The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Aug 09, 2019

Episode Date: August 9, 2019

Doug Gottlieb fills in for Colin and explains why Kyler Murray will work because of fit not necessarily because of talent.  He thinks the Browns are playing and celebrating the exact way that they want to even if its over the top.  Plus, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe explains why 2019 being the last year for Tom Brady with the Patriots is a possibility  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRartRour. Radio app by searching Herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in.

This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much. In for the vacationing Colin Cowherd. I'm Doug Gottlieb on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, live from Los Angeles. Football. on TV. Right? Like, I don't know.

Point upstairs. Don't know who's responsible. Roger Goodell. George Hallis. I don't know, but thank you. Football. Back on TV. So we got a chance to see Kyler Murray play last night for the Arizona Cardinals.

And as it may be, with all young players, we're going to overreact to how good he was, how good he looked. and he was six of seven, 44 yards. For a team that was arguably the most boring team in the National Football League, they were exciting to watch. I was thrilled. I was fascinated. I was like, man, I cannot wait. It's important to point out that while he was tremendous,

he was, in fact, moving in times and running for his life, and that's against the Chargers without Joey Bosa and without Melvin Ingram, two dynamic pass rushers that didn't play for the Chargers. but let's not make overwhelming thoughts and predictions on what he is or will be and what his upside is. And, you know, can he be a five foot nine and a half Pat Mahomes? That's really what we're kind of trying to figure. Can he be a five, nine and a half Pat Mahomes? Is that possible?

Is that possible? I don't know. I don't know. Yes, I know he measured it five, ten, or whatever, but the truth is, most people think that there was something funny going on with those measurements. But what I do know is, well, what I do, I know two things from watching Arizona play last night. First, David Johnson in fantasy football, he's going to get 110 catches, right? Isn't he? David Johnson is the perfect back and in the perfect situation, which brings me to Kyler Murray.

What is life about? What is your job about, your relationship with your significant other about, your friends about? So much of it is about your fit. It's not good people, bad people, right? Some people don't work in a relationship, not because one person's good and one person's bad, but because they don't fit. Like, you can be opposites and attract. Can you fit together?

You can be the exact same. Can you fit together? Sometimes being the exact same thing can lead to disasters because you're both so stubborn. you're both so shy. Or sometimes it can be perfect. And the same can be true for opposites. Right? Opposites can in fact attract because that person brings you balance. But do they bring you joy? Do they fit what you need in that time in your life? The same is true at your job. You know, it's not even sometimes about the job. It's about the job and when it fits in your life. Man, that was a great job. But it was in New York and it was at a time my dad was sick.

and I wanted to be in L.A. and it just didn't fit me at that time. Or I had a relationship that was a great relationship, but I had just gotten out of a long-term relationship, and it didn't, in fact, work. Football teams are much the same. Basketball teams are the same. To play for the Lakers back when they had Shaq and Kobe

and ran the triangle, it didn't matter how good a point guard you were. If you had to have the ball in your hands, and you had to run screen and roll of your John Stockton, that wasn't going to work. Do you know why? Because that's not how they played. You weren't a good fit.

I mean, think about it. Pat Mahomes, had he gone to a different team? You know, the Bears, for example, like Pat Mahomes. But they felt like Mitch Trubisky, because Trubisky was a little bit more what they thought was buttoned up because he had sat before in college. They felt like he was a better fit for them.

Now, Pat Mahomes is a better quarterback. It was a bad decision, Pat Mahomes be the same quarterback had he not gone to Kansas City and learned from Alex Smith and played for Andy Reid, who's great with quarterbacks. Oh, yeah, by the way, he had Tyree Kill, a guy who has the strongest arm in the NFL has the one wide receiver that no one can overthrow. And then you have Travis Kelsey who's always open and Sammy Watkins who, you know, whatever you think about Sammy Watkins, he has tremendous hands.

If he's your third or fourth best pass receiver, that's not bad. So I watched Kyler Murray last night, and my takeaway was this. I don't know if it's going to work, right? No idea. He's tiny. He is really, really small. And it's not just that he's small and the ability to see over the middle of the defense because all of those throws were outs.

All of those throws were outside the pocket or, you know, short little outs. He wasn't staring down a defense, standing up tall and firing that ball down the middle of the field. that's the big challenge when you're small. I don't know if he'll be able to take contact. He likes to move. He's 205 pounds. He gets touched. He's going down.

