The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Lamar Jackson vs Josh Allen

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Colin looks at the divisional round of the NFL playoffs with a huge match up between Lamar Jackson & Josh Allen telling you which star quarterback has more to gain with a signature win He gives his thoughts on the weird relationship between Eagles HC Nick Sirianni and QB Jalen HurtsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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And however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. I have a blazing four in one hour. J. Mack's got his picks. Actually, I think it gets easier as you get to the playoffs because you have the best quarterbacks, and you kind of know what you're going to get in the performances. So here we go on a Friday. J-Mack, I want to start the show talking Bill's Ravens and then Rams Eagles, because the Eagles feel combustible, but yet they keep winning.

But let's start with Baltimore and Buffalo. That sounds good. I thought you would start with your haircut. Looks like you got a little fruit now. Always try hygiene is essential for our show, especially during the football season. So let's start with this. It is Bill's Ravens, which has a chance to be the best football game of the last five, six months. But it's also a game about Josh Allen and about Lamar Jackson.

and it really is, and it may be unfair, but it's a quarterback-dominated league. And so, I think the game means more to Lamar Jackson. Josh Allen's actually been very good in the postseason. In fact, his passer rating in the playoffs is one of the best ever. He just lost to Joe Burrell once and Mahomes three times. But Lamar Jackson often feels like a different player in the playoffs. It's like Derek Jeter in baseball. You got the same Jeter, regular season, or the World Series.

That's Josh Allen. Lamar, you look at the numbers, you don't. He's closer to Barry Bonds. The great Barry Bonds' first 28 playoff games, he had one home run. Where did the power go? Lamar looks tight, he looks anxious, he admits it, and you're left scratching your head. And that's why I believe this game means a lot more for Lamar Jackson. If he plays well and loses, that's okay, because we all get how good Josh Allen is,

and we all get how good Buffalo is. I mean, maybe he loses in overtime and puts up 300 total yards, we're fine. But if Lamar delivers another clunker, and he's had a few as a playoff quarterback, not all, but if he delivers a clunker, it's going to start to define him. And how he plays matters. Peyton Manning, for the longest time, was known as the second best manning in the playoffs. It was Eli, quirky Eli that was cool under pressure, could win on the road, weather didn't matter. And it wasn't until Brady, if you go back to, I was looking this morning, Manning was three in six.

He started the playoffs, three and six. That was his playoff record. And he was 0 and 2 against Brady, and he was awful in the games against Brady. It was Eli that was cool under pressure. So that Denver stay for Peyton Manning really, really helped his legacy. And now we consider him, oh, you could beat, Peyton Manning was great all the time. Like Lamar, he had some decent early playoff games. But until he won that first Super Bowl, we were looking around going, I don't know.

He gets a little tight. He's a teeth clencher, and that's how we feel about Lamar. What Lamar doesn't want to be, and I don't think he is at all, but you don't want to be James Hardin. Where everybody kind of rolls their eyes, you're great in the games that don't count, but you shrink in the big ones. So I think the pressure is absolutely on Lamar Jackson. Now, here is the good news. You have to dig a little bit deeper on Lamar Jackson, and this is why a lot of the pressure. of the odds makers think Baltimore should be the favorite is Lamar's first four playoff games.

It was like early Peyton Manning. He wasn't very good, passerating at 68. But he has gotten better in his last three playoff games. So Sean McDermott this week talked about the battle not only Bill's Ravens, but about Josh against Lamar. I see the comparison or the parallels. They probably end there, though, in terms of the uniqueness of both players, right? And not short-changing either of them. I mean, they're the best. They're the top shelf in the NFL, those two. And it should also be noted.

