The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Cowboys-Bears, NBA, Tom Brady, & mobile QBs

Episode Date: December 5, 2019

Colin explains how the Cowboys and Bears have made the same mistakes, why the NBA ratings may be down, why Tom Brady is frustrated but has leverage, and why mobile QBs are not a fad. Guests include Mark Schlereth, Greg Cosell, Steve Beuerlein, and Andrew Siciliano. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Markeep coming to, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. Cowboys Bears tonight on Fox. Live at L.A., this is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, one hour from now.

I think it's the smartest hour of the week. Greg Kosel stops by if you play fantasy football, you bet on football, or you just love the game, gives you little bits. pieces of stuff you don't hear anywhere else Greg CoSsel in one hour I heart Fox FS1 Joy Taylor is joining me Joy how are you? I'm great very excited for this game tonight yeah tonight

is I'm having a soup and a sweater party of one I'll be watching the Cowboys and the Bears tonight a vegetable stew no no I gotta have some protein in there yeah yeah something like a turkey yeah there we go or chicken or something like that so so tonight

two teams are the mirror of each other Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears. Two six and six teams. Semi-loaded rosters. Both had won the division. Both stand pat with their team. Both think we got a shot at a Super Bowl here.

Some real special players, Dallas on offense, Chicago on defense. Both had a big distraction during the offseason. Zeke right during camp. Is he going to sign? Chicago Bears had 37 people, including male men in Chicago try out to be their kicker. And here we are both terribly disappointed at 6 and 6. Now, in Chicago, they're blaming the quarterback Mitch Trubisky. And in Dallas, they're blaming the coach, Jason Garrett. But these are big brands, semi-loaded rosters, tons of talent,

won their division, and now this morning they're both at 6 and 6 facing tonight kind of the game to define their season. By the way, I think both criticisms are fair. I think. think Mitch Trebisky's a nice kid, but it's not a next level franchise quarterback that can pull average people. And it's sometimes in your career, ask Tom Brady, you're going to have to pull average people to be a franchise guy. And I think Jason Garrett's a guy that kind of lacks a presence because his owners constantly commenting about him and the football team and is the GM. He never really feels like his team. But Dallas and Chicago also did something very similarly, and I don't agree with it, that is the burden of expectations.

expectations. We're good enough. Dallas never really went out and upgraded. I mean, Randall Cobb, but he was just replacing Cole Beasley. That's not an upgrade. That was just replacing somebody who left. Chicago's like, we're good. Let's roll with it. That's interesting because look of the teams this year that look very special, Baltimore. Baltimore already had a great running game and they're like, let's add Mark Ingram. Oh, Seattle already had Pete Carroll, had playmakers. Let's get Jadavian Clownie. quadry digs at safety and Flash Gordon. Okay, three more good players. We were already good last year.

San Francisco has all sorts of clever, offensive pieces. And they're like, let's add another one. Trading deadline. Emmanuel Sanders. Winning is fleeting in the NFL. And the Cowboys and the Bears were like, we're good. We're good enough. We'll have to upgrade.

And here they stand this morning at 6 and 6. Cowboys have not had a defensive takeaway, and they have some nice players, but they have not had a defensive takeaway in over a month. It should be noted, Houston, by the way, won their division last year. What did they do? What did Houston do? Went and got a couple of running backs. Made a big deal to get a receiver, and then they got an offensive lineman, a left tackle,

and they gave up pick. So Houston won a division. They're like, we're not standing, Pat. We're not standing, Pat. Baltimore already ran the football well. We're not standing, Pat. Seattle was already good. We're going to add three people.

Two in the middle of the season. San Francisco already had all sorts of explosive offensive players. We're going to add Emmanuel Sanders. Dallas, Chicago, we're good. And today they're not. Good. I like Dallas tonight. I think it's ugly.

It's low scoring. It's going to be 40 and really cold, whether or not a factor. And the reason I like him is DAC. I don't blame Dak for all of it, but there are leadership qualities. I think he rises tonight. It's why I would make him a franchise quarterback, though franchise tagging him. is not outrageous. Here's

DAC before tonight's game. When it's times like this, it's more to lead by example. Talks cheap, right? We've talked a lot and we've talked a bunch and gotten ourselves right to where we are. So in a moment like this, I say hell with the talking and I'm going to do more, I'm going to work harder. And if you're a young guy looking for somebody

to figure it out and how to do it, yeah, look at me and some of these other guys because that's exactly what we're doing is putting our head down, focusing and doubling down on ourselves. All right, 2320. take the Cowboys by a field goal tonight. I want to shift to something. You know, they're talking about why the NBA ratings are down, and I think a lot of it is because the NFL ratings are up. I think we have a lot of great stories this year. And most of them are quarterback stories. And I think the stories are so good. I find myself watching more NFL, and I haven't really

burrowed into the L.A., you know, the NBA outside of the Lakers and the Clippers. But I saw this this morning, that Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen have the most combined rushing yards of any quarterback matchup ever and they play this weekend. It's going to be a very good game, Bills, and Baltimore Ravens, Lamar against Josh Allen. So let's go back. I believe athleticism. A lot of people think it's a fad.

I do not. There's a big difference between a fad and the future. So let's go back. I'm getting new information now. I'm not a stubborn guy. I'm not a rigid guy. I am a creature of habit, but I'm willing to move off things. Not everything, but most things if you give me new information.

So let's go to the draft two years ago, the five first round quarterbacks. The most athletic one is Lamar Jackson. He's going to be the MVP. The second most athletic one is Josh Allen. He's 14 and 9 and 23 starts. The third most athletic one is Sam Darnold. He's actually found his groove behind a terrible offensive line. The fourth most athletic is Baker Mayfield, a turnover machine whose lack of athleticism has actually hurt him.

and the fifth most athletic is Josh Rosen, he has disappeared. He's in Florida. Maybe it's the Bruner to Triangle. He's just disappeared. In linear order, the more athletic, the more success. Because I don't believe mobile quarterbacks are a fad. I think college football has mostly moved to spread offenses. And because of the new CBA, we are seeing offensive lines more than any time in my life regress.

What's the difference between a fad and the few? To me, it's sustainability. The Atkins diet was a fad. Eat steak, bacon, and eggs all day. You'll lose weight and have a heart attack. Sustainable is you're a vegetarian, a vegan. It's a plant-based diet where if you do eat that, mostly you'll be healthier and live longer.

A fad is the hummer. Remember that vehicle years ago? Four miles a gallon and you couldn't park it anywhere. it was a really ugly yellow building on wheels. The future is something like the Tesla. It's electric. It doesn't make any noise. It's super comfortable.

Lots of tech. And we live in a tech world. The wild cat was a fad. Hike the ball to a running back. Oh, it'd catch you off guard. And then you'd eventually have to pass. That's a fad. Mobile quarterbacks are.

the future. In order, Lamar's the best, Josh is two, Darnold three, Baker, four, Josh Rosen five. Think it's a coincidence? Most athletic to least athletic who's succeeding. Because of what college football is giving the NFL and because of offensive line play more than any time in my life has deteriorated. This is the future. It used to be they called it a dual threat quarterback, right, the guy who ran. But that was, the elephant in the room was, he can't throw. It was either pro-style, those guys win Super Bowls. I like those guys.

Or dual threat. Mostly runs. Now it's not an either-or. You can't draft a statue. It's all over. It's all over. You have to be somewhat athletic. By the way, many of you have compared Lamar's.

Jackson, who's on his way to being first or second in the MVP race. And I hear some Tebow and Kaepernick stuff. I always thought Tebow, I'll give myself credit here. I thought he was a fad. I didn't think he was as athletic. The Combine proved it, as everybody said. He didn't run any faster in the Combine in the 40 that I did in high school. And he was never a good thrower.

Lamar Jackson is absurdly athletic and a better thrower. Lamar Jackson's not a fad. You know, a fad is the wildcat, hike the ball to a running back, catch-off guard. But now the mobile quarterback is, oh, he can beat you with his legs and his arm, and I think it's here to stay. So when Lamar faces Josh Allen, it will be the two most athletic quarterbacks, the two most dynamic quarterbacks athletically from that class. One's going to be an MVP and one is 14 and 9

through 23 games and it should be noted getting better. Can't wait for it. Coming up next, fascinating story that dropped yesterday. From one of the only reporters covering the Patriots who is

an insider, Tom Curran, knows his stuff about how Belichick, Brady Kraft, Tom wants to now get paid. He's done taking major pay cuts. And Belichick's watching this and thinking, I'm not paying you. And Robert Kraft may not step in. Who's in trouble here?

Brady or Belichick. I've got some thoughts on that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial, calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

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

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

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

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jordan. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me.

I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, Rant and recommend some of of the most legally dubious advice known to man.

If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura podcast network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Vick Sinex nasal spray works up to 12 hours, uses directed, breathing easier, getting cold. I'm going to go skiing Saturday.

Ski season open Saturday, going on my son. Yeah, I better get Vicks. I'll come back all drippy. So is this the first ski trip of the... It's a ski day. I'm just doing this, just a ski day. Oh, okay. I got soup and sweater tonight.

Right. Ski Saturday football. All in on the winter. All in on the winter. So there was a very interesting article. It hit late in yesterday's show. And listen, the current dynasty in the sport is New England. I lived in Connecticut 10 years.

I followed it. Tom Kern was a writer back there. And he's got a very kind of an exhaustive article on the Brady Belichick thing and how Tom is, I mean, we've all seen this. He's getting snippier. We saw him on the sidelines. We've seen the press conferences. He's miserable. He apparently told NBC sports Chris Collinsworth a couple weeks ago when they interviewed him before the game,

I'm miserable. Collinsworth was joking. I can't believe we didn't put it on the air. Tom's like I'm the most miserable 10-1 quarterback in the history of the NFL. And in the article, they talk about how, you know, Tom's taking pay cut after pay cut after pay cut after pay cut. And yet they didn't keep Welker and Gronk is gone. And Tom's getting frustrated. And Bill Belichick doesn't want to pay him $25 to $30 million even though, you know, PFF, he's a top 10 quarterback and everybody's going to make more than Tom Brady.

And there's, of course, they go back to an article years ago where Tom Brady's father said, and nobody knows a son like his dad. Tom Brady's dad came out and said, I think it's going to end very, very poorly for my son in New England. he wants to play until he's 70. And I read that article, and I read Tom Curran's article yesterday, and I thought to myself, I think it's going to end very, very well for Tom Brady. I think it's going to end disaster. It's going to be a disaster for New England.

New England has no backup plan at quarterback, and I'd like to see anybody else go 10 and 2 with this dearth of weapons. Listen, Green Bay had a backup plan, Aaron Rogers. India had a backup plan, Andrew Luck. Niners had a backup plan, Steve Young. They don't have a backup plan. Jared Stidham's not a backup plan. Not in the AFC with Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes.

That's not a backup plan. And I think Tom Brady has all the leverage. I don't think anybody else could go 10 and two with these weapons. There is no succession plan. And here's the thing that cracks me up. Remember when Peyton Manning was off his fourth neck surgery and he went to the open market? I mean, the Indianapolis Colts loved him and said, we're going to let you go, knowing that he had something left.

Peyton Manning, there were seven teams that made a bit on him. He got rid of like four, and it came down three really good teams. He looked at Denver's defense. He looked at Denver's offensive line. He trusted John Elway. He trusted the late owner, Pat Bowlin, went for it when a Super Bowl, got to two. You don't think Tom Brady on the open market is not going to have an opportunity? Any team that can win now, the Bears, Carolina, the Chargers, they're not interested?

I mean, everybody tells me Cam Newton, Chicago, timeout. Tom Brady or Cam Newton? open market, guy with a bunch of injuries or none, totally focused or distracted, precision thrower or not, a guy that's never played in cold weather cam or Tom Brady, who's lived in cold weather at Michigan and Foxborough, and maybe the best cold weather thrower I've ever seen in the NFL, and I'm not joking on that. You take Tom Brady. What about the Chargers?

