The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 12/11/2019

Episode Date: December 11, 2019

Colin says the Cowboys have become too insular as a team and business and explains why that hurts them. He says the hits on Lamar Jackson are only going to get worse as he succeeds more in the NFL. FS1's Nick Wright comes on to yell at Colin about his Chiefs finally beating the Patriots. Plus, a former player takes a shot at the Browns training staff and Colin says Baker is to blame for starting the fire. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Podcast, 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.

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by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this son of Wednesday we are loaded is the herd, wherever you may be in, however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Drew Bledsoe today. Nick Rydell yell at me today. It is great to have you.

Joy Taylor is joining me today. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Drew Bledso. Drew Bledso next hour, former Patriot and Cowboy. That's awesome. He is a great friend of the show. Drink his wine as well.

He's got one of those celebrity wineries that's really, really an amazing winery. I want to start with this, though. You can be smart, but you have a blind spot and you make mistakes. So, I mean, I've been very lucky in my life. I've worked with a lot of smart people, but maybe because of the way you're raised, You know, you can have blind spots. Smart people cannot see obvious things sometimes. I would say older Americans sometimes struggle with tech.

Brilliant Americans over 60 years old. Billionaires struggle with tech. My 12, 13-year-old son knows more tech than the average 60-year-old billionaire. It's just the way the reality works. Jerry Jones is a very smart man. And Jerry Jones was talking about the Dallas Cowboys and the fact that he's the general manager. And, you know, Jerry Jones, for the last 60 years, 65 years, has been successful in everything. Oil, retail, sports.

He's got 25 different businesses. Stan Cronky, who's the richest or second richest NFL owner, relies on him. They're very close friends. So, of course, when Jerry wakes up in the morning, after 50, 60 years of being successful, he thinks I'm a pretty smart guy. But I think Jerry has a blind spot. And I've seen this a lot. So he was talking on Dallas radio yesterday about, yes, I'm the GM.

Yes, it all goes through me. When you can cut out the person between the decision maker and the people doing the recommending, then you can make quicker, more succinct, and more responsive decisions. Nobody ever has had the final say but me. Now, you know, I really don't like to say that. But that's a fact.

And so when we don't do good, we all know the ultimate total responsibility. And pro football, the guy that ultimately has the responsibility for paying the bills, makes the decision. So he's sort of bragging about it, but he's ultimately diagnosing the Cowboys problem. They're a huge brand, but they're too insular. So this is Jerry's blind spot. He's built a $5.5 billion family business. And he does watch football, but mostly cowboy football, I've been told. And this is where the cowboys have an issue, and I've seen this happen with a lot of businesses.

It's a family business. Do you know the Cowboys' head coach is a former cowboy? The Cowboy quarterback coach is a former cowboy. The Cowboy Offensive Coordinator is a former cowboy. The offensive line coach is a former cowboy. The defensive tackle coach is a former cowboy. Cowboy, cowboy, family, family, cowboy. When you do not have a global search, when you do not move outside of your family,

I've seen this a million times in college football where you hire the top assistant. The coach leaves. Let's just hire the long time, a loyal assistant. My whole life in the Pacific Northwest, it never worked. You got to go outside the family. Now Charlotte, I mean, it's a classic family business. Jerry's the patriarch. His ambitious son is the number two.

His super smart daughter, Charlotte, who went to Stanford. I've met her. She's sharp as a tack. She's the, you know, runs the operation. Then the kind of less aspirational son sells stuff. And then Jason Garrett's brother is the director of scouting. And Jason Garretto has been the adopted sort of son for Dallas. the Cowboys are like a college football program that won't go outside the athletic department.

Like they won't go on a global search and find the best people. Oh, boy, they did it briefly, Jimmy Johnson. They did it briefly with Jimmy and I, we're not comfortable. Jimmy's got too much power. All right. And they did it briefly with Bill Parcells. He was outside of the family. It's just, it's got a little too much power.

This, you can be smart and have blind. on. The term I.O. is used is sometimes you have to take the telescope, flip it over and look through the other side of the telescope, the other view of the world. And I think with Dallas, you can have a big brand and a great business, but be insular. They're sort of like Walmart. Like it's the Walton family, and there's nothing against Walmart. They built a great brand. But, you know, even when you hired a CEO for Walmart, he felt like an outsider, he had no real power. Eric Mangini was on First Things First this morning, and he brought up a fascinating point about the downside to everybody in the building being a cowboy.

