The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Bills, Browns, NBA

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

The Bills did the right thing going for it on 4th downThe Browns could be facing some real trouble soonWhat to expect from the new NBA seasonGuest: Peter Schrager Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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,

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A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert 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, unfilled 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 IHard 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. 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 put on 10, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor?

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Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, one hour from now. My herd hierarchy, top 10 teams in the league, there are a lot of good ones. I think you'll be surprised by a couple of the back end. Joy Taylor is joining me. That was a wildly entertaining. football game last night. It was great. I loved Derek Henry. He might be my favorite player in the league. Yeah, he's different. He's a refrigerator.

Like if you were unpacking something, you made a big move with your family, and you had a moving truck, and a refrigerator fell out and went down the hill. Just slid down the hill. That's what he's like tackling. It's a runaway refrigerator. So, like, just straight. Once he breaks into the tackles, it is just straight up and down. It's got a Forrest Gumpfield to it. Like, it's just, and he's gone. It's so great to watch. So at the end of the game, there's a.

moment. It's a fourth and one. Buffalo, I think the better team is on the road. And instead of kicking a field goal to send it to overtime, they go for it. And I can't believe how many people are pushing back on that. Folks, there are times in life that you play it safe with your retirement account, shipping glassware, raising your children. You do not play it safe on the road against the good football team. You go for it. Of course, you go. You go. You go. You go for it. I'm going to trust a coin flip over Josh Allen. I'm going to trust a kicker over Josh Allen. You have to understand the temperature of the room. You're going to get on a plane after that game and fly two and a half hours back with 60 alpha males. You're going to start

losing guys if you take your offense out for your worst athlete, your kicker. Special teams are backups. You keep your stars on the field. You don't go to backups. Four reasons. Number one, Brady Belichick built a legacy on going for it in these situations. When you have a a big tall quarterback, fourth and one, you go for it. Number two is, I'm not going to give the ball back to Derek Henry. No thank you. Number three is you keep your best athletes on the field in crucial situations. And number four is analytically, you go for it.

75% of the time you get the first down. And I'd say it's even higher when you have a six-six quarterback. When you go on the road, you have to understand the temperature of the room. I talked to Ray Lewis, one of the great players in the history of football once about this. When you go on the road, it's different. At home, you're coming to our place. But when you go on the road, it's all about mindset. You've got to go steal something in somebody else's place.

And you go on the road, you're going to take more risks. You're going to be more aggressive. Statistically, the home team wins 60 to 65% in the NFL. So when you get on that plane and you're flying to a city, and it doesn't matter if you're Pete Carroll doing something, it doesn't matter if you're Belichick. When you go on the road, you are more aggressive. because you generally don't get that one close call on the road.

You don't know the sight lines as well. You're not as comfortable in the hotel. You know what I mean? Like nothing's quite as comfortable. So you've got to flip the switch and you got to go, we're going to go super aggressive. You're going to take big risks. The other thing that never gets discussed,

John Harbaugh earlier this year in September, went for it, fourth and one. They were playing the Kansas City Chiefs. They went for it, they got it, and they won the game over Kansas City. And when they asked John Harbaugh, after the game, why I went for it, he said, well, because I got Lamar Jackson, and they got Patrick Mahomes. I'm not giving the ball back to Patrick Mahomes.

Folks, there's about seven or eight skill players in the league. Forget quarterbacks. There's about seven or eight skill players in the league. I don't want to go to overtime with him. Tyreek Hill, DeAndre Hopkins, Derek Henry, I can have the play perfectly defended. And they bust a 75-yard run. they're just certain guys like, I don't want to go, I don't want to go to overtime with Aaron Rogers. He can do stuff I can't defend.

I don't want to go, I don't want to go into overtime. When you go on the road, you're trying to win, not extend the game. You're trying to end it. And there's just a hand, there were so many reasons you go for it. And I thought, we all know this. We've talked about this ad nauseum. In 2021 in American sports, you can see it in baseball. You can see it.

