The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/26/2018

Episode Date: November 26, 2018

Colin would like to see more evidence of why Aaron Rodgers is in the "G.O.A.T." conversation because he is not showing it when it comes to wins and losses. He talks about Andrew Luck being way ahead of Patrick Mahomes in the MVP conversation. Plus, Hall of Famer and Undisputed co-host Shannon Sharpe comes in studio to tell Colin that Tom Brady has had a bad season so far and nobody is talking about. 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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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 Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. This is the Best of the Hurd. with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, it's a Monday. This is The Heard, wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles,

IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, one hour from now on a Monday, where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. I got Shannon Sharp, I got Peter King, I got Rod Woodson, I got Trendilfer, Jamie Maggio, sitting in today. Joy Taylor got caught up in a blizzard in the Midwest, which I guess the whole country except where we live is, you know, under duress with weather. So it's great to have you on a Monday. Thank you, Colin.

Great to have you. I've been watching you on NFL sidelines and doing all sorts of stuff. So let me start with this. You know, it's the old movie line. Show me the money. I'm more of a show me the evidence. If you're going to tell me you're great, I got to see you're great. Stats, Super Bowl's rings.

Aaron Rogers is now one and nine in his last 10 road games. I know, I know it's not his fault. It never is. It's his defense. Oh, wait, they're third in the NFL and sacks. It's his running game. He doesn't have one. No, actually, Aaron Jones is dynamic, averaging over six yards of carry.

Mike McCarthy's a buffoon. Really? He resurrected Brett Farb's career. Come on now. Come on now. Show me the evidence. You got to give me something. Stats.

No, Breeze has those. Trophies, no Tom has those. You got to show me something. You've got to show me some evidence. You've been telling me all you media guys and all you fans for a decade have been telling me, oh, he's got a great arm, great. arm, great arm. All right. So did Jeff George. I mean, a million guys have a great arm. It's the NFL. Joe Flacco's got a great arm. Show me the evidence. Ask yourself this. Is that,

you know how they write those business books on what it takes to be a great leader and a great CEO? You can go to a library, go to Amazon.com. Look up business books. There's a million of them. I've read a handful in my life. Here's the qualities they never say make a great leader. aloof, condescending, arrogant, difficult to work with. Those are not qualities of Aaron Rogers. Those are now his brand. If I say to you, Hall of Fame quarterback, condescending, you think Aaron Rogers. Hall of Fame quarterback, aloof, hard to play.

You're saying Karen Rogers. It's like saying Joe Flacco's inaccurate. That's his brand. That's not a quality. That's who he is. Jay Cutler, Moody, that's not a quality. That's his brand. Tom Brady, driven, passionate.

Not a quality. That's his brand. I mean, Aaron Rogers, you notice this with Green Bay? The longer he's there, the uglier it gets, because people that are difficult to work with, you can tolerate him for a year, deal with him for two, appease him, placate him for four, but after about nine, you want to strangle him. But Colin, you're picking on Aaron Rogers. Why the hell would I do that?

Do I pick on LeBron? Do I pick on Steph Curry? Do I pick on Roger Fedder? Do I pick on Serena? When have I ever picked on the Great? Do I pick on the Warriors? Do I pick on Tom Brady? Do I pick on Russell Wilson?

Do I pick on Andrew Luck? Do I pick on Drew Breeze? Who do I pick? I picked on Tebow, because he wasn't very good. I picked on Westbrook. Great but hard to play with. And yes, yes, I pick on Aaron Rogers. No, I don't.

I'm honest. And you're all coming around now. I used to get a lot of pushback on this. I used to get nothing but hate mail. You don't know what you're talking about. You know what I get now? Silence. And that's what I know.

I'm right. Because fans are not going to admit they're wrong. I get that. That's okay. It's part of the deal. I have to. You call me out. I have a right, wrong segment 50 minutes from now. But when fans disappear, that's when you're right. The Westbrook fans, they don't push back. They just disappeared. The Aaron Rogers fans, they don't push back. They just disappeared. I don't hear from them anymore. I mean, again, I'm not saying it's all Aaron's fault. But he can't take a little blame. he's not a little rough to work with. I have four former Packers I know. All said the same thing.

Far of McCarthy got along great. Aaron McCarthy, major fissures. One in nine, last 10 on the road. And here's another thing that, that, again, don't, I'm not a big believer in just stat, stat, stats. Because I think we all know Aaron can play. I'm not saying it's all his fault. But you got to say some of it, some of it's his fault. I mean, nobody else is this bad on the road.

