The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Clay Matthews, Patriots, Jon Gruden, & Jimmy Garoppolo

Episode Date: September 24, 2018

Colin discusses why the NFL isn't getting "soft" and that Green Bay Packers LB Clay Matthews needs to stop complaining, why the New England Patriots are losing, the friction between Oakland Raiders HC Jon Gruden and the front office, and why San Francisco 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo's injury was his fault. Guests include Michael Vick, John Middlekauff, Trent Dilfer, and Chris Mannix. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Jamie Maggio is joining me again today. Joy Taylor's apparently under the weather a little bit. It is great to have you here. Thank you, Colin. You are a football fan. I am a football fan. This is a great day of the week for us. We love Mondays. I got Michael Vick on today's show. Trent Dill, James Harrison will go to the Bay Area where a former NFL scout will tell us about the growing concerns about Jimmy Garoppolo. I want to start with this. Getting soft. Everybody's getting soft. NFL's getting soft. Can't believe they're getting soft.

Driving me crazy, getting soft. Can't hit anybody getting soft. I hear this all the time. I hear it in baseball. I hear it in football. I hear it in culture. I hear it in politics. I hear it in life. I hear it in relationships. I'm over the getting soft thing. Let me ask you that we no longer in America allow people to work for 17 hours a day in a factory at 85 degrees. Are we getting soft or did we get smarter? That we've reduced and restricted fraternities in America because of hazing deaths and alcohol-related deaths. Are we getting soft in America or are we finally concerned about 17 and 18-year-old kids in fraternities? I don't buy getting soft. We have camps in America. There's the camp that's like, hey, I like the old days. You know,

dad could beat the kid into submission. And then there's the smart people who go, we should probably treat people better. Myself, I don't believe in reincarnation, and I don't know if there's a heaven. I'm here once. I'd like to treat other people well, and hopefully they treat me well. And it starts with the NFL embodies and Clay Matthews is outraged because every time he hit somebody, they call a penalty. And I would say this, learn to tackle better.

Quit complaining. I've been hearing about this for years in all four sports. In the NBA, you can't tackle people. The good news is skill in basketball is now rewarded. You have to be able to shoot to play. What do you know? In hockey, tough guys are gone. Clutching, grabbing, gone.

Skill in hockey is emphasized. Translation, tickets are expensive. Stars flourish. And in the NFL, you can't violently jam your 278 pounds on a quarterback. Translation, skill, stars are emphasized. Don't like it when you're 15. Try to be a quarterback. A left tackle, a wide receiver, a running back. This idea that America is getting soft, the NFL's going in the right direction. How do I know it's the right direction? Did you watch the Green Bay Packers when Aaron Rogers wasn't there last year? They were the Cleveland Browns.

Did you watch the Cleveland Browns this past Thursday? Highest-rated Cleveland Brown game in years. Why? Because they had a quarterback. We're not watching. for tackles. Fantasy sports rewards offensive players. We're getting smarter. We're not getting softer. By the way, the number one commodity in the NFL is the Dallas Cowboys. In 2014, they were like 12 and 4. The next year, Tony Romo got hit, hurt. They were 4 and 12, and they were totally unwatchable. The same fans that yell and scream, we're getting soft. We're getting soft. You're the same fan that screams when LeBron James takes a regular season game off. I pay to see LeBron James.

Oh, wait, excuse me, Stars Matter. So you don't want LeBron James taking a regular season game off. You want to... Tickets in sports have never been more expensive. We've never asked more of the typical American fan to pay more for tickets. Do you want to go and watch Brett Hunley? Or do you want to go and watch Aaron Rogers? I got nothing against Clay Matthews.

But pilots have to be retrained. Surgeons and mechanics have to be retrained. Why is he getting all the penalties? There's a reason Hollywood has stuntmen so Tom Hanks and Denzel don't get hurt. You ever go to a play? The worst thing you can hear is playing the Phantom of the Opera tonight is the understudy. Kay, there's a reason yesterday that Tiger Woods ratings were up 250% because 95% of the guys on the tour, when you're paying that expensive PGA pass, you couldn't give a rip about.

stars matter. The NFL is trying to protect them. The same way we're trying to protect factory workers, the same way we're trying to protect 18-year-old boys and fraternities and men and women in the military. It's like there's two camps in America. I'm glad I'm on the right one, which is, I don't believe in reincarnation and I don't know what happens after I die.

So the body I have and the bodies of my kids and the bodies of my friends and my wives, let's treat them better. Let's not drive them into the ground. This is a rule that should have been emphasized 25 years ago. Go to YouTube and watch Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana and Troy Aikman being driven into the ground. Yeah, they're probably over-calling it right now. That's okay. But if you're a guy that can't evolve and you think we're getting soft here and you're constantly concerned that your manhood's being challenged, wake up. Hockey baseball. You can't run over the catcher anymore. What was the value of that?

You can't bulldoze over a second basement anymore in baseball. Hockey, the goons are gone. Now you get, you know, great players making the Stanley Cup final. In the NBA, no more tackling people. Can't shoot, can't play. It's the way it should be. I don't go to watch guys get tackled. I go to watch guys make great offensive plays.

I pay watch Kobe. I pay to watch LeBron. I pay to watch Steph. I don't pay to watch a power forward who gets nine rebounds and tackle. people. Clay Matthews after the game is furious. Here he is again this week. Lamenting, complaining, I can't believe it. Here's Clay Matthews. Unfortunately, this league is going in a direction. I think a lot of people don't like. You know, I think they're getting soft. And the only thing hard about this league is the fines that they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard.

I like the spirit of the rule. I just think they're going in the wrong direction with this. Okay, so he likes the spirit of the rule. So he gets the spirit of the rule. Let's not hurt our quarterbacks. He thinks they've gone a little too far. We can argue about that. But we are going in the right direction. In society, we're going in the right direction, getting smarter, not tougha. Tough guy never wins. Smart guy always does. Let me shift gears to this. New England Patriots aren't good. Not a shock, I said before this season. I'll say it again. I just don't think they have perimeter skill. I don't think they're dynamic. enough. I just don't see it.

I mean, they're a top 10 team because coaching and quarterback play matters, but did you watch them last night? That took them their fourth drive in the second quarter to get a first down. Josh Gordon wasn't a cagey move. Josh Gordon was absolute desperation by the Patriots.

I mean, two for nine on third down, 12 first downs, 120 yards passing, 4.3 yards of pass, and they only had the ball for 21 minutes. If you're Tom Brady, I got a question. Pretend for a second, you're Tom Brady. I know it's hard.

Super amount of life, 500 million in net worth, eight Super Bowls. But pretend you're Tom Brady for a second. You're looking around at your team. You don't pay anybody. You're taking pay cuts. Is Tom Brady ever going, where's the money going here? Anybody thought about that? The L.A. Rams are apparently using a bank.

in Zurich that prints money, and the Patriots are using a credit union that's tapped. Because Gromk makes pretty good money. Devin McCordy makes pretty good money. Stefan Gilbert makes pretty good money. But who are they paying? It reminds me of that movie Casino, where people are just dropping their wallets on the table as you go downstairs and they're skimming it, and somebody's getting a bag full of money and driving off downtown.

Where's the money going? Where are the players? Kansas City Chiefs are paying people. Rams are paying people. I'm watching Pittsburgh's paying all sorts of people. Does Brady ever look around and go, time out? I'm the best quarterback that's ever played. I'm taking a pay cut. The New England Patriots kicker. The kicker is a bigger cap hit than any of their receivers and any of their backs. You wonder why Brady and Belichick's relationships gone south. Maybe that's it. If you keep telling the world's best football player to keep taking pay cuts and he looks around

and I got Philip Dorset receiver who was a bust in indie. Cordell Patterson is a return guy. Josh Gordon is a complete desperation movie. He wasn't even on heads last night. Brand new guy trying to learn the playbook. He's wandering around the sidelines. Wouldn't you have an earpiece in? Wouldn't you be listening to the calls? Wouldn't you be trying to figure out the offense? You got Chris Hogan, who, you know, is Chris Hogan. Oh, I got Julian Edelman off an ACL suspended for a month. And then there's Gronk who's got nine guys from Detroit draped all over him on every play.

I mean, at some point, where's the money going? It feels like a casino in the 60s. Somebody's pulling up to the money pit downstairs, getting a bag full of it and driving off. Where are the profits? Belichick's a defensive guy. he's willing to pay McCordy a little and Stefan Gilmore and Dante Hightower, the backs, it's Walmart.

The receivers, it's target. The offensive line, it's below that. They won't pay a left tackle. They won't play a back. They won't pay a receiver. I mean, good luck. In fact, Brady talked about this after the game. This is a word that can drive me crazy because I do believe in execution.

I do believe in football. Executions are really important thing. But I also think talents are really important thing. The Jags defense, they pay money for it. It's talent. And the Steelers' offense is great. And they pay for it. And Kansas City's offense.

And the Rams, you know, you've got to pay for things in life, right? You can't pay $7 grand and drive off with a Bentley. You know, you're not going to pay for a top stake, $9. You've got to pay for some stuff in life. Execution can't be the answer to everything. Here's Tom Brady after last night's loss. I mean, we're not scoring enough points. We're not executing well enough on a down-by-down basis, certainly.

a high level that we should have our expectations set at. Two weeks for, you know, you get behind and just not making enough plays early in the game. And we're behind and we're just fighting a pill all day. So it's no way to play football. It's no way to, you know, execute at a very high level. And we're just not doing anything well enough. Execute.

What Tom Brady's not mad there, by the way. He's not mad. He's frustrated. Mad is, I got a bunch of good dudes and we played like crap. What you're watching Tom Brady there say is he's not angry. He's frustrated. He's frustrated because he has to execute perfectly to win games. Hell, forget winning games.

He has to execute perfectly to get first downs. The world's best chef, you can't give him six-day-old fish and stale bagels. You've got to give him some ingredients here. I mean, we all know the great chefs can make. good ingredients great and average stuff good. They can't take average and make it world class. Gordon Ramsey needs fresh vegetables. Okay?

Bobby Flay needs good vegetables here. We got a problem in New England. Everybody's taking a pay cut. Where's the money? The Rams using a different bank? Kansas City and the Steelers using a different bank. Philadelphia using a different bank. Maybe it's time to change credit unions, New England,

because I don't see where the money's at. He got nothing, nothing at all to work with. Coming up next, Jimmy Garoppolo was hurt, and I talked to an NFL executive last week that voiced a real concern with Jimmy Garoppolo, and we saw it play out yesterday. Michael Vick on the show, James Harrison on the show. LeBron opening up practice and talking today with the Lakers in a couple hours from now as well. You may know Tommy John as the creators of the most. comfortable underwear on the planet for men and women. But little did you know they've been

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Tommyjohn.com slash heard. Not only save 20% in your first order. Free shipping, free returns on all dress shirt purchases. Tommyjohn.com slash heard. I always thought one of the most underrated things, Jamie Maggio, joining me today, Joy Taylor back tomorrow. I presume she's sick. We'd love to have Jamie in. Is decision making totally underrated? Think about it in this terms. Think about how many decisions you make a day as a human being. What you're going to wear in the morning, which exit to take to get to work, going to get coffee, not going to get coffee, things you say to bosses, coworkers, get home, all the decisions. Let's just say that you made two decisions a day, two better than me. Just two.

a day. That's it. And I would say all of us make dozens of decisions a day. But you were a little smarter than me than over the course of a day, twice you made a better decision. That would be 14 times a week, 56 times a month, 56 times 12 is 600, what, 75? You would make 675 decisions a year. better than me. Think you'd have a better life? Over a decade, 10 years, 675 a year, 6,000 some decisions or more, think you'd be more successful than me and happier than me? All you've got to do is make two dumb decisions a day.

And they don't even have to be dumb, they just have to be the wrong decision. Be a good decision maker. Life's fast, choose wisely, choose thoughtfully. I told you last week about Jimmy Garoppolo of the Niners. I told you last week that I talked to an NFL executive last week. And he said Kyle Shanahan, who's really bright and intense, would struggle with Jimmy Garapolo during this building process for the next couple of years. He said, Jimmy G. does not have the self-awareness of Tom Brady.

From the food Tom meets to what he drinks and doesn't drink, to the trainer he uses, to the things he's saying. publicly to the things he does publicly, Tom's decision making is brilliant. Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt again because of Jimmy Garoppolo. Dude, there's nine chiefs surrounding you. Get out of bounds. What are you doing? Justin Houston of the chiefs yesterday said, that injury, I feel bad, but it was

Jimmy G's fault. That was his fault. I pray he's not hurt, nothing serious, but as a quarterback, he should stay. You should step out of bounds. It's only an inch. That inch wouldn't have made a difference. You got the yards you need. You step out of bounds.

