The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Cowboys, Bills, Wild Card

Episode Date: January 17, 2022

In this hour of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Colin dissects the Dallas Cowboys' frantic, final seconds of their loss to the San Francisco 49ers--including their questionable call for a quarterback draw. Also, it's clear to Colin that New England head coach Bill Belichick doesn't yet have the quarterback to compete with Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills. Lastly, former NFL quarterback and current FOX Sports NFL analyst Michael Vick joins The Herd to reflect on the weekend's quarterback playoff performances.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go, live in Los Angeles. On a Monday, it's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening or watching, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, one hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, there is plenty of both. We got a game tonight.

We still have coaches to be hired, potentially one more to be fired. Joy Taylor is joining me on, listen, if the Cowboys season was going to end, and we predicted Friday 28, 27-9ers, if it was going to end for our purposes, that's the way it needed to end a complete tire fire on the freeway.

That's how it had to end for us. So as I watched it, I thought, yeah, I've seen this before. Yeah, I felt like we watched that movie before. But what do you do to change the story? Seems obvious. So I want to, this whole first segment, I just want to talk cowboys.

So I'm going to start, don't roll the tape yet. I want to start with the play, the quarterback draw. Now, I would not have called that. Apparently, Kellen Moore called it, and then Mike McCarthy was on headsets. He was good with it. But there are four reasons with no timeouts left and limited time why I wouldn't have called it. You can roll the tape now. One.

the sidelines are your friend, the middle of the field, your enemy with no timeouts left. It's quicksand. Stay away. Number two, this wasn't the case, but it often is. Middle of the field, quarterback draw, big heavy defensive lineman or linebacker lays on you, you're slower to get up. Number three, the Cowboys were having success with the strength of their team,

wide receiver throwing to the sidelines, nine yards, 10 yards, nine yards, Got 30 yards and 14 seconds. It was working perfectly. I've seen it. Tom Brady's done it a thousand times. And number four is Nick Boso was out, right? So that meant Dak was going to have a little nicer pocket, and the weakness of the Niners is corners.

And the strength of the Cowboys, even with Michael Gallup hurt, is their weapons. Play to your strengths. So middle of the field. That's a stay away with no timeouts left in limited time. It was working. It was attacking the Niners' weakness. But bigger than that, you're paying DAC 40 million a year. I want to see Big Boy throws.

Tom Brady would not have done a quarterback draw. Tonight, Matt Stafford wouldn't do a quarterback draw. Mahomes wouldn't do a quarterback draw. Peyton Manning wouldn't do a quarterback draw. Now, Josh Allen could, but he probably outrun everybody for a touch. down. Dak is not Josh Allen. But all the quarterbacks this weekend, outside of Josh Allen, we wouldn't even consider a quarterback draw. And by the way, I don't think you were with Josh Allen because he has such a strong arm. I'm paying you $40 million a year, not to run.

I'm paying you that kind of money, not even a win against the NFC East. It's a crappy division. I'm paying you to make big boy throws in crisis. I'm not paying you to do a quarterback draw and go down to the last two seconds. Now, after the game, here was the reasoning by Dack and the Cowboys, apparently. I mean, it's risky, but when you practice it, as I said, as we've done over and over again, you're not necessarily worried about it.

You're trusting your training and everything that you put into it. As I said, I went and ran, got down as I looked up and was getting behind Tyler. Once again, saw the four seconds, thought it was time. And, yeah, I mean, the rest, you don't prepare for things like that, but I mean, I guess we'll start having to knowing the way this just played out. Okay, it's not practice. It's not the way it is in practice. Here's the other thing. I have a rule I use all the time. Say it out loud. If there were 14 seconds in the game, you had no timeouts.

If you ran the quarterback drop perfectly, perfectly, and you slid down, down, X let a little late, perfectly. And no defender laid on you, which one did for about a half a second a second. And you got the ball to the official perfectly. If it was perfect, you'd have probably two seconds left. Really? You're going to make it that close if it's perfect. At practice, you'd have two seconds left.

You know it's not practice. It's the 49ers. You run a sideline pattern. That takes three and a half seconds. You'd have nine seconds left, eight seconds left. You'd have time for another sideline pattern. In the end, I hated this call. And I don't care what analytics say.