Whereas Joe Burrow, some would argue, is equally talented. His franchise had to sell off naming rights for the stadium for them to be able to afford Joe Burroughs contract. You can't take the Bengals seriously because of upstairs. Ravens are well-run. The bills are well-run. So both franchises have gotten these remarkable, all-time, unique talents, really, really good players. Now, I think Buffalo's got more good players than Baltimore, so I like the bills at home this week. But what's really great about this game, it's not just great quarterbacks. It's great organizations, much like Mahomes in Kansas city and I think we have a chance

to see the best football game in the last six months. So I want to talk now about the Philadelphia Eagles who I think will beat and host the Rams. So I just try, they're a jigsaw puzzle to me. I can't, I know the Eagles

are well run, but it is fascinating. I saw another story this morning and it said, uh, Jalen Hurtz and Nick Sariana's Seriani's relationship is finally in a better

place as they get ready for the playoff run here. And I thought to myself, I'd hope so. They won 12 of the last 13 games. They're 48 and 14 all time together. How can they not get along? It would be

like one of those Hollywood divorces. You're like, the people are both beautiful. Their kids are beautiful. They're rich. They're pampered. They live in Beverly Hills. Can't you guys get along? a lot of couples with much less are doing much better. And what's interesting about it is, you know the story's not coming from Jalen Hertz, all these stories about their relationship, right?

Because Jalen Hertz went to the Nick Sabin School in Alabama of Never Say anything. And he's also a very mature, adult, quiet, reserve kid. So the leaks must be coming from Sariani. I don't think they are. Why? Because Nick Sariani looks bad in this. How the hell can you not get along with him? Everybody likes Jailen Hertz.

Where are the stories coming from? So I think it's fascinating. And that's the first part, who's leaking it. The second part is that I keep thinking about this is if you're struggling to get along now, you're winning five of six games you're together, what happens when you start losing? I mean, and this is what's interesting. Last year, remember down the stretch they were awful? If you take that stretch last year when they were awful, lost six and seven games,

they're 48 and 14 together if you count the playoffs. That's that 48 and 14 record. I'm taking out that bad stretch. So it's almost all been rainbows, harmony, pots of gold. But maybe it was that little stumble last year, that little stumble at the end, that six is seven, take that out their 48 and 14, that caused all this, that they're really not built for each other. Or maybe it's this.

And I was thinking about that. Every time I see a story on this, I think about this. There are families. and I've known people like this, they're always arguing, and yet they last forever and they're incredibly close. You see this all the time. Siriani is young and he's emotional, and isn't Philadelphia one of our more emotional cities?

Siriani is combative, so is Philadelphia. Nick Seriani always looks tired and ornery. Philadelphia is kind of tired and ornery. Doug Peterson was too chill for Philadelphia. Chip Kelly, you could argue, was too emotionally remote for Philadelphia. And there's an argument that Nick Seriani is perhaps perfect. Combative, feisty, looks tired, and Big Dom has his arms around all of it. We have all known a family like this.

There's a comedian out there, Manicasco, Sebastian Manacoucashko. He jokes about his family. He's like, we fought, we argued. Dad couldn't give you a compliment at some point. wouldn't let him come to my shows. And the guy's one of the biggest rock stars in comedy in the United States today. And I thought about that comedian because I went to see him in Chicago about six, seven weeks ago and he was hysterical.

And a lot of it's about his family. And I'm like, this sounds like a brutal childhood. Yet they're incredibly close. And I'm like, maybe this is Siriani, the Philly fans, Big Dom, Jalen Hertz, the loud sports talk radio. It's the family that screams and yells and argues even at Thanksgiving. even on vacation and that they love each other. It wouldn't work for me, but it works for them. I like Philadelphia and Buffalo, blazing five picks top of next hour.

J. Mack, you know, it's same four teams in the final four in the AFC. We talk about this all the time. Week to week, the NFL is really difficult to predict, especially when you talk about betting lines. But on a macro level, it's very easy to figure out. You start looking around. It's Lamar, it's Josh, it's Hertz, it's Gough, it's Stafford, it's C.J. Stroud. You know, the only great quarterback who didn't make the playoffs, Joe Burrell, whose organization always feels like they're frugal and pinch and pennies and a little backwards.

But I got Blazing Five today. You got your picks. I think we're going to be treated. Like college football, the longer the playoffs went, the better the games went. So I think we're going to be treated to that. So you don't think we're getting three blowouts? I mean, how many blowouts we get last? We got like five? No.

I even think commanders, if they get the opening kick and score and get the lions a little bit on their heels, then I think it's interesting. Now, if Detroit wins it, takes it down, 7-0 and starts marching with confidence, rested and by. They're getting defensive players back. That game, I feel, could get ugly. For what it's worth, that line just hit 10.

