The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Nick Wright Pt. 2, NFL’s HUGE TV Ratings, Is Tatum A Top-10 Player? Mahomes A Top-2 QB All Time, Chiefs BETTER Without Tyreek?

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Colin is joined by Nick Wright, host of “First Things First” on FS1 for part two! They dive into the reasons behind the continuing explosion of popularity of the NFL (3:00) and the reasons the NBA... has been completely left in the dust (12:30). They list the players they would take ahead of Jayson Tatum in order to win a Game 7 and why he wouldn’t be the best player on the court in any late-round playoff series (17:00) They argue why Patrick Mahomes has already established himself as a top-2 quarterback in NFL history and his path to catch Brady (24:0). They also debate whether the Chiefs are actually a better team WITHOUT all-world wide receiver Tyreek Hill (32:00). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:03:00 You know, I was thinking about this. I saw the ratings for both the AFC and the NFC championship. Like 56 million people watch both. Unbelievable. And I was saying this. Cable TV's back, baby. Yeah, TV's back.
Starting point is 00:03:14 Did I tell you my theory on this about everybody said cable's dead? But I so if TikTok lost 40% of their audience, but it was only a platform for recipes, food videos, restaurant reviews. It would be an incredibly powerful, but not weapon, platform for the culinary industry.
Starting point is 00:03:46 So we always shared television with soap operas, sitcoms, dramas. We no longer share it. It is singularly ours. Table TV is all sports and occasionally politics. So people say cable's dying. Fuck it is. My ratings are up 40%. Yours are up 2,000%.
Starting point is 00:04:10 It is now, it is now singularly a platform for games, opinions on games. Stephen A's numbers are up. Yours are a minor up. So this idea, everything's done. No, it's not. We don't share the platform anymore. And that's why I have 10 years left in this business. TV's going nowhere.
Starting point is 00:04:31 That's right. And so, and by the way, people are like, how can your ratings? How can Nick's ratings be up so much? Guys, the key to great increases in ratings is start from a very small number. If you start from a small enough number, you can increase by math and percentages. But, yeah, so I think, listen, I think it was contracting, contracting, contracting. And then A, the contraction slowed a bit, you know, And B, the people who stayed are our people.
Starting point is 00:05:01 You're able to want news, information, sports, or they're just really old. You know what I mean? And those people we probably weren't getting anyway. So I totally agree. Like, if you were, it's, and the people who wanted sitcoms and dramas and miniseries, they, those people might have transferred. You know what I mean? Those people might have said, I'm going to just, just do Netflix and prime and whatever.
Starting point is 00:05:25 but the people that were into sports still are getting cable. And so the, and they know how to get us. So that is, I've been amazed at the NFL, the numbers this year. The conference championship games did 56 and 57 or whatever it was. And divisional round, Chiefs bills, two of the smaller markets. Some of Buffalo's audiences in Canada, that doesn't count, did 50 million people. Nick, I said this today on the air. Everything now in sports is niche.
Starting point is 00:06:01 Everything except the NFL. And I do think because of college football's 12-team playoff, the ability to bet on football and its connection to the NFL, it will stay viable. It will remain viable. The NBA, though, hockey and baseball, MLS are getting increasingly international. And the downside of that, the skill level's never been deeper and greater for all these sports. Hockey, baseball, soccer in America, MLS, and the NBA. The skill's never been greater. But it is a harder ask for busy Americans to say, hey, do you follow the European leagues?
Starting point is 00:06:40 You don't know these players. They usually go to bad teams. They don't make a playoff impact until year three, four, five. People are busy. College football makes it so easy to follow the NFL. I watch Marvin Harrison with a Buckeyes crush. And then all of a sudden he shows up on the Arizona Cardinals. I'm just a huge fan.
Starting point is 00:06:58 People are going to have, and probably somewhat unfairly towards him in some regards, people are going to have strong opinions on Caleb Williams before he steps onto the field. You know what I mean? Like you're familiar with him. That never happens to college basketball. So, and I don't know if you saw it a week ago, a women's college basketball game. outrated an NBA game at the same time.
