The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/12/2018

Episode Date: November 12, 2018

Colin thinks the Cowboys’ win over the Eagles could turn out to be a disaster because Dak proved once again he can only win if you give him the perfect formula. He isn't concerned about the Patriots despite their blowout loss to the Titans. He talks about where he was right and wrong over the weekend. Plus, Super Bowl Champion Greg Jennings talks about how Ezekiel Elliott is by far the most important player for the Cowboys. Presented by Perky Jerky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. It was a wild week starting Thursday Steelers and the Carolina Panthers. A lot of football. Joy, how are you this morning? I'm great. Good morning. Good morning.

You know, I've got kids. And I noticed this very early when my son was six, seven years old. And you give them like a Snickers bar, and I saw the sugar high. And you'd just be running around the house going a thousand miles an hour. I'm chasing him and he's breaking stuff and breaking glasses, breaking faces, and so there was no more Snickers. And then, after about an hour of that, he would have a crash. And he would be in a bad mood, and he'd be feisty, he would be six or seven years old and he'd be crying. I'm like, we've got to get sugar out of the house. This morning, Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, were on a sugar high,

and it always ends with a crash. Last night's a disaster for the Cowboys. Yes, when they have a lead, Yes, when Zeke is running wild. Yes, when they play a depleted defense. Yes, they look pretty good. Dak fools you. Rush for over 170 yards. Average over six yards a rush. Had the ball for 33 minutes.

Yes, Dak. Dak can look really good when he's got the formula. Never forget Tim Tebow won six straight. Great defense, great running game, great kicker, score in the teens. There are formulas. Average quarterbacks who you don't want to pay a lot need a formula to win. Dak needs Zeke to run wild. He needs the offense to be controlling the clock.

He needs second and four, third and one for the play action to work. He needs to play with the lead. The weather has to be better than average or at least not chaotic. And he's got to have his defense playing well so he doesn't get in a shootout. Yes, that's when Dak can win. That's how Tebow won six straight games, how Mark Sanchez got to the AFC championship, twice. But franchise quarterbacks that you want to pay $150 million don't need a formula. They just need the ball and a little help.

Okay, because you're going to get in shootouts in this league. If you got DAC for the next five years, Steelers, Patriots, Rams, Chiefs, Chargers, you're watching those teams this year. The rules are all going offense. All of them. And I love Dallas's front seven defensively. I love their players. They're really, really good.

But those players, the Bears players, all the great defenses in the league can't stop anybody now. Once you face a great quarterback, right now Dallas is on a sugar high because the formula was perfect. It's amazing how often I understand fans getting fooled. But is Jerry Jones being fooled by this? I mean, Andy Dalton, when he had the defense, when he had all the good receivers,

when he won a bunch of games, one of division. Baker Mayfield yesterday. Only through 20 times. Played with a lead. Played a bad defense. Had a great running support. Yes, a lot of guys in this league can win, win the formula is perfect. Carson Wentz

last night didn't have a pro-bowl right tackle. Smallwoods, their best running back. Jordan Matthews is a go-to receiver. He just got cut by the Patriots and their defensive secondaries is a nightmare. So he's playing from behind the whole game. And the Cowboys linebackers are much better athletes than the

running backs behind him. That's what a franchise quarterback looks like. Carson Wentz last night, playing from behind with a beat-up defense, not getting support from his own line. That's what a franchise quarterback looks like, even though he lost. But I saw this with Oklahoma City. Westbrook wins the MVP. Sugar high, sugar high, sign him to a long-term deal. Then you're left with Westbrook. This is what the Buffalo Bills do every September when their quarterback plays well. Sign them to a long-term contract. Yeah, then you're left with Ryan Fitzpatrick with an expensive long-term contract. The sugar high is always followed by a crash. It's always followed by a crash. And the gap last night between Wentz and Dak is huge. Give Dak playing from behind. Give Dak smallwood.

Give Dak Jordan Matthews. Give Dak a secondary like Phillies. If you go to Dak Prescott's career, he's had about 10, like nights or afternoons. We've gone, wow, franchise guy. And all 10, it's been the same formula. It's not shootouts. No, it's Zeke is controlling the clock. Zeke's running for 125 yards. Second and four, third and one.

Go look at his great games. Look at his great passer ratings. Zeke's having a game. Zeke's controlling the clock. The play action pass works. But all last night really did if you're a cowboy fan. All it did is guarantee that Jerry Jones flew back to Dallas on his private jet with Stephen Jones and the whole family. And he was telling everybody, I told you, Dax the guy, just out-duled Carson Wentz.

