The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - MNF, 49ers

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Thoughts on the Eagles impressive win over the Vikings The Bills continue to look like a force to reckon with  There's nothing wrong with saying the Niners are better now with Jimmy Garoppolo at QB �� Guest: Nick WrightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We are live in Los Angeles, and it's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, two Monday Night football games last night, want to blowout? Well, the other one felt like it mostly at the end. J-MAC is joining us one hour from now. Heard hierarchy, top 10 teams of the week. Denver, Cincinnati, Arizona, teams I like, waiver. wobbling. Do they make it in? Jay Mack. Now, you grew up near Philadelphia. You're a Jets fan,

but you had said before the season started. You said, look around, and a lot of the good teams are not as good this year. Philadelphia could be a one seed. They looked apart. Easiest schedule in the NFL, the Jalen Hertz MVP odds. No joke, are third highest in the league right now, after Mahomes and Josh Allen. That's how good Jailen Hertz has been. You bet in that, Colin? It's interesting. I'll say that. The tendency is to overreact after any standalone game, a Thursday night game, all by itself, the nation watching, a Sunday night game, a Monday night game.

And so I remember years ago, 2010, Michael Vick had like six touchdowns on Monday night football and immediately became the talk of the league, the MVP. But the truth about Michael Vick that year was he was good. He was eight and three as a starter, had 100 quarterback rating and finished with 30 total touchdowns. So that game, he looked like the best quarterback in the world. But that season was one of the really memorable seasons in Michael Vicks' career. And so let's not pretend like this comes from nowhere.

Philadelphia made the playoffs last year. Philadelphia had an excellent offseason. It's a bad division. And Jalen Hertz got him into the playoffs last year. They upgraded the defense. They upgraded AJ Brown. They got him a star-wide receiver. They're the number one offense in the NFL right now.

and they look really, really good. So it did not come from nowhere. This has been a slow build. And if you look at Jalen Hertz's career numbers, his passer rating, his touchdowns, his quarterback rating, it's all moved up quickly. This is not a flash in the pan. And by the way, the NFL does give us occasionally these weird stories,

like the Bengals making the Super Bowl or the Jaguars now threatening Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and the Steelers. We do get these out-of-nowhere stories, but I don't think Philadelphia feels like that. I think Jalen Hertz, you know, it's funny about Jalen Hertz. What the Eagles are basically doing, they're just leaning into what he does. And my takeaway, and I've been saying this now for a year about Jalen Hertz, in 2022 quarterbacks come in all shapes and sizes.

He's productive. That's all I know. He's productive. A little short, doesn't have a great arm, he's productive. Baseball is a sport for stats. basketball is a sport for glamour and style. Football, you win Sunday. Are you productive?

I don't care what it looks like. It's productive. And so, you know, the thing about Jalen Hertz is he's been doubted everywhere. He got Alabama to two titles. Then he went to Oklahoma and put up like Heisman level numbers. And then he comes into this league and everybody doubts him. But there's a lot of things here he does, which the all-time legends do. His work ethic is unbelievable. His weight room physique, his weight room accomplishments.

accomplishments are remarkable. His feet, his ability to move and shift the pocket, remarkable. His leadership stuff, excellent. And he's becoming a better passer. But I think the overall feeling I get about Philadelphia is that Nick Seriani, who I would argue, he's a bigger surprise than Jalen Hertz. Jalen Hertz was very good at Bama and very good at Oklahoma. Jalen Hurts was a great high school, All-American. He was a great college quarterback. and he led Philadelphia to a playoff. I've seen a linear growth with him. Nick Seriani came out of nowhere.

His opening press conference was horrible. He'd never been a head coach anywhere. Did he really have any play calling duties in Indianapolis? And he came here and he had a bad Philadelphia press conference. He's actually the shock. Jalen Hertz being productive is not that shocking. Got a lot of doubters, but he's been productive. High school, college, and now the pros.

But I think the message, the moral to the story, the message for Philadelphia is this. Everybody is leaning into what they do best. Nick Seriani came in calling plays, like McVeigh and Shanahan. Halfway through year one, Sariani's like, no, I'm not good at this. I'm giving it up. Nick Sariani realized, instead of being rigid and stubborn and bullish,

he's like, you know what, I can't do this. I'm going to let somebody else call the plays. I'm going to be the walk around coach. Kind of walk around, motivate, keep my eye on everything. He acknowledged what he was, but clearly he acknowledged what he wasn't. And Jalen Hertz, Philadelphia is doing the same thing. They've created an offense for what he does well. They're not trying to fit him into something that he may not do as well.