Starting point is 00:07:24 Yeah, a real NBA game, which A is a testament to the women's college game right now is elite and with stars. The quality of play is super high because nobody's turning pro early, obviously, because you make more money as a star college female player than you can't,
Starting point is 00:07:43 shouldn't say more. You make maybe equivalent money as in the WMBA, so you have cohesion, you have stars, you have all this stuff. But you know how much I love the NBA. Right. I am disappointed right now in the league and a little worried about the league. Yeah, same, same.
Starting point is 00:08:04 So I'm disappointed in that Saturday should have been an amazing day in the NBA. I had it written. I was like, oh, I want to watch that. Yeah, Yokit Jembe. And Embed can't play. And then the nightcap, Steph LeBron, these two guys who are combined 75 years old. Put on a show. Okay.
Starting point is 00:08:29 We'll keep doing what we've been doing for the last 10 years, which is carry this goddamn league on our two backs. These two guys. Yeah. And love and respect to them. It's unbelievable. You know, I've told you, I think Steph does not get enough credit for being as great as he is at 35 because LeBron is doing what he's doing at 39. So people think 35 is not that old. When 35 is Jordan's last year with the Bulls is 35.
Starting point is 00:09:04 But I think the NBA, though, from a strategic perspective, has made a mistake, which is that that warrior's. Lakers game, you know, did almost 4 million people. Yeah. That's a real number for the NBA. On a Saturday night, that's the night you take out your wife. You go out and hang out and party.
Starting point is 00:09:27 I think the NBA can't help themselves, but to put those two guys and Kevin Durant front and center. Yeah. And I think it's a mistake. I think that if just sorry, I'll mix metaphors a bit. Let's say you told FS1, I'm gone in two years. You told them, I'm gone. And they looked at the numbers and they said, okay, Colin shows the strongest show.
Starting point is 00:10:01 He's our biggest brandies, all of it. And they put all of the marketing behind you because they're like, well, it's, it gets the best numbers. It's this. Then the moment you leave, right. They haven't built anything up. The NBA, in my opinion, should say, okay, Lakers Warriors will do the best number. But we can get 80% of the audience if we feature Anthony Edwards. And we need to start getting the public ready for when LeBron and Steph aren't there.
Starting point is 00:10:42 And instead, the NBA just keeps writing these guys. And they got away with it because they did it with Jordan. And they only got away with it because Shaq and Kobe, you know what I mean? We came together and were there. There's no Shaq and Kobe right now. You're going to have to create Anthony Edwards, Tatum, you're going to have to make them stars and to still put all your eggs in the LeBron Steph Durant basket from a ratings perspective. Well, don't be disappointed then when LeBron and Steph's teams
Starting point is 00:11:16 one misses the playoffs and one is out in round one. And all of America is like, you want me to give a shit about Yokic against the Timberwolves? I don't. Like they haven't primed the audience for that. And I think it's a mistake. I think it is a short-term thinking mistake by Adam Silver. So I'll defend him. So the bottom line as a business owner is ultimately
Starting point is 00:11:45 you need the revenue. And I need the revenue to hire new young people. And so what leagues, the leagues are going to squeeze every last ounce out of Mahomes in 15 years. And there'll be other quarterbacks that come up. But if the other quarterbacks are great, they'll be able to start fresh, hot, out of college and get popular. But the legacy is so imprinted with Brady and Tampa. You just had to put them on every week. You, nobody, Jalen Hertz, not interested. Young, Kyler Murray, not interested. We're going to at Fox. We're putting Brady on.
Starting point is 00:12:21 We're squeezing every ounce of youth. I think the NFL can do it because people will show up for the football. The NBA, they show up for the stars. And you've got to create them if they're not natural. That's what I'm saying. Like, the NFL, I think, can do it. The NBA needs to teach the audience to care about Anthony Edwards. Like, you've brought up and you're right.
Starting point is 00:12:44 they're in a weird spot already because all the best players are international guys. But let me argue this. Doesn't the NBA get in trouble when it tries to teach people things? Black Lives Matter. We're going to teach you about things. Well, it turned off a lot of fans who go to sports to escape. It doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother you.