You got to be smart thinking about your team. Okay, your quarterback's your pilot. All right, Maverick, I don't need all these rolls and twists. Why don't you land the puppy? You're a pilot of the franchise. Get the bird down safely. I don't need to see the Grand Canyon off to my right or the Alps off to my left. I don't need twisting rolls.

Okay, we're not here. You're not a fighter pilot. You're working for Delta. Get the bird down. That injury, just like the one in New England, was on Jimmy Garoppolo, who tried to extend a play when there's an old saying in the NFL for quarterbacks, live for another down. That's why Eli never gets hurt.

It's why Brady never gets hurt. It's why sometimes Aaron Rogers does. Live for another play. This is a guy. By the way, interception percentage in the NFL, Brady didn't have the best arm. He's got the best interception percentage. He doesn't throw him. either does Alex Smith, either is Aaron Rogers.

It's decision-making. And this is not a kid. Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold and Josh Allen are going to make mistakes. They're babies, their puppies. This guy's going to be 28 soon. He's been in the league five years. Do better. Be smarter.

That's why when he came out and was on a date publicly after his big contract with an adult film star in Beverly Hills with TMZ swimming around the building, dude, do better, be smarter. This, I mean, you've got to do better than that. Now, I know the average of a young guy, 23-year-old watching my show, it's no big deal. That's why you'll never have the corner office, bra. That's why. Decisions are important. Just butcher two a day. It's 14 a week, 56 a month, 675 a year, and 6,000 or more over a decade.

This is what I was told, that the Patriots, the difference between Brady and Garapolo, they're both handsome, they're both quarterbacks, they're both talented, was decision making. Tom is a quick, twitchy thinking quarterback who eats right, who thinks right, who talks right, who audibles out of

hits. That injury is on Jimmy G. And that is what I was told last week. I said it on the air twice, that an executive said, Shanahan, Jimmy G's going to drive him nuts. Because Shanahan is going a thousand miles an hour upstairs. And Shanahan's looking at that video this morning,

Garoppolo's probably out for the year and he's looking at that video thinking, what are you doing? You're our pilot. What are you doing roles and twist for? Land the plane. Get out of bounds. That injury should never, ever happen. And it's not a coincidence.

It doesn't happen to the smarter guys in the pocket in this league. It just doesn't. I mean, I'm not saying injuries don't happen. You got Clay Matthews chasing around a football field and you're going to get hurt once in a while. But that's on Jimmy G. It's probably out for the year. Jamie with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin. First up, Bill Belichick and the Patriots losing on the road yesterday in Detroit to, of course, his protege, Matt Patricia. So was this the case of the student out coaching the teacher?

That's what Bill Belichick said after the game. My lines did everything a lot better and we did it tonight. So give them credit, they played well, coached well. We just didn't do anything well on if we gave ourselves a chance to win. Similar to a situation last week. Get behind early, play from behind,

just weren't able to make it up. Obviously, we've got a lot of work to do, so I don't think anybody clinched a playoff spot today. I don't think anybody was eliminated today. Well, it would help have you actually had players in Detroit. By the way, Golden Tate is better than any receiver New England has. And then they have this new kid for them, who I really love. like. And they have a running back, a young running back out of Auburn. I really like him. It's like Detroit's got playmakers. And Matt Stafford has always had talent. But I'm watching that game last

night and I'm like Detroit's got more dudes. And I appreciate Belichick's calm, you know, dry demeanor there. But with 16 games in the regular season, now you're one and two. And in the AFC East, you have the dolphins at 3 and 0. And Josh Allen looked pretty good for the bills yesterday. You should be a little bit nervous about that. Let's keep with that game because, obviously, coming into the season, there was all that conversation about Gronkowski, and is he going to retire, what's going to happen with his future? And obviously, he stayed in New England. But he was asked after the game in Detroit yesterday, were you going to retire if he weren't playing for the Patriots?

Here's Grunk. Yeah, it happened. And Brady's my quarterback. That's all. Wasn't going anywhere without Brady. That's some loyalty Because he would miss out on a nice paycheck with another team If he decided to sit

I also think that's a shot at Belichick I think that is a In this locker room We're behind Tom We're not behind the coach We're behind Tom And I think that's been festering for some time And I think Gronk just said

What everybody in that locker room believes is We've given up everything for you coach Nobody's making huge money in here Compared to the other teams Get us more players I don't know. I thought that was kind of a shot at Belichick and a deserved shot at Belichick. Final one here for you, Colin, in Seattle, the Dallas Cowboys losing yesterday. And Ezekiel Elliott had more than 100 yards rushing in the game for the first time this season,

but he's taking the blame for the loss. Let's listen to Zeke. That's just me, man. I had a poor performance today. I think you can say whatever. But at the end of day, you know, when you got the ball on your hand, that's the team here, the team here. I mean, me being a leader on the team, me being a better player on this team, I got to do better job taking care of the ball. And, you know what I mean? I mean, that costs us a game.

Yeah, I don't know. Troy Aikman made a point last night during the broadcast that I think was, it was late about five minutes left in the game, and the Cowboys had the ball. And Troy Eichman made a good point. He goes, does Dallas have a big play, a big passing play even in the playbook? And it's like not really. Like, I mean, you can keep blaming everybody, but this offense is not built to play from behind. You know, their offenses, you know, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New Orleans,

some off at Kansas City, you can play from behind, you can play catch up. But Dallas gets down by 10. It's good luck because Dak, they don't have big plays in that offense. I can appreciate that Zeke is publicly speaking to the media and taking on the blame. and he had fumble the ball on that last drive. But, Dack, two interceptions. There you go. Yeah.

Thanks for the news, Jamie. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly news. Most career rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history, a four-time pro bowler, my friend, Mike Vic, 13 seasons in the NFL, who watched Virginia Tech got beaten by Old Dominion this weekend.

That was painful. No reason to get into that. Oh, bitch. Okay. Let's start with Dallas. because we just talked about the Cowboys. Listen, I've said there's a lot of things I like about DAC, but I'm watching some of these young quarterbacks, Mahomes and Goff.

And even this weekend, Josh Allen, jumping over people. And I sit there and I think to myself, okay, okay, Dak can win games. I've seen this, but can we acknowledge now, Michael, we got two years of video on DAC that is ceilings fairly low? Is that fair to say? It's fair to say. Or is it the fact that he don't have, the weapons around him.

I thought Tavon, Austin, and ultimately, Ireland, Hurons would pay dividends for this team as far as providing some big play capability. He has Zeke in the back field. They can feed him all day. But at the end of the day, Dak has to make his share of plays. And I think that's where, you know,

the chips have to fall. They don't have great perimeter weapons. No, it's nobody that can stretch the field. Nobody. They'll get eight-man boxes all day. that will create problems for Zeeke. And when you get the eight-man boxes, you have to exploit the defense on the outside.

Yeah, I mean, what you're basically, everybody's cheating on Dallas now. Everybody puts, as you say, eight in the box, and the only way to get that eight in the box to be seven or six is burn them over the top. Yeah. And they don't have anybody that does that. I thought Tavon Austin was the guy.

I mean, I know he's small. He might not be big in stature, but he's still a guy that if you put on the outside and you don't get press coverage, you just run them down the field and just throw one up. You have to loosen the defense up. Everything looks tight in Dallas. Yeah.

A bunch of crossing routes and, you know, that looking sort of conservative as far as not wanting to make a mistake. But you can't be that way. Where's the aggression? I mean, I think this is a time when you look at the locker room and say, we miss a guy like Des Brand. You know, he might not be the best leader in the locker room or he might be too outspoken.

But he's a guy that brings passion and emotion. You need that on the sidelines sometimes to lift guys up. They look flat. That's a good point. I want to talk about Patrick Mahomes. So you were in Kansas City with Andy Reed. Yeah. And so you were one of the first people to see Patrick Mahomes.

And what was the advice you gave him as you were leaving and he was entering? Well, Patrick asked a lot of questions. And I think that's one of his best qualities. He's not a guy that's going to be quiet about what he wants, what he feels should done in the offense. You can tell he was trying to learn it. And the questions that he kept coming to me with was when you was in your first year with Andy, what was your approach? And I told him I did more listening than talking because I was trying to learn to play the quarterback position. I think Patrick is at an advantage because he had a chance to sit all year

last year behind Alex Smith. And Alex is a smart guy, very cerebral, knows the game of football. That was an advantage. Then you have my. Mike Kafka, who was my backup, who is his quarterback coach now. Northwestern guy. Northwestern guy. I'm very intelligent. Help me. When he was a rookie and I was in my 10th season, he's day-to-day with Patrick.

So as I looked at the situation, I just felt, and I told Patrick, you are in a great position. You just listen to these guys around you, and I'm not going to take the credit for it. I just told him what I would do. What is Andy? Why do quarterbacks get better? Ty Detmer, Donovan McNabb, Alex Smith, Patrick Mahomes, Tate Myon. Jeff Garcia. Jeff Garcia had a great year.

What is Andy do specifically that made you better? Well, first of all, I think he stays up all night. By the way, Philadelphia, you had your best years in Philadelphia. I had my best year. Yeah, comeback player the year. Nimbus was through the roof, touchdown, interception ratio was great. You know, amazing. So what's the credit?

What does Andy redo? He spends time figuring out what's going to make you great as a player. So the game plan for Alex last year probably would have been different for Patrick and vice versa. Everyone does things differently. And I think Andy has a way of just making guys, you know, feel comfortable in the offense. You're going to a game knowing exactly, you know, what are you, what you're going to do as far as production. And he takes your best skill. You never had a coach like that.

I never had a coach like that. I never had, I mean, I have, I have had, I have had. good coaches, but with Andy, I had game plans where I could sleep good at night. And I can think through the game plan throughout the week and envision success. Okay, on this play, double post, X out, I know I'm going to get this defense. Andy told me to look at this guy. And then I had to pick his brain a couple times. And I've asked him with Donovan, all the success that you had, what did you do? What did you do that made him so great? And, you know, he shared some secrets with me and I was like, man, that's amazing. So when I heard that, I knew I was in good hands.

And Patrick is blessed. He's blessed. And hopefully him and Andy will stay together for a long time. That's a lot of fun for the league. Mike Vic joining us for Pro Bowls, 13 years. I want to talk about Jimmy G. because, and I could go back to your early career. I understand this when you walk into the league. You're a college star. You're Cam Newton. You're running around. And it takes you a couple of years of getting smacked to go, wow. But Jimmy G's not a baby now. He's already been hurt. Certainly not, yeah. He's going to be 27 here real soon.

I kind of look at that injury yesterday, and that's on him. That was uncalled for. Now, even me being a running quarterback, and, you know, arguably one of the best ever doing whatever. You were real good at that thing, yeah. I was really good. I would have never took that hit. As many unnecessary and crazy hits that I took throughout the course of my career,

at least they hash, they happened in between the hashes. This injury, I would have ran directly out of bounds, especially in the moment. It was nothing more that Jimmy G could have done. As a quarterback, we all have to understand. We are responsible for that team and being accountable for the team on a weekly basis. That's how only job. You know, other than to go out and be productive, but we have to be there. Look at that.

There's literally seven chiefs around the play. I can't believe it when I seen it. You know, I'm a Jimmy G fan, and I was rooting for him, but I was very much. very disappointed that he made that decision. Michael Vic, joining us. You know, I was saying execution's an important thing.

Okay, like I understand, but a good chef does need fresh vegetables and fish. Absolutely. I'm watching New England last night. Mike, nobody's getting separation. There's no playmakers out there.

Yeah, I mean, you know, aside from Grunk. But they double and triple him last night. Grunk is getting doubled. the running game is not there. I mean, it's not effective enough where it can control a game. And Tom has been asked to do, you know, a lot. And of course, we know he can handle it

because he's done it over the years. And it seems like every year in New England, if they don't start out hot, they always are in a position where they lose a game early. And you're like, ah, is it the end of Tom? Is it the end of the so-called dynasty? see, but they always bounce back.

I know they do, but it does look different. They got to get Josh Gordon out there, ASAP. And I just, nothing against Josh Gordon, but, you know, this, he has, it's a personality thing with him. He hasn't shown an ability to, you know, he's consistent, yeah, he just can. So I, I can't trust him. I want to ask you, I want to talk Raiders because this week, Baker Mayfield faces John Gruden. Wow. It's going to be fantastic.