Moving into a new stadium, culture changer. You know, if you end up with a 13th draft pick and can't get a quarterback, you wouldn't roll the dice for two years with Tom Brady? I would if I ran the Chargers. bunch of good players, ready to win now. How about Carolina? New owner. Got rid of Ron.

Seems like I'd consider Tom Brady. Like the idea, I mean, the Indianapolis Colts have this incredible young roster, Jacoby Berset for one year. Brady and Berset already get along. You wouldn't bring in Tom for two years? Tom may just want two years. Let me win games now. So this idea, Tom Brady's dad, it's going to end badly for Tom.

I think it's going to be fine for Tom. I think if Tom can either stay in New England and demand a bigger salary or I'm out of here, you know, or if he is out of here, he'll do a Peyton Manning and have people line up for him. There's a bunch of really interesting teams here. I wouldn't count in Dallas because I think they're in on deck and they probably should be. But you've got some Carolinas, you've got some Chicago's, you've got Indianapolis, you've got the Chargers. I would absolutely roll the dice on Tom. Peyton Manning never forget. Not only had Denver, San Francisco wanted him, Pete Carroll wanted him. Miami. Miami. And that

was off four neck surgeries. Tom's never hurt. Tom's defied age. If you don't think he's going to have open suitors on the market, you're not paying attention. Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Turn it out there, dolphins. I know we get a high draft pick, but it would be the ultimate get back at New England for all these years. If what, if you got Brady? It'll never happen. But it would be amazing. And I have 100% of By the way, I would say of the most international market in America's New York or Miami, fly over there, Giselle, on the beach. Yeah, Miami airport has lots of flights.

Yeah, lots. So Baker Mayfield has been limited in practice this week and hasn't known the football since Sunday's loss to the Steelers. He's been dealing with a bruised throwing hands. But he's confident he'll be good to go this weekend. And in typical Baker fashion, here was his answer when he was asked why he's so sure he'll be ready to play. because Mama didn't raise a wuss. Oh, boy.

You always know what he's about to say something like that. Because he grinned. Yeah, he gets like the tiniest little grin. So he injured his throwing him when he hit Bud DePrie's helmet on a follow through at the end of the second quarter. Kind of similar to what it looked like what happened to Drew Breeze. Yep. He's also dealing with a rib injury. I mean, look, it seems like he's.

It seems like he can play. If he's making jokes about it, he's probably well enough to play. He's just in a little bit of pain and discomfort. I never thought, I think he is a tough guy. I don't think you can be 5-11 and a half, a two-time walk-on and not have a chip on your shoulder and be a tough guy and start a NFL. I don't think that he's not a tough kid. I think he's a tough kid. Quarterback at all, no, he definitely is.

He has some other issues on the field that he's dealing with right now, but toughness is not one of them. And you can't play in Cleveland and not be tough. So hopefully we'll see him out there. I'd like to see Baker finish the season. Don't know what's in sore for the Browns next year, but we already know what it is for this year, so I'd like to see him finish out the rest of the season. So Aaron Rogers has said before that he plans to play football into his 40s,

but only a few days after his 36th birthday, he knows he needs to take advantage of his strong team this year because the end of his career is around the corner. Seeing the 18th hole coming up, realizing I can't play forever, and the opportunity. don't come along all the time. I could feel the energy of this team early in April and May.

It was a different feel. And that's what spurred me, I think, in the summertime to kind of forego some of the traveling I would maybe usually do and make sure I was doubt in once training camp came around because I felt like we could do something special this year. You are not a huge believer in the Packers. I don't. I don't, for a million reasons.

I just, I don't, you know, there have been Packard, teams I like, but I think the NFC is now a power conference. I think San Francisco is a power team. Seattle's a power team. You think they're more, you push them around a little bit. I think they're a finesse team. I mean, I'd ask you, outside of Aaron Rogers arm, yeah, it's great. What's special? What are they great at? I mean, their running game is good, is great. But that, by the way, they can't. I mean, I just think they're a finesse team in a power conference. And I don't, I don't, well, I think their defense took a significant step up this year. They have a defense as opposed to the past few years.

where they've just completely abandoned, even putting a defense out there. When you start examining their wins, their most impressive wins, week two against Kurt Cousins, and he is a significantly different quarterback today. For reasons, I'm not in the film room. Kirk Cousins is a nice quarterback today.

He was a disaster in week two. Then it's a bunch of Daniel Jones and Mitch Trubiskees and backup quarterbacks. I just, I don't, I don't. Listen, there's always a team in the league everybody loves and I don't. I didn't buy the Bears last year. Remember the Bears?

Yeah, well, yeah, I didn't buy a bear. for a lot of reasons. I think it's smoking mirrors. They'll die in the playoffs they did. I don't buy Green Bay this year. Well, they've missed the playoffs the last two seasons. They're first in the NFC north at 9 and 3 with a one game lead over the Vikings and third in the NFC playoff picture.

The remaining schedule is the Redskins, then the Bears, at the Vikings and at the Lions. Remember, they haven't been back to the Super Bowl since 2010. So this is an actual very crucial year for Aaron Rodgers. And now the Vikings, who you're much higher on, speaking of Kirk Cousins, or 8 and 4, they have the lions this week. So let's assume the Packers and the Lions win this week, winning the Redskins and the Lions. Then they're at the Chargers.

Then they have the Packers at home and the Bears at home. I think the Vikings win out. I think they stomp Green Bay in Minnesota. I mean, a dominating performance. I think Minnesota wins out. And how many... Well, how many games back of Green Bay are they? One.

Okay, then I think. And then who's got the tiebreaker because they'd be tied... Well, yeah, I don't know who has the tiebreaker, but... I think Minnesota is the better team in that division. And I don't think it, be honest with you, I don't think it's that close. I think they're a much better team today, much better. I think overall the Vikings are a better team than the Packers. With the better coach.

I'm going to lean towards Aaron Rogers. Finally, the Rams were being careful with Todd Gurley entering this season after dealing with lingering knee problems last year. But Gurley's been, he's a lot more over the last few weeks. And Sean McVeigh says his own common sense is the reason he's given Gurley an increased workload. Me not being an idiot. You know, no, I think he's felt good. And really he's done a nice job with that. So, you know, really it was, you know, you look at the Chicago game and then kind of just going from there.

You don't want to make some of the same mistakes that you ended up making earlier on in the season. And I think he's done a nice job handling a bigger workload. But then also you do have confidence in those other guys if they need to give him a spell. Kind of interesting that that's what he said was the difference. So they've just been being timid with Todd Gurley? You know what's funny? They're seven and five, and we think their season's a disaster. Dallas is six and six and we still have hope.

Well, coaching that. It's funny. It's also their division, though. Yeah, it is. But listen, I always said, I think Kyle Shanahan is the best young coach in football, not McVeigh. But McVeigh's really smart. I think everyone kind of vastly overreacted to a little bit of a spell. You said it yesterday.

Because of the Super Bowl, we're overreacting to them being, Seven and five with an offensive line crisis, they're still a good football team. Yeah, everyone is freaking out. Like the conversation about Goff having the worst contract in sports, like he was literally just in the Super Bowl. Like earlier this year, this year, he was in the Super Bowl. And by the way, just everyone relaxed. Goff went down to New Orleans, outplayed Breeze in overtime, late fourth quarter. Now, I do think they have an offensive line issue and they don't have a ton of money.

I think it's a real problem. I mean, yeah, I think that they're going to have some things they need to figure out. in the off season. But it's not a disaster. Every year, just because you don't make the Super Bowl, I don't think you should call it a success because a successful season to me is winning the Super Bowl. But every year is not a disaster.

You have to build on things. Stay consistent. The Rams will be fine. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. So tonight, it's a huge game.

It'll get a massive rating. It's a classic late fall, early winter, post- Thanksgiving game. I can't wait to watch. watch the Cowboys and the Chicago Bears tonight. I've already got my sweater picked out. I've got my suit picked out. I've got my Corona picked out. I just sit up there and I'm going to watch football and it's kind of a defining game. I think it's a chance for, you know, Dak Prescott to kind of, I think he'll elevate the Cowboys and they'll win in a cold, but the weather won't be a factor.

It's cold, chilly, mostly clear, it's fine. But it is, I'm interested tomorrow morning what everybody's opinion is on tonight. Because Dack, with good weapons, is facing a very good defense. And, you know, we think Trubisky's a bum and Dax's a franchise guy. Trabisky's a whiff and Dax's a franchise guy. But Dax's going to face a real defense on the road. And Trabisky's going to face a defense that never takes the ball away and makes everybody comfortable and everybody looks great against the Cowboys defense. So tomorrow, my prediction is we're all going to be like, you know, Dack's not that much better than Mitch Trabisky, although I think he's absolutely much better.

But I think in the NFL, it is interesting. You have to figure out, and this is not just in football, in life, relationships. You've got to figure out the problem before you can solve it, right? Before you have a solution, what's the problem? So with Dallas right now, they've not only struggled to find an identity, I think there's a lot of people struggling to find the problem. Is it Dak? Is it Jason Garrett?

So I always tend to, I take a yellow notepad, legal pads out all the time. And if I'm trying to synthesize something and something's very confusing, I'm trying to simplify it for you, the audience. I take out a yellow notepad and I write stuff down, figure out what's the one thing that seems to be happening instead of confusing me, confusing joy, confusing everybody, confusing you, the audience. So with a Cowboys, it's very interesting. So look at who the Cowboys have lost to this year. Green Bay, Minnesota, Buffalo, Jets, Saints, New England. Well, they're all the good teams. The Jets aren't.

But Jets aren't a good team. So, well, I mean, they were all on the road. No, no, no, no, some are at home. Well, it was against great quarterbacks. Well, it's Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnall, a great quarterback. Who's Dallas losing to? driving around in your car today? What's Colin getting at?

What does Dallas have as an offensive coordinator? A first-time coach, 31-year-old, Kellan Moore. He's young. Talented, I'm told. Creative, young. What have they lost to? Green Bay, Mike Patton, top 10 defensive coordinator. Buffalo, Leslie Frazier, top 10 defensive coordinator.

veteran, Greg Williams, Dennis Allen, Bill Belichick, Mike Zimmer. Oh, we have a thread on my legal notepad. Young Callan Moore is getting worked by veteran defensive coordinators. That's the problem. Now, DAC, his yards are up, touchdowns, everything's fine. What's the problem? You've got to find the problem before you can find. fix the solution. Dallas isn't losing all the great teams. They're not losing all the great head

coaches. They're not losing all the great quarterbacks. They're losing to really high-end defensive coordinators and really good. It's not even like the defensive, the Jets don't have a great defense. They have a very profound defensive, aggressive coordinator who's seen every quarterback in the league in the last 15 years. Kellyn Moore's a kid. He's a talented kid. But this league is mostly decided by guys who have seen everything. Mike Petten, Mike Zimmer, Leslie Frazier, Greg Williams, Dennis Allen, Bill Belichick.

Kellan Moore's 31 years old. Never a high school coach, never a college coach. Now he's a coordinator in the NFL. Tonight, by the way, Kellyn Moore, Cowboy Coordinator faces who? veteran defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano. Like Leslie Frazier, been a head coach, loses the job, then goes to a talented defense, and now is the defensive coordinator.

Listen, I'm all for hiring millennials. I like young people, but you can't teach certain things. It's called games and experience. So when you start looking on that notepad and writing down, why is Dallas losing, and what do they lose? too. It's not all great teams. It's not all on the road. It's not all great head coaches.

It's not all great quarterbacks. These veteran defensive coordinators who have seen everything fooled for about two to three weeks with Kellan Moore. All right. They look at film. They look at film. Give us your second punch. And he doesn't really have one. Don't you remember the first couple weeks how creative Kellyn Moore was? We were talking about that. Remember? My God, it's unbelievable. Kellyn Moore is so creative. We haven't talked about that in weeks, have we? Because the defensive coordinators figured out all the smoking mirrors. Matt Nagy's a better coach than Callen Moore.

