The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Jan 22, 2020

Episode Date: January 22, 2020

Colin talks about Zion making his debut at a time when the NBA really needs it. He explains why the Cowboys giving Dak Prescott the franchise tag makes a lot of sense. Colin doesn't think Tom Brady is going anywhere despite what everyone in the media is saying. Rams Left Tackle Andrew Whitworth comes in studio to talk about the challenges of playing in a Super Bowl and why switching teams can be so challenging for veteran players. Plus, Fox Sports NBA Analyst Ric Bucher tells Colin he just wants Zion to not get hurt again this season and has a great explanation for what is wrong with the Rockets. 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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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 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 Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on a Wednesday, 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. Rick Buecker will stop by a couple hours from now to talk about Zion's debut tonight. Andrew Whitworth, left tackle, L.A. Rams, always amazing guest.

Former LSU Tiger as well. I'm happy about that. Nick Wright, Steve Burline. Great to have you. Joy Taylor is joining me in a Wednesday. Joy, how are you? I'm doing great. Very excited for tonight.

I'm very excited for next week. So am I. By the way, I just found out today. Joy is taking packing three bags to go to Miami. Three giant bags, one just for shoes. I am packing one small carry-on bag for a week in Miami, and that's more than enough. I don't believe you. I want you to take a picture at the airport with the bag.

I will. I will. I will. I absolutely will. That's my challenge. I've never packed. I've never checked it back in my life. No. What? Going to Europe and April, never checked a bag of my life. It's called washing machine. Just wear stuff two and three times. That doesn't work for me. Okay, let's start with this. I could not tell you, Zion debuts tonight against San Antonio. I could not tell you the last time I was in, I mean, really, the last college player that had this effect on me. I mean, I liked Anthony Davis, but I didn't rush to a TV to watch him in college or pro. I like maybe it's Blake Griffin. I thought he was kind of fascinating. Zion is a phenom. I'll give you an example of how powerful Zion is.

It's very hard to explain why some guys just pop. He was on a college basketball game at Duke last year. Duke against Virginia. Virginia is boring. I mean, they put coffee to sleep. Well coach, great school. Virginia is paint drying, a bridge rusting. It is boring.

But Zion in that game got a better rating that day than the Lakers and the Rocket. James Harden, Chris Paul, Lakers brand. The college game beat it. What? He is a phenom. The NBA is in a ratings free fall. It is not disputable. My belief, and there's a lot of different theories on this,

me and Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavs disagree. Me and Adam Silver disagree. I think it's because the league this year, it's a bad story year. It lacks urgency. LeBron James, it's a 17th year. Kauai load management, no personality. A.D., what a shock. Hurt again.

Not a big personality. Luca, I didn't watch him in college. I'm just learning who he is. There's Steph hurt. Clay hurt. KD. hurt. A lot of guys hurt. A lot of guys don't have personality.

There is no urgency. Tonight, watch the rating. urgency. That's what made the NFL so special this year. Have you seen Lamar Jackson play? You got to get to a television. Oh, my God. Patrick Mahalms, 28 points in the second quarter.

I got to get to a television. Right now, the NFL has got so many, Baker-Mayfield imploding. I was watching every Cleveland game. There were so many stories. Oh, my God, the Raiders are good again. The Raiders go to London, beat the Bears, push them around. There were so many fascinating stories this year in the NFL. that you had to get to a television set and watch.

The dynasties ending, the Browns are on fire. Oh, my God, Lamar, have you seen Patrick Mahomes? Aaron Rogers got a new coach, Dallas Cowboys, Week to Week drama. Leagues are beholden to stories and personalities. And here's the thing about Zion. You know, everybody's got in our business agents and PR handlers, and Hollywood's got all this. But the reality is you can't explain stars.

You can't explain charisma. You know, Zion's got it. I don't know what it is. I just like him. I like his smile. I like his game. I like his personality. He feels like a good kid.

For some weird reason, I feel like he's kind of relatable. He loves sports. He loves Coach Kay. He wanted to come back to Duke. And everybody's like, no, no, no, no, no. Go pro. He's like, I like Duke. He's got a little old school.

He's got new school. He's on social media, but he loves college basketball. and you can't explain it. Every agent's trying to make their guy a star. Howard Stern and Oprah are. I can't explain it. I mean, it's like Tiger Woods. For years and years, all these golfers were like,

oh, my God, it's going to be Ricky Fowler. And they kept giving me these guys that were going to be stars. And I'm like, no, a star is Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods literally changed the way I watched television for a decade. I would literally be doing things and hanging out like, oh, crap. Tiger Sunday, sit in front of the couch. and watch golf. I like Rory McElroy.

