The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Drew Brees, Baker Mayfield, the Patriot Way and Deshaun Watson

Episode Date: September 10, 2019

Colin explains that great NFL quarterbacks and confident fathers share the same mantra: "I got this."  Colin sees veteran New Orleans Saint quarterback Drew Brees calmly embrace the mantra--while young Cleveland Brown quarterback Baker Mayfield flails in his emotions.  Also, Houston Texan quarterback Deshaun Watson's career is already displaying parallels to a recently-retired NFL quarterback.  Will Watson share the same fate?  Finally, the Herd Hierarchy!  Guests include: Jason Witten, Mark Schlereth, Peter King, Jamal Adams and Tony Gonzalez.  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,

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 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.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford 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. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. you just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

We are loaded today and a Tuesday. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. One hour from now, my herd hierarchy top 10. There'll be one team you will not be happy with, and you're going to have to get over that because I don't like one of the teams you like. It is great to have you on a Tuesday, and Joy Taylor is joining me.

How are you? morning. Wild. Week one. Wow. Just a, by the way, I love these double-headers because the West Coast gets a game and the East Coast gets a game. A little earlier on the East Coast for the early games. Everybody gets kind of what they want, right? They'll never do that.

But I always like the two Monday Night Football games. You know, I have been really rough on certain quarterbacks. Johnny Mansell, I was Brutelon. Baker Mayfield, that was Brutelon. James Winston, I was Brutelon. And I was Brutel on James and Baker and Johnny Manzell. And I think I've been mostly right on two for sure and maybe a third. Third, I don't want you to be one of the guys.

I don't want you to be highly emotional. Quarterbacks got to be like dad in the family. Three words. I got this. There's chaos, tsunamis. I got this. I feel that as a dad in the family. Sometimes I got to step up and go, guys, I got this.

Okay? I don't know what leadership looks like. I don't. I asked Jimmy Johnson, the legendary Jimmy Johnson, what's leadership? He goes, I don't really know. But I know Troy Aikman was a leader. Okay. Drew Brees is leadership.

Drew Breeze is leadership. So last year, NFC championship, bad call against New Orleans. It just the owner, the fans, the player, crazy. Last night, two awful calls go against the Saints. So here's, because of last year the Rams call, keeps them out of the Super Bowl. This organization is on the brink emotionally of man overboard. And then last night, they go into week one, and they get two terrible calls against them. At the end of the half, the clock got butchered by the NFL.

And then later the kicker for the Texans has both feet down. They roll into it. And they... Highly emotional quarterback goes man overboard and you're done. But Drew Breeze off of last year's NFC championship. The owner of the Saints is going crazy. The fans, the Saints players, Sean Payton's highly flammable. The whole organization is...

And you... And yet last night they get hosed again twice by the officials. But who was the cool guy in the room? Got the ball late. Precision. Three strikes. Managed the clock. Dad's got this.

That's leadership. That's why I'm tough on Baker. It's why I'm tough on Johnny Mansell. It's why I can be tough on Cam Newton's emotional roller coaster. The quarterback is different. And I can't define leadership. But those two calls last night with the Saints, on top of that call last year against the Saints, the whole city's an emotional wreck, the owner, Sean Payton, screaming, players, former players.

I got this. And here is precise and exact Drew Breeze. Take a deep breath. I've got to collectively now move us down the field, not worry about these calls. and be as finely tuned as I've been all game. That is leadership. Michael Vic came on this show one time. Remember Michael Vic told the story about he wanted to be one of the guys.

Baker wants to be one of the guys. Cam wants to be one of the guys. And Michael Vic learned a lesson from a coach very early. I remember my second year, Dan Reeves, you know, before the game started, I was, you know, jumping around with the guys and super hyper. and, you know, just ready for the game and, you know, trying to look like everyone else and trying to just be as excited as, you know, all my teammates, and he pulled me to the side and said, oh, hold, hold up, you're the quarterback.

You got to be different. You know, you got to be even killed. And it felt better. You know, it felt better. And then I allowed the guys around me to be more flashy and flamboyer. And more emotional. Yeah, more emotional. I kind of fade off them in that regard and kind of live vicariously through them.

By the way, this league has room for AB and room for T.O. And room for O'Dell Beckham. I'm not saying the league doesn't have room for it. Not at quarterback. This is why I think Dak Prescott deserves the money. The anthem controversy, the Zique judicial issues, the pressure and the vanity of Jerry Jones. And Daxo is like, I got this. He's the grown-up.

He just takes it. Think about this. So what if Breeze was highly emotional last night and comes unglued and gets frustrated with two awful calls on the back of that Rams loss? And then they lose last night's game. Do you know who they play next? The Rams. So all week you're going to be asked about NFL officiating.

And then you're going to go to Los Angeles on a short week Monday night football and lose to the Rams your O and 2. No, no. from the very beginning. Remember when I brought Drew Breeze on this show? It's about a month ago. And I said, Drew, what was amazing to me is that when the city of New Orleans, the owner of the Saints, the coach of the Saints, the former players, the former players, were going crazy on this call. You held a press conference and said, we lost.

Looking at tape for next year. And here was Drew Breeze explaining why he immediately had to get over it. When I made that statement, I was talking to myself. as much as I was as anybody else. You know, that was painful. I think it will always be painful. You know, that thing never really leaves you. But listen, you've got one or two choices.

You know, you can go in the tank, or you can find a way to have a motivation and add some fuel to the fire and turn it into a positive somehow some way. Don't know what leadership is? Can't explain it? That's what it is. When the world around you is highly emotional, you're not one of the guys.

You're the guy. I got this. Let me shift to another guy that is the guy, and I just don't know if he's going to be able to say anything within five years, Deshaun Watson. He's amazing. Do we all realize this is the Andrew Luck story again? Do we all get it? Forget the fact that they both took college programs that were good,

Stanford and Clemson, and they took him to New Heights. Forget the fact that they're both super athletic and forget the fact they play in the same division. forget the fact that even though they have the worst offensive lines in the league, entering the league, they both win 11 games. That's what luck did. 11, 11, 11. DeShon Watson last year. 11.

Forget the fact that they both have internal injuries. Andrew Luck had a lacerated kidney. Last year, Deshawn Watson had a partially collapsed lung. Forget the fact that they're both very athletic. The knock on luck out of college was his arm isn't great. Deshawn Watson doesn't have the ideal, elegant, throwing motion. Have you looked at Deshawn Watson's injury, history, college, and pro?

Is he a UFC fighter or a quarterback? Partially collapsed lungs, broken clavicle. It's like evil-conneval in the 70s. Folks, this is not going to last. It didn't last with Andrew Luck, because here's what Andrew Luck and Deshawn Watson do not have in common. Andrew Luck didn't get hurt in college, and Andrew Luck was bigger and thicker and sturdier. Deshawn Watson doesn't have that frame.

Last night, he got sacksick times. He got hit 10. He was pressured on almost half the dropbacks. This isn't going to last. We're watching Andrew Luck. By the way, it is so similar to Andrew Luck. When Andrew Luck came into the league, remember, we were all like, his GM's not competent. Deshawn Watson comes into the league and we're like, oh, his GM, oh, they don't have one.

I mean, this is becoming the same story. I mean, nothing against Bill O'Brien. And I like Jeremy Tunzel's a nice, it's a nice start. It's a nice start at left tackle. Don't judge the left tackle too harshly for the Texans. this offensive line's not meshing. We're watching the Andrew Luck story. I mean, the 11 wins, the internal injuries, the offensive lines of disaster.

There's no GM or a bad GM. They did the same thing in college. But you start looking now at Deshawn Watson's physical ailment resume. It's starting to look like Andrew Lux. And the difference is luck is sturdier. I mean, I'm watching Deshaun Watson last night, and I'm like, you cannot take these many hits. You just can't. You just cannot take these hits.

It's amazing. It's the same division, the same O-line issues, the same GM issues, the same hit issues. And by the way, Andrew Luck and Deshawn Watson deserve some criticism both for these hits. Deshawn extends too many plays. Andrew Luck extended too many plays. Deshawn Watson often leaps into defenses and leaps into trouble. Andrew Luck did the exact same. But, man, when you've seen something happen and you can see it happen,

I always tell my kids, you can make mistakes. try not to make the same ones twice. This is the same division. This is the Andrew Luck story. That a guy, a quarterback, a young quarterback, is carrying a franchise, and it's just not going to end well. This is not going to end well. He's either got to learn to slide, throw it away, or they got to go out and make massive trades to upgrade that offensive line. Because you cannot survive in this league playing the way Deshaun Watson does.

And it's sad because like luck, he is a all-time. talent. Coming up next, Jason Witten will join us live, the Dallas Cowboy, on an unbelievable opening weekend. How about them, Cowboys, Jason Witten, joins us next. In LA, it's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the 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 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 SportsLice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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

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

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

What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam, Ms. 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 gonna 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.

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 would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back. There was so much to talk about in those games last night. I'll get to the Raiders in a little bit because the Raiders looked pretty good because they did two things in the NFL that almost always guarantee you look good. Because we've all thought that the Raiders going to be competent. If you have a good quarterback and you protect your quarterback,

you can lose in this league, but you'll look competent. When you watch the teams this weekend that didn't look competent like Cleveland, they couldn't protect Baker Mayfield. He's running for his life. Miami, there's massive breakdowns. It doesn't matter if I love your GM or I love your coach. You look around the NFL. If you've got a good quarterback, Derek Carr's a good quarterback.

We've said this. He's a good quarterback. He's in the DAC thing. It's like you may not love him, but he's going to make a bunch of money. And they protected him last night. It's quarterbacks who are good with time. You give Matt Ryan time. You're not going to stop him.

Matt Ryan's pressured in Minnesota. You can stop him. And, you know, that's kind of my takeaway when you look at the Raiders last night. is that, you know, take the AB situation out of it. Like, take him away. The rest of their football moves in the last year, they're kind of interesting. The two first round picks last night, the running back and the defensive end from Clemson, they both played well.

Terrell Williams, the wide receiver for the Raiders. Okay, they call me anti-A-B because he never talks. They got him from the Chargers. He looked really good. Trent Brown, the right tackle. I thought he was terrific last night. The guy they got from the Rams, Lamarcus Joyner, he looked good. last night. So take the A-B move out. They whiffed on that one. It happens. Okay, it happens.

The rest of the Raider moves. It looked pretty good last night. And I don't think they'll look incompetent because Derek Carr's good and the O-Line's good. And that, generally in the NFL, at least you'll look capable of winning games. With that, be the Coward Global Satellite Network. One of the best guys in the National Football League. Jason Witton is joining us. It is great to talk to Jason. If your Tennessee volunteers could finally get their act together, I think you'd be in a better move, but let's talk Dallas. Were you even a little surprised, Jason, at how seamless.

Dak felt. He felt so comfortable. Everything worked. Were you a tad surprised? I don't say I wasn't. You know, I mean, he's comfortable. He's seen it all. You know, he's grown from those experiences. And I just, I've seen it all, all season, the way he's grown. And, you know, I was with him his first two years and wasn't there last year. And you talk about the progression of the quarterback.

that's what he's doing. He's seeing it. He's drawing off those experiences. And the most important thing, I think, is he's the leader that you want. And I believe that leadership from QB1, that matters. And he's certainly done it. He's got teammates that run through a wall for him. He's playing at a high level. His anticipation is his command. He's got all that going for him. Had a great game. You're older, actually, than the new offensive coordinator, Kellyn Moore. And some people say, well, he didn't have experience, but I'm.