And there's been very few global searches and people outside of the cowboy Jerry world and the family that would make people uncomfortable. Here's Manjini. I think the issue is with a GM, what you want to have as a head coach is the ability to have constructive conflict. You want to fight through issues. You want to disagree. With the owner, you can, owner slash GM, you want to have conflict.

but at the end of the day, you're going to do what he wants you to do. So you may not get to the right decision. You're just going to get to whatever decision Jerry wants. Listen, nobody can sit in a room with Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, and you're an outsider and not think about, I just bought a house here, I have daughters here. I don't want to make Jerry and Stephen mad, but I totally disagree with what they're saying.

And Stephen and Jerry are smart guys and good guys and successful guys, but sometimes you don't understand that your name has so much power and leverage and fear surrounding it, it scares off good candidates and scares off really good conversations in the room. And so Jerry there was sort of bragging about being the GM. He was actually diagnosing the problem, which is it's too much cowboy with the cowboys.

Go outside. Have influence beyond your athletic department and your family. And it's a great business. It's a $5.5 billion business. But I don't think the cowboys have the best people in the NFL with all of their NFL operations. I think their scouting department's done a very, very good job. And I do think the Jones family loves college football on Saturday.

They watch it. They love it. It's a college football family. They'll watch the Texas Longhorns in Arkansas and Big 12 football on Saturday, whereas Belichick's not as much into that. So that part I like. But I just think sometimes you become insular. Smart people can make bad decisions.

and just don't understand the power they have and the limitations they create. Okay, here's an interesting story. You know, Lamar Jackson's playing tomorrow night. He's obviously, it's fascinating. We have seen lots of quarterbacks who are athletic, Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick. They all work, do they all last? It's always been my point. They all work initially.

RG3 was rookie of the year over Andrew Luck. They all work, do they last? Cam's now all beat up, RG3 got beat up, Michael Vic didn't quite go initially as we thought it would. So Earl Thomas, former Seahawk now a Raven, he said he's noticing some of the hits in the last couple of weeks. And NFL needs to step in here. Every time somebody hits him, like, man, he don't need to be taking those hits. And I think the reps need to pay with closer attention to that as well, you know, and protect them a little bit more. Because teams are trying to do, I'm not saying they're trying to hurt them more, but, you know,

They're definitely going on his legs more than they was doing it at first. Yes, they are. They're not trying to end his career, but they are trying to hurt him, at least for the next three hours. So he has to go to the sidelines. It's very interesting here. He is so fast and electric that there's a term in basketball called breaking a guy's ankles where you make a guy look really bad. Even Alan Iverson even broke Michael Jordan's ankles a couple times that Lamar is breaking.

ankles. He's making guys look really, really bad on film. Like he's embarrassing corners. He's embarrassing linebackers. And you go to that film room on a Monday or a Tuesday, and it's a brutal film session for you as a linebacker. And those guys do not forget. And so there's a lot of comparisons to Lamar Jackson. But one of the things that we haven't mentioned Cam Newton a lot. So when Cam Newton came into the league, he embarrassed guys. He ran him over. He was so big and strong. And I said, Cam's got to get out of this Superman thing because he's going to create some embarrassment. He's going to run over a corner, run over a linebacker, make him miss, do the Superman. That ain't going to play Monday in film session. And did you notice after Cam had his most profound year, the MVP year, do you remember

how the hits got cheaper, later, and uglier on Cam Newton? Because when Lamar gets to it, remember those Cam Newton? Cam Newton started having big success and people started hitting them up high. Remember that hit against Atlanta? People started hitting him late because he had embarrassed them with a Superman. Now, Lamar doesn't do the Superman stuff, but he makes guys look insanely unathletic who have a lot of pride. And my point is on this, they're not trying to end Lamar's career, but they'd like to knock him out of games.

