn Rhodes have played particularly well this year, and I think they're beatable players. And I think with Cooper and Gallup, that

the Cowboys are going to look at those matchups and feel like we can create some big. big play opportunities. You know, it's funny with Dak. When Dak moves and throws, you know, he gets the ball there. It is the most inartistic looking thing in the world. There is something, though, Greg. There is an it thing. There are guys that aren't pretty.

I've seen it in the NBA. I've seen it in baseball. Dak tends to, you know, he rolled out, threw it to the tight end. Good God, it was sloppy. It was just, it looked awful. Right, right. But there is something to be said. He makes a lot of plays when I need him.

to. And I, the film maybe says something else, but, you know, I'm kind of tired about hearing how he's the limitation. God, I watched him Sunday, and I'm like, you know, he made the plays when I needed him. He's a good quarterback. I mean, we get caught up in lists. You know that. Everybody wants a list. Where does he rank? Is he a top 10? Is he a top five? He's a good quarterback. You can win with that, Prescott. Yes. There's not an issue with that. All right. Let's go to Jimmy G. For the first time this year, Greg, Greg, Greg Kossell, joining us. The Niners said, hey, we can't run the ball, and our D-line's not great. Jimmy, we need you to, we need you to carry us tonight. I thought he looked good. I thought he looked confident. I think he

made some tight throws. I liked what I saw against Arizona closer than we thought. What did you make of it? Oh, I thought it was incrementally getting better each week and full season worth of games. People forget that. I thought he was really decisive with his reads and his throws. His ball placement was really precise. He had the look of a confident quarterback, understanding his route concepts in relation to the coverage and knowing immediately where he had to go with the ball based on

that. So he eliminated what wasn't there and isolated what was there quickly and decisively. And I thought he threw the ball exceptionally well. By the way, they face Seattle. Pete Carroll doesn't have a great defense this year. It's actually led by Russell Wilson.

Can Seattle's defense stack up? Well, it's funny you say that because even though they gave up a lot to James Winston this past weekend, I was fascinated watching and they were really aggressive with Blitz, more so than we're used to seeing Seattle. They played a lot of man coverage, particularly on third down. Now, obviously, they didn't do anything great on defense. I'm just talking about what they did tactically, and I think they know that they have to figure some things out, that they have to try to be aggressive and challenging and not just sit back because they've not gotten the

pass rush that they expected from Onsaw and Clowney. That's right. They've now understood, just as Houston did, that Clowny is not an edge pass rusher, that they have to move him around. So you can't just line him up on the edge and say, go get the quarterback. That's probably the worst part of Clowny's game. Yeah, isn't that interesting? So let's go to Russell Wilson. I'm not a big MVP discussion guy.

I don't talk about the high. I just don't give a rip. I really don't care about that stuff. But I said if I had to give it, nobody watched the Tampa Bay game. It was on TV in about 8% of the country. Right. And if you'd seen that game on TV, Russell Wilson would be the runaway MVP because he's ridiculous. They rely on him heavily.

I think he's having his best year. He's the best I've ever seen him play. And he's your big play of the week. Yeah, he's a fascinating player and they're a fascinating team because they still start their offense with the run game, which a lot of people lose sight of. But Wilson has played exceptionally well this year. Although I don't think he's played any differently, Colin, the numbers just make it seem like he's played better. But I think he's playing the same way that he has for the last couple of years. But we're going to look at a touchdown here, and let's start it right now.

This required a really, really good throw. It's not a complex concept, but it requires – these are the red zone throws that you have to make. Yes. And this is why some teams are good in the red zone and others are not. So what they do here is they line up with three wide receivers to the wide side of the field. And we're going to name who these receivers are Metcalf, then more, and then lock it. from outside to in. And then it's man to man.

And you can see the matchups that the Bucks have. It's man-to-man coverage against the trips to that side. Now, Lockett's going to run this route here. He's going to run to the corner. And what they're going to do when he does this is they want to make sure that that corner is clean so that there's no other defenders there. So since they know it's man-to-man, they simply have Metcalfe and Moore run these little shallow routes to eat up those man-to-man defenders

so there's space. And this is so critical, because what happens in the red zone? In the red zone, you have to make really precise ball placement throws. There's not a lot of room. So that doesn't seem like much of a play, Colin. You know, it just seems, oh, it's a three or four-yard touchdown. But that's a big-time throw, and not every quarterback is going to make that throw. Yeah, it's the throw, Trent Dillferra always says.