Detroit is favored by 10. Yeah, that's the one. Biggest spread this week. Yeah, you know me in big spreads. I stayed away in that in the Blazing Five. I could see Detroit Rollingham. But I could also see commanders. Jaden Daniels is hard to figure out.

They stay in games. The commanders stay in games when they get outplayed. And it's almost a talent that you look up and you're like, Washington doesn't have as good of players. They're getting outplayed. One of the only games I saw all year where I thought it was a stinker for them. I mean, they really didn't show up was New Orleans. And they still ended up.

Remember that game? They go down to New Orleans. They don't play very well at all, and they're the better team there, and they still figure out a way to win the game. They figured out ways to win games, the Bears game, in which you think they're outplayed. Yeah. Hanging around.

Just hang around and let Jaden Daniels take you to the Promised Land. Yeah. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts around there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClace on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicleaf 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Keith Giamanka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea?

It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever,

because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. J-Mack, because I'm prone to do I'm driving into the show today, I had an idea. I have said for the Chicago Bears, I think it is too big of a lift to hire somebody that's never been a head coach. So I would go with Mike McCarthy. But there is a story out.

Can the Chicago Bears resist Marcus Freeman? Now, Jordan Schultz on our show yesterday said it's a two coach race. Ben Johnson, Mike McCarthy. There's a lot of politics and dysfunction here. I couldn't go with a young coordinator. but Marcus Freeman's not. He's a head coach. And if he beats Ohio State Monday with one five-star athlete, that's fewer than Kentucky football has, and that's a basketball school.

One five-star athlete, Ohio State has 14. Do you offer him the gig? He's the closest thing I've seen to Sean McVeigh. And when Stan Cronkey interviewed Sean McVe, L.A. Ram's owner, he would not let him on the plane before he signed. and if you've ever been around Sean McVeyer watched him at the podium, bruh, he's different. So they brought him in for an interview and said,

yeah, we're going to change plans. We're hiring him. And I thought watching Marcus Freeman, and this is how the Rams thought, if you don't hire McVeigh, you have to coach against him for the next 15 years. Let's just give him the job. Little risky, 30 years old.

And Marcus Freeman has a chance to be the youngest coach to ever win a national championship. And I look at him and I think, if you meet him and you see his energy, McVeigh went to a Rams team that was worse than the Bears. They were 4 and 12, and the worst offense in the league, and their quarterback, Goff went 0 and 7. The next year, the Rams won 11 games and had the number one ranked offense. I'm not saying Marcus Freeman's a quarterback expert,

but Riley Leonard's a lot better at Notre Dame than he wasn't. at Duke, and this team should not be playing for a national championship. And my point is, some people are simply different. He also does it the right way. He's slow, patient. So Sean McVeigh has been

with the Rams about as long as I've lived in L.A., and he's winning double digits virtually every year, even in rebuilds. As long as his quarterback is upright and healthy, he wins. I don't know if Marcus Freeman even has to beat Ohio State. But

One of the things that's pretty clear, having watched McVeigh here, there are coaches that are simply different. And I said this a couple of weeks ago. When I watched Marcus Freeman on television, I watch him at the podium, I watch him on the sidelines. And I watched the staff he built at Notre Dame, which is arguably the best staff in college football. That is one of the secret sauces to McVe. He runs through staff. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter who's OC or D.C.

He shouldn't be as good about D.C.'s as he is. And yet McVeigh keeps hiring these D.C.s who keep getting jobs. And offensive coordinators keep getting jobs. Kevin O'Connell, Zach Taylor, and they end up in the playoffs. I mean, Belichick's tree can't win games. McVeys are getting to Super Bowls and turning a Minnesota Vikings team into a 14-win team. So I think with Marcus Freeman, I'm going to watch this game Monday, you know, he may just be different.

I think the Bears is too big of a gig to give it to somebody that's never had a head coaching job. Notre Dame is not your typical college coaching job. It is somewhere between college and the pros. It's not the pros, but the pressure, the alumni, the religious umbrella, the academic difficulty. It is not a typical college job. Another reason I can't wait for Ohio State and Notre Dame Monday. Bears will probably hire somebody before the game. I think I'd sit and wait for the game.

I think I'd just sit and wait for the game. I just want to see what it looks like. J-Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Urban Meyer came on our show. In fact, we have a bite.