I could argue, Jason, that a former player can really relate to a current player. What do you think, Kellan and Dak, what are the advantages of that relationship? Well, I think first off, not only was he a former player, they were teammates, Dak and Kellan. So, I mean, you know, that really gives Kellan a lot of credit early on in his career as being a mentor, being a coach on the field, so to speak, as his backup. And so I think just being aligned, I think your play caller. and the quarterback have to be aligned.

We've seen it work in this league for a lot of years, but we've also seen it not work with the quarterback and play caller not being aligned. So they have the same approach. A lot of what we're doing is similar. We're just dressing it up different ways. But I think what Kellyn added to this offense was the vertical attacking that we had there on Sunday.

So we stayed aggressive. Every offense says that. They want to be aggressive. They want to attack. But it showed up in the game against the Giants in week one. We want to build off that. You had a great play down in the red zone where you really sold the block. And then you rubbed off it and you, and I said on the air, I'm like, that's Jason Whitten.

He's going to do that seven times this year. And it's such a smart veteran move. You totally sold it. And I don't know. When I watched that, I'm like, God, he must have worked on that. That can't be just something you come up with fly. How many times did you and Dak worked on that camouflaged play? Well, that's the perfect call.

We went on the ball so we didn't huddle. And when I heard the signal and the play call, you know, I just had a bad poker face on, Colin. I was just like, oh, this is going to be taking candy from a baby right here now. This is one. And it worked out perfectly, a little bootleg pass. And great to get in the end zone. You know, you talked about leadership.

And Jimmy Johnson once said, he goes, I can't explain it, but Troy Ackman was a good leader. And one of the things I've said on this show is, you know, Dax doesn't always throw the most artistic football. but there is something he every time he goes to the podium and the cowboys sometimes have a little controversy he always says the right thing he always brings it down he's always like i got this you're around him all the time i can't define what leadership is but you're in the locker room what is it well i think first off it's an art to it all and it's do your teammates respect you enough will they will they run through a wall for you whatever you ask of them will they give that to you? And do they do it genuinely? Some people do it because that's the

quarterback position and he's the highest play player. And you know, you're taught in early age, you know, do what the quarterback tells you to do. But other two people like genuinely feel it, live it, mean it. And that's what DAC does. And DAC understands it's a priority. It's important to him. He does all the little things that great leaders do and doesn't just take that position of, oh, I'm in authority because I'm the quarterback. And so he works hard at it. He's very real. You know, I think you want to see a fraud walking in the NFL locker room. He'll stick out in a hurry, you know, if a guy's not authentic with it, you know, and that's he's nothing like that. I mean, he's got the response of the entire team, players, coaches, staff members

at a very young age, you know, and he just does all those things really, really well. And it means something to him. I know it means a lot to me as a veteran player, but your young quarterback has that approach. Man, it makes him coming to work. a hell of a lot more fun knowing that he approaches it that way. You know, you are obviously still productive when you left and tried broadcasting and Gronk just left. And I look at Gronk and I look at you. And I think, Gronk won't say, I'm never coming back. There is something about being part of a team. I think the Cowboys needed your leadership. That's why I was a big fan of the Amari Cooper

acquisition. I think he's a leader, not just a player. And I look at Gronk. take me to what maybe a gronk is thinking what you were thinking about what that i know everybody thinks football is tough and it physical and but there is something jason about the room and the guys and the plane and the sundays that just drew you back how do you explain what drew you back well that's it i mean there was a love and passion for this game it was just a fire inside me i didn't overthink it i just listened to those emotions and probably as i look back on it i i probably wasn't ready to retire, you know, it was just a perfect opportunity in Monday night football. And I think all of us in real time would try to make that decision.

You'd say, heck, let me, you know, that's pretty unique opportunity. Give it a shot, you know. And I just have this love and passion for it. You know, Grunk, maybe a little different. I know he's made references of, you know, he's been beat up and the game was kind of taking some of his joy. I never felt that way. I always had great love and passion.

Every day I woke up like, man, I'm the luckiest guy in the world that I get to go do this and do it with a team that I love. And also, he's got, what, three rings to go along with the great career he's had. And so he'll fill it, the emotion of just competing, being a part of it, getting in the locker room. I mean, you know, the energy that he brought, you know, it's hard to fulfill that. I certainly just listen to my gut. I'm sure he'll do the same thing. Well, you're one of the best guys I've ever met in this sport.

Your intelligence, your decency, you're a great player. By the way, the official hotel of the NFL is the courtyard Marriott. It looks like, I've stayed in those a lot. Are you sitting in a courtyard Marriott right now? I am. I am sitting in a courtyard. In Irving, Texas. Oh, been there many times.

Jason, courtyard Marriott, stay there, folks. They're great. Great to have you back in the league. Congratulations. That little clever red zone touchdown, just scream Jason Whitten, man. Congrats. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate you having me on, bud.

You bet. One of the all-time dudes right there. And that was, you remember that play Sunday? Totally. It's like he said, his poker face was bad. He sold to the Giants. He sold the block. And just kind of segue dosy-dode right off it. And the Giants were like, oh, that's what Witten's for.

That play is Witten. About seven times a year, put on the poker face. It's coming to you. And an all-time good guy. Joy of the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is a good.

the herd line news. Well, Sunday, O'Dell Beckham Jr. was caught wearing a very expensive watch during the Brown's 43 to 13 loss to the Titans. $350,000, just to be exact. Was he caught? Or did he want it to be seen?

Well, I think the purpose was to be seen. Being caught was the goal, but, you know, obviously everyone noticed he's wearing a watch, particularly the internet is the one that pointed it out. Well, yesterday the NFL sent him notice to O'Dell that he cannot wear the watch because it violates the league's ban on wearing hard objects.

And last night, Odell went to Twitter to vent his frustrations. He said, if it ain't one thing, it's another. I think they probably had to assume that was going to be the outcome of the situation. Look, I don't, obviously, I love it. Like, this is funny, and it's Odell. And, you know, if the Browns had blew out the Titans, this would be a completely different conversation. Obviously, there would be people that still didn't like it.

But overall, the reception would be better. they didn't win and when you're losing or you lose, everything is amplified. That said, there was a conversation about, you know, what people wear chains and Alvin Kamara. I've always, when I see a running back and there's a, like a skill player. Right. And there's a chain.

My takeaway is always, would a guy, I mean, I would, remember when Akib Talib? Yeah. And he went and he grabbed. Who was the player of Keeb to leave? Michael Crabtree. Yeah. It's like, I would not wear this stuff because you could, anything on my body that you could grab a chain, I just don't think.

think it would be smart. Well, I think that was more of a disrespect thing. Was it? Yes. That, yeah, it's, yes. But that's not going to hurt anybody. Like, the chain's not going to hurt anyone. In theory, I guess if O'Dell landed weirdly on someone, like, it could scrape them or something. In general, watch is not probably the item that you want to wear when you're playing football. Alvin Kamara did have a diamond grill in last night, though. So, yeah, but that's their teeth. Yeah, that's obviously not a hurt anyone either. I'm just, guys are just being flashy now. Like, it's not new.

Like, you know, Dion Sanders. So that's just, you put those on before the game, right? The Diamond Grills. Yeah. So that's like a, you just place those on. Yes, it's just, I don't know. Like the braces. Like braces?

Yeah. Okay. I'm not, I don't know how. You got to get calling a grill. I've never. Get on that internet. GERN. GERN.

GERN. GERN. So I don't know how it works, actually. I'm going, Joe, I'm going to go. I'll ask you about that. and wear it on the show for you. All right. So Antonio Brown officially became a patriot yesterday.

His contract details were released. He got $15 million total, $1 million in a guaranteed base, $9 million in a signing bonus, $500,000 in roster bonuses. And he had a pretty interesting incentive line there, $4.5 million in incentives. He gets $1.5 million for each 105 receptions, $1,298 receiving yards, and 16 touchdowns. That's one more tick up from his 2018. numbers, 104 receptions, 1,297 yards, and 15 touchdowns he had in 2018. And they have a $20 million guarantee option that can be picked up in 2020.

So all in all, he didn't really lose that much guaranteed money. Well, if they get, if they pick him up, if they pick him up. Now, he's going to get another contract because they don't anyway. It might not be $30 million guaranteed. But the money thing, like everyone freaking out about how much money he left on the table, it's really not that much. and, you know, he did get an endorsement from the helmet company, and we don't know how much that is,

but I'm imagining it's going to have been worth all that trouble. I still would rather get a $64 million direct deposit like Julio Jones. Well, yeah, that's a nice little number to see in the deposit line. And I think Julio got that because they trust Julio is a great team guy and a good guy. I would rather go the Julio way. I mean, there's a lot of different ways to get your money in the world. I would rather do the Julio way. I just would rather, I don't want to manipulate the system to get my money.

I'd rather just get it be a good teammate and a good person. It feels like there was a lot going on to get to this point. But I will say if I'm interested in winning and sticking it to the Steelers, I would rather be with the Patriots on a one-year $9 million guarantee deal than with the Raiders. Although the Raiders did look good last night. They're not in the Patriots position. Have you seen the Raiders next eight games? Oh, my Lord.

I mean, first of all, I'm not sure what country they plan every week because their schedule is absurd. Their schedule. I mean, this was a nice Raider win. They are not going to be 7-0. I'm just going to tell you right now. No, no, no, no. But you can only start how you start and do what you do, and they looked good last night. Finally, Dak Prescott played like a franchise quarterback and a 35-17 winner of the Giants,

but he is still without a new contract. And after Sunday's win, Jerry Jones said that's contract was imminent. Well, yesterday, Stephen Jones reiterated that both sides are close to getting a deal done. our goal is to ultimately get this done. No one deserves it more than Doc, and we'll continue to really work hard to get him, you know, to get him signed. You know, obviously,

Dak's got to be happy with it. And at the same time, we've got to make a deal that works for both of us. And, you know, Dax's very unselfish and, you know, work itself out. I think, you know, in due time, you know, it'll find its way.

And we'll put this in the rid of the evening hopefully sooner than later. DAC was 25-32, 405 passing yards for touchdown zero interceptions. Let me make a prediction. Ten days he's got a contract. I think it will be within the next two weeks. Now we can stop talking about it. Yes.

And I know you hate talking about contract. It's just this weird space that DAC is in because I think particularly with this year with all the holdouts and the high-profile holdouts and obviously Zeeke and the other guys that have been signed, Dak has been probably the guy that should have held out and the guy that really deserves it the most because he hasn't been paid. But this is what leadership is. And this is DAC. Like this goes along with everything that he is.

Yes, it's leadership and he doesn't want to be a distraction to the team while he's basically playing. He's gambling on himself at this point because he could be risking guaranteed money being out there. And he's putting the team first. But, you know, like you said, there's a million different ways to get paid. I just like that he's handling it the way he is. Yeah. I enjoy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. heard line news. Nine NFL games last weekend. Nine were one possession games. I went to the Vegas odds this morning. I've already made my blazing five picks. We had a winning week. 11 of the 13 Vegas spreads joy.

