The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Browns-Jets, Hue Jackson, Patriots, and the Blazing 5

Episode Date: September 21, 2018

Colin discusses last nights Cleveland Browns-New York Jets game, the performances of QB Baker Mayfield and QB Sam Darnold, why people are wrong to bash Browns HC Hue Jackson, more on damaged relationship between New Patriots HC Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady, and his Blazing 5 picks. Guests include DeAngelo Hall, Ian O'Connor, and Jason McIntyre. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming till. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The 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 iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, one hour from now, blazing five strongest picks of the year.

We've already had two winning weeks, and Joy Taylor is checking in today. How much fun was that? last night. Jets Browns was must watch television. Good morning. It was great. It was amazing. I did not think that the Browns were going to pull it off. However, I did not think we were going to see Baker Mayfield last night.

I don't think a lot of people did. In one hour, Blazing Five, and a major surprise in one hour. A major surprise on this show in one hour. Let me start with this. I tell my kids all the time. Your kids make mistakes. But over the course

of your life, try not to make the same mistake two or three times. But as an adult telling my kids that, it's hard because adults make the same mistakes all the time. We fall for the same stuff in politics, in business, in sports. In sports, it's the worst. We keep falling for the same stuff. Hyperventilating over stuff and then getting burned.

By the way, the last number one quarterback pick to win his first game was David Carr. It was a standalone Sunday night football game. Oh, crazy! Next week, two picks. six for 25. His quarterback rating was an 8. Sam Darnold, standalone game.

Monday night football for the Jets. Oh my God. Don't believable. Last night, he was not very good. Last night, standalone game. Baker Mayfield gets into the game. I never said Baker Mayfield was going to be terrible.

I never said he was going to be bust. It was a standalone TV game, the only game on national TV. He comes in again. the bad team at home that didn't have a game plan for him. And Baker Mayfield did what a number one pick should do. He completed passes when he had time to throw and let his team do a win. He did not scale Everest last night.

This was not Kilimanjaro. It was the Jets at home with a rookie quarterback on a short week. And by the way, I've always said this about Baker Mayfield. This was my pre-draft evaluation. He can win with weapons. Who was the best running back for either team last night? Veteran Carlos Hyde. Two touchdowns, 100 yards.

Who was the best wide receiver for either team last night? Jarvis Landry. From the Dolphins, pretty good. Eight catches, over 100 yards. Who had the better defense? Browns. Who was at home? Browns.

By the way, the two coaches for Baker-Mayfield, Hugh Jackson, and Todd Haley, both super successful coordinators who have been head coaches. Okay, he didn't scale Everest. He's a number one pick. We knew he was better than Tyrod. eventually he just happens to be better now. He's better now. He should play now.

But folks, we keep falling for this. Sam Darnold, week one, amazing last night, not so great. Andrew Luck's first game, terrible. Next week, really good. Cam Newton's first game, amazing. Check it out I did this morning, second game. Terrible. RG3 started red hot, so did Carson Wentz.

And then by week four of his rookie year to week 14, Carson Wentz was just not very good at all. We're falling for it. Now what's going to happen with Baker Mayfield? Oh, now he goes on the road. He's not facing a rookie quarterback. He's facing Derek Carr, and he's got to do a West Coast game. And, oh, by the way, now they can game plan off film completely against Baker Mayfield.

He's a number one pick. A number one pick should do that. But Colin, you never liked him. I said, I think we're going crazy comparing him to Russell Wilson. He'll never be that athletic. Or Drew Brees, crazy me. I said, I don't think he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame guy and be the most accurate passer in league history.

I said, I think a more accurate comp is a Case Keenham, who I think he's better than, but Case Keenham when you surround him with people can win. But we're just going doing this again. Baker did some nice stuff and he deserves some praise. no statues in parades. By the way, last night he was two for six throwing to his left. Fifteen for 17 middle or right.

Don't think the Raiders will see that on film? Come on now. Now he's going to face over the next several weeks. Derek Carr, Joe Flacco, Big Ben on the road, Patrick Mahomes, Matt Ryan,

specifically tailored game plans. Cincinnati's defense, Rice, Wentz, Luck, Darnold. Strap yourself in, man. It's the rookie roller coaster ride. We never thought Baker Mayfield would not be competent. We never thought that. Jets didn't think they'd face him.

He came in. When he got protection by the third, fourth, fifth drive, he did what a number one pick should do. He completed passes. He was precise, which for the record's always been his strength. It's not big enough for me, Not as good at an athlete as Mahomes or Wents or even Darnold or Locke. But he can throw.

That's why I said he's not a bust. Dude can throw. Sees, throws quickly accurate. We just never learn, do we? And speaking of that, let me segue. And we got a lot of stuff today. In less than an hour of the Blazing Five and a major, major surprise on the show. So Sam Darnold.

Oh, boy. Colin, bet that hurts, doesn't it? Bet that burns. Okay, let's take a deep breath and think about this. So Big Ben, who has two pro bowlers on the offensive line, Antonio Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, and a veteran head coach, had a 60 passer rating against the Brown's defense.

The next week, Drew Breed's first ballot hall of famer, holds 30 NFL passing records. with Alvin Kamara eventually. No, he says Alvin Kamara now. Ingrams said, Joe Thomas, very good receivers, rated the third to fourth best offensive line at home through for well under his home average, 240 yards. So you thought Sam Darnold on a short week

with what pro football focus ranks as the 31st best offensive line, the 28th running back set, and the 28th best tight ends and receivers, he was going to cut it up against this defense, against a veteran defensive coordinator, Greg Williams. This defense gave Big Ben and Drew Bree's fits. Those guys have Elito lines, world-class perimeter weapons. Those guys are veterans.

You thought Sam Darnold? Listen, Sam Darnold led. The only surprise last night is that Sam Darnold led 14 to 3 in the 3. How, I'm not sure. And he not only led, he completely. a very nice first down throw to Robbie Anderson, who then fumbled, Cleveland got it, and the game was never the same. But not only did Sam Darnel have nothing to work with, and we knew it,

and I told you this was one of the bets of the week. Six of 13 Sam Darnel drives started at his 12-yard line or worse. So with that line, no weapons, no backs, young head coach, on the road, Short week, veteran defensive coordinator. He was pinned in 50% of his drives. Only surprised last night. Jets led midway through the third. By the way, Troy Aikman had a thought about Sam Darnold last night as everybody was going crazy.

Baker's great. Sam's terrible. Troy Aikman, who covered the draft, who knows both Baker. Troy was really good last night. So was Joe. Talked a little bit about Sam Darnold. Here's a little nugget. I tell you an interesting thing about Sam Darnold

and visiting with Jeremy Bates, the offensive coordinator, he said when he comes in for the meetings right from the beginning, he doesn't write notes. He does not take notes in the meetings, and I've never heard of that. And Jeremy Bates was getting really frustrated. He's getting angry about it, saying this guy's our number one

pick, and he's not writing notes. But they go out on the practice field. He never forgets anything. It's the way that he's always been, very smart. His work ethic is incredible. And it's just pretty impressive that the guy can just absorb it by hearing it, and doesn't have to take notes to remember it.

He's going to be okay, too. The rest of Baker-Mayfield games won't turn out just like that, and the rest of Sam Darnold's games won't turn out just like that. Let me add something else, which has been discussed among NFL people, but is not really discussed I notice among media or the fans. If I'm standing next to a guy and I'm 54 and he's 52, we're the same guy. if I'm not going to ask Joy's age, but if there's two women standing next to each other,

and one is 39 is, one is 37, it's sort of the same age. But Baker Mayfield is 23 years old. Darnold's 21. Baker Mayfield threw 1,500 passes in college. Sam Darnold threw 8.50. Baker Mayfield started 48 college games. Sam Darnold started.

27. Like, that's a gap. That's not two 50-year-old guys and two 39-year-old women standing next to each other. It is not a shock that Sam Darnold, two years younger, with half the throws and only about 60% of the starts, isn't quite as developed, precise, and buttoned up as Baker Mayfield. Sam's got work to do. Sam's still reckless. Sam's still loose. You do get last week, he was the youngest quarterback in league history to throw for over 300 yards. That word youngest is kind of what makes the record, not the 335 yards. Sam's going to be okay. He needs help, like some.

He doesn't have a Carlos Hyde. He doesn't have a Jarvis Landry. He doesn't have an offensive head coach. He's got a defensive one. Short week, on the road, no weapons, pin deep, younger, less experience. These guys are both going to work. The winner last night was us because a Jets Browns game was wildly fascinating. And when's the last time any of us outside of New York and Cleveland said that?

Coming up next, I'm hearing a lot of criticism of Hugh Jackson, the Browns head coach. He's getting crushed this morning. Geico.com, 75 years. they know what they're doing. Want to save on car insurance? It's pretty simple. Geico.com. Saving simple. Geico.com. Joy Taylor joining me. 40 minutes from now, blazing five strongest picks of the year, two winning weeks and a major surprise on the show. So everybody's beating up. I mean, everybody is crushing Hugh Jackson. So let me contextualize this a little bit. When Hugh Jackson went Owen 16, everybody wanted him fired. And Joe, you weren't on the show yet,

but I came out and I said, first of all, the Browns are going to draft a question. quarterback. Okay, you probably want an offensive guy who's been in the league a while, not a rookie head coach, okay? Humee, everybody, you're not going to get the best candidate anyway. You're Cleveland. You're not going to get the best candidate. There were several jobs open. The Bears had a job opening. There were several in the NFL open. You weren't getting the best one in Cleveland anyway. You weren't getting the best candidate. And the other thing I said was, if you look at the history of the Browns and all their movement and chaos and dysfunction, send a signal to other executives around the league and scouts,

hey, for the first time in like a decade, we're not going to blow a coach out. We're going to retain a guy because we want to create some continuity, the symbolism around the league matters. And oh, by the way, Hugh is now one, one and one, and a field goal kicker from 3 and 0. That Cleveland's got a real defense here. They're a field goal kicker from 3 and 0,

and that's having faced Big Ben and Drew Brees on the road. So now Hugh Jackson this morning's getting crushed, and he's getting crushed for two reasons. Number one is, man, how could you not start? Baker, Mayfield, and week one. Has anybody considered this, that Hugh Jackson was sitting there thinking, looking at the schedule thinking, okay, tie rod's a six-round pick, Baker's a number one pick. We know Baker's going to be better eventually. He probably is as good now.

But we open up with Big Ben and Drew Brees. I don't want to get this kid engulfed in shootouts. and I don't want to take that chance. We're not winning the Super Bowl anyway. And then all of a sudden, they go, oh, one and one, and they're like, we're in these games. I may pull the trigger a little earlier than I thought.

And then he's getting beat up for saying this after last night's game. Obviously, I like to watch the tape. Obviously, Baker did some great things. I mean, again, we don't play until next Sunday. We've got some days. Let's not get into those debates tonight. You know, obviously what he did tonight was outstanding for the football team and for his teammates and just the way he competed. But again, I have to watch the tape and we'll go from there.

Okay. So a football coach is saying, let me watch the tape and you're freaking out. He may know more than you do about this. He actually has tape. Now, do I think it's Baker's team? Yes. Should Baker start? Yes.

The team had a little more energy. And I also think we all knew Baker. was eventually going to be better than six-round Tyrod Taylor. He just happened to be better right now. Just like the Jets made a decision, Donald's as good as Teddy Bridgewater now. Let's go for it and trade him and get picks. But just think about this for a second.

If you'd have blown out Hugh Jackson, there is a possibility that last night, the coach for Baker Mayfield would be Matt Patricia or Mike Vrable, defensive guys. Because that's who would have taken the job, first-time guys.

Matt Nagy would not have taken that job. Andy Reid would have told him, don't take the job. So last night, Baker would have come into the game with Matt Patricia and Mike Rable. Let me give you a heads up on what's working currently in the NFL. Anybody know who Carson Went has as a head coach? Offensive guy. Patrick Mahomes? Andy Reid, offensive guy.

Jared Goff struggled. Oh, wait. He got an offensive guy. Jimmy Garapolo. Kyle Shanahan, offensive guy. Oh, oh, Deshawn Watson. Last year he really popped. Bill O'Brien, offensive guy.

Mitch Tribesky, oh, my, he's looked okay. Offensive guy. By the way, Andrew Luck now, first time in his career, has an offensive guy. Andrew Luck's completing 71% of his throws. A career high. You wanted to blow out Hugh Jackson. Hugh Jackson was a successful offensive coordinator.

