The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for May 08, 2020

Episode Date: May 8, 2020

The Bengals and Joe Burrow have a brutal scheduleThe two teams that got huge scheduling breaksTom Brady got a gift from the NFL scheduling peopleThe Cowboys look like a very average teamFinal NFL predictions (until Colin changes his mind)Roger Goodell is a great commissioner, get over itGuest: Dave Wannstedt, former Bears and Dolphins Head Coach  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching Heard. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on one of my favorite Fridays, post-NFL schedule Friday. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. We got a good show today. Everybody from Dave Wanstatt, Peter Schrager, Joe Madden, baseball manager of the Angels,

formerly of the Cubs, Michael Mulvehill is an executive at our country, that'll break down the schedule. Really smart guy and what the league was thinking. And Joy Taylor is joining me. Last night was fun. I did a show with Carissa Thompson and Mark Slareth and Jason McIntyre. It's so easy to do TV now. I'm doing it in a radio studio.

I can do it in a golf shorts last night. It is a fun day for us. I love today's show. It is. You're getting spoiled, huh? I am. I'm not going to lie. I have secretly done the show a couple times this week in my Tommy John

lounge. Yeah, why not? It's the future of what we're dealing with. I read a story last night about how American business and how people are now going to work from home. I don't think it's a terrible thing, by the way. It will reduce traffic issues. It'll save people money in America, which will be a big thing going forward. But let's start NFL schedule.

And I've said before, I'm never going to look at a good team and a tough schedule and go, they're done, or a bad team in an easy schedule and go, oh, there'll be a playoff team. But I do every year look at the schedule and I modify and alter my win loss total. That's why yesterday I gave out my NFL standings pre-schedule. And this morning, there's four or five teams. One in particular, I'm going to add two wins to one team and subtract two from another team. Because I felt the schedules were that advantageous. So let me just start with two teams that I think got the raw end of the deal with the schedule.

And I didn't love this team anyway, Cincinnati, but they got no breaks. No OTAs, young coach, rookie quarterback, forced to play, a dubious offensive line, and the Cincinnati Bengals have to face six of the top seven pass rushes with a rookie quarterback and a truncated camp. Chargers, Browns at Cleveland, at Philadelphia, at Baltimore, at Indian Browns again. So of the six of the seven tough games, four are on the road at Cleveland, at Philly, at Baltimore, at Indy that's got now to Forrest Buckner. Bruttle! And then the end of the season, they face three teams that'll probably be vying for playoff spots, the Steelers, the Texans, and the Ravens.

Little softer in the middle, but this is an overwhelming schedule. They didn't get, they got one give me early, Jacksonville. They didn't get Miami when they could use it. They didn't get the Giants or Washington. They buried those. The team will already be buried. This is a bad break for a team that's going to start a rookie quarterback, and we're dealing with a virus, and we don't know how much prep time he'll get.

And, you know, it's funny about this because, you know, it's just tough division. Rookie's got to start. Brutal schedule. Young head coach. Brutal. Brutal. And, you know, Bengal fans, I'm a hater because I had them at 5 and 11. Fox bet.

has them favored in one game this year. So if it stays true to form, they're 1 and 15. I don't think they're that bad, but I literally looked at that schedule, and I reduced the number of wins. I had Cincinnati at 5 and 11, got a ton of negative feedback on that. Like, I was delusional. They haven't won a playoff game since 91. The team they beat no longer exists, the Houston Oilers.

So to me, I would put them now at three or four wins. We'll talk about that top of next hour when I redo my standings. Here's another team. So you think, oh, I just hate Joe Burrell. Here's another team. I'm going to downgrade wins. Sam Darnold. I love him.

New York Jets. Baroodle! So here's a team that's rebuilding their offensive line through the draft and free agency. Look at the Jets for seven weeks. Bill's defense. Niners pass rush. Colts pass rush. Denver, Bradley Chubb, Vaughn Miller.

Chargers pass rush. Buffalo again. Oh, they get a break then. They get to go to Kansas City. That is, to me, the toughest schedule in the NFL. It lightens up later, but for a team that is, they don't even know their tackles yet. A rookie left tackle, a second year right tackle, maybe, a brand new center. This is not the way the New York Jets needed the schedule to work out. So the Bengals, I'll reduce some wins. Jets, I may reduce them two wins. Top of the hour.