Week two are one possession. This is a one possession league. NFC, AFC championships this year. One possession. New England doesn't lose the way Houston did last. night. So correct me if I'm wrong, but Drew Breeze was allowed last night on that final drive. Am I the only person that couldn't figure this out? Let's go down to that final play when Houston was playing off New Orleans receivers. Now remember, Drew Breeze doesn't throw the ball deep. He doesn't

even do Hail Mary's. They bring in Tayson Hill. They only trailed by one, so they only needed a field goal and they had a time out. The one thing you can't give Drew Breeze last night was like a 10-yard completion. Did you watch the end of the game? He literally audibled. And Booger McFarland, the analyst figured this out. Watch this. Six seconds, one time out.

The Texans are playing loose coverage. I don't agree with this. This is too easy to get a quick completion. He's checking it. He sees it. Here we go. Clock counting down, drives it over the middle. They do have the timeout, and it gets it to the 40 to 10 game.

It was just too easy. The Houston, Texas, we're almost in a prevent defense. Look how far the safest are back. They're 25 yards back. They only need seven yards. Fall down, call the timeout. Nice job, Booger. New England doesn't lose that way.

What are you doing? What are you doing, Houston? Drew, they need a field goal. The only thing Drew wants. Is that coverage? Like, give me nine yards. We'll bring out the field goal kicker. That's all he wanted and you gave it to him.

You had three safeties. Look at 25 yards down the field. What are they protecting? In fact, Drew Brees couldn't have even thrown a 25-yard ball, which he only attempted one pass all game over 20 yards, because he doesn't throw deep anymore. He doesn't do Hail Mary's. So all your coverage is deep, Romeo Cronel.

What are you doing? This is situational football. at its worst for Houston and at its best for New Orleans. This should be a win for Houston. This is where Bill O'Brien, I mean, Bill O'Brien called a timeout last night to consider, consider challenging. And then when the challenge is wrong, he lost two timeouts. Just challenge or don't. Don't call a timeout to consider it.

This is why I never buy Houston to win a Super Bowl. I think they're good and I like them. But that was just blown situational football right. there. I mean, and Booker got it right. Drew Breeze is like, oh my God, they're giving me, they're making a huge mistake and giving me the only thing I, A, need, and B, want. And they just gave it to him. They just gave, he literally called an audible because he was shocked that they would give it to him. Folks, 11 of 13 spreads this weekend in Vegas are one possession games. Houston gave that thing up.

I mean, maybe Drew would have made the play anyway, but you can't do that. That's just basic football. We all get that watching the television. When the analyst can pick it out immediately, upstairs, and go, Drew's audible. And they're giving a... That's bad.

Houston, bad, get buttoned up. And you may win your division anyway, but that's bad. That's bad coaching. Coming up, Mark Slareth is coming up next. He's all fired up. He watched that Kyler Murray game. He was the analyst on that game.

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 SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on Office Blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio ad. 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. at 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 while he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down. court and you're going to get the bomb. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

your podcasts. Mark Schlarith is joining us. True Car, by the way, it's very confusing when you buy a car, very confusing. Not if you use True Car, I saved three grand recently. I'm buying a truck. I love truck to drive around banging things. Oh, yeah, bang in it. I'm a truck guy. Yeah, look at you. Do some lawn work.

Look at you. Yeah. That's what I think when I see you. Truck guy. Not really. Mark Slareth, Super Bowl rings, Rolls. Okay, so I listen, you did the Arizona game. Sure. And I said yesterday, we got to, listen, we got to be careful about week one. Last year, Baltimore in week one, Flacco looked unbelievable. By week 11, they were replacing him. Here's my concern with Kyler Murray. It wasn't that they struggled early. Mark, it looked like it didn't belong in the league. Now, at the end of the game, that tempo, Detroit looked tired at the end. But let's go into this. If you watch that Arizona game, and like 3% of the country got that game, I was one of the households.

I don't know if that Arizona thing works. What, describe it. Well, I think one of the things you have to understand, when you're a spread, air raid offense, you have to, one, beat people with tempo. Yes. But you have to stay. All offenses are rhythmic.

The issue is when you're not in rhythm in a traditional offense, you know what you do? You get into two tight solo, you get two backs in there, and you bludgeon somebody for a while, right? You make them match you heavy, then you get a one-on-one matchup with your tight end who's got to be covered by a linebacker. You complete a seven-yard stick route, you know, and then all of a sudden, boom, we're back in a rhythm. When you play an air-rate system where the whole thing is predicated on, tempo. tempo throwing the ball quickly to the outside, you know, and then all of a sudden you're out of that rhythm. You see what you saw for two and a half quarters,

which was awful. Garbage. It was terrible. Here's what I would tell you, though. This is where I was thoroughly impressed. This game at the quarterback position is far more about the neck up than it is the neck down, right? And Kyler is as gifted as we have from the neck down, man.

He can run. he can throw it. He's got a big arm. I know short and stature, but man, he can, he's accurate. He can do all those things, right? What I was impressed with was the neck up. Because I'll tell, I'll just tell on myself, if I'm playing poorly in a game, I'm not all of a sudden going to play great in a fourth quarter.

I'm going to be garbage throughout the entirety of the game. Now, I won't cost my team the game because what I'll do is all mess it, you know, I mean, I'll just turn it into a street fight. Right. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, struggling technique-wise, I'll turn it into a street fight. I'm not going to lose, but I'm not going to grade out very well. It's going to be pretty ugly

in film session. When it goes bad early for you, you're out, kind of. I don't have the, I'll be honest, I don't have the mental capacity to grab it back. Now, like I said, I'll turn it into a street fight. That kid was as bad as you could be. He was missing wide open targets. He was throwing on the wrong shoulder.

He was just, I mean, he was terrible. And all of a sudden, the fourth quarter, man, whoop. That takes a certain mental tough that frankly I don't possess. That takes a mental toughness to be able to all of a sudden flip the script and be great.

It's three quarters of garbage. That's Kobe Bryant's greatest skill. He could be 0 for 11. He's like, give me the ball, last shot. Like there is something. There's something to that. There is an ability that you, it's almost an overconfidence,

which is off-putting if you don't know anybody like that. But like most athletes, the great ones are almost bizarrely obsessed and bizarrely confident. Like it comes across sometimes as arrogant. It's like, you need that body armor when you're, like Tom Brady is thrown pick sixes in Super Bowls.

Do you know how much confidence you have to have to go? I'm going to throw the exact same route. Yeah. I don't care. Like that's hard. There's this, you know, the difference between arrogance and confidence, and my estimation is confidence is bred out of work

and what you've done and your belief in, the preparation that you have. Arrogance is based off of fear. I haven't done the work. So let me just puff out my chest, right? Right. There's a big difference here. This kid is not only supremely confident in his talent,

his God-given ability, but there's something special about those guys. You mentioned Kobe that have, you know, the book, The Art of Not Given a, you know what? Yeah. Like he's got the, I don't care. Like, have I been garbage? Yeah.

You know what? Doesn't matter. Here I go. Watch me now. And like there's only, I've been around professional athletics, you know, pretty much my entire adult life. Not everybody has that. Most don't. Most don't.

He does. Yeah. All right. A.B. in New England. I don't think anybody knows how it's going to work out. I don't think Belichick knows. But it's worth the roll of the dice.

It's $10 million this year. The team's good anyway. It's worth the roll of the dice. How do you think it works out? You know, I am optimistic. And I think because of this, everywhere that he has gone, like he came in as, what, a sixth round draft choice. So he worked his butt off. He's always been an exceptionally hard worker, right?

He's always had that aspect to him. But when he hit stardom, when he started having 100 plus catches and, you know, 1,400 yards, it changed. Yeah. And all of a sudden, instead of him needing the team, the team needed him more than he needed the team. Bill Belichick doesn't suffer fools. We can win with you or we can win without you. And we really don't care. Yeah, I just watched the other night.

They could win a lot without it. Right. So it's like, do you want to be a part of this? Because we have a standard. We have a set of rules. Here, when I watch them, they are the most disciplined, selfless team that I watch. You watch the execution just on the defensive side of the football. They're secondary.

Like, they're a team. And I think you and I talked about this yesterday. just in the hallway. Led the league in pressure with last in the league in sacks. They don't care about the stat. No. They don't get sacks,

but they led the league in making quarterbacks uncomfortable. Right. And part of that is, hey, listen, you play defensive end here and you're not going to get a lot of sacks because you know what,

anytime a back releases to your side, we want you to stop rushing the pastor, chip that guy, so we can delay him, and then regain your pass rush. So when you do that, like there's a lot of guys in league who say, I'm not down for that.

I want to get my, because I'm not going to the Pro Bowl. I'll never forget the story. I think it was the linebacker. Was it Spikes? Tequillo Spike? No, I don't think it was Tekeo. There was a linebacker from Baltimore.

Brandon Spikes. Oh, Brandon Spikes from Florida. Yeah, who was with the Baltimore, excuse me, was with the Lungham Patriots. Yes. And he played great one year. Yeah. And he didn't get elected to the Pro Bowl.

And the story goes, and this is secondhand, so I'm kind of paraphrasing, but I believe it, you know, I know it's true that he was depressed, and he was sitting in his locker kind of moping about not getting elected to the Pro Bowl. And Tom Brady basically came over to him and cussed him out and said, pick your head up. You think I play this crap to go to the Pro Bowl? No, we play here to win Super Bowls. That's what we're playing for.

Yeah. We don't give a crap about Pro Bowls. and, you know, that's the perspective within that locker room. And by the way, it's not shared because individualism is being heightened in all sports, which I'm okay with. But New England, there's still a sanctity of, guys, let's win games. Let's win games here. Right.

And I love it. Now, by the way, as an offensive lineman, I say Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson, I'm seeing the same thing. I'm seeing the same thing. He got hit on 45% of his dropbacks. Luck was a bigger, thicker kid. I'm watching that game last night. Sean Watson will not be in this league in four years. There's no way.

And he's, I mean, he's an exceptional talent. Oh, my gosh. He is so much fun to watch. He's a great watch. How about the throwing the football? Just the dynamic nature of just letting it. Look at these highlights. Right.

So here's the crazy thing. Like, you're going to New Orleans, which historically, one of the toughest places in the world to play. From a crowd noise standpoint and everything else, it is. It's just a nightmare. And on that play right there, you know, you're talking about going to New Orleans and saying, hey, let's throw a seven-step drop on third down and, you know, in nine.

Let's go ahead and let our tackles. And, you know, I'm getting social media. Laramie M. Tunsell, I can't believe we gave up so much for him. He's no good. Do you know that I played next to Gary Zimmerman for four years? University of Oregon, best linemen they've ever had. Gary Zimmerman is all decade in the NFL in the 1980s and the 1990s. Gary Zimmerman is one of the best players that has ever played in this league.

When we went to Kansas City back in the day with Neil Smith and Derek Thomas, we eliminated every seven-step drop. We went to a game plan with no seven-stepers. And that was a seven-step drop league then? Yes. So sometimes you have to just say, this line is not capable of doing this. Well, any line is not capable in third down and seven plus in New Orleans in crowd noise when they are hopping. There's nobody that can do it.

You can't block one-on-one in those situations. I'm sorry, the athletes on the other side of the field are better. The crowd noise limits your ability to hear. You're always late. Like some of those sacks, like everybody wants to point to Laramie Tuss to say, he's no good. He's been there for five days. Hey, go out there and lock them up. Good luck.

Like that's a coaching sack. Put it on yourselves. That's what I say. Mark Schlarith. Heard hierarchy next. Good seeing you about it. Thank you, buddy. One more herd?