I mean, the Astros, the Dodgers, you can see it in basketball, the Lakers aggressive, get free agents, Brooklyn, aggressive wins. You're not trying to extend it. You're trying to end it. And I love what Sean McDermott, the head coach said afterwards. At the end of the day, I trust them. And I'll trust him again, if we're in that situation again. So, you know, I'll take Josh Allen, as you said,

out 10 times out of 10. We're this far from winning the game. And I owe that to my players. You know, I believe in my players. I believe in our quarterback. So I trust my guys. Obviously, we didn't get it done in this case, but I trust my players. This is something that never gets discussed among the media.

But it's constantly discussed in the league. McDermott said, I trust my guys. Who are his guys? starters. Who are his guys, his 11 starters on offense, and his 11 starters on defense. These are your star. You can't win in this league without star power. Belichick now can't win. You got to have star power. You got to trust your stars. And I'm the reason John Harbaal went for it against Kansas City, because I got a great star and I don't want to give it back to their star. And the reason you go for it in Buffalo, because I got a star quarterback who needs seven inches and I'm not giving it to their star.

there's always been an understanding. This is something the media doesn't talk about. You are leading alpha males. They're millionaires. They're often walking to a room. The guys want to be him. The women are attracted. This is who you got.

You got men. You're leading men. You don't go to them. Guys, go for a tie. That's not going to work. That's not going to work. You got to be super aggressive, in spots like that, totally defend Buffalo.

And I'll segue to this, because I think it's an important thing, is we talked about it this summer when the rumors were out there about Aaron Rogers and Russell Wilson leaving the Packers and the Seahawks. How much would you give up for like Russell Wilson or Aaron Rogers? How much would you give up? And we're like, I don't know, five first round picks, six. Folks, I was thinking about this this morning, is that another reason I'm, would go for it for Buffalo is primarily I like Josh Allen. There are 12 quarterbacks in this

league that I'm just always going to go for it with any reasonable situation. And going for it there was reasonable. There's 12 guys that I know and it changes your franchise. You're going to give them complete trust in the biggest spots. They got 32 teams. Some are big, some are short. Some are fast. Some are slow. Some are old. Some are young. But here's the 12 guys that I would always trust in the NFL. And I wrote a list this morning. I wrote a list this morning. Here's the 12 guys I would always trust.

Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Matt Stafford, Justin Herbert, Khyder, Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott, Derek Karn, Deshaun Watson when he returns. The other 20, you're on your own. I don't trust them. These 12 teams should not be on the phone. when Deshawn Watson comes back, trying to move off their quarterback. If you can drive to the facility and drive to the stadium every Sunday, those are the guys I always roll with. To a fault, I will go for it on fourth.

The minute I get into their territory, I'm absolutely going for it. And sometimes even in mine, you know, here I am on my own 39-yard line, fourth and a foot. I'm going to go for it. And I've said this before. that's kind of where we are in the NFL right now. It is such a quarterback league is that when you look at those quarterbacks, my takeaway is those are your Super Bowl teams. They have a different mindset than the other 20 teams in the NFL.

Come on. They'd move off Kirk Cousins in Minnesota tomorrow. Carolina likes Sam Darnold, but he's probably not the future. Miami's been in multiple rumors with Deshaun Watson. So is Philadelphia. So another reason is, I think, and by the, the way, I think Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence, I'm probably a year away from putting them in that group, but they don't have enough starts yet for me, and they don't have good enough offensive

lines where I'd feel on a big fourth down. They'd get protection. They'd have help. But the league, it really comes down to this. Do I have a guy, a go-for-it guy? I think there's 12 teams in the league that do and 20 that do not. All right. So a lot today. Baker Mayfield's all banged up. Listen, Cleveland can drop below 500 Thursday. That is a potential major problem for Baker and the Cleveland Browns. The NBA season starts tonight.

I'll be walks in the Lakers with a friend. So here we are. October is wonderful. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, F.S1 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 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, Clivert 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

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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-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?

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So, boy, October's amazing, isn't it? October's absolute. We got baseball playoffs this afternoon. Very nerve-racking. Baseball. playoffs, NBA starts. Major college football. Major college football. Pretty good. And so when you watch last night, what makes Josh Allen a star is you pretty

much get the same Josh Allen, win or lose every week. Baker Mayfield plays Thursday. He's beat up. I feel bad for him because he is beat up. His shoulder pops in and out. But my guess is he'll gut it out. I mean, the one thing about Baker, he's tough, he'll play. But, you know, I go on the internet. And now some Cleveland fans have put the pom-poms down. some Cleveland media and are acknowledging he's not as good as his contemporaries. He's probably somewhere between eighth and ninth best quarterback in the AFC. And that's with Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrell getting better fast. And, you know, I looked it up this morning. 52 games is a lot of games. We kind of know what you are after 52 games. Baker Mayfield has had, he's not consistent.

