The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Broncos-Seahawks, Prescott

Episode Date: September 13, 2022

Thoughts on the Broncos shocking loss to the Seahawks Dak Prescott will be back sooner than expected Seahawk fans shouldn't be booing Russell Wilson   Guest: Joe ThomasSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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J. Mack, joining us. Heard hierarchy, what to do with the Denver Broncos. Heard hierarchy, top 10 teams in the NFL. I think we only got two good ones right now in the league, two great ones, and then a bunch of stuff. J. Max joining us. What an epic mess. Epic fail, I think, was what you're looking for.

Colin, I have a great stat to start the show. Quarterbacks who did not play in the preseason went three and eight in week one. Three and eight. It's something. It's something, definitely. That Joe Burl didn't take a snap in preseason? Russell Wilson did not look sharp last night. So if you were really good at something for a decade,

I'm talking about you, not me. You were great at something for a decade. I watched you. a resume. You were good at something for a decade. And then you got a new boss and suddenly became really bad at that something. I'd be like, oh no, I don't worry about him. I worry about the new boss. For 10 years, Russell Wilson was magic at the end of games. Last night, chaos, lost. It's hard for me not to blame the coach. Say it out loud. Russell Wilson with those weapons, can he get five yards.

They average 6.8 yards of play or have a kicker who's never kicked a football more than 61 yards at sea level last night, kick a 64 yarder. Do you realize in the last six years, it's six years since Brandon McManus has hit a field goal longer than 55 yards, not in Denver, high elevation or a dome? So there's six years since he's hit anything resembling that kick. outdoors away from Denver. And that, to me, Nathaniel Hackett, unraveled. First game is a coach.

Tough spot. I mean, Pete Carroll's seen Russell Wilson for a decade. He knows Russell Wilson. That'll be one of the tougher matchups for Russell Wilson. All the little ticks and habits and idiosyncratic things that Russell Wilson has. You know, Pete Carroll's a smart defensive coach. He's seen them all. Players are saying it's the loudest Seattle's ever been.

It wasn't an easy environment. We said all week, six and a half point spread. Denver's going to crush them. Well, I mean, you got to bake in the fact that it's going to be really loud, anti-ruths. I'll get to the booing part later. But here's the thing that really bothered me. It wasn't just the end of the drive, which was epically bad. There was no urgency.

I mean, if you're on a plane and the engine fails, I hope to God, the pilot radios the tower and says, we're down to one engine. You've got to know urgency. There's not a lot of moments in football games of, I'm not talking panic. There's a big difference between panic and urgency. You know, panic is, you know, we've all had those situations in life. One of our kids is bleeding. The house is on fire. I'm talking urgency.

Hey, we got three and a half minutes, 340. This place is loud. We got to make some plays here. Let's not run it too much. Let's get Russ moving, Russ cooking, Russ rolling. Running the ball here, running the ball to the middle of the line there, throwing the ball to the middle of the field here, not taking timeouts. So that's the beginning of the drive.

There's no urgency. And then at the end of the drive, of all the options to waste all that time, all that time, you can't get the ball back. So if you miss the field goal, it's all over. Wouldn't you give yourself the option? Third and 14, a minute 11 left. They do a swing pass for nine yards. That's the last play they ran.

And I was thinking about this this morning, driving in. Aaron Rogers had Nathaniel Hackett the last two years as an offensive coordinator. Aaron Rogers is a pretty smart guy, right? The last two years, the Green Bay Packers in playoff games have melted down in the fourth quarter with Nathaniel Hackett as their coordinator. Aaron Rogers has been in chaos over his skis, looked afraid. I can blame Aaron for all of it. And I'm not saying quarterbacks aren't more important than coaches.

It's probably a 70-30 split. 60-40 split. Belichick Brady, we've watched, right? Like quarterback's more important than coaching, but coaching matters. Go ask Mack Jones of losing Josh McDaniels matters. Go ask Tua of having an offensive coach matters. Go ask Alex Smith in his career if Andy Reid mattered. Like coaching matters. Aaron Rogers' last two years has melted down at home at the Incrucial series.

