The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Cowboys, Bears, Tua Tagovailoa, and NFL playoffs

Episode Date: January 2, 2020

Colin discusses Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones taking his time on what to do with HC Jason Garrett, why the Chicago Bears will continue to fail next season, Tua Tagovailoa saying he will decide his future on Monday, and who he likes in the NFL playoffs. Guests include Nick Wright, Greg Cosell, Brady Poppinga, and LaVar Arrington. 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.

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this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker this linebacker walks up to me he goes a ref my mom wants you to wave at her what Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 iHeartRadio app by searching herd. Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Thursday with the playoffs looming in the NFL live in L.A. This is The Hurd.

Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, one hour from now. A must listen if you gamble, play fantasy football, love your favorite team, Wanted a little insight into the playoffs. Greg CoSell in one hour from now. An NFL meat sandwich. Here we go. Joy Taylor is joining me on the second day of 2020.

Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year. You were in Vegas. I was. I was on a couch watching the Rose Bowl. It was not on a couch. How is your resolution going? Slightly broken, but my New Year's resolution, I do one every year.

only Joy and my wife know about it. And so far, a little slip up, but I feel very good about what's happening. So pretty standard resolution. It's advantageous of you. I'll give you that. Yes. All right. So let's get it together, Colin.

So, all right, nobody can figure out what the Cowboys are doing. Jason Garrett's been there. He has not been a disaster. By the way, he's won the division three times. It's like 20 games over 500. 13, 14 years with the Cowboys. Jerry loves him. somebody in Garrett's family's running the scouting department for the Cowboys.

He's part of the family. Jerry keeps interviewing him because he doesn't want to fire him. And he wants to find a place on the organization for him. And Cowboy fans are freaking out about Jason Garrett. Here's the reality with a Cowboy situation. I don't think this can even be argued. To validate Dak Prescott's contract, which is going to be $35 million a year or more, you have got to find somebody who elevates Dak Prescott.

A good quarterback, but not a special quarterback. quarterback talent. That's the game now. Garrett's not doing it. He maybe did it initially, but he's not doing it. And there's only two choices, Urban Meyer and Lincoln Riley. I'm told Urban Meyer would take the job despite always being viewed as a college coach. He's a great leader, remarkable eye for personnel, and he's made every quarterback he's ever had better. Tebow got drafted because of Urban Meyer. All right. The other one is Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma. And there's a lot of people saying that's not going to happen. Lincoln Riley loves Oklahoma.

There is something happening in the Big 12 that is a talking point among coaches. The Big 12, in order to win the Big 12, you have to be fast. It's not a size league. It's a speed league. It's spread offense. So the players you recruit to Oklahoma to beat the Big 12 do not work when you get to the playoff and have to face the size and strength of Clemson or LSU or Alabama or Auburn or Ohio State. Lincoln Riley is 33 and three against everybody else. In the playoff, he's 0 for three and it's

not close. They don't even look like LSU. They don't even look like Alabama. They don't even look like Clemson. And you're not going to turn that around. Is Lincoln Riley saying it's the reality. Culturally, this is the reality of my conference now. I've got to hire speed guys to win my conference, but then when we get to the Clemsons and the SEC, that conference is about strength because it's so physical. Because in the footprint of the SEC, you just have more great big bodies that'll play in the NFL. And I think Lincoln Riley would strongly consider taking the Cowboys job. I think these are the only two choices you can make.

And this is a talking point among Big 12 coaches. What wins our league does not compete at the next level. and I think Lincoln Riley's really smart. Now, he's young and he's going to get multiple offers, but the Cowboys are different. Urban Meyer sat on this couch, and he said, I never really had an interest in the NFL. But if the Dallas Cowboy calls, you take the call.

And I think that's the reality with this job. Is Jerry Jones stalling? Many people suspect Jerry Stalling, because he's trying to find a place for Jason Garrett. It should be noted that Bruce Feldman, a very good college football reporter, said this morning, the Cleveland Browns on a tweet,

are very interested in Urban Meyer. Well, of course they are. They should be. But this tells you there is now, Urban's name is surfacing for multiple, not college, NFL jobs. We've seen him at NFL stadiums. Urban Meyer is about to move potentially. If he does leave Fox in television,

my gut is the Cowboys are the destination. Only two ways. If you're going to pay DAC 38 million, two guys have a history of quarterbacks. that play like DAC. Urban elevates all of them, and so far Lincoln Riley's elevated two to three of them. Those are your guys.

All right, let me shift to this. So I'm perusing the NFL final regular season standings. And I noticed something is that you can lie in the NFL about almost everything. You can lie to yourself, you can lie to me, the media, you can lie to your staff, in life. There are two exceptions. So in seven of the eight divisions, the best quarterback head coaching combo won the division. There's only one exception, and it's not really an exception. It's Kyle Shanahan and Garoppolo. And, you know, you can make an argument that they're as good, offensively, or better than Russell, Wilson, and Pete Carroll. I mean, you can make that argument.

So let's just say, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I could make the argument eight out of eight, best head coach quarterback combo wins the division. But I'll say seven of eight. So what does that? Now, now, you can get the coach right and not the quarterback. Steelers had an injury.

Chicago, Indianapolis. The coach is right. We don't have the right quarterback. You can get the quarterback right. Matt Ryan in Atlanta. I think Dak Prescott's one divisions. Dak Prescott and Dallas. But you don't have the coach right. Dan Quinn's

Not just not good enough to get past Sean Peyton. Jason Garrett's good, but he's not Doug Peterson. You got to get both right. The rest of this stuff is commentary. It's like a buddy of mine says about the Bible. Treat others like you'd like to be treated. The rest is commentary. Everything else is just treat people like you'd like to be treated.

In the NFL, you can lie to me, you can lie to yourself, you can lie to your staff, you can lie about everything except to you. things. Head coaching quarterback. Don't get them right. Aren't honest. You're done. Chicago announced a couple days ago, we're sticking with Trubisky. Oh, that's cute, but you're not being honest with yourself. By the way, Tennessee was honest with themselves this year. Marcus Marriota, I know we picked them way up there. They went to Tannehill. Oh, Tennessee made the playoffs. Tampa Bay drafted James. Winston, they're not honest with themselves.

We're going to give him one more year. For years and years, the giants weren't honest with themselves with Eli Manning. The Chargers, I believe, are being honest with themselves about Philip Rivers. By the way, Lamar Jackson's going to win the MVP. He did not start until week 11. And the Raven said, Joe Flacko is just not good enough. Joe Flacco had won a Super Bowl. Joe Flacco was an MVP.

He's like statue-worthy in Baltimore. But John Harbaugh and the ownership and the front office were honest about Joe Flacco. They're now favored to win the Super Bowl. Kansas City was making the playoffs with Alex Smith. They were making the playoffs. They were winning 9, 10 games a year, hosting playoff games. And then Andy Reed had a sit-down, the front office, and they were honest about Alex Smith.

Now they have Patrick Mahomes, who was last year's MVP. You can lie to me and your fans. You can lie to yourself. It's almost like life. You can lie to everybody. But lie to your wife or lie to your boss. Divorce or fired is coming up. You don't lie to everybody else.

You can lie to your kids. Oh, yeah, there's Santa. Oh, yeah, I never smoked pot in college. Can't lie to your wife. Can't lie to your boss. Both are firing you. And in the NFL, Chicago, you can keep convincing yourself. But deep down, you know the truth.

You know the truth. in a division with Aaron Rogers twice a year. Not winning it. Not winning it anymore with Mitch Trubesky. Great to have you in. I last night got, I can check my phone. It's not here.

Six different texts at roughly the same time from people currently working as NFL executives. And they were all texting about the same kid. A kid last night in college football. For you guys that don't want to play bowl games, you can make a lot of money in bowl games because a kid last night made $30 or $40 million in bowl games. I'll talk about that coming up.

It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

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Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way 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, as 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 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This line. You know these kids. This linebacker walks up to me.

He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, 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.

The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shake my behavior. and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace,

and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social, and connect it. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Cold and Flues season, try VicSynex nasal spray. Last up to 12 hours, VicSynex nasal spray,

use only as directed. By the end of this hour, Nick Wright in 12 minutes also, a very interesting Tom Brady destination. I'm not joking with this. I think it's highly possible. I don't think it's necessarily probable, but I believe the dominoes are falling for Brady and Josh McDaniels, and there's an organization that would really tick off Bill Belichick, and I think it's an incredible spot, not the one you think for Tom Brady. I want to start with this. Anytime you're compared to somebody great, it's not a bad thing. In the early 90s, 1992, there was a basketball player at USC named Harold Minor.

He was called Baby Jordan. He wore Michael Jordan's number. He won slam dunk contests. He was compared just enough to Michael Jordan, despite not really having a consistent jumper. Despite having flaws in his game, he was compared. compared enough to Michael Jordan that they called him baby Jordan. And he got drafted number 12 and then disappeared because he really wasn't an NBA player. But the comparisons, you could see some.

Trevor Lawrence is the next great college to pro NFL quarterback. He is great. He is a John Elway talent. And as Clemson was being outplayed for three hours, most of the three hours by Ohio State, tall, lean, lot of hair, smart, good arm, athletic, Trevor Lawrence, put Clemson on his shoulders and carried the Tigers over Ohio State. That big run down the sideline, that hair of flying 6-6, 6th, thin, lean. Oh, he runs too. Boy, the NFL now really likes running quarterbacks with big arms who are pocket guys. As I watched the Rose Bowl last night, do you know what I saw?

Justin Herbert looks a lot like Trevor Lawrence. Tall, lean, almost looks a little thin, good arm, four-point student, an old Wisconsin-dominated Oregon for two hours and 45 minutes. And then Justin Herbert put the ducks on his shoulders and made himself $40 million. He looks just close enough to Trevor Lawrence, lean, good student, bunch of hair, athletic, runs in 2020, carries a team. And by the way, Justin Herbert does not have Tuist help at Alabama, or Joe Burroughs help at LSU, or Trevor Lawrence's help at Clemson. He is not surrounded by five-star recruits.

He went 32 touchdowns, five picks with Oregon athletes. And Oregon can recruit, but they don't have a single wide receiver running back her tight end who's a top 25 prospect at their position this year. They have a couple of offensive linemen that will get drafted on the second day of the draft, third or fourth round, maybe fifth. Being compared to somebody, looking sort of like somebody, having qualities kind of like a star, made baby Jordan Harold Minor a lot of money. And Herbert is a lot better prospect than Harold Minor was. Justin Herbert looks just enough like Trevor Lawrence, style. arm size, the ability to take over a game when outplayed, and he's done it at Oregon without

Bama athletes, LSU receivers, Clemson running backs. He's got Oregon guys who are good, but not that level. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. There's been a lot of speculation about whether Tua will return to Alabama or declare for the NFL draft. Tua posted to Twitter saying he will announce his decision on Monday and his coach Nick Saban only hopes that Tua makes the best decision for him. I think it's our responsibility and our job to make sure that we give them all the information from an NFL standpoint, from a medical standpoint, from a rehab standpoint,

and if there, you know, is any way that he could possibly be devalued because of his injury and, you know, what are the consequences of that and how does that affect him? his decision and what he does in the future. But he's been a great leader for us. He's a great player on our team. He was elected captains, captain of the team by his teammates. And we just want what's best for him. Now, I don't know what Tua is going to do, but if his goal is to be an NFL quarterback, I find this whole drama about whether he's going to declare for the draft to be very strange. Obviously, we all know he had a very serious injury. But this is a whole drama. But this is a whole drama. I'm this particular draft, there are so many teams that need a quarterback.

