The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/09/2018

Episode Date: November 9, 2018

Colin says the Steelers and the NFL's enigma and compare them to Mike Tyson while the Patriots are Muhammed Ali. He thinks Aaron Rodgers is sending a message to Mike McCarthy with one specific thing that he has done twice as much as anyone in the NFL this year. Plus, NFL Writer Kevin Clark from The Ringer dispels a myth about Alabama and the NFL that drives Colin crazy 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 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? 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 Podcast, 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 searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio.

Ah, it is a Friday. This is the herd. Live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and right here, FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me on a Friday. Good morning. Good morning. In a great move, an hour from now, an hour from now, the blazing five off a four-in-one-one-one.

week, feel great about the picks. I love Fridays after Thursday night football and let me start here. When I was a kid growing up, I like boxing, and I love Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali, every time he stepped in the ring, won most of the time, didn't win all the time, was always the smartest guy in the ring, the angles, the jab, he'd wear you out, Thrilla in Manila. He was always the smartest guy in the ring, and he was usually the best guy in the ring. He left nothing on the table.

He got everything out of his career. I wish he was today the great star in boxing with social media. Muhammad Ali would be amazing. And then there was a bunch of fighters for a long time I didn't really care about. And then there was Mike Tyson showed up. And he was wildly entertaining. And he walked into the ring and he was the most explosive. And he had the best knockout punch.

But he left a lot of wins on the table in his career. And when I watched the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I think about the New England Patriots, the Patriots always feel like Ali. I know that the smartest team playing. When I watch the Steelers, I always feel like I got some Mike Tyson. When Mike Tyson was dialed in,

you didn't want any part of Mike Tyson. In Pittsburgh last night, I got all of Big Ben's talent and he was efficient. 22 at 25. I got all of their talent and they were disciplined, only one penalty.

I got all of their whole. home run stars and they had seven different guy scores touchdowns. When Tyson was at his best, it was like, yeah, I don't want any part of Tyson. That's the team that should be the shoe in for the AFC championships every year. But New England shows up every year. And New England's on the phone going, Pittsburgh, where are you? You know, we'll send, we'll send Tebow this time. Yeah, Joe Flacco beat us this time.

What? What? I mean, last night was every Pittsburgh. has everything and they have for the last seven years. They've had everything you want. Hall of Fame quarterback, dynamic perimeter players, a coach that's going to make the Hall of Fame, they always have great offensive lines with pro bowlers.

They got a thousand-yard rusher. They hit hard. They're physical. They got swagger. Their pass rush is always better than New England. How are they not in the AFC championship every year? But yesterday was classic Tyson slash Steelers. What happened yesterday before the game?

Oh, Labian Bell sent an upside down tweet. Everybody's talking about it. Antonio Brown gets in trouble for going 100 miles an hour. Oh, it was classic Steelers. It was just even on a night they had it all geared up. It's all sorts of noise before the game started. But man, they are lethal. They trailed 7-0.

11 seconds later, they led 14-7. That's like you're beating Tyson. and you wake up on the mat. But I had won the first four rounds. Yeah, then he hit you with a left hook. I didn't see it exactly. That was Tyson. Pittsburgh is highly dramatic and highly entertaining and highly talented

and highly explosive. They're just highly all the time. You're just getting everything from it. And Carolina is a real team. I mean, going into that game last night, and the NFC, I'm like, Saints Rams. Okay, Saints Rams are the best. best two. I think Carolina's third best team. And that was, that, that fight was over fast.

That thing was over fast. And Ollie and Tyson never fought. They never did. And I always thought Ollie would figure out the angles. He'd wear Tyson out. Tyson at the end of his career didn't even have a jab. He was just going for home runs. But even though I thought Ali would win and beat Tyson, I always knew all Ali had to do was make one mistake and he would end up in a hospital. And It is amazing when I look at the Pittsburgh Steelers. And on nights like last night, when they got it all dialed in, the jab, they're in shape, they took the fight seriously, they still got the power. You're like, no, thank you.

