The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Cowboys, LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers, and the MVP

Episode Date: November 30, 2018

Colin discusses the Dallas Cowboys win over the New Orleans Saints, the play style of Los Angeles Lakers F LeBron James, more proof of the drama going on between Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers & HC Mike McCarthy, and why he still doesn't think Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes should be the MVP. Guests include Chris Broussard, James Harrison, Marcellus Wiley, and Jason McIntyre. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Now let's get to You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Friday. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. One hour from now, blazing five, rebounding from our only losing week of the year. Love our picks, a great NFL weekend, which started last night. Joy Taylor is here.

That was great. Highest-rated Thursday night football game in the history of Thursday night football games. By the way, New Orleans got a 60 local rating, which means that's the best football market in America, New Orleans. They don't feel good about themselves this morning, though. Right. But you said yesterday, biggest game of Dax's life. Biggest game for the year of the Cowboys. I want to start with this.

Let's give credit where credit is due. The Cowboys right now don't just have two great young linebackers in Layton Van der Leyen-Resh and Jalen Smith. Layton Van der Leish is the best linebacker in football. He's Brian Erlacher. You didn't watch him in college. He's Brian Erlacker. He's the best linebacker in football. And they have the best tandem linebackers.

I mean, Drew Breeze had never gone 0 for four to start a game. Drew Breeze got shut out in the first half. Drew Breeze could only have the ball for 23 minutes. Let's give the Cowboys defensive front seven, which we told you early last year when they beat San Francisco. I said, this front seven's good. Now they've bated Leighton Van der Esh. They batted him.

Jalen Smith is now healthy. front seven is out of this world good. And that's no big surprise. We all knew it was good. We've been saying that on this show for two years. It's now really good because they have the best young linebacker in football. And I would argue he's the best linebacker in football. But let me just tell you something.

This is starting to look like Tim Tebow and the Broncos, folks. There's one way to win for Dallas. It's got to be low scoring. Got to be at home. The defense has to be great. You've got to make your field goals. This is starting to feel like the Tebow. This is starting to feel like the Tebow Broncos.

And by the way, before you push back on that, you remember how crazy everybody went with Tebow. You all convinced me, or you try to convince me, that Tebow thing was going to last forever. And I kept saying, Saturday Night Live was doing skits on it. Like they don't even like sports. Like you had to win one way. Like Tebow would, you know, and I'll tell you the similarities here. By the way, DAC doesn't throw down field. Dak needs a great running game.

DAC has no pocket awareness. Like Tebow, DAC leads the NFL in percentage of dropbacks that he sacked. Tebow led that too. By the way, there's a fumble issue. Tebow had a major fumble issue. He led the NFL in fumbles for a quarterback. Dak leads the NFL in fumbles for a quarterback.

That is not a small thing. He doesn't throw many picks because he doesn't throw the ball down the field. Either did Tebow. I'm saying a lot of the similarities. It was week nine, Denver and Tebow. They had a great defense. They made their field goals. They had a good schedule.

And it was, oh, I look really, really good. Everybody's like, oh, my God. By the way, what did I call Dak when he came out of college? I said, he's a better version of Tebow. That's what I call him out of college. And everybody went crazy when they were winning. And literally, I used to work at ESPN. It took over the world.

The Tebow games would get three times as many clicks and read as even like the cowboy games, even like the Patriots, Steeler games. this is a better version, a better offensive version. They had a Demaris Thomas. Now they have Amari Cooper in Dallas. By the way, Troy Aikman talked about the fumble issue. It is now just part of Dax's reality. He fumbles a lot.

Here the ball is out. Prescott cannot get on it. I tell you, that's one thing we have seen way too much of from Dack Prescott this year is him putting the ball on the ground. He's had 10 fumbles. This season, Prescott. Flag is down, ball is out. This is Prescott, and I talked about it.

You've got to be more secure with the ball when you have it in your hands in these situations when you're giving up points at the ball's loose. That was Tebow's issue. A lot of underneath throws, didn't throw downfield, wasn't accurate, fumbled a lot, terrible pocket presence where he got sacked an inordinate amount of times because he couldn't see the pressure. And by the way, Tebow was a first round pick. Dak was a fourth round pick.

I watched Dak in college, and I kept saying it on and on. I'm like, he's a better Tebow. We're seeing now, everybody's got film on him. Tebow needed a great defense. Tebow needed to be at home. Tebow needed to have his field goal kicker. Tebowl needed the rushing. By the way, and I know the Cowboys are winning,

and you're freaking out. But I saw Mark Sanchez win for two years like this. I saw Blake Bortles win last year like this. I saw Tebow going a six-game win. streak like this. This looks a lot like the Denver Broncos where they got the one receiver that Tebow could rely on. They have a great defense, a nice running game, a kicker. The game's got to be close. Dallas has become a team that can only win one way. The game's got to be at home. They got to be close. I mean, they did win in Philadelphia, but they've got to be played a certain way. ZKast have a

big day. A big day. Field goal kicker got to make their kicks. You can't get in the 30s. And by the way, Greg Kossel talked about this yesterday on the show. This is, and he brings up a very interesting point here. Reception, deception, you know, it's not jet sweep. It's basically let's line up and run the ball with a really good back. And it's a very basic pass game that by NFL standards is somewhat remedial and elementary. But that's what their offense is.

And they play to their defense and they play to their run game. So the question is, can their defense be good enough to hold the highest scoring team in the league, let's say under 30, which the Cowboys have not given up in any game? And can their offense put up enough points if they don't get, you know, 20-yard passes that become 90-yard touchdowns. Remedial. That's what Tebow's offense was. It was remedial. Now, again, you can go on winning streaks. Tebow won a playoff game. Dallas could be at home and win a playoff game if they win the division. I'm not saying that. But pen to paper, DAC is about the 18th to 22nd best quarterback in the league, and he's about, as I said yesterday,

I said, if he won this game, he's getting $110 million. For all the praise we're heaping on the Cowboys defense, Dallas didn't score in the second half. It score a point at home. And that Saints defense was worn out at the end. They were on the field for 37 minutes. They still couldn't get in the end zone. You're looking at the 22nd best quarterback in the NFL. You're going to pay him $110 million.

People keep telling me, oh, the future is bright in Dallas. And I'm like, no, no, no. The future in Dallas is going to be hard and confusing. Because by the way, DeMarcus Lawrence, he's on a franchise tag, bruh. you got paying big money. Zeke coming up, big money. Byron Jones Corner, guys outstanding, big money. Amari Cooper this year, big money.

You pay $110 million to Dak Prescott. You are not going to be able to resign some of these guys you need. The future is now. It is now. John Elway did not buy into the Tebow stick. He went out and got Peyton Manning. He's like, I don't buy into this stuff. Remember, Mark Sanchez.

has won for two years this way. Bortle's almost got to the Super Bowl last year this way. Tebow, who's not an NFL quarterback, better baseball player than a football player, won six straight games to beat the Steelers at home in the playoffs this way. That's all I'm saying. This is a remedial offense and for the record this morning, I know you all hate me. Oh, that was great. It was great. It was great. It was unbelievable. And Tebow beat the Steelers. It was unbelievable. It was crazy. You think the future is great. The future is now. I mean, this morning I wrote down. I was sitting to myself, even the Cowboys, by the way, last night sent out Zeke and Van deresh in the postgame interview.

They knew who won the game? It was a running back and the linebacker. I thought to myself, who are the most important Cowboys right now? I think Van der Lech has changed the defense. He is the best linebacker in football. He is Erlacker for the Bears. I think Zeke's number two. I think DeMarcus Lawrence.

You tell me who was more valuable last night. Dack thrown underneath routes or DeMarcus Lawrence in Drew Brees's jock all night. left tackle Tyron Smith, linebacker Jalen Smith, Jason Garrett, I think Dax about seven or eight. Rod Marinelli with a young defense, very valuable, eighth most important cowboy, I'd put Dax seven. 110 million bucks? I mean, you better get a home, you better get a discount, Dallas. Because you tell me the future is bright. Now, the future is confusing.

With Tebow, it was confusing. With Mark Sanchez, you're like, it's confusing. And with Blake Bortles, Jacksonville struggled. We don't think he's that good. he's totally limited, but we got to pay him. What are we going to do? The future's bright when you've got Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes. That's when the future's bright. The future's bright when you have Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson and Deshawn Watson. But when you're winning this way, Sanchez, Tebow, DAC, Bortles, the future is not bright. The future is confusing as heck.

Because you've got to now pay a guy 20 million plus a year. Don't kid your son. Don't kid your self. Fumbles. Doesn't look downfield. Get sacked constantly. Has some nice mobility. But again, there's limitations on that. Man, do you think I hate the Cowboys? I die. That was great. It was fun. I work at Fox. It's the highest redded Thursday night game ever. But, you know, this is what we said yesterday. We said, if they win, Dak Prescott's agent is walking into Jerry and saying, I want 25,000, 28. What do you say now? They're going to win their division again. Is it a bigger win for the Cowboys or for Dak Prescott?

I would say Dak. I think Dak, it has a big win for Dak last night. Dallas still, you think Dallas going to go on the road in Chicago win? Dallas going to go on to New Orleans and win. Dallas going to go to the Rams. I mean, there's so much I like about this cowboy team. But that future is bright thing. No, no, no.

It's bright with golf and Mahomes, Deshawn Watson Luck, Russell Wilson, Wins. That's the future is bright. Okay. Future is darn confusing when you have to pay Blake Bortles, 20 million a year. That's when it gets tough. All sorts of stuff coming up today. Man, I'm all fired up. Forty-five minutes from now, the Blazing Five, rebounding from our only losing week of the year. We are coming strong, baby. James Harrison, Marcellus Wiley, Chris Brousard, Blazing Five. I will say this, two things. Number one, Magic Johnson, when Magic Johnson has

to say something about a Laker game or a Laker team, you know you got some turmoil. LeBron and the Lakers won last night, but they've got themselves a little problem. In fact, I'm not sure how little of a problem it is. That and why we all have to settle down on some of these quarterback numbers. Stuffy nose, cold flu season, go to Cinex nasal spray. VIX Cinex nasal spray. Vick Cinex nasal spray, 12 hours when congested. It is that time of the year.

There are certain things you can brag about in life. And there are certain things you can't brag about. If you're advertising a car, you can't say in your advertisement, we have power steering. I'd hope so. Otherwise, you're a tank. You can't, if you're, if you're one of these Samsung, Apple phones, we have a camera on our phone. I would think so unless you're 90. Everybody has a camera on their phone.

You can no longer with a hotel say, we have free Wi-Fi. Yeah. Yeah, you can't. If you drive by a hotel, you ever drive by a motel and it says free HBO, do not go to that hotel? That hotel, they gut deer in the shower. Like, stay away from that hotel. You can't brag about those things. Here's another thing you can't brag about anymore in football.

My quarterback completed like 16 straight throws. Who cares? Are you watching the games anymore? Last night, I went to Twitter and I said, that's a liability. Cowboy should have sewn this thing up an hour and a half. off ago. Good God, the defense is unbelievable. So best defensive effort I've seen by a team all year. Cowboys' front seven is the best in football. It's better than the Bears. It's better than the Steelers. It's better than the Chargers. That's the best front seven in football. And at home,

Drew Brees had the ball for about seven minutes in the first half. And that's it. And people are like, oh, but he completed 17 straight throws. Who last week, Philip Rivers was like 25 first 25. I mean, What does it mean? Yes, 17 straight completions. Fantastic. He's been sacked more than any quarterback. He's fumbled more than any quarterback and he doesn't throw the ball down the field. Let me give you some examples here.

A couple weeks ago, I heard this about Marcus Marietta. Marcus Marietta. Everybody said, oh, my God, he completed 96. Second best in NFL history. 19 straight completions. 96% completion percentage. They lost by 17. Aaron Rogers, his touchdown to interception ratio, 20 to one best of his career.

They're 0 and 6 on the road. He's never played worse. Everybody now is setting records. Carson Wentz is having his best statistical year ever. 280 a game, 70% completion, 7.7 yards are at 10. All best. Philadelphia is 23rd in points a game. Eli Manning is a shot fighter.

He's having his best statistical year. By the way, do you know Ryan Tannahill's passer rating right now? Is better than any Hall of Fame quarterback. Ryan Tannaniel. You can't listen. Even five years ago, I would have been blown away by 68% completion percentage. Tannehill, Eli, Wenz. These guys are putting up Eli are putting up huge numbers.

Everybody is. You can't brag about it. having Wi-Fi in your hotel or a camera on your phone or power steering. Like those aren't things to brag about anymore. Here's what I look at. If your team is average, can you carry it? If your defense is average, can you carry it? If your field goal kicker goes swirly and misses four kicks, can you win?

That's the guys I'm looking for. That's the guys you want to pay $125 million to. Other than that, if you're not going to, if that's not your quarterback, I'll pay my pass rush or that. I'll pay my running back and my left tackle that. But I'm not paying a quarterback. You got to get past this. Dack completed 17 straight.