You talk to these old school NFL guys. Every single one you ask about him, they're like, oh, this wouldn't happen. We'd just knock him out. You're not going to make us look bad. Now, Tom Brady can embarrass you with his arm, but players understand that's what quarterbacks do. Running backs can embarrass you with their legs. Everybody in the league knows that's what they're built to do. But when the quarterback, the star, the highest paid, the face of the franchise starts wiggling out there,

and they're not supposed to make you as a linebacker look stupid, or you as a corner, or you as a safety, or as a defensive end. And it's no fault of Lamar. This is just a reality is if he gets to a Super Bowl, everybody in the league is going to spend an entire offseason going, how do we stop him? Just like they did Cam. And the answer was, hit him a little late, hit him a little high, take the penalty. And so when Earl Thomas says the league's got to step in, this is why I keep preaching. Lamar, learn to slide.

Do not let the NFL dictate your future. This is why Russell Wilson lasts. He's a baseball player. He's a great slider. Kyler Murray baseball player. Great slider. Aaron Rogers didn't play baseball. He's still a pathetic slider.

I watched a kid this weekend that played for a baseball. Georgia, Jake From is the worst slide I've ever seen. Don't leave this to the NFL. Lamar, learn to slide, learn to get down because you are so gifted, so nimble, so fast, so dynamic, you're humiliating guys, and they don't have a way to solve it. So they'll take it into their own hands. You're late, a little higher, little uglier, take the penalty, deal with an ejection. I guess my takeaway in Earl Thomas is, hey, the NFL's got to step in.

Don't leave it to the NFL. Listen, for 10 years, they couldn't figure out what a catch was. Do not leave it to the NFL. Lamar, I would literally hire a sliding coach. I would, because he is so good, he's making guys look so bad, they're going to take it to their own hands on the defensive side. By the way, he plays tomorrow night against the Jets. It is not a good matchup for the New York Jets.

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What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. 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. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 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 bases 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 the flyin. He run running up the court licking his fingers while 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 going to get the ball. So listen to

Point game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah, I want to talk about this Lavian Bell story. Lavian Bell's been a very good New York jet. He hasn't had a great year because their offensive line. You'll watch it tomorrow night is awful. I think it's as bad as any offensive line in the NFL. I've been told they're not happy with any of their offensive linemen. They're going to draft three more offensive linemen acquired.

They don't like any of them. And so Lavian Bell hasn't had a huge year, but he's been a good teammate, a good guy, and he's a terrific player. He really is a good spirit. He understands the business. not bothered by trade rumors. So he got in trouble because last week, he got the flu and he didn't play for the Jets as they beat Miami, but somebody saw him bowling at one in the morning, and people did not like it.

And I thought to myself, time out, time out, time out. So you dig a little deeper on this story. First of all, he was ruled out by the coach Adam Gase because he'd been sick all week. And the doctors told him you've lost nine pounds. You can't play a football game. You're too dehydrated. We've all been sick like that where you lose a lot. of weight. And so Adam Gase didn't want them around the players. What are your bosses always

tell you? Don't get everybody else sick. I tell my staff this all the time. You're sick. Get out of here. I don't want to get joy sick. I don't want to get joy sick. I don't want to get gulay sick or tui sick. Get out of here. So the coach is like the Jets have also had a lot of ugly press regarding their medical staff this year. So they're going to err on the side of go home. Secondly, he goes bowling. It's Saturday at one in the morning. So it's actually like, like, you know, it's almost the next day. And then Sunday, the Jets beat Miami. He doesn't play.

The bowling story comes out. He looks bad. First of all, bowling with friends is not carrying a football 20 times in the NFL. Go to a bowling alley. Look around. People eat nachos as they bowl. Okay, go to a bowling alley and look around. It's not the most athletic people in the world.

Okay, going bowling with family is not the equivalent. of taking 17 shots to the rib cage, blocking pass rushers, and catching passes in the NFL. Okay, so this idea that, well, he is good enough to bowl, folks, it ain't exactly the U.S. Olympic track squad at a bowling alley. You know what I mean? Look around. The second thing is, his doctor had told him you can't play. This has happened to me several times.

