The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Giants-Raiders, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, MVP, and the Blazing 5
Episode Date: October 12, 2018Colin explains why the Oakland Raiders and the New York Giants are a mess, why he feels Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes will fail this weekend, an injury update on Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rod...gers, who should be considered the MVP in the NFL right now, and his Blazing 5 picks. Guests include Bryan Cox, Peter King, Eric Dickerson, and Jason McIntyre. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Ah, it is a Friday.
This is The Herd.
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Joy Taylor is joining me.
Good morning.
That is a fuchsia dress.
Yes, it is.
The future is fuchsia.
Blazing five in one hour.
We've had three, four winning weeks.
And last week, another winning week, I think I've got my strongest picks of the
year. It's going to be a crazy weekend. I think they're going to see a lot of upsets in the NFL.
We didn't have one last night. We did not have an upset. The better team, the team we picked
last year to be a Super Bowl dark horse team. The team we picked to win the division this year,
pull back a little Philadelphia destroy the New York Giants last night. I got to tell you something.
I didn't grow up in a traditional family. We didn't go to church like everybody.
And I don't live a traditional life. I've moved around the country, moved my kids,
and it's the life I choose. And I like it.
because I think nostalgia, especially in sports, is really dangerous.
Ask yourself this morning, what are the two biggest messes in the NFL?
Ask yourself, you're driving around America, you're watching me on TV.
The two biggest messes in the NFL this morning, one, the Oakland Raiders, nostalgia.
Let's hire John Gruden.
He was great for us a decade ago.
And number two, the New York Giants in Eli Manning.
They're a mess.
Rearview mirror is no way to live life.
It's called a windshield.
It shows you what's ahead.
By the way, the Kansas City Chiefs are a great example of how you should do it.
Alex Smith had a very good year.
But in sports, you bail a year early.
You never bail late.
And the giant should have bailed on Eli Manning three or four years ago.
Everybody loves Kansas City today.
Alex Smith, MVP leader in September last year.
Five and no start.
Bailed on him a year early.
Now he's not as good in Washington.
Folks, nostalgia's a burden.
Nostalgia's a trap.
Nostalgia's living through the rearview mirror.
Ask the Raiders and the Giants.
And the New York media fell for it.
They so hated Ben McAdoo, the head coach,
that when he benched Eli last year,
the New York media freaked down.
He's a fool.
This is gutless.
They couldn't understand.
Eli was done.
Eli should have been benched.
Do you remember the game before Eli was benched?
He threw for 113 yards.
The team fell to 2 and 9.
They had a longer week of preparation.
And Eli was the worst quarterback in the league.
Okay.
If you go back to 2013-2014,
Eli was shot. The numbers are there. Completed 57% of his throws. 18 TDs, 27 picks. He had a passer rating under 70.
But the New York media threw a hissy fit because he gave us Super Bowls.
And it freaked out the Giants owners. And it freaked out the Giants front office.
And there's been nine great quarterbacks drafted since, and they've passed on all of them.
This style, Derek Carr, Garoppolo, Gough, Wenz, Trebisky, Mahomes, Deshaun, DeShon, Baker, San.
all available to them.
All available to them.
No, no.
We benched him.
Oh, my God.
Guy was shot fighter after the 2013-2014 season.
18 TDs, 27 picks,
passer rating in the 70s.
60s, actually.
And stop telling me,
Sequin Barclays the answer.
Answer for what?
He was unbelievable last night
and you still lost at home by three touchdowns.
You start falling in level.
with tradition, nostalgia, the good old days.
That's the rearview mirror.
The New York media so overreacted to his benching
that now the ownership and the management is stuck with that.
Whatever that is, here's the second play of the game.
I mean, here's Eli hearing nothing but heat all week.
By the second play of the game, this is what transpires.
Look for Eli Manning getting the ball out of his hands quickly because of that pass rush as well.
Chipwick throws and that one is picked.
Dangerous throw by Manning and he got burned on it.
You can see where Simonson was expecting the ball.
He thought it was going to be to his left shoulder.
The ball was on the inside.
That's why Hicks was able to drive on it and deflect the pass.
Second play of the game.
All week, I'll prove you wrong.
He can't.
If he was a major league pitcher,
he'd be throwing 86 miles an hour, and all these young bucks are throwing 97.
Be very careful about nostalgia.
It is as much a burden as it is a joy.
Let me shift to this.
Big game this weekend.
New England Patriots hosts the Kansas City Chiefs.
I saw a headline this morning.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in position to take the torch from all-time great Tom Brady.
excuse me.
He's got five wins this year.
Tom's got five Super Bowl trophies.
I want to remind you
Sunday night football,
Belichick, Foxborough, Brady
against the young quarterback.
New England is 23 and O
in Foxborough when they face
quarterbacks under 25 years old.
It will be 24 and O
after Sunday night.
By the way, Vegas has New England
favored by more than a field goal.
Here's a little context on this.
Let's just go back one year, pretty much the same roster, same coach.
One year ago, Alex Smith's numbers on the left, Patrick Mahomes numbers on the right.
One year ago today with these same players and coach, both were 5'0.
Alex Smith was significantly better in completion percentage and passer rating.
And Alex Smith had 11 TDs and no interceptions.
Were we talking about Alex Smith taking the torch from Tom Brady?
Listen, man, this is the way sports works.
We fall in love with the new shiny toy.
Oh my God, Baker Mayfield.
Oh, my God.
Cleveland leads the NFL in rushing.
Cleveland, defensive analytics.
second in the NFL and defense. Cleveland leads the NFL and takeaways. And you keep trying to
convince me their quarterback who has three touchdowns and three interceptions leading them. He's better
than to Rod Taylor, but Cleveland Browns are led by their running game and their defense.
But Baker Mayfield, he's the star. One year ago, Alex Smith had better numbers than Patrick Mahomes.
He's fun. He's really talented. But folks, go back to Dak Prescott's
first year. What's happened since? Go back to Deshawn Watson's first years. How's he looked now?
Go back to Marcus Mariotta's first year. Better than now. Nobody has a lot of film.
Guy hasn't faced a winter. Patrick Mahomes. Some of this is it's a perfect storm. He's got two
great deep threats. Last year's NFL leading rusher got the best tied in in football, a tremendous
game strategist and play designer and Andy Reid.
Some of this is just a perfect storm.
When Patrick Mahomes can lead his team to the Super Bowl against the Jags
without Gronk and without Julian Edelman who got hurt,
and he's using Danny M. Mandola to beat the Jags in the AFC championship
and get to the Super Bowl.
Danny Mandola.
Gronk got hurt.
Edelman not available.
They weren't running the ball with great authority.
And it was Brady and Danny Amandola beaten the Jags.
Ready to take the torch from Brady.
Can I see a little adversity?
A couple injuries?
Bad weather?
A hailstorm?
A snow drift?
Can you give me something?
Belichick, Brady, Foxborough.
23 and 0.
By the way, Greg Kosell said it.
Last week, when they faced a real defense, it was at home.
Jackson was a crappy road team.
but even last week, little pressure, Patrick Mahomes, look vulnerable.
The quarterback who came into this league as essentially a sandlot and playground player
who has mechanical issues that needed to be worked on that can crop up at any time.
We're dealing with a quarterback in Mahomes who has a tendency to play outside of structure and leave the pocket.
But I think that Mahomes leaving the pocket when it's not necessary is something to watch for as we continue
because that's the way he played in college.
And that's sort of the way he plays.
And in September, the weather's perfect.
You have all off-season.
Players are all healthy, no dissension, nobody's hurt.
Five wins does not equal five Super Bowls.
Patriots win that game, and I think they win it convincingly.
Coming up next, the cold, hard truth about Aaron Rogers,
who had another setback physically this week.
That's coming up next.
Brian Cox, Peter King, Eric Dickerson.
We are loaded.
Blazing 5, 40 minutes from now, it's a Friday.
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.
All right, latest story. Aaron Rogers may need a bigger brace, Joy Taylor.
He had a setback this week for this ailing left knee.
He needed extra time, rest and rehab.
I took a hit from the Lions linebacker Christian Jones this week.
And he said, yeah, a little bit of a setback.
I trust my medical staff.
But he's got a strain medial collateral ligament, deep bone bruise since the season opener.
And, of course, this all started week one with Khalil Mack.
When Khalil Mack got traded by Oakland to the Bears, and that was the first game for Aaron Rogers,
and the bears were bringing heat.
And Khalil Mack had the greatest defensive first half in the history of football.
And they suddenly couldn't block Khalil.
and they were dubbing Khalil, and there was a sack on Aaron Rogers, and Aaron Rogers got hurt.
And Khalil Mack is massively affecting three teams.
This won't happen, but right now I'd give Khalil Mack the MVP, not Patrick Mahomes.
Literally, Oakland has a top six defense in the NFL.
They're one and four.
Why?
Because they're last in the NFL in sacks.
They can't hold a lead.
They can't get to the other quarterback.
The Chicago Bears defense, number one in the NFC.
They're number two in the NFL in sacks.
number two defense overall.
They lead the division.
Why, Kaleel Mack?
It ain't Mitch Trubisky.
And Green Bay, Aaron Rogers, still isn't right.
I mean, just look at it.
Kaleel Mack's the only player in the NFL affecting either positively bears
or negatively Packers-Raders three different teams.
To me, if you ask me who the MVP of the league is today, it's Kaleel Mack.
And Aaron Rogers is 34.
By December, he's 35.
Now, this week he gets the Niners, he'll win, then he gets a buy.
Then Green Bay's schedule is brutal.
At the Rams, at New England, Miami, at Seattle on a short week, at Minnesota.
And they've got to go to Chicago again and Khalil Mack.
So that would be my MVP if I voted on it today.
I'm not a big MVP guy.
I don't care about the Heisman or awards, but I'd give it to Khalil Mac.
Nobody's affecting three teams.
Patrick Mahomes is not affecting three teams.
Khalil Mack is.
And by the way, I think Aaron Rogers knows every year in the last decade, we have all considered Green Bay a Super Bowl threat.
And they are not a Super Bowl threat this year.
And I think Aaron Rogers knows it.
Remember, Greg Jennings came on this show.
And Aaron Rogers is somebody who wears his emotions.
You can see it.
And Greg Jennings said this a couple of weeks ago about Aaron Rogers.
He knows this is not a Super Bowl team.
For me, what stood out was his body language, his demeanor, his lack of involvement with the guys during the game.
He had a look on him like he was disgusted, but it was kind of that, whoa, here we go again.
There was one image that they shown during the broadcast of the game where he went to the sideline, he put his hands across his lap, he's sitting there.
they show his receivers there on another bench,
they're looking as lost as little puppy dogs as well.
There's no fire.
There isn't. He knows it.
By the way, you think I'm crazy saying
Khalil Mack should be the MVP?
What is value?
Let me ask you this.
Is Aaron Rogers now the best player in his own division?
I don't think he is.
If you go to every division in the NFL, let's do it right now.
Best player in every division.
Let's go AFC East.
Well, there's no question that Tom Brady's
the best player in that division still. Could have been the MVP last year. In the AFC East,
Tom Brady's the best player in the division. Let's go to AFC West. Joey Bose is very good for the
Chargers. I'd say Patrick Mahomes right now is the best player this second, right? And I, by the way,
he's flawed, but he's healthy and playing well. Best player in the AFC South, Andrew looks good,
but I'd say it's Jalen Ramsey, who's the best pure corner cover in the NFL, shut down Gronk when
they played him. In the AFC North, the best player's Antonio Brown. Again, there's a bunch of
of good players in that division. There's a bunch of good players. Let's go to the NFC. Best
Player in the NFC East. Odell Beckham's really, really good. But if you're asking me best
player, not necessarily value. Who's the best player right now in the NFC East? I would say
Carson Wentz. Who's the best player in the NFC West? Aaron Donald's Good? I'd say it's Todd
Gurley. Who's the best player in the NFC South? I'd say Drew Breeze. And who's the best
player in the NFC North? It's Khalil Mack. It's Khalil Mack. It's
It is not Aaron Rogers.
I mean, Aaron Rogers is not as good as Khalil Mack as a player right now.
Aaron Rogers is a quarterback.
You can talk about valuable.
But, you know, I look around and at Aaron Rogers, and I hear this story this morning,
another setback, and I watch his body language.
First time in a decade, I think he knows it.
This is not a Super Bowl contender.
Now, it's only early October, but it doesn't feel like.
it and I think Aaron Rogers knows it.
Joy Taylor with the news.
No, no, no, no, no.
Turn on the news.
This is the herd line news.
So we've all heard the comments that Odell made to Justina Anderson earlier in the week,
and we discussed them at length.
Well, our very own Jay Glazer reported before the game last night,
the Giants find him for those comments.
According to pro football talk, Beckham didn't let the team know that he was going to do it.
And again, according to Glazer, Pat Schumer was, quote,
absolutely livid about the comments and that O'Dell was told to apologize to his teammates
at a team meeting last Saturday night where he admitted it was the wrong message to send.
Oh, boy.
Are you okay with the fine?