The Chargers are pro-analytic. They watch the playoffs on TV. The Cowboys there went analytics. The Niners kept kicking field goals. They're going to play. But on a bigger picture, let's talk about this. Let me ask you a question, because I know Cowboy fans this morning, they trail the entire game want to blame everybody.

Do the Cowboys look like a well-coached team? Does Dak look like a great quarterback? Because I saw a great quarterback this weekend. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen. I saw great. Dak looked much closer to Jimmy Garoppolo than Joe Burrell. Or Patrick Mahomes. And do you feel you're a, and you're, and Dak's your guy now.

But Mike McCarthy didn't have to be your guy. But I don't have a lot of sympathy for the Dallas Cowboys. If you keep doing the same stuff over and over and over, you're going to run that thing back. So Aaron Rogers is a great quarterback. He also appears to have a great coach. Patrick Mahalm's a great quarterback. He appears to have a great coach.

And Tom Brady's a great quarterback. And we know at least Ariens is a really, really, really good coach. And Josh Allen's a great quarterback. And he appears to have a tremendous young coach. Dak's a solid quarterback. Sometimes he's pretty good. And he's got a weak coach. So you can't change Dak.

He can't run him out of town. Where do you make the change? DAC is not talented enough to overcome a really average coach. Don't you think it's kind of strange that since Mike McCarthy left, Aaron Rogers is going to win back-to-back MVPs? Have you noticed since Mike McCarthy left, we say this about Aaron Rogers all the time? Guy makes it look so easy.

It never looked that easy with McCarthy. It looks easy with Matt LaFleur. But I'm watching all these other teams, and so is Jerry Jones in Kansas City and Buffalo and Tampa and Green Bay. Those are great quarterbacks that have great support systems from their coaching staff. I don't put DAC in that class. And McCarthy's not even remotely close to that class.

At least DAC has days, games, Sundays. I mean, they did score over 50, scored over 43 times, over 30 multiple times. Dak has his moments. Does McCarthy, have you felt in any moment this year, who? McCarthy out-duled John McVeigh there or Belichick there. There are moments, Dak does. But, I mean, this is what we said.

Dallas was going to beat up on the flimsy NFC East, but when they played Arizona at home, they lost, and Vegas, they lost. In San Francisco, they lost. In Tampa, they lost. In Kansas City, they lost. And you're going to run it back. I have never been a fire the coach guy.

I've been doing this forever. Like, I'm not a fire the coach guy. I would put Mike McCarthy in an advisory role. I don't want to ruin people's lives. You have to strongly, though, consider today Dan Quinn or Callan Moore as the coach. You've got to strongly consider it. I mean, how many examples do I need? Folks, did you see the sideline for the Cowboys during the fake punt they pulled off?

Here's video for our TV audience. This is a fake punt. even when they succeeded, look at the sidelines. It's chaos. They were trying to induce a delay of game. They did on themselves. Even when they succeed, it looks like a tire fire. Even when they succeed on the final drive of the game, in the end, it looks like a

disorganized mess. The Cowboys were the most penalized team in the NFL in the regular season, the only team in the league to have 14. penalties accepted against them in two different games this year. And that's with Mike McCarthy being a head coach for a decade plus. It'd be one thing if you had a rookie quarterback like a Belichick or, you know, Nick Seriani's got a young quarterback. And then you're like, yeah, yeah, they kind of butcher the line of scrimmage.

You got, Mike McCarthy's been doing this now for a long time and they look like it's, it is a yard sale, it's a skier that falls and his equipment goes everywhere. All the time. At some point, I got no sympathy for Dallas, Jerry Jones, cowboy fans. Well, I have sympathy for them. But I got no sympathy if you run this back. This happens in sports all the time, where you've got a problem with the organization. Well, what do you do?

You move the part of the organization. You can't just fire players. Sometimes you can't trade players. Dallas certainly isn't going to move off DAC. He's a valuable entity. He's a good franchise corporation. quarterback. He's good. I can argue that he's basically Kirk Cousins with fewer haters, but I wouldn't bail on Kirk Cousins this afternoon. I've defended Jimmy Garoppolo. I think he and Dak are fairly

close. I like Dak a little more, not a ton more. But you got to then move the pieces you can move. You've got a younger coach. I don't know if you've looked around, but young offensive coaches are, I don't know, winning everywhere. If you want to go defense, he's in-house. He revitalized your defense last year. But I got no sympathy for anybody inside that organization if you run this nonsense back. None. All right. So many things to talk about. I'm going to say a couple of things today that will sound crazy. But because all of us have eyes, I think you have to consider it. There's some things that were really clear this weekend. And I don't think it's hyperbolic. And I know on Mondays, playoff Mondays, we're all little crazy, myself included.