He doesn't have that. I like Phil Mickelson a lot. But unless it was like the Masters, he doesn't have that. You can't explain stars. Okay? It's just James Hardin is great. But he's not dynamic.

He's not super vertical. He shoots kind of a bunch of threes. He doesn't get me to a television set. I know he's great. Kobe Bryant got me to a television set for big games. Michael Jordan got me to a TV set. Frankly, Charles Barkley got me to a TV set. Mike Tyson got me to a TV set.

Larry Holmes was a better fighter than Mike Tyson in his prime. I never like watching. I never like watching Larry Holmes. Connor McGregor gets me to a television set. I don't think he's as good as Habib when they fought, but I always want to watch Connor McGregor fight. I don't know what it is. I can't explain it.

It's not like he's this classic boxer or he's the best UFC guy I've ever seen. Zion is urgent. And in this world now of television, there's never been more good TV than now. It used to be when I grew up as a kid. ABC, NBC, CBS, and then Fox came along. Now you got your Hulu's, you got your Netflix, you got your Paramount, you got your Amazon Prime,

you got your Apple TV, got all the sports. If you're not urgent, people are not watching. There's just too much competition for our eyes. Zion in a league with a lot of stars that are hurt, a lot of stars aren't urgent, a lot of stars don't have big personalities. Three words tonight. I can't wait. And with that, let me segue into this. Speaking of urgency, the Dallas Cowboys Stephen Jones, he is the son of Jerry Jones.

Speaking of urgency, said, we got to get this DAC Prescott contract. done. It's been urgent for us. We want to certainly get that done. And that's our number one priority as we go into the offseason is to get his contract. Hopefully, you know, find some resolution to it and get that done. Very interesting. Sports is about comparing. Michael LeBron, who you got? Kobe, Michael, who you got? Far Rogers, the better packer. Brady Manning, who you got? That's what sports is. Sports is arguing and it's comparing. But not just for people like me and the media or people like you who are fans.

Executives have to compare too. And let me ask you, after watching Lamar Jackson Speed and Josh Allen's size and Patrick Mahomes' arm and Kyler Murray's escapeability and Russell Wilson, How does Dack at $37 million a year feel to you? Not great. All the young quarterbacks in this league have a quality that is awe-inspiring. Josh Allen is huge with a massive arm. You just can't watch two throws and not go, damn. Patrick Mahomes' speed.

Kyler Murray's escapability and accuracy. Carson Wence's athleticism and arm. Mahomes arm. There's just a thing that you go, whoa, they don't duplicate that in the conveyor belt much. And then you watch DAC and you're like, yeah, I mean, he's pretty good in stuff. You know, he's pretty good at that. He's pretty good at that. And I hear a lot of this, though.

He deserves a contract. deserves get you fired in the NFL as a GM. Nobody cares about his rookie season. It's a different league. Oh, he was 13 and 3. He threw for under 4,000 yards. He threw 450 times. Now they need him to throw 650 times.

The more he throws, the worse the cowboys get. It's not about deserves. Nobody cares about his rookie year, which, by the way, statistically, was his best year, his most efficient year. That's like saying Cam, Newton deserves a big contract because he was an MVP in 2015, deserved gets you fired. I like Dak.

I don't love him, but I like him. And I think he has franchise quarterback qualities. But the NFL has this thing called the franchise tag. It should be used. It should be used on Ryan Tanna Hill this year. It should be used on Dak Prescott. I like him, but I love football. and I have studied and watched the quarterback position for 40 years.

I don't remember a time in my life that over the course of one season, the position changed. Mobility now, Dax okay at it. Mobility now is a must. Offensive line play has regressed. It's not getting better. College football now is running spreads. The offensive lines are worse. And because of seven-on-seven quarterback play in the eighth grade, ninth grade, tenth-grade, before, these kids are coming into the league now.

The best athletes play quarterback. They're better throwers. They've got 10,000 hours. They've got more reps. They've got better coaching. Dax's a lot of, I mean, I like some stuff about him. Man, I look around with all these other quarterbacks, and I love stuff about him. I think he's a guy of franchise tag.

Urgently, perhaps, but he feels like a Ryan Tannehill. Can I get one more year? Because for the record, when Tony Romo was a cowboy, that offensive line was garbage until the very end and he got hurt. Kind of sad, actually. Dax had the best offensive line in the league from day one. I want to see him one more year as the offensive line gets older and less effective.

That'll tell me if I want to go four years and 200 million deep on Dak Prescott. 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. 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.

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And for more, follow Timbo Sliced 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, 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 rapid. 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, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. 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 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? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Joe Dono. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody!