It's all highs. It's all lows. He's funny. He's snarky. It's great throw. It's bad pick. He has had one three-game stretch in 52 games. of sustained success. And it wasn't great. It was weeks two through four last year. When he beat the lousy Bengals, 411 and 1, he beat lousy Washington sub-500,

and he beat lousy Dallas, 6 and 10. That's it. That's it. In those games, he threw for 540 yards total. On average, 17 to 25,

180 yards. That is it. Three losing teams. If you go to his contemporary, I went to Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Justin Herbert.

not only of each of them had multiple three-game stretches of excellence. But their stretches are incredible. Mahomes had a seven-game stretch where he averaged 344 yards passing. Lamar had a four-game stretch where he had 13 TDs, no picks, five rushing touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 76%. Josh Allen, right now, three through six, he's got right now a four-game stretch. he's completing 70% of his throws, throwing for 320 yards, and a passer rating of 120. Justin Herbert's a baby.

He's played 20 games, quarterback 20 games. He's had multiple three game stretches where he's been better than Baker's one three-game stretch. Justin Herbert, 11 TDs, no picks during his stretch. So these are your contemporaries. These are the guys you've got to age with. They've all had multiple three and four game stretches of excellence. a month straight. Josh Allen lost last night, but he was excellent.

Bakers had one. One last year. Lousy Cincinnati, lousy Dallas, and a Washington team that finished sub-500. And in those games, it's over 180 yards. And what's troubling is that he has the best-rated offensive line in the league and the best-rated running-back tandem. Now, Kareem Hunt's gone, but that's called like the NFL.

Nobody has the greatest blank, blank, blank every year. So this is all you can defend. It's about sustained success. The great quarterbacks, not saying Troy Aikman didn't have a bad game, Brady gets a stinker every year. He had that one in Chicago last year. Nobody's saying that's not part of the game. Nobody plays great for 16 weeks.

But you can't be up, down, up, that's not a franchise quarterback. Certainly one I'm not going to pay a lot of money to. So that's why Thursday's game for Baker Mayfield is massive. Denver's not very good, but you. You've got to win that game or you're sub 500. The Bengals are better than they've been in a decade. Baltimore's as good as they've been in a decade. And even Pittsburgh now, although they're awful to watch and incredibly boring,

is now winning football games. Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. NBA is back tonight. It is. Completely snuck up on us.

Well, the football season's been so dynamic, college and pro, you just don't think about it. It really has just appeared out of nowhere. But it's back. And with the full league drama that it always brings and we love it. Well, LeBron will be 37 years old in December. He's entering his 19th NBA season. And Lakers head coach Frank Vogel told reporters yesterday that the team will manage LeBron's workload on a day-to-day basis this year and he doesn't envision him playing all 82 games.

He also said that he would like to limit James' minutes to about 34 minutes a night overall. He played in 45 of 72 games last season. He did have the high ankle spring, though, so that obviously played a part in that as well. And according to Fox Bet, the Lakers currently have the second best odds to win the NBA championship behind the Nets. The Milwaukee Bucks have our third plus 800,

all by the Warriors plus 1,000. Could we pay a little more respect to Milwaukee? They bring back a championship team. The Warriors, we don't even know what we get with Clay Thompson. I think this is fair, actually. I'm not down on Milwaukee, obviously, and who knows what's going to happen with the Nets. But they did move some pieces around. It's very hard to repeat.

The Lakers are going to still have LeBron James, and they've added some pieces as well. So I think it's fair. It's probably a good number if you feel good about the bus. I am rolling with Middle America. Again? Well, I think, no, I picked them last year. You did. And I'm going to pick them again this year.

I think they are the deepest team. I think they have the best size. I think they have the best player currently. They're not dependent on the three. I think they also have good chemistry. They got no crazy people. I like everything about them. Their coach drives me nuts, but I thought he had a very good final.