So kind of my takeaway on Philadelphia is both the head coach and the quarterback who have lived a life of critics and doubters are leaning into what they do best. They're not Josh Allen. They're not Andy Reid. And they've come to terms with it. And they're leaning into it. And I look at them right now, and I think it's a very short list. It may be no list of teams better than them in the NFC. There are teams that may have quarterbacks that were taller.

They may have more experienced coaches. But right now, find a team in the NFC that has a greater self-identity than Philadelphia. They know exactly what they are. And it's hard to prepare for them. And I say this about Lamar Jackson. Like, how do you prepare for Philadelphia? Your quarterback doesn't move like that. You won't face another offense like that.

There used to be a college team that they had Fisher-Daberry was the coach Air Force. And Air Force ran this quirky offense that it was impossible to prepare for in four days for college kids. And it was amazing how often they'd go to a Tennessee or they'd play a big dog and they'd be reasonably competitive without any pro players. Because it was hard to prepare for them. You only got like four days of prep. And Philadelphia is a handful. And here's Nick Sariani after. I wouldn't say I'm surprised.

I've seen the growth of them. And again, we talk about this so much with Jalen. Like, why is Jalen going to continue to reach his ceiling? Because he's tough. He's got high football character. And he loves football. Both of his touchdown runs were outstanding runs. Really the one, I know it was only four yards out,

but it reminded me of that New Orleans one he made last year. So a big time performance and a big time stage. I've always had this theory, let's shift to the 49ers, that I'm willing to hurt feelings. It's not my job for you to be ready to hear the truth. I'm going to give you the truth. And if you're not ready for it, that is a you problem. But if somebody passed away and I thought they were a horrible person, I'd talk about it the next morning. Well, it's not the time or the place.

They were a bad person. They're no longer here. I have to talk about them. I'm going to do it on my terms for my show and fill the second. I'm not going to wait 11 days until you've had therapy to get over it. 49er fans, get over it. The team's better with Garoppolo than Trey Lance. Trey Lance may have been better in the future.

There's no question. He's a better athlete. He moves much better. Good kid, coachable. But today, Jimmy Garoppolo is better. I'm not here to wait for you to be able to handle that news. There's a story this morning. The headline is NFL rumors.

Anonymous 49ers admit Jimmy G over Lance makes the team better. Oh boy, that's nuclear codes there. That came out of nowhere. Boy, those are the kind of secrets I'd love to get my hands on. Everybody in the league knows it. The Las Vegas odds changed overnight. So we've had a precedence here.

The Green Bay Packers did it right. They drafted somebody to replace Aaron Rogers. And after two years, they went, nah, we're better with Aaron Rogers. The Patriots drafted Jimmy Garoppolo. And after two years, they're like, nah, we're going to trade him to San Francisco. He's not Brady. And I know what you're saying. Well, Garoppolo's not Brady. We don't know if Tray Lance is Garopolo. Is Tray Lance going to complete 67% of

his throws? Is Tray Lance going to win 70% of his games? Is Tray Lance going to get to a Super Bowl? Can Tray Lance go to Lambo and beat Aaron Rogers in the fourth quarter? We don't know if Trey Lance is Jimmy Garapolo. But we know Garopolo's not Brady, and we know Jordan loves not Aaron Ronchers. You baseball fans romanticize stuff. You adults, you take your glove to the game like you're nine years old. Football's about winning Sunday. Win the game Sunday. Those offensive linemen, those defensive linemen, they lose years of their life playing on an interior line in the NFL. Offensive and defensive linemen don't live to be 90. Okay, that is hard labor. And they've got no interest in your prospects and your draft picks.

And it's not a knock on somebody. Seattle did this with Russell Wilson. They paid Matt Flynn $10 million like 10 years ago. It was a lot. And then Russell Wilson got drafted in third round, came into camp two weeks later. They're like, well, we got a better chance to win Sunday with Russell Wilson. I've seen it with Aaron. I've seen it with Brady. I've seen it with Russell Wilson.