It's going to be fun. So, you know, the Raiders have lost. very close games back to back, very winnable games. They've not been very good in the second half. In fact, they've led all their games through three quarters, then they lose leads. And the criticism of Gruden I'm hearing is he doesn't adjust particularly well. He's great on the script, but he doesn't adjust. Now, I want you to take me inside of that.

Did you have teams that were better on script and that teams that adjusted better because it looks like the Raiders are in all these games, Mike? And then when they've got to adjust in the fourth, they don't adjust well. I'm not in the film room, I don't know. But we've got to have it now for three straight weeks. Take me to your career. Did you play on teams that simply adjusted better? Yeah.

Early in my career, we used to come out with scripted plays. And, you know, we would study, look, this is the script. This is how we're going to open the game up. And we follow the script and we'll have success early. And then, you know, you hit a dead period where you're off the script. now everything is kind of impromptu. And you have to be able to make adjustments on the fly in the NFL. The best teams are going to win when they do that.

I mean, I think the Los Angeles Rams make adjustments all throughout the game. Right. They have the weapons to do so, but it makes a difference. How long does the script last? How many plays can you script? Maybe 20. Okay, so 20 out the gate. So your first three drives until mid-second quarter, you're scripted.

Right, you're scripted. And you know what's coming. It might be a wrinkle here there because, you know, down the distance, it might be second and one. So you have to go outside of what the script entails. But at some point, you're going to get off the script. And the adjustments will have to be made. And Gruden hasn't coached in a long time. He's been out away from the game.

And the game is always evolving. It's always changing. And I can tell just by watching different offenses now. I know who looks traditional. I know who's coming with a great deal of innovation. And now in today's game, how fast guys are, sideline and sideline, you have to make guys move. You have to be able to adjust.

Good stuff, Michael. 13 years for Pro Bowls. I love having you on the show, bud. Thank you. Anytime you're on our show, I get all jacked up for it. Appreciate that, Michael, Vic. By the way, top of the hour, 20 minutes where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, there were a lot in both.

Coming up next, if you're a cowboy fan, and this morning, you're down in the dumps. You don't feel good. There is light at the end of the tunnel. You are catching a major break over the next 12 months if you're the Dallas Cowboys. I will explain 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 IHeart Radio app. When shopping for car insurance, consider GEICO.com.

After 75 years, they make it simple. They know how to save you money. Geico.com. At the top of the hour where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, that's at the top of the hour. of both. We'll have James Harrison, a Super Bowl champ, and a pro bowler. Steelers play at the night and Monday night football. If they lose and go 0-2-1, the heat is going to ramp up on Mike Tomlin, and there should be a shootout tonight in Tampa between Fitzmagic and Big Ben. I want to talk about this. Dallas looks really bad. They're 30th in yards. They're 31st in points.

They're eight for 34 on third downs. Now, we knew they lost Jason Whitman. which was the security blanket for DAC. That has not helped. We knew that Des Bryant was still a capable receiver and a decent deep threat at times, and he's gone. So some of this, we know he lost weapons. And they didn't replace him with anything more than, you know, Alan Herndt is a possession guy.

Tavon Austin's overpaid, was in L.A., is now in Dallas. Here's the thing. The Cowboys have a decision to make real soon. Remember what Peter Schrager said about this season on our show a couple of weeks ago in terms of where Dak got drafted and when the Cowboys can start to look for another guy. Dak Prescott went on day three, a fourth round pick. So what does that mean?

It means that he only has a four-year contract and he can start negotiating at the end of this season. So a contract is looming for Dak. If he is not great and they take a big step back, don't expect them to back up the Brinks trucks just because he was good three years ago. Now, here's three things the Cowboys have done. going for them. Because I don't think it would be crazy to draft another quarterback, even if you played DAC for a year. Here's three things the Cowboys got going for them. This looks like a five and 11 or six and 10 team. They're going to be near the top 10, much closer to the top

10. Now, their schedules workable for the next month, it really is. It gets brutal in November and December. They end up their last two months of this NFL season, if they don't have it cooking offensively, they could go 0 and 8. Okay, it's pretty workable now. If you look at their remaining schedule, Detroit, Houston, Jags, Redskins, Titans, these are not a lot of firepower teams. Then you start facing real offenses at Carson Wentz, at Matt Ryan, Drew Breeze, Philadelphia Eagles, Andrew Luck, Giants look good yesterday. You'd be in New York. Tampa scoring points. Tons of good offensive players. So you're going to make, hey, but the good news for the Cowboys is, number one is it looks like they'll be closer to the top 10.

than in previous years. Number two is they have several young, tradable pass rushers. They've got an abundant of good young pass rushers and outside a quarterback. The one thing everybody in this league is looking for is pass rushers. Everybody except apparently the Oakland Raiders and John Gruden. Here's the third thing. And it's a weird year in the NFL. This is an anomaly, an aberration.

Who needs a quarterback? I'm going to put the bad teams, and it's early I know, but the bad teams in three food groups, the winless teams, Arizona, Oakland, Houston, Pittsburgh. They're not drafting quarterbacks. So if those teams ended up in the top 10, the Steelers just spent a third round pick on Mason Rudolph and that ticked off Big Ben. They're not drafting another guy because Ben's around for two or three more years. So the winless teams, if they're a heady in the draft, don't need a quarterback. Here's the one in two teams.

Patriots probably get it corrected and win at least nine games this year. They're not going to be anywhere near the top 10. The Bills have a quarterback, the Jets have a quarterback, the Colts have a quarterback. The Giants appear to be locked into Eli for several more years. Lions have a quarterback. Atlanta's got a quarterback. Seattle's got a quarterback. San Francisco's got a quarterback.

Now, I think the Chargers do need to draft one here in the next two years, but they're certainly not as desperate as the Dallas Cowboys. Now, there is one quarterback. So my point is, if the Cowboys finish 6 and 10, 7, and 9, they'll be drafting what? like 11th. They got multiple pass rushers. They could trade one and get into that top seven, top eight. And the teams above them don't need quarterbacks.

They're really stinkeruny teams in this league. A lot of reasons they stink is because they have young quarterbacks and they don't have the weapons. But they're not going to draft another quarterback. So Dallas is in a very interesting situation going into next year. They may be drafted a quarterback. By the way, they've got good pass rushers, a good old line, a star running back.

All they need are receivers and maybe a quarterback. And it's a bizarre year where nobody needs a quarterback, especially the lousy teams near the top of the draft. I mean, New England's up there now, but they won't be. And there's one quarterback in college. I've been told this by people that I absolutely trust in scouting. The kid at Oregon, Justin Herbert, 6'5, mobile with a cannon. He is really special.

In fact, there are people in the NFL. You know how much I like Sam Darnold that believe Justin Herbert is the most talented quarterback prospect in two years. That includes Baker, Rosen, Donald, and Josh Allen, Mason Rudolph, too. And Lamar Jackson, there are people that believe the kid at Oregon, Justin Herbert, is the best quarterback prospect would have been number one prospect if he was available last year. Big, mobile, and a huge arm. It was on display this weekend.

So if you're going to, if you don't like DAC and you're freaking out here, the combination of you're not very good, you'll be near the top of the draft. You have pass rushers to trade multiple, multiple pass rushers. What a great position to have depth in. And nobody needs a quarterback. So if you get tired of DAC and you got a superstar out there, you have a, let me tell you something. That kid's good. That kid's special. All right.

Where Colin was right. where Colin was wrong as we head into hour number two. You want to pay off a credit card or high interest debt? Go to Lendingclub.com slash sports. Lending club.com slash sports. All loans made by Web Bank. We're packed hour two. Former steeler James Harrison coming up.

Ah, this is the herd. Hour number two, live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. out today under the weather. Jamie Maggio is joining me. We have James Harrison of the Steelers in 15 minutes. He is going to get all riled up and if Pittsburgh loses tonight, I think it's going to be a high-scoring. Steelers defense right now is a bit of a mess. And Tampa actually, they're hard to run on, so it'll force the Steelers to go to the air. And I think it'll be a wildly

entertaining Monday night football game. The games were great yesterday. We've had these one o'clock windows that have been just fantastic in the NFL. You know, it used to be the good Sunday night game was big, the Fox Lake game, the CBS late game, the 1 o'clock windows have been wild. The ratings were up again yesterday, so and with that, every Monday at this time, where Colin was

right, where Colin was wrong, there's plenty of both. So now we're number two to start off, here we go. Where Colin was right? Had a great weekend on Blazing 5. The Blazing 5 was 4 and 1, and I went with upsets. I went for the ugly New York

Giants over the Texans. We got it. I went for Washington shocking Green Bay upset. We got it. I also had the bet of the year last week, a $1,000 bet on Cleveland and Baker Mayfield. I didn't know if Baker would play. So overall, we were five on our bets. We've had three straight winning weeks.

And I've already looked at the odds for next week. And Baker-Baker touchdown maker, very tasty Cleveland Brown line out there. We'll talk about that more tomorrow on the show. where Colin was wrong. Josh Allen, Bill's quarterback, I said of all the guys in the current draft, of the five quarterbacks,

I thought he had the highest bus potential. Accuracy issues, didn't play against great competition. I got to tell you, give Buffalo coaches credit. Smart, safe throwing game plan, and he's very comfortable running, and you can see there jumping. He had two rushing touchdowns. He's a big-time athlete.

Now, coming into the draft, we said he has a little big band. can be a little reckless. He's got a huge arm and he likes to run. Can we stop this to the Nathan Peterman experiments? Over the last two years, the only times where Buffalo has been unwatchable is during the Nathan Peterman experiments. Let's just keep Josh Allen in. He's going to make mistakes. All the Sundays aren't going to look like that. But I never thought in a million years, if you'd have told me before the season starts, that Josh Allen kid from one, Wyoming would go to Minnesota and the Vikings couldn't stop him for three quarters.

That I would not have predicted. Where Colin was right? Every year there's a team in the NFL that's excellent on the precipice of winning the Super Bowl and they suddenly pull back. And my prediction was the Minnesota Vikings. I said they're not going to be 13 and 3. They're going to be closer to 9 and 7 and I'm not sure they're going to make the playoffs, although I think they're very, very talented.

new coach, new quarterback, new coordinator, I should say. Well, they're one, one and one. They are 17th in points. Offensively, Kirk Cousins has been incredibly sporadic. And I like Kirk. But man, it took Matt Ryan two years to work out the kinks with Kyle Shanahan. You can't expect a coordinator to come into the building and a quarterback to figure it all out in an hour and a half. They just don't look right offensively.

By the way, next two games at the Rams and at the Eagles, it's not. getting easier, the Vikings have clearly taken somewhat of a step back and we were right. Where Colin was wrong. I really liked Deshaun Watson coming out of college. I didn't know if he was a number one draft pick quarterback, but I liked him and I've supported Bill O'Brien for the last several years. I think he gets the most of average quarterbacks. They may need a new coach because it appears that Bill O'Brien, the head coach, is better

with T.J. Yates and Ryan Fitzpatrick than Deshawn Watson. Deshawn Watson does not look comfortable. Now, he could use a run. running game. We know their offensive line is rebuilding in one of the poorest, but they're 26 in points. And my takeaway, Deshaun Watson, he's regressed. And they're not playing an offense he's comfortable with. He's making incredibly poor throws. And, you know, coming off an injury, maybe they're too safe. Maybe they're too conservative. But I like Deshaun and I like Bill O'Brien, and they look poorly coached and lost right now. Where Colin was right?

But I did tell you that I didn't buy John Gruden as a Raiders. head coach. He's 0 and 3. There was a report this weekend about infighting in the front office. He's created his own drafting scouting crew, and they're not communicating with the general manager scouting department. They could certainly use Khalil Mack. They get no pressure on anybody. And they've also surrendered the most second half points. They're not adjusting well. I mean, Ryan Tannehill yesterday was amaze balls. Sacked only once, two. 290 yards, three touchdowns, as good as Ryan Tannihill has perhaps ever looked. It's not that I don't think Gruden can coach, but when Joe Gibbs went to NASCAR for years and came back,

it wasn't pretty for a year. And Gruden tends to be very authoritarian in that he wants to run the show. He's not terribly interested in your opinion. And I think players these days have stronger opinions and more opinions and Gruden's floundering right now. Where Colin was wrong. never buy big 12 quarterbacks. It's one of the reasons I said slow down on Patrick Mahomes, and I don't know about Baker Mayfield. It's a pillow fight conference. Everybody's got four and five wide. Nobody plays defense. Then you come to the NFL and it's a slap in the forehead.

