The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - 49ers, Team USA, Jets

Episode Date: November 22, 2022

Colin discusses the great performance of Niners QB Jimmy Garoppolo last night We should have realistic expectations for Team USA What should the Jets do with QB Zach Wilson?   Guest: Kurt WarnerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It is a Tuesday. We are live in Los Angeles. It's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. I-Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, World Cup continues. Monday night football for the fabulous Jimmy Garofalo. J-Mack is joining us one hour from now, of course, the herd hierarchy. The Jets got so close last week to getting in. The Giants were briefly in. They're both out. But it gets it. It's very interesting. What do you do with the Ravens?

What do you do with the Patriots? What do you do with the Seahawks? I assume you're bumping the Bengals up into the top three now, right, with that awesome win over the Steelers. Cowherd, now the Bengals' biggest fan on planet Earth. I love it. The Niners last night kind of flexed. Lo bit. We gave that out as a winner. Easy. I mean, it was like third quarter. You're ready to go of bed, winning some money. So we start with that. Jimmy Garapolo is one of the top four quarterbacks in the entire national football league in third down passer rating. Jimmy G delivers in big spot. So all I've been hearing this year, everybody loves Tua. Well, if you

love Tua, you got to like Jimmy G. All right. Historic injuries to be concerned about, physical limitations, super accurate, win a lot, both facilitators, not elevators, with brilliant coaches that need great weapons to flourish,

but certainly once they have them, win and get them the ball. The only difference is Jimmy G's gotten to a Super Bowl. Two may, may not. Two and Jimmy G. Are great at the podium. They're alpha males,

but great teammates. Don't play with a ton of flare, A lot of critics, highly resilient. Don't pout. No agendas. Dudes everybody likes. And great distributors. I think the Miami offense and this Niners offense is not better served with

quarterbacks with great arms and alpha males and flashy styles. I don't think it is. I mean, San Francisco is so unique. They never throw it deep. They almost never throw it up to sideline. You almost know where the ball's going at all times. and you still can't stop it. It is death by a thousand cuts.

And I've seen Jimmy Garoppolo beat Aaron Rogers at Lambo in a playoff game and outplay him in the fourth quarter. I've seen him go to a Super Bowl and outplay Patrick Mahomes for three quarters in politics and in sports. People have strong opinions. They get embedded in those opinions, and it doesn't matter what you present them. They won't budge.

When I suggest, and said, of course, the Niners are better served. Feel bad for Traylands getting hurt. But of course, they're going to be a much better team with Jimmy Garapolo. That was met with outrage. You've got to be kidding me. That's not even a debate. That's not even a take.

That's just a fact. Jimmy Garapolo, no NFL player. There's not a single NFL player that is more disrespected than Garapolo. The top four passer ratings in this league on the biggest down in the league, third down, Mahomes, Burrow, Tua, and Jimmy Garapolo. But everybody now is encouraging each other to support Tua. Nobody's doing that for Garopolo. And he's a free agent at the end of the year.

Go look at the NFL standings. Take a yellow marker out. Start yellowing the teams that would be better this morning if Garopolo was the quarterback. Gets real close to half the league. Both teams in New York. The Niners are now with a brilliant coach, a great defense for you. years and very good weapons. They are 40 and 19 when Garoppolo starts. They're 9 and 29 with every other quarterback and there has been several. We get he's good. Kyle Shanahan gets he's good and talked about

it after the W. I think Jimmy's doing a great job. I think Jimmy always has. When Jimmy's been healthy out there. We've had our guys around him. I think he plays at a very high level. And I think he did that today as good as he has. So we're very fortunate to have. I think it's really understated. Quarterbacks can be finicky, highest paid pros. I think it's really underscored and underrated that the Niners wouldn't let him have a playbook as he rehabbed. He had to go to practice every day, would not give him a playbook, wouldn't give him first team snaps. tried to trade him and it went public before the surgery. Had teams interested.

He sucked it up. Never bitter. No agenda. I mean, people are bitter on Twitter if you don't retweet them. I mean, this kid is great looking, great talent, rich. Team first. And it's what really makes Tua. Tua has never been bitter, never had an agenda.