And you can say Garoppolo isn't blank. But right now, he is the best option to win games Sunday for San Francisco. show. The odds in Vegas changed. Sean Payton was on the show yesterday about this. You've got to win Sunday. Here's Peyton. There's a lot of people in San Francisco that are glad that Jimmy's back. I mean, here's a guy who's been to a Super Bowl, been to an NFC championship game.

Kyle's trying to win. He's got a young quarterback that they invested a lot of draft capital to acquire. And we get it. And I said yesterday the best thing sometimes that can happen are the moves, some of your best moves are the ones that never take place, and that's Jimmy Garapolo. He was injured, hard to trade a player like that during the offseason. Both sides agree, hey, let's come back and be a part of this thing, whatever it is. We have seen multiple teams, Seattle, New England, Green Bay, look for the plan to move to a younger quarterback.

And then they come to terms a couple years in, it's like, we want to. to win Sunday. And Aaron and Russell and Garoppolo and Brady give us a better chance to win Sunday. Young players, Jordan Love will survive and Tray Lance will come back in a year and maybe he beats out Jimmy G. I think that's totally possible. First of all, Garopolo's history is he gets hurt. So if you told me in one year, Jimmy G's no longer the starting quarterback and the kid is, I'd be like, yeah, okay, that makes sense. I mean, I do think there's talent there. I don't see it with Jordan Love. Do think there's talent, though. But it's not like everybody else is concerned if you're ready to hear the truth.

And the rumors in the San Francisco locker room are, you saw how the team reacted when Garoppolo scored. They want to win games. I'm giving you years of my life in that offensive line. I'm giving you years off my life to play football in the NFL. NFL guys don't live to be 104. 96. They want to win Sunday. This is not a sport that romanticizes the past.

I can talk football for a year and never bring up Red Grange. You can't talk baseball six minutes without bringing up Mickey Mantle. It's not a sport for glamour, where Westbrook makes everybody worse he plays with, but he'll make the Hall of Fame. Win the game Sunday. You start the guy with a better chance to win the game. And the Vegas odds changed overnight. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, 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 Clivert Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or where

you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 tantons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of too. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American.

history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So there's only two what I would call great young, there's a lot of great young coaches in the NFL, but the two that are defensive coaches as the league pivots the offense are Mike Frable and Sean McDermott. So we're going to talk Sean McDermott here for the purpose of this segment. The idea, first of all, New England, anybody can coach anything. Put a defensive coordinator or Joe Judge calling plays is absolutely ridiculous. So since Sean McDermott has arrived, they have drafted defense, developed defense, and scheme defense excellently. Right now, Buffalo's defense is an avalanche going downhill and I hope you're not a skier because they,

if you have an average quarterback, they are going to roll over you. Their corners are great. Their safeties are excellent. Their linebackers move well. They add Vaughn Miller to an incredibly deep defensive line. Their head coach in an offensive pivoting league is a great young defensive coach. But sometimes a defensive coach gets in the way of the offense. I felt that at times with Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll. But a history in the NFL, we do have a history. Defensive coach with a superstar quarterback. That's how Dungey won his Super Bowl. That's how Belichick won his Super Bowls. That's how Pete Carroll and Tomlin won their Super Bowls. That's how Jimmy Johnson won his Super Bowls, the great young defensive coach and a superstar quarterback.

And I think that's what you have in Buffalo, and it's why they're going to win Super Bowls. How many I don't know. But the difference is in Buffalo, this defensive coach, unlike Tomlin and Pete Carroll at times, doesn't feel like he's getting in the way of it. They went and spent money on the offensive line. They went and gave up draft picks for Stefan Diggs. They let Josh Allen play big and loose and take swings and occasionally. turn it over.

That's the difference. I would always hire an offensive coach if given the choice today. But if you get a young defensive coach, Vrable or a Sean McDermott, he has the self-awareness to come to terms with, listen, receivers matter more. We're giving up draft picks for him. Offensive line matters more. We're going to go spend big money by guy from Tennessee or Rams, excuse me. Was it Rams or Tennessee?

Rams? played for both. And with Josh Allen, they don't handcuff him. I mean, he throws picks. He's taking huge swings. He's making mistakes. And so if you're going to go defensive coach, McDermott is my kind of defensive coach. And I like Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll.