It took coordinators a year to figure out his smoking mirrors. Kellan Moore is a kid. It took everybody about three to four weeks to figure out his. That's the common threat. Chuck Pagano, Dak Prescott. The issue appears to be a young coordinator who Jerry likes, who's a little right now

currently, maybe not long, getting worked by guys who have been around for two decades. Experience matters. All sorts of stuff. Mark Schlerer stopping by today. Greg CoSell, top of the hour, our NFL meat sandwich. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete, themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the

TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we're. done enough because people scoreboard watch life becomes about wins and losses Steve Burns Dustin Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person join me Keer Gaines is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free

iHeartRadio app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is clivert Taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker you know these kids linebacker walks up to me he goes hey ref my mom wants you to wave at her what time out quarterback on office blue 42 hey rep my mama want you to wave at her what Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines

ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tommyjohn.com. Comfortable holiday. Limited edition gifts, 20% first order. Tommyjohn.com, code heard. By the way, adding on to our talk about how young quarterbacks,

their numbers go down when they face, veteran defensive coordinators. Baker Mayfield this year faced Pete Carroll, Wade Phillips, Bill Belichick, and Vic Fangio with a young coach. What a shock. Baker Mayfield numbers go down. We were saying this with Dak Prescott a minute ago. Mark Schlerath joining us that he has faced

Leslie Frazier and Mike Zimmer and he's facing all these great defensive coordinators and his numbers go down because Kellan Moore's a kid coach. He's a coach, but he's a kid coach and Freddie Kitchens is a coach but he's a kid coach. And this league is defined by the Vic Fangio's, the Pete Carrolls, the Belichicks, the Mike Zimmer's, the Leslie Frazier,

blah, blah, blah. All right. So tonight, a bigger game. Is it bigger game for Tribisky of the Bears or DAC of the Cowboys? I think it's a bigger game for DAC of the Cowboys. There's more expectations right now on DAC. I mean, DAC is playing for a contract as a fourth round draft pick. And there's so much noise, you know, self-inflicted noise,

self-created, Jerry Jones noise in Dallas about this football team, about the coach, about the playoff expectations. Troy Aikman's talking about it. I mean, everybody's talking about it. So I think the pressure is clearly on Dak Prescott, perform. They're dangling that contract out there like a carrot, right? Everything about the Dallas Cowboys is like everything is like if you had a management book, how to manage your franchise, a Fortune 500 company,

everything they do would be a case study of how not to do things, right? I mean, that's the way it would be. But that's the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, there's a reason they haven't won a championship since the mid-90s when all of a sudden I'm not getting enough shine, so I'm going to fire, you know, I'm going to fire Jimmy Johnson because he gets too much shine. I need some of that shine. Like everything about the Cowboys just reeks of, look at me, look at me, look at me, I'm the reason.

Well, there is. I think it's funny. I was telling somebody the other night that, and I've said this sometimes about Trump, we can't normalize some of his actions. Some of them are not normal. We've kind of normalized Jerry Jones. like he after games Jerry Jones goes and has a press conference

no no no no no no no no no no that's what the coach does and then on Mondays he goes on radio and he has another big 30 minute press conference no no no no that's not normal it would be absurd if Bob Kraft went on radio in Boston for 30 minutes on Monday you'd be like that's not don't normalize

and I like Jerry but we're normalizing some of what's going on there the owner goes publicly and says I'm the GM that's not normalizing in the NFL. The owner talks after games and on Monday and by the way, his Monday radio show creates a hornets nest half the year. Sure. Well, think about, I mean, think about the report that went out last week is Jason Garrett says after the game that they're going to look at a new kicker, right? Or they're looking at they're going to, they're going to, you know, look at what their kicking situation is. And then Jerry Jones comes out and says, no or not.

I mean, here's what I know about players, right? We are. Like, we're just a bunch of big kids. Most guys are anyhow. We're a bunch of big children. And, you know, I know one thing about my kids. If I give them an inch, you know what they were going to do when they were little? They're going to take them out. If you allow them to disrespect the guy that is supposed to be in charge, you know who's in charge there.

And you know it ain't Jason Garrett. No, that's a real thing. It's an issue. It's a huge issue. It's not normal in the NFL. With any other owner, NBA, I mean, If an NBA owner said, I'm the GM, you'd be like, oh, he's not really the general manager of an NBA team. He's not going to Dusseldorf to watch point guards, right?

But we have a franchise, the biggest brand. Owners the general manager. And you're like, that's not really how they do it with the other teams that win a bunch. Right. Okay. So let's talk about athletic quarterback. I said there's a big difference, Mark. And I like these kind of topics.

I think you do, too. Fad is the Atkins diet. Eat steak for breakfast. You can lose weight. but it's not sustainable. A fad is the Hummer, four miles per gallon, and you can't park it anywhere.

Now, the fad or future. The future is not the Atkins. It's vegetarian veganism where plant-based diets probably make you healthier. Not a Hummer, but a Tesla, which is progressive, tech, quiet, electric.

You don't have to drive it, but I'm saying that you could see that existing for a hundred years, some derivative of it. So the point being, we get confused on, what's a fad and what's the future. And I think two things tell me that mobile quarterbacks are now going to be, I mean, almost,

it'll be the exception of a pocket guy. College football is doing spread. That's what they give the NFL. Smaller, less grinding Wisconsin offensive linemen are the past, except for Wisconsin. And then you also have a collective bargaining agreement where offensive linemen now don't practice as much and it's the one unit in the field where you have to practice. Right. And so therefore, offensive line play has regressed.

I never talked about offensive lines my entire life watching football. Last four years, it's seemingly how I judge everything. So is Lamar the future. I think there's components to it that are. I don't think there's any question. There's components to it. I mean, now, let's not forget that if you go back into the Bill Walsh handbook of what we want from the West Coast quarterback, go back in it. It'll say we want a guy that runs about a 4-7-4-75.

Steve Young, the guy that can run, a guy that can execute the bootkeep game, a guy that's a threat. So that hasn't changed. It's not like all of a sudden we want an athletic quarterback, right? That hasn't changed in four decades. You want athleticism, but you want a guy that can eviscerate a defense from the pocket as well.

Here's the thing that I think is almost disrespectful to Lamar Jackson. To point out to athletic quarterbacks around the world and go, oh, around the country and say, oh, we just need a Lamar Jackson. Dude, he's a once-in-a-generation. I had Pete Carroll tell me he's just like Michael Vick only more athletic.

Okay, like, yeah, my jaw hit the floor, like more athletic than just like Michael Vick, only more athletic. You're a radio host, popular radio host, Schleroth and Evans in the morning. in Denver, Vic Fangio said he's not a quarterback. He's Barry Sanders. He didn't even compare.

He's Barry Sanders. It's unbelievable. So one, it's disrespectful to just think that we can pluck, you know, quarterbacks, athletic guys out of the out of the woodwork and think we're going to do that. The other thing that's disrespectful to me is we are not giving John Harbaugh enough credit for scrap piling all traditional thought and saying there's going to be a new way to attack this. By the way, and it was a 180 pivot in an hour.

Flag go to this. I mean, you talk about a revolution. He's starting a revolution. And we're not giving him enough credit. Now, he has scrapped-piled traditional wisdom. He told me point blank, there has not been a new concept, passing concept in this league in 20 years. Okay?

So that mine has been dug. You know what's amazing about this? Wait, he goes, we have got run place. We got run place that we haven't unleashed yet. I guarantee you they have some run plays that they haven't unleashed. They're held, they're in secret. They're like, hey, you ever watch the movie, Waterboy? I'm going to have me that green playbook.

You know, you're going to hand me. They got the little green playbook with plays in it that haven't been unleashed yet. Like, hold these runs till January. They are setting the, they are creating things in the run game that we have never seen before in the National Football League. No, it is interesting. Most businesses, when they pivot, it takes time. I mean, it doesn't matter what the business is. If you're this business and want to pivot to that business,

I mean, it took like Kodak and some of these companies that were going to digital and not the old photos. It took them years to do it. They went from Joe Flacco, the strong-armed, the Jurassic style of quarterback play, to Lamar from one Sunday to the next. They just shifted it. And then they went to the draft and went, you know, I mean, it's pretty remarkable to me. We've never put John Harbaugh.

I think a lot of it's because Jim gets. so much of the attention. John Harbaugh is a top three coach in the NFL. Yeah. I laughed last year when they were talking about, are we going to retain John Harbaugh? I was like, he'll be unemployed for 12 seconds. We were talking about Ron Rivera yesterday,

who's very much like Harbaugh. He's kind of a guy's guy, although he played in the NFL, military guy, loved by a player. He's always reminded me a little of Jackdale Rio, walks into a room, looks like a player. Mike Tomlin's got this. Yeah.

A man's man. Anthony Lynn's got this, I think, the Chargers. I was at a draft room once with Anthony Lynn and I like I wouldn't want to wrestle Anthony Lynn. He's just he's a man's man. I think Ron Rivera's going to, I'll just throw this at you. New York Giants. They've whipped on back to back offensive coaches. They've got a quarterback that I don't have to pay for three years. Number two pick they could get Chase Young the next Lawrence Taylor. They subscribe to many people would say that. How about Ron Rivera in New York? Would he like the intensity of New York? Well, he would handle it. And I think he would, I mean,

the thing about Ron Rivera, he's an adult, right? I mean, he can handle that kind of smoke. He can handle that kind of pressure. Like, you want to have an adult? I mean, put him in charge of the Cleveland Browns. Like, these are things that you have to think about when you're hiring. We just get so enamored. Our owners get so enamored with the next offensive genius.

You know, he's got the passing concepts in the quarterback development. Let me just tell you that genius and football are mutually exclusive events. Man, I strapped a thin piece of plastic on my forehead and slammed it into other guys for 12 years. That's not genius. That's stupidity. You have to understand. It's a pretty simple game, right? If you are more physical than the other football team.

You win almost every week. You win every week. So, I mean, yes, he would be perfect for a situation like that. Well, it's interesting because San Francisco, the veneer of San Francisco is, oh, they're all tricks. They're really a power running team. They are. That's what the Niners are. Well, think about what happened to the Rams.

Everybody goes, hey, has the league caught up to Sean McVe? No, Sean McVeigh was a three-wise football team with a bunch of smoke and mirrors, right? The illusion of complexity that crammed it down your throat with 18 and 19 handoff. That's all they did. And they lose a couple offensive linemen and lose the ability to do that. And you're like, oh, Sean McVeigh, he can't coach anymore. No, it was a power run game. It was.

That's what they are. The Rams and the Niners are power run teams. and Todd Gurley got hurt, and there go, and interior offensive line issues, and you're not the same team. Mark Slareth, Greg CoSell around the corner, thanks, buddy. Schlereth and Evans, mornings, Denver, gigantic numbers. Huge, gigantic numbers.

Massive, bigger than massive, the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its month. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer-beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations. with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

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

Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. and I'm Kunky, his best friend, and business manager.

And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, here we go hour to Greg Kosell in a couple of minutes.

Live in L.A., this is The Hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Great to have you here. Again, Greg Kosell, 40 years, NFL films. If you bet football, if you're a fantasy football player, or just like tidbits, information, I don't think there's a better 10, 12 minutes on the air radio or TV than Greg Kosell. Joy Taylor is joining me.

How are you, Joy? Great. I'm really interested to see how Is it soup and sweater night? Yep, soup and sweater night at the house. Are you going to put soup and sweater night on Instagram? I think I will tonight. I got two posts and I'll be number three.

