The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/27/2018

Episode Date: November 27, 2018

Colin thinks Aaron Rodgers is slowly turning into Brett Favre and that isn't the best way to end his career. He thinks Baker Mayfield is showing his immaturity which is exactly why he didn't think Baker would be a long term franchise QB. Plus, Cowboys rookie linebacker Leighton Vander Esch talks with Colin about his journey from a town of 400 people to riding in Jerry Jones' helicopter as a member of 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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This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Tuesday. This is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening live from Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. One hour from now, our top 10 NFL teams heard hierarchy. Leighton Van der Resch, the Dallas Cowboys is going to join us. Pacific Northwest Kid from Idaho, who's hit it big. He's a star line.

back here for the Dallas Cowboys. Joy Taylor, I didn't say the city. I was an undisclosed location, missed yesterday's show, got snowed in. We could say it. I was in Kansas City with Earl and the family for Thanksgiving. And Sunday, we were ahead to the airport and it decided to drop six inches of snow from the sky. There you go. By the way, it looks like you're wearing a ski sweater. So you look so. Yes, I've been affected by the bludgeoned. I haven't seen snow like that a long time. It's very pretty, just not on the right day. All right. Great to have you back. Thanks. Great to have you back. So I'm watching last night to Sean Watson, who I said when he came out in the draft, not Ms. Trabiski, I said I'd take Deshawn Watson as the first

quarterback. I didn't think he was as gifted maybe as an Andrew Luck, not as not as physically gifted as a cam, but I said that's the best quarterback I've seen in college. He should have beaten Nick Sabin twice. Sabin had six weeks. He's great. And I'm watching him last night, and he just had another terrific night. They've won eight straight. I know we fall in love with two game winning streaks for Baker Mayfield. A lot of average guys have had two game winning streak. He's on an eight-gamer, terrific player, 19 to 24, a couple of touchdowns can move, had a running game, and I'm really happy for him because he's also, I've been told, a great kid. But I was thinking about this. The NFL football is so much bigger than anything else in America.

It's four times as popular as college football. I mean, in regular season games, get nine to ten times what an NBA game does, 15 times what a baseball game does. It's the biggest sport in the country. And there's one position that matters more than any, quarterback, and we know that. These are $3 billion teams, $5 billion. teams. Cowboys may be a $10 billion team. So think about that. This is the biggest sport in America by a mile.

Quarterback is the number one position by a mile. And all these experts and all these college teams and all these scouts, how many teams in the NFL drive to work? How many owners, how many

coaches, how many GMs drive to work in the entire NFL and think for the next decade, we have a star quarterback. I think you'd be shocked to see how lucky Houston is. Now, think about this. Let's eliminate five guys right off the top. They're all great, but they're not going to be here in a decade. Brady, Breeze, Rogers, Ben, Philip Rivers. They're great. Let's take those five out. They're not going to be here in 10 years. All those teams outside of maybe Green Bay are all thinking of draft in a quarterback next year. And Green Bay, Aaron's

going to be 35 in December, they're going to be drafting a quarterback in three years. So take those five out the next five all the rookie quarterbacks. So let's take out Mayfield, Donald, Rosen, Alan Jackson. Don't freak out, Baker Mayfield fans. RG3 had a great rookie year. Vince Young had a great rookie year. You don't know because you beat Atlanta in Cincinnati? You don't know. Let's take out the rookies. You don't know based on eight, nine NFL games. Let's take out another five guys who, let's just be honest, they're incredibly limited. Bortles, Dalton, Keenham, Eli, and Tannahill. They can win games.

Eli's got some Super Bowls. They're now very limited quarterback. So we've taken out 15. Let's take out. These are the hard guys to take out. These are guys that are talented, but there's limitations. Stafford, Flacco, Alex Smith, Dak, Kirk, Derek Carr, Mariotta, James Winston. Come on, Marioita fans.

He had three passes over 10 yards. He runs too much. He's heard often. Now, I like Derek Carr a lot, but he may get traded in a year. Oakland doesn't love him as much as I do. And you know what you're left with. Now, think about this again. This is the biggest sport, the most important position, the number of what people give up

six, seven picks to get the quarterback right. And here's what you are left with in the NFL. You are left with 10 quarterbacks, just a third of the league, that every owner, GM and coach drives to work knowing we've got our guy for 10 years. Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, DeShon Watson, Patrick Mahomes, Carson Wins, Jimmy G, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, and Tribisky. Now, I like Carr more than Tribusky, but I think people in Chicago are all in on Trubisky.

