The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 12/10/2019

Episode Date: December 10, 2019

Colin defends Carson Wentz who is still winning games despite dealing with a cluster of injuries at receiver. He says everyone has already made their mind up about Belichick and the Patriots as cheaters or as envelope pushers and nothing about these latest videotaping issues is going to change that. He doesn't see Urban Meyer as the Cowboys next head coach and explains why. He reveals his top ten NFL teams in the Herd Hierarchy. Plus, Super Bowl champion WR Greg Jennings talks about how long Aaron Rodgers has left and why you can't do what Baker Mayfield did. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. you just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to the best of Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com

or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherg on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Tuesday. We're packed live in Los Angeles. This is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. One hour from now, the NFL herd hierarchy, my top 10 teams in the NFL.

I still don't buy the Packers. How much should we make of New England's loss to Kansas City. What do we do with the Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee, Buffalo? Joy Taylor is joining me this morning. Joy, how are you? I'm doing great. I'm not going to lie. I was really pulling for Eli last night. I know. A lot of people were, a lot of people. No, just trying to see him get that thing going. Yeah. So let me start with that. It's called context. It's a big word that things happen for a reason. You know, if you're late to work, if you get T-boned at an intersection, there's a blizzard. It's called context. Why are you late for work?

We live in a world now. Everybody's on their phones. There's no context. Everybody wants to be funny and snarky. Philadelphia is fine. Doesn't matter if they won or lost last night. Philadelphia is fine. Carson Wentz is great talent. They have one of the best GMs in the league in Howie Roseman. Their owner's smart. Their coach is good. He won a Super Bowl and out-duled Bill Belichick. Philadelphia is not good, but let's add some context. They got no wide receivers. It's increasingly a wide receiver perimeter player league, and they got lousy ones. So to the Patriots and they're struggling. Philadelphia has got a bad receiving court. Everybody's hurt. They've had cluster injuries in the secondary, the offensive line, and wide receiver.

If you watch Carson Wentz and you can't see his talent, stop talking at sports bars. Just stop talking. Go mute. Never talk again. There are people that think Mitch Trubisky is better than Carson Went. You're morons. This kid's an a plus arm, a plus size, A plus play. A plus feet. He's great. He's got nothing to work with. You had Jared Gough as the worst

quarterback in the NFL in November. Then last week he ate Pete Carroll, the best defensive guy in the league not named Belichick alive. Jared Gough has guard center guard issues. Todd Gurley looks like a shot fighter most of the time. Context. Philadelphia's got nothing to work with. You saw two different worlds last night. New York Giants are in trouble. Not because they lost, Because their GM sometimes doesn't know what he's doing. Their head coach is over his head. His head coach is a great guy. The Giants head coach, Pat Shermer, is a great guy.

He's not a great head coach. He's a coordinator. There's a lot of Norv Turner here where he's super smart, but he's never going to own the room. Not enough alpha. Guys don't buy into him. They're not really competitive. There's a lot of stuff about Pat Shermer behind the scenes. He's not a head coach.

He's a great coordinator. And he'll get paid seven figures most of his life being a great coordinator. But he's not going to make big boy. money like Belichick, Pete Carolyn, Mike Tomlin because he's not a head coach. They got real issues, and Daniel Jones is good, but he's not Carson Wentz. Let's just add some context to this. Carson Wentz last night, they asked him to throw 50 times, 50 times in an NFL game. Completed 33, 27 first downs, almost 50% on third down, had the ball for 42 minutes.

But they can't score anything over the top. They can't get quick touchdowns because they got nobody that can run. Greg Kosell told us a month ago, Philadelphia is the slowest. offense in the NFL. They got no players. Last night, their four leading receivers who are running back in three tight ends. That's what Philadelphia is. But they're in a good spot.

Remember, all bads aren't the same in this league. When you watch Miami's a bad team, Cincinnati's a bad team, Detroit's a bad team, Washington's a bad team, the New York Giants are a bad team, Jacksonville's a bad team, Arizona's a bad team. But Miami, there's a plan. They look well-coached. They've got some nice perimeter talent. They're in every game.

They've got a ton of draft pick. The New York Giants are bad, and I don't see a way out because they don't have the right GM and they don't got the right coach and their quarterback's good but not fantastic. So, you know, this is called discernment. It's called context. You've got to be able to watch games. It can't be winning. 75% of the country bought into Tim Tebow because he was winning. And 80% of he said Jared Goff is no good because he was losing.

Watch the games. Look at the talent. Quarterbacks need help. Wentz has nothing to work with. If you can't spot his talent, I can't help you. Just go to sports bars, listen more, talk less, and we'll all be good. But Wentz is fantastic. They just have cluster injuries all year long, first on defense, then the O line, now in wide receiver.