But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant,

recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. one ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrat as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network

available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tom Brady, there was something on Instagram yesterday, is walking around a park or something like that, and somebody has, don't leave Tom in New England. And there's a lot of speculation on where he's going. and this story's always been bigger, broader, and greater than I thought it would be. I think he should retire.

Now he doesn't want to. Play one more year in New England and retire. Albert Breer came on yesterday and said, for all those who are naming Indianapolis in Los Angeles, Albert said, you got to consider this. He has a kid who lives in New York, his son Jack, lives in New York City. And I think ultimately because of that, because Giselle likes New York City, that's eventually going to be where they're going to settle.

So let's just put this in real life terms for you, right? Say you didn't know where you were going to work over the next year, but you did know where your family is going to be for the next 20 years. What would you do with your family? You'd probably move them to where they were going to be for the next 20 years and say, you know what, I'm going to be the one who's going to move around over the next year or two while I continue to work. I think there are some winning situations out there, but I don't think he's just going to go somewhere to go somewhere.

All right, there's three or four reasons why I think he's staying in New England. Number one, if Tom Brady left the Patriots, it would be a $13.5 million cap hit. Have you followed Bill Belichick's career? Does he like paying for players? No, especially ones he doesn't have. You think Belichick's going to want to incur a almost $14 million cap hit for a guy not on his team? That is so not Belichick.

That's like Rob Parker having to pay $2 for a bottled water, not one. Some people are frugal. Belichick's one of them. Number two is they don't have a succession plan. I mean, again, if they had Jimmy Garoppolo in the backyard, throwing the football, I'd buy it. They don't. Number three is, I don't think there's a massive market. The position is changing. It's getting more mobile. It's getting more athletic. There's not a lot of good offensive lines. Tom's a liability if you don't have a great

old line. And the Cowboys, to me, has always been the place I thought, oh, those linemen or the Colts, that would fit. I still think Indianapolis is the best fit. But here's the other thing. let's not over-exaggerate New England's fall. They were 12 and 4. They were a dumb loss to Miami from having a playoff by. Three of their four losses were to Baltimore, Kansas City, and Houston, division winners. The previous year, they lost five games, ugly games, and won the Super Bowl. The other thing is that Tom needs wide receivers and a tight end.

There's all sorts of guys on the market this year. Hunter Henry's available. He's a free agent. A.J. Green, Robbie Anderson for the Jets, Randall Cobb, Amari Cooper, Eric Ebron. There's Austin Hooper. There's Emmanuel Sanders. There's all sorts of guys available, smart veterans who could fit right in. But I want you to think about this for a second. This is a big deal. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, Starbucks, the first store, 1971, across from Pike Place Market. Still there. I also grew up in a city, Seattle. It had Amazon that started as an online

bookstore. I also lived in Tampa where Outback Steakhouse, the very first one, was right across from WTVT, the TV station for Fox I work for. When you start a business and you want it to be domestic or global, and in Brady's TB12 protein powder shakes, that stuff, he wants it to be domestic and because his wife is a global star, he'd like to branch it out to be a global empire. He just got it in to whole food stores in Connecticut. They could take any protein powder.

There's hundreds of them on the market. But Tom was able to get his TB12 protein stuff, his brand into whole foods. That's a big deal in the New England region. Starbucks had to figure out Seattle before it went domestic and global. Amazon had to win Seattle first. Outback had to win Tampa, Orlando, and Florida first. Tom, because he has an international star as a wife, sees his brand as large, domestic but potentially global.

If Tom whizzes on New England and leaves for $4 million more to go to Indianapolis, that Whole Foods TB12 thing in New England, people won't buy it. Tom's going to make a lot more money potentially, and I'm not joking. If TB12 hits, you're going to make a lot more money there than he's going to make playing football, and I'm not joking. Jeff Bezos, you know, all these Elon Musk guys make more in an hour than Tom makes in a you know, a year. So this is a story. He just got all his stuff into Whole Foods in New England. They want to get it in Whole Foods domestically and then, you know, make it global. Why fight over

Nichols when you have a global potential TB12 brand that you just started in the New England region? I don't think he bolts. I think he stays for a year. He's got his business, his family's in New York. I think it's a real unspoken truth about this. Tom's about. Tom's about. business now. He wasn't. Then he beat Atlanta in the Super Bowl, and we all watched Tom really then open up and say, hey, listen, I'm in the back nine of my career. He didn't do commercials that much. He did Ugs. He did a Visa commercial. But once he beat Atlanta, Tom started doing documentaries and started talking about his businesses and did more commercials. Tom now knows he's got a year or two left. This TB12 brand is his baby. He just got it into Connecticut, you know, New England, Massachusetts,

its whole foods. Why whiz on that? Stay in New England a year. You visit the stores, you spike sales like a Dunkin' Donuts. 25 years later, Duncan Donuts is not a New England coffee. It's a national coffee. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. An NBA owner, even if you like John Morant a little more, an NBA owner does have a right to say, well, Zion's great too and he's way better for business. That's where I think, I think it's okay for an owner in the NBA. If you have two great players, LeBron and Carmelo, the owner can say, well, we're in Ohio, so is LeBron.