It means nothing to me. I mean, it's something. At least you can throw the ball from where I sit to where Joy's at because that was about 80% of his completions last night by eight yards. But the world has changed. Every camera's got a phone and every car's got power steering and every hotel has free Wi-Fi. And Ryan Tannihill right now, statistically, this year is better than that.

than Joe Montana and Troy Aikman and Tom Brady. I mean, come on, settle down. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. That's remarkable, actually. You have to keep it in perspective, though. Yes.

I mean, listen, I mean, you watched the game last night. Do you think DAC was leading them or that defense in Zee? Of course it was the defense. Well, let's get to it. It was a massive win for Cowboys. put the Cowboys and DAC, and they held that Saints offense. It was averaging 37.2 points a game to a measly 10 points. And Jerry Jones, like the rest of us, is taking notice of it, and here it is Jerry.

You win something like this against a team that well coached, those kind of players, caliber a team like that. And you know you've done it. Your mirror knows you've done it. You change. This is a changer in here. These guys will, they're different. cats now.

I love Jerry in the middle of all of the microphones. I will say this, though, and I'll ask our next guest, James Harrison, about this. The one thing that is interesting there, there are these moments for defenses and offense that you wake up the next morning. If I'm a Dallas Cowboy this morning, I'm saying to myself, nobody else has done that as the Saints. Do the Cowboys play with a little swagger? I mean, because let's be honest, we're all human here.

and if you take a guy and he's inspired and he feels great about himself and he's confident, is it reasonable to think Dallas's defense is 10% better? Because they're going to play with confidence to this point out that they did not have. Sometimes there's a win, I think, that there's a win that you have in your season that is a signature win that makes you feel different about yourself. Yes. And they've needed this. I mean, they've, since Dak and Zeke's rookie year, where have they been? We've been asking what's been happening.

We talked about it all day yesterday. what a big win this would be for DAC. I mean, I certainly didn't believe the game is going to go like this. Nobody did. So, yeah, I do think this is a win that you can hang your hat on. And if they keep with this momentum, I mean, they have the Eagles next week, the Colts, the Bucks, and the Giants. So we'll see. Baker Mayfield doubled down on his criticism of Hugh Jackson this week.

As we know, he told reporters that he is free to speak his mind and he isn't looking for anyone's approval. And Dionne Sanders has some advice for Baker. I had to understand it was business. He does not understand that this is a business. First of all, Hugh Jackson didn't want to leave. He was a head coach. He didn't want to leave Cleveland. They forced them out.

Now, just so happens, another brother Marvin Lewis. Thank God, took care of it. That's what we're supposed to do. Now, Baker's upset because he's still caught up in the college mindset that you betrayed me. And he don't understand. Be careful how you treat people at this game of professionalism. Because you never know when your path to may cross again. By the way, Dion Sanders is right.

He is definitely right about that. He's right. There is consequences to calling people out. Once you burn the bridge, it takes a lot of work to get that relationship fixed again. However, I think that all of us are running with the narrative that Baker is mad that Hugh went to the Bengals. And I don't really think that that's what this is all about. I think that there was an inner conflict that went on when Hugh was still there with Baker. Remember, Baker didn't start.

Okay? So there were some things going on there with Baker and Hugh that I think weren't sitting well with Baker, and then something happens. And that's really what Baker's mad about. I don't, I have a hard time believing, and maybe I'm just wrong, but I have a hard time believing that the genesis of all of this beef with Hugh Jackson and Baker Mayfield is because Hugh went to the Bengals. It's just very unreasonable.

Like, Baker's got to understand a little bit of the bigger picture of that. I mean, he went to a different school. Like, just because of that alone, I have a hard time believing that's, this was really about. Finally, we've talked all week about where former Texas Tech head coach Cliff Kingsbury will end up. Yes. It was initially reported yesterday. Yesterday. He would join Clay Hilton at USC as an offensive coordinator. And now it appears that report was a little premature because Kingsbury's agent said there's not been a decision made. Here's what I've been told. I've been told. I've been told. Okay, what I've been told by two people I

trust. USC is very much in play, but there is one NFL team, and I've been told it's not the one you think in Texas. There is an NFL team that is very interested in making him the offensive coordinator going forward with a chance, if things go well, to be the guy. And so Cliff is weighing this. Now, the college job at USC, if it went really well, he could also be the guy there in a year two. But Cliff

likes USC. They probably are the leader in the clubhouse, but there is an NFL team that has emerged in the last two days that Cliff is, and it's not the team in Texas, you think it is. Okay, so since you know the team, what do you think

is the better move for him? Well, I think the NFL is better football than college football. So I would always go NFL over college because I think you deal with smarter people and the players are men, not kids. So if you're asking me if I had an NFL OC or a college, even USC though it's good. The worst offensive coordinator job in college is better than the best offensive coordinator job.

The worst in the NFL is better than the best in college. So if it was up to me, I would take this NFL coordinator job, which I've been told is his if he wants it. Well, I may know what team it is also. Okay. So to me, I feel like when you're at this point in the career that he is in his career, you want to go to the NFL because you can come back. That's a good point. And come back as head coach because you've already been a head coach.

Right. So that's what I would do. Yeah. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News.

Our next guest made a bet with Jason Whitlock yesterday. And I would have made the same bet because I thought New Orleans would win by about 10 last night. Vegas thought it was going to be a seven point win for the Saints. This was on Speak for Yourself. James, I'm going to bet you straight up. Straight up. The Cowboys are going to win this game.

You set the stakes. I feel like I need to help you out. So how you feel about 10 anytime push-ups? That means any time I ask for him, you give me them. And with that, we bring in the multiple-time pro-bowler, two-time Super Bowl champ, defensive player of the year, all-time sack leader in the history of the Pittsburgh. Steelers. James Harrison. So I said to start my show, and I know I'm going to get a ton of pushback.

This looks, there's a lot of Tebow, Denver here, one-star receiver, need a running game. Matt Prater's hitting field goals. You win close, lower scoring games at home. Am I nuts on that? It feels a little DAC in the couch. Yeah, I don't feel like you're nuts on it. I mean, you've got to look at it. He went 24 of 28 and still only had 240, 50 yards, and they only won by three points. They scored a total of 13. The real thing of this is the defense. The defense went out there and held him to 176 yards. Wow. Like you held Drew Brees and the Saints to 176 yards.

10 points. They shouldn't even got 10 points. You got Gregory, who's the best Saints player on the team at that time. You know, and he's giving them every opportunity they can to try and, you know, extend plays and stretch down the field from penalties. So I don't think you're wrong in that, you know, in that analogy. You know, James, it's interesting. Joy and I just talked about this. You guys, a confident

football player is a better football player. And even great athletes like A-Rod, great golfers can get the yips. They can lose confidence. I do think I watched Dallas and those linebackers last night. And it was like if I went to bed last night, after what I did, I would wake up the next morning thinking

I'm as good as any defense. I mean, I kind of feel like the game meant it's a difference maker game. Dallas's defense is young anyway. Did they wake up this morning thinking, we're it. We're the best defense in this league. They definitely wake up with a lot more confidence. I don't think you come into the we're it,

but now you're like, hey, we're in that argument. We are, you know, one of the best, you know, we went out there and did something that no other team has done this year. So it is something that gives you a lot of confidence. And that's something that you can definitely build on. It's swag that you walk with now that you're going to, you know, each day and you're trying to build off of that performance. You know, each day you're trying to get better.

So it is definitely something that can, you know, lead that defense into one of the higher tier defenses this year easily. What do you make a latent Van derresh, the kid that played at eight-man football in Idaho, he reminds me of Erlacker. He played lights out. Like I said, the whole defense played lights out, really. But for him to be a rookie and be in that situation, and I mean, he was like, you know, leg and leg right there with the running back tomorrow, and it was like he couldn't get

away from him. And everything was short tackles. Every pass was contested. Everyone. Everyone. You know, it was catch and tackle. It was no run after the catch. Defense, that was just it.

It was just absolutely dominant performance by the defense. Do you give credit to Rod Marinelli, the coach, or do you, is this just Dallas has athletes everywhere? Byron Jones, by the way, is a really good corner. He's emerged as a really good corner. Is it athletes? Is it coaching? What is it?

Combination. You have to have somebody that can go out there and play the game, obviously. But, you know, everybody that is in the league right now. Now, they're going to be an athlete. They didn't get there by chance. So now you add into the coaching factor and the fact that they went out there and they played together for 60 minutes. Each guy did his job. You know, if you were there to make the tackle, they made the tackle.

If you were supposed to contest that catch, they contested the catch. You know, you look at the other side. You look at Eli Apple. And you could see, like, each catch, it was just dragging on him as they kept throwing at him. And they kept catching. They found a weak spot. You could see, you could see as the camera. is it's just a dull look in his eyes. He's not talking to anyone. It's just a blank stare. And that's

just eating at him. And that's one of those things where you say his confidence. Each catch is tearing him down. It's wearing on him. And that's something that, you know, they picked on at the beginning of the game. And, you know, it worked for him. You know, I was saying, I listed earlier, I said, and I didn't buy into DAC when he came in the league. I said he's a better Tebow. And then he blew me away as rookie year. And I'm like, well, I'm wrong. Because the guy's putting up gigantic numbers. But I said last night, if I put the eight Cowboys that mattered, you know, I have Dak about seven.

And that's how I felt with Tebow. Tebow got all the credit from the press, but it was Matt Prater, the kicker, the pass rusher, the receiving court, the head coach. How important is Dak to the Cowboys to you? To me, Dak is a manager. He's not someone that's going to go out there and win you a game. I wouldn't put him that high on that list. I would put the defense coordinator above that, and I'll put Jason Garrett at the

bottom of that list actually. But that's just my personal feelings. I don't, like I said, right now it's the defense. You take away that defense and that's an average football team. It's very, at best, at best. And it's a totally different, you know, turnout than a 13 to 10 game. I want to segue to a team. The Steelers play the Chargers this weekend. It's a late night game. It'll be the most watched, probably Sunday game, right? One of the big TV games, right? and I've always been a supporter of Ben, but I've always felt Aaron Rogers, Ben, and Cam Newton, I get law drama.

They're dramatic personalities. They have big quotes. Sometimes they finger point a little bit, but they're great. They're Hall of Fame-level guys. So Big Ben this week throws a pick, bad pick, kind of points to Antonio Brown, then comes out and says,

I deserve the right to an opinion. You are going to be tied to the Steelers for the rest of your life. All-time sack leader, defensive player of the year, Super Bowls. In the locker room, you've been there. How has Ben viewed? Everyone gets along.

You know, for me, I can't tell you how other individuals view someone because I have, I have, I had a great relationship with Ben. You did? Yeah, yeah, me and Ben talked on the concert. I was probably one of the, as an offensive player, he's probably one of the people that I talked to the most except for Antonio Brown because he was my locker mate. So as far as me, I had a good relationship with Ben. You know, so I can't say. Why do you think yours was so good? Well, I was, I guess I was there with him longer.

You know, when he came in, I was, you know, I was already there. He obviously respected him. Yeah, yeah, I respected him too. But I think it's just familiarity, you know, you hang with him. Like when he first came in, like we'd go out and it'd be 20 of us out and, man, it's right there with us, you know, having a good time. Yeah. So I think that's, you know, that along the years and just. Do you think he has the right to a strong opinion?

Are you bothered when he calls out a receiver? I think that's where you got six in one hand, half a dozen another, because it could turn it to something to where now everybody wants to publicly call someone out. I have no problem what you're calling someone out behind closed doors, straight to them without having to go to the media with it, because now it looks like, like you said, like your finger pointing. You're saying you this, you that. But at the same time, Ben has stepped on that podium and said,

you know what, that's on me. That's my fault. The only thing I would have an issue is that you're doing it in front of the media and it looks like you're finger pointing now. of going behind closed doors and saying, hey, next time, why don't you cut this route a little shallower? Or, hey, you got to do this or you got to do that. I just don't like it, you know, being out in front of the media.

James, people freaked out. Rams, Chiefs, 1,000 points. Everybody said defense doesn't matter. And I'm watching that game last night. And I'm thinking, post- Thanksgiving, Bears are going to make the playoffs. Cowboys going to make the playoffs. I'm seeing a lot of defenses making the playoffs in the NFC.

Minnesota's probably going to make the playoffs. That's real defense. Like there is something weird, like Thanksgiving hits, and is it because the defenses catch up to the offense? I think it's a combination. Like you said, you've been seeing the same thing for a long time. And now a big thing I believe is you're getting into December football. You're getting into different weather, especially for outside games. Now those high-flying, you know, 40, 60 times passing the ball is not going to work when the ball is, you know, it's cold. It don't fly as well.

So now you've got to get into doing a combination. of running and passing. And now the defense, you're playing on grass that may be a little bit muddy, footing's a little different. And like you say, the wearing tear of a season, you know, what guys are actually doing what they need to do to take care of their bodies. This is an interesting point. Dallas is actually really healthy right now.