Philadelphia's got the worst receiving core in the NFL today. I mean, in New England, maybe second, third, fourth worst. Philadelphia has got the worst receiving core due to injuries in the NFL. If Deshawn Jackson was around, he could throw the ball deep. He's been out for two months. They can't. Here's Carson Wentz after. Just keep believing.

Keep believing. It's time to make a decision how this is going to define us tonight. Obviously, we knew it was not our first half. That was a rough one. That was an ugly one. But we just said, keep believing, keep staying together. Defense was going to take care of their piece, which they did. And we were able to do enough offensively to get this win.

They're fine. infrastructure. Remember, you know, week to week, you can have strong opinions on this league. And week to week, there's a ton of parity in this league. But year to year, there's really not. The best coaches and the best quarterbacks win in this league. That's why I can pick 75% of the divisions every year. I pick Brady and Mahomes and Aaron Rogers. And, you know, we told you Garoppolo's going to be good with Kyle Shanahan. And, you know, Russell Wilson's not going anywhere. And Drew Brees will probably be okay. And week. to week there's parity year to year there's not as much parody as you think if you think

Carson Wentz, Doug Peterson, Howie Roseman and the ownership of Philadelphia is going away. You think they made a huge mistake on Carson Wentz. You just don't know what you're talking about. There's no room to wiggle on this. You just don't know what you're talking about. They're fine. All right, let's go to the other big story. I think it's a big story.

I don't think it's a big story. I don't care much about it. But here it is. We love football. We all love football, right? We love football. Like 150 Americans, 150 million Americans watched football for at least three hours during the Thanksgiving weekend. We love football.

We're obsessed with football. But here's what we hate about football. The people that beat us, the quarterbacks that beat us, and the coach that beats us. And so for the last 20 years, there's been this one quarterback and this one coach and this one owner and this one culture. And they just keep winning all the time. And love and hates a very thin line. And we love football and we watch it. and we bet it and we talk about it and we drink beers with our buddies.

And there's this one team that just keeps winning all the time and we hate them. So a story yesterday comes out that the Patriots who are doing a kind of documentary over the last couple of years called Do Your Job and they send video cameras all over the NFL. They sent one to Cincinnati, who they've got coming up. And they found this guy taping the Bengals. He was wearing a Patriot shirt and he was taping the Bingles sideline for like seven, eight minutes. and everybody this morning is like, oh, I got, cheating,

this is why they win. Yeah, let's say it's true. You think that's why they win Super Bowls? Cincinnati's lousy. You think if they were tape in the Patriots, they'd be winning Super Bowls? First of all, Bill Belichick said this. I don't even know what was going on.

I've never seen any of this tape. Here's Belichick. Evidently, this is our production people on the TV show that were there. And I have absolutely nothing. nothing to do. We have absolutely nothing to do with anything that they produce, direct, or shoot, or anything. I've never even seen any of their tapes or anything else. So this is something that we 100% have zero involvement with. This is something that you'd have to talk

to the production people about and what they were doing. Yeah. So the losers, the Bengals, or Sorath, the Patriots, the winners. People make their minds up about people. Look at our president right now. For all the shenanigans, there's a network that I work for. They still believe in him. And then there's another network, our rival, and they think he's crazy, and they didn't like him first day. People make their minds up. You've made your minds up on Brady and Belichick. And half of you really, maybe 75% of you think they just win Super Bowls because of SpyGate, Deflate Gate, and Bengal Gate. And you really believe that. And I'm never going to change your mind. And I don't believe that to be true. Even if you caught Warren Buffett doing

some insider trading, do I think he'd not be a billionaire? Do I think a president who has to do something in the Middle East with arms and they have to do something with an international leader? Do I think he's, am I going to say that that president is not a good president? I don't worry about individual incidents like this because it doesn't define success. Success is about traits and habits. It's not about a tape at a Bengals game upstairs that a losing franchise doesn't like. and a winning franchise says it's part of a documentary we do about our excellence. You can believe they're cheating.

I'm never going to change your mind. And in New England, Boston, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, this morning they're waking up saying, I believe Belichick. And you're not going to change their mind. It doesn't matter. At the highest levels of success, you are grinding and pushing the envelope. In fact, it is your responsibility at the very highest levels of business to push the envelope because you have the capital and the leverage to do it. I used to work at a company.

It was a broadcasting company before this one. And they came out with a phone and it bombed. But I remember telling the president of the company, you owed it to us to roll the dice on that. I said, because we can lose $50 million as a sports network. We make $8 billion a year. But if we don't roll the dice and see if a sports company can be also become Verizon, then it may never open the door up to the possibility of us having another 5,000 employees. Go look at Jimmy Johnson NASCAR, his crew chief. Accusations. Go look at Nick Saban early at Alabama gray shirting. Facebook, Apple, Google, the claims. When you are at the top of any profession, it is your responsibility. ability, almost a burden to push, get better, evolve, adapt, make people uncomfortable.