I want to play this bite. Urban Meyer's not easily impressed. This was Urban Meyer on our show. Was it earlier this week talking about Marcus Freeman? His maturity of a coach is, I don't want to say it's unprecedented, but it's phenomenal. he's done. They got something very special

in that locker room. Their leadership, their toughness, they refuse to lose. He's always had that reputation of doing things the right way, of being unselfish and extremely hard work. And I think that's what he is. He was that as a player. He's that as a coach, and it bleeds into his team. There you go. I'm 100% with you. I think he'd be great in Chicago. Let's start with Bill Belichick-Col.

So he was introduced as UNC's next head coach many moons ago. Yeah, moons ago. He's been on the recruiting trail, putting his staff together. But reportedly he's operating without a signed contract. This report adds there could be a legal gray area about how much if any of a buyout would be if he would decide to return to the NFL. People just keep pushing this Belichick NFL stuff.

You know what's funny about this? Because college football and college recruiting can get a little sketch. You don't think Bill's putting that out there, no. This is all his rivals saying, hey, this guy's flying the coop. he's going. Now, I thought if Buffalo or the Eagles lost in the first round, he'd get a phone call. Since they both won and

convincingly, I think Bill's staying at Carolina for a year. But when a story, you and I talk about this, when a story gets out, it's not just the story, it's why did it get out and who leaked it? This feels like somebody, an agent for somebody or something is like putting it out there that, yeah, when Bill

comes on your recruiting door and knock, knock, knock, knock, just know his contract doesn't sign. Yeah. Dirty. It's Pretty dirty. Whoever's doing this, maybe Dabo Sweeney, who knows who was planting these stories. I think we could just close the door. He's not coming. He's not coming back.

He's going to coach at Carolina this year. And you think maybe next to, come on. I think he's just a fun storyline like Dion and the Cowboys who will get to, why don't we do that now, actually? Let's move on to the Dallas Cowboys. They're in a coaching search. Jerry Jones and Deion Sanders are being linked so hot and heavy that Cowboys head coaching odds are out.

and Dion is number one. Put stock into this, whatever you will. He's number one. 100. Robert Sala, in second, that is comical. Oh my God, get out of you. Now, listen, you can't get down any real money. You can't put six figures on this. Not that you would.

Kellen Moore is third. Ben Johnson is fourth. Cliff Kingsbury is fifth. Now, these are the odds that are out. Yeah, I don't know. Steve Sarkesian is others. and so as is Witten, Bill Belichick, I don't know. I mean, you know, this was Jerry being patient.

Jerry being patient. You know, Jerry has that saying, whenever I try to get a bargain, that's exactly what I get. So it's not a money thing. Everybody keeps talking about the buyout. I think what if Jerry's doing this? Let me just throw this at you. Okay.

Is that Jerry wants to hire Dion Sanders, and he'll be able to use the excuse, well, I gave it great thought, and he's going to let other guys get hired and say, you know, we looked at them, but they got hired by somebody else. And that Jerry, his primary focus from the very beginning has been Dion Sanders, because the team now is boring and Dion's not. And that Jerry, how did this get out? Who leaked the story? I'm just saying, I'm throwing it out that part of doing a three-hour show is throwing out conjecture and fun. Is that Jerry really wants to hire Dion.

And it's okay to hire him. Let's let Brable's the best candidate, gets hired somewhere else. Brable would want to say in personnel. And Jerry didn't want to give that up. Jerry didn't want to give that up. And by the way, you know, there's other candidates here who have multiple offers from multiple teams. They'll want more power. Jerry doesn't like relinquishing it.

That Dion would come to Dallas and wouldn't ask for a lot of things other than good salary, get him out of Colorado. maybe be a bit more grateful because nobody nobody talked about Dion coaching in the NFL seriously until four days ago well wait a minute we're talking about that we knew that Shadour was going and we thought he would follow well but he always he always downplayed college he loves college he loves the kids and the life journey and

offering wisdom maybe I'm looking at this wrong maybe you're maybe you're right like this isn't about X's and O's this is about butts in the seat and eyeballs on the screen and Jerry this is Jerry's number one candidate and he's letting it come out slowly, but it's really who we want. So the Cowboys aren't even a top 10 team. If they land Dion Sanders' coach, they're probably going to get three or four games in the Fox 4 p.m. window. A bunch of Sunday night football. Oh, there's no question. They're going to be talked about on this show. No question. I'm assuming we're here. Every other show out there, they're going to just be talking about Dion.