You better not go and get a soda because the fight could be over at about eight minutes. I went to a couple of Tyson fights where people didn't show up until the second round, and there was another fight because that one was over. And, you know, it's just amazing. We're going to look back at this 20 years from now. We're going to be like, you know, Pittsburgh would have won more Super Bowls, but they always had to go through New England. No, that's not the way it's worked.

No, New England's only beating them once in the AFC championship. Two years they missed the playoffs. One year, Tebow beat him, Flacco beat him, Bortles beat him, Peyton Manning beat him. This has never been about New England keeping the great Pittsburgh dynasty at bay. It's been Pittsburgh not showing up for the reservation. and New England's on the phone.

Hey, where are you? You out in the parking lot? I'll hold the table. No, no, we'll send portals. Hey, where are you guys? We're here waiting. No, no. Tim Tebow's on his way.

Tebow? We already played him twice. Blew it. Yeah, I know. Yeah, we lost a Tebow. I mean, wow is all I can say about last night. Wow. That was impressive.

There were my Super Bowl pick before the year, and they finally looked like it. last night. Blazing five and 50 minutes. Okay, let me shift gears. Before the season started in the NBA, you guaranteed me. You lectured me. Listen, this year for LeBron, let's not even talk about the Western Conference

finals. Chemistry, and I said, I think they're going to be around 50 wins. I think the West isn't as good as you think. I mean, Golden State's obviously way better, but let's slow down on the can't. Look at the cans. Well, last night was very interesting in the NBA. The rockets, the rockets are awful. No, I mean, they lost to Oklahoma City,

and Oklahoma City didn't have Westbrook. And by the way, Oklahoma City won their second straight game without Westbrook, showing that Westbrook's not nearly as valuable as you think. And, oh, by the way, Steph Curry got hurt for Golden State last night. MRI today. Steph Curry's hurt again for Golden State. you keep telling me this Laker team just let's not worry this year about the playoffs let's they have no chip really Oklahoma City Westbrook is now a decade of attacking the rim and hitting the floor is hurt again

Houston Carmelo Anthony is an abject disaster Portland scores only from the back court nothing in the front court Minnesota's got turmoil and a losing record. What about Denver? Really, Jamal Murray or LeBron in June, who you got? New Orleans is a one-man team, and we're all waiting for the one-man Anthony Davis to be a Laker. The Lakers are deep and optimistic and long and athletic and third in the NBA and scoring, and they've got the world's best player, and they've got those young guys who are now Kuzma starting to hit their threes. Last night was an interesting night.

The rockets are a mess, and not the kind of mess where you can flip a switch. They're a mess. And Oklahoma City wins now with Westbrook, without him. He's not as valuable as you all claimed. And let me again remind you that the Lakers are going into the easy part of their schedule for the next two weeks. A lot of wins, a lot of confident building wins. Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland at home, Orlando's awful, heat, calves. Jazz that get them at home, magic has a lot of doubles in there.

And there's a lot of confidence building in there. You kept telling me, listen, this thing, this is just, you win 45 games, you get in it as an 8 seed. Curry's hurt, Rockets awful, Minnesota in turmoil. really trust Jamal Murray in the Nuggets, Portland Limited, Minnesota amass. Westbrook here, Westbrook gone increasingly hurt, doesn't matter. Anthony Davis soon to leave the Pelicans. The guys on TNT said it about that Golden State Houston guaranteed Western Conference final.

It doesn't look like it's going to happen. I don't think they have at the same talent level that they had last year. Overall, I thought they were super deep. last year. They don't play the same way. You know, they don't play the same way that they did last year. They don't share the ball as much right now. They don't defend as much.

But we ain't going to make excuses for them. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. Last year, they were an elite team. When you go that far in the playoffs, then in the summertime, you're supposed to build on that. They haven't built on that. I don't know what the problem is. But we're not going to make excuses for it. We're not make excuses. They lost their two best defenders.