I'm taking him. I get the Joe Burroughs, Cincinnati thing. Listen, they're all pretty close. Burroughs a Cincinnati kid. I'm taking him. This is what I don't like when an owner does. According to a source, the Miami Dolphins would love to land Joe Burrow. Specifically, owner Stephen Ross is the one that wants Burrow.

Yeah, Dan Snyder wanted Dwayne Haskins. Jerry Jones wanted Johnny Mansell. Do you know why owners like Stephen Ross like Joe Burrow? This is something I learned years ago from a guy named Mark Workinty. He says owners don't pour over tape, but owners have rich friends, a wife, and sometimes a mistress or both. If you're in the NBA and there's a great European person, player and there's a great domestic player. Just take the domestic guy because the owner watched him in March Madness and he can tell

his rich buddies, I love that guy. I knew this kid would be great. And if he's not, you don't get fired. But if you take the international guy over the guy that was good in March Madness who you haven't seen any whiffs, you get fired. So if they're close, European player, domestic player, just take the domestic guy. You won't get fired if it doesn't work. Joe Burrow is what owners love.

He was on TV. He played for a great team. He was 15 and 0. He set records. So the owner can go to his rich friends and go, yeah, I told him. I love Joe Burrow. You know who's hard to draft?

Josh Allen, who played at Wyoming. You know who's hard to draft? Carson Wentz, who played somewhere in the Dakotas. Owners don't love drafting those guys because they can't go to their rich buddies and go, yeah, I know football. I told him, Joe Burrow. Everybody knows the owner's not sitting

watching Lithuanian basketball. tape. This is where you get into trouble, is that the Miami Dolphins have done a remarkable job so far. It's gone perfect. They accumulated 11 draft picks for this draft. They played their butt off, even though they were kind of tanking. And now they have three elite quarterback prospects, and they don't have to move to get one. If they give up all their picks, which they'd have to do to get to number one, you know it's not Brian Flores and the executives. You know it's the crazy owner. Because Miami's game plan so far has been perfect.

They played their butt off. They accumulated draft picks. And they're perfectly situated at number five to get one of the three quarterbacks. And I don't believe any of these quarterbacks are miles ahead of the other, although I think two is better. But because of his medical issues, that lowers, hires the risk and lowers his sense. ceiling a tad. If Tua never gets hurt ever, that's a guy I can move up for. But because of the injuries, those are legitimate concerns. Getting to it, five is great. So you just know that if the dolphins move up to

get Burrow, that has been an owner move. And I'll give you an example. Last night, very unique. I went to dinner last night with two people. I did not know the background of one of the people. One of the people. One of the of the, I can't tell you who it is, one of the people I went to dinner with is a former NFL exec three months ago who got let go by a crazy owner. And he likes the owner, but the owner's crazy. It's one of these five or six absurdly dysfunctional NFL teams. He told me stories for 30, 45 minutes last night that it was head spinning. You cannot overcome a crazy. town owner. The coach

can't, the players can't, the executives can't. They can't. And you don't know because nobody wants to call out an owner as a player or a coach because there's like 32 billionaires and they're all, it's a good old boys network and you don't want to tick them off. And, you know, so

nobody's going to call out anybody and you're an executive and all they have to do is make one phone call to another billionaire and say, this guy's a jerk. But Miami has done everything right in this rebuild. They should be so proud of themselves this last year. Their owner likes Joe Burrow. If they move up to get Burrow, just know it's not Brian Flores. There's no need to move up. You've got Tua or Herbert at five. And their, Burrow is not here as a

prospect compared to Tua and Justin Herbert. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Andrew Whitworth, 14 years in the NFL, four-time Pro Bowler. and just had ankle surgery, but you're walking around. You look great. By the way, Super Bowl week can be a little bit of a circus. So what would be your advice, having done it? There's two weeks. What's the first week like?

I think the first week is the most important week to really lock into football. I mean, when you get there to the Super Bowl site, all the things getting pulled, you know, you're getting pulled a million directions. And, you know, it's going to be an opportunity that you're really not going to have a ton of time to just focus football. So this week right here is the key week for game plans, for studying, for getting the body prepared to really get prepared next week. That's going to be kind of a different week. And you're just going to have to endure the week a little bit. There's going to be media in the mornings or media in the afternoons and practice.