Eight. You're not going to fall likely out of the top 10. Oh, I don't think he would fall out of the top seven. Right. Let alone out of the first round, it's just, it's not realistic at all. There's just too, there's too much of a need of that position, and you've done enough already in your college career. By the way, you. So to me, it feels like this is, it's almost like you must be the number one overall pick.

And guess what? Next year, you're not going to be the number one overall pick because Trevor Lawrence is going to be the number one overall pick. And Justin Fields is going to be the number two pick. I mean, I don't, this story, if I'm Nick Saban, I distance myself here. I don't want to be seen as the puppet master who pulled a kid in and took all this generational money away from him with a great sales pitch. I don't even get why he's considering college.

I don't get it. The risk reward to me is. It's all risk. risk. You're, you're, I don't understand it. Like if you were just super passionate about playing college football at Alabama, great. But that you should make that very clear if that ends up being your decision. Because if it's just because you're afraid of what, how much your draft stock is going to change, you might have not ever been the number one overall pick, even if you're healthy. Because Joe Burrough could easily go above you. If two is completely healthy right now,

obviously we don't know how the college football playoff would go if he was fully healthy right now, but hypothetically, you could still not go number one overall. There is still another great quarterback available in the draft this year. It's just very strange that there's so much hesitation about it. And I get that he wants to be healthy, but you could end up going to a much better situation in the long run. I don't get it. It can't be about money because nobody makes all of their money in their first contract

anyway. I don't know. So Patriots Offensive Coordinator, Josh McDaniels is a top coaching candidate and the Browns a potential landing spot. It's very interesting. McDaniels reportedly loved Baker Mayfield. Loved him. Loved Baker Mayfield when he was coming out of college and would be eager to work with him

in Cleveland. Who says that? Is that on the report? This is according to Cleveland.com. Apparently, he flew to Austin, Texas to meet with Mayfield three days before the draft and came away very impressed. Very impressed. He said he liked his, he had high football acumen and he liked his physical attributes.

Does he still like him? The six foot height didn't bother him. And he gave the page. It's a glowing scouting report. According to this, they were prepared to trade up for him. Oh, all right. Does that change your opinion of Baker at all? Well, I think a lot of people like Baker two years ago,

and then they've seen the commercials and the nonsense. Well, you didn't like him. Did not like him two years ago. No, I just said this is, you know, people are saying, oh, Josh loved him. I think you like a lot of girlfriends until you find out they're cheating on you. I mean, I think Baker was very attractive two years ago to a lot of people. I think all those people now have seen the light of Lamar and Josh. it doesn't give you any time I find out later on that the Patriots really, really like someone.

Like, I wasn't completely sure about Jimmy Garoppolo because he hadn't played a lot. Right. And everyone was freaking out. And then I found out that Bill Belichick, you know, well, allegedly, reportedly wanted to have him be the next Tom Brady. And I was like, all right, maybe he is really that good. Anyway, he would not have wanted to work with GM John Dorsey, but now he could have the opportunity to bring in someone else, obviously, with Dorsey gone. And one source says it would be hard for McDaniels to say no if he is offered. the Brown's job. He's from Canton, Ohio also.

Who's that? McDaniels. Is he? I don't think that's a good fit. I'll get into it later, but I don't think he, you know, he's the Lane Kiffin of the NFL. He works and he's smart, high IQ, sometimes questionable EQ. Lane works, but he's not a great fit everywhere. There's only two people on earth that I think are capable of going to the Browns and being successful, and that's Mike McCarthy or Urban Meyer. You're not wrong.

Finally, if Josh McDaniels does want to be the Brown's next head coach, he'll have to get the approval of Paul de Podesta, the former MLB executive. He's the current chief strategy officer for the Browns and is reportedly leading the coaching search. I'll be taking on an expanded role now that GM John Dorsey has gone, but his official title has a change. Obviously, he's best known for his role as an assistant with the Oakland athletics featured in Moneyball. It's interesting that he's leading the search because I would expect that the Haslums would be in the front of that. Let me ask you, if you're looking to be an NFL head coach and the guy leading the search is a baseball guy, are you all in? I don't know. I don't know Paul Died to pass that.

No, and obviously he's a very capable sports executives. I'm not even, yes, but if you went to the NBA and there was a job opening and the guy running the NBA franchise was an NFL guy who had not really proven his system was working in the NBA, that wouldn't feel like the best job. I mean, I do think, to the Browns credit, he has a lot of success. Most of the Brown's issues aren't necessarily on the field. They have the talent. They just need someone to put it all together

and change the culture there. So also from the athletic, the Browns offensive coordinator told opposing coaches that the Browns were a total mess. So basically all of the thoughts that we had about the Browns from the outside looking in were, completely right. And I got to give you credit, you were, you were the most right of all the rights. In the history of Collins. The history of rights. I was wrong in a bunch of stuff.

That was Colin, should be the mayor of Wrighty-Rightsville. You are the mayor of Wrightville. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Well, it is a new year and maybe finally Nick Wright will be nice to me and supportive of me, you know, because he comes on and he just doesn't believe anything I say, and he's my buddy via the Global Coward Global Satellite Network. Nick Wright co-hosts, first things first. So I, you hear, okay, here's something we'll agree on. Dynasties usually, they're like the Spurs. They kind of whimper out. You respect them, but you don't fear them. And I think Duncan, Brady,

Spurs, Patriots, it's over. I'm okay with that, although I do think they beat Tennessee because they're crazy town. Nobody trusts Tennessee. Is that a fair way to look at the Patriots dynasty this morning? Happy New Year. Oh, happy New Year to you as well. And that is a very fair way to look at the Patriots dynasty. But I do find it very interesting.

I mean, I hope you have not dislocated your shoulder from a moment ago, patting yourself on the back for being so correct on the Browns, which you were right about. I just wish you could have joined me in calling this Patriot thing three months ago. When you were still holding on hope, you needed to see them lose to the dolphins the way I needed to see Baker throw 21 interceptions.

That's fine. But let's just follow a different path for a moment on the Patriots. Because then I think more people would believe what you begrudgingly believe and I've believed all year, is it is over for them. And let's just talk, let's just for a moment pretend D. Ford was not two inches off sides last year in the AFC championship game. Then the storyline for Brady and the

Pats would have gone as follows, and it would have made so much more sense. Down 28 to 3 in the Super Bowl, greatest comeback ever. Brady gets his fifth ring and breaks Montana's record. The following year, Brady's still awesome, wins league MVP, but the team is this close to a Super Bowl, loses it on Brady's fumble, doesn't get it. Then next year, you get beaten in the AFC championship game because you're a little bit worse. That's on Brady's what would have been his third pick of the game, by the way. And then this year, you're a shell of what you once were. You don't get a buy. It's the worst season you've had in a decade. That's how we're used to having a dynasty end. The problem is last year when it should have ended, they won the damn Super Bowl anyway,

so everyone's terrified of saying it's over for them. But it's over for them. It's clearly over for them. And I agree with you. I don't think they're going to lose to Tennessee either. And I'm going to say it again, I'm going to be furious if they lose to Tennessee, because that will deprive my hometown Kansas City Chiefs of their rightful opportunity to be the team that ends it officially. Go beat the Titans Patriots, then come to Kansas City and get your heads handed to you the way it's supposed to go so I can sleep for the first time in a year.

Go ahead. Fair enough. I said when I, you have been, I've been a little more of a Dak Prescott fan than you. I think that's fair to say, but I do think there's a ceiling. I just love all the intangibles, and I think those matter a ton. By the way, Tribisky has intangibles, but I think Dax a better thrower of the football than Mitch Trubisky. so I'm for him and not for Mitch. I think only two things make sense for the Cowboys.

You got to sign a coach that makes the $35 million a DAC worth it. And there's two guys that have had DAC like players, Urban and Lincoln Riley. And they have taken guys who are Tebow, Jalen Hertz, not great throwers, and they've made them into unbelievable players. I think Urban and Lincoln Riley are the only two choices for Dallas, say you. I think it's a really interesting way to look at it. My problem and my concern would be what Urban and Lincoln Riley were able to do is surround those players who were great collegiate players with a bunch of five stars. And obviously you can't do that in the NFL because of the

salary cap. And I, 35 million dollars a year means you have to be the additive value of three pro bowl level players. Because 12 million a year get you a pro bowl offensive linemen as long does not a tackle, get you a pro bowl corner, get you a pro bowl wide receiver, whatever you want other than quarterback. So that's what you

are losing. And to me, it's not that complicated on the quarterback stuff. And that is the moment they signed the deal, does anyone think it's an overpay? And if the answer is yes, then it is. The moment Aaron Rogers signed his deal, did anyone think it's

an overpay? No. When Russell Wilson signed his, no. Drew Brees signed his no. When Patrick Mahomes gets $200 million total in a few months, will anyone think it's an overpay? No. But when Cam got his and I love Cam, did some people think was an overpay? Yes.

Matt Ryan, yes. Dalton, yes. Tanna Hill, yes. Stafford, yes. If anyone thinks it's too much, it's too much. You either know it, it's either immediately right or it's not. And this has just been what history's proven out. When that gets his deal, there's going to be some people that say, it's too much.

You know what? Then it's going to be too much. And it's going to be very, very difficult no matter who the coach is to win that way. Nick Wright, Hoho's first things first. Yesterday I was reading a terrific reporter Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports. And he was detailing sort of the Rubik's cube of the Cleveland Brown's front office search. And it was dizzying. I couldn't, I mean, I'm reading this stuff and I'm thinking this is not a well-run corporation.

I'm hearing urban. I'm hearing Josh McDaniel. I'm hearing all these names. This is not just about saving the Browns. It's saving Baker Mayfield. I mean, that's what it's really doing. This is a massive hire for Cleveland. Is there anybody that works?

Well, and the problem is at this point, when you say it's a massive hire, which position we talking about, GM or head coach, because they're both vacant. I know Paul D. Podesta looks like he's stepping into the GM void. I want to talk about the GM thing just for a moment because I think it's really important for Baker. Baker lost his rabbi in the organization in John Dorsey. Baker now is facing the fork in the road moment of his career. If he's bad in year three, the power structure there will have no loyalty to him. Won't be a head coach who he helped get the job and it won't be a GM who's been the number one overall pick on him. So that's obviously critical. And how does Baker have a good year three? Head coach has to be an enormous part of it.

Where you have been unquestionably correct on, we'll see if you end up being right that Baker's talent is not enough to overcome it. Right now you appear to be. But where you are already correct on, you have won the argument, is that Baker does not have the emotional maturity requisite. it to be the face of a franchise. So what you, you can't just say, learn to be that. You have to remove that responsibility from him. Yes. I think Lamar has the emotional maturity, but he's not asked to be.

John Harbaugh is the face of that organization. My guy, Patrick Mahomes, I think he could be, but Andy Reed is the face of that organization. When Russell Wilson was learning, even though he's special, Pete Carroll was the voice in the face of that organization. So you must bring in someone who has the presence of personality, if you will, to where Baker's not the most powerful personality in the organization. Just go play quarterback because that's something that you struggled with mightily on its own this year. That's the only way this thing gets fixed. The other problem for the Browns is this.

Jimmy Haslam bought them in 2012. After this offseason, they will be on their sixth GM, their six. the GM, their sixth head coach, and their 13th starting quarterback since Jimmy Haslam bought the team in 2012. Wow. That is six plus six. Twenty-five different head coach quarterback general managers since, I mean, since Obama's second term to now. That is no way to effectively run anything. And so everyone's fighting uphill there. The only solution might be for Paul D. Podesta to hire you, Colin, because I think ultimately that would humble Baker more than anything, but I don't think they can afford you.