Tua was not treated well by the previous coach. they brought in Ryan Fitzpatrick, rumors are to Sean Watson, both two and Garoppolo are adults. We talk about this all the time. They're adults. And that position demands it. Tip of the cap to both.

All right. So we had a 1-1 draw in our World Cup opener against Wales. So I like soccer. Jay Mack and I really like soccer. He owns a couple little soccer teams out there. So soccer fans in the United States. have largely been ignored, sometimes bullied by NFL fans, NBA fans, baseball fans, all domestic fans. Soccer guys always feel like they get ignored or picked on. So because of that, and it's

understandable, no sports base in America, no team, no league, no fans have less self-awareness or less perspective than the United States men's national team fans. So let's add some perspective to that discouraging draw. Number one is we have the second youngest team in the entire World Cup. Young teams don't win the World Cup.

Secondly, we outplayed Wales for about 70% of the match. Because we're a young team, they usually bring great energy and then make mistakes. You saw both. First half, dominated.

Incredible passion. Chatty. Hippy, USA, and then a defensive lapse, a mistake later in the match. No country is also ever satisfied with their roster or their coach unless they win the World Cup. So there's been some grumblings about who was left off the roster. Greg Burrhalter certainly has his critics. But the people that I trust in soccer, that I read, that I lean on, that I taxed and asked questions, felt we were going to struggle to get scoring opportunities in this match, and it would be very low scoring, that 1-0 was probably what you're looking at.

So in review, here's what happened. We got one shot on goal and scored. I'd say we did pretty well. And we had a defensive lapse with the second youngest team in the tournament getting a little aggressive late. but England and Iran are next, both present opportunities. And if you look at the history of our country and the World Cup, if we get a draw and we get a win, we usually get out of the group stage and we got the draw.

But in America, we do not like ties and we do not like draws. But we had one shot on goal and we got a draw. Argentina lost this morning as a superpower to Saudi Arabia. Things could be far worse. I've always understood United States soccer fans have a chip on their shoulder.

I get it. They've been ignored for most of my life and often bullied. And it's a great sport. It's a beautiful game. But sometimes the fans aren't so beautiful and get very defensive and lacked context.

Folks, this match from the people I trust was going to be low scoring. our opportunities were going to be few. The best player on the pitch was the star for Wales, not Pulisic, who by the way is going to struggle to stay healthy throughout the tournament, as we have predicted, because he is slight and because people see him is really our gateway to wins.

He's it. He's scoring him. He's assisting on him. He's part of him. So I think this morning I feel like, hey, a draw would be fantastic against England. A two to one loss would not be that punitive. Like where we're at, we're young, we have skill, we have a ton of energy, we play with passion.

But understand, this is a young team, and it doesn't matter what sport it is. Young teams do not win NBA championships. Young teams generally don't win World Series, MLS titles, or World Cups. And again, Argentina lost this morning to Saudi Arabia. That would be like in college football if, you know, Georgia lost to coastal Carolina. You'd be like, whoa, what's going on? I mean, that's a shocker. So it's U.S. Captain Tyler Adams after the game.

Still positive. I love to hear this despite the draw. Yeah, that's football in the end. I'm very proud of the team with the start that we had. We played with a bunch of confidence today. And for a large part of the game, we dominated the game. So for a lot of us being our first World Cup, you could see an ambitious group, fearless group, and we came after it. Love Tyler Adams.

Love the positivity. The optimism. Can't wait for Friday. If you look at the history, a draw and a win, usually gets us out of the group. Cross your fingers. But I like what I saw. Except for a couple of moments, which you could have predicted because we're really young and full of energy and full of passion. There we go.

Just a little context. I love optimistic Colin on a Tuesday morning. We're facing England next. They hung six on Iran. They're not going to hang. If we lose 2-1 and we're competitive, I'm okay with it. And then you go beat Iran 3-0, you try to get in. Okay.

