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

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

Doug Gottlieb in for Colin-What Tom Brady and LeBron James have in common-Why isn't Deshaun Watson taking any blame for Houston's 0-4 start?-The Cowboys got distracted by the shiny toyGuest: Ryen Russillo, The Ringer  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. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

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 year, 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. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio 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 Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is the herd.

Wherever you may be in, however you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin Cowherd. All better. Live from Los Angeles, this is the herd. There's lots to get to here. Lots to get to. I did not hear, but I did see. Colin on Instagram posted his thoughts on Dwayne Haskins, right?

Was he pro or anti-Dwayne Haskins? I mean, you know, I'll get to Dwayne Haskins and a tweet I had, how many months ago was February? That I don't hate to say I told you so. I did in fact tell you so. And I'll take my victory lap up coming. D.D. Gregorius, Philly Shortstop. is going to join us. We'll ask him about the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez's criticism of the Yankees brass

making decisions that he believes, again, this is Fox Major League Baseball analyst, Alex Rodriguez last night on TV saying that the upper management is making decisions trying to outsmart the Ivy Leaguers. And that's what's led to the Yankees, falling behind two games to one in their best of five. series with the Tampa Bay Race. We'll get to D.D. Gregorius in 30 minutes. Ryan Rusillo is going to join us in an hour in 15. What is this championship? Which we assume LeBron James is going to win. I think he's going to win it tomorrow night. Mean for LeBron's legacy. And Charles Robinson's going to join a senior NFL reporter for Yahoo Sports.

What do we do to shame the Tennessee Titans for an unauthorized practice? Talking about practice, man. Not a game. Not a game. We're talking about practice. Oh, and why I was right about Dwayne Haskins. Really, really right about Dwayne Haskins. Let me get to this. So tonight we have Thursday night football, and it's the first, like, real Thursday Night Football game, right? The first couple, they're like,

how do we get Jacksonville and the Bengals and some of these other crummy teams on their Thursday night game? Like, let's have them all play each other. Okay. Like, we had Miami, Jacksonville, and Cincinnati, Cleveland. like proximity rivals. But now we got Big Boy football. And while I don't think anyone believes the Bears are legit Super Bowl contenders,

Khalil Mack, if you look, is back to playing like one of the top five defensive players in football. Tom Brady and the Buccaneers come fresh off a come from behind. They show by double digits win at home over the L.A. Chargers. Now Brady's team is three and one. And you look at the bears, they're coming off of what I think anyone would consider a really, really, really disappointing performance. Not because they lost, but because of the fact that the bears got outplayed. Like I talked to somebody in the Bears organization a couple days ago. He's like, man, we just laid an egg.

That just doesn't, that just should not happen. Should not happen. Should not be able to sit there and go, wait, how does a team come and just kick our table? the way the Indianapolis Colts did. But that's what happened. So I think you got a motivated Bears team who's, you know, probably a playoff team, right?

Like the Bears are one of those teams. Like, who else made the playoffs? Oh, the Bears. Yeah, yeah, they made the playoffs. Are they going to win? And look, it's technically a rematch of Foles versus Brady. Over under on how many times

Philly specials mentioned tonight, over under. five five the adage in broadcasting is if you don't tell a story twice you didn't tell it so my guess would be that we're going to see that replay

of we're going to see the replay of Philly Special at least twice tonight how many times will it be mentioned it was five I'd take the under two I'd take the over it will be mentioned but there's this there's this thing in sports

and I find it fascinating that we're going to have back-to-back nights of kind of something similar, right? Which is older superstar athlete, clearly not what they used to be athletically, but super, maybe highest level of high sports IQ and do they have enough around them to carry them

so that their talents, though not what they used to be, can still come through in the end. Like, look, I think LeBron James is going to be amazing tomorrow night. Amazing. He's got an extra day off, and he, like everybody else in the bubble, just wants to go home. And if you look at the Lakers, their close-out games, that's when he has played his best possible. He hasn't played great.

He hasn't played poorly. He's been okay for LeBron. Like Anthony Davis has been a bigger determinant in them winning and losing in terms of his production at both ends than LeBron. but in game five, he's going to be amazing. But LeBron can't do it every night, and he needs dudes around him. He needed to go out and get Anthony Davis a top five player in the NBA in order for all of his basketball wisdom and, frankly, his basketball skill to come out. I need you to carry me through the first three quarters,

and then I can end up icing and finishing the game. Granted, it was Contavius Caldwell Pope, who we all knew would come through in the end, right? All of us at the start of the season, we're like, Contavius Calwell Pope will come through in the end. that's a joke. Anyway, the same will happen tonight because there's this continuum in sports, right? You have this athletic ability and then you have sports IQ. And when it's right in the middle, that's when you have like otherworldly talent. That was Tom Brady with Randy Moss.