Yeah, I mean, I've always had real mixed emotions and feelings about O'Dell Beckham.
I support him criticizing Eli, but he's immature.
He's juvenile.
And, you know, he's the face of the franchise.
This is a very conservative franchise.
And they rolled the dice and said, we're going to make our franchise player a fragile perimeter player who at times can be incredibly immature and reactionary.
And this is what you get for it.
They're in the news for the wrong stuff.
I did support him criticizing Eli because nothing I saw last night proved him wrong.
But this is when the face of your franchise is young and immature, this is the stories you get in the paper the next day.
Well, I don't have a problem with the fine because I'm sure it's a policy of the team that if you're going to do a national interview,
that you have to let the team know that you're doing it.
So that's, you know, whatever policies you have in place for that,
you have to apply to everybody.
I don't think that that's the thing that he would get, you know,
had it been not a comment about Eli Manning,
they probably would have still find him.
We just never would have heard about it because it wasn't such a big deal,
but he said something about Eli.
But maybe Eli is just the wrong quarterback for Odell.
Well, you can't let a talent like Odell go.
So, I mean, aside from the fact that Eli is obviously,
getting towards the end of his career at the end of his career. Who's Eli the right quarterback for?
Well, I'm saying because you have a talent like O'Dell and he is the personality that he is,
maybe he needs somebody who is a stronger voice than Eli, you know, a more assertive personality
to balance him out. Maybe that's what they're missing. I mean, Jared Goff doesn't talk.
Jared Goff and O'Dell would get along fine because Jared Goff can still throw.
Yeah, I mean, I also think that the Rams just top to bottom are built differently than the Giants.
Like the veterans that they have on that team are just in another league when it comes to the leadership levels that they have.
If you win personality because if our show's doing well, personalities, conflict.
There's personalities on every team.
But when you're bad, that is.
Everything is highlighted when you're not winning.
Eli could be the quietest guy in the world.
If he had, you know, Aaron Rogers arm and Goff's person, I think this comes going to do.
I don't think that Gough is quiet though.
I think he's just very good with the media.
He knows how to say a lot of things while not saying nothing at all.
So the Packers have definitely not gone off to this kind of start that many of us expected from Aaron Rogers and company.
And even more unexpected has been their offense.
But the king of relaxing isn't panicking.
No boy.
We are very close to getting things going.
And like I said then, I'll say again now, I feel like if we can get off to a better start on offense, it makes the entire squad.
play with a different type of confidence.
We couldn't go out there and execute.
Now, we need to execute at a higher level, you know, but we're not far off.
This league is a difference between being a great team and an average team is very small.
It's a few plays every game, and the difference between scoring 23 a game and 35 a game
is plays that we need to make and we expect to make and I'll make moving forward.
I have no running game.
The problem also is he's injured and he came into the season injured.
He's going to go out of the season injured.
It's very hard to recover during the season from a knee injury.
And Jimmy Graham also didn't practice yesterday, also with a knee injury.
So we'll see what happens.
Although Mike McCarthy did confirm that Rogers did practice today after sitting out yesterday.
I don't know.
Finally, LeBron James says his surreal streak of eight consecutive NBA finals appearances means a lot to him.
But he also knows it could very well come to an end this season.
He told Yahoo Sports's Chris Haynes.
The final streak means a lot to have a streak of anything is significant.
games played, threes made, finals appearances.
These are things that you can always talk about when you get older and are done with the game,
but at the end of the day, they'll all come to an end.
It's a pretty self-aware statement.
Yeah, I mean, any time you move to a new franchise and you're rebuilding it,
really the Lakers, you're rebuilding them.
The last four years, they've been terrible.
Last five years, they have the worst record in the NBA below Philadelphia.
You're starting over.
My first year at FS1, we weren't going to set ratings records.
You're building a set.
You're building a set. You're building chemistry.
You're building a team.
I mean, he's just building, LeBron is building a new culture.
It's not just basketball.
This hasn't been a winning culture in half a decade.
So I think it's going to take a while.
I don't, I expect them to win 48 games, but I don't think they'll be very good in October and November.
I don't.
I think they'll be really choppy until past Christmas.
No, and I think there's going to be a little bit of panic setting in for people who are expecting things from the Lakers right away.
Because it's just, they have to come together.
And this happens with every single LeBron team whenever he moves.
the first couple months, it's choppy.
And that's just the way it is.
And there's a lot of young players on this team,
so it's going to be even more choppy.
Yeah.
Can't wait to watch it, though.
Joy Taylor with the news.
Well, that's the news.
And thanks for stopping by.
The Heard Lide News.
I remember about a month ago,
we had Brian Cox on the air.
This was about, this was like August.
We had Brian Cox on the air.
Do we have that tape?
He and I disagreed on something.
And here's the tape.
In my opinion, the NFC East is not that strong.
You don't think so.
Johnson, no good.
Now, that's a little strong.
No good?
No good.
Nate Solder, Odell, Sequin Barclay.
No good.
No good?
No good.
They might win five games.
Oh, come on.
Look, you got Pat Sherman as your head coach, bro.
Yeah.
You don't like Pat Schumer?
No.
Why?
He's a good man, but, I mean, look at his record.
I mean, I don't see winning coming out of there.
Well, I guess he was right.
Brian Cox joining us on a Friday.
Three Pro Bowl, a Super Bowl champ,
coached on five teams,
that last night.
And I started my show saying,
I grew up in a non-traditional family.
Some people go to church, it's mom and dad.
I had some divorces.
It was a different family.
I've never been, I've never been a big,
nostalgia guy.
Some people are, and some of it's great.
It's great to go back home.
I didn't grow up with that, so I'm not nostalgic.
Raiders went backwards to get Gruden.
They're a man.
Really a mess.
Giants. Eli Manning won Super Bowls, went backwards.
They're a mess. I watch them right now.
If you say five wins, find them for me.
This is a disaster.
I think at some point the offenses start to look like an NFL offense,
but there are ways away.
And the thing that I, you know, I have to have a little respect for Pat Sherman
because when he went there, they must have told him that Eli's our quarterback.
And are you okay with keeping Eli?
Eli's done.
And, you know, oftentimes people say the quarterback get all the blame or too much blame.
In this case, he deserves the blame because when you look at Sequin Barclay, home run hit it.
Now, I hope they don't run the guy into the ground and get him beat up this year and injured.
And then you got Odell Beckham.
They can't throw the ball to themselves, you know.
And I think the issue as well is they overtowled this offensive line.
in the preseason. All we went and got this guy
we did. And there is bad an offensive
line of you've seen in this league in quite some time.
And they're becoming an easy team to
defend. Just
they really are. It's like
Eli's a checkdown guy.
Everything they throw to use in front of the
defense. They have no big play capability
unless, you know, Odell makes a one-handed
grab of a sideline. Right. But the
thing that I will say about that, though,
as Sherman was playing it safe last night
knowing how good Philadelphia's front four is when they rotate the eight guys and they can get
out of the quarterback.
And I think he was anticipating some blitzes that did not occur.
So I think that, you know, he was playing a little bit safe last night.
But Eli also wants to get the ball out of his hand.
He's playing hot potato right now.
Like, don't hit me.
He didn't want to get hit.
He didn't want to get hit.
I've always said that September in the NFL, it's Miami looked good in September.
look good in September. Ryan Fitzpatrick
looked good in September. The weather's perfect.
Everybody's healthy.
There's no vetching in the locker room.
Then October comes. Now you lose a couple
of guys. Now you're on a two-game
losing streak. Now it gets windy and rainy.
And I watched the Eagles last night.
They're good again. I watched the Steelers
last week and the Patriots. They're good again.
Kansas City was
5 and 0 last year in September.
They're 5 and 0 again. You think
they go into New England? You think it's just going to be
sunshine and roses? I think they go to
New England and get their tail handed to him.
No. They're going to win.
Patrick Mahomes is for real, number one.
He's different than Alex Smith.
Five wins.
Yes, he's different.
The second thing I said about it is nobody's talking about Eric B.
enemy and the effect that he's had on the offense.
You know, two years ago, everybody talked about Doug Peterson and got him head coaching
job.
Last year, they talked about Matt Nagy.
And they were quarterback guys, so it helped when they went to interviews and they said,
hey, I'm going to bring a quarterback and I can work with him.
B&M has done a really good job looking at it from a different angle,
and it's forced Andy Reed to be more hands-on with the quarterback.
This offense is different.
And so I think that they go in there and they can score
because New England's defense, especially the McCarty brothers,
can't run with any other weapons that they have on the offensive side of the ball.
Whether it's Hill, Wackens may not play because he's hurt.
Whether it's Kareem Hunt, whether it's Jason Kelsey.
they have weapons everywhere, and I'm not sure New England has the speed to keep up.
By the way, and I understand this, we fall in love with shiny new toys.
Right now, Cleveland leads the NFL in rushing and defense, their second.
And yet we're all like, it's Baker.
He's got three TDs and three picks.
Let's slow down.
They're a running team.
They lead the NFL in takeaways.
They're doing it with defense and running.
But Baker's new and he's fun and he's brash, and we put our arms around him.
And by the way, I like Sam Darnold.
But his success so far this year depends entirely on the running game.
Last week they ran, Sam looked great.
Monday Night Football against Detroit, they ran.
Sam looked great.
Against Jacksonville, they couldn't run the football, Sam didn't look so good.
So I will say this.
All these young quarterbacks can play.
Give me your takeaway on Mayfield.
I like him.
He's accurate.
But I think we're now going overboard.
I think the Cleveland story is their running game and their defense.
But I think also you have to look at,
the effect that Baker has on the team.
He energized the guys.
And one of the things, when you talk about greatness,
you talk about making people around you better.
He has that it factor.
And so the numbers are not great, but they lost 48, 45, I believe, in Oakland.
They're putting points on the board.
However, they're getting them.
And then the defense, Greg Williams, is doing a really good job.
And nobody's talking about the job that Todd Haley's doing on the offensive side of the ball.
What do you make a darnold in New York then?
Because this week he faces Andrew Locke.
I'm not sure that's going to go well.
That's one of my blazing five picks in less than 30 minutes.
What do you make a Darnold so far?
I think that he is going to have his inconsistent moments,
but he's a guy that you can build a team around and win with
because he doesn't get flustered at this point, not afraid to get hit.
He's going to make some mistakes, but he's also going to make some really good throws,
have some really big games, and he's going to put this offense in a position that they can win.
By the way, he's best quarterback in New York?
Oh, he's better.
Eli's not a quarterback anymore.
He's a was or has been, if you will.
He's not relevant anymore.
And the Giants, unfortunately, as an organization, won't make the change.
His best days are gone.
So you run the risk of doing two things.
Elionating Eli and the team starts to talk behind us back in the locker room.
By the way, there's a story this morning.
I just read this.
I'm glad Brian Cox here.
I'm glad you brought this up.
sources say several giant players have expressed frustration with Manning's performance in the locker room.
And that's when you start to have big problems.
So when you get into those situations, the head coach has to do one or two things.
He's going to have to take the play calling duties and hand them off and become a head coach
or he can still be the offensive coordinator.
Because when you call the plays like Hugh Jackson did in Cleveland last year,
he had to turn it over to Todd Haley so that he can get the notice.
defensive players as well.
I'm sure when you're on the team and the head coach is the play caller,
he doesn't have the ability or the opportunity to go and get to know the guys on the other side of the ball
because he's so involved with the offense that, you know, hey, what's the next play?
Next series, what are we doing?
That's a hard job.
Peyton Manning got benched.
He got benched.
Eli Manning, it's like New York's petrified to criticize him.
Isn't it remarkable?
Well, they benched them last year.
And then, by the way, and they got the coach fire.
And they got the coach fire.
It is amazing how we're handling him with Kit gloves.
Right.
Well, I think that they respect the fact that he has two championships.
All right, that was years ago.
It was a defense and it was the pass rush.
But nonetheless, quarterback gets all the credit and they get all the blame.
So he's getting the blame right now.
Okay, finally, you're a linebacker.
Right.
I said, Kaleo Max, the only guy in the league that's affecting three teams.
Oakland's six on offense.
They're one and four because they can't get to the quarterback.
Right.
Green Bay's quarterback's
hurt because of Cleo Mac
and the Bears leave the division
not because of Trebisky
because it's the best defensive front
in the NFL in several years
I think he's the best player in the division
I think he should be the MVP of the NFL
No way
No way
What?
No way
You can't you would
First of all we're only four games in
I think they're three and one
And they're going to lose in Miami this week by the way
Why?
No
The heat will make a coward out of you
This is the time of year
Where the teams in the north
When you start to get down
into the 40s and it starts to get cold.
You go down to Miami.
And if you don't treat it like a West Coast trip and go on Friday, you go Saturday.
You dehydrated when you walk out the plane.
It's like somebody put a plastic bag over your head when you walk off the plane.
You're like, oh, my God, this is different.
And when you get on that field.
You played in Miami.
Oh, I know.
And I also played in Chicago.
We're in number 52 and we went to Miami.
And it was like, oh, God, this is different.
This is different.