Merchandise sales. Remember, fans can belly ache. I don't love my team. This stinks. The minute you hire Deionn, merchandise sales through the roof. It's like, remember T, T, everybody hated T.O. Until he was on your team and then you loved him. He could win. He could take you places. He's a really talented. 49ers he won. Eagles got to the Super Bowl.

Like, he's a really good player. I mean, this could be like a spectacular, combustible two years. Yeah. Because you say Dion's not going to want any power. By the way, he's not going to just take Jerry Jones making all these comments in the media the way McCarthy's doing it. Dion's going to push back. He's not going to just take it, is he? Dion Sanders?

It's interesting. You know, I did an interview with him once. within three questions he hung up the phone on me because I started asking like, you know, interesting stuff and he's like, I'm not talking about that, click. Like, he's not going to take Jerry Jones blasting him and the team when they get run out of the building 30 to 10,

you know, Dion's got to push back. So maybe there is something there. By the way, Robert Sala, to the Cowboys, do you know what his record with the Jets is? It's like 74 games under 500. Well, what are we doing? Everybody's record where the Jets is poor. Go ask Sam Darnold, leave New York.

Beautiful things happen. Is that his selling point? Hey, Darnold left New York. He was sick. I can do the same. Final story is the Packers. Early exit from the playoffs lost in Philly. We know Matt LaFleur wants Jordan love to be more of a vocal leader,

but GM Brian Gutakunctz want there to be more urgency from the team going forward. The thing that's been on my mind, I think, as we concluded this season, is we need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency. We've got a bunch of good guys in that locker room. We get a bunch of talented guys in the locker room. And, yeah, I think it's time that we start competing for championships, right? And I think they're ready. I think they, like I said, I think they are wired right.

I think that group is the kind of guys that can do that. But at the end of the day, you've got to go do it. I don't even know what that means, Colin. Ram up, were they not urgent? Well, I think there's a sense that Green Bay is slowly building and baking this young team, and he wants to create a sense of, we're good enough to win now, let's play better. They've been very, and this is one of the same. strengths of Green Bay with their development of players. This has always been a core strength of the

organization. They're patient. They draft, they develop, they sit people. And he's saying, okay, enough, because Detroit's good. Minnesota's here. And Chicago's getting good fast, too, if they get the right coat. Okay, but so is this about Jordan Love? Is this like, is this what this is? Because he's the only reason they didn't have a great season, right? Well, no, I wouldn't say that. Well, he didn't play great this year, Colin. I don't want to say he regressed, but he did not continue that upward trajectory. We thought he got hurt and Malik Willis won them games. Yeah, I think it's fair to say that I, not that I've cooled on Jordan Love, I thought

at the end of last year he would move into an elite top six in the league. And now I think he's top ten. I think he's near like ten. Jordan Love? Yeah. 10-11, yeah. Okay, so he's not better than any of the eight quarterbacks in the playoffs now, right? Well, I think, I thought he was better than C.J. Stroud for sure.

And Jaylon Hurts. Jalen Hertz. I think he's better in the pocket than Jalen Hurst. He's much more athletic than C.J. Stroud. Wait, wait, hold on. Jordan Love is better than C.J. Stroud right now, you think? And J.L.N. Hertz? When C.J. Stroud gets beat by 21 points this weekend.

That's not on Stroud, man. The Chiefs are huge favorites. So Burrow also. Okay. Brock Purdy, obviously, better than Jordan Love. We know that. Okay. Wait, you're not agreeing with me on that? No, no.