I don't think people in Oakland are all in on Derek Carr, though I prefer him. just when I'm watching last night, I'm watching DeShon Watson, I'm thinking, man, Houston, you are in much more rarefied air than you realize. Only 10 teams in this league that for the next decade have their guy at the most important position and they think we can win a Super Bowl. And outside of Tribisky, who I'd put in the good but limited and Carr, who I would put in the franchise quarterback now, 10 years. That's it. I could maybe add Derek Carr. It is. You want to know why teams give up

seven picks. Deshawn Watson, how good do you feel in Houston? Eight game winning streak. By the way, what makes these guys special? And Jimmy G., what about Jimmy G? You want to know what Kyle Shanahan is in San Francisco without Jimmy G? Two and 17. Got a winning record with Jimmy G. Hold off your cynicism. Okay. It is, I was just happy for Houston. I was happy for Deshawn. Because the NFL's better. When I know 10 years, check, I got my guy.

It's remarkable how few do. Let me shift to this. We all want to be, I'm not going to speak for joy, but I think she probably thinks the same way. We all want to be not our parents, right? We all want to be a little smarter than our parents, a little cooler than our parents, a little cooler than our parents, a little hipper than our parents. Sometimes we get around to kids and we kind of like roll our eyes at our parents. We love them. but we look at our parents and we're like, oh, I'm not going to become dad.

Oh, I'm not going to become mom. We don't want to become our parents, right? But then all these years later, I look at myself and I'm like, man, I got a lot of my dad's qualities. I got a lot of my mom's qualities. We all become our parents. And Aaron Rogers yesterday was talking about mortality. And I'm thinking about this. Aaron Rogers would never want to be compared to Farve.

Farve, Southern guy, rigid, stothering through all those picks. I'm a lot smarter than Brett Farb. And Fav never thought Aaron Rogers was as equal. Guy went to junior college, California guy, thinks he's better than everybody. They're becoming one another. Yesterday, Aaron Rogers talked about something that Brett Farrv used to all the time on the back nine of his career, his mortality. Here's Aaron.

Obviously got a lot more gray in the beard than I did a few years ago. So I know that football mortality. catches up to everybody and you never want to lose a season. We're going to battle the next five weeks and put ourselves in a position to be in the conversation and hopefully it'll be enough and like I've always said, we've got to get in. Mortality. Mortality. We've got to win these five.

See what happens. Yeah. But he talks about mortality. It was one of my knocks with Farr of late in his career. I'm like, dude, you're like 36 years old. Stop being stubborn and rigid. You're not a grandpa. Learn a new offense.

He didn't want to learn a new offense. And I think it's interesting. Aaron's talking about graying beard. I'm on the back nine. They've become one another. Think about this. Let's go to Farve's first 10 years in the league as a Packer. And let's go to Aaron's first 10 years as a Packer.

Both have a Super Bowl, multiple MVP's, 9 out of 10 winning seasons, and six Pro Bowls. Both have iconic arms, commercials beloved by the fawning media. First 10 years, same guy. Maybe one from the South, one from the West. It's the same guy. but remember how Brett Farve's career ended. And couldn't I make an argument? This is sort of how errands will end.

How did Farve's last five seasons go? Barely a 500 road quarterback. Three teams, multiple Pro Bowls, couple division titles, never got back to a Super Bowl. And oh, by the way, kind of flaky. Remember, Farv, I'm going to retire, I'm not going to retire, I'm not going to retire, I'm not going to retire, kind of held the team hostage.

And oh, by the way, there were a couple of quarterbacks emerging, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, who looked better. When I look at Aaron Rogers down the stretch, I think he's going to make Pro Bowls. I think he's going to win a couple division titles. I'm not sure he's going to get back to the Super Bowl. And he's becoming a little like Farrv,

whereas your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, coach out, Ty Montgomery out, defense problem. We never want to become our parents. We all do. Aaron Rogers, first 10 years, are identical to Farve's. Will his last seven be? I will say this.

People always say their big difference is Farve threw a lot of picks Aaron doesn't. But even that's linked. Farv never got hurt because he got rid of the ball early, thus creating often interceptions. Aaron's hurt a lot because he holds on to the ball too long, because he doesn't want to throw interceptions. Even on that, they're linked.