Number three. By the way, you know, I've said this before. Sometimes, you know, I watch all these, I watch every single NFL game. Then I get to about week 13 and I won't watch, you know, a handful of games. I'll watch the four or five biggies, the teams that are going to advance. You know, if there's two terrible teams playing, I'm not interested. But there are about 18 teams left.

in the playoffs. I think the NFL has had an unbelievable year. That's why the NBA ratings are down. I don't think it's any other reason. I haven't switched over to the NBA yet. I did watch the Jazz against the Lakers and the Nuggets against the Lakers, but mostly the NFL's been so darn good. But there are some teams that everybody would tell you that are good I don't buy into. I don't really buy into the Packers this year. And because it's a small market, they think I'm picking on them. This is the way it is in Carolina, small markets, Green Bay. You're picking on us. Now, Aaron Rogers is unbelievably optimistic. He thinks the team has turned the corner.

He loves the team. Here's Aaron Rogers talking about the Packers. There's been a lot of guys who've really had to embrace a specific role this year. And I think the beauty in seeing the chemistry of the team and the personality of the team has been the response from those guys. That it hasn't been in worrying about their own stats or ego. So it's been an embracing of the challenge, and it's collectively made us a lot tighter group and a better team. I don't think that's it.

I think they've basically beaten Mitch Trubisky, Matt Moore, Kyle Allen, Daniel Jones, Joe Flacco, Dak, Derek Carr, and Kirk Cousins in Week 2. I think they've faced a fairly weak group of quarterbacks. I think they're a finesse team in a power conference. San Francisco is more of a power team. Seattle is. And I think in the NFC playoffs, you're going to have Mike Zimmer elite coach and Pete Carroll elite coach and Sean Payton elite coach and Kyle Shanan, elite coach. And you got Matt LaFleur and I don't know what he is. I'm not going to say he's a bad coach.

I think he's closer to average than he is great. So I don't see it. I think what do they do that's special outside of Aaron Rogers has a great arm? I don't see a lot of special with them. So it's not that they couldn't win a playoff game or win their division, but I think Minnesota is going to beat them soundly at home in a few weeks. and I think Minnesota is the better team in that division. I think they have more of an identity. They're a power running team.

They're very aggressive, and I think Mike Zimmer's a terrific head coach. And I don't know what the Packers do well, great, except Aaron's really talented. So with that, let's go to Greg Kosell, 40 years NFL films. And one of the guys I really lean on for all this stuff. Let's start tonight. You know, it was funny. When Dak Prescott came into the league, we said, you know, it's not pretty, but he is pretty good against good teams. He's pretty good late in games.

He's got kind of an it factor. this year it's flipped. He can't beat any good teams. He's actually better as the quarterback. It looks a little better, but he can't beat. There's a lot of hollow stats here. When you go back to DAC four years ago and DAC today, do you think there's wide variations or is he mostly the same guy?

Well, I guess he's not a winner anymore, huh, Colin? You know, I think that the last couple of games, he's not thrown the ball as well. and he's missed some throws that he needs to make. You know, when he first came into the league, he was clearly, for the first couple of years, clearly used as a complementary piece in an offense that was running through the running back. And you'd always see him drop back, and he'd be in pristine pockets. There was never any pressure on him.

That's still pretty much the case. He's in an offense that has a lot of talent, has a good all line. I think he's been a little more erratic with his – accuracy over the last number of weeks, and that's always a problem. But this is an offense that I struggle to figure out, and I know the numbers, I know that Elliot's numbers aren't quite as good, but they're still giving him the ball, but watching the tape, I just don't get a sense that there's a rhythm to it. You know, you used to feel that, hey, it starts with the running back, and everything

works off that. Now I'm just, I'm not sure what their staple is. No, listen, this is a right. We have said all year, as casual observers, I don't know what their identity is. is. Right. And I think teams need identities. I just said this about the Green Bay Packers. And I would say some of that's on Callan Moore has not created an identity.

Matt LaFleur, young coach. I'm not sure what Green Bay's identity is. I know Aaron Rogers is really talented, but some I feel like they want to run it and some games they don't. Here's a team that's fascinating to me. And I said this before the Monday night game. I said, Baltimore Raven, Seattle, Seahawks feels right to me.

Two good coaching staffs. They've made additions during the season. I have dynamic quarterbacks who can make plays you can't plan for. Seattle earlier in the year, lost at home to New Orleans, didn't look good, lost to Baltimore. I got to tell you, Greg,

coaching matters, teams do improve. Seattle feels different to me today than five weeks ago. Do they on tape? Clear identity on offense. They run the ball. I mean, this week, think about this. And I'm going to try to learn more about this.

They lined up with six offensive linemen on the field on 42 snaps. week against the Vikings. And I'm actually going to talk to a coach on Friday tomorrow because I'm trying to get a feel for why they do that. Because they actually this season have played with six offensive linemen on almost one quarter of their offensive snaps. Think about that for a minute.

Now, they don't just run the ball out of that. Often they'll line up with six offensive linemen and three wide receivers. But this is a team whose identity is the run game. Now, Russell Wilson is a great player. That's not the point. but their philosophical approach starts with the run. Carson's the sustaining grinder, and now Penny is starting to show some of the traits that we saw in college. And he's got a little more juice and a little more big playability.

Yeah. No, I think that's a good way to put it. Finding an identity in this league, Baltimore has one, and Seattle has found theirs. I want to talk about a team I like a lot. Now, they lost to Seattle, Minnesota, but I did think there was a lot of positives. Adam Thielen's out, Delvin Cook got hurt. Kirk Cousins in week one, two, and three, run for your life. Whatever they're doing, he at least looks more confident and more poised.

So 40 years NFL films, Greg Coasell, what was there a key to at least him being less rattled, him being more poised in the pocket and his improvement? Well, there are another team that has a defined identity. It has to play a certain way because of the quarterback. So they're a running football team, and they run outside zone as their foundation, and they work their past game off of that. And they can create big plays doing that. They create big plays off play action boot, getting Cousins out of the pocket. When they can do that, they're very, very effective.

When you ask Kirk Cousins to be a straight, drop-back quarterback in longer-yarded situations against defenses that have the tactical advantage with their sub-packages, Kirk Cousins will not be quite as good. So that's a team that needs to be able to run the ball. And don't forget, this established the run stuff is garbage. They've already established the run. They don't have to come out in a given game and run the ball. The way teams prepare to defend them and go about defending them is they're going to defend the run. Their run is already established.

So they have to play a certain way knowing that. And when they can do that, they can be very effective. Yeah, I thought they had a very good loss. I also thought the 49ers had a very good loss, losing to the Ravens offense. They did slow it down a little. What did San Francisco do? As far as their defense? Yeah, I mean, well, I think, to be honest with you,

I struggled watching that tape of their defense because they chose to crash their defensive ends, okay, into the backfield, meaning that those guys would go tackle the back on the fake pistol handoffs. And then what would happen is they would want to scrape a linebacker or a slot corner if the play went to that side and have that defender be responsible for Jackson. But if it's a stacked linebacker inside, that's hard. I think you have to pick your poison when you play that team. What do you prefer to have happen? Do you prefer the ball get handed off to the back,

and he runs into the middle of your defense? And they're still good at that. I'm not saying they're not good at that. Or do you want Jackson on the perimeter outflanking your defense? Because I really believe, and I don't know this for a fact, but I really believe that a lot of those pistol fakes are not reeds. I think they're designed plays in which he's simply going to run because they know he can outrun a defensive end or an outside linebacker,

even if the outside linebacker, defensive end stays outside. Yeah. I want to – I'm fascinated by Lamar Jackson. I said this when he came out of college. I said, I think he's a second round guy. I think you sit him on the bench for a year, make him a little better passer. And by the way, he didn't start 411 games. No.

The Ravens mostly thought the same thing. They drafted him at the end of the first round. But I kind of felt like second round, go get your star in the first round. Second round, sit in for 16 to 18 games, bring him in. He does look like, though, to me. I don't think he's a natural passer. But you know what? His touch, it's pretty good, Greg.

It looks pretty good to me. Yeah, and I think he's at his best throwing the ball inside. One thing he did in college, which we're seeing in the NFL. is he does throw the ball well between the numbers versus zone coverage. That's something he did at Louisville, and it showed up on tape, and now you see it in the NFL. I think that the way they play is the only way you can play with Lamar Jackson, because he's not a drop-back quarterback in a strict sense. You're not going to play with Lamar Jackson like you play with Carson Palmer.

This is what you do with Lamar Jackson. It's absolutely the right way to play. And the pressure and strain that he puts on your defense, and the way they use their personnel and their motions is so difficult to defend, and it creates throws. Because most teams are going to play with an extra defender in the box. You have to. So you're going to get single high safety coverage, and then they can attack that in the past game. Let's go to Kansas City's at New England this week.

So let's talk about that game. We all have concerns about the Chief's defense. My eyes tell me, Greg, it's gotten a little bit. better over the last month. It's steadily gotten better. That's what my eyes tell me. What is the film tell you? Well, Patriots offense. Yes. That is clear.

Going against the defense, think that that to me could be the larger issue here. I thought what Romeo Cornell did this past week, Colin, was tremendous. And in some ways, he did what Bill Belichick does. He decided that there were two players on the Patriots offense that could beat him, Julian Edelman and James

White. And he basically structured his defensive approach to take away those two players. The yards and the catches, that all came in the fourth quarter when the game was really out of hand. But the structure, he structured his defense to take them away. And so many people forget because it's Tom Brady. They want to talk about Brady.

That last year down the stretch, they were a running football team playing with a fullback. They don't have a fullback right now. He's injured. So this team can't run the ball particularly well. They only have Edelman and then on certain downs white and they don't have much else. So they're not particularly talented and they can't run the ball and their O-line is not as good as a

year ago. So they're very limited offensively right now. Yeah. I mean, I think in Tom Brady, I think you've seen visible reactions at press conferences and on the sideline. He knows it. Tom knows this is a pop gun offense. Can't beat you over the top. Doesn't have a tight end presence. And the offensive lines, I don't think it, I just don't think in the AFC this year it feels like a Super Bowl level team. No, they're very limited offensively. And of course, you know, having said all that. You know, you never count out Tom Brady. I think the track record shows he's pretty good, but they just are very limited in what they can bring to the table. Yeah. I want to talk about a kid. When the draft happened, I said Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are late first, early second.

Right. They got to figure this game out. Lamar, I didn't think, was ready to run an NFL style offense. The game is obviously changing. And Josh Allen was the wild pony from Wyoming. I watched them against Oregon and Iowa, and the ball's flying all over the place. He's got a huge arm. He's athletic, but he's erratic. And then I watch Josh Allen now, the last three times I've watched him. Maybe it's coaching, but he doesn't make a lot of mistakes. He has an incredibly powerful arm. He's got some Big Ben.

He's a very, very agile. You know, people forget, Terry Bradshaw used to run around. Big Ben used to be a runaround guy. I like what I see with Josh Allen. What's the film say? He'll still miss a couple against the Cowboys he didn't. He'll still miss a couple. he'll still be a little erratic and scatter shot, but he's gotten better with his pace and touch.

Now, having said that, I think he needs much more work with his recognition of coverages, his own coverages, and the throws that are there with the resulting that he still leaves some throws on the field. But he can compensate at times with his running ability and the fact that he's not turning the ball over by forcing throws. And that's critical because this is an offense that's very multiple with their run game. They have a quarterback who can make big-time throws and he can beat. you with his legs and his playmaking dimension. They've got speed on the perimeter, and they've got enough misdirection and deception

to create plays. So they're doing a really good job. But Alan, while he's improved, he still has a ways to go. And it would not surprise me if in any given game, he's just not quite as sharp as he's been. Well, they face Baltimore, and that could be the game this weekend. So let's move to the big play of the week with a guy I love to watch, Deshaun Watson. He played in the same conference as Tribesky, and the Bears thought Tribisky was better.