Starting point is 00:13:06 I've never thought I'm the audience. I think leagues get in trouble when they try to tell you, hey, we're going to teach you a few things about politics, about business. I think you just have to put the popular people on and just, it's not boxing. Or if you put an old fighter on, you worry about his mental health and what are you doing to his brain? It's like, Stefan LeBroner still, by way, they're both still insanely good. Yeah, listen, you and I, the, this is one we might just not even be able to, we're not going to agree on because I would take on this.
Starting point is 00:13:40 I agree with you, if you're trying, I don't want to learn my, civics or political lessons from my sports leagues. It was stupid to begin with. Even if I think for a lot of these guys, the message was right or their heart was in the right place. That's right. I think they can take a page out of the book of wrestling. Wrestling create stars. They just say, this guy is going to be a star and our audience is going to know it because he's going to headline
Starting point is 00:14:09 WrestleMania, because we're going to put him last on Raw, because we are going to make it. And for a guy we decide it's going to be a star for him not to end up being a star, he's going to really have to screw this up because we are pushing it. I think that you can, I don't think you can turn a nothing player, an average or just fringe, I don't let me put it like this. I don't think they could trick America and being like, listen, and Nick fans are going to get mad at me. Jalen Brunson's the new face of the league. You can't make the 17th best player to be like,
Starting point is 00:14:44 Like he's taking the torch from LeBron. I understand that. But you can pinpoint a few guys and be like, we are going to market Luca, Janice, Anthony Edwards, and Jason Tatum. And we are occasionally going to take 1.8 million people watching a Celtics Mavs game over 2.2 million. people watching a warrior son's game because those those people that were are going to be playing for the next 10 years and stephen durand aren't so i just think that would be the longer term better decision because i don't think they have a post lebron plan i don't think they do yeah well they struggled with david stern to have a post jordan plan yeah jack and cobi saved it it was you
Starting point is 00:15:42 You know what I mean? Like Jack and Kobe saved it. Go ahead. So you keep lists on the NBA. I have always been not lukewarm. I don't want to be marginalized. I've always been I like Jason Tatum, but he sort of lacks Kobe MJ. We talked about this last time. Yes. Yeah. It just kind of lacks something. But I can acknowledge, I like him a lot. I'd love to have him on a team. He's a one. I'm not denying that. I'm not sure he's a championship one. So I want to ask you, are domestic players, and I think a lot of this has been coming over 30 years due to AAU, I don't think it makes better players. I think it sells better players. It heightens their hype and awareness of players. Jalen Green's a great talent. Nobody knows who he is. Since the AAU guys don't go to Heddy Gun to Duke for two years, you know who he is because we watched Marsh Madden. So I like the college route for marketing, not the academic side, the marketing for the kids. But right now, domestic players, there's not many great ones. There's a lot of good ones. I want you to rank where Jason Tatum is. And I'm talking game seven.
Starting point is 00:16:49 Pick your star. Okay, so who do you go with? All right. Hold on. Are you saying I'm pulling up right now just the NBA standings because that helps me orient the players. I'm talking about it's a game seven. This is how I judge great players.
Starting point is 00:17:03 Of course. Who would you watch a critical spot in a playoff series? Yeah. And you're saying only American or all the whole league. Everybody. I want to see where Tatum ranks for you. Okay. All right. Guys I would have ahead of him. Janus, no doubt. It's very interesting because in Bede throughout the in every situation except for the one you just said.
Starting point is 00:17:27 Embed, I don't know about him. You know what I mean? Like in a game seven spot. But so, but in Bede, and he's 35 a game, put an asterisk next to him. no one on the Knicks, not Brunson, no one on the Cavs, not Donovan. Put Halliburton with it. He's not there yet. He's close. Jimmy Butler, yes. Jimmy Butler is ahead of him in these circumstances.
Starting point is 00:17:51 Sorry. Game seven. So I, one, two, three, four, five. I'm at eight before I get to him. I'm at eight right now. Okay. So I'm just going down the list. Hold on.