Russell Wilson was magic for 10 years. That was an absolute mess. And so the common denominator on this, if you're great for 10 years at something, you hire a new boss and you're lousy at it, I'm going to look at the boss. Well, what about Russell Wilson? What about him? I watched them for 10 years in Seattle. Pull touchdowns out of a hat.

Make some of the most amazing throw. You got Peyton Manning screaming for a timeout. You got Troy Aikman screaming for a timeout. Do you watch the fans in the stands in Seattle? We're in those awful green uniforms. Look it up at the clock. Look it up. Fans got it.

But the coach didn't get it? Here's Nathaniel Hackett afterwards. You know, I have confidence in him, and if we have to put him in that situation again, I think he'll be able to make it. He had plenty of distance. You know, he just missed it. And again, that's, hey, Brandon gave it his best shot.

I mean, that's a long field goal to hit. I think he's completely capable of that. But obviously, I wish we would have gotten a lot closer, but it put us in that weird spot there because we were in the field goal range, but we were on that fourth down situation. It's not that weird of a event. a spot. There were three options here. The number one option was show some urgency first and go for it.

That would have been me. I paid Russell Wilson 240 million bucks. I brought him over here for moments like this. I didn't bring him over here for the second quarter. Teddy Bridgewater is good in the second quarter. Gino Smith last night was good in the first half. Miss Trubisky's good in the first half. Trey Lance wasn't bad in the first quarter. You bring in Russell Wilson. Wilson for that drive. That's the difference. That's the difference between the Brady's and Matt Ryan's. It's the final drive.

Matt Ryan's been an MVP. Matt Ryan's good in the second quarter. You notice it this weekend, how many of the average quarterbacks, Gino Smith, Trebisky, Trey Lance, they're good in the first half, right? Because the plays are scripted. Gino Smith looked great in the first half. You pay $242 million to Mahomes and Allen for the second half. Josh Allen wasn't great in the first half against the Rams.

He was unbelievable in the second half. You pay for those moments, right? I don't get it. I don't understand it. And this is the NFL. The average game is decided by four points. That's the moment. So the first option you had was to sense urgency and go for it.

Your second option, your second option, if you're Nathaniel Hackett, is All right, let's not waste any time here. Let's try the field goal. I don't trust Russ. Let's try the field goal. But I'll have all my timeouts. And Gino hasn't done anything in the second half. So I'll go time, time out, time out, time.

Get the ball back with 35 seconds. The worst option is, let's waste all this time. As Peyton Manning's doing this and Troy Aikman's doing that and Joe Buck's doing this. And the Seattle fans waste all the time. Missed the field goal. Game over. That's the only thing you can't do. And they did it.

That was a circus. But if you've been great at something for 10 years and I've watched it, you hire a new boss and you're suddenly bad at something, I'm going to question the boss. I've seen you be great at it. Pete Carroll after the game. Yeah, I thought they were going to go for it. Of course.

So did everybody. All right. So yesterday, a little panic, deck press got hurt. So here's something to think about. And I've been on this now for a while. Doctors and meteorologists. When you go to a doctor, and I've strangely been to too many doctors over the last four or five years, right? I work out every day.

You think I wouldn't go to the doctor. I'm always at a doctor, falling down, tripping over something, getting hurt skiing. Doctors always tell you, oh, this is going to take 12 weeks. And it always takes about eight or nine. You're fine, right? Because the doctor doesn't want to say it'll be eight weeks. and 13 weeks in, you're still bad. Then you think the doctor's a schmock.

You have a bad experience. You tell your friends, yeah, he said eight weeks, 13. It was way worse than he said. So doctors, weather people do this all the time. Weather people, oh, they give storms names. Oh, it's going to be the worst storm of all time. It's a couple snowflakes. And you're thinking yourself, why do you do that?

Because the last thing a meteorologist wants is he says, oh, it won't be much wind coming up today, and your roof blows off. and the TV station gets flooded by calls from angry people whose roofs blow off. So doctors and meteorologists tend to be protective, a little safe. And so when I heard yesterday, DAC eight weeks, what I say on the show yesterday, it'll be five. He's 29 years old, young athletes heal. Dak's not going to be out eight weeks because of that. By the way, that same injury, old Drew Brees was out five weeks.