Todd Haley, now the Brown's coordinator. was a head coach and a successful coordinator. You want to just keep blowing guys out. Look around the league. These young quarterbacks, Dirk Cutter, when James Winston wasn't doing stupid stuff, his last two years, James Winston got better, passerating, passerating, completion percentage, yards per pass. Up, up, up, up with Dirk Cutter, offensive guy. You want to blow Hugh out.

I got news for you. One of the advantages last night for Baker, he has. had two successful offensive coordinators in his ear making his first NFL start. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Oh, Colin, it was Baker's night last night. Was.

He helped the Browns rally to their first win in 635 days, even though it was looking a little little iffy there at the end. I thought the Jets might ruin the night, but they didn't. And Cleveland rejoices today. They have Baker the Savior, the Savior. And despite him being the savior of Cleveland last night, Hugh Jackson is still not sold. Baker did some great things. I mean, again, we don't play until next Sunday.

We got some days. Let's not get into those debates tonight. You know, obviously what he did tonight was outstanding for the football team and for his teammates and just the way he competed. But again, I have to watch the tape and we'll go from there. I will show you two plays. I'll do it later next hour. there were two precise plays that Baker made last night that I thought if you were a Browns fan,

you had to absolutely, like, tangibly put your arms around and go, okay, that's awesome. And they weren't the plays you think. But, yeah, I mean, I think I'm going to give up, anytime a coach says, let me look at the tape, that's like our prep work. Like, this is what we do for a living. That's what Hugh does for a living.

I would imagine, I thought Tyrod Taylor, when I watched the game last night, I thought he was hurt in the first half. He did not look great. Twice he got up very slowly. He was 4.14 on past tense. And he was getting hit a lot. Yes.

But Hugh Jackson is the only person on earth that doesn't know that Baker is not starting. Well, he's going to start. Baker's going to start. That's not even a question. Yes. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting where he tries to say that Tyrod's starting over Baker next. He says that to the owner. First of all, Browns fans would literally riot.

It would be the opposite of the celebration that was last night. It would be a riot instead of a celebration. They'd be burning Hugh Jackson's jersey, yes. Right, exactly. So late in the third quarter, after Carlos Hyde touchdown, Baker Mayfield caught a two-point conversion. Yeah. It looked extremely familiar to NFL fans, which resulted in a tweet from the Eagles' Twitter accounts with the wondering emoji. And of course, Hugh Jackson was asked about it and denied the claim that it was stolen from the Eagles.

Oh, please. We didn't steal it from them. I mean, please. I know everybody wanted to think that. We've had that in our back pocket for a while, you know. Go check my tricks from before. go check Todd's tricks from before. We all got them.

You know, it's just when you pull them out and use them, that's what that is. Oh, come on. People are aware that the Eagles did not invent the trick play, right? No, right, yeah. And the other thing is, you go into a, you go into a, I've always been told this. You go into a game, you have a special teams trick play that you're going to use situationally if it arises. And you generally have either a red zone or a trick play somewhere. Teams go into games with a couple of these in their play.

pocket and they use them if they see, like you line up for a punt block and you over, uh, commit to one side of the ball. So everybody's got a trick play going into every game, minimum one, often more. Also, nothing is new. Nothing is new. Never. Okay. So finally, Jets quarterback Sam Darnel went 15 to 31 for 16, 69 yards and two interceptions,

which he called not acceptable and blamed himself for the stagnant offense. But of course, Todd Bowles, this guy you're a fan of. the New York Post. I'm taking this whole ball game. The whole ball game is on me. You put this game on bowls or Donald. Are you sharing the blame? Well, I think the Jets came in with a super, super conservative game plan, and then I think it was exacerbated because they got such bad field position. So six of their 13 drives started at the 12 or worse. So the Jets came into the game knowing two things. Our offensive line and weapons aren't great, and the Cleveland defense is good. And then all of a sudden, you're getting

terrible field position. And so I think they went super, super conservative. And they had momentum for about two quarters, two and a half quarters. And then they lost momentum. Sports is about momentum. Then they lost all their momentum and mojo for the last quarter and a half. And that's where Donald struggled. And he was under a great duress. And Baker had a little more time to throw in the final two or three dives and had success. It was one of those classic fights. You know, you watch fights in boxing. First four rounds, Connor McGregor hanging with Mayweather. And all of said, Mayweather gets tired, and Connor wins, you know, the next five rounds at Mayweather. The first two quarters, I thought the Jets looked like the better team and the better coach team and under control.

Yeah, I agree with that. But once Baker came in and hit those two first passes. You know what it was? The fumble by Robbie Anderson of the Jets, because that was, they led 14 to 3. I think they led 14 to 3. Jets just picked up a first down on a nice throw by Darnold, deep in his territory. And as Anderson's moving, it's stripped. And all of a sudden, you're like, oh, Cleveland's going to get free points here. That to me was the game, the momentum from that point. And Baker gets credit for being part of that.

But once again, the Brown's defense created a turnover and changed total momentum at home. Once Baker got in, I felt like it was a wrap. There was too much magic going on there in Cleveland last night. Good for them. Good for Browns fans. I'm very hard on Cleveland, but I have a lot of respect for Browns fans. They deserve this day. It was a good night for them.

They were cheering in the streets after the game. Yes, and they got lots of free beer. I would laugh at most fans for cheering for a singular win. Browns fans have earned. every bit of that. That stadium was full last night and they haven't won a game in 635 days. Is that true? They deserve it. 635 days?

Yes. God, that's incredible. That's incredible. It is. They didn't have won a football game home or away in 635 days. Good Lord. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd-Ly news. A Pro Bowl tied in that played for 15 years in the NFL. DeAngelo Hall is joining us. What did I say? What did I call him? I didn't call me. I called you a tight end. Did I? A defensive back. That was a late night for me. All right, let's start with this. Let's start with Baker.

What did you see? What did you like? Man, Baker looked good. And I've been one of those guys defending Tyrod. Joy knows this. I've been defending Tyrae from day one. But that team looked noticeably different with Baker out there. I don't know if the play calling was different, even though it looked a little different. but the guys were blocking, they seemed more energetic.

The receivers ran back to the huddle faster. It was just that shot of adrenaline that team needed and especially at that moment because like y'all said earlier, this game was about to get out of hand, I thought, when I was watching it. I was kind of like, wow. Jets up 14-3.

Donald picks up a first down and you're like, if they score here, it's over. Yeah, yeah. And Baker comes in and he just looks different. Let me ask you this. You played with a young Mike. Michael Vick. And Rich McKay, who's in the front office of Atlanta, told me, he said Michael was one of those rare players, that there was an energy around Michael. Players love Michael. He said Michael would get hurt and our shoulders would slump. And he goes, Michael would come in and everybody ran back to the huddle faster. You felt, yeah. You just felt like you always had a chance when he had the ball in his hands. That's what I felt last night. It looked like the wide receivers for Cleveland were like, okay.

Okay, here comes our gut. Now, does that tell me that Baker was really good in practice, maybe? I think it just tells you that that team and those guys know who's ultimately going to be the guy. And though they love Tyrod and they respect Tyrod, they still know that at some point, no matter how good Tyrod does, is Baker's team. He's the substitute teacher. Exactly. So we can be on our best behavior and we can do as much as work as you give us. but ultimately when the teacher comes back is when we really have to be the dudes.

And you saw when he was out there. Jarvis Landry knows eventually, dude, this is not a long-term relationship. My relation, I'm going to stay in Cleveland for four years. Baker's going to be my quarterback. So instead of having the substitute, let's get the teacher back into class. Now, Darnold did not have a good night. Now, he had lousy field position, and he didn't have a ton of weapons. And people could say I'm making excuses.

Are you bail on Darnold this morning? What did you see? No, I'm not. I'm not bailing on them because I kind of struggle a little bit because the Jets organization, I don't know if they know how to cultivate a quarterback. But having seen right now where Sam is versus where, let's say, a guy like Mark Sanchez was, even though this is a defensive football team, I feel, I still feel as though Sam just has some of those intangibles that you can't coach.

And whether it's extending to play, whether it's his moxie, whether it's just, I just feel like when I watch him play, it's different. It's different than watching when Sanchez played. And even though he doesn't have offensive-minded coaches, they're still making him throw the ball. I felt like they hampered Mark because they didn't let him throw the ball. They didn't trust him. No, they didn't trust him. They decided to run, run and throw when everybody in the stadium knows, We're throwing the ball on third and seven, and it just made it so hard for him.

And you can see now with Sam, it can be a first and 10, and they're going to drop back and let him throw and let him go through his progressions. And so I think ultimately he's going to be better in the long run. But right now, yeah, he's struggling. He's struggling because he doesn't have the weapons, like we said. It's hard when you go out there and your best receiver is Robbie Anderson. Yeah, Robbie Anderson. Yeah.

Who's been talented. bad, not a bad player, but definitely not a number one. Terrell prior, who couldn't catch a ball for us in Washington, and he's a go-to guy. I know. I don't want to make excuses because people think I hate Baker and I love Sam, and though I would have drafted Sam over Baker, I never thought Baker would be a bust. Baker does something really well. Seas, quick release, ball comes out accurate. He's not going to be a bust. He throws too good of a football, and he does have a zip on the ball. When you watch Baker play it, he can zip it. As they call it

in the NFL, he can spin it. You know, it's interesting. I'm going to give you a game this week, and it's one of my blazing five picks. So, Washington and Green Bay. Now, on the outside, you would say Green Bay is going to have

this game all wrapped up. Washington is a funky franchise. Okay? The years, you bailed on him with Kirk Cousins. They won the division. And with Alex Smith, I feel the same thing, that everybody's just kind of put them in fourth place. You played in Washington. Last year, they came out to L.A. and shocked the Rams.

They went to Seattle and shocked the Seahawks. This organization, I've always had a hard time getting a beat on Washington. They're inconsistent. They shock you. You've been in some of these big games for them. I think they're going to play really well against Aaron Rogers and rise to the moment. I think they have a pass rush. Give me the Washington culture.

For them, Packers, Aaron Rogers at home, what do you expect this weekend? You know, you said you like the pass rush. And I like the pass rush as well, but at certain times when I see this pass rush, they don't look like the same guys. Like you watch them in week one against Arizona, and you would have thought this front four or front seven was one of the best defenses in the National Football League. And that's what I thought we were going to see. And then you see in week two against a guy like Andrew Luck who's throwing the ball all over the place.

Absolutely no pressure. But it's the team in general. I feel as though from the outside looking in, they don't know who they want to be. And as a football team, as an offense, as a defense, as a special teams, you have to know who you're going to be, your identity, what that's going to be, what you're going to hang your head on.

And you have to consistently do that. You saw them run the ball successfully against Arizona, and then you go against Indy and you don't run the ball. You're running stretch plays and you're not letting Adrian Peterson come downhill. And so this team is...

They're an enigma. I never know which team I'm going to get. Thank you. You know, generally, DeAngelo, it's funny. In the NFL, there's all these dysfunctional teams and we all know them. Cleveland, Buffalo. And then there's the great teams,

New England, Pittsburgh. Washington's in the middle. They get all sorts of Super Bowl trophies and they also had years and decades where they've been completely dysfunctional. your point, you played for them. I find them one of the hardest teams in the league to figure out. And I just have a feeling this week. We saw them look great in week one and timid in week two. But you've been in that culture. Is it Dan Snyder? Who creates it? What do we get? I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know if it even comes from the top down. I think it's just being in that locker room. It was one point when I was in Washington where we had beat every Super Bowl champ, I think, for like in a four-year period at some point when we played them in the season. And looking back, it's like, how can we beat the team that won the Super Bowl but we win five or six games? And in the NFL, it's all about being consistent.

It's about doing it day in and day out. And that's what bothers me about this game. I don't know which team I'm going to get because Green Bay is shown, you know, you saw Minnesota and Kirk Cousins put up big numbers. So Green Bay has shown that they'll give up the big play. They do.

They've shown that they can't protect. Eric. Aaron Rogers. Haven't. And so if this team just does what they have to do to win the ball game and not get enamored with, oh, it's Aaron Rogers, during headlights. Because it is a young football team, too, they're putting out down the field. I think they got a chance to win this game because I know they can score points on Green Bay.