But good God, neither one of them can get the offensive line, right? Neither. Pittsburgh's last in offensive spending. Pittsburgh will spend a fortune on a safety, Minka Fitzpatrick. They'll give up draft picks for a safety. pays both their safeties of fortune. So I do think there's a sensibility to the offensive side of the ball, the way the league is moving, that I would always go offense. But if you get a defensive guy, he can't be rigid.

He's got to get the league has changed. And between their O-line spending, wide receiver upgrades, and the ability to just let Josh Allen make a bunch of mistakes, they don't handcuff him, they don't corner him, they don't marginalize him, let him go. You know, he's the home run hitter that's going to, He's going to strike out. He may lead the league in strikeouts, but it's okay because that's, we do have a history here.

Great defensive coaches with star quarterbacks have about half the Super Bowls. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. We'll start with the NFL suspending Mike Evans. We talked briefly about it yesterday. Evans came kind of off the bench and jacked up.

Marshawn Latimore as the Saints and Bucks went at it. Look at this. Boom! Just leveled him. And, you know, Evan says he's going to appeal the suspension. But if not, he's going to miss the game against the Green Bay Packers. Colin, Tampa opened as three-point favorites. It's now down to two and a half, so some Green Bay money early in the market.

It's interesting because the reason Tampa beat, the reason the Saints have usually given the bucks trouble, they match up well. The bucks match up well against Green Bay. Great pass rush to make Aaron uncomfortable, hard to run on. So if you take away Aaron Jones in the running game for Green Bay, Aaron now with little time to throw to rookie receivers. So the matchup, I just think sometimes, by the way, the 49ers, even when it was Nick Mullins starting, match up well with the Rams. And we get this all the time where there have been Jets teams that sometimes,

by the way, Miami last several years has matched up well with New England. So I just think the matchups favor Tamp. Forget Brady and Rogers, they're great. The matchup, the personnel feels like it's an edge to Tampa. This feels like a low-scoring game. Tampa's struggle. They had three points ending into the fourth quarter. They lost another offensive lineman.

Julio Jones will see. Evan suspended. Godwin, you know, like you say, he's always hurt. That's going to be a great game on Sunday on Fox. All right, next up. Pittsburgh Steelers fans, shocker. They're upset with the offense, Colin. There were chance for Kenny Pickett, your guy.

I remember a, you remember back in August on this show, you were just like, can he picket all the time? Yeah. Fans are now saying, can we see Kenny Pickett? Mike Tomlin says no changes yet. He's going to be patient with Maserati Mitch, I'm sorry, Mazda Mitch Trubiski until the offense continues to develop. I'm not happy with much of anything, man, when we just lost the game.

But I'm also experienced enough to see the big picture that we are still very much in development. And so I'm going to exercise appropriate patience and continue to teach. and ask the guys who continue to learn in an effort to continue to push this train down the track and get better. I think that if anyone is sitting here on Monday and week two of this thing feeling happy, they're probably wrong or misinformed.

Mike Tomlin, always funny. Colin, interesting. One of these gambling syndicates bet heavy on Cleveland. They're playing Pittsburgh Thursday. Line moved from three to five. So a lot of people bailing on Mitch Trubisky and the Steelers. They go to Cleveland to face Miles Garrett and company. It could be very possible that Tomlin knew this would be his dilemma going in.

Is that, you know, Mike watches the film and the tape and the practice. He sees the truth. And he knows he's limited. But his feeling is I don't want to start Kenny Pickett and have to pull him. So my feeling is Tomlin, these coaches sit and watch film all day in practice. fans can't get into practice and media doesn't get in for very long. So Tomlin knows what Trubisky is, especially when he saw Big Ben in his prime and face Brady and Manning in his prime. He knows what Mitch is.

But is Tomlin saying to himself, listen, when I go to pick it, I'm not going back. So you start looking at these early games and the matchups and he's saying, listen, I'm going to exercise as much Trubisky as I can't. I know how this is going to end out with our own line. but I don't want to go to pick it, bench him in week eight and mess with his head. I said this yesterday. Trey Lance, what really could screw with him, because he'll overcome a broken ankle,

is starting him, pulling him, putting him back, pulling him. That's when you mess with a young guy's head. And that is really hard. Well, it happened with Tua last year with the Ryan Fitzpatrick. He was a mental mess. The go get him Tyree Kill and now everything's fine for Tua. So to me, it's like, I think Tomlin knows the truth, but I think his takeaway is I'm going to start Tribisky

until every guy in the locker room knows we've got to go to option two. And then when I go pick it, it may not be pretty, but I'm not going back to Mitch. So I'm going to leave Mitch when we're all going, all right, we're one and four, this isn't working. And Najee Harris has heard as well. It did not look good running the football against the Patriots.