I like it. I said, I thought we would get out of the group stage. I would love one win out of the group stage. That's what this World Cup, to me, it's the pro. We see this in the end. NBA. Jordan can't beat the Pistons. And he can't beat the Celtics. And then he finally does. Sports is generally a process. There are countries where their best athletes all play football, soccer. You know, so this is a really young, young team. I was looking over the roster over

the past week interviewing people, 21 years old, 19, 22, 23. You got a lot of teams here stack with 27, 29, third world cup, 30 years old. We, we have. We, we have. We had a goalie issue. We didn't know until the end. Matt Turner, who's going to be our goalie? That's generally the one thing we know. We didn't in this World Cup. So I thought it was mostly very, very promising.

I felt really good about it. I'll tell you, Turner made a great save, or we may have lost this thing. He was phenomenal. He did a great, and that was my big concern is in my lifetime, we've always had, we're a hands country. We do really well with goalies. I was really, this right here was the save. That's a great save.

We could have lost this thing. Folks, world stage, first match, our youngest team we've ever set to the cut. We could really use a Clint Dempsey here. We could really use a sage, a guy, an old, a tough guy, a, you know, kind of a guy, a guy, a bouncer at the bar. We kind of lack of physicality, I think, and a toughness and some wisdom and some, you know, some old guys. We don't have that here.

We could really use Clint Dempsey. We don't have him. And by the way, if Clint Dempsey's in that back end, that doesn't happen. and we win one nothing. That's kind of the difference between kids and a Clint Dempsey. There you go. 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.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years

for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness, this month. I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. So Jets head coach Robert Saul, a very emotional guy said yesterday, he won't commit to starting Zach Wilson as the quarterback Sunday against the Bears.

For the record, I don't see a lot of value in benching Zach Wilson. I think you have to let the kid play. It's growing pains. Benching him, you're basically saying, I've lost trust and I'm done. Sala is hyper-emotional. You see it at his press conferences. He is a defensive coach and feels like. he's holding up his part of the bargain.

First-time head coaches generally think they'll never get a second job if they're fired, so they get very protective of their space. Nobody is getting fired if Zach Wilson is a miss. The GM had a great draft this last year. Sala, you can see his fingerprints all over this defense. Nobody is getting fired. Sala has turned the corner. Benching, Zach Wilson is a classic making a bad situation worse.

Zach Wilson is an investment. Now is not the time to sell that investment. Let the kid play. One of the key personality traits of being a great coach in this league like Belichick and Andy Lee, Reed, is emotional discipline, kind of coaching from 30,000 feet, staying out of the day-to-day skirmishes, taking your emotion out of it. Sala has to realize.

You'll just make a bad situation worse. I mean, here's a great example. Three weeks ago, after a terrible performance by Zach Wilson, Robert Sala had the kids back. I've got full confidence in Zach. We all do. You know, it's not like he hasn't had bad games before, and he stepped up and has followed up with good days.

So, you know, with the way he preps and the way he practices and the questions he asks, we've got faith that will continue to find ways to get better. Okay. And then he plays Sunday, again against Belichick, doesn't have a run game, windy day, not a perfect environment, realistic tempered predictions, could have been throws for 145 yards, maybe one touchdown. So, you know, it was not an ideal condition against the greatest defensive coach ever with no run game. But here was their reaction.

Sala now is Zach Wilson starting against Chicago. We're keeping everything on the table over the next couple of days. So you're not committing to Zach as your starter for Sunday? Not right now, not until I'm done evaluating everything. When you put up 100 yards of offense, I don't care how good New England is, and they are good. It's unacceptable. It's not NFL football. Yeah, that's a big swing on support in three weeks.

I could make an argument the Jets are actually ahead of schedule. They're 6 and 4 in a loaded AFC, and there's no bad team in their division. New England's okay. Miami's explosive. Buffalo's loaded. It's actually a pretty tough division. There's no dogs in this division. I thought the Jets would be the dog.

So they're ahead of schedule. Take a deep breath. Play Zach Wilson. Justin Fields may not play. You got to kind of coach from 30,000 feet here. Jimmy Johnson calls it walking around. Pete Carroll walking around unit to unit. Take a deep breath to week to week league.

