The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Chiefs, Saints, Browns, Tom Brady, and where Colin was right & wrong

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

Colin explains why he was more impressed with the Saints loss, than the Chiefs victory, the continuing saga of drama going on with the Browns, what might happened to Tom Brady at the end of this season, and where he was right and wrong over the weekend. Guests include Trent Dilfer, Tom Curran, Urban Meyer, and Tony Gonzalez. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me.

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That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

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Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on a loaded Monday, live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, the NFL now starting to take shape. One hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, there was a lot of both. Another interesting NFL day. We've still got 18 teams, 12 go to the playoffs, 18 teams.

teams are still battling. We'll talk about that. Also, Urban Meyer stopped by next hour. We got our final four in college football, and Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, how are you? I'm great. This is an amazing football weekend. It was. I mean, we've been so, everybody talks about why the NBA ratings are down because we can't stop watching football. The games are just unbelievable. Maybe you had the game of the year yesterday. Let's talk Kansas City in New England. So the headline today, if I'd have told you, you live in Kansas City your Chiefs fan. If I told you this was the headline, Patriots home winning streak snapped at 21. You'd be like, yeah, I feel great about that. Kansas City, that wasn't the win we should have seen

last night. That wasn't one of those wins that makes you feel like we can go into Baltimore. We can go back to Foxborough and win. I don't know if there's an ugly win. That wasn't pretty, and it made me more concerned about Kansas City. First of all, you scored three points in the second half. You didn't adjust. You better do that against John Harbar a second time against Belichick. By the way, you had a punt blocked.

By the way, you needed several officiating gaffes and you can't run the football at all. It's getting cold outside. Everybody's got their winter jackets. You're wearing a windbreaker. I said last week, Minnesota lost last week against Seattle. And I said, Adam, Thielen was out, Delvin, Cook was out. I'm like, that was a good loss.

Minnesota did not step back to me. Kansas City won last night, and situationally, they were mess. They were a mess. Kansas City is one of those teams that's really talented. It reminds me of Steelers teams over the years. You know, Big Ben and Tomlin, big emotion, but they're not buttoned up. And by the way, Pittsburgh beat New England last year 17 to 10, but they weren't really buttoned up.

Kansas City's not buttoned up. 10 penalties, bad special teams didn't adjust at half, a totally finesse offense. Baltimore's more talented in Kansas City and they're buttoned up. New England's not that talented, but they're more buttoned up. We are now getting into serious big boy football time. You've got to have your act together. And as pretty as the NFC is, the NFC is all pretty. It's New Orleans is flinging the ball all over the yard.

And the Rams last night with Sean McVail, the misdirection and rolling out and receivers running the football's pretty. And San Francisco's got Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy G. Emmanuel Sanders and George Keller. NFC is Green Bay, finesse, fun, pretty. That's not what the AFC is.

The AFC is teams that play outdoors in Baltimore in January, in Pittsburgh, in Buffalo, in Foxborough, and you are not a buttoned up franchise. This is the time, the NFC is a fist fight.

Everybody's physical. Baltimore's physical. New England's physical. Pittsburgh's defense is incredible. The Tennessee Titans are a physical football team. team. The NFC's pretty. You know, New Orleans going to play in a dome, and if the Rams got it and they play outside. You got a lot of pretty.

San Francisco doesn't get bad, you know, December weather. Buffalo, New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore. You're not ready to beat those teams. You've got a windbreaker. You're fast. You're slick. You got two of the guys in the NFL that are faster than everybody, but I'm watching that game last night.

And all I can think of is you're Oklahoma. You're fun, but you can't stop anybody. You're Oregon with Chip Kelly. I will not deny Kansas City is so much fun to watch. I would love to see Kansas City in Baltimore on a fast track or in a dome. Lamar's flying around and Mahomes, Tyree Killer, flying around. But I watched Kansas City last night, and if there's such thing as a bad win, it didn't really change seating. And by the way, we know what New England's doing now.

They're just collecting data. They lost to Baltimore, but they're collecting data. This is what New England does. They lost last year to Pittsburgh, but they're collecting data. collecting data. They lost to Kansas City, but did you notice in the second half, New England actually held Kansas City in that offense to three points? They're collecting data. We've seen, listen, I've said with New England, I don't think they can win a Super Bowl. They need an over-the-top playmaker, and Antonio Brown is their Hail Mary. I don't know if that

will work out, but that's their Hail Mary. Otherwise, I don't think they're going in the Super Bowl, but you don't want to go back there again and play. You do not. You do not want to go back there. And next time you go back there, it's 12 degrees colder and it's windier. and it may be snowing and so much visibility you couldn't land a plane in Logan that afternoon. So I did not think that was a good win for Kansas City, didn't change seating enough, and I just saw situationally too many holes. By the way, so did Andy Reed, so did their GM, so did Patrick Mahomes. I like what Patrick did.

I like his leadership on the sideline, but overall not impressed. The headline sounds great. We snapped the Patriots 21-game home winning streak. The results, far less impressive. Now, let's go to a loss that I was really, really impressed with. The New Orleans Saints at home lost to San Francisco. But all you have to do is grab the box score. That was a who had the ball last.

The Saints, eight and a half yards per pass, 116 yards rushing, half the penalty San Francisco did, and one time of possession. That was just one of those games. Drew Brees was too efficient. He scored too fast. I mean, it's like it was a who's got the last serving at Wimbledon. That was fantastic football. Drew Bree said afterwards, and Drew's been in a lot of football games,

but there was no bad team there. Now, San Francisco was a much more desperate team, because if they lose that game, they can go down now in the NFC to a four or five seed and open on the road. But that was a, that's as good a loss as you can have in the NFL. I mean, they moved the ball. New Orleans concerned. me because they don't have a vertical dimension.

But after that, I'm like, okay, scoring's not going to be a problem. Here's Drew Brees afterwards. This is like a heavyweight boxing match. Just trading punches all game long, both sides. It really comes down to the last, you know, four minutes of the game and what happens. And you just want a chance to win. And listen, we had a chance to win, right? And so did they.

Unfortunately, they were the ones who came out on top today. Listen, I watched that game yesterday, and I look at the NFC, and Green Bay is a finesse football team. Good, but finesse. Minnesota, we don't trust their quarterback, but I do like them. Seattle, boy, are they Russell-Wilson dependent sometimes on offense. Dallas, please, I don't want to hear it. But you watch those two teams, San Francisco and New Orleans. They can beat you with physicality. They can beat you with a pass rush.

They can beat you with a ground game. They can beat in a shootout. They can beat in a low-scoring game. And again, San Francisco was. the much more desperate football team. I said yesterday and I said last week. I think San Francisco, I predicted. They'd go into New Orleans, off that Baltimore loss,

and they'd win that game. When you get a really good team and there's a sense of, oh, my God, we have to win this game. Those are hard teams to beat. But I also saw something this year. Drew Breeze had five weeks off because of the hand injury. And at the time, we're like, oh, this is bad. No, it wasn't.

Actually, Drew Breeze yesterday looked fantastic. Remember last year at this time? Remember the last seven or eight games for the Saints last year, including the playoffs? Breeze looked tired. He looked like he needed a three-week break. Drew looks energized. He looks healthy. Again, older quarterbacks.

I've said this about Tom Brady in the last four to five years. His December numbers tail off. He looks tired. The season is long. Football practice is hard. But, I mean, Breeze lost his top tight end. It didn't matter. He was energized.

And by the way, that that, that, last go-ahead drive by the Saints, Breeze was vintage Breeze. He had five, six completions. The only problem is he scored too fast. The only complaint I have with the Saints, even after losing. I feel much better about New Orleans today off a lost than Kansas City off a win. My only complaint with the Saints is I think Sean Payton as a coach sometimes can be reckless. I think sometimes he's too aggressive. And I like my coach's aggressive. And I like my executive's aggressive. But sometimes Sean is highly emotional. and I think we felt it there.

I thought he was a little reckless, some play calling I didn't like, but I can get over that because the Saints and a loss, to me, were more impressive than Kansas City in a win. Saints can still get that number one seed. Trent Dilfer is going to be stopping by this hour. Coming up next, uh-oh, I mean, we know Cleveland's kind of a mess. Now OBJ, according to Jay Glazer, wants out, is telling people he wants out,

and what's Cleveland's option as this thing is now man overboard Baker and OBJ that Trent Dilfer coming up next we are loaded on a Monday don't forget 45 minutes from now where Colin is right where Colin is wrong

and there is plenty of both on a Monday which I thought San Francisco, New Orleans, I don't know Joy how you felt I thought it was the football game of the year it was a fantastic game yes but it's more than just a heavyweight bout like it was it reminded me a lot of that

Chiefs Rams game last year was just like offense, offense, huge plays. George Kittle, Jimmy Garoppola as a game of his life. It was everything we deserved. Yeah, we deserve that as a football nation. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people. people who live them. Listen to SportsSlices on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch life becomes about wins and losses

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Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to. wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! But there's so much more to me than me.

I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope I'm a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit.

This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura podcast network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. So Odell Beckham has reportedly told players and coaches on other teams that he wants out of Cleveland.

This was reported by Jay Glazer. I've known Jay for a long time. He doesn't miss on this stuff. He doesn't make it up. He's not one guy to rush to Twitter to have the coolest, hippest tweet. He tweets when he's accurate. He reports when he's accurate. I made a call yesterday to somebody in the league I trust.

They're hearing the same thing. So let's start with a mess in Cleveland. OBJ never fit in Cleveland. I'm not piggyback in this. I said it from the beginning. It made no sense. They already had three good running backs. They already had David and Joku, a terrific tight end.

They had Jarvis Landry. Their issue was offensive line. yet they traded away an offensive lineman, their best or second best for OBJ. It never made sense. But Cleveland tends to be one of these low self-esteem sports franchises. They want to make a recently fired general manager comes over. They want to make a big splash and be the talk of the league.

This is what low self-esteem people do. They reach for success and they whiffed on this. He's not happy. He's going to have career lows for targets. And also, you knew that Baker Mayfield was immature. I mean, Baker's an accurate thrower. football, but we saw it in college. We've seen it first year in the NFL. He's he can't handle himself. I mean, he's constantly in trouble. And Baker this weekend goes out

and rips the training staff for the Browns. I don't know what he was thinking. And so then you could have brought in a mature veteran-wide receiver, an adult, not a young diva receiver who's an icon and is building a brand. It never made sense. I never got it. But Cleveland has a problem now because Freddie Kitchens appears to be a a whiff as a coach. And Baker does not look like a number one pick. If you got rid of OBJ, the general manager, John Dorsey, who got fired in his last job, he's not getting another one. He's not getting another GM job. If he gets fired here, he's done. By trading OBJ, he would have to acknowledge. Yeah, I've pretty much whiffed on my biggest decisions because Lamar Jackson in your division's a

nightmare for Dorsey. Because of Lamar Jackson's maturity, coachability, athletic ability, really makes Baker in the same division look like a whiff. He makes Baker look worse. I've always said, it's one thing if your brother's more successful than you, but if he's your neighbor, you look even more like a schmuck. Lamar Jackson in the division twice against Baker is going to make Baker look like a complete reach, maturity, accuracy, athletic ability. And Baker yesterday did it again.

You know, I'm not here to hammer the kid, but he is so cocky. and his instincts are so bad, this is just a no-no. You'll never hear me call out the fog. I love my sales staff at Fox. If I was unhappy, I wouldn't call them out publicly. He called out the training staff, the medical staff for the Browns, which he an hour later had to apologize for.

I'd say that, you know, it wasn't handled right. He's not able to run as well as he should be able to, as well as he knows. It's frustrating for him. You can sense that's some of his frustration where that comes from. So it wouldn't handle the right way in our training room. So it is what it is. And so his not 100% is still good enough for us.

What in God's name are you doing? Oh my God. What do I say about Dak Prescott? Every time he opens his mouth at a podium, the right stuff comes out with Brady and Breeze and I don't even have to love you as a quarterback DAC, but a 30% of this job is being a grown-up.

This is a $2 billion organization. He's now had to apologize to teammates for the Duke Johnson comments. Do you know who leads the NFL in interceptions? James Winston and Baker-Mayfield. Both showed signs in college of really bad judgment and really bad

instincts and really bad immaturity. So I I'll tell you my opinion right now is everybody when Baker got there was all in on Baker. I have never been in on Baker, but everybody else was all in on him. That comment yesterday, there are people in an organization who are done with him. There are, that medical staff, guess what? They're your friend in a locker room. Those guys are your buddies.