It was bad. All right, we'll wrap up with a team. A lot of people love to talk about on this show. Joe Burrow and the Bungles. Joe Burrough's taken 13 sacks and head coach Zach Taylor frustrated with that high number through two games. He said one of Burroughs greatest strengths

is he can extend plays, but Taylor also wants Burrow to find the proper balance. That's where a lot of the magic happens and there's a give and take there. So you're going to end up holding the ball sometimes longer. There's sometimes he's always going to work to find an open receiver and get the ball to him

as quickly as possible. That's objective number one. Object number two is help us sometimes find a play when there's not a be played to be made. So he does a good job of striking that balance. We've just got to put these two games behind us and continue to grow and move forward and evolve as an offense. And I think that we will. Listen, two close losses. I actually think as an 0-and-2 team, I think they're going to figure it out. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, come on. Burrow didn't practice or play in the preseason. Think about this. I thought about this driving in this

morning. So Burrow didn't practice or play in the preseason and they had major offensive line moves. Stafford didn't play or practice in the preseason. They had offensive line changes. Brady didn't practice or play in the preseason. They've had massive chaos on the offensive line. All three have started this season ugly. One's two and oh, one's one and one, one's oh and two. They all had the same thing.

No practice, no games, and major shuffling on the offensive line. You just can't walk into this season. And if you look at Cincinnati's case, they're losing close. That Dallas game, the second half I felt like Cincinnati was the better team, even though they were on the road. I think Sincere you'll get it figured out. That's my gut. I got to disagree with you. I think Zach Taylor is in a little bit over his head, Colin. They took the league by storm last year, surprised a lot of people. He's coming out and doing the exact same thing. Teams are doing the Pat Mahomes treatment. We're going to play two high safeties, take away the big play. You know,

Joe Burroughs not really recognizing that. Taylor's not changing things. Burrow did not have one play over 20 yards against the Dallas Cowboys. They don't have a great defense. Their secondaries, and they cannot get Jamar Chase loose Colin. They got problems now. After the game, Jamar Chase made a couple comments about we got to change things up and we're not ready. Joe Burrow made some veil comments. Now you've got Zach Taylor. There's some chirping in the Cincinnati locker room.

I think there's some problems heading into a huge game against the Jets on Sunday. Colin, I know you're feeling the Jets as a dog here in this spot. Oh, boy. Okay, let's, the segment's done. We really appreciate your effort. Come on. Get to talk Jets, baby. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd line news. So if you owned a restaurant, the location was great. You had a great location. It's a busy little part of town. The ambience was great. Your staff was wonderful. By the way, your bar active. But your food, people are like, you know, we like the ambiance.

We love your staff. Your cocktails are great. The food leaves a lot to be desired. So you go out and you spend some big boy money on a chef. And three weeks later, the results are the food is worse. you hired the wrong chef. Right? So like the Denver Broncos, the defense is good.

The excellent corners, nice running backs, great left tackle, pass rushers. All right, all right, all right. And Russell Wilson comes over. He's pretty good too. So we're going to get this offensive coach. The problem with Denver is, the other things are still pretty good. The offensive coach, it's worse than it was. was with Vic Fangio.

Burning through timeouts, situationally awful, looks over his head, indecision on fourth downs. Listen, you've got to at least figure out your side of the ball. When McVeigh came to the Rams, he immediately fixed the offense.

When Lincoln Riley shows up at USC, in three weeks, the offense is like number one or number two in the country. Their defense is what it is, but Lincoln Riley has figured out the offense. Mike McDaniel and Mike, Miami immediately figured out the offense. Belichick in Cleveland and New England. Pete Carroll in Seattle. My concern is a lot of this restaurant was good. It was like the food wasn't.

All right, let's hire a chef. The food's worse. Like, you got, if you can't figure out your side of the ball, the defense is fine. They've only given up like 26 points in two games. The defense is fine. And that's, this concerns me against Houston and Seattle. What happens when they go in division? So against bad teams that are kind of like quasi-tanking that are not building up their roster to win. They are slow. Plays get in late. The crowd now in Denver is chanting for the clock.