It's just stopping Aaron Rogers when you absolutely have to get them off the field so your team can win the game. DeAngelo Hall, a great corner in many seasons, three pro bowl. It's great seeing in a Friday, bud. Coming up in 30 minutes, less than 30 minutes, are Blazing 5 picks, and as Joy Taylor will attest, a major surprise on the show will be unveiled. 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.

Blazing 5, top of the hour, and a secret revealed, a mystery and enigma. You know, I don't know what's going to be in this briefcase, but I feel like I'm going to be disappointed in you. Because I feel like if you felt that strongly, you should share this with me. Can I make some money? Barrow up to $40,000. Go to Lendingclub.com slash sports. Good transition.

Although I would not put that on any of your recommendations. Lendingclub.com slash sports. It is a Friday, all sorts of stuff. at the top of the hour. But it is funny. If I had told you, let's say a few years ago, I came up to you a few years ago. And I said, listen, do you want to invest in a play, a Broadway play? You want to be an investor.

Okay, what is the play about? And I said to you, okay, it's about a founding father. And you said, oh, George Washington? And I was like, no. No, not George Washington. Who? Alexander Hamilton. So the play is about a founding father, but it's not George Washington.

No, it's Alexander Hamilton. All right. Who are the actors in it? Well, I mean, that's not really, well, I mean, they mostly are, the actors are rappers. So let me get this straight. You want me to invest in kind of a hip-hop play about a founding father, a musical about Alexander Hamilton? You want me to invest in that? No way.

That is a ridiculous premise. it's the number one play in the history of Broadway. It's great. Number one play in the history of Broadway. If I'd have told you a year ago, I'm not joking. The Jets and the Browns will play, and you won't be able to turn off the television set. What? No, no, I'm not joking.

So the Jets are going to draft this guy and it's going to be, it looks like he's going to be really good. But he's up and down and up and down. And then the Browns draft this guy, kind of controversial guy. He grabbed his junk in college. He was kind of a brat, had police viz. video and it was all sorts of stuff you got to watch out for it. You probably wouldn't want to draft him. He's small. He's cocky. I don't know if I get him.

He comes in and he beats the other quarterback. Oh, my guy. He'd be like, that happened? That's what happened last night. That was three and a half hours of drama. You had the cocky college kid who won the Heisman. Everybody's talking about him. Guys like me don't like him as much as everybody else.

He's being compared to Drew Brees. And I'm laughing at it in a police video and he grabbed himself and a bunch of stuff I'm not really fond of. And he was a star last night. It came in at halftime. Jets didn't think they were going to get him, and he leads his team over Sam Darnold, who two weeks ago we thought was the next best thing in the world. That was great.

A third of the NBA is tanking. A third of the league's tanking. Now the Jets and the Browns are must-watch television. And they are because this is what drama is all about. What's happened with young people in America? We look at research all the time. Millennials tend to root for players over teams. They don't buy the jersey of the team.

of the player. Now, when I grew up, in my generation, you rooted for laundry. You rooted for a team in a city. You were a Knicks fan. You were a Lakers fan. But Laker fans, now they're Kobe guys. They're loyal to Kobe over the Lakers. Well, it's a different world now. When we were growing up, you watched whatever team was on television. You didn't have the Sunday ticket. You didn't know about, if it's on the other side of the country, you don't watch Seattle games in Pittsburgh. You watch the Steelers games. And it wasn't social media. The internet has changed all that. So yes, millennials are and younger kids are fans of players, not teams. Think, look at the games this weekend.

In college football, there's 60 games a weekend. You pray that seven are good. If you look at the NFL schedule this weekend, last night was the first game of the week. Look at these games. There's one dog. Even the Raiders, dolphins, I want to watch the Gruden story. The dog is, of course, Buffalo at Minnesota, and Minnesota is a 16 and a half point favorite. And by the way, the people in Minnesota will love watching that, but that game's going to be hard to watch.

for anybody that's not a Viking fan, that's going to be ugly. But I'm getting, I am getting, I get luck against Wentz and Aaron Rogers hobbled going on the road. I mean, these are, these are go. Cowboys now, y'all love them. They got to go to face Russell Wilson, who's like 36 and 10 all time in Seattle. Even the buccaneers at Steelers on Monday night football. What if the Steelers lose?

What if they're 02 and 1? Matt Patricia faces his men. mentor Bill Belichick, Breeze and Matt Ryan, Chargers, Rams in L.A. First time they've collided regular season. I mean, I'm watching last night, and I'm sitting there thinking to myself, Jets and Browns are must watch. That was the NBA equivalent of watching the Brooklyn Nets and the Orlando Magic. I couldn't turn that thing off last night.

And it's a credit. I said this yesterday. I get so tired of hearing this from NFL coaches. You know, these quarterbacks just aren't ready. No, they are. Sam Darnold's ready. Baker Mayfield's ready. They're ready to play.

Carson Wentz was ready as a rookie. Andrew Luck was ready as a rookie. Jared Gough would have been ready if he had the right coach. Marcus Moriota was ready to play. I think he's overready, but ready to play. James Winston was ready to play. He got better the last two years before he went juvenile, which he's done several times in college and the pros. But I mean, when you're talking about Browns and Jets, and that is a must-watch TV event, we're in a good spot in the NFL. I also want to mention this. You may not have seen this. Maybe you saw this after the game. So maybe you saw this after the game. Now, I know you just love when guys go out and they rip cowherd and they crush cowherd. So after the game last night, Joe Thomas is one of the great Cleveland Browns of all time. Going to be a Hall of Famer, 10 time, 12-time, all-pro left tackle. He is now a broadcaster.

He's got a podcast. He was on our show two weeks ago, and he's very, very, very funny. And so he was on the air last. last night. And here's what happened with Baker Mayfield and Joe. How much would you pay right now for Colin Coward to be sitting in the seat that I'm sitting in right now? Do you think I want to celebrate this with him? No, seriously, though. Take that, Colin, did you have a plan? I know what you're saying. A coward burn. Listen,

When I come on the air, I'm not straddling the fence. I'm taken aside. Now, I'm wrong regularly. In fact, I created a segment on Mondays because I thought it would be really funny to remind the fans where I nailed it and where I got nailed, where I was right and where I was wrong. So every Monday I come on, it's one of my highest Reddit segments, and I say, I got this right and I got it wrong. But what I'm not going to do with Russell Westbrook and LeBron James and Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield and Sam Donald is waffle. Because I do this for a living.

And you expect me to have strong opinions. Nobody's ever come up to me and said, you know what I want from you? Waffling. Nobody's ever said that to me. Nobody's ever said come up to me and also said this. Who's your favorite governor? That's why I don't talk about politics. You tell me every day when I walk up to you at the car wash and the grocery store and we bump into each other at restaurants.

is what you want. And you don't want straddling on the fence, and you don't want me talking politics. So I don't do either. And I love that. Dabo Sweeney. Remember a couple years ago? Dabo Sweeney won the national title. Five minutes later, went to the podium and said this.

The guy that called us a fraud. Ask Alabama if we're a fraud. Was his name Colin Coward? I never met him. Don't know him. Ask him if we're Alabama for a fraud. Ask Ohio State if we're a fraud. Ask Oklahoma if we're a fraud.

if we're a fraud. The only fraud is that guy. Because he didn't do his homework. I hope y'all print that. Oh, so good. I take a side. I take sides. By the way, Joe L. M. Bid.

He didn't like that I said the Sixers. And I don't win in a title. They're too young. Called me Colin Coward. Not very nice. Dabo Sweeney, Joe L.M.B. Baker, Joe Thomas. My job is to have an opinion. I don't do the prep work to straddle a fence, so I'm not bothered.

We had Baker on the show. We had Joe on the show. I'd love to have Joel Embed on the show. And by the way, Dabo, you are welcome anytime in our new chairs. It's The Herd. Ah, this is The Herd, wherever you may be, however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles, hour two, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me on a.

Friday today. A lot of secrets revealed here in the next five minutes. This is so much fun. I had so much fun watching that game last night. And my takeaway, if you did not watch the first hour, you're just tuning in. Baker was precise. He's a number one pick. We knew he would be better than Tarad Taylor. He just happens to be better now. Let's scale back on all the outrage on Hugh Jackson. If you would have fired Hugh Jackson, you would have ended up with Matt Patricia or Mike Vrable defensive guys. Most of the young quarterbacks in this league right now crushing it have offensive coaches. Andrew Luck finally has an offensive

coach. Jared Gough, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deshawn Watson. So everybody wants to bail on Hugh Jackson. Hugh's a bum. Just tell you. Todd Haley and Hugh Jackson have been very successful coordinators and have both been head coaches now. That's not the worst

place and the worst personnel for Baker Mayfield to have in year one. Okay, that's not a terrible place. Almost all the young quarterbacks who are really getting better. And I don't even like Mr. Trabisky, but Matt Nagy's offense is really

clever. You saw the difference between Jeff Fisher and Sean McVeigh, defensive guy. Everybody this morning, I can't believe he didn't start him. Hugh Jackson doesn't know what he's doing. Take a deep breath. This is a long season in Baker Mayfield starting next week faces Derek Carr, Joe Flacco,

Big Ben, Patrick Mahomes, Phillip Rivers, Matt Ryan. This is a roller coaster. And I'd as a young quarterback, have two guys in Hugh Jackson and Todd Haley, offensive guys who have been head coaches to lead me down that path. Not, you know, the guy in Arizona, I like Wilkes. He's a rookie and he's a defensive guy. I'll take the offensive guy if I'm Baker Mayfield.

And Baker made a couple of great throws last night. I'm going to talk about that. But without further ado, off back-to-back winning weeks. Listen, I could keep all the money, but I'm not. I'm like Robin Hood. I like to give you some of the money, too. That's just the way I roll. I'm a giver, not a taker.

Here's this week's Blazing Five. That's a hot one. Let's blaze it up. Fire it up. It's Collins Blazing Five. Oh, I love this. I get Andrew Luck against Carson Wentz, two of the great young quarterbacks in the game.

Here's what I wonder, though. Carson Wentz isn't 100%. Does Philadelphia go a little conservative on the game planning? Does Philadelphia not quite give him the entire playbook? By the way, Andrew Luck's got an offensive guy, Frank Reich. Have you noticed right now the Colts? Third down offense? Best in the league.

Andrew Luck's 71% best of his career. Finally as an offensive guy, Andrew Luck's efficiency has improved. And I think Philadelphia is the better team, but I think they go conservative with Carson Wentz's first game back. Listen, I think the Eagles at home probably. win this game. But this is six and a half points. Like it, I love it. I'm going to go 26,

24 Eagles win, but I will absolutely take the points. Giants at Texas. Okay, Giants played on TV against the Cowboys. Everybody watched and they were terrible. And so this is what happens in those standalone games. Everybody now is like,

Giants are terrible. No, actually Houston's not very good. Houston has 17 penalties for the first couple of games. They have, their offensive line is the worst or second worst to the Jets in the National Football League. In fact, Deshawn Watson's been under pressure for 47.6% of his dropbacks. That's the highest rate in the NFL. And you may not like the Giants' offense, but actually their defense has been solid.

Passing yards allowed, second in the NFL, total yards allowed, six in the NFL. I get six points. Giants are desperate. Historically, Giants start slow. I got New York. I'll take the points. I have them winning outright. 23 to 20

Big Blue Bengals at Panthers I think I get the better teamer I'm going to take Cincinnati in the points plus three You know what bothers me this year about Carolina I love their front seven defensively But their opponents have scored a touchdown In all five of their red zone visits

That's counterintuitive to me because I like Carolina's defense But their defense has not been very good this year in certain red zone spots. The other thing is, the Bengals going back to last year on a four-game winning streak, and it's been their offense. Andy Dalton's pass-er rating, and those four games have been over 105. I'm going to take Cincinnati to go on the road, not an easy one. I think it's very competitive.

I'll take the points, 27, 24 outright winner. Packers and Redskins. I pick an upset every week. I'm going to go Washington plus three. I'm going to pick them to win the game. Again, we're talking about a Green Bay team at home that's like a player or two away from being an O&2 against Mitch Trubisky and Kirk Cousins. Now they go on the road against veteran Alex Smith, who doesn't make a lot of mistakes here. I just don't buy into Green Bay.