No, I still, I'm not selling my Jordan love stuff. Okay. You might have to have a quarterback ranking list in the offseason. I don't think he's top ten right now. Not based on this season, Colin. Well, I do. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. Speaking of coaches, so the staff this morning gave me this. There's a pullout. Was this from the Dallas Morning News or something? They polled Dallas Cowboy fans. pretty interesting. Do you approve of the way Jerry Jones handled the decision? It's from the athletic. And 78% of Dallas fans said, no, we don't approve. And then the next question was,

the decision has me feeling like dot, dot, dot, and 54% said the franchise is lost, and there's absolutely no reason for hope. Now, that's a little bit dire. But, you know, I don't know what would happen if Dion Sanders got hired. He was, you know, he made a lot of headlines, but you know, he was 13 and 12. And, you know, he was kind of like a 500 college coach with a great quarterback and maybe the best player. So here's, if you think Dion Sanders would work, here's a reason it could, because we just don't know. Like Mike McDaniels, I thought it could work. I liked it. Mike McDaniels, Miami today? They feel finesse.

Nick Seriani. That guy's press conference, two combative, immature. He's crushing. Dan Campbell, Bill Parcells loved him. I think Parcells is brilliant, but I was like,

I don't know, talking about biting kneecaps. He's crushing it. Doug Peterson, totally chill. I thought he was perfect in Jacksonville. Doesn't work. Shane Steichen. And in the other,

Minneapolis. I thought that was an absolutely great hire. I'm reading stories about the locker room's a mess. So here's what the truth is about hiring a coach. Outside of Harbaugh, Andy Reed to Kansas City, Sean Payton, Vrable to New England, anytime Harbaugh's hired, there's stuff we all know. Those are the layups in our job. We know that's going to work. But mostly, it comes down to who's your quarterback. and if Dak Prescott is your quarterback,

I think it's reasonable assume whoever gets the Dallas Cowboys job wins 10 or 11 games. Again, we all knew Andy Reid to Kansas City. That was going to work. Vrable to New England, yeah, they're going to be better than Jared Mayo, New England. Harbaugh to the Chargers.

I didn't know if they make the playoffs, but, you know, we set on the air, that's 10-11 wins. He'll get it straight. But when we don't know, what we didn't know was Sean McVeval, was this. Bears hire Marcus Freeman. You don't know. I think he could be magical. But if you look at Dak's career, Dak wins you about 10 games. And so if you start looking at who's going to work and who's not going to work, I mean, I bet about 500. And most of my hits have been with Harbaugh of the

Chargers, Peyton of the Broncos, Andy Reed, Kansas City, you know, the obvious stuff. I thought Dan Quinn with Washington would work with Cliff Kingsbury. I thought that would be very, very good. Plus, They'd bottomed out so it had to be better. But the reason, you know, Cowboy fans are in this, we'll never get solved. I don't think you're going to hoist a trophy with this roster for several years and what you're paying DAC. But I think, unless they hire somebody I've never heard of, my guess is they'll be okay. Dion will be fine. They won't finish in fourth place.

That I feel strongly about if they hired Dion Sanders. They wouldn't finish in fourth. Shady McCoy, top of the hour. Blazing 4. Blazing 4 top of next hour, including Ohio State Notre Dame. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, Steve Kavino. And I'm Rich Davis.

And together we're Kavino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the IHeart Radio app. Why should you listen to Kovino and Rich? We talk about everything. Life, sports, relationships. What's going on in the world? We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture.

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Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special.

So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast. network on TikTok. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong?

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Winds kind of died down. gave firefighters a real chance and people in their communities and the cleanup crews chances to recover American Red Cross give if you can. So I thought these stories were interesting and kind of predictable, but everybody pushed back when the NIL hit college football. And if you're listening or watching my show and you don't follow college football, basically college football players now often make more than pro players, especially quarterbacks. And there's a story out where Carson Beck, who played at Georgia, could have gone pro, declared for the draft and said, now I'm going to do a U-turn and go to the U, and he's going to make $10 million playing college football. Quinn Uers, by the way, turned down $8 million in college football to transfer. And so this is the opposite.

This actually helps college football and pro football, not just – so this is the opposite of the basketball culture in America, which I think is largely broken. It's all about, hey, just go for the money. Whatever league international leave college. So what college football now is going to get is older, mature players, not only adding familiarity and stability. Think about this. Stuart Mandel covers college football. He had this tweet in the last couple days. 70 players have declared for the draft.