Pete Carroll, in my opinion, is probably the second best coach in the NFL. Go look up his fines and suspensions in the NFL. Adderall, too much hitting at practice. By the way, push the envelope with the NCAA and got USC in trouble. Do I think less of Pete? Do I think less of Apple? Do I think less of Jimmy Johnson and NASCAR? the Houston Astros.

Edge, push, push, push, keep grinding, push, push, push, people are chasing. It's the reality of excellence. You can either sit at the top and be comfortable and then get rolled. Or you can be up there and push and push and push. And I'm not going to change your mind. But I think the Astros are the best despite that stupid garbage can story. And I think Jimmy Johnson's the best despite stories about he and his crew chief. And I think Apple's an amazing company.

is Facebook and we make a lot of money on our show with Facebook and I don't yes they take some of my conversations all righty I my neighbors can probably hear me I live in Los Angeles I can hear them I mean in the end I'm not going to convince anybody the Patriots were not cheating or cheating you've made your mind up we love football they're the one dynasty we can't seem to solve the riddle the enigma we can't beat I tend to think this is just do your your job documentaries. Half of you are outraged. Maybe 90%. People in Maine are like, yeah,

he's got our back. Of course we're just doing documentaries because we're awesome. But I'm done taking phone calls for this show and trying to convince people of stuff. People have made their minds up on New England. I tend to believe them. You don't.

Let's go have a bagel and enjoy our life. That's how I see it all. There we go. Feel very good about that. What do you make of that joy? As somebody who grew up hating New England. You know what? I've been saying this for years.

I wish the dolphins would cheat as good as the Patriots do. That's a joke. They're not cheating. I mean, I agree. Like, you have to push the envelope. And I don't think that they were getting anything from the Bengals sideline. I don't either. Is that even possible?

Why would you wear a Patriot? I mean, I'm not even going to try to convince people. The guy was wearing a Patriot outfit and filming. And for like seven minutes, they're like, I mean, like, if you're trying to cheat, you might be a little bit more discreet about it. If Cincinnati was in New England's press box or somebody doing that, do you think the Bengals would win? You know what the Bengals are going to get beat by the Patriots? Because of the Bengals.

And they're cheap. And their owner's not as good. And their quarterback's not as good. And their coaches aren't as good. And their scouts aren't as good. And the problem here is reputation. That's right. It's so, think whatever you want.

But all I know in my whole life, the people at the top of any industry are pushing and pushing and grinding and grinding, because if you don't, people are chasing and you're trying to find an edge and sometimes deflategate and it's kind of fuzzy. I mean, baseball had a steroid issue. And I said this before. I would have used steroids in baseball. Everybody was getting big contracts. The sport didn't seem to care. Everybody loves Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire, though Mark McGuire literally looked like Popeye. It was a wonderful time. I agree. And my takeaway was if I could take a pill and be a better broadcaster and get more money and my bosses didn't care, I would take it.

I would absolutely take it. If there was a Viagra for broadcasting, where you were just better and stronger and could just talk forever and be a little smarter, I would take it. I mean, it's a question of integrity, but it goes back to a bit. It's a little naive to imagine

that people at the top of any industry aren't trying to find an edge to stay at the top. And that, by the way, said, again, I don't think that the Patriots we're trying to. We all have flexible morality. I work five minutes from Hollywood.

There's been a bunch of controversies in Hollywood for the last five years. Everybody knew about them in Hollywood, but everybody accepted them because that person could get you work. Everybody's got flexible morality. That's why whenever I turn on radio and I hear these conservative, I'm a moralist, and I'm like everybody's flex. Everybody's moral to what matters to them. Well, you want to be careful, you know, you don't want to have a glasshouse mentality. Because that's obviously dangerous. But again, the bottom line to this particular story is if you believe that the Patriots are always cheating

and that's why they win, then that's what you believe. I mean, New England's lost the benefit of the doubt to most fans. Of course, as they should. That is well deserved. You can also believe that the Patriots can sometimes take advantage of situations and just are also okay with that because that's just kind of how the world works. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game.

morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the

people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Come on out. Quarterback on office, blue of 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, Fam? Miss Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the, iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This Urban Meyer-Dalice Cowboys thing has gained a lot of steam over the last couple of weeks. I haven't spent a lot of time on it because I don't think it's going to happen. I've never seen Urban Meyer as an NFL coach because he's shown no inclination to watch the NFL, talk about the NFL, or love the NFL. I've never really given it any legitimacy. Jerry Jones talked about it this morning because Urban's a remarkable coach, and he's a friend.