They have no running game. I saw him last year without Aaron Rogers. They were the Cleveland Browns. And by the Redskins have the number one total defense and passing defense right now in the NFL. Points allowed second, yards allowed first, passing yards allowed first. It's my upset of the week. Washington wins outright at home. Alex Smith, 3028.

Cowboys at Seahawks. Strongest play of the week. Again, you'll watch Seattle on Monday Night Football. It's terrible. Not really. Pete Carroll's not terrible. Russell Wilson's not terrible. And I only have to give up a point in a half at home against the Dallas team.

Jack Prescott struggling offensively. By the way, Russell Wilson's played 48 games at home in Seattle. He's 38 and 10. And the Cowboys offense is weak. Yards their 30th. Passing yards 30th. Third down 31st. Points 29th.

Dak Prescott hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in six of his last 10 starts. They got possession-wide receivers. Offensive lines not as good. And Ezekiel Elliott's even struggling to find yards. We're overly critiquing Seattle because, gosh, Khalil Mackin-that-Barre's defense in gulfs, one of the league's weakest offensive lines. Seattle's going to win this game. And I think they're going to win it comfortably, 28, 17. That's my blazing five. All right. Well, we're not done

with the surprises here. So I did something this week that I've never done. You know, I'll bet 50 bucks in a game. I'll about 100 bucks in a game. I'm not, I wouldn't consider myself a big gambler, but I've always embraced it. I used to live in Las Vegas. And I mean, people are giving their money to Wall Street. We can't get 50 bucks every week to Vegas. I mean, it's just gaming analysts. Those guys are market analysts. So it's like I know guys that are in that industry.

I like it. I don't bet big money until this week. When I made an unprecedented move to bet $1,000 on a regular season game, I threw up five minutes later. So we have a new show at the network called Lock It In. And they hear, let me just give you a little piece of tape. before all the fun happens here. Go ahead, roll the tape.

I think it's going to be Browns. I think there's a reason he's taking this Thursday game, putting it in the case today. I'm going to say he's taking the Browns. He's on the Furman bandwagon. We'll take the Brown. All right. Well, let's bring in Cousin Sal,

writer-performer Jimmy Kimmel, has a gambling podcast. Todd Furman, the former odds maker at Caesar, has a podcast. Caesar's Palace. That's where I, Fort and Smet, Todd. Had dinner. He picked it up.

Okay, you guys are on a new show called Lock It In. So you are bringing out the mystery suitcase. I feel like this is a sexier version of deal or no deal. Kind of. Yeah, okay. So now, it is interesting that you're bringing out the suitcase today, which would infer Todd that last night's game was my bet. I was clearly off then.

I thought you had a little insider information on a game on Sunday. So I'm as curious as anybody to know what's going on inside this suitcase. So Furman thought, Todd. thought I was doing the Packers game because I did have a source the week before in Aaron Rogers. Drum roll, if we could hear, this is the biggest bet of my life. All right. A thousand. By the way, before my cousin, Sal.

Okay, I'll slow down. How often do you bet a thousand dollars? Every three hours or something. Not that often. I've slowed down a little bit. By the way, when you were at Caesars and Todd, you know the industry, for like professional gamblers of which I'm not, Is $1,000 a lot or minimum blue plate special? What is it?

You know, it all depends on the sport. And the National Football League professional betters are going to have larger limits extended to them. If you're talking about the WNBA or a college basketball total in the Sunbelt on a Tuesday in February, everybody for a professional bet is a little bit different in terms of the overall impact they can have on the market. So it's not uncommon in the NFL to see somebody come up with a brown paper bag, especially around the big game at the end of the year for the NFL and go, you know, I want 20 or 25,000 on a side to try and play. plunk down cash. Colin, we had a player

with us who would bet $200,000 a game in the NFL. He would bet 12 to 14 games a weekend. Now, that might be like a $5 or $10 bet to everybody else. He didn't even blink when he had to square up his figures at the end of the month. Drum roll, John.

This is it. Cousin, Cell, you're going to unveil. All right. This is your big pick. Can I just say I was surveying the scene? I think this is the closest Todd has ever been to a woman. I was waiting for the jeb. But you know what Sal is going to be disappointing. That's still not going to say Handmaid's Tail on when you open up that envelope

and get your bankroll back to lock it in. That's a very good show. So rude. All right, here we go. This was Collins' pick. $1,000. $1,000. I called it Cleveland minus three over the Jets. Are you lucky S-O-B-U? That's ridiculous.

Okay, can I give you my reasoning? I guess, yeah. Okay. So, first of all, rookie quarterbacks are all over the map. I compare rookie quarterbacks to backup quarterbacks, up down, up down. The great quarterbacks give you same stuff every week. So Big Ben with tremendous weapons and pro football focus ranks as a top five offensive line was a mess against Cleveland's defense. Drew Breeze at home averages about 350 yards, average 20. Tremendous weapons.

Camar, Joe Thomas. So I get veteran defensive coordinator, Greg Williams, short week, a reckless, albeit talented rookie, with arguably bottom two offensive line and running back help, the only surprise to me last night, how did the Jets get in the end zone twice? Wow. Now, Todd, as a professional odds maker, was this the sharp side or the sucker side?

Did I get lucky, or is there some validity to it? You know what? There actually wasn't a consensus on last night's game. I talked to some professional betters who thought Cleveland didn't warrant a three-point price tag given the fact that it meant they had to go out there and play somewhat convincing level of football, which for long stretches they didn't early in the first half.

And you had other guys who went, you know, this is the perfect spot. Just like you said, to go against Sam Darnold, three games in 11 days for rookie quarterback, two on the road in prime time. It was a lot to handle. The question I have for you, though, Colin, in terms of a conscience and crisis, were you okay rooting for Baker Mayfield against Sam Donald in this game is what we want to know? Would you have bet him had you known Baker was starting or would probably most of the game? That's a good question.

Probably not. I wouldn't have gone with a rookie quarterback, even on a, He didn't play the previous week in a short week. To me, this was, as Todd said, 11 days, three starts, veteran coordinator. And by the way, everybody's freaking out about Darnold. Six of his 13 drive started 12-yard liner worse last night. Donald was, there was no way he was pulling that thing out. Okay, so by the way, I have my blazing five.

These guys know what they're doing. Cousin, Sal, Jimmy Kimmel. You still do stuff for Jimmy. Jimmy's a great day. Yeah, I clean his yard. I do a lot of things. I'm not on the show. Is there anyone on that board that you, give me your favorite Blazing Five pick for the audience.

If you had one to circle, you like. My favorite is Cincinnati plus three. I think they went out right. I think they're better. I think they're a playoff team. And I don't know why you like the Giants and you went after the Texans offensive line. Did you see the Giants? Eli was on his back six times last week.

I don't like the Giants. I like the number. It's too many points for a bad Houston team. Todd, you're a professional. Is there a game you like? I like the Redskins. I'm right there with you. Look at Washington is the perfect opportunity to buy low,

given how they performed last weekend at home. They were embarrassed by the Colts. Green Bay, off of an emotional game within the division, each of the last two weeks. Wouldn't be surprised if that knee pain is a little bit too much for Rogers. There's been actually professional money coming in on the under as well. I think this is a game where we see Alex Smith at his absolute best. The important thing to take from this whole thing, Colin,

is that you are hooked. You will never be able to bet $50 again. I have a $1,800 number for you to give to you after the show. show. Welcome to the club. That's how it starts. He's exactly right, Colin. I mean, the $50 bets won't give you the sweat you used to get out of them every single weekend. Lock it in. You'll see it today. Fridays are their best shows. 4.30. It's after. Speak for yourself. Clay Travis, Rachel Bonetta, who's crushing it as well. Great having you guys. Joy, that was pretty strong. I'm a little upset at you.

I wanted some new shoes. You got to let me know when you're going to do things like this. All right. Lock it in's coming up later today. Great having you guys. Coming up next, I'm going to go to two pieces of tape on Baker Mayfield that I thought were really impressive. All those throws last night, there are two tangibly. I'm going to put my arms around and say, kid, you're better than I thought. That is coming up. We've got two huge college football games tomorrow on Fox.

First, it's number 17 TCU taking on their in-state rival, Texas, followed by number 18, Wisconsin battling Iowa in a Big Ten showdown, all on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Wisconsin, Iowa is one of those games that is great television every year. It's kind of one of those under the radar. rivalries in college football. So Wisconsin's coming off a loss. I'll take them to beat Iowa

in a very close, very entertaining game tomorrow night. It's kind of an off college football weekend, but there's about three to four games that interest me. You know, when I do this show, and I know a lot of you think, I love Darnold, I can't stand Baker. No, I just said that I would draft

Darnold over Baker because I think over 15 years, he's the bigger, stronger, more dependable athlete. I still have issues. with drafting a six-foot quarterback in a northern climate. If you look at the northern climates in the NFL, Green Bay's got Rogers, Baltimore's got Flacco, Big Ben has, Pittsburgh's got Big Ben, they got Super Bowls. Even Detroit's got Matt Stafford, a very strong arm.

I don't think Andy Dalton in a northern climate in December and January is the quarterback I want, throwing the ball in sleet and windy weather. And I don't think Baker has a great. great arm. I think he's got a good enough arm. But he did make two plays. When people talk about quarterbacks, one of the things I, the saying that I hate, it's so lazy and it's so weak is he's a winner. Everybody wins in Oklahoma. Every quarterback in the last 20 years, virtually all of them won at Florida. Alabama quarterbacks all win under Nick Sabin. It is the laziest thing. You've got to give me something that I, it's tangible. I don't, I don't, I don't,

care about. You know, he's a great, he's got great upside. He's a winner. That doesn't mean anything. It's just ambiguous nonsense. I want stuff I can look at and go, oh, that's data. So I'm going to show you two plays last night that if you're

a Browns fan or a Baker Mayfield fan, it's really something. So the first one, it's second and 18, and the Jets are bringing people. And the Jets have a good secondary, and they are bringing people on a rookie quarterback, This is early for Baker-Mayfield last night, and here's what transpires.

Here's one. It is caught by... This is unbelievable. First of all, the throw is the only place it can be. But that is not an easy catch. The thing that impressed me about that, the Jets came with people. Okay, so that wasn't your ordinary dropback. The Jets bought heat and under duress.

He made a perfect throw. It was a nice cap. too. Strong hands Jarvis Landry. He's a very good player. He's a very, very good player. But that impressed me. That is something I can put my arms around. Jets brought heat. He picked it up, locked onto his guy, and made a perfect throw on a blitz. Now here's another one. This is a big third down and 10. Cleveland's down 17 to 14. Five minutes left again. Watch the pressure. It'll be third down in 10. Here's one to Calaway. out of bounds near the marker for the first down.

They brought the blitz off the edge. They brought Trumane Johnson off the edge, which is what you want to do. Make sure this kid knows where the blitzes are coming from, and Baker picks it up. So Trumane Johnson comes off. He's got a guy wide open. A lot of young quarterbacks, I can assure you, would not have seen that and would have got hit in the back of the head. Again, Dak Prescott came into this league, and he had a star running back, and he had

the best offensive line, and he had all day to throw. Those are two instances when Baker Mayfield had to decipher, here's a blitz. I'm going to have to get rid of the ball early. I'm going to have to identify where the blitz is coming from. And I'm going to go to that spot. So those, if I'm a Browns fan, you're just looking at the Ws and you're looking at, those are, I can put my arms around those. Those are really impressive plays.

And again, I never thought he'd be a bus. But when I watched those two plays, I'm like, all right, did I underestimate him? because he's ready to go. Now he is 23, Darnold's 21, and he threw 1,500 college passes. Donald threw half that. And he started 47 games. Darnold started 27. I'm not shocked that he is more precise and ahead of Darnold at this point. These are 12 to 14 year players. Guys now are playing into their 40s. Drew Brees is late 30s. He's still going. Big Ben's late 30s. Brady's 40.

Rogers is 34, turns 35 soon, and he said he wants to play to 40. but so these guys could play for 16, 17 years. And that's what that's all about. It's really about year three to about year 12 are your peak years. Your first two years, you're not going to be in your prime in the NFL as a quarterback. In your last two years, generally, Brady's an exception. You're not going to be in your prime. It's about year three to about year 13.

That's when you're probably your best physically. You haven't been injured too often. What do you do in those wheelhouse, that wheelhouse decade? But that is an incredibly encouraging sign those two plays for a young rookie quarterback in his first insertion in a game to make. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Let's talk more about that rookie quarterback.

