The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Dodgers, Dak Prescott, Patriots, and Marquee 3

Episode Date: October 10, 2019

Colin discusses the major mistake the Dodgers did in their loss to the Nationals, how Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is probably dealing with QB Dak Prescott's contract, the best players in tonight's Patriots-Giants game, and his new Marquee 3. Guests include Greg Jennings, Greg Cosell, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Andrew Siciliano. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played. with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast what's up guys

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

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRodio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. Pat can't wait.

What a day we have. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles, beautiful sunny Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, one hour from now. One of my favorite 10 minutes, 50 minutes of the week, Greg CoSell, NFL films, 40 years. our NFL meat sandwich if you play fantasy, if you gamble,

or you just love hearing about who's going to win, why they're going to win, the most objective guy we have. Greg Kosell, one hour from now. Joy, how are you? We are in beautiful, sunny, and sad. Depressed.

We got a lot of gifts in L.A. But our baseball team went down in flames last night. Let me start with this. So would you ever run an NFL team, an MLS team, an NBA, team, anything. And in the biggest, most

pressurized moment of the year, ask your, this is the crisis of the year, ask your team or a player to do something they don't naturally do. I mean, in the NBA, five seconds left NBA

finals, you wouldn't ask Ben Simmons of the Sixers to hit a three-pointer, even a jumper. You wouldn't ask in the Super Bowl final drive fourth and two Super Bowl to ask a full on a fourth and three to run outside. You'd have run a power run. But last night in the biggest most pressurized moment of the year,

the Dodgers asked starter Clayton Kershaw to be a closer. And here's what happened next. Kershaw's back out there to start the eighth. Rendon in the air to left. Taylor goes back to the wall and it's gone. Anthony Rendon, a leadoff. Homer in the 8th. And here's Juan Soto.

In the air to deep right center field. And there she goes. We are tied. Okay. You're asking A, in the biggest moment of the year, asking a starter to be a closer. It's not what he does. Baseball's always been incredibly specialized. Even among pitchers, you got your starter, you got your A, you got your two, you have

your middleman, you have. You have your setup man, you have your closer. You don't ask a starter to be a closer. You are not a desperate team. Okay? So the second thing is your bullpened pitch very well in the playoffs. It's not a strength of the team, but it had been good in the playoffs and you had guys available. A number three is Clayton Kershaw had struggled in the playoffs historically after the six inning.

His ERA after the six inning is like a 12, meaning this is not a great spot for him to begin with. Forget the position. That's not what he does well. He struggled psychologically with it. And then finally, Walker Bueller was the guy throwing the starter for the Dodgers who throws absolute gas. He's 98-99. Kershaw is in the 89-90 range. So it probably felt like a little bit of, you know, foot off the pedal for Natsbatters.

I mean, listen, we don't ask Major League Baseball managers to do much in 2019 due to the analytics. We ask our football coach to be a therapist, build the playbook, manage the clock, no personnel, deal with the media, babysit. We ask NFL coaches to do everything. Baseball managers in 2019 just don't screw up the bullpen. They don't even write the lineup anymore. That comes down from upstairs two hours before the game. All we ask you to do is don't butcher the bullpen. That's it.

And the Dodgers bullpen struggled in the regular season. It was not great, but it should be noted that's pretty good in the postseason. You led three to one. There's no panic here. Dave Roberts, after the move and after the game. It's not about analytics. It's about he's one of the best pitchers in the game. And for him to go out there and throw four pitches and to go back out there and get two hitters,

I felt really good about that. It's more of, I don't think it was an analytic question. You know, it's a guy that I believe and I trust. And, you know, it didn't work out. Listen, whether you thought it was analytics or not, the Dodgers are built on analytics. That's what they are. It's why they don't spend 10 million, 20 or 10-year deals, 12-year deals, 15, you know, they won't do those long-term deals.

Analytically, they'd rather get an infield that's reasonably priced. They're very analytic-driven, and you went, you know, perhaps the opposite of the analytics. But I come back to something. I've been doing this for like 25 years, okay? The best management I've ever had is at Fox, because Fox never asks me to do anything. I'm not good at. And for all you young manager, I don't care if you run a car lot, I don't care if you run a TV network, I don't care if you run a law firm.

Here's, I'll never be a manager, but I know a good manager when I see them in any business. And good managers don't put employees in situations in the most pressurized moment of the calendar year in spots they're not built to succeed. That's not where you use Kershaw. He's not great in the postseason after the seventh. He is not a closer. He is an 89-mile-an-hour throw-ward a 90 following a 98-mile-an-hour heater. This just didn't make any sense.

And it's not like the NFL where we ask our coaches and our guys to be a million things. Baseball today, just don't screw up the bullpen. And the Dodgers did. All right, let's shift to this. Very, very interesting. There is this sense. I've been hearing this for months now. Just pay everybody in Dallas.

Pay Zeke and pay DeMarcus Lawrence and pay Jalen Smith and pay Amarry Cooper and pay Dachsh. Money is like a waterfall. Money's just flying everywhere. But of course, it's a salary cap league. And unlike the NBA, which is a salary cap league, there's not a lot of exceptions and loopholes. It's kind of a hard cap league. So what do you know? there's a site called Over the Cap.

And Over the Cap has discovered that one team in the NFL has nearly 41% of its snaps by its players, that the players are free agents at the end of the year. And do you know what team that is? The Dallas Cowboys. So the Dallas Cowboys, Anthony Brown, Byron Jones, Jeff Heath, Randall, Randall, Amari Cooper, or Dak Prescott, they're all pending free agents. Well, you got to get a break on somebody, folks. You got to get a break on one of these contracts.

And so Jerry Jones has a number. This is what I believe. He's got a number. And he paid Zeke early. He paid the left tackle years ago, Tyron Smith early. He paid the athletic linebacker Jalen Smith early. He paid Demarcus Lawrence the pass rusher early. and he has waited on DAC, the most important position,

because I believe Jerry is smart. Jerry's been doing this a long time. He was an oil maverick early. What do they call him, a wildcatter? He has been negotiating for years and years, and he has a number. And I just want you to think about this for a second. So if you were Jerry and you had a number,

you would be hoping to have the most leverage, right? I mean, you certainly wouldn't want to sign Dak Prescott. after the Miami game or the New York Giant game, right? That would not be the week that you call Dax Asian and go, yeah, Dak just threw for 300 yards and had a perfect passer rating. Let's talk contract. I want you to look at the Cowboys Contract. Now remember, November, it gets cold and windy and rainy

and the Cowboys playing nice indoor weather. Look at that. Look at the upcoming schedule starting October 20th. Philadelphia, Minnesota, Detroit, New England, Buffalo at Chicago. New England's the number one rated defense. Chicago is the number two rated defense. Buffalo's the number three rated defense. Minnesota is the number five rated defense.

Philadelphia's got a great pass rush, and Detroit's got Matt Patricia playing their butt off. Jerry Jones looks at that schedule and thinks, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'll get on the phone. right after that Chicago game, December 5th, 9 degrees, windy, rainy cold, Dak gets shut down to two field goals. That's when you call the agent and go, hi, I've been so busy.

Can we sit down this morning and talk about Dak's contract? Because I look at this over the cap site. Dallas has more players, more snaps. 41% of their snaps this year have been played by guys. who are pending free agents. The contracts are all up. Jerry's got to get a break on one of these deals. This is the NFL. It's a hard salary cap. It's not the NBA where you got Larry Bird exemption, this exemption, this loophole. It doesn't work that way. It's hard cap. Here's the number. Look at the cowboy schedule. And sometimes you get breaks in life. Sometimes you don't.

This has become a timing issue. You're going to pay DAC and that's your future quarterback. So that's not the discussion here. Like, don't worry about that. But now it's just timing and leverage. And Jerry is looking at it and going, I play the number one defense, the two defense, the three defense, the four defense. Oh, what do you know? They're outside there. They're outside there. After that Chicago game, that's when you call the agent. You know what?

I have been so busy. I feel terrible. I feel terrible about this. Let's sit down tomorrow over a cold draft beer and knock that contract out as DAC had a 34.8 passer rating. So I just think it's very interesting, this waterfall of money. Jerry's got to get a discount. somewhere and we know he's going to sign dac and we know dac's not going anywhere and we know dac's getting paid jerry the only thing he has to cling to is timing sure feels like the timing would be good

just after that bears game um we're packed today Greg co-sell is coming up in 45 minutes two things first of all i'm so excited zionn williamson is going to win MVP i'm almost sure of it he was amazing i've never liked uh i don't even remember liking lebron this much this early Like LeBron was kind of a freight train. He didn't have a dynamic personality. He just had a dynamic game when he came out of high school. But Zion's got the smile, and the charisma and the look.

By the way, I think he's getting early votes already for the MVP and the seed and hadn't started. But coming up next, Freddie Kitchens is getting testy about O'Dell questions. And I want sometimes the trend is no trend at all. Fascinating what's happening with Cleveland, their performance in O'Dell. That's coming up.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo SlicLife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tript Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep, my mom will want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, After you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Michelin Endurance XT Silicon Wiper Blades lasts two times longer than other blades available only at Walmart.

Michelin Endurance XT Silicon Wiper Blades, Greg Kosell is about 35, 40 minutes away. Our NFL meat sandwich, love having him on a Thursday. if you're a fantasy football player, you bet on football or just love the sport. He gives you all these gems and tidbits. You can't get anywhere else. So OBJ, you know what I've said for years about wide receivers. They're icing. They're not the cake. If your offensive lines bad, the cake, it doesn't matter what the icing is.

The icing can't save a terrible cake. You can't just eat icing. You can eat a lot of cakes without the icing. But icing does make generally the cake better. But you've got to get other stuff solved first. Do not spend big money on icing if your cake's crappy. Once the cake's good, then you can go get icing. You know what I'm saying.

You know what I'm saying, right? That's an easy one to figure out. So Freddie Kitchens was asked about icing yesterday at the press conference. The Cleveland media is like, you're not targeting OBJ. Why won't you throw to OBJ and Freddie Kitchens? I'm starting to really like this guy. He is so bottom line and relatable. Freddie Kitchens is like, what are you guys looking for?

Why, isn't he getting targeted more? we have plays, we have reads to go through, coverage dictates that. You know, there's several reasons. But, you know, I think we threw the ball 24 times the other night and he got targeted six times. So, you know, I don't know what the magic number is. I don't know what you guys are looking for.

Here's the truth is. So let's go look at his five games. The targets, the catch is the yards. So what you're going to notice here, is nothing, and that's the point. So in week one, oh my God, he was targeted a ton, and the team was awful and got blown out. In week two, he was targeted a ton, had his biggest game,

and the team won. And then in week three, they targeted him a lot, and they lost. And then week four, they started scaling back the targets, and they won. And then in week five, they really scaled back, and they were terrible. There is no trend. There is no correlation. There is no cause and effect.

They target him a lot. They're terrible. They target him a lot. They win. They target him very little. They win. They target him very little on Monday. They get crushed.

He's talented. There's no correlation to his performance to anything that happens on the scoreboard. Yet we do have a correlation with this team. that when Baker Mayfield is sacked multiple times, the Browns are 3 and 8. Uh-oh, that's a problem. So when he's not sacked or sacked just once, this is a playoff team.

They're 5 and 2. When they're sacked 2 or more times, they're 3 and 8. It's not just about paying your most talented players. That's not what you do in the NFL. There's a lot of talented players I'd let go. It's paying talented players who correlate to wins.

