The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 11/28/2018

Episode Date: November 28, 2018

Colin talks about a common theme among all of the NFL Division leaders and why it’s a big lesson for the Dallas Cowboys moving forward. He agrees with the new College Football Playoff rankings and thinks Ohio State doesn't deserve to be in. Plus, Chargers Center Mike Pouncey talks with Colin about Philip Rivers being a trash talker and why they are tough to beat with Joey Bosa back. 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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Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me as always on a Wednesday tomorrow on Fox. It's a Saints Cowboys. Big game. Big game. Just came off a huge NFL weekend, college weekend. We'll get to some college football in a little bit here.

I want to start our show today. What I do sometimes, Joy, it's a Wednesday. So I get in and I look at the standings. And I say, guys, give me the standings. And then I try to see what comes to mind? What link can I have? So there's eight divisions in football. Eight divisions in football.

Here's the current leaders, the Patriots, the Steelers, the Texans, the Chiefs, the Dals, Cowboys, the Bears, the Saints, and the Ruff. Rams. Hmm. What do they all have in common? Let's talk about that for a second. Great defense. That's what it is.

They all have a great defense. Oh, wait, no. Patriots are second to last in sacks. The chiefs have the worst passing defense in the league. Yeah, it wouldn't be great defense. I'll tell you what it is. It's a great head coach. No, that's not.

Is Bill O'Brien? Is he a great head coach? Is Jason Garrett? A great head coach? No, it wouldn't be that. Okay, okay, okay. It's a veteran quarterback. It's got to be a Hall of Fame.

Really, Mitch Trubisky is a Hall of Famer? Dak Prescott's a Hall of Famer? Okay, Colin, I'll tell you what it is. You got to have a great running back. Really, Texans have one of those? Really, bears have great running backs? That's interesting. We have all these divisions.

What is the common thread? It's very easy. The common thread is quarterbacks are on a discount. Three of the eight division leaders, here are the quarterbacks. Three of the eight division leaders are veteran quarterbacks giving the team a team-friendly deal. Breeze Brady-Ben could make a lot more money on the open market, have a lot of leverage right now. Breeze only makes 24. He's absolutely worth over 30.

Ben 23, you kidding me, Brady 22. So three of the eight division leaders are veteran quarterbacks who are very good giving their team a break. The other five of the eight division leaders are quarterbacks on a rookie deal. Trabisky, Gough, Mahomes, Watson, Prescott, allowing, much like the previous deals, their general managers to have a more complete roster. Really easy. Only two teams leading divisions. Stark veteran quarterbacks giving their teams a break, not taking every penny, allowing their GMs to put more good players around them,

and the rookie quarterback, some good, some great, some okay, that the team doesn't pay their quarterback much so they can get two more great defensive players and a really good slot receiver. That's it. the top six-paid quarterbacks in the NFL. None of them lead a division. It doesn't even matter if your quarterback's great. Aaron Rogers is. Third place.

Doesn't even matter if your roster's good and your quarterbacks. Good. Kurt Cousins. Second place. Doesn't even matter if your quarterback has talent, Flacco Stafford. Makes too much money, not in first place. That's it. if you want to make the most money on your deal,

let me ask Dak Prescott, who's the next guy coming up for contract. Dak, you want to win games? Give the Cowboys a break. Dak, want to have better teammates? Want to keep the latent Van der Reches for the remainder of your contract? Give the Cowboys a break. First of all, you're in Texas.

No state tax. That matters. Playing New York, playing Los Angeles, playing in San Francisco, playing that, no state tax in Dallas. No state tax in Texas. Dallas, of course, in Texas. Secondly, you think he has that Campbell Soup commercial if he's quarterback in the Jags? Or that Oikos yogurt commercial if he's quarterback in the Bengals? I say this all the time.

I've worked in my business for 30 years. A lot of people are chasing money. It will limit what your company can put around. you. Breeze could make more money. Ben could make more money. Brady could make more money. But what they want to do is win games and be playing in late January. That's the only teams. That's why I've said about Aaron Rogers going forward. It's going to be very interesting with Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers is making $33 million a year. For the remainder of that contract, Aaron Rogers is going to have to play with younger, cheaper players. That is not a debate.

that is not an opinion. Aaron Rogers, and I'm not blaming him, made a choice. I want $33 million. That's $10 million more than Breeze. You can get for that $10 million per year a better pass rusher and a better receiver, maybe a better left tackle and a better center. We all have choices,

and I don't think quarterback's brand is based on what they make. I think 20 years from now, When we sit around and we talk about Elway and we talk about Marino, we talk about Elway much more fondly. He's got rings. Dak Prescott, you're next up. Choose wisely. Give the Cowboys a team-friendly deal. All right, college football playoff.