About three or four times a year, I don't get big flus, but I get a fever. 24-hour fever. And about once or twice a year, I just don't come to work. Number one, I don't want to get everybody else sick. Number two is I don't have the ability, I think, to put on a good show because my energy is low. So I'm not going to cheat the audience, cheat joy, cheat everybody. I don't have the ability to do a three-hour show and talk this fast. But I do have the ability to go to the store and buy some Theraflu and go to the market and buy things that'll make me healthier for 45 minutes and walk around, I just don't have the ability to do a three-hour show and the prep, and I'm hot.

And I, so, Levy and Bell comes out and he says, folks, got to give me a break. Here's what the doctor said. They was unsure about my energy and my hydration and things like that. So they helped me out of the game. But they did advise me to get out of the house and move a little bit. I had a lot of family and friends there. because they were expecting me play. So everybody was in my house just kind of looking at me.

And, you know, I felt better, a lot better, you know, so we went out, went out bowling, have fun. It's a non-story. The optics may not be great. I get that. I get that. But a running back is the last position in the NFL that's not protected by the rules. They still take shots.

You can't hit a wide receiver. You can't hit a tight end up top. You can't hit a quarterback. You can't even put your face up in a left tackle, right tackle's face, right? As a pass rusher, you can smoke a running back. So a running back whose lost nine pounds can't play this week is not the same as feeling a little better. Fever dips. You hydrate a little bit and you bowl with friends for an hour and a half in a local bowling alley as you eat nachos and drink water.

This is a non-story. Optics aren't great, but they're not that bad either. reasonable people can see the truth in this story. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard Radio app. WEEEI Radio in Boston did a blame pie yesterday. We like blame pies. We did one with the Lakers before the season started. Belichick and Nick Cesario are their guys, the personnel department, got 30% of the blame. And this is what I've said. In the last five years,

the Patriots have not drafted a pro bowl. Joe Tuny, offensive linemen's their best draft pick, never made a pro bowl. Jamie Collins is their last defensive player drafted who made a pro bowl. I'm not saying Belichick doesn't know what he's doing with personnel. He's obviously a smart guy. But when I watch the Ravens and I watch the Chiefs and I watch the Niners and I watch the Seahawks and I watch the Saints, I see youth and athleticism and perimeter players and I don't see it with New England.

So I think some of this is front office. And Nick Wright, my buddy, first things first for you, the Cowher Global Satellite Network. In your blame pie, Mr. Wright, Belichick Brady, where does it land for you? Tom Brady gets half of it, and the other half is divvied up amongst injury luck, retirement, formulation of the team, and lack of development of the receivers. But I do love how this is happening, how right now you got to blame one of the goats. And what we're seeing is the quarterback goat has a hell of a lot more loyalty from folks in WEEI in Boston or folks in Los Angeles in your television studio.

If you got to throw dirt on one of them, well, Belichick, really how good is he? Brady, it can't be his fault. I mean, look at these passes. I mean, obviously someone ran the wrong way. Obviously, that defender's not supposed to be there. Obviously, the first pass we showed where it goes 30 yards past the guy. Obviously, you should have caught it. I mean, look at this.

Tell me the wrong route that was run by the referee. Whose closest there? I don't know. Conflicting reports. But listen, you got a 42-year-old man trying to play quarterback. It's not going to work that well. And this is what you're seeing. So, yeah, Brady gets more than anybody else.

But it's hard to blame him because he's just playing his age. But his age is not a very good one in the NFL. By the way, I said this after the Chiefs won. I think I picked Kansas City to win. I thought it'd be more comfortable, and I thought that game shouldn't have been that close. It should not have been that close. The block punt. They got a couple officiating breaks.

I thought it was a bad win for Kansas City. You're from there. I know that doesn't play well. Aren't you concerned a little? It's not because I'm from there. You're unbelievable. Aren't you concerned a little that it was that close? You're not bothered at all.

That was that close. Colin, the Pat? ran everything this side of the annexation of Puerto Rico to try to formulate some offense and they couldn't get out of the teams. They won the turnover battle and blocked a punt and couldn't get out of the teams. The thing that should be that going into the game was concerning for the chiefs was their run defense and the Patriots could not run the ball at all. Brady had never lost a game at home with Julian Edelman against an AFC opponent until this week. weekend. Belichick had never lost in the regular season to a quarterback under 25 until this weekend.