So, Joe, you lived there.
So Miami is still, on a,
Sunday afternoon in a stadium, it's going to be 94 degrees in the field.
There's one week of the year in Miami where it gets like, I don't know, 50 degrees.
Right.
So you've been a bear, you've been a dolphin, you think Chicago goes down there and melts.
Yes.
This time of year, when you go from like week six till Thanksgiving, this is a time of year where the teams that do less win more.
because guys are now over the new part of the season.
It's not shiny anymore.
So now it's the teams that do the least amount of stuff,
not try to trick people and just go play ball
that usually win more games from now until Thanksgiving.
This is the hardest part of the season.
By the way, Miami, listen to this.
It's going to be 86 degrees, 78% humidity.
Now that's outside the stadium.
In the stadium, you get less air.
Yes.
In the stadium, you have people, you have grass, which increases the moisture.
Just think about that today.
We're in L.A.
It was, I think it was 59 degrees.
So it's going to be a state in the stadium, it'll probably be 93 and 88% humidity.
And what is it in Chicago, I wonder?
It's got to be in the 40s in Chicago.
So you think the bears are going to go melt.
Oh, they're going to melt.
So it's not the heat that gets you, it's the humidity.
And you said it makes you a coward.
It makes you a coward.
It's 43 degrees in Chicago.
It makes you a coward.
That heat.
Not in the first quarter, not in the second quarter,
but when you get midway through the third quarter,
you want oxygen, you got to go to the locker room and get an IV.
I mean, it makes a coward out of you.
I've seen players, great players.
When you were a dolphin, you saw guys melt.
Oh, the most famous game that I ever saw guys melt.
We were playing the Atlanta Falcons at a 1 o'clock game,
and it was October, November.
I looked to the sideline and saw Dion Sanders
and saw the receivers over there, Mathis,
and what's the real good receiver from Detroit?
I can't think of his name.
Andre Johnson.
No, no, no.
Roddy White.
Rising, Bad Moon Rising.
They were sitting on the sideline with towels over their head,
and they were laid out, and I was sitting over there looking like,
we got them now, boys, let's go.
Full on pressure, let's go.
I mean, it will make a cow without you.
Well, you're probably right.
So it's going to be 90 in the stadium, 90% humidity, sunny skies, no air movement inside the stadium.
Brian Cox, good seeing you.
Coming up next, boy, Dallas, they got it on spin cycle.
I'll explain what I mean, coming up next.
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Good to have you in on a Friday.
We are 15 minutes away from our blazing five picks.
We have been red hot, hitting over 63% of our picks.
Hottest start of my career doing that, and I've been doing it for over a decade.
Joy Taylor is joining us.
I am suspicious.
I wouldn't say I'm cynical whenever people are trying too hard to tell me things are great.
You hear politicians, oh, our campaign is just doing great.
I know we're down in the polls, but everybody here, we feel great about our campaign.
You see this all the time in businesses, you see it with families.
No, we're no.
You see it in Hollywood all the time.
You see the rumors.
Jennifer Anderson is going to get a divorce, followed by a picture of her boyfriend.
Poor Jennifer Anderson on this show, man.
She's so pretty and he's so handsome.
And then a week later, they're divorced.
So the Dallas Cowboys, boy, they are in PR mode.
They are in PR spin.
Don't you think?
Aren't they trying a little too hard to tell you how good things are?
Cole Hamels came out a couple weeks ago,
Cole Hamels was, Cole Beasley, excuse me, Cole Hamill's a pitcher.
Cole Beasley's a slot receiver for the Cowboys.
He said, hey, we're getting open.
We're doing all we can do.
Watch the tape.
I'm doing what we're supposed to be doing.
I'm getting open.
Oh.
And then Alan Hurons came out this week, and he's talking on Twitter.
He's like, hey, some of our audibles, we got an audible out of place.
This is terrible.
You can't run the stuff we're running.
This is terrible.
But yet, yet in the last 24 hours.
Oh, thank you.
are great. Zekiel Elliott
yesterday said, don't you
believe any of these silly news
reports? We're all best
friends in here.
There hasn't been any finger pointed at all.
There's enough accountability
in this locker room that
there's not going to be in the figure point.
The guy that may get
pointed out is going to say,
hey, that's on me. I'm not going to need anyone to go over
and say, hey, you need to get your
together.
And it's all good.
way, Dak Prescott, I'm just reading this quote from
Dak Prescott yesterday.
Quote, things are great with Alan
Hearns. They're just fantastic with
Alan Hearns. You know what this reminds
me of? You ever get that
Christmas card
from a family?
And you know that little kid in that
Christmas card doesn't want to be in that itchy
sweater. And you can look at the face of the
teenage daughter and she's like, this is so
so uncool. And the kids have no interest
being in that Christmas picture.
They don't.
The little boys don't want to be in sweaters that are that tight and they look, you know,
something you'd put in a goofy dog.
And the teenage daughter, she wants to hang out with her boyfriend.
She has no interest wearing that sweater in that goofy family Christmas picture.
And the wife and the husband are at odds constantly.
Everybody smiles.
A Christmas picture.
We're all getting along.
Great.
The cowboys are doing everything just shy of sending out.
Christmas card this week.
That was Cole Beasley.
We're all good here.
We couldn't be happy here.
We're really.
This is what we wanted to post for this fix here.
Very happy.
Things are great.
Come on, Dallas.
This is a spin job.
What's the, don't pee in my leg and tell me it's raining.
I mean, come on now.
Dallas, we're watching the same game.
games. This offense is not good. Like you've got Cole Beasley and Alan Hearns were totally
honest about it. And Troy Aikman, who knows the game's been totally honest about it. But man,
every every loss, it's Jerry's it's great, Dak, it's great, Zeke, it's great. Now,
now just send out a Christmas card with a strained smile and itchy sweaters. And the teenage
daughter and the son don't want to be any part of that Christmas card. I'll tell you, a blazing five.
One of the things that jumped out to me yesterday last night when I was watching that is that, you know, everybody knows Eli is struggling.
And we all know that, right?
Eli's struggling.
But like, like, what does that mean?
There are ways, you know, I'll give you an example.
There was a play last night.
They call them those wide receiver screens.
You've seen those wide, we're a quarterback.
This is a very hot play in the NFL.
The wide receiver screen is a very hot.
play in the NFL. It didn't used to be.
Where the quarterback gets it and gets the ball right out to the wide receiver.
And the key to that play, Aaron Rogers does it faster and better than everybody,
is by the time that ball is snapped, Aaron Rogers has that puppy out there in a second
and a half.
Eli Manning did that a couple of times last night.
Just watch how slow this is.
Good God, folks.
I mean, the Eagle defenders, those plays he's running, you can really tell.
This is an 86-mile-an-hour fastball if you're a major league pitcher.
You watch Eli Manning make that throw.
You watch Carson Wentz make that throw.
It doesn't look like that.
That is a batting practice stuff right there.
Now, again, I couldn't throw that hard.
A lot of college quarterback.
But in the NFL, if you give a corner that extra half second,
when Aaron does that stuff, watch it, man.
And he, it is, no, that's not even one of the perfect ones for Aaron.
But Aaron gets that puppy out so fast.
Like right there.
I mean, Aaron's just boom, boom, boom, done.
He's the best.
When you compare Aaron to the wide receiver screens and to Eli and those wide receiver flat passes.
And literally looked like it was in slow motion.
It looks like it's in slow motion.
And that's, everybody can say Eli's shot.
But let's, let's give it context.
What do you mean?
That's what I mean.
That play jumped out to me last night.
It's like, oh, good God.
You're going to give Philadelphia corners an extra half second.
That's two steps.
They're running faster than the balls traveling.
All right.
Blazing 5.
Peter King, Eric Dickerson.
We are just starting out.
Hour 1 and a Friday.
Hour 2.
Peter King, Blazing 5 picks, hot as they've ever been in Los Angeles.
This is the herd.
Ah, hour 2.
This is the herd.
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles,
Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.
Joy Taylor is joining me, blazing five in a few minutes.
Peter King's joining us in 10 minutes.
It is great to have you in today.
Something I'm going to address.
I'm a big believer in temperament.
Now, I'm a big believer in temperament in who I marry, in who I vote for.
I voted for Republicans.
I voted for Democrats.
I vote for temperament.
Do you look like a crazy person?
You're out.
I like George Bush Jr.'s temperament.
I like Reagan's temperament.
I liked Obama's temperament.
I don't vote for party.
Do you look like somebody who can handle crisis?
Or are you a crazy person?
I don't want to see anger.
I don't want to see craziness.
I don't want to see unhinged running the country.
I feel the same way with quarterbacks.
I like Jared Goff's temperament.
I like Sam Darnold's temperament.
James Winston's too goofy.
Johnny Mansell's too cocky.
Baker's grabbing his junk.
Temperament matter.
to me. It may not matter to you. But even LeBron James, grown up. How many technicals does LeBron
get? Not many. He doesn't. You rarely see LeBron James mad. J.R. Smith forgot the score. I'm going to
give him a pass on being mad. Steph Curry, you rarely see him angry. He threw a mousepiece.
If I'm going to give you, if I'm going to give you my presidential vote, I'm going to give you the ring,
I'm going to give you franchise quarterback, franchise money.
I'm going to look at temperament first.
Talent's important, but I can't have Jay Cutler's attitude.
Cam Newton drives me crazy.
A guy named Jeff George drove me crazy.
Can't have it.
Not interested.
Odell Beckham last night blew up, left the field before the half was over.
This is why I would not make him a franchise player.
Now, in the current NFL, where wide receivers are gold bars because the rules are all changing, he deserves a lot of money.
but I am not building my franchise around a highly emotional player.
Now, Eli Manning, I'm not giving that money to either.
Right now, I don't think the Giants have a franchise player.
Philadelphia does.
His name is Carson Wentz.
But this is temperament.
I got to have grownups.
If you want to get grown up money, you got to be a grownup.
I'm not saying Odell's not great.
And I'm not saying I wouldn't like Odell on my team.
but I, Julio Jones, is a guy I'd pay more than O'Dell Beckham.
Not for talent because they're both equally great, but one's got the more adult temperament.
My three favorite receivers ever, who I would pay for.
Julio Jones, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, they all have one thing in common.
I don't want on Ray Rising.
As much as I like Michael Irvin, I'd pass.
I'd pass on Randy Moss.
If I'm going to give you the big boy,
money. God be a grown-up.
And what you saw with O'Dell,
he deserves money, he's talented, but
I'm not building my franchise around that nonsense.
I'm just not.
I'm just not building my, I'm not
building my franchise around that kind of
nonsense. So it's safe to say you wouldn't vote
for a president of the war's hat backwards.
Not happening.
And I think that
it's just, I've voted
all over the map, but if I think you're crazy,
unhinged, loony tunes,
near the nuclear suitcase, you're not
getting my vote. The Blazing Five is brought to you by Chili's three for $10 deal. Blitz your hunger
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five. That's a hot one. Let's blaze it up. It's Collins, Blazing Fire.
Chargers and Browns. Cleveland at home getting a point. Plus one. I'm going to take Cleveland.
We always fall in love with quarterbacks in this league.
The story of this team is not about Baker Mayfield.
The story is last year, Cleveland was 32nd in takeaways.
Now they lead the NFL in takeaways and their rushing game.
The Browns have the number two rushing offense in the league,
almost 145 yards a game.
And by the way, the Chargers, 28th in third down defense.
They are struggling to get people off the field.
The bottom line, Cleveland, young energy.
pulls off the upset. I don't trust the Chargers in this spot. I'm going to take Baker,
the rushing game, and that defense, and the point to win 27-24.
Colts at Jets. Now, the Colts are beat up, but Andrew Luck is having an unbelievable season,
despite injuries to many of his key components on offense. His completion percentage,
his passing yards, his touchdown passes per game. All the
best of his career.
By the way, the Jets, the Jets, red zone defense, the Jets do two things poorly.
When they get into the red zone, they don't get touchdowns.
They get field goals.
So even if the Jets dominate this game, they just settle for field goals.
And I love Sam Darnold, but he's only as good at his running game provides.
And last week, the Jets running game was great.
The Colts defensive front seven is wildly underrated.
Top 10 in Sacks.
I'll take the points and I'll take the Colts to win 30 to 24.
Bounce back after that horrible.
Steelers and Bengals.
I don't understand how Pittsburgh's getting points here.
We all know Andy Dalton shrinks in these games.
Andy Dalton doesn't beat the Steelers.
Come on.
You know the game on this.
By the way, the last five head-to-head meetings between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals,
Big Ben and Dalton, Big Ben and the Steelers are 5-0, win by a touchdown,
70 more yards and Dalton shrinks.
The Steelers also lead the NFL right now with 19 sacks.
And I told you.
Don't fall in love with September.
We're into October.
The Steelers are starting to look like the Steelers.
Run the ball, throw it deep, and get after the opposing quarterback.
Pittsburgh's dominated this series.
I'll take the two and a half.
They win here in a shootout 313.
Rams at Broncos.
Denver at home getting seven.
Like it?