I don't think either one of us love Trubisky. I like Deshaun. He's not a beautiful throw over the football like in Mahomes, but he makes a lot of amazing plays, and I love watching him. Well, the play that we're going to see was very reflective of this particular matchup. Let's run the play right now, so people see it. People will remember it. It's the 35-yard touchdown to Stills.

And the reason that I chose this play is it is very representative of this game. There's stills. Now, the designed play here is a post route. That's the design of the play with Jonathan Jones on him. That's what they're trying to get here. That's the design. So now what you're going to see is he's going to run this route, and you're going to see that Watson is looking to his right.

But what they do here is they double-team Hopkins. This is classic Belichick. He double-teams Hopkins because this is third down. So now what happens? Watson has to look elsewhere, and he sees a lane to move out of the pocket, and he's moving to his left. So what does stills do? He adjusts his route. Instead of going to the post, he works with Watson and bends his route back to the outside to make it look like a deep sail route.

And they kind of read each other, and it was really beautifully done, but it all resulted from what Bill Belichick likes to do, which everybody knows. he takes your number one threat, and in specific situations like third down and red zone, what he does is he double teams them. And he double team Hopkins throughout the game, and here they beat the double team. And when you play the Patriots, you have to win versus man coverage. Yes, absolutely you do. And there was a flag football element to that. We called it the next day we said it.

There's a flag football play in this game, and this felt like it where you just kind of make eye contact with a guy and you figure it out, you change it up, and you make a play. Greg Kosel, 40 years NFL films. Thanks, Greg. Money is always. You bet. All right. Around the corner, coming up next, arrogance and settling is, once again,

a root problem for a college program going into the tank. Bears, Cowboys, Tonight. More thoughts on 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 IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversy, We break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro, 1021. And I'm Kunky, his best friend, and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thursday night football has Dak seek and the Cowboys as they continue their fight for the playoffs against Cleo Mac and the Bears. It all starts at 730 Eastern 430 Pacific on Fox NFL Network and streaming on Prime Video. Now let's talk Thursday night football Super 6. One of the questions for tonight's game is which team will win and by how many points. Colin, who you got? Cowboys 2320. They lead the NFL in yards per play, which is a huge Vegas stat. Fox Bet staff stat.

stat. That's a number that generally translates well in the postseason, yards per play or explosive. By the way, the Chicago Bears, this is not a good stat. They lead the NFL and three and outs. 31% of the time, this is a remarkable number. 31% of the time the bears go three and out. That's what puts an unbelievable strain on your defense. And I'll give you an example. Since October, the bears have only 11 sacks fused in the NFL. They have Kaleo how's that possible? Because the Bears lead the NFL in three and outs and the defense is exhausted and the pass rushers are exhausted.

So when your quarterback's bad, it hurts your defense even if you have Khalil Mack. So since October, the Bears don't get to the quarterback. They're worse than every team in the NFL because the quarterback's three and out. The defense goes back on the field. And by the way, there's so much psychology to football. When players know you're weak at quarterback, they don't play as hard on defense. and over the course of a week and a week and a week and a week and a week and your eight weeks in a Mitch Tribisky,

how could Chicago be last in the NFL and Sacks since October? How? Because they've quit. They don't play with the same tempo, the same venom, the same passion, the same intensity, because the bear's offense leads the NFL in three and outs. I'll take the Cowboys buy a field goal tonight. By the way, don't be the guy in the room with a long, sloppy-looking untucked shirt. Go to untucket.com.

The code is heard. GQ called it perfection, 20% off all purchases on tuckett.com, Joy, with the news. No, no, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Kyler Murray and the Cardinals had their worst loss of the season last week, 34-7 blowout against the Rams. Unexplainable. I watched it.

Nothing worked for three hours. I don't get it. I don't get it. And I actually picked the Cardinals to cover in that game. So did I. Because of you. I know. You're like, nobody watches the card dolls.

Kyler Berry. Well, look, it wasn't uncharacteristic loss. It was a blowout, so no one can predict those. But looking back on the eighth loss of the year, Kyla Murray shared just how horrible it felt to lose that way. Ooh, I want to hear this. It's just a disgusting feeling, you know. I'm sure you were disgusted watching it.

You know, I was disgusted being in it. So it's just, you know, it's not a good feeling that, you know, you just don't want to, you know, have that anymore. So just try your heart. It's not to allow it. that to happen again. Now, this is particularly painful for Kyler Murray, because, you know,

all of us in life, like, you know, we all have days. We're not great. Not great performances. I had one like nine years ago, anyway. Yeah. Well, I mean, as fans, we don't, you know, we get kind of numb to the, to the wins and the losses unless they're, you know, really

spectacular. Because kind of how, I forget who we were talking about yesterday's. Oh, Jack said, like, you know, he doesn't get that excited about wins, but the losses are very dramatic. Well, for Kyler Murray, it's probably a little more intense because he lost this many times in high school. Never lost. Never lost. And then college.

Unfeated, never lost. Three times in college. Close. One at Texas A&M. Two at Oklahoma. And eight losses of the pro. So he doesn't experience losing very much. So this is probably actually a very dramatic situation for him.

And I would argue, you'd have to go back and look at it. He wasn't, nothing worked. So I watched this game, and I felt bad for Kyler-Marie. I like Arizona. I think they'll bounce back this week. But I was sitting there watching that game, and Kyler was, first of all, the Rams defense, since they've gotten Jalen Ramsey, it's a real defense. Not against the Ravens, but it's a real defense. And I don't think he's ever lost a football game like this.

In the history of Kyler Murray playing football for 15 years, he's never had a game like that where nothing worked for three hours. So it is jarring. Well, they have the Steelers this week. I like them. I kind of, you know, I love my Steelers. but this is going to be a tough game for the Steelers because I think last week it had a little bit of emotion to it that's already a rival game so you're going to play up anyway

coming off of a loss like that the Cardinals are going to be on point so they have the Steelers this week then they have the Browns then they're at the Seahawks and at the Rams so at least we'll have two games where they feel at least evenly matched but that's really remarkable that's his worst loss of football player he's never

Kyler Murray never had a game like that in his life in his life I told you he's like Russell Wilson and Russell Wilson loses but stuff always works Russell's always in games Russell never gets blown out Kyler's in every game he plays even when they lose by 14 you watch the game

That was a very strange game altogether So a big storyline for the bucks this season has been if they see a future with James Winston at quarterback he's in the last year of his contract but Bruce Ariens won't answer questions about Winston's future just yet I'm gonna pass on that one I'm just I'm gonna wait till the end of December

And there's been really, really, really good, and there's been really, really bad. And, you know, it's going to pass until it's over. I like that. And then we'll make a decision. The problem is every year there's a lot of bad. Well, I mean, he was fair about it. There's been some really good and then there's been some really, really bad. James Winston, he ranks first in turnovers at 25.

Yeah. Second worst and completion percentage. Baker is the only one who's worse. Fifth Worst and Passer rating, 82.7. And he's been sacked the second most times this season. Tyler is first, but obviously. And like Baker, he's got great weapons. It's Tampa and Cleveland have great weapons.

So it'd be one thing, if he was dealing with nothing, and you're like, okay, like when Jashon Watson was running for his life with that O line, we were all like, okay, no running game running for his life. You can't be that bad with this offense. And Bruce Ariens has really good coach offensively. I just think, you know, this was the year, you know, you have Bruce Airy, Marriens, very well-respected guy, very no-nonsense guy. And there hasn't been.

Like, since he's been there, I feel like the Bucks defensively have taken a big step up. And they've been mostly quiet. It's just been the up and down of inconsistencies with Jamis. And they're five and seven this year. And obviously, all those numbers I read aren't great. I'm not a big believer in James Winston, but I wasn't in the draft. Yeah. Marcus Marriota and James Winston, I didn't love either one of them.

but this kind of feels like the writing's on the wall. For both, it's just over. You gave him four or five years, it's over. Your end of your first big contract, it's over. It's okay. One guy can't stay healthy and one guy can't stay out of the interception column. It's just too dramatic of a swing every single week. You never know what you're going to get.

But they are sneaky in that way, too. Like, they will hand you a loss when you least expect it. Finally, Nick Foles has been benched for Gardner-Menschew after losing all three games since returning from his collarbone injury, and he probably won't be the one taking the fall for the fall for the Jags struggles this season. Two NFL executives told Bleacher report that because of Foles'

huge contract, Jacksonville is more likely to give him another chance next season and fire head coach Doug Marone instead. I think Marone's, I think it's time, nothing against Doug, but I think it's kind of time to move off that coach. He's been there since 2017.

He's 19 and 25. They're just kind of a team. They did make it to the AFC championship game in 2017, but it kind of felt like lightning in a bottle. And, you know, obviously that was Bortle, so it's a different situation. I mean, that deal is just,

four years, 88 million, 50 million guaranteed. You really don't have a choice. No, you got to give them another shot. I mean, you know what? Minshu and Foles have moments. Maybe they become what the NFL never is, but you do it for one more year, which is just go back and forth.

Who's hot going to win you a Super Bowl, but... No, it's certainly not. But look, I mean, I think that the situation with Nick Foles in Philadelphia was... And now looking at the state that Philadelphia is in, You don't really know what their future is this season. They've been very inconsistent as well. Not saying that Nick Foles is better than Carson Wentz.

Everyone always gets crazy about that. Maybe he was just a better fit in Philadelphia. And it happens in life. Lightning in a bottle. Tim Tebow, Mark Sanchez, Nick Foll. There are moments when you have the running game, the support. And everything is just working. It just everything kind of works, but sustainability is the key.

And I thought Nick and Sanchez and Tebow, they won games. They got one of, I mean, Tim Tebow went to seven. game winning streak and beat the Steelers and you're like, oh my God. And I'm like, I don't think it's sustainable, but their defense was great. Matt Prater was kicking 55-year-old field goals. You wake up and you're like, nobody can beat Tim Tebow except the Patriots. I just think Nick's, he's a guy. Nice guy, but he's a guy.

Joy of the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Support your body's testosterone. Go to mDrive for Men.com. The code is heard 20% off. You know, in the NFL, there's a lot of solutions.

If you're struggling. If you're an NFL team and you're struggling, you can be like, okay, we've got to get a franchise quarterback. That could be a solution. He can solve stuff. Patrick Holmes solved a lot of stuff. Or the solution is going to be, you know what? We need a really good coordinator offensively.

Atlanta got Kyle Shanahan. Boom, solution. Sometimes it's like, we just got to get healthier. We got, we're beat up now. We've got to get healthier. We've seen teams like that. So the solution in the NFL, there's a lot of solutions. In college, if you're a big brand and you're struggling, there's one solution.

Go get a rock star as a head coach. Carolina basketball, Kentucky basketball struggling. Go get Roy Williams and John Calapari. Notre Dame struggling. Michigan struggling. Alabama struggling. Get Nick Sabin, Jim Harbaugh, Brian Kelly. They bring an energy.

They bring an alpha. They bring a presence. The recruiting pops. They get the best staffs. USC rehired, retained, excuse me, Clay Hilton. nice guy, I believe they should have hired him. He was a grown up in the room when the program was a mess and wildly immature and inconsistent. He's a good man.

He's a solid coach. But this is a dying football brand. He was retained yesterday and the outrage is palpable among the boosters the dozen or so that matter in Los Angeles. Arrogance and settling kill big college brands. Notre Dame. We don't really need a big. Alabama. We're Alabama.

Mike Price. quirky guy from Washington State. Brady Hokes good enough. I mean, he didn't have a lot of presents, but he's good enough. The solution in college basketball and football is always the same. Go get a superstar coach. They create energy, symmetry, recruiting, rock stars, presents, walk into a room. They get commercials.

Clay's a nice guy. He's not a great coach. USC is a great brand. Arrogance and settling. Kill E. even the best brands in college. USC has plenty of both. Coming up next, Steve Burline and NFL quarterback for years, CBS Sports, Super Bowl champ,

former quarterback who's always got interesting perspective. Would Steve Burline play today? I think it's a more mobile quarterback era because of what the offensive linemen now that enter the league are. We'll talk about that coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where

Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking.