Went to Philadelphia, beat a rival. Dack Prescott's our guy. Nah, he needs a formula. Last night, the formula was perfect. Carson Wentz was the only quarterback on that field you want to spend over $100 million on. Let me shift gears to this. Now, I did say on Friday, I don't do this very much. And there are micro topics on this show, small ones, and macro topics, big one.

I would call micro topics predicting games. Macro topics, how does it affect the season and the franchise? I predicted on Friday, eagle blowout. On a micro level, I was wrong. But on a macro level, I told you after the Super Bowl with Philadelphia, they're going to come back, and I see this time and time again. I call it the lottery winner syndrome in sports. When people who are not used to wealth, not used to celebrity,

not used to having an unending stream of parades in cash. Get it? They don't know what to do with it. Jacksonville, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles. They're not used to getting to Super Bowls. They're not used to getting to Super Bowls. And they're not used to winning Super Bowls.

And once they win Super Bowls, they're flexing. They're flexing on social media. They're writing books. They're getting endorsements. They're getting shoe deals. and Philadelphia off a buy. That was it. You saw it last night.

And since you're not used to winning Philadelphia, this is how it works. You're now 21st in the NFL and points with Carson wins. Here's how it works. You win a Super Bowl or get to a Super Bowl, and you lose a couple of really good assistance and a couple of maybe coordinators. Oh, yeah, ask New England they have. So you lost Frank Wright, John, the other coach,

Don Di Di DiLilippo, yeah. So you lose a couple of assistants, really good coaches, they leave. Uh-oh. And then you lose a couple of players. Somebody over pays for your Super Bowl players. And then you have a first place schedule and you become a target and you kind of lose your edge. Players don't work out quite as hard in the off season. And what you get is this.

Four and five headed to the Superdome to take on the Saints. Good luck with that. When cities and franchises that aren't used to winning big, suddenly win big, it's the lottery syndrome. Oh, crap. Do I buy four homes or five? Do I buy another sports car? A third boat. More skis.

Jet skis. And then you wake up one morning and you're like, ooh, I blew it. New England, Pittsburgh, Green Bay. They're used to winning. Andy Reid wins every year. Drew Brees. You just don't see the roller coasters with those teams and those players. I mean, Aaron Rogers, he was winning on the bench with Fav and he's winning now.

Aaron Rogers doesn't give you this and Brady doesn't give you this and Andy Reed doesn't give you this because they're used to winning. Somebody told me this years ago, it may have been Trent Dillfer had a line. He said, everybody in athletics treats losing the same. They get pissed and they work twice as hard. But everybody does not act the same after winning. Winning's different. Winning gives you attention. Winning gives you money.

Winning gives you endorsements. Everybody wants a selfie. Everybody wants an autograph. And some people can't handle it. And when you haven't won and you suddenly are the talk of the town, oh my, you're buying a third boat, a 16th pair of shoes, another. suit and you don't wear the ones you have. Last night I thought I was wrong on a micro level.

I thought Philly off a bye. Here we go. Nah, here we go. Jacksonville gave themselves a nickname, Saxonville. They were good for an hour. New England doesn't have a nickname. Pittsburgh. They're just the Steelers. They're not the Saxonville Steelers. They're just the Steelers and they're just the Patriots and he's just Andy Reed and he's not storming Drew Brees.

It's just Drew Brees and that's how winners do it. They're used to winning. They don't need jet skis to make them happy. By the way, more bad news for the Philadelphia Eagles. Really, really bad news. An excellent player for them. Ronald Darby, a cornerback, not like the Eagles. haven't had enough secondary injuries.

It's unbelievable. He's out for the season, torn ACL. Four and five. Headed to the Superdome. I'm just going to go with my gut feeling on this. It won't be super. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific

on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. New England lost and was really manhandled by the Titans up front. This was fairly predictable. two thoughts on this once in a while. Let's start with the first one. Every year, there's somebody the Patriots have beaten up on for years or there's a Patriot connection and they come out and just get punched in the forehead. Last year, Miami, Monday Night Football, they come out off several big wins and lay a complete egg against the Dolphin franchise. They have basically suffocated for the last 15 years. Yesterday it's Tennessee. Malcolm Butler they let go of. Dionne

Lewis they let go of. Mike Rable's a former Patriot earlier this year. The Detroit Lions played their game of the year against them. Why would that be? Because the Lions head coaches, Matt Patricia, the student, Belichick's the mentor. You see this time and time again. About every year, there's a game or two where there's somebody the Patriots have let go of, traded, released. They play with passion. There's a coaching understudy that gets a job and they're all dialed in for that. And in the end, it never really matters because come January, New England will win their division going away. Have you checked the standings this morning? Jets lost, they're awful.