Don't know if they can touch him. And it should be pointed out he's closer to the ground than other guys. So maybe he doesn't hurt him as much as other guys. But here's what I do know. His head coach is a former quarterback who's had a relationship with Kyler since he was in high school. That does in fact matter. Additionally, the head coach ran the same offense when he was in college and understands the transition of going to the pros because he's been a pro himself. And he understands this offense because he's coached in college.

He's coached it at different schools. And he has the perfect quarterback who's run the offense previously. The offense is perfect because it's designed for a team. You can have a terrible offensive line. as long as you get rid of it quickly, and that's what this offense is designed for. You can throw it instead of running it, and they actually have really good wide receivers.

You got Christian Kirk on one side, you got Larry Fitzgerald, you got David Johnson. You have a bunch of past catching threats. You're playing indoors, which makes your team faster, which makes ball handling easier because there's no inclement weather for your quarterback who has a smaller person, smaller hands, more likely to fumble.

Every box that is possibly checked in terms of the likelihood of something succeeding, right, is checked for Kyla Murray. It doesn't mean that it will work. But you have a general manager who is all in. Like, look, he just drafted a quarterback the year before and had to bail on him. If this doesn't work, Steve Kime is out. Out. Cliff Kingsbury, this has to work for him.

He just got fired his alma mater. Now he's in the pros. it was a surprise hire if this doesn't work. He's gone. He's not going to be a head coach again. He knows it. They are completely invested in the player, and the player comes from a similar system,

so there's not a lot of verbiage change. It's only stepping up in level of competition, but you also have a higher level of support. I'm not going to sit here and hot take it and tell you if I think Kyla Murray makes it or doesn't make it. He's going to get every possible opportunity, have the complete and undivisive, support of his general manager and of his head coach.

And his head coach, of course, has played the position and run the offense and has played in the pros and knows Kyler to a T because he coached against him and he recruited him since he was just a mighty mighten in high school. They're so all in that they didn't they didn't even mess around. They got rid of Rosen. They named the starter day one. They even treated him like a starter. treated him like a returning star last night.

Most guys who are just getting their feet wet, they would have given him more reps. Play him the whole first quarter. Play him the whole first half. Try to figure out, hey, this is NFL football. It's faster. Let's get you some more reps against the ones and the twos, maybe the threes of the other team.

They didn't do that. They didn't treat him like he's a guy who's going to be a star. They treat him like a guy who is a star. Kyler Murray may make it, may not make it. But he's found the perfect fit, which, in your job, in your relationship, in your life is really all you can hope for. Because when you fit together, the bad times don't last as long,

and the good times seem to be more prominent. It's just, it's incredibly important to find people that are not only bought in, but have lived your experience, understand who you are, what you bring to your experience, and have the complete and right support. Like, look, if he goes to a team, that's built with a huge offensive line that wants to run the football and keep him in the pocket, not sure this thing works. But he goes to a team that's so desperate to be exciting, so desperate to be watchable,

so desperate to find some different way of attacking the problem of not just being good in the NFL, but being relevant in the NFL, that they're willing to completely give themselves to the air raid offense. What more could you ask for it? What I think, I think it looked pretty good. Does that mean he'll be great? Week 10? Does that mean they're going to win the division? I think not.

They can score some points? Sure seems like it. Can they stop anybody? No idea. Can they keep him upright? We'll see. How good is he long term? I'm not going to hot take it after watching him throw,

what was it, seven passes last night for 44 yards? But if it's ever going to work for a 5-10 quarterback, who runs around, has a big arm, and gets a chance to play. in the NFL, this is going to be it. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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 athletes 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 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 Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier 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.

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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, ref, my mom, I'm going to want you.

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podcast wherever you get your podcast. I watched the Browns last night, and I watched the Browns go no huddle. And I felt like it was a bit much. Right. Like, do you really want to go no huddle? You're not playing against all the ones from the other team. You're playing against the Redskins who are at best in a transition year. And I know the Redskins were in first place in the NFC East for a good portion of time before they had both their top two quarterbacks break their legs last year.