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

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please!

But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hippocrat, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian.

I'm not qualified to get. give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the MyCultura podcast network available on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts.

14 NFL seasons, part of the Super Bowl champion, 1992 Cowboys, the former Notre Dameer, Steve Berline now lives down in Orange, beautiful Orange County. Great to have you here. I know it's a long drive. I want to talk about two or three things. Let's start with a story that broke a couple of days ago late. We addressed it all day. Yesterday was Ron Rivera, former player, man's man.

I think he fits better in New York. I don't think I would have fired him if I was Carolina. I always liked Ron. I don't think he's the problem. I think he's the solution for a lot of issues in the NFL. He's going to be up for a lot of gigs. But Dallas jumps out because they can't figure out their defense. They haven't had a takeaway in a month.

They run kind of a concept people have figured out. Everybody, Jeff Driscoll, Darnold, everybody looks great. Do you think he could coexist with Jerry Jones? I think that Ron Rivera is probably one of the perfect fits for that kind of a situation. Now, he might desire going somewhere else like the New York situation. Dave Gettleman's there. They were together for several years. One three straight division titles. Went to a Super Bowl. Didn't win with Cam, but they went to a Super Bowl together.

That'd be a great fit. They got the great running back. You know, as a defensive coach, you look for the running game with Saquan Barclay. I think Ron Rivera and Dave Gettleman would be on the same page moving forward. We've got to find a way to get Saquan Barclay reestablished and get the defense going. And Ron is a great guy for that. But as far as the Cowboys go, I think he's one of the few people that could coexist and work well with the Jones. Because have you ever had a conversation with him? He is one of the most laid back, easygoing, consistent people that you'll ever meet.

And he will be able to coexist with anybody. He's obviously got feelings and thoughts about what he's looking for, but that's a very talented football team where he can come in, put his stamp on, and I think coexist with the Joneses pretty well, about as well. is anybody out there? Well, I mean, we were saying this. We've kind of normalized Jerry Jones, where he talks after games, and that's not really the way it works. I'm the GM.

To your point, Revereux may have the personality that works, where that just doesn't bother him. I agree. And that's my whole point, I guess, is that he would be a guy that would obviously want to have say in his team. But if Jerry allows a little bit of that. And I think he would with a coach like Ron Rivera, with the track record that Ron Rivera has,

knows exactly what he's looking for, what he wants to base his football team on, the principles of running the football, being sound on defense, and protecting the football, not turning the ball over. Those are all things that Ron Rivera would be very adamant about, and I think it would be,

it would allow him to get along, and cogs us very well with Jerry Jones. I was talking earlier, if you go back a couple of years ago, to the quarterback draft of the five taken, the most athletic guy, Lamar, is the best so far. The second most athletic, Josh Allen's 14 and 9. Third most athletic, Sam Darnold appears to have found his group with the bad old line.

Fourth most athletic, Baker Mayfield's had some success, but his lack of athleticism hurts him. And Josh Allen's the fifth most athletic. Josh Rosen, he's disappeared. Now, I do think there's a difference between the future and a fad. I don't think mobile quarterbacks are a fad, as I've said to every guest today. Because college football now has gone spread. it's giving you a lot of finesse offensive linemen.

Practices are now limited because of the new CBA. And offensive line play, I believe, is regressing. Forcing you to have dual threat is now almost a demand. You've got to have somebody that can move a little. Tom Brady, Dante Scarnacchio manipulate the system. Drew Bree, Sean Payton manipulated. Am I reaching here, or do you think Lamar is kind of sort of what we'll see this point forward, Steve? Well, we've never seen Lamar Jackson before, and I don't know if we'll ever see another one like Lamar Jackson.

His skill set is so unique, the ability to hurt you both ways. He has impacted the offensive game, I think, the same way. Be careful now, this might shock you that Lawrence Taylor did defensively to the NFL. What Lamar Jackson is doing, he's revolutionizing offensive football. defenses don't know how to stop what he's putting out there on the field every single week. Give credit to Greg Roman for that, too, for the system that he's implemented and built around Lamar Jackson. He's got a much better touch than Kaepernick, who throws fastballs and nothing off speed. And that's the element that he has over everybody else has come before him, all the other athletic quarterbacks.

I think he can be a pocket passer. He has evolved in a very short period of time very well. The progress he made from last year to this year is astronomical. And again, that goes to coaching, but it also goes to his athletic ability, his ability to adapt and learn and be comfortable going through reads, going through progressions, and delivering the ball accurately with touch. He had a really interesting comment before the season started, and I thought it was just, it was, it almost bordered on cute. He's in a microphone. He's a young kid, and he's like, you know, you guys told me I was too skinny, so I put on weight. And he did his traps are bigger.

Oh, yeah. And he goes, you guys said my ball was ugly. I worked on that. He was like a little kid. Right. He's like, yeah, I listened to all your criticisms and it hurt my feelings. And I went out and got better. And my point being, though, that's called coachability. That's called self-awareness. He's got an absolute self-awareness of how people saw him. He didn't want to be marginalized. And so he went out and worked on all his stuff. And not all young quarterbacks, dad's in their hip pocket telling him how great they are.

The scouts are telling him how great. Lamar's like, despite all my success, I'm hearing what you're saying. and I think you're kind of right. Well, and that's one of the thing that endears people to him. So that's why you hear when you hear his teammates talk about him, his coaches, anybody that knows Lamar Jackson, they absolutely gush about his personality and his characteristics and his humility. He says, okay, you want me to work on that? I'll work on that.

Not bad for a running back, right? And some of those comments that he makes, he's just one of those guys that will, okay, if that's something you want me to work on, I can do that, and I'll get better at that. Yeah, he's also super competitive. you can see him during games. He's never casual. When he does something bad, he owns it and he's furious.

Like there's a very Brady element to his personality. He gets mad at himself visibly and shows emotion. And he came out last week and said he threw the ball terrible. He said, I threw the ball terrible today. This is against the 49ers. Now, the conditions were terrible against a really good defense that no one's had success throwing the football against. He didn't make any excuses.

He said, I played terrible. I got to do better. That accountability I also. think is something you can't coach. You either have it or you don't. There are some guys, not to mention any names, that make excuses once in a while, that try to find fingers to point and do that.

Lamar said, no. He didn't have to do that. I need to play it better. Yeah, he does that in the field constantly. It's like, my bad, all in this stuff. Finally, Brady, Tom Curran's an excellent reporter out east that I followed a lot on the Patriots, and I always trust him.

And he said, you know, this Belichick Brady thing, there's a little strain here. Tom's taking several pay cuts. They wouldn't keep Welker, Gronk retires. Tom's kind of over it, and he's visibly frustrated at the lack of weapons. New England doesn't appear to have a succession plan. Tom wants to keep playing. His dad says, I think it's going to end badly. If I said forecast it, how will it end? If one of these good teams like the Bears or Carolina Chargers came out there, like Peyton Manning and said,

here's three years, do you think Tom would consider it? Well, I think he's going to consider it for sure. I mean, that he'd be crazy not to, given the situation. And with the, I think the goals that he still has for himself, he set 45 as a number that he wanted to get to. I think physically he still feels like he can do it. I think it would be an incredibly frustrating situation for him to go somewhere else. So if you think about what he has created for himself in New England, the way he's revered, the way he's treated there,

he would be respected the same way going to another organization. But he has built his whole world around what he does in that organization. And everybody that comes into that organization knows this is the way that Tom likes it. Even the guys who put the air in the footballs, they know the way that Tom likes it. And Tom created that environment over the course of his career. Now, remember, he came in as a six-round draft choice. So he wasn't the succession plan per se for Drew Bled. So he ended up becoming Tom Brady.

They don't have a succession plan there right now. but if Tom wants to take his game and go somewhere else, I think it's going to be a really hard adjustment for him trying to get another organization to adjust to him, learning a new offense, learning how other coaches like to do things, trying to teach players around him to do things the way that he likes to have them done,

the way that he has to have them done to be successful. I think that would be a very, very tough adjustment and very frustrating for him, and that might end badly as well. Yeah, it is interesting. Nick Saban could obviously go to USC tomorrow and win, but would he want to rebuild a program and teach everybody from the janitor to the secretary to the coordinator? How he wants it done.

Yeah, it took Nick about three years. You know, year one, he lost to Louisiana Monroe. Year two, he got pounded by Utah. Year three, they're really good. It takes a long time for everybody to figure out, oh, this is how he likes his coffee, how he likes his football, how he likes his practice. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting with Tom.

It's frustrating because in order for him, do you know they've only had one pro bowler drafted at a skill position in 19 years with Belichick? That's amazing. That's amazing. I had not heard that stat, but that is amazing. But every great dynasty has a whole. Belichick's whole, it's not graded evaluating wide receivers.

Right. That's been a struggle the whole time. The whole time. But nobody in the history of the game, I think has been better than Tom Brady at adjusting to the personnel around him. If they don't have great wide receivers, but they got great running backs,

We go to the running backs. If you don't have great running backs or wide receivers, you go to the tight ends. Back when Aaron Hernandez was playing and most productive, they had great success with the tight end position. But they constantly rebuild themselves. Limited resources. Age. We'll see how that plays out for Tom Brady this year.

Steve Berline, great having you on the show. I love having you on. Always love being here, Colin. All right. Good stuff. Steve Berline, hour three is coming up. We'll go live to Chicago for the Bear Cowboy game. One more herd?

The herd streams 24 hours a day. seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Discover matches all the cashback you earn at the end of your first year automatically. No limit to Discover Cashback match. What are you waiting for? Go to discover.com slash cashback match. It's one of those games tonight where we've got two teams that are both six and six.

They won divisions. They kind of stood pat and kind of felt like we got our guys, whereas Baltimore could already run the football and said we're going to add Mark Ingram. Seattle was already good. They added Jadavian Clowny and Quadri Diggs. And San Francisco was already clever and tricky, and they add Emmanuel Sanders. Chicago and Dallas kind of said, we like our dudes. We're going to kind of stand Pat.

And here we go. One team's blaming the quarterback. One's blaming the coach. Let's go to Andrew Siciliano in Chicago, a place he used to work years ago, fond of it. Why not? It's one of the great American cities via the Coward Global Satellite Network. If I said to you today, though, because there are some similarities. They're just blaming different people.

If I said to you, Andrew, who's the bigger disappointment in your eyes? Who would you pick? This may surprise people. And hi, Colin. Yes, I love this town. It's great to be back and great to be back with you. I would say the Bears. And I know everyone thought that the Cowboys, after winning a playoff game last year,

beating Seattle, losing in L.A., that this was where they took the big next step that they've been waiting for for so long. They haven't, and they never do, not to be negative. I mean, the record speaks for itself. I was here in May at mini camp, and it was the week after the Bears did their NFL 100 celebration. They had the 85 team here, and that team still hasn't paid for meals since 1985.

And this team, and you could feel it at Hallis Hall that day, felt everything about the championship teams in the past, having spent the weekend with them. And they firmly believed that if they had just figured out the kicker, think that they would have been there. And that they were not waltzing into it. It wasn't going to be easy, but that's what was going to happen this year. And it hasn't.

So I would say the Bears. You know, it's an interesting answer, and you were there feet on the ground. And I think your point about the Cowboys is fair. We know what they are, talented and one and done often if they get to the playoffs. You know, I think there is a decision in Chicago. I think they've made their mind up. I say this all the time, Andrew. People make their mind up before they tell you about their employment.

And I think in Chicago, Ryan Pace, they've done. made their mind up on Trubisky. In Dallas, though, it's interesting. I think they've made their mind up. Dax our guy. But there's a lot of stuff out there, Andrew, on the franchise tag. And I said it this week. Dak hasn't made anything as cowboy quarterback.