I'll talk about the new schedule. I've changed it up. We'll get to it in 45 minutes. Now, on the opposite end, these are teams I liked. And I don't know if it makes me think they'll win more, but it confirms the fears I had about my prediction. So like take San Francisco 49ers, scheduling break. I got them winning, you know, 11 games anyway.

But Super Bowl losing teams, Joy and I, we've talked about this before, there can be a little bit of a hangover, especially like Atlanta. When you lose a Super Bowl that you should have won and you lose a lead and everybody questions your moxie and you come out the next year flat. That's what Atlanta did. San Francisco, I worry about that, but they got a scheduling break. So the first three teams they play are all. rebuilding their offensive lines. Arizona, the Jets and the Giants. With San Francisco's

defensive front being the strength of the team, they even drafted another defensive lineman in the first round, that's a break. That is a break. That you could not play well and just simply overwhelm young auditioning offensive lines. Then after that, they get three straight home games, Philly Miami Rams all at home. So they get weaker teams, got to travel for a couple. The tougher games, they get at home, rebuilding offensive lines, rebuilding teams, young head coaches, new staffs, young quarterbacks. I don't know if it makes me think San Francisco wins more games, but it reassures me on little concerns I had about San Francisco having a Super Bowl hangover. Here is a second team. Again, I have Cleveland winning nine games and becoming a playoff team.

I wanted to see the schedule to reaffirm, because I thought it could fall too. different ways. I like the way it felt for Cleveland. So at Baltimore, sucks as an opener. There's no getting around that. That is a tough opener. But after that, Cleveland gets the opposite of last year. They get an early scheduling break. Cincinnati, Washington at home, two rebuilding rosters. Cleveland's not a rebuilding roster. Then after that, for the next six or so weeks, they get really average defensive teams as they break in new. tackles, a new coach and a new system, a new tight end. Dallas defense, Cincinnati defense, Raider defense, Texans defense, and then there's a buy

in there. So unlike last year where they went through a five or six weeks stretch early in the season last year, five out of six weeks where they faced like elite defensive coordinators, elite coaches, elite pass rushes. This schedule, they get to face a couple of rebuilding teams early and then soft defenses. Dallas doesn't have an elite pass rush. Cincinnati's pretty good on the interior of the defensive line, but they had to go up bringing new players defensively because they were lousy last year. Raiders can't stop anybody. Houston's got all sorts of secondary issues. So again,

I thought for Cleveland, it confirms what I believe a week ago, which is if the schedule falls right, Baker's going to tighten it up. Just the playoff team. So, Bingles Jets, I'm subtracting wins. Niners Browns, I don't necessarily think they get additional wins, but they got a scheduling break. It kind of falls in their favor. Because I do think with Cleveland, when you have a new coach, you come off a rough year, it's easy for people to bail.

You know, you go 0 and 4 again this year. You're going to get, you know, OBJ, don't kid yourself. You can lose guys in the locker room fast. So I thought Cleveland and San Francisco got breaks. 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 Podcast, 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, Tript 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it 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 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 42.

A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Tampa Bay, Tom Brady. I think they got a break. Whereas San Francisco and Cleveland got schedules that benefit them,

I don't think it changes their record necessarily. I'm going to give Tampa one more win off their schedule. So the first thing I look at is, oh, they face the Saints in New Orleans. Ooh. But for some reason, nobody can explain it. The Saints aren't great in their home opener. One and four in the last five and could have lost their only win. Then it is a really interesting schedule break.

They're learning a new offense. It could have been brutal. They could have had Aaron Rogers Week 2. Patrick Mahomes, Sean McVan Gough of work together, Kirk Cousins. There was a lot of little landmines here where you could have faced quarterbacks who are efficient, who have been with the same coach for years, who have more firepower, but it didn't work out that way for Tom. Instead, after the Saints, they get Carolina.

New coach, new system, new quarterback. Denver. They don't even know if their franchise quarterback is their franchise quarterback. Chargers. Tyrod Taylor, new quarterback. Chicago. Hell, is it Tribusky or Nick Foles? They get Green Bay at home, but now Tom's got five starts in.