Miami lost their awful. Buffalo won only because they're playing the Jets. They're awful. New England will have a buy and be hosting somebody in the AFC. Now, does this game perhaps mean they'll play at Pittsburgh in the playoffs? They have before and won. They'll play at Kansas City in the playoffs. I'll take my chances with Belichick and Brady against Patrick Mahomes.

That part doesn't matter. But there was something yesterday that I did notice. Once again, Gronk was out and Gronk wasn't dressed and Gronk was inactive. And never forget that Bill Belichick wanted to trade Gronk during the offseason. Remember when Gronk admitted it that he heard it and he knew it. They didn't want me in New England. Yeah, it happened. And Brady's my quarterback.

That's all. Wasn't going anywhere without Brady. Gronk admits it. They tried to get rid of me. So yesterday, Dionne Lewis, Malcolm Butler, Belichick got rid of him. So it's a big game for them.

But here's what's also interesting. Gronk has one touchdown all year. Gronk can't stay healthy. And Belichick, was right on Gronk, too. It's over. He's the most overpaid player on that Patriot roster, and it's not close. New England,

the two moves that Belichick pushed back on, he didn't want to give up Garoppolo. Bob Kraft stepped in. We're trading Garapolo. Tommy's my guy. The second move that Belichick wanted to make,

Gronk can't stay healthy. We've got to move on. Brady stepped in. Gronk's my guy. We can't make move. You watch this yesterday? Gronks irrelevant. I don't even going into games. Is he playing? Is he not? Who cares? They score the same without him. Sony Michelle, the rookie running back now, is more important. James White, running back, more important. Left tackle position, more important. Julian Edelman's back, more important. Frankly, Josh Gordon right now, his growth and development is more important. The two instances were the owner and the quarterback,

have pushed back on Belichick. Tommy was mad they let go of Malcolm Butler. He wanted to keep Grunk. Both were on display yesterday. Gronk was predictably hurt. Malcolm Butler was Malcolm Butler. After the game, Dionne Lewis, the former Patriot, he was talking trash about that big win.

Listen. I didn't have to prove anything. I know what I could play. I just had to, you know, just let our team know that these guys are beatable. So I know those guys, and I know that you be physical with them. And let them have it. They'll fold. Hell yeah, it's personal.

That's what happened. When you go cheap, you get your ass kicked. Dion, you average 2.8 yards of carry and had 11 yards receiving. You did not kick anybody's, you know what. Belichick's always been right. He was right on Gronk. They're paying him a fortune. Eighth most important guy.

Seventh on the team. Hell, fifth on the offense. that wasn't about Dionne Lewis yesterday. That wasn't about Malcolm Butler. That was about Jarrell Casey and all those dudes up front. They dominated the Patriots offensive line. But the owner doubted Bill and the quarterback doubted Bill

and Tennessee's gloating over Bill. Come January, one of those two teams will be playing and the other will be watching. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. And with that, a sharply dressed man, look at him today. Greg Jennings,

look at you. You know, I try. Look, man, you look like a million dollars every time. A million dollars. So I said to start the show,

I hear you disagree with me, is that I got kids and I learned very early with my son. Don't give him a snickers. Because for the next hour, I'm going to chase him around the house, and then he's going to crash after an hour. He's going to be crying and be cranky.

And I see this all the time, is that the Cowboys, morning are it's a sugar high everything was perfect for DAC play with the lead running game time of possession third and one defense playing great game in the teens and jerry's flying on his private jet last night saying told you i'm right and i'm like okay but i've watched this league for 40 years the great ones win shootouts and they play from behind when you were with erin rogers and you're trailing by 14 enter in the third that's who i'll pay 150 million to yeah but you're You got to understand.

This is when you go into a game, every team has a formula. Every team has their keys to their success. Right. And what we saw last night is the Dallas Cowboys formula. That is the key to their success. They want to get out in front. They want to stick with the run because that's their offense. That's what allows Deek.

Dek. I've done that before. That's what allows DAC to be more and most efficient. when he's not bearing the load of that offense. Okay, so that's the Andy Dalton, Alex Smith way. 100%. And listen, Blake Boyle's way.

Alex Smith has won a lot of games in San Francisco, Kansas City. He's doing it now with the Redskins. It's effective. What is, I don't think, now, can they sustain this? I don't think they can sustain it. Andy Dalton. Not in the NFC. You can't sustain it in the NFC because the defense

are too good and other teams are going to put up a lot of points. Again, I'm not saying Todd Gurley doesn't help Jared Goff. I'm not saying that. But what you're telling me is that DAC's going to need a back this substantial to succeed. What I'm saying is this is what Jerry Jones has gotten himself into. When we saw Dak Prescott and we saw Ezekiel Elliott in year one, the reason why Dak Prescott was so successful. He didn't get sacked.