The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, this is The Herd, wherever you may be. However you may be listening, we're live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

Three minutes from now, I'm going to do my herd hierarchy. My top 10 teams in the NFL, I do it every Tuesday at this time. One of the teams you love, America loves, I don't love, I don't get it, I don't see it. I don't see it. Joy Taylor is joining us. How are you, Joy? Great. Good morning.

So I was watching the whole A-B thing, and I've said before it, I think it's very hard to predict what dysfunctional or very dramatic people are going to do next. They're different. They're unique. artists, right? It's easier to predict what an accountant is going to do next, 2 plus 2 equals 4. Then it is an artist who can go off left, go off right, so the improvisational personalities and artists in the world, it's just harder to predict what they're going to do, right? And so, like, this weekend I watched the media. The media no longer has beats. They just cover themselves. They cover their own arse when they're wrong. First of all, the media is like,

A, B is awesome. And then when they were wrong, it's like, A, B's got a mental health issue. Really? Are you a professional? Do you know that? And it's like, well, A.B. He's just manipulates a genius. I don't think he's got a mental health issue and I don't think he's a genius. Maybe he's just a dramatic personality. We've seen this kind of personality a thousand times in the NFL. I don't know.

And I've said this with A.B. I don't know. I'm just going to let it play out. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't think Bill Belichick knows what's going to happen. And Belichick's had a guy a little bit like him before. Everybody wants to be right. I just want to watch and see what happens.

My guess is, and I said yesterday, it's a guess. It's kind of Derell Revis, mutually beneficial for one or two years. Doesn't feel like he's got the Patriots DNA. Revis never had the Patriots DNA. Randy Moss actually had a lot of the Patriots DNA. Smart, intuitive, hard worker. There was a lot of things Moss did that were very New England. A.B. works hard, but there's a lot of stuff that's not New England.

Bill Belichick talked about it this morning. You know, it's basically just, are you willing to put in the time? And then it should be okay. Here's Belichick this morning. Take it day by day. We haven't practiced yet. And so we're going through information with him like we were with any new player. Get out on the practice field.

After Wednesday, talk about Thursday, and just go through the week. So see how it goes. The same thing you said about Randy Moss when we got brought him in. So you just, you just, Bill's saying it was going to take it day by day. And I know you look at AB and you say, well, Oakland was a man. Agreed. But Pittsburgh, he was late to meetings in Pittsburgh. He walked out of meetings.

He was late to team flights. So in the structured environment, he was not dependable. Teammates called him out. Tomlin called him out. Tomlin's pro player. Ben called him out. Ryan Clark called him out. So, like, I don't know.

I don't have an answer. Carson Palmer, whose buddies with Brady, you know, he brings up good points on first things first this morning. He doesn't think it's going to be great. Tom Brady is operating on level 10 of 10 levels. So pre-snap, if he's got a curl on the right side of the field, he's using his eyes, he's manipulating the defense in order to get the ball to the curl route that's supposed to be run at 12 yards on a certain rhythm and timing.

When his eyes and he's manipulating and working his way to that curl and that curl's not ready to catch the ball because he's going to run it at 15 or 16 yards or he already ran it at 9 and he's sitting there waiting on the ball, that's when interceptions happen and incompletions happen. and that's not going to fly with Tom. And I think that's interesting. A, B, is the artist. Tom is the accountant.

Tom is seeking precision and exact routes. That's what Tom does. And he will not throw it to you. He would not throw it to Ocho. And A.B.'s not a precise route runner. He's not. By the way, OBJ is. OBJ runs incredibly precise routes.

I always thought OBJ work with Brady. I really do. Because if you look at the way OBJ runs his routes. He runs the best slant in the league. That's why I think OBJ is going to work with Baker and had the most catches. A.B., his route running is not like Tom's used to. Now, he may be so great. It works. But there is a DNA match here that doesn't quite click, but I don't think anybody knows. I don't think Tom knows. That's why I think Belichick just said, we're just going to go day to day. We're just going to see if it works. And frankly, not just because

I love Brady and Belichick, but I wanted to see it work. because I like watching great players. Like, I want LeBron and Anthony Davis to work because it'd be fun if the Lakers were good. Like, I didn't like Kyrie Irving not working with the Celtics. Like, I wanted to see it works. So I'm hoping it works. I think there's real concerns on the artist and the accountant, the precision guy, and the let me get open guy. I think there's some DNA things here that don't work for me.

Well, let's see. Let's see. But I don't think anybody knows. I don't think Tom knows. I don't think Bill knows. I certainly don't know. I don't know. And I'm not going to predict that A.B. is a manipulative genius or there's mental health stuff. That's a way. I have no idea. I think he's a football player. He's a really good football player that can be kind of a dramatic personality. And that I think I know.

By the way, here was Tom Brady last night with Jim Gray on the addition of A.B. His thoughts. The only thing that I know what we can do is to go out there and work at it and to meet and to communicate and get on the practice field and go through things. So I'm not buying into any hype or potential. I'm into work. He's into work. And our entire offense is into doing what's in the best interest of the team. And I'm really excited to get to practice on Wednesday. Yeah.

I would love to watch that practice. I'm going to tell you something, I would pay to watch that practice. I just can't. Listen, all you remember, Moss and Brady, I mean, that was every Sunday was a firework show. You had to watch that game. That was like Aikman and Irvin in his prime. You know, I mean, that was like, oh, yeah, you got to spend three hours and watch this, so I can't wait to watch a half.

Moss, would you say, Moss had what? 23 touchdowns that year. That's absurd. If you have 12, you're a pro bowler. So I'm excited. Let's see. All right, here we go, herd hierarchy. Top 10 teams in the NFL.

At the end, you won't like what I did with one team. But here we go. Heard hierarchy. Time is now, let's go. The top 10 NFL teams are close. According to college, number 10. I don't care that the Saints won the game. Texans are a better team.

I'll put Texans at 10. They had 63 more rushing yards than the Saints. They led for the entire game. If it's in Houston, Houston wins. If it's on a neutral field, they win. And Houston led until two seconds left in the game. Houston's the better football team. I mean, Deshawn Watson's crazy.

20 of 30 and three touchdowns and 114 pass a rating, getting hit 45% of the time. I think Houston's better than New Orleans. By the way, it was my blazing five pickings. of the week and we had a winning week. And I don't put teams in this just based on wins and losses. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd rather you win than lose.

But I thought Houston looked better than any team that lost this weekend. I thought they looked excellent for most of the game. And I think in any other place in the world, except the Superdome Week 1, Houston wins that football game. And I think they're a better team this morning than New Orleans. Number 9.

Chargers, I think their talent's top four in the league, but they don't have Derwin James and Melvin Gordon. And I I can't put them in the top five until they get those guys back. They can win games without them, but I don't think they're going to beat the Kansas cities without them. They did win. They did in overtime made the big plays.

Austin Eckler was terrific. Philip Rivers passed for 33 yards. They're really a fun team to watch. They're all sorts of dynamic and all sorts of playmakers. I think they are, I think they're going to lose some games because of Melvin Gordon and especially Derwin James here over the next month. So I can't put them higher than nine. Number eight.

Green Bay won in the road. A little concern. First of all, Green Bay's defense was good, and that was my prediction, that this year, especially until Thanksgiving, we would talk more about the defense than the offense. I love what Green Bay did the last two years in the draft. Their offense, I know it's Chicago's defense. I know it's on the road. And Aaron Rogers didn't play a snap in the preseason.

I didn't see a lot of multiple looks. I thought the offense, frankly, wasn't real creative. It was kind of an ugly performance. Again, I know it's the Bears defense. I know it's week one. But I think by the end of the year, this is a top three team probably, but I don't think it's fair to put them higher than eight

because I thought the offense was kind of clunky in week one. Number seven. I mean, you beat a team 5910. I'm putting you somewhere in it. I don't think it'll look like that every week for the Ravens. But by the way, Jim Harbaugh, and I love Jim Harbaugh, gets a lot of love. Are we sure Jim Harbaugh is the best Harbaugh?

and the family, because I'm watching Joe Flacco without John Harbaugh last night. That was bad. And I'm watching Lamar Jackson's massive growth in the last six months with John Harbaugh. By the way, John Harbaugh is a special team's whiz. I think John Harbaugh and Baltimore are really well coached. I think they've done a great job surrounding Lamar last couple of years. Draft a couple tight ends. Drafted a couple wide receivers.

By the way, that rookie Marquise Brown, that wide receiver, cousin of Antonio Brown, 147 yards. like that dude can flat play and Lamar throws a very nice over the top ball so I got the Ravens at 7. Number 6. It's weird. I like everything about Minnesota except their quarterback. I think Mike Zimmer is one of the

most underrated coaches in the league. I think Delvin Cook is a beast at running back. I think their defensive front is fantastic. I think their offensive line is improved. I think they humiliated for three quarters the Atlanta Falcons. I like everything about him but Kirk Cousins was 8 of 10. And

it's very easy to say they didn't need him, but when you're only throwing the ball 10 times, doesn't that kind of tell me what you think of the quarterback position? You just don't want him to lose games. I think Kirk's a really nice guy. I like everything about Minnesota, but I just think they're so limited at the most important position in football. By the way, Cook had 111 yards, a couple of rushing touchdowns. I think they're going to try to establish themselves as a run football team first, despite having great receivers.

Number five. Anybody notice under Sean McVey how good the Rams are on the road? They are a really good road team. That was a very loseable game. Carolina's got all sorts of players. Carolina's got eight first round picks on defense. And yet, they just made the plays late. It was an early start time, 10 a.m. Pacific for a West Coast team.

Todd Gurley was very good late in the game. And it wasn't. They didn't play particularly well. Aaron Donald didn't have a big day. Gurley didn't do anything until late. Robert Woods was quiet. at early. This was not a world-class performance by the Rams, but man,

under Sean McVeigh, they do a tremendous job situationally on the road. They're not affected by the road crowd. They rushed for 166 yards, so they took the ball out of Jared Gough's hands. I have the Rams at 5. Number 4. I think the Giants' defense is pitiful,

so I'm going to only put the Cowboys at 4. Listen, it's still probably the best offensive line in the league, and I don't think we all notice when they signed Randall Like that just didn't, that made the transaction wire. And then you watch the game and you're like, oh, hell, they've got Randall Cobb too. They got a lot of weapons here.

This is a lot of weapons. I mean, Zeke only had 53 yards. So this wasn't the Zeke show. This was the DAC show. And I've been saying this all offseason. I know you think it's Zeke's team. I think it's Dax team. And I think Dax's getting better.

But, you know, Witton's back in the red zone. Randall Cobb, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup. This is pretty good weapons. Cole Beasley, I watched him this weekend. He didn't look very good. And they let him go. I think the Dallas weapons are better than we think. Number three.

Philadelphia. Listen, Carson Wins didn't take a snap in the preseason. So a lot of these quarterbacks looked awful in their first couple series. Philadelphia looked awful for the first 20 minutes in the football game. And then the second half comes around and you're like, oh boy. Carson Wenz, Wens, 28 of 39 was magic to Sean Jackson. Listen, there is a reason that the Patriots like AB. Sometimes you just need a guy.