Oh, stop. Finally, listen, I don't mean to be an antagonist, but I have to bring up that the Clippers beat the Lakers again in the regular season. And I've said, I think the Lakers are built to be better in the regular season, but, man, I like the Clippers taking time off for the postseason. But the Clippers beat the Lakers again in the regular season was the. this difficult for you knowing your affection and affinity for LeBron? Well, by the way, it's a few days.

It's a few days old, but I'm not sure if you did it. Before I answer the question, I would like to give you the opportunity to have wished LeBron and Tiger Woods, the two greatest athletes of the last 30 years, happy birthdays. They both had their birthday on December 30th. I don't know why that's on a national holiday at this point. You're Tiger and LeBron. It's their birthdays. I mean, we get the president's days off.

We can't have the king and the goat day off, but regardless. to answer your question. No, it's not difficult for me. I know you live in L.A. I assume they still have sports sections out there. L.A. Times, great newspaper, where you can check the NBA standings, because as I've been trying to tell you all year, you can talk about how the clippers are built for the postseason, Lakers, the Lakers are still the one seed with a nice cushion. And I don't know if you've seen the eight seed in the West as of late, but it's a team that, What is it right now? Is it Portland or did they fall out of it? It's a team that's three games below 500. If you get the one seed in the West this year, you essentially get a buy in the first

round. Meanwhile, the Clippers, a team that desperately needs rest and recuperation would prefer to play basketball on a football schedule. One game a week will do. They are in that muck where you are going to either play the Jazz or the Mavericks or the Rockets or the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. Good point. A two-week war. And then another two-week war against another one of those teams while the Lakers are just skidding above the fray, right now looking like you from your ski boat in Utah, like, oh, looks dangerous down there, not going there. And then if the Clippers get there, the Lakers will actually have been effectively rested in the most critical time and the Clippers will not. With all that said, the Lakers can't beat the Clippers if LeBron plays.

poorly. He played poorly on Christmas. He played poorly the first game of the year. I do not think he will play poorly four times in seven games in the playoffs, considering he's averaging four bad playoff games every four seasons over the last 15 years. So I'll take my chances with it. Well, it's well thought out. He's given that some great thought, and I always appreciate it. I'm right on this one. Okay. Where Nick was right, the Lakers embedding on LeBron. We'll find out soon. My friend, my dear friend, the talented Nick Wright. Happy New Year to you and your amazing family. Happy New Year to you guys as well. Happy New Year, Joey. Talk to you guys soon. All right. Good stuff. He's given that some thought. Let me tell you. To just off the top of

your head, I didn't even have that as a planned question to nail that. He's giving that a lot of thought. Nick has given LeBron and the Lakers a lot of thought pretty much every day. So LeBron and Tiger's birthday is the same day. Yeah. Remember? Remember we were talking about it? And then everyone started saying like 15 different names. It's a craziest thing ever. It's the craziest thing ever. What were some of the other names? Carson Wentz, Abe Lincoln, George Washington. It was like the whole world. Like it was just incredible. I have a birthday like that. You do? Well, it's my birthday. And then it's Dwayne Wade's birthday.

On your day? On your day? Obama's birthday. Really? Mohamed Ali. On your birthday? That's iconic. That should be a national holiday. Coming up next, you're going to think I'm nuts on this. But all these things are lining up for Tom Brady to move. and I've been very reticent on this.

Like slow down, come on, stop, stop, stop. But I know he's not going to retire. And now Josh McDaniels appears to be leaving soon. You know, his right-hand man who we went to the organization and said, pay him because I don't want another offensive coordinator at 42 years old. I'm going to give you a team that makes so much sense and it would even drive Belichick nuts. That's coming up.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9-A. On 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. 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 in 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. 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, our heart radio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you. conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Syke, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me in my comedian friends as we riff rant recommend some of the most legally

dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the

worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrat as part of the MyCultura podcast network available on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Greg CoSell joining us in about 15 to 16 minutes. NFL meat sandwich. If you like betting games, if you like fantasy football, Greg CoSell, every Thursday top of hour two provides what I think is as accurate, objective analysis. We call it our NFL meat sandwich. He'll be

joining us in about 15 minutes. By the way, Geico, great news. 15 minutes could save you 15%. Go to geico.com. So, you know, there's a lot of speculation. about Josh McDaniels, who I think is sort of the lane kiffin of pro football. Coaches matter in football. People can overlook the flaws, very high IQ, debatable EQ. Doesn't always play well with others. Some people have questioned, you know, he'll say one thing to another, definitely has his critics. Many people think he's arrogant and doesn't listen, stubborn, but the guy knows football,

they both do. So there's a story here. The Browns are very interested. And Josh McDaniels wants to coach Baker Mayfield, whatever. Here's what we know. Josh McDaniels is going to have a bunch of offers, and Bill Belichick ain't leaving soon. He's moving.

And Tom Brady's getting old. So let's move this into Brady. Does Brady at 42 years old, 43 next year, want a new coordinator? Brady's frustrated working with new receivers. He wants a whole new system and a coach. He wants to spend the offseason as his kids now are starting. starting to play sports, the supermodel wife, Costa Rica House. He wants the way seven, eight weeks teaching a new guy, a playbook.

I just think you could make an argument he'd push back. Brady now is going to lose his offensive coordinator. He already lost Grong. New England hasn't addressed that. He's struggling with young receivers. It generally takes three and four years for receivers to work in the system. These guys are going to be in the year two next year. Belichick and him are not as tight as they once were.

It's not as much mentor as kid. Tom's done having a mentor hover over him. Tom Brady structured his contract to be a free agent. He can go anywhere he wants. Oh, yeah, Tom Brady put his house up for sale. Oh, yeah. Tom Brady's trainer put his house up in Boston for sale. Oh, yeah, Tom's dad keeps saying he's going to play to 45.

This is not going to end well in New England. He wants to play to 45. Oh, yeah. That's always been the number Tom said 45. Oh, yeah. That means he's got 43 next year, 44 the fall. year and 45. So even if he plays a third of that, he's playing next year.

McDaniels is leaving. So you look at the NFL draft. It's a numbers game. It's math. Okay? Eight teams need quarterbacks. Cincinnati's going to take theirs out of college. The Miami Dolphins at five probably take a quarterback.

And the Chargers at six probably take a quarterback. That leaves a lot of Carolina Panthers out there that need a quarterback. Let me throw out a team and a destination that I think fits for Brady. The Indianapolis Colts at 13. They're not going to be able to get Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields next year. Again, nobody's traded down for that. And they're too good to end up with the number one, two or three pick next year. And they're not going to be able to leap ahead of teams this year.

I don't believe. They don't have enough elite players. They have terrific young players. And they're not giving up any of that old line. So they can't leap above Carolina, the Chargers, the Dolphins, and the Bengals. they need to make a move. And think of what they have for Tom Brady. When Peyton Manning was a free agent and he was old and he'd been banged up,

where did he go to a team that had weapons in an offensive line and a structure he trusted? What do the Colts have? Maybe the best young general manager in the sport, Chris Ballard. What do they also have? A really good head coach, respected, played in the league. What do they also have? A top three offensive line who, by, by,

next year, in my opinion, as the Cowboys line ages, we'll have the best offensive line. Tom won't get hit. What do they also have? A deep threat, T.Y. Hilton. What do they also have? About 28 tight ends. They got nothing but tight ends. Tom loves the tight end.

What do they also have? They play indoors. What do they also have? A crappy winnable division. With teams you can't trust Houston and Tennessee that Tom has owned. I'm just saying the Colts. and what do they also have, a team that would drive Belichick nuts? Everything is lined up.

Now, do I think it's better than 50-50 Tom leaves? I think Tom wants to stay. But I don't think some of this stuff, unless they decide to go get an Amari Cooper, pay Josh McDaniels even more money, $4 or $5 million to stay. But I can see Tom Brady looking at it and thinking, I lost gronk, you haven't addressed it.

Young receivers driving me crazy. McDaniels is leaving. I can see it. There are, Indianapolis needs a quarterback. Okay, they're acknowledging. Their GM had an hour meeting today with the media and largely acknowledge. Andrew Locke's not coming back. And we're not good enough at that position.

I mean, Joe Kobe Bressett's fine, but Mahomes and AFC? and Deshawn Watson and Lamar Jackson, and now you got your Josh Allen's and your Donalds and even Baker. You got a lot of talented guys in the AFC. And by the way, Cincinnati's going to get one. Now Miami's going to get a quarterback. Keep your eye on the Indianapolis Colts. They offer a lot of what Peyton Manning was attracted to.

We thought Peyton Manning was going to be a cult forever. Did we not? Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana, Brett Farve. You guys all think these quarterbacks play forever. They want to keep playing. And when you're making $28, $30 million a year, by the way, the Colts have a young roster. Brady can come in there and make $30 million. They've got money for them.

That offensive line's not getting paid yet. I mean, that defense is young. It's not getting paid yet. Colts have nothing but money in cap. They'll have cap space. Indoors, winnable division, good GM, smart coach, great O line. I'm just saying the Colts to me make a lot of sense. And I don't think the Colts have the draft capital and the ability to jump

ahead of the Chargers or Carolina or Miami, and they're not getting to Cincinnati's number one spot. I think it makes sense. Greg CoSell, NFL meat sandwiches right around the corner, and why Nick Saban better be very, very careful. Folks, Discover matches all the cash back you earn into your first year automatically. There are no limits. How cool is that? Learn more, Discover.com slash cashback match. Greg CoSell next.

Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHard radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs,

the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the tick 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, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free. 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 this kid this linebacker walks up to me he goes hey ref my mom wants you to wave at her what time out look quarterback on office blue 42 hey rep my mama want you to wave at her what Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shake my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown

and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black

Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Ah, hour two and a Thursday, Greg CoSell in two or three minutes are NFL meat sandwich. Live in LA, it's the hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Happy New Year, everybody. I have a New Year's resolution. Only my wife and Joy know. I'm mostly holding to it. It's not going to be imperfect.

It will not be great. But I feel very good about where I'm going. I'm a good. I stop doing stuff very well. I don't take up new stuff very well. But I stop stuff. And it's one of those, I'm getting rid of the bad habit. I'm stopping something.

And I'm almost perfect through two days. See, that's where I disagree. I don't think what you're giving up is a bad habit. I think it's kind of necessary. Really? Well, I'm certainly not going to do it. Well, I was just like, I don't know. I feel like you're, I'm with you.

I can quit stuff very easily, but I feel like what you're doing is like a lifestyle change. It's like going vegan. Like not vegetarian. It's going straight to vegan. That's not going to happen. I now own a burger chain. Well, I'm not saying that's what it is.

No, definitely not. A very good burger chain, actually. Oh, thank you. So I just want to talk about this for a second. My birthday is January 6th. Presence Please to Fox Sports. that's also the day Tua. The quarterback at Alabama is going to make his announcement

on whether he's going to go pro or go to college. I think he needs to go pro. It's math. He's proven he's good enough to be a pro quarterback. I think he's the most talented of all these kids. And I think Burrow and Herbert are really talented. I think Tua is really special. I see Drew Brees.

I do not think you go back to the most physical football conference in college football by a mile and let Georgia hammer you and LSU players hammer you and Auburn NFL players hammer you. Maybe if he played in the Pac-12, which is more finesse or the Big 12, where they run around and have pillow fights. But I'm not having Tua come back and get hammered by LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Florida, athletes, Texas, NM, pass, hard pass. I also think this is very dangerous, very dangerous,

because I think his stock can only go down. And as Joy said earlier, he's not going number one next year or number two, because I like Justin Fields more and I like Trevor Lawrence more than any quarterback since Andrew Luck and John Elway. It's very dangerous for Nick Saven. If Nick Saban, if this kid decides to go back, it's because Nick Saban did what Nick Saban does well. He's the master puppeteer. He's the great recruiter. And he will have gotten in the ear of Tua and his dad and done what Nick does. Swayes you.