I love it.
The last two games, the Rams have been incredibly vulnerable.
In their first three games, six takeaways.
And the last two, one.
They've allowed twice the touchdowns in the last couple of games.
You can run on this team.
And Denver does one thing well.
They run third-rank rushing offense.
The Rams allowed Seattle almost 200-year.
yards on the ground. Again, now LA goes to mile high altitude. The weather's a little colder.
Cooper Cup and Brandon Cooks dealing with concussion symptoms. Upset of the week. Denver and Case Keenham.
Rams don't have a great pass rush. Have time to throw. Dominate time of possession. Upset the Rams 28, 27.
I don't like taking favorites, but I'm going to take the Jags minus three against Dallas.
Listen, this is a mismatch.
Dallas is almost last in every offensive category, 30th, 31st, 32nd, and the Jags are first in almost every offensive category.
To me, this is a personnel mismatch.
The good, the bad, the ugly.
I have an elite corners, an elite pass rush against an offensive line for Dallas that's struggling.
They don't have perimeter players.
They don't have a tight end.
Dak Prescott's thrown for one or fewer touchdowns in 10 of his last 13 starts and pass for 250 yards or less in 14 of his last 16.
This is a struggling offense against a fantastic defense and the Jags got embarrassed last week.
They're going to play with focus, passion, and energy.
Jacksonville all swallow the three points, wins by a touchdown over the Cowboys.
27 to 20, my blazing five picks.
We are off to our hardest start ever over 60%.
Blazing five brought to you by Chili's, three for $10.
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menu. Good stuff today.
Peter King's around the corner.
Got a lot of things to talk about. First of all,
you got New England and Kansas City is going to be
fantastic. That's going to be a fantastic
football game. I think this is the weekend of upsets.
You had that mess last night in New York
where it's amazing that Ely Manning
was, Peyton Manning was
benched for Brock Osweiler and Eli Manning had to sit for a Sunday after a 113 yard performance
last year. He was just benched for a Sunday and the city of New York went crazy. And because of
their overreaction and their hate for Ben McAdoo, they have freaked out the Giants ownership. They have
freaked out the Giants front office. And they're going to keep rolling with Eli Manning.
And what I watched last night, they are not close, not close to being a playoff team.
if you take into account what you and I saw last night in New York.
Peter King, around the corner in L.A.
This is the herd.
Blazing five brought to you by Chili's three for ten bucks.
Make your pick, starter, entree Coke, just ten bucks.
So, you know, last night I'm watching the Philadelphia Eagles play.
And the Philadelphia Eagles looked really good.
And the Philadelphia Eagles did not look really good in September.
But September in the NFL is similar to.
to a grand opening at a restaurant.
And, you know, everybody, everybody's happy at the grand opening at a restaurant.
It's overstaffed.
You got all your fresh fish.
All your cutleries there.
Everybody's in a good mood.
Grand opening.
You've been preparing for it for a month.
But what happens two and a half months into that restaurant or a month into the restaurant
where people call in sick?
The chef now doesn't get along with the owner.
The chef doesn't like his staff.
A delivery doesn't show up.
I mean, think about who was great in September.
In the NFL, the weather's perfect.
nobody's hurt.
How about those dolphins?
Oh, Miami was good and Ryan Fitzmagic and the Denver Broncos and the bills went to Minnesota and were amazing.
Remember the shot of Ryan Fitzmagic?
Go think about what happened in September in the NFL.
The Redskins, the Lions, the Broncos, Miami, Tampa.
But here's who struggled.
The Steelers, the Eagles, the Patriots.
Well, look who's good now.
Last week, the Steelers crushed Atlanta.
last night Philadelphia looked fantastic.
New England last two weeks is piling on points.
So, you know, again, every restaurant is great for the grand opening.
You've been preparing a month for it.
You're overstaffed.
Nobody's called in sick.
No shipments have been missed.
The chef's still in a good mood.
A month later, in the NFL, now you're playing in worse weather.
Oh, now you've got multiple injuries.
Now you're on a two-game losing streak.
Now your culture matters.
And I know the Eagles have a good culture.
I know the Patriots have a good culture.
So, you know, I just, I'm watching Philadelphia last night.
And I'm like, oh, no, no, they're fine.
Philadelphia is fine.
They're doing September in the NFL is a lot of fools gold.
Never forget, Bill Belichick's worst month is September.
He gets better in October.
His best months are November and December.
Okay.
And by the way, it should be noted that in January, he's good too.
And that's when you play the best teams in the playoffs.
So I think Philadelphia is in a really good spot.
I also think something to think about, too,
is that if you think it's bad for Eli Manning today, wait till Sunday.
Because you and I all know that the New York Giants could have had Sam Darnold.
Okay, they had the number of due pick and they took a running back.
The Jets hosts the Colts and they're favored to win.
Okay.
And remember, let's go back to the NFL draft.
This could very well live in infamy.
This was draft night.
Cleveland takes Baker.
Giants on the clock.
Do you remember this moment?
Sam Darnold is now there for the drafting by the Giants
or somebody to come up and get him.
It could be the Jets.
It could be the Broncos.
The Giants might give pause and go ahead and choose that young man out of USC.
The New York Giants have not traded this pick.
They have made it.
Could it be Sam Darnold?
Could it be Sequan?
This is a linchpin pick of the 2018 draft.
With the second pick in the 2018 NFL draft, the New York Giants select Sequin Barclay,
running back in Penn State.
Well, what it tells you right off the bat is that Dave Gettelman did not believe that any of the
quarterbacks left on the board were a franchise quarterback.
That's exactly right.
And Sam Darnold has seven touchdown passes working with.
with below average tight ends, running backs on an offensive line.
And Eli has OBJ, Sequin Barclay, one more game, and has six touchdown passes.
What if Darnold choose up the Colts defense on Sunday?
You think the newspapers are after Eli this morning?
What's going to happen if Darnold is great on Sunday against the Colts?
Now, I think the Colts defensive front is right now the most underrated defensive front in the league.
Colts have actually kind of bondoed together, duct tape together,
a pretty interesting pass rush.
But you look at Eli, and that's the last impression of Eli,
what if Darnold against the beat-up Indianapolis Colts team at home
knocks it out of the park?
I got to tell you about Sam Darnold.
He got seven touchdown passes.
And it's more than Eli in one last game, and he's got nothing to work with.
The fact that he has several over-the-top home run throws is amazing
because that offensive line gives him very little time to throw.
So they made a decision in that draft, and they are every Sunday.
Simultaneously, Eli is eroding and Donald is rising.
And if Sammy plays well on Sunday, the New York Post, the tabloids,
the talk radio in New York are going to be crazy.
Peter King's around the corner.
Here's Joy Taylor with the news.
No, no, no, no.
Turn on the news.
This is the herd line news.
Let's stick with the giant, shall we?
Gino Smith.
Remember Gino Smith?
Yes.
He took to Twitter this morning to take a shot at Giants fans.
Gino who infamously replaced Eli Manning midseason for one game before heading back to the bench.
Once all the Giants fans to apologize to Ben McA-Doo.
That won't happen.
Y'all owe my boy Mack an apology, tweets Gino Smith.
7.30 a.m. this morning.
Oh, Gino.
You know, somebody threw this out there.
yesterday.
John Gruden has a history of replacing quarterbacks.
He had nine in Tampa.
And I'm just throwing this out there.
I have not sourced.
What if, I mean, Derek Carr has struggled.
And by the way, Gruden has been incredibly public about his Derek Carr struggles.
What if Gruden decided, you know what?
We're not a very good football team.
I'm going to move Derek Carr to New York for the Giants and get some more draft picks
and rebuild this puppy.
You're looking at me like I'm crazy.
What if the Giants went out?
made a big rush on Derek Carr. I mean, I'm trying to let that wash over me.
This is just sports talk at its worst. You're just completely speculating. If you look at what's
going on in the NFL, Justin Herbert for Oregon is going to be the number one pick. He's a 6-5,
225. It looks like Carson Wentz. He's mobile. He is a tremendous prospect.
The last 13 quarterbacks taken in the first round one, Paxton Lynch is a bust. It's getting
easier for college quarterbacks to play pro football. That is indisputable. That is inarguable.
And so Justin Herbert's number one.
If I said this to see you yesterday, who in the NFL, what bad teams in the top 10 need a quarterback?
They all just got one.
And they're all working.
The Giants are one of the only teams out there that honestly this morning, if the Giants go 3 and 10, if there's a team in front of you, I mean, I think the Giants have to go for like a Derek Carr or they have to go for Justin Herbert.
They have real questions now.
I would imagine that Giants fans would probably want to go in the draft.
Okay.
That's what I would assume.
Because if Derek Carr is not working with John Gruden, I doubt they want Derek Carr.
I mean, that's no just the Derek Carr.
He's a fine quarterback, but I'm pretty sure they want to build for the future.
This is a reminder for Gino.
McAdoo ran one personnel package over 90% of his offensive snaps last year.
So it's really like, innovate.
Yeah.
That's why he's not there.
All right, sticking with the NFC East, it's time for the real deal brought to you by Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.
Carson Wentz could not have asked for a better start for the Eagles win last night.
He finished with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
You look great.
And here's once on the Eagles being back in the driver's seat of their division.
I thought it was huge.
Obviously, just first of all, overall, it's a big win for us.
You know, NFC East finally get that conference going, short week like it was.
cleaned up a handful of mistakes.
Obviously, we weren't perfect tonight,
but obviously being 3 and 3 is a heck of a lot better
than being 2 and 4, being 1 and 0 in the division.
There's definitely things we can build on.
We can kind of use it as momentum now
and kind of point to some things that say,
hey, this is who we are.
Don't forget that and build from here.
I like him so much.
There's so much I like.
I love his temperament.
Somebody told me years ago,
the foremost positions in football,
most important are owner, GM,
coach, and quarterback.
And if you're an A to an A-minus in all four,
you can win the Super Bowl.
I think the Eagles have an A-owner.
Howie Roseman's a terrific GM.
Doug Peterson surprised me.
He's a terrific coach and Carson Wentz.
When you watched Philly last night, listen, they're not going anywhere.
They're not going anywhere.
That is a well-run organization.
They're a little messy at running back.
They're not great on the perimeter offensively.
But, man, they're well-run.
At the top, that's a well-run, well-oiled machine.
Philly fans think you don't like them very much.
No, they're, listen, again, if you look around,
on the NFL, owner, Roonies, Tomlin, they draft well, Ben.
That's why the Steelers win the division almost every year.
You don't have to be perfect at all of them, but the four big positions, Philly's really good at
them.
Well, like you said, also, it's time to find out who the real teams are.
We just went over who was awesome in September.
We'll see what happens now.
So the hype is real.
According to Vegas sports books, the Lakers have attracted the most bets to win the NBA
championship this season.
And the Celtics are the favorite in the Eastern Conference at a close.
second. To win the title?
Five and one, the Lakers are 12 to one to win the title.
So the warrior, well, that's because the odds, you have to bet too much money to make any money
on the Warriors, yeah.
Yeah. I get the, I predict that the Celtics will beat the Warriors because they'll get
home court advantage and the weaker East. You think the Celtics going to beat the Warriors?
Yeah, no, no, because I think it's home court advantage. And remember, the East is weaker
than the West. And so Boston's don't have a better record. And they also, they're going to try
to win games because they know if they get to the finals, they don't want to open a series in Oakland
and close it in Oakland.
So I think the first two games will be in Boston
and the last game will be in Boston.
And I think it's a seven-gamer
and I'll take the Celtics.
If everyone is healthy, then I'm with you.
But if Boston loses any one of their key pieces,
I don't think that they have enough to take on the Warriors.
So that'll be crucial.
Joy with the News.
Well, that's the news.
And thanks for stopping by.
The Hurd-Ly News.
Football Morning in America at NBCSports.com.
Three-time national sports writer of the year.
One of my favorites, he joins us now on a Friday
via the Coward Global Satellite Network.
Peter King.
Peter, I started my show today saying,
nostalgia is great, but it can be a burden.
And the two teams in the NFL that look like a mess
are the Raiders who went back into their past to sign Gruden,
and the Giants who are still living on those Super Bowls,
and they still stuck with Eli.
And that nostalgia in the NFL, you know,
Kansas City moved off Alex Smith.
You want to move off early, not late.
And Alex had a terrific year last year.
I look at the Giants as a franchise right now where nostalgia is holding them back with Eli.
How do you see it?
We saw it last year, Colin last December, when Ben McAdoo tried to do the right thing.
He was shouted down as an oaf, an idiot, a jerk, a no-nothing coach.
What he tried to do is he tried to say, hey, we got a 36-year-old quarterback.
There's a huge draft coming up with four or five first-round quarterbacks in it.
We need to see what we have on our bench to see if any of those guys might be the quarterbacks of the future or give us hope that they might be the quarterbacks of the future.
And he shouted down. He's told he's an idiot. It turns out Ben McAdoe, I said it at the time.
Ben McAdoe was the only adult in the room last year with the New York Giants.
Has anybody been watching this team play since they beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl in February 2012?