And he was able to hand the ball off to Ezekio Elliott. And he was able to average almost four or five yards of pop. Right. And he wasn't asked to do above and beyond. Year two, Ezekiel Elliott is out for six. He's asked now to do above and beyond what the call of duty was coming in. Now the expectation has been set because of the year one that he had. And we want to see him progressively grow.

But this is the Dallas Cowboys. This is who they are. They understand our offense goals as Ezekiel Elliott goes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think you're right. I just think I'm not paying $125 million for that formula. They know that too.

I don't think they will have to. Okay, but what happens when Dax agent comes in and says, okay, I look at all these Matt Stafford numbers. Matt Stafford doesn't have a signature win in his career. He's going to want $25 million. What are you going to give him? Let me tell you something. Would you take Matthew Stafford over Dak Prescott?

Yes. Exactly. That is not even, you can't even say what about Matt Stafford? No, you're not Matthew Stafford, number one. Because he can come back, he can put the game on his shoulders, and he can make things happen in the fourth quarter, which he tends to do. What do you think Dak is going to accept as a deal? Hey, look, it's almost like.

He has made that franchise a lot of money. Let me tell you something. he accepted a lot when he sided with Jerry and he had his back. He understands Jerry has his back. He's basically taking a hometown discount. You think he'll take a discount? 100%. If he goes anywhere else, they're not going to pay him.

Who's going to pay Dak Prescott outside of the Dallas Cowboys? Not a lot of takers there. My point. He's best where he is. Yeah, you know, you're probably right, and that's amazing. That's the standard for the Dallas Cowboys today. Can you imagine the Lakers celebrating a Pacific Division title? The Yankees celebrating a wildcard spot, Notre Dame or Alabama celebrating the Holiday Bowl.

You're telling me that Dallas Cowboys are like, listen, we found a guy. I think you're right. We found a guy. He is the next Andy Dalton. You tell me that that's the standard. I mean, honestly, we're knocking Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton has had a great year. I watched yesterday.

Andy Dalton lost me $50. He did. He had a poor game yesterday. But Andy Dalton can play. Oh, come on. He's a better thrower than Dak Prescott. No, whatever. I'm not 100% sold on Dak Prescott without Ezekiel.

Okay, that's fine. So I want to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles. I predicted they would blow up the Cowboys this weekend. I was way off. Carson Wentz. It's funny. So they win the Super Bowl and Lane Johnson had this quote that drove me insane. Yes, it has.

Okay, the quote was, hey, I would rather win one Super Bowl. Have fun. Yeah. Then win five. Well, congratulations. That's going to be it. Because I'm watching them yesterday and off a bye. Is it fair to say now?

Too many books, too many endorsements, lost their edge. What did you see? No. You will never get me to agree with you on this. And the reason why is number one, they came into this season on crutches. Like your quarterback, your top receiver, offensive, you came in wounded.

Even though you were on top, you won the Super Bowl. You came into this season. half of what you really are. And so they've never been able to bounce back. You look at them last night, they're secondary. Oh, it's a mess. They're depleted. No, and they just lost Darby for the year.

They're done. Are you kidding me? They can't win for losing right now. It's like they keep getting guys, having guys go down, whereas last year, guys were there to start the season. You lose Hicks, you lose Peters, you lose Carson Wins, but they had already had it rolling. Right now, it's been a good.

grind. And when you start off a season in a grind and you're behind the eight ball when it comes to health, it's going to be an uphill battle the entire time. Oh, it has been. Listen, the secondary is a mess. They have to play from behind. Listen, against Carolina is a prime example. They dominate Carolina for three quarters. And then they play conservative. And Cam has his greatest quarter of the year because he had to throw their secondaries a mess. And they, you know, in the NFL, it's not, you don't have to be great everywhere, but you can't be in chaos anywhere. Philadelphia is in utter chaos in the secondary. They are.

So do you ever see the TV show Friends? I did. Ross and Rachel. And here's what the Green Bay Packers have become. They've become the TV show Friends by about the 11th year. Rachel slept with everybody. Ross was wearing me out. They were still funny and drank coffee.

But in the end, I'd seen everything and there was just better shows on television. So yesterday you had all these games on TV at the same time. And the Rams and the Seahs, got the Raiders and the Chargers. I have the Packers and the Dolphins. And I got to be honest. They don't get me to a TV anymore. When the Steelers didn't play yesterday, it felt like less of a day. I'm watching yesterday.