And I think it's dangerous. Nick Saban, if Tua comes back and cross your fingers got banged up a little and lost all that generational money and really dropped in the draft because, frankly, it's another injury to a series of injury. 20, 30, 40, 50 million out the door and you'll never see it again. Sometimes your great strength can be a great weakness. And Nick recruiting him and clearly Nick wants him back because Alabama loses their two best offensive linemen. They're two best wide receivers. They're potentially best quarterback.

They had like 13 guys could leave early. Alabama on paper next year if they all left is not a very good Alabama team. So, you know, some birds are meant to fly. Tua is meant to fly to the NFL. All right. Let's go to Greg Cosell, 40 years NFL films. The most objective guy if you gamble, if you do fantasy sports, or you just love football. We're going to talk about all four playoff games this weekend.

Greg, Cocell, happy new, do you have any New Year's resolutions, Greg, more or less film study? What is it? You know, I might like to relax. a little more one of these years, Colin, but that doesn't seem to be in the plan. That's because you're wanted for your information. Let's start Buffalo at Houston. When I watch Houston, my eyes tell me flawed, sometimes chaotic, make a lot of mistakes, don't love their clock management, but Deshaun Watson kind of flag footballs it and just

wins games sometimes on the strength of his athleticism and ability. do you see this Houston team top to bottom as a team that could win several playoff games? I think over the last month, Colin Watson, has struggled. We lose sight of that because he's capable of the spectacular. And sometimes

the spectacular can win games depending on the nature of your opponent. But he has not been playing particularly well. He's not really setting his feet. He's not planting with a firm base. He's dropping his eyes. He's not seeing things clearly. He's not

playing with a real great sense of pocket discipline and awareness. He's too random. Now, you can make plays that way. He's capable of that. So now you're relying on other things with your team in order to win games. And if he does that this week, that may be enough, because Buffalo is not a team that necessarily puts a lot of points on the board. That said, Josh Allen's better than I thought he would be this early. What do you consider Josh Allen, Bill's quarterback at this point, Greg? I think he improved incrementally this year. I still think that he misses too many routine throws, but he's making more of them than he did a year ago. Where he needs to really improve, because this is what they would like to do, is on the deeper throws.

He hit that big one to John Brown versus the Patriots, which was a great, great throw on a designed shot play. So they've gotten opportunities like that throughout the course of the season. He's missed far too many. make a few of those. Their offense might take on a different feel. They'd like to run the ball as their starting point. They're inconsistent doing that. Their O-line can be up and down. We have no idea what the impact of J.J. Watt will be, given that he's been away for so long. But I will say one thing from a tactical perspective. They have to decide, Buffalo, that is, of how they want to play personnel-wise, because J.J. Watt plays different positions in the base

defense and in their nickel defense, their sub-tackage defense. So they have to decide how they feel they can better attack that defensive line, whether they want to line up in base offense with two tight ends or a fullback or whether they want to play with three wide receivers because Watt, as I said, plays different positions. Let's go to Tennessee at New England. You know, listen, in my talk show world, Brady's a topic. He's no good anymore.

But do you see real erosion with some of his skills? I do. Okay. And I do. I don't think that he's as consistently accurate as he was. And we used to take that for granted how accurate he was. He did not miss throws. I don't think he's quite as consistently accurate. He's certainly not comfortable right now. This is an offense that's very limited with their past game right now. They have very few intermediate and vertical throws. It's an offense that has to try to orchestrate and manufacture explosive plays. No team this season targeted running backs more than the Patriots. and that's for obvious reasons. And it's very difficult to build a pass game around that. So their past game, therefore, is erratic, inconsistent. It's sometimes yes, sometimes no. And they've tried to go back to run the ball more,

and that's why Alandon Roberts has played fullback, because they're trying to go back to the formula that drove them to the Super Bowl a year ago when they did have a fallback in Devlin, who they do not have now. So they're trying to create a semblance of a run game to be the driving force. Tennessee's got some really interesting offensive pieces. But is the offense led by Tannahill or is it actually led by running back Derek Henry, in your opinion?

A team that lines up with multiple tight-end sets, their formations tend to be tighter, and it's built off Henry as a runner. And then Tanahill's pass game works off of that structurally. but Tannahill has thrown the ball extremely well, plus he has movement skills. And so right now Tana Hill is playing at a high level, but they don't ask him to drop back that much depending on the game. You know, in an ideal world, he's had a number of games over the last month or so, Colin where he's not dropped back 30 times. Yeah. And in the NFL, that's not a lot of dropbacks. So it's structurally built around Derek Henry.

Yeah. I always thought, Ryan, you know, Ryan, you watch Justin Herbert in the Rose Bowl, Trevor Lawrence and you see that ability as a big guy to run. Ryan can move. I mean, he's got, yeah, I mean, he's what NFL teams are looking for today. A big guy who can throw it and move, and he really can sometimes, you know, he's an athlete. So let's go to Minnesota at the Saints.

I'm not going to ask you to go back in your memory catalog, five, six, seven years. But boy, my eyes are telling me, Drew Breeze, this, his feet, his energy. This is the best I've seen from him, in my opinion, Greg, in several years. Now, am I going overboard here? Well, it's funny you see because he missed those games and maybe his legs got to be refreshed because it wasn't a leg injury, obviously. But he's moving well. What I always thought was underrated and overlooked with Breeze was how explosive his lower body movement was. He's not a runner like a Russell Wilson, but his ability to move within the pocket was really special. And I think

he's doing that really well now. And I think they've added some weapons. You know, Tassim Hill over the last four games has played over 35% of the snaps. Wow. And I don't think a lot of people are aware of that. So he's really become a wide receiver in the context of their offense. And Camara, he got hurt a little bit and came back, and boy, does he look like he has a bounce in his step now. And he is a tough, tough matchup in the past game,

particularly when he lines up on the same side as Michael Thomas. I love Minnesota's Delvin Cook. Kirk Cousins doesn't do a thing for me. I'm sorry. He just doesn't. It just doesn't. I mean, to me, if Cook doesn't play, they're cooked. No pun intended.

Yeah, I mean, what are they if Dalvin Cook doesn't play? Well, I think that there's no mystery to what they are offensively, whether it's cook or any running back. I think their offense starts with the run game and the past game works off that. It's a play action pass game. It's a boot action pass game. Cousins is that kind of quarterback. You know, these two teams played a year ago when The Gleyn was having his great season,

and the Saints actually doubled Thielen in critical situations a year ago. Now, Thielen's back healthy, but Diggs has had the better year. I think that the defense for the Saints is a very overlooked defense because of Breeze and Thomas. Yes. I think they have really good players at all three levels of the defense. I've been saying for two weeks now, and people say, wow, what a hot take, but it's not a hot take. I think to Mario Davis this season has been the best three-down-linebacker in the league. Wow.

How about that? All right, finally, Philadelphia, Seattle. I think it's fitting there playing each other because I really do. I was saying earlier, you can lie about everything in the NFL, but you can't lie about how good your coach or your quarterback is. Because if they're not good, seven of eight divisions and arguably eight of eight, the best head coach quarterback combo won. And a lot went wrong for Seattle and a lot went wrong for Philadelphia.

But they both have good coaches and good quarterbacks. And this league rewards teams who figure those two spots. out. Philadelphia's story is amazing. They're incredibly resilient. Is this kind of the end of the road, though? I mean, how much more can you get and ask of Carson Wentz? Well, we know they're very limited talent-wise. We've been talking about that for months and months. And look, he's developed some chemistry with Greg Ward, which has been very nice. We have no idea about Zach Gertz this weekend. I don't think he's practiced yet, so he may not go again. Goddard did seem to come on a little bit, and he was a second-round pick who they really liked,

but they're so limited. They don't have any vertical dimension. They have to try to orchestrate plays. Look, they orchestrated a touchdown last week on a shot play that Joshua Perkins. Those are the kinds of things they have to do because it's hard to go 12, 13, 14 plays in this league. Seattle, on the other hand, their offenses sort of stalled the last couple of weeks. Yes. Another offense that's not a lot of mystery to it.

They want to run the ball, and they'll still try to run the ball. I've been impressed with Travis Homer, by the way, and in a short stretch, maybe he can be an important factor, but they've not been able to get the ball down the field. The Niners totally understood their route concepts when they went for shot plays and took it away, but they're in the same division so they know them well. And Wilson has not made those second reaction improvisational plays in recent weeks, which I personally believe they count on. Yeah, I mean, I think they're too Russell Wilson dependent.

That's what it feels like to me. I mean, what did you make of the Marshawn Lynch stuff? Did you see anything you like? I thought he looked like Marshawn Lynch. I mean, you know, and I'm anxious to see him this week because I still think he's going to get carries. And it's funny you say that about Russell Wilson. They're not dependent on him structurally with their offense. Their offense is run-based, where I think they're dependent on him is I do believe they expect and count on those second reaction plays.

But as far as how their offense is built and structured, it's not structured around Russell Wilson. Yeah, you know, it's funny. that's the game I can't wait to watch. And a lot of people are poo-pooing it saying, these teams are limited. I cannot wait. I think you have great coaches in Seattle and Philly. I think you have really big-time quarterback talents.

I think the resilience of both teams is impeccable. I think Philadelphia and Seattle, my gut feeling says Seattle. I think, I said, you know, it's funny. I just kind of feel like Seattle. They're very good on the road. I just think Philadelphia is it. I just think you can't squeeze any more.

more juice here. It's possible. See, I was very surprised at Seattle's game on Sunday night. So was I. I was in that game. I thought that would be one of those games where they would win and they didn't. And the Niners pretty much dominated. I know it went down to the end, but we'll see. I mean, Philly, I think where Philly has a major advantage and they have to, in my

view, dominate in this area is on the defensive line versus the offensive line. And I think Philly needs to control that part of the line of scrimmage. Greg Kosell, 40 years NFL films. Thanks, Greg. All right, Colin. Appreciate it. Thanks. Oh, by the way, I have to remind everybody. We've done this back-to-back years. It's been a disaster both times. So, of course, we're doing it a third straight year.

We call it our quarterback face tournament. It's our quarterback face bracket. We're doing this again? It's an utter disaster. It is, of all the things I've done, it is a disaster that I picked the playoffs just based on the quarterback. So you just put the quarterbacks up, and the quarterback I like, Mark, we call it the quarterback face bracket. It is a disaster.

I'm going to give it one more year. Okay. One more year. You were here last year for it. I remember it wouldn't go well. It was embarrassing. But I have a new contract. I believe I will not be fired, even though it's a debacle and nothing I've ever done

turns out worse than my quarterback face bracket. So we're not leaving all of our bad habits. Yeah, yeah. Some things I just can't, you know. Can't quit. Yeah, listen, it's not a meth habit. It's just a quarterback face bracket habit. It's terrible.

There's a gap there. It doesn't deteriorate my, you know, well-being. It just hurts my brand, but that's life. So we're going to do that next hour. Do not go anywhere. And the latest on the Cowboys as well. And one of my favorite guests, Brady Papinga, the former Packer, who is going a million miles an hour with a million opinions,

and I don't buy the Packers, and he'll be joining us. I think he serves, too. He's a surfer guy, Malibu. Be sure to catch live. editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories

behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, The stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Podcasts learn the hard way 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, or are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me.

He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 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 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 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, cream a chicken suit. This is help from a hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you you know. Listen to help from Hippocrat as part of the Mike Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sunday, Kirk Cousins looks to finally break through as he leads the Vikings against Drew Brees, Michael Thomas and the Saints in the NFC wildcard game. Coverage begins at 11 a.m. Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Now let's talk Super 6 NFL playoffs. One of the questions for this game is which team will win about how many points. Colin, who you got?