And maybe the story of Tom Brady, which is the most fascinating, which I feel like, and yes, I know America. Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin. a bit of a contrarian. But this is not a counterthought. This is a thought that I think sometimes we don't explore enough. Tom Brady's peak, he threw 50 touchdown passes, they went undefeated up until the Super Bowl. They lost basically on one or two crazy plays in the Super Bowl. We didn't get a chance to truly experience Tom Brady's peak because after throwing 50 touchdowns,

he got hurt the next year. That's when they were the best team in league. That's when they had elite level talent. And soon after, the moss thing started to kind of sour. And look, he was still, remember, he went a decade without winning a Super Bowl. And it wasn't because that wasn't his best football. It was just because of other circumstances and coming off the knee. It takes like a year of coming back, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

But we're going to see Brady tonight. And what is remarkable about Brady and remarkable about LeBron is they're at the peak of the other side of the continuum, right? Like absolute football brilliance. I'm not sure people understand exactly how hard it is for Tom Brady to do what he's doing. Have you guys ever tried to learn a different language in your 40s? Right. Like lots of our kids are learning foreign languages or whatever they do in schools now, right,

on Zoom or whatever. And there's a portion of your brain that apparently closes up, doesn't completely close up, but trinks every year after you're like five or six years old in terms of your ability to learn foreign languages. I tried to learn Russian when I was in my 20s and I was okay at it. If I tried in my 40s now, it would be a disaster. I spoke in English my entire life and English has nuances that make no sense in any other language. But in English it does. In a Slavic language, it almost, it's like,

Like Russian, the train of thought is completely different. The sentence pattern is very, very different. That's Tom Brady. Tom Brady was essentially in the exact same system. And you can tell me, hey, man, they went from, you know, he wasn't a major part of the offense early. Then it was screen pass, screen pass, screen pass. Then they got Randy Moss and he threw the ball deep downfield a ton.

And then they became, you know, option route, crossing route, everything on third down underneath with Welker and then to Danny Amandola, et cetera, et cetera, right? You can tell me that the Patriots offense changed and metamorphosized itself, not just year to year, but sometimes week to week. Yes, Amandola, Julie Nettelman, Wes Welker, kind of same guy, different, but same guy, same routes, whatever. The thing is, all of the terms, all of the verbiage, all of the reeds, all of the automatic, You get to the line of scrimmage, you're like, ooh, oh, oh, I've seen this before.

I know what the answer is. Now you go to Tampa, they got a completely different way of doing things. Outside of Gronk, who he barely uses, all those other guys are new. And though they got together and illegally through the football at a park in Tampa, they didn't have a true off-season program. You got a coach who has been a no-risk, no biscuit, throw it down the field sort of guy. You got all these guys that are learning Tom Brady's way, they've never. experienced winning and Tom Brady has never experienced a new football language, a new verbiage. And so you get it to the line of scrimmage and you're like, we call this Bama.

Yeah, we call this California. What do you call it now? And yet here we are four weeks in the season. Granted, they've played three mediocre teams. They're three in one. And it appears like it's starting to hit its stride. But the true brilliance to LeBron, the true brilliance to Tom Brady that you're going to see the next two nights is the understanding of, I can't do this crap by myself anymore.

I need a couple of guys in football and a guy in basketball to make some plays so that my sports IQ and every once in a while I can dial up that old level of talent and be that superstar self that I have. There's lots of things that make you a sports genius. but the reason Bill O'Brien got fired is the same reason that Kyrie Irving sounded like a jerk last week is that the smartest people know enough to know what they don't know, right? And the smartest athletes know enough to know what they can't do anymore and get somebody else who can do it for them.

I think there'll be times in which Tom Brady will look 43. I think that if they can force him off his spot, as has always been the case, and make him feel rushed. He'll be a little bit lost because the offense is very, very different. I'm not sure how good Tampa really is. But, you know, you got guys in Tampa Bay saying, of course I believe in him.

He's Tom Brady. He made a couple of plays in the second quarter that made them believe, and then they just took off after that with the Chargers last week. Over the next two nights, I think you'll understand the true greatness of great athletes.

I don't think Tom, I think Aaron Rogers is probably the... The best quarterback I've ever seen play, but Tom Brady's the most successful for a reason. I'm a Jordan guy, not a LeBron guy. We can get into how we value this championship versus other championships. But the understanding of where you are athletically, the willingness to allow others to make plays that you used to be able to make, that's when you show your true kind of sports acumen, true brilliance to make. 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.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care where you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, the Clifford. show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 with 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'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark, Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth. 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 Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. It's very, very important that we start with this as the premise. I love Deshaun Watson.