So I like their culture. I think, you know, I always said this. In the NBA, your star, because it's a smaller locker room than baseball. Your star really matters. Like Tim Duncan was like hardworking, not a glamour guy. And LeBron James, hardest worker, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan. Janus is a great guy. And he's the best guy for that organization.

Hard worker, loyal, all in on the bucks. Milwaukee, I've always had your back. I'm not doubting Milwaukee. I just think that those are fair odds right now. The Lakers open the season tonight at home against the Warriors and the Nets open tonight against the Bucks. So we'll get to see both of those teams. The Nets open with the Bucks?

Nets open with the Bucks. That's the early game. And then Lakers is the late game. Wow, that's a good opener. A little bit of news. we were going to talk about Ben Simmons a little later in the show, but Sham Sharania has just tweeted that the 76ers have suspended Ben Simmons for one game due to conduct detrimental to the team.

So he will miss the team opener tomorrow against New Orleans. Yesterday, there was video that surfaced of him at practice, not joining the team huddle. He was in his sweatpants and had his cell phone in his pocket during practice. And apparently there was an incident of practice today that caused Doc Rivers to suspend him for contract detrimental to the team. So an ongoing disaster there in Philadelphia. Kyrie Ben Simmons, move them, please.

You know, we'll talk about a little bit later, but it's kind of getting a little remarkable with the behavior. Like if you're going to be there, be there. If I'm another team, why am I interested in that? When you're out on us, how are you going to treat us? It's so bad. It's really bad. Well, Cowboys quarterback, Dak Prescott went for an MRI on his injured calf on Monday,

and the test showed a calf strain. Stephen Jones was initially nervous, but they're optimistic about DAC's availability for their week 8 game against the Vikings. Anytime you're sending your quarterback in for an MRI, there's a little nervousness, but also know what a competitor and how tough DAC is. We're thinking positive and think that he'll be hopefully ready to go against Minnesota. He strained his right calf on the 35-yard game-winning touchdown throw to C.D. Laman over. It was kind of weird, right? All the plays in the game, that's the one. Yeah, and he was sort of limping off into the locker room.

They do have a buy this week, so they got lucky there. Yeah. So he'll get a little extra rest. Calf strained, they're weird. I'm not a pro athlete, obviously. That's very clear. But I've had a calf strain in the last year. And they're very weird because you think they heal very quickly.

It feels like, oh, I can go back and you re-injure it very easily. Right. And you can play on a calf injury. Like when I hurt my cap, I could still go out. like two weeks later and do stuff, but you can re-injure it. So Troy Aikman was talking about this yesterday on Dallas radio. You can play with a calf strain. But you'll fool yourself because it's like, it feels fine.

And then you re-injure it like that. So, I mean, this is not going to, they got the perfect buy week. No, this is the best case scenario if you're going to be dealing with something like this. So he'll do his rest in rehab and then they'll re-evaluate his condition early next week. They are five and one at the top of the NFC East right now and are doing. and great, so hopefully that he'll come out of this healthy. But this is also not terribly surprising. He's coming off of a major injury. It's a long season. Not terribly surprising, but hopefully he's able to go. Well, the Panthers have been struggling offensively,

and Matt Ruhl is not taking play calling duties away from Joe Brady, but he has promised a vastly different look for this Sunday's game. We're not going to line up and drop back and throw it 40 times the game and think that that's going to win the game for us. It hasn't. We're going to redefine who we are and we're going to run the football. I just know this. If you run it, 24, and some of those are quarterbacks running on dropbacks. If you call 16, 18, 19, 24, 25 runs, you better have an elite passing game. And right now, that's not our strength. Well, they lost three straight since starting 3-0. They only had 23 rushes in the overtime loss to Minnesota, but Christian McCaffrey has also been out for three games. And really, the part of their team that

they've rebuilt pretty quickly, their O-line's awful. It's like, and I'm not given Darnal the pass, he throws too many picks. He's got a James Winston thing. But it is, it's easy to say we're going to run the ball. That offensive line does not get a push. But the problem is, if they don't run the ball, then you're putting it into Sam's hands for more times than it needs to be. And that leads to turnovers, which leads to losses. So you almost don't have a choice. You have to run the ball a certain amount of times. It's obviously not working the other way, as he said. It's not a recipe for winning to throw it that much. Interesting. So when Matt Rule took over the team, his first thing he addressed was defense. He took an entire draft and went defense. I've always argued this league is about getting a quarterback, building an offensive line to protect him, then going to defense. So that, it's interesting. Matt Rule kind of ignored the offensive line for his first draft. He did a very good job on the defensive side. This year, they went and addressed offensive pieces. So they are more robust.

certain times offensively. The last thing they have addressed, Matt Ruhle, is the O line. And so this is what I said. It's impossible to win a World Series with a bad bullpen. You can't leak runs in late innings. It's impossible to be a great team with a – you don't have to have a great secondary. You can be a great team.