I watched the game with them. And I'm like, I want to see Mahomes. I want to see Breeze. I want to see golf. There are so many compelling young quarterbacks out there. And the veterans now, like Breeze are playing at a higher level than Aaron. This is, I've seen Rachel and Ross. This is what it is.

The monkeys now, remember when the monkey came on the show? You knew the show was over on Friends. When they brought an animal on a show, the show is officially over. Green Bay is like, it's just, they don't feel special anymore. This is the problem I have with what you're saying. What? Because Aaron Rogers has been so great in years past, we expect him to be great.

despite any and every situation. He's clearly not 100%, clearly not 100%, but he has help. And what we're seeing is an Aaron Rogers that is willing to throw the ball away more, going to set the record for throwaways this year, but it's not all bad because he's getting help.

He's going down. If he feels like he's going to get sacked, he's going down. He's protecting himself. Again, I think why you're not as interested it is because it's not this Aaron Rogers show. But let me remind you, there was two weeks ago, they were out here in L.A. And everyone wanted to watch that game, specifically the last couple minutes.

Why? Because we all wanted to see what number 12 was going to do had he gotten the opportunity to do it. Let me remind you what happened. They lost another big TV game. They did lose. They did lose. I understand that. But for you to say, oh, they're like friends.

They're almost hard to walk. They were still a good television show, but there were better stuff on television. I'm not, there's a lot more flashier guys right now because Aaron Rogers, he doesn't have his same mobility, his ability to run away from defenders. So you notice that. Oh, yeah, he knows. He's not going to get out there and just say, you know what? My knee is bothering me.

Just because I don't have the brace on doesn't mean I'm 100% because that's not what viewers want to hear. That's not what fans want to hear. That's when it, no one cares. Well, you don't want to tell the defense. that anyway. Exactly, but I mean, we all know it. He's not 100%, but he's able to get the job.

Is this a contending team? As long as he's at quarterback, they have a chance. How deep they go depends on if Aaron Jones continues to do what he's doing. I was going. It seems to me, the good teams in this league are depending

primarily on veteran players, the Steelers, Big Ben, Antonio Brown, DeCastro on the offensive line. You know, Breeze, if you look at Philip Rivers and some of their veteran players pouncy the center. When I look at Green Bay,

it's Aaron and man, do they need rookie Aaron Jones to play well? This young receiver play well. And that rookie corner play well. It feels like it's Aaron and there's a little bit of babysitting going on here. But for me,

I like that. I want to see other players step up because your quarterback is getting older every single year. He's injured. He's clearly not 100%. Can we get some help in the building? They're getting help. They're getting help. There's nothing wrong with that. Where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, top of next hour. Greg Jennings is joining us. So I'm sitting there and I'm watching the Chicago Bears. And I don't even know if our guys have any tape of the Bears, because we're going to talk about different teams today. And I, I, I, I,

I don't love the Bears' offensive personnel. I'm not a Trubisky guy. You don't like their personnel? You're going to tell me those running backs are great. Matt Nagy is making those running backs. What, what? You like Robinson, the receiver? I do.

I like Robinson alongside of Gabriel, alongside the tight end. They have a lot of pieces that they can throw at you. Are you sure they do? Absolutely. They have a lot of guys. No, they have a lot of people. and then they have Matt Nagy who knows how to blend those pieces together. Oh, yeah.

I mean, I'm sorry, but when I watch Tribisky, when I watch these are guys. Now, when I watch the Kansas Chiefs, those are stars. Oh, my gosh. You don't Kareem Hunt, Travis Kelsey, Tyreek Hill. Sammy Watkins. Those are star. I get it. I get it.

You buy Chicago. I do buy Chicago because they're doing it and they don't have the stars. They have role... When you watch the San Antonio Spurs, did you see a bunch of stars? You saw a lot of role players, and Greg Popovich got it done, correct? That is who the bears are right now.

I shouldn't say that that's who they are because San Antonio is special. But the bears have a lot of good, solid players and they have the most important piece in Matt Nagy. You tell me, Trubisky is Matt, Tim Duncan? No, not at all. I'm not saying that he's... That's what you're saying.

No, I did not say who was who. I didn't say, Khalil Mack is to Tim Duncan. Tribisky is Manu at 37. I mean, I don't know. I watched, here's what's interesting about the NFC. We came into this year, and our feeling was, NFC is packed.

I got Washington leading a division. I got Chicago leading a division. That should tell you something that last year we sat here, and I watched the Bears play the Packers last year, and I watched their interior alignment. They were solidified on both sides of the line interior-wise. Offensive line, defensive line. Their issue was quarterback skill positions on both sides.