Right? I think he's tough. I think he's talented. I think he's done a lot of tremendous things during his time as starting quarterback of the Houston Texans. So in no way am I saying, dude, you got to bench him or you got to move on from him. Of course, they can't because they just signed him to the second biggest contract

in the history of the sport. But I do think that this is an absolutely fair way to look at. it. Bill O'Brien got fired by the Houston Texans on Monday. And what's come out since is his confrontational style,

which we shouldn't be surprised by, right? Like, until he was fired, or maybe until he was the head coach of the Texans, what he was most known for was a verbal confrontation with Tom Brady when they worked together in New England.

and like, oh, that's how they roll in New England. Like, that's who B.O.B. was. And I'm perfectly okay with people saying that Bill O'Brien, his arrogance, his complete, he was taken over complete control, you know, trading DeAndre Hopkins, getting into it with JJ Watt. He lost the locker room, and that's why he ultimately lost his job. That's fair. Okay. Hey, hey, help me out here. Aaron Rogers ever start O'N4?

Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, ever 0-N-4. Give me the star quarterback that has ever begun a season outside of maybe their first season in the NFL, right? Like, Troy Aikman, when they're terrible, his first season. Like, in the prime of their career, they've ever started O'N-4. Now, look, again, I will grant you that they played Kansas City, defending champions on the road. And while they had a couple extra days prepared,

they played Baltimore at home. And then they took on Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Baltimore, two very good teams. I would also point out that it's the same Baltimore defense that Pat Mahomes ripped to shreds. Right? Like these are all fair things. Hasn't found a great running game.

Not all his fault. But can somebody tell me why there hasn't been any critique of Deshawn Watson's play? Look, I follow all these guys who I love Jeff Schwartz now. works for us. He does the breakdown with a spoon. That's pretty cool, right? Like, I'm stirring coffee and now I'm pointing out at Dan Orlovsky, former quarterback. Like, there's, there, I haven't seen one piece of tape showing me like, what's not working with the Houston Texans? Now, look, again, I'm not saying he should get all of the blame, half of the blame. But like, Dak Prescott is setting records in Dallas.

And there are many people, myself include, like, hey, that's great. But down three scores, lots of people put up numbers. What did you do in the first half? Your defense may be a disaster, but you got to keep your team in it when your defense is just a sieve. Like we can say what we want about the Atlanta Falcons, right? And their inability to have a lead. But they had these big leads because there are times in which Matt Ryan is actually balling. Right.

They had a huge lead over the Cowboys because Matt Ryan was putting them in position to have those big leads. Same thing the very next week against what was the Bears. Cowboys don't have that, so at least that's not what's happening with the Texans. They're bad, their offense is fairly feeble. He's one game throwing

over 300. He's not the same runner he used to be, nor should he be, because that's one of the things that led to him getting hurt in college and in the pros, and playing with a collapsed lung a couple years ago. Like, dude's a warrior, okay? Got kicked in the face with a cleat and then threw a touchdown pass with one eye last year. I'm not trying to tell you he stinks and I don't like him.

I'm just saying don't tell me that Deshawn Watson is playing well and not part of the problem when his team's 0 and 4 and they lost to the Minnesota Vikings. Some of the blame should go on Teflon and Deshawn. And it's not. It's really weird. I don't want a Super Bowl. Hadn't gotten to an AFC championship game. Hasn't won an MVP.

He just, we love him because he won an national championship at Clemson. And because he put up a lot of him. six numbers of the rookie got hurt and he's been really, really good and he's really, really tough and he's fun and he's likable. All these things are, but is he really an elite quarterback? No, he's second highest paid guy in the league. His team starts 0 and 4 and everything is Bill O'Brien,

Bill O'Brien. Hey, the one thing we think Bill O'Brien can do is offense of football, pretty good at it. And their offense? All DeAndre Hopkins? I don't think so. Why does he escape all criticism? Somebody explain that one to me. You know? We're critical of Lamar when he has one bad game, against the chiefs. He's in his third

years of starter. No one says a word when they're 0 and 4 in Houston. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Let me start with this. According to football outsiders, the Cowboys have the easiest remaining schedule. I didn't have to be a football outsider to look

at their schedule and go, God! The NFC! Right? Like, it does not take I am not a smart man, Gen A, but I do know what an easy schedule looks like. But no, like football outsiders, they actually do the math and do the hard work. And the Cowboys who are a half game behind the Philadelphia Eagles have, again, based upon

four games in the easiest schedule. Remaining games. The Giants. The Cardinals at home. Okay? Cardinals can score. They're two and two. I'm not sure I bought the hype over them being a playoff team.

I like their offense. but I don't love their defense. Then they go to Washington, who stinks. Philadelphia, who at this point really banged up, could be healthier by them. We don't know. Pittsburgh, that's a good football team. By week, Minnesota, as of now, one win. Washington stinks.

At Baltimore, that's not an easy game. At Cincinnati plays everybody close and just won a game. San Francisco, we don't know, like, this is a hard one. Jimmy G's going to come back. We don't know about the rest of their roster is in Tatters. Obviously, you're not going to have Nick Bosa this year. here, but there's a lot of their other guys that could be back by then. Philly, again, don't know what their roster would look like by then, and then the Giants.