You cannot be a really good team with a bad offensive line. It's like having a cavity. It affects the way you think. It affects the way you sleep. The O line affects everything. Your coverage, your quarterback, your run game, how deep you can run routes. they are just a completely limited offense. It's just where everything starts.

And especially if you have a quarterback like Sam Darnold that is a little bit of a let it fly guy. That's right. He's not a conservative quarterback. So you're leaning into what if you do too much becomes a detriment to him because that's what he naturally does. So you want to cut back on that. But look, you don't have Christian McAfry. He's a major part of that offense. Like we can kind of brush it off like, oh, you know, he's just a running back.

He's not. He's a big part of the passing game as well. So they're missing him and they have to lean into the run whether they have a good offensive line or not. They play the Giants on Sunday in our favorite by two and a half, according to Fox Beck's back. Good stuff, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie news.

A lot of other things in the NFL to talk about. Peter Schreger, Fox Sports NFL reporter is now joining us live. Brought to you by Mercedes Ben's the best or nothing. So listen, I was talking about Baker Mayfield and Thursday. If not for that Hail Mary, that could have been a 37-7 win. I mean, that's a, okay, Arizona's officially for real. Your thoughts on the win without Kingsbury and what it means going forward. It's amazing because out of that game, which was a huge blowout on the road without their head coach, without their general manager in the building, without

defensive player, Chandler Jones and their center, Rodney Hudson. We're talking about the Browns and Baker. I'll be honest here. I'll break the fourth wall. I talk with Cliff Kingsbury all the time. I assumed he was watching that game on his couch on every down. I spoke to him immediately afterwards. I was like, so what do you think? And Cliff said, I didn't watch a snap of it. I said, you didn't watch a snap of it? Your team is playing?

What do you mean? He's like, no, no, I can't watch it. I can't watch it as a fan. And yet, I'm so proud of those guys. So, Colin, you have missed shows before. I don't know if you watch when Nick Wright or Jason McIntyre is in your chair. Cliff could not physically watch. He could not physically watch his team without him coaching them.

And then he's now gone back on the tape. But we've talked about it. He's like, I love how they stepped up. But one of the things he mentioned is everyone in the media, you know, J.J. Watt signs. People say, all right, J.J. Watt, end of his career. A.J. Green. All right. What are we really getting from AJ?

Matt Prater, the kicker. Yeah. They have such a veteran presence on this team that they acquired. They went and got these guys. So, Chandler Jones, J.J. Watt, A.J. Green, Matt Prater, Rodney Hudson. These are veterans. And they have them throughout. the roster. I think it's an interesting dynamic with this team. They're not just

Kyler and a bunch of young guys who've never been there before. Yeah. It's a bunch of veteran players in each position group. And whether their coach is there or not, or whether their coaches watching or not, they're finding a way to win every week. They play Houston this week. They might win by 30 points. That's DeAndre Hopkins and JJ Watts old team. And there's not exactly fond feelings for either of those franchises from those players. So Jared Gough, never won a game without McVeigh returns to Los Angeles this Sunday against the Rams. What are you hearing? Yeah, this is one of those deals where he was called out by his coach. Now, I know a lot of Lions fans will say, watch the entire press conference,

and you'll see that Dan Campbell did not call out. He was called out of his coach. Yes. We get him more out of you, quarterback. Let's see how this goes. Because when Brady goes up to Foxborough, we do Adele, hello, and it's this whole dramatic thing. Gough going back to Los Angeles, what is that?