Joel Clatt next hour. We'll yell and scream at each other. Nick Wright, too, Kenyon Martin, Mike Pouncey of the Chargers, multiple-time Pro Bowl Center used to be a dolphin. So last night, they came out with the new college football rankings. And I, first of all, didn't have a problem with it. I have Oklahoma in my four. They had Oklahoma at five, meaning Oklahoma is going to get in when Georgia loses to Bama. So they had Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame.

And then they had Oklahoma 5, Ohio State 6. The key to me, of course, is they have Oklahoma ahead of Ohio State slightly, which they should. I think Oklahoma is better than Ohio State. I've stopped listening to Ohio State fans. They didn't make any sense midseason talking about that coach. they enabled, and they make no sense now having lost a Purdue by 29 points, and they still think they could get in over Oklahoma, who lost to a rival on a neutral field in the last second field goal, and they'll go back and beat that team, Texas, this weekend.

Oklahoma is the clear choice. Oklahoma scored 40 plus points in all but two games. Oklahoma has done something, at least one thing great all year. I'm not saying they have a great defense. I'm not saying their special teams are great. I'm not saying they had the best game plan for every game. But in 90% of the times they came out to the football field this year, Oklahoma was a great offense. They ran it, they threw it, they protected their quarterback, and they scored over 40.

What is Ohio State done all year to convince me they're a final four team? Did they run the ball every week? Nope. Did they play great defense every week? Nope. Did they have great coaching every week? Did you watch the Purdue game? they scored under 33 times in the week big 10 where northwestern's in the championship game

and northwestern couldn't win one out of conference game and then mopped up on the week big 10 Lincoln Riley the coach of Oklahoma and I'm all in Oklahoma here their corner over Ohio State again if you lose by 30 to Purdue and you don't get why nobody's into your stuff I don't know what to tell you but Lincoln Riley brought up the point about we're getting too caught up on Ooh, people score a lot of points on Oklahoma. Football's changed. I think the standards have certainly changed. I think we see that at all levels, high school, college, and pro,

that the amount of offensive output that all these different teams are putting out is just simply different than what it's been before. Certainly every team out there is trying to be great on offense and be great on defense and special teams. Ultimately, you've got to find ways to win games, and that's what our guys have been able to do here. By the way, Ohio State fans are saying, What about Oklahoma's defense?

Buckeye fan, you just gave up 39 points to Michigan's offense, which looks about nine years past its prime. 39 at home to Michigan State's sort of eye formation pound down the throat offense. Give up 51 to Maryland. I don't want to hear about your great defense. But by the way, even the SEC, which plays great defense, the best defense in college football. Sorry, but didn't Oklahoma drop 48 in it last year?

Didn't UCF drop 34 on the Great Auburn team? Look around football, folks. Everybody's scoring over 30. Most teams, the good ones, are scoring over 40. Oklahoma tends to score over 50. I'm not... Look at around the NFL right now. Everybody tells me how great the Chicago Bears defense is.

You do get they gave up over 30 to New England. Aaron Rogers, I'm watching Chicago play week after week. People move the ball up and down the field on them. And that's the best defense in the NFL. I hear about the Rams, all their great players. They give up like 25 a week, 28 a week. Where are the great defense is in the NFL? I don't see them.

Jaguar's defense? Steelers leave the NFL in Saxes. Had a great defense. I just saw Case Keene to move up and down the field. You're all caught up in Oklahoma's defense. By the way, Oklahoma hasn't had a great defense in years, because they play in the Big 12, and the way to win in the Big 12 has spread the ball out.

So many good quarterbacks. Warm weather. Everybody throws it, great receivers and backs. It's not a great defensive conference, but to win the Big 12, got to sling it. And they do. But when they match up with the SEC teams, they also score 40 plus on them.

Beat Alabama 4 or 5 years ago. Beat Auburn a couple years ago. Should have beaten Georgia last year? Nobody's shutting out Oklahoma. And as Lincoln Riley said, this is the new age. Forget your grandpa's football. Forget your dad's football.

It's not even your older brother's football. In the last three years, offense has exploded. In the past 12 months, it's been almost a meteor. And I am firmly entrenched. And I'm glad the committee sees it that way too. Oklahoma's one spot ahead of Ohio State, meaning if they both win this weekend

and Georgia loses and they will to Bama, the Sooners will get in over the Buckeyes. 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. Big Ben came out yesterday. And Big Ben, of course, I like Big Ben. He threw a terrible interception against Denver. And Big Ben came out and he was kind of saying the receiver ran the wrong route and, you know, somebody else did this and I would have done this and whatever. But the quote that I really liked was this by Big Ben, I'm not changing. I'm still going to sling it.