And just never forget how it ended for Brett Farrve. Brett Farrb goes back to pass. He pumps. Now he fires over the middle. Intercepted. I can't believe what I'm seeing right now. It was intercepted by Tracy Porter, near side to the 40,

and John Sullivan runs him down at the 47-yard line. You've got to be kidding me. I can't believe what I just saw. Why do you even ponder? passing. I mean, you can take a knee and try a 56-yard field goal. This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl. Paul Allen, my favorite radio call ever. It is interesting, though. What we try to avoid, we often become. Farvin Rogers to me, first 10 years identical, will the last seven or eight for Aaron? it does appear he'll have a new coach and a new start in about four months.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. So you know how I felt about Baker Mayfield? I said it over and over and over. He's not going to be a bust. I said that from day one, said it a thousand times. He's too accurate a thrower to be a bust. I think he's going to be a better version of Case Keenham. Now, a lot of you will go, whoa, last two weeks, Case Keenham has beaten Philip Rivers and Big Ben. just let that soak in, put the pom-poms down. Last two weeks, Case Keenham has beaten Big Ben and Philip Rivers. I think Baker Mayfield is not Breezer Wilson.

I think he's much closer to Case Keenham. Give him a running game, a good defense. He can win games in this league. He's not a bust. But my concern is always been the nonsense and the immaturity. So yesterday, two days ago, he fired off at Hugh. Jackson. Didn't need to nonsense. Luck wouldn't have done it. Wilson wouldn't have done it. Breeze wouldn't have done it. Matt Ryan wouldn't have done it. Stupid. Fires at Hugh Jackson.

And then yesterday, Damian Woody, one of my best friends at ESPN, who I still call regularly. I talked to him last week, went to Twitter and said, Damien said, hey, Baker, didn't you transfer to a rival? Aren't you being a little bit of a hypocrite? You're mad at Hugh Jackson for getting fired and saying, well, I'm going to go to a team that offered me a contract. Baker went to social media and fired back at Damien Woody. He goes, not even comparable. I didn't lose 30 plus games. Be fake and do that.

I wasn't going to have a scholarship. Good try, though. Why go there? Now, right now, the media, which just falls in love with a shiny new toy and fans, which, short for a fanatic, I get it, are in love with Baker Mayfield. Two things to remember.

RG3, Vince Young, and Mark Sanchez had great rookie years. So did DAC, but let me concentrate on those three. Because they all eventually flamed out for the same reason. RG3, immature. Vince Young, immature. Mark Sanchez, more playboy than playbook. Didn't work hard enough.

Out. They all had way better years than this year for Baker. Baker's year isn't even finished. They didn't even start the year. We're not close to, you still have a month and more left in the year. So I know you're just going crazy. It's a big star. It's the first thing to remember.

I've seen, I've been watching this league for four decades. I've seen guys like Vince Young, hell of a lot more talent than Baker. Mark Sanchez, RG3, have great rookie years and DAC. And then an hour later, you're like, oh, oh, that's kind of a perfect storm there. Everything kind of worked out. Here's the second thing. So maturity or lack thereof always unravels quarterbacks. Jeff George, Vince Young, Sanchez, R.

G3. The matter of how talented you are, at that position, immaturity, Johnny Mansell, will unravel regardless of your talent. Here's the second thing. He's won two straight games. Ooh, too straight. You do realize the guys I like have gone on like long streaks. Deshawn Watson's won eight straight.

Carson Wentz last year won nine straight. Andrew Luxon a five gamer. Jared Goff had an eight gamer. Mahomes has had a five and a four gamer. Congratulations on back-to-back wins over, oh, I don't know, Cincinnati Atlanta's defense, which are awful. It should be noted that he's had a nice three-game stretch. Kansas City, Atlanta, Cincinnati, I put their defensive rankings in the NFL on the board last 30th and 28th. Jared Goffed, does he what he did at Kansas City?

54 points, and that's without Todd Gurley having a touchdown. In fact, against Cincinnati and Atlanta, Baker didn't come close to picking up the average yards those teams give up. Atlanta gives up 275 yards a game. Baker threw for 215. Cincinnati gives up 300 yards in the air a game. He got 250. Maturity, still an issue. I've seen better quarterbacks rookies unravel because of lack of maturity.