He's a good guy. I like, I've known Urban forever. And I think he's the best or second best college coach I've ever seen. He's the Bill Parcells of college football. He takes a program an hour later, his leadership, his ability to build staff, his recruiting. He's the only guy. Nick Saban took three years to really rebuild every place he was at. Urban Meyer rebuilt Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, Ohio State in about 40 minutes, all of them.

It's really remarkable. And it's not just recruiting. He's really, really, really smart. You've seen them on TV as an analyst. So anytime Urban's name comes up, I think Urban's very good on TV. I think he wanted to step away from college football. I think the day-to-day grind wore him out back in Florida. I always said I thought the day-to-day grind wore him out then.

It's a lot to coach. We just saw Chris Peterson retire at 55 at Washington. Jeff Tedford, great coach, Fresno State retired. Now with a transfer portal year-round recruiting, it's a beatdown. You get no time off. And I think Urban wanted to kind of recharge the battery. get into broadcasting. He takes it very seriously. He's excellent at it. But I've never seen Urban as an NFL guy. So I've given it no steam. Not that he couldn't be successful,

but he's never been a guy that when we talk and have for years, we've never even talked NFL. I'm not even sure if he watches NFL games. So anyway, Jerry Jones was talking about Urban's name, which got brought up this morning. That's not correct. I can confirm that it is absolutely not correct. We have not met with any code. specifically why in answering that question, I don't want to imply that we wouldn't in a way that would diminish the credibility of, in this case, a player or somebody you're asking about. Normally when somebody says, Dave, you met with such and such, are you interested in such and such? And you said, I have not. It's implication is you're not interested.

That shouldn't be forward either. The facts are we just have not talked to any coach. And I never thought they did talk. And I don't think, now, would he be successful? Generally, here's the rule. The guys in college, and there's a lot of misses, college guy to pro, but the guys that have been successful generally either have two things. They've already been in the NFL so they know they know the business.

Pete Carroll had been in the NFL before, you know, the USC stuff. Jim Harbaude played and coached with the Raiders quarterback coach. Tom Coughlin, who was in the NFL, went to college, Boston College. back to the NFL, and spent four or five years. Now, Jimmy Johnson had not been in the NFL before he got there, but he told me, I asked Jimmy about this six months ago. Jimmy said he was going to symposiums. He wanted to coach in the NFL.

That was his goal and that he had done a lot of work on personnel, symposiums, made a lot of contacts in the NFL. Urban's a guy that his friends are primarily college guys, although he's tight with Belichick. I think he could succeed because I think he's a great leader. I think he'd be unbelievable with personal. personnel the first four or five years. He'd have a huge advantage on everybody. We saw this when Pete Carroll came out of USC to the Seahawks and Pete Carroll was finding guys in the fifth,

six round that were pro bowlers. Urban would have a huge advantage over everybody in the first three years in the draft. He's a great, he has the ability to build staffs instantly and build credibility. He's a big man. He walks into a room. There's a lot of alpha with Urban, very impressive person. So I'm not saying it wouldn't work. I've just, I think a lot of this simply came from one comment on our show two weeks ago from Urban talking about Lincoln Riley, another coach. That's the one. You know, that's New York Yankees. That's the Dallas Cowboys. That's the one. Great City. You've got Dak Prescott. You got Zeke Ellie. You got loaded team. You know, and I can't speak for him. Obviously, I hate to even speculate because I don't know them. That's really not fair.

But to me, that's the one job in professional football. You kind of say, I got to go do that. Have you been called by the Cowboys? I have not. But if you would have been, you'd just spend a couple days with it. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That one, yes.

Okay. So that's, I think it's all come from that. And I think he's right. The cowboy, the cowboy is a little bit more of a glamour job than a great job, in my opinion. I think it's harder than everybody. But, you know, he's worked, Urban's worked with athletic directors and the NCAA hovering over him. So he's had bosses that are strong-willed and people, you know, that he's had the deal with. But I've got to be honest with this.

I've never really thought Cowboys Urban. I've never given it a second thought. I think Urban wanted to go into TV. He wanted to break. College football now wears coaches out. More and more guys I talk to in college football are talking about earlier retirement. I've said this before. I think Nick Saban is not long for college football.

I think he's got a chair at this network or another network. If he wanted to talk college football, you know, we got Urban, so we don't need Nick. He'd probably go to the other place. And from what I've heard, that's been offered already. So for anybody about the urban stuff, some of you were like, Colin, why won't you talk about it? I haven't taken much of it seriously. He's never shown an inclination for it. I think he would probably be very successful because Urban is successful at everything.