I'm a quarterback that's going to go out and sling it. You know, you talk about gunsling or whatever you talk about. I'm not going to worry about interceptions. I hate doing them. They bother me. But I'm going to go out and play my game and try to help us win football games. So, you know, you talk about guys that miss a basketball, right? You miss breeze or you're not making – do they stop shooting?

No, they keep shooting because you trust yourself. You know, here's why I love this. If you go to Vegas, you've got to spend money to make money. The guy's making money in Vegas is not the grandma playing the nickel slots. Okay, it's the big poker player, the big blackjack Taylor, the Baccarat player, the craps player. You're sitting at their table and you're throwing big money at it. You're not going to win big if you don't bet big. That's why I don't win big in Vegas because I don't like betting big.

I mean, if I win $350, I'm overjoyed. That's why I've never won big in Vegas. And I don't play slot machines because everybody smokes around them and it makes me sick. So I never go to Vegas winning. Most I'm going to win like $1,000. But I don't bet big. I love guys that go big in the NFL. Andrew Luck, some interceptions, Wence, Patrick Mahomes, Big Ben, Deshawn Watson.

They throw the ball downfield. You're going to get a lot of picks with those guys, and I love all of them. I'm all in on all of them. But isn't it interesting? My favorite quarterback is Brady. My second favorite quarterback could be Breeze and they're precision guys. In fact, my favorite four quarterbacks in this league are Brady, Luck, Breeze, and Russell Wilson. And they're all everything.

You know, Luck throws picks. down the field. Brady and Breezer precision. Russell Wilson's a little of both plus incredible athleticism and mobility. There's a lot of different ways to win in this league. The key with Big Ben is his organization. In the NFL, you can win with Ben. You can win with Breeze. You can win with Russell.

The key is, does the team identify your strength and then build around it? Of the last 10 AFC Super Bowls, the Steelers and the the Patriots have seven. And the reason is they have two completely different quarterbacks. Brady's more academic. I think he's a more coachable, probably a better teammate. He's more precise, less downfield. Ben's the opposite and all those things. He doesn't got a, he's not going to audible a lot of the line of scrimmage. He has very simple audibles. He's going to go back and crank it downfield. Yet between the two, they got seven to ten. And the credit goes to the Patriots and the Steelers for identifying what they are. The Steelers,

give Big Ben deep threats, speed. The Patriots give Brady precision route runners. This is why Kansas City and Mahomes, Philadelphia and Carson Wentz, get deep threats, pay deep threats. That's who they are. They're not as precise as they are deep ball throwers. Same with Deshaun Watson. Keep giving them deep threats.

Dak Prescott didn't work with Des. Because Dak Prescott needs to see the open receiver and throw to the open receiver. That's why Amari Cooper works because Amari Cooper works. because Amari Cooper separates and gets open. Des Bryant doesn't separate. So the Cowboys realized Amari separates. That's what DAC needs. By the way, Mitch Trebisky does not have a great arm.

So Mitch Trubesky, what does he need? The bears have surrounded him with running backs who can catch and possession receivers with good hands that run precise routes. Same with their tight ends. It's all about identifying what the quarterback does. Jared Gough for the Rams throws a beautiful 18 to 48 yard football. He throws great long intermediate routes. That's what they gave him with Robert Woods, Cooper Cup, Brandon Cooks.

A deep threat. He's great over the top and good deep to intermediate routes. And that's what they run. So I don't have a problem with Big Ben. If you want to look at attempts downfield, home runs, that's what he is. You can win a lot of ways in this league. the key is the team identifying your strength and building around it. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

You know, when you get older, and I don't consider myself old. I don't consider myself old. I mean, I am kicking it, baby. Every night with me is Marty Grot at my house. It is fun. But you learn stuff over time. Okay? And I have learned over time.

I've never overspent on anything that I use a lot. I've spent a lot of money on a grill. but I like to grill. I grill a lot. So I've never thought to myself, boy, I overspent for that grill. I also like, I'm kind of a homebody. I like to watch movies.

I'll spend big money on a home theater. I've never once thought I'm getting robbed here. Now, I'm not a big fan of driving. I don't drive much to work. I take Uber a lot. Cars don't mean much to me. I don't spend any money on cars. I'm not a car guy.

Some people are. Some people have to, like, salespeople drive three hours a day. I know people that drive an hour and a half to work, hour and a half home. Go buy yourself a nice car. I don't drive that much. 20 minutes to work, 30 home. And I'm a really car guy. I use Uber all I can.

I walk places. I've been a big car guy. So the Dallas Cowboys went out and they got Amari Cooper. And everybody said, well, well, you know, it's a lot to give up for a first round pick. It's very expensive. Let me ask you, do they need a receiver? and are they going to use it a lot? Who gives a rip?