Tyreek Hill, Deshaun Jackson, AB, you just can't guard him deep. And boy, Carson Wentz has a world-class arm to give him a deep threat like Deshaun Jackson. By the way, two guys in this league, Deshaun Jackson and Vernon Davis are still making plays. Didn't Deshaun Jackson come in this league 15 years ago? I mean, he's been in the league forever, and he's still one of the fastest guys. Philadelphia, I'm impressed by a team that can come back from a 7-0 deficit. I think that shows a lot of character. Number two.

Kansas City, I don't buy in the step back. I mean, come on, they scored on their first seven possessions. You know how hard that is in the NFL? Frank Clark, who I think is the best acquisition, maybe in the entire NFL. Frank Clark and Chris Jones on that defensive front, no thanks. No, that's why they let D. Ford go. That's why they let, you know, Justin Houston go. That defensive front is just...

Now, Tyreek Hill is out because he's injured. That's not great. I think they'll be fine. Travis Kelsey, unguardable. I think Kansas City's really good. I don't want any part of them. I think in that division, it's going to be very... Listen, in a weird way, Tyreek Hill,

put him down for six, seven weeks, and come back and pop after Thanksgiving. Number one. I mean, what are you going to say? I mean, New England's got the best secondary in the league, the best coach in the league, the best quarterback in the league, best running back depth in the league.

I mean, they're just situationally, when's the last time they gave up, like a bad touchdown? Like you're like, oh, that's a blown coverage. I mean, they just don't do it. They don't get penalized. Yeah, Hail Mary to Miami. There you go. They've had one in four years. Like, it's just, sometimes you watch New England.

They're playing a different game. Like, just don't make the mistakes. Everybody else does. Added Antonio Brown. Josh Gordon, by the way. Good luck defending him. He looks like a tight end playing wide receiver. Edelman, running backs.

Almost not fair. It's deliciously not fair. A lot of people feel like it's not fair. You're right. I don't want to do it. It's not fair. Peter King. Always fair.

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

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

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, 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. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

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

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

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. 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? This Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. in 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 Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, 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 Podcast, or wherever you. you get your podcasts. NBCSports.com, Football Morning in America, Peter King, via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Okay, let's start with us, Peter.

There's a lot of conspiracy theorists out there that Bill Belichick had this thing going the whole time with Antonio Brown. I am not a conspiracy theorist. Do you buy into any of them? How did A.B. end up in New England? Was it a long plan or did it just fall into their lap? I think as of last Thursday,

Antonio Brown had every plan to go and play football for the Oakland Raiders this year. And while I don't doubt, because I believe that in and around the NFL, Colin, agents talk to people, coaches talk to people, GMs talk to people. Hey, what do you hear about this? I have no evidence. Excuse me, I have no evidence, no, nothing but the same suspicions that everybody else has. that Drew Rosenhaus and Bill Belichick, who are close. Close might be the wrong word, but have a very good working relationship.

Yeah. Nothing in this thing would really shock me. But I will also say this. Bill Belichick is the kind of person and the kind of negotiator who basically you can get a deal done with in 15 minutes. You know, because Belichick is going to play you straight. And again, I don't have any idea how exactly this worked. But I do believe that Belichick and Drew Rosenhouse did this themselves. That's just, that's my belief based on the relationship between the two.

And I believe that Belichick, who's a no-nonsense guy, could have said something like, hey, listen, we're in the middle of the season here. I can't be screwing around too long with this. What is it going to take to get this done? and, you know, like last Saturday. And if that's how it happened, I buy it. But, Colin, I have the same suspicions that everybody has. I don't know what happened in this case.

You know, obviously Brady and Belichick have had the Steelers number. I thought Sunday night was almost embarrassing. You know, I have said before, Mike Tomlin is good enough to win a Super Bowl, so he must be a Hall of Fame coach. what do you make of Brady's numbers are better against Dick LeBoe and the Steelers and Tomlin than they are against every other team in the league? It doesn't make any sense to me. What did you make of Sunday night? I thought it was a very odd game because I think the one really different thing about this game is that it just showed that if you look at the way that game was played, it showed that the way that game was played.

it showed that the the the the the patriots were almost a legitimate four touchdowns better yeah uh that there was there was nothing fluky about this game and if you look at what has happened to the pittsburgh steelers in their two games since antonio brown played for him they did nothing on offense against cincinnati in week 17 last year and they did nothing on offense in week one this year against New England. What I would think, Colin, is that the Steelers have to be wondering, what can we rely on with our offense right now? We have not, James Connor hasn't done very much. Obviously, Juju Smith-Schuster has not done very much. And so the thing you have to be able to say, and you said it just before we started, the thing you have to be able to say, essentially,

is that this is very much a work in progress, and it still might take a little while, but I do think they're going to come out and play well against Seattle. I'm watching last night. Deshawn Watson is Andrew Luck 2.0. Same division, carrying a franchise, come into the league, don't have the right GM. They don't take care of the offensive line.

They both in college took good programs and made them great. Stanford was winning 12 games. Clemson started dominating Alabama. and they're both hurt a lot. I'm watching Deshawn Watson, and I'm telling you, Peter, he got hit on 45% of the throws. I've seen this before in the same division. Like, I don't think he lasts five years.

I don't know if you, what do you tell? And I think, by the way, Andrew Luck, a lot of that was on Andrew Luck. He did not slide enough. He took too many hits. Some of this is on Deshawn Watson. I mean, what did you make of Deshawn Watson last night again? Crushed, drilled 11, 12 times. Look, Andrew Luck is an outlier among quarterbacks in the NFL, Colin.

I don't think, you know, when you say that who knows basically how long Deshaun Watson is going to last behind that line, I agree. But there's one difference. Deshaun Watson is going to be a football lifer. He'll play as long as he can. He's going to play a lot longer than four or five years. because he's going to do everything he can to get back to football and to earn a very, very lucrative second contract. But having said that, I think your larger point is that the amount of times that he has gotten hit

and is getting hit, even, you know, last night after they get Laramie Tunsell in, that has to be a major cause for concern. And I would bet this week in practice that, Bill O'Brien is going to emphasize and stress strongly with Deshawn Watson. Get rid of the ball. If you're in trouble, you have got to get rid of it. You're never going to last the season, never mind a long career taking hits the way you did Monday night. I made a bold prediction a couple of months ago.

I said Tennessee is going to go into Cleveland. Tennessee does so many things right. I think Vrable can really coach their offensive line's unbelievable. And I said, be very careful in Cleveland because I don't like their offensive line. I think they've been built mostly perimeter in. I was shocked by the outcome, but I don't think you can make that offensive line in Cleveland excellent. I think you're just going to have to live with what it is right now in most of the year. What did you make of that disaster week one in Cleveland for the Browns?

Look, you know, the Browns really wanted another pass rusher on this team. And so when you want another pass rusher, you're in today's football. unless you're going to get a free agent, you're going to have to trade something good for him. So in getting Olivier Vernon from the New York Giants, they had to make a trade, and they had to trade something that hurt them, you know, to do. And so when they traded Kevin Zeitler, you know,

who was their best guard, he and Joel Betonio were both very good. And when they traded Zeitler, they diminished their offensive line. There's no doubt about it. But I think the real problem is on the edges. You know, their tackles really hurt them the other day. And they are going to need Baker Mayfield to be an athlete in the next few weeks

while they're getting this offensive line right if they can get it right. NBCSports.com, three-time national sports writer of the year. Peter King, Football Morning in America, great upside. He can't find a conspiracy theory with A, B, and the Patriots. That's good enough for me because I don't believe in them anyway. Peter, great seeing you. All the best, Colin. Thank you.

You bet. Jamal Adams, New York Jets, by the way, who is an unbelievable talent. He's going to join us before the end of the hour. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, well, here's someone who has a conspiracy theory about Antonio Brown. Jerry Rice, Hall of Fame wide receiver.

He did not like Antonio Brown's actions in Oakland. After his departure, Rice went on the radio to explain how he thinks AB wanted to be in New England all along. It was pretty much already planned. He had to take a different direction. First of all, I think when he asked to be released from the Steelers, he wanted to go to the Patriots. And it was no way that the Steelers would trade him to a rival. So he had to go a different route.

That's a theory. A lot of theories are out there. I think Peter said it best. No one really knows. Antonio Brown knows, and then the Raiders know, and then there's the actual no, which is the truth. That's how all stories work. If you represented AB, wouldn't you call the Patriot first anyway?

Yes, of course. You wouldn't call, I mean... And it's Drew, and it's not just anyone representing AB. It's Drew Rosenhouse. I think if I was Drew and I represented him, I'd go, okay, Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, Drew Brieze. I'm going to call the Saints to Packers, because those are my quarterback guys. So, I mean, let's not kid ourselves. Drew Rosenhouse has AB.

Oakland's a mask. Of course he calls the best teams first. And honestly, if the patients really wanted Antonio Brown like that, they're not going to go through all of this to get him. They're going to figure it out. As Peter said, Bill Belichick's a straight shooter. This is what I think happened. I think that he wanted to be with the Raiders.

But as with any situation, when you're dealing with a personality, a combustible personality, and especially a personality who is very vocal about the fact that he felt betrayed. He felt betrayed with the Steelers by Ben Robbins. Mr. Berger, Mike Tomlin, and the organization. So you know he's highly combustible and he feels betrayed. How do you deal with anyone who has trust issues? You have to be ultimately transparent with them and aligned on all fronts.

There can't be any tricks. There can't be any changes. And you knew that's what you were getting with Antonio Brown. So when you come into a situation where John Gruden is publicly supporting him throughout the helmet situation, his foot injury, him not being at camp. And then you have Mike Mayotte the next day saying he's in or he better be in or he's out. And then you welcome him back and everything's good. And then the next day he's fine.

Of course he's going to freak out. I would freak out. If you went to your boss and said, I have to deal with this insurance issue, I'm going to be out for a day. I'm sorry, I can't be here. I know it's very important. And your boss said, yeah, it's cool. Just figure it out.

We got your back. And then the next day, they tell you that they're not paying you for the day that you weren't at work. Wouldn't you be upset? Now magnify that to the NFL in your Antonio Brown. So this situation to me is really all about trust. I know that there's probably some other factors here, that the Raiders feel differently on and Antonio Brown thinks this.

But to me, that's what happened. He wanted to be with the Raiders and he felt like he wasn't supported. And then everything fell apart. You have to know your personnel. And the best organizations know that there's a mental capacity of sports on and off the field. And managing personalities and what people go through is just as important as what they're going to do on the field. So Sean McCoy is back with Andy Reid and the Chiefs. And he's only been there for a week and a half.

But he is already impressed with the new team's workout. ethic, it's work ethic. It's a track meet. And we worked hard in Buffalo, but there's no work ethic by the guys in that locker room. That's amazing. It's the way the guys run every day, every practice. Give it 100% percent. It's a track me, literally, up and down, up and down. And they're young.

They got a lot of energy. So just kind of learn the offense, trying to compete with them guys, day and day out. That's probably been the biggest challenge. He's supposed to be a good locker room guy. of people Andy Reed knows everybody in the league. So they brought in Frank Clark, which I think is to the best acquisition

in the league this year. And then they bring in Shady, who's a veteran, lubricate the locker room a little bit. So it's going to be, a lot of those moves, once you get your quarterback right, there's a lot of small moves you make that, like, lubricate the locker room. Situational. Shady's going to be a very nice situational player for them. Yeah, and he was big for them

this weekend. And, I mean, after they lost Cream Hunt, they had to start kind of scrambling to put together the pieces to replace, hard to replace the talent of that level. But this is what's going to matter for the chiefs. As he just said, they're running their practices like a track meet. They're a young team. Their practices probably look completely different than New England's. And their high-energy young team and Tom Brady-Belichick probably run their practices completely different.