They're your friends. You just called them out. I can guarantee you. Baker is losing people in that locker room. executives, medical people, training staff, he's losing people. So this is a mess. And it's very hard to solve now because the general manager is going to have to fire the coach. So he's already acknowledging he whiffed on the coaching hire.

Baker now showing the signs in college, which everybody could see instinct maturity issues. And now with Lamar in the division, it looks like you reach for Baker. I don't know what you do with OBJ. I mean, I don't think it works. I don't think it's going to get better, but I think you're trapped as a GM. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, the Rams kept pace in the NFC playoff hunts with a big 2812 win over the Seahawks last night. Impressive. Everything was clicking for the Rams on offense, especially Todd Gurley and Jared Gough said after the game, how important it is to get the running game going.

It opens everything. It opens everything. It starts with him. And when he's rolling and we're rolling the run game, it opens up everything. We're able to do what we want to do. And tonight was a perfect example of that. He's a bad man, that's what I told him.

He is a bad dude. And it was vintage Todd. And that's who he is. I still don't think he looks like the old girly, but there was some of it there. Well, I think this is just kind of the obvious situation with the Rams all year. Everyone was trying to figure out what the issue was.

We knew they had offensive line problems. But Todd Gurley wasn't himself. And when Todd Gurley's himself or close to himself, they can be the Rams that they were last year. It's pretty simple. And any team, really, when you look at the scope of great teams in this league right now, they have the ability to run the ball. Yeah, we talk about this all the time.

We think it's a finesse league. But my problem with Kansas City is they can't run the ball. And it's getting, I don't know where you're at, but in California, it's getting cold. I was out last night. It's getting cold here. It's getting cold everywhere. You know, and so.

Officially winter. Yeah, no, and so I think, and that's the funny thing about McVeigh and Shanahan. We see him as these clever guys, but they really love to pound it. They love to beat, dominate the line of scrimmage, time of possession, and that's what the Rams did last night. Because you have to keep the defense honest. Yeah. And look, I don't, I, that was not a great performance by Seattle, but nothing was working for Seattle. It didn't look like themselves.

Russell Wilson looked off. Outside of Baltimore, is everybody noticing this league's hard every week? Like, it's hard to go on winning street. I don't take anything less from Seattle. It's like they've played in several. massive close games, won all of them, and they took a step back for three hours. Yeah, and the answer for the Rams is not that Jared Goff has the worst contract in the league. He doesn't.

It's not that McVeigh isn't as smart as we thought he was. He is. They just needed to get the running game going, and maybe either they didn't feel like they could trust Todd Gurley's body yet, or Todd Gurley wasn't trusting his body yet, but now that he's rolling, they seem to be in a good space, and they're right in the playoff fund. So the Ravens clinched a playoff spot with their 2417 win over the bills, impressive win. but John Harbaugh says his team is not celebrating their accomplishments yet. It feels good.

It feels good. Yeah, it feels good. You know, I try to make a big deal about the locker room, and the guy's kind of gave me a smattering of applause. You know, they expect that. I think they burned the right to expect that. But it's a good thing, but, you know, we've got three more games and things to accomplish still. They clearly have a mantra this year, which is to stay humble no matter what.

And that obviously starts with Lamar Jackson. Yeah, let's say this again. So Lamar Jackson is a real leader. I watch this. I'm going to get into this more later. But I saw this again this weekend. His instincts and his snap judgments are great. This kid impresses me so much.

I'm going to get into this later. I don't want to give it up too much. But he did two or three things this weekend that did not produce magic. But if you're watching the game and you're a Raven fan, you're like, wow, did we get it right at quarterback? He is the opposite of Baker Mayfield in virtually everything. I'm going to get into it later. But even though the numbers weren't great for him yesterday,

I think that's the most impressed I've ever been with Lamar Jackson. And I'll get into it later. I was for any doubt I had, and I still worry that he gets hit too hard sometimes, God, he makes good decisions. And he is like, well, the hitting thing to me, like he's going to eventually stop doing that because that's just that style of play is not sustainable. But as you said, his instincts are great, so I have no concern in that area. Like he's very young.

He can take those hits now, and that's fine. He's a very tough kid. They can clinch the AFC North with a win over the Jets on Thursday. Another great Thursday night game. I don't see the Ravens in two days. I don't predict blowouts much. Baltimore is going to beat the Jets by three touchdowns. Yeah, that feels safe.

It's not a good matchup for what New England, for what New York? can do and can't do, that could get ugly really fast. And they're rolling. And Lamar became the second quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. He still needs 23 yards to break Vick's single season record. So I think we might see that on Thursday night. We will. We've had so many great Thursday night games.

I think this may not quite be as competitive. It won't be as competitive. No, but get in to watch the Ravens anytime. And the sacrilegious coming from Pittsburgh. but I would just have this conversation this weekend with another Steelers fan. And we were like, it feels kind of icky, but you can't help it because Lamar Jackson is so likable. And just the way that they're playing this year, like, you have to respect it. Yeah.

They're so fun to watch. Totally do. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Line News. I know I sound like the Grinch today. I thought the Saints looked great in a loss. Kansas City worried me in a win.

So let's go to my friend Trent Dill for a decade and a half in the NFL, a professional. Bowl of the Super Bowl. I covered him down in Tampa via the Coward Global Satellite Network. I got to tell you, Trent, the headline is really sexy. Patriots 21 game home winning streak snapped. That's great. But when I watched it with Kansas City situationally, man, Trent, block punt, can't run the ball. Don't you have a couple concerns about Kansas City's viability in December and January this morning? I do. I think it's two different buckets. I think going to New England and being New England up there, whether they're the same New England as past years or not,

is still a huge deal, especially what they went through pregame, not having some of their equipment, the distraction that probably was. So to win the game, I give them a lot of credit. Now, to dissect the game and say, are there issues with the chiefs? Absolutely. They're frenetic at times offensively. It's hard for them to consistently establish the line of scrimmage and the run game. defensively, they still have some big holes. That's a shell of themselves, the New England Patriots offense.

They defend it again. So I still think there's some real concerns doing for Kansas City on whether they can finish this race. I think they're a dynamic team. I think they have one of the best players in all football and Patrick Mahomes. They're explosive. They're sexy. They have sizzle. Do they have sustainability?

I seriously doubt it. You know, I was saying this earlier, Trent, and you played for a decade and a half. and I covered you early, but after the hits and after time and the travel, it wears everybody out. Drew Breeze missed five or six weeks this year due to a hand injury. But in a weird way, he looks so much fresher. Here we go into mid-decent. I mean, I noticed it yesterday. I thought, God, Drew looks great.

And I thought last year, Trent, I thought he looked tired late. Did you notice any of this? Yeah, he's got that bounce in his step. And you always look at a quarterback's legs this late in their career. and Tom Brady and Drew Breeze. And remember Kurt Warner talking about this at the end of his career. You could always see it show up in a quarterback's legs.

You see Dan Marino at the end of his career, John Elway at the end of his career. You start looking at the all-time greats and you start noticing it. They lack that bounce in their step. And you can see that with Drew last year. Now, these guys work so hard in the off season. They dedicate so much to their bodies and their craft.

But I think I know where you're getting at. That break for Drew has really paid dividends for him long term this season, because he looked like a 33, 34-year-old Drew Reeslasch yesterday with his legs and kind of that juice he has in his body. I want to talk about, and I said, when I was never a Baker fan, I think he's an NFL quarterback. I didn't think he had a secret sauce that made him a number one. I don't think he was great at anything. He was just a real accurate thrower.

But I wonder this morning, after he called out Duke Johnson and his teammates took him aside and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's money. You don't talk about that. And then he called out the medical staff. And I wonder, Trent, this morning, if there are people in that organization saying, listen, this guy's, it's becoming a problem.

There's a maturity issue here, the interceptions, the judgment, because I cannot believe of the things he's done. That felt like the most egregious. Fans will disagree with me on this. But what did you make of him calling out the medical staff? It seems like at times he doesn't know his lane. Like he thinks his lane.

is to be the global spokesperson for the Cleveland Browns, that he is a brand more than a player. I think Baker has a lot of really good quality. And I appreciate his authenticity. They never tries to be anybody but himself. But what he lacks is discernment and wisdom, both on the football field with some of the decisions he makes and then off the field with some of the things he says.

That's not an indictment on his personality. I think you can grow out of those things. He's still a young man. I think a lot of times we hold these young players to a standard that, you know, what are you these days? Are you in your 50s yet? Yeah, barely. Yeah, I'm late 40s.

Like these kids should know what we know for all the mistakes we've made. And they're making those mistakes right now. And I think Baker's making those mistakes both on the field, which he'll learn from and off the field where he's opening his mouth at times when he shouldn't. He's becoming a team spokesperson when he doesn't have to be when he's calling guys out. And he'll learn from those mistakes. I do think this about Baker. If you look at his career going all the way back to high school, he does learn from his mistakes.

He does grow. He does mature. He's just young in that process as an NFL player. And I'm willing to give him and a lot of other young NFL players a little bit longer leashed than most because I was the ultimate knucklehead. And I said really stupid things. And I got outside my lane and I had really good people around me that surrounded me and kind of tried to correct those things.

Yeah. So Ram, Seattle, we tend to overreact on Monday. and I'm not bearing Seattle. They've been in a variety of close, competitive games. Flash Gordon hasn't kind of worked out. They had an injury to a running back. I'm not, but I did look at the Rams, and I thought, oh, boy, boy, here we go. McVeigh's kind of stirred the sauce.

Did you think less of Seattle or more of the Rams, and what did you make of the Rams? I thought more of the Rams. I thought the physicality in the run game, the creativity in the run games, to be able to look for outside-the-box ways of games, getting the edge versus Seattle Seahawks defense is very good in the interior and usually hard to run outside against getting to two tight ends, making those edges longer, using receivers to get the ball on the perimeter in the run game, opening up for Gurley at times. I thought they were physical when they ran. I thought their perimeter blocking was really good. That something doesn't get

talked about enough in the NFL when you're big sitting on the perimeter and then your receivers are physical on the perimeter run game. That's where big runs come. They had a lot of chunk runs. I thought they're more efficient. And then as they talked about on the telecast, I thought defensively, they're starting to gel. They're starting to understand their identity. And they looked really good against a excellent football team in the Seattle Seahawks. You know, we talked about, and I'm going to talk about it later,

but you talk about something. I'd never heard this before. You mentioned it. You called it kind of intellectually twitch muscles and physically. Now, we know when you watch Lamar, we know athletically he's got what they call Twitch muscles. But he made two or three plays yesterday, Trent, where he's a cat, man. He is so fast that he's confronted with a linebacker, and he made these quick intellectual twitch plays where you literally had no time to think, and he was good on all of them. And I don't know if it's instincts,

but he wasn't impressive stat-wise yesterday. But I watched him yesterday against a good Buffalo defense, And I'm just like, man, that kid thinks fast. Like he does, he can make decisions. And sometimes I think in the NFL, quarterback more than anything is just a, it's a judgment position. And I don't know how much of Baltimore Buffalo you watch, but I was really taken back by Lamar in an uninspiring statistical Sunday. Yeah. So I think what you're talking about is the ability to have twitchy processing, a twitchy mind. There's three areas of twitch.

There's twitchy body, which we all kind of know. We all can see that with athletes. There's twitchy minds, guys that can process at a unique speed and twitchy eyes. Guys for quarterbacks, especially guys that can, without seeing it, see it, as their eyes move from one thing to the next, they're actually starting their process to throw the ball or make a play before their eyes ever get there. I think Lamar has all three.

People weren't sure about his processing. But when you go back and you look at the Louisville tape, he was asked to do a lot as a quarterback at Louisville. And I didn't always do it consistently, but you could see signs of his ability to process at a very high speed and digest a lot of information. Now you're starting to see it all come through fruition. I think the bills are more than a good defense call.

And I think there are a very, very, very good defense, top five in the NFL. And his ability to make those plays, both his eyes, his mind and his body is what won the Baltimore Ravens that game. And that's why I think the last two weeks, his stats haven't been overly impressive, but his competitive temperament and his playmaking and his. His ability to put the team on his back is what stood out in those ugly games, because that's what playoff football is going to be for the Baltimore Ravens, the way they've chosen to play football.

Let's circle back finally, Trent Dilfer joining us. I mean, New England, to me, they have a Hail Mary. The legal situation of Antonio Brown is it. I thought Kansas City would win. I just think it's one of these things where sometimes, Trent, and you were in this league for a decade and a half, a team does not address an issue in the draft or free agency. And then all of a sudden we forget about it in November.

