The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Aaron Rodgers, Cowboys, Niners

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

Thoughts on the Packers loss to the Vikings and why Aaron Rodgers needs to learn patience The Cowboys get more bad news and more proof Dak Prescott can't elevate teammates  Niners QB Trey Lance can't use weather as an excuse, he needs to play better   Guest: Greg OlsenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Live in Los Angeles, it's the herd wherever you may be, and however you may be listening, iHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, one hour from now where Colin was right. A lot of that. Where Colin was wrong. J-Mack, I'll tell you what, the past rushers are ahead of the past blockers. There's a lot of bad O-line issues in the NFL right now. The kicking issues. So you can see, you know, in our life now, there's never been a time where preseason,

none of the starters are playing preseason. And it looked like it in week one. Yeah, Joe Burrow didn't take a preseason snap. That's right. Just four interceptions and a fumble. No big deal. Yeah. So let's start with this.

When you have kids, and let's say you're kind of an impatient person. I'm an impatient person and I had kids. And when I add kids, you sort of build in patience. Kids make mistakes. Kids make a lot of mistakes. And then you hope as you get older, your kids become like 15 and 18 and 22. They don't make the same mistakes over and over. But as a parent, you understand.

You're teaching them. Their minds aren't fully developed. Their brains aren't until they're 23, 24 years old. And it's okay. You got to have patience. When Aaron Rogers loses Devante Adams, you have to now develop patience. So Aaron does ayahuasca. Maybe that helps.

Gets a new girlfriend. Maybe that helps. But yesterday was a classic example. Romeo Dubs Christian Watson. Everybody, oh, it's unbelievable. That's preseason. So Christian Watson drops a big time throw to start the game. Would have been a touchdown.

Maybe the game's different. Maybe the score is different. Maybe the momentum's different. But he didn't. He dropped it because he's a rookie. And then, by the way, rookie Romeo Dubs had a miscompetent. communication with Aaron Rogers early. And what did he do with both of them?

Patience, understanding. Now, he ghosted him. Christian Watson didn't get another look until the fourth quarter. Romeo Dubs, Matt LeFleurr, had to create reverses for both the rookie wide receivers because Aaron decided, I'm not going to you. That's why A.J. Dillon had so many catches and the tight end had so many catches. Aaron went back to what he's comfortable with. Eye rolling, bad body language.

Once Aaron realized in the fourth quarter, he was trailing, he was running out of time, and he had no choice. I mean, Sammy Watkins, really, Randall Cobb, really. Then he goes back to the kids. But he just decided, after those young receivers, Watson dropped a throw. Of course he did. It's a big spot. You're on the road.

Of course, it's understandable. Pro bowlers drop passes. Christian Watson, first NFL game, Aaron Rogers. He made a mistake. He's a kid. Romeo Dubs, miscommunication. He played at Nevada. Didn't even play at a major conference.

It's the Packers. It's Aaron Rogers. You're on the road. You can't hear. The Vikings are good. The game's faster. There's a lot of different speeds in football. There's preseason speed.

There's regular season speed. There's playoff speed. This was the fastest game those young receivers had ever played in. They played in smaller schools. They'd never played in an NFL game. This was the Vikings arrival on the road. Of course the game was fast. Of course they had a drop.

Of course they didn't hear or they miscommunicated. They're kids. And Aaron Gossum. And that's what I said. Aaron has always had trust issue. That's okay. He had trust issues with his family. Those have been public.

That's not my opinion. They've been public. He has trust issues with the vaccination. That was public. He has trust issues with the media. That's public. I'm not guessing here. That's not an opinion.

That's documented. And he's also had major trust issues with wide receivers. We saw it in the fourth quarter last year. in the playoff game where he threw for 17 yards and was outplayed by Jimmy Garoppolo. He wouldn't throw to anybody outside of Devonthe Adams. So it's like you've got to bake this in. They're kids. They'd never played in an NFL game.

On the road, the Vikings, a team that, by the way, Kirk Cousins has had his way with Aaron Rogers. Loud. Those kids had never played in the stadium that big. One guy played in an FCS school. Another guy plays at Nevada. They get like 25,000 people. It's one of the loudest stadiums in the league. It's national television.

It's Fox. It's Aaron Rogers. It's the Vikings. Of course he dropped the ball. Of course Romeo Dubs wasn't ready for a play. That's a lot to ask a kid who've never played in games like that. And Aaron went back to being Aaron. Ghost him.