You know, people are forgetting this. Dallas is a very healthy football team. You look around the NFL, there are. Eric Barry just came back to the Chiefs. It's like, okay, that's a real player. Are you getting healthy at the right time? Are you rising? Are you ascending into December instead of?

being that team that you know you're flying high through September, October, and now, you know what, it's starting to wear on you. You're starting to, you're not, you didn't do the things at the beginning of the year to take care of yourself. And now you're downhill sliding. You're barely winning games instead of that team that's, you know, coming into December. And now all of a sudden, oh my God, these guys are taking off. You know, they're ready to go and do some things now. Great seeing you, ma'am. You too. James Harrison, one of the all-time great's, Steeler All-Time Sack Leader. Coming up next, Lakers be the Pacers last night, but there is a story behind the story as there often is with LeBron

and Magic and Luke Walton, and we'll address it, plus an Aaron Roger story that it's out now. It is officially out. There's no more debating. Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy are done. That's next. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd

weekdays at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Dollar Shave Club has a new handsome discount. More you buy the more you save. Dollar Shave Club. com slash Colin for a special offer. Look, feel, smell your best.

I use them. Dollar Shave Club. Handsome discount like that. I'm a believer, Joy Taylor, joining me, that if something's going well, don't change it. Don't change good. Change bad. Change dysfunctional. Change ineffective.

Don't change good. Don't think the room. Something's working. Just just don't get in the way. LeBron's always had an identity. every team that LeBron's won a championship with has had one identity. In Miami, in Cleveland, LeBron dominates the ball, either scores himself or as he's driving dishes out to a variety, several good shooters. But the Lakers, hey, we're going to do some new things here with this LeBron guy.

We're going to tweak his game. He's going to play off the ball. and he's going to, no, last night, LeBron dominates the ball in the first quarter. Lakers take a huge lead over the Pacers. And then LeBron sits back and lets the other guys generate the offense. Oh, it didn't work. And then LeBron James in the fourth quarter said, okay, let me take over the ball again and dominate the game. And this, sound up, is what happened.

11 point lead, a bucket here, and it's definitely over. Lebron's shooting a three here. He's sizing it is out. Oh, he's in fact with it. Stepping back! Lakers are going to win tonight. They're going to stop this little losing streak, and LeBron's got 37. That's a difficult shot to converse consistently.

LeBron scored or assisted on the Lakers' final 15 points. This is the way it works. Can we stop pretending, yeah, let's get LeBron off the ball. Let's get others involved. No, no, no, no. We have an identity here. This is a movie trilogy with an identity. This is the third part.

Give LeBron the ball, acquire a bunch of shooters on the wing, and he'll drive and score, he'll do the freight train thing, or if he drives, doubled, passes out to a Ray Allen, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Chris Boss, Shane Battier, Mike Miller. We got a thing going on. And even LeBron now is kind of struggling to figure out exactly what he should do. Here he was after. That's the challenging things I've been kind of battling with, you know,

since the season has started on how much do I, you know, defer and allow, you know, some our young guys to kind of try to figure out and how much do I try to take over games. But I'm available anytime, you know, we need a play to be made. Yeah, because that's what you do. You make plays. They have no elite shooters. It's why I like the Bradley Beale move to the Lakers, but I'm told they're not going to do it. I'm told they want Durant.

I'm told they want Anthony Davis. But they've got no identity. They've got seven, eight athletic guys. That's good. but that's not what works for LeBron. LeBron ball. LeBron dominates. LeBron dishes, when stopped, to a variety of shooters.

Bradley Beale would start to give him the identity that's won. As Chris Broussard yesterday said, we're talking about this LeBron off the ball thing. Is it even a thing? Here's Broussard. They're better with LeBron on the ball. I know he's talked about he wanted to be off the ball. This might sound ridiculous. he's not LeBron off the ball.

He doesn't really know how to play that well off the ball. But generally he's standing around and, you know, just consistently, he's not great off the ball. He's better with the ball in his hands, and you're right. Your game is your game. Let me shift to this. For the last, let me think about this. One, two, three. About four years.

One year at the other place, last three here. I have been saying you know, McCarthy and Rogers don't like each other. And the Green Bay media would push back. What does that national guy know? An NFL media, clickbait, hot take. Well, well, well, well, well, well. Welcome in, boys.

Girls, thanks for coming to my side. It is now official that don't like each other. They didn't like each other four years ago. According to a report in Sports Illustrated, Kailen Kaler wrote, Rogers has the approval to change plays called by McCarthy as he sees fit. Sometimes Rogers takes advantage of that. Several sources familiar with the inner workings of the Packers say it is devolved into a competition who can call the better play and both want credit now for when things go right.

Okay, this has been a simmering divorce for years. I got good sources on this. multiple players who have played for the organization, many of whom I don't bring on the air here. Greg Jennings has been honest about it. I got three other guys. Also, Aaron Rogers leads the NFL by a country mile in throwaways. Remember that? We were talking about that, Joy.

A couple weeks ago, I said throwaways. It's one thing if Aaron had been hurt all season. He's not been hurt the last three weeks. He's fine. He leads the NFL in throwaways, and here's what a throwaway is. A throwaway is, occasionally I'm under massive duress. I get that. I mean, Jared Goff, Alex Smith, Brady, they have 20 throwaways.

He's got 50. Here's what a throwaway is. You grabbing a piece of paper and going, this is the crap you gave me. Watch Aaron Rogers. Watch him on the sideline. When you have double the league throwaways, and by the way, you now have a good running back. You now have a go-to receiver.

You have a pretty good second receiver, a rookie. Your offensive line is better than average. It's not a terrible offensive line. You have a go-to-wide receiver. You have a veteran head coach. When you lead by double the NFL in throwaways, that is showing disgust and in animus toward the guy in the sidelines. So all I'd like to say on this is that,

A, it's nice that everybody now is acknowledging what we've been on for four years. it wasn't a hot take, it wasn't clickbait. They don't like each other. One's a Milwaukee cop. One's the L.A. cool, aloof guy. They were never a perfect fit. But I heard grumblings four years ago that Rogers kind of rolled his eyes at McCarthy. But here's the other thing I want to throw at you.

There is this feeling now. So I want to be ahead of this as well. I was ahead of that. I want to be ahead of this. That if Rogers gets a clever, young, precise, intricate, innovative, young coach, this will all go away. It will not. Because then that McVeigh or Matt Nagy will get too much of the credit.

What's happening with Rogers and McCarthy is not an innovative struggle. It is a power struggle. Aaron likes power. Aaron wants to do what Aaron wants to do, and he's gifted. but even Troy Aitman was coachable. Troy Akeman wasn't tough to coach. Terry Broucho wasn't tough to coach. Tom Brady's not tough to coach.

Andrew Luck's not tough to coach. Russell Wilson's not tough to coach. Joe Montana was not tough to coach. Aaron's tough to coach. So this idea now that's permeating that, you know, if you just give him the next Sean McVe, the next Matt Nagy, if you just give him one of those gurus,

it will all go away. No, it won't. Well, people want to see that because Aaron Rogers is so talented. Right. And they want to see his, remaining years at his prime utilized properly. But remember, as Greg Kosell's always told us, he's an ad liber. This is what he is.

He's an ad liber. So if you give him McVeigh or Nagy or McCarthy. He's got to work within that system. Do you think he wants some young 33-year-old to come in and get all the headlines? This is the gut. Aaron likes power. Aaron likes control. Aaron's in ad-libber.

And Aaron's difficult to get along with. Gifted, yes. Amazing yes. But four-for-four. those are all true. Coming up next are Blazing 5. Marcellus Wiley, Chris Brousard, loaded on a Friday. It's the herd. Here we go, hour two and a Friday. Better than hour one, I promise. This is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles.

Iheart radio, Fox Sports Radio, right here on FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number two. It should be noted last night's game is the highest read it on Fox. I just read a Thursday night football game in the history of Thursday night football games. I said this yesterday. Everybody whines and complains a couple years ago. Everybody was on this. Well, Thursday night football, I can't believe it. Oh, please.

You make football players play one game a little early. They get extra time off. It's great. I love Thursday. I sat home last night. Corona. Their fireplace Christmas tree television, three and a half hours at five in the afternoon. Dog next to me?

Jeans. No, I was in business. Business attire. Yes. Daddy's doing business. Daddy's a player. Technically you're working. You were your sweatpants at 140.

In my sweatpants, yes. Okay, we got a pack show. We're just starting. Now, I just had a terrible week in Blazing Five. It was embarrassing. Wife locked the door. It was a terrible week for me. I was one for four.

I don't have those weeks. This week, I love my picks. Blazing Five, by the way, brought to you by Chili's. Three for $10 deal to go. Starter Entree Coke, 10 bucks. Chili's three for 10. Here we go. That's a hot one.

Let's blaze it up. Fire it up. It's Collins, blazing five. Browns at Texans. Texans minus six, so they only have to win by a touchdown. I'll take it here. They have one of the top five run offenses, and the Browns have one of the worst rush defenses.

Here's also something about Cleveland. Baker Mayfield's been very good because he's been very comfortable in recent weeks. The Texans defensive front, J.J. Wattis has a sack in each of the last four games. The Browns also give up more big plays than any team in the NFL, 94. That's a run over 10 or a pass over 20. Deshawn Watson's a big play quarterback. I'll take the Texans winning by 10. I think it's a very close competitive game, but they pull away late with a big play from Deshawn 2717.

Bears and Giants. Chicago's probably going to go with Chase Daniels. I'm going to take the Giants plus four and a half here. Listen, New York is a very healthy football team. The quarterback for the Bears is out. And I've said before, Chicago's good, but there are a lot of smoke and mirrors offensively. It's a lot of David Copperfield. It's a lot of tricks. Guess what? Post- Thanksgiving, their offenses come back down to Earth.

People are figuring out some of the sleight of hand. Chase Daniels probably gets the start. Why risked Trubisky? You lead your division. Right now, you get a home game. I think the Giants Bears is 21-20 either way. For fun, I'll pick the upset. But I'm definitely taking the Giants and four and a half points.

Colts and Jaguars. minus four, like it, I love it. This is two different locker rooms. The Colts are feeling great about themselves and can see the playoffs. The Jags don't like their quarterback. Leonard Fernette's out. They don't like their coach. They don't like each other.

They've lost seven straight. This is a bad locker room against the good locker room. And the Colts this season are humming now. Remember, seasons get knocked down to like teams play good pre- Thanksgiving, post- Thanksgiving. last five games Andrew Luck and the Colts are averaging 35 a game five and O and they're not turning the ball over again Leonard Fournett is out Bortles is playing though the coaches didn't want him to play I'll swallow the four like it I love it Colts win 3020.

This is an easy one too I'm going to take Atlanta it's mostly a pickum it's Atlanta minus one Falcons I'm going to take Atlanta here listen Lamar Jackson's fun interesting his hack, very compelling, and I like watching him more than Joe Flacco. But his passer rating was built the last two weeks on bad defenses, Cincinnati and Oakland, and it was still the lowest passer rating in the NFL. The Falcons offense is two offenses. Road, not very good. Home, they average 30 points and 425 yards.

Ravens do not take the ball away. They do not make your quarterback uncomfortable. They only have eight takeaways all season as a defense. Matt Ryan's going to be at home uncomfortable. I'll swallow the point, 28, 23 Falcons. Vikings at Patriots. New England, unlike the rest of the league, is not passing more, they're running more. New England's offense is averaging 28 a game down from 28 and a half a game,

meaning New England's now become kind of a conservative run-first offense. They're averaging 28 a game. I get the Vikings plus five. Do I think the Vikings can score 22, 23, 24? Yes, I do. I think the Patriots are the better football team, and it's in Foxborough. I'm not going to pick against them. But if you look at that Minnesota defense this season, they keep games close.

Red zone touchdown percentage allowed first in the league, meaning Patriots may move the ball. They're going to settle for some threes here instead of touchdowns. I'll take New England to win close 3028, but I'll absolutely take the Vikings plus the points. Blazing 5 sponsored by Chili's 3 for $10 deal. perfect play for the busy holiday season. Starter, entree, Coke, 10 bucks. I like Houston,

Giants, Colts, Atlanta, and Minnesota. I want to segue into this. So we watched the Cowboys win last night. Dallas' defense was great. Dallas' defense was unbelievable. And there's three things that make the Cowboy defense really good.

Number one, they have the best linebacking duo in football with Jalen Smith and Leighton Banderesh. I would say the second one of those guys, is the best linebacker in football. And in the NFL right now, to get athletic, long, rangy linebackers to cover those backs in space is really valuable.

And the Cowboys absolutely have, to me, the best linebacking duo in football and the best linebacker, not young, best linebacker late in bandarish in football. The second thing is, DeMarcus Lawrence is an absolute beast. He is a tremendous pass rusher, and he was in Drew Bree's lunch all night.