It's just not going to be the week you're used to. Now, can you install things? Did Sean install things a day out and say, I found one more thing? Yeah, I think really this week, you know, leading up to next week, there's going to be more of like the general game plan. Like, hey, we'll kind of have to know what we want to do. We'll study the opponent, understand what they do really well and what we're going to need to do in this football game to be successful. But then next week, there's still going to be, hey, as we watch through the week, there's a play here or play there that we might need to put in because we kind of like it now. The more we've thought about it or the more we've watched how this defense operates or offense, you know, how they do things.

We may want to put in this blitz package. And so I think they'll still be tinkers. There'll be things you'll adjust next week. But that's really all you have time for next week. this week is the key week to get the basis of everything in that you really need to be able to do. Andrew, you played in a lot of big games. You played in big Steeler games

and Raven games that were on TV, obviously the Rams. Bill Romanowski told me, he goes, my first Super Bowl, I don't remember the first quarter because I was so nervous. Is there, even for a veteran, is it different? I would say that it's really one of those things when I walked away from it, and obviously New England won the game

and did a great job and won the Super Bowl and beat us. But when I walked away from it, I said, man, I can see. why these guys, because they continue to get themselves back there, have had the success they have, because it's really such a different week that it's nothing like anything you've ever been a part of in football. Wow. There's no, you know, it's not a, hey, you know what, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, it's all football. Not even bowl games in college.

No, I mean, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, even in college, you feel like it's a normal day outside of maybe at night, you have some obligations to go to a dinner or do some media stuff once your full day's over. at the Super Bowl, it's really, hey, half our day guys is going to be all media. And the other half the day, we're going to fit in what we can for practice and meetings and all that type stuff. So you really, like, the whole week goes by and you're like, wait a minute, what day's the game? Because it doesn't even, you can't tell what day it is.

In NFL football, you know, I joke with the rookies. If we're playing on Thursday night, then, you know what, Wednesday is Saturday. Tuesday is Friday. And Monday is all the days, you know, of the week put together. Right. Because in NFL football, you know, the day of the week based off of what we're doing that day on our schedule. When you get to the Super Bowl, that's not the case.

It's, you know what, guys, the schedule is going to be crazy. Half our day is this, half our day is that. We're going to fit these things in when we can to work on certain situations. It's just a wild week. And then that game is, it's something else. I can understand. I kind of remember the first quarter, but I don't remember much of it. San Francisco's a team you faced twice.

You guys were a little overwhelmed the first time, then got your bearings played them better the second time. So let's talk about their defensive front. It's good and it's young. Are they clever? Are they trying to masquerade things? Or are they just lining up saying, we got better Joe's than you? I think really their style defensively with their front four is just to come after you.

There's not really any tricks to the trade. There's nothing they're going to do different. They're coming after the quarterback. And, you know, one of the things that you give them their respect, the way they really hustle, come out of the stack on screens, on plays that get down the field. You know, those are the plays that show you really, the impressive part of this defense because anybody can rush on a pass play and get after the

quarterback. The way these guys hustle, even when the ball's not somewhere near them and it's thrown out on the edge or it's thrown down the field, you watch DeLyman be a part of the tackles or a screen play and they're outside all of a sudden getting on the edge making a tackle. I mean, it's impressive to watch and to see how well they're operating together. Their front four is as good as it gets. Nick Bosa, give me some thoughts. Is there a way to play him? I think obviously you've got to play him with some power. He's a power player. He doesn't use a lot of pass rush moves.

You're not going to see many moves out of him, like a spin or really kind of an arm over moves or anything. You're going to see more power rushes. He's going to get off the football and try to knock you back into the quarterback or kind of beat you late with something where he pulls himself underneath you or around you. But he's a tremendous young player and one of the best put together athletes I've ever seen as a rookie in the NFL, that's for sure. Yeah, I covered Warren Sapp as first. year in Tampa and it took him a while to get his sea legs. He was terrific by year two. I mean, Bose had just walked on and could play. Yeah. I mean, it's what usually as a tackle, I look around what team just drafted a rookie player. And I go, oh, good. That's a game that's going to be kind of easy

because most rookie rushers just don't quite understand the NFL game how to get to the quarterback. He has the intangibles and really the work ethic and the power and speed that is rare. And he's able to make it happen at a young age. He's going to be a special one. By the way, you know, we talked about Tom Brady and you're a veteran player, and we've said there's been a lot of speculation. And I've said, you know, I still got 10, 15 years legs on my career. But if I was down to the last year, I think it'd be hard to move my family. I'm into routine. I mean, I do the same.