And if you remember, the Saints went five and oh with Teddy Bridgewater, so they didn't even need to bring him back. and they considered bringing him back in four weeks. But they went an extra week. Drew's back in five. Dak Prescott's 29. You got really good doctors. Young athletes heal quickly. Doctors tend to play it safe and make the prognosis much longer.

It's going to be okay. If you look at the Cowboys schedule, first of all, you're not getting Jimmy G. Mason Rudolph's not good to spend money on. There's no reason to spend money on Mason Rudolph. You're not going to get Jimmy G. He can be starting in two weeks. if Trey Lance and the Niners can't beat Seattle. But if you look at their schedule,

they're going to get their ears boxed in by the Bengals, but then they get the Giants and Washington. And Dak could be back for the ram or the eagle game. You're fine. Oh, the sky is falling. I got news for you. Dallas's sky wasn't very high to begin with. There's not much of a fall.

This was a football team that got worse everywhere at weapons, O-line pass rush, coach. And you watched them. They look well-coast against Tampa. So there's no reason to pan. You're not getting Garapolo. I said it yesterday. Whenever I hear six to eight weeks with a pro athlete, to me it's five to six weeks

sometime sooner. Jerry Jones said today that it was originally thought to be six to eight weeks. He says now he thinks it's going to be three to four weeks. I feel better about it now than we did Sunday night. No reason to panic. We told you it yesterday. Dak is a big, strong, young guy. he's going to heal really quickly.

It's all going to be okay. As okay as the Cowboys can be considering I don't like their coach, their own line, their lack of weapons, and no Randy Gregory. Other than that, everything's fine. All right. Man, that Seattle thing was crazy. There's a piece of video out there on Peyton Manning, just doing this for like a minute and a half at the end of the game on the Manning cast.

That was so bad. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard 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, 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,

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app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. You know, watching the Seahawks game last night, uh, three and a half, four hours before that epic failed to end the game, there was a moment when Russ came out of the tunnel and got booed.

And so I'm going to play this. And that kind of felt personal to me, and I'll tell you why in a second. But here is Russell Wilson coming out and throughout the course of the game getting booed. Listen, he requested a trade. Fans were hurt. 20 years from now, if there's a ring of honor,

people in Green Bay didn't like Farr of at the end, everybody will get over it. But I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and we weren't very good very often. The Sonics in the late 71 in title. The Huskies, 1991, the Washington Huskies won a title. The Mariners are 45 years old. We've rarely been interesting.

In fact, Seattle still proudly celebrates beating the Yankees in a divisional round series 27 years ago. We just don't win very much. Russell Wilson made Seattle relevant for a decade. In the 10 years, he was the Seahawks quarterback. They were on national television 43 times. like only the Cowboys were on more. In the 10 years prior to that, 17 total, and mostly because of the other team.

When you're from Seattle and you're tucked in the Pacific Northwest and it's cold and it's dark and it's miserably wet all winter long, you can't wait for the hydroplane races in July or August. You really celebrate the sun, celebrate those rare sunny days in February. I can't boo, Russell Wilson. because Great is so rare in Seattle. You know, people say, well, he bailed on us. So did Boeing. So did the NBA.

So did A-Rod. The Pacific Northwest is cold and wet and damp and geographically isolated. Very few people who are stars stay there forever. You take pride in Starbucks. It's ours. You take pride in Microsoft dominating the world. We felt smarter for a long time than everybody else. I just don't have it in me to boo somebody as a Pacific Northwest kid who was great for a decade and made us relevant and made us a national team.

If you're in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago or Dallas, you have national teams all the time. If you're in Boston or Philadelphia, the St. Louis Cardinals are a national team. Chicago's got a team that's historically awful. The Cubs in their national team. We don't get that in Seattle. We don't get that in the Northwest. So we take incredible pride in the things we're good at. And then the NBA left, and Boeing left, and Arod left, and everybody always leaves.

So you just really celebrate the good times as long as they last. I can't boo Russell Wilson. It's not in me. For 10 years, two Super Bowls should have won a second. We were a national team. for that a tip of the cap jacac with a news turn on the news i seem to remember tom brady

when he went back to foxborough after he ditched the patriots a couple years ago calling first story baltimore ravens dealt with a number oh i'm sorry not the baltimore ravens we're starting with tom brady obviously sunday night football he was tremendous bucks win 19 to three but at 45 years old his body's not bouncing back the way that he used to That's a shocker. On his Let's Go podcast, Brady talked about how he felt waking up the next morning.