The Cowboys feel Zeke equals more wins. The Eagles feel Fletcher Cox equals more wins. Anne Carson Wentz. So you have an issue in Cleveland. Oh, wow. When we don't protect Baker, we're terrible. When we give OBJ huge looks or small, it's irrelevant. It doesn't matter.

This is why I'll double down on it. You've got plenty of weapons. It's not about paying your most talented people. That's not what sports is about. You pay LeBron because he translates to wins. And Steph Curry and Clay Thompson and James Hardin. That's why I wouldn't pay Russell Westbrook as much. It's why I wouldn't pay Ben Simmons as much.

In the NFL, OBJ is talented. But go look at his five games. Big game, little game, lots of targets, no targets. It doesn't matter. and this is not only true in Cleveland, it was identical in New York. Or the Giants were often worse on his big games than they were when he was rarely targeted. Cleveland, you've got a fixable issue. Figure out the cake before you become embedded with the icing.

Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. the most talented player in your team and your position just not play that big of a factor and wins and losses. You know, it's funny, Joy, I'm watching the 49ers. So the 49ers use this Harvard fullback, and he's out for a month now. And there's real talk in San Francisco, their offense, he's a really key component. So they lost their right tackle and their fullback. They're not one of their, they're not top seven talented players. But in that run game they run, their tackles and their fullback are huge. So it's not just talent.

It's the value correlating to wins. So your position also. Right. He plays a dependent position. I think we probably mostly all agree that Julio Jones is the most talented player. Yes. In Atlanta, but him playing well or not playing well is not going to correlate to them winning. He's just not the position that affects that as much.

So the Rams had a new addition to their injury report Wednesday. Todd Gurley missed practice with the left thigh contusion and is listed as day to day. And head coach John McBay was surprised about Gurley's injury. as he's unsure if he's going to play it this weekend. I think it's hard to say. You know, I think really being so early in the week, you know, it kind of caught us all off guard. And he's so tough and he plays through so many different things.

I think he's better, you know, he'd be better in tune to be able to say exactly how he feels. But there's still so much time and, you know, guys turn over, different things like that. So even though we did play on a Thursday, you know, we want to be smart with him. And then, you know, I think he's earned the right to be able to let's get through this week and then let's see, and then we'll be able to make a better decision. This thing is not right, right? There's something weird going on with the Rams. Well, remember last year, Joy, so we started getting fewer and fewer carries.

I forget the week exactly. And we were all asking the same questions. You and I, Joe, were like, something's not, they're not reporting. And then we found out it came out, oh, he's got arthritis in a knee. Right. Similarly this year with the Rams, you and I this morning are going, what's going on with this? We're just not getting the complete story on this,

which is fine. We're not owed the complete story if it has something to do with his health. What stories do you hide in life? The ones that are trouble? Yeah, and the ones that I know are going to affect a lot of people or the ones that I don't have an answer for that may, in fact, be solvable

that if I tell everyone now, then that's going to only create more problems. So there's a lot of variance here, but the issue is they've lost two in a row and they have the 49ers at home on Sunday. So... I couldn't believe the Rams are favored in that game, which just goes to show you that extra, you know,

we overvalue the standalone game. So the Niners look so good on Monday night, and Vegas was like, yeah, the Rams are favored. So it's interesting. That division is so good. That's a huge, huge game for the Rams. Yes, this is, that's not good news for them. So Drew Breeze has been rehabbing to get back on the field

since his thumb injury against the Rams in the initial recovery time after the surgery was six to eight weeks, which would have Breeze back. right after the by week in week nine, but Breeze is eyeing in earlier return. So sources are saying he's been living in the training room and pushing to play week eight against the Cardinals. However, the Saints want to be more cautious with Breeze's return,

especially considering how well Teddy Bridgewater has been playing. I do not see the point in rushing him back. No, no. I think they... Especially to play the Cardinals. Yeah. At home. Yeah, well, and our thing is,

I just think Teddy's great. and Teddy's good. I mean, he's not, Teddy's not threatening, Drew. There's no, like, relationship issue here. Yeah, there's no one on earth who's going to, well, I won't say no one on earth. But everyone, this is Drew Breed's job, right? Teddy Bridgewater is the backup.

He's been incredible, 3 and O, and they're playing amazing, which is all the more reason why Drew should just chill, because he's not going to lose his job. It's not even a question. As great as Teddy Bridgewater has been playing, no one thinks that Teddy Bridgewater is better situationally than Drew Breeze in the bigger moments. This is actually the ideal situation.

Just let him finish out until the buy. It gives you an extra week to rehab and feel 100%. If you're feeling like you can come back a week before, why not wait? Yeah. It's an interesting division because Carolina, we thought when Cam left, they would be upended. But you start watching all these games and you're like, you know, Carolina, I wonder what Sean Payton thinks. Sean's probably like, listen, this streak is great. But now we got it Jacksonville this week.

Jacksonville's pretty good team. Jacksonville could sneak up on you. And it's at Jacksonville. And then they have at the Bears, Cardinals at home, and then the by. So, I mean, there's no reason to take your foot off the pedal here. Nothing has been locked up or guaranteed. But I just, I think if you feel good enough to come back and play against the Cardinals at home, why not wait another week?

Let Teddy play. And then you have an extra week on a buy to recover. Finally, Richard Sherman's criticism of Baker this week might have been a little less about a handshake and more about Baker's attitude in general. According to Bleacher reports, Mike Freeman, many veteran players feel that. that Baker is too cocky for someone who hasn't proven himself on the field yet. They think he does not show enough respect for other players, especially the vets and acts like he's a better player than he is.

And one Super Bowl-winning defensive player even said he acts like he's won 10 Super Bowls. He hasn't won any. Now, that's a little bit of an exaggeration because no player has won 10 Super Bowl. So we wouldn't know how someone who won 10 Super Bowls would act. Six. And we know how someone who has won six Super Bowls acts. but there's a little something to this, but I think it's more of Baker's overall personality

kind of being an irritant, which I have no problem with. Like, as a fan, I love having personalities on Baker in the league. And the media, I love it. He's good for ratings. Yes. He's good for Jersey sales.

There's a lot of good here. But players don't care about that. Right, right. But I'll say this, is he good for our show? Yes. Is he good for Undisputed? Yes.

Is he good for Fox and CBS? Yes. Is he good for Jersey sales? Yes. Okay. So it's not, listen, I'm not saying Baker's Now I don't know if it's good for standings

Okay but he's there's a lot of good here He's the villain in the league And every league needs a villain I couldn't have said it better I am a huge fan of villains Yes Because you do not have good stories without them No matter what you say

Everyone complains when the story I used to be ready And everyone's happy and perfect When baseball was was Water Cooler discussion They had Reggie Jackson You had Pete Rose running over catchers Like baseball doesn't have any villains anymore

Sports are great with villains. You have to have controversy. And I think the issue that the players have is like it's fine to be controversial, but also you have to play well and not necessarily win because you can be a highly talented player and not have the winning part. Players still respect you, which is what this is coming down to. It would be interesting to see how this develops over the course of this season, depending on how the Browns play and if, you know, if Baker's play picks up.

Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Greg Jennings played for a decade. Pro Bowl, Super Bowls. Looks like, look at him. Man, it must be nice to look good in all clothes.

Ah, it does. It is. It's amazing. He just roll out of bed in a suit. Looked like a million bucks. You know, let's, let's, let's, again, Baker's of great value to a lot of things in this league. We were talking about this as a staff this morning.

Generally in my life, it's been veteran stars that get me to a TV, you know, the curry. the Durants, the LeBrons, the Brady's, you know, the Aikman's. There are a lot of these young quarterbacks. I watched Cincinnati, Arizona last week. Kyler Murray's getting me to a TV. Baker's getting me to a TV. So I can make an argument that Baker is great for the league.

But do you think everybody after that money night game, when Bose acknowledges, yeah, Baker got me jacked up? Do you think there's a few guys in the Cleveland locker room, Greg, that would be like, bruh, scale it back a little? Don't make millionaires angry. No, no, I don't. Everyone has that something that makes them who they are. And Baker Mayfield, it's his personality.

It's his passion. It's his fiery attitude and his approach to the game. That's what makes Baker Mayfield. That's what got him drafted, number one overall. Yeah, wasn't his size. You look at Sam Darnold, your guy. Bigger, stronger, athletic. Like prototypical guy.

Quiet, doesn't say much, goes about his business the right way, but he's already a prototypical looking quarterback. So he already has an advantage. Baker Mayfield, if it weren't for what we're talking about, his personality, his fire, his passion, his approach, does he go number one overall? No. Is he even being talked about? No. So this is what makes him who he is. And I think within the locker room, those guys, that's all that matters.

It doesn't matter outside that locker room. That's why he's going to continue to be who he is. Now they just have to get wins in that column, and then it'll quiet down. Who is your first coach in the NFL? Mike McCarthy. Okay, so it was McCarthy. So McCarthy was a pretty young coach at the time. I said this, and I know you think I'm always beaten up on wide receivers,

but there are weapons on the perimeter that I do think. really work. Cooper Cup is incredibly valuable to Jared Goff. You can see it. Yes. I think Zach Ert and Carson Wentz, Gronk and Brady. I'm not saying receivers don't matter.

Julio Jones. But then there are players, and I always felt this was Des Bryant and a little T.O. Where they're talented, and they're worth a bunch of money, but their great games don't equal wins. Maybe because of their specialty players.

They're spectacular players, but not as. And I look at OBJ. And if you look, it happened in New York and it's now happening in Cleveland. If you look at the five games, we can put it up again, and you look at his targets and catches. It doesn't matter. He's targeted a ton in week one. They're awful. He's targeted a ton in week two, they win.

He's targeted a ton in week three. They lose. They start reducing his targets in week four. They look great. This week, they reduce him more. They're terrible. His performance, it's random. He's great.

they win. He's great they lose. He's terrible. They have an offensive line issue. I can get Trent Williams. I don't see OBJ as connecting and helping Baker. He sounds like he does, but Baker's three and eight when he gets sacked twice. He's getting crushed. Why not move OBJ and get an old lineman? Yeah, this is a tough one for me because, no, it's not. Odell Beckham is a playmaker in this league, regardless of what jersey or helmet he has on. When you, look at what he was able to do in New York. Typically, what happens with a receiver of his caliber and when they have kind of a separation from that quarterback or that system, it's, oh, he was the system player, or it was the quarterback. Well, in this case, with Odell Beckham,

we know how valuable he is. We know what he was with the New York Giants. We know what he can be for the Cleveland Browns. However, when you're not birth in something, it's like you're an addition. So how can we add to, how can we now bring you in the fold and make you a part of what we were already building? What I mean by that,

this Cleveland Browns team in Baker Mayfield, they developed, he developed the relationship first with Jarvis Landry and the guys around him. David and Joku, Nick Chum. Exactly, all these guys. So now you bring in Odell Beckham, can he help us?

Absolutely, of course. Bring him, welcome, open arms with him. But it's going to be a process to mesh all these personalities and all these talents to get the best out of what we can be. And so it's just a process. But Odell Beckham, man, you don't know. I'm not quick to move a guy like that because he can definitely help you. Why his numbers are down is because he's always been a deep. threat guy, a guy with

the big play, and they can't protect. They just flat out can't protect to allow him to do what he does best. Which is get over the top and they don't have time to throw over the top. Exactly. San Francisco, clearly, that was a problem. You know, it's

my theory on, tell me if you, as a player, did you ever think this was happening? So Jerry's paid all these guys early. But the Cowboys lead the NFL in free agents currently playing the most snaps. 40% of the snaps taken by the Cowboys,

players are free agents. Dak, the corners, Heath, Amari, free agents at the end of the season. So Jerry's going to have to get a discount somewhere. He can't pay everybody, right? So look at the schedule. We put it up on the board.