They've gotten that. They've had great play defensively in the secondary. They've had even better play offensively in their skill positions. What's wrong with this Bears team just being good? No, I mean, listen, I'll probably have been in my top 10 tomorrow. I'm not saying they're not good. I love their defensive front. But one of the things that's happened in football that you can't deny anymore,

and it's just the way it is. The quarterback is still the most important piece. The second most important piece in football now is the play caller. Patrick Mahomes without Andy Reid is not this good. There's no way he's this good. I'm not going to disagree with that. And because the scoring in this league is just gone through the roof. Look at Andrew Luck now with Frank Reich.

I'm glad you mentioned that because everybody again going back to Eagles you have a Carson Wins who had two years with Frank Wright and his quarterback coach They're gone So that's another reason why the Eagles But yes, Andrew Luck with Frank Wright

It makes a difference Sean Peyton, Drew Breeze Yeah I mean it does feel like Nagy is doing about 65, 70% of the work with Trubisky And he should And he should be Because when you look at Patrick Mahomes And Mitchell Trubisky

Oh, come on. Not close. No, exactly. School level, completely separated by skill level. But where they can draw closer is the play caller. You got one guy who's been tutored by that guy, Andy Reed, Matt Nagy. I look at the division leaders in the AFC.

I get Andy Reed and the Chiefs. You get look at the Chargers. I get the Steelers. I get the Patriots. The Houston Texans got stars everywhere. I look at the NFC. I got Washington. I got Chicago.

I'm like, it's a bunch of meh. So you think that the AFC teams are a lot more put together. Think about it. 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. Standards are a thing that you've got to keep high standards. I have a lot of people in my family that were in the restaurant business, culinary business.

And you ever go to a restaurant for years and years you like it? And then the chef leaves. They don't pay them enough money. And the chef leaves. And you go to it a couple times, not quite as good. And then you go to it a couple more times. It's not quite as good. And then you stop going to the restaurant.

Well, you lost me as a customer. The restaurant, the day they lowered their standards and went cheap and didn't pay for the top chef is the day it was over. Not the year and a half later when you've lost 35% of your customer. base, the more discerning eaters. Now, you lost it the day you decided to go cheap. To me, the Dallas Cowboys are not going to be a relevant football team for the next 10 years because they've lowered their standards. They're excited about this morning.

That's it. That you won against the depleted Philadelphia team. You won when the formula was perfect for Dak Prescott. Controlled the clock, six yards a rush, Zeeke ran the ball. your defense suffocated Carson Wants. You've been to eight Super Bowls. Stoback, Aikman, Jimmy Johnson, Landry, Parcells, Jason Garrett, you're fine with.

It doesn't matter what you did last night. I live in Los Angeles. The same thing's happening here. USC football now is five and five, and there are people actually discussing whether or not to get rid of the coach and the staff. Are you kidding me? You can't beat Cal at home?

I mean, you've already lost your program. It's over. Once you decide to go cheap, once you're okay with average, you've lost. The rest of it's just, you know, it's just shrapnel. I mean, it just doesn't really matter. I mean, Dak Prescott is 20th in passer rating. This is, by the way, with a great back, with a way above average offensive line, and with a defense that's good enough to give you decent field position.

20th pass a rating, 22nd completion percentage, 28th in yards per game, 25th in yards per attempt, and tied for 22nd in touchdown passes with Sam Darnold, who didn't play yesterday. Right now you're a 10 seed in the NFC and cowboy fans are celebrating.

Where are the standards? Like this is the Dallas Cowboys. and because you won a game against the depleted team, and the formula was perfect to win. You played with the lead. Your running backs were crushing. And Zieg was amazing. And you controlled the clock.

And you played ahead. That's your standard. What it is, Philadelphia. I told you, this is a division game. And it's a must win. It was a must win game for them. But I'm hearing cowboy fans, they're like popping corks today. No, there's no reason to celebrate.

you should, you should, if you are a good football team, be able to go on the road and win a division game. Would, seriously, does Duke celebrate getting into the second round of the tournament? Does Alabama celebrate winning the citrus bowl? Well, it depends on how you define success. Well, again, when your standards here and you let it slightly erode and slightly erode and slightly erode and the restaurant buys cheaper bread and doesn't get the freshest produce and the second rate fish and all of a sudden you wake up and you're like a year and a half later, a third of your crowd is gone.

Now you lost it the day. You made a decision and the owner of the restaurant were going to go cheap. Your standards were going to lower our standards. That is largely, if you look at football in America, the difference between the haves and have-nots, standards. Brady Hoke did not accomplish enough to ever get the Michigan job. Jim Harbaugh, the day you hired him, you raised the standards of Michigan football.