You've been doing this to friends for years. Ghost them. Can't do it. You got to bake stuff in with young people. You got to bake in mistakes. I got a company. I got young people. You got to bake in mistakes.

You got a baking in anxiety. You got to bake in nerves. You got to bake in lack of experience. Aaron after the game, though. I hope he doesn't hold a grudge. Obviously, it would be great to have a 75-hour touchdown to start the game, but drops are going to happen. It's part of the game.

It's the mental stuff that we just can't have because we're hurting ourselves, whether we're going the wrong way on a block or, you know, missing a protection or missing a hot or not run the right route, the right depth. There was just too many mental mistakes. Completely predictable mental mistakes from small college players playing in their first NFL game. I was talking to Peyton Manning last week. He said something that was really interesting.

We were talking about the speed of games and I'd never heard this. He said, you know, there's preseason speed, there's regular season speed, there's division game speed. I'm like, he's like, yeah, Raven Steelers, Bingle, Steelers, Vikings Packers, that's a faster version of a normal game. So you were asking those kids, that is a big bite. Of course you're going to have mistakes. It's up to you as the star quarterback, the Hall of Famer, to get over it.

Be there. Understand. Be patience. Like having kids. You got bake that stuff in. Well, we shouldn't have to bake stuff in with Dak Prescott. He's been around for a long time, right? But in what was one of the ugliest games of the weekend,

you know, you want that big Sunday night game to be a showcase. That thing was hard to watch. And Dak Prescott late in the game, paned on a helmet, out six to eight weeks. Here's Jerry Jones. Doc will be out for a little while, and so we'll be dealing with that as well. So this was a really tough night for the Cowboys.

and a really surprising night. But, of course, really add to it right there at the end to lose him for several weeks. We'll see more about how many weeks that may be. It's not that surprising. We continually, I continually kept saying, where did the Cowboys get better this year? Weapons worse, O-line worse, pass-rush worse. So I don't see the Cowboys winning this division. McIntyre talked me into believing the Giants are.

better than I thought. So I moved them up to third place. Now they, now they're at the top of the division with the Eagles in Washington. So, but here's the thing. Can we stop the excuses with Dak Prescott? Well, the offensive line. All right, let me set this up for you. You're paying him $40 million a year. Brady had to go on the road. Brady didn't have gronk. Brady didn't have A.B. Brady was on the road. Brady's 45 years old. Brady had offensive line. And issues. Brady's got a new defensive coach. Chris Godwin's hurt again. Chris Godwin's always hurt. You think it was perfect for Brady? On the road, new coach, offensive lines of mess, protection all messed up, no comfort zone with Gronkin A.B. Chris Godwin's hurt. Brady looked great.

Stop making excuses. This is the first year it's not perfectly aligned for Dak Prescott. I'm paying you 40 large, bro. You got to make. make plays. Seedy Lamb, two catches, 11 targets before you got your thumb injured. That's on you. You got to make things happen. This was the classic, here's why we pay you the big bucks game. And it was a dud.

Dax reality, he is elevated by America's team. He does not elevate. I don't want to hear about a bad offensive line. Justin Fields won with a terrible offensive line. Mitch Trubisky one with a terrible offensive line. Jones won with a terrible offensive line. Well, he lost Amari Cooper. Patrick Mahomes lost Tyreek Hill, had five touchdown passes. Keenan Allen got hurt early for the Chargers. Justin Herbert looked great. It's week one. There's bad offensive line play everywhere.

Justin Fields had a terrible offensive line. Didn't make the big mistakes. Beat Kyle Shanahan. Beat a better roster. So I don't want to hear about the excuses. It's not perfect. Yeah, Buffalo now, you know, after all these years of building the roster, a lot of things are perfect for Buffalo. But not totally perfect. Their own line has issues. But I said this all offseason is that, you know, Dallas is becoming the Raiders in the last 10 years, Al Davis owned them. They're not up with the trends analytically. They're kind of behind.

They're living in the rearview mirror. The owner's starting to say, kooky stuff. talks too much. Like I, this, this, when you pay a quarterback $40 million, you got to be able to overcome O line issues. That's the reality of 40 million bucks. That's why I would pay, by the way, Lamar Jackson lost his best receiver,

was in a contract dispute. I watched Lamar Jackson. He looked pretty good to me. It wasn't a perfect offseason for Lamar Jackson. He lost his best receiver. Receiver called him out. You got some new offensive line guys hurt last year, back this year talking contract.