And secondly, he's won two straight games over terrible defenses. Who cares? I mean, Sam Donald looked great on Monday Night Football. Where's he at now? They're rookies. You can't take one and two game capsules, three game capsules. Who'd they play when they play them? So I think this is what I always worried about Baker Mayfield.

It's not the accuracy. He's a gamer. He's going to complete 69% of his throws in this league, 70% with the new rule. He won't be a bust. But this maturity stuff, Instagram, social media, firing it. I'm telling you, I've watched it unravel a lot more talented quarterbacks. 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.

Tom Brady said something yesterday, and it's pretty funny. Tom Brady was asked about, you know, all these flashy offenses, throwing the ball down the field, and here's New England once again, chopping wood, chopping wood, boring, boring, thousand cuts. It's four yards, six yards. And Brady talked about taking more risk and throwing the ball down the field more. Maybe part of my problem is I've gotten older is, you know, I want to make so few mistakes. You know, maybe there's not as much aggressiveness as I would like because, you know, with aggressiveness comes a little more risk. And, you know, we have like a 95% chance of winning when we don't turn the ball over.

You know, and I think that's always in the back of my mind. Now, for the record, he's right. New England is 125 and 15 when Tom Brady and the Patriots don't have a turnover. So what he's saying is basically we have a template here and it all starts with one stat. Don't turn it over. They're 125 and 15. That is unbelievable. There is no greater stat in the National Football League than that.

New England's 125 and 15 when they don't turn it over. So Tom's saying, yeah, I'm a little with our template the way we do business, but I want you to think about this. I watched New England Sunday, watched every snap. And we're all falling in love with the Rams and the Saints and the Steelers and the Chiefs and the Texans. And I love me some Andrew Luck. But ask yourself, what are the five staples that New England every year, in every one of these Super Bowls, there's five things they do every year. And ask yourself, aren't they doing all of them this year?

Number one is they have the best head coach in football. That's not arguable. There's not a single fan out there watching me that thinks, ooh, we play New England this week. We've got the better coach. I like Sean Payton. I like Andy Reid. I like Sean McVeigh.

They still have the best coach in the league. That matters situationally late in games. We've seen it a million times. Number two is, say what you want about Brady. He is the best pre-snap quarterback in the NFL. Not just audiblying to better plays. Does anybody in league history audible out of more trouble than him. He audibles out of sacks. He audibles out of losses and blitzes. They still have that.

Number three is bend, don't break defense. Do you know where they're ranked right now in points? 11th. And if you look at their remaining schedule, they'll probably end up 8th, 9th, 10th. That's exactly where they've ended up points allowed in their last four Super Bowl trips. Number four, they don't beat themselves. Right now, fewest penalty yards in the NFL, New England. And number five, they're really good in January at home. And they're the number two seed right now, and they have the tiebreaker against the number one team. The five Super Bowl staples, best coach, best pre-snap quarterback,

Ben don't break defense. Don't beat themselves. Tremendous at home. They're still all of those. And I know they're not a Tesla and they're not a tech stock and they're not the chiefs and they're not the Rams and they're not the Chargers. They're not the Saints. That's the thing about New England. You know what they are?

What is something that every Sunday delivers? 60 minutes. For 30 years, it's never the coolest show. It's never the newest show. It's never got the youngest actors. It's never the hippest show. Nobody talks about it on social media. They're 60 minutes.

Every Sunday, they deliver. They deliver a number. A win for their network. Every Sunday. Not flashy. Not cool. Kind of old. Getting tired of it.

But this is what they are. Every single Sunday. So when I look at all these new offenses, I'm sitting to myself wondering, am I falling for it again? and I once again Fall and For All Because by the way, we have

I try not to do this And I don't think I do it a lot But I think I've done it before I push back on new flashy stuff I push back on Derek Rose I push back on Westbrook I push back on Janus 15 years later bro

It's still a LeBron league You keep trying to sell me all the Mahomes And the Gough and the Flash and the fun You know what's going to get a rating of Sunday Jim Nance and Tony Romo are going to be doing a game for CBS and they're going to go coming up after the game tonight

60 minutes and you know what else is going to happen Sunday? Who won Sunday? The New England Patriots. Yeah. So you got to be careful about falling for the new cool stuff because there are certain things by the way, in a major I like Federer.

Sunday night I like the Patriots in 60 minutes. NBA, it's still LeBron's league. What's up everybody? This is John Middlecock from the three and out podcast on Colin Coward's Podcast Network. You like Colin's show. You'll definitely like mine. I talk a ton of football. Got a lot going on this week.