But I saw something in that Patriot game, and it's so clear and so obvious, Belichick has to see it. That's coming up. Mike check. If you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in the sports game, what's good? This is national champion and former pro baller Chris Johnson. Let me tell you a little bit about my new series, KJ Live.

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of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart radio app. Good to have you in. I just banged on the Dallas Cowboys for wanting to run it back and do the same stuff over and over again. I would move off Mike McCarthy. Put him in an advisory role, pay him the money, but you look around this league right now, what is winning. It's not Mike McCarthy. Bill Belichick has always viewed players as pieces. Parts. He doesn't get emotional.

He's moved off great players, Pro Bowlers. He wanted to move off Brady. He moved off Garoppolo. Josh Allen in the last two games has been so devastating, unstoppable, and jaw-dropping. Could Belichick, and this was a great defense, be thinking, I've probably got to trade Mac Jones, because if this is a gunfight, I'm not sufficiently armed. That was the best cold weather performance I've ever seen by a quarterback.

He had four incompletions. And Mack Jones, by the way, this is a great interception by Micah Hyde. Mac wasn't terrible. But the league has changed. Belichick's 70. Mac Jones has value. He is a free player for three years of the most vital position. You can win with Tua and Mac Jones.

And for some organizations, that's what they're looking at. Belichick wants Super Bowls. Mahomes, Herbert, Burrow, Josh Allen, good luck, being absolutely a tier below. In the last two games against Belichick, Josh Allen has eight touchdowns, no picks, over 600 yards, and no punts. No punts. We talk Saints, Bears, Raiders. Is Belichick this morning, who has a history of moving off popular players? he would have moved off Brady

looking at this and going okay I've got to face that 10 times in the next five years minimum this isn't the Brady era where all the quarterbacks and most of the coaches were stiffs Sean McDermott's excellent their GM is excellent Josh Allen is sublime

he's unstoppable now he's got that Mike Tyson thing where he has bad rounds and bad fights but in a 17 game schedule Josh Allen is going to be the better quarterback on the field like Brady was, 16 of 17 weeks. Maybe if he goes to Kansas City that week, he's not,

or he catches a red-hot Justin Herbert or Joe Burrow. But I honestly thought as I watched that, Belichick's got eyes. Does he look at that and think, I have created value for Mack Jones? There's nine teams that need a quarterback. We're talking about where Russell's going. Nobody mentions New England.

I'd like to have that defense, that offensive coordinator, and that head coach. but Josh Allen is so devastatingly gifted. I mean, Joe Burroughs good. He's not that. He's not that. Kyler Murray's good. He's not that.

So Belichick at some point is like, I'm putting out my best defenses, my best schemes. This kid's still young. That's when Belichick can get to a Mahomes or a Josh Allen or Herbert right in the first couple years. Okay, Josh Allen's still young. and he's pulling away from Belichick. You can't tell me they couldn't get value for Mac Jones. And I didn't think Mac Jones was awful. But Josh Allen is so devastatingly lethal.

You can't look at that as a patriot and think, yeah, next four years, eight times minimum. Good luck. They're not losing at Buffalo. A Nor'easter. Literally, God, nature, the galaxy. is the only thing that gives New England a shot against that quarterback. A 45-mile-an-hour nor-easter. Planes couldn't land.

Boats couldn't go out. That's your shot to beat him. Cross your fingers. You get that twice a year. Because what I watched is not stoppable. Not at home, and they're going to be winning this division from this point forward. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Joe Burrow had an amazing game against the Raiders, led the team to a 2619 win, and he's been on a roll the last three games. He has completed 76.5% of his passes for 1,215 yards, 10 touchdowns, and zero interceptions with a quarterback rating of 136.4 in the last three games. So quite the stretch for Joe Burrow. He was 24 of 34 for 24-44 passing yards and two touchdowns against the Raiders

and led them to their first playoff win in 31 years. And we said this Friday, we thought the Raiders gave up so much against the Chargers. And I did feel in the second half, on both offense and defense, I felt the Raiders were a little gassed. In the fourth quarter, I felt like they don't have the energy the Bengals do right now. And it was like, all things considered, what a great year for the Raiders. This was a really hard game to win after that Chargers win. Yeah, there was a couple games this weekend where you're like, okay, these, these teams are probably not playoff teams.