but like let's be honest when we start talking about the great teams in the NFC no one starts with Redskins but you're taking on the Redskins last night you start running no huddle and then you're celebrating kind of like the women's national team was celebrating against Indonesia right against Thailand

and don't get me wrong Baker was great and I'm a lot more in on Baker than Colin is in on Baker but it was interesting that they went no huddle that they celebrated with such bravado. And they did so, frankly, without OBJ,

without Jarvis Landry. Right? Let's just go and just kind of overwhelm the Redskins. Instead of, you would think, kind of working on some things. Or maybe they were working on some things. And then I saw Baker Mayfield doing the snapshot. They were doing the, like walking on the catwalk,

celebrating the touchdown pass. And I started to realize this is who the Browns are. They know who they are. Is Baker Mayfield, over the top? Yeah. Yeah. He grabbed his junk in college. Sure. He planted the flag at Ohio State Stadium in college. But he's on brand. But before the NFL draft, remember he did the picture of the Brett Farr picture, right? Where he was in like a dorm room with an OU shirt on and a hat and jorts and on the phone. He is a look at me guy. He's like a pro wrestler come to life in a real,

real sporting event. If you just take one of these snapshots in your mind, you're like, eh, but now you factor it all together. Go back to last week at the Cleveland Indians baseball game. When they're taking on the angels, and he bites into the beer can and he chugs it and he throws it down and he holds up the Lindor jersey, right? This is who they are. We're not the villains, but we're also not the victims.

or the Browns. I talked about fit with Kyla Murray. This guy fits with Cleveland. Right? Doesn't he? He fits with Cleveland and they understand how to fit with him. Well, let's go all in. Let's just be the guys that don't care.

Everybody else cares too much. Let's care too little. Let's go out and have fun. Why should we, in preseason game? We're going to go score, right? Why do we need to line up? Go back to the huddle, line up, go back to the huddle. Let's play it like you play math.

just hold down the triangle at the end of every play so that you can run the same play over and over again. You can't stop it. Let's just go. Let's go. Let's get seven nothing. And then let's celebrate. Why not? We're good.

We know we're good. Let's have fun being good. Why do we have to apologize for being good? We didn't have to apologize. Nobody apologized to us when we were really bad. They made fun of us for being bad. They won one game in two years. They got off to a horrendous start last year.

They found their coach and their offense court. Now they're good. Let's have fun being bad. good. I mean, even before the game last night, Baker Mayfield's doing the air of the night, Phil Collins, you know, drum solo. This is who he is. This is who the Browns are. You don't have to dig it. I've heard Collins say, I don't want my franchise quarterback doing this like, okay, but guess what? You don't always get a choice of Andrew Luck's not always available. The only one, Andrew Luck. You may not like how they roll, but it's Cleveland. They've been irrelevant

since they put the new franchise back in after their old franchise left. Remember, everybody leaves Cleveland. LeBron left twice. The football team left before. Go look at how many star baseball players started out their career in Cleveland, and then C.C., perfect example. They all, everybody leaves. But Baker seems to kind of want to be there.

Baker, sporting that mustache. Baker, kind of our kind of guy. It's not super tall, not super ripped, not super good look. He was a walk-on, you know. He didn't actually win the national championship. He wasn't actually number one on most people's draft board. Sam Darrow was, but there's something about him. Something about him.

And the best way to get the most out of Baker is to let Baker be Baker. And they found a bunch of other guys that like when Baker's Baker, and they kind of have that same persona. If you're offended by it, that's a you problem because there's nothing in it that is offended. Is it a little over the top? Sure. Sure.

But other teams are over the top conservative. Like, no, celebrate like we've been there before. Like, okay. Or let's just go have fun. And it seems like that's where they're committed to doing. We could do it the other way and it would be fine. Or we could do it this way and it would be fun. 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. You know, there's a lot of crazy things about Tom Brady, but the fact that he's played long enough to compete in, what is it, eight Super Bowl's? There's nine Super Bowl's. I have totally lost track. I know he's won six. Lost to the Giants twice.

And who else they lose to? Lost the Giants. And the Eagles, right? So he's played in nine Super Bowl. And he went a decade without winning one. Crazier fun fact. is his best season where they won 18 in a row only to lose to the Giants,

he didn't play the next year because the ACL injury. So, like, we actually probably missed out on peak Tom Brady with his best football team. Another year with Randy Moss when they were at the, in their prime. That's nuts to think about. What's also nuts to think about is that Tom Brady won't at some point in the future suffer decline. And look, others have predicted it, and they've said, you know, was it Max Kellerman,

who said he'll go off a cliff? That was three years ago. I meant next year. I meant next year. I meant next year. You don't know when the cliff is coming, right? And this is one of those optical illusions. And the NFL has, they put in the Tom Brady rule where you can't hit anybody below the knee, right?

And they frankly have the rule. now you can't hit anybody above the neck. Can't touch wide receivers beyond five yards down the field. He's more protected than ever. He takes care of himself better than ever. Hell, Tom Brady's hair looks better than ever. I have my suspicions. His teeth look great.