The Browns were down 14-0 before losing Tyrod Taylor to Concussion Protocol last night. And even during that deficit, the fans were eager to see their number one overall pick. They were chanting for Baker. and he erased the deficit, scoring 21 points, and giving the Browns their first win in 635 days. And after the game, this is what Baker said. I feel like people have been talking about it for a while, but I've just been waiting for my moment, been patient.

You know, I've been in a good opportunity, put it in a good situation with guys around me, veteran QBs and great coaches that I can learn from. You know, it was never whining or complaining about playing time, just, you know, want the team to win. and no matter what the cost is. You know, I had no thoughts about seeing Baker in the game last night at all. And had Tyrod not had to go into concussion protocol,

I don't necessarily think that we would have. I think that Hugh probably would have stuck with him even in the second half unless it really went off the rails. It's not like they were losing 35-0. Right. So, can you not have to ride it out? But I will say, though, it's not surprising to me that Baker went in right away and looked poised and fast.

And obviously he made some throws and some mistakes that you would expect to see. Yeah, I mean, listen, he almost threw a red zone pick. Right. So it's not like he was perfect, but the energy that he brought to the stadium and just being able to capture that moment, does not surprise me. Despite everything that people say about Baker, he is a two-time walk-on and a Heisman trophy winner. He can handle the moment. He's the number one pick who threw for 15,000 yards.

That's what Drew Brees threw for in college. He's a number one pick. By the way, the three GMs that I, talked to, I asked them all about Baker-mainfield. They all preferred Darnold long-term. But all of them saw Baker as a late first, early second-round pick, which is where Drew Brees went. None of them saw him as a third or four. No, no, no. They thought he was an NFL starting quarterback. Most of them had reservations that, A, they wish he was a little bigger, and B, some of the maturity stuff. We saw some of that maturity stuff with James Winston in college, and with Cam Newton

and Big Ben and, you know, those guys, if you do stuff in college at 17, you may do it at 19 or 20 in the NFL, but nobody thought he couldn't play in this league. Well, the maturity thing, too, that's on Baker to prove that that's not who he is. And so far, he has. So far he's had no issues. He brought up Tyrod Taylor last night. He was very classy Baker was after the game. It was very impressive.

Yeah, Tyrod. And he talked about Carlos Hyde having a great game and having to leave to the hospital to have a baby. So he's, yeah, he's doing all the right things. So, Khalil Mack has been off to a hot start since being traded to the Raiders by the Raiders. And, of course, nobody misses him more than who we assume was his best friend on the team, Derek Carr. Yeah. Raiders quarterback. He says it's bittersweet to watch him go and strip sack everybody.

Oh, God. We've done that so many times here. Right. And it hurts your heart to see it. But at the same time, it doesn't hurt anymore. You know, I'm happy for him. You know, if you're a Raider fan, obviously it's hard because you're seeing him do that. But be happy for the guy because he, you know, you know, it's hard.

He strained his tail off to get to where he's at. And the fact that he's making place for someone else, obviously we don't like it. But I think we can all be happy for him because we all love him to death. By the way, Vaughn Miller was on our show earlier this week. And I asked Vaughn about how to hit guys. Does he worry about the new rules? And Vaughn Miller said, no, I go after the ball.

That's what Kaleo Mack does. A lot of these guys are looking for the big hit. Von Miller and Kalee Mack, they want the football. They're not going after the quarterback. They're going after the ball first trying to strip him. It's so, you know, you could just hear the pain in Derek Carr's voice. It's so bad. I really, like, only time will tell how bad of a trade that will end up being,

because obviously who knows who the Raiders get with the picks that they got for Killeel Mac. Who do the Raiders play again this week, John? The Dolphins. And that's in Miami? That's a really interesting game. That is a really, really interesting game, because the dolphins are 2 and 0. You know, I could be wrong on this. I may be wrong on this.

I think Tannahill, check this out. Is he won nine of his last 10 starts? I mean, we always, he's not sexy. He didn't have the biggest arm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Tanna Hill was on a little bit of a roll before he got hurt. So it's a West Coast team going east for an early East Coast start?

Yes. Yeah, that never works out well for the West Coast team. Yeah, it's Miami's advantage. I never know what to think of with Tanna Hill. I mean, but I didn't think they were going to start 2-0 either, so I got to get him credit for that. Okay, so finally, the Levy on Bell saga continues. It's been a little quiet with Bell as of recent. The more focused on Antonio Brown and the Steelers losing.

But the current Eagles wide receiver and former Steelers wide receiver, Mike Wallace has taken his side. He tweeted, it's crazy how they will make you out to be the villain when you want what you've earned. Now, if you remember, Wallace never played with Bell, but he did experience a similar situation in Pittsburgh. he held out through the entire preseason in 2012. This last season of the Steelers, and the next year he signed as a free agent with the Dolphins, and he was criticized by some people for being greedy, because he made about $4.5 million when he was with the Steelers for four years,

and he made more than $50 million since leaving the Steelers, and that's six seasons since then, including this year. But if you look at Mike Wallace's numbers, I mean, he essentially has, in the time he was with Pittsburgh, essentially better numbers than all six years since he's left there. No, listen, especially for football players, I have no problem with football players. I really don't go in for money. Basketball players can play for 15 years.

Football players, on average, play about five. No, you should totally get your money. You and I don't lose any money if the Steelers pay Mike Wallace or pay Levy on Bell. It's not coming out of my pocket. It's not like, oh, well, Steelers pay Levy on Bell, so Joy makes less money this year. It has nothing to do with me. And quite frankly, if you can put it within. The salary cap, sometimes you're going to have younger guys who are more productive who make less money.

That's just the name of the game. I don't have a problem with Levy on Bell holding out. I just wish the Steelers had been able to sort this out with him and had not turned into this calamity of a situation. And if they lose this week, it's really going to look bad on the Steelers. It's going to make Levy on Bell look great. And it's just the way it is because he is the missing piece in this whole situation. He rolled the dice. And if they lose to Tampa Bay, you won.

Yeah. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. So, you know, I've been saying today, I think Sam Darnold's going to be fine, and I don't think Baker's going to win every game he starts. Let's take a deep breath on this. Many of you are firing back at me.

I haven't been on social media, but I can presume, come on, give him, call it. Give him his credit. I'm not in the credit business. I do not work for Visa MasterCard of American Express. I'm in the honesty business. And I said it last week with Sam Darnold. take a deep breath.

He's going to lose a bunch of games. And I told you he was going to lose at Cleveland. And he's going to lose next week at Jacksonville. I believe he said lumpy. Lumpy. He's going to be a lumpy performance. So I said Sam Darnold's going to, it was my bet. I just showed you $1,000.

He was going to lose short week, third game 11 days against Cleveland. And he's going to lose in Jacksonville, but he's going to be fine. He's going to get hot about Thanksgiving. So I thought with Baker Mayfield, I predicted, and a couple days ago, I gave you Sam Darnold's schedule. and I said, I predicted they would go seven and nine, and he's right on track, and I showed you the seven wins. So I predicted the Browns would go six and ten. Well, they have a tie, so I'm going to be wrong, obviously.

But I predict going forward, I predict they're going to be six, nine, and one. And here's what I think happens. I'll give you every game what I think happens with Baker Mayfield. I think the Jets is their win. So they're one, one, and one through three. So let's start with a game at Oakland. I think they actually win that. I don't think Oakland can play defense.

I think Cleveland's got better personnel right now than Oakland. I really do. I don't love Oakland's personnel. And I think Todd Haley and Hugh Jackson and Baker Mayfield are going to go out west. It'll be a very, very close game. Oh, they also have because they played Thursday night extra time to prepare. So I think Baker in his first official start, because actually the win last night goes to the starter to Rod Taylor. That does not count as a Baker Mayfield win the way it works.

in the NFL, which is dumb, but that's true. Baker Mayfield will win his first official game next week at Oakland. Then I think he's going to come home against Baltimore, face a very, very rigorous, tough division rival and lose. I think Baker's most impressive win of the year will be at the Chargers. They're going to beat L.A. Chargers in Cleveland. Remember, that's a West Coast team coming out east for an early start. So Baker's going to win three of his first four games that he is part of.

He's going to win Oakland, lose to Baltimore, win Charger. Then I think he's going to go in a really, really bad five-week stretch. I think he's going to lose at Tampa. I think the Buccaneers, whether it's James or Fitzpatrick, have a lot of good players. They're very similar to Cleveland. They've been bad for years. They've drafted well, and they've got dudes everywhere. I think he's going to then lose at Pittsburgh.

I think they're going to come home and lose to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and Matt Ryan in Atlanta. Then he's going to have a buy and go to Cincinnati, and I think it's going to be one of his worst performances. I think he's going to get his bell rung by Cincinnati. But then I think he wins three of the next five weeks. I think he wins at Houston. He wins at home against inconsistent Carolina. Loses at Denver, beat Cincinnati at home in one of his more impressive games, loses at Baltimore, and he goes six, nine, and one.

I predicted six and ten, but I'm obviously going to be wrong on that. So I thought they'd lose to Pittsburgh. So that's what I think season's going to look like. He's going to have a really good next month, go into the toilet for five weeks, and then have a really good last month. And I think that's very realistic. So this is a roller coaster. Just strap in.

There's going to be ups and downs. But I do think Baker's got a couple of big advantages. He now gets extra time to face a Raiders team that plays in front of the smallest crowds in the NFL that has traveled from the east back west. And I think Cleveland's going to win that football game because frankly right now, Cleveland has more good players. I think Cleveland and Tampa, two bad teams drafted well last three or four years, and they got dudes, and they're real dudes.

Coming up next, you know, you know I like Sam Darnold, but the one thing Baker does better than Sam Darnold, and it surprises me a little. The one thing last night that I think I can definitively say, to this point, Baker does better than Sam, and I'm a little surprised by it. all on up to that, that's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Welcome back. So we got called out after the game last night by Baker, Mayfield and Joe Thomas. It's all good. It's all good fun. Had them both in the show, like both, always welcome back. And I've told you before, when you draft a quarterback, you know, you can be a short-termer in life. I remember a couple of ten years ago when the market crashed.

I remember about 2008 the market crashed and I had a friend who I like he's like I'm pulling all my money out of the market I'm like dude take a deep breath capitalism's not dead don't live in the moment and you know he regrets it now because the market's been on a nine year

rocket ship to the moon don't live in the moment Sam Darnold looked great in week one he didn't look good last night six of his 13 drive started 12 yard line or worse and Baker looked very good Jets didn't have a game plan never seen him play

and he's at home and he looked pretty good. And he got some time to throw in the last couple of drives and strung him together and was precise. And, you know, I watched both of these guys in college. The one thing I will say, it's a very inexact science. I mean, did anybody, I saw Carson Wentz coming out of college. And I said, I think he's going to be really good.

I didn't think he'd be quite this good, this fast. Andrew Luck, I did think would be this good this fast. There have been guys that caught me off guard. I knew Tebow would bust. I didn't buy Johnny Mansell. I didn't buy Jamarcus Russell. Christian Hakenberg went in the second round. I said, can't play in this league.

There was a kid out of Notre Dame, Jimmy Pawson. And I remember he came out. I'm like, it's not going to work. He's not going to be able, not big enough, not strong enough. It's not going to work. There have been guys, I don't like to do it, but there have been guys that have just said, it's not going to work. Everybody loves Johnny Mantel.

I said, it's not going to work. Everybody loved Tebow. And I'm like, he got overdrafted. I said this year, Lamar Jackson, he's not ready to play. He's not a first round quarterback. I do think he's draft a bowl, but he should be sitting on the bench for about 18 games, 25 games, maybe two years, 32 games before he plays. But it's an inexact science. I like Darnold over the course of 12 years more than Baker.

I think he's more mature. I think he's more resilient. He's a bigger, stronger, calmer presence. Now, I don't think either has a great arm. But I did think last night the one thing that popped to me that surprised me is that, Baker's ball has more zip on it. It is a tight ball, and it looks really good. Now, that's not to say Donald has a weak arm,

but Donald's ball doesn't have quite the zip, and Donald's bigger. But remember, Aaron Rogers isn't that big, but has one of the strongest arms in the league. Sometimes it's torque, its shoulders, its waist, its legs. Aaron Rogers has perfected throwing the football. Aaron Rogers did not have that arm in college. Aaron Rogers developed that arm behind Brett Farr for three years.