Let Greg see the schedule off to the right there and for our radio audience. There's no value in paying him early when they're playing these horrible rebuilding teams. Look what happened starting with Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Vikings, lions, patriots, bills, bears. Those are for the top five defenses, often outside cold, windy, crappy weather. Jerry calls the agent after week 14 and says, let's sit down and negotiate a new contract. As a player, did you ever, because I think Jerry's got a number. Jerry's paid everybody.

Why is he waiting on the franchise quarterback? Jerry looks at that schedule and says, I know I got to pay him, The only leverage I have is now bad games and timing. Do you ever think as a player that there was teams were waiting for the right time to negotiate with you? That's what they have to do. That's their job is to get you for the lowest possible number. They wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't do this. And when I look at Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys in this situation, with the way he's played the last two games, yes,

I'm going to wait. But I think also they still have question marks. And I said this earlier on Undisputed. Like he is the one question mark on that offensive side of the ball. Amari Cooper, we obviously know Dak Prescott has been better because of that acquisition. Ezekiel Elliott, they've paid Ezekiel Elliott. They know what he is. So the only person left is Dak Prescott.

Can he be the quarterback that we need him to be to get us where, we desire. He's the only question mark left. He's the only question mark left. Has he improved? Yes. He has definitely improved. But has he improved to the level of where they're willing to say they being Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones, the decision makers, this is the guy that can get us to the pinnacle. Finally, Farr Rogers are very chummy. We played some tape yesterday. Aaron called him Farvey. I'm not joking. I want to be chummy. What's up, guys? What? Where am I? Are you surprised?

Do you think it's real and authentic? They're buddies now. I think it's real. I think it's real. I definitely think it's real. When you've had time to get away from what was potentially a problem in competition and you're no longer at each other's throats or at each other's pretty much you're competing against one another for vying for a job, then that's out the way.

That's the wedge that will separate marriages and relationships. And I think that's removed. And so now you have one guy who's not playing, who understands the talent that is playing. Greg, I had a theory yesterday that Aaron's first seven, eight years, he didn't really get the challenges of being the quarterback in Green Bay. Now Aaron's seeing the challenges. We can't get top defensive free agents. I have no owner.

They let go of my quarterback coach. I can't go out publicly. the first five or six years starting, I got a Super Bowl, I got my Greg Jennings, I got this and that. Then, so Aaron didn't understand the reality and the challenges of playing in a city the size of

what was it, Montana, like Billings, Montana. That's how big it is. So Aaron's like, this is great. Then all of a sudden Aaron starts realizing, I can't go out, we can't get top free agents, we can't pay a quarterback coach who's clearly good, I'm blamed for

everything. I think Aaron's starting to understand. Oh, that's, this is what Brett sometimes got cranky over. Because I think it's the most unique position in American sports, Packer quarterback. It'd be like Christian Ronaldo playing in Butte, Montana. That's not the way it works. Generally, Shaq left Orlando because it was too small. Orlando seven times a size of Green Bay.

I can buy that. I think a lot of it has just maturity of where you are in your career. And I think at this point, when Aaron took over at quarterback, he had a lot of pieces around him. And although he was the focal point, all of the blame was never on him solely. It's kind of like when you have, man, who was this that I compared it to? I'm not, I can't recall. But Aaron Rogers right now in this career, all the, Kobe, Kobe and Shaq, that's what I compare to do. It was like Kobe and Shaq.

When Kobe had Shaq, it was like, great. We can win together. That was Aaron and all the guys around him myself, James Jones, Donald Driver, blah, blah, blah, all these pieces and the defense. Now when you transition out of that, now it's just Aaron. Now all the pressure is surmounted on him. Same with Kobe, but he was able to win. Aaron was unable to win. And so now you start to say, you know what, I'm not going to, because he's maturing, I don't need to put that pressure on myself.

I know I want to win and I need to win. but I need these guys around me to get confidence, and I need to trust that their abilities are what's going to help us win, not just only solely my own. And I think that's where he is in his career. Good stuff, Greg Jennings. Good seeing you, buddy. Greg Kosel, top of the hour, well-dressed man.

Coming up next, Zion, you can't teach it. You can't talk yourself into it. That, my friends, is a superstar. That's next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health

field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth.

And on my podcast, The Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42.

Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the Eye Heart Radio. app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exactly. exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard

guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and do that. You get your ass up and down the court and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Don't be that guy in the room with a sloppy look at Untugged shirt. Untucket.com code heard 20% off. GQ calls the perfection. Big argument here by the staff. I contend that sun chips are healthy because the package says 100% whole grain. John is a cynic and John says the stuff they put on that is not whole grain, John. I don't think cheese flavoring is whole grain.

I don't care. Joy, it says whole grain 100%. Look, you, that's not a bad snack. Okay, thank you. It's not a bad snack. There's worse snacks. Yeah, whole grain bread would be better than whole grade sun chips. Probably, yeah. It's not going to, you'll be fine.

All right. There's worse stuff you consume every day. So Zion Williamson, folks, played last night. Game was on TVs, played like three NBA games, one in the summer league, two in the preseason. They've all been on TV and they're getting ratings. He's a star. I know a lot of you think that stars are created. No, they're not.

You can have a great agent. you can have a great shoe brand, you can have a cool story, you can go to the right school, you can have a great coach, you can have the right apparel company. Doesn't matter. You cannot teach charisma and you cannot teach presence and you cannot teach personality. Zion Williams, my friend, is a star, day one in the NBA. John Wall should be a star.

He was a number one pick. He went to a powerhouse Kentucky. His game is fast and fun. He's an all-star, but he's got no charisma, no personality, no presence. He's a dud. Matt Stafford should be a star. He played at Georgia, SEC. We watched his college games.

He starts as a freshman. He's got the best arm in the NFL. He's got a cool story. Went to high school with Clayton Kershye and Matt Stafford. It's a guy. Nice guy. But he's not a star. In fact, he's the second most popular quarterback in his division.

division and he's the fourth most talked about in his division. We even talk about Trubisky more and Kirk Cousins more. So people can say, well, that's because he plays in Detroit. Westbrook plays in OKC. He's a star. LeBron played in Cleveland. He's a star. Drew Breeze and Zion playing New Orleans.

They're stars. Aaron Rogers plays in Green Bay. He's a star. Patrick Mahomes is a star. Cities do not make stars. At times they can help it. Derek Jeter's a bit. bigger deal in New York with a great team than he would have been in Kansas City with a fourth

place team. But Zion Williamson, and I've seen this my whole life, Sugar Ray Leonard was a fighter I covered in Vegas. Sugar Ray Leonard went from the Olympics and his first fight, he was a star. He's handsome, the smile, the look, the personality, his game. Magic Johnson, college basketball, first NBA game, star. That's Zion Williamson. Zion Williamson in a game against Michigan State in the tournament, an elite eight game,

not even a Final Four game, not even the championship game. An elite eight game against Michigan State got higher ratings than the previous year's national championship game. That's a star. Well, it was Duke. No, no, no, no. It was the highest red of Duke elite eight game in years. So I hear a lot of people fighting this thing. Well, he's only six six.

And, you know, he can't shoot a jumper. Let me tell you something. This kid, he opens his mouth. He's likable. The smile, the game, the charisma, the presence, the personality. Everybody's trying to make a lot of these guys. I'll give you a guy. Everybody wanted to make Lonzo Ball into a star.

And then I brought him on the couch and his dad did all the talking for him. Lonzo Ball should have been a star. He's a Laker. There was controversy. Has a basketball player ever had a better name than ball? I mean, everything. His game was flashy and fun and clever and no-look passes. Didn't have any presence.

Didn't have any personality. Didn't have any charisma. And when I watch Zion Williamson, man, don't fight it. Don't, don't, don't fight it. There's no reason to fight it. By the way, this is an amazing trend. At Fox, we have a lot of NFL games. games. And our Thursday night games, the ratings have been up. And our Sunday night games,

the ratings have been up. Monday night football games have been up. Ratings are up all over the NFL. Greg CoSell, by the way, in 10 minutes. So ratings are up. Now, it shouldn't be that way. Because we've had lots of quarterback injuries. We had 11 different backup quarterbacks play in last couple of weeks, highest in like 40 years. But I was looking at the schedule this weekend. and here's what's happening. And I don't remember this ever happening in the NFL. The five games that I really want to watch are Seattle and Cleveland, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Minnesota, San Francisco Rams, Dallas Jets. Why?

In every one of those games, it's young quarterbacks. I get Baker, I get the shot against Mahomes, I get Carson Wentz, I get Jimmy G. and G. and G. and G. I get Dak and Darnold. Generally in the NFL, when veteran quarterbacks, Retire, Montana, Marino, John Elway, Farrv, Peyton. There's a sense that kind of dings ratings. Nope, the five most interesting games are five young quarterbacks, and I don't remember that happening. And I think it's an amazing sign between legalized gambling and all these athletic and fun

and hyper and new quarterbacks. The NFL has a great future. Don't listen to anybody. Would you watch the NBA five best games of the night all young players? It never works that way. Great future. Great quarterbacks. Great Co-Sell next.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeard radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

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

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

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

Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me. Join me. Kier Gains is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Come out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers

why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, here we go, hour two live in L.A.

This is The Hurt. Wherever you may be in. however you may be listening. I Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. So great to have you in today. So great to have you in. Great CoSelle, a couple of minutes. Congratulations to the Nats that have moved on to the National League Championship Series,

beating the Dodgers last night in Los Angeles. By the way, the Astros trying to survive Tampa. Yankees rode into the ALCS. So tonight on FS1, the Astros, Jose Al-Tube, trying to survive Tampa. So we got ourselves our baseball season shaping up, Big situational games. FS1 tonight, 6 Eastern, Ray's Astros.

By the way, Vick Sinex nasal spray, 12 hours. It's cold and flu season. Vic Sinex nasal spray uses directed. Joy Taylor is joining me. And Thursday night football tonight, Joy, will be interesting, I hope. Competitive, I doubt, interesting. You're going to watch the team that's favored to win the Super Bowl, and they're going to put on a clinic tonight.

Is that interesting? Well, yeah, of course, anytime the Patriots are playing, it's interesting. It just feels like I wish there weren't so many injuries. Like I wish we were seeing Saquembrokeland Barkley with Daniel Jones in this game. And Evan Ingram. Right.

And Sterling Shepherd. So, there's just so many injuries as the Giants have. So Belichick's 12 and O all time against rookie quarterbacks at Foxborough. Tonight Daniel Jones, talented young guy, he doesn't have his number one back, his number two back, his number one receiver, his number one tied end.

So it would be, it would be, it would 17 point spread. It would be, I think it's, I do not bet double digit spreads very often. If you've watched Blazing Five for the year, I don't take those big games. They're trap games. It's wet and rainy, which may make it ugly. This has a chance to be a decisive win.

In fact, we did this morning. We sat down and I said, who are the 10 best players in this game? Remember last week when I took the Vikings over the Giants? Yeah. And the reason I said it was, now that Barclays out, who are the 10 best players in the game?

And nine of my 10 best players were the Vikings over the New York Giants, even though a lot of people bet the Giants because they're getting hot. They're at home. The 10 best players in tonight's game, when we went to pro football focus and looked at the grades. Brady 1, Stefan Gilmore, Julian Edelman, Devin McCordy, Jamie Collins. You see a trend here? Dante Hightower, Kyle Van Nuoy, Shaq Mason, Josh Gordon, James White.