Breeze isn't. man Ryan's not Brady's not Russell Wilson's not they're not struggling like this they don't all have good coaches right they don't all have legends they don't have Hall of Famers they don't all have running games they're not they're not losing road quarterbacks

but here's a stat here's a stat show me the money show me the evidence so Breeze has the stats Tom has the trophies Aaron Rogers is now 0 and 37 after last night's loss of the Vikings he is now 0 for 37 when he enters the fourth quarter of any game trailing by more than a point, and the team he is playing in that moment, at that moment, has a winning record.

Now think about that. Aaron Rogers has never won a game. Owen 37, when he enters the fourth quarter trailing by more than one point against the team in that moment. Now, that may not be a great team. Many of them aren't. But in that moment, they have a winning record. Come on now. I mean, come on now.

The things I criticize him for are fair. His critics have, my critics have gone quiet, and that's what I know I'm right. And nobody's saying he won't have another five years, get the perfect coach for him. But what has made Big Ben, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, John Elwyn, what has made them great is overcoming. John Elway for years got to Super Bowls with no running game. Brady for years has gotten to Super Bowls without dynamic playmakers. Breeze has gotten to the playoffs and a Super Bowl without a dominating defense.

Peyton Manning only had one great defense until he got to Denver. You keep telling me Aaron's the best, but the best don't need a perfect football team to win on the road. The best, like Andrew Luck, overcome deficiency. to get to the playoffs. Overcome average defense's so-so running games. You keep telling me, well, he needs the right coach. I'm not saying he and McCarthy

are a good mix. But does he need Sean McVeigh? Does he need the perfect running game and the perfect defense and the perfect coach and the perfect schedule? Because the greats don't. The greats overcome. LeBron gets to finals

without an all-star. Kevin Durant, you look at the all-time greats. Very rarely do they have the perfect football team. They overcome all sorts of deficiencies to get you there. So I'm saying, show me the money, show me the evidence. Aaron Rogers should be in the greatest of all-time conversation. Let me shift gears to the Steelers. So everybody's going to beat up on Big Ben today.

I get it. Terrible interception late. I get it. today, this morning, every sports radio host, man, woman's going to crush him. I would like to point out that James Connor, red zone fumble, fumbled the ball when there was nobody around him. And at the end of the first half, a tight end fumbled the ball out of the red zone and they lost possession. Those weren't Ben's fault, right? But here's the number I want you to look at, not the score.

Not the score. Here's what I want you to look at. Big Ben was 41 of 56 passing. and I want you to think about 56 pass attempts. 56 pass attempts. He leads the NFL in pass attempts this year. And that's on a good team that generally doesn't trail games late and have to pass with a good team with a legitimate running game that could run the ball.

The Pittsburgh Steelers allowed him yesterday to throw the ball 56 times. Why is that a big deal? Here's why it's a big deal. You parents out there, you can brag about. your kids' grades. Oh, little Johnny got an A-plus. Little Susie's a perfect student. All you parents out there, you can brag about your kids' sports accomplishments.

He hit a home run. She scored a goal. But you know when you got good kids, when you can leave for the weekend and trust them. There's alcohol in the house, the key to the BMWs there, and the parents can go, we're going camping for four days, make sure you take care of your brothers and sisters. then you got a good kid. You can trust them. The Pittsburgh Steelers, with a running game, said,

Ben, we're leaving for the weekend. Throw it 56 times. Lamar Jackson's really good. Last two games, media falls in love with him. He has 44 attempts in two games. They're babysitting them. Baker Mayfield's amazing. Last two games combined, 46 attempts.

They're babysitting them. Those teams are telling you what they think Lamar and Baker. They like them. They got talent. But when those parents leave, they call the nanny. They call a babysitter. They make sure there's eyes on the quarterback. Not Big Ben. That family's going to Europe for eight days. There's alcohol all over the house, keys of the car. And they're like, we trust you. Watch your brother and sister. We're going to France. We'll be back in eight days. when you allow a quarterback in Denver, good defense, two great pass rushers,

on the road, throw it 56 times, that is incredible respect by an organization. They're just saying, listen, man, we don't tell Ben not to do this and not to do that. We don't tell Ben, stay away from here, only throw here. Mitch Tribisky, everybody. he loves Mitch Trubisky. He's 22nd in pass attempts. What's that telling you? Twenty second in pass attempts? That's telling you even with good running backs, even with

Matt Nagy. The bears are telling you there are certain times we're not going to let him throw it, and there are certain places we're not going to let him throw it. So I'm not saying Big Ben didn't have a really, really terrible throw. And I'm not going to defend that throw. But man, never forget when RG3 beat Andrew Luck for rookie of the year, I pushed back and I said, RG3 is throwing it 18 times a game. Luck's throwing at 40. The Colts were telling you what they thought of their rookie quarterback.