We'll be freaking do. Step up. Houston's not. Houston. not close and their chemistry is bad and they're not as good defensively and Chris Paul will eventually get hurt because he does and Mello's just done and Hardens mostly great on one end of the floor. Lakers, LeBron, eight games, really easy, young, optimistic, athletic, deep. Don't count them out. We always do before the trading deadline with LeBron. Don't count them out. 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.

There are losses in football that make you go, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Like when Ohio State lost to Purdue, it's not only they're not as good as I thought, they got problems inside the locker room. They got problems I can't see. When Ohio State lost to them, Alabama loses, they don't lose like that. Oklahoma loses, they don't lose like that. That's what I saw last night. from Carolina. I mean, New Orleans is going to lose. They're not going to lose like that.

Rams are going to lose. They're not going to lose like that. New England's going to lose. They're not going to lose like that. I mean, Carolina makes you look at your resume now, and you start looking at it and you're like, oh, you know, they gave the Giants 31 points with Eli Manning. I mean, they beat Baltimore, but Baltimore is now a mess. They struggled at home against Dallas. That defense last night, like, if you literally handed the Carolina result so far. That was your resume. And you went for a job. The person interviewing you would be like, yeah, what happened in that year you were in Pittsburgh? Well, I was in a bad relationship. I wasn't very good at my job. I wasn't focused. How did you give up 31 points to Eli Manning? Well, I was in New York.

You know, my boss wasn't great. I just got sidetracked on that. I, you know, I wasn't really dialed in. that resume doesn't look nearly as good this morning after that loss. I mean, you're like, what are they? They just quit. Their secondary is terrible. I mean, sometimes the loss is so bad, I got to go, wait a minute. You know, it's funny because before the season started, I was absolutely sure the NFC was better than the AFC.

But I look at the AFC today and I got Patriots. That looks like a Super Bowl team. Steelers, Super Bowl team. Kansas City, Super Bowl team. Texans, Chargers. really, really, really good, and you don't want to have to go play them on the road. I look at the NFC now,

and I'm like, Ram Saints are tight. And then it's just a bunch of that. Atlanta, Carolina, Carolina, Minnesota, Green Bay. So you're taking them out of the Super Bowl bubble? When you lose, New England doesn't lose like that. Saints don't lose like that. What was that? Alabama, that's how Ohio State.

I don't have an explanation. That was just like, I don't even buy in it. I don't even like that team. Cam Newton with this decision early in the game, pretty much turned it around, turned the stadium into a, really, it was over after this. Here's Cam.

Newton keeps. He's in trouble. throws up for grabs and picked. Intercepted by Williams. Touchdown. It looked to me like they might be trying to run some type of screen action back the other way. I don't know if he thinks he might be able to throw one

into Christian McCaffrey or not, but obviously under duress, a ill-advised throw in a costly mistake by Cam Newton. That was just a mess. He was clearly looking at Christian McCaffrey. You know, it was a little like Dallas on Monday night. Off a bye. Amari Cooper now there. You're at home and you watch them play Tennessee and you're like no juice, no energy,

no offense, no tricks, no sizzle. I look at Dallas differently. Again, if that game is 34. 26 and you get outplayed. It just Steelers, you know, punch in the forehead. It's at Pittsburgh. You know, that's okay. But that, that's Ohio State losing to Purdue.

It's like, oh, oh, you can lose to Purdue. You can't lose like that. That was, here was a cam, uh, talking about the blowout loss. Sure enough was a humbling piece of pie. But not only that, it was a, it was a learning experience for a lot of guys. Just got whooped, man. It's just got whooped. But, you know, it happens.

You have those type of games in the league. But, you know, it's going to be about how we rebound and, you know, get ready for our next opponent. Yeah, I learned a lot. I learned I don't trust them. That was really bad. That was not good. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

So a lot of stats, it don't matter. One of the stats I've always said in football that I really pay attention to is third down conversions. Your defense may have flaws, but if you get people off the field on third down and give it back to your quarterback and your quarterback's good, I like that. Philadelphia is not perfect defensively, but to get people off the field on third down, get the ball back to Carson Wentz. That's good. That's good situational defense. So that's the stat I look at. And if you get third downs a lot as an offense, that tells me you're well coached.