So the Cowboys have two things that make him a great defense. Rangy young athletes. athletic, fast linebackers, and they have a world-clash edge rusher. By the way, David Irving didn't even play last night. So their pass rush can be better than that. David Irving didn't play. It was hurt. But the third thing they have, and it's a real thing, they are playing with unbelievable

Joy mentioned this urgency. Why is this? Because that cowboy defense knows. We can't score 30 here. They are playing with incredible passion and incredible urgency. sort of like Jacksonville's last year because they knew they had Bortles as a quarterback. Sort of like Seattle's first year with Russell Wilson.

Who's this small kid from Wisconsin? Sort of like Colin Kaepernick's in San Francisco. Not a great thrower, runner, thrower, a lot of running. Tebow's defense. When a defense knows, now first of all, you have to have the talent. Cowboys have the linebackers. Cowboys have the pass rushers. But when a talented defense knows,

we got a Tebow, we got a Sanchez, we got a Bortles, we got a Kaepernick, we have a first year Russell Wilson, and they know we got to be on this every play. That's when you get special defenses. I mean, I'll give an example. The Rams defense has all sorts of talent, but they do some hot do dogging and some freewheeling because they're going to drop 30. And there isn't a sense with the Rams, oh my God, we have to play. Did you watch the Saints defense in the first half? It was not great last night. Why? They got the players. Why wasn't it great? Because they got Drew Brees. Defensive player. It's hard to play defense. Defense is hard. You're blowing stuff up. Defense is, you're chasing around the fastest athletes in the world. But you get a defense that's

got those linebackers in Dallas and that pass rush and that understanding that fellas, we've got to get Drew off the field here. We can't get in a shootout here. Tebow. We can't get to shoot out with Tebow. These guys are at practice all week. They knew what Sanchez was doing at practice. They know what Tebow was doing at practice. They know what Kaepernick was doing at practice. They saw Russell Wilson as a rookie. They knew what he couldn't and couldn't do in practice. But here's the rub.

Here's the rub. Those defenses, they'll support Borals and they'll support DAC. And they'll support Cap. And they'll support Russell Wilson. They'll carry him for a year or two. But here's when it gets ugly. Now, I don't consider Russell Wilson an average quarterback, so throw him out from the Sanchez, Tebow, Dak, Kaepernick group. When the young quarterback, who the defense has been carrying for a couple years, finally, because he's a quarterback, and you have to have somebody, and the team now pays him $25 million a year, the defense is resented.

That Jacksonville locker room, they all got along great until Bortle's got the big contract. then uh-uh and don't fly bruh i'm a way better player he's a stiff we're carrying it when russell wilson finally got that big contract that's when the story showed up in the espion the magazine all those defensive guys calling out ruff they love russ when he was making 700,000 a year russ making more than me i'm richard sherman whoa time out i'm pro bowl linebacker i'm pro bowl corner. I'm Pro Bowl safety. You're going to have to pay DAC here. Everybody loves DAC now. You're making $700,000 a year. But what happens when you sign them up for $25 million a year and he's throwing for 160 yards? That's going to be the rub here. This is what happens to the

borals and the Caps. This is what happens to the Sanchez and the Tibos. Now, L.A. never bought into Tebow. He's like, if I'm going to pay 25 for a quarterback, going to be Peyton Manning. I'm not paying it to Tebow. and Elway knew. If I start paying Tebow big money, I am trapped here. I'm going to have to go into that locker room and tell all these great players, I'm paying Tebow 28 and we're winning 17 to 14 every week. So now I do think DAC is better than Tebow.

I think he, I'm not sure he's better than Mark Sanchez. I'm not sure he's better than Kaepernick. He's not as good as Russell Wilson. And I said this earlier. if you start looking at DAC and Tebow, there are some eerie, eerie similarities with these two, is that it was week nine. They just come off a horrible loss. Tebow's Broncos had, Dak and the Cowboys had to Tennessee.

Seven and four, Tebow's team got hot. Cowboys now seven and five got hot. Both have a fumble problem. Both lack self-awareness in the pocket. both average way below yards average on passes, temp's down field. Both really their greatest gift is their intangibles and their mobility. I mean, we love Dax's intangibles.

He's a leader. He's tough. He can move. He's a good guy. Everybody likes him. We like Tibo could move. Tebow was tough. He was great in the locker room.

He was great in the room. We don't love Dax throwing. We don't love Tibo's throwing. I'm seeing a lot of similarities. Now, I like Dack more than Tibo. But if you told me Dach, there are a lot of, lot of times I think he's closer to Tebow than the Breeze, the Goff, the Mahomes, the Brady, the Benz, the Cams, the Russells, the Lux, the Deshaun Watson.

That's all I'm saying. Once you pay that average quarterback, 25 large, I've seen locker rooms blow up. That's exactly what has happened to Jacksonville. Saxonville is Haxonville. They just turned on Bortles. They turned on him. coming up next, Chris Broussard on the Laker Dilemma. It's LeBron's team.

And when they play it like LeBron's team, they're actually really good. But he's sitting around trying to make it Lonzo's team and Rondo's team and play with the kids. It's not working. What do you do in Lakerland? Magic had to talk about it yesterday. That Marcellus Wiley, Jason McIntyre. And we have an NFC now, which appears two-tiered and nothing more. Blazing Five, sponsored by Chili's, three for ten.

$10, starter, entree and a Coke, $10 winning deal, Chili's 3 for 10. Go to your app, by the way, pull up curbside, take the Chili's home. That's a good idea. App. All right, before we get into the NBA with Chris Brousard, you are a, your football was your first love. Yes. You love the NFL, and you know, I listen to you a lot on radio. You know a lot about it.

What did you make of the Cowboys last night? They're legit. I went into that game. I gave them no chance to win it, but I said if they play them tough, then I will be a believer. They're going to win the NFCE. Yeah. And while I would pick New Orleans still in the NFC, or the Rams are tough too.

I think now the Cowboys are a legit contender. I really believe that. Like Chicago legit, though. I think they're better than Chicago. Their offense with Amari Cooper's made all the difference in the world. He's been terrific. He's opened up the running game. Dak has been a lot better.

And Dak, I know you've been comparing him to Tebow. He's a better Tebow. He's a better. Tebow never could complete 24 of 28 passes. Tebow completed 47% of his passes that year. You're talking about? Well, the league was a little different, though. Granted.

But what DAC is, is a manager. You're right. He's a manager. He needs tons around him. With a fumble problem. But he can run. He can make a good, big play with his legs. That's something most of these managers aren't able to do.

Yeah. So here's how I would rank it. Tribesky, Dak. Tebow. Of guys I don't like, Tribisky, Dak. Tebow. Tribisky throws it better,

but I don't know if he's better than Dak. That's a winner. Dax got the intangibles. You know he's got the intangibles. Well, Tebow had the intangibles. True, but he couldn't throw. There's a baseline level that you have. Like in the NBA, there's a baseline level of athleticism you need.

You don't have to be the most athlete, but you need a baseline. In the NFL, there's a baseline level you have to be able to throw. Tebow couldn't hit that baseline. That's very, that's good. It's a good way to put it. Let's shift to the NBA. So you and I have gone back on this, is that you, always say, I use this line all the time. I use it with my wife.

Your game is your game. Okay, so you are what you are. And the longer you have success at something, the more you buy into it. You become kind of embedded into what you do well. I do what I do well. You do what you do well. And so, but when LeBron came to L.A., it was, listen, we could do off the ball, we can go over here. And I'm watching last night. Let's be honest. This is becoming Cleveland without the shooters. They are good when LeBron takes them all over. No, you're right. Look, what Magic Johnson said about, we don't want to become Cleveland, that wasn't just magic. That was Magic and LeBron, magic let you in on their conversation

that first night of free agency. When they sat there and they said, how do we beat the Warriors? And LeBron saw it the last two years in Cleveland, they tried to out shoot the Warriors. They shot more threes per game than Golden State did that those last two years, or certainly that last year. And he saw that won't work. So they said, okay, let's get tough, versatile defenders, gritty defenders who can get physical with them. That's how we beat them in 16. And this Laker team is a better defensive team than Cleveland.

And that's why they went and got those guys. They have a rim protector, McGee and now Chandler. And then he said, let me get more playmakers because I've always had to be the only playmaker. Even Kyrie wasn't a playmaker for others. He is for himself. But you see now in Boston, he's not really for others. and so they went out and got Lance Stevenson,

Rajan Rondo. You think Ball and Ingram might be playmakers as well. And you try that, and that's what the team is built for. And they're not the first. Cleveland, when LeBron was there, Mike Brown tried to run the flex offense at one point, but it wasn't working. Miami, the first year,

it wasn't just in LeBron's hand. You had Wade doing just as much. It didn't work. And way back, right. They put it in his hands the second year. The rest is history. that's what the Lakers are finding out. Look, we're best when it's just in his hands.

Here's the thing, though, that's going to make you really good. Like with LeBron, the ball in his hands playing through LeBron right now, they'll be the best version of themselves. Thank you. The best Lakers today is not Lanzo, not wrong. It's LeBron and praying that if LeBron doesn't score, at least one of the guys, Hart-Kuzma-Ingram, is hot. Right.

But that version, guess what? It's not going to beat the Warriors. Okay, so we acknowledge that they've got to find a star. Now, I- They got to get a second star who is dynamic. Okay. Because think of the years he's won it. Wade was dynamic and Kyrie was dynamic.

They weren't great fits with LeBron because it's tough to fit with LeBron because he does so much. But they were so good that they could win. Okay, so everybody's telling me Anthony Davis. That's what they need. Does he shoot threes? He's not going to shoot. Wade didn't shoot threes. Now, again, it was a little different NBA at that point.

You can get role players to shoot the threes, but go get Anthony Davis. And that's why they're not going to go after Bradley Bill. I don't like it. Because the guys you'd have to get up to get Bill would be the guys you have to give up to get Davis. So they're going to choose this big, great athlete over the best shooter on the market for the foreseeable future in the Shooters League. Yes. Josh Hart can shoot it pretty well. All right. Off the bench.

And you go and get some other guys. the great players on Miami weren't shooters. The role players were the shooters. But it's a different league now. I'll give you that. You got to have starters that can hit threes. Beal's a great shooter. Bill is great.

I'd love to have him, but I'd rather have Anthony Davis. I'm not saying Anthony Davis is not better. So you think Bill, okay, put Bill on this team. Are they beating the Warriors? Well, I don't think for a year anybody's beating him. I mean, I thought Boston was, and they're having some issues with Kyrie. They're not getting out of the East. I won't completely write them off 100%.

All I'm saying is, okay, I'm a big believer in identity. Like the Cowboys now are limited, but they've got an identity. We run the football. We compete a high percentage of easy remedial passes, and we ball defensively. And we make our field goals. That's an identity. You find teams that don't have an identity. you're done.

You just can't even like Chicago. We play defense. We run that RPO college thing with Trubisky and we don't turn it over. Even if they got Anthony Davis, their identity is LeBron mostly with a ball and he'll dump it sometimes inside

and Anthony Davis will score. Who's shooting threes? But you just want them to spread it out around LeBron and let him do everything. That's not beating Golden State. That's the thing. You're not going to out shoot them. He did one.

time. Well, first year... He had a dynamic partner in Kyrie, and they were tough physical defenders. I think their identity is going to be, because you make good points, but it's going to have to be, LeBron is since our system. That's what he is. He's the system. Right. And Anthony Davis is another tremendous second guy. How do you know they're getting Anthony Davis? That's about two years out. It won't be two years. He'll be a free agent in 2020. They're going to have to trade for him. They're going to try to trade for him. probably this summer or during next season. Brandon Ingram, Lanzo Ball. The young, yeah, whatever.

You think that's getting Anthony Davis. Nobody's going to have a better pack than that. If here's the, this could be the one caveat or the one monkey wrench. If Kauai Leonard stays in Toronto, that's going to emboldened teams to think, you know what, even though he's saying this guy saying he won't stay, maybe he will. Paul George stayed in Oklahoma. Kauai stayed in Toronto. We can get Anthony Davis to say here. Boston will be, have a shot.

Boston can give you a lot more than the Lakers can. They can. They can. They could give you Al Horford. They could give you Jalen Brown. They could give you Kyrie. If they want. I mean, I'm sorry, but if the Lakers, unless like LeBron and, you know, his guys and Rich Paul and they got a backroom deal here. There's a reason. Anthony Davis could have went with a lot of different agents. He went with Rich Paul. That's something. I'm just saying. I don't know.

That is looking at... I'm not saying it's 100%. I'm just saying he went with Rich Paul. If I'm New Orleans and you give me Lonzo ball and Brandon Ingram, I'm not even taking the phone call. But what if Davis is like, look, I'm going to the lake because I'm not signing with Boston. I'm not signing with New York. That's what all Kawai and Paul George. A lot of those guys are saying that now.

Somebody could take a chance. And Boston is a great team and organization. Boston could give you Kyrie and Hayward. They could definitely give you more. There's no doubt. And it's a great place to play in win. win. That's the one, but I would favor the Lakers. I'm favoring the Lakers.