Like that dude, I bet even smells good. But he's still 42 years old. And unless you're taking a performance enhancer, and I don't think he is, he's still 42 years old. So as much as the NFL can elongate, elongate the runs of Brady, Breeze, Rothesberger, Rivers, Eli. Eventually, Father Time catches up and catches up in a hurry. It's like all of a sudden you just can't play.

You just can't get out of bed the same in the morning. It's not a gradual decline thing. It's not like baseball where your stats, you know, one year you're hitting 300, the next year 290, then 275, then, you know, 30 home runs and 20 home runs and 15 home runs. Like, no, it's in most sports, it's basically all of a sudden you can't hit. Jason Kidd in the playoffs could make a layup. Could make a layup. And in the NFL, I mean, the greatest example of that I can remember is,

do you guys remember when Ray Lewis came back for the Super Bowl where they beat the 49ers? Ray Lewis's last game in the NFL? And they had the, he was taking the, it's like Ryan. know tusk or something like that, deer antler spray, which is a performance enhancer and they didn't talk about it like, whatever. Ray Lewis used to be a guy that you would game plan around going anywhere near. Let's figure out what Ray is and let's go somewhere else. Right?

Like that was generally the game plan. If you watch the 49ers comeback after the power went out in New Orleans, they went right at Ray Lewis. because he couldn't play anymore. It was washed. Couldn't run, couldn't tackle, couldn't hit. It was over. Once you can't run, linebacker in the NFL, it's over.

Over. And what changed was, they went from, they're like, why are we going away from him? He can't play anymore. Let's go right to him. Tom Brady in the playoffs last season, I played two touchdown passes. Now, some of this was at a necessity

and game plan against the Chargers, for example, They got the ball and first they took the opening kickoff march right down the field at a power running game and the chargers could never really adjust. And yes, they went in and he threw the big game winning touchdown pass against Kansas. Brought him back against Kansas City Chiefs and he had the game winning touchdown pass against the L.A. Rams. Like these things did in fact happen. But he had three interceptions and it should have been four. There would have been no super bowl. There would have been no second touchdown pass.

And Brady has lost his favorite target, the old. Ultimate mismatch in Rob Grankowski, which just like the Tom Brady rule can't hit a guy below the knee, has elongated his career, not having Gronk will likely shorten his career. And that's okay. It's okay to get old, but it happens really quickly. And if you say, no way it happens quickly to Tom Brady. How good is Brett Farve as a quarterback? Do you guys remember Brett Farv's first year with the Minnesota Vikings?

anybody remember that? Like, of the sporting events I've seen in my lifetime, and I've been working in this business now, this is entering my 16th football season. 16th year covering national sports. Maybe the greatest regular season game, win, going into Lions Den, all the different storylines was

Brett Farve is forever a Packer. He never missed a start once he was starting for the Packers. He won a Super Bowl. he won three MVP's. Right. And Fav had toyed with retirement three consecutive years. The third year, finally, they moved on and went to Aaron Rogers, named Aaron Rogers the starter.

Only Brett Farr was like, hey, you know what? I really want to come back. And they're like, sorry, we already gave it to Brett Farr. It's like every guy's ultimate nightmare where she says, I'll always be here for you. You know, and you're like, okay, I got to go figure my. out. You figure yourself out. You come back and she's moved on to another dude. Right. And a younger dude from Northern California. Good looking. Good. At the time, Aaron Rogers had like that Jesus look going. So he goes to New York. And actually the Jets thing

started off. They were like nine and three. Then he had like a bicep tear, played through it. And they were stinking down the stretch. He goes to the Minnesota Vikings. His first year, Brett Farr, 33 touchdown, seven receptions, six. 58% completion percentage. Remember Brett Farr, he's known as the gunslinger because he would force things into the smallest openings possible. His win, one of the greatest regular season wins I can think of in the NFL. Remember, he came in with the Minnesota Vikings and beat the Packers in Lambo. Like, damn.

The Packers is pretty good, too. So then he was going to retire. And remember, Chile went and sent a plane full of three dudes down to pull him off retirement. and he came back and he had this Nike hat that he was mowing his grass with. You guys remember this look? I mean, it was the worst look. It probably smelled like some mixture of gasoline, beer, and fresh cut grass, which is probably a pretty good aroma.