If you've been watching the Giants play, you've seen that Eli Manning with all sorts of different
teams, not teams that can protect very well, I grant you that, but with all sorts of different
teams, he's been a subpar NFL quarterback, period. You look at the numbers, you look at the
wins. Do you realize, Colin, that since that Super Bowl game was played, since that day that the Patriots
lost to the Giants in February 2012. The New England Patriots are 60 games above 500 and have
won a playoff game in every season. The New York Giants with Eli Manning are 15 games below 500 and have
not won a single playoff game in any season. So, I mean, there's a commonality there, and that is
that you can say that, oh, the quarterback gets too much blame when you lose. But the quarterback
you know, basically has not done the job at all with the New York Giants.
It's time to move on.
Yeah, it is.
And, you know, it's interesting because they had a chance at Darnold.
He faces Andrew Luck this weekend, and you live in New York.
I saw Darnold play in college.
He's the youngest of all the rookie quarterbacks.
And I think he can play a little fast and reckless.
So I said, I suspect Rosen and Baker are a little older.
Baker's got double the college starts, five years in college.
I think Donald, I'm seeing exactly what I thought.
When he gets a running game in protection, pretty darn good.
When he does it, he can be reckless.
But what if Darnold chops it up this weekend, beats the Colts off the Eli loss?
What do you make of this luck Darnold matchup this weekend?
Your thoughts on it going in?
Because I think if Darnold plays well, the heat just gets turned up again on Eli and the Giants.
No question about it.
The headline in the New York Post already this morning was,
from bad to hearse.
And I just think it's just going to be a lot worse, obviously.
You know, Colin, you've been in this city.
And the issue is a guy like Eli Manning could care less if they burn him in effigy.
He's just, he's nonplussed by any of that stuff.
But the whole point is last year, what I saw anyway is that the organization is affected
by what is said in the public.
Yeah.
And what is, and is also affected by what is said by veterans around the team.
Like, it was almost like the New York Giants Alumni Association all rallied around Eli.
Yeah.
And that's one of the reasons why John Mara and the rest of the organization,
Steve Spagnolo in charge, and he'll play our beloved Eli the last four games of the year.
A waste of time, a total waste of time.
or five games, whatever it was.
But I'm thinking about this, Colin.
I think you're right.
People are all going to forget.
You played a great clip just then of the crowd when the New York Giants took Sequin Barclay.
They went nuts.
Everybody was happy.
The city was euphoric.
You got this great guy.
And I think basically now we're going to look back at that moment in history,
and especially if Sam Darnold is good for the Jets.
and everybody's going to say, because by the time it could be, by the time a quarterback gets good,
you'll be halfway through the shelf life of Saquan Berkeley.
Because the Giants are going to be tempted to overuse Barclay.
Yes.
Because as you saw last night, he's their only hope on offense.
Even the great $20 million or $19 million, O'Dell Beckham Jr., if you can't get him the ball,
how can he be this great, incredible player?
So I think you're right.
I think the heat does get turned up this week if Darnell plays well against luck.
I'm not a big award guy.
I like college football, but I don't pay attention to the Heisman.
NBA coach of the year, the rule is you win it and get fired the next year.
I'm not an award guy, okay, in my business and other businesses.
But I was thinking this morning, Khalil Mack, I could make an argument.
Give me 30 seconds here is the MVP of the league.
He's affecting three teams.
Oakland is a top six offense, last in the league in Sacks,
Kaleo Max affecting them.
Green Bay's quarterback is hurt.
There's a reason.
It was against the Bears, Kaleo Max affecting them.
And the Chicago Bears lead their division are now the number two defense in the NFL,
number one in the NFC, number one in Sacks.
He's, I'd argue, not Trubisky, turned around just the energy in the room.
I think Kaleel Mack, I know Lawrence Taylor gets thrown out,
I think you could argue he's an MVP vote getter at this point.
Am I nuts?
Not nuts at all.
I would have him fourth on my list behind Mahomes, Breeze, golf in some order.
Then I would take Khalil Mack.
I agree with you, Colin.
And I think the one other thing that he has done,
Matt Nagy told me this last week that he's even affected how they practice.
Wow.
He told me that every day before they go,
go out to defensive team drills, a ballboy will put the ball on the field, and
Khalil Mack has started this, they will all race to the football to see who gets there first.
There's nothing on the line, you know, so-and-so gets to the ball first.
It's just, it's a competitive thing.
Mack has made mundane practice stuff competitive.
And this is something that the bears had no idea about when they traded for him.
if the guy was mute all practice long, they wouldn't care as long as he played.
But he's brought something additional to the inside the team stuff that new guys often don't bring
because they're sort of walking on eggshells when they get there, not Khalil Mack.
So it's that time of the year to question whether Jason Garrett will survive.
And, you know, people are complex.
Good people do bad things and vice versa.
Jerry can be driven by ego and vanity,
but he has often been very supportive of troubled players and average coaches.
Jerry's a complex guy to get your arms around.
And, you know, I kind of look at Jason Garrett,
and I kind of think he likes the fact that Jason Garrett allows him to sit in on film sessions.
And Jimmy and Bill Parcells would not.
I think Garrett survives unless it's 5 and 11.
What say you?
I think he probably, I don't know that he can survive with a losing record.
I think it depends on how well Dack Scott develops down the stretch.
The Cowboys need Dack Prescott to be better than he's been in the last year and a quarter, Colin.
He's got to have more of an anticipatory feel, especially on throws down the field.
He's got to be more accurate.
So that's important, I think, for the future of Jason Garrett.
One other thing I would say here, you hit the nail on the head. I've been around the cowboys a lot over the years. And one of the reasons that Jason Garrett is a good fit, Jason Garrett's dad was a scout for a long time with the Dallas Cowboys. So the family's got a lot of history. And Jim Garrett, who was a great guy before he died this past year, he basically had this thing with Jason where he said, listen,
Just Jerry. He's not going to lead you astray. He's a great guy to work for. I found it. Jason
Garrett has really enjoyed working for Jerry, even though he understands that there's some showbiz
that's going to happen. And I think the one thing that people don't understand, and I'm not necessarily
blindly sticking up for Jerry Jones. People think that Jerry Jones goes in the draft room and says,
okay, this is what we're doing. He doesn't do that. They have a meeting of the minds, and, you know,
he lost the Johnny Mansell thing. So, you know, obviously they get Zach Martin and he doesn't throw a tantrum. He's not happy, but he doesn't throw a tantrum. And he lets his son and the scouting staff win if they claim that such and such a guy is better. I saw the Dallas Cowboys in the Ezekiel Elliott year in the draft. They gave up trying to get Paxton Lynch. And in that draft, and Jerry Jones was angry. He wasn't happy.
about it, but he doesn't dictate to this room what they should do. So I think that's a little bit
misunderstood by people. I understand. Everybody wants another general manager, a real GM,
a polion type. I get it. But it's not like Jerry is sitting there being, you know, a dictatorial
sort. He listens to people in that room. By the way, about a minute left here. Patrick Mahomes
goes to New England. You lived in Boston briefly. They're 20,
23 and O in the last 23 times they faced a quarterback under 25 years old.
There's some magic Sunday night, Foxborough.
You've been at those games.
It's an incredible TV experience.
It's a great fan experience.
I like Belichick and Brady Sunday night.
I've just seen it too many times, Peter.
I've seen it too many times.
I've seen Peyton Manning and his prime get unraveled in these big Foxborough games.
What do you think happened Sunday?
Well, they had a big Foxborough game on opening night against Andy Reed and the Chiefs
open last season.
gave up 41 points. You know, they had a big Monday night game in Kansas City a couple of years
ago, three years ago, I guess now in game four of the season and they gave up 42 points or
whatever. The last two regular season games against this team and this coach, and I would argue
this year a better quarterback, the chiefs have manhandled him. So I get it. I get in Bill We
Trust. I understand that. But I think the chiefs are a little bit
different, Colin. I can't wait to watch it.
Ratings are up around the NFL.
It's going to be great. Yeah, it's going to be fantastic.
Peter Kingnbc Sports.com. Great talking to you, Peter.
Thanks, Colin. You bet. Eric Dickerson, Hall of Famer last hour.
Plus, one of my favorite games, Monday's headlines today with Jason McIntyre.
I love that segment.
Very clever. I love that segment. Our Blazing Five picks are already in.
Coming up next, I don't think we understand how.
much this player's been given, and I hope this player in the NFL appreciates it.
Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.
The MLB postseason continues tonight with game one of the NLCS. Dodgers' Ace, Clayton
Kershaw will take the mound as he looks to shut down Christian Yellich and the Brewers
and steal home field advantage for L.A. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app.
By the way, the Brewers haven't lost in three weeks. They've won 11 straight games.
and Yelich is on Kershaw, 9 for 17 in his career with two home runs against him.
So Milwaukee's bullpen and the hottest hitter in baseball against the Dodgers,
overall better lineup, probably better starting pitching tonight on FS1.
You know, I always have this thing.
If you gave a chef the best fish, the best cutlery, the best staff,
and the restaurant still stinks, then you should fire the chef.
If you're in a relationship, a marriage, and you buy her a car,
and you go to therapy and you treat her well and she still can't stand you, get a divorce.
Okay, at some point things don't work.
It's too hard.
The Giants have given Eli Manning, he had a disastrous 2013 season.
That was the year he completed 57%, 18 touchdown, 27 picks,
passer rating was under 70.
Since that time, they have drafted a wide receiver in the first round,
a left tackle in the first round, a tight end, and a running back in the first round,
and a wide receiver and a guard in the second round.
Five of those six guys could play.
This is the help since that disastrous season.
They've given them receivers, linemen.
I mean, I've given them good players.
Landon Collins is a great player.
Evan Ingram, tight end, Sequin Barclay, Will Hernandez,
Odell Beckham.
I mean, they've drafted a lot of good players
and a lot of good offensive players.
And you're left with this.
Lost 18 of their last 22.
So they were a disaster.
Eli had his worst season.
The next year, he has Odell Beckham, first round pick,
and Eli, his career is saved.
He throws for 30 touchdowns, 14 picks,
his completion percentage goes way up,
and they just keep giving a receiver,
Sterling Shepard, Sequin Barclay,
Will Hernandez, Evan Ingram.
And they've drafted some good defensive players
and acquired through free agency good defensive players.
I mean, by the way, this is also his third coach since then.
he's on his third coach since then.
Pat Schumer, who sounded incredibly frustrated last night.
I just said I'm not worried about their effort.
I'm worried.
Listen, didn't he ask me about effort?
And then I said I wasn't concerned about their effort, right?
Here we go again.
Wasn't concerned about their effort.
I'm concerned about how we executed and how we didn't get in the end zone
and how we let them in the end zone.
I mean, they just keep giving him good draft picks.
I mean, they've really drafted well offensively.
They got one whiff, Flowers, the tackle.
That's it.
They got one whiff.
By the way, Pete Carroll's considered a really good draft guy.
He's got several whiffs early in the draft.
Belichick's got several whiffs early.
Everyone whiffs in the draft.
That's why half the league is non-drafted players.
But Becky Brooks and I were talking about this yesterday,
is that Larry Holmes at the end of his career fought Tyson,
and Larry Holmes just, it's just,
Bucky Brooks and I were talking about this.
The picture in New York for a lot of New Yorkers is the old Eli,
and Bucky Brooks said that's not the real Eli.
Eli Manning is no longer the guy that you fear as a quarterback.
He hasn't been that guy for the last couple of years,
and in fact, he still can't get it done.
At some point, the problem for the Giants lies with number 10.
It's not everything around it.
I told Dave that he's, he's Muhammad,
leave with the mustache. That's who Eli Manning is right now. Yeah, if you can remember that.
But that's the world we live in. Nostalgia is a very, very powerful thing. I am,
you know, Eric Dickerson, Jason McIntyre last hour. It is interesting when you look at the NFL
standings and you look at all the teams right now. It's a very big weekend for college and pro football.
And when O'Dell Beckham blew up last night going into the locker room, football is really
really hard. It's the only sport where you practice six times more than you play. It's hard.
I played high school football. I hated practice. And I love football. I hated football practice.
I grew up in a small town. It was wet. The gear stunk. You're getting hit. And so much of this league
is post- Thanksgiving. And so how can you handle stress? How do you handle crisis is such a big
part of this league. That's why
as good as the Steelers are,
they've sort of unraveled late in
seasons. They
don't handle stress. Antonio Brown,
Labian Bell, Todd Haley.
When I look at the Giants,
they not only have a quarterback issue,
but Odell Beckham, they've
spent this money to, and
this football is
hard. Think about the NBA.
It's the opposite. In the
NBA, what you're
really trying to do is
motivate your best teams and players to at least play hard early because they know they'll be around
late. The NBA is the opposite of the NFL. Basketball is easy. LeBron, as long as he gets his seven
nights, seven hours asleep, you know, and he's not hurt. The Golden State Warriors' biggest
dilemma is, hey, don't forget we got to play hard tonight because we know we're going to be
playing in June. The Rockets, the Celtics, LeBron. Football's the opposite. In fact, in
the NBA, veteran teams don't practice once the season starts.