He looked good to me. Patrick Mahomes, a bunch of new wide receivers, Juju Smith, Schuster, young kids on the road, look good to me. But we got to stop. We got to stop with the excuses. It's not pretty for anybody. And before he heard his hand, this team, this offense was a mess. It was a mess.

There you go. We have a lot. I'll tell you, so I grew up in the coast of Washington, and it was really wet. And I was a really mediocre bad high school quarterback. So I like watching wet games. I don't like snow games because receivers can't run their routes. There is something to me, there's almost comedic value when it's really wet and guys are

flying all over the place and the bears are rolling in the end zone. I thought for a bad weather game with two quarterbacks who were young and struggling, I thought the Bears Niners was so entertaining and I bought in totally to the storylines. Is Trey Lance going to win? Is Justin Fields going to work? And it looked like a 1975. Remember, if you're old enough to remember in the 70s and 80s, there was a lot of bad fields in the NFL.

You know, now everything is so slick and glossy. Chicago, the field, the water, the lines up the sideline. It looked like 1975 NFL. I was completely into it, and I've got thoughts on that game coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard 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 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 what you're 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,

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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 Jek. 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

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Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in America. 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 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

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I, you, everybody realizes, drafting a quarterback is really hard. You can see a receiver can run, or a running back has the moves, or a left tackle has the feet. But so much of quarterback play is based on, do you have the stomach for it? How is your work ethic? Are you a good leader? Do people rally around you? Cognitively.

It's a million things going on. It's hard. Green Bay is a great organization. They may have a huge whiff on their hands with Jordan Love. San Francisco is a great organization. Can Tray Lance play? You can blame the weather, folks. But if a pilot crashes a plane, you can't go, well, it was raining.

You got to be able to land a plane in rain. And you got to be able to play a court. You got to be able to play football in rain. Brady spent 20 years playing in Foxborough. Blizzards, wind, cold. You got to be able to figure out how to land a plane in that stuff, and you got to be able to play quarterback in that stuff. I don't want to hear about rain.

Justin Fields had to plan it too. So I've got evidence now. Last year, two starts, this year's preseason, and yesterday. That's a lot of evidence. Trey Lance completes about 50% of his throws. That's it. You can't start in this league at 50%. I got multiple games now.

Now, now, there may be a situation where another offseason and he gets up to 60%, 62%, which I think kind of the line. But we got a loaded roster here. We got a clever coach. We got great receivers. We have one of the smartest coaches. We got Jimmy Garapolo winning 70% of his games with this roster and this coach. When you draft a young quarterback, he's got to be good pretty soon. By year two, he's got to be good because you're not paying him anything.

So those are the years, years one, two, three, and maybe four, because a lot of teams, they pay their quarterback kind of early if they're good like a Mahomes, but you've got to be pretty good pretty quickly because those are the only times because of the position you play that I can surround you with great talent. The minute you pay that quarterback, he's going to play with less talent. Go ask Dak, right? The minute you pay the, go ask Aaron Rogers. So, A, it's hard to draft a quarterback.

I am by no means saying it's easy. Guys that I respect in this league, they've whiffed on quarterbacks. It's the hardest position to draft because we ask so much of these young kids. But the second thing is, if you draft them, you got to play them by year two and they've got to be ready to play. Because by year four, you're paying them. So you have a competitive advantage. The Rams had a competitive advantage with Jared Gough for about two years. Then they pay them and they're thin like everybody else.

Dallas had a competitive advantage with DAC. And then they paid him and now they can't afford a second big-time receiver. And so I got evidence here. You can't be talking. I don't want to hear about the penalties by the Niners. Here's what concerns me. When an offense scores their points like the Steelers and the Niners early in the game and then can't move the ball later because that's that's schemed.

A lot of these teams come in with 12 to 15 design plays to work against that team. Can you score in the third quarter? Can you score in the fourth quarter? By the way, Garoppolo can. Y'all crap on Garapolo. He outplayed Aaron Rogers in the fourth quarter of playoff game in Lambo last year.

So you've got to be careful about this. When a quarterback looks pretty good early, they came into the game with those plays. They worked on those 15 plays. They want to get a 17-0-0 lead. Tribisky? He can read. He can follow a game.

plan. But if you can't score in the third, the fourth, you can't move it in overtime, that concerns me. Because that's where Josh Allen makes plays. That's where Matt Stafford in the Super Bowl, or Joe Burrow can make plays, or Justin Herbert, off-script. No longer perfectly

designed. The defense have shifted. The other guys have shifted. They've seen what you can do. They've taken away your strengths. Because everybody comes in with like 10 plays that work. Even bad teams have 10 plays that work. But Justin Fields was making plays in the fourth quarter. that Justin was making them late.