Starting point is 00:18:00 Are you writing down who I say or no? No, I'm going to give you mind, but you go, I'm going to tell you. Okay, that's fine. And so I know I've said, right, no order. I've said Janice for sure, Jimmy Butler, no one on Orlando, no one on Chicago, no one on Brooklyn, Atlanta, or okay. Minnesota, and I don't know about Anthony Edwards. I mean, he's very, very close.
Starting point is 00:18:23 He's a maybe. Oklahoma City, Yokic, yes. If he's healthy, Kauai, yes. Like, again, if we're assuming health. Okay. I'm going to jump in. I'm going to tell you right now. Game seven.
Starting point is 00:18:38 And some of this is unproven, but it's the way I feel about their game. Okay. Two minutes left. I take Yokic, Luca, Yonis, SGA, KD, Kauai, LeBron, Steph, Jimmy Butler in a game seven. That is nine players over him. I'm at 10. And now we can argue. I don't even think those are arguments.
Starting point is 00:18:58 I trust SGA, two minutes left to make a shot. So I, in the, again, Tatum is at this point better than LeBron over the course of an entire season. That's right. But if I get him in the, that part, that part I totally agree with you. The only one I can't go with you on yet is SGA because he now benefits from the fact that we've never seen him in those spots. So we don't know if he'd be bad in it. Like SGA right now is first team all NBA.
Starting point is 00:19:28 Oh yeah. And Tatum is not. It's going to be probably not. SGA is a pure score. He's not as good, but as a pure. And it's not as big. I agree with all that. I just need to see him in the,
Starting point is 00:19:41 it's the same reason I couldn't put Anthony Edwards there because I got to see him in the spot before it. But yeah. So that is, and that is why, and we talked with this last time, that is why people, and people get mad. But for Tatum needs the exact team he has, which is a great supporting cast. because in every meaningful playoff series he plays, the other team's going to have the better number one. Like, you know what I mean? Against the heap, against the bucks,
Starting point is 00:20:15 maybe not against the Sixers, just because Embed hasn't proven it in the playoffs yet. And anyone out West that makes it to the finals, pardon me, the other team's going to have the bet. And again, that's not an indictment. It's just reality of how the NBA works, which is why he needs to have the better two, three, four,
Starting point is 00:20:32 which he very well made. That Celtics seems damn good. But it's going to have to be in the model of, as we've talked about, the 04 Pistons, kind of the model of the 08 Celtics, where it's the collection of all of the talent around it to overcome the superstar. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.
Starting point is 00:20:57 Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all. all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.
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Starting point is 00:22:55 Right, let's end on something fun. So, one of the things... Can I ask you before we end real quick, just because you said lists and it got my brain. going. Right now this moment is, and I have to ask you a Mahomes question before we in, is Mahomes, in your opinion, a top two all-time quarterback? Yes. So that's interesting. You just found our final topic. So I have no problem separating raw talent from productivity. I don't think Bill Russell's nearly as good as Kareem was. or as dominating his shack.
Starting point is 00:23:39 But he was more productive. I can separate those two. I think most fans can. You certainly can. Where Mahomes, I think Marino is significantly, is one of the most gifted throwers, if not the most gifted thrower. I watched his prime.
Starting point is 00:23:54 He was a machine. Big, strong, fast, quick. He was like Aaron Rogers with more size, more of a power arm. I mean, he had all, it was just, he was better than Elway at just throwing a ball. and Elway was great. Marino, I'd never seen anything like Elway. Think if Aaron Rogers was,
Starting point is 00:24:10 it just, he was bigger and more natural and no J.C. He was the best high school or the best college guy. He just had those rumors that heard him in the draft. But he wasn't productive like a Brady or a Manning. So what you're seeing with Mahomes now is the most naturally gifted player, including Marino. He's the most naturally gifted. Yep. And now, he's stacking. It's insane. And, and. I'm insane. And, I pushed back early. When Tom beat him a couple times, I'm like, let's slow down. Okay, now he's stacking chips. He's stacking everything.