I'm always, McDermott in Buffalo. The defense got, he got him into the playoffs very early with Tyrod Taylor. They weren't doing it with offense. He figured out the defense. That's what concerns me. is that you left Fangio, you moved off him because you wanted to get the offense figured out. It looks sloppier. It's disjointed.

It's disengaged. You can't blame Russell Wilson. He didn't have timeout issues or clock management issues in Seattle with a defensive coach. You can't blame it there. He didn't have a receiving core this deep. I mean, the left tackle in Denver is very good. So to me, I'm looking around and I'm like, okay, time out. if a coach is straight, if McVe moves to the Rams,

and it was the defense that carried him for the first year, you're like, well, it's either the coach of the quarterback, but we know it's not the quarterback here. So I think, I think, I mean, here was Nathaniel Hackett for like the third time this year, kind of apologizing for the mess. When it comes to the operations, you know, that's something that we're talking about quite a bit.

You know, there's a lot of things. We've got to make sure the communication is clear and concise. I need to do better at making. decisions faster and quicker in getting that information to the quarterback and being on the same page with him. So that's stuff that we're talking about this morning all the way to this evening and making sure that it's got to improve. Yeah, it's one of those things where I don't know the difference between a very good coach and a great coach. It may just be the quarterback. Like Andy Reid, I always thought was great, but never won any Super Bowls. I thought Andy Reed in Philadelphia. I'm like,

how do you fire that guy? He's great. But he didn't. won any Super Bowls. Although Dan Marino didn't. Charles Barkley didn't win an NBA title. Carl Malone didn't. I mean, you can be great and not win a championship. It's a global sport, rightly. The best athletes in the world compete here.

And so I get it. But it's when I'm watching them and I'm like, when I see a coach burning timeouts, indecision on fourth down, personnel issues, really bad situationally, like that stuff's hard to correct. That just may be your reality. Right? Like there are, every coach has weaknesses. Belichick for the life of them can't draft the wide receiver. Forever, Andy Reid had clock issues. Like coaches have weaknesses. What happens when there's like six of them on display? I don't know. I said it yesterday.

LaFleur and Aaron Rogers. Young, strong-willed. How much did Hackett do in Green Bay? Did he do anything? Was he really calling in plays? you know, again, if he made mistakes in Green Bay, LaFleur and Aaron Rogers were there, you know, to camouflage it. But now he's the head coach. There's nobody there to camouflage it. Russell Wilson, thankfully, grabbed the steering wheel Sunday. But in Green Bay, if he made a mistake, Aaron cleans it up, LeFleur cleans it up, it doesn't go to the top. Now you're at the top. So some of this stuff is really, of all my predictions going into the year, the only one this morning.

I went and looked for the divisions I got right, I think the Colts will eventually be a very solid football team. The one I look at and go, I may just have totally whiffed is Denver. I thought Hackett was capable. Everybody loved him in Green Bay. I may have just completely whiffed on this one because some of this stuff,

I'm not sure you can turn it around. Disorganization, indecision, burning timeouts, bad situationally, in the toughest division in football. Good luck. Be sure to catch live a day. of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byrd. We have a brand new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes to not only look back at what happened, what you need to do at that minute, and also look ahead

of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. Sit, start. It starts fantasy football players' rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger

than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes

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

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 taun tons 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to? do a little kill. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day,

but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS. on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. 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. Well, I was getting some pushback yesterday from the Miami Dolphin fan base because I had the audacity to suggest that Tua hit a bunch of wide open receivers under through other guys. Hey, blown coverages, those are layups for quarterbacks. I still think Lamar is a much better quarterback, even though Tua

beat him. Nick right now joining us live to host, First Things First, which is after our show now. It's got a massive clothing budget and set budget, which... Talk about that someday. Okay. This guy's unbelievable. So I will just say this. You can win a game. I don't think you're a better

quarterback. I think Lamar's amazing. Tua overthrows this guy. Underthrows that guy. And everybody today is like, Tuah and By the way, Nick, I warned everybody I said what's going to happen is this coach and Tyreek Hill you're going to at the end of the year.

We did this. No, they're scary. Listen, I think McDaniel's going to draw up great stuff. Tyreek is Tyree kill. You know, he's a Hall of Fame caliber player. Waddle looks awesome. And look at you, Colin. Doubting Tua.