That is half the number of six years ago. So college football is getting older, more mature, better players staying longer, higher quality. right you watch college basketball the best players are all like 19 one and done boom see you head off to a lousy team and they're anonymous sitting on the bench or a rotational guy or maybe they start for a really bad team and you have no emotional connection to the players and that's why i think the basketball culture in america we were talking about this uh in the hallway this morning as we were walking to the show with ryan the producer i was saying you know it that you just don't have any connection to these college guys sGA stays one year two years at kentucky you're like

oh, that kid's interesting. Boom, he's gone. And then he's part of the OKC rebuild. And last night, you know, he's a great, great player, just a dominant score. But you don't have as much of a connection unless you're a diehard fan. And so this also, I think, what's happening in college football helps the NFL general managers, because now I get more tape on players in a different environment.

You know, this is why the COVID quarterback class was so awful. I mean, he had very little tape on Zach Wilson. His pro day was what people were falling in love with. Trey Lanch, you had three pieces of fuzzy video. But now with guys staying in school a year longer, A, more great players staying in college football, that helps the opposite of college basketball, and it gives NFL general managers more video and film and reps to work with.

I mean, and a prime example of why college football is so much more popular than college basketball. College basketball now is all about the tournament. go look at the draft last year, the NFL draft and the college basketball draft. Now, J. Mack is one of the seven people on earth that knew every one of these basketball players coming out of Lithuania. But if you look at, if you look at the NFL draft, it was when we watched Caleb Williams at high profile USC. Now, I saw Jaden Daniels number two pick at Arizona State. Most of you saw him at LSU. Drake May was at Carolina.

We didn't see a ton of him. But Marvin Harrison, Ohio State, Joe Alt, Notre Dame, Malice. neighbors LSU, Michael Pennex, Washington, Roma, Dunesay. Those teams were in big national TV games, J.J. McCarthy, Michigan, Bo Nix at Oregon, and the offensive tackle from Penn State. So I'm watching those guys for years and years. I'm familiar with them. So college football is now getting more of this.

More of these players in the blue on the left. Sorry, radio audience. College basketball and basketball's culture does a disservice. I had Adam Silver on NBA commission this week, and I said that. I said, why do you guys marginalize college basketball? That's how I learned who Zion Williamson is, or Cooper Flagg at Duke. If he goes to the G League, I don't know who he is. I have no connection to him.

So I think college football, this is really good news for college football, that you will find every year going forward there will be 20 quarterbacks or left tackles or edge rushers or star receivers that are making more than fourth, fifth, six, seventh round NFL players. Now, I could argue because it's football and there's a regulated level of violence, you're better to go pro. Get your pension started. That's certainly an argument.

But, you know, try telling a 22-year-old kid, if somebody's going to offer him $2 million or he's going to make $375,000 in the pros, stay in college. I mean, I'm watching that story on Carson Beck. He's got a cute girlfriend. He's making $10 million. There's no state tax. He's going to the U. That sounds fun to me.

I had to put chains on my car. college. It was cold and snowy, and his college career sounds really fun. Would you rather be the backup quarterback for the Cleveland Browns? Making $700,000 a year or making $10 million at the U on that campus?

You tell me. By the way, I don't think Carson Beck is a wildly great prospect in the pros. I mean, I look at some of these quarterbacks, and I'm like, why would I go pro? I'd rather stay at Texas.

Miami, Michigan, Ohio State. You understand what these quarterbacks are making in college now? They're making like $5, $6, $7, $7,000. And these programs, these big end programs, if you go look at how they feed the players, how they treat the players, the facilities that are being constantly upgraded for players, that's a way better life than getting your headbeat in or holding the clipboard in the NFL.

I mean, Johnny Mansell was a rock star at Texas A&M. He didn't buy a meal down there. Vince Young's name at Texas. So unless, now, it's different if you're going to be a top five or six pick. If you're as good as Jaden or J.J. McCarthy or if you're a first round pick. But let's be honest. There's like four of those guys maybe a year in college football. Four.

There's about seven, eight other guys stay in college. And I think it helps the sport. You think I'm crazy on this, J. Mac? $10 million to play college football. Well, you make it sound like being the backup of the Cleveland Browns is the worst thing in the world. $700,000, they're making more than that. A backup that was a six-round pick? Well, if he's a six-round pick, he might not be the backup.

He might be on the practice squad. All right. I mean, I guess you're right. Plus Carson Beck has like a famous girlfriend. She's one of these at TikTok influencers. She goes to Miami. Well, that's getting banned Friday, so next Sunday. Yeah, her career's out.