All right, you're favoring the Lakers. I love having you on a little football with you. Little football. Joe Liceke, go a little football with Chris Broussard? My dream growing up was to be the next great tale back at USC. At USC? Yeah, that was when they had, but back in the day, Charles, Charles Davis. I can't even remember his name. Charles White.

Charles White. Obviously, O.J. Simpson, Anthony Davis. Why did you quit football? I play football. I just, football gets pain. painful the order you get. I played through high school. I got recruited in college. And the same school I played basketball that Oberlin recruited me for football too. But football is painful. If I could have just played the games, I would have done that.

If I could have just played the games. Football is the only sport, six times of practice as the games. Basketball practice is fun. Basketball practice is fun. Heads into the goal fun. Football practice is a pain. Well, they got to get you used to getting hit. What's that? You got to get used to getting hit. Yeah, but you got to get hit to get used to to get hit. Exactly. Joy Taylor, thanks, Chris, with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. So, we have talked a lot about Aaron Rogers this week. He likes to have a chip on his shoulder. Yeah. So prepare accordingly Arizona Cardinals. Randall Cobb, who has missed the last three weeks with a hamstring injury, plans to return to the field, but he also expects Aaron Rogers to be in top form also. I'm excited to get back out there because I know with all the noise

has been said over the past week about him, he's getting ready to light everybody up this week. So it's going to be a lot of fun, and I look forward to help him out. I mean, shouldn't the Packers and Aaron Rogers light up the Cardinals? Yes. Like, this is a game for them to get back on track, right? No, I mean, if you look at their schedule, they face team. They should go four and five down the stretch.

I'm not completely eliminating Green Bay from the playoffs just because if Trubisky's hurt, Chicago can lose, Minnesota could lose to the Patriots, I need one more week. If the Bears win this week and the Vikings win this week, then it's over, then it's like it's done. But I'm giving Green Bay another week. Every game moving forward for Green Bay is a must-win game.

Arizona just gave up 45 points on the road to Phillip. But, you know, Green Bay's only scored over 30 twice. They're not as powerful in offense as we think. Well, we'll see. Randall Cobb is predicting a very big game. So the once one time fearless leader of the Legion of Boom will return to Seattle this weekend. There's no lot of loss between Richard Sherman and the Seahawks. He remained very on Bram and he was asked about what Russell Wilson is capable of as he prepares to play against them for the first time.

Here was his answer. Yeah, I've also seen him throw five picks in the game. So, you know, you see what he's capable of on both sides of it. So you understand that he can be defended. I don't really have a relationship with Russell. We were teammates. We played during a very special time for the franchise. Why is he always banging on Russell Wilson?

You know, I don't, well, I have an answer for that. I don't like the way that Richard Sherman and the Seahawks split. I feel like Seahawks probably should have handled that better. It's a big part of their whole identity there. It's fair. No matter, like Richard Sherman is always Richard Sherman. I get it. So there shouldn't have been no surprise about anything.

be no surprise in that he that he's talking about it now. What happened with Richard Sherman and Russell Wilson was Super Bowl 49, Russell Wilson threw an interception on the goal line. Come on. To Malcolm Butler. This is it.

That's it. That was what ended their relationship. Did Russell Wilson, did Richard Sherman remember what happened two plays before that play? That Russell Wilson made a miraculous completion down the right sideline? I mean... Did Russell Wilson blow a 10-point fourth quarter lead?

Was Russell Wilson play? and defense for the Seahawks that year? Do you see Richard Sherman's face? I mean, it's iconic. Whatever how, it's how you finish. Like, lots of things happen in the game. You can make the argument. That is what matters right there. Okay, but I remember two plays earlier.

Russell Wilson completing a ball down the sidelines for 40 yards. That was one of the great completions of all time. That's fine, but he still threw that interception. And at the end of the day, that is what tore that entire team apart. Everyone feels like they should have given it to March on Lynch. You say you're petty? You're a petty? You have a repeat.

You know, Marshall Lynch has been running, has been the backbone of that team the entire year. Why don't you blame the back? You got one yard to win the Super Bowl. Russell Wilson didn't call that play. I can tell you one thing. Fine, but he's the one that executed it. And I think a lot of them feel like Pete Carroll wanted him to win the MVP. If he throws that, he will.

Marshaun Lynch won't. Listen, there's a lot of egos going on here. You've got to remember that. And I feel like, I feel like how you lose matters. If they had given it to Marshaun Lynch and the Patriots had stopped him and they didn't get in the end zone, I feel like you could live with that. You live with what got you there. You know what I mean?

You didn't get it done. You can still be upset that you didn't win, but you didn't go rogue. And that's what I think that they all feel like that. By the way, it should be noted that when you got to those two Super Bowls, I know the defense was good, but, you know, Bortles didn't get to back-to-back Super Bowls. And Kaepernick didn't get back-to-back Super Bowls. And this idea that Russell, you know, he's just this run-around guy, Russell Wilson's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback.

Let's not pretend the defense was doing all the work in Seattle. Let's stop with that nonsense. I'm from Seattle. I have my sources. I mean, you're going to get some push back on that. Come on. All right.

It's time now for the real deal presented by Carl's Jr. and Hardee's and last night's Warriors Raptors game was the real deal. We should go ahead and call it. The NBA needs a Golden State, Toronto finals. Oh, God. It's going to happen.

Boring. There's nothing boring about that. First of all, Katie had 51 points in a loss. No, he was great. I didn't watch it. 11, 20 pounds, 58% shooting. Kaui, 37 points. 58% shooting, eight rebounds.

Kauai's a great player. He's not going to... Goders are good. Oh, come on. Give me, I've seen this story before. Geez. I've seen this. We are the North crap for like four years now. Different team, I'm telling you. But it's full of Canadians.

LeBron is not in the East. They're not Canadians. No, they're soft. They're not Canadians. They're not soft. This is a soft. This is a different Raptors team. I'm telling you, I've been where you are. For the past couple years, I've been like, I am not... I enjoy the Raptors during the regular season. You're We the North nonsense. It's fun.

They have the Jurassic Park outside of the stadium. It's a wonderful atmosphere. Congratulations. You've got Drake on the sidelines. It's all awesome, but you're not going to do anything in the postseason because you never do. But it's different now. I'm telling you. Kauai is the difference maker and LeBron is not in the East anymore.

Hey? All right, hey. I'm not. Okay. That's just where the team is. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Heard Line News. So I got a lot of pushback in the last week on something I said. I came out, and my job is to be honest on this show. I said, Drew Breeze is the MVP. Andrew Locke is doing it with a, he's just amazing. He's number two in the MVP race. And number three is who cares. And everybody's like, Patrick Mahomes.

Nick Wright came on the show. What about Patrick Mahomes? Because it's because they're right. Patrick Mahomes literally is second and could be argued first in the MVP race. Here was Kansas City born Nick Wright. Here he was. Listen, if you want to argue Breeze has been slightly better than Mahomes, I'll listen to it. I disagree, but I'll listen to it.

But to have Andrew Luck ahead of Patrick Mahomes, there have been two guys clearly better than everyone. Breeze, the 38-year-old and Mahomes, the 23-year-old. In both of those games, double-digit comebacks where his team had the lead in the final moments until his defense blew it. We don't, I guess, know how luck would play in those standalone games since the Colts haven't played any this year. That's not Andrew Luck's fault, of course, but I did feel that Luck inched closer to Breeze last night because Drew did not play well. So to me, Breeze leads, it is a razor-thin margin over Andrew Luck. And with Breeze struggling, I will change who cares. I will change it to Patrick Mahomes.

I like that emoji, although I still, I can, I cannot disagree with you more. No, that's fine. But I'll move my homes because Bree's struggled. Because Bree's struggled. Wait. The first started one in five. Does that not mean anything? That might as well been 40 years ago to me. Is it a regular season?

Is it the whole season or is it just the last eight games? You want to look through the rearview mirror of life wearing sweatpants at 120? That's your choice. Are we basing the MVP on what they're going to do? moving forward? My, the way I live is I am wearing business. I'm actually literally doing the emoji right now. I'm doing, I'm doing business casual and I'm going to move Patrick into the MVP race third over who cares. Okay, but if he struggles Sunday, boom, back to the emoji. Coming up next, they'll pick the, they've got huge college games this weekend. We got conference

championship games. Bama plays Georgia. That's a massive one. Washington's going to beat Utah. So that they didn't have national significance. But the other ones have playoff implications. I'll talk about those games. And also coming up, I know you hate the Cowboys. Half the country hates the Cowboys. But I'm going to tell you why a lot of you think you hate the Cowboys, but they actually represent something that you love.

There needs to be more Cowboy fans based on something that happened last night. That's next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Tonight on Fox, the Pac-12 champion will be crowned as number 17 Utah, battles number 11, Washington, then tomorrow, number 6, Ohio State, and number 21 Northwestern go toe-to-toe for the Big Ten title. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern tonight and tomorrow on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Yeah, I bet on those games.

I don't understand why everybody doesn't bet on football. I just saw a study that 88% of young men, 18 to 30, 88% said, I'd rather watch a game if I bet on it. You don't have to bet me. you don't have to bet big money, you bet $50 in a game. If I win $50 in a football game, then I come to my wife and I say, I'm like, hey, let's go get some enchiladas and a couple of margaritas.

It's free. Isn't everything better free? I don't know. I bet on everything. First of all, nothing in life is free. Oh, it is free. No, nothing is free. Blackjack, 21, free cash.

Woo! It's literally not free. It's a gamble. Yeah, but when you win, it's free. And when you lose, then, you know, you're degenerate. But when you win, it's just free. Just why it's not free. But that makes sense, of course.

If you have something vested in what you're watching, it makes it more interesting. Both those games tonight. I put a mortgage on those things. I got to say two things. First of all, let me just do the college games. I'm just going to tell you, it's called spoiler alert. And so turn away if you don't want to know what happens. I don't want to give away the ending for those of you who want to, you know,

fulfill your obligation to support your team. So spoiler alert right now. Warning, Colin is about to reveal the outcomes of the biggest college football games this week. If you don't want to know exactly what's going to happen, turn away now. All right, SEC Championship Georgia Bama. I keep hearing all these arguments. Ooh, what if Georgia beats Alabama? When Georgia beats Alabama, will Bama and Georgia both get in?

They won't. Bama's got the better coach, the better quarterback, the better roster, the better big game experience. Listen, Alabama's won four straight of these games against Georgia. and in three of them, Georgia had a chance to win and kind of choked it away. Bama's beating people by 35 points a game. There's nobody in the country close to that. Their quarterback, too, has got 36 TDs and towpecks. Alabama doesn't make mistake.

It'd be one thing if they were flashy and turnover prone. Alabama's a better team. They're the better defense, the better quarterback, the better coach. Turn away. Spoiler alert. Alabama wins, 35, 23. Big 12 championship. Oklahoma wants to exact some revenge on Texas. Oddsmakers think this is going to be close.

I don't. First of all, Oklahoma leads the nation not only in points but yards by a ton. Even in their loss, by the way, to the Longhorns the first time, average over nine yards a play. So it's not like Texas slowed them down. Now, three of the last four sooner games have been close, but again, I feel like, because of the previous result, I get an emotional edge with Oklahoma.

Spoiler alert. 4733. I think it's more of a blowout than the experts think. Let's go to the Big Ten. Everybody now loves Ohio State. Everybody's down on Michigan. It's Ohio State Northwestern. Northwestern could not win an out-of-conference game before the Big Ten play.

They're a very limited football team. Ohio State, by the way, is second-most yards in everybody. in college football except Oklahoma. So, you know, the Buckeyes put points up. I do like their quarterback, Dwayne Haskins. He has really emerged. I think he got to put him as the second or third best quarterback in college football if he decides to come out after the kid at Oregon,

Justin Herbert and Will Greer at Oklahoma. I think Dwayne Haskins, he broke Drew Brees, Big Ten record for passing yards and TDs in a single season. And the offense has been cooking against Michigan and cooking against Maryland. So he's getting better as the season progresses. Spoiler alert. Ohio State wins by a couple of touchdowns, 37. All right.

There's a lot of people a couple weeks ago. Rams, Chiefs, Monday Night Football, everybody's football. Oh, my gosh, nobody plays defense. It was a lot of it. I like I miss old school football. Old school football. Get off my lawn. Nobody tackles anymore.

My takeaway was it was great. It's fun. Everybody in the world was talking about that game. I drove through my neighborhood that day, and I can see when I drive through my neighborhood, I can see into houses, you know, because we're on a hill a little bit. Everybody had the Rams Chiefs game on. Everybody knew it was going to be good. It was good.