Don't jump over a $20 bill to get to a five. Here's the stats on the Cowboys pre-imposed Amari Cooper. Oh, wait, they're way better. For our radio audience, three and four before him, three and one after, 60 more yards a game, 50 more passing yards a game, significantly better on third down. They were going to use him a lot. They're using him a lot.

They're targeting him a lot, and he separates. So whenever I, you know, Jerry Jones, and here's the other thing, DAC needs receivers that separate. DAC is not an anticipation thrower. DAC is a, I see you open, I'm going to throw to you, you're open. Des didn't separate. That's why DAC and DES never worked. Jerry Jones talked about this.

This is a great route runner. That's what DAC needs. And they're going to use the heck out of him. Don't worry about spending a little too much if you use. something. Here's Jera. That corporate governor has ever put on a Dallas Cabo uniform. And

he's running himself. He's right running himself open. You know, the other thing is they have their linebackers. They have their running back. They have their left tackle. They have their slot receiver. They have what they believe is their franchise quarterback. They've got tremendous athletically

linebackers. And I like one of their corners. What did they need? They needed a wide receiver. They're going to have about the 23rd pick in the draft, and I don't think the two best college receivers are going to be available. In 2018, have you seen what people are paying for Sammy Watkins and Brandon Cooks? There's two great college receivers and multiple teams drafting ahead of them like, I don't know, the Jets need two receivers. The Colts need a receiver. The teams drafting ahead of Dallas, who are worse than Dallas, most of them need receivers.

You see what's happened with a catch rule being flipped. they wouldn't get one of the best receivers at 23 or 24. They're going to have at least two receivers going the top 20. But I'll go back to something. The older I am, I never overspent for something. I get a lot of use out of. I always look at that and think, yeah, you know, my grill. If I spend a lot for my grill, I use the thing 75 times a year.

So, I mean, you can spend 10 grand on a grill because grills last forever. Who cares if you're going to use something? By the way, Chris Carter talked about the acquisition of Amari Cooper. I liked it from day one. Chris Carter did too. When I coach Amari in high school, before he went to University of Alabama, he was one of the most mature route runners that I had ever seen in high school. Him and Larry Fitzgerald, right up there.

The one thing Jerry did good before he acquired Amari, he went back to Alabama. He talked to Nick Saban. And Nick Saban wrote him a prescription of how to attack Amari Cooper, how to bring him into the fold and how to get the best of. I think it's a good move. I think Jerry was right. I think he's a great fit.

I do not think they'll beat the Saints. But I think Dallas came down to a really simple thing. He's better than what the draft would provide. We're going to use the heck out of him. Let's not get caught up in money. Jerry Jones had a great quote about a year ago about something else. He said, the only time I regret buying things is when I go cheap. Jerry Jones said, similar to how I believe, I've never regretted anything that I spent a little more money on if I thought it was elite.

A car, a stadium, a team, a suit. I've never regretted anything that's great. Very rarely, do you take your wife on a vacation? You spend a lot for the hotel, right? And then you leave the hotel and you're like, you know, that wasn't worth it. We should have been across the street at the cheap hotel. It just, it pays. Spend a little more for nice stuff you're going to use. 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 Middlecalf. I hear this a lot. People think more is better.

You ever watch like CNN? I don't mean either. But let's pretend we did. They have those shows on every night where they have like 13 panelists. I'd rather just watch like one guy or one woman. Rachel Maddow by herself. Sean Hannity by himself. Bill Maher by himself.

I don't need like 13 people on the set yelling and screaming. Maybe one, two, that's it. I don't think more is better. I think better is better. I don't believe you just add a bunch of teams. People do a set and it's better. No, no, no, just give me good people. That's all I need.

Better is better, not more better. So I'm hearing a lot of this in college football. The rankings came out last night. You got to have eight team playoff. Eight. God, it can't just have four. They got to have eight. Okay, okay.

So let's say we did have eight. Let's look at the eight teams that would play in the playoff this morning. Oh, really? I need to see Michigan again. I just saw Michigan. They gave up 62. I'm done with Michigan. I need to see.

Oh, by the way, UCF, oh, congrats. Oh, wait, they lost their quarterback. And by the way, if they lose, you know who would be in instead of UCF? Florida. Oh, Florida would be in. That would be great, except Florida has already gotten smoked.

They got beat by Kentucky by 11, lost to Georgia by 19 and Missouri 21. I need to see Florida again. Oh, by the way, if we had an 18 playoff, You know what wouldn't matter this weekend? The game everybody in the country wants to watch, Georgia Bama, why would I have to watch it? What would be the point of watching it?