Then they go to the Raiders and the Giants, two really weak defenses. This is a scheduling break. Now, I do think the Rams and the Chiefs in November are tough, but Tom's got half a season already in the books. So he's got no cold weather games here. That's a break because I think weaponry and perimeter stars are the strength of their team. No cold blustery win road games or home games, right? Secondly, I think he faces, he's got some tough quarterbacks to face here. But in the first two months, it is mostly Teddy Bridger's.

Bridgewater, Daniel Jones, Drew Locke, Tyrod Taylor, Mitch Trubisky, Nick Foles. That to me is a scheduling break. They also get a scheduling break in Tampa late in the season. Hear me out on this. So at the end of the season, I have respect for Atlanta. They burn me so many times I'm worn out from them, as Joey and I often laugh. I always like Atlanta more. And every time I do, they burn me.

And when I don't like them, whatever. They play Matt Ryan twice in the last three weeks. here's why it's important. Matt Ryan's good. Dan Quinn could have gone either way, right? Could have been fired. Atlanta faces the Saints at the end of the year twice, November 22nd, December 6th. New Orleans is better than Atlanta. If the Saints beat Atlanta both those games, if you look at Atlanta's schedule, they're probably out of the playoffs. And Dan Quinn is a lame duck head coach. Tom gets them twice late. If Tampa, as good as I think, eyeing the playoffs and seating, gaining momentum with Tom Bruce Ariens and the Young Weapons, and Atlanta's done. They're cooked. Coach is done, Lane Duck. Out. It's a big break. Also,

Matt Patricia is sandwiched in between. This is a bad team and a good division with Green Bay, Minnesota, Chicago having better rosters, better coaches too. So I think they end, it's a break for them. Two Atlanta's and a Detroit, I don't think those teams, they'll have lame duck coaches and out of the playoff picture. So I thought Tom got a scheduling break. He got some of the more average new offensive systems and quarterbacks early as he's just fundamentally trying to figure out the offense and figuring out Tampa and Bruce Ariens and all the young guys.

So a break there for Tampa, enough of one I think I'm going to give them a win. I'm giving them an extra win. 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. So the Dallas Cowboys schedule. I don't see, I think it's tough early.

I think it's tough middle. And I think it's tough late. And I've had the Dallas Cowboys at 8 and 8. That's what they are. Lost too many playmakers and productive people, offense and defense. At L.A. and at Seattle, Cleveland early, tough. middle of the schedule at Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, at Minnesota. Tough.

End of the schedule at Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia. Tough. They don't get a lot of breaks. But here's the game on this schedule that really jumps out to me. Cleveland. So, you know, coaches, it's very hard to say Mike McCarthy and Dack are going to go to L.A. and Seattle and win. Those are tough games.

McVeigh and Goff have been working together three years. Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll, been working together eight years. That's just tough. That's a big ask. I think golf is better than DAC, and Matt Ryan, week two, is better than DAC. And I think Russell Wilson's way better than DAC. You're asking too much. My guess is they're one and two.

The Cleveland game is huge and they get it at home. And the reason it's huge is because the only small window for the Dallas Cowboys is in October. Giants at home rebuilding, Arizona at Home Monday Night Football rebuilding, and at Washington rebuilding. That's your scheduling break. You can make it a four-game winning streak if you beat Cleveland. And you're probably coming off a loss at Seattle, which will be a big four o'clock game on Fox.

Seattle's going to crush Dallas or beat them. There's going to be a lot of negativity. It's going to be rally the troops, Cleveland at home. This is the season. And Gule I'll tell you, as a cowboy fan, when they lose on national TV, it's different. When you lose as a cowboy on a late Fox game or a Sunday night football game, it just feels big. The world's ending.

So Dallas is going to come into that home game against Cleveland, rallying the troops, save the season. It's the only part of Cleveland's schedule. It's a tough break for Cleveland. It is everything for Dallas. And so when I look at their schedule, I see them as an 8-18. It's not easy early. It's not easy in the middle. It's not easy late.

that Cleveland game could be a season decider, a momentum shifter. So in that game right now, Fox bet has Dallas favored by minus four and a half. That's where I looked at their schedule. I don't think they got any breaks. I don't think it's overly hard. It's sort of what I thought it would be. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the I Hard Radio app.