It over-delivered. It was unbelievable. But if you're one of those cranky people, I want leather helmets and good defenses, then you've got to like the Cowboys. You got to like the Cowboys. The Cowboys, the Bears are too clever to be old school. The Steelers throw too much to be old school. And the Ravens have a running quarterback.

that's not old school. Cowboys are old school. I mean, they have, they rely overwhelmingly on running back and not just a bunch of running backs. It's old school football. We've got a bell cow, 28 carry a game running back. That is very 1980s. That is very 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s. They don't have a bunch of them like the Patriots or a bunch of them like the Eagles. No, they got one great running back. They don't even have a good backup running back. They also have a dominating front seven with rangy linebackers who sometimes should be penalized for their hits and are not penalized. Like they're over the top. Like Layton Van der Leyen-Vandrech, Jalen Smith last night had a shot.

They're borderline, you know, little dirty linebackers. And by the way, they have a quarterback, you know, who doesn't take a lot of chances, pretty safe, under 200 yards a game. I mean, this is very 1979, 1989, 1989, 1999 football. They have a quarterback under 200 yards. They have a defense front seven,

which is aggressive, almost to the point of penalty. They have an owner front and center. Now all those owners just hide. It has front and center owner. And they've got a singularly one running back lead offense.

So for cranky old school guy, this is what football was 10 years ago. And that's what Dallas looks like. I think they look a little too much like Denver and Tebow. But this is what the Cowboys are. They're very old school. Yeah.

Here's the NFC playoff picture. And it feels, to me anyway, very two-tiered. So the current division leaders, Rams, Saints, bears, cowboys, wild card teams would be Vikings and Redskins, and the Seahawks, Panthers, Eagles, Packers, here's what it feels like to me. The NFC is the first tier, Rams Saints, the second tier, limited offenses, great defenses,

Cowboys, Bears, and the third tier is everybody else. That's what it feels like to me. Despite what happened last night, I don't think of those two teams played, that's what the game would look like. I feel the Rams and the Saints can win a bunch of ways. I feel the Cowboys and the Bears and the Bears, and I like the Bears better than the Cowboys because I like Tribisky better than Dack.

I think the Bears and the Cowboys have to sort of play one way to win, but Chicago could kind of go to a second way, but not a third or a fourth way. They got to keep the score mostly low. And then I think the other teams are, I just, I just, I, it's really hard for me to see Philadelphia, Washington, Minnesota, Carolina, Seattle. I just think they have limitations. So it's a three-tiered NFC. Rams Saints, Cowboys Bears, and then everybody else.

Marcellus Wiley, Jason McIntyre next hour. Monday's headlines today. Car shopping's confusing, a lot of terms, dealer price, list price, invoice. Here's what's not. New or used. Know your fees before you get there. Truecar.com and check out true price inside of TrueCar. Our three next.

hour three and a good one this is the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in los angeles iheart radio fox sports radio and fs one jaylor is joining me i love friday last hour because jason mcintyre comes on it's one of my favorite segments of the week last 10 minute to the show mondays headlines today it's one of my favorite segments lots of stuff for this weekend we have lots of stuff we had a great blazing five i'll recap that if you haven't seen it and coming up in 15 minutes. Good guy, funny guy, former NFL or Marcellus Wiley. We'll be stopping by the studio here and best for last Monday's headlines today. But first of all, it was the highest rated Thursday night football game ever and good Lord was it good. The Cowboys

upset the Saints and there is now one thing I'm certain of. Let's give credit where credit is due. The Cowboys right now don't just have two great young linebackers in Leighton Van der Wendish and Jalen Smith. Layton Van der Leish is the best linebacker in football. He's Brian Erlacher. You didn't watch him in college. He's Brian Erlacker. He's the best linebacker in football. And they have the best tandem linebackers.

I mean, Drew Breeze had never gone 0 for four to start a game. Drew Breeze got shut out in the first half. Drew Breeze could only have the ball for 23 minutes. Let's give the Cowboys defensive front seven, which we told you early last year when they beat San Francisco. I said, this front seven's good. Now they've batted Leighton Van der Esh. They batted him. Jalen Smith is now healthy.

front seven is out of this world good. But let me just tell you something. This is starting to look like Tim Tebow and the Broncos, folks. There's one way to win for Dallas. It's got to be low scoring. Got to be at home. The defense has to be great. You've got to make your field goals.

This is starting to feel like the Tebow. This is starting to feel like the Tebow Broncos. And by the way, before you push back on that, you remember how crazy everybody went with Tebow. Dack doesn't throw down field. DAC needs a great running game. Dak has no pocket awareness. Like Tebow, Dak leads the NFL in percentage of dropbacks that he sacked. Tebow led that too.

By the way, there's a fumble issue. Tebow had a major fumble issue. He led the NFL in fumbles for a quarterback. Dak leads the NFL in fumbles for a quarterback. That is not a small thing. He doesn't throw many picks because he doesn't throw the ball down the field. Either did Tebow. I'm saying a lot of the similarities.

It was week nine, Denver and Tebow. They had a great defense. They made their field goals. They had a good schedule. And it was, oh, I look really, really good. Everybody's like, oh, my God. By the way, what did I call Dak when he came out of college? I said he's a better version of Tebow.

By the way, Troy Eichmann talked about the fumble issue. It is now just part of Dak's reality. He fumbles a lot. Here, the ball is out. Prescott cannot get on it. I tell you, that's one thing we have seen way too much. from Dak Prescott this year is him putting the ball on the ground.

He's had 10 fumbles this season. Prescott. Flag is down. Ball is out. This is Prescott and I talked about it. You've got to be more secure with the ball when you have it in your hands in these situations when you're giving up points that the ball's loose.

That was Tebow's issue. A lot of underneath throws, didn't throw downfield, wasn't accurate. a lot, terrible pocket presence where he got sacked an inordinate amount of times because he couldn't see the pressure. And by the way, Tebow was a first round pick. Dak was a fourth round pick. I watched Dak in college and I kept saying it on and on. I'm like, he's a better Tebow. We're seeing now, everybody's got film on him. Tebow needed a great defense. Tebow needed to be at home. Tebow needed to have his field goal kicker. Tebowl needed the rushing. By the way, and I know

the Cowboys are winning and you're freaking out. But I saw Mark Sanchez win for two years. years like this. I saw Blake Bortles win last year like this. I saw Tebow going a six-game winning streak like this. This looks a lot like the Denver Broncos where they got the one receiver that Tebow could rely on. They have a great defense, a nice running game, a kicker. The game's got to be close. Dallas has become a team that can only win one way. The game's got to be at home. They got to be close. I mean, they did win in Philadelphia, but they've got to be played a certain way. Z-Kast have a big day. A big day. Field go kicker got to make their kicks. You can't get in the 30s. and by the way, Greg Kossel talked about this yesterday on the show.

This is, and he brings up a very interesting point here. Correction, deception, you know, it's not jet sweep, but it's basically let's line up and run the ball with a really good back. And it's a very basic pass game that by NFL standards is somewhat remedial and elementary. But that's what their offense is. And then they play to their defense and they play to their run game. So the question is, can their defense be good enough to hold the highest scoring team in the league, let's say under 30, which the Cowboys have not given up in any game.

And can their offense put up enough points if they don't get, you know, 20-yard passes that become 90-yard touchdowns? Remedial. That's what the, that's what Tebow's offense was. It was remedial. Now, again, you can go on winning streaks. Tebow won a playoff game. Dallas could be at home and win a playoff game if they win the division. I'm not saying that. But pen to paper, DAC is about the 18th to 22nd best quarterback in the league, and he's about, as I said yesterday, I said, if he won this game, he's getting $110 million. For all the praise, we're heaping on the Cowboys defense.

Dallas didn't score in the second half. It score a point at home. And that Saints defense was worn out at the end. They were on the field for 37 minutes. They still couldn't get in the end zone. You're looking at the 22nd best quarterback in the NFL. You're going to pay him $110 million. People keep telling me, oh, the future is bright in Dallas.

And I'm like, no, no, no, the future in Dallas is going to be hard and confusing. Because by the way, DeMarcus Lawrence, he's on a franchise tag, bra. You got paying big money. Zeke coming up, big money. Byron Jones Corner, guys outstanding, big money. Amari Cooper this year, big money. You pay $110 million to Dak Prescott. You are not going to be able to resign some of these guys you need.

The future is now. It is now. John Elway did not buy into the Tebow shtick. He went out and got Peyton Manning. He's like, I don't buy into this stuff. Remember, Mark Sanchez won for two years this way. Bortles almost got to the Super Bowl last year this way. Tebow, who's not an NFL quarterback, better baseball player and a football player, won six straight games to beat the Steelers at home in the playoffs this way.

That's all I'm saying. This is a remedial offense. And for the record, this morning, I know you all hate me. Oh, that was great. It was great. It was great. It was unbelievable. And Tebow beat the Steelers. It was unbelievable. It was crazy.

You think the future is great. The future is now. I mean, this morning, I wrote down. I was sitting to myself, even the Cowboys, by the way, last night sent out Zeke and Van derresh in the post-game interview. They knew who won the game? It was a running back in the linebacker. I thought to myself, who are the most important Cowboys right now? I think Van der Lech has changed the defense.

He is the best linebacker in football. He is Erlacker for the Bears. I think Zeke's number two. I think DeMarcus Lawrence, you tell me who was more valuable last night. Dak thrown underneath routes or DeMarcus Lawrence in Drew Brees' jock all night. Left tackle Tyron Smith, linebacker Jalen Smith, Jason Garrett. I think Dak's about seven or eight. Rod Marinelli with a young defense, very valuable, eighth most important cowboy.

I'd put DAC 7. 110 million bucks? I mean, you better get a home, you better get a discount, Dallas. Because you tell me the future is bright. Now, the future is confusing. With Tebow, it was confusing. With Mark Sanchez, you're like, it's confusing. And with Blake Bortles, Jacksonville struggled.

We don't think he's that good. He's totally limited, but we got to pay him. What are we going to do? The future's bright when you've got Jared Gough and Patrick Mahomes. That's when the future's bright. The future is bright when you have Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson and Deshawn Watson. But when you're winning this way, Sanchez, Tebow, Dach, Bortles, the future is not bright. the future is confusing as heck

by the way coming up what did marcellus wiley make of last night's game plus there's a couple of great games this weekend Steelers and the chargers is going to be fantastic chargers play all road games essentially they go to pittsburg

it's a coin flip a lot of people like pittsburgh we'll have that coming up our next guest played in the NFL for a decade a pro bowler had a stint with the Dallas Cowboys drafted by Buffalo and it is his birthday. Marcellus Wiley

bring it home. Oh, look at that. How old? Hey, how you doing? Look at that. I get the soulful version, too, huh? You got that right. The pride of South Central L.A.

Yes, sir. Clipper fan for life. All day, every day. Yeah, they're number one right now in the West. Oh, you don't have to remind me. It's pretty obvious. especially if you check my Instagram, around 9.58 Pacific every night. I wait for that post to go up and then I just sit there and copy and paste.

Let's roll. So I said to start the show, and I'll get some pushback on this. Dax's better than Tebow. I'm not denying that. But there are some Tebow, Denver Broncos similarities where make your field goals, games got to go a certain way, great defense, play at home. And we fell in love with that. Marcel's, I worked at the same company with you then.

Yes. The whole world was like, this is sustainable. Right. They were doing Saturday Night Live stuff. Am I crazy saying, you know, they're both mobile, average arms, don't throw down field, fumble too much, get sack too much. There's a little Tebow here? A little Tebow.

I'm glad you explained it because what you're basically saying is a defense and a running game can support what Dak Prescott is. Look, it's been three years for Dak Prescott. I'm pretty low on Dak Prescott. Sounds like you are as well. he's never taking the governor off. What I mean by that in terms of an inflated NFL passing game, where you're protected in the pocket more so than ever,

where receivers aren't touched, where the passing game in the yards and the touchdowns, everything is inflated. We still see a guy who's only thrown for over 300 yards three times, but then 16 times under 200 yards. Never one game in his career with four touchdowns. It's just the governor is still on. I thought yesterday in the Jerry Jones fake super,

Bowl that he created for this team, that he would finally say, let me go for broke. I've already openly negotiated my contract with my owner. I'm going to take a hometown discount because I do show signs of a guy who is managing the game, not actually going out there and dictate in terms. All that said, not highly impressed by DAC, and he may come back to be the reason why this team doesn't fully achieve their goals. Well, that's my thing, is that I've seen this with Sanchez and Tebow and Kaepo and Kaepernick. Now, I saw it a year with Russell Wilson, but by mid-year-two, Russell started popping.

Like the light went on, you're like, okay, this is more than running dude. But here's the thing. I got, you got to pay Lawrence here. DeMarcos Lawrence got to get paid. Yep. You better pay Jones the corner. Zeeke in two years. All these linebackers.

You also have some offensive linemen you have to pay within two years. And I look at this, oh, Mari Cooper this year got paid. I'm about to say Cooper's first. My takeaway is, And I'm going to throw this at you. My theory is the Bordels and the Kaepernicks and Russell Wilson, when they're making nothing. And the stars of the team are defense. Everybody's good.