Starting point is 00:24:44 You have to win a couple World Series of Pokers. You could be the bigger brain. Let's say you're an academic and you're beating the late Doyle Brunson, who's a smart guy. But you're like viewed as this Elon Musky smart guy, but you can never win the World Series of poker. You win six out of seven? Okay. Then you're the greatest.
Starting point is 00:25:04 So that, so listen, Mahomes, just on the accomplishments route, I look at it like a marathon. And if you ever, or look at the Olympics, if you're watching someone run the 1,600 meters. After one lap, they tell you, are they on world record pace? Right. Yeah. No one can be like, ah, hadn't done it yet. It's like, well, the race ain't over. All we can do is judge the pace.
Starting point is 00:25:28 Right. So Brady, we did this on the show today, 22 seasons as a start. You take out both of their rookie years because luckily both of them didn't play the rookie years. 22 seasons as a starter. Seven Super Bowls, which is bananas. That's 32%. 10 Super Bowl appearances, that's 45%. 14 conference championship games.
Starting point is 00:25:53 That's 64%. Mahomes, as of this moment, two Super Bowls in six years, that's 33% just at a Brady. Four Super Bowl appearances in six years. years, that's 67% way ahead of Brady. And six for six on conference championship games, that's 100%. That's way ahead. If he wins in two weeks, now he's 50% of his years as a starter. He's won the Super Bowl.
Starting point is 00:26:18 67% he's been there. And the other two years, he lost in overtime the round before. So the production, he is on pace to shatter everybody's. The numbers, he's on pace to shatter everybody. So this is where I, so you said I like lists. So this is my quarterback lists. And it is kind of a rich tapestry of raw talent, accomplishments, I test, all of it. Brady is one for now.
Starting point is 00:26:50 Mahomes is two. Hayton Manning is three. Joe Montana four. Elway Marino is really hard five, six, six, five. Because Elway went to five Super Bowls. has more MVP's, has more rings, and I kind of feel like, but Marino was better. Like, I know that sounds shitty, but,
Starting point is 00:27:12 and then rounding it out of guys like what I would call modern era. So, like, post Bradshaw, Staubach post that is Rogers, Brett, and the guy who I think is the most underrated, um, of all time in Steve Young. Yes, yes, he is. He was the closest thing to Mahomes before Mahomes. before Mahomes as far as creativity athleticism crazy
Starting point is 00:27:38 so like I think if Mahomes like I'm ready to say Mahomes is better than Peyton Manick like I have him ahead and Peyton won five MVP's and I think he can run down Tom I don't and I don't think Tom did something interesting because Tom was on with you
Starting point is 00:27:56 you know he did a couple of interviews today and in one of them he was asked about Mahomes and Tom said you know, we're talking about how great he is and all these things. And then he was like, listen,
Starting point is 00:28:07 man, because he was asked about someone else being the goat. And he said at the end, it was so, it was so slick. He was like, listen, if anyone can get to seven Super Bowls,
Starting point is 00:28:20 like I want to shake their hand because I know, like he's made it very clear. Oh yeah, someone else can be the goat. They better get seven fucking rings, though, because I don't want to hear nothing about someone, because he knows.
Starting point is 00:28:33 Seven's going to be hard. But so he's like, that's the standard. Just to be clear, get to seven and we can talk. But I don't think you have to get to seven. Like the point I always make, forget Russell. Michael Jordan retired the first time. Retired in 1993, had three rings. Magic was still playing at that time, had five.
Starting point is 00:29:00 Kareem had just retired, had six. You know what they put on Michael's stage? statue, the greatest there ever was, the greatest there ever will be. They weren't counting rings then. They were like, no, we saw him. He's better than everybody. He's the best. Nobody ever started, by the way, counting rings until Michael got the most.
Starting point is 00:29:17 And then people were like, oh, we got to count the rings. And he's still, I mean, kind of the most. And so I, Brady, Brady does have, it's not like Brady doesn't have eye test stuff. Brady is, as great of a leader. clutch, all of it. By the way, by the way, throws as good a bad weather ball as I've ever seen. Super important.