And so was Washington. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. So sometimes I'll say stuff. And, you know, the Internet reacts. Hot take, click. It's amazing how often, about a week later, you're like,

Colin appears to actually watch the games. I said last week, nothing against Patrick Mahomes, but in the two biggest games of the year, New England and the Rams, he had seven turnovers. He's not my MVP. My MVP is Drew Breeze.

And I said, number two is Andrew Luck. I got nothing to pushback. And after this weekend, my MVP race is Drew Breeze won, Andrew Luck 2 and who gives a rip number 3. There isn't a third. Big Ben knocked himself out.

Mahomes hasn't been good in the biggest games. Andrew Luck's unbelievable. Three plus touchdowns in eight straight games. The Colts don't have a number two wide receiver. What about Eric Ebron? What about him? He was a bust in Detroit. Every team in the NFL that you like,

Pittsburgh, the Bears, the Kansas City, the Chargers, the Rams, the Saints, Houston. You can name seven or eight of their players. They've got stars, J.J.J. Watt, Deshawn Watson. I mean, you go look at Houston. Jadavia and Clowny. They got this star. They got this guy.

This got wide receiver. There's one exception of this. The one team that's in a playoff race that has nobody outside of the quarterback you know is the Colts. They don't have a number two wide receiver. They don't have a star running back. In fact, if I said name their top five players, not counting Andrew Luck, I could make an argument their rookie left guard, their rookie linebacker who you didn't see play a game in college are two of their top three players. Who is their second corner?

Their right tackle. Who is their best linebacker outside of the rookie? You can't even name players. I mean, it's amazing to me. Think about this. Indianapolis not only has a new head coach and a first year head coach, he wasn't even the first head coach they hired. They hired another guy and settled for Frank Reich. And I'm not saying Frank Reich isn't really good.

I think he's been terrific. And his reputation, I said this on this show a couple years ago. Everybody was talking about Frank Reich. He deserves a lot of credit. He's been terrific. The Eagles aren't the same offense without him. But, you know, the knock on this guy was interceptions. 16 TDs, three picks in the last five games.

And again, without a number two wide receiver, without a star running back, with two rookies starting on the offensive line, And a bust tight end, a bust now with 12 touchdowns this year. Eric Ebron had 11 touchdowns in his entire career with Matt Stafford. Other teams are littered with offensive talent. Look at the Rams. Look at the Chargers. Look at the Steelers.

Look at the Chiefs. Look at the Saints. And there was a play in the fourth quarter yesterday. And I don't like to bang on play calling, but I don't know what Adam Gase was doing late in that game, going super conservative on the Miami Dolphins' last drive with about two minutes left and basically giving Andrew Luck to football in great field position like the 35 or 40. I don't know what he was doing. But there was a play by Andrew Luck late that just, it just embodies everything about Andrew

Luck. This was the biggest play of the weekend for him. Third and nine. Luck ducks the pass rush throwing deep. He has a man. O'Brodgers. Well, his athleticism pays off again. Big, strong, can't knock him down.

gets his eyes downfield and makes the big play. Again, it's not a hot take. It's not looking for clicks. I said it a week ago. I'll say it again. The MVP of this league is Drew Brees. Second place is Andrew Luck. Third, who cares?

These guys have set most valuable player. Give Patrick Mahomes these players. Give Andrew Luck, Travis Kelsey, Kareem Hunt. Andy Reed's play design. Sammy Watkins as his second best receiver. Cheetah. Give Andrew Luck that.

Give Mahomes this Colts team. Brough, not close. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Many believe he's the greatest tight end to ever play the game. He was a Hall of Famer inducted seven years ago. Eight Pro Bowls, a Super Bowl champ. And he was drafted by the Broncos in the seventh round.

He should have a chip on his shoulder. but he doesn't Shannon Sharp joining us. I only get Shannon like twice a year, so I always appreciate you. You're a busy man. Let's start with a couple things I haven't talked about. Yes. So I watched the Patriots and the Jets.

You could have taken that tape nine years ago. It looked like every Patriots win over the Jets. It was boring. It wasn't dynamic. What was your takeaway on it? Like you mentioned, the Jets aren't a very good football team, and the Patriots do what they do. the Patriots don't beat themselves.

If you beat the Patriots, you know you've beaten a very good football team. And there's a very good chance you didn't turn the football over because you turn the football over against this team. They'll normally beat you. But, you know, something is going unnoticed. I don't think Tom Brady is playing particularly well, Colin. He's 21st in completion percentage. He's 16th in yards per attempt.