I don't have to watch it. They're both getting in. So everybody wants more teams. I've never in my life one time in my entire, I've been watching college football since the 70s. I've never once thought, you know, that number eight team got hosed. That three lost Georgia.

team. They got hosed. They're the best team in the country, I bet. I've never said that. I've never even thought the fifth best team is number one. So I know everybody wants to more and more. When you go to a nice restaurant, if you ever, have you ever really gone out to a nice restaurant? Like, you know, you're like, oh, I may spend 150 bucks tonight, right? Like a nice restaurant. Maybe even more. You got to go with a couple couples. Is it a great restaurant because it's a buffet and they just keep piling food on? or is it a great restaurant because the food's really great. That's why it's a great restaurant.

Not because they pile on more pudding. Stop with the more argument. Just give me better. I don't need any more than four teams. Give me Alabama, give me Clemson, give me Oklahoma, and then give me undefeated Notre Dame.

I'm good with that. I don't need to see Michigan again. It would get rid of that pesky, deserving argument that you like so much. Oh, God, that's another one. When my kids say deserving, I'm like, talk to the hand. obviously isn't that? Oh, no, no.

Yeah, I use the classics. When my daughter will say, like, I deserve, I'm like, not even, not even listening. You earn life, you don't deserve squat. You know, the difference is you compare it to the NFL, and in the NFL, they're all NFL teams. They're all pro teams. You can win on a Sunday.

The difference between Alabama and the eight team is insane. The separation is not, it's unbelievable. Massive. After you get four or five teams, the gap to, like, 8, 9, 10, 11. Start looking at the teams. Florida. The separation is obvious.

Florida got boat race by Kentucky basketball school, Missouri, neither. I'm not as against expanding as you are, but I see your point when you lay it out that way. Yeah. Not deserving. You got to earn your way into the common cowherd college playoffs. That's right.

Talk to the hand. I do all the classics. You raise the roof, so? I do. We raised the roof at my house. Joy, I'm so glad you brought that. 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.

Joel Klatz joining me. Oh, what's up, man? Hey, so here's the college football playoff rankings last night. I didn't have a problem with it because Oklahoma is ahead of Ohio State. When Georgia loses to Bama, then I'm going to get Oklahoma. Probably. I think Oklahoma wouldn't lose by 29 to Purdue. So are you okay with those rankings?

Yeah, I didn't have a huge problem with. I think the resume, the body of work for Oklahoma is certainly, I think, more impressive than Ohio State. Thank you. I will say this, though. Ohio State's singular performance against Michigan is better than any singular performance that Oklahoma has had. Oh. As a whole. As a whole. You think winning at West Virginia against an NFL quarterback is easier than beating Michigan in a 1988 offense at home? I will say that the flaws that I've seen from both, at least Ohio State has proven that they can fix some of their flaws. I mean, Listen, in the last month, Oklahoma has had historically bad defense. They're right now 125th in the country and total defense in the last month. 125th.

Do you know they've given up 189 points in November? 189. If you want to know some sort of context for that, in the calendar year, if you take Alabama's playoffs last year and their entire season, they've given up 194. That's five more points than Bama has in November. That's insane. Yeah, Oklahoma has a tackling problem.

That I will acknowledge. Okay, so So wouldn't you, hold on before you, wouldn't you say either team is flawed? Like there's not a great answer at 4. Right. So listen, my whole thing is,

I was telling the staff this this morning. I was telling the staff this morning. People think everybody wins. Average people get good jobs and have good days. Right? Sure. And marry beautiful women, right? You got to avoid catastrophe in life.

Okay. So if I interview, I'm a principal. I'm interviewing for a wonderful high school. I'm going to interview you to be a principal. I could be great for two hours. But if the last thing I said was, I do like to date teachers, especially the married ones, check please, I'm out of the job.

Right, you're done. When you interview for a job, it's not about saying smart stuff, it's about avoiding the catastrophe. You know, I've embezzled at every country, company I've worked for. That's how you lose a job. That's not going to be a problem here, though, right?

No, no, no. Oklahoma, Ohio State. There's a bunch of good stuff I like. Ohio State had a catastrophe. They lost by 29 to per don't. That's not good enough. I'm not disagreeing with you, but you cannot overlook the fact that Oklahoma also has a catastrophe. Well, what is it?

I just explained it to you. Do we have to play it? 189 points given up the- They're winning. They're winning those games. Oh, my good. That's not a catastrophe. No, a catastrophe is losing the army.

You just said, Colin, that you, like you can say a bunch of great things in an interview, but one thing. I just saw it. They say a lot of great things offensively, and they've given up 180. But in college football, a catastrophe is losing. They win all those games. They're winning those games. You can't lose by 29 to an average football team.