Coaching, broadcasting, he has a leadership class at Ohio State, speaking engagement. He's a great speaker. He's a little bit like Nick Saban. Like everything they do, they're pretty good at it. Saving would be a good broadcaster. He was a good coach, good personnel guy. He's a great speaker. speaker, motivational.

So, you know, these high-end guys, I generally say they'd work, but I haven't given a lot of thought. What's going on, everybody? John Middlecock, three-and-out podcast. Go subscribe. If you like Colin's show, you'll like mine. I talk football, football, and more football. Coming up on the show, Carson Wentz, Eli Manning attempted to win a Monday night football game.

Kyle Shanahan, Jimmy Garoppel, the Chiefs, the Pats, Baker Mayfield, the college football playoffs. I go over it all. Again, three and out podcast with me, John Middellcock. Go subscribe. Heard hierarchy. Time is now. Let's go.

The top 10 NFL teams, according to college. Number 10. Buffalo Bills, I think you can make an argument. It's the best overall defense in the NFL. I mean, they face teams like the Ravens. It's not like they've had an easy schedule. They face Tom Brady. They face, they face the Cowboys weapons.

And they face New England. And they do a pretty good job of shutting everybody down. Their second and points allowed. third and total defense and past defense. We can talk all we want about their limitations offensively, but I absolutely believe they're capable of going on the road. This is a kind of team that's built for the road. They're going to keep the score on the teens.

Josh Allen can throw the ball over the top. Buffalo's a real football team. They're a playoff team and they're a legitimate real football team in the AFC number 10. Number nine. Green Bay, I just don't see what everybody else does. They're 26 against the run. I think they're a finesse football team. I think the league's figured it out.

You don't want to give the league a book on how to beat you. And the teams that are physical push them around. Now, the thing I do like about Green Bay, they're far less reliant on Aaron Rogers. And it looks like Aaron Rogers is totally okay with that. They're six and one when Aaron Jones rushes for over 100 yards. So I like that part of it. You don't have to watch them.

And Aaron Rogers has to be amazing for them to win games. He can be good, hit a couple of throws. They're not relying on Aaron Rogers to do everything, and that is a good thing, but I think their ceiling is really pretty low for a two seed. Number eight. I wouldn't want any piece of the Titans. The Titans right now lead the NFL since week 10 in yards per play. That is a huge stat in the NFL.

Vegas loves that stat. They are big play. They can grind you with Derek Henry. I've always thought Mike Brable's a good coach. Ryan Tannehill, you know, Marioita and Tannihil have some similarities. They're tall guys, good throwers not great, mobile guys, but Tannahill generally can stay healthier. Clearly the organization, the team likes Tanna Hill. They're playing harder.

Listen, they lead the league in the red zone. That tells you that's another thing they do. They're a good red zone offense. They got a big receiver on the corner. They can pound the ball with Derek Henry. They get there. They get touchdowns, not field goals. Tennessee at eight.

Number seven. Minnesota, I think Minnesota and Tennessee have. some similarities. I think there's a ceiling at quarterback, but I think Zimmer's an unbelievable coach. Mike Zimmer's a great coach. This is a team that needs to run the football. They're number four rushing offense in the NFL, but Kirk Cousins also has 24 touchdown passes. They're doing this a lot lately without Adam Thielen, who's a world-class wide receiver. Delvin Cook's not 100%. They've won seven of their last nine games. They've also had a very tough schedule. They've been going through tough road games in Seattle. A lot of tough road game in Dallas, in Seattle. I think they're

well coached. I think Spielman's built a great roster. I'm a little worried about Kirk Cousins in the spotlight. They're about the best seven team I've ever had at this time of the year because it would not shock me if they got to the NFC championship. I have that much regard for their front office, their coach, and their roster. Number six. New England, here's an interesting number with New England, and this is troubling. This tells you a lot about this offense. Joy, Tom Brady has passed the ball 522 times this year. Leads the NFL. You really want your 42-year-old quarterback leading the NFL and pass attempts? You know what that tells you?

Their running game stinks too. You can bang on Brady, but they're not running the football. And that's an offensive line issue because, I mean, James White and Sony Michelle are fine. So they're forcing Brady to throw to rookies, undrafted guys, Julian Edelman. They don't have a running game component. Now, they are league leading plus 19 turnover differential and they block four punts. So they're going to get better field position. They're going to outsmart you.

They're going to block an occasional punt. They're going to take the ball away from you and almost never give it back. So that gives them a puncher's chance in these big games with more talented teams. Number five. Kansas City. Now, here's the good news with Kansas City. Ever notice they're never out of games? They're the only team over the last two years not to lose a game by over seven points.