Minnesota's only chance to win is keep the score in the 20s. I think they'll do that. 2820 Saints win. Drew Breeze last four games, 15 touchdowns, no picks. I mean, that doesn't even make sense in the NFL. It's pretty good. That doesn't make any sense in the NFL. In the NFC, I mean, 15 touchdowns, no picks for Drew Breeze in the last month.

It's insane how well he's playing. It's been such a fun season. Oh, it's been a great season. Oh, by the way, are you doing that Bama story? No. Alex Leatherwood, very good left tackle for Alabama, is, coming back. So he's coming back.

Tua's going to announce Monday. You're starting to see all these guys coming. You feel like he's leaning towards coming back. I think two is coming back. I kind of think so too. And now he's left tackles coming back. One of his receivers is coming. Bama's got about seven guys that could go either way.

So far, three and no. They're all coming back. Nick's a salesman. Nick can sell. Joy with the news. No. No. Turn on the news.

This is the. The herd line news. Kyle Chanahan has led the 49ers to the top of the NFC this season with one of the league's best offenses. He often uses very lengthy play calls, and George Kittle says sometimes the team needs some help keeping up with their coach. He's like a computer, and then we need someone to translate what he says for us. He talks really fast with a bunch of lines all over the papers and stuff like that. I mean, it all makes sense, but he talks really fast sometimes. That's kind of, it reminds me of your notes.

Oh, yeah. You're not saying. But they make sense to you. That's kind of how Kyle Shanahan is, obviously. Do you think Kyle Shanahan is Coach of the Year? Because there's so, we've had a lot of conversations about who the coach of the year should be. There's a lot. This guy at Buffalo, Sean McDermott.

I'm kind of leaning towards Sean McDermott. I think, you know, John Harbaugh with Lamar. I mean, I almost feel like the Ravens deserve organization of the year, how they've made it all work front office. Do you know they have like eight different defensive starters from week one now, Baltimore? I think like Baltimore gets, nobody gets too much credit. Lamar needs John, John leads them. I think Baltimore gets organization of the year.

I think Sean McDermott Buffalo would get my coach of the year. They don't have a, their offense. The Saints and Kyle Shanahan. Yeah, he's up there. It's a good year for coaches. It really ends. I mean, obviously they are not in the playoffs, but Mike Tomlin, Ryan Flores. Doug Peterson?

Doug Peterson. It's a lot of great... Man, Doug Peterson, that's... Oh, God, it's just... Nobody overcame more than Doug Peterson. I didn't even think about Doug Peterson. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. But you were right on Kyle Shanahan as well.

Oh, he's smart. I don't think Sean McVeigh is done, but... No, Sean McVeigh's very good. I just think Sean McVeigh, L.A., football coach, cheekbones, energy. It was easy to fall in love with Sean McVeigh, and I was just like, okay, how about can I see a third year before we make him Bill Belichick?

Just let's give me a little time with it. Well, yeah, and we still got to see what, figure out what they're going to do with Todd Gurley. But that was their New Year's resolution for them, wasn't that your suggestion for them? So according to Fox Bet, the Patriots are five-point favorites over the Titans this weekend. New England hasn't lost at home in the playoffs in seven years. And Titans head coach Mike Brable knows how big of a challenge his team is facing in Foxboro. He won three Super Bowl.

Three Super Bowl is a member of the Patriots, but he's not letting his history of the team overshadowed the game. He said, this is about the players and the preparation. This isn't about my career. my eight years in New England. This is about the Titans and our preparation to go up there and face the team.

That's won three Super Bowls in the last five years. They've got the number one defense. They've got the best coach. They've got the best quarterback. So it's quite a challenge. I don't know that the brable back to New England thing

is really the storyline here. For me, it's what the Titans have been able to do. Or how about this? New England loses. Nobody could argue the dynasty is just too old and over. Like if they win,

now even guys like me who give it a little more breadth. I have to go, yeah, it ended fast. Tennessee. I don't know. I've just seen it so many times. I know, but it's, I think New England's going to win too. But the line's four and five, so they're telling you it's a,

you know what's going to happen? New England's going to block a punt. I mean, that's how the game's going to end. Yeah, this is what happens with New England in these moments. And it's what they always do, really, is they let you beat yourself. Yep. So if you are the better team, you don't make any mistakes, you will beat New England. Tennessee will.

If you make a mistake, stake in the playoffs in Foxborough, New England is going to take advantage of it, and then you're never going to be able to make that up. Tennessee is going to have a punt blocked and fumble the ball, and New England's going to win, 27, 23. And that's what it's going to look like. And then go to Kansas City. And I think get mulled.

Yeah. Finally, Justin Herbert had a huge game in Oregon's win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl yesterday. Beautiful scene of the Rose Bowl, too. Oh, my God. Have you been to the Rose Bowl? Yes. Oh, my God. There's nothing like it.

I mean, it's a pretty poetic place. Oh, the sunset last night? Yeah, it was beautiful. It was. Herbert only had 10 rushing touchdowns in his career entering the game, entering the game. But he had three yesterday to lead the team to a 28, 27 victory. Great game also. And the ducks capitalized on Wisconsin's mistakes, scoring 21 points off four turnovers. He finished his last season in Oregon with a 12-and-2 record.

Yeah. You know, I didn't really know what to make of Herbert until the game yesterday. And he had to kind of make plays up, and he was good. I mean, it wasn't a perfect game for him. No. But. Late? I don't know.

I kind of like him a little bit now. I mean, he looks. He is. I like that he can make plays on the run. Yep. Off script. Being a mobile quarterback. I like clutch moments.

It wasn't perfect, like I said, but that's okay. You can still be a little bit raw and develop. I don't like the idea that somebody has to come into the NFL and be rookie of the year in order to have success. This takes a little development. He didn't. blink. There's no panic. No panic. He played his best football like Trevor Lawrence in the last two drives. In the biggest moments. Yeah, that's what I want to see out of a quarterback that's entering the draft.

And I'm going to admit it. I am a little bit of a sucker for emotion. And I like the, I like the rawness. You know, he's crying after the game. Like just to me, like those are the little tiny and tangible things that I like to see. When he rolls right, that throw they just showed here on FS1, the knock I have on him, and I think this is shared within the sport. When he's on script, now he's got good feet, but I'd like to see more. He's rolling out, play doesn't develop, and he holds it and makes a throw down the field. Like, that part, I think he's very good if you say, here's the two routes, throw the ball.

And by the way, we're going to roll you out. I think Oregon does not roll him out nearly enough for my taste. I think his coach in the NFL is going to see that, like that throw, when you roll him to his throwing side, he throws a freaking rope accurately. I liked a lot of what I saw yesterday, but I do just still think he's a little bit raw. I just don't think that's anything to overreact to. But that was a big game for him. Great Rose Bowl.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. By the way, Brown's head coaching rumors, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, she is excellent, often criticized by the fans in Cleveland, which always indicates to me, you're doing the right thing.

You're not a homer. She's very good. She said that Josh McDaniels would be eager to work with Baker Mayfield. That may be true. I'll tell you, there's two candidates for Cleveland. I do not think fit.

And I think they're both very capable people. But a lot of this is temperament. I think Josh McDaniel's Patriot offensive coordinator would be a disaster in Cleveland. And I think Robert Sala, the defensive coordinator for the 49ers, would be a disaster. Sala is young and experienced, highly emotional.

I don't think he has the temperament. There's a lot of ego. There's a lot of testosterone. You mix that with Jarvis Landry, OBJ, an impulsive owner Haslam who likes to control things. Robert Sala can coach. I do not think he is ready to be a head coach in this situation. I think it's a bad hire.

I think he'll interview well. I think he's got great energy. He looks the part. He's got a presence. this is not a good fit. I also don't like Josh McDaniels here, who can be arrogant, who it can be very stubborn,

has dealt with Tom Brady, so he's going to be very impatient with Baker Mayfield's nonsense. He's going to be very impatient with Cleveland's dysfunction. He does not always work well with others. When you work at a company, have seen it done the right way for 15 years,

you walk into a dumpster fire and you have no issue. By the way, this would be McDaniel's last chance is a head coach. He is not going to suffer fools gladly, and Cleveland's got nothing but fools everywhere. So I don't think these two work for this job. Now, I do think what you need is patience. I'm almost a fatherly figure. Remember, the Haslams keep hiring people that have never been head coaches. Like Kevin Stefansky, he's never been a head coach. Hugh Jackson's the only coach they have hired the Haslums that had any experience as a head coach,

and that was one year. Mike McCarthy's the fit here. Mike is fatherly. Mike is one. Mike has a vision. Mike has executed a plan. Mike is a grown-up. Mike's not a yeller screamer.

Mike doesn't have a ton of ego. Mike McCarthy is the right coach. I got experience. I have temperament. He's made a ton of money. There is no desperation. When you give a coach like Sala his first job or McDaniels, his second and last job.

There is an intensity. These guys realize this is it. And sometimes it clouds your judgment and clouds your temperament. So I just, this doesn't work for me. I think Sala and McDaniels don't work in Cleveland. And once again, Haslums have, they keep hiring guys with no coaching experience. You cannot ask somebody with no head coaching experience or somebody that's done it once and it was a disaster to come into the league's most dysfunctional franchise.

Now, it's very easy for the Pittsburgh Steelers to hire Mike Tomlin and Bill Cower without head coaching experience because those are stable. Those are supportive. You have from ownership down, the Steelers can hire a first-time coach because they have shown the ability to nurture a coach, support a coach, draft well for the coach. Kevin Seabert's been there forever as the GM. But these dysfunctional businesses, and It doesn't matter if it's broadcasting or football. When you've got dysfunction, the last thing you can hire is somebody with no experience running a company. It just doesn't make any sense.

So you can tell me all you want. Listen, here's what we know about Cleveland. Whoever Cleveland hires, you and I have to sit here, and they're going to tell you this time it's going to work, and this is going to be awesome, and you and I don't know what we're talking about. Because that's what Cleveland does. Cleveland guarantees everybody that this is a brilliant hire. and this was going to work, and you and I who roll our eyes and laugh, don't even get into arguments. Just go, you're right, you win, they're great, they'll win, and next year they'll be fourth or third behind Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

Brady Pappenga, former Packer. I don't buy Green Bay this year. Think they're good, not special. Don't think they can beat the Saints. Don't think they can beat the Niners. I wouldn't pick them against Seattle. I don't know if I'd pick them again against Philadelphia or Minnesota. That's coming up.

Cold season is officially here. It's January 2nd. A lot of nasty symptoms. Top of the list. Stuffy nose, get Vick's Synex nasal spray. Starts working with it in a seconds and works up to 12 hours. Brady Pupinga next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd.

Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. A couple athletes here talking about skiing. Joey's rolling rise at us. Eight years in the NFL. Super Bowl chant with the Packers in 2010. Brady Pupinga, former NFL linebacker. So I was thinking about this. I want to talk about Brady for a second because I threw out

a theory that when, if you look at what Peyton Manning did at the end, he was a free agent. And there's a lot of people who wanted him, but the Broncos had a good O line and they had some weapons. And I was a little surprised because it was cold. And I thought, got high altitude as you age, as a skier.

The more I age, I hear people talking about, yeah, when you get to be 60 or 70, 7,000 feet in the air, you can't live in a house like that, right? So I was surprised Peyton went cold and high altitude. Yeah. I think Indianapolis works for him. The O line, the GM, the coach.

Is there a, I mean, tell me when you age, is there some, because Brady's now a free agent. Yeah, yeah. McDaniels is leaving. Yeah. Frust her with Belichick, no gronk replacement. Excuse me. Is there a place that he would land?