You got a quarterback who can make plays at the line, Audible. You probably get a good push on third down. You've got a physical football team up front. Here's another stat that I never heard of. I never even heard of this stat until this morning. In fact, the NFL didn't keep this stat until like three years ago. Aaron Rogers leads the NFL with 32 throwaways this year, just throwing the ball away. They only kept this stat starting like two years ago with Philip Rivers.

Philip Rivers has the all-time record. He threw it away 46 times in one year. Aaron Rogers is on pace to throw it away 73 times, which will be double the next. Okay. Now, it should be noted that the year Philip Rivers threw it away 46 times, he didn't have his number one receiver, Keenan Allen. He's not a mobile quarterback to begin with, and they had one of the worst offensive lines in NFL history.

He had excuses. Aaron Rogers has a tight end. you can throw the ball up to. He's a former basketball player at 6-7. He's got Devante Adams, an elite-wide receiver. He is a mobile quarterback. Yeah, Aaron, even with the knee thing, is a mobile quarterback. And also, their offensive line in Green Bay, it's always fine.

They may not have a great running back. Their offensive line is fine. They've had seven pro bowlers in the last several years. So I'm just going to throw this out to you. This is a message. Aaron sends a lot of messages. What have I said about Aaron Rogers this year? How exasperated he looks.

That's a message. That's a message to the general manager of the Packers. He's been overly dramatic this year. What is that throwaway? Throwaway isn't an incompletion. A throwaway is, that's the crap you gave me as a play? That's it? That's what you gave me.

If a chef throws it away, that's the fish you gave me. That's what I got to work with here? Okay, Aaron Rogers is mobile. Aaron Rogers has a good enough O-line. Aaron Rogers has a six, seven and a half tie-in. Aaron Rogers has his number one receiver. Aaron Rogers leads the NFL by a mile in throwaways. That's a message.

That's a, yeah, this didn't work either. This play with no motion didn't work either. Your offensive scheme, which is, guys, get open. We're not going to get you open through schemes. Just get open. That's a message. Aaron Rogers in the offseason went on Milwaukee radio telling you he was upset with the organization because they let their quarterback coach Van Pelt last name now in Cincinnati let him go.

Aaron's friend. So this was Aaron's guy in the room and Green Bay Mike McCarthy let him go. Actually forced him out. He didn't want to go to Cincinnati. He liked working with Aaron Rogers. Aaron in like Aaron came into this year not happy with Mike McCarthy. Now he's setting a record doubling the league, tripling the average quarterback on throwaways. And as I said three weeks ago, he's gotten overly dramatic on TV.

Oh, my God. There was a study done years ago. There was a study done years ago at the University of Washington. It's a brilliant study. And with 99% accuracy, they could predict divorces. Now, what did they find? What in the world could they have found? What they found when surveying men and women together

that the number one sign of divorce was not money problems. That wasn't the sign. You could look at their... Some couples were rich. Some couples were middle class. Some were poor. It was not kids. Some had no kids.

Some had old kids. Some had kids in junior high. But they did this study at the University of Washington, and they discovered there was a trait that absolutely, inarguably, immeasurably signaled a divorce is coming. And do you know what that trait was? Condescending, deep sighs, rolling your eyes at your wife, rolling your eyes at your husband, overly dramatic. He did that again. She said that again.

The divorce is coming. They do studies on this. Throw away footballs at this level are a message. This is the play. This is what you gave me. This is it. I got tight end. I got Devani Adams.

I got that young running back. Got a good old line. Thrown it away is, hey, sideline guy. Where's my quarterback coach? Where's my quarterback coach? Where's the motion like Jared Gough has with the Rams? Where's the clever stuff like,

Kyle Shanahan, Carson. Why can't people get open like the other teams? That's what that is. Sighs, exasperated, lead the divorces. Not the kids, not money. What's up, everybody? This is John Middlecock from the Three and Out podcast on Colin Coward's podcast network. If you like Colin's show, you will like mine.