Now, Sequin Barclay would be in there. Right. I think Evan Ingram may be 10. Sterling Shepard could be in there. Sequin Berkeley would be two. Probably two. But they're not there. Right.

So it does appear to be. Now, the good news is the first... Minimismatch. Yeah, the first normal. Easter of the year is hit in the Northeast, and nor'easters are not always just snow. It's cold, wet, damp, windy, crappy weather, and so that generally hurts the better offense. But I'll ask you tonight, watch the way the Patriots use their backs in the receiving situations. They're just the best in the league at that.

And with that, let's go to Greg CoSell. 40 years NFL film. Just can't wait for today. All sorts of interesting stuff. Greg, how are you? I'm great, Colin. Do you like watching games in bad weather? Generally, ratings go up.

People say they do. I like watching the best players in the perfect weather. Me too. I like watching Mahomes and golf on a 70-degree day. I don't like snow games. Yeah, this might be a night to keep up with the Kardashians calling. Don't go too far here. Okay, so you know, maybe it's because I'm from Seattle and I like him.

I've always felt Russell Wilson's a very unique. player. He is hard to categorize. He's his own category. The offensive line is better than years ago, and they do have a real running game. I think the defense is a work in progress. But what are you seeing from Russell this year? Is it the best version of Russell you remember seeing on tape? Oh, I think he's the same, and I think he's really good. I think that there's no mystery to how they play. You know, I think they start with the run game. They do a lot of play action off of that. he's a very good intermediate to deep ball thrower as far as accuracy. He doesn't miss throws, and that means a lot.

People should not take that for granted. He does not miss throws. It's funny, the more I watch the Seahawks, the more I believe they count on Wilson making second reaction improvisational plays, which theoretically you can't count on, but I think they count on that. And he seems to do that every week. But I think the thing that can be lost sometimes in his movement is the fact that he's a very good thrower at the end.

intermediate and deeper levels and can do that on the move. That's the other thing. He can do that on the move. So he's just a very, very good player. I don't think he's any different than he has been. It's just maybe the numbers are better because he hasn't thrown in interception. Yeah. You know, it's funny.

I want to talk about Christian McCaffrey. So when Cam gets hurt, my instinct would be, oh, that's going to hurt McCaffrey, because now people are going to jam the box and say, yeah, Kyle Allen beat us over the top. But yet Cam leaves, and McCaffrey feels bad. better and more important. What do you see? What are they doing with him? They're just running base plays with little wrinkles. This week, for instance, they ran a ton of zone concepts, and what they do is they add wrinkles such as jet motion, which most people are now aware of, or orbit motion, which is where receiver goes behind the quarterback. Yeah. And they do that to impact second level

defenders, create movement or hesitation and uncertainty. But Christian McCaffrey is an outstanding player. And what I love about him is his nuance and detail running routes because he doesn't just run routes. He understands how his routes impact defenders. The touchdown this week was a phenomenal example of that, the way he set up Miles Jack. So I think McCaffrey, he's one of my favorite players to watch. I love watching him. He's got great lateral agility and quickness and suddenness. He's strong. He's powerful. He's a finisher. And he has explosive straight-line speed. There's nothing not to like about Christian McCaffrey. Let's go to the Saints.

Defense has been better than I predicted. They have a real pass rush twice this year. They've gotten six or more sacks in a game. Listen, Breeze and Bridgewater, we all know Breeze is great. Is the gap perhaps a little less than we think. Is Bridgewater the best backup perhaps in the NFL? Well, he certainly was, they protected him quite a bit the first two starts. And I think that's because Bridgewater needed time.

He needed to get back into the flow of a game. He's not a spectacular player. He's a volume player. He needs a lot of snaps. This week, I think they expanded things a little bit, and they called some more intermediate and deeper routes, so they expanded their past game, and he made a couple of really big-time throws.

So I thought that he played extremely well. But you made it a very interesting point. Because of Breeze and because of Sean Peyton, this defense gets overlooked an awful lot. And I think their D.C. Dennis Allen does an outstanding job. They do a lot of really good things. They had a specific game plan two weeks ago against Dallas. We spoke about that.

It dominated the game. They do a really nice job, and that rarely gets spoken about. Yeah, Marshawn Lattimore can really close out. I mean, he gave Mike Evans as a remarkable talent, and, you know, Latimore's going to make it difficult, so they got somebody they can put in an island that helps. Now, on the Thursday night game, Russell Wilson's great. But I live in L.A., and all I hear, when I turn the

radio on is, you know, Jared Goff is the problem. And I thought that last drive against Seattle, I'm like the problem. He's the only thing now I can trust. They don't run the football anymore. I like golf. I thought against Seattle he played very, very well. I don't think their offensive line is nearly as good as it was two years ago. You and I both like golf, right? Like Thursday, that final drive, I thought a tempo was good. There's nothing I didn't like about it. Well, he led to the end of each half in that game. Yes. I think Jared Gough has played extremely well, and I think that because they've lost, people point to the quarterback. He's dropped back 120 times in the last two weeks, Colin. That's not sustainable. You can't do that in the NFL. This is not Washington State

in the Pact 12. You can't do that in the NFL. Jared Gough is playing really well, given what he's being asked to do. When you do 120 dropbacks in two games, not every dropback will be pristine, and not every throw will be perfect. He is playing really well, and I like what they're doing, expanding Gerald Everett's role. So I think they're doing a lot of good things in the past game. The problem is the run game has disappeared, not only in terms of production, but in terms of usage. And I don't believe that's sustainable, given their offensive line, when they have a little center and a little right guard. So, you know, I think that they need to kind of figure that out.

We love Kyle Shanahan, and they're very clever and multiple. Is it possible the 49ers defense is the key to their 4-0 start? I've been talking about that, as you know, Colin, even before the season started. I think let's talk about their front six, because teams play sub-package more these days. Their front-six is as good as any front six in the league. Wow.

When you line up, Bosa, Ford, Buckner, Armstead, Quine Alexander, and Fred Warner. Nobody might know Quan Alexander and Fred Warner. They are, as a duo, as good as any nickels, duo at the linebacking position in the league. Quan Alexander's a great athlete. I mean, you talk about Twitchy. He's terrific. I remember when he came in of LSU, everybody said he was too light, and I said, well,

it depends on the scheme that he's in. And Fred Warner, you know, you go over on the West Coast. He went to BYU, and he played, he was almost like a hybrid safety linebacker slot corner at BYU. So he's another great athlete. So this is a front six that has a chance to be as good as any in the league, and they're the driving force of this defense. and it's a very good defense.

Yeah, well, you know, they've drafted this defense. I mean, Solomon Thomas hasn't worked out, but Bruckner and Armstead. So it's not like they haven't used some, you know, some draft capital on it. Now, like, to your point, it's paying off. And Boas is going to be, you know, he's really good now, and he'll just get better and better. Let's just hope he stays healthy because that kid's really good. Yeah. Okay, Patrick Mahalms last couple of weeks, numbers are down.

Some of me believes it's, listen, they got eight key injuries. Is it just a matter of? He doesn't have his weapons. He doesn't have his protection, or are there like secret sauces here to Detroit and Indy's defense? Well, they played more 12 personnel, meaning two tight ends in the past game than they did have all season because they were. But, you know, it's funny. I watched that tape. And to me, that was very representative of what he was at Texas Tech.

And it's why when I was at the Combine that year after when he came out that a lot of offensive coaches didn't fall in love with him. He was a little loose. He was a little undisciplined. obviously has the ability to make special throws and special second reaction plays, but also missing throws that were there and needed to be made. And he did, yeah. And that's what happened in the loss to the Colts. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that that's what he's going to be.

They'll figure this out, and he's a ridiculous talent, and they'll be fine. But he does have that tendency on occasion, and in that particular game, lacking his weapons, it played out pretty much for four quarters. Yeah, and by the way, he was sitting on the bench watching most of it, 22 minutes time of possession, missing. Great point. Yeah. So he's not in a rhythm.

He's trailing. He's trying to, and then the mechanics go down. So, yeah, I mean, there is a reason. And by the way, you should only throw, and you know that you're a quarterback guy. We've had this conversation. We've talked high school quarterbacks, college quarterbacks. You should only throw with less than perfect mechanics when the defense demands that you throw with less than perfect mechanics.

Otherwise, you should be throwing with perfect mechanics all the time. Yeah. Let's go. This is interesting. Raiders have been the shock of the league. I didn't think Derek Carr and Gruden were great last year. There is a little magic this year, but is it just Josh Jacobs. Well, he's a really good player. Look, he's a great zone runner. He's got vision. He's got one-cut ability. He's a desirable combination of decisive and explosive. And what Gruden is doing now is what he did back in his day. He's very multiple with his personnel, his formations, and his motions. That's his MO. It's kind of, the illusion of complexity running base concepts and plays out of different looks because they line up with two tight ends, with six all linemen. You know, they just try to make everything look different. But I think he's doing the right thing by making Josh Jacobs sort of the foundation right now because the receiving core is lacking. And they sort of have to try to orchestrate

and create past game plays. So I think they're doing a really good job. Yeah. And you know what? For all the noise and the nonsense and the nonsense and the the AB stuff. I will give Gruden credit, Greg. He's kept the locker room together. There's some pieces of video that come out, and you can see him after games. He's got, you know, it's something.

He's got an alpha to him that, you know, with guys buy into him. You know, Greg, last year, you know, Greg, last year, they didn't quit. No. They did not quit late last year. They played very, very hard with very limited offensive line and defensive secondary people.

So, no, I think they're, given what their talent level is, at this very moment. I think they're doing the right things on offense, and their defense has probably played a little better than people might have thought. And then you start winning a few games, and we'll see where this goes. All right. So it's easy for me to bang on Baker-Mayfield because I've been critical of some of his off-field stuff. Here's what worries me that's real, though, that's tangible. He looks wild. He looks high and wild. The further he gets removed from Lincoln Riley. I wonder if he should spend some time in Oklahoma this summer.

He doesn't look. Last year, you could not watch Baker Mayfield. You could not be critical of one thing. His accuracy was excellent for a rookie quarterback with sometimes so-so protection. Is it me or is his accuracy dipping now? Well, I think there's a lot of factors at play. But the result is, here's the result. And it's not all his fault.

But the result is, to use the term we use, is he's seeing ghosts. He's not delivering a ball within the timing and structure of the called play. he's not comfortable right now. He's playing way too fast. He's not playing with the needed pocket poison composure. And he's totally out of rhythm. That's the result. There's many reasons, probably too many to discuss right now,

but that's the result of what's going on with their offense. And I still don't believe they have a true offensive identity at this point. You said he's seeing ghost. You think the hits are accumulating. By that, I mean, I think he's anticipating and perceiving pressure. That's not really pressure by NFL. standards. All right, let's go to another young quarterback. We'll see him tonight, Daniel Jones. What have you seen so far? Some wins, some losses. Yeah, but I think he's playing really well. I think he's

poised. He's comfortable. He's composed. I think he's accurate. He's decisive. He knows where to go with the football. I think everything's been positive, even in the loss to the Vikings. They're lacking weapons. Even if tonight was going to be a beautiful night in New England, he just doesn't have any weapons. So tonight would be a tough game for him no matter what the weather was. But I think overall, the short amount of, the short sample size up to this point has been very positive. By the way, the Giants O line has improved the last two years. Without question. I bang on Gettleman, but they have upgraded the interior offensive line substantially.