There's no margin of bear when you're 45. You know, you take hits and you feel every hit, you know. And when you're younger, you have, your body's a lot different. And when you're 45, your body changes a lot. So what am I dealing with now? I woke up today going, holy shit. That was a, you know, there was a few hits. And, you know, you look at your arm and you got bruises, you got cuts.

And you got, you know, the way it is. And you go, okay, how much longer do I want to make this commitment? And I obviously made the commitment for this year. And everything's going to be, you know, like always, continue to evaluate, you know, all these different aspects of playing. Yeah, but it, I, listen, the story came out on multiple platforms, multiple news services. Jazeel was upset. You promised you were retiring.

You retired and unretired. I think this is it. I'll never predict the ending, but this feels like, this doesn't it feel like it's, It's last year. Yeah, this is it for sure. But I would recommend to Tom. I play a lot of sports now to stay active. I'm into my 40s.

You've got to get a massage every two weeks, Tom. Are you getting regular massages? I know you play a lot of tennis and lifting. No, I don't, but I will say I always knew this. When I was in college, I could go out drinking all night. I could party all night. I could pull a hamstring. Give me 24 hours rest.

I was great. 30s, I need two days rest. Now I go on the IR. You can't like, like I can't go to a second. and beer Monday through Friday if I have a show the next day. Like, it's just that hurt. Yeah, you're hurting. All right.

Next up, the New York football Jets started the season, O and 1. Colin, I know we've tried to talk about them all the time on the show because I'm a Jets fan, but the way they were so putrid in the 24-9 loss of the Ravens, you know, it's tough to crowbar them in. And guess what? Robert Sala is opening his mouth saying really stupid things. Here's what he said about Jets critics. And I know it's going to happen.

And we're all taking receipts on all the people who continually mock and say that we ain't going to do anything. I'm taking receipts. And I'm going to be more than happy to share them with all of you all when it's all said and done. And nobody wants to lose. And it's on us as coaches to see how quickly we can accelerate this. And it's on us as an organization to see how we can facilitate all this knowledge to get these guys where they need to be. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about, you know. There's certain things you keep yourself.

Like your grudges you should keep to yourself. Petiness you should keep to yourself. The Jets aren't very good. They're not going to be good this year. Buffalo's great. Miami's good. And for the record, Belichick owns young quarterback.

So it's a fourth place roster. And they just have to come to terms with that. I wouldn't be sending out my grudges and my pettiness publicly. Some things you keep to yourself. Why would you announce this? Of all the things after you look awful against the Ravens, and I know they had 100 more yards. It was all garbage time, folks.

All these Jets fans were like, We outgained the Ravens by 120. It was garbage time in the fourth quarter when you're down three scores. Why are you talking about receipts? Why don't you talk about the offensive line? Or the fact that the offensive line gave up 20 pressures on Joe Flacco. Colin, I don't love this. This sounds like a coach who might be on the hot seat later in the season if they're like three and 12.

Well, you know, Matt Eber Fluse is a defensive coach. I would hire an offensive coach in Chicago, but they are just, I mean, their first two draft picks with a new quarterback was a corner and a safety, and they hired a defensive coach, and their O-Lines awful. There are certain cultures, and maybe Rex Ryan and Herm Edwards, they have often gone with a defensive, you know, they wanted to hire Belichick. They hired Herm Edwards. They hired Rex Ryan. They hired Robert Sala.

They have leaned to a lot of defensive coaches. The Bears have leaned to a lot of defensive coaches through the years. They run out Matt Nagy quickly, but now Justin Fields is on his second offensive system. I think when Robert Sala was hired, I said this. He was going to be the fourth best coach in that division if he succeeded. He's not going to be Belichick McDermott of Flores initially, right? So like right now, I mean, ask yourself, defensive coach, fourth best coach, quarterback has hurt. Everybody's freaking out about the Cowboys.