I talk a ton of football. Coming up, I tell you what the biggest differentiating factor is of why the Steelers keep kicking. but Kyler Murray looked like he was headed to Major League Baseball. Not so fast. NFL quarterback, anyone, might be. Again, three and out podcast with me. That's John Middilkoff. By the way, this story is, it literally is mind-numbing.

There's always this question. Alabama has a great team. Nobody disputes that. But I still think they can lose to Clemson. I really do. I think they can lose to Georgia. And everybody's like, oh, they would beat the Buffalo Bills. The Vegas sports books came out and said, no, the bills would be a 28 and a half point favorite.

Yeah, I want to see Bama face an NFL team too so we can end the absurd argument they could beat one. Not even their coach worked in the NFL. Alabama's a running back program, right? The quarterbacks have been average. Some receivers are good, but they always have great running backs. Even their marquee running backs go to the NFL, their backups are gone. T.J. Eldon, backup. Mark Ingram, second best back on the Saints.

Kenyon Drake. Henry, backups. That's their best position. They always have great dominant running back. Those guys go to the NFL. They're the second best running back on their team. I mean, give me a break on this stuff. I mean, how many great Bama players are in the NFL?

Dante Hightower is the second best pass rusher for New England. Landon Collins is the second best safety in New York to Jamal Adams. Ha ha, Clinton Dix is apparently worth a fourth rounder. Folks, stop it. Alabama would get smoked. Alabama plays against teams with non-NFL players, whereas the Buffalo Bills play against team with all NFL players. That's sort of how it works.

And I don't think Alabama's a shoe in him in a national title. I think they probably will. But if Clemson goes into a game undefeated, playing with house money, with all the pressure on the world, on the greatest college football team ever on Alabama, Alabama is going to be tight. This is not the greatest football team.

college football team of all time. It's not even close. The Miami team with Bouchd with Larry Coker's first year that had like not only NFL players, they ended up being great NFL players. They didn't have just NFL players on the field. They're backups. The backups to the guys that were playing on the greatest college football team of all time where NFL went on to be NFL stars. Let me ask you this. Do you think that this Alabama team could beat the Vikings this year? They'd be destroyed by the Vikings.

Did they have any chance whatsoever? Do you think they could score? Not a point. Any points. Not a point. Okay, well, the bills beat the Vikings 27 to 6 this year. And led them. So I'm positive.

They would lay 145 points on Alabama. And with that, I bring in a former NFL writer for the Wall Street Journal. Now the NFL writer, very smart, funny guy. Kevin Clark for the ringer. Okay. I don't mean to wear you out on this. This story, my head hurts. I hate it.

I hate it. I hate it. Nathan Peterman put up 43 points on the eventual national. champions in 2016. Nathan Peterman is the worst quarterback I've ever seen at the NFL level. Yes. It's unbelievable. I went back and looked, we've done this before in 2012. They had to ask Pete Carroll, oh, could a college team conceivably do it? It was because the Alabama team with AJ McCarran and Eddie Lacey looked so good. That was what the conversation was. I mean, this is ridiculous. I mean, even going back further, Matt Liner and Reggie Bush, fine players.

We had that conversation with that team. Those guys didn't make a huge impact at the NFL level. So Nathan Peterman beat Clemson. Nathan Peterman put up 43 points. Kelvin Benjamin put up 1,100 yards in college. There's a stat the other day. Spiking the football is more efficient right now than throwing to Calvin Benjamin, but he was a star. He was a star in college.

That's how this works. Anyone who makes the NFL is a legend in their hometown, a legend at their high school. Not everybody who plays for Alabama is like that. Yeah. Kevin Clark joining us very funny guys. So I was saying this, what are the Panthers? New England doesn't lose like that.

Saints don't lose like that. That reminded me of Ohio State Purdue this year, where I'm like, Ohio State's got problems in the locker room. That game, that doesn't happen to great teams, right? Norve Turner Mania only lasted about two weeks, huh? I mean, that was really, there was quite a wave there. But I think generally they are what we thought they were a couple weeks ago. They are the third best team in the NFC.