And I think this is a real, like, fork in the road moment for Jared Gough's career. He's never won a game without McVeigh. coaching him. He lost all the Jeff Fisher games. He's lost all the Dan Campbell games. Everyone assumes a walkover here, a Stafford 45 point explosion all over this depleted Lions team and hey, look, look what we did, we got better, we had to glow up with Stafford at quarterback. What if Gough goes out there and fights? What if Gough does something here? What if Gough says, no, no, no, no, no, no, I've been to a Super Bowl, I can play in this league. I find this week, and I know the spread is huge and everyone's got the Rams running away. I find this week very important for Jared.

golf not only for this season but for his NFL career. We know Detroit has multiple first round picks. We know that the Rams are paying the bulk of his salary. What is Jared Gough made out of? Can he come out in this game with his coach questioning him and everyone writing him off? And the only winless team in the NFL can Jared Gough muster an effort here against the Rams in that building? I'd be fascinating to see what version of him we get this weekend. Well, the Chiefs, and it was a game that was sort of under the radar. It's, you know, it's one of those early games and there, you know, we were all watching sort of Arizona. Cleveland here, Ravens and the Chargers, and here were the Chiefs who played real defense.

You know, it's funny about them. They're still not punting. The offense just turns it over. They're not punting. So your takeaway, you've tied to this organization on Kansas City's win this Sunday. Is it the tipping point where they move up and onward? Now look, one end of it, you could say it was against Washington. Everyone scores on what the other end of it, you could say they were down three with three minutes left to go in the third quarter.

13 to 10 and they won 31 to 10. The Chief's offense on a dime switched and they looked amazing. And I'd be a little scared if I'm some of these AFC teams. The Chargers getting blown out like that. All right, now you've got a one game lead on the Chiefs. The Bills, we beat the Chiefs. We feel great. You got a one game lead on the Chiefs. Kansas City has been so sloppy. All these turnovers are fixable. And they were down 1310 and then won 3110 on the road. And Mahomes looked amazing. Tyreek looked amazing. Kelsey looked amazing. You said I'm plugged in with that organization. They feel like they just can't get out of their own way the start of the season.

And yet with three minutes left to go in the third quarter of the sixth game of the season, kind of feels like they found themselves. They've got Tennessee this weekend. Everyone is assuming that Derek Henry is going to run all over that team. The bear has been woken. I don't think we should bury the Kansas City Chiefs just yet. If they clean up the turnovers, they might still be your team out of the AFC this season. Finally, Dallas's offense, do you think it's even surprised the Cowboys, two running backs,

Cedric Wilson now is a gamer, a wide receiver. Their tight end group gets targeted a ton by Dak. Are they even surprised by how fluid it's been? I think it's been really cool how this team bounces back. And it's like that third down and fourth down at the goal line, Dak fumbles the ball, the very next driver, like, let's go. C.D. Lamb, all right, we're going to make a play. He makes the plays.

But I think the X factor here, and I give credit to Jerry Jones, to Mike McCarthy. Kellyn Moore is the offensive coordinator. He was the quarterback who was supposed to go in when Tony Romo got hurt, but he was hurt, so Dak went in. And he's from a bygone error. Jason Garrett was with Kellynne Moore. Mike McCarthy kept him. Last year, the offense didn't get going with Andy Dalton once Dak went down.

They kept him. And now Kellan Moore, who's still 33 years old, is having this incredible offensive season, and doing all of these things with Dak, but also with these other players. And it's not just Zeke. It's Zeke and Tony Pollard. It's not just Amari. It's Amari and it's Ciddy Lamb.

And Dak Prescott is playing as well as he ever has. And I think has exceeded expectations from even those who thought he could be an MVP candidate. I think Dak Prescott's playing better than anyone even could imagine this season. They're going to be a team this year. They're not going to, they already won the NFC East as far as I'm concerned.

The question is, are they the one seat in the NFC or are they going to have to go on the road in the playoffs at all? And I think Kellyn Moore might be your next great NFL head coach. People might roll their eyes and say, okay, here we go. Another young offensive mind. Here we are. Kellen Moore has done some really special things. And I think a lot of people around the league are taking notice.

Yeah, good stuff, Shregs is always. By the way, check him out. Cheat Sheet on the Fox Sports app, insider information. He's got cultural stuff. Always great seeing you, Shregs. Appreciate it. I even listen when Nick writes on the air, Colin. I might be the guy.