Now he's got a cannon. He's got the strongest, most accurate arm in the league. Certainly when you combine strength and accuracy, Aaron's number one. Baker, again, it's an inexact science, college to pro. I think Troy Aikman talked about this. He slings it. It's a stronger arm in the pros than I suspect that it would be. It's a different looking football coming out of his hand.

than we saw earlier in the game with Tyrod Taylor. Some quarterbacks, the way in which they throw it, there's more rotation on the ball than when some other quarterbacks throw it. Warren Moon was like that. He threw a tight, highly rotated ball when it came out in a tight spiral. And Baker watching him, I mean, that thing's got some revolutions on it. And it's a little different. I agree with that.

Yeah. In fact, I think the ball right there got to Jarvis Landry before he thought it would get to him. And so, you know, my first impression last night was if I stacked these two guys, guys up, Baker's arm right now is better than Sam Darnold. And that's a little surprising to me because Sam is stronger. Now, that's not to say your arm can't improve. Aaron Rogers is a great example. I watched Aaron play at Cal. He didn't have that arm. Well, Baker was the most accurate quarterback in college football last year. And he has had a lot more reps than Sam Brown. The accuracy doesn't surprise me. But the velocity of his ball last night, it pops. Yes, it did. It pops. By the way,

Buck and Aikman were great last night. We're very funny. They were talking about Troy Aikman's rookie year when he came in and how easy it is. I mean, Aikman's one of the all-timers. How easy it is for a young quarterback to get flustered. Am I wrong in saying that your third start? Didn't you go up to the line and actually put your hands under the guards? Crawford Kerr. Yeah, and rear end instead of the center.

They're in a hurry up offense, no huddle. And I lost track of where I was on the line. I put my hands under the left guard. which, you know, you can only imagine how that maybe spooked him. Oh, my God. He called everybody daddy, daddy, this, daddy, that. And all he said was he kind of looked back and said, it ain't me, daddy.

Something felt different. I will tell you that. I should have known. Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where Sam Darnold's first game looked really good. His second game against Miami, he threw for 335 yards. But he didn't look quite as good, but he threw for a bunch of yards. and last night he looked bad. Mayfield's first game last night, I thought he was precise,

I thought he had zip, I thought his arm was stronger than I thought, I thought he picked up to two blitzes beautifully. But go back to this and I think it's a real thing. If you look at the Jets drives, the starting position last night, it was terrible. You know, they started last night, one time they started at their 12, they're six, they're one. they're nine, they're 10, they just did not at their own 11.

Almost half the Jets drives, they were pinned with a weak offensive line and a hyper-aggressive defense. That cannot be undersold. But listen, with veteran quarterbacks, if you're inside your 10, it cuts the playbook in half. You're not taking a lot of risks with a veteran quarterback inside your own 10 if you don't trust your offensive line and the Jets don't trust their offensive line. So it was a super, super conservative game plan. I want to tease something next. We have a very, very, very good last hour.

I got my college picks last hour. Ian O'Connor, I just dove into the book last night, got about 50, 60 pages into it, Belichick. Ian O'Connor, I've known for years, very, very good writer. He's got a book out. 350 sources were interviewed for this book. Now, You know, I mean, I know, we have a term now fake news. Nobody wants to believe anything. But I think, and it's really a story of how the greatest football coach of all time became the greatest football coach of all time. one of the things that is you just can't deny in the book and he he talks about it is there is absolutely no question that that Malcolm Butler moment in the Super Bowl when Bill Belichick

decided not to play Malcolm Butler and didn't give Brady the defense gronk a heads up it had a lasting effect that is something that really because I don't I don't think Bill quite understood. That loss affects Brady's legacy. And so instead of being six and two in Super Bowls, I mean, you're now five and three. You're a loss away from just being a coin flip and a Super Bowl. And Brady wasn't given a heads up.

The players weren't getting a heads up. And from the book I started last night, it is very obvious that there was a, that resonated negatively among players. that they've always dealt with Bill's crap and Bill's sort of dogmatic, rigid style. That's his style. You were willing to do that because of the payoff, which is you win and you believe you always make the right moves, even when you lose.

And that was like, we're better than Philadelphia. We're facing Nick Foles. We have Tom Brady. We've been here before. They haven't. And coach, you didn't give us a heads up. So he's going to join us next hour. That mattered way more.

than I thought it did in the moment. Jason Whitlock said that. He was right. Hour three in LA, it's the herd. This is the herd. Hour number three live in Los Angeles. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1,

Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number three. Last night was great. It was just great. I know everybody's just, you know, it's just calling this and calling that. It was so great. last night to have the Jets and the Browns beat three and a half hours of great. Oh, you didn't check Twitter last night.

Oh, I was laying, I mean, I was tweeting last night. But you weren't checking me. I was some of them I did. I mean, last night was playful for me. Last night was a lot of fun last night. I really had a lot of fun last night. Listen, everyone was letting me know that I need to let you know that I was right about Baker. I was wrong about the game, but I did not have the inside information that you had about the game last night.

Well, you wanted Baker to start from day one. I did. Listen, this is Baker's, it's going to be good. These teams are going to be good. So 15 minutes, by the way. Ian O'Connor's written a book, a comprehensive book. 350 people interviewed on Bill Belichick. I started diving into it last night.

It's a very comprehensive look at Belichick's life. And that's Super Bowl stuff, Brady and Belichick, the divide. It's real. It's fabulous. And so he's going to be joining us in 15 minutes. Later and best for last. Jason McIntyre, J-Mack stops by. Monday's headlines about the NFL.

today. It's a new feature on Friday. But, but, but, but, but, but. You are all over me. Let's be honest for Baker Mayfield, beating the Jets last night. Okay, okay. So just let me start right there. I tell my kids all the time. Your kids make mistakes. But over the course of your life, try not to make the same mistake two or three times.

But as an adult telling my kids that, it's hard because adults make the same mistakes all the time. We fall for the same stuff in politics, in business, in sports. In sports, it's the worst. We keep falling for the same stuff. Hyperventilating over stuff and then getting burned. By the way, the last number one quarterback pick to win his first game was David Carr. It was a standalone Sunday night football game. Oh, crazy!

Next week, two picks. Six for 25. His quarterback rating was an eight. Sam Darnold, standalone game. Monday night football for the Jets. Oh, my God! I don't believeable. Last night, he was not very good.

Last night, stand-alone game. Baker Mayfield gets into the game. I never said Baker Mayfield was going to be terrible. I never said he was going to be bust. It was a standalone TV game, the only game on national TV. He comes in against a bad team at home that didn't have a game plan for him.

And Baker Mayfield did what a number one pick should do. He completed passes when he had time to throw and let his team to a win. He did not scale Everest last night. This was not Kilimanjaro. It was the Jets at home with a rookie quarterback on a short week. And by the way, I've always said this about Baker Mayfield. This was my pre-draft evaluation.

He can win with weapons. Who was the best running back for either team last night? Veteran Carlos Hyde. Two touchdowns, 100 yards. Who was the best wide receiver for either team last night? Jarvis Landry. From the dolphins? Pretty good.

Eight catches? Over 100 yards. Who had the better defense? Browns. Who was at home? Browns. By the way, the two coaches for Baker-Mayfield, Hugh Jackson, and Todd Haley, both super successful coordinators who have been head coaches. Okay, he didn't scale Everest. He's a number one pick. We knew he was better than Tyrod. Eventually, he just happens to be better now. He's better now. He should play now. But folks, we keep falling for this. Sam Darnold, week one, amazing.

last night not so great. Andrew Lucks' first game. Terrible. Next week, really good. Cam Newton's first game, amazing. Check it out I did this morning, second game. Terrible. R.G.3 started red hot. So did Carson Wentz. And then by week four of his rookie year to week 14,

Carson Wentz was just not very good at all. We're falling for it. Now what's going to happen with Baker Mayfield? Oh, now he goes on the road. He's not facing a rookie quarterback. back. He's facing Derek Carr, and he's got to do a West Coast game. And, oh, by the way, now they can game plan off film completely against Baker Mayfield. He's a number one pick. A number one pick should do that. But Colin, you never liked him. No, I said, I think we're going crazy comparing him to

Russell Wilson. He'll never be that athletic. Or Drew Brees, crazy me. I said, I don't think he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame guy and be the most accurate passer in league history. I said, I think a more accurate comp is a Case Keenham, who I think he's better than, but Case Keenham, when you surround him with people, can win. But we're just going doing this again. Baker did some nice stuff, and he deserved some praise. No, statues in parades. Now he's going to face over the next several weeks. Derek Carr, Joe Flacco, Big Ben on the Road, Patrick Mahomes, Matt Ryan, specifically tailored game plans.

Cincinnati's defense, twice. Wentz, luck, Darnold. Strap yourself in, man. It's the rookie roller coaster ride. We just never learn, do we? And speaking of that, let me segue. So Sam Darnold, oh boy. Colin, bet that hurt.

doesn't it? Bet that burns. Okay, let's take a deep breath and think about this. So Big Ben, who has two pro bowlers on the offensive line, Antonio Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, and a veteran head coach, had a 60 passer rating against the Brown's defense.

So you thought, you thought Sam Darnold on a short week with what pro-football focus ranks as the 31st best offensive line, the 28th running back set, and the 28th best tight ends and receivers, he was going to cut it up against this defense, against a veteran defensive coordinator, Greg Williams.

This defense gave Big Ben and Drew Breeze fits. Those guys have Elito lines, world-class perimeter weapons. Those guys are veterans. You thought Sam Darnold? Listen, Sam Darnold led. The only surprise last night is that Sam Darnold led 14. the three and the third. How, I'm not sure. And he not only led, he completed a very nice first down throw to Robbie Anderson, who then fumbled, Cleveland got it, and the game was never the same.

But not only did Sam Darnel have nothing to work with, and we knew it, and I told you, this was one of the bets of the week. Six of 13, Sam Darnel drives started at his 12-yard line or worse. So with that line, no weapons, no backs, young head coach, on the road, short week, veteran defensive coordinator, he was pinned in 50% of his drives. Only surprised last night. Jets led midway through the third. Let me add something else which has been discussed among NFL people, but is not really discussed I notice among media or the fans. If I'm standing next to a guy and I'm 54 and he's 52, we're the same guy. But Baker Mayfield is 23 years old.

Darnold's 21. Baker Mayfield threw 1,500 passes in college. Sam Darnold threw 8.50. Baker Mayfield started 48 college games. Sam Darnold started 27. Like, that's a gap. Sam's got work to do. Sam's still reckless.

Sam's still loose. You do get last week he was the youngest quarterback in league history to throw for over 300 yards. That word youngest is kind of what makes the record, not the 335 yards. Sam's going to be okay. He needs help like some. He doesn't have a Carlos Hyde. He doesn't have a Jarvis Landry. He doesn't have an offensive head coach.

He's got a defensive one. Short week, on the road, no weapons, pinned deep, younger, less experienced. These guys are both going to work. The winner last night was us because a Jets Brown's game was wildly fascinating. Coming up around the corner, five minutes, Ian O'Connor, written a comprehensive book, 350 sources called Belichick. And Brady and Bill ain't right, ain't tight right now. That's coming up.

Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Sunday, it's a great slate of NFL action, starting with the 49ers taking on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Then it's America's Game of the Week is Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys Battle, Russell Wilson, and the Seahawks. It's all on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Check local listings for the game in your area. 49ers Chiefs is a really interesting game because the world loves Kansas City right now and Patrick Mahomes. But that defense gives up massive yards about 500 per. And Garapolo and Kyle Shanahan, though they lost to Minnesota, in Minnesota, it was a very competitive football game.

And they just beat Detroit. So that's one of those interesting games where I tend to believe I go against kind of the public. The public now is selling some Jimmy G stock because of the picks. And everybody loves Patrick Mahomes. My feeling is Vegas knows something. it's a five and a half six point spread. San Francisco's not there yet. They're rebuilding, but they're close.