That's a job interview? You said the wrong thing, the last sentence. You're out. Check please. Month. Okay. Now, here's another thing. I am not into trends.

You're very much a trends guy. Oh, really? I didn't realize that. I appreciate you explaining me. By the way, in my house, we still raise the roof. It's an all-time classic. You probably got a new hand thing you guys do in your family because it's cool. I'm not into cool.

So I'm not into this eight- That's clear. I'm not into this eight-team playoff. That's the hot thing. And my takeaway is, oh, really, I need to see Michigan again. I really need to see UCF now with a backup. Are you trying to say that I am an 18-play-off guy? Let's be honest about this.

I bet you'd love to 16 teams. Never. Never. And let me tell you why. There's a very clear argument why I hate the fact that we're probably headed to eight teams. You think we are. The three, two argument is compelling. You can make a case that the third team in the country deserves at least a shot at the national title. I agree. That argument gets diminished when you're arguing between four and five. Four and five, you do what we're doing

right here, arguing between fatally flawed resumes. I think they were flawed last year when you had a non-champ Alabama, get to two loss Ohio state, flawed resumes, right? Can you make a case? Maybe one of them deserves a chance at the national title? Maybe. You really want to start arguing between three loss Florida, three loss LSU, thank you. Two loss Michigan, UCF out of a non-power-five. I don't want to have that argument. I don't want to have that argument. That's not compelling. No one cares about that argument. And quite frankly, those teams don't deserve a chance at the national championship. So you're still raising the roof at your house. I don't know about that.

Writing books over here, raising the roof. I told my daughter the other day, talk to the hand. I know it's like 1994 But that's in my house We got 1994 all over the house All right, what do you? You and I like Harbaugh. We do, but that was bad. Not great.

I'm not going to be honest with you. I like, and I still think, by the way. Oh, you guys aren't going to do the bit? Oh, yeah. Oh, you know, America? I mean, I think you should do the bit today. Not when you give up 62. Bits done.

Thanks a lot. What do we make up? What do we, because you and I still like Harbaugh. I still like Harbaugh, but here's here's the problem. Here's the, you love analogies. You're ready? Jim Harbaugh is becoming dangerously close to falling into the Mike Leach realm.

The Wazoo coach. Yeah. And you might be thinking to yourself, well, is that a shot? Well, it's not necessarily a shot. Let me give you some context for this. There are two coaches that have wild success at a lot of places. I would say Mike Leach is having wild success at Washington State. Here's the problem.

When you take away their one thing that they hang their hat on, they've got nowhere else to go. They have no second gear. That's one of the reasons why it's been so hard for Mike Leach to win a division championship. He's never done it at the college level. He's never won a conference championship. Guess what Harbaugh's never done. Never won a conference championship.

And what I saw last week was a team that came in favored, probably should have won and had nowhere to go once they couldn't run the ball effectively on base downs. See, because when they're ahead and they're running it effectively on base downs, now they can get the tight ends involved, and now it's play action pass, and it's what he wants to do. If you take his blueprint from him, he has an inability to win those games versus, I'll just say, Ohio State has won games all different ways. Oklahoma has had to win games all different ways.

Running the ball, some games, passing the ball, other games, sometimes their defense shows up, maybe not a no use case, 189 in the last month. I don't know if you heard. But Ohio State is one of all sorts of different ways. you can't necessarily make that argument for Michigan. They don't necessarily win a game that they can't use their blueprint. It's very fair. Big Ben through a bad pick.

I still love him. I can still love Harbaugh and think he's a great coach, but I don't think he's the greatest coach, but I still think he's fantastic coach. He just needs to adjust a little bit. If they're able to throw the ball on base downs a little bit, be able to get off of blueprint and still be, successful. He's the perfect guy from Michigan. They're having so much more. There are so much

better off right now than they were in the seven years under Lloyd Carr and Brady Hoke. Do you know that their overall record in the seven years between Lloyd Carr and Jim Harbaugh, so I'm talking about the Rich Rodriguez Brady Hoke era. Their record was the exact same as Oregon State over those last over those seven years. Wow. So you tell me, everyone's like, oh, he's overrated. Really? because I think they would take this. They're in the top 10 and should be. And they lost a game to a really good Ohio State team and played their best 60 minutes.

It should be noted. If they win their bowl game, they're going to finish about fifth. Is Michigan not happy with fifth? It's an academic power. It's in cold weather. The state doesn't have any high school football stars. And there were 60 minutes away from being there. You know what I mean?

I mean, wouldn't you take Michigan fan? I'm talking to you. Wouldn't you take every year being 60 minutes away from being a playoff team? Thank you. Yes. Yes, you would. So stop it with the, oh, I don't know, maybe we need to make a change. You know what?