And you're now going to give me the style points argument last year when they scored 31 in the second half in the regular season, 31 in the second half in the playoff game. You told me, ooh, fancy Patrick Mahomes, all his toys, but can't get it done when it matters. He's got one win in 38 big games in his career. And now going to Foxborough, beating. them, knocking them out of contention for the one seed, they're going to have to hold on for dear life to get a buy? You're, eh? Not that impressed? That is a bridge too far even for you, my friend. Well, you make a compelling argument. Okay, I didn't like OBJ to Cleveland. Now, I did think Baker and him would be productive. He runs the best slant in the league, and Baker was, at least

at one point, accurate at throwing a ball. But I never bought into the he wanted to be there. I think he's done some validation seeking the orange Bentley, the visor. Look at me. He knows his brand is dying. I don't think he feels Baker is he doesn't want to be tied to him for his future. There's just more great quarterbacks, even in his own division now. So I don't buy the OBJ to Cleveland thing. Here's what I worry about is that the GM is going to have to acknowledge.

Okay, I butcher the coaching hire and I butcher the OBJ trade. And I don't know if that GM's willing to admit that because he's not getting another job. Where do you land on the OBJ Cleveland? I know you have a relationship with OBJ. Yeah, I think it is worth reminding the audience as you did. He didn't have to be traded to Cleveland. I think he thought maybe San Francisco, maybe New England, and when he was traded to Cleveland, he thought what I thought, which is, well, it's Cleveland, but at least for the first time in my career, I'm going to get to play with a good quarterback. Instead, has been worse this year than anyone even you could have possibly anticipated.

And Odell has been on his best behavior, but living in Cleveland and not winning and not getting numbers and seeing your brand diminish as you're saying, that can't be a ton of fun. Your point that it's going to be tough for Dorsey to admit defeat on this so quickly when he's going to have to immediately admit defeat on the coach and his crown jewel, which is baker, is obviously right now a stock that is dropping. Those are all really good points. I hope Seattle saves him. Seattle's got the picks. They've got the need. It would also, I think, maybe do Odell well to be in a cosmopolitan city, but like a cool American city, but one far away from everything. Because the first three years of his career were the best opening three years

of a career any receivers ever had. The next three years have not been. And you only get so many years. And so I'd love to see him with Russell Wilson. People talk about Green Bay. If my friend Odell goes from New York City to Cleveland to Green Bay, I don't know if he'll be able to handle it. And I'm not saying it's lost in Cleveland yet, but I do think they are, and we've talked about this before, they're your neighbor who already had Alexis in the driveway, but the leak was roofing. The leak was roofing. The roof was leaking.

And then they came home with a Bentley. And you're like, but that roof is still leaking, bro. And so it hasn't worked out in that regard. I think you have been correct on that. Let's go to the Dallas Cowboys finally, Nick Wright. I said, you can be brilliant and have a blind spot. And Jerry Jones, his coach is a former cowboy, his coordinator is a former cowboy, his quarterback is a former cowboy.

The director of scouting is Jason Garrett's brother. The defensive tackle coach is a former cowboy. It's real insular. It's real insular. They're not going globally to find the best people. It's a bunch of family members and people within the family. I think that's the problem. I think they have an average coaching staff.

What say you? Yeah, I think the coaching staff right now is the issue. You can't be this year, Colin, they've scored more points and allowed fewer points, gotten more yards and allowed fewer yards than Green Bay. Yet Green Bay has 10 wins. They have six, and you can't even just say, well, it's the quarterback difference because this year, DAC, he hasn't been quite as good as Aaron Rogers, but he's been relatively close. The coaching staff's been disastrous this season, and so they obviously need to overhaul it. You can't be 0 and 5 in one score games, 0 and 6 against teams with a winning

record, but I'll defend Jerry Jones in this. I think everyone acknowledges that Jerry Jones, the owner, the marketer, the stadium builder is an A to an A plus. People say, but Jerry Jones, the GM with the meddling in the press conferences, I don't think he's ideal, but you need to look no further than the NFC East. Jerry Jones take ownership out of it. Is a better GM than Bruce Allen? He's a better GM than Dave Gettelman. He's probably not as good of a GM as Howie Roseman.