Mostly, they played the NFC East. Now, I haven't played an NFC East game yet, so you got two against the Giants and two against the Washington football team. So that's four wins, right? Like, put us down for four. That's the thing that the Eagles screwed up most. It wasn't that the Eagles lost week one of the season when they had, they were that four starting offensive linemen.

It's that you lost in division in a game, a game. game you absolutely could not lose to a bad football team. But they did. So we would all, I mean, is it okay? Am I okay saying the Cowboys defense is a joke? It's so bad? Whether they're confused by Mike Nolan's system, whether football's past Mike Nolan by, whether they have a bad fit for his three, four scheme, or whether they just don't

like them, or they don't play hard because they're entitled by the contracts that they have. whatever it is, the Cowboys defense is bad. And if I was fair, like, look, DAC has been great in these comebacks. But like, last year it was they would score on the opening drive and then they couldn't score. Now it's they're not scoring on the opening drives. They're struggling some, sometimes they're scoring the opening drive,

but they're struggling some offensively. And then you get into a, you know, two, three deep zone, keep everything in front. And he starts hitting crossing patterns. and now a sudden their offense explodes. They're not running the football the way they used to. Some of that is because their offensive line isn't what it used to be or it hasn't been fully healthy.

Number one in overall yardage, number one in passing yardage, most of that's because they've been behind. They're terrible against the run. They're 31st in the league against the run. They've allowed the third most yards, 430 yards game. So look, they're on defense. a lot and they're just getting smacked by teams

that run the football. And I think it's a win-win in a lose-lose for Dak Prescott, lose-lose for the Cowboys. Like, do you remember draft night? Do you remember when they went and what they did with their first round pick?

Anybody? Like, oh yeah, C.D. Lamb. Now, I like C.D. Lamb. I like C.D. Lamb. It's very, very good. A little rosemary on CD Lam's awesome. Amari Cooper, I don't believe, is the true superstar number one. But when you add Michael Gallup and CD Lamb, it covers up like, look, they're doing this without Blake Jarwin, without their starting tight end. Dalton Schultz is their tight end.

What a great name. Dalton, that just sounds proper. None of it? Dalton Schultz. Anyway, I like, I have no qualms with CD Lam. But when I look back to the 2020 NFL draft, and I remember that they stayed true to their board. Yeah, I'd be like, oh, man, they stay true to their board.

They didn't reach for a need. Yeah, it kind of feels like you should have reached for a deed. You mean to tell me that you couldn't either have taken a defensive player, and there were several, plenty available? Right. I mean, you look at where C.D. Lamb went in the draft. He went 17th overall. right? And you look at other linebackers who were available.

Granted, they thought they were really good at linebacker. Obviously in the second round, they drafted a very good corner. But this team has issues at safety and there were the top safeties available. Or you could have traded down. Instead, they stayed true to their board and they brought sand to the beach. The rich got richer. You already have one of the highest paid running. backs in the game. You have an incredibly highly paid offensive line. You end up paying

Amari Cooper $100 million. You got Michael Gallup who was the second round pick, I think, right? Third round pick? Okay. Like, did you need CD Lamb? But they did, you know what they did? Are you a Rims guy? Now, I'm going to be honest with you. I love Rims. They add to a car. They make any car. One of my roommates in college is Desmond Mason. he had and obviously he's 10 years in the NBA and he's a super talented artist now so he's rich beyond all means so he won't mind me selling him out that he had a 75 Nova in college hoopty but he had some cool rims and and look what one of the things you don't realize when you buy rims on a on a car is you're like well it makes it look better it does right you get some

20s or some 22s instead of the stock 19s or 18s it just looks better but the ride's a little stiffer and here's the thing about low profile tires they wear down like twice as fast so instead of getting 25 30,000 miles on a set of radials you get like 10,000 so they cost more and then you replace them more often and the ride isn't smooth but what's what's every guy listening to the hurt Doug gotley phoning him for calling for calling what's every guy thinking when yeah but they look cool and you're right they do they look cool and you know what The Dallas Cowboys look cool because they got CD Lamb, they got Amari Cooper, they got Michael Gallup,

they got Ezekieliot, and they get down a couple scores. Boop, boop, boop. Let's put up some yards. Let's have some fun, boys. But you know what it doesn't do? It doesn't win your football games. And it's weird. We went from Dak Prescott, didn't put up great numbers,

but don't worry about numbers. He wins. He's a winner. He's got that winning thing. You know, you can't put it, you can't do the stat thing. What matters is winning. Okay, well, last year he had better players and they go into Philadelphia and in a must-win game, they couldn't win.

They didn't beat any of the teams with a winning record. Guess what they haven't done this year? Beat anybody with a winning record. Right? Again, is it all his fault? Like, no. And they, they brought sand to the beach getting C.D. Lamb to go with an already talented offensive group.