It would be hard for me in my 50s. And I think I'm an adult, not be a little resentful if they didn't, if they franchise tag me, and I've been a discount for four years. Do you buy the rumors they're just going to kick the tires one more year on DAC before going all in? Could tonight be the kind of game that gets him a longer contract, perhaps? I think he's going to be the quarterback one way or the other. It's not like, oh, he's going to be a quarterback in the NFL next year. He is going to be the Cowboys quarterback next year.

I think the bigger question is, what does DAC do if they can't, and reasonable people can disagree as to what the long-term contract should be worth? But if they can't figure out the long-term money, and they do tag him, and that's their right under the CBA, then what does Dack do? And does he play it like Ezekiel Elliott played it last summer and not be here? And then we'll see what becomes of next season if he's not there during the summer. But he's definitely going to be there. Honestly, Connell, I don't think anything that he could do tonight is going to change that. I think it's more of a bigger picture, much like Trebisky, have the bears made up their mind on him.

I don't know. Nothing that happens tonight is going to change that. It's about tonight and the next three games and any other game that either of these two teams has in January. I kind of like Dallas tonight. They're number one in the NFL yards per play. I think there are, I noticed an interesting stat where since October, the Bears have the NFL's few as sacks. And what that tells me to some degree is that defense is somewhat disheartened because they lead the NFL in three and outs.

I think Dallas feels like they can win their division. They're playing for more. There's more urgency on the coaching staff, whereas I think Matt Nagy's safe. Jason Garrett is not. I do feel like it's Dallas's night. Where do you land this afternoon? I agree with you. A couple of things on the stats.

It is an interesting stat about the Bears and their sacks. The one thing they miss Akeem Hicks in the middle, and they hope to get them back next week against Green Bay. The bear schedule is ridiculous. Without him, I think their pass rush has been vastly, vastly different. They're getting there, but they're not actually getting the quarterback down. The thing about the Bears defense, to your point about disheartening, so they led the league in scoring defense last year.

Their numbers are actually better by percentage points, like 17-7 to 17-3, something like that. They would be the first team since the Browns in 56 to have the number one scoring defense, have that defense get better the next year, and then not make the playoffs. I mean, you could argue the defense here should sue the offense. So, yes, that is disheartening. And I also do like the Cowboys tonight. The number one scoring offense, the number, I'm sorry, the number one total offense, number eight scoring offense.

There's a big problem there. I don't know how you get 425 total yards last week against the bills and only score 15 points. It's not all Brett Maher's fault here. They need to fix that problem. They are more desperate if that makes any sense tonight. I want to go to something. You're a Browns fan. You acknowledge it.

And I respect your opinion on this. I said, Joy and I both said this. I saw that T-shirt with Freddie Kitchens as I'm like, okay, doesn't get it. Just zero self-awareness. Just does not get it. As a Browns fan, what was your initial reaction? Okay, so I'm sitting there with my dad, who's Browns fan, number one, and often far more negative than me. And I said, oh, my God, you're not going to believe this.

And I read him the thing, and he kind of shrugged his shoulders. How are you not being negative to this? I said, they better win by 30, or just win. period, because if they lose by 30, then bad things can happen the next week. Listen, that shirt's fine if you win. It's like that thing in Top Gun, what is it? You're writing checks, your body can't cash. What is that?

If you're going to write that check, you better cash that check. You better win. That's the only way that shirt looks good or is acceptable in retrospect. There isn't, do we agree there isn't another head coach in the NFL that would have worn that shirt? That doesn't mean it's wrong. It just means if that's the swagger and the bravado with which you want to carry yourself and your team, that's absolutely fine. You just better win.

Yeah, don't give the media or your critics more opportunities to bash you. It became a must win or get tagged. You know, it's funny about Ron Rivera. The obvious opinion on Ron is he's a man's man. He's an excellent coach. When given the right personnel, he won his division, a division that has multiple winners over multiple years. I think he's a best fit in New York. The quarterback's cheap and quiet.

He's had a distracted celebrity quarterback. He doesn't want that again. I don't think Jerry hovering over him is what most coaches want. I think Rivera works in New York fast. They've also had back-to-back offensive coaches that have missed. He's more of a defensive guy played the game. I think he fits with the Maras and Gettlement and Daniel Jones. Where do you think Ron Rivera fits?

because he's going to get more than one offer. Yeah, I think both of those. I think both New York and Cleveland makes sense. I think Pat Schumer and I hate to say it. I like both Pat and Freddie personally. I think Schumer is more likely out than Freddie Kitchens. I think it's premature to put him there. But I do think that he would fit in Cleveland as well.

This idea that Baker Mayfield, some quarterback that doesn't want discipline is bunk. But I think that the death by a thousand paper cuts, all the things that have gone on in Cleveland this year like that. shirt thing. That stuff probably wouldn't happen under Ron Rivera. Matter of fact, I'm guaranteeing it's not going to happen under Ron Rivera, but he does like his t-shirts

and he often wears them on Wednesday to send messages to the media, but they're cute and they're charitable. It's for good causes, stuff like that. He's a good fit in New York. We just don't know what's going to be open yet. Those are the two that a lot of people think are obvious, but really New York or Washington. Why can't we put him in Washington there as well? He's got a young

quarterback. Yeah. By the way, Andrew is the host of the NFL network's first look, which airs today at 3 Eastern. Also, the all-time series continues Friday at 8. That's Belichick being interviewed. I think now Rich Eisen's hosting that, I believe, because I've seen clips of it, but it's getting a lot of play. The NFL 100. It's amazing. Yeah, it's supposed to be unbelievable.

I've just seen clips of it. That's getting introduced. For the record, give us a weather. Be a weatherman for 30 seconds. What is it like right now and tonight? All right. Well, Colin, last night it was bitter cold, but right now it's only 46. It's going to go down to the low 40s, high 30s tonight. The problem is here. We are in the shade. So it probably feels like 37, 38 on our set. The TV lights, thankfully, heating this up right now. But mid to high 30s, it's not that bad. Yeah, I don't see the win. Andrews Siciliano NFL Network. Thanks, bud. Appreciate it again. Appreciate having me, as always. You bet. By the way, nice article in the L.A. Times. Sam Farmer's a great. writer about what he does on the

DirecTV Red Zone stuff. It's amazing. That stuff is great. Wonderful. I love it. I mean, it's really changed the way I watch football. Now, I can still watch entire games. I watch the Baltimore San Francisco game in its entirety. But it is kind of fun in that one o'clock window. That was rare because usually the one o'clock window, it's just a bunch of stuff. And then the four

o'clock window, you get the Fox game of the week, then Sunday night, then Sunday night, then Thursday night. One o'clock window, that red zone stuff is just, it's just, it, by the way, I've always wondered why college football didn't do this. I've never figured out why college football doesn't have a Red Zone channel. Wouldn't it be great if you have three or four games on, but I want to keep out with Wisconsin because everybody's gambling now, right?

I just want updates on scoring in college football. And college football has 130 teams. College football has 67 games a weekend. NFL's got 14. Yeah, it'd be very useful. Wouldn't it be great? I have so many questions about his day. How do you go to the bathroom?

Okay, I'm glad you said it because I felt kind of weird asking that. Like when? What do you do? How do you eat? I eat during the show. Well, yes, you do. No, but he doesn't get a break, right? Does he get a one-minute break?

I don't know. I mean, there's times during Red Zone where they'll go to a game for, you know, a couple minutes. I think you have to get. That's his break? His break is when they go to games. He's very open about not going to the bathroom for seven hours. Really? That's impossible.

Don't be the guy in the room with a long, sloppy-looking, Untuck shirt. Go to Untucket.com. 30% off. GQ calls of perfection. Untucket.com. They also have retail locations around America. Joy Taylor with the news. No. No. No. No. Turn on the news.

This is the Herdline News. So the Cowboys are barely holding off to a playoff, holding on to a playoff spot with a one-game lead over the Eagles in the NFC East. Why tonight is very important. Ezekiel Elliott has been very productive this year as he has in the past. And Michael Irvin thinks that getting him going

is the key to a cowboys playoff run. I said, Jerry, I love those sparkling things, but let's keep the main thing, the main thing, buddy. The main thing has to be the running game. We've got to win with the running game, and I'm saying that's what we have to do now.

The offensive line has to get back to men handling the defensive line and allowing that run game to be the main character in this movie. It has to be the main character in this movie, and everybody else and everything else

is the supporting role around Z. That's the only way we go far in these playoffs if we get in that day. By the way, there's a lot of stories that Amari Cooper's not going to resign, which I think is bad news for Dak Prescott. I don't like that at all. I think this offense is fine if you had somebody beyond Zeke that was good. Amari Cooper is a guy that gets open, great route runner. I don't think Dak is the same without Amari Cooper.

And I think Amari Cooper, I got to tell you, there's about three teams in this league. New England's one. Go get a one. go get a grown-up adult veteran one. I don't think England's going to pay. I know, I know, but I think we're getting to a weird point in the Brady Belichick thing where Tom's like, I need a guy. If you get beat in the playoffs this year and it's obviously not Belichick's defense,

it's a lack of weapons. I think Bill has to get off his sort of history and pay a receiver. By the way, they paid gronk. They paid gronk. They do pay some people, but I don't know. He's going to demand a lot of money. I mean, he's in the Julio Jones, Michael Thomas range. Like you're talking five years, 90 million.

Like he's, he's up there. Amari Cooper, that valuable to the cowboys. Grown up, no trouble, doesn't get hurt. I think they have to keep him. But to Michael Irvin's point, I do think he is making a point. I mean, ZEC has 256 fewer scrimmage yards through 12 games this year than last year. I mean, it's significant. He had three more touchdowns at this point last year rushing.

It's, there's a big difference in. I think it's showing in their results as well because they've struggled with the offensive identity and have kind of had to go through DAC several games throughout this season. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how you get the running game going like that. Like, do you just commit to giving it to Zeke? Do you start that tonight?

That's the issue. So Aaron Rogers has said before that he plans to play football into his 40s, but only a few days after his 36th birthday. He knows he has to take advantage of the strong team he has right now. seeing the 18th hole coming up, you know, realizing I can't play forever and the opportunities don't come along all the time. I could feel the energy of this team early in April and May that it was a different feel. And that's what spurred me, I think, in the summertime to kind of forego some of the traveling I would maybe usually do and make sure I was doubt in once training camp came

around because I felt like we could do something special this year. I don't buy them. Everybody else does. You do not buy the Packers at all. Finesse football team in a power conference. And by the way, here's going to be the playoff coaches in the NFC. Kyle Shanahan, great. Pete Carroll, great.

Mike Zimmer, fantastic. Sean Payton, amazing. Matt Lefleur. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. I'm just not ready to, I'm not selling my Brady Patriot stock and I'm not selling my Aaron Roger stock just yet. I sold some of my Aaron stock a year. ago.

You didn't find. He's, listen, he's like 16th in completion percentage. He's ninth in pass the rating. He's a very special athlete, but I do think he's peaked. I think we've seen the best of Aaron. That doesn't mean he couldn't. Am I crazy? Well, they haven't been back to the Super Bowl since 2010.

That's nine years. It's like, at some point, I'm not denying his, listen, he's had multiple surgeries. This is not a great offensive line, meaning Aaron's got to, he gets hit a few times and all these defensive we saw them against the Niners defensive line

the Vikings defensive line the Saints by the way have drafted the heck out of their defensive line Pete Carroll with clowning Seattle didn't have a consistent pass rush but they're a they're a finesse team in a power conference they have a young coach and they're going to face great coaches like there's a bunch of things they

don't check a lot of boxes for me well they have a one game lead over the Vikings right now and you think that the Vikings are going to win out the Packers remaining schedule is redskins and bears at home, then at the Vikings, which you think will be a Vikings blowout, and then at the Lions. So I think Green Bay loses and they're tied, and the tiebreaker would go to, I don't know that often.