He's 14th in touchdown passes. Now, for any other quarterback, we're like, okay, but for him, there's something going on here. Now, his numbers, they end up being well, but I didn't think he played particularly well in the first half. I didn't think he could play. And by the way, the minute they could go to the running game, they did. Yes. You know, outside of the Gronk play, they didn't really throw it down the field much.

And he really shouldn't have thrown that ball because they had safety help over the top. He got away with one because that's what Grant can do. You can make a mistake in throwing a ball where you shouldn't have thrown it. And Gronk is so big its catch radius is so huge that he can make a play that normal tight ends or other receivers can't be able to make because they're not as big as he is. But if you look at Gronk yesterday, I was surprised because they played him a lot of single coverage with Jamal Adams.

And I never thought I'd see the day that safety would take Grunk one-on-one and do the job that Jamal Adams did on him. Could I make the argument Josh Gordon couldn't stay clean, Gronks in his last year, James White's their best receiver, Edelman's off an ACL, that frankly it's the same old Patriots,

not overly dynamic, and most quarterbacks would struggle with this group of talented dynamic perimeter guys? Well, I think the thing is that when things go well for the Patriots, we blame, we give Tom Brady all the credit. When things don't go well, we say, look at his receivers. Oh, the defense is very good.

But if you look at Coach Belichick and Tom Brady, they've played 37 playoff games, they average up giving less than three points a fourth quarter in 37 playoff games, Colin. You're going to win a lot of games if your defense. In 23 of those games, they've pitched shut. outs. So just imagine you go into the fourth quarter and you know your defense is going to hold a team to three or few points. You're going to win a lot of games. Look, the thing is with Tom Brady

because what they do is that in the playoffs, they get you up there in their building. They haven't had to go take their show on the road in a very long time to win playoff games. And I don't believe they're going to catch Kansas City because I believe Kansas City is going to rent. I don't think they can go to Kansas City and win this year. I don't think so either. I don't think so either. I don't think they're dynamic enough. They need to be very careful because they play people. Pittsburgh. Now what Pittsburgh can do, they can hang points on you. I think their defense shown yesterday, you can't lose, you can't lose to Case Keenham. But if you turn the ball over four times and the opposing team doesn't turn it over, they're going to beat you. And that's

what happened. The tight-in had a walk-in touchdown. Fumbled it out of the end. But he tried to play hero. He tried to run the DB over. So what was your takeaway on Pittsburgh's win? Because my takeaway was, to start the show, they let Ben throw it 56 times. Yes. I know we all love Lamar and Baker Mayfield, but they're throwing it 22 times a game. I think Ben's a remarkable talent who made a terrible throw. Yeah. I still love Pittsburgh. Yeah.

But here's the thing, but do you trust him late? Because what we've seen from Ben, if you look at the divisional game last year, it was his fumble, scoop and score. And he threw an interception in his own end territory in the next play they scored a touchdown. That's 14 points. Now, in the playoffs, you give a team 14 points. Over. You're going to lose.

And you look at the teams that they could possibly face. Kansas City can score a bunch of points. San Diego can score a bunch of points. New England can score a bunch of points. You turn the ball over against any of those three teams you're losing. I know people think I'm hard on Aaron Rogers, but what I said at the old place I work with and what I've said here, you know, the old saying, show me the money,

I tend to be show me the evidence. If you showed me your Super Bowls, your catches, your yards, you were dynamic and a compiler. That's a Hall of Famer. You compiled great numbers. You were on championship teams. You went to Baltimore. Teams got better.

I have evidence that you're arguably the greatest titan ever. Okay, Aaron's now, O'N 37, entering the fourth quarter, trailing by more than one point against a team that at that time has a winning record. I know he can throw the ball. I know he's a sorcerer with his arm. But man, the personality, brother calls him out. McCarthy doesn't get along. Can I blame some of this erosion on Green Bay?

Some on Aaron? Yeah, it does. he missed some throws. And the thing is with Aaron, he missed some throws last night that he normally makes. The ball to Adams, he normally makes that throw.

He had EQ Brown in the flat and he tried to rush it and he dirted it. I think there's so much pressure on him. He's been sacked 34 times. I think the most he's ever been sacked in the season, if I'm not mistaken, it's 35, and they still have five games to go.

And he knows if he doesn't play great, He can't play good and win. He must play great. So do you think there are times that he holds the ball a little long, looking to make. Yes. He's got little Bryce Harper.

Yes. He's swinging for the fences. Yes. Yes. Do you think his contract, I said this, it's unfair, and if I was Aaron, I'd take every penny. Right. But, you know, it's interesting. It's never been a good free agent market.