That's the Mahomes factor, the Andy Reid factor. But I will say this. I thought Sunday that game should not have been that club. They do not run the football very well. So when they get leads, they can't crush the clock and eat the clock. They're in too many close games for their talent. But let's be honest, Mahomes is terrific. He's playing hurt, and I give him an A plus for playing hurt Sunday.

According to a report, Andy Reid had to scale back the offense at halftime. They just couldn't make certain throws. His hand was in pain. They're a good team. Situationally, Sunday, a lot of stuff worried me. Number four. Seattle Seahawks. Listen, don't take too much from this.

Okay, they played a series of big games. It's a classic Pete Carroll defense, 29 takeaways. That is so Pete Carroll. You know, they've got Diggs playing safety, Giadavian Clowny. They've added two nice defensive players. They do a lot of things well. They're third in rushing, so they can pound the ball.

Again, they're a little bit like Minnesota. They can beat you a couple ways. They can run the football, but they're also third in passing percentage. Now, fifth and total offense. Now, I did think this past Sunday night, they became very reliant on Russell Wilson, didn't come in with a great game plan. But I don't think you can lose too much here. They bring a lot of smoke.

They got a great coach and a great quarterback. They're both Hall of Famers. Excellent GM. This is a nice roster. I don't think it's a great roster. I don't think they're Baltimore, New Orleans, San Francisco. I just trust their quarterback and coach in the playoffs. Number three.

The Saints, the New England of the NFC, not much of a very. vertical component, but brilliant coach, old, brilliant quarterback, and one dominant possession receiver. Now, I do think their defensive pass rush is better than New England, but they do not turn the ball over at all. I thought Drew Breeze looked unbelievable. I've seen that defensive line, eat up Aaron Rogers, Baker Mayfield. I thought Breeze was unbelievable. I think Drew missing five games because of an injury is actually a huge benefactor to Drew right now. and Michael Thomas is on fire. I don't know why he's always that open.

Drew Breeze on fire. New Orleans is better than I thought, but I still don't know if they can take this act on the road to a San Francisco or somebody like that and win a playoff game. Number two. Niners. Head coach A, quarterback, I think A, D-line A. I has a lot to like about this team. What I like about San Francisco, they can beat in so many ways.

They can run the football. They can go power. George Kittle. They can do it with whiteouts. They can suffocate you with their defensive line. They can take the ball away. It's a power running game.

Really, Mike Shanahan's kid, Kyle, runs a lot of that power zone offense. They can just power the football. Full back first. Pick up big chunks. I like teams as the weather turns and you face a variety of great athletes and coaches in January.

They can beat you four or five different ways. They can slow it down, eat the clock. They can go big play. They're good in the red zone. This feels like a Super Bowl team to me. The only thing I worry about is Garoppolo on the road, big spot.

Does it engulf them a little bit? I don't think it does, but that's my only concern. Number one. I mean, we're not trying to be contrarian here. Baltimore's beating all the best teams. They beat Seattle and Seattle. They beat San Francisco. I mean, in a weird way, they're lost to Kansas City's great

because they're probably out to play Kansas City or New England again. They lost to Kansas City. I like the matchup. And I can remember watching that game. And Kansas City jumped on them at Arrowhead really quick, and they got down. There's just not much to, they're averaging 33 points a game. Since Marcus Peters arrived, I think they're more aggressive and better defensively. Well coached.

Lamar Jackson's better than I thought, faster than I thought, and his efficiency is remarkable for his age. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the iHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the hard way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about,

wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to The Cliver Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He run under the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball.

Like, you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Greg Jennings joining us. Played in the NFL for a decade, multiple time pro-bowler, Super Bowl. I am working Christmas Eve. I don't take time off America. I've got your back. So Greg comes in today. He's just in a very good mood. I am. And he turns to joy and whispers something. And I am not part of a cool conversation. So why are you, what is up with you now?

Because Joy, you have my back on this. I do. Colin has been, you have been always talking about, I don't like icing. I don't do icing. Receivers are, you guys are icing. But all I've been hearing over the last few weeks is you starting to enjoy the icing, even this morning talking about, you know, it's just a receivers league. Is this, it.

are we saying that we now enjoy icing? What I am saying is... No, no, no, just yes or no? First of all, I always enjoyed a little icing. Oh, yes. I knew you were sneaking in the cabinet and opening up the icing. Too much icing on the cake, though, ruins the cake. Of course.

Of course. But the league, we got to evolve here. I don't think Lamar Jackson's a one-off or something. I'm just going to clap. You're going to clap? That's here for me. Congratulations. It's becoming.