You realize he threw four fourth quarter touchdown passes. Yeah, yeah. Not a lot of people have done that. In fact, the last guy that did it is another guy that people doubted and went on to have an amazing career. Sage Rosenfelds. Like, everybody pumped the brakes. Listen, here's the weird thing the media does.

Because you know there are some in the media, you're not one of these, Colin. I kind of am at times. But likes to scold other media members. Like they're the parent in the room. Like, don't do this. That's a hot take. Calm down. Everyone gets very upset.

if early in a season, you overreact to bad things. Like, oh, don't say Nathaniel Hackett's not going to be a good coach, even though he can't tell time. Don't say that. Don't say this team's screwed. But they love it when you overreact to good things. Oh, to a tongue of Iloa, who's looked like a below-average NFL quarterback,

every game of his entire NFL career. Now, him, Josh Allen, who knows, AFCEs, up for grabs. Everybody calm down. All right, calm down. I think you had the dolphins in the playoffs this year. I had them winning nine games and just barely missing. Now, so I think that's about where they'll be. Yeah.

I also thought Tua was really, really good in the last 20 minutes of that game. Yeah. I thought overall, I thought Lamar was the best quarterback on the field that day. Yes. Like, I just, a lot of things had to happen. Again, maybe he will turn this into, you know, the springboard for an amazing career. career, but I need more than one quarter against two rookie fourth round corners and a rookie safety before I say, okay, I was wrong about Tua. So I'm with you on that. Okay. I'm not with

you on anything else we're going to talk about. The Nathaniel Hackett's interesting. So listen, Herm Edwards and Andy Reid made a lot of playoffs and they struggled with clock management. So clock management can be dicey for young coaches, but burning timeouts, not communicating, not having a Hunt returner on the field, that mess of a clock situation against Seattle. These are like the classic warning signs that a coach is probably just a coordinator and not a coach. And so I've said this before is I don't, you can blame Russ and you can blame this, but Russ was always pretty darn good late in games.

He was never indecisive. Sometimes he may have thought he was better than he was. This indecision after two games, Nick. Okay. These are like flashing warming signs. All right. Listen, Nathaniel Hackett, I thought it was going bad for Nathaniel Hackett. And then I don't know if you caught this.

Sunday night football, Chris Collinsworth, who is there playing the Packers, right? Mentioned Nathaniel Hackett. And even though I've been hard on him, like, oh, he's about to get a win. Collinsworth was about to say how great he was with Rogers. This will be nice for him. And Collinsworth said, yeah, Rogers loved Nathaniel Hackett. And then he said, because he made him laugh and they played him. played darts together.

I'm like, oh my God, this is not a ringing endorsement. You hired Farv's Drinking Buddy, or I mean, Rogers Drinking Buddy to be the head coach of the team. That's not great. And you're right. Guys can get over clock management issues, but these are decision issues. Yeah. And if you're not going to trust your coach to decide if we're going for it not on fourth down, then he shouldn't be your coach.

So all of the criticism for him is fair. With all that said, Colin, is it his? fault that Russell Wilson refuses to run the football when it used to be one of his biggest skills? Is it his fault that your beloved Russell Wilson has thrown 18 pass attempts in the red zone this year? 18. And as the lowest passer rating in the NFL on red zone pass attempts, zero touchdowns,

completing less than 50% of his passes. I understand that Nathaniel Hackett right now looks like a disaster. Can you at least acknowledge right now, Russell Wilson looks like a quarterback who got pretty old pretty quickly and does not look anything like 2016 Russell Wilson. Yes. Are you seeing that? Like I'm seeing it? I said it yesterday.

I said if you took out Russell Wilson looked a lot like Kyler Murray Sunday in his first four years. Now, I don't think he's as twitchy as Kyler. But he did that. He invented that runaround stuff that looks like high school, ill-advised high school football quarterback play. Russell doesn't do it anymore. He got hit. He put on 20 pounds. And by the way, he moves it fine 20 to 20.

But what made Russell special was in the red zone, he did the Kyler stuff, which you're asking to defend. Ungardable. Undeguardable. Third and short, fourth and short, just let him scramble around unguardable. And it's gone now. And now maybe he'll bring it back. But that's my bigger concern for Denver. Because, listen, if they made a bad decision with Hackett, new ownership will fix that.