The minute he takes that big contract, it guarantees his teams will be younger going forward. Right. Do you think that's a little bit in his head? there is a little pressure on Aaron he didn't have before that contract? Well, you know the thing is with Aaron, he looks at it like this. It's not my job to give you a hometown discount so you can figure out your situation. My job is to play quarterback at the highest level. It's your job to put the pieces around me and figure out a way to do it.

Because guess what? When you don't feel like I can play at this level, you're going to move on from me because I saw you do it with Brett. So he's like, I'm going to take, see, I think the thing is Tom Brady's done a great thing and he's been horrible because he's given the, uh, the Patriots hometown discounts, which has hurt his team because they look at, and when it comes up to free agency, everybody looks, it's like, hold on, the best player in NFL history, arguably, the best player on our team is always giving

us a discount. Why would I pay you market value when he won't take it? And so now teams around the league expect everyone to give them a discount like Tom Brady's giving them the Patriots. Well, everybody doesn't have a wife that's worth $300 million. I'm not giving you no discount. My wife is sitting at home getting the kids ready to go to school. Tom Brady's wife is making $30, $40 million a year.

So it's a blessing and a curse to have these great quarterbacks. Normally what you try to do, if you look at the Rams, they're going for it because they had Jerry gone for the rookie contract. You look at the Kansas City, they got this guy on a rookie contract. Dallas, if they're smart, they got DAC on a rookie contract. When you start paying quarterbacks 28, 30, $33 million a year, it limits the pieces that you can put around. You have to go like the Saints did.

You got to nail a draft. Yes. Like the Colts did with luck. You have to have a draft when you get like four stars. Yes. Because guess what? You got Kamar on a rookie contract. You got Michael Thomas on a rookie contract.

You got a Latimer on a rookie contract. You got a lot of your key pieces on Ricky contract. So you can pay Drew Breeds of $25, $27 million. But sooner or later, these guys are going to, Kamar is going on a big contract. Michael Thomas is going to win a big contract. You can't pay everybody market value and keep the team in place. Finally, Shannon Sharp, Hall of Famer, 14 years. Just an unbelievable.

First of all, you've done, you're just an amazing. broadcaster. I'm so happy for you because you're such a funny, smart. I remember when I interviewed you three years ago, I brought you on the show and I went to my bosses. I said, this guy's captivating. You're a movie buff. You got all sorts of stuff going on. Finally, I said this a couple weeks ago. You put Josh Allen in. He's not ready to play. Just play Lamar Jackson. Maybe I'm selfish, but it looks like the Baltimore players are getting juice off this kid. Flacco, I'll say, say what you want about it. When Lamar Jackson comes in, he's not the most polished refined quarterback

but his receivers are making catches they didn't with Flacco I'm a go with Lamar from this point forward I'm wrong go with Lamar what's your take I believe that you go with Lamar also because this is not just about making the playoff this year you traded back into the first round to take this guy so you're saying this guy's going to be our future you know what Joe Flacco is I'm not sure Joe Flacco is in their future for 2019 because they can get away you know they'll say 10 million dollars

they'll have some dead money over the next two years but I believe it's time to move in a different direction than Joe Flacco. A lot of times when you take these guys in the first round, Colin, you have a veteran quarterback, you play the veteran quarterback until you're out of the playoffs and then you bring the rookie in so you can get valuable playing time. I believe in this situation with Lamar Jackson is that you get better because he's in a situation where they're still trying to make the playoffs. So he knows what it's like to be in these type of ball games moving forward.

So I believe this is a better situation for the Ravens because I don't believe Joe Flacco is going to be in their future and Lamar Jackson, he needs reps. He needs meaningful reps. I've never seen a guy that was on the sidelines like, man, I got better today. You know, watching them play calling, I really got good today. You get better by playing. And Lamar Jackson's only going to get better when he plays.

He's raw and give Marty Morningwick the offensive coordinator because he's used to call him plays for dropback quarterback. That's right. And so for him to implement plays to cater to, to what Lamar Jackson does really well says a lot about Marty. By the way, Marty had Michael Vic for a while too, so he had a little precursor to what he has right now.

It's absolutely great seeing you. Thanks for having me on again. Thank you for coming on our show. You're a very busy guy. Shannon Sharp. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. One of the reasons I didn't

think Michigan should be in the final four playoff. I thought they were a terrible matchup against Alabama. a terrible matchup against Alabama or Clemson. And I still think Jim Harbaugh is a great coach, but like every Michigan coach over the last 20 years, they get hammered by Ohio State. And I don't think, I think Michigan proved what I suspected would eventually happen against Alabama.