Somebody should put that thing together because while it may not turn women on, like if a guy slathers that thing on and walks into a sports bar, other dudes would be like, hey man, can I buy you, can I buy you a beer? I don't know. I bought him beer. I bought him wings all night. I just wanted to be around him. why what was it well honey you don't understand he smelled like gas beer and fresh and fresh cut

grass i mean that is that is a potpoury of of magic farve came back and here's how bad his last season was with the vikings 11 touchdowns 19 interceptions 60% completion percentage oh oh boy wait the metrodome literally not figuratively literally collapsed and i'm i'm i'm scared that Tom Brady is going to experience something that we in basketball know as the run one more back syndrome. You familiar with this? Goulet, are you a pickup basketball player ever? In my younger days, sure.

Okay. Did you ever play when you were growing up in Canton, Connecticut, same town I used to live in, did you ever play pickup basketball? Yes, I did. Saturday mornings or at night on the weeknights? Both, I would say. Okay. So there's like a Saturday morning.

You got to start playing it like seven or at eight. A bunch of old guys come in. First game is brutal. Nobody can make a shot. Dude's still stinking of beer and cigarettes the night before. You know, haven't been playing. But by the second and third, fourth game, it gets to be pretty good. You get a little series going.

One team's better than everybody else. They're winning, win, win, and winning, win, and winning. And then somebody makes a shot and that's game. And guys like, hey, I got to go. Another guy's like, I got to go. I got to go. And then you're looking around. there's nine guys in the gym and one guy with his shoes partially off.

And some guy says, you guys want to run one more? You want to run one more? And the guy who's taking off his shoes like, you know, told my wife would be home at like 10. It's like 9.40. Ah, hell, sure. Let's run one more back.

Do you always happens at that last game? somebody always gets hurt, the game is usually terrible, and you always regret running that one more back. Tom Brady is an unbelievable competitor. He is going to go down as the most successful quarterback in the history of the sport. Nobody's winning six Super Bowls. Just not happening.

These are things that will never happen again. But I fear that by coming back and having this contract, which gives him that magical 20th year, and then he becomes a free agent. He's selling his house. He loses Rob Grunkowski. Yes, last year, as they always did, ran through the AFC East, and they made this year. But remember, the AFC East is likely, instead of having three rookie quarterbacks or two rookie

quarterbacks last year, now they're going to have three second year quarterbacks. They're still the Patriots. They're still everybody's biggest game. Everyone's gutting for them. He's a year older. He probably truthfully thought, why don't I? just leave at the end of winning a Super Bowl, even if I still have time left.

Giselle wants him home. He's supposed to be home by now. All right, I'm going to run just one more back. Mr. Kraft, one more. Bill, one, just I'm going to run this one back, and then that's it. Red Farms last year. Paymanning won a Super Bowl his last year, but he was benched for Brock Osweiler, nine touchdowns, 17 interceptions.

I don't know if it's this year or when it is, but it sure feels like it's coming soon. Because anyone who's ever run one back knows what happens in that final game. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 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, 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? 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, 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, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. 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 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 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, I said, 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. Let's go to the herd satellite network as Ben Volan joins us from the Boston Globe NFL senior writer. And Ben, I want to ask you this.

Are the Patriots ready at the end of the year to move on from Tom Brady? Look at the structure of this contract. his house is up for sale. This is 20th year in the NFL. Are they preparing themselves to move on from Tom Brady? I mean, the pieces are starting to add out that way a little bit. No question. He also signed with the William Morris Agency,

like an off-field entertainment representation company last week. So, yeah, I think both sides are pretty clearly, at least not committing for next year. It's definitely still on the table, but the Patriots aren't saddling themselves with any sort of contract down the line. And I think they want to see how we looked at 42 before they want to commit anything to 43. So, yeah, I think the Patriots and Tom Brady are just not necessarily preparing for, you know, to all end after this year, but at least getting ready for the possibility of it.

It's fascinating. Okay, so you lose Rob Grunkowski. who is his kind of ultimate outlet, right? Julian Edelman's been out with the broken thumb. What does he exactly have to work with outside of when healthy and outstanding running game? Well, you hope that he's in. Definitely the engine of the offense right now on board. They need him.

DeKill Harry, the first round pick, he looked pretty good last night using that big body, make a couple of contested catches. Now, he did get a little banged up and he left the game, but he was on the sideline last night, so I don't think it's going to be anything serious. he's going to be the new big physical receiving threat that can replace Gronk, you know, some of the power that they have in that passing game. So you hope that to kill Harry can make it through training camp healthy and then can have a nice productive regular, you know, rookie season.