So you can see the Dak Prescott walks in, you know, slaps down 5,000, 6,000 yards passing, 30 some odd touchdowns and is like, hey, wasn't my fault, pay me my money. Win, win, win.

And you know what? They might be able to moonwalk their way to a divisional title because Philadelphia is not good. Like Nick Mullen's couldn't have been worse for San Francisco when they played on Sunday night. Couldn't have been worse.

And after a beautiful touchdown pass from Carson wins, they get a pick six. You're like, it's over. San Francisco still had a chance to win the game. Philadelphia is not a good football team. No one's arguing that. Don't give me. And then they got the Giants twice and the Washington football team twice. It's now starting Kyle Allen.

At some point, they're going to give Alex Smith another shot. They just don't have any players. I mean, so, DAC will probably win the division. you know, with eight or nine wins and a super easy, super soft schedule and throw for 70 million thousand yards but they're still not beating good teams. They drafted to only add to his wizardry.

Then you're going to pay Dak a bunch of money and you're not going to be able to afford to fix the defense. And the cycle continues. And everything you said about Dak, well, he's a winner. went out the window, he's like, well, it's not his fault. He's putting up numbers. No, no, no.

I'm really confused because we're in between two conflicting arguments. Either the numbers do reflect how well you're playing or they don't reflect how well you're playing. But Dak Prescott gets to have it both ways. Want 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.

in an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw,

unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network. on TikTok. 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's 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, Mark, 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 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough, Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learning. a hard way and listen now. We got Ryan Rusillo from the ringer who joins us. I got a bunch of things to get to. Let me start with Bill O'Brien getting fired.

It is weird to me that no one seems to have said like, hey, Sean Watson needs to play a little bit better. Like, I'm not saying he stinks or like pull him, but he gets a huge contract. They rebuild the offensive line. Granted, trade away DeAndre Hopkins. And, you know, the one thing we all

I think agree is Bill O'Brien's pretty good. with quarterbacks pretty good with offense. Why do you think he's escaped any sort of critique for their own four start? Because social media hates Bill O'Brien. I mean, if you did a list of like most targeted guys over the last

couple years. Oh, let's do the list. Yeah, let's do the list. What do you got? Yeah, I mean, Harbaugh's up there for college football. I think he's the number one guy. Everyone roots against. I don't think there's a lot of love for Tom Herman, just because, you know, hey, I thought this guy was supposed

to be the guy, you know. Like, I get it. It hasn't been as good as Texas as it's supposed to be. But NFL Sunday, like, anytime there's a primetime Bill O'Brien game, it was just on. And I always, look, I'm not telling you he was great, but I actually think with some of the records that he had with some of the quarterbacks before Deshawn, I was like, isn't this a sign of, like, some kind of accomplishment? But then the whole thing derails the leadership from the top down, everybody would tell you

it was kind of a mess. And I just think the Bill O'Brien thing, like, it doesn't mean that Deshaun hasn't played as well as we expect of. but we know how the game works. The game becomes whatever the headline thing is, the shadow cast beyond all the other possible storylines. Yeah, but we do this thing where, like, he makes, he has a great game or makes it,

like last year he made that incredible play where he got a cleat in the eye, right, and threw a touchdown pass like the next play. And we're like, well, he's great, okay, he's great, period. And that's it. Nobody can evolve. Guys that are just okay can't get better, right? Remember Kirk Cousins couldn't win a big game. Then he wins a big game.

You're like, well, that was just one. and nobody can devolve. Guys can't or plateau. And it feels like we're a little bit datum. It's even the JJ Watt thing. Like we still talk about J.J. Watt like he's a superstar. Like J.J. Watts is just a good football player now. He's not Captain America like he used to be.

Yeah, but that's, I mean, it's just kind of the job. And I know that all of us, it's kind of funny how cyclical goal becomes because it happens. And then the people that do our jobs say it. So then it's happening. And then the people that do our jobs are like, I can't believe everybody. saying this, and it just kind of goes round and round. Like, the Rondo thing is one of the dumbest conversations I've heard in sports the last 10 years. I mean, he absolutely mailed it in at the end of Boston, admitted he had stopped playing defense.

Goes to Dallas, gets in a huge battle with Rick Carlisle. They couldn't wait to get him out of there. Boston couldn't wait to get him out of there. The Chicago didn't make any sense. He disappeared in Sacramento. He wasn't good in the regular season for the Pelicans, then had like a terrific playoff run. And Lakers fans couldn't believe Vogel was still giving him minutes, and he has been huge, huge for this Lakers team.