JJ Watt, Texans, they're for real. Aaron Rogers, major issues, Baker Mayfield, Hugh Jackson, Jalen Ramsey, won't shut up. We got a lot to discuss again. Subscribe to the three and out podcast with me, John Middlethoff. Third hierarchy. Time is now, let's go. The top 10 NFL teams, according to college.

Number 10. Dallas Cowboys, listen, their third in scoring defense. I think their front seven is excellent. They've got all sorts of range and athleticism and length and speed in their front seven. I like their left tackle. They're running back in Amari Cooper, too. Here's the downside to Dallas. They can only win a certain way.

They're five and one when Ezekiel Elliott has over 100 yards. They're one in four. when he's under the 100 rushing yards. So that's going to give really elite teams in the playoffs a game plan. Stack the box. Now, Amari Cooper helps, but I think this is a team that has to win a certain way. Now, they can win because they're really talented in certain spots, Cowboys at 10. Number 9.

This is the team I kind of fell in love with about three or four weeks ago. I love what they're doing in Indianapolis. Again, outside of Darius Leonard and maybe Kenny Moore, I don't love their defensive personnel, and they are limited. But they have won five straight. They're averaging 34 and a half points since week six. This is a great story. I mean, they've got guys who you've never heard of, Darius Leonard, and guys who were busts, Eric Ebron,

and they got a coach, you know, Frank Reich that wasn't even their first hire. But Andrew Luck is carrying a rebuilt offensive line. I love this story. They're the first team I watch every week. The first game I put on is the Colts. I got them at 9. Number 8. L.A. Chargers.

You know, we're going to pay attention to Philip Rivers, and I get it. But six of their last seven games, in 2018, they're surrendering less fewer than 20 points. This is really a defensive story. I know we've fallen in over their receivers in Philip Rivers. But in this era of football, to hold people under 20 points is pretty remarkable, and they've done it in six of their last seven games, chargers at eight. Number seven. I moved the Houston Texans ahead of them. They've won eight straight.

I really like this team. And the difference I think is Deshawn Watson's mobility and their emerging running game. Now, it should be noted. I love Deshawn Watson, but he's thrown for fewer than 250 yards in six straight games. So the staff in Houston's figured it out. We're not asking him to throw 40 times. But his mobility, throw it 24 times. They've got their running game.

And by the way, they're sixth in sack so they can get after the quarterback, Texans at 7. Number 6. Here's another team that all the things they always do they're doing again, the Patriots have won 7 of 8 games. Here's the downside, why I don't have them in my top echelon. 30th in sacks. Now, there have been years where they're inconsistent getting to the quarterback.

Last year is one of those years. I think they need to play at home doing in the playoffs. I do like their running game. Rex Burkhead has been activated. Sony Michelle, the rookie's terrific. James White's an unbelievable receiver. So I think they're running backs are the best they've been in years. But when I get no pass rush, and they're inconsistent over the top,

and Gronk is a 50-50 coin flip to be healthy. I put them only at six. Number five. Chicago Bears. I was wrong on them. I whiffed on them. It's the NFL team. I just didn't see it coming.

I watched Tribisky as rookie year, and I don't get it. I still don't love Trubisky. They've won five straight. their, again, their best eight players, according to pro football focus, are all on defense. Number two in scoring defense, their third down defense is fantastic. They get you off the field, and I just think this is a two-prong story. Great defense, great head coach, marginal quarterback being elevated magnificently by that coach, bears at five. Number four.

I picked the Steelers to win the Super Bowl, and my final four teams usually in the herd hierarchy are to me the teams that should end up in your championship games. I think Pittsburgh, here's my issue, though, and here's always my issue in their last two games. Seven turnovers. Good hell. Could they finally button things up? There's so much I like about him, but do you trust them? Even against New England, do you trust them?

I just don't know what to do with them, but they're offensive personnel. They are also, also it should be noted, the Pittsburgh. Steeleers lead the NFL in sacks. That's why I give them the edge. They make the other quarterback uncomfortable. Steelers 4. Number three. L.A. Rams.