Starting point is 00:29:43 Super important. And the ASD, all the great organizations are normally. Yeah, exactly right. And so all that matters. So I'm not trying to discount Tom at all. But Patrick's got a path here. If they can win, they traded away Tyree Kill and said, we're taking the long view of it.
Starting point is 00:30:06 Yes, and it was right. Build a defense. We have the second, this year, the chiefs have the second youngest evens of football. If the first two years without Tyree Kill, they peel both rings. Yeah. Then all of a sudden,
Starting point is 00:30:19 you're back ahead of the pace. And people throw the two and oh at me all the time. He was two and oh. Listen, the Super Bowl's, the Super Bowl, Tampa kicked Mahomes his ass. Everybody go rewatch the 2018 AFC title game. of the two wins and tell me who played better that game. Like, don't, you can't hold that one against Patrick.
Starting point is 00:30:38 Brady got rings before and after Randy Moss. I've made this argument. The dominating star receiver is actually not good for titles. You can win, but it becomes very important. The receiver wants to be fed. The quarterback wants to feed him. You start calling the game to appease or appeal the star. is that the truth is
Starting point is 00:31:02 what always made Grady good he always had two it was wrong and then Edelman it was Welker and then Moss so he did end by the way James White
Starting point is 00:31:14 Brady had I mean Edelman goes down as one of the great playoff case ever but it was never an Edelman's great on your show by oh he's fantastic can you
Starting point is 00:31:23 hold on can I go ahead finish but it's interesting it shouldn't be lost that I can argue Tyree Kill was terrific, but not having him allows you to have dimensions defensively that you wouldn't have. And it also allows you to be less predictable. So two things. One is, do me a favor and I never ask you to do this. But the next time Edelman's on, off the air,
Starting point is 00:31:49 tell him, please. Nick Wright says, I love your spots with Colin and I would like a truce. years ago, he's one of the many people that in my maybe fiestier days, I talked a little online shit too and he talks shit back to me. And now I'm like, gosh darn it, we're colleagues. I think he's probably like, I, that guy's an asshole. So if you can maybe vouch, I'm not that bad of a guy. At the very least, tell him that I think he does awesome. I love his spots with you.
Starting point is 00:32:21 I love it. I think he does a great job. So here is, you know, in the 10 days, we have of content between now and the Super Bowl. I talked about this today. It is you putting your brain on this, I think would create days of stuff. The last pass Mahomes ever threw to Tyreek
Starting point is 00:32:46 is one of the most fascinating moments now that we can look back on it. So it's also the last time he threw an interception in the NFL playoffs. It's also the end of the only bad game of his whole playoff career. It was in overtime to Cincinnati. It was, they had a dominating lead. If you remember, Patrick screwed up before the half,
Starting point is 00:33:13 like tried to get a touchdown and threw it short of the end zone. They didn't get a field goal, but no one cared because it was 213 or something close to that. And then they lost. They lost. And Patrick fumbled through a pick. they go to overtime, and on third and 10, he throws a perfect bomb to Tyreek, hits Tyreek in the hands,
Starting point is 00:33:35 but it's double covered and it's 40 yards downfield. He looks perfect pass. Tyreek doesn't quite get it. It's him in the face mask. Bounce, caught Cincinnati, four plays later field goal, and the Chiefs lose. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:49 Since that moment, Patrick stopped taking sacks in the playoffs and has not thrown a single pick. time NFL record for longest stretch. That moment, and also, while his pass rating has stayed the same, his yards per game have dropped by 70 from up to that moment to right now. And you saw it in the second African's Baltimore. Baltimore's got a great defense and they did some good things.
Starting point is 00:34:15 But the other thing that happened was the chiefs were up 10 points. And Patrick said, you know what? If I don't turn the ball over, we can't lose. And I am going to do something Tom did. forever, which is manage the rest of this game to get us to the finish line. And I find it to be a fascinating like fork in the road of my numbers aren't going to be as good. It's not going to be as flashy. It might not be as fun, but they haven't lost in the playoffs since then.