I don't even see a path for them to get into sort of the Mount Rushmore of the top four teams in the NFL. I just don't, I don't see any improvement. I think the chargers of the NFC. The only difference, though, is the chargers have Joey Bosa kind of lingering. He could come back and make them an elite team. Yes. The Panthers do not have that.

They are what they are. I think that the offense is much easier now. DJ Moore is a weapon. Christian McCaffrey is a weapon. Greg Olson's a weapon. They're not just throwing Devin Funchus and Kelvin Benjamin out there and saying, hey, make it work. So I think they're a much improved team.

I think they are, without a doubt, probably, a scary team to play in the playoffs. but I don't see them as a threat on the road. I also feel like they have to play a certain way to win. They don't play great from behind. They're an energy team. They're sneaky good at home. If they get a lead, those tricky plays, play action. But if they're down 14 last night with that pass rush,

I'm like, they're not built the play from behind. They have to win a certain way. New England, Pittsburgh can win a lot of different ways. Low scoring, high scoring, from behind. You know, I say, you know, I do analogies most bad. but I was saying New England's Ali, Pittsburgh's Tyson. And I always felt Ollie would beat Tyson. Ollie was always the smartest fighter, including the referee in the ring.

Always, all fights. Pittsburgh is Tyson. When he's buttoned up and he came to the fight in shape, it was, oh, my God. Pittsburgh last night was Pittsburgh. It was Spinks Tyson. No penalties. Not only Big Ben's arm, he was efficient. Not only their big play guys, seven Steelers had touchdowns.

Like when I watch them there, Kevin, I'm like, oh, I don't want any piece of that. It's interesting you mentioned Mike Tyson because Mike Tyson was pure talent. That's what he was. Antonio Brown, Ben Rathesberger, they kind of show so many things are overrated. You know, the Steelers never run play action. They don't do any of this modern stuff we talk about every week as being vital to the NFL. Yeah. They're like the anti-McVeigh in a way.

Yeah. But they just paste teams because they have really good players. And that's it. And so Antonio Brown is as good as a player as there is in the league. Ben Rathesberger is an elite quarterback. James Connor didn't have it last night like he normally does, but he's really good right now. The offensive line is the best in the league. They just have good players.

Now, sometimes that's going to get disrupted. I think that they don't have the coaching staff, you know, the superhuman coaching staff like New England, so the consistency is not always going to be there. Right. What they have is Tyson-esque pure talent. The Troy Aikman came out this week, and he said, Cowboys are dysfunctional, and they need an overhaul. Now, I defended him on dysfunction. I said Manchester United, Yankees,

Dallas, Real Madrid, FIFA, IOC. When you get big and powerful, wealthy families, the DuPonts, the Rockefellers, dysfunction is almost impossible to avoid. You have so much money. I mean, a couple years ago, the Lakers made a decision to sign Kobe because Time Warner said, we're not going to give you the money if you don't have Kobe. And I think dysfunction is hard to avoid when you're a massive brand. At some point, there's too much money, too much leverage, too much power.

overhaul though means we got to start over I don't feel like that with Dallas I feel like they need a new coach and I don't like calling for coaches jobs but it's flat it's a flat am I wrong what do they need well first of all they need a coach who can come in to find out what DAC Prescott is

because you start to hear these things you know Lewis Riddick said it yesterday Amar Cooper is an elite route runner and can get separation they just need the play calling they do need to use play action more than they currently do that sort of thing. The problem is the time is ticking on Dak Prescott's extension. And if Dak Prescott's going to make $15, $17, $17 million, he's no longer valuable. The point of Dak Prescott is that he's going to make $725,000 against the cap, which is what he makes this year,

and you're going to build an infrastructure around him. If he's going to eat up a lot of cap, he's no longer valuable because he's not a top-tier guy. There are guys like Matthew Stafford in this league who are much better than Dak Prescott, whose contracts are killing their own team. And so if Dak Prescott's going to be the guy who's killing your cap, that's a really bad situation to be in. So I think you need to sort of make the decision. Don't extend Dak Prescott right now. Bring in a young, maybe a Lincoln Riley, maybe he's your first call, see what happens with innovative schemes.