Well, Patrick Mahomes leads the NFL in touchdowns, and Baker Mayfield is only a two and a half point underdog of Oakland and Derek Carr on the road. Baker looked really nice, and Mahomes looks incredible. And I have been somebody for years that if you're a big 12, quarterback, I'm just done. I've seen like 19 straight guys fail. Sam Bradford had the most town and can't stay healthy. But it looks like Mahomes is a star, and Baker

looks certainly more than competent, so I may have to retract that. Where Colin was right? Listen, I don't believe there's a lot of guys you should pay a fortune to on the defensive side. But the Raiders had to pay Khalil Mack. I mean, he's done everything so far

in the NFL season, but save a child from a burning building. the guy is incredible. He won the game yesterday, not Mitch Trubisky. Once again, sacks, forced fumbles. He has more sacks and more force fumbles than the entire Raider defense. He led the Bears to the win yesterday. Listen, I'm all for trading people.

You do not trade superstars at quarterback, left tackle, pass rusher. And especially when they're the best guy in the building, this was a mistake. He's never going to live it down. Sometimes the media can be lazy to apathetic and not pay attention. But when you trade a superstar and he's going to be facing Aaron Rogers twice a year and leading your team in sacks, you did not trade from an area of strength. He was your only pass rusher and he has paid massive dividend so far. Where Colin was wrong. Tiger Woods won a legit PGA tournament, the tour championship, which is filled with the top third.

30A PGA golfers. He led by five at one point. My question about Tiger has always been, I didn't think he could put four great rounds together. It wasn't just physical. It was emotional. The guy's gone through a ton over the last decade, and I didn't feel that he was

buttoned up above the shoulders. Well, the Ryder Cup is this weekend. Now, the Ryder Cup has played somewhere, so it's going to be on really, like Paris. It's going to be really crazy hours. I'm not sure how many people are going to see it. But, you know, I really doubted Tiger. I said, Yeah, maybe he'll win some hacky, you know, tournament that, you know, very few guys play.

But I didn't think he'd win a tournament like this. And he did. And he put it together for four weekends. And frankly, he's the only guy on the tour outside of maybe Phil Mickelson that I really want to watch on Sunday. By the way, the Tiger Phil Mickelson matchup in Vegas, Thanksgiving weekend, count me in now. I actually want to watch it. Where Colin was right? Can we never ever put Dak Prescott and.

Russell Wilson in the same sentence. Did you watch the game yesterday? Folks, how many times do I have to convince people that Russell Wilson is just a big play star? Shaky, shaky, wide receiving unit, shaky offensive line. Depending now on a rookie running back, Russell Wilson's quarterback rating was 109.8. Dax was 54.5. Dack doesn't throw the ball down field when he runs around. Russell Wilson, and this is why I love him, even when he's under constant duress, he is always keeping his eyes downfield. He made a couple sensational plays yesterday.

And again, I know I'm from Seattle, and I know I personally like Russell Wilson, but he led the NFL in touchdown passes last year with the lowest rated offensive line. Deshaun Watson now has the lowest rated offensive line. How's he look? We're looking at an all-time quarterback talent here And last night with a great Dallas pass rush I mean that's the strength now at Dallas's team I think their pass rush is better than their own line

And he had no problems maneuvering Where Colin was right Everybody's freaking out about Paul George doesn't want to play with LeBron And Kauai doesn't want to play with LeBron Oh it's interesting Do you see who signed yesterday with Rich Paul of Clutch Sports?

Rich Paul, of course, is what of LeBron's dudes. He runs clutch sports. He's the super agent. Oh, Anthony Davis, who will be available in a couple of years? Folks, you think LeBron's going after the Little Fish? He's going after Paul George. No, he's going after Kevin Durant. You heard it here first.

And he's going after Anthony Davis. LeBron didn't go to L.A. to play with B-plus guys. LeBron is going after Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis, and yesterday Anthony Davis signed with Agent Rich Paul of Clutch Sports. LeBron's guys signing one of the five best players in the NBA. James Harrison, the former Steeler, is ready to roll Pittsburgh. plays tonight.

It's not must win, but the Steelers must at least play well because they've been terribly sloppy so far. James Harrison is coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Nights are about to get a lot bigger as Fox becomes the new network home for Thursday night football. Jared Gough, Todd Gurley, and the undefeated Rams host the Vikings in a battle of NFC heavyweights. Thursday at 730 Eastern on Fox, also live on NFL

Network and streaming on Amazon Prime. Prediction right now upset Vikings win. Wow. First of all, they could not have played worse football, and everybody is piling on the Vikings. It's like, come on, settle down. That defense is nothing but dudes.

They're fine. Everybody lays an egg. I remember years ago, Belichick lost to a bad Cleveland team. Everybody lays an egg in this league. It happens. They laid an egg, Buffalo came to town. They had a rookie quarterback. Maybe they didn't have a good week of practice.

Minnesota's got a lot of good players. And last year, they controlled the Rams. So if you think that's going to be a blowout, no way. That's going to be a wildly competitive game. With that, I bring in a Super Bowl champ, the all-time Pittsburgh Steeler sack leader, a multiple-time pro bowler, and a guy I love having on the show, James Harrison. So Pittsburgh plays tonight. And it's a offense.

Tampa Bay's been bad James for years. They've had a lot of draft picks. They've hit on them. They got some players. If Pittsburgh lost tonight, is it panic time? I don't think it's panic time because, you know, if you think and go back to 2013, they started off 1 and 4. I think the first half of the season, they ended up being 2 and 6, and then the second half, they were 6 and they almost made the playoffs. But it was some fluke things that happened where they ended up not making it.

I don't feel like it's panic mode, but they definitely, you know, need to go out there. And I think the defense needs to put a show up. And if the defense puts a show up, and the offense puts up points consistently to where they're not, you know, doing runs of three and out, and then the defense is giving up touchdowns, you know, in between those runs, I feel like they'll have a chance. I'm going to throw this out to you.

Especially if you're a team with a young quarterback, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, and Buffalo. I don't think Big Ben needs a superstar running back. If I'm paying Ben and Antonio Brown, I want to pay some defensive guys. But when you get these young quarterbacks, they can really use. Jared Goff really, Todd Gurley is a tremendous compliment to Jared Goff. And by the way, Patrick Mahomes has Kareem Hunt really valuable for a young quarterback.

I look at Levian Bell right now. And the Pittsburgh thing, who knows what's going to happen? I think I'd trade him. I think Pittsburgh needs help defensively. Let me just throw this to you. If you ran the Steelers and you look at that defense, What about trading Levian Bell and getting some players on the defensive side?

Right now I feel like with Levion having to go back at some point to get that credited season and with the things that were said by his teammates, I feel like it's not going to be a very friendly environment and I feel like you would be at justice too going try and trade him and get something for him because if I'm him

and that situation comes that time where I have to come back, Now, all the things that these guys were saying, you know, that's going to bite you a little bit. And I'm going to give you everything I got in practice. But when Saturday comes, you know, my back hurts. I'm not going to step out there on that field and take a chance of losing, you know, a tremendous amount of money if I get hurt where next year I have to sign a one-year deal just to prove I'm healthy and, you know, not get the type of money that, you know, Todd Gurley got. So, you know, if I'm them, yeah, I would trade.

But at the end of the day, the big issue was his teammates, coming out and saying the things that they said. And you just don't think hostile if he came back. You know, you would feel a certain way. Like the guy's talking about, I do this for you. I do, we do this for him. Well, if that's the case and you really do this for him, let him get paid. Tell him you'll pay for free and give Levyon the money so he'd get here because I do it for him. And no one's going to do that. And like I said, when Heinz Ward held out, we weren't upset and mad. We were like, pay Heinz, give him his money. I want to see everybody get money. So for the players to, you know, turn on him like that. I don't think it's going to be a conducive, a good

atmosphere for him to come back to. By the way, Sam Darnold and the Jets' desperate need of a running back. Andrew Luck absolutely needs a weapon. You know, there are a couple young quarterbacks and a couple off at Seattle, by the way, Russell Wilson. They got a rookie running back. Could you add Lavian Bell, who's also, by the way, a nice pass catcher? Yes, very good. And I think that's one of the big issues right now with not having Lavian Niers. Now I can double up on Antonio and bump somebody else. And I don't really have to worry about that prolific pass catcher coming out of the backfield that I did when, you know, Levion was there.

You weren't going to put a linebacker on Levion and think that it was going to be okay. You had to have a corner or safety, someone with some, you know, better athletic abilities to cover him. New England Patriots at the end of your career, you went over there and played for New England. You know their system. You also know, to a large degree, their personnel. When you watch last night, Tom didn't have much to work with.

That's not a Tom performance. It took a fourth drive to get a first down against the Detroit team that has some players, but isn't going to blow you away? Isn't that dynamic, we think? What's wrong with New England, James? They need to play better. I think Bill will get them out there. He'll get things sorted out.

I really believe that he's one of the greatest coaches to ever do it. So I think that, like I said, the big thing is the players need to play better. You have situations where guys are just doing the total opposite of what they do. They're not reading what's going on, you know, missing tackles, not fitting gaps. They can't. They didn't stop the run last night. Right. Yeah.

Well, see, like I said, when you get Tom going, then Tom gets going, you know, they only had 21 minutes where they had the ball. So you really didn't get the juices flowing like you would normally get where you had a Patriots offense that went out there and it's touchdown, touchdown. Now they're up by 14, 21 points. And now the other team, they're stuck in a situation where they can't. just run the ball out. They got to start passing. And that gives you an opportunity to pin your ears back, and you're no longer, you know, suspect to happen to defend the run as much.

You're the all-time sack leader for the Steelers. Listen, you want to be able to hit people. But it's interesting. Von Miller was on my show last week. He said, I don't worry about these new rules because I just go after the ball. And Khalil Mack, I watch him. He goes after the ball. Clay Matthews tends to go after the quarterback. Could I not argue this?

Listen, the NFL's better when the quarterbacks are upright. It's a better game. We all make more money. The ratings are better. Pass rushers should spend less time worrying about the hit and more time worrying about the strip. That's what Vaughn does and that's what Khalil does and Clay's the guy getting the penalties. The thing is you can worry about the strip, but if you go just straight for the strip

and he happens to move that ball at the last second, you don't get it. You got a higher percentage of missing that ball if you're just going for the strip. You're taught to go for the strip and the top. So you talk to go for the hit to wrap him up and strip the ball out. Now, a face-up tackle, it's going to be hard to not put some point of your body on him. True. The one last, where Clay did the last one, yeah, he could have possibly put his hands down at the end and not landed with all his body weight. But like you said, the emphasis on protecting the passers is just so that you have more.

Listen, Clay Matthews is a good dude, comes from a great football family. his argument here is what do you want me to do? Like once I wrap him, I'm going to fall with him. I get the argument, but I also get the NFL saying, listen, we're going to overcall this thing because we watched the Cowboys two years ago when Tony Romo got hurt and we watched the Green Bay Packers last year when Aaron got hurt and the games aren't watchable. Right.

Like you get what the league. Yeah, I get what they're doing. But you know, you're protecting them just a little bit too much. You're trying to make a player that is going at full speed adjust to something. that he's trying to do. Like say he held onto that ball and he didn't scoop him in at the last second. That gives him a half second more to be able to release that ball and make a play where if you hit him, wrap him up, get him down as fast as possible, now you're worrying about how you land on him. You had a guy, I believe it was just this week. He's going in trying to stop from

landing all his body weight on the guy and tears up his ACL, you know, just from trying to not get his full body weight on this guy. And then you're going to have instances where things like that happen. And you're going to have instances. is where guys have a quarterback wrapped up and they think, you know what? I just, I got him. I think he might have let the bar go what I know if he did. So he lets him go. He didn't let the bar go. He goes and makes a play. So now you're not

being able to do your job effectively. Did you ever get one of those penalties? Yeah. Yeah. How many? I don't know. They use me as the poster board. I'm just glad now it's not me. It's Clay. They use the poster shot. Yeah, yeah. They're using Clay right now as the poster shop for it. So you were a guy that liked to put your weight on a guy?

It's not even so much putting your weight on the guy. It's just that you have to shore up that tackle. You're not going to go in and tackle another grown man and think that at some point, if they know, you know what, he's going to roll to the side before he actually tries to take me down. What's going to stop the quarterback from opposite rolling out of you? And he's going to get away. You're going to suffer with defensive players not being able to do their job.