I eat oatmeal every morning. I'm so boring. I take naps at the same time. I have my double espresso driving home. The idea that I'd have to find new ways. I know that sounds like I sound a hundred years old. but for you, you move Cincinnati to L.A. And that first six months, wasn't it a little stressful?

It's crazy. I mean, just everything you don't think about in making that move is that you're, you know, I can remember the very first time I walked in their locker room and changed clothes. I was like, what am I, why am I putting workout gear on in this building right now? Because for 11 years, every time I wanted to work out, do rehab, train, do anything, I walked in the Cincinnati Bengals Stadium and changed clothes in there. and that was my locker room. You know, that's like your home bathroom, basically.

And all of a sudden, you walk in a new building and you're like, wait a minute, I don't, I don't even, who did I say hey to today? I don't know if I know any of these people here. I mean, who have I met? Who have I not met? I mean, the people that you're used to every single day in Cincinnati, when I walked in the building, I waved at, said, hello, you know, good morning, how you doing the parking spot? I parked in every day. All those things have changed. So you almost feel like you don't belong there.

A little bit, yeah. But you also are going to have to reprove yourself in some ways because. So did it in. invigorate you coming to L.A. Well, see, I think it can do either one. I think that for veteran players, it can either invigorate you to where you're wired to like, hey, I want to prove to all these people who I am. That's far in Minnesota.

Exactly. And I think that, but, or I think for a veteran player, it can go, you know what, this is just, I don't feel like doing it. Like, I don't want to reteach people who I am. I don't want to develop all these relationships again with young guys, young players, trying to mentor, trying to be a leader, trying to find relationships in the building of people that, you know, I need to know and those kinds. I mean, you can either get there and feel like, wow, this is going to be more exhausting

than I thought, or you can be invigorated and say, you know what, I'm excited for this challenge. And I think it can really go one or two ways for a veteran player. By the way, what was interesting, Tennessee's success this year was illuminating. Because as you watch their offensive line take a former teammate of you, Stafford, he was great. So you're watching Tennessee bulldoze people. people and you're like, oh, that's why the Rams offensive line on the interior this year wasn't

quite as good. Is it reasonable for me to just say your struggles this year really came down to you lost two excellent interior offensive linemen and it was never the same? I mean, I think it really is because there's also an expectation that a young player, yeah, they can come in and do their jobs and they can come in and try and be effective in the game, but they're never going to be as effective as somebody like a Roger Saffold who's an elite interior player in the league. There's still a massive difference in that. And so I think that in a John Sullivan who'd played center in this league for a long time. Super smart.

Been a part of the Minnesota Vikings and Adrian Peterson and those guys when they're leading the league in rushing. I mean, he's been a part of great rushing football teams. And he comes and Roger comes and we're all together. And so obviously those were really good football players. And it's not fair for these young guys to even have the expectation that they're going to play like that yet. Yes.

I mean, in their career, sure, but those guys were as good as they get inside. And so you watch what Rogers done in the playoffs. I mean, I was a beast. I routinely text Taylor-O-Wan and tell him how mad I am at him. But you know what? It's great. I'm happy for him, but you know what? He's shown what a great football player he is.

So I couldn't be more happy for him to have success he was having. Andrew Whitworth, the Rams left tackle, going to get a lot of Hall of Fame vote. So Joe Burrow comes out. And, you know, here's the funny thing about LSU. It's a football factory. But for years and year, if you'd have told, I was so wrong on this. If you'd have told me, listen, Ed Orgeron's going to win an addie. LSU is going to be an offensive firepower.

Juggernaut. LSU. I mean, they win like games 13-3. It's all defense. I'm sitting there watching them. I'm like, this is so off-brand. It would be like Wisconsin leading the nation and scoring. What do you know about, Burrow?

What do you hear about him? I mean, you've got a lot of connections there on the program. I just, I didn't know who he was until I saw him as junior year. He was okay. And, you know, I watch SEC football. What are you hearing about Burrell, the kid, the player, the guy, everything? I mean, you know, honestly, everything that everyone says, I mean, that he's special and that a lot of guys, they just buy into him, that the players around him want him to be successful. They're excited through an opportunity to play for him and with him.

Just that he has that infectious personality and mentality of the game. And you know what? He seemed to show it all year. I mean, it's kind of the impression I got watching him from afar, but talking to people there and realizing how much guys want to play with him and they want to play for him. I mean, I think it's cool to see. I mean, obviously, LSU quarterback to play at that level

and an offense to operate that level. I would have probably lost the bet with you. So I wouldn't have voted on it either. I don't think it would have happened, but it did. And they were a special football team this year. Okay, you just had ankle surgery. So I got to ask you, how many more years? You know, I'm going to give you the same answer.