And he said, obviously, the bill's practice is different. Every team has their own identity. But the chiefs are kind of set up to be, I think everyone feels like the next. They'll never be another New England Patriots that, like, in sports. but the next dynasty for this decade of the NFL. I think Rams and Chiefs feel like next 10 years, they could be really regular visitors to the Super Bowl. And we should feel very lucky for that because they're both great, talented teams.

Finally, let's slip a little NBA in there. Anthony Davis is the new face of the Lakers, and he was the go-to guy in New Orleans. And yesterday, he spoke to our Chris Haynes about how LeBron sees A.D.'s role with the Lakers. I've kind of been a focal point player. or my whole career, but to have a guy like LeBron go tell management, ownership, and the coaches that he wants me to be the focal point is an honor.

I know what comes with that, and that's a lot of heavy lifting. I think I have the capabilities of doing that. And obviously with the team's support, it's going to be a lot easier on me. We have a great team. He need, I'll tell you this, there is no question. He better be the defensive leader. Because that's a no shot at LeBron. You cannot ask LeBron James year 17.

Pick it up both ends. Like, this team has some defensive questions. like Rondo can't guard anybody. LeBron is in year 17. Come on, let's be fair here. Anthony's going to have to be without question. The glue defensively for this team. No question.

Well, he has talked about that, that he wants to kind of push LeBron a little bit on the defensive ends. That being the case, Anthony Davis is not known for being the most durable. So I don't know, while you are right about that, he is going to have to be that. I don't know if being that on both ends, is he saying that he's going to be the focal point of the offense as well,

is really going to work. I don't know if I love this yet. I think maybe another year with LeBron and he becomes this, but I don't know that the team is ready in this particular state with all these new pieces to just be turned over to Anthony Davis. I think they could be a bad defensive team. That's not a shot in anybody, but they got a lot of guys on this roster.

They're old. Well, you can't be a bad defensive team and then not have an identity on offense. And obviously, we don't know what they're going to be yet, but. I have got questions about the Lakers. I really do. I mean, they're going to be good. I don't know if they have a next level.

I really don't. I've got my questions about this team. Their age and defense. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Jamal Adams, great player for the New York Jets right around the corner.

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 SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight

to the source, the 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 close. closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

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

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

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

Hey, rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the 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 LeBroninardons. 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, 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. By the way, the Jets this week will host a Cleop. Cleveland Browns. It should be a very interesting game because it's Monday night football. So next Monday night football, it's Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham. And apparently according to story I just read, Odell Beckham's watch, we'll be making another appearance.

He says, I'm going to still wear that watch. So Freddie Kitchens now has to have meetings with the owner and his GM. And, oh, boy. And the Jets were an interesting team. They took a lead on Buffalo. For the record, Buffalo is really an interesting team. Very good defense. I said this last year.

Jamal Adams, you know a guy's great when you watch a game on television, and Jamal Adams is not on the screen at the snap of the football and then usually ends up making the play. It's amazing how influential he is as a safety in this league. And he is now joining us. They'll be on Monday Night Football next week. Jamal, I just want to talk about Sunday. I love your game.

I love your leadership. I love it. C.J. Mosley got hurt, and the defense didn't. quite feel the same. Kind of explain what happened late in that game for the Jets. Yeah, man, we just didn't finish, man. God, Lee, is the tough one.

Obviously, you know, not going 1-0-and-0 was definitely hard. But, hey, not everybody goes 1-0 in the league in the first week. That doesn't mean you punch a playoff ticket if you do go 1-0. But we've got to regroup, and we're looking forward to the challenge for the match-up. Looking forward to the team that's coming. in, man. We got the Cleveland Browns on Monday night, so it don't get no better than that. By the way, Adam Gase is a pretty intense guy. He gets fired in Miami, but Bill of Belichick was once fired. Pete Carroll's been fired. A lot of good coaches. Andy Reed get let go.

Tell me why you like Adam Gase. How is he different? He's competitive, man. Competing at all times during practice, you know, we always have, you know, best on best that makes the team go. anytime you can do that. It brings out the best in the team for the end of the season when we're in those tough games. So, you know, he's very competitive. He's definitely a great, off-minded coach, and we're just excited to have him as a head coach. Sam Darnold's not only in his second year. He's one of the youngest quarterbacks in NFL history.

Right. Yeah. Is it asking too much for a 21, 22-year-old kid in New York? York City to just walk into a locker room and be the leader and take over the team. Are the Jets asking too much of Darnold to this stage in his life? Well, I don't believe so. I think, you know, not only that, you know, Sam is up for the test. Sam is a great football player, as everybody knows, but he's a hell of a guy off the field.

He's a hell of a teammate. And anytime, you know, Sam goes out there, he's willing to compete. he's very tough and big moments and he's a guy that's going to give it his all we're excited to you know play with him i'm excited to have him as a teammate but to answer your question i don't think they're putting too much on his on his play he's ready for he's ready for all angles man he's ready to take it on jemal what i worry about with the jets because i think your offensive lines better i love c j mosley you got about six guys on this team that could be pro bowlers maybe seven I worry about you guys at corner.

Does it concern you at all? You're young outside of Trumane, a lot of unproven guys. How concerned are you about the cornerback situation with your club? Well, you know, as long as I'm in the back end, man, you know, as one of the leaders, you know, we'll be fine. That's how I looked at it, man. I know the guys, I know Tremaine and Darrell Roberts is going to do an outskine a job. They're guys that's going to compete. each and every week.

You know, sometimes, you know, guys on the other team, you know, they get paid as well, man, they make play. But those guys run about that. You know, I'm not worried at all. Like I said, you know, Marcus May is back there with me. I got Darrell Roberts and I got Tremaine Johnson. You know, we believe in the group. We believe in us.

And we just got to go out there and compete for all four quarters and make plays. So this week you play Cleveland. Odell Beckham is dramatic and flashy. He can be a, he can be, Jamali can be a talker. If Odell starts yapping and talking, are you a guy that will get in, will you verbally exchange with him? Do you, do you see you guys doing some yapping back at him? Oh, no doubt, man.

You know, there's no friends on the football field, Kyle. You know what I mean? That's not how we play. It's not how I get down. We can be friends off the field. So it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. When you look at Cleveland, Odell, he's wearing a watch now.

He says, I don't care what the league says. I'm going to keep watching it. You want to be a team player, but I understand athletes wanting to be individuals. Is it ever hard for you, Jamal, to take away some individuality to be a team guy? You're one of the best players in the league, but you're part of a collective, a team. Do you feel sometimes NFL players feel like NBA guys? can all be individuals. NFL guys got to be the shield, the logo, the team. Is it ever frustrating for a star player like you? Well, man, you know, I'm all about the team, man. Whether, you know,

I get pro-bo to MVP, I mean pro-bo, MVP, whether I make the pro-bow, I'm all about the team. I used to take all those individual accolades, but I'd rather have, you know, Super Bowls. I'd rather have camaraderie with the team. That's what I'm about. So I really can't speak for other players, but all I know is that I'm just all about the team, man. Finally, I don't know if you've heard the story. It was on the internet.

Antonio Brown's now with the Patriots. You're going to play them twice a year. Right. What do you make of that? You know, when the time comes, that'll be my focus. But, you know, obviously, you know, we're, I'm excited for him. man, he's got our opportunity to go play for the Patriots. And, you know, I know he's in a happy place from what I've heard and seen.

And, you know, when that time comes, we'll look forward to that challenge. Jamal Adams, for Lunatics, the only ticket site lets fans reserve playoff tickets, any team, any game all year. They're giving away golden tickets to fans across the country. Whoever gets the golden ticket will receive two tickets to every home playoff game in their city. including Super Bowl through the end of next year. It's called Lunatics, L-U-N-A-T-I-X Tix. Lunatics, pretty clever there. Jamal, you're an unbelievable player.

I cannot wait to watch you next Monday night. Thanks, man. I appreciate it, man. I'm also a big friend of yours, man, so keep at it, man. I definitely like tuning in. All right. Thanks, Jamal. Appreciate it, buddy.

Yeah, he is out. He and Derwin James, like they literally, the play start. starts on television, you can't see them. They're the only player you can't see, and they end up blowing up half the plays. Next Monday is going to be fascinating. By the way, Joy is going to have more on this. So Odell Beckhamore Watch, it's branding, and the NFL said it's a hard object, can't have it. So according to the story now, Odell's like, I don't care.

I'm going to wear it anyway. So here's my problem with that. Freddie Kitchens is a rookie head coach. It was a disaster. So Freddie now has to go on the road with his team. He's got to get this team emotionally right. They got to patch up the offensive line. Freddie Kitchens will have to have a meeting this week on a watch.

Come on. What are you doing? Like this is this. Eric Mangini tells me this. He goes, when he was in Cleveland, he's like, you have no idea how many times as a coach, you have to have a meeting not about football. He goes, you think it's just, we just walk in with our whistles and we do football. And you got to get tickets to this guy.

and somebody wants to get this, and you've got a contract situation. Football coaching is hard. It's hard enough without watch issues. I mean, come on. This is, look, again, I get players wanting to be individuals, but man, if I'm Freddie Kitchens, I'm like, brother, I love you, but we just got beat by 30. We're going on the road.

We can't go O and 2. I watch Baltimore play. It's not that I don't like Odell. It's not that I don't get the freedom to be an individual, but man, can you worry about this in week eight when you're potentially six and two or four and two? I mean, Freddie Kitchens. This is what I worry about Freddie Kitchens.

It's like when you bring in these different personalities, you've got to have, I like a veteran coach. Listen, Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll are veterans and have struggled sometimes with highly personality-driven players. Those are a 55-year-old Super Bowl winning. coaches. Freddy Kitchens, have never been a coordinator. So I think that thing in Cleveland is, it's, it's,

football coaching is, is not easy. And you're trying to avoid as many watch meetings as you can possibly avoid. Our 3's coming up. Tony Gonzalez will stop by. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Tony Gonzalez, 17 years. Only missed two games in 17 years. That's because he takes care of his body. By the way, you have a new podcast, which is very much about living right, learning. You're a very

curious soul. Yeah, I am. What's your podcast called? It's called Wide Open. It'll be airing here September 6th. It is September. 16th. So in a couple more days, it's what's called Wide Open. We'll bring on guests. We'll talk about how you level up, how you become the greatest version of yourself to get their backstory. So it's everything

that I'm into that you know. Yeah, you're very much into that. There's a couple of things. I said AB to the Patriots. Randy Moss actually had a lot of qualities that matched New England. Really smart, learn playbook fast, work his tail off. You could trust him in big spots. And then there were some things Randy and New England weren't ideal with. A.B. is interesting.

Tom is a precision thrower likes exact routes. A.B. tends to be an ad libber. So I always felt O'Dell Beckham would work with Brady. He's a precise route runner. Antonio Brown kind of worked with Big Ben. Big Ben's sort of an ad libber. Do you think AB and Brady? Is that a match?