And so, like, you, I understand Cowboys fans that want Jerry to take a step back. They want to sacrifice good in the pursuit of great. Sometimes you sacrifice good in the pursuit of great, and you end up with awful. That's the concern there. So it's also one last thing. It's hard to find when they should have fired Jason Garrett prior to this year. It was 8 and 8, 8 and 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, then they go 12 wins, then Tony gets hurt, then they go 13 wins, then Zeke gets suspended.

last year he was teetering at three and five, but they trade for Amar and they salvage the season. So when was the year Jason Garrett was supposed to be fired? The answer is right now. And then what will probably define this last part of Jerry's time owning the Cowboys is by who he hires to be the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Hope he makes a hire that makes him a tad uncomfortable. I generally think that is the answer in all businesses.

Nick Wright, first things first. Good talking to you, bud. Thank you. Does Patrick Mahomes now have two big wins in his career? Does he have two? Two. He's got two. Two big wins on my big card of big wins. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Something last night. It was on HBO. It's called The Art of Coaching, Belichick and Sabin. Well, if you listen to this show, this is candy for me. I mean, this is like dinner. I get a plate of candy. meth, perhaps, but a healthier version. So they're talking about a lot of things. And, you know, something over the course of my life that simplicity is really good.

I tell my kids this all the time. Life's getting more complex and there's more voices. Try to simplify your life. The same stuff that makes me happy today made me happy 30 years ago. Come home. I got two dogs. They come jump into my arms every day. That makes me happy.

I go home and take a 30-minute nap. It makes me happy. I work out every day. That makes me happy. I have a cocktail at night and hang out and talk to my wife, and that makes me happy. When my kids laugh or they succeed, it makes me happy. The four or five things that make me happy of mostly outside of having kids, I didn't have kids early in life, make me happy. And it is interesting.

One of the other things I believe to be true that gets overstated. People say to me all the time, oh, my son, he wants to be a sportscaster. And I always say, is he a hard worker? Because you're not going to be any good unless you work hard. Because Howard Stern worked hard. And I work hard. And Joe Buck works hard. And everybody that Stephen A. Smith works hard.

And everybody that does this at a high level works really, really hard. And it doesn't matter what prep school you go to. And it doesn't matter what college you go to. It doesn't matter. I make a lot more than most guys that went to Syracuse in Missouri. It doesn't matter. They don't put the time. And I do.

Or Joe Buck does. Or Howard Stern did. Or any great broadcaster around the country, there's a zillion. Okay, so the point is, Belichick and Sabin are talking last night, and this sounds simplistic. It sounds like you can't believe it. It sounds like nothing. And yet, Sabin's talking about Belichick and his attention to detail. Here it is.

One thing that you do that a lot of the NFL guys don't do. I don't know that you've ever picked one of our players that you never talked to me before you picked them. And there's a few other guys in the league that do that. But then there's another 30 teams that I never hear from, and they pick somebody, and I'm saying, how could they pick that guy? You know, or whatever. You know, and then they come back and say, well, we didn't know this.

Well, all you had to do is call. You know, I'm going to told you the good stuff and would have told you any issues. 30 NFL teams don't call Nick Sabin. That's remarkable, actually. It's just call Nick Saban because he knows the odometer on players. Hard work.

Hello, can I talk to Nick Sabin? I run the New York Jets. he'll take the phone call. You want to go into analytics. You wanted this. You want to that. The people at the top of these industries, they just work harder.

They make phone calls. I said this last year. The New York Jets had the worst draft I'd ever seen. So they got their first pick right, Quinn and Williams, at Alabama. That was good. After that, they took four guys. This is a rebuilding franchise that can't have misses.

They took four guys. Two were total head cases. One's already gone an hour after they drafted him. Two were injured. So four of their first five picks had headcase issues or injury issues. I called another team that's well run and they said, we didn't even have those guys, three of them on our board. We took them off the board.

They were undraftable players. One was a head case. Two were a head case. One had an injury issue that we weren't comfortable with. Like do homework, make calls. Look at injury reports. So whenever I see this stuff about, you know, oh, it's this that wins football games and that wins football game, it's not that.