So I think, I said before, I think Tom Brady got a break in the schedule. I'm going to give them another win. I think Cincinnati and the Jets, I'm going to take away wins. And so I save this team, Baltimore I have as the, along with Seattle, that's my Super Bowl favorite teams. I didn't look at Baltimore schedule close enough. So they face no teams coming off a buy. Big break when you have Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson hasn't had the success in the postseason.

People get perhaps more time to prepare. They don't face a single team off a buy. they only make one trip to the West Coast. They're only leaving the East Coast once all season. Oh, wait, they have no West Coast trips. I didn't notice that the first time. They get a real scheduling break. Also, the Ravens open up.

They get Cleveland at home. And it's a break because Cleveland's got a new staff. Cleveland's going to be really good. They're probably not going to be humming, you know, September 13th. So they get a break because I think Cleveland matches up really well with Baltimore. Not in week one. They also, one of the toughest games they have is at the Colts. It's one of their toughest road games.

They get a buy before the game. They also don't face any team getting a buy before them. They also end the season with bad football teams out of the playoff race, Jags, Giants, Bengals. I thought it was a really, really good schedule. And because of that, I hand out my standing predictions, but now we've had coaching changes, free agency, draft and schedule.

So I am going to give you my official, barring any injuries in camp, my official NFL standings. Let's go AFC first. I'm taking two wins away from the Jets. Their schedule is brutal. I talked about it to start the show. So the Bills goes 9 and 7.

Jets are 7 and 9. So are the Dolphins and so are the Patriots. It's mostly an average division with the Bills winning going away. Boring division. Ravens, I had winning the division anyway. I'm going to add a couple of wins to 10 and 6. I still have the Browns making the playoffs.

Steelers not making the playoffs. And I'm taking a win away from the Bengals, 5 and 11 to 4 and 12. The Colts win the AFC South, nothing changes. Chiefs win the AFC West. Nothing changes. I do have Denver making the playoffs at 10 and 6. Let's go to the NFC. Nothing changes.

NFC East. Philadelphia's schedule still looks 10 and 6 to me. Dallas's schedule. You know, I watched before. it was released. Not a lot of easy games for me. Dax, the inferior quarterback, and at least half the schedule. NFC North, nothing changes for me. NFC South, Bucks still win it. Saints still win it. I'm giving Tampa Bay a win to 10. So the Saints and the Bucks tied at 10 and 6, but I think New Orleans gets the best of them head to head. NFC West. I thought about giving the Niners another

win, a little Super Bowl hangover, but the schedule falls in their favor. I'll keep them at 11 and 5. here are my AFC playoffs. Bills, Ravens, Colts, Chiefs, nothing changes there except for a record for Baltimore. AFC playoff title division winners. Wild card, Broncos, Browns, Titans, nothing changes. I did think about giving the Titans one more win. The schedule was good for them, but I'll stay there.

So the Titans are the new playoff team for me, not the Jets and the AFC. Jets out, Titans in. NFC playoffs remain the same. Eagles, Vikings, Saints, Seahawks win their division. Niners, Bucks and Packers are wildcard teams. So my big change is Jets out, tightens in, because the jet schedule is ridiculous. There you go. Can still change it, but probably won't unless somebody, a superstar quarterback, gets hurt.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Social media is rough. And the way I attack social media is I just have fun. I don't take myself seriously. I kind of roll my eyes at it. But I do put some stuff out so it gets tweets and stuff. and my social media team likes it. But it's hard to have an opinion that goes against the grain.

I mean, who wants to deal with that crap? Your phone blown up. And so people basically, and most people in life are followers anyway. So on Twitter, it's just followers. Very few people are willing to say, no, the opposite's true. Roger Goodell is a great commissioner. Twitter, you're wrong. You just keep following.

He's no good, but he's more successful than you or anybody in your family or anybody you know. and he runs the NFL really, really well. And you can't say that on social media. Everybody loves Adam Silver, more woke. Nobody likes Roger Goodell. And I look at this schedule. It's just great. I mean, do you notice this?

In week two, every team playing each other has a bye week, meaning they can move it. No division games in week three and four, meaning virus, they can move it. September's very. very malleable. Also, Super Bowl in Tampa. There's a two week, there's a two-week space before the Super Bowl. So they get a break there. They can move that around. Lots of flexibility. And the NFL's really well run. I don't think they get everything right. Anybody that criticizes Goodell for his missteps is somebody that's never had a big boy job.