It makes sense to you. Oh, yeah. There's a number of places. And to me, you're exactly right. The weather has a lot to do with it. Because not only is the elevation of factor, because it's harder to breathe. That's right.

Just put it that way. There's less oxygen. But also, your joints tend to ache a little bit more in the cold. You know, and as you're getting to be like 42, 43, you play in the NFL 24 years, you take it on the amount of hits. Brady has as a sitting duck, which that's what a quarterback's life is. You're sitting in a pocket with a bunch of fast, big dudes wanting to spear you in your kidneys. It gets tough when you're in that cold weather. So to me, absolutely going to a nice climate, having a defense, and Indianapolis doesn't have a defense.

They don't. It's young. It is young, and it's kind of one of those bend don't break, but they've been breaking more than anything. So to me, the best place is Los Angeles. Chargers. Oh, yeah. Come to Chargers. Their defense is set. Their offense has a formidable running game.

I don't know what's going to happen with Melvin Gordon. But in terms of just having an offensive line that has a capability to be able to establish a run, it's there when you have Brady and his ability to keep a defense honest with his arm that only helps running game. And then with the Chargers and then going to the new stadium having to sell PSLs, there's not a better product to sell than to say, hey, we got the goat, the all-time greatest quarterback. or the all-time most winning quarterback when you talk about playoff football coming to town, being the now the phrase of our franchise, I don't know who's not going to want to go watch

in that new stadium. And if they draft a quarterback this draft, Justin Herbert or two, I say, listen, just sit around for about two years and watch the greatest that ever played. Absolutely. Yeah. Let's talk about the Green Bay Packers.

So I can't unsee them being rolled by Philadelphia. I can't unsee the San Francisco game. Oh, you're so funny. I can't. I can't unsee it. I get it. I get where you're coming from. Because I'm with you, man.

I look at these guys and it's the ugliest. Like, I was at the Washington game. And you're thinking. And I'm thinking they're just going to, especially the first drive, I was like, oh, this is going to be a blowout. And then all of a sudden, it just turned so ugly. The defense couldn't stop the run. Offensively, they couldn't get anything going rhythmically. They're relying on the past way too much, even though Aaron Jones was popping off like 10, 15-yard

run. every care. I was just so perplexed. I was like, how are these guys winning? But then lo and behold, they go into Minnesota, win the division, then they get the number two seed in Detroit against a team that nothing to lose. And they struggle with lines twice. And that's okay. That's okay. It's a hard, hard position to be in. But here's the thing with the Packers. They got Aaron Rogers. Okay. I'm going to say this. There's three teams in the NFL that no matter what always will have a chance to win. You got the Packers with Aaron Rogers. You got the Saints with Drew B's, and now you got the Marr Jackson with the Ravens.

Those three teams. Tom Bray, I'm sorry, he's like we talked about, he's kind of old, and he's seeing ghosts. You know, because he's kind of sick of getting hit. But those three teams, at any point, they could flip a switch and turn it on and just get on a run because of the quarterback play. And I saw it there in 2010. We were kind of this team that, I mean, we were 10 and 6. I mean, there was a run there, you know, first six games. We were 3 and 3.

and we lost to the Washington Redskins who didn't even qualify for the playoffs that year because Aaron grew into triple coverage and we're just, I mean, we didn't look like a good team at all. But all of a sudden, Aaron just gets hot and nobody could stop us. It can happen again.

It absolutely can happen again, and they got a great defense. And let's not forget, going 13 and 3 in the NFL is no easy feat. I don't care if it's ugly, it's beautiful, it's dominant, it's no easy feat. So, yeah, the Greenwood Packers are for real, they deserve to be where they're at. They're winning.

It doesn't matter if it's ugly. And yes, with Aaron Rogers as your quarterback, I will never bet against a guy. So if anybody thinks that I'm going to come on this show or any show and bet against Aaron Roger, you're crazy. That guy is something else. And like I said, all it takes is for him to have a switch flip and it's lights out. He's unstoppable.

You played for the Cowboys for a year. Yeah. Okay. So they've interviewed Jason Garrett multiple times. Word is they're going to interview him for a third time later today. So what do you make of Jerry, this, what do you make of it? Well, the thing about Jerry Jones that I learned when I was there is he is extremely loyal to his guys. And so he'll have a list, whether it's players, whether it's coaches, personnel department guys, to where they're his guys.

And he takes tremendous care of these guys. And lobehold, Jason Garrett is one of his guys. He loves Jason Garrett. And you can sense it quickly. Oh, he just loves him. And I can imagine they sit in these meetings and the business side of Jerry Jones with his son, Stephen, they're sitting there. We got to move on. We need a new fresh setting.

You know, things have gone stale here. But then the heart of Jerry Jones and his loyalty comes into play and he's like, I can't let him go. I can't. Because to me the nightmare for Jerry Jones is to see Jason Garrett go to, let's say, the Giants or to some other team and just do what we all know he's capable of and be phenomenal. because Jason Garrett's a phenomenal coach. You thought he was. I love Jason Garrett. To me, he's one of the best coaches in all of football.

But it's very, very difficult. And I'm sorry, Dallas Cowboy fans. Sorry, Jerry Jones. You're not a football guy. Yet he always wants to meddle in football operations. And so you got a coach guy. You know, personnel guys that are constantly having to deal with this owner that's looking over your shoulder telling you what to do,

even though principally you know it doesn't make sense. But again, the loyalty factor comes into play. And you're like, well, heck, this guy takes care of me. So, yeah, I'll give him his time. But you liked him. I loved Jason Gere. I thought he was, like I said, I sat back when I entered into the halls of the Dallas Cowboys, and I thought, wow, they got so many capable football guys here that I never thought they literally had because Jason, or excuse me, Jerry Jones gets kind of all the credit, all their attention is towards him. And if there's any success, everybody kind of pats Jerry Jones on the back, which he likes that.

But in reality, it's the guys that they're working with who Jerry's very loyalty. so I can imagine all these meetings are this huge juggling act of how do we keep Jason Garrett but yet how do we then also bring in kind of somebody to add some kind of freshness to this situation and that's what they're they're going over I can imagine there being a situation where Jason Garrett joins his brother Judd as a front office guy you know Judd Garrett's a phenomenal front office guy he could be a GM on almost every other team in the NFL he won't leave again because that loyalty factor. But I could see him and Jason Garrett both working together and doing great things.

And that would be great for Jerry because he gets to keep his guy. By the way, when you were at BYU, you had one coach. Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. All right. And then you went to Green Bay and it was also rock solid. So you... Well, I had two coaches.

I had Mike Sherman in my rookie year than... Then it got five years of Mike. Exactly. By and large, how many high school coaches you have? I had one high school coach. So your high school college pro career was mostly solid? Yeah. One voice, no chaos.

Yeah. Let's shift to Cleveland, where it's been the opposite. So my takeaway is Robert Sala could be a good coach. This is not a spot for him. Oh, no. I want a fatherly resume filled. This is chaos. The opposite of what you had your entire career is Cleveland.

Does anybody fit? The only guy that fits is the guy that's willing to let the owner, again, meddle in. So basically, you're the only guy to really is that's used to this, not to say they likes it, is Jason Garrett. You know, Jason Garrett's used to the owner constantly getting involved in football operations, and that's what's happening with the Cleveland Brown. So whatever coach out there that's willing to deal with that kind of owner, they're going to love that situation. And you're absolutely right. And young up and coming coach. Overwhelmed. You do not want to be in that situation because

first, you're most likely going to fail tremendously because, again, you have a non-football guy like the owner, meddling in football operations. It's just not a specialty. The hassums, they made their hay doing other stuff, and then they bought a football team. That's not their specialty. And so when you go, when you fell as a first-time head coach, a lot of times, and if you fell badly,

you're not given another opportunity. Nope. So you've got to be very judicial as to where you end up going. And, yeah, if you're a first-time coach, you're not going there. But, hey, I mean, you know, Mike McCarthy, under the right circumstances. He kind of feels right. would be the right guy there because what I loved about McCarthy was he had a structure,

but man, he gave you freedom in that structure. Like what? Well, he allowed you to develop the structure. He had a, so what he would do with us is he would have a captain's committee. You know, it would be like guys like Aaron Rogers, Al Harris, Charles Woodson, and he would sit down with us. And we would tell those guys, hey, this is what we want. For example, we want the whole biweek off, you know. And so he would sit down and he would negotiate.

and he'd be like, oh, you guys want this, that and the other. Okay, if we win that game before the by week, I'll give you the whole week off. And so that's how we operated. He would build the structure with the input of the players. And so you knew what structure you're dealing with. But you guys were mature players. You're telling Woodson, Rogers. Not necessarily because this kind of went into play his first year in 06,

because he came in with kind of this iron fist like, hey, it's my way or the highway, and it wasn't working. We started out two and six in 06, if you remember. And we finished that. that year six and two because he finally realized, look, this is a players league. And it is a players league, but it's not a players league to the point to where you let them kind of run the show like Baker Mayfield. You negotiate.

Yeah, there's a given take, but there still needs to be a structure. So there's a way to keep guys accountable. And that's where they lack in Cleveland. There's no accountability. So McCarthy can bring the accountability, but then you can also bring the freedom to allow the players to get what they want. And then he's a phenomenal young quarterback developer. He saw it with Aaron.

Yep. You know, he'll do great with Baker. And so as long as the owners will allow him to, he'll do great there. But again, is he willing to deal with the owners? Yeah, it's tough. Okay, a minute left. I have a New Year's resolution. I never announced it to the public.

Last year it was, I'd been picking my nails forever. I said no more. My nails are in great shape. So you never get tempted to be. Okay. Good for you. I buy my nails. I'm a good quitter.

Way to be. I used to have eight. I don't know if that's a good thing. You're eight Greek yogurt today. Nutritionist said it's screwing with your stomach. Haven't had one since. Do you have any year's resolution? Oh, absolutely.

My New Year's resolution is always number one. Treat my family the number one priority. I'm going to do that for you, babe. Talking to you, Brooke, out there and my kids. I love you guys. That's very nice. That is very nice. It's very nice.

It's hard, though, at times, especially when you've got a lot of things pulling you in different directions. Good looking guy, celebrity, got a lot of things. People want you. Appreciate it. Yeah. All right. Brady Pupinga. Are you full time here, or you just coming occasionally come here?

I'm just coming. I'm just a contract, independent contractor right now. Maybe you commit to an organization. We'd love to see you here more often. Brady Papinga, our three next. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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Go to MDrive from N.com. Code. Her 20% off your first month. Refined your prime with MDrive. Lovar Erington played in the NFL for a long time. He was a multiple-time. and now he's on speak for yourself every day with Jason Whitlock. All right, New Year's Resolution. You do not believe in New Year's resolutions, you told me.

No, I believe in. I just don't buy into it. I'm not big on New Year's Resolution. But you are like you said you have something you learn from Bruce Lee. That's right. Quote from Bruce Lee, you got to move like water. Move through life like water. Like be fluid.

Like, you know, just go with it, you know. Life's going to take you on so many different turns and twist and movements. You just got to be able to, you know, adjust and adapt. to it. So happy New Year. Hey, back at you. Back at me. At you too. Happy New Year's to you all. Let's address Ron Rivera to the Redskins.

Your organization where you played for six years, I think he's a good coach. I don't think it was the best available job because I have my questions about Dan Snyder and the quarterback. What did you make of it? What do you make of it? Well, Ron is a coaching veteran.