I always give you. I'm going to get through the next year and then we'll see. But you know what? I look forward to hopefully having the opportunity to play this season. And you know what? We'll see where we go from there. Now, you're off seasons. Don't you go like in the hills of Colorado and lift trucks or something?

In the summers, I do that. I spend my summers. As soon as we break from OTAs, I spend about six weeks until training camp starts up in the mountains and do some altitude training and play some golf. and hang out with the family. Wow. And a beautiful little Colorado, something like that? Yeah.

Walcott, Colorado, right outside of Beaver Creek Vale area. How did a Louisiana boy find that place? I actually had some Louisiana guys that took me, the Davidson family. They took me up there to play some golf one summer, and I fell in love with it. It was so remote and quiet, and I loved being up in the mountains that I talked the wife and the family into let's do a family adventure one year and rent a place up there and enjoy the summer together, and we loved it. We hiked together.

We play golf together. It's our time to get away from everything and just, you know, be us, be the Whitworth. So we've enjoyed it. It's been a lot of fun. You're an absolute pleasure to talk to. Congrats on all your success. Hope you stick around for a year. Not a lot of great left tackles in the game.

You're on one of those positions, a position of need. The draft gives us about three good ones a year. You're going to get my Hall of Fame vote. Great having you on the show. All right. Thank you so much, Colin. 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.

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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.

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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 42. A 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. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor.

I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need. with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of

the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream a chicken suit. This is help from a hypocrite,

the worst advice from the dumbest people know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coultera podcast network available on the iPart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Rick Buecker's been covering the NBA for a long time since 1992. Senior Writer Bleacher Report, Fox Sports NBA analyst. So Zion debuts tonight. I'll watch him with excitement and fear.

I was just going to say, trepidation. Because one more injury. Yes. And it feels different. Yes. One more. And I'm like, okay, it's not going. going to work, right? It already feels different. People are talking about him jumping into the

rookie of the year race. I'm looking at it saying, I want to see him play 30 games. I want to see whether guy with the kind of game that he has and the kind of body that he has and the dependence that he has on being explosive, can that actually work in today's NBA? There are some doubts about that. And his game is not to the point where he can facilitate and he can do things where he plays at a different pace. He has to play explosively. And so far, he's demonstrated

that physically he can't hold up to that. I do think, though, there are times in sports. John Morant was great. Zion was great. But Zion's just better business. I can make a lot more money because, I mean, listen, summer leagues move the needle. Nobody's flexing Memphis games in.

He is a superstar. LeBron and Carmella were both good. Carmel was more refined offensively, LeBron was the chosen one. He was from Ohio. You pick him. I get the John Morant fans, but didn't you have to pick Zion? Depends on what you're, if you're talking about the spectacle of Zion and the box office draw of Zion. And he was also a good prospect.

Very good prospect. But if I'm, and again, New Orleans for where they were with Drew Holiday, you're not going to take another point guard. Football City. I get all that. That said, I've been on the John Moran. You talked about John Moran fans? You're talking to one. Because from the very beginning, he would have been my number one pick.

He would have been, because he demonstrated that he can not only get his own, but he can make other guys better. That's no quite, he did that in college, by the way. It's terrific, great court vision. Right. And it's such a great fit. Guy from Murray State, a mid-major guy. I mean, this is really the Damian Lillard story in Portland all over again.

It really is. The Weber State kid, you didn't watch them in college, had to stay for a couple years. By the way, Damian Lillard got hurt, developed a left hand. You know, John Morant's one of these kids. He was a little bit of a late developer, if I recall. Yep. Well, that's why he was at Murray State. I mean, ultimately, and there's an appeal to the guys.

And this is the beauty of Zion, is that he's not for all of the YouTube sensation and all of the pizzazz and everything that people have made him out to be, there's still a humility about him. He seems to be a relatively humble kid. But by and large, if you're going to give me a guy who's had to earn his stripes who wasn't a McDonald's All-American, who wasn't like giving the keys to the kingdom right off the start. That's the NFL quarterback model.

And if he's supposed to be the leader of my team, See, that's the other distinction here. Zion's not going to be the leader of your team by the function of the position that he plays and the team that he's on. And so it's a little more difficult for him to shine. But as of right now, I'm not looking for him to join the rookie of the year. First of all, it's over.