Questions about their defense. But Todd Gurley basically leads football in every rushing category. And they've scored 30 plus points in eight of their 10 games. I do think Aaron Donald is amazing defensively. But I think Indomac and Sue sort of goes to his own drummer. I think Marcus Peter sometimes is playing ISO defensive football hero. ball. I do not trust their defense in big spots. They've got big

names, big stars, but also big egos. There's not, I see this a lot with the Rams. They're a firework show, but they have to score 30 to beat the Seahawks. I have them at three. Number two. Kansas City. Here's what's amazing about the herd hierarchy this week. I think there's nine good

teams and then there's my number one team. Here's my problem with the Kansas City Chiefs. Last and past defense. most penalties and penalty yards in the NFL. Does that sound like a Super Bowl winning team? I get so much flash. There's so many things I like about it.

That's the worst past defense in the league and the most penalized team in the league. And so my number one team, and this is what I think we have in the NFL this year, I think we have one great team and nine really good ones. My number one team, the Saints. The Saints. What are they not doing well? And nobody in this league is going to New Orleans and winning a playoff game. No chance. The fewest giveaways.

few as sacks allowed. They don't get penalized. You can't run on them. They can run. I mean, outside of their secondary, which even that's gotten better in the last two weeks, I feel like the Saints are at one level. Even number two, Kansas City.

Awful past defense. Most penalties. Young quarterback. I don't see them going to Foxborough on winning a playoff game or going to Pittsburgh. Heard hierarchy. One great team the Saints and everybody else this week. 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. Tonight's the college football playoff rankings, right? I've watched all the games, all the big teams. I'm just going to give you the six best teams I've watched in order. Bam is the best team I've seen, Clemson's second best, Oklahoma's third best, Georgia's fourth best. I dropped Notre Dame after this weekend. I just questioned their perimeter speed. I had two NFL executives. Text me during the Notre Dame game and say, oh, they're going to get boat race by Clemson. They can't run with them. An Ohio State will probably be, you know, I put them six.

They had one great game and a bunch of average ones. The big argument is going to come down to this, because Notre Dame is going to get in because they're not going to lose. Alabama and Clemson, Notre Dame are getting in. Georgia's going to lose. It's going to come down to Ohio State, Oklahoma. I am firmly ensconced in the Oklahoma group, and here's why. Two reasons.

First reason. Oh, they're defense. time out. Was their defense great two years ago? Because they beat Auburn. Was their defense great last year? Because I saw them go to double overtime and should have beaten Georgia. Was their defense great four years ago when they beat Alabama?

I've seen Oklahoma against the SEC. Okay? I've seen them against the SEC. They're really good. Beat Nick. Didn't have a great defense that year. Beat Auburn. Good Auburn team.

They didn't have a great defense that year. last year they should have beaten Georgia, double overtime, had it and lost it. They didn't have a great defense last year. Oklahoma's got what the SEC can't solve. Great offensive coach, mobile quarterback, ton of playmakers, and NFL bodies on the offensive line. I know they can go toe to toe with all these SEC teams. Now, I'm not saying they're going to win all of them, but here's the second reason,

and this is the biggie why I choose Oklahoma or Ohio State. Everybody always talks about wins, wins, wins, wins, wins, folks. college football average teams. Purdue has some good wins. Arizona State's got a couple of good wins. Iowa State's got impressive wins. Crappy and average college football teams have impressive wins, often more than one. Purdue. Iowa State. But here's what teams that win a national championship never have a 29 point loss to Purdue. Oklahoma's, I don't look at your wins. I look at your That's what I look at. Oklahoma's loss is a last second field goal to their arch rival on a neutral field,

which they will avenge this weekend. So they will have beaten every team they play when they beat Texas this weekend. Okay. You can't have a 29 point loss to Purdue and get into the final four. In the last 28 years, here's the worst losses ever by a team that won a title. It ain't that bad. Ohio State lost by 14 to a good Virginia Tech team. Alabama lost to Auburn, their rival, a team full of 13 football players,

and LSU lost to a great Florida team or a good Florida team in 2003. In 28 years, nobody that's won a title has had a 29-point loss to a team like Purdue, which lost to eastern Michigan and got beat by Missouri and Minnesota. Purdue is average. I don't want to just stack up wins because I watch college football every weekend. I see all the time, I see average teams get upset wins. So of course Oklahoma's got good wins. Of course Ohio State has good wins.

Of course they do. I always go to your loss. If you deserve to be a final four team, you can't lose by 29 to Purdue. Can't. Not allowing you in there. So to me, Bama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame are the teams. For the record, I think Georgia's better than Notre Dame. And even after they lose this weekend, I think George is better than Notre Dame.