He knows the game, knows it as a player obviously played on one of the greatest defenses on that 80 was 85 beers defense he knows the nfc east because he was with and d'nc ried in philadelphia for a time respected by the players you know again i i guess you're asking the right person but you're asking the wrong person the right person in terms of i i know enough about this this organization to say one thing but the wrong person because I know enough about this organization to say what it really is. And the reality of this hiring is if you look at the coaches that have been hired for this team and for this organization through the years from the time that the new owner took over. There you go.

That was his name? Yeah. Oh, okay. Thank you. I have yet to see a coach or a player stabilize, truly stabilize, or fix this organization. I think it's very fair. So does that answer the question? Nobody has overcome the owner's issues.

So there's no reason to say he's a bad hire or he's a good hire. I thought that Gruden was over his head getting the job. I was surprised he lasted as long as he did. And he was very well over his head. as the coach of that team. But when you say bad or good higher, I think it's, you know, throw the dart at the board and see where it lands.

And that's, you could take an answer from there. By the way, I think with the Dallas Cowboys, as long as DAC's going to get $35 million a year, then you have to have a coach that's going to elevate Dak. Because I don't think he's Mahomes or Lamar or Russell Wilson. I don't think he's Garoppolo. I think he's a good, young, intangible, filled quarterback with limitations who can be elevated

because he's coachable. He's a good kid. Needs a bright coach. So I think Urban Meyer, Lincoln Riley, work for me. Why do you think Jerry struggles so much getting rid of Jason Garrett? Just family thing? I think in an ideal world, Jerry would be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. I think if he could survive what it entailed in the media, socially,

I think he would be the head coach. He would be the head coach, the GM, and the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. If he had the energy and he was 42. I think if he was brave enough to do what it is that his heart truly tells him he wants to do, I think he would do it. So I don't think there's ever,

unless Jerry decides that there is someone that he can respect on the level of Jerry Jones himself, it's not going to be a good fit. Somebody's going to be too dominant. somebody's not going to be dominant enough. Jason Garrett is not dominant enough to lead this team, and that's why this team has failed. And Bill Barsells was too dominant.

And so now you're clashing and you're colliding, and it creates an environment that is not conducive to success. By the way, you had Joe Petrono for a couple years. He was all in on college football. I don't think Joe, could Joe have, I mean, you know the NFL and you know Joe. So Urban's never shown an interest in the NFL, but I do think he has qualities that work in the NFL. Could like, look at Joe Paterno.

Do you think Joe could have ever been an NFL coach? Yes, but again, the caveat is you have to go to an organization that can allow you to be the person that you are where you currently are standing. So if Urban decided to go into the pros, he would have to select the proper environment, the proper, environment, the proper place, the proper situation for it to work. In college, you are, in essence, you are the owner. And basically, you are kind of in a way, you are the GM. Oh, of course. And you are basically the coach.

So you're affording so many job opportunities by extensions of yourself, not extensions of the owner. The president of the university is not representation of who's going to decide what happens with the football program. The head coach is. When you go to the pros, the owner, in some cases, is that person. Well, Dallas certainly. And Dallas for certain is one of those places.

I just don't know if the personality dynamics and who's in control of what and who's making decisions over what would be a fit for Urban Meyer and Jerry Jones. So Brady hosts Tennessee this weekend. If he lost, it would be, you know, it's a four or five point game. So Josh McDaniel's up for a bunch of gigs. And I do think Tom, he lost Gronk, they never replaced him. He and Belichick are not as tight as they used to be. Josh McDaniels leaves.

There are parts of me that he's a free agent. He put his house up for sale. So did Alex Guerrero. There are parts of me that think, Chargers called, said here's two years in L.A. We got way better players than New England does offensively. Tell me, can you just emotionally, do you think Tom could talk himself? into leaving. Would it be hard? Jeter could not talk himself.

He could have still played. He couldn't talk himself into not being a Yankee. Kobe could not talk himself into not being a Laker at the end. Could Tom? I think there are moving parts that Tom Brady would have to come to terms with if he were to leave

Foxborough to go play somewhere else. For him to have been there, was it, 20 years now? Think about how his locker is set up. Think about who handles the small, minute details of what he eats in the morning, what he eats in the noontime, what are his snacks, how does he like his socks, what type of spikes does he like, what type of compression shorts, if it's compression shorts, if his jockstrap, if it's if it's

long pants, if it's short pants, if it's sweatshirts are the sweats cut like how Belichick does it, what, you name it. Orthotics, the, the, the, the sweatshirts, the the training regiment. When I go into the training room, my heating pads, where I lay down to get my heating pads, where I sit in the meeting rooms, there are so many things just within the football aspect of it. Then now you're talking about where do you grocery shop?

Do you know these people? Where do you go to eat? There's so many different things that will play a part after you've been in a place for 20 years, that most of it may not have anything to do with, we have better players here. We have, you know, this here to offer you. He's going to have to make sense of what a new start

and a clean slate looks like going somewhere else. This is so fascinating. So when I left from the other place and I came to Fox, the job part wasn't an issue. It was the stress for six months. months of adjusting well and joy wasn't here on our staff at the time of just i had gulay and gulay knew what i liked gulay and i had to kind of forge our way through stuff this is what i'm comfortable doing it wasn't the other stuff i can talk all day long it was i mean literally it was just the drive

the quickest way this app gets me here this grocery store it's a lot when you get to be older you're done fighting that stuff and all those things play a part in your success because it plays a part in your comfort, it plays a part in your happiness. Now, granted, he lives out here. So there could be some very, very true value to the fact that he's a guy that has a home here. Like, he knows what this area is about.

Of course it matters. You go to Charlotte with the Panthers. You don't know anything. And that's where I say, so when you say somewhere like the Chargers, I could see how that could work. But I just think that he would have a lot of things that he would have to settle in his mind that I'm willing to do this.

Because in essence, even though you're coming in as Tom Brady, you still got to prove yourself all over again. To the guys in the room. Every guy in the room. And there's going to be somebody there that has led this team and has been a part of this team and has dealt with the ups and downs of this team. And they're not going to just look at somebody like, you know, you old fart, you're coming in here for a couple coffee.

And we're supposed to kiss your rings. Well, you got those rings in a different place. This is our franchise. This is our team. And you may run into a very strong personality like that. You never know. And he's got to be able to navigate that. What does that look like?

How do I earn the respect? Do I want to earn the respect? You know, I was in a locker room where we brought in older guys. Jeff George came in as a free agent, my rookie year. And he didn't really speak to anybody at all. And as a young guy, you know, I don't know how that translated or whatever, but you have so many big personalities, especially sometimes in the pros,

that how do you make yourself fit at this point in your career? Am I really willing to do some of the things that I've had to do? Well, you haven't had to do really in quite some time. Am I willing to start? And you know what? He may have the vigor. He may have the energy to actually assert himself that way. But those are questions that he's going to have to ask himself.

if that is indeed the situation. Lovar Arrington, Maranatha High School coach? Yeah. You're going to do it again next year. I'm going to do it again, man. And you love it. By the way, we were talking during the break, you're a high school coach up near Pasadena. Yep.

And you're not a yeller. I am a yeller. But you're not a swearer. I'm not a swear. I don't cuss. You don't touch the kid. You don't touch. I don't ruffle him.

I don't bully on my own. But you're a volume and a yeller. Yeah, I'm volume. I'm not very loud unless I'm passionate about it. Are you detail-oriented? I am detail-oriented. These are young high school kids. What if they come to you and say,

hey, man, I got to tell you something about my personal life. Do you tell their parents? It depends on the story. It depends on the information. If it's information that we can facilitate getting a solution, I'm all about solutions not adding to a problem. If we can find a solution that is helpful and productive and can get it closed up and buttoned up, then that's what we'll do.

If it's something that has to absolutely have parent involvement, then it's got to have parent involvement. But that will be a conversation that we have. Like, listen, we've got to have parent involvement. My coaches were huge. Steve Bridge was my high school football coach. Jim Con was my high school basketball coach. They were like surrogate fathers because my dad didn't live in the house.

And so my coaches were everything. They were huge to me. Nice. The absolute impact on my life. They don't have any idea how big the impact was because you don't talk about that when you're 17 years old. But I look back and I'm like, that's why I was, I think, grounded during a chaotic time in my life. By the way, have you ever felt you saved a kid? He could have gone sideways.

Oh, I know I've saved a few, more than a few. That could go sideways. And I've lost a few. If you have done, if you've been in the trenches as long as I've been with these young people, even before becoming an official coach, I've been mentoring for 20 plus years now. So coaching just led to coaching, but I have won some battles and I've lost some battles. And you have to be prepared to accept the heartbreaks and the heartaches of the losses, but you live in the moments of triumph when you see a kid make it that may not have looked like they would have made it,

or you thought they could make it and they exceeded what they did, or just made it and are doing well in life. One of my best stories, Colin, is I had a kid, went to Miami, Jordan Futch, mentored him, love him to death, love him like my son. One of the proudest moments was marrying him. I was there at his wedding, and he had on his uniform as a Marine. He's an officer. And you think, all right, would I be more proud seeing him in a professional uniform or in a Marine uniform? And, you know, brought me to tears, the amount of pride and happiness. I felt seeing him transition into knowing that I'm a man.

I understand what it means to be a man. And those are the type of moments that keep you going and keep you focused in on working with them on a day-to-day. I think coaches are doing God's work. I would agree. It's incredible stuff. It's challenging. Great seeing you, my man.

It's always a pleasure. Back at you. Back at you. I really like the Bruce Lee Water reference. Love Like Water. Never had one on the show before. There you go. Joy Taylor with the news.

No. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. Huge Bruce Lee fan. You are too? Yes, I've seen every Bruce Lee movie. Do you see that movie with Quentin Tarantino where Bruce Lee loses a fight? No, I did not see once upon time in Hollywood yet.

You got to see that. There's a moment where Bruce Lee loses a fight, and they say it's true. Hey, he's from Seattle. I should defend him, but the story is he lost a battle against the stuff. I like Tarantino movies. I'm going to see it. It is good. You rave about this movie.

No, I like the movie. the ending. You did say you didn't love the ending. There's two movies I love that didn't love the ending. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Castaways where Tom Hanks is literally talking to a volleyball on an island. He's gone nuts. That's a good movie.

And five minutes later, he's like in a meeting running an insurance seminar. No, I think some time has passed. I didn't show that in the movie. You can't talk to a volleyball in scene 80. In 81, you're running an insurance seminar. I talk to myself every day. I managed to make it to work. So I think I might be right about this.

I think Jason Garrett's going to end up saying at least, at the very least he's staying in Dallas. But you remember last week? I was like, I kind of feel like he might. So what's not? Well, they're meeting again today for the third time. We obviously still don't know if he's going to remain the Cowboys head coach. But Choi Aikman thinks that whoever is leading the Cowboys in 2020 needs to have a little more control. The only way it's been done under the Jones ownership has been with a head coach that

everyone answered to. There was no questions in our locker room who was determining our future. And that was Jimmy Johnson. For the players, we were isolated from all of that. The only guy we answered to was Jimmy, and we know the success that we went on to have. But there's been a long drought of not a whole lot of success. Why wouldn't you go back to what worked? That's the part that's frustrating for me. It's the gospel truth, Troy. Troy doesn't hold back when it comes to the Cowboys. It keeps it real. And I have to agree, this is a lot of it. is the issue with the Cowboys. When you know that your authority figure is not really the person that has the final say on everything, it's a mental block to, I mean, I don't want to say

respect, but there's something to it. There's a psychological thing to knowing that the person that is telling you what to do isn't really the person in control. I think anybody in any business who knows that their boss isn't really the actual boss, there's no accountability. It's a problem. And it's been this way for a long time. That's what Troy is saying. When they had success, Jimmy Johnson was the boss. He was who the players feared. Well, Jerry knew that too, because the minute Jimmy left and Barry came in,

then Jerry Jones started hanging out of practice wearing a cowboy coaching uniform. Because Jerry felt like, okay, it's my team again. I mean, I think we all know what the answer for the Cowboys is. It's just a matter of if that's going to happen or not. I just don't know if it is. So Patriots Offensive Coordinator, Josh McDaniels, is a top coaching candidate. and the Browns are a potential landing spot. McDaniels reportedly loved Baker Mayfield when he was coming out of college

and would be eager to work with him in Cleveland. A lot of people did. You did not love him. The amount that McDaniels loves Baker was a little surprising to me. Like the fact that he reportedly convinced the Patriots to trade up for Baker Mayfield is a little surprising. He would not have wanted to work with John Dorsey, but obviously he's not there now,

so he has an opportunity to bring someone else in. One source says that it would be hard for McDaniels to say no, if he's offered the Brown's job. I'm with you. I don't think this is a spot for McDaniels. I don't think he's the personality for this rebuild. And I think also he's going to get more than this offer.