J-Mac with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I do wonder, Colin, if he was just paying lip service to the fans and the media and the rest of the Jets locker room, knowing that Zach's going to be the starter, but I've got to say this to let everybody know he's on notice. it's one of those deals? I'm hoping it's that. But he's, he's an emotional coach. He kind of leads with his chin, and he's ticked off. And when he's ticked off, he doesn't hide anything. As well,

he should be. All right, first up, let's talk about Monday Night Football. Yeah. You already covered the Niners. Boy, Arizona. This is the fourth game they've lost by at least 10 points this season, Colin. They were never competitive in the second half. Now, Kyler Murray didn't start, right? He was out injured. Cliff Kingsbury, man, he wants to move past this L quickly. Yeah, we got to flush it. We've got a short week with the Chargers coming in. So that's what we talked about. We know we got to play a lot better, got to improve in a lot of areas in a short time.

It's going to be a lot of mental preparation going into Sunday's game before our buy. So we've got to find a way to get it corrected. I would say outside of Nathaniel Hackett, he is on the hottest seat. Kingsbury. I feel, I know he's got a new contract, but it's a rounding error for a billionaire owner. I think it's, listen, I went and watched the game with friends last night. My wife and I went and watched it with friends, big Arizona fans. And I'll stick with one of my predictions.

Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray switch teams is that Arizona just wants an adult quarterback. Denver wants a quarterback that's in his prime. They feel now that he's a little past it and he doesn't work. Russell doesn't work with those young receivers at all. Kyler could work with a younger locker room. Many of their offensive stars, those tight ends, they're running back, their receivers, their kids. Kyler generationally relates to that young roster, whereas Arizona's like, we got a roster

to win a Super Bowl now. We want an adult that gets along with people. I think for Arizona, that makes sense, but if I'm Denver, outdoors, do I want little Kyler Murray playing in crappy weather and wind and snow in the elements? You know, big quarterback for Denver, Denver outdoors. You don't need some little small guy from Texas. Hey, quick note, did you see the Niners defense, Colin? Last three weeks in the second half against the Rams, Chargers, and Cardinals, zero points allowed.

That defense is coming together. Favorites in the NFC. And they've lost in recent years, maybe the best young offensive mind in Mike McDaniel. Oh, yeah. And one of the better defensive coaches, Robert Sala, it shows you the depth of their talent. When you lose elite coaches and no regression, The offense, the defense. There's a reason they're going all in with this Christian McCaffrey trade.

What in God's name are they going to do San Francisco at the end of the year? Jimmy's a free agent. And I'm going to run down the teams that would be better with Jimmy next year. It is a big. At least half a dozen. Oh, it's a huge list. Yeah. All right, let's move on.

Minnesota Vikings' brutal loss at the hands of the Cowboys, 40 to 3, Colin, season lows in points, yards, third down percentage, everything. Justin Jefferson, he's glad it's a short. week with playing on Thanksgiving, they can move on from that disaster. Things happen. You know, it's the NFL. You know, there's good teams that we're playing. So it's just the fact that we lost by 37 points at home. So it's just embarrassing, just being in that type of situation. And I mean, we just didn't play good in all phases. We didn't play good at all. And we just want to get to Thursday. Have a

have a chance to, you know, get that taste out of our mode and play better. I think they'll be fine. It was, we both said it was one of our favorite picks of the weekend. We were both all over. We love Dallas, all the wise guys, all the sharps like Dallas. It was the obvious play of the weekend. It was my like it, I love it pick. Dallas was the play.

It was worse than we thought. But it happens. When you come out of these wildly emotional rivalry games or big TV games and they go, you know, it's cold weather on the road, you beat the bills, you come. come back to week-to-week league, man, that Vikings just were flat five minutes in. Teams that lose by 35 points or more, Colin, how do you think they do the next week historically in the NFL? Vikings are one of the best bets on the board this week.

Indeed, indeed they are. All right, let's move on to the Denver Broncos. Gosh, I feel like at this point, we're like picking on Nathaniel Hackett. But seven straight losses now. And Hackett, if you listen to the words closely, he kind of pins some of it on Russell Wilson. When asked about Russ's incomplete pass on 3rd and 10, about two minutes left. Remember, we talked about this yesterday. Here's what Hackett said.