That was Justin Fields with a bad old line with less talent. Trey Lance had that roster, that coach, couldn't do anything late. So I've got some evidence here. And you can't, I don't want to hear about penalties and rain. You got the better coach, you got the better schemes, you got the better roster, got the better receivers. I don't want to hear about it. Got to be able to land the plane.

Got to be able to play in rain. So now I've got multiple games of evidence. A couple games last year, yesterday, preseason, where accuracy is a huge concern. Now, again, I'm not bailing on anybody. But I'm saying is I hear all these excuses. When you give up a bunch of first round picks to get a quarterback, nobody wants to hear the excuses.

Those fans in San Francisco, you lose to Seattle, you're 0.1-2. Go look at the Niners schedule. Here come the Pro Bowl quarterbacks in two weeks. You get one more Seattle offense. And then it is a got on a Pro Bowl quarterback. So you've got to be good. I don't want to hear about weather. I don't want to hear about thumb penalties.

Now, Trey Lance, I think is a coachable kid. A meanable to change. I think he's got talent. I think there's any question. He's big. He's strong. He took a lot of hits. Here he was after.

I made too many mistakes. Defense kept us in the game. Had a big miss to Tyler Croft in the end zone. I tried to throw a perfect ball. She just put it right on him. He was wide open. Turn the ball over. Took a sack.

that knocked us out of field goal range that I shouldn't have Miss Debo on the third down. It's another third down to Juwan. Just too many mistakes. A lot of stuff to clean out, for sure, for me. But, man, excited. I still got my head up. I'm excited to get ready to go next week.

All right, that's the right thing to say. And again, on this show, I am rooting for fun football. I'm never rooting for against young quarterbacks. Even with Baker Mayfield, the game's better with good quarterback. You watched yesterday. What are the games that are hard to? watch. Bad quarterback play. Oh, Colin, you love the NFL. No, I don't. I love the NFL with teams that have good quarterbacks and good offenses. I don't like watching crappy offense either.

What are the games yesterday that are kind of hard to, that that giant's Tennessee game was not exactly thriller in Manila. Okay, it was not exactly great. Why? Your quarterbacks are average. This is the Herd Line News. All right, we start with the craziest game of the day. Steelers Bengals. Wild. Like, I needed two drinks. Like, that was a double fisting after that game.

It was so fun. Incredible game. Steelers got the win. Pittsburgh's defense crushed Joe Burrow. Remember they rebuilt the offensive line, Colin? So much for that. I think he was sacked seven times. Five turnovers of career high.

Still, despite all that, you know, he throws to Jamar Chase for the, what we thought was the game-winning touchdown. Then the extra point is blocked. And then, of course, Evan McPherson, Shanks won in overtime. The Bengals had crazy chances to win that game. Jack Taylor didn't have a great game as a coach. That field goal kicker, maybe the second best in football and he missed one. The Steelers got very lucky. Here's the concern, though. This goes back to my Tribisky-Trey-Lans thing. So again, they come into the game with scripted plays, they take a lead, and their defense carries

them. Then you can tell the staff doesn't trust Tribisky. You can tell us in San Francisco. You can watch how the coaches are coaching certain quarterbacks. So Pittsburgh's holding on for dear life. I got news for you. If you have a 5-0 turnover advantage and you have to go to overtime to win, you can celebrate that, but you are lucky. Because that extra point, that guy may not miss another one for three years. They got the pick six from Minka Fitzpatrick to get it started.

You're right. They basically were like, we're just not going to lose the game with Trabisky. He didn't have 200 yards pass. in a game with overtime, Colin. Mahomes had, I think, $3.50 in the third quarter and five touchdowns. So this, so right now Pittsburgh feels great about themselves, but it's like you do realize you're not going to have a 5-0 turnover advantage. You're not going to have a Pro Bowl kick or miss an extra point. I mean, Joe Burrow didn't take a snap. He missed big chunks of camp. Joe Burrow was predictably off. In fact, you had said Friday on the show, Steelers were one of your favorite

bets. It's a division game. Your point. You said Burrow hasn't taken any snaps. This is going to happen. I mean, Burroughs great. We all know it. But when you don't take snaps, the appendectomy situation, you're going to have some timing issues. By the way, T. Higgins got hurt. Some of this stuff was-concussion, yeah. Some of this stuff is kind of predictable, and the Steelers have a great defense. We should mention, T.J. Watt, pectoral appears torn.