Get into the 21st century and then figure out what Dak Prescott is, what Zeke Elliott is, what this infrastructure looks like going forward. Kevin Clark, great NFL writer, very funny guy on social media for The Ringer. used to be the Wall Street Journal. I also believe that if Des clicks with Drew, that's another warning sign to Jerry. Bro, how do you think

Des and the Saints works? There's going to be a Des Bryant game in New Orleans. I mean, there's going to be a 150-yard two-touchdown game, and the reason is because of Drew Breeze. He lost a lot of vertical explosion, Des Bryant last year. We saw that. The foot injury has lingered. He's not the same guy he was,

but if anybody can make any player in the league look like a superstar are at Drew Breeze right now. I mean, he's connecting with Michael Thomas at what, 88% of the time? Isn't that amazing? He's rewriting norms. Like, I don't even know.

When I look at Drew Bree's in those stats, I can't believe it. He's completing 68% of his passes if you just take away passes within the first 10 yards. So just deep balls. It's unbelievable. I've never seen anything like this.

And so, yes, he's going to be able to get the ball to Des Bryant. Doesn't matter if Des Bryant can create separation. It doesn't matter if he can go vertical like you used to. So there's going to be, in the next couple, weeks and I think Sean Payton is petty enough to try it against Dallas. To try to make it a Des Bryant, you know, breakout game.

The timing works out perfectly. Because they didn't give, Sean Payton never got the big job in Dallas. He never got the big job in Dallas. He never got it. So why Belichick does to Cleveland. He always calls Cleveland first on trades to make them look bad. Give him Jamie Collins. Yeah, exactly.

And so I just think generally, I would not be surprised if a game plan to get Des a huge game against Dallas. Okay, so I threw this out there. And listen, Packer fans think I hate Aaron Rogers, but I don't. I think he's amazing. But I do think some of their issues, sometimes he can be a bit condescending. He's getting overly exasperated. And it's like, you know, he and Big Ben sometimes are a little dramatic for me.

I'm more like the luck, Russell Wilson, you know, Brady, head down, do your stuff, right? But he not only leaves the NFL in throwaways, he's going to triple everybody. And he's going to, now when Philip Rivers led the league in that, he didn't have Keenan Allen that year. He's not a mobile guy and their offensive line was a wreck. Aaron's still mobile. Offensive line's fine. DeVonte Adams very good. Jimmy Graham's this. I believe

he was ticked off coming into this year when they let go of Van Pelt. Who's now at Cincinnati. And I believe Aaron's looking around this league, Breeze is better than ever. Brady's better than ever. And he's thinking, come on now. I do believe he came into this league. I think these throwaways

are not just throwaways. It is a signal which is, really? That's the call. No motion again. I'm watching McVeigh. I'm watching golf. I'm watching how open people are. Now, again, maybe it's a massive reach.

But this number is going to be exponentially bigger than everybody. There's something with McCarthy and Rogers. Kevin, it's not right. So here's the problem right now. In 2018, there are 10 or 15 offenses that make any player look like Aaron Rogers. And Aaron Rogers is not one of them. He's the one guy who doesn't look like Aaron Rogers this year. He has under 100 quarterback rating,

and he has the highest quarterback rating for a career in the history of football. That's him. He's 103 for his career. He's below that in a year where there are record numbers of guys above 100 rating. Anybody can get 100 rating these days. Anybody. And Aaron Rogers doesn't have it. So it's the play call, and they have to modernize.

Throwing guys open is very 2012, and that's what they're asking Aaron Rogers to do. I think that it's just a lack of separation. He just doesn't have the weapons. And I also think, you know, I really like Aaron Rogers. And I think that, you know, one of the things that he's really good at is trusting his guys. And so if he's not throwing it into tight spaces, maybe he doesn't have the same trust. Maybe he doesn't have a guy like Jordy Nelson who we can just knows that they'll come down with it. It's younger receivers.