That's a good team, and I think it's going to be a fairly close game. I dove in last night to a book, the Belichick book, 350 sources. A New York Times best-settler and a friend Ian O'Connor wrote it, and he is joining us now via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So, Ian, I dove into your book last night. You also wrote a book about Derek Jeter, Arnie, and Jack. So you've taken on these iconic people. One of the quotes that we discussed yesterday,

and it's really become one of the two quotes getting talked about that you were able to garner is that somebody on the staff or somebody within the organization for New England said, we're not saying we could win a Super Bowl with all 32 quarterbacks, but if you give us any of the top 15, we could do it. Mr. Kraft thinks Tom's the greatest gift ever. The coaches don't. My takeaway on that is, I believe the quote,

because I believe you and trust you and know you. It feels like there's a little animosity toward Tom inside some rooms in Patriotville. Were you surprised that somebody said that to you? And is there kind of a festering animosity that Tom is untouchable in the organization and they could have done this with several other guys? No, I'm not surprised, Colin, because that quote really originates in the period before they drafted Garoppolo in the spring of 2014. And if you look at Brady's performance in 12, 13 going into that draft,

there had been some slippage, and there was concerned about his arm strength and diminishing performance to some degree. Bill Belichick said it that night that he drafted Garapolo in 2014. He cited Tom's age and his contract status, and he said, I'd rather be early than late at that position. Obviously, he'd rather be early than late at every position. That's the way he's run his program.

But he said it. I was actually stunned that he brought up Brady's age that night. So I was not surprised that that quote represented a feeling among the staff, not that Tom Brady is not a great player. Obviously, that would be silly to suggest otherwise. But

if we had the top half of that position in the league, not that we would win at that point Brady had three rings, but we could win at a high level consistently. And to me, that was the spirit of that quote. Belichick is more I don't know, fear

driven is one of the things I read a quote last night in your book, and I want you to extrapolate on it, that Brady has said a couple of things publicly that sound like that you qualified. It's a little bit of jabs at Bill regarding their leadership methods. And if you could go on about that, I think that's interesting for our audience. Well, he said something in the Facebook series about not leading through fear. And I was told by someone that, fear or anger. told by someone that that was a reference to the way Belichick has run his operation there for so long. But here's the thing. What it comes down to with that relationship, it's been the best

transactional partnership coach quarterback in the history of the NFL. And when Brady has needed love and warmth and affection in that organization, he turns to Robert Kraft. That's where he gets that transformational relationship. But here's the thing. The way Belichick has coached Brady has been a staple of that organization and has been a big reason why they have won five Super Bowls because Dante Stalworth, he told me a story early in 2007 preseason. He's sitting in a room, a meeting room, next to Randy Moss. Belichick is absolutely teeing off on Brady about the mistakes he made against the Colts in the 2006 AFC championship game. And Stalworth and Moss look at each other like, we cannot believe he is saying these things to maybe the best quarterback ever. But that tone

represented something that it established something for the rest of the team. They realized that if Belichick is going to hold Tom Brady to that standard, he's going to hold the rest of us to that standard. And to me, that is a big reason why they're probably the greatest dynasty in the history of the league.

Now, I started diving into your book last night, so I'm 60 pages in and I bounced around. There's been some speculation that Bill Belichick was forced to trade Garoppolo. And I don't know. if you've addressed that yet in the book. And I also want to ask you about the Brady Garoppolo relationship. Can you confirm through your 350 source?

Did they get along? Was there some tension? Did Tom force a trade? Do we know the answers to those? I would say yes, yes, and not really, okay? There was tension in the relationship because Tom Brady, when Garoppolo walked through the door, he could see that Belich was in love with that prospect.

And I think deep down, and one of his close friends speculated that Tom felt this way. It was almost like Drew Henson showing up at Michigan. Tom had waited so long to start for Lloyd Carr, and then all of a sudden, Carr recruits everybody's All-American. And I think in Garoppolo, he saw that kind of figure, and that did bother him. I think they had a fine relationship. Tom Brady's never going to get too close to his backups.

And as far as whether or not he forced Belichick to make that move or crafted, Here's what I was told and what I believe. I do believe Belichick left a meeting with Krap thinking he had a mandate that he had to make a move. Did Robert Kraft say to Bill Belichick, you have to trade Jimmy Garoppel? I don't believe those words ever came out of his mouth, but I do believe he told Belichick, Tom Brady is going to retire a patriot. Whether he's 45, 46, 44, 47, whatever it is,

we're not trading him. And Belichick took that as a mandate, an effective one maybe, perhaps a clearer one. to go ahead and make that trade. I think the question is, why did he only get a second round pick? And why did he not hold an NFC-only auction for Jimmy G? Because you've got to believe somebody would have given up a first-round pick. I also touched on your book last night.

You touched on it. And I just didn't understand this initially. I thought it would blow over in a week. And you addressed this in your book. The Malcolm Butler Benching resonated. And shortly thereafter, after Tom started taking shots on, you know, social media stuff. Were you surprised?

I was, and then you confirmed it in your book. Were you surprised, kind of the depth of what that Malcolm Butler benching provided going forward? Well, we saw what Danny Amandola said to Mike Reese, and I think Mike Reese of ESPN, and I think that that represented the feeling of the vast majority of players on the team, including Tom Brady. Remember, Malcolm Butler meant a lot to Brady's legacy. If they lose that game against Seattle, Brady's 3 and 3 in the big game. And he hasn't won the big one since 04.

And their legacies are entirely different. That interception set up the rest of sort of where they are now in terms of legacy historically. A lot has changed and would have been different had Malcolm Butler not made that play. And Brady realizes that. That's why he gave him his Super Bowl MVP truck. And so he was very upset about that. And here's the thing. Belichick, and Brady knows this better than anyone.

Belichick maybe is the best coach in the history of the league as far as putting his team in the best position to win. And that's why you put up with what you put up with in terms of his coaching. But that day, that night, he did not give his team the best chance to win. Therefore, the reaction to me represented the player saying, hey, we're not going to put up with it now because you didn't do your job, right? Mr. Do Your Job didn't do his. And that's why we're going to act out.

And I think Brady did. By the way, I could argue that Jeter and Brady, iconic northeastern and international sports legends, have some similarities. They talk don't say much. They avoid controversy, handsome, beloved in their city, and have been surrounded by a controversial Steinbrenner or a controversial Belichick. As you research both books, do people feel the same about Brady as Jeter? They're mostly beloved and adored. the circles around them. Were there any similarities right in the book?

Yeah, I think that's a great comparison. Colin, and also you left out one thing. Jeter signed with Michigan too. And he actually attended Michigan for a semester. And so they have that in common as well. Very distant figures, hard to really get close to them. Don't say much, but professional, cordial. I think in the long run, Tom Brady is the greater figure historically in sports

in American sports. If I were to list and doing this for more than 30 years, the three or four greatest athletes I've ever covered, I would put Tiger 1, Michael Jordan 2, and Tom Brady 3. And then LeBron and Pete Sampras, I don't really think Jeter would make my top 5. He'd be close after that. But very similar in terms of how they handle the public. You never see them generally in an awkward or a negative situation, but they don't let you in. And so through my reporting, talking to 350 people, I spoke to a lot of people very close to Tom Brady to get a sense of really what he's all about.

But did you talk to Tom? I talked to Tom last year for ESPN on the phone for the better part of an hour. That was for ESPN, so I did not ask him questions for the book. I later, I didn't think it was right to do that to him. So we talked about him as legacy and so forth. I did send him an email, and later he politely declined through the Patriots and Stacey James and PR to talk to me for the record for the book. So he didn't know me anything.

I certainly am not upset about that. I was a little disappointed, but I actually wanted to end the book with Kraft and Brady in the same room talking about what Bill Belichick has meant to them over the years, and the Patriots also politely declined that request. Ian O'Connor, the book is called Belichick. He's a New York Times bestseller. written the Arnie Jack book, the Jeter book, and now this book. You know, when I look at that, it's obviously the age thing.

I mean, Tom, he's aging. We know that. He's going to retire. When you get, I do feel like Belichick has at some point, if he was having a Sean McVeigh relationship, a young coach who had a higher energy, I do feel like Tom's going to retire probably a little earlier because he's simply in a relationship that's staying married for the kids. Do you sense that that Brady will probably end it a year earlier than he would if he was in a more joyful relationship with his head coach?

I don't know about that, Colin, because I think this relationship has now survived the biggest challenge it was going to face. Barely. Barely survived because sources told me in late March, he was still considering walking away rather than play for his head coach one more time. But I think it's one of those. It didn't kill them, so maybe it makes them stronger. When I was on the phone with Brady last year,

we talked about going to 46, 47, 48. I think there's a greater chance of that than at 43, him saying, you know what, I've had enough. I do think he's going to win one more ring with Belichick. I think that six one is very important to both. It breaks the tie with Vince Lombardi for Belichick, and for Tom, it gets him to Jordan 6, which is something that Kobe didn't do, Jeter didn't do, Magic didn't do.

A lot of guys didn't do. I think Brady getting to six, even though he'll never say this, I think would mean a lot to him. Good stuff. Ian O'Connor. Good luck. The book is Belichick, the making of the greatest football coach in the NFL of all time. Continued success. Best wishes to you and your fam, and keep it up. Thanks, Colin.

You bet. Thanks for having me. Ian O'Connor. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So it was Baker's night last night, Colin. Was.

Baker Mania. Yeah. He helped the Browns rally to win their first game in 635 days. 17 to 23, 201 passing yards. And despite being the savior of Cleveland last night, Hugh Jackson still has some tape to watch. Baker did some great things. I mean, again, we don't play until next Sunday. We got some days.

Let's not get into those debates tonight. You know, obviously what he did tonight was outstanding. for the football team and for his teammates and just the way he competed. But again, I have to watch the tape and we'll go from there. Yeah, he'll play. He's going to play. Can you imagine if the game against Oakland was in Cleveland and you didn't start you didn't start Baker Mayfield?

I mean, literally, Tarad Taylor would have no chance to survive the first court to be booed off the field. It's impossible. They hadn't won a game in 635 days. Now it is on the number one overall pick, Baker Mayfield comes in and wins. It is on the road. So you could start Tarad Taylor and not get the pushback. Because you're leaving town by like Friday morning and you could just say,

we haven't made a decision yet. You could do it on the road. You're not doing that in Cleveland. So what if Tarad Taylor starts? Oh, God. The media will just go crazy. The media. Those fans will go crazy.

And rightfully so. Like, there's no disrespect to Tyrod. He's a good quarterback. And he's done a good job. He's a sixth round pick. But Baker Mayfield's the number one overall pick. This is an inevitable fate. Yes, it is.

So besides you winning a thousand dollars, well, you won your bets. You put a thousand dollar bet on the game last night. I did. You did not tell everybody because you didn't want other people to put their money on it. Well, the next time you do that, you're going to need to let me know so I can put my own bet on whatever you're feeling. Okay. Since you've got the magic touch right now. That's thanks to Baker Mayfield.

And there's no way happier besides you than Browns fans. for winning for the first time in 635 days. That was last time they won was Christmas Eve in 2016. That set off a series of celebrations around Cleveland. And obviously, we discussed a long time ago, there was a promotional campaign for Bud Light. They had all these coolers locked up all around Cleveland. And they were open.

So there was free beer. They were called Victory Fridges. And there was a huge crowd of fans outside of the stadium after the game. Like, basically nobody left the stadium, but nobody left the area. There's just a huge sea of Browns fans. Yes. And Cleveland Police even tweeted. You mentioned this, I think yesterday,

where they'll put the UI checkpoints up leading to the holidays. Well, they weren't prepared for this particular Cleveland holiday. So they tweeted we won. Wait, oh God, the free beer thing. Oh, Cleveland, stay calm. There wasn't that much beer in the fridge. They were chanting outside the stadium. There were throngs of people chanting Baker, Mayfield.

Yes, it was. It was insane. So also, there was another good video from last night. Not only was everyone in Cleveland there for the celebration. There was also a special little extra fan that made his way into the stadium. Oh, I saw this. A possum. No ticket.

Oh, God. It's disgusting. There is. Our radio audience can't see this, thankfully. It's disgusting. Yeah, you don't want to see it. It's so gross. Possums are the absolute worst.

They're like smaller raccoons. They're so much worse than raccoons. Have you ever walked past a possum? Yes. I know. They're gross. Freak out. The devil.

Awful. They are the devil. They're the worst. Okay, finally, Connor McGregor has signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC. Terms will not disclose, but Dana White said the deal could make McGregor the most money in the sport. Six fights include the matchup with lightweight champion Habib.