So Gronk was going to retire for the last two years. They have not addressed tight end. They don't draft receivers particularly well. Tom Stiles sort of rigid now. I look at New England and I think this is more of a draft acquisition offseason thing. I don't see their problems as really solvable, are they? In terms of winning a Super Bowl, this is the first time in years. I've said, man, they don't really have an appearance of a Super Bowl team.

And I thought for a while they could do it with defense, special teams, and a conservative offense. But now this defense hasn't shown up the last couple weeks as it has earlier in the year. So now your fastball has gone from 96 to about 92, and you're not paying the corners you're throwing over the middle of the plate. Your special teams now made a mistake that helped you got beat instead of help you win the game, even though they got a special team's play back.

And the offense is just kind of held serve as kind of that off-speed crappy curveball that goes about 82. and sometimes hits the strike zone and sometimes it doesn't. So this is the first time this year I've said, whoa, this does not look like a Super Bowl team. But in the same breath, I'll say they know how to get better late in the year. And if that defense gets its fastball up to 96, I still think they know how to win those hard games, even though Baltimore looks invincible Kansas cities beat them. There's other good teams the AFC.

By the way, is the head football coach at Lipscomb Academy head football coach in Nashville. They won a couple of playoff games this year, and we keep track of that. So we'll have you on next week as well. Trent, I love it on a Monday. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks, brother. All right, Trent Dilfer, love having him on. Covered him in Tampa years ago, and then he went to the Ravens and won a Super Bowl.

Seahawks, Browns, Niners, he has been everywhere. Okay, coming up next, I've got strong thoughts on college football. We've got our final four teams in college football. And why the NFL, why the NFL is so much different. than college. Part of it I don't like. Part of it I do, but I saw something last night, Ram Seahawks. And it really is everything in football. And it's everything. And we think it's something and we never talk about it. But why I think it's one of the most important things in football that's coming up. Plus top of the hour, Colin right, Colin wrong. Plenty of both

on a Monday. Good stuff. Urban Meyer next hour as well. Be sure to catch live editions of the heard weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that

never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Eye Heart Radio. app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help

you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast.

Vic Synex nasal spray starts working within seconds and lasts up to 12 hours, just a couple of sprays, and you are breathing easier. Top of the hour where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. And it's great to have you in on a Monday today. Urban Meyer next hour. You know, I mean, my kind of macro thought today was Saints lost, but a good loss. Kansas City won, but I've got questions. I thought that was a real big picture thing with the Rams last night,

is that first of all, Jared Goff can play. As Joy and I talked about that, he's fine. Now, now, he's not a kid that can play with guard-center guard issues. He's not Lamar Jackson, but he can play. And last night he made a couple of great throws. We overreacted. It's the worst contract than sports. He throws a beautiful football from day one, I've said.

He's Matt Ryan with a better long ball. He throws a beautiful football, but he needs good guard-center guard play, and he needs a running game. Matt Ryan got to a Super Bowl. Jared Goff last year got to a Super Bowl. He outplayed Drew Breeze in New Orleans. Stop. Jared Goff's fine, but there are certain things he cannot overcome.

For the record, Brady's never had a bad guard-center guard. This is Brady's weakest offensive line. He hasn't looked as good. Certain quarterbacks need help in certain situations. But my big takeaway on this is that in college football, you cannot have a bad Saturday. season's over, can't win a national championship. In the NFL, you can have a bad month. I mean, Kansas City had a bad month.

Baltimore wasn't very good in September. New England's bad now. But the key is in the NFL. It's not linear. Nobody's great for 16 weeks. You have injuries. You lose key players in key spots. The question in the NFL is when,

and they're outside of New England's like perfect regular season with Randy Moss. When you go sideways, when you have an injury, do you have the head coach that can spot the problem? Half the league can't. Okay, we got an issue and then solve it and scheme out of it. The best news for the Rams was, in November, Jared Goff didn't have a touchdown pass. They had a crisis on the offensive line.

Goff lost his confidence. Sean McVeigh, what's our problem? Okay, here it is. now I'm going to scheme myself out of this. And he did. Do you notice last night, goffs rolling, goffs rolling, goffs rolling, the offensive line's not going to be great. They drafted a kid, they put him in, he's better than they thought I was told. And then they also said, we're going to get girly more involved in a passing game.

So the best news for the Rams isn't just the win. It's that you've got a coach that's smart enough to spot a problem and scheme his way out of it. schemings winning in this league. Cleveland's a mess. They can't figure their way out of it. By the way, Tennessee started off Rocky. They spotted their issue. Our quarterbacks are problem.

They replaced him. Tennessee's won six of seven. Sometimes the issue is like Pittsburgh. We're on our third quarterback. Mike Tomlin has said, okay, we're on our third quarterback. What am I going to do? He addressed it. And Pittsburgh, it could potentially be the weakest offense to ever make the NFL

playoffs. and the Rams. We have a crisis O-line. We've got to start rolling guys. They used their running backs. They used their wide receivers last night in running situations. And you sit back and you're like, you can feel great as a ram fan. Because success is not linear in this league.

You're going to have bad months. September's always been New England's bad month. It just how happens now. December and November is the bad sort of four to five week spot for New England. But don't kid yourself. New England lost five games last year to five non-playoff teams. New England's now collecting. data as they lose close to Kansas City.

Just collecting data. All right, I got some college football thoughts here. So I hear this a lot. This is a big thing you hear in college a lot. Well, they haven't played anybody. Clemson hasn't played anybody. Clemson is no good. They haven't played anybody.

So the college football playoff rankings came out. LSU 1, Ohio State 2, Clemson 3, Oklahoma 4. Got no problem with any of it. Got no problem with any of it. But all year, all I've heard is, oh, my Lord, this is the best Ohio State team ever. Unbeatable! Well, that's funny because Clemson was the favorite. And wise guys in Vegas bet Clemson more when the number came out.

All you keep doing is telling Clemson's players and their coaching staff, they're no good, they're overrated, they shouldn't be even a three, three, seed. And this is the best coaching staff in America. Nick Saban has told people that the staff he faced last year against Clemson is the best staff he has faced. Bama didn't just get blown out last year. Bama's coaches got blown out by Clemson's coaches. Clemson's got a great head coach.

Their defensive coordinator loves Dabo and Clemson. He's a head coach. They're offensive coordinators, also good enough to be a head coach. three head coaches on this staff. And they got five-star players everywhere. I haven't played anybody. Either did Pete Carroll's USC Trojans. That criticism just helps Clemson.

Number one is they're healthier than everybody else because they haven't been in these physical wars like every other team, like LSU and Ohio State have been in. Secondly, when you're a comfortable, dominant team like USC and Pete Carroll was in the Pact 12, you can experiment more. You can play younger players. You can develop young players more for those big late-season games. games because you're not in a lot of close, you know, overtime battles. And the other thing is Clemson experience, I think they have the best coaching staff left.

I think they have the most big game experience of these teams left. I think they have as good a talent and the better quarterback than all these teams left. And by the way, all they've heard all year, if play anybody, Clemson is overrated. And that's what Dabo is selling to his team for the next four. Weeks, here's Davo. That's fun. I mean, you know, everybody loves a challenge, or at least, you know, we love one here. And, you know, I think that just, again, it's just, you're always looking for little things along the way to free fuel.

When you're going across country, man, free fuel is good. It's expensive. Gas has cost a lot of money. So when you get free fuel, it's always, it's always good. Here's how overrated Clemson is. Last five times they've played SEC teams. They're 5-0 with mostly blowout wins. You just keep telling them how they're no good and overrated and shouldn't be seated there.

Because if this is the best Ohio State team ever, go look at the point spread. Because it's not the best Clemson team ever, right? They're barely lucky to be here. It's the best Ohio State team ever. Go look at the point spread. Go see what the sharps are betting. Yeah. Like produce, how about them apples, Ohio State?

All right. Coming up next where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. fired up on a Monday. Go to untucket.com. Code is heard. GQ calls a perfection. These are our shirts, untucked, built to be untucked.

Untucket.com. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Oh, here we go on a Monday

live in Los Angeles. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, we're on Fox Sports Radio, and we are on FS1. 40 minutes from now, Urban Meyer stops by. You will not want to miss that. He's been just a smashing success so far as a college football analyst. Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, by the way, this next weekend is going down to Florida to watch Cousins in the high school football state championships. My nephews, yeah. How about that? Isaiah and Mason. Hi, hi guys. Jason coaches at St. Thomas Aquinas. and they go there and they made the state championship. A legendary high school program.

Your brother is the D-Line coach. Yep. Most handsome D-line coach in high school football history. He's very animated as well. Oh, yeah, he's all over the place, right? He's crazy. All right, well, I do it every week because I make mistakes and I have opinions, and I got to hold myself accountable for this stuff.

And, you know, so we call it Colin was right. Colin was wrong. And on a Monday, here we go. Where Colin was right? I had my best betting week of the year. I was 3 and 0 in my college picks and 4 and 1 in my blazeze. five. I took the Chiefs to beat the Patriots in Kansas City. I took the Ravens to cover against the Bills. I took the Broncos and the eight and a half against Houston. That game was over in 10 minutes.

And I took Cleveland and narrowly cover against the Cincinnati Bengals. The only game I lost, I don't even get into it. I bet Arizona again. I don't know what's wrong with me. I have no idea. Yeah, you're done dragging me into that too. I have lost more Americans money on the Arizona Cardinals. I apologize deeply for that. where Colin was wrong. Well, I got to be fair. I've been critical of Patrick Mahomes. I know he's talented, but I'm like, where's the it?

In the big games? Where is the play? I don't care about your stats in your arm. I've heard that for Aaron Rogers forever. You got to win big games, road games. He won one. I thought he showed he played hurt. Okay, so that kid was not healthy last night.

He also, I thought on the sideline, showed great leadership qualities. He was in guys' faces, veterans' faces. I thought Mahalm showed me what I love. about the best quarterbacks in this league. It's not about your arm. We know it's good. I know I know that's not the issue. Can you go on the road? Can you play hurt? By the way, they fell behind. You're facing the best defense in a coach in NFL history. You're facing the best secretary. He made big plays and he deserves credit. That was an it game. I don't care about the stats.

Leadership, barking at teammates, playing hurt, winning in Foxboro, falling behind, overcoming it deserves credit. where Colin was right. What do you know, Uncle Colin nailed the OBJ thing? I told you, it's never going to work in Cleveland. It's never going to fit. And Jay Glazer reported yesterday, OBJ wants out. First of all, he's on career lows for targets and touchdowns and yards. Of the many things I didn't like about this, oh, he and Jarvis Landry are buddies.

Nobody cares. Nobody cares. These are young athletes in their prime building brands. They want their targets. They have bonuses based on production. I don't care if they're buddies. This doesn't work. OBJ is an international name.

Cleveland's a regional at Beth City. You've got a young immature quarterback. Landry tends to be a volume receiver, so he's gobbling up 80 or 90 catches a year. And I felt that Cleveland would try to force OBJ to be happy, and that's exactly what's happening. And now he's not happy. And, I mean, this has been exactly what I thought,

which is, you know, some distractions. He's not a good fit with Baker. You should have never given up an offensive lineman for him. It's exactly what we predicted. Where Colin was wrong. Kawhi Leonard is not yet better than LeBron James. LeBron is now the MVP of the league having an unbelievable year. And Kauai having a career low field goal percentage year has missed six games already.

Clippers are clearly second in Los Angeles to the Lakers. Lakers have won 11 straight road games, which is just unheard of in the NBA. He also got Kauai crushed the other night in the biggest game of the year, not against the Lakers by Milwaukee. He's had a couple of stinkers. I still think he's a terrific player, but I kind of thought he would come to Los Angeles and take it over, and he's not. LeBron is still the king.

Where Colin was right? I don't understand the doubters on Jimmy Garoppolo. I just don't get it. I watched him yesterday at the Superdome out duel a great Drew Breeze. Size, good enough. Legs, outstanding. Confidence totally has an it factor. Accurate thrower, absolutely.

And by the way, then went on the road late in the game and made the big throw. Remember, George Kittle's still a baby. The receivers outside of Emmanuel Sanders are mostly kids. He's overcome offensive line injuries all year. They lost their fullback. Listen, man, he slings it. This kid, I always said there's a handsome quotient here. When you're that good looking for your entire life, you walk around with confidence.