Russ is their guy, and Russell Wilson that never runs is not a high-level quarterback. So he's got to get that part of his game back. Listen, I can think two things at once. I feel bad for Trey Lance. Know him a little. Great kid, coachable, smart, strong, a lot to like about him. But he hadn't played a lot of football, and now he's going to play less football. That's tough on him.

But I can also simultaneously think this morning, the Niners are better with Garapolo, who's a distributor for a team that's got a bunch of good guys after the catch. Like that's what this team is. Get Kittle the ball. Debo the ball. You don't have to be a great passer. Just do Chris Paul. Get the guys the ball.

Get out of the way and let him go. It's kind of what Jimmy does. He's kind of an accurate distributor with an average to below average arm. Can I just say that? So that part's true. But here's the problem for the Niners and here's where I disagree with you on this. the goal for them when they made this move was not to be better in September.

The goal was to be better in January and now they won't be. The hope was that by the end of the year, Trey Lance is better than Jimmy was at the end of every season. Jimmy Gropoulos played six career playoff games. He has had the worst quarterback rating of the two quarterbacks in all six. He's never outplayed the opposing quarterback in a playoff game.

In those six career playoff fourth quarters, he has zero touchdowns, three picks, and a pass rating of 28, I like harping on that stat because you get a pass rating of 39.6 for spiking the football. So Jamie Garoppel in playoff fourth quarters, you'd be better off spiking the football than having him drop back. And this idea that because the Niners are better off right now, Colin, if you were in a race across the country and you'd been in it five years in a row driving the same car, and every

single year, that car breaks down. And I say, hey, you can take that car, it's running, or I've got this other car, we don't know if it runs or not, but if it does, it goes 100 miles an hour. You'd be crazy for taking the one that you know can't get you there. You know Jimmy Garoppolo can't be the guy in the biggest moment. That's why they made this move. So yeah, they're better in September. I don't think they'll be better in January than they would have been. Only a minute left. I've got my herd hierarchy next. Speaking of September this morning, admit it. Buffalo's defense, forget their offense. defense is going to win 10 games. Just their defense will win 10 games. Be honest.

Yeah, not everyone can shut down Ryan Tanna Hill. You're right. Colin, I was so proud of you last week because you put Kansas City at the top. And since then, Kansas City beat your beloved Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo put it on Tennessee, who appears to be in real, real trouble. Are you really going to have Buffalo jump Kansas City? They look really good. When Kansas City's, are you really, You're really going to, okay, I'm just telling you, Cancities wins, Chargers, Cardinals, Buffalo's wins, Rams, Titans. I would say Cancya is the two more impressive wins. But I get it.

The way Patrick Mahomes can get your respect is if he plays a really close game and loses to Patrick Mahomes, the way Herbert and Allen get it. Like, just all you got to do is lose to Patrick Mahomes and you're the next guy. He unfortunately can't play himself. All right, Nick, Ryan, look at what, it's a beautiful set. The show is right after ours now. First things first. It is swanky.

The guys are all funny. They laugh a lot. They're all good dudes. Kevin, Chris, and Nick Wright. And the clothing allowance and the set allowance is the envy. I'll just say that. I mean, it's off the charts. Of the network.

I mean, it's just endless. There's no budget. We just, whatever we want, they give us. I'm shocked you don't have the same thing. See you, man. Good to see you, buddy. So herd hierarchy comes at the top of next hour. The, man, I'll tell you that, that, that, Von Miller,

and that defensive front, that is. It's hard. You really have to draft and develop well. You can go get Stefan Diggs and Bon Miller, but what makes that Bill's front, so they got like seven guys that play. Well, we'll see. They got a young secondary

against Tua's track team on the outside this week in the Buffalo Miami game, Colin. They've got a pressure, too. Where's the game at? Game is in Miami, temperatures, high 80s, low 90s. Buffalo's short week. Buffalo lost a guy in the secondary

to the concussion last year. Last year, I bet the bills a lot. Well, the bills murdered Miami in the two meetings last year. One by like 50 points. Well, yeah, they're better. So, by the way, the Blazing Five had the Eagles last night. So the Blazing Five went four in one this week, three and two. So we're off to a roaring 65% winning streak.

Well done. Yes, very happy. Heard hierarchy next. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel,

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators,

and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford show on the IHeard 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. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to Look Back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your. Podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.