You got to keep the clock running one way or the other. Whether you take a shot down the field and you try to go up, maybe get a PI opportunity because if you do catch it, you have a chance to win the game and it's great. If it doesn't, the one thing, we just want to be sure that clock is running if we can, unless we have a chance for the shot to win the game. We wanted to be able to take a shot down the field, and we wanted to try to be, we knew what kind of coverage they were going to be in. but if something happened in the pocket or anything like that,

that's one of those situations you can take a sack, or you could just run the ball. Yeah, I think people are now trying to save their reputation a little. I mean, Hackett's not going to come back next year. It's a when, not if scenario, so he's probably trying to kind of protect him. I think the early, Urban Meyer last year was early December. I'm surprised Hackett's still the head coach right now.

But by the way, Russell Wilson, if he gets asked about, this. You should be like, well, it's not like they dialed up a screen pass, or they didn't tell me to do, you know, they didn't tell me an easy pass. It didn't look like a simple route. They were like gunning for the first down. Here's the play. Oh, no, no. Yeah, it was a, it was a deep route. Yeah, like that's not an easy pass under pressure. I think it was, was it Crosby? No, 99. Leland Farrell. I watched this entire game. I thought Ross played pretty well. I thought actually, I thought Russell really grew in that game. I was like, Okay, he's not necessarily the problem.

They're not very good in the red zone. They're the anti-chiefs. Zero clever, incredibly predictable in the red zone. You know what's coming. How good of a job is the Denver Broncos coaching opening? Before you answer, the defense is loaded, and they have the most players in the league on IR right now and the most salary cap money on injured reserves.

Your draft capital has been depleted. It has. You are trapped financially because of Russell's contract, which gets into 55 million. and north of it. Yeah. So it is a really right. What you have to do if you're Denver, you've got to have a Seattle draft.

You've got to get like five starters out of the draft. Like what Seattle did, and they're not paying Gino anything, but you can alleviate some of the stress if Green Bay went out next year and hit on four really high-end draft picks. Then all of a sudden you've got a roster where Aaron's salary, you can still be flexible. So it really comes down to the front office. you nail the draft. Now, you don't have a lot of draft picks. Well, you could, you could part ways

with the Jerry Judy and try to get in that. They parted ways with the Bradley Chubbs. So they're trying to get some draft capital back. They see their problem. You know, their takeaway is, you know, they moved off when they brought in Russell. They moved off Shelby Harris and Noah Fant. Now they've moved off Bradley Chubbs. So they're a less talented team when they brought Russell in. You know, that's the old, you know, when Russell wanted to go to a certain place, the problem is you don't work with as much as you'd want to when you take all the money. So a lot of that's on Russell. He wanted the most money. He buys the mansion. But Shelby Harris, defensive tackle, outstanding. Gone. No offense. Solid. Gone. And Bradley Chubb now.

Gone. Lose their running back, Giovante Williams. The wide receiver, Tim Patrick, who's good. Like, they've got a lot of injuries. I wouldn't totally sell my Broncos stock for next year right now. I think they'll have a shot to bounce back strong next year. You hear that, Ryan? People laughing. Are we taping this? Yeah, yeah. Hey, remember this at home, ladies and gentlemen. Denver will be back next year. I'm a believer in Russell Wilson. So am I. You guys a career winner, every stop he's been at. So am I. Baseball, everything. We are on J-Mack-Cow-Hurt Island, though. There's no boats in sight.

Now, is everybody selling Russ or Hackett and the Broncos? I think both. I think Hackett first, Russ. Hackett, obviously. Yeah, J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. I saw a headline this morning that made me smile.

USC back in the top five for the first time since 2017. that that's good news. USC would have to go 4-0 from today to win a Natty. They'd probably have to beat Notre Dame good team, Oregon good team, Georgia great team, Ohio State, potentially great team. Yeah, I don't think that's happening. It's a marginally talented defense with one draftable NFL player. It is highly unlikely.