But I don't think it's fair that Alabama would have to play Georgia twice. I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's fair that, you know, Bama beats them by two touchdowns, and a month later they have to play them again. I think that's totally unfair. be one thing if they faced off in week three. I don't like that in the next month you got to play the same team. But the Ohio State Oklahoma thing is real simple to me.

I got a track record of Oklahoma giving great SEC defenses fits. And number two, I can stomach their loss. I can't stomach a 29 point loss to per don't. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Well, I've been waiting for this all day. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I went to a small school. I've spent a lot of time in Idaho, which is an amazing place and Spokane,

which is by his hometown of Riggins, Idaho, population 400. He's a high school football star, and now he is emerging as one of the great young players, offensive or defense in the National Football League via the Coward Global Satellite Network, Leighton Vandereche. Okay, I got to start with some Pacific Northwest love. So Idaho is stunning,

you're a lucky guy to have grown up in Idaho, the fishing, the hunting, the landscape. There's a lot of space out there. When you were playing high school football, Layton, did you even think about the NFL? Or was it just like, I like my life, I'm a really good eight-man football player? Did you, was the NFL something you talked about or thought about? Absolutely. I think I was thinking about it all the time in the back of my head. I always wanted to play in the NFL.

Everything thought I was a little boy. That was my biggest dream, was to play pro ball, and to now get a chance to do that. And to live out my dream and play for the Cowboys is pretty sweet. Now, Idaho tends to be Seattle's Seahawk territory. There's a lot of Seahawk fans in Idaho. Were you a Seahawk fan? Did you have a favorite team? No.

Everybody was split between Denver and Seattle from where I grew up, but I never really had a favorite team, but I watched the Cowboys all the time. It's kind of the ironic part of it all. And then ended up being here and this is where I wanted to be throughout the whole entire draft process. So it worked out just fine and couldn't be more thankful for it. Now, college football recruiters don't spend a lot of time at eight-man football games, right? They're going to the big Seattle games and the Denver high school games and the L.A. games. Was there ever a concern?

Like, for instance, you went to Boise State. did anybody else recruit you? Did you have to go to camps? Tell me the story about how you ended up because I got to tell you, Riggins, Idaho is not a hotbed for college football talent. No, no. We've had a few guys come out of there and play.

We had a guy come and play for U of I and a guy for Carol, another guy for College of Idaho. But, I mean, we never really had anybody come out with D1 offers and even I walked on at Boise State. Wow. Yeah, I mean, I was in class one day and I got called to the office and at first I was confused. I was like, I don't know why I'm getting called to the office, but I stepped out in the hallway. We have one single hall at the high school and Avalos, our defensive coordinator at Boise State right now.

He was a linebacker coach at the time. He was standing down there with all of Boise State stuff and I went to talk to him and he said he introduced himself and it was like, I don't know very much about you. We don't know very much about you, but everybody's been talking about you down in the valley, down in Boise and saying we should be interested. So he invited me to their summer camp, and that's kind of where it all started.

Went and did linebacker drills, quarterback drills, tight-end drills with all the different coaches, and got on film for them a little bit. And then they offered me a walk-on spot after my senior year of football. Wow. So you go to Boise State, and then you start hearing about you,

And when was the first moment at Boise State when you thought to yourself, hey, I'm going to play in the NFL. I'm going to get drafted. Was there a moment, a game, an epiphany a moment? It was probably the start of my junior year at Boise. I always thought in the back of my head, though, at Boise. Like, if I did what I needed to do and what I wanted to do and accomplish that at Boise State that I was going to have a chance to have a chance to.

make it on to the next level in the NFL and get that chance. But it really started hitting me those first few games at Boise, my junior year, just tearing it up and banking plays on the field, I knew that if I just continue to do that and be consistent every single week in Boise and make plays and just be myself, that I was going to have a pretty dang good chance at it. Jerry Jones, the star, the stadium, the Cowboys. You get drafted by Dallas. When you step on to their practice field, when did it hit?