It's just another part of it. It's like, hey, how come more people didn't see this coming? I didn't know that Rondo was going to turn into like a really valuable player all of a sudden. And yet, because he's been really good in the playoffs in spots, it's like, oh, you know, all you guys are doubting him. Like, well, of course, I was doubting him

because I was watching him all the other years too, and he wasn't good. I want to get back to basketball in a second. Let me go to tonight, Thursday night football. Bears, Tampa Buccaneers. Kind of hard to tell on the bucks, right? Like, they got down two scores. and the Chargers did what the Chargers do, which is open the door,

bad fumble, you know, and they're without 10 of their guys. Like, is Tampa really good? Are they getting, like, where are they now in your eyes as a playoff team's Super Bowl contender? So we knew the defense was a lot better statistically than it averaged out last year because Winston put them in maybe one of the worst positions

that a quarterback's ever put his defense in the history of the game. It was that bad. But I think that Brady, who's just a workaholic was going to be immediately like day one on the same page of all his receivers we expect unreal things from him even in 43 years old

and it's not what I saw in the beginning. But what I saw in that Chargers game was somebody that trusts his receivers and is completely like on the same page with him now. Some of those throws that he made like the Mike Evans throw, he's making that because it's Mike Evans. It's not the route. It's not the defense. It's like, okay, I trust you a little bit more. I know what I'm working with.

I don't know if he thinks that Gronk got so small that all of a sudden Gronk is Scotty Miller and he's throwing to him, thinking he's throwing to Gronk. But he hasn't targeted Gronk that much. But then I thought in the second half, you could just see some of those throws or he's really opening it up. It just felt like he was more comfortable. It felt like there was a trust there that we didn't see at the beginning of the year.

So at this point, I'd be surprised if Tampa ends up, you know, not in the playoffs. Because I really do think that Brady, if he stays upright and he just does a really good job staying healthy or healthy enough to play, I buy into him. Not that I was writing them off. But, you know, again, even that first week against New Orleans, it was like, okay, you know, he threw a pick that we're not used to him seeing. But I love what he saw, what we saw against the Chargers team. And I know with missing pieces, but I actually really like that charges defense,

so they're all out there. I do, too, when they're all out there. But that's a big one. Over Under on Philly special references tonight with Foles starting. Thursday. It's Joe Buck, so he's going to, he'll have fun with it. He knows, but I don't think it won't be, like it was ESPN and it was Levy. There would be a lot more, I feel like,

because they would make them run the tape several times. Thursday, Fox game. Probably just one. Probably just one because Foles isn't playing that well. I actually still think Chubisky gets a start, even if Foles is healthy, because I think Foles is a lot like a lot of these role players if you have in basketball where you go,

oh, wait, like Brian Hoyer, all we hear about how amazing he is in practice, understands the playbook, everything. It's like, oh, now he has to play? Oh, wait, this isn't going as well. And it's happening with Foles. Like, this Bears team is not who they're right. Like that holds a wreck you are where you're

says you are. No, not always because I don't think anybody watching this entire season of this Bears team thinks they're any good. No, he does have, you know, Nagy, DiFilippo, Laser, all those guys work with him before, so they trust him. They think they know what to call, what plays to call for him. I think that's a big part of it. Let me get to Dwayne Haskins. I hear and I see a lot of lot of people at other networks, maybe even at my network saying, didn't get a fair shake. I'm like, look, two different coaching staffs thought you didn't have a good enough grasp of the playbook. His college coach said he wasn't ready.

He didn't look like he's ready. And even Doug Williams last year said he didn't dive into the playbook enough. He doesn't have good feet and he has slow eyes. So I don't understand. Like I get that we think 11 games is enough, but it feels like it's enough to me, where are you on whether or not he got a fair shake. Look, I don't actually think he got enough time for a first-round pick. Like, I don't think you want to turn the page on that that quickly.

But a lot of times when coaches are fired and almost all of us are on the outside and you'll say, wait a minute, why did that coach get fired? You go, you know what if people that are there day-to-day are going, hey, we're trying to move on from the sky to get a little bit more information. Like, I'd refer to those people. So if they're in the room with every day, by the way, like anybody throwing out just raw quarterback stats now, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't meet anything. It just doesn't, like, guys are firing away at 300-yard games, I think, look terrible at times.

When, like, oh, great, this guy had 500 yards again, or this guy had 300 yards again, he must be awesome. Like, 300 yards doesn't mean anything anymore. It's like some of these NBA scores where you go, I think you've got to just cut it off at 25% of what the actual production is because these are just chucking a million threes now. So I would like to see any franchise that put the first round resource into a quarterback, give him a little bit more time, and maybe it's a step back to take a step forward thing. but some of the criticism of the criticism of Haskins just feels kind of, you know, specific. It becomes a race issue where I go, well, like, what's Josh Rosen's? Like, who does he get to complain to? You know? Yeah.

Like, I think that there are plenty of times. Yeah, by the way, by the way, look, I thought I called the Rosen thing, right, because of the people I talk to. But in fairness to Josh Rosen, he starts with the Arizona Cardinals who had the worst line in the sport. The worst line in the sport. They had a coach that last, and he's not mobile, and they had a coach that lasted one year that everybody said was in way over his head. And, like, he was poof gone. But again, there's no, I'm with you. It's like, yeah, maybe he's not good, right?