It's hard to lead. Canadians like everybody. They don't even like their prime minister. We didn't like Barack Obama once because he wore a beige suit. People just don't. like leaders. Social media is vile and angry and anonymous. We don't like anybody. We don't like any of our commissioners. And I like, I think all of our commissioners, I mean, they all went to like Ivy League schools. They're successful people. I like all of them. Adam Silver sometimes is a little too pro player, but that's the NBA. It's always kind of in the NBA. But I met all these commissioners. I met all of them. I like all of them. They're all smart. But Goodell gets just clobbered. Do you know how hard it is to run the NFL? You have regulated violence. You've got the gambling hanging over it.

It's absurdly popular. You've got network. You're on every network. You've got every network executive and president and the Murdox and this group and that group and they're all asking big questions. And it's hard. And players make mistakes and players are young. And there's domestic violence. And he kind of butchered it. And in the Kaepernick situation, these are hard. They're hard. again Canada likes everybody they don't like their prime minister but I looked at the Super Bowl this year I thought I think Joy and I agreed

it's one of the best five hours of TV I've seen in my life it was incredible incredible I mean there wasn't a hiccup I thought free agency this year he got blowback was terrific I thought the draft I'm still we work in television television's hard

at any one point Joy and I could trip over a damn wire and knock us off the air they went four days on that draft on Zooms and it was brilliant from basements. You got to see the families and the kids. It was so heartwarming. And I thought the schedule yesterday that's got all sorts of little opportunities in early season to move it. You just got to, but nobody wants to say that about him.

Nobody's saying he's perfect. No, they're presidents I loved. I loved Reagan, disagree with a lot. I loved Obama. Disagree with a lot. But by and large, this league is so well run and it's hard. And I'll tell you this. Here's an advantage for the NFL.

States now, we've got unemployment rate of 15%. States need additional revenue because these budgets are all going to be deficits. States are going to pass gambling legislation fast. You thought pro sports gambling legalized. by the Supreme Court was moving in the right direction, it's going to be overnight. You're going to see 30 states approve it. Why, they need additional revenue for their states. So good luck taken on the NFL when sports is legalized in 48 to 50 states in the next six months.

They are all going to sign off on it for additional revenue for these states. They're going to be all behind it. And what sport do we bet the NFL? But I looked at that schedule release yesterday. No league turns a combine, a draft, and schedules into must-watch television. And nobody wants to admit Roger Gadell's good. Perfect? No.

Flawless? No. Made mistakes? Yes. But if Canadians don't like their prime minister and they like everybody, it's an indication and an illustration of how hard it is to run a country, a business, or a league. I think Gadell's great. I've met him two times, had dinner with him, had drinks with him.

He could not, he, unlike a lot of powerful people, he's a listener. He just asks questions. He wants the no answers. What do you think? Why do you think that? He is just constantly curious about how to get better. And I watched this thing last night and I looked at the schedule and I'm like, man, bravo. 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. 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

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 SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month,

I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. 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. 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 hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'allon, but just so y'all not. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed cracks. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you.

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? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her.

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. One of my favorite guys. You used to own a restaurant in Naples called Handsome Harry's. Are you in Naples right now, Dave Wonstat?

I am. Let me comment on your last statement there. I feel the same way. I'm a five-inning in a Cubs game. That's about where I'm at and then I got to move. I would watch nine innings right now. And I'm done with Netflix. I'm turned to bourbon now.

I'm drinking bourbon, okay. I'm burnt on on the vodka, my red wine. We're done with that. So a buddy, mine brought me a bottle of bourbon. So I sit there and have a bourbon and a cigar and watch the last dance. That's where my mind is right now. Yeah, Dave is talking about a conversation we had off air with Joy, and he could hear it that. I said, if the NBA doesn't go and baseball comes back, I will watch the Yankees, I'll watch the Dodgers.

I will watch every single baseball game I can get my hands on. Juan sat joining us so when you coached at Miami and knowing the heat and humidity did you think the schedule mattered giving you an advantage or disadvantage yeah not as much for us because we had a practice in it but i do think and i know that it was a factor for opponents uh you know if you were if we were playing new england uh you know up there late in december that could be a disadvantage for us, an advantage for them. So the weather was a little bit of a factor with us. We used to talk about it all the time.