That can't be denied, right? No. Using the Beckham trade for Kevin Zitler, who is definitely a top six, seven right guard in this league. Hernandez, the Uteb kid is a solid left guard. They're clearly better. Yeah. All right. We got our play of the week.

I am so happy that it's a New England play because they are the standard of the league and they play tonight on Fox. What do you got for me? You know what? Let's jump right into it. Let's start it right now. So let's start this play. And this was a touchdown to Brandon Bolden, not a name you hear often in the context of their offense. But obviously they use a lot of players.

This was a fascinating play. And I loved what they did, something very simple. So let's start by looking at this now. Do you see the three receivers? tight ends and Bolden right behind Brady as an eye back. Okay? Watch what happens with Bolden. He's going to move to his right, and there's a reason for that. Now look at the three-man route combination to that side of the field, the boundary side.

The reason they wanted him to move is they wanted to create a one-on-one matchup with Ryan Anderson, the linebacker, and that's exactly what they did, and you're going to see the route combination and how it plays out. You're going to see an in-breaking route here. You'll see these two routes. They're going to eat up those two defenders. So now what you get is you get the one-on-one with a back, Bolden, on an outside linebacker who is not a past coverage defender. It's Ryan Anderson, the linebacker from Alabama. So they created that.

That was really well done something as simple as a move. Now watch Cole Holcomb here, the linebacker. He initially, before Bolden moved, had him in man coverage. Yes. But Bolden moved now. Okay, so now his eyes are on him, but he realizes, hey, I don't have him anymore. I'm going to do? I'm going to add into the pressure. Watch Brady move. Beautiful.

And then make that throw to the matchup that he created with the movement of Bolden before the snap of the ball. Look at the feet by Brady. Just a little move. And that's just something as simple as that creates a one-on-one matchup. You get the matchup you want. A good receiving back against a linebacker who's not used to playing in space. How great is that for Brady? They know what they're trying to do.

They do it. That must be so satisfying. it literally worked perfectly for them there. You know, he's probably, he's done that a few times, you know. I imagine a few times in his career. He's noticed a few things and moved a few people, you know. It's kind of what he does. Yeah.

Greg CoSell NFL films, great talking to you. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it. Yeah, they really do watch them tonight. That's one of the things that is they've got a bunch of receivers, but they got James White, they've got Bolden, they've got Edelman, they got Gordon, they got Gorset, they got, what's the rookie, Nikiel Harry out of, they just can't get them all healthy at the same time, but they've got them

and they're all guys who can catch the ball and they can do multiple things. New England's backs are as good as this league has in catching the ball and running routes. So even when they have, you know, no tight end this year makes them terribly difficult. That's, you know, that, why that was a great play for our audience watching at home, you see what this game really is. It's just matchups. I mean, that was, that's like, art when it's broken down like that. Literally just moving guys forcing a solo. But it's also

that really shows that when everyone is where they're supposed to be at the time they're supposed to be there, all these magical plays with all this movement, it's like poetry. Like it just, it just works. It's like a beautiful dance. It is. Good stuff here. T.J. Hushman's Otto.

We're going to go to Foxborough Live. Yes. If our camera can withstand the Nor-Easter that is happening right now. Be sure catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting

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

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Care Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

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

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

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,

I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nasree. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the bar like, after you go through a training camp with that I said, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tonight on Thursday night football, rookie quarterback Daniel Jones and the Giants take on Tom Brady and the Unbeaten Patriots. It should be a great one tonight from Gillette.

Let's talk Thursday Night Football Super 6. The last question in today's game is, which team will win and by how many points? You got, Colin? 30 to 10 Patriots. Here's a weird stat. The Patriots have won their last 18 games against first or second year quarterbacks.

That's bad news. Not only for Daniel Jones, but Baker Mayfield in 10 days. Sam Darnold. And Sam Darnold after that. Their whole division is first or second year quarterbacks. Belichick is, I'm telling you, this secondary for New England. It's the best I've ever seen.

It's the best secondary I've seen. Well, I've got to read this too. MDrive for men.com code herd 20% off. Guys get older, 40, 50, testosterone drops, boosts healthy testosterone already in your body. Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. It's not going to be that person, but Brady and Belichick have had a huge break with that division. So there's fault. There's no, no, no, and this year of the schedule. So I was saying, remember I said earlier in the week, Buffalo's got the best defense in the league because they shut down Braddon. I think New England has the second best defense, but they haven't faced a legit offensive liner quarterback yet.

I mean, it's just sometimes that's how it goes. Patrick Mahomes has been dealing with a lingering ankle injury since week one. It was aggravated in last week's loss to the Colts when his own teammate accidentally stepped on him. But even though he's a little sore, he says he's going to be good to go on Sunday. I actually feel pretty good today. I feel like after the game, I mean, it was sore after the game, but it's feeling pretty good today. And so I'm glad to be able to go out there and practice on it and get it moving around and stuff like that. But it's definitely, I feel like I'll be fine playing and moving around and still doing what I need to do to win.

It's not perfect, I would guess, I guess you say that. But it's good enough that I feel like I can still run, cut, cut off of it and do all that type of stuff. It did not look good against the Colts. He was really limping, and you could tell that there was something wrong. clearly affected his mobility. So hopefully they've been getting him a little bit of rest at least. By the way, by the way, so Patrick Mahomes, it's hard to win in this league. Aaron Rogers is now officially a 500 road quarterback in his career.

For all you cocky young quarterbacks, i.e. Baker Mayfield, that's Aaron Rogers and Mahomes. It's hard to win in this league. Don't be obnoxious and motivate millionaires. The millionaires are already kind of motivated. on their own. So I go to just saying that's getting a little extra sauce. Patrick Mahomes does not bring that out of people, I think,

at all. He has a very different approach. Appropriate. Well, I mean, it's just like these things have different personalities. Like, it's not that some people don't, at some point, feel like Patrick Mahomes is, like, showing off or whatever,

like the no look passes and stuff. But I think he has this air about him that he really respects the game and he respects his opponent. He's just better. Like, he's just that talented. Yeah. But he can do things like part.

and look back at the ref and keep running. I mean, when you watch Hussein Bolt run, he has the ability to look back and do things at other sprinters. You can't even move or it affects their time. He's just that fast. It's kind of how Patrick Mahomes is. That said, part of his athleticism is colossal to his game, especially considering he doesn't have all his weapons out there.

So hopefully he's at least feeling 100%. So the Jets have finally have Sam Darnel back this week after his bout with Mono. And Levy on Bell is excited to reunite with his quarterback, but he also knows that Donald's return will not solve all the Jets' problems. We can't disrespect Sam to just go out there and be superman. Obviously, you know, we know he's a great player, and he's going to make a lot of plays, but guys still got to do their job. We still got to protect him.

We still got to make plays for him. He got to make sure he get all the calls in there. Everybody got lined up and make his job easier so he doesn't have to think too much. It should be noted, I'll say it again, of all the bad teams in the league. This is the most talented bad team. talent. This cowboy game in New York, choppy weather will be a competitive game. It's going to be a competitive game. The line has gone down. The Cowboys are now favorite by seven. It was originally nine before Donald was an answer to the starter. All the wise guys came in and bet the Jets heavy.

It's down to seven points. I don't know what to expect from Donald, though. I don't want to overreact to him being back because he is coming off of illness. It's not just an injury where it's like, okay, good. I feel like I can put pressure on it. Like, you don't know what your body is going to react to once you get out there. It's not something that you can control that type of illness. What if he gets dehydrated? You know what I mean? Like there's things like that that you can't if he gets cramps. Like those are things that you can't control

when it comes to this kind of illness, which is what gives me a little pause when it comes to this. But I also don't consider the Jets to be a bad team. No. That makes sense. Like their record is nonsense. Like it's all it only exists because Sam Darnel has been out. We were not looking at them coming into this season as like

any other situation. Dolphins or what's Cincinnati. Over under was like seven and a half. Vegas thought they were a 500 team. That's fair. But they have Levy on Mel. Sam Donald is a very talented quarterback because this is an unfortunate situation. So I don't even consider them to be a bad team.

I just don't know what to expect this week because it's kind of an unpredictable illness. Finally, the Cowboys looked impressive in the first three games of the season, but the offense has slowed down significantly and back-to-back losses to the Saints and the Packers. Zeke is off to the worst start of his career, but he's not worried about his own stats. All he is focused on is getting the offense back. on track. I just think it's kind of how the seasons, you know, unfolded. I'm not really concerned at all. We're still the same offense. You know, just started the season how they were kind of easing me in and then, you know, we got ahead in a couple games. It didn't play that much.

So, I mean, we're not really concerned about the touches. I'm just concerned about just figuring out how to, you know, get things right in his offense. By the way, Saints defense is real good. That one's just about, we met a defense that had better personnel than some of our Defense. Packers' defense is very good, too. Yeah, and they've got the Packers who are in a... Not a great mood after being humiliated. So sometimes this league is so much timing.

So the Green Bay defense is kind of peacocking it. Then they go play Philadelphia at home and get run over. And then they got 10 days to hear how bad their defense is. Listen, football's a game that you don't get the same team every week. New Orleans and Green Bay were dialed in for Dallas. And it should be noted when Zeke is called the best running back. in the league, you become a target. Guys want to shut him down.

Yeah, but Zika has an ability to, at least in the past, get it going despite that. There's something going on here, and I really think it just comes down to the offensive line. I've been saying it all week. I think people are vastly overreacting to that loss with the Cowboys. I don't think that they're a bad team. They're not as bad as they look.

Dak is not as bad as he looked in that game. And their run game is not bad. It's not like the situation with the Rams where it's like, is it Todd Gurley? Is it the offensive line? Is it the play calling? Like, what's going on here? I think with the Cowboys, it comes

down to the offensive line is banged up. And no, Dack is not Patrick Mahomes. He's not Aaron Rogers. So he's not able to overcome losing Lyle Collins and Ty Smith. That's a lot. I mean, that is significant. And you look at the Colts offensive line in that game against the Chiefs. I mean, they literally look like a wall. They just are up and down, just moving the ball up and down the field. He doesn't have that right now. And that's all these pieces and positions play a role in their offense being successful. So when you play terrible teams like the dolphins, it doesn't really matter. But this will be an interesting game for them because there are a lot of factors of Sam Darnold

coming back. And we have to watch and see what Dallas does this week. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. You know, it's funny watching baseball.

T.J. Hushman Zada is around the corner. It's funny watching baseball because baseball and golf are the two sports where there's a lot of idle time. In baseball, you sit and wait and wait for you're at bat. In golf, you wait. wait and wait for your shot. So in my lifetime, the two sports where I've seen even great players unravel are baseball and golf.

There's just too much time to think. In hockey, you're on the line, you're in your line, you play for a minute, you're off the ice, you get ready, you're back on the ice. In the NBA, you don't have prolonged slumps because you've got another possession in 12 seconds. But in baseball, you sit and you stew and you think after a bat at bat and the pressure mounts. And Bryce Harper left the Washington Nationals, and the team got better.

and the expectations dropped. And people were like, are they the second best team in their division? Are they the third best team in their division? And I think when you watched them last night, the Nats over the last couple of weeks have looked like a loose team, lower expectation team, they're better situationally. Their chemistry is great. No shot at Bryce Harper.

But last night, it's classic that Howie Kendrick hit the game winner for the Nats, a 14-year pro, a former angel, a 14-year guy, made one all-star game. They're much better this year situationally. The chemistry appears to be better when the rich, big rock star leaves the room and the expectations come down. They'd been good for years, but they were always tight. And last night, the Dodgers were tight.