Maybe he's not good. Yes. No one cares about, like, I just think when it comes to quarterbacks, at least for now, now, historically, I'm not going to take the other side of that argument. Right. Black quarterbacks are treated horribly, and it's kind of ridiculous that it took this long for people who'd be like, hey, maybe that guy's going to be good on Sundays. but when it comes to, well, this guy's happened with Cam, like, oh, Cam has only criticized because, and I'm like, wait a minute, what? Like, does anybody want to talk to Romo?

Does anybody want to talk to Jay Cutler? No, it's the position. Johnny Mansell, Baker Mayfield, right? Baker Mayfield has a good first year, bad second year, right? A slow start. It's the nature of the position now. Yes, we can't go. If we go back 30, 40 years, we're.

we could have that discussion. Now it's simply about how are you playing based upon the position. That position is the most critique position in all of sports. Yeah, I just think there's times where it's fair and most times it's obsessive. And I don't think that, and I really think it has more to do with being around the guy. And I'm not even talking specific to Haskins, you know. I really think that it's weird to think like a coaching staff would just go, like coaching shots get stuff wrong. None of us are arguing

with these guys get it right all the time. Sure. But, you know, I don't know. I don't know that Haskins was awesome. You know, I don't know that he was, but it still seems quick. There's something weird, though, going on there, because I don't know if you saw this. He's not even the second string quarterback. He's the third string quarterback, and they didn't have him take snaps yesterday, and then there's video,

and this is a little, this is kind of a little weird thing for me. All the other quarterbacks, all the three quarterbacks are wearing the maroon pants, except for Dwayne Haskins, he's wearing the white pants out of practice. and it's just one of those things where when you're in the coach's doghouse and you're doing kind of your own thing,

you're on your own program, nothing ticks a coaching staff off more than you're doing your own thing, you're running, oh, you're the white pants guy. Great, got it. You know, like you just got benched, buy in, get the play, you know, figure out the playbook and stay ready.

That, to me, I saw something in that video, which I don't know if other people caught. Ryan Rusilla joining us. You can obviously hear him over at the ringer. Let me get to tomorrow night. I feel like I know what's coming, right? You give him an extra day off. He hasn't had any

offensive explosion in this. Again, this is what your raw statistics argument, right? Like statistically, LeBron's played really, really well, but he's been good, not completely and thoroughly dominant, not even necessarily the go-to. Turnovers are also a statistic that people

seem to not pay attention to, and it's the reason that Miami won one game and the reason they almost won the last game, But he has been great in these deciding games. Everybody I've talked to down there just wants to go home. He's going to close out, you know, win another NBA championship. How should we take this as somebody who studies and knows the sport? What, the accomplishment of him getting another title?

Yes, in the bubble, against the heat. How do you take it? Well, we know what's going to happen because, you know, in the beginning, when this whole process was being introduced to us, it was, okay, well, you know, no matter of was. It would be an asterisk on this. You just go, okay, well, that doesn't seem fair. Like, whoever wins the title under these circumstances, that's what's going to happen. But then it swung so hard the other way that it's like, this is going to be the toughest

championship ever won. And, you know, like, I don't know. They're playing the heat. You know, like, can we include opponent? Yeah, kind of playing the Warriors who won 73 games with the three-to-one lead and having to win game seven in Oakland, kind of with Steph Curry and, and, you know, And Clay Thompson. It's not even close.

It's not even close. Kind of feels harder. I don't know. Right. I get that the bubble is inconvenient. And look, if you bought it to the bubble argument that this is the toughest of all time, then you're just going to hit me with isolation days and numbers of days in a hotel and a resort. And look, I've been busy a few times.

I wouldn't want to be there for three months straight. But the heat, especially in underman heat, I mean, this was a team that was still projected to win like 49 games if you went over an 82 game season. and the more I started thinking about it, because I was really impressed with the heroes, impressed with their depth, Bams, growth, Butler, taking on this alpha role, Hero and Duncan Robinson giving you buckets on certain nights. I kept thinking, like, wait a minute,

what are they going to do with Anthony Davis? And they try that zone, which is actually the dumbest thing you can do. Like, it just proves how bad, I think, and I'm not going to say it's coaching, but how uncomfortable players, young players are against his own, because actually, like, once you figure it out, I think you would know this. It's not that hard to score against it,

but it just freaks teams out, even NBA teams. And when they try to do against the Lakers, you're like, oh, wait, you have 6-9 LeBron catching in the middle of all of this and making passing decisions to Anthony Davis who's running baseline against a 6-9 or an inverted front line or back-line where they had their bigs up front and they had their guards on the baseline. And go, okay, this isn't going to work.

And so, you know, I think that there are circumstances that we know are unprecedented for this, but I can't sign off on the idea that this is the greatest or toughest championship to ever accomplish. You know, what's interesting to me is I've heard people say, well, this is the beginning of another dynasty for the Lakers. And like, well, look, I think it's a great accomplishment. And I think his leadership and bouncing back from how bad the Juju was last year in that building with the Lakers is big.