I mean, I enjoy what could talk to Jason, you know, when it was hot and we were practiced. And we would practice at game times. I mean, we would go out there in the morning and have an 8 o'clock practice. And then we would come back around 1, 2 o'clock in the afternoon, right in the heat of it. And we would go out there and put the pads on and get after it just to kind of say, hey, and then players bought into it, hey, this is game mentality, and it's going to be hot.

So I think psychologically, that it definitely played a big part. I don't know how much on the opponent's side, but definitely it helped us. You know, I also think if you have a rookie quarterback who's going to play like the Bengals, I looked at Cincinnati's schedule, coach. Holy moly, Cincinnati played all these pass rushes in the first couple of months. If you ever, yeah, I mean, did you ever look at your person? Senel and think. Well, you know what? I think you're hitting on something that's worth talking about because I've done two or three of these primarily bear shows there in the last week or two.

And I really feel this. The teams that have new coaches, rookie head coaches, and rookie quarterbacks, they've always been a little bit behind because of the transition. But now doing all this stuff through Zoom and virtual, you know, you cannot. get in there right now and work on the timing. I mean, if you've got a defense is one thing, you can line up and turn them loose. But offensively, I think that's the position that's going to suffer a little bit and primarily the timing of the quarterbacks and the receivers and the running backs and the audibles and the checks.

You can't do that. You can talk about it. Sounds good, you know, in a clinic, but reality is you have to be on the field doing it and be coached. So now, and then you got, I heard Matt Roll the other day. I was talking to one of his assistant coaches. and he said the most difficult thing that Matt's doing and having right now is you try to get in there and you try to set your own foundation or your own culture, whatever you want to call it,

as a new head coach for the program, and now you're doing it Zoom. You know, I mean, think about it. So I think it's a real advantage. If I was a veteran team right now and I've got everybody back and my staff back and my quarterback, boy, I'm feeling really good about starting this season. By the way, the Baltimore Ravens, not like they needed any help, but they don't have a West Coast game. Last year, the Jets got really lucky. They didn't have much West Coast stuff.

Do you think, meanwhile, Seattle always has to go East Coast. Those are 3,000-mile trips. Does the length, can that hurt you at all if you've got several trips as a Miami coach all the way west? You know what? We never, yeah, if you're going from the west, like you talked about Seattle going to to the East Coast. I've never really experienced that. But being from Miami, I mean, it takes us an hour to fly out of the state of Florida, as you know, Colin. So, I mean, when we were played the Raiders and when we played Seattle, we just had the, we never left early. We would

go our normal day. We would fly out Saturday. We would get up. We'd be up early on Sunday. And we would go play the game. And we had a lot of success. We never thought that that was a factor. So I, you know, I don't think it's as big a deal. We never made an adjustment going out two days early. A lot of teams do. A lot of teams do. And they believe in it that going back to our Dallas Cowboy Days and then I never did it at the Bears and we never did it at the dolphins. So going east or west, we never did anything. I can't, I can't speak for the other way. NFL, no OTAs, potentially shortened training camps. How difficult would that be to deal with as a head coach? Well, as I said earlier, defensively, it's not a problem. I mean, you can put your defense in

and guys can go out and run around garbage cans and get to the right spot and you're going to be okay. But boy, the receiver stuff, the offensive line, you know, trying to get those guys to work as a unit and the communication between them and the quarterback, you know, it's going to be difficult. I, you know, I'm not sure really if I'm a head coach, I think I would rather have two weeks, an extra week or two of training camp practice and eliminate a game or two, you know, because sometimes you get into a game and, boy, guys can lose confidence in a hurry. You know, you go in there with Joe Burroughs and your line's not ready, and the receivers don't know what to do, and he looks terrible. And he, I mean, so I think if, depending when they give the go sign in the

NFL, if something was going to give, I'd give up a preseason game or two just to have a week or two of practice to really get a good base and a good foundation established. By the way, you still very prominent in Chicago, do a lot of radio shows there. Ryan Pace did something. Most GMs don't like to do. He admitted Mitch Trubisky doesn't work, and they went and got Nick Foles. Are you surprised that a GM pretty early in his quarterback's career is signaling, I whiffed.