He had been to a Super Bowl. Brady Hoke had not proven he was worthy of a Michigan. The day you hired him, we're lowering our standards. They hired Jim Harbaugh, we are now raising our standards. Like, I'm sorry, but that win for Dallas, you have not beaten a team with the winning record. You're four and five. Popping corks today?

What happened to Dallas? Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I Heart Radio app. All right, every Monday at this time, where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, here we go. Where Colin was right?

The Raiders haven't scored a touchdown in nine quarters. And they scored six points off a buy. Okay, 10 days to repair, six points. I never bought into John Gruden. I think he's a fantastic television analyst, and I always thought he was a solid coach, not spectacular. He's had 12 quarterbacks in his career. One has popped, Rich Gannon.

If I had 12 shows and one was decent, it's probably due to the guess I had, not to me. Why we keep giving Gruden all this love for inheriting Tony Dungey's defense and beating a team in the Super Bowl that he had coached and knew the playbook a year earlier, I don't get it. This team's a mess. I keep hearing he's an offensive genius. Derek Carr has badly regressed. And the guys they drafted, offensive guys, I don't see stars. Where Colin was wrong. My blazing five was trash.

One win, three losses and a tie, and I was lucky to get to that. First of all, I deserve total scorn. I picked Andy Dalton over Drew Breeze. Shame on me. I guaranteed Philadelphia would win. Shame on me. Now, I am 29, 19, and 2 on the year, so we have a very good record. It was our first losing week of the year.

Thank God for Andrew Luck, and thank God for the Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson played his butt off and kept it close, but a disgusting week of betting by me. Where Colin was right? Andrew Luck, for the first time in his career, has an offensive coach and has a good offensive line. And what do you know? He is tearing it up. Yesterday, the Colts, who don't have six guys who would start for the Jaguars outside a quarterback, beat Jacksonville. Andrew Luck, you've got to give Chris Ballard the GM credit.

He hired the right coach. He has rebuilt this offensive line in two years. He still has a below-average receiving core. He still has below-average running backs. And that defense is the pass rush they did have in the first month has totally evaporated. but he does have protection up front. I do like their offensive line. That's a top 15, top 12 offensive line,

and Luck is putting up massive numbers. For the first time in his career, Andrew Luck has two things. Health and help. And I still contend they will make a wild card spot. Where Colin was wrong. Yeah, this Todd Bulls thing in New York, it is a dumpster fire. And I feel bad for these young, talented defensive coaches

Steve Wilkes and Todd Bowles, they're like the flip phone of communication. No creativity, no juice, no energy. Listen, it looked like the Jets quit. Half the stadium emptied out. It's not Sam Darnold, folks. The GM needs to go as well. They have no offensive talent.

I've never seen a team. They don't have an elite receiver. They don't have an elite back. They have a tight end who should be a two or a three on a team like the Colts. They just don't have any players. Now, they do have a great, safety. Leonard Williams is good. Bowles has done a nice job in the defense event in special

teams. But, you know, it just doesn't work. When your stadium's emptying out, when your team quits, the game is so unfair to young defensive coaches. Matt Nagy, the game is built for him. Todd Bowles, the game is not built for him. You've got to go get somebody to help Sam Donald, or you'll become the Colts. You're going to waste three or four years with Andrew Locke and get him hurt. Where Colin was right, According to the New York Times, the Houston Rockets are already 10 games into the year bailing on Carmelo Anthony. I've never in my career been more right on a topic than Carmelo. I never bought into him.

I don't think he's a good teammate. I don't think he's coachable. He has a bizarre, delusional belief on what he is and what he really is. There's never a day I bought into him. And you know what a grease fire you have to be? To be 10 days into a deal and an organization like, we just got to get you out of the room. They're now sitting him.

They don't want to let him, he won't let him dress for games. This has been, I like Daryl Morey. I didn't like this move. Not many of us like this move. And Carmelo is what he's always been. Just not a good guy in the room. And now his skills have regressed so badly. They don't even want him in the room.

where Colin was wrong. I said before the season, I thought the Big Ten was closing the gap on the SEC. I am wrong. The gap is still tremendous. Northwestern has already clinced the spot in the Big Ten championship game. Okay, Northwestern was winless out of conference. They lost to Akron. They lost to Duke.

They couldn't win a game out of conference. They played Notre Dame and got rolled. This team's going to be in the first. Big Ten championship game? I've watched Northwestern play a half dozen times. They have a great coaching staff. And I think one marginal NFL player. I thought the gap was going to close. Ohio State's a mess. Michigan State can't throw the football. Outside of Michigan's defense, which is really, really, really good. This conference, I mean, I watched Big Ten football this weekend. I felt like I was in 1988. Where Colin was right?