The running backs are really, that's kind of what the Patriots passing game revolved around. James White catching 85, 90 balls out of the backfield. Rex Burkhead can catch the ball out of the backfield or the slot. You're bringing back Sonia Michelle. You brought in Damien Harris. Really, it's all about the running backs right now because they didn't really go out and replace Rob Grunkowski. Other than Edelman, it's a bunch of question marks at wide receiver. So, yeah, it's definitely still a work in progress for Brady and his weapons right now.

And it's probably going to be another year where they struggle and they look inconsistent in that first month in season before they really start to figure out their personnel. Right, again, division play. And they remember that they're better than all the teams in their division who have all kinds of other issues to catch up on. Explain to me the extension, right? Like, why was it structured in the way it was structured? Yeah, it's kind of weird. Like, the Patriots usually don't do dummy contracts like that. They did the void years.

You know, it's a salary cap trick. It helped them create a base in this year. I think what it says, though, is they're pretty adamant about not giving Brady an actual extension because of this thing void in March, they're going to take a $13.5 million cap hit next year no matter what. So even if he comes back in plays, you've got to add that $13.5 million onto whatever contract he signed.

So I think the fact that they're willing to do that shows that there maybe weren't, they really didn't want to do an extension. And I think from Brady's side of it, he actually got some control of the situation. I think this year it was stressing him out a little bit that here we are. We got to August and they still hadn't read on his contract. I think he was getting a little anxious about the whole situation. Well, now it comes to a head to March. Now the void day is March 17th, and that's when that big salary.

cap charge hits and Brady can't be franchise tags. That gives him a little bit more control of the situation. And now he doesn't have to wait around until next August. We should have some clarity about it, hopefully in March. The Patriots can always resign them afterwards. They can redo the deal before March 17th. So my thought is they're going to just do this now and then they'll figure it out after the season next February or March.

They'll figure out if Brady's going to come back and what his contract will be. But Brady at least took a little bit of control of the situation and now the timing works out better in his favor. joining us in the Boston Globe. Doug Ghalybin for calling this is the herd. Is Jared Stidham the new Jimmy Garoppolo? I'm not ready to go that far yet. Belichick loved him from Jimmy Garoplo and it really paid him to trade it away. However, Stimm looked pretty good last night.

I was definitely impressed with his poise, his ability to hang in the pocket, go through his reed. You like to see young quarterbacks throwing confidently over the middle, not just consistently settling for checkdowns, throwing face throws to the sideline. And he was letting it rip and throwing some tight window throws. I know it's the lions. I know it's their twos and their three, so let's not go too crazy. But he actually looked pretty poised last night.

I was impressed. And, you know, then to me that comes down to, well, do you really need to keep Brian Hoyer as well? So to me, the better that Stim plays, even if Hoyer plays great, they should try to train him to someone. Maybe I look at the Arizona Cardinals, they have not a whole lot behind Kyler Murray, and that's a guy I'd be worried about his durability this year at the rookie season. And so I'd call up the Arizona Cardinals and see if they have a use for a good veteran quarterback like Brian Hoyer to be the backup. Ben, you cover the entire NFL.

I'm wondering if you're hearing that the Raiders are frustrated with Antonio Brown because they're just trying to determine how good Derek Carr is. Well, they're definitely not getting the reps and the continuity. And I can guarantee you, John Gruton doesn't like having his best receiver or an offensive player not on the field, especially when they just gave him two years and almost $32 million guaranteed. He's showing up to camp on a hot air balloon. He's not practicing. He's burning his feet in a cryogenic chamber or whatever is going on there. So he can't be thrilled.

I don't know. It kind of sounds like Antonio Brown's playing his old tricks and doing veteran tricks to get out of the early part of training camp at, you know, the preseason. I still think he'll be there when it counts and he'll get in some reps with Derek Carr in the final couple weeks of the season. But, yeah, I mean, it's never good to be sitting out practice. and I can't imagine John Gruden is too happy about it.

I just hope we get to see some of it on hard knocks this week and that they don't, you know, gloss over it this time. Yeah, we didn't really see any boardroom stuff. Like we do, normally you have the boardroom conversation between general manager and head coach or general manager and all the coaching staff and they start to go through guys they like and don't like. We didn't see that last week. I do wonder if we see that this week.

Ben Boland, Boston Globe, senior NFL writer, follow him on Twitter. Read his work in the Globe. Ben, great stuff. Thanks so much for your insight. All right, thanks, Dougie. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. 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.

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