Here we are. Let's go. Good seeing you, Shregs. Yeah, you know, it's funny. You talk about these teams. The NFC right now, I was just talking to one of the executives this morning, it looks like, and I think you do get to week six and seven, you kind of sense what people are. You know, in the NBA, you've got to get past kind of the All-Star break.

In baseball, get me to June 15th. There are certain times in the NFL. I always feel like, you know, you get to week six or seven, and you kind of know kind of what people are. Now, there are, Belichick always said there's two seasons, pre- Thanksgiving and post. but we always knew New England was fine. But an interesting story about Josh Allen. That's fascinating. That in the NBA season starts the night.

Lakers up there at co-favorites. Talk about that. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlie. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.

We talk to coaches, we talk to players, we tell you stories. You download it, you listen to it, I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Ghalib on the IHeartRadio 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 Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I 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 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 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-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye They 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 count? 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 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 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 things. Careers, Care Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

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

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

Join me, Kear Gaines, 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. Heard hierarchy top of next hour. I was just looking at a cowboy stat. Hold on. It's pretty interesting. They lead the NFL in yards per play, almost seven yards of play.

Dallas Cowboys do. That's pretty impressive. That's like Vegas cares about that. That's a big stat in Vegas. What do you average yards per play? You're very explosive. You know, it's funny about the Cowboys. I do think sometimes they're a family business and they're very insular,

but I will say this. Stephen Jones has drafted good players. They've had some really good drafts. So one of the interesting things about Josh Allen's career, grew up in a small town in California, no Pact 12 school offered him. Fresno State didn't offer him. In fact, when people would ask him where his hometown was, he'd put Fresno down because it was the closest big city.

Fresno State didn't offer him. I understand people not offering him out of high school. because he was only 6-1 and really skinny. But boys have growth spurts at like, you know, somewhere between 16 and 20. Out of junior college, he was 6-6-and-2-15. Athletic with a really big arm. One Division 1 program. One Wyoming offered him a scholarship.

I find that fascinating. Listen, because of YouTube and TikTok and Instagram, if you're talented, you're going to hit it. Nobody is talented in America that doesn't succeed. If you're not succeeding, you're not as talented as you think. They'll find you. You can be poor. You can be in the middle of nowhere. You can still

do YouTube. You can still do be funny on Twitter. You can still do Instagram, Snapchat, have your stories. You're fine. And in football, we have 130 programs. Each carry three quarterbacks. Most carry four. and one program, he sent out hundreds upon hundreds of letters,

hundreds of highlight tapes. A junior college took him and they said, it was weird, said the coach. I was reading it this morning. He said he's putting up ungodly numbers. He's a massive athletic kid. He goes, nobody answered except Wyoming. And he may be the last great sleeper in football in America.

Like, they don't even exist anymore. Like, some guys are late bloomer's. You get it. Like, he grew, he had a growth spurt a little later. But the fact that a 6-6 kid in California with a big arm in athletic and put up ungodly numbers in junior college and nobody was interested. I'm fascinated by that. Utah State, you know, Oregon State, Washington State, nobody. I find that utterly fascinating.

Well, he's from a small town. Folks, New York City does not produce high school football stars. Our high school football stars and college stars all come from small to mid-sized cities. That's not where you get high school players in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. You get them in Midland, Texas. Well, secondly, well, he played a bunch of sports, so he didn't go to, you know, the camps, the quarterback camps. All right. But that's only like a 15-year phenomenon, right?

Like, before that, you didn't get quarterbacks at those camps. So not every kid goes to a camp. I mean, I guess open your email and watch the tapes if you're a coach. Because 6-6 Josh Allen, with gigantic numbers in junior college, one team offered him. It's like he's the last sleeper, sleeper prospect in American football. Because that story doesn't even make sense. It doesn't even make sense. I got out of high school.

He was 6-1. 6-6? running around? All right, NBA season starts tonight in earnest. And in the history of the NBA, this is just history, there's about five teams that can win a championship, maybe six tops. And so here's my very small, very, very small NBA championship pyramid.