I don't know if it's season anybody's going to be out over a month. This is brutal for Pittsburgh. I would sell any Pittsburgh stock you thought you bought after yesterday, Colin. I think it's time to sell that. Bengals have the Cowboys. next. So you've got 0-1 against Owen 1. Well, Dallas is in big trouble. Cooper Rush probably starting.

Yeah, and by the way, Burrow, Burrow had two or three of these last year. He had a game against Chicago total clunker. Yeah. So Burrell has these. He's still a kid. You know, like Justin Herbert had a couple stinkers. These guys, Mahomes had a bad game or two early.

But they don't have back-to-back stinkers, so Burroughs going to be fine. Yeah. Next up, Baker Mayfield. Look at this. 30 minutes into the show before we get to your Baker Mayfield. He was awful for three quarters. I mean, Poutre, they were booing him, Colin, in Carolina. And then he has this big rally in the fourth quarter. It appears they're going to win, and Baker's going to win you a blazing five pick until rookie Kade York, the kid from LSU, All-American, 21 years old. Did you see, when you show that kick again,

am I, is this an optical illusion or would that have made it from 70 yards? I mean, it was a stunt. I was a bomb. Yeah. I did have the Browns there. I was kind of excited, but I got to say a 21-year-old in your first NFL game, 58-yard or the sideline went bananas. Like they were fired up. Miles Garrett was excited. Oh, my. Little revenge on Baker. And after the game, here's what Baker said about facing the Browns. It's always good to see familiar faces.

Emotional, I wouldn't get too much into that. It was good to see some people, obviously disappointing with the way things finished. We would love to have the bragging rights against those guys, but we didn't finish. everybody made this out to be the Super Bowl but despite what everybody's going to make this there's 16 more games the Super Bowl is not until February

yeah I mean my first takeaway was blame Sam Darnold that O line ain't great and Miles Garrett in my opinion is now the best defensive player in the league

with TJWalk going down I probably agree with you yeah no so listen that that was a tough assignment for a rookie left tackle Miles Garrett is one of the most intimidating players. He's Aaron Donald. He doesn't even play or look like other players. I mean, you could argue it's, I mean, boas are great too. Caliol Mack had a three-sack game for the Chargersers.

Von Miller on Thursday night was in. There's a lot of good edge rushes. Did you notice this, that the edge rushers all were ahead of the, there's some really good left tackles in this league, but they're like rookies and second-year guys. the edge rushers had a great weekend, starting with Thursday night. The kickers and the O-Linman had a really rough opening weekend. I will add to this. Carolina now goes to the New York Giants, Baker Mayfield on the road.

This is not going to be an easy game. We're both kind of buying a little bit of the giant stock, and it was a weird game from McCaffrey. He didn't get as many touches. I didn't understand the game plan. He got Matt. Wasn't he banged up a little? It was weird.

He just didn't get the ball a lot. Not a great start for the Panthers. I do want to ask you, the Cleveland Browns were running away with this game, I think, at one point. And then Jacoby Brissette turned into Jacoby Brissette. Right. And he was not very good. Colin, they're favored by six and a half. Jacoby favored against my Jets in Cleveland next week.

Jacobi Brissette favored by a lot of points. Let me tell you this. The Jets don't have a left tackle and Miles Garrett is unblockable. That's also true. I'll take Cleveland. All right. Final story, we'll go to college football. kind of a normal weekend in college football.

Alabama barely survives. We were way wrong on that one. Georgia takes over the top spot after destroying something called Samford 330. Colin, here is the new top 10. Georgia won. Alabama drops to two, Ohio State 3, Michigan 4. What's that at 7? I can't really make that out.

You want to read it out to me? Your USC Trojans. How about Kentucky? Nice win for the Wildcats. They got a potential NFL quarterback. Arkansas, Wu Pig Sui. A lot of SEC teams in there. Well, no, Kentucky's got a really good coach. Mark Stoops. They have a quarterback Will Levis as an interesting player. Arkansas, Sam Pittman's a great coach. Notre Dame, should we talk about that real quick? Notre Dame's out for the year.