Right. The Raiders, we know how they got in. We know the year that they've had. I don't think there's anything to be sad or down about. The Bengals were the better team. They looked like the better team throughout the game. Joe Burrow is playing, as I just mentioned, during an unbelievable stretch right now.

It's the Bengals time, and it wasn't the Raiders. And I think you can look at different losses in a different way. Also, I do believe, and this is not a shot because I would vote Burrow MVP. Joe Burrow would be my MVP by an interest. over Aaron and Tom. But I also feel like as great as that win is, this kind of feels like I think they're one of the weakest rosters left, if not the weakest, and the weakest on line. I think you're asking way too much for Cincinnati to now go to Tennessee and beat the Titans. Like I feel like this is the first step of a decade of really fascinating maybe Super Bowl

appearances, but I kind of feel like, Joy, this is it. This is the baby. It feels a little bit ceiling-ish. But it doesn't feel like that's a bad thing. Like there were not massive expectations and certainly not this, this season. There's still a lot of, you know, additions that they need to make to their roster. But Joe Burrow has been unbelievable and he, he is shown when you really get the guy and match them with the right coach, this is what can happen. Like the Bengals are not a traditionally functional organization. They're not somebody that you just plug and play. You really had to find the right guy and Joe Burrell's been unbelievable. They do play the number one seed titans on Saturday. They are three point underdogs according to Fox Bet. I do think that's going to be

a great game though. And it felt good for Cincinnati. Like those, that place was absolutely packed. It was so loud. It was a great atmosphere. Let me tell you something between Buffalo fans and Bengal fans watching these cold weather fans and cold weather fans who have been in places, they have sat in those stands for 20 years. a bad football. Like, I'm sorry, but it was good for the league for the Bengals to win, and it was good for the league for Buffalo. Those are the most loyal fans. Fans that go to cold weather for bad football. 31 years without a playoff win. So it's like, I'm watching that, and the story is better today. Bingles win, bills win. It's a better league this morning. Those

are easy stories to root for. Well, the Eagles season ended with a 31-15 loss to the bucks, but it really never felt as close as that final score. Oh, my God. Jalen Hurts struggled, 23 of 43, 258 passing yards, two interceptions. He wasn't great, but they also were held to 95 rushing guards on 17 carries, and that's a big part of the story because they're the number one rushing team coming into this game. A big part of the reason why it was an interesting game. Obviously, we feel like the bucks are the better roster and in the better situation,

and obviously they have Tom Brady and Bruce Ariens, but the physicality in which the Eagles run the ball made it feel like this was going to be closer. Tom Brady was great as well. 29 and 377, 271 passing yards, 115.2 passer rating, and they rushed for a combined 106 yards and two touchdowns. Here's what's scary in the NFC. Leonard Fernett and Ronald Jones, their two best running backs for Tampa were not available. Like so this team has another gear. That'd be like Kansas City last night doing that to the Steelers without Tyree. Kail or Kelsey. Like, maybe not quite that. But Tampa's really at its best. If you go back to last year with a power running game, Brady didn't have it. And they still took a 31-0 lead.

I think that is the example, like the Bucks and also the Packers. A really, really good team can lose a player or two and still be able to have a great performance. They can do that next man-up thing. A team that's kind of in the middle when you lose certain players, everything falls apart. It's become very player-reliable. on one or two positions, but that's not the situation with the Bucks. And of course, they still have Tom Brady. So again, I look at the Eagles season ending this way, the same way I do with the Raiders. No one expected you to be here. And whatever Eagles fans say, you didn't think it was going to happen this way either. I think it's been a great season. Nick Serial-I did an amazing job. We'll just

see what they decide to do with Jalen Hertz. They have three first-round picks in this draft, not a quarterback heavy draft, but who knows, maybe they put them together and trade for someone. I wouldn't necessarily move off of Jaylen Hertz. I still think he has the ability to develop a little bit more. But overall, it was a good season for the Eagles. I didn't think that was a bad loss to lose to Tom Brady and the Bucks. Chief started out slow. Gave us a little bit of hope.