To me, the jet season's over. It's over. Can I, you know, hang with you and Lincoln Riley and start selling the Jets to Lincoln Riley soon? No. We could use an offensive guy. We just want five years of Lincoln, then he can do what he wants to do. All right, Colin, third story. Baltimore Ravens obviously had massive injuries during the 2021 season,

and it's off to a bad start in 2022. Colin, cornerback, Kyle Fuller, slot cornerback, torn ACL out for the season, and left tackle Jawan James, who's filling in for Ronnie Stanley, who's coming off an injury, hasn't played yet this season. Tours Achilles for the second time in 16 months. That's two starters on the Ravens, done.

You know, this is just a guess. Is it the turf? Is it the practice habits? I mean, it's so random. So last year it was brutal. The year before they had injuries Last year it was an avalanche and here we go again. I mean, I don't believe in coincidences. Like for instance, the Niners over the last couple years have had some injuries and some of it, I think, is they practice harder. It's a very physical team. So, you know, they ask their receivers to block. They give their receivers the ball out of the backfield. The Niners play a very physical brand of football and I do think it leads to. to more injuries. Now, the payoff is, by the end of the season, you're a really physical team. Baltimore is also a very physical team. Is it the practice collisions? Is it the turf they're playing on? I mean, when I think of Baltimore, as great as Lamar is, I always think of physicality. I think of Kyle Shanahan. I think of physicality. I think of Pete Carroll. I think of physicality. I remember when Pete Carroll was at USC. They were constantly banged up.

Practice habits, what you stress at practice, multiple collisions. I'm guessing. But the Rams. That's the blueprint right there. Harbaugh needs to talk to the Rams and say, McVeigh, what are you doing? Every year, according to football outsiders, they're one of the 10 healthiest teams in the league. Now, the Rams do have an offensive line issue a bit over the course of the last two to three weeks, so they're finally having some injuries. But it just seems to me certain teams stay healthier, certain teams, Baltimore, San Francisco, Pete Carroll teams deal with more injuries. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd line news. So I said yesterday, the Niners Bears game was so wildly entertaining to me. It was just wet and windy and rainy and you had a couple of young quarterbacks. And I thought, I thought Tray Lance, outside of, you know, the scripted stuff early, struggled. So you don't want to panic. But, you know, one of the things I think about all the time is we always talk about analytics and baseball and basketball, but football is very different. You know, you got like 17 games. Your owner wants you to win Sunday.

You don't care about analytics. Win. You know, kick field goals, get points. So, you know, when I look at a lot of the theories on analytics, football's different. Urgency matters. Panic sets in very quickly in football. And take the 49ers. I don't like the word panic.

But we watched Seattle last night, and Gino played pretty well, played better than Trey Lance did Sunday. And everybody's defending Tray Lance and it was the penalties and it was the weather. Okay. Trey Lance has thrown 99 career passes in the NFL. 99. That's it. It's a small sample.

He has completed 54% of those. Folks, it ain't close. I went and looked up this morning. The lowest completion percentage for any playoff quarterback last year. The lowest percentage was easily Jalen Hertz, 61%. Trey Lance at 54. He's not close to what you have to be. And consider this.

That's with Kyle Shanahan, the best left tackle in football, strong running game, Hall of Fame, Tine End, multiple gifted wide receivers. Well, we're not talking about Houston's offensive line and Houston's weapons and Houston's receivers and Houston's coach. This is like Hall of Fame coach, Hall of Fame left tackle, Hall of Fame tied in,

Hall of Fame ride receivers. Or really gifted receivers, Brandon Ayuk and Debo Samuel. So I'm not sure about panic, but if you start looking at the Niners schedule this morning, if they lose to Seattle's one of those got to win games. Because after Seattle, you don't want to go to Denver, angry Broncos and Russell Wilson.

Look at the history of Denver at home. They don't lose, the altitude. Denver is one of the... Andy Reed is great in December, and the Broncos are great at home in September. All right, that's just the history. It's hot, it's high altitude. Teams melt in Miami, and they melt in Denver in September.

And so that Chicago game, that was going to be a W. Now it's an L. You lose to Seattle, and then you're going to angry Denver, and Russell Wilson, folks, look at the historic numbers of 0 and three teams that make the playoffs. It's about one every six, seven years. And Houston did it years ago, but that was a wonky division. This division's got the Rams. It's got Arizona.