I would put Milwaukee at the top. I would put the Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets right beneath them. Then I would put the clippers. I do think Kauai Leonard comes back at the end of the regular season. I do Kauai Leonard. I do the Phoenix Sons and the Golden State Warriors. Now, I do think both the Dallas Mavericks and the Philadelphia 76ers feel like to me, if they made a big trade, if Dallas went for it and maybe got a C.J. McCullough or somebody

with Portland made a big trade, or if Philadelphia bails on Simmons, they have to eventually, and they could engineer a trade. So I think Dallas and Philadelphia are teams to keep your eyes on. I think Utah is really good. Denver's really good. I just question if they're championship level. But I would say this, this feels like to me with this kind of Laker group, this is the last chance to win a championship.

First of all, Westbrook doesn't play with anybody well for long, even if it kind of works, kind of a combustible player, his style. Number two is LeBron's getting older and he's more injured. Number three is, if you look at Anthony Davis' last three years, he's kind of declining. Four, this is not an easy roster to coach. LeBron's not easy to coach. Westbrook's not easy to coach. AD's not always motivated and ready to play.

I think there's a lot of turbulence. This could be the last kind of run for Frank Vogel. I also think it's the oldest roster. I don't think that. I know that in the NBA by a long shot. But I do think the one thing the Lakers have, and this is, This is how business works, is they don't have a grenade factor. They have a very low implosion possibility.

If you look around the NBA right now, outside of Milwaukee, every other good team has got an issue. The Nets got the Kyrie situation. A mess. Philadelphia is good. Mess with Ben Simmons. Clippers are really, really talented. You don't know what you're getting with Kauai.

If he comes back with five games to play in the regular season, that's not good enough. The Warriors. I haven't seen Clay Thompson playing two years. Draymond's very valuable, but offensively there's limitations. And is James Wiseman going to pop? Yeah, I don't think he feels like a championship player. So you start looking around the NBA, and one of the Lakers' greatest strengths is that, you know,

LeBron teams don't generally implode. So they'll be good. Westbrook for a year will be good. AD off a bad season should be better and healthier. I just feel like sometimes when your greatest strength is we're not going to implode. It's going to be a battle of attrition. We're not going to implode. I think that's what the Lakers really have going for them.

I don't think it's the easiest team to coach. I think AD is declining. I think Westbrook is a hard hang over time. I think the bench could be an issue. They're absurdly old. In fact, I think they're the oldest NBA roster ever. I think I'm right on that. but Milwaukee's kind of grenade-free.

Milwaukee doesn't look like there's going to be any issue. So if I'm guessing today, I would say Lakers, Bucks in the NBA finals. I do think, as I've said with Brooklyn, I think Brooklyn could win the NBA championship with KD and Hardin. I would just move on from Kyrie Irving. If I could get two bench players, I'd be fine with it. I think the Clippers have a chance to be interesting. I think Denver's got a chance to be interesting,

but Yokic is a bad defensive player. You know, Utah and Denver will be good in the regular season. I don't think the West is as good as it's been in the last decade. So Utah and Denver could have really glossy regular season records. I don't know if I see Utah has the same problem. They don't have a guy that can defend on the wing a LeBron James. It's just a problem. Simply Safe has big news.

They just launched their new wireless outdoor security camera, engineered with all the advanced tech and security to help keep you and your family safe, get 20% off the new system. Visit simply safe, collin.com. So Herd Hierarchy, top of next hour. NBA is fun tonight. Joy and our huge NBA fans. We are.

I will say this. The Simmons situation is so bizarre that he carried a cell phone in his workout gear yesterday, which, by the way. He added in his sweatpants during practice. Yeah. It's so disrespectful. It was visible. Yeah.

So he was making, he was obviously, it was a gesture to show you. I don't really care. I mean, he didn't go to the huddle at the end of practice when they were breaking down. You can see him in the background kind of walking around. And then whatever happened to practice today caused Duck Rivers to suspend him for conduct detrimental. So he's going to miss the game opener or the season opener tomorrow. Listen, but the knock on him has always been. He was coddled in AAU.

He was coddled at LSU. And so, you know, if you spoil your kids, don't be surprised if they can be brats. I mean, what does this do for another team, though? If I'm another team, why am I interested? that's a completely legitimate question. I mean, you can't solve indifferent. You can't solve it. No.

There's no, I don't know what you do. And you turned on them. Why wouldn't you turn on us? Hour two, live in L.A. The herd next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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 I-Heart 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. 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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled 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 IHeard 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. 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 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 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations. that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability

that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.