But when you then have to pay Blake, because you don't want to have chaos at quarterback, when you pay Blake 20 and the corner's like, bro, I'm Pro Bowl third straight year. You're paying me a third of Blake. If you pay DAC 24 million, Marcellus, my question is, is his likeability in the room. It's one thing when you're making 700 Gs. Everybody love Russell Wilson in Seattle. He got the check and Richard Sherman was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm the best corner in a decade. Right. My concern is not only if you sign DAC, you're not going to be able to resign everybody. Second thing is expectations go way up when you're making 24 large, right?

Oh, exactly. In the room? Yeah, I mean, there are two constructions at play. One is personnel construction. You talked about that. Russell Wilson being in Seattle, when you're you're sitting there as a third round draft choice. Hey, it's okay. He's making a few hundred thousand dollars. He's overachieving and we could pay everyone else around you. But as soon as you get paid, the mental construction of a locker room changes as well. We expect more. Even if you've been doing a great job, we want even more because your salary changed. So it's not just the upstairs management feels that way. It's the players as well. We expect to squeeze a little more toothpaste out of you. Yeah, like Kirk Cousins in Washington, the story was kind of fun.

Yeah. It was like, how you like that. It's like, kind of like this guy. Now it's like you're making 33 large. I don't like that that much. Yeah, exactly. I mean, we've all been there before. I mean, when you're climbing up the hill, everyone wants to praise you.

And as soon as you get to the top of the hill, they're all saying, you know, there's only one way to go. That's down. Now, do you, let's just talk about the defensive personnel of Dallas. Yeah. Do you like, I mean, it's hard not to like Vanderish, right? Oh, yeah. Vanderish is a beast. and certainly didn't hit the ground running

Day one, a couple games you saw but you saw the tackling ability, you saw the athleticism and you saw the effort so you knew that one day all those things would come together not this fast, I didn't expect it. He made some game-changing plays yesterday. Little Earl Lacker, he's got a little Earlacker.

He has a lot of Earl Lacker, a converted safety playing linebacker. We didn't see him in college. Didn't see him in college bigger than most. But when you see that motor and athleticism working together and then you can see the IQ jump off, when you make it plays behind the backfield, that's all preparation. That's starting to see tendencies, not guessing, but saying,

as soon as I see what I saw in film, or I'm jumping on it. This guy is doing that at a rookie. So when you see a defensive player make a play at the line of scrimmage or a loss, that's film. Oh, that's film. Because everything's about anticipation without guessing. And it's that balancing act. So that's why you study so much film, you're trying to get to that point where as soon as something triggers what I'm familiar with,

which I saw on that screen, I'm jumping it. And most guys don't trust what they see. What the coach is always saying, cliche, trust your eyes. Because if your eyes are telling you that and you've already been prepared, you're confident enough to pull that trigger. You can see that right now, and he's a rookie. Do you feel any less about the Saints, or was it just one of those you walked into a stadium on a Thursday night?

The owner says it's a Super Bowl. There are, even for great teams, there are games you just walk in. You know, you walk into the Superdome in that Katrina, space, it just lights out. The emotional level, you couldn't match it. I don't think I think less of the Saints today. Not at all. I even said it yesterday. I said, if the Saints lose this game, this was a hiccup game for them.

One, they had one, 10 straight. Sometimes you do need that game to kind of wake you up. Sure. To reset the mentality of this team. Two, they went on the road on a Thursday night. We know how Thursday night road teams usually fair. They come out flatter than normal. It wasn't a normal work week for them,

especially with the travel. And then they ran into a team that's starting to fill themselves, playing great defense. And Drew Breeze, this was a game that he wants to forget and forget fast. Never seen Drew Breeze look like that since he became Drew Breeze, the veteran, the great. I played with him as rookie year, so it took me back to way back San Diego.

You played with him in San Diego. Yeah, so I saw rookie year Drew Breeze, which is distant from what we saw every other game of his career, except last night. There's a thing in the locker room, we always say, are you shook or are you shaking? And the difference is if you're shaking, that means what did the defense do to you? What did the elements do to you?

What adversity did you face? But if you're shook, it's like, are you okay? Were you emotionally ready for this game? Were you in the right space? Because Drew Brees from play one. He was over his first four. Never happened before. Exactly.

He didn't look like Drew Brees. The ball was coming out sideways. It wasn't a tight spiral. It wasn't in stride. It just looked like Drew Brees had something going. on outside of it. You know what it is, though? And you can relate to this because Columbia University, and I always

heard this about Peyton Manning. Years ago, I said, you know, he's not as good in the playoffs. And they said, here's the thing. For these high functioning players, of which you were one, you are watching a ton of film. They get into habits. And you kick them off their habit.

Like Tom Brady on a buy has not been great. Tom's got a work habit. So you're taking Drew Breeze. Hey, Drew, shriek, shrink all your stuff down to 30. By the way, Wednesday, because you run a plane Wednesday, not Friday. Yes. And it, for a veteran, high-functioning players, it's like, this is, be one thing if you're a 22-year-old rookie, you don't know what the hell you're doing. Right. You're just running all over the field. But I, I would make an argument. I thought Peyton Manning had this, and it withdrew last night.

You shrunk his, you shrunk his work week. Yeah, you changed the conditioning. We're all just, just looking at our mental and physical conditioning, we're all just the results of that. And so our habits become part of our nature and what we've, really rely on in terms of deep confidence. So it's funny you say that about Peyton Manning. I used to always say he was so tightly wound that that was amazing in regular moments, regular season. Everyone else is trying to get amped up to a place where you live and exist on the daily.

However, in playoff situations, everyone's amped up. Everyone is honed in. So his edge, his advantage shrinks. There you go. You lose your advantage. Clayton Kirshall is another guy to me. Tightly wound, all about their habits and routines and conditioning. but then when everyone finally jumps on board,

you start to lose just a little bit off that fastball. By the way, Pittsburgh Steelers host the Chargers this weekend, who I don't know if they'll have Melvin Gordon, not sure if he's going to play. That matters to me. Some think the Chargers are the best team in L.A. Who do you like and why? I like the Steelers right now.

I mean, look, Denver Broncos are smiling at both teams as they knocked them off in consecutive weeks. But if you look at the Steelers, that offense, high-powered, healthy, not worrying about the running back having an MCL injury. So I just think that because they're at full throttle, and the Chargers, you talk about conditioning and habits, charges first time on prime time. So let's see how everyone responds, especially when you're under man.

Even though that's my team and I love the Chargers, I think that they're right there tier two in terms of Super Bowl contention. I still see the Steelers winning. Ben, threw some teammates under the bus. That was the appearance, some would say this week. Did you feel that way? and what do you make of star veteran quarterback occasionally pointing a finger? I didn't feel that way.

One, if you follow Ben Raffersberger, especially his post-game career in terms of press conferences, he throws himself under the bus a lot of times. He takes it. He's like, hey, I messed up. I own that. And I think that when you're the veteran that he is, the captain of the team, Super Bowl champions, the great future Hall of Famer, yeah, there's times where you have to just tell everyone what the standard is.

and no fear of what that standard is because there's going to be days you fall short of that standard. And in those moments, if you feel like you have the game and the cachet to come back at Ben Rafflesberger, by all means do so. But I don't feel anything from that. Ben is owned up to his own mistakes before as a player, and I'm certain that Antonio Brown understood where he came from. Host, speak for yourself with Jason Whitlock, Marcellus Wiley, decade in the NFL.

Your new book is called. Never shut up. Today is his birthday. You are. How old are you today? What do you think? Are you going to guess? Yeah, guess.

All right, Joey, let's guess. I don't like guess of people's birthday. Why not? He's very comfortable in his... Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm going to guess 43. Oh, that's old. Yeah, I came out with her brother.

I came out with Jason in the draft, so that was pretty easy. About 44, 44. He looks good. Yeah. What were you going to guess? What was that? So you just let me guess and then you bailed on me? He left you out to hang.

All right, Ben. I see what it is. You know what's funny, though? It's interesting. When NBA guys retire, a lot of times, they put on a lot of weight. You ever notice with, I always notice this, with NFL linemen, they lose weight. Yeah. There's a lot of old football players out there.

Lineman look better. Remember Mark Schlerath? He's a meatball. Exactly. You have to maintain a certain weight or you get fined. Jeff Saturday. And not all linemen are just giant people to, I mean, they're giants, obviously, but they don't carry around that much weight usually.

You pack pounds on. Yeah, we called it fake weight. In my mind, just to get to the NFL, especially coming from Columbia, I said, I had to be 640, 2.80. So when I was walking around, kind of like Jason, Jason's like 240, and I was like 250-ish. I was like, I got to gain 20, 30 more pounds. I forced myself to eat. I forced myself with the protein. As soon as it was over, it's like, let that go.

And once you let that go and those habits, it starts to fall off a little. Great seeing you. Thank you, too, guys. Joy. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. What the gifts at all this talk. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right. So last night was a big win for the Cowboys, probably a bigger win for Doc Prescott. He held the Saints offense, but that was averaging 37.2 points a game to just 10. And Jerry Jones took notice,

just like the rest of us. Let's take listen to Jerry. You win something like this against a team that well coached, those kind of players, caliber a team like that. And it, you know you've done it. your mirror knows you've done it, you change.

This is a changer in here. These guys will, they're different cats now. They got their swagger back. You know, he called it the Super Bowl. It's probably a great night for Jerry. That was a big win for the Cowboys. Nobody was giving them a chance. I thought they were going to get blown out. That was a great play.

That was one of the, that first little play. The two big plays were showing. The Zique screen was really clever. No, this one's the big play, the big home run. That's probably his best throw of the game right there. That was his best throw. Wouldn't you say Gullet to Gallup down the sideline? I love this screenplay.

Perfectly blocked. That's a great play. The screen was actually a tougher throw than you think. Because you have to loop it over guys. It's the only throw he had that had a little touch on it. Well, we're showing all offensive plays right now. We really should be showing the defense because that was really the key last night. So the Cowboys remaining schedule is the Eagles at home, at the Colts, at home against the Bucks,

and at the New York Giants. Good luck against the Colts. They are in the driver's seat right now. They're 7 and 5, so I'm just going to guess. They'll beat Philadelphia, 8 and 5. Show me that one more time. Put that schedule up. They'll be 8 and 6.

They'll lose to the Colts. And then who do they have? Bucks and Giants. So 8 and 5, 8 and 6, 9 and 6, 10, and 6. Cowboys will be 10 and 6. 10 and 6? I don't think they're going to beat the Colts, even at home. All right.

Well, the Lakers, they needed a pep talk after the two straight losses, and an 11 and 9 start to their seat. season, and they got one from Denzel Washington on Wednesday. So Magic Johnson and Rob Polinka put this thing together called Genius Talks, and they have different successful people from different injuries come by the UCLA Health Training Center. So they had Kendrick Lamar, The Rock, Allison Felix, and they had Denzel. And apparently this inspired LeBron, and he listed his top Denzel movies.

Top three will be Man on Fire. he got game, obviously. He got game. Everybody wanted to be Jesus' shoulders. Growing up, for me personally, I did. And I don't know. I would say those two right on the top. I mean, I love so many of his movies, to be honest.

I mean, remember the Titans, John Kew, I don't know. Training day? Training day? I mean, who can get about that? What are your top Denzel movies? I remember the Titans was good. What's your? Remember the Titans is good. There was another movie that he's in that was not on that list that I liked.

It was kind of a hard Scrabble movie. I love Man on Fire is probably my favorite. It's very close with Man on Fire and Training Day. Obviously, he got game. American Gangster. American Gangster. There he is. I like the Hurricane, too.

People forget about the hurricane. Great movie. Oh, you mean when he was the fighter? Yeah. Did you ever see Will Smith play Ollie? Yeah. Look like him. Look just like him.

It was a fascinating how he looked like him. He did. He got way into that character. character. You've never seen Training Day. Have you? I've seen Remember the Titans. I don't think I've seen Training Day. Training Day and Remember the Titans, very different movies. You got to see Training Day. Trust me. You know, I've not seen Raging Bull?

Yeah, I haven't seen Raging Bull either. Sorry, we're on the same page with that. Never seen Raging Day. You find a movie that you suggest that I should see. I suggest you see Training Day. I'll tell you one that's good. A lot of people, it's kind of an under-the-radar movie. Watch the Titanic. Very good. I walked into that one. All right, so we have some breaking news, Colin.

All right. It's very important stuff. Breaking news. The Warriors have officially signed Silver Oak as their official wine partner. Oh, what a bunch of snobby nonsense. Silver Oak is like 150 a bottle. I love a story.

I think it's actually way more than that that they're doing with this. So they will serve the wineries Cabernet at Savagnan at Oracle Arena this season. and the winery will produce limited edition bottles with the Warriors logo. That's breaking news. They're selling a five bottle set of 2014 Silver Oak, Alexander Valley Cabernet for $525. Oh, Lord. God, there's another reason to hate them. You must let it breathe first.