The Dodgers have expectations. The Dodgers are at home. The manager is tight. Howie Kendrick was not. And it's Howie Kendrick who steps in. This is deep to center. field. Bellinger's back.

It's a grand slam. Howie Kendrick. Wow. It is 7 to 3, the former Dodger, breaking hearts in Los Angeles. You know, we've seen loose teams win. Joe Madden's Cubs. Joe Madden's loose. The cowboy up Red Sox, the Rally Monkey Angels, the Ozzy Gian White Sox.

When you get into this situational baseball, tight is a lot. a bad spot to be. I've seen Greg Norman, Ian Baker-Finch, David Duval in golf, leads careers. You get the yips, they call it. You can't put. I saw a Nats team last night

that in the biggest, most pressurized situation, the dugout was loose, the players were loose, the manager is loose, and sometimes losing that superstar and the expectations has its benefit. So congrats to the Nats. They outplayed them. They were better in a big spot.

That city, after what I've seen with the Redskins, this year in The Wizards last year. DC deserved a great moment in sports and boy, did they get one. Coming up next, T.J. Hushmanzada, all sorts of stuff. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m.

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

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

on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase.

that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid?

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

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

Time out. Look. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play.

the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass, but get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tonight, it's game five of the ALDS as the Rays look to compete in an improbable comeback against Jose Altoe and the Astros, with the winner moving on. to face the Yankees. Coverage begins at 6 Eastern 3 Pacific on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. I covered Tampa's first year in the Biggs,

and that crazy Tropicana Dome, which is not ideal. It's on the other side of the bridge. But they've always had talent. They've had a good farm system. So Houston now. So Houston's the Dodgers tonight. So the Dodgers last night, supposed to win when their division again,

get to the World Series, and the Dodgers got tight. And here's the Astros, which have a, I think they have the best team in baseball. And all of a sudden they got, got the Yankees coming up, right? You've got to win this game. You're heavily favored. Tight. You can win in sports being tight. But baseball and golf, it's really hard because you get a lot of idle time to think about it. By the way, Texas, Oklahoma is the Cotton Bowl this weekend. I do like Oklahoma. Don't think it's a blowout, by the way. Oklahoma's played nobody this year. Texas is very physical. It'll be the Discover card key matchup.

Go further than ever with the Discover at Miles Car. Limitations do a. apply, go to Discover.com slash travel. And with that, 11 years in the NFL, a pro bowler, one of my favorite guys, Fox Sports NFL analyst, TJ Hushman Zata. So I want to talk about this whole Baker Mayfield thing for a second. So

I'll give an example. Baker's very good for the league. He's good for my show. He's good for undisputed. He's good for jersey sales. The Cleveland Browns are fascinating. It's one of the teams I watch every week. Their ratings are up. So Baker Mayfield's good for the league. That is indisputable. What he's become is the opposite

of Andrew Luck. Andrew Luck was great for the team. No jersey sales, no bus. Andrew Luck was the actor Daniel Day Lewis. Wins the awards, nobody watches the movies. Baker's Will Smith. It gets a lot of buzz, but the movies are great. Last 10 have been like so-so.

I think my question isn't whether people outside of the locker room like Baker, because that doesn't matter. I do wonder, though, after watching Monday Night, T.J., So Bosa crushes. And then Bosa comes out after and says, I was totally motivated by Baker Mayfield. If they play Seattle and lose and somebody else says, man, I couldn't wait to get my hands on that kid,

does his personality start in his own locker room? Guys go, bruh, pull it back a little. It really depends on his relationship with his teammates. It looks like he's built up. equity with him. Like, Baker's, I wouldn't mind playing with Baker Mayfield. I don't mind his attitude in a way. You just have to win. And so when you win, it's not a big deal. When you lose, you get guys like Bosa that says, oh man, I was really looking for it. You're not going to play any harder. Whether Baker Mayfield is quiet or he's not. You're still going to get that type of effort

that Bosa gave on Monday night. It's just when you lose, everything is magnified. And it is, period. his teammates, I believe, Baker seems like a good dude. Like you wouldn't mind being, when you lose old things, man, he needs to shut up. He really needs to shut up. But have you, when they lose, Baker doesn't say a word. You know, we lost, you know, we got to get better. He doesn't say that word. Even when they've been winning, you know, his favorite thing now is keep that same energy,

keep that same energy. And so he just has to be him and hope they can turn it around. It'll be interesting because Seattle's got a great coach, a great quarterback, extra rest. By the way, I do think extra rest matters. I think the Packers had extra days to prep for the Cowboys. I think it matters. When you were in the NFL, when you get Seattle, will have extra days to prep. So by the way, both the Giants in New England, so this is the downside to Cleveland. Think about this. So Seattle played on Thursday, right? So they get extra rest and prep time for the Browns. Well, New England plays tonight. So they get extra prep time for the Browns. So in back-to-back

weeks, Freddie Kitchens faces a Hall of Fame coach who has three extra days. Can you tell my audience, what do you do with those three extra days? Really, to be honest with you, it's more so for the big guys, the linebackers, the defensive line, the offensive linemen,

running backs. Us receivers, we might have a game or two the entire year where you're just really sore at me, and that's a good thing because you got the ball a lot. But you can just, your body just feels so good. The rules are different now. You only can practice one week, one day a week in full pads. Now it's shorts and shells and helmets. And so guys are starting to get banged up now. And so those extra three days

of rest matter. Huge. Like when John Groot, I've never been on a team ever where the coach gave you the whole week off for the bi-week. Ever. Ever. But he was, oh, you have the whole week off. I was like, man. You know, I have a theory on that is that because there's less hitting in practice, and less hitting in camp, and starters aren't playing in the preseason, we're seeing more injuries. Because guys' bodies aren't quite used to zero to 60. I've never seen more, I mean, God, Kansas City's falling apart.

Is it possible that players thought less hitting was actually an advantage to extending their careers? But when you go from less hitting in practice to the games, it actually bangs your body up worse. They haven't put in themselves, they haven't gotten their bodies ready for battle, so this week. But there are certain coaches now in training camp, they're going to get you ready.

And there are certain coaches that they kind of just hope you are ready. Now, I know when my last year, the rule had changed and I didn't go through training camp because it was a lockout. But those coaches, they know this. They're going to make you hitting practice. You're not tackling, but you're thudding up pretty damn well to where it's almost a tackle. And so you just have to get your body ready.

Certain injuries, they're unavoidable. I wouldn't attribute it to the rule change. It just happens. So tonight, New England's a prohibitive favorite over the Giants, New York. I'm excited to watch Daniel Jones play, but he doesn't have Sequin, Evan Ingraham, Sterling Shepard. Did you ever go into a game as a 17-point dog? Did you ever go into a game and you're sitting there in warm-ups knowing,

Mark Schlerth told me he had a couple of them when you're like, this is going to be a lot. I just want the game to go fast. Did you ever have one of those? Honestly, I'm going to tell you no. I don't think you could Cincinnati was good when you played and so was Seattle. I always thought we had a chance. Now, this is what I will say.

If you got down early, it's like, oh, my God, it's about to be a long day. If you got down early, you have though you're sitting on the sideline and the other offenses going up and down the field and you're not doing much yourself offensively. It's like, oh, my God, this is going to be a long day. So how does it affect you? So if New York Giants get down 17-0-0, as a receiver, do you run the routes not as crisp? You won't lay out for the block because it is on film.

For me, it just really would depend on how I was feeling. Like if somebody on the defensive side of the ball had pissed me off, then I would go really hard because I was angry. And if they're trying to be cool, it just really depends on the floor of the game, the play calls. Are you involved? Have plays been, you know, in practice, when plays are called, you're like, oh, this is designed to go to me.

Oh, coverage might take it somewhere else, but you know when the play is called, this is designed to go to me. And so if you have those plays being called, you're into the floor of the game. But if they're not being caught, and you're trailing 17-0-0. Oh, you're like, oh, he tripping.

He ain't caught trying to get me the ball. And so you're actually thinking, we're already losing. I mean, I had guys, I got my first chance to really play. Darnay Scott. He was like, you want to play today? I'm like, yeah. It's like my second year.

He was like, all right, I'm going to get hurt, first play the second half. We're playing Jacksonville Jaguars. And I played the whole second half. He mysteriously had an injury. So Darnay Scott, I appreciate you. Jacksonville had a good defense? Yeah, that's when they had Marcus Stroud, John Henderson, those boys.

And he's like, I'm out. Yeah, Donovan Darius, yeah. And he got hurt early in the second half, and I played the entire second half. We were losing, but I was my second year. I wanted to play. I enjoyed it. You'd gone from junior college to Oregon State. You kidding me?

It was a Super Bowl. Do I want to play? Yeah, I want to play. Yeah. By the way, do you like Daniel Jones? He moves well. Daniel Jones is pretty good. It sucks, though, because he doesn't have weapons to work with right now.

Evan Ingrams out, like you said, Sterling Shepherd, Sequin Barkley. Golden Tate didn't get many targets. He spoke up about it. So Golden Tate, maybe this is your game, Deshaen. Yeah, probably is. Good seeing you, buddy, T.J. Husman, Zata. Final hour, I'm going to do my college football picks. I have three great ones today.

Also, we'll go Andrew Siciliano live from Foxborough. going to be sloppy and wet and rainy tonight. Michelin Endurance XT silicone wiper blades last two times longer than other blades. They are real world proven. XT silicone wiper blades from Michelin only available at Walmart. Hour 3. We're flying on the Thursday next.

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. Want to hear something amazing? Discover matches all the cashback you earn at the end of your first year automatically, dollar for dollar, no limits how much you can earn. That's pretty sweet, right? Cashback gets matched.

Yep, even more cashback to match at Discover match. Cashback match. What are you waiting for? Go to discover.com slash match. Well, I know he likes to talk about the weather when I watch him on DirecTV's Red Zone channel, host at the NFL Network, our friend Andrew Siciliano, joining us live via the Coward Global Satellite Network. I am a, you know, when I was a kid, I was either going to be a weatherman or a sports guy,

and I chose sports. Maybe weather was too complex for my tiny brain, but you also have a fascination with weather, because I watch you, and what is the cruddy Nor'Easter delivering to Andrew in the game tonight? What are we going to see? Colin, good to see you. I would love to be at one point in my career

just for a day at the Jim Cantorri standing on the beach with the hurricane blowing in. Just to do that, or the guy in the 10 feet of snow just to do that once. But today, we have temps right now that are 50, although it feels like it's in the mid-40s, hence the top coat. Winds could be as high, Colin, as 45 to 50 mile an hour at one point today. We could have downpours, rain in and out.

But right now it is a wind situation. No rain as of yet, but the wind and the weather will factor this evening. Listen, you know, Andrew, I said this week on the show, I felt Buffalo had the best defense in the league, because they shut down Brady. I think New England statistically does, but it hasn't proven anything. And again, tonight, the Giants' weapons are missing. Is the New England thing, I mean, I can't wait to see him play Cleveland.