It just happened against Ohio State. They couldn't compete athletically. They're not the same team. Watch the game. Speed, size, length. They just don't match up. And I'm watching the game, and it really hit me. That in college football right now, stay with me for a.

second on this. Let's consider top 20 teams, just the big boys, right? There's two divisions in the country. Forget the conferences. There's the Northern Powers, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Washington, Penn State, Northern Powers. Then there's the Southern Powers,

Bama, Auburn, LSU, Clemson, Oklahoma, Florida, most of the SEC. So don't consider Power 5 conferences. Don't consider Coase. Consider two divisions for college football. There's the really good teams up north and the really good down south, warm weather, cold weather. And it really hit me

this weekend watching Michigan, Ohio State, again watching what happens every time they play the last 15, 20 years. Ohio State looks like an SEC team. They look like Oklahoma. They look like Clemson. They look like Auburn. They look like LSU. Nobody really looks like Bama, but they're close. Speed, athleticism, length, depth of talent. That Ohio State, and I've said this several times, is the only northern power that their ideology is southern. Junior college, transfer, pay whatever it takes. They're a southern football team that plays north. And just to throw this out there, everybody wants me to pick the four most deserving teams in the final four. But those aren't the four best teams. The four best teams to me are Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, and after this weekend, I don't even think

it's Notre Dame. I think it's either Georgia or Ohio State. Forget deserving. You're just telling me who looks different. And I like Notre Dame. I really do, but they played one SEC team this year. Vanderbilt gave them fits. And I came up with a stat. I asked my team this morning to look something up. Northern powers, southern powers. If you consider Ohio State a southern power, the way they recruit, take transfers, JCs, pay whatever it takes, sell out their stadium. Ohio State against the Big Ten in the last decade is 74 and 12. The SEC against the Big Ten last decade, 25 and 15. If you take one program in the North, Ohio State, and consider it a Southern team,

folks, you're telling me who deserves to get in. This is why it's difficult with this playoff. Northern teams mostly beat Northern teams. Northwestern couldn't win an out-of-conference game. this year. Oh, for three. Yet they'll end up in the Big Ten championship game. What am I to make of them? Notre Dame. They don't beat Clemson when they play. They struggle with Mandy. That's the difficulty I'm having with the college football final four. It's why I said Oklahoma deserves to be in over Michigan. Because my eyes tell me depth, length, speed, mobility, player. Oklahoma's better

than Michigan. Oklahoma matches up with Alabama. You do remember what happened when Oklahoma played Georgia last year, right? They looked like they should be on the same field. You do remember what happened the last time Notre Dame faced Alabama. It looked like Division I, Division I, I'm watching Ohio State in Michigan, and it just struck me. Why do I even consider Ohio State a Big Ten team? They're nothing like the Big Ten.

Look at their record in the last 10 years. Take out the Luke Figgle Year. They don't even average one loss a season. Just take out the one year they were in turmoil and hired a guy. guy who's a coordinator or a position coach, not a head coach. That year, there were three and five. All the other years, they don't even average a loss a year. And so my, you know, my takeaway is when I watch all these games, I try to see it from a big picture perspective, you're asking me to come up with four teams in the end. They're not the best four. The best four teams I've seen

this year, the best four teams I've seen. After watching every, I watched all this weekend, Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and I think it's Georgia. Now, Georgia. is going to lose to Alabama. It'll be a 10th, 13-point game. They'll lose to them. It'll be competitive. It will because they can match up. But man, I'm watching Michigan, and I'm like, this is what I thought Alabama would do to them. And then I thought, well, Ohio State's closer to Bama the last 15 years than they've been to Michigan. Michigan's not close to Alabama. And Ohio State's not Bama, but they're closer to Alabama than they are to Michigan. And I like, I watched Notre Dame this year, but again, I get fooled because I'm watching

Notre Dame beat northern teams. And I'm watching Michigan beat northern teams. And the minute they face Ohio State, it's like, whoa, whoa, those teams don't even look athletically like the same team. Ohio State was using their third and fourth receivers. They were using guys barely played. They're running away from Michigan players. 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. By the way, yesterday, I'm not going to get into predicators. I actually have a piece of evidence. I don't know why I call it evidence. That makes it sound like a crime scene. I was driving to work yesterday at Fox. I sneezed and my nose exploded. I don't get bloody noses.

I guess there was dry air, blood on my, everything's shy of the windshield. And I was driving to work yesterday, blood on my shirt, blood on my face. And the only thing I thought was, if I get pulled over right now, I'm a suspect. Because I sneezed with a dry nose and there's blood. I have a shirt in the back of my car and I was got blood all over it. And I don't even know how. Everybody kept going, are you okay?

And I'm like, yeah, it was like eight ounces of blood. I'm fine. I didn't get, you know, I don't need a tourniquet, but it was, I don't even. The other guy feel terrible for he's in my trunk. All right. All right. It's a Monday. It's a Monday.