You need to make a change. What's your final four? Who are the four best you've seen? Who are the four best? No, no, no, no. Who are the four best teams in America to you? Bama Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma. Okay, that's fair.

So that's what I feel, but I'm going to put up. I mean by a nose over Ohio State. Like I said, the single game last week, I think all those teams beat Notre Dame this week. You know what? I totally appreciate your honesty on that. But I want Notre Dame in. They've earned the right to go and play for this national championship. They've earned it.

I'll give you that. I don't want to take that away from them. But what I've seen, you saw the USC game. I mean, Georgia's getting better. There are teams that are better than Notre Dame, but they've earned the right to go. I had an NFL exec. Text me during the Notre Dame game and say, Clemson would blast this team by four touchdowns. They cannot run.

He goes, I've scouted Clemson. They can't run with Clemson. By the way, I want to do something here. Joy, what does this stand for? Big J. Journalism. Journalism. That's all this show is about no opinions. All we do in this show is journalism. I'm going to throw a little one at you. Cliff Kingsbury is good looking. You ever seen that guy?

He's really good looking. There's only a few guys that I blush in front of him. He's one of them. Yeah. USC offensive coordinator next 72 hours. Oh, interesting. No sourcing on that at all. I'm just telling you. That's just my gut feeling. You got that from my tweet. I threw it out from my tweet. I don't follow your tweets. Oh, you follow it.

Journalism. 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. Mike Pouncey, eight years, first year with the Chargers. By the way, I don't know. Mike, good seeing you again. Mike, do you have

kids, Mike? Yes, sir, I have two of them. Okay, do you tell me? So you probably, I don't know if your parents were millionaires, but you're a very successful guy and that you have these kids. Do they play football? Well, my son plays flag football. My daughter, she hates sports. She's just

the ultimate girl. But my son, he's like me. He's very competitive. I don't think they understand that we have money, you know, because we don't raise them that way. We kind of raise them the way I was raised. But they're awesome kids. They love school. And my son, I can't wait to see what he grows up to be because I think he's going to be a heck of an athlete. So you don't raise them. So how do you hide? I mean, you live in a nice house, I bet. How do you pretend that you don't have any money there, Mike? Well, it's hard, you know, because they get everything they want. You know, I love my kids. I spoiled them in depth because when I grew up, I grew up very, very, very

poor. And so for me, I told myself when I was growing up, when I had kids that I was going to spoil them and give me everything that I wanted as a kid. And so they understand that we have money. They're comfortable. They get whatever they want. But we're very hard on them because we wanted to grow up to be successful kids too. Now, it's interesting, Mike. You played in Miami, which is a just, I'll tell you, you played in Miami in L.A. You've played in fun cities. No Detroit or Buffalo for you. You are a grinder. But is it different? I mean, you've got brothers, teammates, Miami and the Chargers in L.A. And then you play college football in Florida.

It's been a charm life for you. When you heard the Chargers wanted you, what was your first thought? I told my agent Joel Siegel get me on the first flight out there. I was excited for it. I knew the talent that this football team had. I wanted to play with Phillip Rivers. Melvin Gordon, the running backs, awesome. And I just knew this team had the best chance to, you know, make a run in the playoffs and do something special,

especially at this point in my career. you know all I care about is winning games I want to do something special I want to be remembered and as an office alignment the only way to get remembered is by winning you played with tbo if I recall in college and you want yep so you had one of the iconic uh college quarterbacks you now play with a guy I think's a hall of famer philip rivers you know they don't look like the same quarterback right but but are there's any similarities between tibo and phillips perhaps personalities I think the competitive part of it, how much, how competitive they are when we go out to practice when we were in games. I think they both have the competitive nature in them.

I think that's the one and only similarities in their games because, you know, Philip is a guy that, you know, gets ready to ball really, really fast. He understands the game of football so well. And he makes it a pleasure for us as an officer line to play for him. And it makes us look good because he gets the ball out of his hands and he puts us in the best situations to go out there and be successful on plays. I heard he's a trash talker. Philip Rivers, he admitted to me once he's like, I do a little trash talking. Now, can you validate that, confirm that? Oh, he talks a lot of trash.

By the time he's calling a play, he's so out of breath because he's talking trash the whole time. It gets us fired up because when he gets hit, he gets up. He talks trash to the guy that hits him. He's talking trash to the defensive coordinator, the guys on defense. And it's just awesome because, you know, he's so into the football, into the game, that this would make him so good of a player is that he's so competitive. And it keeps them going each and every play. Mike Pouncey, eight years, multiple pro bowl or one of the top two or three centers in the NFL.