Everybody's like, well, if John Morant falters, what about John Morant suggests that he's going to falter? No, he's going to win rookie of the year. It's over. It's fine. Exactly. So can I see Zion health? for 30 games. Can I see him just like I'm nervous about tonight not only from the the injury

standpoint, but he's never played at regular season speed. And everybody else is 50 games in to regular season speed. This is going to be a shock to the system for him. All right. You know, you talked about he's not going to create shots for others with Zion. He's a young kid. The other night, LeBron did not play well and the Lakers can't do anything. Right. And I was saying there's about nine guys in this league, maybe seven, Dame, Kauai, LeBron, that really can at any point in any game get their own shot and get a good shot. Don't need a screen, don't need a timeout. Are the Lakers too dependent on LeBron creating for others? Is he the only shot creator on the entire roster? Pretty much. Yeah. And I mean, it's it's the fatal flaw because he is, they are,

But they don't have any other choice. They can't get the idea of playing through Anthony Davis. We saw that in the very first game against the Clippers. That's not who he is. He's good individually. He's not going to create shots for anybody else. Rajan Rondo is around the bend. You hope that he could still give you something.

That doesn't appear to be the case. So, yeah, ultimately, that's what they're missing. And I would say that's why the enticement of an Andre Iguidala joining them. I know that Darren Collison's also been out there. Byron Scott was on the other day and was saying that Darren Collison is the guy. I'm not so sure.

My feeling is that Darren Collison would be a great addition to the Clippers. And Andre Aguadala is the guy that you want with the Lakers because he can defend. He can defend threes and fours. And he's a playmaker. He's going to create things for other guys. Coming off the bench, to me, he would be the ideal.

So I was not a big fan of Westbrook to the Rockets. I think he's a, you use the word spectacle. I think Westbrook's a lot of, his game is a spectacle. It's fascinating. You know, you buy his shoes. He's one of the few guys I'd pay to watch. He's crazy. Yeah.

But now they're in trouble. There are numbers that suggest they're both excellent, but he and Hardin, when they're on the court together, it's not great. And now they've got a losing streak. Dan Tony is not a confrontational coach. What happens here? It's not going in the right direction and I don't see how it's necessarily going to turn around. This is hard for me because I've always been a Westbrook fan, but he's not an efficient player.

And I used to think that he was centric in his game because physically he could just dominate people. He wasn't going to wait for anybody. But he has tried the last year or two to be more of a facilitator. He's trying. He's trying. and it's still not working. And that's the most depressing part for me. Because I thought it was just a matter of want, not ability.

And I'm slowly coming to the point where maybe it's just because he's played one way for so long that he can't change that gear, or maybe it's just not within his makeup to play that efficient, understanding when he should go get his and when he can create it for others. The guys that I've seen who are just so athletically, dominant that they can go and they make their decision at the last second because they're just overwhelming people and again we bring Lillard like Lillard can't do that that's right that's why he understands what he is exactly and he has to think ahead and the second that he realizes

oh that's open that's the better option he's going to take advantage of that russ is going to go I'm going a hundred miles an hour and I'm either going to get to the rim I'm at the rim oh okay now what am I going to do? That doesn't work if you're trying to get to a championship. I've always had a theory about the NBA. If you're 6-4 under and not a natural shooter, John Wall, Derek Rose, Westbrook, I'm out. Yeah. There is no history in this league that the hyper-athletic guard, who's not a natural shooter wins titles. Now, Steph is a great shooter. Nash didn't win a title, but was a great shooter. The shorter you are in this league, the more efficient you have to be as a shooter. You can have flaws in your game as you get to

6-8, 6-9. Westbrook and John Wallen-Rose, Derek's, the ball comes out of his hand. And so what happens is you have to go to the basket to score, more collisions with big bodies. And I, you know, Derek, D. Wade worried me early in his career with this. But D. developed a nice angled jumper. Chris Paul's not a great three-shooter, but a good mid-range jumper.

I always think it comes down to this with Westbrook. If he was a natural shooter, he's a smart guy. he would shoot more and hit more. He drives because he has to. His game is what he, he knows deep down his game. He's got to score close to the rim. This is the problem, though. If you look at Westbrook's form,

there's nothing wrong with his form. The problem is he's an emotional shooter. I just went through this with my daughter yesterday. She's a great shooter. She played against her old high school yesterday. She airballed a three. She's going to hate that I'm bringing this up. but it was just because she was so geeked up.

Russ is always geeked up. He wants to hit the three, not only that gets you the lead by one or cuts the other team's lead in half, he wants it that it's a dagger and it defeats you in the moment. And it's like there's no shot in basketball that does that when you're playing against a good team.

And that's the opposite of Steph Curry, who's a completely unemotional shooter. I mean, Steph is just like, boom, boom, boom, boom. And he's going to give you a little dance afterwards. but it's not like I'm trying to defeat you with this one shot. That's a really good point. Some people are... 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 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.

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 Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, the Clivert 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, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? 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 hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow.

Then after that game seven, Marquis come in 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 IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.