Yes. It's younger receivers. And so maybe he doesn't have that chemistry built up to where he says, you know what? It's a small window, but I'm going to go for it anyway because we've seen that so many times from Aaron Rogers over the past decade plus. I don't think McCarthy is the coach next year. I would tend to agree. unless something miraculous happen. And we've seen it before in the second half of the season with Rogers

where he just gets it on a heater. But if that doesn't happen, I agree with you. So great. Well, NFL Ryder, can you pick any game to go to every week? I tend to, I like to just watch every game. I'm the same one. Yeah. I sit with the red zone, Andrew Siciliano,

and I sit there and I take notepads, and I just watch games and write notes all day. When I do go to games, I tend to miss the game. I always say, oh, the game of the week is in Baltimore. and it's in Seattle, and I'm sitting in a press box and feel like an idiot. I know. I'm the same way. It's great seeing you.

Great being here. Kevin Clark for the ringer. And, you know, Bill Simmons used to text me. He doesn't text me anymore. That's unfortunate. But nonetheless, we like Bill, and we love you and thank you for coming on the show. Thanks for me. 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. By the way, I got to show you that Bill Belichick moment. This is as giddy as Bill Belichick gets, and I think there's a reason. for it. So Belichick against Green Bay got Mike by the NFL films, and he's just incredibly giddy throughout the game, and they just throw a touchdown pass to Josh Gordon, and here's Belichick. We're throwing that, too. That's the job. All right. Great job. Yeah, great job. Great job. Tell you what, holding him to 17? It's hard. It's about as giddy as he gets. And you know my

takeaway on this? That play, that moment, was a real moment for New England. Never forget what they came into this season in August facing. They had a left tackle issue. Edelman and Hightower coming back from injuries. Tom Brady-built relationship. There was a fissure. Gronk had missed camp. Both the first round picks been banged up.

In August, and then you play in September, it's like, eh. On that play, Belichick knew, Josh Gordon's a real weapon. Tom had nothing but time to throw. we solved left tackle, and we held Aaron to 17. I think that play, Belichick was like, all right, this is a team that can get to the Super Bowl and should get to the Super Bowl.

That play, that moment, that epiphany. I speak about epiphanies all the time. There are moments in life. You're like, wow, we're free and clear. Check cleared. I'm going to make it. That was a big moment for New England if you consider what they faced in August. Be sure to catch live editions of the Hurstank.

weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. We do this on Friday for the biggest college football game or games of the weekend. We call it our spoiler alerts. Warning, Colin is about to reveal the outcomes of the biggest college football games this week. If you don't want to know exactly what's going to happen, turn away now. Biggest game is Ohio State at Michigan State. Something's right. wrong with Ohio State's program. Last two weeks, they've surrendered on average 500 yards. One of those teams was Nebraska, which has an abysmal offense. Something's a miss. This is the way it works in college football. Outside of Nick Sabin at Alabama, most of these big dog dynasties,

urban at Florida seven years, Pete at USC seven years, less miles at LSU, really good for about seven years, Chip Kelly at Oregon about seven years, Jimbo at Florida State about seven years. Ohio and Urban, good for about seven years. The wheels are coming off. They lose good assistance and they can't replace them with equally good assistance. Listen, Ohio State has won the last six meetings against the Spartans, and they're 51 and four in conference games at Ohio State. And, you know, they're the better team, especially offensively, big edge at quarterback.

But spoiler alert, I'm going to say, closer than Vegas thinks, Ohio State 24 to 23, but there are problems in Columbus last year getting routed by Iowa, this year getting routed by Purdue. I'm sorry, but you just don't see Alabama losing like that. You don't see Oklahoma losing like that. Problems for Urban Meyer, I think the end is near. What are the wise guys where? I get asked that from time to time.

The answer is the new gear from theherdnow.com merchandise store. We are now officially open for business. We have all the apparel, diehard herd fans need to represent the show. Go to theherdnow.com. If you don't, that's a you problem. And that's a you problem is one of our shirts. Check it out. Theherdnow.com.

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