It's got some firepower. It's got star quarterbacks. So it's not a panic situation, and I'm not into it. But this is not baseball where you've got a game tomorrow or the NBA. You've got a couple of games, you know, you got four more games this week. in the NFL, your owner wants you to win Sunday. So the coach, here's the owner. The GM wants you to win Sunday.

It's not the same. You don't have a lot of time to correct your flaws. And, I mean, there are baseball teams. Last year, the Braves won the World Series. They were sub-500 at the trading deadline. They were a mess. The Boston Celtics were terrible until about, was it, February this past year, and ended up in the finals.

You can't go all in four in this league. It's over. So it's not a panic situation, but I look at the Niners' schedule, and you've got four or five of these games, you got to win with your roster. You got to beat Seattle. You're supposed to beat Chicago. You've got to beat Carolina and Atlanta. Those are rebuild teams. You've got to beat New Orleans.

You've got to beat Washington at home. Those are got to win games. And you already lost one of those. So you start looking at all this stuff. Cornerback Jalen Johnson of the Bears said yesterday, they beat the Niners by making. taking Trey Lance play quarterback. Gulp. I mean, that worries me.

So, you know, we were talking about this this morning. You know, I am pro-analytic, but football is just a different animal. Like, I would take points all the time in the National Football League. Everybody's going forth and goal. I would just take field goals. The average NFL team scores 23 points a game. Get field goals. Get out of there.

Get points. Put pressure on the other offense. And similarly, you have a lot of time to work through your rotations and substitution patterns and personnel and baseball. Clayton Kershaw takes a month off, goes on the IRS. It's June. It's July. Who cares? You go 0 and 2 and you're the 49ers in that division.

And you're going to Denver? Go look at their schedule. You're going to Denver in September, Russell Wilson? That's an L. That is an L. So, you know, I'm not into panic. but it's serious time. Trey Lance has got to play good this weekend.

There is a reason they re-signed Jimmy Garoppolo. Bring him out of the bullpen. You have got to win in Seattle. That is a rare must-win week two. Trey Lance got to play well. 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 unleashed. 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-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're saying.

Yep, that's me. Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life,

mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple 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 a little kill? 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 you're just saying, I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. 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 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. favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

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

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that'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. Oh, boy. So the Seahawks last night, yes, it was, I'm a kid from the Pacific Northwest. I, and, you know, you think I would root for the Seahawks, but I, you know, as I said, Russell Wilson gave me 10 years of relevance. And so it was fun to go to Super Bowls, that Super Bowl in New York, when the Seahawks were there and see friends from my hometown, little tiny fishing village in the West Coast of Washington State. And Westport, Grayland area. And we had friends I went to high school with and people I knew went out. there. So I was rooting for Russell Wilson last night.

And I actually thought they averaged almost seven yards of play. They were just lousy in the red zone. And I want to bring in Joe Thomas, obviously. He's eligible for the Hall of Fame next year. He'll make it first vote. 11 years, 10 pro bowler on a short list of the greatest left tackles of all time. So I'm going to talk about two things. I want to talk, before we get to the end of the game, I want to talk about this. Is I am a big believer. The average NFL team, Joe, the average is 23 points. And we've got to. gotten to a point in the NFL where we don't wrap our arms around field goals. It's let's go for it and fourth down.

And my takeaway is that is such a tough place. First of all, it's congested. 22 players. Defensive players on fourth down play with an intensity. They don't play with on second or third down. Fourth down is like everything. You'll grab a receiver and pull them down if he beat you. So the defense is super intense.

It's congested. And by the way, you take away about 50% of your playbook down there. so you're only going to run one of about six plays. And yet, everybody wants to go for it. So last night, Denver, with outside of left tackle, a very average offensive line in Seattle on the road, let's go for it. And I'm like, could you just take a field goal?

But as an offensive lineman, you guys always want to go for it, right? Like in the huddle, if the team came over, you'd want to always go for it? Well, you always have to have that confidence in yourself. right. So if your coach is saying, hey, what do you think we should do? That's a rhetorical question. Like, of course you're going to say you want to go for that because you want to breathe that confidence within the offense and with the coaching staff. But I think you have to be realistic in some situations. Like, what are our chances with our best plays going against the defense with their best plays?