He plays with a ton of swagger. He has three, four touchdown games. He's eighth in the NFL and passer rating. I don't understand the critic. There are still critics out there. When you can go into the Superdome on that final drive in the loudest stadium in the league and out-dule-drew-breeze, I don't know what else you guys need to see on Jimmy Garoppolo. Where Colin was wrong.

Utah football, that wasn't great. I thought they were the number four team in the country with all these NFL defensive players. They got rolled by Oregon. It was never really competitive. Listen, the two most talented offensive teams they played all year were USC and Oregon, and both crushed them. In the end, listen, it's... They never beat a really good team all year.

Utah's problem always seems like the same thing. In the biggest games, they shrink. And they've always had good defense, but man, did their defense get exposed against Oregon? Now, Oregon's a real team, for the record. Three NFL offensive linemen, maybe the first, second or third pick at quarterback, Justin Herbert, but the Utes totally disappointed me.

Where Colin was right? I've said for years, Joy, I laugh about this. I like the Tennessee Titans, and I never thought Marcus Marioo was the solution. I always thought he was holding him back in the problem. Well, they replaced Marcus Marioo with Tannahill, and they're six and one now. Now, let's slow down on giving Tannahill a 10-year deal. He's a nice transitional piece.

Maybe you franchise tag him. He's a big, strong kid who can run. A lot of Mitch Trabisky, but a better thrower. I don't see him as a five-year commitment guy. But this is a team that has a star running back, excellent receivers, a good slot guy, an over-the-top guy, good offensive lineman. I like Mike Vrable. You know, as much as we think they can't win big games, they're nine and seven

every year, and I always felt that Marcus Mariotta was a non-verbal kid at the most verbal position in sports. And so this, let's not give Tannahill, you know, a six-year deal here, but this is kind of what I've been saying for years is I like

so much of what the Titans do, but I thought Marioita held them back. They move him out, and clearly, they're red hot. Where Colin was wrong. I revoked the Sean McVeigh genius card a month early. When you watched them a month ago and you watched them last night against Seattle, you could take nothing from it other than, boy, Sean McVeigh's good.

They still have real offensive line issues. Todd Gurley, despite what people will say this morning, is not Todd Gurley of old. But, I mean, Seattle, they have done a great job with their defense. Jalen Ramsey has given them options defensively. They went back to Gurley as a receiver too. A lot of rolling out of Jared Goff. I thought last night was, I mean, remember this. They were averaging 11 points a game in November.

31 in December. So that was a coaching referendum on excellent coaching. Where Colin was right? The NFL has said reportedly they will not change the playoff system. It's just Dallas Cowboys hate. They don't care if Dallas wins their decision. division with a losing record. They're not going to suddenly change it. The reality is sometimes a wild card team like Seattle is better than a division leading team like Dallas. But I've seen

three times in recent memory a division winning team with a bad record play a wild card team with a better record and the division leader with the bad record wins the game. Does the media have to overreact to everything? This feels like Dallas Cowboy hate. I've seen Carolina win a division with a bad record. Seattle and the Chargers and nobody freaked out. Now it's the Cowboys and you're all freaking out. Thank God the NFL's not going to overreact. Where Colin was right.

Let's go back to Thursday. My knock on the Cowboys offense all year has been I like the pieces. They have no identity because they have Kellyn Moore, a kid at coordinator and he's just Colin plays with no self-awareness big picture. What did they do Thursday night?

So they have a 17 play opening drive. Zeeke gets eight carries. Dack gets a couple, and then they forget who they are and stop running the football. They had 12 rushing carries the rest of the game. Dallas Thursday night was the two things all year. And we spotted this two months ago. We spotted this. What are they?

There's a difference between calling plays. There are scripted drive is telling you what they think they are all week. Then they get into the games and they don't go back to what they scripted because they really don't know what they are. And again, defensively, every quarterback they face, Trebisky, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, it doesn't matter. They all have their best game of the year. So we were right on the Cowboys. We not only said they were a little overrated, but we said the two things we said were identity issues on offense and they make quarterbacks too comfortable. So, okay, there's an interesting story.

Last week, Urban Meyer is about 20 minutes out. last week I said there was an interesting story by a very respected guy. When I lived out in Connecticut, this was the guy that I really tuned into and read all of his stuff, Tom Curran, on the Patriot stuff. And there's a, I mean, believe me, Boston's a big market. There's a million people cover in the Patriots. But his story was about the strain between Belichick and Brady. How is it going to end that Tom Brady's dad thinks it won't end well? I don't think there's a succession plan for Tom Brady in New England.

I think it could end well and poorly for the Patriots. so we'll go deep diving in on New England. This does not appear to be a Super Bowl team. They did not address the tight-in position in the draft. They let Josh Gordon go. A-B's out and not coming back. Gronk retired. No plan. That is coming up next.

Tom Kern, we go to Boston plus Urban Meyer on what was a fantastic weekend to college football as well. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your host, favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month,

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

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Ms. Park. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Kunky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers.

We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week, Thursday Night Football, has the NFL's most electric player as MVP frontrunner, Lamar Jackson, and the Ravens take on Sam Darnold and the Jets.

It all starts at 7.30 Eastern, 430 Pacific on Fox, NFL Network, and streaming on Prime Video. I know we work for Fox, and we're supposed to be very popular. Positive. That game feels like it's going to be, it's just not going to be close. That is my gut feeling on that, Joy. Well, you have to watch because Lamar is likely going to pass Michael Vicks' single-season rushing record.

And also, please patronize our sponsors Thursday. I just think it'll be over nine minutes. I mean, maybe. But I do think he is going to break Vick's record. I don't think it's a hot take. But, like, you want to see that. That's history. the draw.

Yes. Competitive balance is not the draw. He's the draw. Well, you know what they say, any given Thursday. That's exactly what they say. Joy Taylor joining me. So when I lived in Connecticut for 10 years, it didn't take me long to figure out who had the most accurate information on New England.

He's a terrific reporter. He's been working at NBC Boston for a long time covering the Patriots since about the mid-90s. His name is Tom Curran. And his Twitter address is Tom E. Curran on Twitter. Got a podcast on Tuesday. Thursdays as well. He's going to be joining us now via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, enough sucking up by me. Here we go, Tommy. Here we go. Let's start with this. What is the reaction this morning? I heard booze last night. What was the reaction this morning to the

loss at home snapping the Patriots home winning streak? Well, there's a mixed reaction. There's one portion that is, hey, everything's fine. We've seen this movie before. They did this last year. Actually, they were nine and five last year, and they won the Super Bowl. So everybody just relax and stop being a maniac about it. Then there's the other segment, which is looking at it and saying, if you look at what's going on, there's a trend here. And this is what the Patriots are heading toward, which is something far apart from what the Patriots experienced last year. And then there's people who just happen to be here. It's very interesting because Brady takes the hit because he's the quarterback, Tom, and that's the sport. Like baseball. The managers always take the heat, never the pitcher who can't, you know, get guys out.

It's the manager. Here's my issue. I think a lot of this is Belichick. They have not addressed the tight end possession, knowing Gronk's health. They have not, Gronks, the only pro bowler they've drafted at tight end wide receiver or running back in 19 years with Belichick. We've looked that up.

Edelman's never been a pro bowler. Some of this to me is the produce isn't good enough for the chef, Tom Brady. Do you think there's a little bit of resentment from Tom that he's taking the hit but it doesn't have a ton to work with now? I don't think

cares necessarily about the hit, but I do think that he definitely cares about the personnel calling it. And you're exactly right. You've had Grunkowski who's been injured and intimating retirement for years. The Patriots tried to trade him to Detroit prior the 2018 season. If they had done that, they would have had a big problem in the hands because I think Brady might have said, you know, I'm not going to come if you're going to pull that on me. So they haven't brought in any tight ends except for Ryan Isill through the draft and he was a seventh round pick last year. Meanwhile, you got George Kittle and Mark Andrews and any other number of tight ends. So, yeah, I think that Brady understands, I don't have a voice in personnel, and I never will.

And you know what? He's also had light on Marblehead that they don't want him to have a voice, and he has to just bang out on it. That's why we've seen a little bit of a detachment from Brady, I think, this year, and say, you know, don't ask me. I just work here. And it's a very interesting dynamic to watch, because whether it's Manning or Montana or Elway or any number of superstar elite franchise Hall of Fame level quarterbacks. They had almost a, you know, a VP of personnel voice on the offense with the head coach or at least consulted. That does not happen here in New England.

Brady is cognizant of that. And I think that's part of the reason when he's left holding the bag that he doesn't sit there and say happy, happy, joy, joy, we're going to get better. You know, we know because of articles written there, we saw Tom versus Time documentary. wants to be respected. This is kind of a strained relationship, which frankly, you know, in Los Angeles, you saw Kobe and Shaq couldn't coexist for six or seven years. So the fact they've lasted forever is remarkable. But there have been situations that I read in your article, you know, Tom Brady's dad says, I don't think it'll end well for Tom. And my takeaway is, oh, no, he could go on the open market tomorrow. He'd have some suitors like Peyton did after four surgeries.

What's the succession plan in New England privately or covertly? Jared Stidham is not Lamar Jackson or Patrick Malhombs. Do you think they privately have a succession plan for Tom? No, I don't. I think that those are bridges that they will cross when they get to them, and they always, always, always figure something out. I mean, there'll be a fleet of free agent quarterbacks they can pick from. There'll be trade opportunities.

But right now, what their next move will be is to try and forecast what they're going to do with the position when Brady's contract inspires. He made $23 million this year in salary. That's $10 million less than Jared Gough, for instance, $5 million less than Jimmy Garapolo. And when Brady goes back to the table with the statistics that he is going to have in 2019 and says, hey, I'm 43, let's give me the raise that I have coming to me. They're going to shake their head. He's going to say, see?

Well, that's why I made sure that you guys couldn't franchise me. I'm going to go someplace else. two things I want to address here Robert Kraft is very close with Tom do you think he would ever allow him to leave I don't think it's crazy talk no I don't either and here's the reason why in the story I wrote last week I went back to a Peter King

story from 2013 when Brady signed his contract and Kraft went on and on about how he more or less signed Brady to that contract as a fan and not an owner He said he wanted to do something elegant for Brady so that there was never a Montana or a Farrb situation with Brady or Manning where he was playing someplace else. He figured that this contract bringing Brady through 40 was going to be the way to do it.

And they also put the succession plan in place by drafting Garoppola the next year. All this was supposed to be over in 2017. They've already tried Colin to orchestrate the contract that takes him to the end. And there's a point at which the philosophy that they have about value and getting out before a guy is, declining rather than after is important.

So I think that's where Robert Kraft would have to say, look, I've done all I could. If Tom wants to keep playing, we can't do it at the number he wants. Interesting. I also want to address something. So Jay Glazer is somebody I also trust and respect. He says, OBJ is telling people, get me out of here. Am I nuts?

Because A.B.'s legal problems, option two, OBJ in New England. It's not nuts, right? Like New England? It's not. No. It's not nuts, right? Not at all. Go ahead.

Your thoughts on that? No, 100%. That makes perfect sense. I mean, when you look at AB, I mean, he has undermined teams and blown up bridges as he's left town. But with OBJ, yeah, he's been a handful. Most of his stuff, though, Colin, and correct me, if you disagree, has revolved around football. It's not tardiness. It's not not showing up.

It's not FaceTime video in the locker room after a win. It's foolishness related to the game. And a lot of it has to do, in my estimate. with the structure around him, the discipline level, and we're certainly seeing that in Cleveland. He can't get the right visor on. He has the wrong cleats on. That's stuff that wouldn't even enter into it here.

So, yeah, I think they would embrace that, the Patriots, as long as he played by their rules, quote unquote, and they would be happy to take that risk if it would work. And the money works. I mean, OBJ is on a very reasonable contract right now. Finally, losses to Baltimore, a loss to California, a loss to Kansas City. I always kind of feel like even when New England

loses, Tom, they're just collecting data. But I've said before, this does not, there's no vertical component. It does not feel like a Super Bowl team to me. Do you agree or disagree with that this morning? I agree with it. I agree with it because what they're going to have to do is what we've seen over the last

five weeks. They're going to have to keep teams in the teams to win. And that's an awful lot to ask of what I still think is one of the best defenses in the NFL. You know, yesterday on a short field, they gave up seven. Okay? They end up losing by seven. The week before, on a short field at the beginning of the game, they get themselves into a 14 to three hole. That offense is not prepared to come back. If you can keep teams in the teens, you can win. But the Patriots are not built, and there is nobody coming over the

mountaintop or over the ridge to save them offensively. This is what they have, and this is what they have to dance with. Yeah, I mean, they blocked a punt. They were at home. They took a lead, and they and they still could not win. It does feel like there is a lower ceiling. Tom E. Curran is his name. Follow him on Twitter. Tom E. Curran. And I appreciate you stopping by.