Green Bay. So Green Bay would be the Minnesota's the better team. Green Bay may end up winning the division. I think they're overall the better team, yes, but I'm still going to lean towards Aaron Rogers. Finally, the Rams were being careful with Todd Gurley entering this season after dealing with his lingering knee problems last year. Everyone's kind of been freaking out about the Rams this year. What happened? Sean McVey is not the same.

Todd Gurley is not the same. Gurley has been used a lot more over the last few weeks. And Sean McVe says that his own common sense is the reason for that. Me not being an idiot. You know, no, I think he's felt good. And really, he's done a nice job with that. So, you know, really, it was, you know, you look at the Chicago game and then kind of just going from there, you don't want to make some of the same mistakes that you ended up making earlier on in the season.

I think he's done a nice job handling a bigger workload, but then also you do have confidence in those other guys if they need to give him a spell. You know, I think what's going to happen with the Rams once they figure out this running game situation and offensive line situation in the offseason, if they can manage to do those two things next year, they're going to be a real problem.

You know what? They have to acknowledge this. Let's go draft another running back. So you have Gurley, and then he drafted one, and you've used him a little. He's a good back. He's number two. I'd go out and because you don't have a first,

first round pick. There's plenty of good running backs. I think this is a team that just has one issue and go solve it, which is we need another running back in house. And we need the offensive line. At least you know their problem. Like, again, before the solution, what's the problem? I think the Rams problem is their interior

offensive line and they need another they need more juice at running back. They were built through the power running game. Todd Gurley got hurt and their offensive line fell apart. Yeah. And so they have a problem. Their coach is good. Unlike everybody else, I think golf's fine with protection. Their receivers are great. Tight ends are good. Their defense right now is playing their

butts off. They have the best defensive line in the best corner. The linebacking crews better over the last two years. I don't have a huge problem with the Rams this year. And now that Sean McVeigh said that it's really just, well, at least from what he's saying here, it's his decision to not give Todd Gurley the ball as much. Give it to him for the rest of the season. See if he can get that spark back that he had before. I still agree with you that you should draft another running back, but they can fix the offensive line and get Todd Gurley back to 90% of what he was. They're in good shape. Yeah.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. I haven't decided what kind of soup I'm going to have tonight when I watch the Bears host of Cowboys. I have decided on the sweater. I've not decided on the soup yet. What's your favorite soup?

Chicken noodle. Not really a second place on that. Yeah. It's tough to argue with chicken noodle. Yeah, I don't get real tricky on my soups. I love a good clam chowder, though. I can't do cream. And my stomach doesn't work.

Can't do any chowders? No, I can't do any. No, I can't do any of them. What about chili? Do you consider chili to do a soup? Chili is, yeah, it's soup. It's soup. I mean, but it's a,

it's soup with a lot of ingredients. It's a thicker soup. It doesn't really have a broth like that. I make, well, because of my mother. My mother makes the best chili in the entire world. Does she? Yes. Turkey chili, I like.

She can make it with a turkey. turkey chili. She doesn't make it ground beef, but it's the best. Yeah. So we'll figure that out by about 5 o'clock. I'll try to figure that out. College football picks. My marquee three is coming up. We've got conference championship. It's going to be a fun weekend. The SEC at LSU, Georgia, Wisconsin and Ohio State, U.S. Oregon and Utah, which could be the craziest game, by the way. That could be the closest craziest game. I like, I think Utah is really good, but I think it's going to be really, really close. Plus, Greg Kosell, hour and a half ago said something very interesting.

about the New England Patriots, and they play the Chiefs this weekend, so that's coming up, don't go anywhere. 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. Want to hear something amazing? Discover matches all the cashback you earn at the end of your first year automatically. Discover.com slash cashback match. No limits, by the way, on that. So this weekend is championship weekend. You get the SEC championship and the big 10 championship that's here on Fox, the PAC 12 championship, and a lot of good football teams.

I think the PAC 12 game could be really interesting because I don't, I think Utah, Oregon are kind of a coin flip. And I do think Utah, I don't, some commentator on the air said nobody wants to see Utah play in the playoff. Utah's got seven NFL players on their team. Their defense is big boy football. It's, it is a bunch of NFL dudes. So I've said before, I would like to see.

Utah. I don't think Utah could win the playoff, but I think it's unfair to say nobody wants to watch Utah. I think there's a lot of the country that doesn't want to see two SEC teams in because we're tired of the SEC. Although again, I think the SEC is the best conference. So here we go. These are, all of our odds are provided by Fox Bet. Here's our marquee three picks. Ready to make some sweet cash, Colin's going to give you his three sure bets for the college football weekend. It's time for Collins Markey III. Oregon versus Utah. I would take the six and a half points with Oregon. I think their defense is better than everybody thinks. Oregon

leaves the Pack 12 in sacks and interceptions. This is not a defense that just lays down. It's a really good defense. It's not Utah's defense, but Justin Herbert has faced this Utah personnel twice. He's been very good against him. Six touchdowns, no picks, thrown for under 300 yards, over that.

And Oregon's offensive lines, the strength of the team, they've got three NFL players. Their offensive line has 213 career starts. That's the most in the nation. Now, Utah's defense is loaded, but they've only faced one ranked team this year, and that was Arizona State at home. So Oregon's going to score some points here. I think it's low scoring.

I think it's very close. I'm going to take Utah to win the game. But the number here, I just can't give up six and a half points. I'll go 24, 23, Utah in a highly competitive football game with an Oregon defense that is better than advertised. Georgia versus LSU. LSU and I like them big. Minus 7. I'll swallow the points. First of all, Georgia's top route two receivers won't be healthy. They've been relying on Jake Fromm. This receiving core, not a lot of over-the-top components. Jake Fromm has struggled. Last four games, he's

completing about 50% of his throws. Their best running back at Georgia is hurt. He got hurt against Georgia Tech, DeAndre Swift. So I think this is a banged up Georgia offense that has had issues all year being a big play offense. And I think Joe Burrell's on fire. I mean, he's number one in the nation and virtually everything. He's got a great old line. He's got a stud running back I like. LSU's won 13 straight. And they are 4-0 against top 10 teams this year. Okay, and Coach O has won eight of us last nine against top 10 teams. So LSU is not only good and not only hot, but they've been very good and tested multiple

times. And I think their offense is frightening. I think they remind me a lot of Clemson. I don't think they're Ohio State, but I don't think you can stop LSU. and I don't know if they can stop everybody because their defense has issues but I'm going to take LSU to win in cover here 3627 and I'm not sure it'll feel that close. I think LSU's

the better team significantly here. Ohio State versus Wisconsin. Ohio State's better but I'm going to take the 16 points and I want to read you this. The last two times a team lost by 30 plus and there was a rematch in the same season the team that lost the first game won the rematch.

Wisconsin got blown out lost by 31. Wisconsin's a real team here. This is a real team in Wisconsin. Beat Michigan, real football team. I'm going to take the points with Wisconsin. Now, the first nine games, the Buckeyes defense is good, right? First nine games, it was incredible. Last three games defensively, Ohio State's given up 22 a game, only two sacks a game,

300 yards allowed, and Wisconsin's on a four-game winning streak, and their offense has been rolling the last few games. This comes down to me. Ohio State's the better team. You're off the Michigan. game. You may be looking ahead. Wisconsin's just too well coached. They have the best interior offensive linemen in the country, the best running back in the country. I think they keep it close for a while. Ohio State wins 33 to 20, but I think it feels very close late in the third quarter.

I think Wisconsin pushes back and it's a real football game. So I'm going to take Underdog Oregon, favorite LSU and Underdog Wisconsin. Again, all of our odds provided by Fox Bet. NFL weekend. We've got, you know, last week we had the Baltimore, San Francisco game. You got a couple big games this week. I think the game tonight, Dallas, Chicago, I like Dallas. I just think Dak Prescott, my favorite quality, is not throwing or moving. It's leadership.

I think he kind of puts the franchise on his back tonight. It's a desperate coaching staff. It's a desperate franchise. They're playing for a lot. Dax playing for a contract. So is Jason Garrett. I like Dallas by a field goal. The other game that's a game that's.

interesting. And we keep doing this because New England's won like 21 straight games at home. Kansas City goes to Foxborough. Kansas City's getting healthier. Their defense is playing better. And I say this with New England lovingly to pop gun offense. They've got no tight end. They should have

addressed it as Joy and I talked about. They didn't address it in the draft. They had the picks to move up. They didn't address it in the draft. They let Josh Gordon go. Not sure why Seattle picked him up. I still think they want Antonio Brown if he can get cleared legally. And And Greg CoSell doesn't pull any punches, NFL films 40 years.

He says their problem is, I don't have any good players on offense. That to me could be the larger issue here. I thought what Romeo Cornell did this past week, Colin, was tremendous. And in some ways, he did what Bill Belichick does. He decided that there were two players on the Patriots offense that could beat him, Julian Edelman and James White. And he basically structured his defensive approach to take away those two players. The yards and the catches, that all came in the fourth.

quarter when the game was really out of hand. But the structure, he structured his defense to take them away. And so many people forget that last year down the stretch, they were a running football team playing with a fullback. They don't have a fullback right now. He's injured. So this team can't run the ball particularly well. They only have Edelman and then on certain downs white and they don't have much else.

Yeah, I mean, your eyes don't deceive you. When you watch New England, there's no vertical threat which allows me to play you a certain way. and Houston did. And I think Houston sort of gave people an obvious blueprint. Double Edelman, take him out, take your chances with everybody else. And they just, the O-line's worse, the kicking's worse, the receiving's worse, the running game's worse. They had Josh Gordon at times last year.

They had Gronk and say what you want, but Gromk could be a vertical dimension. Kansas City Super Bowl, it's gone. Josh Gordon occasionally vertical dimension, gone. It's just a pop gun. This is not a Super Bowl team. So I think they thought, you know, Nikiel Harry, the rookie, was going to be a nice element, Muhammad Sanoo, but those guys don't really solve the vertical issue. So there's a way, we talk about this a lot in the NFL.

You don't want to give teams a way to beat you. Like this is one of the reasons I don't like Green Bay. There's a way to beat Green Bay. Get real physical up front. Their offensive lines, not very good. You can run on them. Green Bay is a finesse football team and everybody knows it. And there's a way to beat New England.

Crowd the box, throw it over the top, good luck. And they can't. It's can't do it. So Tom's not going to buy time back there scrambling. He's 42. They can't power run as well. They can't throw it over the top. So there's team.

Nobody can figure out how to stop Baltimore. That's why I like him. Nobody's ever figured out how to stop Russell Wilson completely. That's why I like him. San Francisco's interesting. They're a power running team that can throw over the top. So to me, the three teams in this league I look at right now, there's not an answer for everything.

Baltimore, Seattle, and San Francisco. Now, I do think Kansas City can slide into that this weekend. Let's watch Kansas City this weekend. My feeling is Kansas City is going to win the football game. I know it's crazy betting against the Patriots at Foxborough. I do think there could be a fourth team in the NFL because New Orleans is another team. They can't throw the ball over the top. There are ways to defend New Orleans.

Crowd the box. Dallas has done it last two times they faced him. Last two times Cowboys have faced New Orleans. they've said beat us over the top. We've got good linebackers. You can't do it. And, you know, Breeze is not athletic or dynamic that way. So when you don't have a way to stop a team in 2019, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle,

they can do stuff you can't plan for. A lot of it's the quarterback can move. Those are the teams I like. Joel Claddle join us from Indianapolis, the Big Ten championship game. We'll have our blazing five, a lot of pressure on me. I've never been under 50% ever in my career doing this 15 years at this time in the season. I'll take the Cowboys tonight by a field goal and kind of a choppy game.

Cold classic Chicago. We'll see you tomorrow in the herd. Speak for yourself as coming up next. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

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