But like you said, the main focus is on trying to keep these guys healthy. Now, I understand that. You can't drive a guy into the ground. But Clay, by the way, did you notice that he looked up immediately when he did it? So Clay lands. He turns and looks at the officials because he knows. Last week, he landed and actually put his hands out. And the same thing happened.

I don't know. I kind of lie. I like watching quarterbacks. I'm going to defend the league on this. So you one of them guys that want to see a 50 to 49 game or a 70 to 100 game? No. You don't understand the six to nine game. That's a game right there.

That's a snoozer. That's a game. You know, I like something in between. I like 2320. Like yesterday, you know, these Kansas City Chiefs games, the Steelers in Kansas City played, it was wildly entertaining. But a great game to me has strategy. Like I like the occasion. Like the Rams punters, the best in the league, he never takes the bench.

I'd like to see, I don't mind special teams. I like yesterday the Rams had a block punt. I love that. I love block punts. I love special teams. I love gadget stuff. So I don't want to see Big 12 football. But what I do want to see is quarterbacks who are stars standing up by week 12.

And I think the body weight thing, for years and years, I watched guys drive Joe Montana and Aikman into the turf. And I didn't like it. That's what they didn't want. Right now they're making so many rules and it's so, you know, it's so confusing now that if you get a pop or a guy acts like he's hurt once he hits the ground, it's a flag, you got receivers getting hit and throwing their body out like this after they hit the ground, just trying to get a flag. It's become the like Vladdi Divas NFL. James Harrison, good stuff, bud. Jamie with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Colin, we're going to go back to Jimmy Garoppolo's knee injury because we have to add this under where Colin was right. Kansas City linebacker Justin Houston says Garoppolo has no one to blame but himself. Oh, Lord. No, I thought, but that was, I think that was his fault. I pray he's not hurt

enough to series, but as a quarterback, you should step out of bounds. It's only an inch. That inch wasn't made a difference. You got the yards you need. You step out of bounds. You got to be smart thinking about your team. It looked like he was trying too hard, right?

I just don't. Listen, man, there were six chiefs there. Right here. Dude, just go to. Russell Wilson just goes out of bounds. Just get out of bounds. This is NFL defensive players bench press more than quarterbacks.

You're trying to avoid having James Harris. Harrison, whack you. I mean, by the way, there's a reason now that when a quarterback slides, even if you don't touch him, he can't get up and run again. The league is implementing all these opportunities for you to not get hit. So take advantage of those opportunities. Don't try to be the pilot who's rolling the plane. Land the bird, get out of bounds.

That's on Jimmy Garoppolo. That's not on Houston. Yeah, that's more of a non-contact anyway. It looks like his tears before he even hits him. So it's his fault. He could have ran out of bounds, but a non-contact ACL is a highly likelihood that you have another one. It's like 60-70%. Oh, it is?

Oh, yeah. Non-contact. Now, we don't have news if he's out for the year. No, not yet. Some guys are more injury prone. Let's not forget, too. After he went 7-0, he got paid. He got that big contract, five years, 137 million.

So maybe he feels like he needs to make plays. Maybe he feels like he's got to earn that. He needs to make plays with his arm, not with his feet. Exactly. He's paid that to throw the ball, not to run it. Yep. All right. Time now for the fantasy headline, sponsored by Draft Kings and Baker.

Mayfield officially named the starter this morning for the Browns in week four. And why wouldn't he be? He should be. Yeah, he absolutely should be. Pre-Baker in that Thursday night game, they went 79 yards, total yards with zero points. He erased that deficit. He entered the game, 24-tall yards, 21 points. They walk away with a first win in forever.

So good for Baker, good for Cleveland. This was the hero that they were looking for. And what a great game. So you have O'N3 John Gruden, who's had three leads and lost them all. And then you have Baker Mayfield, and the Raiders have no pass rush. So Baker's going to have time to throw. This is going to be wildly entertaining game? Do we have that?

Is that a Fox game? That's as good a game. Just it, oh, that's a Fox game. That is a wildly entertaining game. Jamie with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news.

By the way, one thing I want to touch on real quickly here, The NFL is a game of attrition. People get hurt. We know that, right? And so in college football, you have 85 scholarships. In the NFL, you have a 53-man roster. And the NFL is a more violent game. And the NFL has a longer schedule.

So I've always argued that we should have more players on an NFL roster. The roster should be 65, but the owners don't want to pay that many players. But the NFL, in college football, Alabama only plays two or three games a year max where they're facing an athletic physical equivalent. They're mostly rolling over people. In the NFL yesterday, Buffalo Stone, Minnesota. So the NFL seasons longer. The players are better.

You also have four preseason games. You have 20 games overall in week three of the preseason. You know, veterans play. So I've always argued for expanded rosters. But since you only have a 53-man roster in the NFL, there's a team every year that falls apart. And they fall apart in September and October. And I just have to bail.

Last year, it was the Houston Texans. Two years ago, it was the Minnesota Vikings offensive line. teams I like, then I just say, I'm out. I'm out. The Atlanta Falcons I pick for the Super Bowl, I'm out. Okay, they've now had three season-ending injuries, and two of them are two of their best players. You're getting to a point with Atlanta now. Yesterday, Drew Breeze ran in for a touchdown, and it was just, it was literally Drew Breeze with about as slow a spin and roll as you can have. and Atlanta couldn't stop Drew Breeze. And I love Drew Breeze, but he shouldn't score against an NFL defense with that move.

And I just think Atlanta now, that is the slowest spin move recorded in NFL history, and it's still equal to touchdown. And I know everybody talks about Next Man Up, but when it becomes Next Men Up, plural, those are backups. Next Man Up is a great slogan. but now Atlanta's got three next men up, and there's a reason they're backups. They're not as good.

And I think Atlanta's not the same football team today. They're going to be in a series of shootouts, and I don't think they can match up. Like I had Atlanta as a Super Bowl team. Didn't know if they'd win it, but I felt Atlanta, Steve Sarkesian's second year. I thought their offensive line was underrated. I thought their defensive acquisitions were good,

and they've drafted it well. You can't lose this many guys. is it three or four starters out for the season right now? It's four. They lost a guard. Andy LaDreitra. So they've lost four starters and three defensive players for the season. I'm out.

You can't win the Super Bowl. That's too many players. I mean, NFL's always been a game of attrition. But Houston last year, liked them. Too many players out. Baltimore last year, Chargers last year, you start to lose multiple players on one side of the ball.

You are not the same football team. And the Falcons defensively today, they're not. They're not the same team. Both safeties out, year, done, in a passing league, not good enough. If you don't think safeties mattered, you watch Earl Thomas and the Cowboys Seahawks yesterday.

Yeah, they sort of matter. Coming up next, we'll go to the Bay Area with a former NFL scout, John Middle, on Jimmy Garoppolo. The Bay Area is on, it's a mess today. It's on fire. Garopolo could be out for the year. John Gruden is 0 and 3, about to face Baker Mayfield,

and a report of infighting among scouts and general manager and coach in Oakland. John Middilkoff is around the quarter. This will be good stuff. Trent Dilfer last hour. Trent Dilfer next hour, and we'll go live to LeBron's first. Laker press conference with Chris Mannix. but before we do that, one of the craziest places in the United States now for football,

pro football is the Bay Area. John Gruden is 0 for 3 and will now host Baker Mayfield this week in the most watchable football game on the slate. And then the San Francisco 49ers, I was told last week by an executive I trust that Garoppolo self-awareness is an issue, the adult film star yesterday, surrounded by chiefs, trying to get an extra yard, gets popped, goes down,

and with that we go. Be the Coward Global Satellite Network, former NFL Scout Rights for the Athletic, host of the Three and Out podcast on the Heard Network, my friend John Middilcoff. So, yeah, you know a lot of NFL executives far more than I do in scouts. I thought yesterday Jimmy G exhibited really, really bad decision-making, and it's been my knock on him early that some of his interceptions are just, be smarter and he's not

Johnny's not a rookie. He's a mid-20s guy now. What did you make of his performance yesterday in the injury? Well, he wasn't playing well, especially in the first half. Now it's not easy to go into Arrowhead. That place was buzzing. Patrick Mahomes' debut. They were down huge. But on that play, you've got to be smarter.

I heard Michael Vick say earlier, just get out of bound. You have to show some awareness on the sideline. This is not college football. This isn't high school football. You're not running over a defensive back. I understand he played linebacker, you know, when he was younger in high school, but you have to be smarter than that, Colin. You're just too valuable, especially once they pay you all that money. The one thing I would say with the executive telling you that he hasn't exhibited the greatest self-awareness in terms of he is somewhat of a gunslinger and on that play, he hasn't played. He's been in the league a while,

but he had all of his starts. This is three starts this year. He's made five starts. last year, that's eight. And then he made two in New England because he got hurt in that second against Miami. That's 10. He has not started even a full NFL regular season despite having this huge contract and despite really being the face of the franchise. Let's shift to the Raiders. They've had the lead in all three and have collapsed. Is John Gruden? And this would be understandable. Is he not adjusting? He's been out of the league for 10 years. You've watched all the Raider games. Is it on Derek Carr? Is it Gruden?

Let's start with that. What do you make of their losses so far? Well, there is a positive to take out of it. I saw a stat last night. The Raiders have not trailed one snap in the third quarter, meaning all three games, they've had the lead. Now, in the Rams game, the Rams tied it going into the fourth quarter. But the last two weeks on the road, they have had the lead in the fourth quarter.

So you don't luck into that as a coach. I think John Gruden has exhibited coming out of the game, scripted plays. He has done a good job. Late in the game, John Gruden twice now has gone for it on fourth and short the last two games and been denied both times. Two weeks ago, it was a pass to the fullback. Didn't happen. This week, run to the fullback did not happen. Derek has also thrown some inopportune interceptions.

Yesterday, he had an at atrocious interception going at Martavius Bryant. I'm not really quite sure why he's on the team, but he is on the team. and he threw to him, he got a pick, and it really cost him the game. But this team, Colin, when John Gruden got here, they had Khalil Mack, Derek Carr, and Amari Cooper. Two years ago, that was known around the league as the best young core. Now it's this rebuilding project. Obviously, Cleo's long gone. Amari struggled yesterday.

I think Derek's played a lot better the last two weeks. He was really good in Denver. Statistically, he was solid yesterday, but the one pick in the end zone was an absolute killer. They'd never admit it publicly, but Khalil Mack, it's, you know, it's funny. Is he playing inspired football or when you were watching him with the Raiders? Because I haven't watched every single snap of the Raiders before this year. Now with Gruden, I am. But I mean, is Khalil Mack almost elevated post-Raters?

Or is this what he was? You know what he's doing, Colin? He's playing Khalil Mack football. This is Khalil Mack. Everyone in the Bay Area that's watched Khalil Mack play, this is what he looks like. You know, like if you watch Steph Curry play on a Tuesday or in a playoff game, he just looks like Steph Curry. If you watch Mike Trout play on a random Tuesday or on a Sunday night baseball game, he looks like Mike Trout. This is what Khalil Mack is.

He dominates. This is why everyone I knew in the league were beyond flabbergasted that he was not only traded just back when it was becoming clear that he was going on the trading block. You do not trade a transcendent player entering his prime that's a good character. guy. It's one thing when guys get in trouble, teams move on. You saw that with last year, Andy Reed, Marcus Peters. A couple years ago, Bill Belichick, Chandler Jones walks in naked to a jail. Khalil Mack's character, you know, re's like a choir boy. He's everything you'd want out of the player, let alone a defensive player that usually tend to have some more red flags than maybe a quarterback or something. He was the perfect player. I mean, I have a lot of friends, I know the

head coach well in Chicago. I mean, Colin, if you obviously, if you obviously, offered the two first rounders back, you know, if the Raiders called, like, can we do the trade? Chicago would say no. I mean, this guy, I don't think it's crazy. Everyone's talking, he's the leader right now, three games in defensive player of the year. I don't know if you watched the game yesterday. Mr. Trubisky was terrible. If somehow this team can make the playoffs at nine or ten wins, I think he would have a

legitimate shot to win the MVP, not just the defensive player of the year, the MVP. He's that good. Finally, you know, Kansas City, we all know Andy Reid's a very good play designer. You watch a lot of college football. You were an NFL scout. Are you surprised that Patrick Mahomes has taken over the league offensively? Did you expect this? Because I didn't.