But again, like, they didn't play the Clippers. Next year, they probably won't be so fortunate. the Warriors took the season off. My guess would be the Nuggets feel like a team on the rise, right? The Mavericks are going to be the new rockets, right? They won't actually win because they don't play defense, but they'll still win a bunch of games because they're super talented in offense. And then the other side, like, dude, the Nets are going to be good next year

if Kyrie doesn't ruin them. Well. Okay, possibility. 50-50 shot. Talented, let's just say talented. You would think the Celtics are going to be better as Jason Tatum and those young guys get better. and Milwaukee's still a problem if they ever play them.

Like I think the idea that this is the beginning of something when LeBron, this may be the last year he's able to dial it up as often as he's able to dial it up. It's just reasonable at 35 years old. I kind of think we should appreciate it while we got it. Yeah, look, I'm blown away by this guy, okay? So, you know, you're hesitant to ever say anything negative because then it turns you into like, oh, wait a minute. Like the other one that I hear is like, what does it mean for him wanting a touch?

that it was 13. This is ridiculous to the lead guy. There's no comp for this because that was the momentum behind Kauai. You know why this is happening? Because nobody ever did this. You think if Magic, well, Magic didn't have to go anywhere because his team made nine finals in the 12 prime years that he had. But what if Byrd looked around at 88 and said, eh, I'm out of here, you know? Like, nobody has done this historically. So to say it's a greater accomplishment to jump from team to team and win all these titles,

like it's not a negative, but I don't think it's something. It's not unprecedented because nobody else could pull it off. It's unprecedented because nobody else did it. So I'm sitting here watching him. I actually think he's played better maybe than you did in the finals because he's just controlling things in a way that's subtle. Like he was, it was a really weird first half of game four where it felt like everybody was kind of just off

or at least Miami had clogged the game up enough. But what LeBron does when he decides, okay, you can see these moments. You saw him in the fourth quarter against Houston. You saw him in these moments where he's hitting shots against him. Denver. And you're seeing specific times where he's like, okay, now I'm going to start driving. And then it just

kind of just destroys the will of the opponent. So it's not just the raw near triple double numbers from him. I think he's just having these moments of games where he takes over. It's unbelievable that this guy enters the league in 2003 and he's still doing there. No, no. And if I like you to believe

otherwise, I'm wrong in that, that's the true genius to him. There's a little bit like Brady there, right? That's how I started the show kind of comparing it, which is like you just, you kind of control everything, control everything. And then when you're feeling it and you find your spots, now of a sudden, you still have the talent to kind of take over. And, and like, look, there's a reason Contavius Caldwell Pope is open late in the fourth quarter to hit those shots or that, you know, Rondo is

able to get layoffs because you've got to pay attention to LeBron and to Anthony Davis. But, you know, he's responsible for Anthony Davis is carrying the team at times, quarters one through three in most games and then LeBron can take over when everybody else is tired he has that kind of well of energy that he's saved up. He's unbelievable at controlling things and pacing himself and knowing, but just there is going to be a point in time where he's going to go to the well and there's nothing there. We're not there yet, but that day is coming at some point. Yeah, I don't know when.

I mean, you're right. It is coming. And I would even say there's moments. I remember there was a time during the Denver series because there was this other thing going around like, oh, he's getting incredibly tired. He's getting tired. And I would go through all of their fourth quarters, but a lot of these games are already decided,

or they let somebody back in late, so the score becomes like a little misleading. So I don't know that the fourth quarters matter as much as maybe you think. And then he had like a, I think Torrey Craig was on a baseline spin dunk over. And granted, it doesn't mean like, oh, yeah, he just says athletic as he wasn't 25 because he just dunked on somebody. That's not what I'm saying, but those bursts are still there. I also think the Rondo part of this is a huge part of the team's success.

because I thought, again, I thought there were times I'm like, what is he doing out there? Like, he looks unplayable. And I think LeBron having somebody else that he trusts just to bring the ball up, I know it can sound stupid. No, no. You can speak to this better than I can, but just trusting that, hey, that other guy will initiate something good,

and I trust him as opposed to Coosma Jack and a shot up, although Coosman's actually played better than I thought he would. You know, Pope, who's not really a creator on his own. Caruso, you probably don't want shooting a ton, although you probably, you know, like his toughness and all that stuff. just having somebody with Brando's resume where you go, okay, you can get us into our action and I can kind of maybe

cut off of this. I think that's a huge, huge, you know, it's just a relief for LeBron to not have to have that burden every possession of the court. Ryan Rusillo, check him out at the ringer. Follow him on social media as well. Ryan, great stuff, man. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Doug.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite, unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashed. reaching human potential. Either way, the podcast, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, 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. It was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the Fourth. seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast.

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