I've said this now. Everybody's in on the celebrations for the NFL. And I know, I know that why they did it. I get it. They want the social media love. But yesterday, second quarter, close game, Tyree Kilt goes into the stands, gets a penalty goofing off with the camera. Players need to be coached. Give an inch, they'll take a mile. I know everybody loves this. All the progressives on social media think this is so. That was great. Oh, it's great, except for it's the second quarter and got a penalty. And again, at the end of the game, it's fine. You don't care. But ask Andy Reid what he thought about this. players need to be coached.

You got to let the fans have a little fun. It's hard to score touchdowns and too small them. 15-yard penalty because you can't like a grown-up, hand the ball. Go spike it. It's okay to spike it. You got to admit that's creative. I think it's, I hate it. In the middle of a game, second quarter.

Well, yeah, that's when you score touchdowns is in the middle of the game. Everybody on Twitter. Oh, this is awesome. Never forget. Twitter, Donald Trump, wouldn't get a vote. soccer's bigger than the NFL. The NBA is overtaking the NFL. Remember on Twitter, who's

popular and who's really popular are two different things. I didn't take the Twitter over this, but I thought it was funny. I thought it was ridiculous. Where Colin was wrong. Mitch Trubisky in a game this year through six touchdown passes, and yesterday through four, I don't

get it. This, everybody loves Sean McVeigh. Matt Nagy maybe the greatest coach in the history of the league. I don't know how they're doing this. I mean, the league is, you're telling me the league is so offensive that Mitch Trubisky can light it up. You know, I mean, I got to give the kid credit. I just didn't see it. I thought he was a, listen, he started one year in college.

He couldn't win a job as junior year or college. I just didn't see it at all. I remember being in Hawaii with my family. I said, I'm going to stand and watch Mitch Trubisky play because everybody's telling me he could go number one. And I watched the game in college at Carolina. I'm like, I'm not sure he starts for half the year. ACC. That's it. And he is lighting it up. Congrats to Mitch Trubisky. Where Colin was right. I told you, Sam Darnold's going to leave USC and you're going to see what USC football is right now.

They can't score. They can't win at home. They can't beat mediocre teams at home. They can't move the ball. They can't run. They can't throw. They're now five and five. And that's five and five in the Pack 12, which as a conference isn't even in the same class right now as the Big 12, the Big 10, the SEC. Five and five in the Pac-12 is awful. This is a conference that didn't win a bowl game last year, did they? I mean, you can say what you want about Sam Darnold. When's the last time USC couldn't run the football and couldn't score? How about we start with never?

they are a mess since Sam Darnold left. Where Colin was wrong. Listen in the last month, Baker Mayfield, nine touchdowns, two interceptions, and he's had the deal with some coaching chaos. You've got to give Baker Mayfield some credit. Listen, always said, if you give him the right components, you give him a running game, give him a little protection. He is an accurate thrower.

of the football. That's why I said, as much as he drives me crazy, he'll never be a bust. Now, I think his ceiling is much more. Remember, Case Keenham won 13 games with the Vikings. When you give Case Keenham the perfect situation, a running game, good receivers, Case Keenham won 13 games.

But I got to give Baker credit. He made a really nice play yesterday, scrambling out of the pocket and threw a dime down the field, deserves credit. And in the last month, he's gotten rid of, you know, he's gotten rid of some of the silliness and the nonsense. Again, he's too cocky for me. Not my cup of tea. I think things have to be aligned perfectly, and Atlanta's

defense is trash, but he does deserve credit. Where Colin was right? Well, I said before the season in the NFL, bet the overs. Matt Barkley yesterday got a team into the 40s. Two teams this week scored in the 50s, Big Ben and the Steelers and Drew Breeze. The Bears, mostly with B&C players and Mitch Tribesky are scoring 30 regularly. We've got five teams now. Think about this, averaging 30 points. Five teams and four others really close. I really felt coming into the year that the NFL by flipping the catch rule,

ask yourself this, how many times did you watch a play yesterday? And there was a nebulous catch, and they allowed the catch. There was one in the Philadelphia game with Nelson Aguilar. The NFL has decided, when in doubt, give them the catch. And that is not a little thing. That has resulted in a lot more touchdowns than field goals and extended drives and tired defenses. We said before the year, watch all these numbers in offense go through the roof with a catch rule being flipped. It has.

I saw it yesterday six or seven times. Anything that's in doubt now, just give him a catch. And for the record, I'm for it. Football is better with more offense, not less. 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 and 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 4th.

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.

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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 moment. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

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