LeBron James for the last several years.
I've been told this by people around LeBron.
LeBron doesn't like practice anymore.
That's why LeBron's teams don't really get their mojo going until February.
LeBron always struggles in January.
The trading deadline's coming.
And LeBron's, you know, he's drinking his wine and he's got new players and he's
battling with a coach.
In the NBA, it's all about, hey, we've got to lock in.
We know we're going to be around at the end.
We don't practice much.
it's just trying to stay fresh.
In the NFL, it is a constant series of injuries, crises, distractions,
loss of talent around you.
It's the opposite.
So I've always believed in the NFL.
I've said this about quarterbacks for years.
What temperament?
What is the temperament of my quarterback?
That's why I said Baker Mayfield.
I'm out.
He can play in this league.
I'm out.
Jared Goff, like him.
Carson Wentz, like him.
Sam Darnel.
What do they have in common?
It's not their arm.
It's not their size.
It's not their speed.
Golf doesn't run.
Wendt can run.
Darnel occasionally does.
It's all their temperament.
Everything in life is about balance, right?
What do the greats always say?
You have to have a short memory.
Yeah.
So you have to balance having the passion
to go out and work hard every day
and train to the level of an elite professional athlete
and not allow that passion to spill over
into emotions and overreacting to every up and down
that comes with the sport.
That's the problem that the Giants have right now.
Yeah.
And they've spent money on Odell,
who's very emotional.
He's the face of the franchise.
And now we've got a little crisis.
You know, people define who they are in crisis.
Everybody's happy as a parent when your son hits a game-winning home run.
When the umpire has a bad game and your son strikes out three times,
how do you treat the umpire?
No, the true test of characters when things are going wrong.
Yeah, and things are going wrong for the Giants in the face of your franchise goes into the locker room before the half.
Be very careful.
Temperament in the NFL is...
Huge. Hour three, Eric Dickerson, J. Mack, it's the herd.
Hour three, this is the herd live, wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Hour number three.
I'm going to talk about two or three big college football games this weekend.
College football in September, you know, it's a bunch of crappy out-of-conference games.
Now you're getting into your Washington, Oregon, Georgia, LSU.
last week we had Texas, Oklahoma.
This week we have Michigan, Wisconsin.
So college football now.
College football, the NCAA, September is such a waste of time.
There's so many crappy games with, you know,
SEC playing Panera bread.
Who cares?
Now, starting this weekend, you get into the conference stuff.
You get big, big games, George LSU,
Washington, Oregon, goes a long way into siding the PAC 12.
And, you know, Michigan, Wisconsin's fantastic.
Coming up in 15 minutes, Eric Dickerson's thoughts on, it's been a very good year for running back.
Saquan Barkley hit a home run last night.
Todd Gurley's been absolutely unbelievable.
Todd Gurley is one of the best players in the NFL, regardless of position I've ever seen.
Three rushing touchdowns last week.
I mean, he's just, Todd Gurley is, I've seen every snap for two years.
A kid's incredible.
He's absolutely incredible.
But first, but first, I, we all watched the Eagles smash the Giants last night.
So here's what sticks out to me.
Ask yourself this morning, what are the two biggest messes in the NFL?
Ask yourself, you're driving around America, you're watching me on TV.
The two biggest messes in the NFL this morning, one, the Oakland Raiders, nostalgia.
Let's hire John Gruden.
He was great for us a decade ago.
And number two, the New York Giants in Eli Manning.
They're a mess.
rear view mirror is no way to live life.
It's called a windshield.
It shows you what's ahead.
By the way, the Kansas City Chiefs are a great example of how you should do it.
Alex Smith had a very good year.
But in sports, you bail a year early.
You never bail late.
And the giant should have bailed on Eli Manning three or four years ago.
Everybody loves Kansas City today.
Alex Smith, MVP leader in September last year.
Five and no start.
Bailed on him a year early.
Now he's not as good in Washington.
Folks, nostalgia's a burden.
Nistalgia's a trap.
Nistalgia's living through the rearview mirror.
Ask the Raiders and the Giants.
And the New York media fell for it.
They so hated Ben McAdoo, the head coach,
that when he benched Eli last year,
the New York media freaked down.
He's a fool.
This is gutless.
They couldn't understand.
Eli was done.
Eli should have been benched.
Do you remember the game before Eli was benched?
He threw for 113 yards.
The team fell to 2 and 9.
They had a longer week of preparation.
And Eli was the worst quarterback in the league.
Okay.
If you go back to 2013-2014,
Eli was shot. The numbers are there.
Completed 57% of his throws. 18 TDs, 27 picks. He had a passer rating under 70.
But the New York media threw a hissy fit because he gave us Super Bowls.
And it freaked out the Giants owners. And it freaked out the Giants' front office.
And there's been nine great quarterbacks drafted since, and they've passed on all of them.
This style, Derek Carr, Garoppolo, Gough, Wenz, Tribeschi, Mahomes, Deshaun, DeShon, Baker, San.
all available to them.
All available to them.
No, no.
We benched him.
Oh, my God.
Guy was shot fighter after the 2013-2014 season.
You start falling in love with tradition.
Nostalgia, the good old days.
That's the rearview mirror.
Here's the second play of the game.
I mean, here's Eli hearing nothing but heat all week.
By the second play of the game, this is what transpires.
Look for Eli Manning getting the ball out of his hands quickly because of that pass rush as well.
Chipwick throws and that one is picked.
Dangerous throw by Manning and he got burned on it.
You can see where Simonson was expecting the ball.
He thought it was going to be to his left shoulder.
The ball was on the inside.
That's why Hicks was able to drive on it and deflect the pass.
Second play of the game.
All week I'll prove you wrong.
He can't.
If he was a major league pitcher, he'd be throwing 86 miles an hour, and all these young bucks are throwing 97.
Be very careful about nostalgia.
It is as much a burden as it is a joy.
Let me shift to this.
Big game this weekend, New England Patriots hosts the Kansas City Chiefs.
I saw a headline this morning, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, in position to take the torch from all-time great Tom
Brady. Excuse me. He's got five wins this year. Tom's got five Super Bowl trophies.
I want to remind you Sunday night football, Belichick, Foxborough, Brady against the young quarterback.
New England is 23 and O in Foxborough when they face quarterbacks under 25 years old.
It will be 24 and O after Sunday night. By the way, Vegas has New England.
favored by more than a field goal.
Here's a little context on this.
Let's just go back one year, pretty much the same roster, same coach.
One year ago, Alex Smith's numbers on the left, Patrick Mahomes numbers on the right.
One year ago today with these same players and coach, both were 5 and 0, Alex Smith was
significantly better in completion percentage and passer rating.
And Alex Smith had 11 TDs and no interceptions.
Were we talking about Alex Smith taking the torch from Tom Brady?
Listen, man, this is the way sports works.
We fall in love with the new shiny toy.
Oh my God, Baker Mayfield.
Oh, my God.
Cleveland leads the NFL in rushing.
Cleveland, defensive analytics, second in the NFL in
defense. Cleveland leads the NFL and takeaways, and you keep trying to convince me their
quarterback who has three touchdowns and three interceptions leading them. One year ago,
Alex Smith had better numbers than Patrick Mahomes. He's fun. He's really talented. But folks,
go back to Dak Prescott's first year. What's happened since? Go back to Deshawn Watson's
first year. How's he looked now? Go back to Marcus Mariotta's first year. Better than
now. Nobody has a lot of film. Guy hasn't faced a winter. Patrick Mahomes. Some of this is it's a
perfect storm. He's got two great deep threats. Last year's NFL leading rusher got the best
tied in in football, a tremendous game strategist and play designer and Andy Reid. Ready to
take the torch from Brady. Can I see a little adversity? A couple injuries? Bad weather?
a hailstorm, a snow drift?
Can you give me something?
Belichick, Brady, Foxborough,
23 and 0.
23 and O. By the way, Greg Kosell said it.
Last week, when they faced a real defense, it was at home.
Jackson was a crappy road team.
But even last week, little pressure,
Patrick Mahomes looked vulnerable.
We're also dealing with a quarterback who came into this league
as essentially a sandlot and playground player who has mechanical issues that needed to be worked on
that can crop up at any time.
We're dealing with a quarterback in Mahomes who has a tendency to play outside of structure and leave the pocket.
But I think that Mahomes leaving the pocket when it's not necessary is something to watch for as we continue
because that's the way he played in college.
And that's sort of the way he plays.
And in September, the weather's perfect.
You have all off-season.
players are all healthy, no dissension, nobody's hurt.
Five wins does not equal five Super Bowls.
Patriots win that game, and I think they win it convincingly.
Eric Dickerson, I'll have my college thoughts over the weekend.
By the way, I was just thinking of something as I was talking about.
It's going to be a big NFL weekend, and, you know, the anthem's not a deal anymore in the NFL.
You know what's so funny is that sometimes there's this thing now, fake news,
Because a lot of people, the reason that works as a term is because there are some biases and agendas by the news.
You can see it.
The media lean certain ways.
The media loves the NBA.
The media is rough on the NFL.
I just read a story.
Lonzo Ball is going to have to remove a tattoo.
He's going to have to cover it.
Yeah.
And by the way, J.R. Smith was told to cover and remove a tattoo.
And in the NBA, you can also not sit for the anthem.
And the NBA instituted a dress code.
NFL's never had a dress code, never told you what tat you can't have, and let's you kneel for the anthem.
But the perception is by the media.
NFL's bad.
NBA's great.
Dress codes.
Can't do that, tat.
Can't do this during the anthem?
Just saying, just saying.
Well, the contrast is they allow players to be more expressive on the other end.
Okay.
By the way, celebrations are up in the NFL.
A lot of hipness in the end zone.
Yeah, I mean, it only took everyone banging on the NFL for an entire year about how ridiculous it was for them to change it.
I think the NFL treats players better than the-
No, no.
Look, I mean, it's a great league and it's successful for a reason.
It's just, you know, there's more strides to be made.
Like, for example, maybe players could get, you know, lifetime health care.
Totally agree with that.
Just want to think about.
Totally, totally agree with that.
First game in, I think you get that in baseball.
First game in, you get lifetime health, I think in baseball.
Eric Dickerson, Hall of Famer around the corner of Sequin Barclay's great.
I still don't think he's close to Todd Gurley.
One more herd?
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He's a Hall of Famer, 11 NFL seasons, half a pro bowler, eighth all-time NFL rushing leader.
Eric Dickerson joining us.
Hey.
By the way, September, the weather's nice.
The grass is soft, and then it gets cold, and the ground gets hard.
And by the way, I'm watching the Eagles last night.
Now we're in October.
The Steelers look good.
The Patriots look good.
The Eagles look good.
I don't know.
Some of these teams that look good in September, in your career, did you run better early, late, that it matter?
Look, Colin, it didn't make a difference.
I mean, you know, first of September was my birthday, so I like September.
But you didn't think about that.
All you thought about was, you know, who's next?
If we're 4 and 0, if we're 5 in 1, if we're 0 and 5, you know, when can I go home and start packing?
Because, you know, the season's over pretty much.
But you don't think about, you know, in November, December, you're thinking about if you plan well, can we make the playoffs?
But you don't think about it, you know, in October.
We haven't played well in October.
But you do get the injuries start to pile up pre- Thanksgiving, right?
Well, it just depends.
It depends on the team.
And it depends on the injuries.
I mean, really, because you never know when injury is going to come.
It's no time to say, okay, injuries going to come in October.
We're going to have injuries in November.
You just don't know.
Did you ever play on a team that was bizarrely healthy?
I think my first year, we were pretty healthy, my rookie season in the NFL with the Rams.
We were really pretty much a healthy football.
And that's a rarity.
It really is because.
There's about one team a year.
Remember the Giants when they beat, the last time the Giants were good, they beat the Patriots on the Super Bowl.
By the end of the year.
Everybody was healthy.
Except one special team's gunner.
The whole roster.
was healthy. And that's what it's all about. And people
always wonder, you know, why come they're not
winning, man? I say, well, they got a lot of injuries.
But they got the backups. I said, that's why they're backups.
Because they shouldn't be playing. Who was your backup
mostly? Who was your backup early in your career?
Well, Barry Redden
was a backup to me, but we played, sometimes
we played together because we run the one back set
mostly. Yeah. I don't remember
Barry Redden. Yeah, I remember
Barry Redden. Yeah, Robert
Alexander. Robert Alexander.
I don't remember. Yep.
Most of the time, you don't know the backup. So you didn't know the backup.
No. You don't know.
Most of the time. You know, backup quarterbacks in this league, and that's about it.
You know, we were talking as we go into this weekend, Dallas plays Jacksonville.
Well, Jacksonville's got tremendous defensive personnel.
And Dallas, offensive personnel on the perimeter, they don't have a tight end, not great receivers.
It looks like a mismatch to me.
Do you, do you, and now everybody in Dallas is saying, you know, it's okay.
We're all getting along here.
And I'm like, this sounds like PR to me.