Where Colin's right. Where Colin's right. I don't think I've ever picked an entire conference right. But before the season, my top seven. in the AFC were New England, Pittsburgh, Chargers, Baltimore, Chiefs, Indy, and Houston. And those are the top seven teams in the AFC.

Now, Kansas City is better than I predicted, because I said coming into the year, I've never seen Patrick Mahomes play. I have no idea what I'm getting. I'm just going to trust Andy Reid to get to 500. And I have not been good on the NFC, but I've never been this accurate on an entire conference that I've been on the AFC this year.

And I do think Baltimore and Indy as I predicted, it would be the two teams fighting for the last wild card spot. Where Colin was wrong. I had my worst blazing five of the year. Thank God to Cleveland Browns. I picked them one. I took a lot of dogs. I took Green Bay.

I took Detroit. I just couldn't get anything right this weekend. Now, I'm still 33 and 25. I took dogs and a lot of favorites won. Baker, Baker Moneymaker was terrific for me. He's been good for me all year. I've been good on Baker Mayfield. I should bet him every week.

and boy I trusted Cam and Russell Wilson was just unbelievable late in that game where Colin was right Remember when Rob Parker FS1 came on the show about six months ago and he called Matt Stafford

Stat Padford and I'm like whoa I think he's right you can't beat at home the Bears and Chase Daniels on a short week he just makes too many errant throws he misses too many wide open guys he's been in this league a decade

forget the playoff wins none give me a signature win uh you know eric ebron was a bust with him eric ebron goes over to play with andrew lock and he's a pro bowl tight end at some point matt stafford a decade into this league with that contract and that arm again forget the money show me the evidence he's a top quarterback because i can't find it statistically and i can't find it with trophies where colin was wrong i said before the season i got a take a hit on this. I thought the Big Ten coaching was so good. The Big Ten would inch closer and closer to the SEC. I think they're further apart than they've ever been. It's Ohio State and a bunch of unathletic-looking teams. Michigan looks slow. Northwestern couldn't win an out-of-conference game

and they're in the Big Ten championship. Wisconsin, Michigan State can't move the ball. I thought the Big Ten coaching was so good that they, in the footprint of the Big Ten, they wouldn't have the athletes of the SEC, but they get closer. No, they're not. And another not. I mean, I watched Auburn at least push back a little bit on Alabama. I don't think anybody outside of Ohio State would even push back a little. And Auburn's not even good in the SEC. They push back on Alabama.

I was wrong on that one. Where Colin was right? But I did say before the year that I thought the Western Conference of the NBA was dysfunctional and highly overrated. You want to know who outside of the Warriors is on top right now. the West, the Clippers, the Nuggets, Memphis and Dysfunctional O KC. By the way, Memphis, Mark Gassol, Mike Conley. They're now a power.

Come on. The West has got a lot of stars and a lot of egos and a lot of so-so coaches. And I think the Clippers are a fun story. They got a lot of good stuff out of that Blake Griffin trade. But if they're the best team in the West right now, the West's not very good. And the East has Philadelphia. I like him. Toronto, deep.

A lot of guys can play on that team. Boston's not even playing well. And you got Milwaukee. So the West is every bit as dysfunctional, as overrated as I thought it was. Where Colin was wrong. Listen, Lamar Jackson's 2-0. I said in this draft, I said Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, they're not ready to play in this league. Now, again, he's had some picks.

They played bad teams. The games have been at home. But you know what? When you watch Baltimore play, he just gives them juice. He just gives them energy. And in 2018, I like my quarterbacks to have a little mobility. Now, I think he runs too much. I'd rather he scale it back a little.

I'd rather be a little more advanced throwing it. But I've got to tell you right now, if I owned or ran that team, I'd stick with Lamar Jackson. It's fun. And by the way, Flacco's got limitations. He's not mobile and he's not accurate. Lamar's got limitations. He doesn't have a lot of NFL starts. But he had seven wide receivers yesterday that he completed passes to,

and he is much better, much more capable than I expected. Where Colin was right? When the Cowboys gave away a first pick, a first round pick for Amari Cooper, people freaked out. And I said, well, they're going to draft the wide receiver anyway. And outside of that really good player at Arizona State University, he's way better than all the college receivers I've seen this year. And Amari Cooper was the player of note in the Cowboy Thanksgiving win over Washington. Four games, he's got 22-cars.

He's got three touchdowns. And the thing that's really important here, he looks and he separates like a number one receiver. Now, he's not a number one receiver on maybe Atlanta or Pittsburgh. But I think he's a number one receiver on about half the teams. And he's at least a number two receiver on everybody else. He separates. He's got good hands. He is physical.