you, oh my lord. I'm not just playing in the NFL. I'm playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Was there a moment when it was like really, it really hits you that wow, this is not just an NFL job. This is as good as it gets. I think it was a day after getting drafted, getting in the flying in the helicopter and laying on the practice field here at the start the next morning. And having everybody be there, all the reporters, there was probably like, 70 different reporters with cameras out there when we landed in the helicopter and stepped out onto the field and then took the tour of the star and went around and saw a bunch of the coaches got my iPad, notebook, all that stuff. So it kind of hit me right there when I stepped out of

the helicopter. Like, I just really got a ride on the Helicon Gary's helicopter to the star. Yeah, it's my new home. And even then, like even getting drafted the night before in AT&T Stadium, And that was like, that was an experience in itself, as you can, as you can imagine being there. And they're not having to travel anywhere, just being able to stay, being able to stay in Dallas and then get to fly in the helicopter to like 10, 15 minutes from downtown to the star. So, yeah, that was absolutely incredible. And I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life. I mean, I don't know your parents, obviously, but they must be, I know when I got my first job,

my mom would still call me and say, do you need a razor? Do you need cookies? Do you need me to send stuff? So now you're from this small town. Your parents are watching you. You're a Dallas cowboy. I mean, I don't even know how you're ever going to go back to Riggins, Idaho. They're going to have parades for you. But it is interesting. When I kind of look at you, I find that a lot of people like your story, the eight-man football thing. Now you're in this big city. Now you're a star for the cowboys. Like, are you really? ready to be a leader. You're obviously a good player.

But if I told you next 10 years, you're the defensive captain of the team. Is that a big leap for you? Would you embrace that? I would embrace it. Absolutely. I mean, I've always thought of myself as a leader and just being a guy that my

teammates and people around my coaches can trust on the field, on and off, knowing that I'm a guy that they can come to and know that he's going to the job done and he's going to prepare his butt off to go do it on the field and be there for the guy to his left and his right. And I mean, I'm just, I'm, I love playing football and I love being successful and I love the guys around me being successful. And that's, that's

the ultimate goal when, when, I mean, any part of the team that I want to be a part of or that I'm on. So we got big thing to accomplish here in Dallas. I know we're, we're far from done. but just take things slow, take things one day at a time, one practice at a time, one week, a time, one game at a time, and just go have that mindset that we're going to be there every single step of the way. And if I'm a guy that they can trust to be a leader, and I know I am, I'm going to go do that. 11 people in his high school graduating class, eight-man football played quarterback and linebacker now.

You're a good-looking kid. you're certainly big enough to be a quarterback. It looks like to me you could have played quarterback. At some point, you made a decision or somebody made it for you. Maybe you could be the Cowboys quarterback. Who knew? You were a quarterback and a linebacker. What coach told you, hey, kid, you're going to play linebacker?

That was Avalos. That was definitely Avalos. There was a bunch of colleges that were, a bunch of smaller colleges that were recruited me out of high school, want me to play linebacker and quarterback and basketball too. So, uh, but Avalos is like, dude, the way you run around the field, you're going to, you're going to be a heck of a linebacker. And I mean, I trusted him. He gave me the chance to go play at Boise State where I always wanted to play. Sure. And yeah, I didn't get a scholarship right off the bat, but that's where I wanted to play from day one. And he gave me that chance and got my name in the door.

And then it was like, all right, I'm going to go, I'm going to go make most of this. I'm going to, I'm going to prove everybody wrong, which I feel like I've been trying. to do my whole entire life. Sure. I'm going to get out and what I can do. And then just taking it from there, just trusting my ability, trusting my instincts, my preparation, and knowing how hard I'm going to work to make sure I'm successful.

Leighton Van derrush. One more question. I ask this to rookies. So you watch games on TV and then you get into games. Who was the first great player that you tackled? And you thought to yourself, oh, my God, I just, I just tackled Julio Jones. I just tackled it.

What was your first play in the NFL where you're like, after you get up from the pile, you're like, oh, yeah, I just tackled a guy I watched on TV for years. Probably Adrian Pearson. I grew up. He was probably my favorite player for years and years. And I know we played, Boydys State played him in the Fiesta Bowl

back in 2007. And watching him all throughout NFL felt and seeing how he plays, the style of play he plays with is awesome, it's hard for the game. And then actually getting to play against him, it was like, this is crazy and this is awesome. Well, Leighton, you're a great kid, wonderful story. You were the, let's see right here, week 10, NFC defensive player of the week 13 tackles. Yeah, you were great against the Eagles. We wish you continued success.

Enjoy Dallas, and congrats to Idaho, you and your family. Thank you. Thank you so much. 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.

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