And hey, look, if it's a got to have a situation and you know that the defense feels like, hey, the game is on the line in this situation, they're going to sub out all their backups. and they're going to make sure that they have their best players and their best blitzes and their best coverage players that are on the field to be able to defend that. And that's not something you get on a regular first and second and third down because defenses rotate. You see guys that are going to the sideline, they're getting water, they're making sure that they're fresh. And that's not going to happen in those got to have at moments. So it's truly good on good in those moments where the rest of offense versus defensive football is not always good on good because offensive linemen, we don't sub.

quarterbacks, you don't sub. Running back receiver, you get a little bit of the subbing going on there, but it doesn't impact the game quite as much as it does on the defensive side of the football. So the end of the game, I thought of all the options for Denver. That was the worst one. I think he either go for it or you hurry up, get a kickoff. You got three timeouts left, and Gino hadn't moved the rock much in the second half. If you miss it, you just call quick timeouts, and you know, you get the ball back with 35 seconds or whatever it takes.

the third option, which I wouldn't do, was burn through the time, kick of, put all my eggs in a guy hitting a kick he's never hit at sea level. What did you make of it? When you saw a rookie head coach in his first game as a head coach, kind of get lost in the moment a little bit. And I think he made a classic mistake of when you find out what your kickers max ranges in a vacuum, if the game's on the line, and that's your only option, it makes sense to try to kick it from that situation

rather than go for a Hail Mary. But when you have more options than either kick or Hail Mary, and you can still pick up the first down call timeout and then get a closer opportunity to kick another field goal, that's what you do in that situation, especially when you just gave Russell Wilson $245 million on an extension to be the quarterback of the perceivable future. Like, that's what you do.

Put the ball in his hands, let him go, convert that first down, and then go ahead and have an opportunity to kick a reasonable field goal. This wasn't an option of either Hail Mary or kick. This was an option of a lot of good things versus what you don't want to be stuck in a situation is trying to kick a 64-yard field goal to win the game. Yeah, they put all their eggs in a field goal situation that the kicker had never succeeded in. Didn't buy it. All right. So let's go to Cleveland.

I figured Baker would figure out a way to win. It was very close. It came down to a 58-yard kick. So we know Deshawn's not coming back for a while. We know the division's pretty good. What is your interpretation of how good Cleveland could be until Deshawn is back? Obviously, Miles Garrett's unbelievable. Nick Chubb.

There's some real players here. Is this a team that can win half their games and just stay viable, in your opinion? Well, they've got a tremendous roster top to bottom. Their secondary is almost as good as anybody in the league. I think they've got the best running game in the NFL, one of the better offensive lines. So, and you mentioned Miles Garrett, they've got a lot of really, really good players. And that was one of the reasons they decided to move on from Baker's, because they've given him a tremendous roster last season and the season before.

And they kind of saw where the ceiling was with Baker and quarterback. And so they wanted to make a move and get a quarterback in there that they felt with this roster could win them a Super Bowl. Now, Jacobi Brissette, obviously is not Deshawn Watson. So how far can he take them in those 11th? games that he has to play. And I think really the magic thing for them is to get above 500 when Deshaun Watson comes back. Because I think that puts them in play to make a run for the playoffs in those final six games of the season that Deshaun Watson's going to be playing. But the question

is going to be, can Jacoby percent play better? Because not all these teams that you're going to be playing in the next 10 games are going to be the Carolina Panthers, which I think they're improved, but they're not a very good team, especially when you consider all the great teams that the Browns are going to have to play in the AFC. Yeah, they're rebuilding. So the Bengals O line, we look at Joe Burrell's interception, but I didn't think the O line was great for them. In fact, on the interior O line, they got pushed back.