It's spin job.
When you look at Dallas, to you, what's the issue?
You know what?
Nobody's saying it.
He whispers of it.
It's not Dak.
It's that offense.
Look at Jason Garrett.
This is just like the Rams were in 2016.
When we had a running back, Todd Gurley.
They had run back, Zee, he held it.
We had no receivers.
They have no receivers.
Our offensive line was really shaking.
The Cowboys offensive line is pretty good, but they have a lot of injuries.
It's pretty much the same team.
We had Jared Gough,
got Jared Garv.
Oh, man, he's a bus, he's not this, he's not that.
Now we got Sean McVey.
All of a sudden, oh, Jared Gar, well, he's the greatest thing.
You've got to have people to work with.
Dak is still a young quarterback.
He's not a guy that's been in the league seven or eight years.
No one wants to, you know, he has no time to throw the football either.
I mean, look, if you can't, if you can't say.
Jason Garrett's the issue.
I think Jason, and I don't want to put it all on Jason Garrett,
but Jason Garrett is a lot of the issue.
No one talks about it.
They really don't because, you know, no one wants to point.
We know that's Jerry's guy.
I like Jason.
I like Jason Gary.
But you have to start looking at the head coach.
You're saying basically, if you look at the Rams with Jeff Fisher, it was a lot of the same components.
It was the same components.
It was almost the same components.
Yeah.
No one wants to say that.
No, and there's, I mean.
It's whispers.
It's whisper.
That's what it's whispers.
Yeah.
So, you know, I understand everybody falls in love with the shiny new toy.
That's just the way it is.
and right now the world's fallen in love with Patrick Mahomes
and they're falling in love with Baker Mayfield,
although Cleveland's actually a running team,
Cleveland's actually a defensive-led team.
Cleveland actually leads the NFL in takeaways.
Baker's getting all the love.
They're really a running team that plays great defense.
You know, let's talk Baker.
Do you buy it?
He's a little small.
He was a walk-on.
His judgment can be iffy.
But in the NFL today, he's getting all that love for Cleveland.
What do you make?
of him. Well, Drew Brees is small, also, and he's the leading pass in the National Football League.
Baker Mayfield is accurate.
Baker Mayfield, to me, was this perfect player for the Cleveland Brown, the perfect quarterback.
Why?
I just feel like he's a guy that really makes the players around him better.
He's a guy that can relate to his players.
Like that guy, you want to go out and have a drink with, like, and he's just like in Oklahoma.
You know, he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you see the guys.
Yeah, right there with him.
Josh Rosen is not that guy.
Sam Darns, not that guy.
Cleveland is a hard-nosed blue-collar city.
They need a quarterback like that.
That guy is Baker Mayfield.
You know, when teams lose quarterbacks, they get that too.
When teams win, they get the credit.
But right now, Baker Mayfield is in a situation where if he helps turn this football team around,
how big would he be in Cleveland?
You know, it is funny.
In Los Angeles, where there's a lot of entertainment, you could make the argument
that Jared Goff's lack of personality fits perfectly.
Like in Miami, L.A. or New York, I mean, I've talked about this before about New York.
There's a reason that Derek Jeter, Phil Sims, Eli Manning, and his prime worked.
They could handle the press.
They could handle the press.
They weren't nightlife guys.
And by the way, in Los Angeles, Magic Johnson, say what you want.
Zoe's been a businessman.
Kareem was stoic.
Kobe was a workaholic.
If you look at these.
big city. You know, Mike Lombardi's a former NFL
exec once said this. He said in Port
Cities, New Orleans, Miami, L.A.,
Boston, New York,
be careful who you draft. He goes, because those are
late night cities.
It is. You have to. You really do.
Jared Goff in New York,
in Los Angeles, has this low
key temperament. Philadelphia is
a town where there's a lot going on. Carson
Wentz, very low-key.
Dak, by the way, is pretty low-key
in Dallas. Most definitely. You like
Bakers over the top. And there's Cleveland.
Cleveland's kind of a Midwest,
crappy weather in the winter.
He's the juice in the room.
He is most definitely.
He's that guy.
I always thought when he went to Cleveland,
he would give them that it factor.
We're just not that.
We used to call them the Cleveland clowns,
even when I played.
But now they're truly the Cleveland Browns.
I mean, they have a name again.
Because, you know, one player sometimes can give you an identity.
When you thought of the Cleveland Cavaliers for all those years,
laughing stock of the NBA.
But when LeBron James came there,
even early when LeBron James came there,
even early when LeBron.
came. They were a serious organization.
Very much, yeah.
What do you make of Eli Manning in this mess?
Man, Eli, you know,
time catches all of us, and time has caught him.
It's over. I mean,
I like Eli,
but I mean, as a quarterback
in the national football league, I think his time is up.
By the way, they have these thing,
these wide receiver screens that are very popular now, Eric,
where you get the ball and you get it right out to the wide receiver.
And the key in that play is,
Get it out to the receiver fast.
Eli made a throw last night to Sterling Shepard on a wide receiver screen.
And Joey even said this.
It looks so...
Slow.
And bottom line is, as a receiver, you know this.
I need the ball and I need two steps.
Right away.
It's all...
Even with you.
Right away.
No, watch this.
I saw it.
It almost got picked.
Look how slow.
Even you, there's a reason we put running backs five and seven steps back.
I get the ball.
I get a little steam.
survey the defense.
For a running back, you want time to look.
You need that time to look.
And for a quarterback, look, the ball has to be out quick
because guys are breaking fast on that.
Anytime you see a quarterback that has to enter
to drift the ball, just a little bit,
you're going to have a problem.
And honestly, I mean, they need a quarterback.
I mean, I feel bad for Sequin Barkley
because to me, he is that good.
And I've never really seen him play that much,
especially in college.
But when you watch him playing the National Football League,
he gets special.
last.
Behind that bad offensive line, it's going to be tough.
And it's not about his, he's built low to the ground, he's thick.
But, you know, all those hits add up.
They really do.
Yeah, and it should be noted.
They're going to use Eli Moore.
If they draft a young quarterback, they're not going to bring him into the league
and ask him to throw 42 times.
So the truth is with Barclay, he's going to have to carry him this year.
And if they get a quarterback, Eric, he's going to have to carry him next year and the year after.
What they need is an offensive line.
They need a really good, solid offensive line.
They're going to run the football or run screens with Syquins.
Saquan Barkley, you need to have guys up front that's going to protect them.
The biggest thing for a running back is don't get me hit in the back field.
You know, let me have some separation between the defender and myself.
I need time to make a read.
If they're on me right away, the defense wins.
By the way, the Dynasty New England hosts the young Buck, Patrick.
MaHombs. As a fan, who are you rooting for?
Mahomes, of course. You want the kid.
I want the kid to do well. I want to see him do very well. I think people look at a quarterback.
Not just quarterback players. They have a tendency to call him of a son when a player's playing
well if it's four, three or four games, five. Oh, he's one of the great ones. He's one
the best. Hey, he's doing good right now. You have to give it some time. He's doing very well right
now, but he threw two picks. And that's part of, I'm glad he did get it over with. Get the, get
Get that over with.
You played for over a decade in this league.
By the way, Dak was great year one.
Deshaun was great year one.
Mario daem was better now than he was year one.
A lot of these guys, I mean, you probably played with a player or two in the NFL that had a great rookie year.
And then all of a sudden, it got a little nagging injury.
Played, played with, I don't know.
A lot of guys, I mean, I didn't have a great quarterback.
I mean, I'll say this much here.
The best quarterback I played was Vince Farragama.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
For sure.
Then I had, God, what's his name?
The Rams.
Jim Everett.
Jim was a good player.
And Jim was a good player.
Jim was a good player.
I thought that they brought him along right.
I mean, they really brought him along right.
I had Jeff George in Indianapolis.
He was crazy town.
No, Jeff was a great teammate.
Could have been a great player, but no one to coach him how to play that position.
If you don't have the right coaching, you'll see what would happen.
And right now, Mahomes has the right coach for him.
Mahomes, I think one of the reasons I like Mahomes,
I like his coach.
One of the reasons I like Wentz, I like his coach.
One of the reasons I like golf, I like his coach.
Right.
I mean, I'm not a big Mitch Strabisky fan in Chicago.
I love Matt Nagy.
Now, you said all those.
College plays they're running.
Okay, but now let's go to Dallas.
Now, what, Dak is a young quarterback.
He really is still a young quarterback.
He doesn't have the coaching there.
He doesn't have the, it doesn't have the weapons either.
You can make this argument.
These are all compelling arguments.
It's an argument.
Eric Dickerson, Hall of Fame.
Good to seeing you.
Thanks.
Joy with the News.
No, no, no, no, no.
Turn on the news.
This is the herd line news.
So by now, we've all heard the comments that O'Dell made to Josina Anderson earlier in the week.
Jake Glazer reported before the game last night, the Giants have fined him.
And Glazer also reported that Pat Schumer was, quote, absolutely livid about the comments.
And O'Dell was told to apologize to his teammates at a team meeting last Saturday, where he admitted the wrong message was sent.
You think it was the right move for them to find him?
Yes.
I mean, come on.
Stay on the field.
Look, I agree.
I mean, you have to, if you have a policy where players are not supposed to do interviews without letting the team know,
then you have to find him no matter what.
So I don't think they'll find it's a big deal because I think they probably would have fined him anyway,
even if the comments hadn't blown up.
If he hadn't said anything about Eli, they just would have found him out of principle.
We just wouldn't have found out about it.
But I still don't have a problem with him saying what he said about Eli.
No, that part doesn't bother me at all.
No.
Nothing he said I watched last night.
Nothing he said was wrong.
No, but we are still seeing the emotional stuff from Moda.
Which I don't actually have a problem with him getting upset in the sidelines either.
I know it bothers some people because they feel like he can't control himself.
But I'd rather see that out of a player than a player laughing or joking or just being indifferent to losing.
How about neither?
How about players not being indifferent or being goofy?
I believe that you have to stay steady.
You can't get too high or get too low.
But you also have to be yourself.
I agree with that 100%.
because I was that guy.
Sometimes I would be so pissed when we were losing,
but I would just kind of sit there like,
just kind of calm, but you can be mad.
But I'm not going at punching the wall.
But if you got mad as a ram,
and you were the best.
Punching stuff is a never recommended.
You do need your hands as a receiver.
Discipline, emotional discipline is a talent.
No, it is.
It is, but I think you have to be authentic to yourself.
I'm not always, I don't believe that.
But you have to control it.
I'm not always authentic to myself.
I'm not.
Sometimes I have to control myself.
If I was authentic to myself, I'd throw stuff in the house about four times a day.
You kid, this whole thing, you've got to be authentic.
Sometimes you've got to be under control.
Sometimes I let it go, huh?
Just have to let it go every once in a while.
But sometimes you have to let it go, but not like that.
Not, you know.
I mean, I don't agree with him punching stuff because he could injure himself, obviously.
But it's not about him injuring himself.
It's almost like a show.
If I was authentic, I'd punch Goulet in the forehead twice a show.
Sometimes you've got to be a grown-up.
All right.
All right.
So when LeBron decided to take his talents to Hollywood this off season, he signed a four-year $150 million contract.
And according to his agent and longtime friend, Rich Paul, his decision wasn't based on money alone.
Paul told Sam Amique of the athletic, I think it was important to LeBron that the Lakers are really just starting to build a new culture from the ground up.
And he could have a lot of influence on the new direction.
Team culture is as important to LeBron as talents.
And he knew that Jeannie, Magic, and Rob were just beginning a new era.
Rich Paul's right.
culture he's built this is year one i said when i came to fs one it wasn't about ratings year one's about
building a culture building a team building a set building chemistry building topics you got to build
right now lakers culture right now has been crap for five years he's building a new culture a way
to think their culture in the minds of fans is all based off of past history of winning the last couple
years have not reflected that and speaking of culture changes you can check out this new mural
that's being put up in downtown l.a it'll be a little difficult
for vandals to destroy this one.
I think we have the video of this.
We have a new.
Yeah, there we go.
So I guess this is being put up for Lakers' opening day.
Now, it seems as if this is like a paid mural,
that they are painting it, but it's four beats.
Like he's wearing the headphones.
That's going to be tougher for non-trapeze artists to deface.
I mean, if they're going to do it, they're going to do it.
But it's good to see L.A.
Finally, embracing their new superstar.
Finally, as everyone is fully aware, wine is a wonderful thing.
It's the nectar of the gods, at least in my opinion.
According to Jemann Green, it also apparently helped start the Warriors dynasty.
He told ESPN that my favorite Steph story goes back to the beginning of all of this, right before our first title.
We're in Cleveland, down to one in the first finals.
Steph was struggling, so I took a bottle of wine to his room, just me and Steph in his room, crushing a whole bottle of wine, and we won the next three.
See, Colin?
Jemont clearly does not have snake dreams after drinking wine.
Neither did stuff.
I just read a story this week that drinking a glass of wine is not good for you.
That follows 800 articles that drinking a glass of wine is good for you.
You know what's good for you?
Everything in moderation.