You know, it's a situation with the Chargers that they were in San Diego, they're in L.A., and now you're in kind of a soccer stadium thing. It is a weird NFL situation. Has it been different for you? Take me through the process of you change teams. You're in kind of a different stadium situation. You were in San Diego. It's now in L.A.

Has it been odd? At first it was kind of odd because, you know, our state was a little smart. than most NFL stadiums, but as a football team collectively, we've embraced it. You know, we embrace that, you know, most of the times we're going to be at home, but it's going to feel like a way game. And I think when we have that edge as a football team, it makes us play better because we play awesome on road games, and for the most part, our home games are road games too. Mike, you, fans may not realize this.

Quarterbacks obviously audible, but the center, you call the signals for the line. And I've always known you as a big personality guy. So obviously you want a very smart dude playing center because you have to call the audibles. Now, when you have a quarterback like Philip, who is a veteran quarterback, he's going to audible a lot more than a rookie or a young quarterback. Are there, I mean, is it tougher to play with Philip sometimes because he demands more of you? I think it's easier. I'll go up there and I'll make the mic point, but he comes up, he'll correct me.

And whenever he audibles plays, he's the guy that's going to make all the points. But I think it's awesome for office align because we just go up there. and we got to focus on, hey, who we're going to block on this play. He sets the stage for us, and it's awesome because in the past game is the biggest for us because he knows where the blitz is coming from, and so he sets the protection to the side that the blitz is coming, and it makes it easier for him to get rid of the ball when he knows the pressure is coming. It makes it easier for us because we're not sliding away from the pressure we're sliding into it.

Joey Bose's back last couple of games. What's the difference, practice games? What does he add, do you believe, Mike? I think he's the best pass rush in the NFL. And what it does is it opens up a better pass rush for Mel. Levin Ingram, and he's a guy that gets after the quarterback. But those two guys, when they work together, it's pretty much unstoppable on third and long situation.

So just to have him back at practice, he just brings that excitement back. It gave us something to look forward to when we're going into games like, hey, Joey Boas is back. We can't wait to see him play. And he loves football. He's a big, important piece to our success as a football team. And so we're excited to see how he finishes out the rest of the year. Mike, centers generally don't get drafted in the first round.

You were the 15th pick. You're obviously a great talent. It's funny to watch football now, Mike. You and I mostly grew up, and offensive linemen were known as guys who pancake guys. You run the football. You establish physicality. Well, now we play in a league. It's flag football, okay?

So have you had to adapt your game? It is a more finesse game it feels like. Yeah, I think so because, you know, when I first came in NFL, the game was a lot more physical. And whenever you used to drive guys to the ground and pancake them, it used to be a glorified block. But now if you do that, the reps throw a flat because they figure that it's holding because the game moves much more faster. There's more athletic defense alignment. And so you kind of have to adjust because you got to play on your feet a lot more. You got to keep your hands inside because they're looking for it a lot more these days.

But I enjoy it. I think the league's awesome. I think it's headed in the right direction. It's going to be around for a long time. By the way, you face your bro Marquise this Sunday, Chargers, Steelers. Is that strange? I mean, it's amazing. Did you play at the same high school?

Yes, we play same high school, same college. Okay, same high, God, that's incredible. Did you, when did you both know? Now, by the way, who was the better high school player? I say my brother's better than everything. He's my younger brother. What about in college? Were you a better college player?

Well, we both had the same accolades. You know, he started as a freshman at Center or at Right Guard at Florida, and he started every year. He was there. My freshman year, I didn't start the first six, seven games. I moved over to the defensive tackle, ended up starting the rest of the season. And so our careers kind of played out a little different. But, you know, we're here, and we both, you know, have had the same goals growing up.

You know, we're identical twins. I think my hardest year was whenever he left his junior year to go to the Combine and Go Pro, I stayed back for my senior year. And that was the toughest year of our lives because it was the first time we were ever separated. Isn't that amazing? My mom was a twin. They talk about twins. And when you guys are in a room together, you can't stop laughing.

You're very funny guys. I imagine it was a very funny house. Was mom fun? funny, dad, funny, sisters, funny, because you guys together are like a comedy routine. Yeah, we have a really big family and all of us are, you know, really close-knit. We love each other to death, you know, we especially our sisters because, you know, growing up, our family's focus was me and my brother because we figured this was our way out of poverty.

And so our sisters kind of took a step back like, hey, let's, you know, let the boys do everything. And so we've always been a priest for our sisters. We love and a death. And, you know, they're part of the reason why we're here in NFL this day. He's a sacrifice they took. Mike, it's great seeing you again. Congratulations. I appreciate you taking time out of your busy work schedule to come on our show. Thanks, bud. Thanks for having me. 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, stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to SportsSlicse on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert 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 Acapell 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 I-Heart 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

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