It's always drama as dynasties unfold. Tom, thank you so much. Thank you, but. Appreciate it. So, you know, it's interesting. So what he said about Robert Kraft? Very fascinating. So Kraft did Tom a solid.

Garapolo's out will extend you. But now Kraft can always go back and say, Tommy, you're 43 now. We did not design this for you at 43. So Kraft did Brady a solid, but he's a reasonable business man. He's not a billionaire because he's a sucker. And I do think you get to a point with Brady now that he can't go to the well to Robert Kraft again. And Tom seems to agree with that. Here's Joy with the News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. playoff is set. LSU moved up to the number one spot with a dominating win over Georgia

in the SEC title game and we'll take on the Big 12 champs number four, Oklahoma. Ohio State completed the comeback against Wisconsin to win the Big Ten. But Feltz number two, we'll face off with number three Clemson, who blew out Virginia, 62, 17 for the ACC title game. All four teams rank in the top seven in scoring offense. So these should be great games. You are leaning towards Clemson though, huh? I like Clemson over Ohio State. I like LSU over Oklahoma. I think LSU, Oklahoma, will be just a lot of points.

Well, according to Fox bet, LSU's 13-point favorites over Oklahoma. I don't think Oklahoma has the offensive dimensions that LSU does. LSU can go over the top. They can run it. They can power it. They can finesse it. So I think LSU, I don't think Oklahoma is going to stop them on three drives. And Clemson is favored by two against Ohio State.

Yeah. By the way, this is a lot. is the best Ohio State team ever, and they came out an underdog, and the wise guys bet Clemson. I don't bet. I barely believe in illegalized gambling. But in this instance, I think Ohio State is going to have their hands full with an offense. They have faced nothing like this Clemson offense before. I think Clemson has seen over the last couple of years stuff that looks a little like Ohio State.

I don't think Ohio State and the Big Ten has seen anything like this Clemson offense ever. That's fair. and Clemson is getting a little bit of a doubt here, probably because of what we've seen from Ohio State. Yeah. But I don't know. I can't wait. I think I'm kind of leaning towards Ohio State.

All right. It's not a terrible. I mean, I don't think that's a diss of Clemson. You know, Dabo might get an extra fuel. Look, they probably should be favored, but because you're right. Clemson has seen more of what of this than Ohio State has. but I just think of how state they're so fast. They are.

But Clemson faces multiple SEC teams a year, and they crush all of them. They've seen SEC speed. I just think we don't watch Clemson as much because if you look at the ratings, we watch SEC football and we watch Big Ten football. We don't watch SEC football. ACC, yeah. Yeah, ACC, my bad. And we don't watch a ton of it.

And I'm telling you, Clemson's offense, all of their offensive skill people, backs, quarterback, tight it. They're all NFL dudes that can run. Well, I think the committee did a great job, and they're going to be great games. So Ryan Tannahill is six and one since taking over for Marcus Marriota as a Titan starter, and he might be staying in Tennessee for a while. The Titans are reportedly discussing a long-term extension for Tannahill instead of a franchise tag to keep him with the team as a starting quarterback.

He's currently set to be a free agent at the end of the season. Good for Ryan Tannehill. I got to say it. I mean, I didn't think he was the guy in Miami, but there were a lot of issues in Miami. obviously. Listen, Tennessee has, Corey Davis is a Humphreys is a slot guy.

They got the running back Derek Henry. Right. They've got weapons. They've got, you know, I mean, if you look at Tennessee's

roster offensively, they finally have a guy that, and my knock on Tannahill was always, I didn't trust, you know, you couldn't get into shootouts with Tannahill. He had to win a certain way.

But I think, I think he's well coached. Tennessee, I wouldn't want any piece of Tennessee. Well, they can take first place in the AFC South if they win against the Texans at home on Sunday. They're three-point favorites

against the Texans, according to Fox Bet. Obviously, Texans have a terrible loss. But the Texans were humiliated. You know my rule. Bounce back. Anybody that gets humiliated

the following week, watch the Texans play their game of the year, because they were eviscerated by then. Yeah, I like the Texans as well, but I don't know, the Titans are sneaky, but I would not give Ryan Tannahill

a long-term extension. No, no, no. I think you, you may have to franchise tag him and overpay him for a year. But I'm okay. But why not? He deserves that. He's earned that.

I don't know about a long-term extension, though. But I'd franchise tagging. Yeah. Good stuff. Finally, the Lakers improved the 21 and 3 on the season this weekend with the win over the Blazers and Timberwolves, 21 and 3. LeBron and Anthony Davis had high-scoring performances in both games. They became the first Lakers teammates that combined for at least 70 points in consecutive games since Shaq and Kobe in 2003. And last night, AD had his first 50-point game of the season.

you reached that 50-point landmark and just his 23rd game as a Laker, which is the third fastest in franchise history. So they are rolling. Yeah, here's the other thing. You know, I got into this discussion yesterday with a friend. LeBron had been in eight straight finals. LeBron basically didn't play last year much.

And so LeBron looks so energized. And he just looks so fresh. I mean, it was a very uncharacteristic year of LeBron with the injury alone. There was a lot of drama. there's a lot of confusion in the organization. I mean, we've just completely stopped talking about everything that went on with the Lakers last year. But it was chaotic.

The Lakers, the whole organization, that ended up being kind of a blessing in disguise because he didn't have to go through another long playoff run. His body could get some real rest, you get step away from the game, probably, you know, mentally recharge as well. They're unbelievable. They have a half game lead over the Bucks for the best record in the league, and they're four games over the Clippers for first in the West. I do think that, you know, the Clippers will start getting rolling more towards the end of the season after the All-Star Break. Now, they're playing bad, obviously, but the Lakers are running L.A. right now and the league. AD is allowed to be the number two guy on this team. And I never thought he was a guy that would carry a franchise, but when he's the two, he's the league's best two by far.

The roles matter. Yep, absolutely they do. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. I've said this before when I was out on Baker Mayfield. I said, you know, maturity matters. And I wasn't mature enough to be an NFL quarterback at 21 years old.

That's why I fell in love with Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, Deshawn Watson, is that I don't have time for you to waste. Okay, you may, Trent Dofer said it earlier. I think Baker's going to figure it out. Yeah, he'll be 30. I need you to come into this league and have good judgment. So yesterday, Lamar Jackson, this kid, and it wasn't a big statistical day, but his instincts are good. And instincts matter. I saw him two or three times yesterday have to make snap decisions, quarter of a second.

His instincts are great. He doesn't throw picks. He knows when to tuck it in. This is what I've said about. I mean, he is not, everybody compares him to Colin Kaepernick. Nope, Michael Vic, no. Barry Sanders, no. You know what he is?

He's Neo in the Matrix. That's what he is. is. Even the sunglasses make him look like Neo and the Matrix. The kid's decision making, he plays so fast that he has to make decisions so much faster than other quarterbacks. And I'm sitting there yesterday. I'm like, Buffalo's defense is a big boy defense. They're in his face. He made a throw out to the flat once. And it got like four yards. And nobody's going to talk about it. But it was quick twitch, move, guy in his face. And I didn't even think he could spot him. And he went, boom, out to the right. And I

thought that Baker Mayfield has time to throw and makes bad decisions. Baker Mayfield isn't guilty and runs from the cops. Baker Mayfield, when it's comfortable, has, when he's at a podium and time to collect his thoughts and think about it. Baker's got bad instincts. Some of it's just DNA. Lamar's instincts are winning instincts and winning traits and fast thinking. and I was just blown away by some of his moves yesterday. For a young guy like this to have a sense of everybody around him,

it's really remarkable. I mean, listen, I thought he could play in the NFL. He's gotten good, fast mover, fast thinker. It's really impressive, really impressed with him. And we're making all these comparisons. I don't, he's not a running back. I don't see him as Kaepernick. He's a much more accurate, better touch.

I don't think Michael Vick was nearly as mature as Lamar was coming into the league, so I don't see him as Michael Vick. There's just a lot of good there. Speaking of good, Urban Myers around the corner, his thoughts on a crazy playoff with three heavyweights, that's around the corner. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call.

changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

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Tony Gonzalez as well. You know, it's interesting. We talk about, you know, the New England dynasty. Is it over? You know, it's funny yesterday. Jacoby Myers, the rookie wide receipts. receiver had two huge drops. He may have had three drops total, but he had two huge drops.

Nikiel Harry got into the end zone and the refs didn't give it to New England. So, you know, if the rookie doesn't drop it in the end zone and the ref doesn't butcher a call that's right in front of him, New England wins the football game. So, you know, it's funny. I say this all the time. Can you identify the problem? Half this league, fans can't do it at all. Fans are, oh, it's Brady.

It's not Brady. Brady had a touchdown drop by a rookie. He also dropped two other passes, and the keel Harry due to a bad call, that was a touchdown. So, Brady's not the issue. Now, Brady's not as good as he once was. He's really not. I mean, I don't think he has quite the arm strength, but he's not the issue. When the Rams were struggling, everybody blamed Jared Gough.

And I said, Gough's not the issue. Gough's a beautiful thrower of the football. The issue is they got an offensive line crisis and no running game. And Goff, like Matt Ryan, is not built for that. Not all these quarterbacks. Even Lamar Jackson now. If Lamar's down by three or four touchdowns and the defense changes and nobody's threatened by his running, then Lamar Jackson probably at this point in his career is not going to be as good as he would four years from now.

You talk to the Russell Wilson's and the Jared Goffs. And they're like, it takes time to see everything. thing in the league and kind of go through all the coordinators and all their little tricks. It just takes time. This job, your job. We need reps and time and Lamarra didn't have a ton and Josh didn't have a ton. And Russell Wilson always says, year three, I figured it out. The light went on.

So I think a lot of these identifying problems, the Rams are not a great team, but they've identified theirs. I don't think New England is saying Tom Brady stinks. I think New England's saying, can we make a trade in the offseason for Odell Beckham? That's what I think New England's doing. Can we draft a tide? I mean, I watched New England last night. They had a block punt.

They supposedly played a really bad defense, and they can't get to 20 points. Like, that's the issue. And against Dallas, the same issue. It wasn't that Tom Brady wasn't accurate against Dallas. He was. It was Philadelphia. It's the same issue. This is the worst offensive line they've had.

And in 20 years, Belichick has drafted one pro bowl skill player. Grunk. It's not that Brady can't play. But there's certain things Tom can do at this point, and Jared Goff can do at this point. And, you know, almost all quarterbacks. So that's what I see with New England. It's not a Brady issue.

Identify it. They haven't done a good job getting them people. It's just not very, watch them. They don't have any speed. Watch all the, watch the Niners play. You see their speed. Watch the Saints play. Watch the Ravens play.

Watch San Francisco. You watch some of these teams. Watch, I mean, frankly, the Rams last night. I mean, Robert Woods into Cooper Cup, and it's just Tyler Higby. It's like athlete after athlete after athlete. They just don't have them. And they haven't drafted them well.

They don't develop them well. They just don't have them. My other takeaway for the weekend is the Jay Glazer report. Now, every NFL reporter has a different strength or a different weakness. And Jay Glazer is incredibly accurate. He's not a guy that tweets a lot or posts a lot of messages. He just doesn't miss on stuff. So I made a call last night after I heard about Jay Glazer.

And by the way, we're going to do Urban Meyer at the top of next hour. So Urban Meyer out of traffic, we're going to do him top of next hour. Don't go anywhere. The interesting thing in Cleveland right now with the Browns is this season's lost. Let's get over it. They're not making the wild card. They're not as good as Tennessee. They're not as well coached as Tennessee.

They're not as well coached as Buffalo. They're not as well coached as Pittsburgh. They're not as well coached as Indianapolis. They're just not, forget the personnel. coaching matters in December and January. Cleveland's not good enough in the coaching. There was an article this weekend by Mary Kay Cabot, who's a great reporter in Cleveland.

The dysfunction around the offense is apparently palpable. But the Cleveland's problem is this, is that, and I've said this for years, I call it low sports self-esteem. When a city, New York Mets have it, when a city loses, and they have a big brother in town of the Yankees. or the clippers and the Lakers or the white socks to the Cubs.