No, I mean, I knew they loved him. I mean, they loved him. They couldn't have loved him anymore. But you never know until you watch them play. This reminds me a little bit back in like 13 and 14, with the Golden State Warriors. It was just the perfect combination of players at the perfect time. And obviously, Steph vaulted into this all-time great player.

And then once Steve Kerr came around, it was just the perfect combination of everything. That's kind of what this is. Mahomes, Tyree Kill, Kelsey, look how good Sammy Watkins looked with Andy Reed. It's just the ultimate combination in a league now where the referees and the way it's officiated, benefit offensive players. It's just the ultimate combination now. I mean, how is this team not going to dominate the league now for the next several years? It's pretty special.

And this quarterback, I don't think it's hyperbole or, you know, whatever, overstating it to just, he's a superstar. You know, you just have to watch him play two series. He just can do things that other players cannot do. And Andy is arguably the best offensive coach in the league. I've got to ask you one more question. Jared Goff was at Cal. And I said, what I always do with a quarterback, I give you a high and a low.

I said, as high prototype as Brady, as low as Matt Ryan, I do think he throws a really nice football. He took a beating at Cal for years. And I'm watching him right now, and it's easy to like Todd Gurley, and it's easy to like that defense. But I got to tell you, John, when I watch Jared Goff, one of my rules on pro athletes, do they make it look easy? You know, Michael Jordan, there were a lot of six-six guys in the league. He made it look easy. I watched Jared Goff yesterday. He made some sensational throws.

Incredible. He's the most, there's no headlines. He doesn't talk. He's literally nondescript. He's Andrew Luck here in Los Angeles. You never hear him. He was a number one pick, but is he better than you thought he would be? Yeah, a little bit, and I liked him.

I think his greatest attribute is he's kind of California cool, very low-key, not a attention Seeker. He doesn't have the greatest arm, but he's really accurate. He anticipates very well. And he's just a great teammate. I mean, I follow him on social media. He's always hanging out with the Tide End or he's over at Whitworth's House for dinner. I mean, I look for those things. I think people in the league do, clearly McVeigh and you know people around the Rams, when you are beloved by your teammates and they will just go to war for you and you're a good player, you start taking steps and they have so much talent around them. I didn't think he'd be a pro bowler right away, but he is playing.

He's gotten remarkably better. I mean, that first year just throw that thing away. But even from last year when he was good to what he's doing right now, you'd have to say his ceiling looks, you know, when you look back at Matt Ryan, like you say in that cop, maybe like two or three years in the league, you kind of knew. Matt could only do so much. Yeah. To be goff, you see so many of these guys, their arm gets a little stronger as their career progresses because of the training regiments now.

You'd have to buy stuff. You'd be crazy not to buy stock in Jared Gough right now. Host of the Three and Out podcast on My Herd Network, former NFL Scout, The Athletic as well. Love his stuff. John Middletclough, good talking to you, bud. See you, Colin. Have a good one. Yeah, the Rams are interesting because of McVeigh's brilliance and Todd Gurley.

You know, they've got so many stars. There's a sense that anybody could drive this bus. He made a throw yesterday. I'm watching the game on TV. It was the closest sideline to me. it was the best throw I've seen by an NFL player this year. It was, he threw a seed over a corner in front of a safety. The box was about this big and it was 34 yards and it was perfect.

His dad was a major league baseball player. He's not a big talker. John Goulay and I joke. In Los Angeles, I mean, he could walk through a mall. Nobody cares. I have a friend Jed Fish who coaches on the staff. He said he's bigger than you think in person. And when you watch him, you're like, that's a number one pick.

He goes, the ball comes out of his arm and you're like, oh, that's why he's a number one pick. Jared Gough is really, really special. Trent Dilfer, Chris Mannix at the Lakers-Lebron first Gab Fest. That's coming up, hour three. This is the herd. Hour number three live, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. We have a great, great final hour.

Jamie Maggio is joining us. today. Joy Taylor's out. She's a little under the weather, so it's great to have Jamie here on a Monday. You were working a sideline recently. I did some Rams preseason. Rams preseason. So you're all in on the NFL as well. Coming up in a bit, Trent Dilfer was going to stop by our show. He has some thoughts on Baker Mayfield in week three, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen of the Bills, who surprised me. He looked really, really good. It's fun when these bad teams finally get the right quarterback. And Trent Dilfer, in 15 minutes, we'll talk about that. Later, Chris Manix will check in from Laker,

practice. It's their first practice with LeBron James, NBA guy. Chris Manix will be stopping by. But after the Packers lost, Clay Matthews was upset again for Green Bay, and he had this quote. The quote is, I think they're getting soft here. I respect the NFL rule. I just think they're going in the wrong direction with this. No, Clay. They're going in the right direction. Learn to tackle better. Quit complaining. I've been hearing about this for years in all four sports. In the NBA, you can't tackle people. The good news is skill in basketball is now rewarded.

You have to be able to shoot to play. What do you know? In hockey, tough guys are gone. Clutching, grabbing, gone. Skill in hockey is emphasized. Translation, tickets are expensive. Stars flourish. And in the NFL, you can't violently jam your 278 pounds on a quarterback.

Translation, skill, stars are emphasized. Don't like it when you're 15. Try to be a quarterback. A left tackle. A wide receiver or running back. This idea that America is getting soft, the NFL's going in the right direction. How do I know it's the right direction? Did you watch the Green Bay Packers when Aaron Rogers wasn't there last year?

They were the Cleveland Browns. Did you watch the Cleveland Browns this past Thursday? Highest-rated Cleveland Brown game in years. Why? Because they had a quarterback. The same fans that yell and scream, we're getting soft. We're getting soft. You're the same fan that screams when LeBron James takes a regular season game off.

I pay to see LeBron James. Oh, wait, excuse me, Stars Matter? You ever go to a play? The worst thing you can hear is playing the Phantom of the Opera tonight is the understub. Okay, there's a reason. Yesterday that Tiger Woods ratings were up 250% because 95% of the guys on the tour, when you're paying that expensive PGA pass,

you couldn't give a rip about. Stars matter. The NFL is trying to protect them. This is a rule that should have been emphasized 25 years ago. Go to YouTube and watch Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana and Troy Akeman being driven into the ground. Yeah, they're pretty. probably over-calling it right now. That's okay. But if you're a guy that can't evolve and you think

we're getting soft here and you're constantly concerned that your manhood's being challenged, wake up. Hockey baseball, you can't run over the catcher anymore. What was the value of that? You can't bulldoze over a second basement anymore in baseball. Hockey, the goons are gone. Now you get, you know, great players making the Stanley Cup final. In the NBA, no more tackling people. Can't shoot, can't play. It's the way it should be. I don't go to watch guys get tackled. I go to watch guys make great offensive plays. I pay watch Kobe. I pay to watch LeBron. I pay to watch Steph. I don't pay to watch a power forward who gets nine rebounds and tackles people. Clay Matthews after the game is furious. Here he is again this week. Lamenting,

complaining, I can't believe it. Here's Clay Matthews. Unfortunately, this league's going in a direction. I think a lot of people don't like. I think they're getting soft. And the only thing hard about this league is the fines that they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard. I like the spirit of the rule. I just think they're going in the wrong direction with this. Okay, so he likes the spirit of the rule. So he gets the spirit of the rule.

Let's not hurt our quarterbacks. He thinks they've gone a little too far. We can argue about that. But we are going in the right direction. In society, we're going in the right direction. Getting smarter. not tougher. Tough guy never wins.

Smart guy always does. Let me shift gears to this. New England Patriots aren't good. Not a shock, I said before this season, I'll say it again. I just don't think they have perimeter skill. I don't think they're dynamic enough. I just don't see it. I mean, they're a top 10 team because coaching and quarterback play matters,

but did you watch them last night? That took them their fourth drive in the second quarter to get a first down. Josh Gordon wasn't a cagey move. Josh Gordon was absolute desperation by the Patriots. I mean, two for nine on third down, 12 first downs, 120 yards passing, 4.3 yards of pass, and they only had the ball for 21 minutes. If you're Tom Brady, I got a question.

Pretend for a second you're Tom Brady. I know it's hard. Super Mata Life, 500 million in net worth, eight Super Bowls. But pretend you're Tom Brady for a second. you're looking around at your team. You don't pay anybody. You're taking pay cuts. Is Tom Brady ever going,

where's the money going here? Anybody thought about that? The L.A. Rams are apparently using a bank in Zurich that prints money, and the Patriots are using a credit union that's tapped. Because Gromk makes pretty good money. Devin McCordy makes pretty good money. Stefan Gilbert makes pretty good money. but who are they paying?

It reminds me of that movie casino where people are just dropping their wallets on the table as you go downstairs and they're skimming it and somebody's getting a bag full of money and driving off downtown. Where's the money going? Where are the players? Kansas City Chiefs are paying people. The Rams are paying people.

I'm watching Pittsburgh's paying all sorts of people. Does Brady ever look around and go, time out? I'm the best quarterback that's ever played. I'm taking a pay cut. The New England Patriots kick, kicker. The kicker is a bigger cap hit than any of their receivers and any of their backs. You wonder why Brady and Belichick's relationships gone south. Maybe that's it.

Belichick's a defensive guy. He's willing to pay McCordy a little and Stefan Gilmore and Dante Hightower. The backs, it's Walmart. The receivers, it's target. The offensive line. it's below that. They won't pay a left tackle. They won't play a back.

They won't pay a receiver. I mean, good luck. In fact, Brady talked about this after the game. This is a word that can drive me crazy. Because I do believe in execution. I do believe in football. Executions are really important thing. You've got to pay for some stuff in life.

Execution can't be the answer to everything. Here's Tom Brady after last night's loss. I mean, we're not scoring enough points. We're not executing well enough on a down-by-down basis, certainly at a high level that we should, have our expectations set at two weeks for you know you get behind and uh just not make enough plays early in the game and we're behind and we're just fighting and pill all day so it's no way to play football it's no way to you know execute at a very high level and we're just not doing

anything well enough execute what tom britton tom britties not mad there by the way he's not mad he's frustrated mad is i got a bunch of good dudes and we played like crap what you're watching ready there say is he's not angry. He's frustrated. Where's the money? The Rams using a different bank. Kansas City and the Steelers using a different bank. Philadelphia using a different bank. Maybe it's time to change credit unions, New England, because I don't see where the money's at. He got nothing, nothing at all to work with. Trent Dilfer is around the corner. How exciting is it when Cleveland's got a quarterback and the Jets got their guy and Buffalo's got their guy and Kansas. The city's got their guy.

And Arizona's got their guy, and he's just starting to play. Trent Dill for around the corner on the explosion of young, talented quarterbacks. Steelers, Tampa Bay tonight. A couple of veterans, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Big Ben go at as well. Thursday nights are about to get a lot bigger as Fox becomes the new network home for Thursday night football. Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, and the undefeated Rams host the Vikings in a battle of NFC heavyweights. Thursday at 730 Eastern. on Fox, also live on NFL network, and streaming on Amazon Prime.

Couple injuries for the Rams and the secondary. Akeeb-Talib, certainly not season ending. Marcus Peters looked bad, but they're saying now it's like an ankle, not an ACL. Marcus Peters injury. Two to four weeks, that's unbelievable. Because Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be out for the season probably and barely hit anybody. And Marcus Peters, he crumpled and went down, and it's two to four weeks. So, you know, we're talking about all this hitting and I can't believe the hitting.

And my takeaway is people, we're seeing this in all the sports. Like we're trying to create more skill and less meatheads, more skillful players and less physicality just in the sake of physicality. Don't get me wrong. I like Clay Matthews. I like Khalil Mack. I like Von Miller. I bring them on the show. I had Von Miller on last week.

But there's no advantage. It doesn't help football when quarterbacks are out. It makes football awful. The Bears, you know, are one of the few teams where the MVP could be a defensive player. It's overwhelmingly a quarterback award. And I'll give you an example of this. Jimmy Garoplo is now out. C.J. Bethard is now the quarterback for the 49ers.

They're less relevant. Networks aren't going to scramble to get them on. Think about next week. The NFL schedule next week, it's the first week where it doesn't blow you away. It really doesn't blow you away. But the five games or six games that are compelling, it's all due to quarterbacks. So we got Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff. That's a really good game because these are guys that have been in the NFL playoffs.