How about that?
That's what my high school basketball coach, Jim Kahn, we'd win a big game.
I lived in a small town.
He'd say, fellas, you can have fun tonight.
Moderation.
Life is best served, staying off Twitter and being moderate, not angry, not too goofy.
It's moderation.
It's right down the middle.
Don't have any fun.
Don't get crazy.
Don't get emotional.
Just stay right down the middle.
You'll be fine.
Joey Taylor with the news.
Well, that's the news.
And thanks for stopping by.
The Heard Lye News.
All right.
Turn away.
If you don't want to know the outcomes of the two biggest college football games of the weekend,
you know how you don't want to be around somebody when a new movie comes out?
And you're like, hey, spoiler alert, spoiler alert.
So please turn away as I pick the two.
biggest games of the weekend.
Warning, Colin is about to reveal the outcomes of the biggest college football games this week.
If you don't want to know exactly what's going to happen, turn away now.
All right, let's start Georgia and LSU.
Listen, Kirby smarts the head coach of Georgia.
He's been the one Nick Saban assistant who's been an absolute head coaching home run.
You think of us as a defensive guy, but Georgia,
Georgia for the first time in school history has scored 35 plus points in all six games.
They're not, they have the second best scoring in the SEC to Alabama.
They right now, along with Auburn, are the only teams that can go toe to toe with Alabama,
and you think they have a chance to win.
Here's the thing.
Is LSU is overtime.
I don't trust Ed Orgeron to guide this to national prominence and at the top of the food chain.
By the way, five turnovers last two games, six of their last seven games.
against top five teams they've lost. I just don't buy LSU long-term going forward with this
coaching staff. I think Georgia's got the better staff, so please turn away. Spoiler alert.
Georgia wins 2720. All right, let's talk Michigan at home against Wisconsin. Listen, you can bang
on Harbaal you want. Here's what I know he's doing well. That defense with coordinator Don
Brown is crushing it. They lead college football in total defense. They lead in past defense. They have
a pass rush. Listen, everything on the defensive side of the ball is great. Now, Harbaugh is a
quarterback, so we expect their offense to be better. Well, it's better than Wisconsin. Wisconsin
can't throw the football. They've been the big disappointment in college football to me.
You know, Wisconsin always runs the ball because they really coach up their offensive line.
But Michigan's four and home, four and O at home against Wisconsin, with both teams.
are ranked. I am getting what I think is an elite coach, the best defense in college football.
I think Michigan's defense is better than Alabama this year. I really do. So turn away,
please. Turn away. Spoiler alert. Michigan wins 2820. By the way, I'm not picking Washington,
Oregon, because I don't know who's going to win that game. I will tell you my gut feeling,
Washington's more banged up than they're letting on.
I think Oregon may win that game, but I don't feel great about it.
Washington's a little beat up.
Oregon in this spot, it's got a little upset on it.
A little got a little upset.
Washington's the better coaching staff by far.
Washington's coaching staff is up there with Alabama.
It's really, really good.
Keep your eye on an upset here.
Keep your eye.
Oregon's got the best player.
in college football quarterback Justin Herbert.
He's really, really good.
Chris Peterson, that was a great coach.
Coming out, one of my favorite segments of the week,
Monday's headlines today with Jason McIntyre.
And best for last.
I love this segment.
The MLB postseason continues tonight with game one of the NLCS.
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will take them out as he looks to shut down
Christian Yellich and the Brewers and seal home field advantage for L.A.
Coverage begins at 7 Eastern on FS1 and the Foxx.
sports app.
Brewers haven't lost in three weeks,
11 game winning streak.
Barrow up to 40 grand to pay after credit cards.
Lending club.com slash sports,
lending club.com slash sports.
All right.
We call it Monday's headlines today.
Jason McIntyre is here for best for last.
After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet.
Quit holding out on us, cowherd.
It's the best for last.
Founder with the big lead.com.
Hear them on Fox Sports Radio.
We bring them on every Friday, Jason McIntyre.
All right, here we go.
Monday's headlines today.
Chargers at the Cleveland Browns.
Well, your guy Baker Mayfield's in action again.
I know you're very excited about that.
This is a great spot for the Browns.
Not your Chargers.
Monday, the headline will read, Baker 3, Cowherd Zero.
Colin, this is going to be everywhere.
This is a thing now.
You realize that, right?
Joel Clat coming on your show with the Baker-Mayfield jersey.
People coming after you.
I'm telling you, this is a great spot for the Browns.
The Chargers coming east, right?
We know that.
And they haven't faced a top-10 defense this year.
Browns, top-five defense, according to football outsiders.
I love Cleveland in this spot.
I mean, I don't know how you're going to continue to bag on Baker-Mayfield.
You know, I understand.
Why is it bagging when I offer contextualization?
They lead the NFL in takeaways.
They lead the NFL in rushing.
All the analytics.
say it's the best defense in the NFL with Chicago,
and you guys are all telling me that a quarterback with three TDs and three picks is leading
the way.
Baker's fine,
but God,
this team's all about running the football and defense.
I should basically,
I should call him Mark Sanchez, right?
No, no, no, no.
Brown's defense is carrying them.
I think he cares more about football than Mark Sanchez,
and I think, frankly, he's a more accurate passer than Mark Sanchez.
He's no Sam Darnold, but Baker Mayfield is off to a good start,
and he's going to win again this weekend.
All right, the second game, the Indianapolis,
Colts at your New York Jets, the Monday headline today.
Sam Darnold, officially the best quarterback in New York.
We know Eli Manning's done.
He's a shell of himself.
His own receivers trashing him, which is embarrassing.
But Darnold really proved last week he's not just a rookie.
I know he's only 21, but this is a guy who has it all, right?
He's got the arm strength, the awareness in the pocket.
I think he beats Andrew Luck.
You know my guy's Andrew Luck.
I'm a big defender.
But this, again, this is a beat-up Colts team.
fourth road game in five weeks. That's tough in the NFL.
Wow. For Indy?
Yeah.
You know, it also should be noted.
Ty Y. Hilton, Andrew Luck's best receiver, is out, but two of the top three corners for the Jets are out.
So I think I'm going to take Andrew Luck to win simply because I think he's, oh, by the way, I should mention this.
I am now up to, I'm betting $4,000 this week.
Darnold dollars.
I'm betting against Sam Darnold.
On the Colts on the road?
First of all, I've never bet $1,000 in the NFL regular season.
I did, and Baker Mayfield won it for me.
Came in second half and won.
I doubled out one to two because I bet against Baker against the Raiders.
Then last week I said I don't like the Baker-Mayfield Cleveland Brown line,
so I bet on the Jets and Darnold with my 2000 to beat Denver on a short week.
They did.
Now I have 4,000.
And once again, this week I'm betting against Sam Darnold.
I am taking the Indianapolis Colts.
I'd be willing to put a mid-sized car payment on the Jets this weekend.
Not quite $4,000, but I like the Jets a lot here against the course.
All right, Monday's headlines today.
Kansas City Chiefs at the Patriots, the newspapers will say.
Yeah, well, the public's all over Kansas City, a road dog, which is crazy.
On Monday, Pat's top, Pat, it's simple, right?
That's what's going to happen.
The Patriots take down mighty Pat Mahomes.
I know some people want to put them in the Hall of Fame.
already. Listen, the truth of the matter is this is what Andy Reid does. He starts the season hot
with quarterbacks. Alex Smith didn't throw an interception last year until November. Wow. Yeah, I mean,
you know, it's like, come on. Pat Mahomes looks good. I will say this. He's proven me wrong so
far. But the reality is Bill Belichick extra time to prepare prime time spot. This is Pat Mahomes
who had to go to altitude in Denver. Big primetime game showed out. It was good at the end.
And then last week struggled against the Jags, you know, through two picks. And this is going
to be the toughest test. I just think it's too many tough games in a row from a
Holmes. And I think, you know, this whole narrative that the Patriots are done. Remember that?
That was fun this summer. No, they're not done. They're going to reassert themselves and take
down Andy Reed and the Chiefs. Monday's headlines today. Jacksonville, Jaguars at the Dallas
Cowboys. The headline will read. I hope you're not taking the Cowboys in the Blazing Five.
I'm not. I'm taking the Jags. Because on Monday, Jerry Jones is going to be begging
Tony Romo, who's only 38 to unretire. Listen, I
I can't say it enough, but Dak Prescott just, he does not have it anymore.
He had it as a rookie, but it's gone.
That offensive line, which is so good, it's not there.
How are they going to get separation, his receivers, against the Jacksonville secondary?
Well, the Cowboys offensive line now looks like most offensive lines.
Ordinary.
It's a little better than average, but it's not as good as the Saints own line right now.
It's not.
It's not as good.
I mean, there's very few great offensive lines.
The Saints have won.
That's about it.
Yeah.
I mean, Dallas is struggling.
and this is, I think this is a kitchen sink game for Jason Garrett.
Any trick plays you've got, you know, Sean Lee, their great defender, may not play again.
I don't like this Dallas team, man.
I've been wrong about deck press got the last year.
He just, I don't see it with him.
There's not the confidence, you know?
Trent Guilford said years ago, he said once he gets off his primary receiver and you force him to throw to a second or third,
his accuracy falls off the cliff, and I think that's well stated.
So quickly, on the NFC East, who wins this division?
Oh, no, Philly.
Not the Giants.
No, Philly by far.
Philly, Philly.
You're confident in that.
owner GM coach quarterback A with all of them.
They went it going away.
A lot of questions in Philly, though.
The injuries, the running game.
I mean, just because they beat up on Odell Beckham's team,
I don't think I'm ready to hand them the division.
I am.
Redskins?
Oh, God, no, no, no.
Can't say you on the Redskins.
Finally, Monday's headlines today.
Warriors start their quest for a three-peat Tuesday on NBA opening night.
The headline will be.
This is my favorite one.
Future Laker begins season with Warriors.
There are room.
This is more than rumors, Colin.
There are reporters who I respect saying this.
One of our guys that the big lead wrote this week.
A year ago this time, I was yelling.
LeBron's going to the Lakers.
A lot of people were yelling it.
LeBron ended up on the Lakers.
Right now, everybody is yelling.
All the reporters who cover the Warriors,
hey, Kevin Durant, this is probably his last season there.
I think everybody's ahead of the curve this time.
And what are the options?
He's not going to the Wizards.
He's not going back to OKC.
I think the Lakers, LeBron and Durant, make the most sense.
Your thoughts?
Well, I think he has, I think he's had a life experience where he played with one really good play.
Listen, go look at Kevin Durant's life.
He played with Westbrook and Hardin in Oklahoma City.
And before they broke up, they got to the finals.
And then he joined this team, which is really good with a bunch of stars, and they won the finals.
So Kevin Durant's reality is, when he was at Texas,
The University of Texas, the football school, as great as he was, what could he do?
And then when he went to Oklahoma City, they were at their best when they had Harden, Westbrook, and him.
And then they ultimately go to Golden State.
So his reality is, I don't want to go a place and do it alone.
I did that at the University of Texas.
I want to play with great players.
So my question is this.
He will go to the Lakers if Brandon Ingram pops.
And I think he will.
I don't think it has to do.
What does Brandon Ingram have to do with it?
Because if Brandon Ingram becomes what I think he will this year, which is a 23 point of game guy,
I've got LeBron at 27, Brandon 23, Durant comes over at 28, then you win the title.
Well, again, this is a team that's going to need offense.
The shooting's not there.
We can agree on that, right?
Brandon Ingram's not a 40% three-point shooter.
Neither is Cusba, neither is Rondo or Stevenson.
Durant is the guy.
And I believe Durant, you look at his legacy, and I still believe he's the best player in the NBA right now.
everybody wants to disagree with me, that's fine.
When you look at his legacy, he went to the Warriors, made them the best dynasty in modern
NBA history, right there with Bulls, okay?
Then he leaves them to go play with LeBron and takes down the Warriors.
Now that that is the narrative.
I know a lot of people are pushing the Knicks, I'm telling you.
And I know I started to talk to Durant this summer over Instagram, what have you.
I think the Knicks are in play, but they don't make sense because he can't go to the
Knicks and lose in the second round to the six.
Since Kyrie Irving has said, I'm going to stay in Boston, so who do you go in there with?
There's no supporting cast.
Are you going to lose in the second round?
People are going to mock you.
I think Durant's smart move is, hey, Lakers, LeBron, Durant, Lanzo.
Now that would be madness for the Lakers.
Like, absolutely.
They would be the best team in the league.
Mondays, Headlines today.
Let's hear it for Jason McIntyre's.
Very good performance, Jason.
Excellent performance.
I'm doing my best.
Thank you very much.
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Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,
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Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends.
Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman
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This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day
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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,
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Hey, what's good, y'all?
You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games.
This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe
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It signals to the world that you're not to be played with.
And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.
Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on.
A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman.
multi-million dollar house,
Ferraris and Lamborghinis,
private jets,
a billion dollar fraud.
But how long can this alliance last?
Tell me what you know.
Is somebody coming after me?
Listen to Kingdom of Fraud
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