I do because remember Chad Ocho Cinco went there? And he was an ad lib type guy too. And that's why it didn't work. It didn't work. I remember. And yeah. So I love your point on that one. But I got to believe,

I got to believe after everything that's happened with AB, finally getting what he wanted, you got to go there and make it work. I mean, because isn't this really, I don't know if it's the last chance, you for him, but I think that from what I know A, B, and I've only met him a couple times, and what I know of Tom and I know of Belichick

and the whole organization, I think it works. I really, really do. I still, you talked about it on the show on Sunday. I know you said maybe this works for a year, but I could see this working long term. I really do. We all know that teams, organizations are not equal.

You worked for a really good ownership group. In the end, you liked the environment of Atlanta more than Kansas City. It's not, if Carson Palmer would have gone to the Patriots and Tom Brady to the Bengals, you may have a different story in the NFL. And that's not a shot at Tom Brady. It's just, here's my thing. Were you ever with an organization, Tony? And you brought in sort of a dramatic player, and he did tone it down.

Like, what is it like? I'm trying to think right now. Because Atlanta was pretty mature. Atlanta was really mature. They had flamboyant players, not like A-B, but you have kids. I have kids. And so I think it's all about the parenting. It's all about who's running the, who's pulling the strings there.

And Belichick is pulling the strings there. And he's got the best guy who's his first lieutenant, Tom Brady. And so when you show up there, it is our way or the highway. And you know that from the beginning. otherwise get your butt out of here. It's a very disciplined culture. Right. And so that's why I think somebody like A, B, can work there

because you know you're not going to get that second and third. You try that Facebook live stuff. You're gone. And people have talked about it. So, and then on the flip side, with A.B. being out there with the greatest. I know you probably beat this out, but I hope, I don't know which angle you're coming at it, though. A.B. did what he had to do to get out of there. He wanted out.

And so he's acting like a fool on purpose. You think so? I think it was. I think you show up there. Put yourself in his position. If you're running a business and you're doing that whiteboard, okay, this is our number one goal is to get out of here. Because he showed up there for whatever reason it didn't work out. He got a bad omen with his feet.

Some people are mysterious. And you're saying, okay, I froze my feet now because I don't think he did that on purpose, like some people are saying. And then the whole helmet issue, you're like, it's another, like, I just don't like it here. I don't think we're going to win. I'm 31 years old. Because he got traded there. it wasn't his choice. But I believe you can sign out.

I've been traded to before, and I knew I was going to get traded. They know ahead of time because you can, you can, the team will back, hey, are you okay to come here? Because I remember Buffalo won the trade for me. And I was like, absolutely not. You trade for me. I'll probably retire because I'm not going up there because they're not winning. Where Atlanta, oh, yeah, it's a good organization.

But anyway, so let's say he knew. But when he gets there, you show up, you say, okay, car is not, not been Rothesberger, nothing against, at least not yet. There's no other players on this team that are my caliber. I'm 31 years old. That means the good days are over for me. I have to stay here until my career is over until I'm 35, 36, because I sign that type of contract.

Now you make the decision to say, all right, I know people can say, forget about, oh, well, he signed the deal, so that's his, that he has to do it. Okay, let's say you made the choice now. I need to get out of here. How do I do that? You can't be a good guy. You can't play by the rules.

You've got to act a fool. You got to act stupid. And that's the only way you're going to get out of there. And that's what he did. He was acting. He was saying, you guys don't have my back. Of course, they had his back. We heard the phone call. I mean, he's bending over backwards for him. So I just want people out there to have a, find something to really try to look at it from Antonio Brown's side. Whether you agree with his antics or not, he had to get out of there and look at it now.

It's worked out really, really well for him. He's in a very good position to end his career. He got what he wanted. That's why I think when he goes there, he's going to do whatever it takes to conform and chown it down. Let's make your $15, $20 million year and win some championships and catch 15 touchdown passes and be part of the greatest offense, it could be potentially this year,

in NFL history, go down as one of those, and win. I'm not saying I'm with him as antics, but I am saying he did what he had to do to get out of there. Well, there are, you know, it is, pro sports are very interesting. Like you, the better you are in college,

you get drafted to the worst teams, and, you know, there are players who get trapped. And I don't think he was trapped in Pittsburgh. I think that was, you know, he could have acted better. But there are instances. Kevin Durant, you know, goes to Seattle. An hour later, he ends up playing in an Oklahoma City with a guy Russell Westbrook that doesn't pass.

So there are times I've looked at player mobility and I'm like, I get it. Like Kevin Durant was Westbrook drove him crazy. I had to get out. And by the way, I just think that I think Big Ben was a way better match for AB than everybody in the league, maybe even Brady. I just think because of the style, I think by the way, there are certain quarterbacks that I think worked for AB, not all of them. So we'll see. Now, I want to shift to this. The Steelers were a mess.

Okay, but we can't go crazy on this, right? Like Baltimore's probably not that good, and Pittsburgh's probably not that bad. Did you ever have a week one loss in your career that was just literally awful? Cleveland looked terrible. Cleveland's not that bad. Pittsburgh's not that bad. Did you ever have a, like a week one, embarrassing loss? Off the top of my head, I can't remember exactly that loss.

but yeah, I remember going out there losing week one, thinking, okay, expectations were there that were going to be a lot better. And it could be indicative, okay, well, this is how you really are. I know you thought you were good. You buying to, because hype is real. I mean, hype will get you going. Tony, were you ever in a camp and your expectations were here

and you felt two or three weeks into a season, we're just not that good. Absolutely. That's happened a lot. Really? Yeah, that happens a lot. And, you know, because when you're in camp, everything's great, you know,

you're making all the plays and practice because defense is a script for you to look good and offensive's script. for the defense to look good and you're playing preseason games. You're not playing that much. You're playing a quarter and you're like, oh, I did pretty good. I graded out well. We all graded out well. I think we're going to be pretty good this year.

And then you get out to the regular season and once it's real and the lights are on, you start to, it starts to settle in. And that's a scary feeling too. It's not a very good feeling to realize. It's a long year. We're not going to be good. This is going to be a long year. And I've been on those seasons where we won two games.

And then if then if somebody gets hurt, it gets even worse, it's not fun. And that's why you look at, you can't judge it, though. I've also been on teams where we do start at O-N-1-1. And then we end up, I think we started O-1-2 one time, we went to the playoffs, you know. And so it doesn't mean that much, but it can tell you, okay, this is, you aren't who we thought you were. And I'm looking at the Cleveland Browns, which I bought into that hype. I was on the hype train. You saw on the show this week.

But we're going to see because they didn't look good. Begger Mayfield didn't look good. Too many commercials during the off season, too much, not focus. I want to talk about that because I think people look at me when I say that, Tony, and they think, ah, coward, coward's got some gray hair. He's just an old guy. But I remember when Mark Sanchez was doing commercials before he'd ever played a game with the Jets. And I'm like, dude, win a game.

I mean, there is something to be said about, like, focus. I mean, Brady goes to Costa Rica for three weeks, although he takes his wide receivers with him. Like, did you, in your career, was there? ever an off season where you didn't, because you're really a focus guy. Yeah. But the first year of your career, you didn't have a great rookie year. No. Was your off season screw off time?

No, I don't think so. I think that's a whole different story for you. When I was younger as far as the, I was always focused. I just wasn't loose enough. I wasn't in my heart enough if you want to go woo-woo with it. I wasn't playing with my heart, like as coach just say, I was in my head. So I was thinking too logical. Like, okay, go right, step, rip here, go there, then go there.

I was overthinking it. That was why I wasn't able to have that successful those first two years. But looking at other guys that I played with where you come out and you have a little hype, you did pretty good that first year, whatever, you had a good season. And then all of a sudden they come in next year. Maybe they get paid. They did some commercials. I'm not going to name names out in Kansas City.

Some guys that had some really good years. And the next year they buy into that hype. They think they don't have to work as hard. They think it's supposed to just come to them because, oh, I got this player now, or we got this coordinator now or whatever. It's all going to come together. but you've lost focus. Football went from here at the top of what your focus is to here now.

Where, okay, I'm doing my endorsement deals. I got to do these commercials. I'm the man now. When I show up, people are starting to recognize me. People want my autograph when I'm traveling now. It's like you get caught up in that stuff. It's intoxicating. Oh, absolutely.

By the way, congratulations. Hall of Fame induction this summer. Roll the tape of the very verbal, the very sensitive. is. That's what I like about you. You're very vulnerable. Thank you. Good dad, vulnerable. You know, you would think chiseled guy here. This guy cries all the time. He cried five minutes before he's on the air

today. You're crying all the time. Here's Hall of Fame, Tony Gonzalez. Two of the tears. My second year with the Kansas City Chiefs, it was the worst year of my career. Led the NFL and drop passes that year. 16 drop passes.

I got benched twice during the game. Coach said go sit on the bench. So I remember being in my room crying, depressed, and I was stuck there for a while throughout that whole season, until my brother Donnie, he wrote me a letter. It was a quick letter. Just said, hey, Tony, I don't know what we've seen out there, but that's not you. You put a book of Vinsland Barty quotes, all the quotes that Vince Lombardi says, that stuff spoke to me. It hit me right here. I was like, I like, I like this. The most learning you'll ever do is when you go through the Bad times. In fact, that's part of it. That's part of it. So welcome that when it comes.

You have always been since I've known you. You are like a thirsty, curious dude. It's like Cal was the perfect school for you. Because Cal is all about, you know, big picture. I think that's, you must have been a curious kid. Like you can't develop into what you are. I think you were like that as a kid. Yeah, I did have my goals written up in high school. You did. On the board. I listened to Tony Robbins and tapes back. My mom had them.

So I was like, oh, what is this? And then, hey, Tony Robbins is pretty good. Yeah. Tony, I remember Tony Robbins. Remember the tiny classified ads guy? There's been a lot of motivational speakers. Now, that guy didn't work for me. I watched Tony Robbins.

I remember Tony Robbins when he lived in San Diego. Remember that? He was San Diego guy 30 years ago. Yeah, he was a man, too. Back in the 80s, listening to Awake on the Giant Within, you know. Let's go for it. Look at your. herself tall. That was me.

That stuff. I love that stuff. It works. I watched it in the 80s. I love Tony Tony Robbins has been around. He looks 44. He's been around forever. Yeah. Yeah. Good scene. Congrats in the Hall of Fame. Thank you. Appreciate it. I guys. Tony Gonzalez, Joy with the News. No. No. No. Turn on the news.

This is the Herdline News. I was introduced to Tony Robbins in the cinematic thriller, Shallow How. You were? That's the first time you saw him? Yeah. In your whole life? Yes. You didn't know Tony Robbins. plus. I wasn't church, Colin. That was our

household motivation. That was a church girl. All right. So Sunday, O'Dell was caught wearing a very expensive watch, caught or intentionally caught wearing the watch during the Browns 43-13 loss to the Titans. It's worth well over 250 grand. Oh, Lord. So the internet took notice. Well, yesterday the NFL sent a notice to O'Dell

that he can't wear the watch because it violates the league's ban on players wearing hard objects. And last night, Odell went to Twitter to vent his frustrations. He said, if it ain't one thing, it's another. We'll leave an update now. Mary Kay Cabot is reporting that OBJ plans to wear the watch against the Jets. He said, I'll still be wearing it. It's the same way I wear it every day.

I go to practice. When I go here, when I go there, I'll be wearing it. I take a shower. It's on me. He said, the rulebook says you can't wear hard objects. The watch is plastic. So people have knee braces that are made of metal. They're hard.