When you have low sport self-esteem, Buffalo's had it forever, Cleveland's had it, you lose, you're in a division with the Ravens and the Steelers and they're far more successful. You tend to, instead of building a culture slowly and carefully, you tend to overpay and over-celebrate

and reach to make big splashes. So the story about OBJ wanting out of Cleveland, there was no reason to ever bring him in. It was a classic example of what I said with Baker Mayfield coming in. Baker's not talented enough to overcome the dysfunction he'll face. Baker Mayfield's not this bad, but he's not as good as last year. But he's certainly not talented enough to overcome a goofy owner, a bad GM, and an incompetent head coach, and a divo wide receiver who doesn't want to be in the city.

but what Cleveland did, the scary part about Cleveland, it's not just a coach fix, because they're not going to get the best candidate on the market. It's not just a director of scouting or a GM or an owner. This is an organization that doesn't love itself, and so they're going to reach and overpay. And when you're bad forever, you have to overpay for free agents. They now have to overpay, because nobody wants to play in Cleveland.

So you're going to have to overpay for a coach, because there'll be other options. By the way, the Jags have quit on their coach. Jacksonville's got a job opening. We know Washington pays a ton. We know Dallas may have a coaching opening. We know Atlanta's got a coaching opening. I think Detroit could be.

We'll wait and see on Detroit. So Cleveland, it is, here's the ironic thing about the AFC North. For the last 20 years, what the division has been, it once again is exactly that. Pittsburgh's winning. Baltimore will punch you right now. the neck, Cincinnati's bad, and Cleveland's the most dysfunctional. And that's what it was last year, and that's what it is this year, and that's what it was the last 15 years. So Cleveland's got just cultural issues, GM issues, owner issues, and because the GM, who came in after being fired,

whiffed on the coach, and because it looks like he overdrafted Baker Mayfield, if he trades OBJ, he's going to be acknowledging to the owner who has a trigger finger. This guy fires people fast, Jimmy Haslam. I whiffed on my three biggest decisions. I got the coach wrong. I got the quarterback wrong. And my big trade, I got wrong.

So John Dorsey is going to be incredibly reluctant. GMs do not like to admit I whiffed. And here's the other thing. They certainly don't like to admit they whiff on a high profile player. This is what's happening in Chicago, where Ryan Pace is a very good general manager. But they need Trabisky to be good enough to at least potentially move him. Because Ryan Pace has done a great job drafting for the Bears. But when you whiff on a quarterback, I've been told there is a ton of relief in Chicago

among Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace that Trabisky now at least looks competent. So if they move Trubisky, it's like, well, he won a division. You know, he won some big games. So this is Cleveland's problem. The general manager to move OBJ, who doesn't work and never will here, he's going to be now admitting, can John Dorsey admit, I whiffed on the coach, I reached on Baker, and I whiffed on this trade. That owner will not give him a fourth opportunity.

He'll get canned again. Once Dorsey gets canned, he'll never get another GM job. And those are seven-figure jobs. They got a lot of issues. Okay, Urban Meyer, top of the next hour. Tony Gonzalez next hour as well. Want to hear something amazing? Discover matches all the cashback you earn at the end of your first year automatically.

No limit. No limit in how much you can match. Yeah. Discover cashback match. What are you waiting for? Go to discover.com slash cashback match. Urban buyer around the corner. Hour three, it's the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kyr Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tript Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

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available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here we go. Hour 3. We are live in Los Angeles. This is The Hurd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me on a very robust, robust, NFL and college football weekend. A lot of great games. A lot of great.

Possibly good year. Yeah, game of the year, San Francisco, New Orleans. I thought New Orleans, I know coaches would never want to hear this. That was a good loss. Drew Brees looks energized. They got a pass rush. They can run it. They can beat you multiple ways.

Kansas City won, and I thought it was kind of clunky. They can't run the football. Mahomes is still not 100%. They didn't adapt well at half. So sometimes you win and it doesn't blow me away. And sometimes you lose, and I'm like, I thought the Saints look great. I thought it was just last serve wins. In college football, I do not remember.

I'm old enough. I can go back to the 70s. I don't remember in my life there being three college teams that I think are all good enough to win a national title. In any separate year, these are all national champs to me. Ohio State, Clemson, Delface, and LSU. I don't think Oklahoma quite matches up. I think we've seen that defensively. I don't think when forced to throw,

they're quite as lethal as an Ohio State at Clemson or an LSU. With that, we bring in one of the great coaches in college football history, my friend, he's a great broadcaster for us as well, and also currently the assistant AD at Ohio State. Urban Meyer via the Cower Global Satellite Network. You know, it's funny, Urban. I love the history of college football. I don't remember a time or a year with three days.

teams this special? I don't. Am I being hyperbolic here? Or you could make an argument that all three of these teams, LSU, Ohio State, and Clemson are number one. Do you think it's kind of a strange year in terms of this much dominance at the top? It all goes down to health of team. You know, I would have put Alabama in there if they would have had two. And, you know, they lost that great middle lineback early in the year. So the fact that Ohio State, Clemson, and LSU have stayed relatively healthy, you know, that's the bottom. of mind, but I agree with you. I think those are elite teams. I've already watched film on Clemson. And the thing that LSU has, Colin, is they have, they have a better resume. You know,

they play these elite elite teams. Ohio State has some big wins against Wisconsin and Penn State and team up north. However, the elite, you know, LSUs have is the best, they've been in the street fights already. Clemson, quite honestly, haven't played great teams. And so it's going to be an intriguing matchup. You know Joe Burrell. He came to Ohio State. You just happened to have a quarterback who was there. So Joe Burrell goes to Ohio State. They're transfers to LSU. You obviously, I mean, you know the kid. You know the family. His elevation this year is frankly to a lot of people shocking. Are you at all shocked by how good he is? I don't want to say shocked. I'm just awful happy for him because we had him as a freshman. He was not a highly recruited player coming

in Athens, Ohio. Tom Herman saw something in him. I remember he called me from the practice field and said, I got your next Alex Smith right here. He's unbelievable. He's a little bit under the radar. And so he took him. And he got in a room with a guy named J.T. Barrett,

and who's the ultimate worker, and they just would work every day. And then he had really a terrible thing happen. He was our backup quarterback going into, I believe, it was 17. And he broke his hand, non-contact injury, right for the first game. Dwayne Haskin then steps in.

The rest of his history. Dwayne goes on to help us beat the team up north and then wins the job by a slight margin. It was heartbreaking when Joe left because we all love Joe. Yeah, he's a... Tell me a little bit about him, his personality because when I watch him, I see a big kid that's athletic. He's got a good arm.

We're going to be watching him against Oklahoma and maybe in the national championship game. What do we know about his personality? Because you're going to win the Heisman, I'm told, as well. Yeah, he won the Heisman. I mean, I don't know what's going to happen, but his performance against Georgia, it's over, you know, as far as I'm concerned. And really, everybody I've talked to, he's got a great mom and dad.

They are so into Joe and their family is extremely close. A real football background. His father's a longtime defensive coordinator for Frank Solich at Ohio. I love the family. They're incredible. Joe's a quirky guy that is very confident. as a great teammate and is tough on a scale one to 10. His toughness is in 10.

His leadership's at 10. And I think he's a hard one to beat. He'll be very hard. And I think you got to give credit to that coaching staff too now. I've coached against LSU for many years. This is a new era of LSU football, the offense. Yeah, it's very clever. There's no question about it.

It was always a power running downhill team. And now they can do that. And they've added the vertical element. and the passing element. Let's go to Ohio State and Clemson. Listen, it's a coin flip game to me, although Clemson came in as a slight favorite. Now, here's the knock.

The knock is, and I think it's fair. I think the SEC is the best conference. I think the Big Ten second. I think it's a fair criticism to say, man, Clemson is winning by 40. I mean, they are not at all, at all challenged. Is that a drawback to you? Because Ohio State's been in some fistfights

with Wisconsin, These are real games. I mean, Clemson is in blowouts at half, Urban. Would that be a little bit of a disadvantage and an advantage for the Buckeyes? I think it is. I think, you know, Ohio State fell behind by 14 points at halftime to Wisconsin. And Jonathan Taylor, a great running back, was having a day, ran for 150 yards. And Coach Day and Justin Field has never been in that or have never been in that situation.

and to come back and fight, make the halftime adjustments, you know, that's a sign of a good staff, a good coach, and a great leader. So I think that gives them an advantage. The ACC is not good. The ACC is really struggling. You know, when you're Miami's and Florida States and Louisville's, aren't top 15 teams like they have in the past. And Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech's a team that, you know, those are historically, extremely strong programs. So ACC, when those teams are great, the ACC is great, but they're not. Yeah. I want to talk about Ryan Day, who is your successor. Now, the criticism is, you know, he's using Urban Myers guys. Urban's one of the great coaches. It's a stacked deck full of talent.

But what did you see? Because you still work at the university. Tell me, Urban, what you saw with him, knowing you were comfortable promoting him and really going to Gene Smith and saying, this is the guy. Like you got it right. Like, what were the moments that you knew Ryan Day was special? Well, Ryan Day was a graduate assistant for me at Florida years ago, 2005. And Bob Stoops, when he found Lincoln Riley, you know, that's really every head coach's dream

as to all these great support staff people that work their tails off. And when you make a coaching change and they all are uprooted, we have, I'm very biased. I think we have the best infrastructure in college football. And that's academically, athletically, training staff, weight staff, the whole, things are recruiting staff's elite and Ryan Day you know he would have been a head coach last year but I I actually went to Gene Smith and our president I said I think I found the next catch head coach at Ohio State and I actually started thinking about your legacy of a program is you know and I thought Bob Stoops did a great is you know you're not here forever I was thinking

about going maybe another year or two but we would have lost Ryan and and when you lose Ryan then you might bring in someone who's not quite as good and then the program slips so worked out great. Ryan, I always use the term elite because he is. You know, I've always had this theory. It's one of my goofy theories that there are glamour jobs and then there are great jobs and that Miami's

a glamour job and USC's a glamour job and Texas is a glamour job. Ohio State and Oklahoma, Alabama, those are great jobs. And, you know, it's funny about this when I think LSU's a great job, but I think Georgia's I think Georgia is more of a

glamour job. And I You know, I look at college football. I hear your name every five minutes comes up for jobs, and I'm like, some of these jobs sound better than they are. Am I a little crazy on this? But I don't think there's as many great jobs as people think, but I think there's a ton of glamour jobs in college football. I've heard this conversation.

It all starts and ends with recruiting. And I think, you know, Miami's been up and down for years. You know, we all remember in the days with the Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson and Bush Davis, when they were just NFL players, you know, a little bit like Ohio State is now. All 22 players are playing the NFL. I think it all starts and ends recruiting. I think USC is not a glamour job.

I think that's an elite, elite job. Why? Within two hours of your campus, you've got the best players in America, or as good as any. You know, I think Georgia is not a glamour job. I think Georgia is real, real. Atlanta, Georgia and the surrounding suburbs, as good a high school footballer as in America. Same I would consider Ohio State that. I think Miami, Florida State, to a degree, are somewhat glamourages because at times the talent in Florida, it's great, but sometimes it's underdeveloped.

And it takes time for those guys to develop. I'm not talking about the private schools and the Lakelands, the great high schools, but there's a lot of schools in Florida. And I experienced it when I was with the Florida Gators is that they're development players. you know, for whatever reason, the high school coaches aren't paid near as well as the ones in Georgia and Texas. So you get a little bit lesser coaching at some schools. Some schools are fantastic. But that's why I would consider everything about glamour and all that.

I agree with, it's interesting how you said that. But I always look at recruiting. You know, can you go recruit the best of the best? That's where I thought USC and, you know, Georgia, I would put them in the other category. By the way, one more question about Clemson, Ohio State. You said that you've looked at Clemson Film already. if I just said to you two sentences.

When you looked at film as an all-time great coach, what are the two things about Clemson that just pop on film? Two things. Offensively, their wide receivers and tailback are, and the quarterback's in a groove. So their offensive skill is as good as Ohio State seen by far, by far. And that includes their tailbacks outstanding. On defense, they're one-third, one-third, one-third.

They're odd, bear, and four down. And that is very difficult to prepare for. That coach Venerables does a, I'm still amazed. I wondered if it would change how we played them before, but they're doing the same stuff. It's very hard to prepare for. Why is it hard to prepare for their defense? Well, you don't, you know, it's three distinct different styles of defense.