There was another moment where Belichick was talking to Nick Saban. So instead of Saban talking on this HBO show, Belichick was talking to Sabin. And Belichick told the story. He goes, you know, I'll walk on a plane after we lose a football game. And everybody's on their iPads and they're looking at their tech and their analytics. And Bill said to Nick Saban last night, and I look at those guys and I'm like, guys, we didn't win because we couldn't tackle. You got to be able to tackle.

And we didn't tackle very much. well. It's the basics. In a very complex world with a million choices, the right answer is always, always work harder, simplify the complicated, and you'll win. Belichick and Sabin. Nobody works harder at recruiting the Nick. Nobody's into more details in the NFL. Practice at New England is just different than everybody than Belichick, and that's why they're at the top. That's why they're stars. Goochie Main says what, Joy? What does he say? Nobody cares work harder. Get it. Pick the phone up and call Sabin if you're going to draft one of his players. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. So yesterday, Joy and I got into this thing. She loves Joe Burrell. And I said, I like him, but I think the media is going crazy. and I've got some, so I went and made some calls and thoughts, what my eyes were telling me, in my opinion. I wasn't seeking confirmation. I was seeking opinions from information from people. So you're ready? Here's what I worry about with Joe Burrow at LSU.

He was going to win the Heisman. I'm always very reluctant on quarterbacks from powerhouses, recruiting powerhouses. Alabama right now, zero NFL starting quarterbacks. LSU right now, zero NFL starting quarterbacks. Ohio State, one, and he's not very good. Yet Cal has two, and NC State a few years ago had four. And there's a reason for this.

There's a theory, and I don't even think it's a theory, I think it's a reason. College football for a quarterback at a powerhouse like LSU, five-star offensive lineman, five-star receiver, five-star running back, four-star tied-in. It's a world of comfort and time, and receivers are wide open. But when you go to NC State and Cal, it's a three-star offensive lineman and a two-star receiver, and the windows are tighter, it's a world of duress. And when you make that leap from college and you've been under duress at Boston College, Cal,

NC State, Louisville, to the NFL, it's an easier, less daunting, less jarring segue. If you go from, you know, Texas, Bama, LSU, and you have four and a half seconds to throw. and the receivers are wide open. That is not the NFL. That's not the NFL for Tom Brady and the Patriots for the last 20 years. It is getting hit, moving, sliding, fast throw, window, small. And so Joe Burrell plays behind great players. Last year, this guy completed 57% of his throws.

Couldn't win the job at Ohio State. And now he's the best player in college football. You don't think it's LSU's talent. Now, I'm saying, I like Joe Burrell. He's got the requisite size. He's got a good arm but not great. He's athletic but not crazy. He's a good NFL player.

But I want to give you an example to this. Here's the current AFC playoff quarterbacks. Look where they went to college. Louisville, Michigan, Texas Tech, Clemson, Wyoming, Samford. One's a recruiting power. Clemson. That's a big boy recruiting. Five-star guys everywhere.

Let's go to the NFC starting quarterbacks. Where did they go to college? Eastern Illinois, Cal, Purdue, Mississippi, State, Wisconsin, Michigan State. no recruiting powers. So those guys were getting the you know what kicked out of them in college, and now they go to the NFL and it's less jarring. LSU, no NFL starting quarterbacks.

Bama, no NFL starting quarterbacks. Ohio State, one, he's not very good. Games too fast for him. Right now, it's just too fast. Of course it is, because he played at Ohio State. And they ran drag routes, and he throws it a six-yard slant to Paris Campbell, who runs for 80 yards. That's not the NFL.

It's not the way it works. And I'll give you an example. Joe Burrow faced a kid this year. I'll give you an example. Joe Burrow faced a kid this year named Jordan Love from Utah State. Joe Burrell looked great. Jordan Love looked terrible. Joe Burrow won 42 to 6.

But Joe Burrell's got a great coaching staff, not a good one, and great players. And Utah State coaches, not great. I'm told it to below average staff, and they didn't have good players. Don't be shocked. If Jordan Love, who will drop in the first round and go to a Carolina, L.A. Chargers, go to a team with players doesn't end up having a better career than Joe Burrell who goes number one to Cincinnati.