Well, I'm going to go back to our shows last year, our kickoff show, Colin. I'm still believing in Mitch. I believe that Ms. Chubisky wins the job. I think that Ms. Chubisky is a starting quarterback at the Bears. You know, it's going to be tough on Nick to come back. But look at Nick Fulst. And I love Nick as much as a person as I do as a quarterback. But the guy's performance has been average the last four years.

So now you're going to come into a new system. I just think that Ms. Trubisky is going to be the guy, and I think that this is good. I think they put a sense of urgency in him. We're not going to guarantee you're $25 million. You know, you want it. You're going to have to earn it. And I think that he'll accept the challenge. I know I'm in a minority in Chicago.

I do, you know, like you said, radio and I do two TV shows. And I've been, I just think if you use Mitch Trubisky right and run the ball with that defense, I can get in the playoffs tomorrow. I really believe that. And keep in mind, I love what Ryan Pace did in the offseason. For any bare people who are out there watching, I talk about this all the time, having a window to win.

Well, everything that they did in the off season is to win now. When you sign Jimmy Graham and you sign Robert Quinn and deep pass rusher, and you sign Nick Foles, and you sign Danny Chervatham back at linebacker, these are all guys that are playing for one reason to get a ring. And I love that mentality with that football team. Dave Wanstatt, Fox Sports, NFL guy, college football guy too.

So I didn't get to talk to you about this. It's one thing for the Packers to draft a quarterback. But if they had drafted a wide receiver with their second pick, I think you could make the argument to Aaron is, listen, we're drafting a kid that we think has your talent in four years. but when they went quarterback, running back, never went and got a receiver, it looks like Green Bay's trying to make a statement. And I get Aaron Rogers being potentially pissed.

What did you make of love being picked and no receiver in a deep receiver draft not being selected? Yeah, I'll tell you what, and I don't know much about love. Obviously, he's a great talent. I'm not questioning that. But my first thought was they better be careful that they don't end up being Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Because all last year, we talked about that the Patriots had, you know, they had the second most drops of any receiving group and they were making mistakes. And they were a young group and Tom didn't have the supporting cast. And obviously, Aaron's younger and he still got more arm strength and things like that to Tom Debt.

But still, you better be darn careful that, you know, your best. player, I think you've got to give him as much help as possible. I was disappointed. I truly was. I thought the Packers could have stepped up and really tried to help Aaron Rogers. Yeah. So I want to talk a little college football. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. I think you and I both like him more than the average person. He wrote this, you know, open letter to college football. Oh, I wrote it to the college football community. And he talked about, you know what, we should let players go when they want to go to the NFL. And the cynical part of me thinks, yeah, Of course he does because they're all

be SEC players. So he wrote this idea that players should be able to make themselves draft eligible. And if they don't get picked, they can come back. And they should all be eligible the minute after their freshman year. What was your takeaway on that by

Jim? Yeah, I like half of it. I always agreed because I had players at Pitt. You know, when I had Dorel Rebus and Lechon McCoy, Dionne Lewis, you know, some of these players I knew were going to be first or second round draft picks, I would tell them, go, get out of here right now.

But if a guy was going to be, and I had players that were six, one kid never got drafted, and his agent had him convinced he was going to be a fourth rounder, it would have done him a lot of good to be able to have the opportunity to come back to pit for another year. So I don't like the idea of leaving after your freshman year, but I do really like the idea, you know, that if a kid wants to change, mind that he has that option to do it or if he gets drafted in a certain round that maybe you know you don't want to waste the first round pick on him obviously and then the kid decided to stay in school but after a certain round that wouldn't be costly to your program to your club i i like that idea

of a guy going back in a draft yeah so what have you been doing the last couple months well you know what i don't want to sound disrespectful to anybody but florida has has been really progressive I had my knee replaced a week after the Super Bowl. So that gave me something to do for the next week. At least I had rehab three days a week and I went to. And now I am, you know, Florida here, the beaches are open, the restaurants are open. I'm playing golf once a week, sometimes twice. I'm biking.

I'm swimming. So I'm pretty much back to normal in the city. Naples has been good. You know, down here, the people have been very, very aware and following all the social distance guidelines. And I think so far, so good. So I have no complaints. Yeah.

Love talking to you, Coach. Thanks for stopping by. You know I love you in the Naples, Florida is one of my favorite places. Good talking. All right. Talk you later. Bye-bye. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source,

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From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a hear, unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

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