I would not be shocked if they have an emotional letdown and lose to Notre Dame. But in 2022, if you get the right off. defensive coach and a great quarterback and a couple of nice weapons. You can use that transfer portal and get good really, really fast. Ask LSU and Ask USC. I think they're both really good with really good quarterbacks, one great quarterback, really great coaches, a little bit of transfer portal and a couple of weapons. But USC was four and eight.

They have gone from bankruptcy to highly profitable virtually overnight in eight months. It is an unbelievable story. regardless of the outcome going forward. I was sitting yesterday talking to some huge USC fans in Los Angeles, regardless of the outcome Saturday or the rest of the season. The Lincoln Riley, USC marriage has been an absolute home run, as many of us thought it would. He brings the flash and the flare and the play calling and the design to a city that loves its showtime.

Most of the great teams in this city's history have had flashed. The Rams won last year. It was a lot of offense. Laker teams, a lot of offense. USC teams. Pete was a defensive coordinator. It was mostly about Matt Leinert and Reggie Bush. So for USC, this has been an undeniable.

We're at Thanksgiving. Eight months after four and eight, new staff, new playbook, new players, new quarterback, new coach, new new coordinators. We're in Thanksgiving. Eight months later, and we're talking about USC potentially getting to a college football playoff. That is unbelievable. Totally utterly remarkable. And for the record, this is a really good Pac-12.

The coaching right now in this conference is good. Washington's got a great coach. Oregon State has a great coach. We think Oregon's guy is capable. Utah's very good. Arizona's turning heads. UCLA's got Chip Kelly. So we had Lincoln Riley on our show last week, and we did.

We talked about his early success and the transfer portal. Brian Kelly knows it, the transfer portal, how valuable that is. The guys that jumped on here early on had to do it with kind of the idea of USC being good. Obviously, USC's been good for a long time, but here in recent years, they hadn't seen that. And so they had to believe in what we were bringing in, the staff, this, staff, this kind of new era. And I'm glad now that all those recruits out there are able to see the trajectory of this, because I think it is real and it's very real what this place has been and what it can be again, and we think it's well on its way to doing that. One of the things I like about college football fans in Southern California,

USC or UCLA, is that there's a lot of pro sports here. There's a lot of things to do. There's a lot of options. there's 31 music venues. They don't live and die for their team, and we don't sell out our spring game. But it was interesting talking to Trojan fans last night. They were like, listen, if you could beat Notre Dame, even if you lost the Pack 12 championship, got to a Rose Bowl, got to a big game, what a remarkable season. I appreciate. I appreciate people understanding how remarkable this morning this story is and how quickly it transpired.

It's just like nothing I've ever seen. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byard. We have a brand new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes to not only look back at what happened, what you need to do at that minute, and also look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy line. Step sits, starts, fantasy football players' rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Beyer, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth.

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intention. bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me keer gains is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free i heart radio app search learn the hard way and listen now a hall of famer a two-time league MVP the only undrafted player to be named nflbmvp and Super Bowl MVP. Kurt Warner now at the NFL network. Three Super Bowl appearances, over 300 passing yards in each.

He was a big game player. So, you know, it's, I'm watching Zach Wilson, and I would keep playing him. You know, Sala's a young coach, and young coaches tend to think if they get fired, they'll never get another job. And, you know, it's like, listen, Robert's done a good job. The GM's done a good job. Nobody's getting fired here, but it is hard to find great quarterbacks. You went undrafted.

There's just Tom Brady got drafted deep. So did Joe Montana. It's hard because the position is intelligence. It's toughness. It's guile. It's a lot of different stuff. So Zach Wilson, my concern was, Kurt, out of college. I said he's a little undisciplined.

It's a little showboat. And he relies on the spectacular. And as you well know, you got to hit eight-yard curls in this league. You got to do a lot of boring stuff. you've looked at film on him. What do you see? You broke it down. What do you see that worries you or you like was Zach?