You get young Josh Allen at Aaron Rogers and the Desperate Packers. That's going to be fun to watch. Deshawn Watson against Andrew Luck, Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, Drew Breeze, Eli Manning, Flacco against Big Ben. And if you look at the schedule upcoming this week, it's not a great, NFL week. It's one of those random weeks where you don't get a lot of tasty matchups, and the ones that are tasty are driven by the quarterbacks. So never forget what the Aaron Rogers' Lus Packers looked like last year without him,

or the Cowboys looked like without Tony Romo. That's why they're doing this stuff. And hockey's doing the same thing, and baseball's doing it, and the NBA is doing it, and the NFL's doing it. We want to keep our most valuable, compelling personalities and position players healthy. That's it. Because with the NFL salary cap, very rarely can you have a competent backup. Indianapolis is rare. Luck to Jacoby Brissette.

That's incredibly rare. Most of you out there couldn't name a backup quarterback for half the teams. The Colts have a really good backup. That just doesn't happen. I mean, right now, New England, if Tom Brady went down, season over. Caput, toast, done, over. Jamie with the news. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, so yesterday, Colts battling the Eagles, you were just talking about their backup Jacoby Preset. 2016 loss for the Colts, but it came down to the final seconds. Five seconds to go. The Colts are 54 yards away from the end zone. They pull Andrew Luck, put him to the bench, they put in the backup Jacoby Percet to throw that hell Mary.

It goes incomplete. But this was what Andrew Luck had to say after the game. But I support the decision 100%. Jacoby made a heck of a throw. No, Jacoby has a stronger arm than I do. I mean, that's sort of what I see in practice. And you can ask, you know, the coach obviously thinks that as well. And I'll keep working on getting my arm to where, you know,

maybe it can't hit an 80-yard throw from the minus 30. But, no, I think it was, you know, no qualms with that decision. I don't know why the Internet freaked out, folks. Andrew Luck is coming off a horrific, surgery. Okay, so Andrew Luck can do a lot of things. Pre-snap, you know, audible, short throws, move. But he's not built for a 65-yard heave and Brissette's got a big boy arm. So I don't understand. That's a throw, by the way. You ask a quarterback to make maybe three times a year generally twice. How many Hail Mary throws does a quarterback make in a year? Like twice?

You're not concerned at all. I hope that we don't look back on Andrew Luck one day and say, oh man, that shoulder surgery, that was the end of his career. He was never the same after that surgery. Well, no, that's interesting because, John, you were here, I said this a couple weeks ago, I don't think he will be the same. I think we've seen the best. Now, I do think if he stays healthy for the next eight years, we're going to see a really, really good quarterback.

But I kind of believe Carson Wentz is a bigger, stronger, healthier version of Andrew Locke. And, you know, I've seen a lot of stars get hurt early in their career. John Stockton broke a leg, Michael Jordan left a year. year, Tom Brady. Generally, you come back. But the injuries to Andrew Luck were so severe, and I think they're so punitive. I think you can just take Andrew Luck at his best in the NFL and lop about 10 to 12 percent off, and we're never going to get that again.

That's why I think going forward, don't be surprised if the Colts don't make a run at Levian Bell. Because I believe the Colts, look, everybody wants them to rebuild their defense. Their defense has been fine so far this year. What they need to do is give Andrew Luck help. You can't ask him to throw 42 times like you did the first three years. I think take his career, lop off 10%, and that's what you'll get. And by the way, that's good enough to be a pro bowler.

That's good enough to win a Super Bowl, but I think 10% is just off the board. Interesting to see if they go after a bell. Next one, Earl Thomas, speaking of trades, Earl Thomas with the Seahawks beat the Cowboys yesterday. He had a real nice game. He had a two interceptions. Yeah, so he was asked after the game about that trade. trade talk and that banter. You know, I heard chatter.

You know, people were coming up to me and saying that a trade might happen. Even pregame, a couple of Cowboys coaches. I don't know if they were trying to play psychological game, but things like you ready to, you know, for the trade tomorrow. I don't know if they were joking or serious or not. I just, you know, I was minding my business, you know, in my routine and they came up and, you know,

a couple of guys said something. Rewind. Cowboys coaches are talking to him before the game about, are you ready to come play for us? Is that, that's not legal. I'll tell you what, if I was. Dallas and I could give up, I don't know the contractual situations, but if I could give up one of those pass rushers for Earl Thomas, I would do it in one second.

There's no doubt about that. But I want to see, I mean, there are mics all over an NFL field all over the NFL when there's a game taking place. They cover it well. You're not, whether it's a joke or not, you can't go and talk. Isn't that tampering? You can't go talk to an opposing player about being traded? He told the Cowboys coach,

come get me. So it's really just kind of reciprocated. Listen, he wants big money, but who, let me ask you this, who's Dallas paying? They're not paying their quarterback. They're not paying their running back yet. Dallas isn't paying anybody. Des Bryant made a lot of money.

He's gone. Jason Whitten made a lot of money. They're not paying these pass rushers. Dallas is one of these teams. Hey, Goulet, I got another question. Where's the money going on Dallas? Who are they paying? To be fair, they're still, like,

Des is still getting paid. I think even Romo is still getting some money. I would pay Earl Thomas. If I could get three years Earl Thomas on the back end of that defense, oh God, yes, I do that. You're going to have to win games in Dallas for the next couple of years. 21-20. Yeah,

cowboy is the last cowboy safety. Darren Woodson's the last great cowboy safety. And Roy Williams for about 10 seconds. I think they should be in trouble. All right, finally for you, this one went viral this morning. Toronto Raptors Media Day, Kauai Leonard. Their new star was asked what the people of

Toronto might want to know about the type of person he is. I'm a fun guy. Obviously, I love the game of basketball. I mean, it's just more a question you have to ask me in order for me to tell you about myself. I just can't give you a whole spill. I don't even know where you're sitting at. I love that.

I like guys with crazy laughs. I feel so awkward right now. Just watching him. That's funny So obviously Twitter is having a field day with this People chiming in It's like the laugh heard around the world He's yoked

Look at him God he looks like an NFL safety He is yoked But why is he so awkward Why was that laugh the funniest? He's a quiet guy We want all these guys to be talking He's a young quiet kid It was odd

I'll give you that January news Well that's the news And thanks for stopping by The Hurd Lie News By the way, John Gruden, I thought this was a story interesting. John Gruden has his own scouting system. It's leading to a divide in the Raiders building.

This is interesting. In the manner in which Gruden evaluates personnel and the people who have his ear has led to a disconnect in the Raiders building being filled with people, still trying to adjust to a new way of life. Gruden has his own draft board and his own pro board separate from those used by other people in the organization. Oh, Lord. While there is no animosity with GM Reggie McKenzie, quite the opposite, they like each other. It's clear to many of the scouts who signed on to work for McKenzie that Gruden's listening mostly to those in his circle.

So, you know, my question with this story is actually, how did this story get out? A lot of times it's not the story. It's why does the story get out? That tells me there's a little bit of a divide, the house divided. So that concerns me about the Raiders. I will say this, though. I watched them yesterday, and I watched them against Denver, and they played well for long stretches. So this is not man overboard here.

It tweaks, its adjustments. This is not an ugly O and 3. This is a workable, adjust yourself. They've got a couple of things going for them. One, they've got the quarterback. They've got a great arm talent. And with that, 14 NFL seasons. A friend of mine for, yes, 14, not 13.

We've upgraded it. Trent Dillfer, Super Bowl, a Pro Bowl. So I got you, I didn't know you were here today. Yeah. I had no idea. Just in town doing some stuff with Brancas for NFL Network. Oh, this is such a pleasure for me. All right, let's start with this.

I was saying earlier, even a great chef needs some ingredients. That's why all the great chefs on a Saturday morning, they go to the market and they get the freshest stuff. I watch the Patriots, and we want to blame Tommy. Doesn't have a ton to work with on the perimeter, does he? He doesn't. And they've gotten away for years without dynamic threats outside the numbers. Randy Moss was obviously the one exception to that. And they've built an incredible machine working in the middle of the field.

and then finding guys that in certain matchups can win outside. To me, this is how they're trying to play is a little different this year. I think they know they're a growing defense. I think they know they're going to be better six weeks from now than they are right at this moment. Offensively, I see them trying to be a little more ball control, trying to run the ball a little more between the tackles. I think they're trying to shorten the game more than they have in the past. I think this is a transition offense right now.

obviously with Tom Brady and I get, I watch the game and I want them to throw it 45 times with Tom Brady and carve up the defense like they always have, but they're facing overload defenses in the past. It's wise to run the ball between the tackles. They'll set up more big plays in the middle of the field if they do that. And I think this is one of those typical Patriots teams that's going to look much different five weeks from now than they look right now. But people want, listen, I made the biggest sake of my TV career after that, can't. the city game saying, oh, they were done, they're not going to get better, they're no longer the dynasty we thought they were. And the mistake, I mean, I think the mistake everybody makes when they start slow is they forget that they're all about development. They're all about getting better every rep of every day. And let's look at some of the parts when the year is over.

You know, the whole NFL is too protective of quarterbacks. I'm old enough to remember when you had guys driving Joe Montana headfirst into the ground. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I, tend to be a defender of quarterbacks because the game is built now around quarterbacks and the sport which I love is better with good quarterbacks. Clay Matthews hit yesterday. What do you make of it?

What's your, where do you land on this? We talked about last week. I still need to see data that since they made this emphasis, what, five, six years ago that quarterbacks aren't getting hurt as much because I think they're still getting hurt. Jimmy Gropolo's tearing his ACL on the sideline before

contact. Quarterbacks every year get hurt and they have nothing to do with how defenders land on them or where they come in at their legs. I love the initiative of player safety and I do think the game has to become less barbaric as it goes on. But that doesn't mean to the extent that they've legislated these rules. They've just gone over the top. They've made silly rules to protect quarterbacks. It's making the game the product not nearly as good and games are being decided by, calls that shouldn't be called. I don't know how I was to say it. I mean, and nothing too. I think it's also

it's taking it's taking toughness of the quarterback which is how we earned our pelts in the locker room. You know you go back and talk to the Hall of Famers the Marinos the Elways the Akemen's and going on and on on. One of the ways they earned their pelts in that locker room was with their physical toughness. It was taking a kill shot having a guy land on them and bruising a rib or breaking a rib and not missing a snap. It's when I watch people talk about how heroic Aaron Rogers is being,

I'm like, no, he's not. He's doing his job. I mean, that's what they all did. They all played with that same knee injury for years. He's no exception, but we want to take the quarterback and put him in another bucket, that he's not a tough guy, that his toughness doesn't need to be emphasized as much. And I think that's what made the great quarterbacks great more than just their arms and their brains and their leadership was their toughness. That position you should be tough.

You should be able to have Clay Matthews land on you and get up and call the play in the huddle and play the next play. And if you can't, then you are soft. That's a really good point. I got to tell you, so I'm watching Baker Mayfield. And I said it over and over in the draft because people tend to say, well, you said this. And I wanted 30 pieces of tape. I said, and I'll say it again. I don't think he's big enough for number one pick or athletic enough, especially in a northern division.

But he throws a way too accurate football to be a bust. He is simply a significantly better thrower to the football than a Johnny Mansell or a Todd-Rod Taylor. So he's not a bust. He's not. And his nonsense in college wasn't dangerous. It was a little cocky for my taste. So when I watched him, I couldn't take my eyes off him. I could not take my eyes off him.

did we go did we hyperventilate what did you see with baker that was real that you really really liked he's a tremendous locator he can locate all three levels of the field what does that mean to the guy watching my show people call it accuracy i'm so sick of that word there's so many different types of accuracy you know i mean you can't put all of accuracy into one buckets locating means you look somewhere and that's where you throw the ball sometimes you're looking high and outside on a back shoulder fade and that's where you throw it not low and inside Sometimes you look over a defender to feather it over the first layer and get to the second layer. To me, that's location, not accuracy. But if people want to call it accuracy, great.

But there's 20 different types of accuracy. Baker can locate a football wherever he wants. Verzon, man, all three levels. He throws guys open. He has great eyes for throwing guys open. He can see leverage. He knows how to throw it away from a defender and man. He's truly a gifted thrower.

The interesting thing on Baker will be this. Is he going to choose to be a completion guy, which I think he should, or a big play guy, which is going to get him in trouble. Russell Wilson's a little – he's a big play guy. Ben Rutherberg. Ben Rutherberg, big play guy. Doesn't mean they can't have tremendous completion percentages. But a completion guy is a guy that's going to be death by a thousand cuts. He's going to let you bleed out slowly.