You know what? This is so, Warriors, and I love it so much. It's so perfect for them. You know what, the Clippers, they just signed on with Milwaukee's Best. It's a blue label beer. I mean, it's so good. It's that feels so... Do you drink that?

When it's available, yes, I drink silver oaks like expensive. It is expensive. It is rich people's wine right there. I love wine. Well, you love wine also, right? I own a wine store. We actually have an exclusive picture of you drinking wine. Where?

There you go. I have snake dreams. I do. I can't, when I drink wine, I have these awful yellow snake dreams. So weird. I can't, whatever, especially red wine. The tannins are. something in it. I have weird...

I'm just telling you. So you're going to pass on the Silver Oak Warriors Edition wine. Listen, I am a man of the people. Silver Oak's very expensive. I don't feel like I relate to America drinking Silver Oak. I feel you. Tonight I'm going to go have a beer with my buddy Mark. It's going to be a Stella. Right off the draft,

I'll just do a draft, Stella. Stella's a little bit high end, right? Stella's a lot. Yeah, if you want to go for that, I would go like Miller Light. That's a special glass it comes in. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, you can't really claim, like, man of the people when it comes in the, whatever it's called.

I didn't say it was a man of the average people. I'm a little above average. Stella. All right, is that it? Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herdline News. It's one of my favorite segments of the week. Monday's headlines today. We're going to watch the weekend in sports. What? What will we be talking about? The headlines be in the newspapers in America on Monday with Jason McIntyre. J-Mack, that's next and best for last.

Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Tonight on Fox, the Pac-12 champion will be crowned as number 17 Utah, battles number 11, Washington. Then tomorrow, number six, Ohio State and number 21 Northwestern go toe-to-to-to-to for the Big Ten title. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern tonight and tomorrow. on Fox and the Fox Sports app. I got the Huskies tonight, baby.

You know, I saw a study, Jason McIntyre, founder of the big lead.com, Monday headline today guy. We'll start that in a second. 88% of sports fans, 18 years old to 30, 88% will watch a game more likely to watch a game if they got money on it. When did you start gambling? Do we need to talk about this out there? No, college, me and my buddy, who's probably watching right now. He was texting me. We were in college, I think our senior year, and we discovered gambling.

We would go to the local bar. You know, everybody's having fun. And we'd be watching, like, the clippers against the hornets or whatever, and we'd have action on it, just for fun. And now it's just to the point where NFL season, half the stories are gambling, are they not? On your site, big lead. Does gambling stuff pop? Big, yeah. I mean, NBA is starting, but it's mostly college in NFL.

And when I go on lock it in, like I did yesterday and give out the Cowboys money line, Hello, I mean, cowherd, come on. A nice pick. It was good. All right, we call it Monday's headlines today. You think people are still going to be talking about that cowboy win on Monday. How could they not, Colin? I mean, this has now become the biggest story in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys.

Yeah. I mean, you take down the Saints after that run. I believe, hold on to your seats, Monday's headline will be next stop. Super Bowl. Now, listen, don't freak out on me. me, okay? The Rams, okay? I know you're talking about the Rams all day. I got a buddy who has season tickets. I've gone to some Rams games, and they're outnumbered by Eagles fans and Chargers fans. If the Cowboys go into L.A. for a playoff game, what's it going to be 65% Cowboys fans?

Oh, yeah. It's going to be like a home field advantage. We saw the Rams losing the playoffs last year to Atlanta, and the Cowboys last night showed Colin, they can win a game three different ways, right? Ezekiel Elliott, ground and pound you. Also defensively, their, Demarchus Lawrence is a menace, and they can win with Amari Cooper through the air. You saw that on Thanksgiving, a couple big, huge plays. Let me remind folks, Cowboys beat the best team in the NFL last night without Sean Lee, their linebacker. He's back next week for Depth. And Tyron Smith, their left tackler. And David Irving. David Irving on the line. Randy Gregory won't be jumping all sides.

So three of their best players did not play last night. I just think the Cowboys right now, when you look at the NFC, are firmly in the mix for the Super Bowl. Last note, their odds were plus 3,300 to win the Super Bowl. They went down to plus 2,000 this morning. Huge leap down. People are buying the Cowboys. I will say this, you know, as dysfunctional as the Cowboys appear. And there are dysfunctional teams.

I think Miami's always been a little dysfunctional. I think Chicago, New York Jets. The Jets have been dysfunctional. You can talk about all you want. You know this. Your Jets have nobody in the offense that can play. The Cowboys, at all the big positions, left tackle, running receiver, slot receiver, pass rusher, corner,

linebacker, they have drafted the heck. The last three or four years, this cowboy organization... Is that Jerry? Is Jerry Jones coming through? They have done... Well, Stephen now runs. Steven, yeah. Have you ever met the daughter? No. Charlotte? Do I need to meet her? She's amazing.

Yeah, sounds like she's smart. She's behind... She's in the luxury box. You talk about an impressive woman. I will say the window is tiny for them, because they've got to pay Demarcus, Amari Cooper, Z. what I've said. So, like, if you're going to get excited, now is the time. And I, and I, we were texting last night about Dak Prescott. You can't pay him $28 million. No. He's going to want it, but you cannot. Okay. You just can't. Would you pay him 25?

I mean, I would try to beat him down, look for a hometown discount. Like what? If you could give him 20? That's what, if you're asking me what I would want to pay him, he's not getting a Campbell soup ad without the Cowboys. No state tax. I'd pay, I would literally on the table. I would gun for 18.5. And then here's the bigger question. What are other team out there is giving him 28 minutes. Nobody. There's nobody. Nobody. I think Dallas has to say, listen, bro, make an offer at 17 and a half, maybe tops 19. This is what we're paying you. Now, his agent can say this. You were a dead franchise when Romo got hurt. And we made you 13 and three. You can make an argument. The merchandise alone that year, we made you $50 million.

But the bigger question, if he hits the market, who's backing up the brinks for that? And every team really has a quarterback. Well, but you're not paying for Dak. Yeah, exactly. But even if you've got a young guy, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, you're not taking Dak Prescott. No way. All right. Monday headline today, Sunday, Browns faced Texans who have won 8 straight. Okay, this is my favorite because you know Browns

fans hate me. I don't think they love you. Baker Mayfield and his brother coming after me on podcasts. I believe the Browns have a monster game against the Texans. Now, Colin, if they win that game, and I think they got a chance, Monday's headline will be Wilden.

card ever. Colin, listen, wait until you see this full screen we built here. There is a chance Baker Mayfield can get in the playoffs with the Browns. They've got to win this game, obviously. But if you look at that sixth wild card spot, Colin, it's a bunch of, it's like a poo-poo platter. Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals.

I mean, these teams are bad. The Broncos are not a good team. What about the Colts? Look, okay, the Colts are the one team you've got to worry about. So you're saying if Cleveland wins this weekend. If Cleveland wins, it'll now be five, six and one. If Baltimore loses to Atlanta, You just told me they will.

They'll fall down. Colts have a tough spot in Jacksonville. Be careful on the road favored. Miami against Buffalo. Nobody believes in Miami. Come on, that team's a joke. The Bengals lost their quarterback for the season. I'm just telling you, you can make a case that the Browns and Baker Mayfield

will get in the wild card mix. And here's why it's interesting. We talk about stuff on the website and traffic. The Cleveland Browns are huge right now on social media because of Baker Mayfield. Yeah, no, no. Monday morning, we woke up. we're looking at the metrics, Baker Mayfield, the number one traffic driver. And then I came here to Fox to do my podcast, and they're telling me the number one thing

on the Fox website, Baker Mayfield. Monday morning, I'm telling you, if he gets to the playoffs, it's huge for everybody. This show, social media. There's a case for Baker. Anything you think you could pull this off? No, they can beat the Texans. My takeaway is they give up a lot of big, it's a very aggressive defense. They give up a ton of big plays, and Deshawn delivers on big play.

So I think Houston at home with a good pass rush. JJ Watts got a sack in the last four games. I think it's a touchdown game, but I'll take Houston. Touchdown. But I think, I mean, listen, Cleveland is their playing their butts off. All right. Monday's headlines today. Patriots host Vikings.

I love Minnesota. Game of the week on Fox. Patriots host of Vikings. Do you remember first week of the season I came on this show and you left the Vikings off your Super Bowl contendances? I did. Well, listen, for a while, you look smart there. Now not so much, Colin. Hey, by the way, the Vikings defense, the last like three,

or four weeks is among the league's best. They're rounding into form like last year. This is a good spot for them. Now, Xavier Rhodes or cornerback needs to play. But if they pull this off, the Monday headline will be Brady gets a lump of skull. Ah, I knew you'd love that. Come on, I even see Joy laughing there. Listen, Tom Brady, we've been over this a lot.

He's not playing well right now. No, it's a run. They have reduced this to a run-laden, run-centric offense. And Gronk was even held. last week. And they did not look sharp against the Jets, could not put them away. It's funny, a couple of these meatballs on W-E-E-I heard some stuff I said about Brady. They came after me. Come on my show, all this stuff. And just because I said Tom Brady's not performing at the level that we've seen him do, in the past, and he's starting to slump.

I know you've been all over this. I just, if Brady loses this game at home, remember, they're like unbeatable at home. What happens, Kyle? I mean, I feel like we're getting close the end. Now, they got to lose, but it feels like it's almost over for Tom Brady. I think this season could be it. I don't know. Monday's headline today, Monday, Monday's headlines today, SEC

title game, Bama Georgia. Hey, big line move. Big line move in the last couple hours. For who? For Georgia. What? The line has come down. I saw 11 and a half. They told me right before I came on. It was 14 a couple days ago. So where's that money coming from, Colin? Some money coming in on the Georgia Bulldogs

against Nick Sabin. Monday's headline? I think Monday's headline will be Georgia wins against the spread. I think they will cover. I can't go out there and pick them to win, man. I mean, I think... Alabama doesn't make mistakes. Like, if a team's great, like Ohio State is really talented, but they make a bunch of mistakes. Bama didn't give you a backdoor win. They don't make mistakes, except occasional special teams gas. They had a punt block last week that cost me money in the first half in a degenerate special, but that line coming down tells me there's some big money. Now it didn't cross a key number. 12 is not a key number in gambling, but this is going to be the biggest test for sure for Alabama this year.

LSU, we know I had no chance. They have no offense. Georgia's got some players. They got a quarterback. I think Clay Travis is with me on this. We did discuss this on lock it in yesterday. I think George is going to be a live dog here, man. I will say this. I really like their chances. When you're a dominant dynasty and you don't play close games, you're averaging 35-point wins. Fourth quarter, you look up and it's a three-point game. Remember, Tua? Tua is not played in the fourth quarter. Yeah, so you get, there is a possibility of Georgia Hangs, Bama gets tight.

Finally, NBA over the weekend, Monday's headlines today. This is a special for Joy and Colin. I know you guys love this gentleman. You know the phrase foregone conclusion, right? You're familiar with that. Okay. I think Monday's NBA headline will be MVP is a for-Bron conclusion. Have you looked at the numbers, guys?

No. LeBron's off to his best scoring story. start in eight years. Really? He's carried, yeah, 28.1 points per game. Wow. Absolutely carrying the Lakers. And, you know, Joy, Colin, let me know. Who am I missing in the MVP discussion? James Harden, forget about it, okay? It's not happening. They stink. Steph Curry's been injured. Kevin Durant's played well, but I don't know, I don't think they're going to give him the MVP award. Media doesn't like him. We know that. Who's left, Janice? Joel and B. It feels like about time. Yes. He could win it every year.

This feels like a good year for LeBron. I mean, Russell Westbrook's been in and out of the lineup. George has actually been better than Westbrook this year. I think it's LeBron. He turns 34, I believe, one month from now. Colin, MVP for LeBron in L.A.? For Braun conclusion, that's pretty funny. I will say this, this whole thing about, hey, let's shift it around.

We're going to have like Lonzo with a ball. It's like, you watch the Lakers. Last night, first quarter, fourth quarter, LeBron's like, fellas, spread out. out. My Rock. I'll score. Like, let's just, let's stop pretending anything other than what LeBron does he's going to do here. I feel like, Colin, half our business is

anticipation, figuring out what's next, where things are going. And LeBron right now is playing so well. I have a feeling he's going to get another title, not this year. But if you watch him, he's like inviting free agents. Hey, come play with me. We can do this.

I can't believe that. I think LeBron's going to get another title in LA. He's playing so well right now. It's absurd. Okay. Jason McIntyre, Monday's headlines today. Great stuff. Monday. Michael Vic, Trent Dillford, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. Stopping the lows through December 5th, 25% off appliance special values. See store for details. U.S. only while supplies last lows. All right. Speak for yourself is coming up next. Going to be a great weekend tonight. Washington, Utah, Pact 12 championship on FS1. Last night, a blown 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 Sports Slice on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygill and friends on the I-heart. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported

on, a Mormon polygamist, and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after? me. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.