You don't see them taking them off. Everyone has jewelry on, so I'm good. Oh, boy. So I'm Freddie Kitchens. I got to deal with this nonsense. Yes, you do. That's what being a head coach is. To be honest with you, like we were talking about what coaches deal with earlier.

Being a coach is not ever on any level. I mean, maybe pee-wee, but then you've got to deal with parents, so I don't even think so. I don't think coaching on any level is just X's nose and what goes on in the field. Like you're managing personalities, you're managing families, you're managing home situations. relationship situations. Like you're, on every level, you're mostly until you get to the pros, you're helping boys grow into men.

And then when you get to the pros, you're dealing with men who are from their rookie season until they're retiring or going into the Hall of Fame, whatever level, growing and developing and like changing what they need and what they want and are they motivated by winning? Are they motivated by money? Like, it's never just going to work

and punching a clock. That's not how it works. Unless you're a New England patriot. And then that wouldn't happen if you played for the page. Well, you always told me, Tony, that 3% of people max are truly committed to football. Yeah. Like that's amazing. Like I always feel like at least 75% of people in my business are committed.

Like, I mean, most people I meet are like committed to it, right? Like doing this, we work hard, right? 3%. Yeah. And there are a lot of players that are committed, kind of. But there's personal brand stuff and there's drama. It's like who can out drama each other? Him and A-B.

I'm not into it. I'm not into. I like winning. I didn't sports. I liked winning. I like winning too, but I keep saying, like, it's a new wave and people don't want to fit in a box anymore. And some people genuinely, I'm not saying O'Dell doesn't care about winning. I'm just saying everyone is not motivated by the same thing anymore.

It's a new world. And some people just treat professional sports as their job. And they like being able to play and it's fun, but it also brings them fame and money. And that is more important to them. winning Super Bowl. Some people like being a victim, too. Some people like saying, oh, my helmet. I want my helmet back.

I want to wear the watch. I mean, I want to do. I had that discussion. I had that very discussion with one of the young people in my life. I'm like, I saw how you were raised. I don't want to hear you were a victim. That's a big thing now. Victimhood.

Oh, yeah, victim. It's a lot. It didn't used to be sports. It used to be the place that you couldn't do that. But even now, I think it's like part of the world. Part of the world. social media. Well, he did say if anyone else would have worn the watch, if it was a $20 watch, it wouldn't have been a problem.

This is just my life. It ain't this. It's something else. If it wasn't the watch, it would have been the way I tied my shoes. Victim. Victim. Well, that is victim, but that's not one thing. It's another.

Everybody's against me. I'm the vortex of all hate. I mean, other people do wear jewelry and people do have braces on. I think this is just kind of new territory. So we'll see what the NFL does. So Antonio Brown's time in Oakland was short. Definitely not sweet. The Raiders Week 1 win against the Broncos was a nice touch for them. Nice transition away from all that drama. But Gruden was asked again about AB's departure,

and he hopes everyone can move on. As much as people talk about it, I mean, my God, I mean, I feel like someone's smashing my temple on the side of the head. Get over it, man. It's over. You know, we were good preseason without them. You know, we're going to be fine without them. We wish them the best. But, you know, we gave it a shot. And now in the wing, we're going to gets their turn. Good luck to them. But I just can't, I can't deal with it anymore, really. Sorry. I felt good for the Raiders yesterday.

It was a nice win after a lot of drama and being in the news for everything but football. Joy, their new players all played well. Their offensive line, Trent Brown, their offensive line look great. I felt good for the Raiders. And listen, I'm not on a side here, but it was nice that they got

the win. And this moment after the game was really great. Like this, this personifies Gruden completely. He just did a round with the fans in Oakland, just giving hugs. And I mean, it's just, that's so good. And that's nice. Like, that's what Oakland is really about. And then it also reminded me that they're moving the team to Vegas, which made me feel so bad.

By the way, I saw the two weeks ago, I was in Vegas. That stadium's getting, Joy, I have no idea where anybody's going to park. It's the strangest stadium. Well, yeah. I mean, there's some space. There's some space around there for parking. but I would probably suggest that most people not drive. Or park at the Mandalay Bay and can you take a bus?

I'm sure they're going to have a bridge or something. I don't know. But I don't think about the parking in Vegas because it's not a driving place. Yeah. You ever go to Vegas and run a car? I do Uber everywhere now. Yeah. So, I mean, like, I'm sure they're going to have a new.

They may be probably the first stadium with a designated, like, built-in Uber lane, which is nice. Every time I go and stay at the Mandalay Bay, it's where I stay. I can't figure out where people are going to park. I literally stare at my hotel room. Every time I go to Vegas now, I stare at the stadium, and I'm like, where are the parking spot? I'm sure they have some parking figured out. That's funny that that's what you think of.

Finally, the Patriots added AB this weekend, as we know, and after the wind Sunday night, Tom Brady spoke with Peter King on the culture in New England. He said the expectations are high. Coach always says, I'm not going to congratulate you for doing your job. You're not going to get a lot of pads on the back because you completed a pass.

That's why you're here. And if you screw up, he's going to tell you. I mean, he knows so much football. He wants it done right. Josh McDaniels wants it done right. That's what we're going to try to do now. Yes. That, to me, just completely sums up what the Patriots are.

And it's like why this is never, ever going to be duplicated ever again in the history of sports. So enjoy it, absorb it. But once Belichick and Brady are out of the league, this particular style and this culture is never going to be duplicated. Well, what's crazy about that is he's not asking, like, when I come to work every day, I don't need management telling me I'm great. Like, we're paid to do this. I'm with you. I don't need anything.

As a matter of fact, if you say nothing, I know I'm doing a good job. I'm the same way. I don't, if I hear something, then I know it's a problem. That's exactly how it should be. Why does anyone need to be congratulated for doing what you do every day? This is literally what you get paid to do. It should not be a problem. You should not need confirmation.

Now, if you're struggling or something, like there's obviously conversations that you have and, you know, you go into the, you know, video. room or whatever you need to do. But on a day-to-day basis, yeah, they pay Tom Brady to complete passes. So when he completes passes, that's what you do. And this is what Tom Brady's talking about. Antonio Brown's going to go into a structured situation where everything is very clear. The rules are clear. Where you are is clear. Who's in charge is clear. What you're supposed to do every single day is very clear. When you put a combustible personality into a dysfunctional, openly and proudly dysfunctional situation, things may more than likely go wrong.

Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Best for last, why I'm an AB guy over an Odell Beckham guy that's coming up. 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. 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 live them. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, 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 that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me keir games is we have real conversations

conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 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. Hey, Brett.

My mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers 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. 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 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, 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. Staff likes to play a game with me. They put me on the spot. They ask me a question, and often the choices are not good. Neither one is ideal, but I have to give them an answer on a question, which doesn't give me any great options. So let's play the game. Get ready, because we're about to put our own totally original spin on the famous game, Would You Rather? This is Would Colin Rather?

See, it's completely 100% original. Here's Joy. All right, Colin. if you were in a team, would you rather have Antonio Brown or Odell Beckham Jr. at wide receiver? I've said before I don't deal great with high maintenance people, but I will say this, and I've thought about this in the last day. What do we always say the best part about ability is availability? Odell Beckham was hurt in camp. I think Odell Beckham's got an injury bug or an injury history that I don't like.

I think today, and this sounds crazy with all the AB stuff, I think I'd choose AB because I know he'll be available 16 weeks of the year. He's almost always available. Well, he was technically hurt in camp, but that was not a no-d-d-ell. Cryogenic foot issue. Not an O'Dell injury. All right, would you rather have Drew Breeze or Tom Brady at quarterback? The one thing I think we saw again this weekend.

Did you notice Drew Breeze only had one throw over 20 yards? I do think the Saints offense, and I love Drew, is pretty limited vertically. I think New England, by getting AB, there's a belief that Tom can still go over the top. So they're both about the same age. They're both great leaders. I still think there's a vertical essence to Tom's game that Drew lacks consistently, so I'd go Brady. Okay. Would you rather have Joe Flacco or Eli Manning at quarterback?

I'm not a great choice here if I'm running my franchise. I think Joe still has games and moments where he can be really special. I increasingly don't see the velocity on Eli's throws. I think Joe can crank it up. It's like Kurt Schilling told me years ago at the end of his career. He said I had about 12 fastballs mid-90s. I had to use them with great discretion in my last two years. I think Joe can still have moments where he can crank it up.

Neither right now is a top 10, 15 quarterback. Yeah, that's fair. Would you rather have Dak get paid now or at the end of the season? Pay now. That's an easy one. I'm tired of talking about it. Let's do a Carson Wentz, Jared Gough deal, where five minutes after a big win, you pay him. Listen, you're going to pay him.

We know you're going to pay him. Week one proved you're going to pay him. I don't want to talk about this. I don't like talking about what players make. I'm not into that. Like, you know, we all know the agents leak it. Like, I just, I don't want you to know my salary. I don't want to know your salary.

I don't know what anybody on my staff makes. I don't want to know. I want to talk about what you make, what I make. I don't understand what the holdup is. Just pay them. Yeah. Sunday is a rematch of the NFC championship game between the Rams and Saints. Would you rather have the Saints beat the Rams or have the Rams win and make Saints fans even angrier? I've got to be honest.

watching Monday Night Football last night and seeing the Looney Tune fans for New Orleans and then they had two awful calls go against them. That was, yeah. It was bad. And I love that in that breeze was this reservoir of calm. I've got to be honest. New Orleans is a highly emotional party city

and they're at their best when they're highly emotional. So they just had an emotional win. I think it's a better story if they go to L.A. and get beat again and they go into a tizzy. That's a hard game for the Saints, by the way. Late Monday night, travel west. You lose a day and a half. I think it's better if the Rams beat them

and New Orleans freaks out and blames the NFL again. I think that's more fun for us. Would you rather have the Browns make the playoffs or totally crash and burn? Now, the last time we did this, I chose playoffs. I think four and 12 is boring for everybody. Right.

But I watched the first game, and I watch this Odell Beckham watch story. So let me turn it to you. Is Cleveland going like 9 and 7 and sneak it in, play the Patriots first, road team getting polaxed? Is that more interesting? Again, wild card, sneak in, go to New England. It's just awful. Or is this watch thing for the next four weeks? Odell fights the league.

Baker tries to support him. Freddie Kitchens can't get his arm around it. And it's for the next five weeks, a fascinating circus. I'm going to choose this morning. This watch thing adds a dimension to it. No playoffs and a little crash and burn. Content is going to win in our business. Right.

So because there are so many huge personalities on the Browns, that content level is going to be huge. If they were a boring and awful team, then I would say, no, I'd rather have to make the playoffs. This Odell Beckham watch thing could end up being this, it's Money Night Football, could end up being a huge national story by tomorrow. And I prefer that the rounds just be competitive and that we have another great team to talk about. I don't want, like what I don't want is eight Miami's. Like the NBA has these years when they have like seven awful teams. Yeah, no one wants you to be Miami.

Nobody wants to watch Miami. We don't want Miami to be Miami. That's right. Like in the NFC, I feel Fox has a break. There's not a Miami. We've got teams that could do a little crash and burn, Arizona, but I think they're pretty entertaining. So I think crash and burn with this Odell watch thing could be wildly entertaining. One more herd?

The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. Timbo, in 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 Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slice Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band

with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth.

And on my podcast, The 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers 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. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.

If we didn't talk ever again, I was probably. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.