Not a great owner, not a great front office, not a great scouting department, a terrible offensive line, AJ Green and cross your fingers. And in that game, everybody's like, oh, Joe Burrell's way better. Joe Burrell's got an NFL coordinator. Jordan Love doesn't. But Jordan Love's going to drop in that draft

and go to a team like 15, 18, 22, 24 with a great coach. And as Bill Belichick said last night in HBO, no player can overcome bad coaching in pro football. So that's my whole point. I like Burrell, but my people that I talked to last night have my same concerns. They like him, but it's hard to judge a kid at LSU when you're throwing, look at the Cleveland Browns.

OBJ, where'd he go to school? LSU. Jarvis Landy, where did he go to school? LSU is a football factory. They got 38 guys on that roster that are NFL players. Utah State's got one, the quarterback. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific

on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. 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 Slices 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, is 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 Hardway 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? Quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliffer 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 Reed. 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 bar. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah.

figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. 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. Quarterbacks say this every year. I say it 100 times. Being a quarterback's not about, I can throw the ball a long way. Being a quarterback, 30% of the contract is leadership, being a grown-up.

It's why I wasn't a fan of Baker Mayfield. I don't think he's a bad human being. I think he's got bad instincts. I think he's immature. I think he's cocky. His personality, I said, it's undraftable if I was a GM. It's not undraftable in the league. I couldn't draft him.

That's the most important position. And you set the table. There's a reason Tom Brady does a Monday radio appearance in Boston. It's not the money. Tom's got a net worth of $500 million with his wife. They do it to set the table for the week. Reiterate what Belichick says. Here is the messaging for the week.

Going ahead, it gets played on all. all Boston stations for all the Patriot fans for the world, the macro view of the world, Tom goes on radio and reiterates Belichick's worldview for the week. He doesn't do it for the money. Tom puts out fires. What do you make of your defense? Well, remember last week? What did he say?

Can't blame the referees. That was Tom's message. That was Belichick's message. Don't blame the referees. It's on us. That comes from Belichick and Tom. they set the table. So Baker Mayfield, after a game, rips the medical staff and gets, has to apologize on Twitter.

Well, yesterday, so that door was opened by Baker Mayfield. He started a fire, didn't put it out like Tom. So Jalen Strong, a former Cleveland Brown, went to Twitter yesterday and ripped the medical staff of the Browns. And I can see all the Browns fans, as delusional as they are, saying, look, look, look, Baker was right. No, no, no, no. Jalen Strong wouldn't say that if Baker didn't open the door, because Jalen Strong can't stick in the league. Jalen Strong can't play. He's not an NFL player. And we'd all go, I'll stop making excuses. You can't play. I mean, he couldn't stick anywhere in the league. But when Baker opens the door, now he comes out, makes an excuse for his career,

and it validates it in his eyes. It's a medical staff because Baker opened the door. This morning, the owner for Cleveland is pissed. He looks like a guy that can't even hire the right medical staff. The medical staff is furious. They look like clowns. The GM, John Dorsey, I guarantee, is putting out fires. Because the medical staff's furious at Baker, who opened the door. Baker, that C on your uniform stands for captain, not cocky.

When he came into this league, I heard about his great leadership qualities. And I said, what? The grabbing the junk stuff? the police video stuff? What are the leadership qualities? I don't see them. I saw him with Russell Wilson. I see him with Lamar.

I've seen him in the league with Andrew Luck. But I don't get it. The opposite of leadership is calling out coworkers. This door was opened by Baker. No way a guy, a kind of a guy that couldn't stick in the league is going to come out and rip a medical staff because people would just laugh at him and go, dude, you're just not good enough to play.

But once the quarterback opens it up, just a little bit the doors open. Now he fires about the medical staff. And now Dorsey's furious. The owner's furious. I told him to this yesterday. I think there's a growing group of people in that organization that are about done with Baker. Now, remember, he doesn't make any money now. He's going to make real big boy money in about two years.

They're going to be hands raised in those offices saying, I'm over him. I'm over it. I remember what he did with this medical staff stuff. So you can keep defending him, but in the end, that door was open on the medical staff, and this morning, it is not a fun play. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind,

and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind. the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic. On the IHeartRadio 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. my guest, S&L'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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Cliverts 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 of 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Ms. 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. 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 finally. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until 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 podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.