Well, here's a thing. First thing, we have to remember that he didn't play a lot in college. So when you watched him in college, they had a very simple offense. And a lot of the offense was drop back, pick a guy, and make one of your special throws. And he had that great season where we know he's got the physical ability. We know he can make great throws. You get into the NFL and there's a lot more going on, whether you're, it's in your scheme or whether it's what the defenses are doing, you've got to see a lot more.

You can't just drop back and pick a guy and throw it. So it's a young guy that hasn't played a lot of football that's learning the game. You know, you see some good moments, but, you know, there's some technique issues. There's some things that he's not seeing. And so, you know, you sit back and you go, oh, well, do we want to decide that he can't ever be that guy in year two? Or is he just a young guy that has a long way to go and we've got to stick three? this and we've got to keep teaching him and we've got to keep, you know, harping on those things to see if he can be that guy. Now, Colin, I was in a situation in New York when I got benched in

New York for Eli Manning. We were a playoff team at the time, but season ended it, you know, after nine weeks, we would have been in the playoffs. And so I know a lot of people are looking at this jet situation and saying, well, they're a playoff team. They're a team, you know, that with a quarterback that's playing at a high level could be in the playoffs. The Giants, Coach Coughlin, made that decision saying we might be a playoff team, but we're not a championship team yet. And what we want is we want our quarterback to be championship material when our team becomes championship material. And then when we coincide those two things, we believe we can win championships. You fast forward a couple of years, that's exactly what they did with Eli Manning in New York.

We went one in six the rest of the season that year with Eli because he wasn't ready. He wasn't the better quarterback. but they had the vision to go, but we need to stick with this thing, so everything comes together, and then we have that chance to compete and win championships. And I believe that's the question right now with the Jets.

Where do you think this team is? Are you playing for now? Are you playing for getting to the playoffs this year because you haven't been there in a while? Or are you saying we have got to get this thing ready for when everything comes together? And do we believe Zat can be that guy? We've got to give him more time.

We've got to play through the struggles and hope that he becomes, You don't like an Eli man. It's interesting. I like Jimmy Garoppolo, but I see some limitations, injuries. They don't throw the ball up the sideline. He doesn't have your arm. He doesn't.

That's okay. But boy, Kurt, that team likes him. They're buddies. They trust him. And they win 75% of the games he starts. And he's a free agent. And they waste, you know, three first round picks on Trey Lance. What do you do if this team gets to a Super Bowl?

Win or lose? What you? This team. team loves, those guys love Garoppolo. Where do you go if you're the Niners? Well, I think this is the age old question, Colin, is can you find one of those other guys? And when I say the other guys, the, you know, Patrick Mahomes, the Tom Brady's, the Aaron Rogers, the Josh, I mean, those guys that are head and shoulders above, you know, everybody else that can stand alone and can win games for you with their right arm. There's just not very many of them. Right. They're just not

many of them out there. And so that becomes the question is, is it good enough that you've got a quarterback that wins games, gets you to championship games, and gets you to Super Bowls? And you say, but he probably can't carry us in a Super Bowl and win that game for us. We're going to have to have a good team around him. Yeah. And if he plays at his highest level, we can win a championship. We can play at that level, but we probably can't just turn the ball over to him and ask him to throw the ball 35 or 40 times and win games. And that's what it all always comes down to with most of these teams because you don't have that guy. You've got to have a really good team and you've got to find a better than average

quarterback that can get you there and you hope in those moments he plays his best football. That to me is what you have with Jimmy Garapolo. And you know, you can discard him and say, yeah, he's above average, but he's not that guy. And continue to try to find that guy. And if you do, man, now we're in great shape. But I just don't think there's very many of those guys out there. and, you know, it would be hard for me. And I even said it, you know, going in this,

it would be hard for me to not have Jimmy in there as my quarterback unless I knew that I had a guy that was going to be a special talent because you're right. Jimmy does a lot of things well. He makes a lot of big throws. Yes, he's going to make some mistakes. He makes a lot of big throws. And you've got a locker room that believes when he steps on the field,

they can win with him. And that, to me, is half the battle in the NFL. Well, you're one of the few people that can break down film of Aaron Rod. have a strong opinion. And not only are you right, but, you know, you're a Hall of Famer, right? Like, guys like me can say stuff all day. So you broke down some film on Green Bay and Aaron Rogers. I wish he would have spent time in the offseason developing relationships with kids from

small schools like Nevada. He didn't. His choice. I get it. What are you seeing with Aaron? Concerns, progress. Where are you at now with Aaron this year? I mean, I think there's a lot of things going on.