A little hope at the first quarter. Then they eventually figured things out. Went on to win 42, 21. They punted three times, committed two turnovers in their first five possessions. Fell behind 7-0 when T. T.J. Watt returned to Fummel. but then they proceeded to score touchdowns on six consecutive sessions. So just a little slow start out the gate, but then they figured it out.

Travis Kelsey also threw for a touchdown. Ben Rathusberger didn't formally announce his retirement yet, but he did say after the game, it was a blessing and an honor to be the Steelers' quarterback since 2004. We know it's the end of his career. Like he did the pole curtain call thing at Hinesfield. It is what it is. They only rushed for a combined 56 yards in the game. So now the Chiefs will play the bills in the divisional round on Sunday.

favorite by two, according to Foxx bet. That is going to be an amazing game. It was a rough night for my Steelers, but again, didn't really feel like a playoff team. A lot had to fall into place to get there. Ben kind of made a joke about it. Like, we're just going to go out there and have fun. Like, you know, we're double-digit underdogs in this game. So it's the end of Ben Rothersberger's career, and we'll see what direction the Steelers go in next year, but Kansas City is going to face the bills. Probably as, I can't think of a football game. I mean, you have to go back to Brady Mahomes, Brady Manning in their prime, where you've got the two most gifted quarterbacks in the world. I mean, Aaron's in that space.

But there are things Josh Allen can do. Aaron Rogers cannot. Aaron is not as talented physically as Josh Allen. There's no way. He's not that big. He's not that strong. He can't run. Mahomes, Allen, those are the two most talent.

Doesn't mean they're the best. The two most talented quarterbacks in the world meeting. That's like Manning and Brady in their prime. You didn't get a lot of those. No, it feels like it's going to be a shootout. Yeah, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd-line news. That's not a knock at Aaron Rogers, but Josh Allen, this is what Greg Kosel keeps saying. He's the most physically gifted quarterback in this league. He does stuff other people can't do. I mean, Josh Allen, when he peels out to run, Judon, like he just makes great defenders look ridiculous. His ability to, as 6-6, run right at a great linebacker and make him not only miss, can't get close to a hand on him.

That's what, that's what like Barry Sanders did in his prime. When a 6-6 guy can do it at quarterback, he rolls out a Pro Bowl level linebacker, can't get a hand on him. It's like, okay, that's a different space. Mike Vic, 13 years, four Pro Bowls joins us live. When you watch, think if you were five inches taller, that's almost Josh Allen. When you watch Josh Allen.

I wish. Yeah, I mean, what do you use? see with Josh? Oh man, I see a quarterback who's just a different specimen. I mean, to be six, five immobile, true dual threat the way he is, strong, powerful. Like you said, guys can't even, you can't even bring him down. You know, you got linebackers, you know, pulling and tugging at him. He's just shrugging them off. I just see a quarterback that's in total control of the game. He has a great understanding of the game of football. And when he has the ball in his hands, he's dangerous. He's the X-factor. He's the ultimate X-factor, and it's hard to defend him. And, you know,

the Buffalo Bill's got a gym and Josh Allen. All you have to do is build around this guy. And I can truly see a Super Bowl in this future. Yeah. You know, listen, I didn't love the quarterback draw by Dallas for a couple of reasons. And that when you don't have timeouts left in limited time, the sideline, as you know, is your friend. The middle of the field, you got to get it perfect. You got to get the perfect, you know, set. You got it. The guy that tackles you has to get off you quickly. You got to find the ref.

There's a lot of chaos on a quarterback draw. Receivers left, right, everybody split out. You know, a quick slant or a sideline throw. Everybody just kind of marches down the field, 15 steps, and you got the next play. A quarterback draw is a lot of chaos. I didn't like that call. Did you? Yeah, I didn't like it, Colin.

And the reason I didn't like it is because I just didn't understand it. And we practiced two-minute drill on so many occasions. that I could think of, but a quarterback draw was never a play card that we had. And, you know, it becomes more difficult when you're dealing with timeouts and you've got to spot the ball. And you see when receivers and running backs touch the ball, they take it straight back to the referee. Yes. But I can see how that got confused, though, might have got confused in that situation because he's never probably, but he said they practice it. They practiced that.