A lot of guys big arms can throw deep or they can dump the screen. It's that little rainbow throw where you've got to have just enough full of and you just got to drop it, 18 yards, just drop it over the corner. And as our TV audience is watching, it is, there's not a football length. It's a perfect throw. No, and that's what I use, I always use the term precise ball placement as opposed to accuracy, and that's a perfect example of precise ball placement. And it was demanded on that throw.

Greg CoSell, I'm glad you enjoyed Stevie Nixon Fleetwood Mac. Very happy for you. I appreciate it. Thank you so much, and I did. Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. The Lamar Jackson story is fascinating to me. Bill Polly is a Hall of Fame general manager.

He's made a million right decisions. And he said Lamar Jackson coming out of college, he goes, I think he's more of a receiver. He got a lot of heat for that. You got a lot of heat. My takeaway was always number one. First, it was perfectly fine to have an opinion on a quarterback who was not just mobile. He's the fastest player on every field. He's not a mobile quarterback.

Steve Young's a mobile quarterback. He runs a four-three. You saw him against Seattle, New England? He's outrunning corners. It was okay to say, I got to be honest. I think I try him out at receiver too. Okay. Well, he was a good college quarterback.

Yeah, but he didn't throw the ball perfectly. In fact, I had two scouting directors I talked to because I asked about it and they said, I don't know. That was the reaction. I don't know. For the record, as good as he's been this year, he's 20th and passing yards, 17th in passing touchdowns, and 14th in passer rating. He's still a work in progress. Number two, we've seen kind of elements of this before.

It's called Kaepernick, Tim Tebow, Michael Vic, where running quarterbacks work. They just don't last or they don't develop into what you think. And most GMs with first round pick, second round pick quarterbacks, and that's what I thought he was a second round pick quarterback, mid to the late second round, a project more than a prospect, is that you're trying to draft somebody for 15 years. And there's elements of his game we've seen before,

and there were questions about, is he going to last? Is he going to develop? Because he's not a naturally beautiful thrower. Now, by the way, either is Philip Rivers. Not everybody is. But, you know, that was the knock on to Sean Watson a little. He's still not a beautiful, elegant thrower. Everybody wants Aaron Rogers and Patrick Mahomes,

not the way it works. And the third thing was, we're in a really tough time. We're in a different time. We've segued from pocket quarterback. Seemingly, that's a negative now. So my whole life it was get a pocket quarterback. I say that now and people are like, whoa, what do you mean? Pocket quarterback.

To mobile quarterback to now in high school college and the pros, should we have our best athlete at quarterback? So there's going to be some guesses. There's going to be some whiffs. There's going to be some mistakes at a position. That's the hardest position. in American sports. I mean, I thought DAC was an NFL tight end.

He's really good. I thought Johnny Mansell and Tim Tebow should never have been drafted. They both got drafted in the first round, and I'm just a radio TV moron. So I never saw NFL for Mansell and Tebow. I never saw it for Dak. I was right with two, really wrong for one. Russell Wilson, I just wasn't paying attention.

Tribisky, I didn't like anything about it. him. The Bears loved it. Deshawn Watson, I thought was excellent, and 10 teams passed on him. You just don't know. You can have strong opinions. Bill Polion's a Hall of Famer. We're moving into a different time now

where, you know, we kind of, do you put your high school coaches are dealing with this? College coaches are dealing with this. I watch Kyler Murray. I still can't go get over his size, but it works. The game's different. It's coach different. It's okay to have an opinion on

quarterbacks. It is the hardest position to draft, and it's right in the middle of this sea change, and it's happening, and there are no perfect GMs. The two scouting directors I talked to on Lamar were like, eh, I mean, that was their facial expression. I don't know.

So you want everybody to be perfect. The guy is a four, three, absurd. He's just flying past Bobby Wagner. He's flying past Patriot corners. It's okay to say, I try him a wide receiver too.

It's okay. It's not the end of the world. We all get opinions on this stuff. 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, 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. a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood,

pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's

telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. 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 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office.

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All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that mess was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard.

Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, How Hard Can It Be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura podcast network available on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bama LSU play this weekend, and let me talk about this for a couple minutes. I don't think it's a rivalry, because to be a rivalry, they would have to go back and forth on the winning thing. Alabama's going to win it, and they're going to win it decisively. Because this series is about Nick Saban. Nick Saban was 4-1 against Alabama when he coached LSU. He's 10 and 3 in this series against LSU when he's coaching Bama. Nick Saban has been in this game 18 times and he's won 14 and he's going to roll Saturday.

This is not a rivalry. This is hammer meets a nail. LSU has been shut out at home. Two of the last three times they faced Alabama. Bama's won eight straight. Colin, Colin, but LSU added some new schematic stuff offensively. They throw the ball. Yeah, LSU did not find a new concept.

You know what LSU did? They went to the Saints, hired a guy, and updated to this century, because they've been one of the most. antiquated passing games in college football for 20 years, and they're finally throwing it like everybody else. They joined the party. They've not elevated anything. Burrell's a nice quarterback. He's got good targets. They've got great athletes. They're not doing anything Nick Saban hasn't seen a hundred times. This is not a rivalry. Bama's win. If two of plays, Bama's winning by two touchdowns. They're both off buys. Who do you trust off a buy? Nick Saven and Red Ors are on. This is

seal versus shark. Yes, they both swim. Yes, they're both. both in water. You know who's going to win every time? This is not LSU Bama. This is Nick Sabin's series. He owns it. He's defined it. There is no rivalry. Take his side. And I trust Bama and their defense and their coaching way more than LSU. All take Bama big. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Ready to make some sweet cash? Colin's going to give you his three sure bets for the college football weekend. Time for Collins Markey 3.

Penn State at Minnesota. I'll take the Nittany Lions, Penn State minus 7. I do realize it's the biggest game for the Golden Gophers in probably a decade. Penn State is maybe top two or three defense in the country. James Franklin, wherever he goes, he builds defenses and they're terrific. Top four in everything that matters. And they've also been good against good teams. Penn State's 2 and 0 against ranked opponents this year.

They've won eight of their last nine road games. So I don't doubt they'll be good. I don't doubt they'll be good on the road. Minnesota has played one of the easiest schedules in the country. And not only that, they've been very lucky. They have not played a starting quarterback. They've faced nothing but backup quarterback since week two. They haven't faced the top 50 team this year.

And historically, this is a big step up in class for them. I like Penn State to win this game. It'll be close. It'll be competitive. but I'll take him 28 to 20. Kansas State of Texas. I like the Longhorns. They're coming off a buy.

By the way, Tom Herman off a loss 12 times in his career. He's 10 and 2. Sam Ellinger is a very good quarterback for Texas. He stunk against TCU. Worst game of his career. But at home, he's fantastic. 70% completions, 340 yards a game. He's back home.

he's comfortable. Again, Texas is a very good team that picks up first downs. Of the 130 Division 1 teams, their third and third down offense. They're going to control the clock. They're also getting their best running back back. Two guys in the secondary back. Nothing against

Kansas State. Nice upset win over Oklahoma. I get it. Texas up a buy at home against the Kansas State offense that stinks. Bad. They can't pass. One-dimensional. Texas wins and covers 3424.

LSU at Alabama. I'll take Bama minus six and a half. They've won eight straight meetings. This series is really about Nick Saban. When he was at LSU, he won four out of five. At Alabama, he's won 10 out of 13 against LSU. Off a by, he'll beat Ed Orgeron. Last three times these guys have played,

LSU averages three points a game. Now they have Joe Burrow, the backup at Ohio State, who's been really, really good. but it's not like these are wild, crazy passing concepts. They just moved out of the Stone Age, throwing the ball for the first time in two decades. LSU's defense, I do not trust. On the road, they're allowing almost 30 points a game. Whose defense do you trust here?

What coach do you trust? And by the way, Tua's going to get drafted ahead of Joe Burrow in the NFL, so if he's healthy, and I think he mostly is, I trust him too. Alabama also more than LSU takes the ball away. They've got 18 takeaways this year. I like Bama to win and roll 32 to 20. I feel great. I got my favorites this week.

I'm taking Penn State's a favorite. Texas is a favorite. And Bama is a favorite. And I feel great about my picks. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the 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 Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. 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 podcast, The Clifford 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? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. 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. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. 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. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio.

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.