I think what's happening, the rules, the dynamic quarterbacks, receivers, value is absolutely more than ever. I think that's fair to say. No, it's funny about this. You are obviously a high functioning dude, right? And all of a sudden, Brady's struggling with the receivers. Edelman took four years, by the way, to figure it out. And he was a quarterback. Some of this is, I don't think Belichick's ever been a great drafter of skill people.

20 years, one pro-Bolera skill people, gronk. That's unbelievable. as great as he is. Just take yourself. Was Green Bay, because I think some of this is New England's got this cerebral, rigid offense, and at some point, lighten up a little bit if you want young players to play. You can't be Harvard every week. You got 23-year-old kids.

Do you think was Green Bay's offense hard? What's fair? How long for a rookie receiver to learn an offense? It really depends. It really depends. I came in as a rookie and I give all credit to my last year college coaching staff, Bill Cupid, George McDonald was my receiver coach. They got me ready to play immediately in the National Football League.

That's not the case across the board. A lot of receivers come in and their skill level, they can play. But mentally, you have to be able to overcome this game. I remember getting all these text messages and social media DMs and people saying, man, when Devante Adams first got to Green Bay and he was dropping balls and they're like, man, this guy's not going to pan out, he's terrible, he's this. And I just remember responding, be patient. Like there's a lot of pressure as a receiver, not only to come into this league and just ascend to one of the greats,

but when you have to play with an all-time great quarterback, that is pressure in and of itself. So you felt it. I entered into Green Bay playing with Brett Farb. And my number one goal and mentality and approach was don't drop the ball, make sure he wants to throw you the ball. Period. Like I knew how to run routes. I knew how to catch. I wasn't a dropper of passes.

But in my mind, I made sure, okay, just catch the ball. Be where you need to be. Like not playing the game, but. You were thinking the game. Trying to make sure that I was going to be where he wanted me to be. Forget the system. Forget the scheme. If Brett told me to do something, that's what I wanted to be found doing.

Do you think maybe the New England kids? There's anxiety. There's pressure. They're overthinking the room. Is that part of it? It happens when you look at the relationship, and I don't care who you are if you play the receiver position, you look at the relationship between Tom Brady and Julian Ellman. Everyone wants that.

It didn't start off like that. It took them four or five years. It did not start off like that, but they want not only the relationship that they have a rapport that they have on the field, but the relationship that they have off the field. And so when you come in as a rookie, Nikiel Harry and Jacoby Myers, all these young guys, you're not going to immediately just have that relationship with Tom Brady off the field to transition on the field. What creates that quicker is if you produce on the field.

But when you have the amount of pressure that these guys have, I mean, I'm not making any excuse for them because some of these plays you just got to make, but you got to make, Even the ones that are not expected of you to make, the hard catches, you got to make those. Why? Because that's going to bring you closer into the wheelhouse of Tom's going to now depend on you. Now I need you. Now I'm going to go to you in clutch moments because I can count on you to make plays even when you're bailing me out a little bit. And that's what Tom needs at times.

Every quarterback needs a receiver to make a special catch to bail them out. I want to go to Aaron Rogers said something. I don't want to be a psychologist, but there's a Tony Romo thing going on with Aaron Rogers. Smart, options, not defined by football. And Aaron Rogers, a couple days ago, said, I'm getting to the 18th hole.

Andrew Luck, injuries, other interests. Tony Romo, injuries, other interests. Cam, injuries, other interests. Nobody would be shocked if in two years, Cam called it out, called it up. When Aaron says, you know, 18th hole, I wasn't shocked. I kind of thought to myself, listen, Brady laughs. He's obsessed with football. Bree's sort of jokes, I'm obsessed with football.

I don't think Aaron wants to be defined by it. Am I nuts on that? No, I don't think any player wants to be defined by what they presently do. There's a lot that makes up an individual outside. of just what we see him doing on a football field and in that Green Bay Packer uniform. Aaron Rogers is the type of guy that, yes, he has so many things going for him outside of the world of football. But when you look at him, I don't think, when he says 18th hole, I definitely don't think

he's on the front nine. He's on the back nine, but you got to understand when he started his career, he was showing us how physically gifted and talented he was, running outside of the pocket, scrambling with his legs, making crazy throws with his arms, which he still can do with his arms, but he played the mental game as well. Now he's on the back nine, and

he still has all of those things to offer, but he just understands. You know what? I could last a little longer if I don't extend these plays myself and take these hits. If I still just rely on my arm, but do it from the pocket, let these guys

protect me, take less hits. If you noticed it with Aaron this year, he's a little safer. 100%. It's not a negative. It's not a knock. It's smart. They cannot be where they are without him on the field. And so in understanding that, the longer

you play, hopefully, the smarter you get, the more mature you become. And he understands the only way we win as an organization, as a team, the only way we're productive as an offense is if I'm on the field. He's been on the field, whether

we can say he's been the Aaron Rogers of old or not, that's not even in question. He's been present. He's able to make the plays that they need him to make. And it's primarily because he's just there doing what he does, playing the mental game. He's picking guys apart. Aaron Rogers is one of those guys that you always give them a chance because of his talent. Yeah. His ability. It's not a huge stat year for him. But it's okay. One more thing. And so when you compare him to Tony Romo, I disagree with that because of this. Tony Romo got his job taken away from him because of the great play of someone else stepping in.