But, you know, you just never know when the situation like that is going to play out in the game. the quarterback draw, I probably would have an add on the side of throwing a short pass and then trying to have the receiver get the ball to the referee and then clock the football. It was just a backward situation. You know, Mike, I said even on the fake punt, Dallas had 14 penalties second time this year, even on the fake punt that succeeded, I watched the Cowboys sideline. And the Niners sideline, the whole game is under control. Kyle Shanahan head down.

When the Cowboys succeeded on that fake punt, the sideline was in discerer. Ray and chaos. And I said to myself, I've got eyes here. The Cowboys often look disorganized. Whereas San Francisco, I never watched the Rams and think they're in chaos. I never watch the Patriots and think

they can lose. But aren't you a little concerned with Dallas? Sometimes it looks like the sidelines out of control. Yeah, with Dallas, it's like at times something just doesn't seem right, feel right, look right. It's been that way all season.

out of the season hot and then, you know, they got cold and we all trying to find the reasons why. And then every week is something that shows up, which makes us question, you know, while the Dallas Cowboys look dysfunctional. And then at times they look like they come into the game, like kind of hoping that they're going to win and not knowing it they're going to win. You know, on the defense side of the ball, they play great. But the confidence just don't seem that it's there. And everything that happens for them, you know, it seems like they always, you know, take it with a grain of salt. but then take a step back.

I just don't understand what's going on with Dallas, and it's evident that everybody see the same thing. Listen, I was watching Philadelphia, and, I mean, Troy Aikman was about as brutally honest as you could be. He was like, listen, it's a single high safety. They're begging you to throw to wide receivers. They're daring you to throw, and Philadelphia struggled. Philadelphia's got three picks in the first round.

Okay, that's a lot of picks. I mean, you could literally call a Seattle and say, have all of them, give us Russell. Do you believe Philadelphia is going to watch that film and watch that tape and say, okay, we got to at least consider some options at quarterback? I mean, do you think it was, I mean, because I'm watching it thinking, man, this is, some of this stuff is just bad on film, bad on tape. What do you think is going through the mind of Nick Seriani, Howie Roseman, three first round picks? Do you think they're picking the phone up this morning? I don't think they're picking the phone up, you know, first initially.

they got to go back and listen to what Troy said because he was so accurate. And as Troy said it during the broadcast, and I think I've seen it and pointed it out to somebody I was sitting there talking with. But it was one-on-one coverage all day. And Troy and Michael Irvin, they made a living, you know, throwing those deep outs and throwing those deep comebacks versus that type of off-coverage. You got to take advantage of that. And I think when they go back and watch the film, they're going to see it.

it was plenty of opportunities, but do you believe in Jalen Hurts to make those throws? And is he mature enough to handle those situations where if it's not there, if you get some underneath coverage, that he'll check it down. So, you know, that's the question that they got to answer, but they should have seen that or known that throughout practice and throughout the season. He's more than capable of making those throws. So they got to decide on, you know, what's best for the team. I think Zalin can make those throws.

He just got to be put in them situations, Carla. Okay, I've got to ask you about Kyler Murray tonight on the road. Since he got hurt in about week eight, he missed time. Like Russell Wilson, he came back. He was clearly not 100%. Now he's missing DeAndre Hopkins. What do you expect from Kyler Murray tonight? The defense has not played well for over a month in Arizona.

So he's sitting on the sidelines a lot more watching than he was in September and October. What do you expect with Kyler Murray in Arizona tonight, Michael? He got to take the game over. He got to be a true dual threat. How ever he can get it done in the air on the ground. And he's more than capable of doing that. You know, he can be the X factor as well. You know, he's Josh Allen, you know,

just in a different body, different stature. So he can get it done. But he got it. The other guys got to come along with him. They got to have some type of running game. They can't come out and think that they're going to spread it out and then just pass, pass, pass. And then Cala do his thing in between.

it's not going to work like that. It's got to be schemed up properly. The Los Angeles Rams got a good defense and they've been strong all season, but they got some guys out there who can change the dynamic of the game. So Cal is going to have to be very precise in his decision-making

and really just be calm in this moment and not let the moment be too big for him. So I think he's more than capable. We'll see. And finally, you know, it's interesting. A lot of times a quarterback when they have a great coach like Andy Reid will come out with eight or ten scripted plays.

be very strong early, and then the game simmers down. You know, Kansas City's often the opposite. They start really, really slow, and then they score 21 points in five minutes. It is interesting with Andy Reid a great schemer. McVeigh's teams are usually very, very dynamic in the first couple of quarters, right? First quarter. I would think, if you would have asked me, what will the Kansas City offense be like? I'd be like, oh, they're going to be great in the first quarter.