And Colin, I'm just not a guy that wants to buy into, you know, the national narratives that go out there. That in the Detroit game, you know, Aaron throws some interceptions. And so automatically, oh, it's a bad game for Aaron. I actually didn't think that was a horrible game for Aaron. He made a couple bad throws. But I thought that game was as much about the guys around him as it was about him. Now we come back to this Titans game. And I thought the Titans game was as much about Aaron as it was anybody else, that he missed.

throws that he's got to make. And I play the position. And I understand when you've got pieces around you that aren't doing exactly what you want them to do or you don't trust them completely, it's hard to play the position, but you still have to play the position. I always say you've got to trust guys around you, even when they don't give you a reason to trust them. Otherwise, you're going to struggle at this position, whether it's the offensive line. I'm not sure they're going to block my guys or block their guys.

So I'm going to start looking at the rush. You're going to lose as a quarterback. You start looking at your responsibility. receivers and go up. I'm not sure he's going to be where he's supposed to be. I'm going to hold the football a little bit longer and just wait to see you're going to be lost in this business. So I see a lot of stuff going on with this team. I don't think Aaron's played his best football. I don't think they've played their best football around him. I don't believe they've given him a lot of guys that have, you know, garnered his trust in situations that have created

opportunities to be open. So I just think there's a lot of stuff going on. Everybody does deserve some blame in this. As a great quarterback, you've got to take the blame where you say, yeah, you know what, I hesitated here because I didn't trust that guy. That's on me. You know, I started looking at the pass rush here when I didn't trust the guys up front. That's on me. You know, I missed a throw here. And then there's other times you got to be able to tell you, guys, I need you to do this better. And that's just what I see with Green Bay is I just don't think they're a really good football team right now. And we can scrutinize Aaron Rogers and say he hasn't played this best football. We can scrutinize the wide receivers. I think it is a combination of a whole

bunch of things that they're just not a very good offense right now. By the way, you can see Kurt Warner, who is aging very, very well. You look like you're a best-selling author on mystery novels. You're aging so well. NFL game day morning, Thanksgiving Day edition, Thursday, 10 Eastern, I'll be watching on the NFL network. The guys over there do great work. We always appreciate the Hall of Fame or stopping by. Thank you, Kurt. You've got it anytime, Colin. Have a good Thanksgiving. Yeah, you too. And I think he's right. I just don't think Green Bay is a great team. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. You kind of see, you know, some of these teams in September, October, the weather's good, they're fast teams, they're playing. Then all of a sudden the snow hits and you get some injuries and like Buffalo's defense now, little banged up. They're going to have to rely more on that running game. They did this past week against Cleveland. You're just seeing teams grow. But I think it's fair to say that Green Bay is, this is not a great Green Bay team. personnel-wise. It's just not as good as we thought. Is it strange that they went 13 wins, 13 wins, 13 wins.

The only big difference in the roster is Devante Adams, and they've fallen off a cliff. That's a dramatic fall. Well, it's interesting. Elite team to, oh my gosh. Packer fans said 7 and 0 without Devonte Adams. And I've said this. There's a big difference between a great employee missing a day of work and leaving the company. Now when you play Green Bay, they have no deep threat.

It's one thing if you go back and Devante, he's a game time decision doesn't play, you prep like he's going to be there. But when you lose a great employee for a day at work, companies fine. I mean, LaFleur had an entire offseason, Colin, to install some new stuff. Well, Aaron wanted Randall Cobb. You got to have Randall Cobb. I mean, that's a deal breaker right there. We cannot win without Randall Cobb. Well, Aaron made Aaron comfortable.

Christian Watson does look good the last few weeks. He does. We'll give him that. Hour two, Heard hierarchy next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me,

Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.