Bear defense is a defense in its own self. Four down is a defense in itself, and then the odd. And for an offense line is confusing. and how much time so you have a, you know, 40 minutes to work on offense and practice, what are you going to work on? You know, the good thing is you have bowl time, so you have a little bit of work on it. But it's, they're not quite what they were on the defense line. They're very good, but you're talking about when we played them before you had all first-round draft picks.

So they're very good, but the scheme is very hard to prepare for. Good stuff. Urban Meyer. Coach, good seeing you. We'll see you soon. You're the best. Thanks, man. You bet.

Urban Meyer. Yeah, it's, it is just. Nick Saban told somebody last year after they lost to Clemson. What I heard, Nick was like, listen, man, that staff, that is a good staff. So it's not just athletes, like Urban says. You look at film, you can tell really well coach teams. I mean, you can watch a team.

Clemson's not just about, Clemson always has players. Ohio State LSU, these programs always have good players. They don't always have great coaches. Clemson's got a great coach. Ohio State's got a young great coach. LSU, Ed Orsrun, has shocked me, but they brought in a passing guy from the New Orleans Saints, and now offensively, they look incredibly well, coach.

But these powers always have the players. Do you have the coach that can synthesize all of it and elevate and develop all the players? Good stuff coming up. Tony Gonzalez is joining us today as well. I did not think Kansas City was that impressive last night and their win. I'll address that coming up.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard radio app. Don't be the guy in the room in the long, sloppy-looking untuck shirt. Go to untucket.com. Code heard, H-E-R-D. G-Q calls it perfection. Good stuff from Urban Meyer.

Tony Gonzalez is around the corner as well. By the way, I just saw Lane Kiffin introduced at Ole Miss. They love their college football in the South. Oh, my God, it's crazy time. You know, my takeaway on the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday is that there are losses I would feel good about. thought the Saints lost yesterday, it looked good. I thought Minnesota's lost to Seattle in Seattle.

It was Monday night football or Thursday night football. It was a good loss. Kansas City, my takeaway is, now, first of all, Mahomes is hurt. So there is some question at halftime if Andy Reid just changed some plays because Mahomes wasn't healthy. But, I mean, this was a offense, Kansas City, that can't really run the football. I feel like if you look at the AFC right now, it's a bottom. bunch of physical football teams. Buffalo and Baltimore and New England and Pittsburgh and

Tennessee and they got their winter coats on and the chiefs feel like they're wearing a windbreaker. They got two guys on the planet that are faster than everybody. They have the smartest play designer Andy Reid in football, but they don't run the football particularly well. They got a couple of huge, huge officiating breaks yesterday. Nikiel Harry was in and scored a touchdown. Then there was inexplicably. I don't even know what to make of it. When Travis Kelsey fumbled and they blew it dead, I've been watching football my entire life. If somebody can explain why you would blow the whistle there, I have no idea. This is inexplicable. That's a touchdown for New England and Nikiel Harry was a touchdown. So it was the rarest of NFL oddities. The Patriots got hosed by

the officials in Foxborough. It is forever felt like they get every break from the officials. They weren't just little miscues. They were two touchdowns taken away from New England. And so I thought the special teams for the Chiefs weren't great. I didn't think their adjustments at half were great. I thought they got officiating breaks twice, not complaining, just reality. That's a touchdown taken away. The fumble by Kelsey is a touchdown that was taken away. So I don't think you'll wake up in Kansas City this morning. I just don't feel like they're all buttoned up on special teams. They can't run the football. I don't think they've got some injuries there. So maybe that'll get back.

better, but I didn't feel like the headline would be Chiefs, snap a 21 game, Patriot home winning streak. If I'd have given you that Friday, you'd be like, greatest day on earth. But I thought it was kind of an unbuttoned, lucky, got multiple break, win by Kansas City. I didn't change seating dramatically. And I also think if you look at the second half, once again, it felt like Bill Belichick was kind of collecting data on New England, on the Chiefs, kind of collecting data. he figured some of their stuff out.

I don't know. I just, I wasn't blown away with it. I think Kansas City is talented and fast and fun. And that's why I've said Andy Reid's teams in September, watch out. But later in seasons, this is about getting the winter coat on, can't have a windbreaker, can't be finesse. The reason why I don't love Green Bay right now. Green Bay gets pushed around every other Sunday. So Green Bay is, aren't they a number two seed right now?

on the NFC. I don't feel good about Green Bay at all, and I didn't like what I saw with Kansas City last night. Here's Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, let's stick with that game. There were several calls last night that you just mentioned that went against the Patriots. Wow. Including to the cost New England a touchdown. Tom Brady was asked about the officiating this morning, but he did not make any excuses. Oh. Well, I think, you know, when you play sports long enough, I don't. I don't. I think sometimes you're the recipient of things that go your way and then you're on the other side of it too.

So for me, I don't think too much about it. I mean, I wish they would go our way. And unfortunately, they didn't. But it doesn't take away from, you know, when you watch the game, you know, all the different things that, you know, we had in our control that I wish we could have done a little bit better. You know, I don't ever make any excuses. And I've certainly never blamed the referees. You know, I just look at what we got to do and how we got to go out there and try to get back to work this week and find a way to go to Cincinnati and get a win. We're on to Cincinnati.

But that's how grown-up answers that. I love it. Nobody, no one wants to hear Tom Brady talk about the officials. Right. And he knows that. Right. So you're right. Like, traditionally these calls go Brady's way.

They go the Patriots way. And, I mean, he got up and, you know, was getting people's faces and he got roughed around a little bit. That's fine. He's right. I mean, look, you can blame the officials all you want. If you're Patriots fan, I mean, you're booing earlier in the game. I don't know what you're complaining about. Watch this play, though, Joe, watch.

Why would you blow the, I don't understand. I don't even have an end. I'm 100% with you. I don't have, we have 10,000 camera angles. Just let the play out. And then come back. I just don't get it. It's infuriating when they blow the whistle.

I thought we'd already address this earlier in the year. With a Dallas game or something. That's not a thing you do. Just let the play finish out. Saints, yeah. Let the play finish and then figure it out afterwards. So. Have replay.

I don't understand it. I hate when they do that. But look, you can't blame the officials. Fans can blame the officials. Media can blame the officials. Players can't. And especially not the Patriots. So I love that Brady said that.

And of course, so anytime you can say we're on to Cincinnati, it's a great line. So the Rams kept pace in the NFC playoff hunt last night. Big 28 to 12 win over the Seahawks. Seahawks did not look like themselves at all. Offensively, once Penny got hurt, Josh Gordon is not.

Which is a huge loss for them. Yeah, he's their speedback. power, but he's their speedback. You know, it's one of these games where L.A. has been so funny this year. Five minutes into every Rams game. You're like, all right, they've got it. Or man, they didn't bring it. Like the Rams games

they're definitely an energy team. And last night, they did a great job. They were rolling Gough out. They didn't, they know their problem. They just avoided schematically. They got out of their problem. Right. And their problem was they had offensive line issues and they couldn't get Todd Gurley going. And Jared

Goff said after the game how important it is to get they're running back going. It opens everything. It opens everything. It starts with him. And when he's rolling and we're rolling on the run game, it opens up everything. We're able to do what we want to do. And tonight was a perfect example that he's a bad man. That's what I told him.

He is a bad dude. And it was vintage Todd and that's who he is. He's also a great receiving back. Yes. I mean, Todd Gurley is incredibly talented. The reason why he got the contract he got. It's just he had an injury and he's coming back from it. Maybe sometimes we're not

patient enough with players coming back from injury. We have these unrealistic expectations. Who do they play next week? Goulet, who do they play next week? Rams are interesting. I don't think, I mean, listen. Oh, they play the Cowboys. That game's in Dallas.

Oh, okay. Okay. So that's a win. See, I like the way that, by the way. You just give it to the Rams now? Think about this. What do the Rams have the Cowboys struggle with? Veteran defensive coordinators eat Kellynne Moore alive.

So I've got Wade Phillips against. against newbie. That's what we've seen all year. Veteran defensive coordinators give the cowboy offense fits. So I like the Rams. Well, Todd Gurley is definitely going. The first 10 games, he was averaging 53.5 rushing yards per game, 63.6 from scrimmage.

The last four games, he's averaging 73.3 rushing yards per game and 95 from scrimmage. So he definitely got that going. And as you mentioned, he's going to have some issues with Wade Phillips next week. Finally, the Ravens clinched a playoff spot with her 24. 17 win over the bills, but John Harbaugh says the team isn't celebrating their accomplishments just yet. It feels good. It feels good. Yeah, it feels good. You know, I try to make a big deal about the locker room and the guy's kind of gave me a smattering of applause. You know, they expected that. I think they burned the right to expect that. But it's a good thing, but we got three more games

and things to accomplish still. You know, it's funny that he said that they kind of gave him a little bit of a weak applause in the locker room when he was trying to get them hyped up. like the Ravens are the type of team, kind of similar to the Patriots when the Patriots are playing well, that they do all they're celebrating on the field. And then once the game's over, it's like on to the next game. We're not talking about what happened in this game. And it's a very like, we don't tell us that we've accomplished anything yet. We haven't done anything yet mentality. And that I think obviously Harba is sticking to that mantra, but Lamar Jackson is leading that and everything that he does and says. It's great to watch. They're a fun. They're a really fun watch.

different in the rush of the league right now. They don't even look like the NFL. And they play this Thursday on Fox. They play the Jets. And Lamar Jackson just became the second quarterback to rush for a thousand yards in a single season. He needs 23 yards to break Michael Vick's single season record, which we're assuming is going to happen this Thursday against

New York. Yeah, well, first quarter. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. 17 years only missed two games. He's a Hall of Famer. He's our friend. He's Tony Gonzalez. Tony, what is going on?

Are you still a Chiefs fan all these years later? Do you have a love for the organization? I do. Of course I do. I love it, yeah. Yeah, and so that felt great. That felt good for you. Yeah, felt good. I think they needed that, hon.

We talked about that. No, let's tell that to the audience, is that we know you guys are all tough guys, but there is a psychology in this league. And that game felt like, at the end of that game, I'm like, oh, my God, if Kansas City loses this game, this is going to be so bad. Yeah.

Was there ever a team in your career? that you couldn't get over psychologically or perhaps the opposite. You did get over early in your career. Well, I think the Indianapolis Colts with Peyton, they always beat us. Always. We'd play there. Do they be in different ways? Whatever way it took.

I mean, Peyton is such a mastermind with that offense. It was so hard to stop our defense could never stop them. Right. And then Dwight Freeney and the defense. I mean, they were good too. And this is what it is. I think New England is that right now for the Kansas City. She's that big brother, you know, that they're always beating us up.

And they always find a way psychologically, even though we know we're tougher and we're faster and we're more physical and all that stuff, which they are right now as a team. But still, Bill Belichick, greatest coach of all time. Last night, I'm watching that. I'm like, oh, my God. Five minutes left, you're thinking to yourself, they're going to win this game. Yeah, yeah, five minutes left. I'm thinking, here we go again. I mean, this is what they do.

This is why New England is so good. They beat everybody like this. I think I said it on the show yesterday. New England is everybody's big brother. It's everybody's barometer test for how good are we? Can we win? Can we compete and beat the best team over the last decade or two decades now? Can we go into their house and beat them on their turf?

Even though they're down, Bill Belchek will still find a way. The halftime adjustments that he makes, there's nobody better in the league. Besides Andy Reid, I think Andy Reid's a real good half-time adjustment. I want to talk about the Saints, because even though the Saints lost, I felt like it was a real quality loss. I mean, it was just a heavyweight fight. So you faced the Saints multiple times. And, you know, you didn't have to face Breeze. But there is something about the magic of the Superdome.

I thought it's pretty impressive for San Francisco to walk in there and win that game. Yeah. That is a tough place to play. Huge. I told you. I've won there. My five years with Atlanta playing against them twice. a year. I think I won one

time out in that Superdome once. It's a tough place to play. And Drew Breeze, when he got the ball at the end of the game, I'm like, is it? I looked at Strayhand on the desk. I said, you want to bet? He's like, no, because he took the San Francisco yesterday. And you knew he was going to go down

and score. That's the thing about it's unstoppable in that domes. Drew Breeze, obviously, one of the best quarterbacks of all time and still on top of his game, to go along with that defense, even though they lost this game. It was like whoever had the ball last. That was

who was going to win. That's also straight. Strayhan said that. I want to talk about a situation. You're a thoughtful guy. But you admit when you came into the NFL, your first year or two, you know, you're having fun. And then you got really serious and your career takes

off. So some things obviously you can grow out of, right? And some things you can't. Baker Mayfield calls out the medical staff. And I look at that and I think, okay, can he grow out of this stuff?