Now, some of that is, you know, Mike Tomlin is an underdog. It's a division game. The Steelers, Mike Tomlin's whole career has, I mean, you can really point to, he's at his best as an underdog in division. They play with their hair on fire. So part of me is thinking, that may be the best. pass rush, the Bengals face all season long. Is that how you view it or are you concerned about the Bengals front? Yeah, when you're talking about quarterback time to throw and how efficient he is

throwing the football, there's a lot of variables, right? And the first one is how good is that defensive line? How quick are they able to put pressure on the quarterback? But after that, then I start to look at, okay, what is the quarterback doing that's either making it easier or harder on his offensive line? And Joe Burrow was just not very good in week one. I'm a huge Joe Burrow fan. I believe in him. I think he's going to be one of the great quarterbacks in the NFL for the next couple decades. But it looked like that time that he missed during training camp with the appendectomy may have really hurt him because he wasn't on the same page with his receivers. He had poor accuracy. He was holding out of the ball. The timing with the routes was not there. And so I think that led to maybe

some confidence issues in his own head, which leads to holding the football, not being confident of letting it go when you see guys open. And then all of a sudden, the little mistakes that are your offensive line is making it against a really good defensive line and one of the best defensive players in the NFL and T.J. Watt, all of a sudden, those become magnified. And then what could be like some small things that you're looking at on a Monday and going, you know, on the offensive line, we could do a little bit better here. We could do a little bit better here. But you know what? Overall, it was a solid game. You're looking at it Monday going, man, we get what, six sacks. We got our quarterback murdered. And so I think some of those things

snowball when you're dealing with all of those issues together in one game. Sean Payton, former Saints coach, was on our show yesterday for about 30 minutes. And I said, my big takeaway from week one is, O line play was bad. But there's no pads in the off season. They don't play in the preseason. It's like, well, what are they supposed to be? And you tell me, you're going to be a Hall of Famer here in a year. Can you imagine never having pads on out of season, never playing in the preseason?

Would even you be a little off week one? Well, it's tough because offensive line pass blocking is more art than science. And so I think getting those reps, especially those full speed, full contact reps are so important to being able to be at your best. And really, that doesn't happen until a little bit later in this season, to your point, because they're just not doing it in the off season. They're not doing it as much during training camp. And so these first few weeks of the season, these offensive linemen are still trying to get their feet under them

and learn the rhythm and the flow and the balance. and the art of pass blocking because it is a reactionary skill that does take a lot of live reps. It's not like riding a bike. It's not like week one of training camp. I was able to jump on the bike and get back out there and go block Miles Garrett because of the feel that it takes to be able to be perfect time in and time out when you're talking pass blocking. And that's why I think, especially early on in the season, you're watching defensive lines. Crush. By and large, mall offensive lines because it's a lot easier to just run forward and take.

tackle dudes. You do that almost every day of your life and you've been running forward and trying to tackle kids since you were a five-year-old. Like my son, he just turned six. He loves just tackling people. Like that's something you've done your whole life. But offensive line play when you're running backwards and you're trying to block big men, like that's something that has to be learned and has to be repped over and over and over again to keep it fresh in your mind and to keep it fresh with all the like the propio receptors in your body that connect between your body and your muscles in your brain. Good stuff, Joe Thomas, at Joe Thomas 73 NFL network as well. Browns are 1-0. It's good living in Cleveland. Joe, it's great seeing you.

Hey, great seeing you. Thanks, Colin. Yeah, no, I mean, it's really interesting. I never talked, my entire life being a sportscaster, we never really talked offensive lines. I mean, talk about it. And then the new CBA a few years ago, you can't wear pads, nobody's playing. In the last four to five years, I've talked more bad online play than I've ever talked. And I think a lot of it is when you do these CBAs, there's winners and losers, right? NBA, CBA, baseball, when you get these near-strike situations and you have a new collective bargaining, all the players thought it was a win less hitting in practice, no pads in practice. And they think it's a win not playing in the preseason. But you saw it in week one. Kickers were awful, O-lines were awful, and some of the quarterbacks that

didn't play, struggled with timing. I said this with Aaron Rogers. The minute that draft is over, you've got to go get those rookies and go practice because you're not going to play in the preseason. You can't just do a couple of practices. That's not live speed. So it's, there's a downside to everything, right? Like there's a downside to everything and no hitting, no pads. week one was ugly for a lot of offensive lines. Joe Thomas nailed it. Heard hierarchy hour two next. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends

on the I-Heart 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. 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 hear, 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 you're 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, unfills of course.

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 Podcast Network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.