He's going to be Drew Brees. He's going to throw it 42 times and complete 31 of them. and four others are going to get dropped. So you think that's what Baker should do? He has to be that because you're right. He's not a good enough athlete to be a playmaker. He's not big enough to try to extend plays all the time. He will and people go, oh, Colin and Trent were wrong.

Looking to make that play. Let's look at the 30 times he tries to make plays as an athlete. And he'll get himself in trouble more often than not. Drew Bree is one of the great athletes at quarterback we've ever seen. Tremendous foot athlete. Incredible high school college athlete. He even learned early on. I'm going to use this giftedness to just help me get the ball out quicker.

And he's the ultimate completion guy. Brady, ultimate completion guy. They'll let the studs around them be the playmakers. They're going to be the dictators. They're going to be the guys that say, listen, we're going to play 60 minutes. I'm going to nick you there. I'm a nick you there. I'm a Nicky there.

And the next interviewer, he'll be standing in a puddle of blood. That's what Baker Mayfield needs to be. By the way, so when I look at DACD, Prescott. So last night was classic, because I've been telling people for years, would you stop comparing Dak and Russell? No, different guys. I mean, Russell Wilson is just, I mean, he's one of those guys where if you're a defensive coordinator, you're just holding your breath until the ball ends incomplete.

Because he made a couple of plays last night that you can't defend. They're off script. Can we acknowledge this? I got two years of tape on DAC, and I got Justin Herbert at Oregon, who is really special. Really special. Okay. All the bad. teams have quarterbacks. It's going to be a very bizarre year where Dallas could be six and ten, seven, and nine

have the ninth pick and nobody needs a quarterback. Could I draft Justin Herbert at Oregon and just let him compete? Because when I watch Dak, here's what I see. A really low ceiling. I got two years of games now. I feel very

comfortable saying a lot I like but it's low, Trent. I'm not willing to go there. Here's we'll meet you. I think his ceiling is low with the pieces around him right now and with how they're trying to play. They built it around the offensive line with the great runners, Ezekiel Elliott in the league, and they've gotten rid of pretty much every receiver that can do something with the football. So to play physical run first offense, which they want to do, to complement that, you have to make

chunk plays in the passing game. You can't run for four, throw for four, run for three, throw for four. You've got to run for three, run for four, run for six. throw for 18. Well, you need studs on the outside. I don't think we can determine anything on DAC until they get him a number one playmaker on the perimeter. But I will say in your scenario. Herbert, Locke, Stidham, McSorley. Don't look past McSorley at Penn State, even though he's little, but if Baker's doing a McSorley can do it, Greer, Haskins in two years, Tua in two years. you have studs, big time, big time talents coming out of the next couple of drafts of quarterback.

And if guys like Dak don't start playing with her better, heck yeah, I'm drafting one of those guys. Because those guys can be true, I don't want to say generational talents, but true QB-1s in the NFL. Finally, Jimmy G's injury. I watch it and I think, dude, what are you doing? I look at this. I look at if a guy's going to blow out his knee, He's going to blow out his knee. Oh, really?

Yeah, I had nothing to do with him staying in bounds. He was going to make a move at some other time where he was going to try to juke somebody and stick that left leg in the ground and it was going to go. I spend, you know, I spend most of my time watching sports, now high school sports, college sports. And I see kids non-contact injuries all the time blow out their knees. And I see the same thing in professional sports.

And there's not always a reason why. You know what I mean? We don't always say, well, he did it because of this. it just happens. It's part of sport. Is he injury prone? No, I wouldn't say that. A lot of guys do it.

They come back and never get hurt again. I mean, it's just, I mean, just go around the country and look at you sports, look at college sports, look at professional sports. It's happening all the time. Unfortunately, my heart breaks every time I say it happened to a Jimmy G, a kid or whatever, but it's part of sport. You suck it up for a little bit. You rehab your tail off and you come back better and stronger,

just like all the other guys have blown out their knees. do. By the way, Patrick Mahomes. Oh, Lordy. What's the strongest arm you've ever seen? Brett Farf, not even close. At practice or something? Brett Farver, I played against him all those years. He has, when they

made the Brett Farv comparisons, whoever they were, we all did it come out of that draft, it's the I sat there and watched it front and center for his three MVP's. He was kicking our butts in Tampa. He was the best arm, the wiggliest,

you know, not maybe the best athlete but you couldn't really get them. Best playmaker, but also could slice and dice you. If you're going to sit back and play zones like they tried to play zone against him. I mean, you see where he looked, he looked at Tyreek go on the, they call a stick nod where he sticks and goes like that and they had the mirror

route on the other side and he looks at Tyreek and the safety moves that way and he throws a lollipop for a touchdown. That's some graduate level stuff now. This guy is not just about talent. He's learned how to play quarterback. And it's scary. It's like Brett Far. It's really fun to watch.

Trent Dilfer. Great stuff today. Got him in-house. It'd be nice if you did that more often. Maybe you want to move out here. Taxes aren't great. There's a reason I moved away from here. Yes. We'll go to Laker practice. LeBron's first. Chris Mannix, too. 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. We don't want to waste any time. We do it every day at this time, Jamie. It's called Beard. for last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet.

Quit holding out on us, Cowherd. It's the best for last. LeBron James, in about 10 to 15 minutes, we'll make his first public appearance as a Los Angeles Laker. Former Senior Writer for Sports Illustrated, we have him regularly on the show. He is there live via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Chris Mannix at Lakers Media Day.

You've been at a lot of these things through the years. Is there like a palpable buzz? What's the vibe there, Chris? Yeah, look, it's filling up. That's for sure. LeBron James, first man up at the top of the hour. He hasn't spoken a lot, clearly this off-season. So whether it's local, national,

you've got somebody representing everybody here, Colin, for this media day. Let me start with this. A lot of people were worried about LeVar and Longer. Lonzo Ball and I saw a picture of Lonzo ball this off season. He looked yoked. He looked built up. I'm not sure he beats out Rondo.

I think that's a fascinating part of this LeBron situation. The scrappy intellectual veteran who's tough to deal with, the young kid Lonzo with the enigmatic loud father. How do you think the Lonzo Rondo thing works? Well, look, it's absolutely one of the biggest storylines of this team coming into the camp. Melanzo Ball, like everybody in their second year, Jason Tatum did it in Boston. You saw Ben Simmons. They bulk up.

They get their NBA muscle going in that second and third year of their careers. But Rajan Rondo, I've covered him every step of the way in his career beginning in Boston. He didn't sign with the Lakers to be a backup. He can say whatever he wants, but he didn't sign with the Lakers to be a backup. And I reported at the time that the Lakers told him, The position is open. You can fight for it and go out there and win it. So this is one of the great subplots.

How will it work out? Lonzo coming off the injury. Rondo coming off a terrific postseason run with the Pelicans. It's going to be interesting for sure. Yeah, I mean, what is your takeaway on Lonzo? They're trying to work with his shot. Do you think, I mean, I never thought he'd be a bust, but how do you think the Lakers feel about him as a player right now?

I think they feel really good. And let's be clear, for all the circus and the buffoonery around Lanzo ball last year, He is a really good player. Is he an all-N-B-A-level point guard? That remains to be seen. But that was as solid first season as maybe you could hope for with Lonzo a ball. 35 minutes a game.

Played 50-plus games. You would have liked to see him be a little more durable in that sense. But they knew he had problems with his shot coming in. They've worked on it with him this summer. I think Lonzo has the ability to be a really good player. Can he be a great one with Rondo around? I'm not so sure.

You know, I like the Celtics to beat the Warriors because I think Boston in the weaker east will have home court advantage. They'll be an underdog, but I think Boston beats Golden State in the finals. I think Houston's a viable title contender. Then I think there's a drop-off of about eight teams, Utah, Lakers, Toronto, Milwaukee, Sixers, I like. Am I too optimistic? What kind of team? It's weird, Chris.

I got young kids. I got old guys who are kind of interesting personalities. how does Luke Walton make it work? What is your gut feeling on how the chemistry works? I think there are a lot of people, Colin, way too high on the Lakers as a contender this year. To me, the ceiling for the Lakers is going to be making the playoffs. You know what's going to take in the West,

47, 48 wins or more to get there. And rarely, very rarely, do teams that are put together almost wholesale at the end of a season, or re-put together at the end of a season, do they come out fast? with the guy like LeBron James, you're incorporating a bunch of non-shooters like Rondo and Lance Stevenson. You've got a team that played fast last year, bringing in a superstar who played slow for most of his career. These are all things that are going to take time. I think at best,

Colin, they're going to be a 500 team around Christmas. And the question is, can LeBron with that group dig themselves out of that hole to get to the 8th seed in the West? Luke Walton, does he fit? I think people like him. I think Magic and Rob Polenka like him. but hey, I love LeBron, but he's tough on coaches. Does Luke survive? Colin, this is another reason why everybody's here. There are so many massive questions around this team, and Luke Walton looms as one of the biggest.

I mean, look, Magic and Rob Polanka can say what they want about him, but they didn't hire this guy. Jeannie Bus hired him, Mitch Cupcheck hired him. They brought him in, so they don't have any kind of equity with Luke Walton. And LeBron, as we've seen, dating back to Miami with their expulsra, in Cleveland early on with David Blatt. He has evaluated a coach and decided pretty early if he liked working with that coach. Now, I think Luke Walton did a phenomenal job last year in dealing with the circus of Lanzo and Lovar Ball.

A lot of criticism heaped on him early. He navigated those waters really well. These are going to be incredibly choppy from navigating early on, especially if this team gets off to a slow start. Less than 10 minutes away from LeBron's first public appearance. Finally, Chris Mannix joining us, former senior writer, SI, Yahoo Sports all over the internet. You see him on TV.

LeBron moves to L.A. He said it's not about, you know, business. And I swear to God he's got more roles now than, you know, Chris Pratt. Is there any talk in the NBA that as much as LeBron says it's not about the mogul stage, that he increasingly appears to be almost addicted to Hollywood opportunities? Look, there's no secret that LeBron James has been thinking about, is thinking about post-playing career, expanding his brand, building his empire out. But one thing I'd caution, Colin, is that a lot of the stuff that we're seeing come out this summer, it didn't just happen after LeBron James signed with the Lakers. LeBron, his business manager Maverick Carter, they pepper HBO and Showtime with ideas all the time.

Working in the boxing world, I hear about this stuff and what they're trying to pitch all the time. So this stuff has been, the MASH Nation has been working for a while. Will it continue? Will LeBron do more of the shop? Will we see him be around taking meetings with executives? Will that become a distraction? That remains to be seen. But all the stuff that's happened to this point, it hasn't just happens as LeBron's

signed with the Lakers. By the way, look around, look behind you, Chris. How many people are in that Media Day room right now? I would say close to 100, 125 right now. And then you have to go back to where the TV people are set up. You had another 50 or 75 there. So it's going to be a packed house here now. A few more than the Pacers have Whitlock.

Are you listening? Things are happening out here in L.A. Whitlock. You're going to have to Chris Mannix. Good talking to you, bud. You got it. All right, there we go. The herd mic flag is everywhere. Omnipresent in America.

It's really exciting. I was talking to somebody the other day. In fact, I was talking to one of LeBron's friends, actually, and I said it's interesting because you have these young. LeBron's now, you know, he's a grown-up. He's got empires. So you got all these young guys, and they're probably listening to new music and new stuff, and they're young guys. And then you have some borderline, Javelle McGee, Lance Stevens, and dysfunctional guys.

And it's like, who's LeBron's buddy? Like when you go on the road for 45 nights a year, 50, 60 nights a year, who's your buddy? Who do you hang with? And it's interesting because it's really a unique locker room. He is the sole star, and not just the star. He's the best player in the league. And, you know, the Brett Farves and the Tom Brady's have talked about this in their NFL career is as they age, they want to stay current with new music and new tech because they don't want to feel like, you know, outdated in their own locker room.

So it's a interesting dynamic for LeBron. He's Kuzma, Lonzo, Josh Hart, these are babies. The stuff that they're, they're a hundred years different with tech and all the new stuff. And then, you know, he's not going to hang out with Lance Stevenson. Javelle McGee. I don't see those guys as sort of as run out with those guys. So it's just there's a lot of different dynamics here. I'm not sure about 150 people at Media Day for LeBron James.

So really interesting. Tomorrow, a Travis Kelsey of the wildest, most explosive offense in the NFL will be joining us. Can't wait for that. Really, really good stuff. Plus James Harrison. TV audience back in a couple. Last night, a blown call changed the game. morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, in every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 in the TikTok. podcast network on TikTok.

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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.

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