Starting point is 00:34:46 He has taken five sacks and six playoff games. Three of them, he had a broken ankle essentially. Two of them were against the number one defense in the league. It hasn't mattered. When you can't rely on something, it's almost like if you do well in life, how much money do you give your kids in their 20s, right? Yes. It can depend on that $3,700 a month check. You're incentivizing them to take the $3,700 check, de-incentivizing them.
Starting point is 00:35:16 If you can throw a rainbow to Tyreek Hill, why read through your progressions? You take an extra second in the pocket waiting for the big play. You become innately less patient, more willing to sit in the pocket. Bad things happen for even Mahomes when you hold the ball a long time. So I think it's the classic. It feels good, but it doesn't necessarily make you a better quarterback. What makes a great quarterback is efficiency, get rid of the ball, multiple reads, mix it up, don't be predictable. You can become, and I've saw this with Dak and Des Bryant.
Starting point is 00:35:55 Dak, Dak was actually better when he had a little Zeke, you got a little left, maybe it was Jason Witten, you got a little
Starting point is 00:36:02 Lamarie Cooper. When you became very, and by the way, DES would get into the end zone, but people know DES demands the ball, so you kind of know,
Starting point is 00:36:12 big play, they're going to Des. Well, what does a defense want to know what you're doing? And so that's why this chief's team's interesting because we know
Starting point is 00:36:21 where he's going with the ball. It's Travis Kelsey, which is why the defense matters, even in this game Sunday. They're not dropping 34 anymore in these games. That's not who they are. They are more predictable in this brief window. They weren't last year, by the way.
Starting point is 00:36:36 They were less predictable in the Super Bowl. This year they've been a little offensively predictable. So even though they're not, and we can leave it to this, here's the here right now. And it won't, if next year the offense struggles again, this will wear off. Yeah. But right now, despite the fact they're not dropping 30. They still benefit from the fact that every team they play is terrified they will. And they fuck with themselves about it.
Starting point is 00:37:04 The bills, the third play of the game. Josh Allen's like, oh my God, if we don't get this first down, we are screwed. He's throwing a lateral 10 yards best line scrimmage because in the fourth quarter, it's a three-point game in the fourth quarter. They're fine. Sean McDermott's like fake punt, got to do something because Mahomes on the other side. The Ravens were never down more than 10. And they abandoned the run immediately because I think in part because they're like,
Starting point is 00:37:35 oh my God, we're playing Patrick Mahomes. Like, even though they're not scoring that, they instill this fear that gets the other team out of what they normally would do because they think they're going that the chiefs could at any point drop dirty on them, even though they haven't done it throughout the whole year. It's unbelievable. You know, it's the legacy of greatness.
Starting point is 00:37:56 They terrify people without actually doing what they used to do. They're in everybody's head. You can see it with Buffalo. You could see their game plan. They didn't want to throw the ball down the field. They wanted to control the clock so they didn't give it back to Mahomes. Exactly right. You ever 17 a game over like a nine-game stretch.
Starting point is 00:38:11 But to your point. Okay. That's what happened. This was the hour. Next, listen, I don't think I'm available in a week, which is, going to be great because it means the next time we talk will be, you know, right after we've won another championship in Kansas City, the new title town. And we can really talk dynasty and all that stuff. And then we turn our attention to the NBA.
Starting point is 00:38:37 It'll be great. Maybe I'll have an even better lighting setup. I don't know. I think this one was good. I love the pennets. Oh, look, that's the original dream team. Oh, this camera moves with me. I can't even move it.
Starting point is 00:38:48 That's the original dream team and that's Satchel page in the Kansas City Monarch. Who's running your camera? China? What's going on? I don't, I'll be honest. I don't know. I can't believe it moved when I moved, which means there's some artificial intelligence thing going on here, which is, I didn't sign up for. I think I was probably a mole in my house now. Yeah. I've been living on artificial intelligence my entire career. You know what? That's what they always say. I'll talk to you soon. See you, Kyle. All right. See you, bye.
Starting point is 00:39:24 guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.
Starting point is 00:39:40 Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged.
Starting point is 00:39:57 It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app,
Starting point is 00:40:18 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,
Starting point is 00:40:30 my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.
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