Yeah. At UFC 229 on October 6th. October 6th, and the promotional tour for the fight began yesterday at Radio Music City Hall in New York. It was intense. Yes. Connor kicked it off with some verbal jabs, explaining why he's returning from his two-year hiatus.

I came back for the love of this. To come and shut this man up, a little rat, a little weasel, a little hard man in groups, a man who grows in numbers, but on his own and when confronted in a similar situation, coweres away. And that's what you saw with that little shi-on-the-one. bus over there.

I am going to truly, truly love putting a bad, bad beating on this little glass jaw rat. I'm ready for a long night. You die for the legs and hold on to them for dear life. What kind of fighting is that? You're a phony, a fake.

He's an amateur. He's in over his head. May God have mercy on your soul. I cannot wait for this fight. He is on just another level when it comes to the trash. It's October 6th, 2018, the Team Mobile Arena. It's going to be,

This is one. I think I may go to Vegas for that. Is it a Saturday afternoon fight, Saturday night fight? I think I'm going to fly in for that. That's going to be a great fight. So Habib was on that bus. Yes.

Yes. The whole altercation at the media day that Connor got involved in New York. It is a good fight, but I think McGregor's a faster, twitchier athlete and will win the fight. It'll be very interesting because he hasn't fought in two years. His last fight was a boxing match.

This is going to be, listen, man, people, you know, sometimes UFC, it's like when's the last great fight. Even, I was in Vegas. Even when boxing was in its prime, it gave you two good fights a year. That's what you got in boxing.

Those were the Sugar Ray, Hearns, Hagler years, Duran. If the UFC can give me two McGregor fights a year, you give me one in October and you give me one in March. I'm good. There's only one Connor McGregor.

There's only one Sugar Ray. There's only one Ali. Give me one in the early spring and give me one in the late fall. And I'm all good. And we're all good. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Well, it is a fairly light slate of college football action this week. Nobody's going to beat Alabama. Let's not waste our time talking about that. Another winning week, of course, last week with our college football picks. So please, if you don't want to know what's going to happen, turn away at this moment. Warning, Colin is about to reveal the outcomes of the biggest college football games this week.

If you don't want to know exactly what's going to happen, turn away now. Two games might as well just going to tell you what's going to happen. Washington hosts Arizona State. This has been a great story. Herm Edwards has taken over the sun devils. I and many others didn't quite think that was the best choice. They're undefeated. They beat Michigan State.

They're playing good defense. But there's hidden meaning in this game. Last year, Washington could have made the college football playoff had they not gone down to Tempe as a favorite and been shocked and lost. Now, Herm is hyper-aggressive defensively, and they have a senior quarterback. So they will not go to Seattle and get boat raced. But Chris Peterson has built the most reliably good defense in the country. conference from 2015 to 2017, Washington was the Pac-12's number one defense. Miles Gaskin is a great running back for them.

He's sort of the bell cow back. I'm going to take Washington to win a competitive game. Closer than people think, but it's competitive. 3,120 Huskies. Okay, let's go to TCU and Texas. Gary Patterson's one of the best coaches in college football. I picked Texas to beat USC last weekend. Please turn away if you don't want to know what's going to happen here.

TCU has beaten the Longhorns in four straight games, which is unbelievable. If you'd have said 20 years ago, TCU is going to start dominating the Texas Longhorns. You'd have said, that little small private college in Fort Worth? What? But TCU has held Texas to 10 points or less in the last four meetings. And here's the thing about the Longhorns. This is only the beginning of the second year for Tom Herman. He's playing with somebody else's guys.

He's got his culture rolling, but mostly this isn't his personnel. Yes, they beat USC. USC right now is unraveling. TCU is second in the Big 12 in Sacks, number one in third down defense, and this is a culture under Patterson that is a decade long. They may not have the sheer recruiting numbers of the Texas Longhorns. Spoiler alert. TCU beats them again in a highly entertaining game, 27 to 21.

Jason McIntyre, Monday's headlines today in Best for Last is coming up next. Draft Kings, $2 million this week in total prizes. enter the contest for free by either going to their app or go to draftkings.com code heard. All right, we do it every day at this time. Speak for yourself. Starts in less than 10 minutes. It's best for last.

After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, cowherd. It's the best for last. So we're going to do a new game on Fridays with Jason McIntyre, who created the big lead.com. It's called Monday. headlines today. Before we start, you're a Jets devotee. Yes. Sam Darnold struggled. Baker Mayfield won. Your impressions of what you saw, because I know you were sitting there for four hours glued like I was.

No worries whatsoever about Darnold, right? Third game in 11 days, that's a lot. And they had no field position, as you alluded to earlier. My one takeaway from Baker, and he was electric last night. Jets had no tape on him. They weren't ready. Did you see after the game, he runs off the field excited. Maybe five minutes later comes out of the locker room to go on the NFL network set. And he had his phone in his hand. Really? That was the number one thing I looked at. I was like, what? When you look at NFL quarterbacks after the game, they don't have their phone. Baker Mayfield's first thought was, man, I got that win. I got to get on social media and see what people are saying about me. I'm telling you, it was texting his mom. Oh, come on, Joy. Don't

defend him. What his girlfriend? She is a social media guy who like favorites all the negative stuff you say about him. I'm just telling you, man. Did we fact-checked this? Did we find out if he was on social media? I did not look because he, I think, blocked me for stuff I said last year. On a phone? That was like your first inclination. What's he supposed to do? Joy, that's a very levy on bell move, okay? We know where he is. Send a bird? No, I don't think I would, I would shower, I would do interviews. I would probably check my phone. I mean, I don't check my phone here, like till after the show. He's 23 years old. He just got the first. Sam Darnold's not checking his phone after that season opener in Detroit.

Sam Donald took that out last night and the week before that. The week one is first win. He hugs his parents. He's talking to Josh McCown. I didn't see a phone in his hand. But I'm not going to bash Baker. Let's move on. All right.

Here we go. Monday's headlines today. Let's start Colts at the Eagles. One o'clock game on Fox. Your Eagles coming off a big loss, Super Bowl champs. I think they're going to take another loss this weekend. I think the Colts shocked them in the headlines. This is going to be the topic on every show Monday morning.

that didn't Wentz well. Colin, I'm telling you, we've seen Deshawn Watson come back from that ACL injury. Carson Wentz is coming back. Watson's struggling. I believe Wentz is going to struggle this weekend. No Jay Ajai, so the running game will sputter a little bit. And Andrew Luck, one of my favorite quarterbacks in the NFL, I think he pulls a big upset as six and a half point underdogs.

I think there's going to be some panic in Philadelphia if the defending champs start one and two. Okay. I don't disagree with you, by the way. luck completing 71% of his throws, finally as an offensive guy, his efficiency's going on. They're number one in the league converting third downs and Frank Reich. Guess what he was doing in the last couple of years? Offensive coordinator in Philadelphia. He knows that offense well.

I love the Colts in this spot. Giant at the Texans, that's a one o'clock game and an interesting, tasty one on Fox. What's the headline? Yeah, well, two winless teams, both struggling. I believe the Giants pull the upset, and the headline on Monday is going to be Odell Beckham's first win since Boatgate. It would be. Listen, he has not won a game.

Remember, they started last year slow. Then he got injured. He hasn't had a win in forever. That's right. People forget about this. Like Odell Beckham, a massive Nike contract. Odell Beckham loved on social media. He hasn't had a win in forever.

This is a guy who's really struggled. I actually think Bill O'Brien, the Texans coach, is going to be on the hot seat. He's another Bill Belichick disciple. if they start 0 and 3, he could be gone by Halloween. One of the really good games this weekend. We got some good Fox games. 49ers at the Chiefs.

Monday's headline today will be... Well, I see some guys at this network wanting to put Pat Mahomes in the Hall of Fame already. Yes. He's going to deliver, and the headline will be Jimmy Garapa. No! Very cheesy, right? Come on, that's what headline writers do. Right.

Newspapers, websites. Hey, Garoppola 1, I believe, five or six straight to end last year. Yeah. He's about to start one and two. A second trip to the Midwest, he struggled against the Vikings. I think Pat Mahomes has another good game,

but people are totally missing this. Last year, do you remember when Alex Smith was an MVP candidate? Yeah. Playing for Andy Reid. Start of the year, 16 TDs, zero interceptions. That's what Mahomes is doing. The defenses will catch up. I'm starting to worry about Garapolo.

I know you're friendly with Kyle Shanahan and Lynch. I think there's some problems in Sanfran. They don't have a very good roster right now. No, they don't. And I was told this last week by an NFL executive, I trust, that, you know, Garapolo and the adult film star, Jimmy can be immature still. He's not always good at judging the temperature in the room. Shanahan is outrageously demanding of his quarterbacks.

It took veteran Matt Ryan a second year for him to connect with Shanahan truly, and that the Garoppolo-Shannahan relationship will have bumps. It will not be McVeigh-Goff where it hits and you're going. It's like the guy I talked to who said, listen, man, Shanahan's rough on people. Garoppolo can still be a kid. This is going to be a choppy year for him because the offensive line to your point is bad. Finally, Monday's headlines today, this will be a high-profile game. Cowboys at the Seahawks.

This is a big one for everybody out here on the West Coast. I believe the Cowboys go into Seattle, pull the mild upset, and the big headline when the Seahawks go 0-and-3 on Monday morning, Petering out, Colin, it feels like it's the end of Pete Carroll in Seattle. That dynasty's done. Legion of Boom gone. And you know what? Pete Carroll's 67, oldest coach in the NFL. But guess where there could be an opening of a football coach?

You want to take a guess? College or probably. I'll go college. I think there'll be a college opening. I said this joy the other day, is that Pete always brings great energy. He did to New England. He did a USC to Seattle. If you're Pete, there's who's available in the college coaching ranks?

There's not, you know, you could do Urban Meyer, but he's got so much baggage now. I'm not sure in L.A. that accept that. Pete Carroll, the USC, if USC plays tonight against Washington State. They better win this game. Washington State throws for 500 yards a game. If Washington State beats USC, Clay Hilton's done. They won't fire him mid-season, but they've made a decision inside the room. He's done.

Pete Carroll has a lot of equity built up at the school. Everybody loves him. they would love because there's not a great coach out there right now. There's not like a hot young, like a Chris Peterson's not leaving Washington. Right. All the young guys are scooped up. I don't think they're going to go for the guy at Memphis. Mike Norvell is on fire. But I think Pete Carroll loses his game starts. O and three. By the way, that offensive line in Seattle, one of the worst in the last 20 years in the league.

Dallas is second in the league in Sacks. They could annihilate Russell Wilson, petering out big story on Monday. Yeah. It is interesting. Whenever people fire people, you know, I always ask, well, who's available. But if you look in the college ranks right now, the big dogs are making so much money. The Sabins, you used to be able to wrestle away guys. They're making too much money now. So the big dogs aren't moving.

And the young guys that everybody likes have just started to take over their programs. You know who USC would like to hire? Chris Peterson at Washington's not leaving. Because they already interviewed. He didn't want the job. And they want David Chodd Stanford. And he's not leaving either. Chip Kelly's not leaving after one year at UCLA.

So who are the options? And that's why Pete Carroll, just file this away. Pete Carroll, maybe USC next year. By the way, I'm so proud of you because you're usually, you know, jumping off a bridge guy that you have some. Hey, hey, hey, hey. No, you get, you're very emotional about the Jets. Yes. You understand that Big Ben and Bree struggled against this Cleveland defense.

I'm not worried at all. Third game in 11 days wasn't going to struggle? Listen, but what I'm concerned with is, I know you're a big Todd Bowles guy. Like him. He was bad last night when they went up 14-0. He was. I think he's in jeopardy.

And we saw what the Rams did when they hired a young coach after Jeff Fisher, young offensive guy. Chicago got Nagy, the Chiefs offensive coordinator. Very clever. The Jets need to get an aggressive offensive guy to work with Sam Darnold. And of course, I got to bolster that offensive line in the draft. They have no backs and they have no offensive line. Yeah.

And they have no tight ends. I'm not worried about the Jets. Come on, man. Perspective. I'm out here on the West Coast with you, Colin. And we're chill, we're relaxed. I'm not worried about anything, dude. Jets are going to be fine.

Come on, Joy, you know what chill is. Speak for yourself. Right around the corner, it's the herd. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

And every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert 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. street or sidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 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.

And he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.