Andy Reid's going to scheme it. Mahal. and they're not a lot they fall behind. Explain why that is. You were under Andy Reed. Yeah. Well, we always had our first 15 plays, and those first 15 scripted plays was, you know,

plays that, you know, we all came together and said, look, we like this so we know we can score. And if we put, if we're putting these positions and situations, you know, we feel like we can score at least on our first two possessions. But that's, you know, kind of surprising to me. that Andy hasn't, they didn't start fast last night and they did struggle early. But for the most part, if you think back over the last couple years, the Kansas City Chiefs have been a fast starting team.

And those first 15 plays, you know, they always make magic on. And I could think back to my days of playing with Andy, we was very successful, you know, in the first two quarters of the game and then how you finish, you know, became a different situation. Right. But, you know, when you got their first 15 intact, you know, more than likely the good things are going to happen. got to clean it up and start faster, you know, next week. Yep, bills, by the way, have a very ferocious pass rush. The difference, the Steelers did too. The difference is Buffalo can score quickly. So it's going to be a fireworks show. Michael Vic for Pro Bowl's 13 years. Great seeing you,

man. Good thing, you got. You bet. Top of next hour, Colin Wright, Colin wrong. There's all sorts of stuff going on. You know, I mentioned that Russell Wilson stuff because a lot of game playing this weekend. I want to be in Seattle. Then a tweet comes out that Pete Carroll is not getting fired. Then Russell suddenly the next morning wakes up. I want to look at my options. There's a lot of stuff going on here. The best quarterback won every division this year. And this weekend, the best quarterback won every game. Now, the exception would be DAC and Garoppolo. I don't think they're that far apart. I like DAC more than Garoppolo. I don't think it's a huge chasm. But you start looking around at what is happening with the NFL. Now, I don't remember.

remember the best quarterback winning every division. The best quarterback usually wins a division. Now it's like every division and every playoff game. You got to start waking up. We have a cultural change going on. You start waking up thinking, do I got to move off guys? Or am I going to bring this back? Now, Dallas is not moving off DAC.

That's not what I'm saying. You start watching Jalen Hertz. You start watching Mack Jones and you think to yourself, all right, I'm going to bring it back again. I don't know. I don't know. I think you have to consider everything. 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-Hart Radio.

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, 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 Cliverts 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? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. including a recent 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, so... Then you'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 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 hard way and listen now. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays

at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Do you want to be running the Hill Mary play from the 50-yard line or you want to be running five verticals from the 25-yard line? So that's the decision. It's the right decision. You know, it's just like anything. It's, you know, the execution between us and the officiators putting the ball. obviously wasn't in tune,

wasn't, you know, we shouldn't have had any problem getting the ball spotted there. That's the quote you're looking for. So he's giving you two options, and those aren't the only two options. You had 14 seconds left. You could have run two more sideline things

and had three seconds left. He's like saying, we did the draw or the game's over. It's like those weren't the only options. I actually don't understand how without a timeout you could ever risk that play. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

There's so many ways it can go out. I will run it again. and just say, folks, if it runs perfectly, you've probably got two seconds left. If it's perfect, I mean, Michael Vick says, it's almost like when you take your kids on vacation, as a parent, I just build in chaos. It's not going to go right. Somebody's going to have a tantrum. The airline's going to be late.

So you just go into it knowing, this isn't going to be perfect. They basically did that thinking, it'll just be like practice. that's not the way it works. Absolutely. It's got to assume the referee is going to give it to me, he's going to drop it, and they'll pick it up. Like, if I would do that play if I had 21 seconds left. I mean, my takeaway is I wouldn't do it with anything under 15.

If I had 23 or 24 seconds left, I could at least say, we'll try it. But then again, with no timeouts, why? Why wouldn't you still throw it to the edges? Right. That's a great way to put. Yeah. You know, the interesting thing with that, and we'll show it in a second with the Cowboys doing that, the Cowboys and Mike McCarthy are saying it's the right thing to do, it's analytics.

Here's the easiest way to think about this. If you just drop back as a quarterback, this is what Brady made a career of, and throw to the sidelines, you simply get more plays. If you run a play to the middle of the field because you can't stop the clock, it means you're going to get fewer plays. So when there's 14, 15 seconds left, this is going to be at best one of your final two plays. You know that when you do the play. You only get one more play.