Aaron Rogers, every time he's exited by way of injury, they had nobody to show signs of up. Aaron could possibly walk off into the sunset. Absolutely not. And then what other occupation, not saying that there aren't any out there, will he immediately transition? into making 30 plus million dollars a year. Well, he could act. You don't think he's an actor? And he's going to make 30 plus million dollars a year right out the gate.

Nah, not going to happen. Not saying he can't act. Well, he's got a hedge fund or something, doesn't he? I mean, he has a lot of things going on, even with the bucks. And he has a lot of things going on. But, you know, it's something about being the guy. That's no. Hey, I could step away at any time. I like bossing people around.

I love it. Joey just had enough of me today. Okay, so I'm not going to have an opinion on Baker Mayfield because I'm too negative and that's what America thinks. So I'll just set it up and you talk. Baker Mayfield criticizes the medical staff. Take it away. Can't do it.

That's completely out of bounds. You cannot do it. PR 101 when players are injured, even within your own injury, don't disclose every bit of the injury, the extent of the injury, the depth of the injury, don't do it. We definitely are not to talk about anyone else's injury. We leave that to the head coach, period. You don't really see offensive coordinators or coaches talking about injuries. Why?

Because they want one message and they want it to come from one messenger. And that's the head coach. He talks to the training staff. he gets all his information, and then he conveys and relays it the way he wants to. So for Baker to do this completely out of bounds. Now, speaking of all of this, like the sports hernia, it's a challenging diagnosis. I remember in Green Bay, my last year in Green Bay, 2012, I missed about eight games in and out. And the first game in the season against San Francisco, almost in the fourth quarter,

I do something to my groin. What I thought was my groin. I come to the sideline, I'm like, man, I think I popped my groin. The entire assessment, the entire training staff was like, man, yeah, it's your groin. That week, we were playing, that was opening week, we played Thursday night against Chicago Bears. I wanted to play in that game. I had a doc come up.

He was at my house all Wednesday. At 2 a.m. in the morning, I'm out in front of my house running down the street, making cuts, trying to see if I could endure or play the next day. And the doc looks at me, his name Dr. Josh Sandell in Minneapolis. And he says, if I can't fix it, Greg, this isn't a groin. I hate to say it, but I think you have a sports hernia. He says this to me, and I'm like, okay. I didn't disclose this information right away because I wanted to play, but I got ruled out.

I eventually disclosed the information, but the training staff, because it's so, the symptoms are so relatable to a groin, you just don't. know. Now one would say, man, why with the exposure, the disposal that they have, why don't they check every single box, have you do all kind of MRIs and whatever

right out the gate to negate the other possibilities? It just doesn't always work out that way. Listen to this misdiagnosis. It's just misdiagnosis. When I lived in Tampa, they amputated a guy's wrong leg. Yeah, I mean, that's just bad. That's that's not supposed to happen.

They put giant Xs on your leg. I was hospital one time years ago. And I told the doctor, this is the problem. He wouldn't listen to me. It's on the table for four and a half hours. Finally, after it, he goes, yeah, you're right. I'm like, it's my body. I can tell.

I had a stomach issue and I'm not going to get into personal stuff, but it was kind of embarrassing and it was not working. The old burner back that I wasn't working. The whole point is, it happens. There's confusion. It does happen. And to wrap up the story, like, I was misdiagnosed, but I don't say, I don't go to the training staff and say,

oh, you guys intentionally misdiagnosed me. It was perfect. No, man, it happens. It was a misdiagnosis. And you don't do it publicly. I didn't know. So, I mean, obviously you have trainers that know more information as far as body parts and everything, but it happens.

Unfortunately. Hey, I'm glad we're back on a speaking basis with the whole icing thing. How much you love icing? Yeah, no, listen. As I've aged, my diet changes. Exactly. A little more sugar in my life. A little more icing.

I'm okay with it. Most important position on the field outside of the quarterback. All right. Well, but we both. 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. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. and we're going straight to the source the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment,

and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy,

not quite. Unhumored me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This lineback... You know these kids. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama wants you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam?

It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toaddon. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to you. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

human.