So why take this offer? Right. Well, no, he's going to have a couple places because there's a lot of vacancies. But to me, it's Mike McCarthy or Urban Meyer. They're the only two that could possibly turn this franchise around. And that's really, it doesn't matter who goes there.

If the ownership is not going to commit to three to four, five years with whoever it is that they hire. It doesn't, we're all just wasting our time having this conversation. You have to give a coach enough time to not only establish a culture, bring in the type of players that they want. Listen, I use this all the time. When I came here the first year, Fox was successful.

I had been successful. It took me a year to figure out all the minutia to get the staff right, the topics right, the set right. It takes you. And that was with Fox who had a history of. doing stuff right and good management. We live in a microwave society where everything is supposed to happen instantaneously. It's not how things work.

It's not how cultures are built. It's not how sustained success and winning happens. There is no solution for this that's going to be overnight, especially when you've had this amount of chaos. Now, if you have a well-run organization with talent that's been pretty consistent like the Cowboys, you can bring in someone who maybe necessarily doesn't have prior experience and they can have success more quickly because that's their established situation. It's not chaotic. Nothing with the Cowboys is chaotic. They just need something else. They just need

that one thing. Finally, there's been a lot of speculation about whether Tua will return to Alabama or declare for the NFL draft. He posted on Twitter. He will announce on your birthday as a gift to you to let him let everyone know if he's going to declare for the draft or not. And as coach, Nick Sabin says he hopes that Tua makes the best decision for him. I think it's our responsibility and our job to make sure that we give them all the information from an NFL standpoint, from a medical standpoint, from a rehab standpoint, and if there is any way that he could possibly be devalued because of his injury and, you know, what are the consequences of that and how does that affect his decision and what he does in the future.

But he's been a great leader for us. he's a great player on our team. He was elected captains, captain of the team by his teammates. And we just want what's best for him. I don't think Tua is going to drop out of the top ten. You have a lot of sources and a lot of front office sources. Is anyone saying that they are just completely out onto a... No, they're all waiting for the medical.

They all love him. Right. So we all are, but then we still have to find out how that's going to translate to the field because he's not going to be able to be fully physically evaluating. by the time of the draft. So whoever takes him is going to take a risk. But there's so many places that need a quarterback. It's not even a risk to me.

The draft is a crapshoot. Why would you not just take Tua? Joy, we have a history where Pete Carroll has whiffed on first-round picks. Everyone has whipped on first-round picks. If I would just take Tua, even if the medical stuff I didn't love and I was the Chargers or I was Carolina, I would take him and just say, dude, our medical staff's going to babysit you for two years. He's too talented at the most important position, not the draft.

Exactly. It's worth the risk. It doesn't matter if you're an organization. There are picks that you can make in the first round. It's like, okay, that was a disaster. Like, that was a waste of a first round pick. You did not do your homework. I don't feel like that.

Like, even if Tua ends up not being at the full physical potential that he can get to, it was worth the risk on the first round pick to take Tua. It's too many people that need a quarterback. And listen, I like Joe Burrow more than Tua. but for Tua to stay with Alabama and come out next year, you're not going to be the number one overall pick. Trevor Lawrence is going to be the number one overall pick. You might not be the second.

And who knows who's going to be picking at the top of the draft then? So are you really losing money? It's just a very strange situation to me. I agree. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Line News. Alex Leatherwood, their left tackle, very, very good player,

is going to stay for one more year, Alabama. So that's good news for the, the roll tide fans. Coming up, we bring back our playoff quarterback face bracket. An utter disaster in back-to-back years. We're going to give it one more year. Think if we can get it right. It's the quarterback face bracket.

It's the worst segment we do every year. At least the least successful segment. It's entertaining, but wildly unsuccessful. So why not do it for a third year and humiliate ourselves? That is coming up in best for last. Discover matches all the cash back you earn to the end of your first year automatically, and there's no limit. How cool is that?

Learn more. Discover.com slash cash back match. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. So it started a couple years ago, welcome back, it's the Herd, that I was saying the quarterback has become so important in the NFL

that everything else is irrelevant. And I said, let's just go to the playoffs and just give me quarterback, quarterback, and I'll just pick the playoff winner just based on the quarterback. Nothing else matter. I don't care about anything else. It's just the quarterback.

I thought it was brilliant. Didn't have a good first year. And then in the second year, I doubled down on it, and it was a little more successful. But I swear to God, every time I do this, I feel good about it. I feel great, not even good. I feel like I know who's going to win the Super Bowl.

So we have music for it. It's our quarterback face bracket. And let's start Joy with a wild card round. Okay. Okay. So it's Josh Allen versus Deshawn Watson in the wildcard round. Now, neither quarterback's ever won a playoff game. Buffalo's lost five straight playoff games. So I'm going to take Deshawn Watson, who I think has more NFL starts, is more ready, and is at home.

So I'm going to start quarterback playoff bracket. Deshawn beats Josh Allen. And then Ryan Tannihil versus Tom Brady. And Tanna Hill has also never been in the playoffs, and it's in Foxborough, and Tom Brady's got the best coach in the history of the NFL, and Brady is 14 and 2 in his first playoff game of the postseason. So I'm going to take Tom Brady. And then let's go over to the NFC, and it's Kurt Cousins against Drew Breeze. So Breeze is 6 and 1 at home in the playoffs, and Cousins has never won a playoff game. So this seems obvious.

Based on the quarterback face, I would take Drew Briezez. Breeze over Kirk Cousins. And it's now where it gets a little tougher. Russell Wilson against Carson Wentz. Now, remember, Wents is very good, but he's making now his playoff debut because of injuries. Russell has not only won a Super Bowl and been in a second, he's also been one of the great road quarterbacks. He is, I think, 17 and 4 in his last 21 in the Eastern time zone.

So I would take Russell Wilson over Carson Wence. So we're done in the wildcard round. Deshawn Watson, Tom, Brady, Breeze, and Russell Wilson. That makes sense, right? I agree with all those picks. Okay, now we go to the divisional round. Now, this gets a little tougher. It's Deshawn against Lamar Jackson.

Now, Lamar was in a playoff game last year, and he didn't win, and Deshawn Watson's been on playoff games, and he didn't win, and they did square off in week 11, and it was ugly, and I do think, I can't count anything else. I can't count anything else. Here's what I know. Lamar Jackson is more consistently delivering completions and picking up yards. So I can't consider anything else.

I would take in this moment Lamar Jackson over to Sean Watson. I'm just basing this on the quarterback play. Yes. Lamar has been a more consistent thrower of the football and a more explosive runner of the football. So in my quarterback face bracket, divisional round, I've got Lamar over to Sean Watson. Okay, now let's go to, it would be Brady and Mahomes. You know, I love Brady.

But right now, Mahomes is more dynamic physically. It doesn't matter about his weapons. I'm just choosing the quarterback who I think. It's quarterback face. Mahomes today is a better quarterback than Tom Brady. He does have playoff experience. He won a home game last year. They squared off in week 14.

Mahomes won. and this game would be in Kansas City, but I can't worry about that. I'm taking the quarterback Mahomes over Brady. Now it's Russell, Wilson, and Garoppolo. Who's the better quarterback? I don't think there's any question here. Now, I do think there's a lot of elements.

But you can't consider them. I can't consider them. I think San Francisco's got more ways to beat you. But this is where the quarterback face bracket, it can be rough. Because I do think quarterback's the only position in football that it's worth more than a half a point to a point. I would take Russell Wilson, due to the way I do the bracket, over Jimmy Garoppolo.

Now it's Breeze and Aaron Rogers. Now, I'm going to take Breeze because I do think right now Breeze is a better quarterback. That goes against a lot of people. I don't think Aaron's had a particularly great year. I don't think he trusts as the quarterback. I don't think he trusts his players as much as Breeze does. So right now, I think Breeze is a better quarterback than Andrews. Now, your history and the other arguments three years ago may be different.

Today, I watch Breeze play. I look at his accuracy. It's better than Aaron. I think he's more energized than Aaron. So in my quarterback face bracket, I'm taking Breeze over Aaron Rogers. All right. Now we get to the conference championships. All right.

Now it's Mahomes against Lamar Jackson. I think Patrick Mahomes is a better quarterback than Lamar Jackson. Now, I think statistically because of the way. way Baltimore runs the offense, Lamar's going to win MVP. And we like new stories. He's a great story. Lamar's a great story. It's the Westbrook MVP.

He was really good. This is a great story. But if you're asking me, I'm going to take Patrick Mahomes today because I think he's a better quarterback to Lamar Jackson. I get some wiggle, but I still believe you have to win from the pocket. I think he's a better pocket passer. I think Mahomes is the better quarterback talent on Lamar Jackson. And then Russell, Wilson, and Drew Brees.

Again, this is a hard one for me. But this is the best I've ever seen Drew Breeze. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, yeah. You know what Drew Breeze? Drew Breeze and Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Okay.

Well, look, it's not a horrible Super Bowl prediction. Okay, so. I think some people are going to disagree with you on Lamar and Patrick. Okay, they never met before. And they're both red hot. And that would be an incredible Super Bowl. And you're asking me in our quarterback face bracket, who's the better quarterback today?

And I think it's Patrick Mahomes. So I'm choosing Patrick Moehm's in my quarterback face bracket to win the Super Bowl. That was my Super Bowl prediction at the beginning of the year. It's not terrible. So this is based solely on the importance of the quarterback I select. It doesn't matter about all your coaching, your offensive line, your weapons. Who do I think today is the better quarterback playing the best football?

And I have Patrick Mahomes beating Drew Brees in the Super Bowl. I don't know. I think this might be your year. Because I think Mahomes can throw a better deep ball than Drew Breeze. Therefore, I think he'll get a cheap touchdown if they met, which Drew would not get. Michael Thomas is more of a seam route possession, best possession guy in the league. He says a possession receiver is insulting. He's not an over-the-top. Marvin Harris and T.Y. Hilton, that's not what he is.

So what do you make of the quarterback face bracket, guys? I mean, I think last year you had Andrew Luck winning the Super Bowl somehow, so this is much more realistic. Saints Chiefs is not a dumb Super Bowl to have. Who did I have last year? Colts and who? I had Andrew Luck winning it all. I know you had him going pretty far.

I tried to erase it from my memory, but I know you had him going pretty deep in there. All right. So there you go. That is based on the quarterback alone. I think right now in the NFL, Mahomes is the best quarterback in the league. I can get Wiggle. He can read a defense. He can make plays that don't exist.

He can be very accurate. He can go over the top. He's got a freakish arm that is probably the best in the league. All things considered. Can't even count Andy Reid. I'm just saying Mahomes is the best quarterback. Joy and I are back tomorrow on a Friday. 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 SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Remember me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Keer Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you're doing. You need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

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

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.