I want to see them play OBJ. I love their secondary. But do you buy New England's defense as historically great? Or do we know anything yet? I don't know that we know anything yet. We know that through five games. Their numbers are historically great. that through five games. They have a point differential of 121. And the only other thing close was

Kurt Warner and the greatest show and turf in 99 through five, and they were 123. But if you throw out the bills, and remember, against the bills, Tom Brady had statistically his worst ever performance in a victory. Their defense stood up, but offensively, they didn't do much against that bill's defense. You throw that game out, the combined record of the teams that they have beaten is one and 17. Who, am I to ever doubt Bill Belichick and Tom Brady? I will not do that. They are good and they are the permanent AFC East champions until anyone tells me otherwise, but they haven't really beaten anyone but Buffalo. Yeah. Well, you know, for years and years, when you do the DirecTV Red Zone stuff,

you get a lot of feedback from people. I was just telling joy that I think Baker Mayfield's great for the NFL because he's a villain. And I think villains matter. I think Tiger Woods was a villain. I think, you know, I think boxing, Tyson for boxing. I think sports are better. Duke basketball, Notre Dame football. I think it's important that Notre Dame wins 10, 11 games. Does it feel like when you get feedback from the fans, you get it directly in the moment? Is New England our current villain? Is it Baker? What do you get? What's the feedback you get? I think New England constantly, and has for the last 15 to 20 years, had that, well, maybe not 20 years, 19 years, had that villain title.

I don't know that this year is any more different than in years past. I think people want to point out their record as we just did. But this feels like another the Patriots are rolling to the Super Bowl kind of season. No reason to hate them any more this year than maybe an angry fan would have in years past. I think Baker's a bit of a misunderstood villain. I think, and you've sat with them before. I don't, he's not a bad guy in any way, shape, or form. His teammates certainly like him.

The Sherman thing is a bit confusing to me. I thought Ross Tucker had a great tweet. He said, I'm really angry that that guy that shook my hand 37 seconds ago isn't shaking my hand again. And he shook it once. He didn't shake it the second time. If you see, his teammates kind of seemed a bit confused. He's running away.

Big deal. The game is about to start. Richard Sherman clearly disliked him before he came in to that game. And he had that and he had his mind made up, his mind made up, rather. who might argue with Richard Sherman. The Browns need to play better. Baker needs to play better. And I'll say this.

I was there in the building. There is nothing that a handshake had to do on Monday night with Greg Robinson's inability to block Nick Bosa, with Matt Breda, ripping off an 83-yard touchdown on the very first play from scrimmage with Antonio O'Callaway, fresh off a four-game suspension, dropping a would-be touchdown pass with two minutes left in the second quarter that would have made that game 14 to 10 and changed the momentum.

That had nothing to do with a handshake. of all the times you have been live so far in this season what has been the best unit you've seen I think San Francisco's front six is nasty what's the best of all that places you've been this year is there a side of the ball that you went okay like I'll be honest with you the Saints pass rush is way better than I thought it would be it's been exceptional how about you I haven't seen sorry the Saints in person but I will I will take the Niners they were unblockable and when you throw in the linebackers, when you throw in Juan Alexander, the place he makes, don't discount the secondary. Certainly, Sherman had that pick early. That Niners front line is scary, and the Rams

are going to have their hands full with that front line on Sunday. I will say this as well, watching Russell Wilson in person. I know you said, you know, one side of the ball, but give him credit for what we saw. The Rams could not bring him down. That pass to Tyler Lockheed, it might have been the greatest touchdown pass. I've seen. seen in person because it looked as if in the stadium he was throwing the ball away. We're going to see Mahomes next week in Denver where today it is snowing. There's your weather report. Yeah.

So Mahomes, Wilson and Christian McCaffrey in person as well, certainly. Yeah, Christian McCaffrey is fantastic. You know, it's interesting with McCaffrey because I thought with Cam not playing Andrew, then teams would crowd the box and take McCaffrey away and force Kyle Allen to beat him. What's interesting, McCaffrey appears to be greater with. with Cam gone. And that begs the question. The new owner in Carolina, Andrew, doesn't care about Cam's previous success. Do you think it's possible that if Kyle Allen keeps winning, six quarterbacks available in this draft, could it be the end of Cam? If you're there,

you get the vibe when you're there. Do you think Cam quarterback's Carolina next year? So when we were there, it was week two, and it was far too early to get a read on any of this. Cam was still very much in there, but affected by both the shoulder and the foot injury. If Kyle Allen keeps this up, it's going to be a fascinating conversation. I would have to think that Kyle Allen would have to be undefeated or one loss or two loss, just his numbers through the roof for them to truly keep Cam on the bench. I think it is more likely, let me say this, that the Panthers would move on from Cam Newton than the Jaguars would move on from Nick Foles because that contract is brand new and there is a lot of money remaining guaranteed

on that contract. Finally, what do you expect tonight? It's ugly, it's rainy. I think it's going to be fairly low scoring. Your gut feeling on what we see tonight, Giants at New England. I think gut feeling is the Giants have a very, very, very hard time hanging with the Patriots here. The Giants defense is 30th. They're at the bottom of the league in almost every major defensive metric. We know what the Patriots defense has and we know what the Giants do not have, which is their top two running backs, their number one wide receiver and their number one tight end. If Daniel Jones can make this game close, then I am a Daniel Jones believer.

I would love to see some of that magic here tonight for a kid who I believe was four when Tom Brady beat his hometown, Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl. Good stuff. Andrew Siciliano. By the way, NFL Network host, you can see him Thursday tonight. First look at three Eastern. Andrew, thanks for coming on the show again. Colin, enjoyed it as always. You bet. Daniel Jones will be fun tonight.

I would have liked to have seen him on weapons. I was saying earlier that of the five games that I think I'm most interested to watch this weekend. Seattle, Cleveland. I get sort of young Russell Wilson against Young Baker. Houston, Kansas City, young Deshawn and young Patrick Mahomes. Philadelphia, Minnesota,

fairly young Carson Wentz. San Francisco, L.A., Jimmy G. and G. and G. and G. and G. and Sam Darnal. I think those are the five games I'm really interested in. And it almost never works that way in sports. Generally, the way the ratings work in our business is people turn in to see established stars. And when established stars,

Peyton Manning, Brady, Farr, retire, you know, ratings are flat. Same in the NBA. Jordan retires. Maybe a Kobe, when LeBron retires, when Tiger Woods stop golfing. We generally don't, even though people get enthusiastic about young people, we generally turn in for established credible stars in sports. That's just what we do. The NFL's got something, and I don't think I'm alone on this. Most of the games I want to watch this weekend, kids, I want to watch the kids' quarterbacks. I think it's an exciting time in the NFL between legalized gambling,

taking the college schemes now and allowing them to be used in the NFL, these young quarterbacks that come in. Daniel Jones, I watched them in college. I think he's a better NFL quarterback than a college quarterback. That never happens. And we've also had multiple backups in this league. Not only are young quarterbacks coming in, But backup quarterbacks are effective.

Teddy Bridgewater now is, I think, like 15 and 6 as a starter, but he's 3-0 with the Saints. Gardner Minshew has had success. Backups look good. They look fine around the league. So it's a great time to be an NFL fan. I mean, I just look at all the games this weekend. They all have a young quarterback. And it just never used to.

I mean, I used to be. I'd get up. And it was like, I'm watching Montana. I'm watching Aikman, and I'm watching Farr. And I'm watching, that's what you did. You got up. I'm watching Brady. I'm watching Peyton.

I'm watching Aaron Rogers. I'm watching. Now I get up. I want to watch all the young guys. And I don't remember ever in my life thinking that about the NFL. I don't remember that ever being the case. Here's Joy with the News. No.

No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. The National stunned the Dodgers in game five last night to win their first postseason series. It all started in the eighth inning with back-to-back home runs off of Clayton Kershaw. After the game, he spoke about his postseason struggles and how horrible he feels about his performance. Everything people say is true right now about the postseason. I understand that.

Nothing I can do about it right now. Have a group of guys that you've spent your entire season with eight straight months, battling, competing, and, you know, it just ends all of a sudden like that, and you're to blame for it. So it's a terrible feeling. you do got a feel for Clayton Kirsch on the spot, right? Like not if you're a Dodgers fan. If you're a Dodgers fan, obviously you're freaking out.

You're very sad. And they were running over his jersey, leaving the park last night. But, I mean, it's just so brutal to be in that spot. And in a team game, it's a very individual thing to be the pitcher that gives up those runs. If you asked Dodger fans about their team this year, the big concern was always the bully. The bullpen was always the concern. So this is, now it was unconventional way to lose it, but this was sort of what everybody worried about in Los Angeles. If you went to the message boards, if you listen to Talk Radio, the concern was.

No, it was a conversation all season. Is this bullpen good enough? And bullpins, in the NFL, go find a bad offensive line that wins a Super Bowl. It's never happened. In baseball, go find a bad bullpen or a questionable bullpen that wins a series. You can't leak in protection of your quarterback, and you can't leak runs late in playoff. baseball game. So this team was not built if you really looked at it. They weren't a favorite.

Houston's been the favorite and the Yankees have been the favorite. And the Nats right now, better bullpen, situational hitting. It ended the way most people thought it would end, just not with Kershaw on the mound in the pen. And then, of course, we know about his postseason struggles anyway, which is what he talked about. And he had surrendered back-to-back home runs three times this season, including tonight's game. Entering this season, he had only done that once in the regular season and once in the postseason. That was both back in 2017.

It's, yes, which is, so I understand it because he is an incredible talent. But like you said earlier, it's just not the spot to put him in. Yeah, there is a Kirk Cousins thing here where he does get tight. Like Kirk Cousins, one o'clock starts is like, you know, 12 and 4. Kirk Cousins' prime time. It's like, he's a little uptight. He's a little tight. I was just not the spot that you can be tight, though.

That's the problem. And it's as bad, like we keep showing the picture of him. Oh, God. It's so, it's so hard to look at. But that said, the story is that when, like, the Nationals had an incredible series. And there probably isn't anything in sports like watching the team just freak out and run out onto the field after a postseason series win. But, you know, if you're in law, if I ran the Dodgers, the Dodgers are perfect. You can't go anywhere in L.A.

Dodger hats are everywhere. They get 5 million fans or 4.5 million fans. And they're coming back next year to see if they can win the World Series. So it's like the Atlanta Braves. You know, fans all yell, go spend more money, sport, men. Why? The stadium's full. Merchandise is everywhere. We keep winning our division.

We generally win a playoff series. The Dodgers, if I ran a franchise, that's how I do it. By the way, some of this postseason baseball stuff is luck. Are you healthy? The guy's, this idea of the best team wins in baseball. No, the best team generally wins the Super Bowl, the college national title. Should be noted this year. Duke didn't win the title they were supposed to.

Golden State didn't win the title. Alabama didn't win the title. It's kind of been the year of the upset. We haven't seen the people. All the teams we thought going, Houston could lose tonight, Dodgers last last night. We have not had,

I mean, outside of New England over the Rams, we've had a lot of surprise winners this year. There's not a lot to critique about it, but you do have to fix the issue that everyone's discussing moving into next season. Make sure you check out Game 5 of the ALDS tonight. Coverage begins at 6 Eastern 3 Pacific on FS1.

So the Redskins head coaching job doesn't seem very exciting right now. No. Teams own five start, and facilitating quarterbacks, and obviously you have a situation in the front office. But one former head coach who would accept the job

is Rex Ryan. He told ESPN that people will be lining up for the job, and then he tossed his name into the hat, saying he would absolutely take it. Of course he would. Do you see Rex Ryan in Washington? You know, I think that's the kind of coach you're going to get, which is Rex is a very good defensive coach.

He's a brand, Washington's owners into that kind of stuff. I mean, I'll make an honest, I'll be honest with you. I think Rex Ryan's about as good you could do. I'm dead serious. I think Rex Ryan would be a pretty good hire for them. Well, you're not going to get, like Mike Tomlin's name was put out there earlier this week. That's not going to happen. Rex has been to back. Rex has been to two AFC championship. I like Rex. Listen, but I argue the best year of my brother's career was with Rex because they went to a NFC championship. Rob Ryan's currently on the Washington staff.