But yeah, so he wants to like be around her. Miami's not a bad place to be. It's where I had my bachelor party. Yeah. You know, that gets an amazing city. Of course. Yeah, I did toss that in there. But yeah, like, do you want to go to Jacksonville and be the backup to Trevor Lawrence?

I'm not saying, if you're Joe Burrow or Herbert or two, a GoPro. But I think this is a big advantage for college football. Quality, quarterback play. But you know the window for NFL is much smaller than NBA. Like LeBron's playing at 40. He is an outlier. But Curry, Duran, all these guys are in their mid-30s. Mid-30s, you're definitely out of the NFL.

You're trying to get to television, you know? NFL, your career is probably over. unless you're like an offensive lineman, like 33-ish, quarterbacks last a little longer, right? I think your NBA career can be stretched out. One of the reasons we had Adam Silver on is to ask him about some of the problems with the NBA. Now, the NBA makes a lot of money.

It gets a lot of people that love it. The quality of the athletes better. The international game is great. So there's a lot of things going on right with it. But one of the issues with it is this lack of recognizable, domestic, and international players. And that's why March Madness you see Zach Eady, right?

You don't watch Big Ten basketball. You see Zach Eadie as an underclassman, and you're like, oh, that's cool. The fact that Zach Eadie came back to college basketball with Purdue and they were a very good team, well, I was into the Zach Edy story. So every coach I'd bring on, I'd bring on Jay Wright or Mark Few, I'm like, what do you make of this Zach Edy guy? I asked the, every time I brought a college coach on. So I got into Zach Eadie, well, now I'm going to watch him in the NBA, even if he's not a great player. He's not really good with him.

So I just think of all the issues, we got into this discussion this morning, of all the issues with the NBA, to me, it's not three-pointers, although I think that needs to be tweaked. The number one issue, and I've always said this about politics, before Barack Obama arrived, the Democratic Party was, really was going through a tough time they felt rudderless, and then they found their rock star. And by the way, the conservatives were a little bit rudderless. Then they found Trump, however many years ago, is that it's amazing. If you get the right coach in football, it solves a lot of issues. if you get the right quarterback in the NFL solves a lot of issues. And so in the NBA, they could solve all their, we wouldn't talk nearly as much about the problems with the NBA.

Let's just say Cooper Flagg from Duke stays, wins a Natty and goes on to average 27 as a rookie. He might. And ends up going to a team. And all of a sudden, that team makes two or three trades. And you're like, oh, we got a domestic star. And he's a good-looking guy. And he's feisty.

The NBA is a lot of times. in life, your problems can be solved by just hiring, drafting, finding a rock star. I was just talking to somebody about, just talking to somebody last night about Starbucks had a rough year last year, the stock,

and they got rid of their CEO, and they went to Chipotle and hired that CEO. And the story is he is fantastic. And they had all these problems and blah, blah, blah, blah. And now nobody's talking about it. So, sometimes

problems can be solved by one or two agents, one or two platforms. So I just think my take is the primary issue is we just know who these college football kids are, and now they're going to stay longer the star quarterback. One argument for basketball is, you know, these high school kids have such great highlight reels that we knew about Zion Williamson when he was like in 10th grade. We don't know many football players in 10th grade. No, no, no. But like right now, there's a kid in high school basketball who is utterly dominant, Gilbert Arinas' son.

Yeah. He is everywhere. He probably has more Instagram followers than 90% of the NFL. Right. This kid is skyrocketing to start him. He's going to be huge. He's going to only be one and done in college. Maybe he goes straight to the pros.

I don't know. But we're to, the NBA culturally, like online, that social discussion, the NBA and basketball dominates. I don't know any high school football players right now. Do you know many of them? There's a lot on the basketball fund. No, no, no. I've been following that for 20 years.

20 years. I know all of them. Okay, fine. Wrong guy to ask, but I do think it's a little overblown. I think we need more domestic stars in pro basketball. That would be great. Let me tell you something. Look at the NBA pre-magic and bird. It was pretty rocky. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers, I'm Joe. I'm

Kevin. And I'm Nick, and guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick.

Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel helped

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. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man.

Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Someday into right now with Buddy by Jake Radio. Non-stop workout music and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now.

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