Or like, is this who he is? I'm wondering the same thing. I think he can. I think everybody is capable of changing. That's just my thought process. You know, that's what my podcast is about. I don't mean to plug it like that. But I believe that he can if he gets embarrassed enough,

if he starts losing enough, or maybe not. A lot of people, it's tough. but I believe he has the capability to do it and the wheels are falling off. And I think you give a guy that much success. You give him the Heisman trophy. You give him rookie of the year.

Commercials. You give them all these commercials. You start buying into this hype that you have arrived. And the reality of it, yeah, college is over. So I don't care about your Heisman trophy. Nobody in the NFL does. I'm sorry. Nobody gives a damn about that.

No, most NFL guys don't even watch college anymore. No one cares. But when you get rookie of the year, it doesn't mean you're an all pro. You're not all pro. you're still probably the eighth, ninth, best quarterback in the league, 10th or last. That's up to us. It's a different subject, but you're still not one of, you're not the guy yet.

And so you come into the season, I think he's trying. He's grasping. Like last night when he's calling out the medical staff, let's talk, he's doing that because he's trying to go to bat for Adele. He's trying to show Adele that I care. And I hear rumors, too, that you want out of here. Don't leave. Just know that I have your back.

And I think that's part of it, too. He was reaching to protect the teammate. I think so. But then it's also being immature because you're not a doctor, first of all. You don't know what goes. Sports attorney, the guy still played in the game. I don't know. You just don't say that.

A real leader goes behind there and doesn't make a big fuss about it. I was talking about Baker. I said, listen, there's a point where players in a locker room, when you get a new quarterback. It doesn't matter if he's a number one pick or whatever. Baltimore players obviously watch Lamar Jackson at practice, and they bought into it. They're like, this guy's scary.

and I think guys with the Jets, they've seen Darnold be very good late in games yesterday the drive and you're like, okay, we buy into it. But there are times when you're a top pick at quarterback, Tribisky in Chicago, and you can sense some guys in the room, they're watching them every day at practice and going,

he ain't the guy. I wonder, with all the interceptions with Baker, he has regressed this year, he's been in trouble multiple times. Do you think this? medical staff thing. There's a handful of guys in that room that are like, dude, I'm watching Lamar in our division. Ben's coming back. Like, Baker's not the guy. Do you think he's losing anybody yet? I think so, and I think that's why Odell Beckham wants out of there. I think he didn't come out

and say that. So I am putting words in his mouth, but the way I read the situation, you don't ask to leave if you think you're working with an elite quarterback. I would never want to leave an elite quarterback. By the way, when you heard you were going to Atlanta, you were the happiest guy in the world. Happiest guy in the world. And he was only in his state, coming off a rookie of the year. But, you know, I showed up day one and I see Matt Ryan. I'm like, okay, this guy's got it. He gets it.

He's going to be good for a long time. He's going to be a franchise quarterback. Baker Mayfield, obviously, is not shown that to Odell Beckham. And he's been around Eli. But for him to want out of there after one year, don't just tell me it's just because of the medical staff. I beg, okay, well, we can fix that. You don't leave. you don't leave Deshawn Watson.

You don't leave a quarterback you think's great. I'm not leaving an elite quarterback. Start naming them all. I'm not leaving Lamar Jackson. I'm not going to leave Deshawn Watson. I'm not going to leave Matt Ryan. I'm not going to leave those guys. Why would I want to go somewhere else if I'm working with an elite quarterback?

And I think we, in a young elite quarterback, which is what we all thought coming into the season, including me, I thought this team was going to be a playoff team. They're loaded on that roster. And for someone to want out of there, it just makes me think, This is all the rookie coach, the quarterback who's not playing up to the standard, the whole way the things are run now. I see why Odell wants out of there. It doesn't make sense, though.

When you, we were saying this in the NFL, in college, if you lose a game, a bad game season's over. But in the NFL, you can have a bad month. The key in the NFL is your coaching staff is smart enough to go, okay, here's our problem. Let's identify the problem. This is what I thought the Rams did last night. So the Rams had a bad November. They identified the problem. Okay, we got to get golf out of the pocket.

We can't protect guard, center guard. And I watched the Rams last night, and I'm like, they had a bad November. And I watched them last night, and I'm like, I wouldn't want to play the Rams now. I think they're going to go into Dallas and win. I think one of the Cowboys problems is this year. They can't identify what they do well and what they don't.

They run the football in the opening drive, then they don't run the rest of the game. When you watch Rams Seahawks, do you buy the Rams this morning? Are you selling some Seahawks stock? What is your takeaway? I'm buying the Rams. And I said this on there yesterday.

No, because what they've shown me over that last month. But they look great yesterday. They looked great last week. Coach McVeigh showing us that this is what you have to go through. Went through the gauntlet, went through that down month, and he's making the adjustments. And Jared Gough looks better. They're committing to the run, which I think is what the Dallas Cowboys don't do. Even though I think he averaged 3.4 yards of carry Todd Gurley.

They still gave it to them 23 times. Yeah, that was big. Which helps everything. It just, it sets up everything. They looked, they looked great. And defensively, they got two of the best players at their position on defense with the D tackle in Aaron Donald. And Aaron Donald and Jaylon Ramsey. So they're going to stop some people.

They're going to be. And Wade Wilson called the, Wade Phillips, I'm sorry. Wade Phillips calling the defensive plays. I think they're going to be okay. It's kind of like the cow, the bears. They're figuring it out. And right now, nobody wants to play the Bears. And nobody's going to want to play these Rams.

Rams. By the way, your podcast is wide open with Tony Gonzalez. You talk to all sorts of stars in football and out of football. Who's your latest big catch? Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk is, we dropped that episode today. So Tony Hawk was the skateboarder Supreme. Yeah. And a very successful business guy. Huge guy. Huge. Did really well. Had a video game. Rocked it. Made a lot of money. Okay. So where do I go to iTunes and I can listen to this? Yeah, any major pod class. Okay. Anybody, you're a very, a Hollywood guy. Any Hollywood? people coming up? I got Neil deGrasse Tyson coming up. Astrophysicist. Astrophysicist. I'm looking forward to that one. Very smart. By the way, you are in Hollywood and you do some dabbling and acting and you're committed to

it. Have you seen the Irishman? Did you like it? I loved it. Some people said it was too long. I was like, no, I can't get it up for those guys. Those three guys, Pesci. Did you watch the Irishman? Oh, no, I didn't have five hours for a movie this weekend. By the way, you look like an actress today. She does. She does this once a week. She goes Marlene. D. Trick or something. It's a 60... Marlina D. Trich. I'm just throwing a name out. Yeah. Once a week I do old Hollywood glam and once a week Colin

picks up his phone during the middle of a segment and checks a source and doesn't tell us what they said. She goes old Hollywood. It's our tradition. You do. You go old Hollywood once a week. Yeah, very Judy Garland. You look like you need like one of those cigarettes with the little stems. It's good. Extender. Yeah. With the gloves?

Very healthy. Very glamorous. Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez. Good seeing you, bud. Nice. All right. Well, coming up next, our three-word game. We can sum up every NFL game Thursday to tonight in just three words. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. By the way, John Goulet, Lane Kiffin has a sense of humor, Joy. He was just asked about Goulet, what was the joke that Lane Kiffin just said? He was asked about the reception last night when he was kissing babies on the tarmac and everything. And he said, it's a lot better than

the other tarmac experience I've had. He was fired at USC. on the tarmac. Lane Kippen makes... That's Lane. I'll tell you what. We need more Lane Kiffin in our lives. That is so funny. All right, it is time. We do it every time in the best for last on Mondays.

We can explain every NFL game in three words. Here we go. It's our three-word game on our Monday. Let's start on Thursday with the Bears and the Cowboys out-coached again. Cowboys are six and seven. despite being favorites in 12 to 13 games. That's not a personnel issue. We don't know what we are, and we're not buttoned up issue.

Matt Nagy out-coached Jason Garrett. Ravens Bills. Lamar made plays. Sixth game with three TD passes. That's the most in the NFL. I thought he was really good yesterday. I thought his decision-making was exquisite. Second quarterback ever to rush for a thousand.

yards in a season, and if you missed it, he'll throw for a bunch more on Thursday against the Jets on Fox. Panthers, Falcons. That's for Ron. 40 points, Carolina's second most allowed. That I'm told Ron Rivera inside the locker room was wildly popular, and the Carolina players were not happy with the firing and embarrassing Ron Rivera mid-season. that's the ugliest loss in Carolina in eight years. Dolphins Jets, nice, ficken job. Sam Ficken.

Three for three, including the game winning, 44-yard field goal. Sam Darnold, a heroic effort in all of those drives, leading them into field goal range. Colts Bucks. Three more turnovers. James Winston is he's crazy. First of all, every drive ends with a pick or a touchdown. I mean, the guy's nuts. He's just all sorts of volume.

He leads the NFL with 23 picks. That's seven more than the next guy and leads the NFL with 28 turnovers. He is, that said, he also threw for four touchdown passes. You just get a lot of everything with James, and they have a decision to make down there. 49ers Saints, game of year. 49ers are now a number one seed and the Saints are now a number three seed so it's just a fantastic football game

big collisions great quarterback play Garapolo and Breeze were both magnificent combined for 94 points the most by 10 win teams in NFL history so it had kind of a Rams chiefs feel Joy said that earlier it was like whoever gets the ball last is going to win yeah and that kiddo highlight will be played for the rest of his career

He is a man, that's for sure. Broncos Texans. Lock it in. Drew Locke in two starts has been super accurate. 73% completion percentage, a passer rating of 111. I root for John Elway because I grew up idolizing John Elway. I know it's early, but the kid's got a big time arm. Let's hope Denver has found their quarterback of the future.

Lions Vikings, 919, and 1. That's Matt Patricia, two years as the Lions head coach. Now they're a mess, lost six straight. They can't win in division. Last couple of years, they're two and nine in division. His job security is slim and none. I think they may replace him. Redskins Packers, the better Aaron.

Aaron Jones, 134 yards rushing. Packers are now 7 and 0 when Aaron Jones has just 40 plus rushing. Yards. That's good to know. If you can get them rolling a little bit, it's not Aaron Rogers they're depending on. It's Aaron Jones making the difference. Bengles Browns. Dr. Baker-Mayfield, yeah, he called out the medical staff after the game. Like, dude, know your lane. By the way, he only completed 46% of his throws against Cincinnati, a halaciously bad defense. Titans Raders. the Manahill. Do you know they're averaging

38 points of game since week 10? And you saw a lot of him for years in Miami, Joy. I didn't see a lot of this, but they have a lot of talent on the team. And I'm happy for him. It's working out for them. They're going to give him a long-term deal and find out, right?

They got weapons. They got the running back. They got the wide receiver. They got the slot guy. Chargers Jaguars. Quit on coach. Jags have lost five straight games. by 17 or more.

They have officially quit on their coach. Doug Maron will be replaced. Chiefs Patriots, home streak snap. 21 straight for New England at home. They had a block punt. Didn't matter. I mean, they got nothing.

They don't have anything. Brady doesn't trust his rookie receivers. They didn't get the calls yesterday. Protection wasn't great. Steelers Cardinals. Duck into the playoffs? Duck Hodges. Mike Tomlin gets coach of the year.

I'm sorry. I don't. Yeah, he has to, right? Third quarterback, second running back, offensive lines beat up. Duck Hodges, the first undrafted rookie quarterback to win his first three starts since the 80s. Seahawks Rams.

Not so fast. Seahawks defense gave up 455 yards. Todd Gurley returned. Jared Goff in the last two weeks now is completing over 70. percent of his throws. They found the problem. Have they solved the problem in Los Angeles? Jared Goff looked really composed. Finally, Giants Eagles tonight. Eli is back. His career record is 116 and 116. He probably gets one start until Daniel Jones returns. He's playing for something. Doesn't know a lot left in the tank, but he's playing for something. Three-word game. Folks, feel better. Go to MDrive from N.

Com, the Code has heard 20% off, clinically tested ingredients to elevate your tea level, so you got a little more energy, a little more lean muscle. Speak for yourself coming up next. 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest,

SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart 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 lineback... You know these kids. 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, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? 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 probably. 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.