Right. So I don't think that Rex would be a bad hire for them. And look, we talked about bad hire, good hire. Like, there's only 32 jobs like this in the world. So no matter what, it is a good job because there's only 32 of them in the world, head coaching jobs in the NFL. That said, if you have the option of controlling your career, there are things that you cannot move on from. I mean, being fired is part of kind of the coaching career. Is Alex Smith going to play next year? If Alex Smith plays next year and Rex Ryan's the coach, you'll win games.

Rex is a very good defensive coach. Alex does not turn the ball over. He's a total grown up. I think Alex is kind of an unknown with that. If Alex comes back. back and Rex Ryan's the coach. That's a real team. You're also going to get a top pick this year. So if you do make this decision, being that you fired Jay Gruden in the middle of the season, and you do make a decision to move on to a new head

coach quickly, as I'm assuming that would be one of the main reasons why you fired Gruden, then you can get the guy in there and get his guy. Like that's, that was the issue with Gruden as they got Dwayne Haskins and it wasn't his guy. Listen, I never, Rex Ryan and Alex Smith, you get those two to real team. Yeah. Finally, the Rams had a new addition to their injury Report Wednesday, Todd Gurley missed practice with a left thigh contusion, and he's listed as day-to-day and head coach John McVease that he was surprised by Gurley's injury status. He's unsure if he will play this weekend. I think it's hard to say. You know, I think really being so early in the week, you know, it kind of caught us all off guard. And he's so tough and he plays through so many

different things. I think he's better, you know, he'd be better in tune to be able to say exactly how he feels, but there's still so much time and, you know, guys turn over, different things like that. So even though we did play on a Thursday, you know, we want to be smart with him. And then, you know, I think he's earned the right to be able to let's get through this week and then let's see and then we'll be able to make a better decision. Okay, Rams drafted a running back, a very good run in the third round. I got to call my guy Pete Trigger. Why aren't they playing him? They drafted a running back.

My takeaway on this is there's tension in the building with Gurley. and if they play the third round running back, it adds a layer of tension. And Sean McVeigh is having to tiptoe and walk on eggshells with this girly thing where, now, I mean, suddenly didn't he sound surprised that Gurley wasn't available? He sounded surprised.

Yeah, and that's not a good sign because in general, you're going to know if somebody is injured or not. So that kind of feels like one of those things like, well, normally I play through this, but I feel a certain type of way about what's going on, so I'm going to rest. I don't know what's going on with the Rams. They've never been totally up front on Todd Gurley.

Yes, there's always been some layer of mystery about what's going on with them. Once again, but they drafted a running back because Lesneed figured, listen, we got an arthritic knee here. So they drafted a kid. Either he's not, he's slow to learn the playbook, which some rookies are, this take longer. Maybe it's a complex system. But I got to believe at some point, instead of playing the running back, they've just stopped running. Right.

They have no running game. ball so much it is staggering. 120 throw, like Greg Cosell said earlier. So Greg Cosell watches the film. He comes in our show and he says, actually, Goff has been really good. The film says Goff's fine. He's just throwing it a thousand times a game. He can't ask a kid that.

You can't ask Brady to do that. No, it's not sustainable. Joy of the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Line News. Ram's host San Francisco, which, now the good news is, Rams are home and Niners run a short,

week. So you get an extra day of prep. So that's, I actually like the Rams in that spot. I actually think the Rams will win that game. Coming up next, Marquis 3, I make my three college football picks. There's actually, this is a great, great week of college football. USC Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Florida, Iowa, Penn State, a bunch of big games out there in all the regions. A marquee three is coming up next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. It is great to have you in. Good NFL weekend tonight. Patriot should beat up on 30 to 10 is my guess. I never bet those big 10, 15-point spread games. I'd take New England if I had to tonight. Just it looks like a mess. So college football is a very good weekend. I'll be glued to the TV Saturday, some huge games.

Of course, I live in Southern California, where USC will be looking for a coach in about eight weeks. There's no question about that. And that's my lead game as we go to our Markey 3 college football picks. Ready to make some sweet cash, Colin's going to give you his three sure bets for the college football weekend. It's time for the Fox Bet Marquis 3. USC at Notre Dame. Very easy. I'll take Notre Dame in a blowout win.

They're minus 10. They'll easily cover. Listen, since the start of last year, Notre Dame is 16 and 2. And their only losses are to Clemson and Georgia. Notre Dame is really good, by way. And the other thing is, 10 sacks in two games, 14 takeaways, third most in the country. This is a really, really well-coached football team. Brian Kelly knows quarterbacks.

Their defense is excellent. And it's a program, really, that's on the up. Notre Dame is better now than two years ago. USC's the opposite. They're an absolute disaster. They've lost, USC has lost seven of the last 11 games dating back to last year. I mean, they're a bad football program. Clay Hilton as an underdog, meaning when he goes in outarmed, he's two and 13 straight up. Listen to this. The most consecutive games without winning a turnover battle, USC leads the country, meaning they're not well coached defensively, and meaning they turn it over too much offensively.

This will be a blowout, a well-coached team at home against the poorly coached team fading on the road, 36, 20, 3,000. Notre Dame. It could be worse than that. Penn State at Iowa. This is actually a sneaky pick. I'm going to take Iowa plus three and a half. Now they lost at Michigan, so everybody sells their Iowa stock. But Iowa is a top five defense in the country. Nate Stanley, the quarterback, has actually been excellent at home. Three and O, eight touchdowns, no picks.

Remember, Penn State hasn't faced a ranked team all year. They struggled with the best team they faced Pitt. and this is the beginning of a really tough schedule. And in their last 24 games on the road against ranked teams, Penn State's awful, 2 and 22. Again, Iowa's at home getting more than a field goal with a better quarterback coming off a tough loss. I like their coaching staff. I like them in this spot. I'll take Iowa to upstet Penn State 22 to 20.

Florida and LSU. This may be my favorite college pick of the year. I'll take LSU to blow out Florida. It's LSU minus 13. This is easy stuff. Their offense, they may be the best offense in the country this year. They're first in everything. Points, yards, passing, third down percentage.

They're five and one in their last six against top ten teams. Only lost to Bama, so they're a good big game team. And Joe Burroughs been very good for them, the former Ohio State backup. He had his worst game of his career last year in the loss of Florida. He was awful. Nine for 34. This year, Burrow has been remarkable. He's a Heisman.

He was a backup of Ohio State. He's a Heisman favorite right now. First in completion percentage, first in passing yards. And the Gators just came off a huge upset win against Auburn. So it's very hard to get 19 and 20-year-olds to get to that emotional level. Back-to-back weeks, I don't think Florida can do it. I think LSU blows them out. 40 to 21.

These are the strongest picks I've had this year. LSU blowout win, Notre Dame blowout win, and Iowa, three and a half at home. close over Penn State. That game's going to be low scoring, by the way. Penn State, Iowa, you could also bet the under. It's going to be a very low scoring game with very good defenses. And there you go, my marquee three picks. All odds provided, of course, by Fox Bet.

We had Greg CoSell on earlier today. He was really, really good Greg CoSell segment. We'll put him on the podcast today. He was very good. He was talking about a lot of different things. And, you know, Michael Jordan was not drafted first, right? Michael Jordan was drafted third. and the reason being Portland had Clyde Drexler,

and so they needed a big guy, they went and got Sam Bowie. It is kind of amazing how often Kobe Bryant was picked 13th, Steph Curry was picked seventh, and a lot of it's circumstantial, a lot of it people miss on people. So, I mean, it is remarkable how many times in the history of sports the best players are not picked number one. Some players, like, you know, Janus, they just develop more slowly.

Kauai Leonard plays at a program you don't watch. There's Clay Thompson, plays at Washington State, gets pot for smoking a joint. You know, people, oh, it happens all the time. Now, Patrick Mahomes, similarly, you looked at his college career and you're like, man, his numbers are great. But why doesn't Patrick Mahomes go higher? Why did Andy Reid move up to get him and still not have to, you know, use a top five pick? he was a little wild in college. So the last couple of weeks, Patrick Mahomes has struggled a little bit.

And I talked to Greg Kosell about this, and it was interesting what he said. Yeah, watch that tape. And to me, that was very representative of what he was at Texas Tech. And it's why when I was at the Combine that year after when he came out, that a lot of offensive coaches didn't fall in love with him. He was a little loose. He was a little undisciplined. Obviously, has the ability to make special throws and special secondary action plays.

but also missing throws that were there and needed to be made. You should only throw, and you know that you're a quarterback guy. We've had this conversation. We've talked high school quarterbacks, college quarterbacks. You should only throw with less than perfect mechanics when the defense demands that you throw with less than perfect mechanics. Otherwise, you should be throwing with perfect mechanics all the time. And let me give you a couple other quarterbacks that mechanically can get loose.

Matt Stafford, Cam Newton, Patrick Mahomes. very good quarterbacks, but Cam's mechanics can go sideways. Matt Stafford is really hot and cold on him and Mahomes. And what's interesting about Cam and Mahomes and Stafford, they'll have great arms. Not good arms, great arms. But even with a great arm, the feet aren't set, you're not right, and you're not the same quarterback. So, you know, there's a lot of interesting games this weekend. The Houston, Kansas City game is as good as any game on the board.

and what I've found funny about that game is Deshawn Watson, first of all, he comes into the NFL, and Andrew Luck's in his division. So Andrew Luck gets all the luck. And we're like, yeah, Deshaun, you know, Clemson's got, he's just no good. And so, and then Andrew Luck retired. And then Patrick Mahomes comes in. And nobody's paying attention to Deshaun Watson. Patrick Mahomes, this guy, is this somebody.

And you have Brady, who's the goat. and quietly, it's very interesting to me, very quietly, we've kind of ignored Deshaun Watson. So I've got the goat, and then I've got the next star, Mahomes, and then I had luck in his division. Now we're all falling in love with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray and all these guys. Folks, I may be nuts on this,

but is it just possible that of all these young quarterbacks, that's the best one? is it possible? Let me ask you this. Deshawn Watson did not inherit Andy Reid. He did not inherit Travis Kelsey. He did not inherit Mitchell Schwartz on the offensive line. Deshawn Watson's had mostly no running game, mostly no offensive line,

and he's won his division. Am I wrong, two of the last three years? I don't have it in front of me. I know he won it last year. What I want to see about this game is, there are so many shiny Aaron Rogers and Baker Mayfield and Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes and we're looking at all these guys and like in the process are we are we watching what the Sean Watson's doing it's just remark and maybe it's because Houston is sort of

underachieved and so we're like over Houston we're like yeah win a playoff game I'm over Houston but when you watch this game I know and I'm excited to watch this watch watch watch Patrick Mahomes and watch Deshaun Watson. And I could be wrong. Mahomes has the better arm. Is he the better quarterback? Are we absolutely sure? Just watch the game.

Watch it. I can't wait. M Drive competing today takes tremendous effort and energy. Go to MDrive for Men.com. Put in the code, Heard. H-E-R-D for 20% off burn fat. Refine Your Prime. So tonight it's the New England Patriots.

They are favored. and they should be favored. We said it earlier. Of the 10 best players in the game tonight, all 10 are New England Patriots. Saquan Barclay's out. Evan Ingram's out. Sterling Shepard is out.

By halftime, hopefully, I'm not out. I think it's going to be ugly, low scoring. I think New England scores very early. The Giants' best player defensively is the wind. They are rooting for Captain Nor'easter. Brady Quinn Blazing 5 tomorrow. We'll see you. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. 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 SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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