Out for the season. Just announced Notre Dame 0-2. Quarterback lost for the year. I was just texting a former Notre Dame football player. How's the backup? I won't read the text here. It's not good. Okay. But who does Notre Dame play at the end of the year? USC. There you go. You can put a W next to that puppy. Chalk it up. So now. Troops is going to. The playoffs? They're not good enough defensively, I don't think.

But I will say this. That game at Utah, that's an L. They don't match up with them. Utah's going to win that game. Okay. They don't play. I mean, I start looking around. They got to steal that Utah game if they want the playoff.

It's a very exciting time. Do you know the data? Are you going to take a private jet into that one? I don't fly private jets. It's called Delta. You know what? I think I may go to that game. What's the date on that game?

Can you get the date and I'll tag along? I'll ask him wife for a hall pass, yes. Okay. I think I want to go to that game. It's going to be the Pack 12 game of the year. I think it's October. Isn't it in like in four or five weeks? Well, USC, Utah?

Very excited. I may be traveling to Phoenix for a basketball tournament among dads. I'm not even kidding. What is it, Alex? October 15th. You've got to go to that game. I'll talk to the wife. All right.

Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. You know, I want to say, Greg Olson's around the corner, I want to say this. I would call it the Kirby Smart Effect. Alabama's pass rush, not very good. Alabama's receivers, okay. This is what happens.

Kirby Smart at Georgia, about four or five players a year that would go to Bama, they're now going to Georgia. And Mario Cristobal is going to add this. He's going to start peeling away these Southern kids to go to Miami. And Alabama is still great, but they don't have much of a pass rush after Will Anderson. Georgia does. and the receivers didn't separate. So when you watch that game against Texas, and Texas is starting freshmen everywhere,

what did you see? Alabama's not as fast. Alabama doesn't have the separators. Alabama doesn't mean they're not great, but it's the Kirby Smart effect. Finally won. You got a couple of Nick Saban coordinators. Lane Kiffin's a great recruiter.

Kirby Smart's a great recruiter. All it takes is about four or five guys a year that you don't get and they do. Georgia is faster. with a better pass rush than Alabama. That is not even disputable. And it doesn't, I'm not blaming anybody. But it's the effect, you start losing all these coordinators.

Most don't work. But two now do. Lane Kiffin and Kirby Smart are home run hires. And it doesn't take much. They each steal a couple a year. Then you look up and you're just not as fast on the edges. You don't have the consistent pass rush. Your linebackers are four star guys, not five star guys.

Bama is not overwhelming. They may win the title, but they got, they got a very average pass rush. rush. They have one dude on that defensive front. One like first round dude, real big time dude. Receivers? A lot of guys have left early. Eh, nothing special. All right. Greg Olson's around the corner. He did that Packer game. That Packer Viking game. Boy, that felt good. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hi, this is Jay Glazer, and you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like HBO's ballers.

What you don't know is for my entire life, I have lived in something I refer to as the gray, depression, anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer, where each week, while we talk about mental health, I hope to describe it. Give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or 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 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 you'll say. 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 Podcast, 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-tapped 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 Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a 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 all 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.

They're 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 IHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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

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Search learn the hard way and listen now. Well, Greg Olson, we're so lucky to have him at Fox Sports Analyst, and he and Burke Carter doing the Viking Packer game yesterday, Aaron Andrews, Mike Pereira, who am I missing out? All sorts of people on the sideline, the A team. So I get a gloat this morning because I said all offseason, I said, I think Kirk Cousins is the kind of personality. He needs support.

So, you know, he got drafted behind Archie 3. He didn't feel love there. He goes to Minnesota. they have a defensive coach. He doesn't feel necessarily loved. And my takeaway was yesterday, it looked like he spent the offseason getting some love from the coach. Your thoughts?

Yeah, I'll tell you, we were really impressed. When we had a chance to talk with Kevin O'Connell, the new head coach, we talked to Kirk Cousins first on the production calls. Then we talked to Kevin. And I'll tell you, just hearing them both kind of compliment one another and not necessarily like the rah-rah stuff, but just as far as the approach and how aligned they were and the things they needed to understand, you know, Kirk said, listen, we were pretty good here on offense.