He's hard to bring down. This was the number one high school receiver in the country. He was the number one college receiver in the country. He may not be the number one NFL receiver. But Dallas got a difference maker. And that's what first round picks are about. And I like their pick. I like their trade.

Good for the Cowboys. Where Colin was wrong. Boy, the Celtics, if I was a Celtics, I picked them to get to the championship against the Warriors and beat them. They're 10 and 10. They've lost 8 of 12. And Brad Stevens' sort of team ball approach, Kyrie Irving is doing too much ISO. Jason Tatum, after having a good playoff run, to me, is doing too much ISO. Gordon Hayward comes off that devastating injury, he does not look like to this point the same player.

They've lost 8 of 12. They're a 7 seat in the east. Now, again, it's early. I mean, Utah's struggling. I like Utah. But when you watch the Celtics play, they're not as crisp offensively. And this is the downside to Kyrie Irving. He is a shooting point guard.

I like my point guards to generally distribute first, score, second. Now, I give Kyrie and Steph Curry a pass because they are brilliant shooters as well. But the movement of the basketball is not as good last year when Kyrie was hurt and sitting out. Where Colin was right? But I was right on Westbrook. You see where he was one for 12 on threes against Denver? By the way, when he was gone, they were five and one. He's back there two and two.

and he is still the worst shooting three-point guy in the league. Oh, but my bad, in all four games, he's had a triple double. That's why I won the MVP. It's a triple double. A triple double in the NBA is becoming a quarterback who throws for 4,300 yards. If you don't, you should be a college quarterback. Westbrook's hard to play with. Westbrook can't shoot.

Westbrook has to drive to score, meaning Westbrook gets hurt at the rim. Sorry, but this goes kind of the John Wall left. He's talented, but the Wizards went on a winning street without him. Blake Griffin left. Clippers went on a winning streak without him. You ever notice how good the Clippers this year are without Blake Griffin? There's a handful of guys in this league I've been banging on. They're talented.

I don't think they make anybody better, Walt Blake and Westbrook. Where Colin was wrong. Yeah, I just didn't know what the hell I was talking about with the Chicago Bears. I had him picked for last in their division, 5 and 11. I mean, Mitch Trubisky was just pedestrian. I saw him his first year. I didn't get it. He never had a game over two touchdowns.

And they still, I don't think, have great offensive players. I think their running backs are good, but they're humming. They're well-coached. Their eight best players, according to pro football focus, are all defensive players. They have a brilliant young head coach. And I'll give Trubisky this. I don't see him as a transformative guy. I don't think he has Deshawn Watson or Andrew Luck or Carson-Wens talent,

but you know what? The most important thing in the NFL today is a quarterback. I'm not so sure the second most important thing isn't a play caller. And Matt Nagy and Trubisky, it's working. With that defense, it's working, and I was wrong. Where Colin was right? I said Michigan would be a terrible matchup for Alabama. They don't pass the eye test.

Their running backs aren't special. They're quarterback small, a poor man's Johnny Manzell. and I don't like their offensive line. And Michigan got thumped by Ohio State. Now, I was surprised by the outcome. I thought the Michigan-Ohio State game looked exactly like what Alabama, Michigan would look like. Michigan's defense was number one in the country, mostly dominating Big Ten teams. I mean, that's what they did mostly.

They dominated Big Ten teams. Do you know Michigan's defense gave up more points this weekend than their basketball team has given up all season long? And they've lost the two best teams they've played. Ohio State and Notre Dame. I think they're a really, really good Big Ten football team. Where Colin was wrong. Hugh Jackson and Todd Haley

got fired by Cleveland and Baker Mayfield's gotten better. That's not the way it's supposed to work. You know, these young quarterbacks are usually better with experienced offensive coaches. But his completion percentage since they left is 74%.

Now, that's always been his strength, his accuracy. But I got to give Baker credit. This is a chaotic organization. It's a dysfunctional organization. And they've already, in his first year, had dysfunction. And he's overcome it. He's stayed focused on completing passes. It's what he does. Now, Cleveland's got real running backs and real receivers. When you're as bad as Cleveland has been for years and you draft well, and they're a hell of a draft, they've got players. But Baker deserves credit here. This thing is still swimming in chaos, and he has just kept his eye. When he plays these games, open receiver, let it go, get it to him. That's where he looks like Drew Brees. He's not as good as Drew Brees,

but the people that said he's got Drew Brees, this is where he's Drew Brees. Drew Brees has always made a career out of chaos around him, deficiencies around him, focusing on game, completing passes, moving the sticks. It's what Baker has done very well so far this year. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast, podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica 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, 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. Life is full of hurdles, so how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions

about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio. app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist, and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud.

But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.