If you do it the other way, which is keep throwing to the sidelines, you're going to get three plays. So ask yourself. And you know running that play, there's no chance to score. So the minute you decide we're going to do that play, you got two play. That's going to be one of your final two plays. Side lines with 14 seconds left, you get three plays. what would you rather have there? Two or three.

So it makes no sense to me. Even if I had 25 seconds left, because at 25 seconds, you'd feel much better about it. At 25 seconds, I'm still probably limiting the number of play. If I had 25 seconds, I'd get five passes, minimum four. If I had 25 seconds and ran that, I'd be down to three. So I just want more plays and more options because stuff goes wrong. It's like when you take your kids on vacation. Anybody that's had kids knows this, multiple kids.

You build in chaos. Something's going to be late. Somebody's going to have a tantrum. Somebody's going to forget something. You just build it in. It's the old home alone. Hopefully you don't forget one of your kids at the house, but somebody will forget something.

A passport, a license, so you leave early for the airport. You get there early. You just build it in. When you're running that with 14 seconds left, you're giving yourself no build-in for that play. If it's run perfectly. You have two and a half seconds left.

Perfectly. So Chris Sims tweeted this earlier. Quote, coaches I've worked with, McDaniels, Belichette, Gruden, always said, 17 or 18 seconds was the line of demarcation for a quarterback sneak like that in the middle of the field. So that's 17 or 18 seconds. You had 14.

Those four seconds are your season. So here's Mike McCarthy after, rationalizing it. Do you want to be running a hellmerie play from the fifth? the yard line or you want to be running five verticals from the 25 yard line so that's the decision it's the right decision you know it's just like anything it's you know the execution between us and the officiating spotting the ball obviously wasn't in tune

wasn't you know we shouldn't have any problem getting the ball spotted there that's that the quote you're looking for okay first of all he gave you two options well we either were going to throw this or that those weren't the options you had far more variables to consider so it's just doesn't make any sense. And I'll ask the questions, again, if you're a Cowboy fan, you can blame the refs all you want, you trail the entire game. It really should not have been that close. There was a play earlier in the game when Jimmy Garapolo, on a fourth and inches, complete bonehead play, it's like a high school play. He didn't let Trent Williams,

his left tackle, who moved to the right side, get set, which is inexplicable, no excuse. It's a total bonehead play. As a quarterback, one of the first things Joe is do is just make a quick look. Our guy's set. It was a fourth and inches. If Garoppolo gets that, and he did, the game's over. So Garoppolo gave you this drive. The game should have been over. But Garoppel made, you know, the kind of move, which has been driving Kyle Shannon. Everybody's paying attention to the interception by Garoplo. It was bad. I'm not disputing that. But again, playoff games. If you're an aggressive quarterback, I'm not going to crush you for a pick.

I'm going to crush you. If you're Jimmy Garoppolo, you go to the line. You've got 50 NFL starts. You've been to Super Bowls. You've been to playoff games. And you don't wait for Trent Williams to get set. What are you doing? So for Cowboy fans who want to complain,

only Jimmy Garopolo's bonehead play gave you an opportunity to move it down the field. The game should not have been that close. You can blame the officials. But 14 penalties, second time this year, many in pre-snap. I mean, the pre-snap penalties, that's a coaching penalty. You've got to get your act together. So, and, you know, it's just really interesting. We really saw the gamut on quarterbacks this weekend.

We saw three levels of it. We saw the great ones. Burrow Allen, Mahomes, Brady, especially Tom in the first half. We saw great. We saw capable. Derek Carr, Jimmy G. DAC, capable. I mean, these guys are obviously professional athletes. And then we saw Jalen Hertz and Mack Jones.

They weren't good enough. The question is, were they not good enough with Jalen Hertz and Mack Jones or not good enough yet? And that's an determination the GM and the coach makes. They weren't good enough. Mac wasn't good enough. He wasn't terrible. Hertz was. They weren't good enough.

But the question is, Josh Allen wasn't good enough his first year. Are they good enough or not good enough yet? I think Philadelphia is going to kick around those three first round picks and look around a little bit. I do. And I wouldn't be shocked if New England did as well. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way,

the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle great. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons and Wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite offers. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

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