And Kevin O'Connell didn't just come in and say, hey, nothing you did in the past. We're done with all that. This is a new kind of a new show. He said they've worked collaboratively since day one, you know, brought a lot of the stuff with him from L.A., but also kept a lot of the things that him and Justin Jefferson had a ton of success on. So I think their relationship got off to a really good start. I think that was obvious yesterday. my concern going into the game, and they answered this very quickly,

you know, anytime you have a new regime, new philosophy, new coaching staff, there's usually a learning curve, especially with how limited people take the preseason nowadays. But that was hardly the case. I mean, they jumped out of the gates, opening drive, touchdown. Justin Jefferson looks better than he ever looked, which is hard to believe. I'm really impressed with that Kirk Cousins, Kevin O'Connell,

relationship. They got weapons all over the place. I tell you, it's what they did yesterday, week one, new regime, new staff. It's pretty impressive. So listen, I said, you've got kids, I've got kids. When you have kids, they make mistakes. You have to be patient.

Like it becomes like an assignment as a dad. I have to be patient. So Romeo Dobs, Christian Watson, they're kids. They're going to have drops. I mean, think about this. They come from small colleges. Their first pro game is an indivision rival on the road. And you were in that stadium.

That is one of the five loudest plays. on the earth for a football game. And it's like, yeah, Christian Watson dropped it. And Romeo Dubs miscommunication. What bothered me was, Aaron, don't ghost him until the second half. Like, come right back to him. This is hard. And this is my, I know I come across as Mr. Negative with Aaron, but it's like, you got

to bake in patience with kids from small schools that come to the NFL. Peyton Manning told me last week, he goes, there's preseason speed, there's regular season speed, there's division game speed. And I'm like, of course there. are going to make mistakes. Doesn't Aaron have to understand? This is what it's going to look like. You've got to put your arms around some of these mistakes. Yeah, and I think he will. I think, I think Aaron knew going into that game just the little bit of the learning curve and a little bit of the stuff he was going to have to deal with. I think what makes Aaron so unique and so special

is that perfectionist mindset, right? He does not accept mediocrity from anyone himself included of anyone around him. So I do think there's going to be a little bit of a learning curve there, a little bit of an adjustment. I'm sure he'll do some kind of self-reflecting and say, hey, yeah, they made mistakes. Yeah, they're not doing exactly the way I needed to be done. But I do need to put my arm around. Then we talked about that a little bit on the broadcast. I agree.

I thought maybe the floor and Aaron would have tried to come back a little quicker after the drop on the first play with Watson. But, you know, listen, Aaron made no mistakes about it. When we talked to him, he's, you know, he's been very vocal in the press. The standard of these two young receivers that they're going to be held to, in his words, are just different than any standard we've put on a rookie receiver since I've been here. And that's because we don't have time. We don't have Devante Adams for them to learn behind.

Yesterday, they're missing Alan Lazard, who they're hoping can fill some of that Devante Adams void. So they don't have a ton of time for these guys to get up to speed, but there is some sort of balance they need to find where they are rookies. They are going to have their learning curve and their growing pains. But that first play was kind of just, it's summed up how the rest of the game was going to go. Everything was hard. Everything was kind of off kilter. And we're just not used to seeing an Aaron Rogers, Matt LaFleur offense look like that outside of week one last year. So I think that's

where people need to just keep it together, right? The R-E-L-A-X, the relaxed thing from, you know, that Rogers was famous four years back. Like, they're going to figure it out. Week one was not what they wanted, but I don't think we write them off just yet. So I watched as a kid that grew up in Washington State and played in rain. I love rain games. And so, you know, The Bears and the Niners was a mess. But here's where I'll give Justin Fields credit. First of all, not a great offensive front. He was running a lot, but he mostly avoided contact.

He understood. Sometimes Trey Lance would put his head down and burrow into guys. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is not FCS football, bro. You cannot do that. So I thought Justin did a good job to kind of avoid potential disasters. The other thing was a lot of their offense was Justin making plays. Play breaks down off script.

And his numbers aren't great. But I thought Justin had a certain self-awareness in the game like he knew. Okay, we're getting breakdowns. I'm only going to get two or three big throws in this game against this defense. And even though their numbers are very similar, I thought Justin played, in my opinion, late. You know, now it's late. Everybody's throwing different stuff at you late. You haven't practiced this stuff, right?

These aren't the plays that you came into the game with. I thought Justin Fields was kind of a gamer. I was impressed late with him. Your thoughts? Yeah, we were able to catch a little bit of that game, you know, waiting for our kickoff. To go back, real quick, why do you like rain games? Because I grew up in Washington State, and it rained in almost all of them. I guess you just had no choice, I guess.

I despised rain games. There was nothing worse to me. I'd rather play in minus 20. I'd rather play in 160 degrees. when it rained, I hated it. My gloves were wet, my feet were wet. You couldn't stay, the ball was wet, everything sucked. I don't necessarily agree with that point.

I agree with you on a lot of things. That's one we're going to have to agree to disagree. But anyway, back to your point, that field yesterday was insane. It's like it's never held water before. I've never seen water puddle quite like that in a game where they're actually squeegeeing a natural grass field. That was pretty interesting to watch. But, you know, I caught some of the game.

We caught it in bits and pieces as we were prepping for our call. But I agree. I got to see Fields a couple times last year. I got to see his debut, which was an absolute disaster in Cleveland. And then I got to see him later in the year. And there was tremendous progress, right? He made a ton of progress as the year went on. We had him when they lost to the Packers, when Rogers did the I own you thing to the fans. So we were there for a little bit of that, a little bit of that evolution last year. So now to see him start out, A, and just learn how to win. Not all wins in the NFL are going to look the same. They're not all are going to be pretty, whether, you know, the environment in which you're operating in,

you know, so I think for him to go and beat Trey Lance head to head to come out looking better, like you said, the stats weren't great. The play wasn't, I know the first half, they, I don't think, I think they had like five yards passing, but he found a way to do just enough, keep his team in the game, manage the elements and find a way to win. Again, I don't know how many people expect great things out of the bears, as you said, they're kind of personnel-wise, they're re-growing, you know, they're kind of rebuilding and growing that from the base up, but if they can continue to get winning play, it doesn't have to be MVP play. If they can get winning play out of Justin Fields and everyone around him, I think with Iber

Flus and that new staff, I think they can at least be competitive. I don't know if anyone's saying they're going to challenge for the division or challenge for the conference, but I think they can be competitive if he can just kind of keep more in lines like he did yesterday. So one of the things I noticed over the weekend, and you could experience this because they asked you to block, is that we don't play starters in the pre- season anymore. It's very obvious. So the offensive line play was awful in a lot of spots. And to me, that's a direct correlation to that's the ultimate unit that needs work.

Like if you can, if you can run a route, Justin Jefferson can run a route, he can run a route. A corner can go. But O line is different. Go back to your career. Was the preseason valuable? Because O lines now, starters don't play. And I thought O line play yesterday was awful throughout most of the league. Yeah, I think you're spot on. I think the biggest challenge that you face is no matter how much the coaches try to make practice game-like, it's still different. Guys are conscious. So specifically with the offensive defensive line, every single coach emphasizes stay

off the ground. Don't go to the ground in practice. We don't want guys falling into each other and hurting one another and having injuries. So in order to stay off the ground, can you go 10 on a scale of 1 to 10? Are you past rushing 10? Are you coming off the ball 10? you're conscious of your feet, you're conscious of where guys are on the ground. So there is an element, even if you think this is full speed, practice just is not quite the game.

You mentioned, you know, Peyton's kind of quote there about the different levels of play. And then playoffs is even more than that. So there are different levels of play, whether guys consciously understand it or not. When you get into the game, the stunts are happening faster. The pressures are coming with more intensity. The pick twists, the double teams, you're getting guys low at your legs. There's just more going on when it's full live speed. So yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly.

And I think that's a big challenge where guys struggle without the preseason. My biggest reason why I always tried to play at least a series or two in the preseason, I wanted to catch a ball and I wanted to be tackled. Right. I didn't want the first time I was tackled after a catch to be week one. I wanted to get it out of my system. I wanted to be hit hard. I wanted to be taken to the ground.

I wanted to get up, give the ball to the official, get back in the huddle and say, right, I'm ready to do this again. So there's a mental component to playing those early preseason games where you just kind of check a couple boxes. And now mentally, you know, going into week one, I'm ready. I've done all my prep. I've done the mental prep. I've had a great offseason of training. I'm healthy. I've gotten tackled. I've gotten hit low. Whatever the things are for your position, we're seeing, to your point, we're seeing where I think a lot of this preseason and experience and guys being careful leads to some early struggles, at least offensively. when you get into the real game.

Greg Olson, great work yesterday. Fun game to watch, my man. Love having you here, and we'll talk next week if we can. All right, you got it. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate you, buddy. Greg Olson, he did the Vikings Packers game. If you don't know your numbers, you do not know your business.

Right now, NetSuite by Oracle, one-of-a-kind flexible financing. 32,000 businesses have joined. You can join NetSuite.com slash herd, H-E-R-D. Colin was right. Colin was wrong on an NFL Monday 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 helped 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart 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, Cliver 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 Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfields of 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.