The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Niners Got Talent, Florida State Snubbed

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

Colin thinks yesterday proved the 49ers are the most talented team in the NFL right now. He says it looks like the Packers are finally trusting QB Jordan Love. And Colin gives his thoughts on FSU being left out of the College Football Playoff.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Monday. Lots and lots to talk about. Live in Los Angeles, it's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Thanks for Megan House, part of your day. Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. Man, there is plenty of both on a Monday.

Greg Olson stops by in an hour as well. 42 to 19. J. Mack, you and I, it was our favorite pick of the week. We love the Niners. Last week, we said it on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We love the Niners. You, I didn't. You predicted it had a chance to be a blowout.

You know, when you're right, you're right, Colin. We gave the audience some spending money for the holiday, should we say, yes. So it is official. It's official. The San Francisco 49ers are the most talented team in the league. It's not worth arguing. They're 9-0 when healthy. they blew the doors off the Cowboys and humiliated the Eagles.

When healthy, this roster, even missing their great safety, Hufungo to an injury, it's the best roster in the league. It's not particularly close. I mean, Brock Purdy against the Cowboys and Eagles, eight touchdowns, no picks. He's a seventh round pick. But, and it's a big butt, their physical style, and the age of some of San Francisco stars, they are weathered, They've taken a lot of hits.

They get banged up. Makes them vulnerable to injuries. And that's what we all knew, right? We've talked about this. Philadelphia's best chance. Baltimore's best chance. The Chief's best chance. Detroit's best chance.

The Cowboys' best chance is to catch the Niners in a week that Trent Williams has got a sore hammy or, you know, Debo's not quite right. That's your chance to beat them. Because at full strength, they humiliate you. They don't humiliate the bad teams. They humiliate the second third. fourth, fifth, best teams in the league. What is Brock Purdy?

Well, he's first in everything in the NFL, first in completion percentage, yards per attempt, passer rating. Is he the next Brady? Kurt Warner, Hall of Fame or undrafted. Tony Romo, undrafted, great player. Tom Brady, Hall of Famer, Goat, six-rounder. I don't view him as that. I view him, however, as a product of his environment to some degree.

I think he's good, but I don't view him as a top five or six quarterback. But what he's great at in this system is he's great at what he is being asked to do. And Philadelphia in this matchup has a huge issue that's not going away. Their cornerbacks and their linebackers are kind of just guys. And San Francisco's skill players, tight end, receivers, running backs are Hall of Fame level players. It is a big problem that's not going away. Trade deadlines passed. It's not changing.

That's why San Francisco's Debo Samuel was talking to. trash. That's why the staff was confident and coached the way it did. They look at film. They're better at this than us. They saw Debo and Kittle and Iyuk and Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams and Brock Purdy and they looked at that secondary and those linebackers and they knew this is a mismatch. You watched it. It was a mismatch against Dallas. But it's more problematic against Philadelphia because Dallas has some players on the back end. You're Micah Parsons, Bland now at corner, Stefan Gilmore. Philadelphia is pretty weak back there.

And we have to be honest about Philadelphia. They lost both linebackers and they lost both coordinators. And they were good coordinators. Their offensive coordinator now could make the playoffs with Gardner Minshue. They lost great people in the building. And so all those blowout wins, the margins have changed. Last year, their defense was eighth. This year, it's 24th.

Last year, Jalen Hertz played comfortably and with huge leads. Now he often trails, and he's outgained. The NFL season, it's truth serum. You eventually, the weather gets crappy, your team's dinged up, and the truth comes out. And the truth is, San Francisco's the most talented team in the league. Philadelphia may be second, but they're way back. And Philadelphia, another truth, misses their great offensive coordinator, Shane Steichen, who's taking Gardner-Mintchue to the playoffs.

They're not the same offense. And frankly, they're very average on the back. Very average. And so from 8th to 24th in defense, from Leeds to falling behind on offense, you saw it. San Francisco's got better players, a better coach, and right now a better system, and better momentum. And here's Nick Seriani, acknowledging all that after.

We didn't have a coach good enough. We didn't play good enough. It's as simple as that. And why do you not do that? Well, you got to give credit to them too. That's a really good football team. And you don't come out and play your best game against the guys that they have and the coaches that they have.

It's going to look like that. And so we got to coach better, we got to play better, and we've got a lot to clean up. If they play again, it won't be a blowout. It gets hard to blow out really good teams twice. But that was a statement, and it wasn't a fluke or luck. Better player, better coach, better momentum, better health. blowout. All right, Green Bay, Kansas City.

Brutal call at the end. We'll talk about that later. But the most encouraging part of Jordan Love's performance last night. A, he had no fear of letting it rip now, and B, Matt LaFleur is now allowing him to let it rip. They were not in the preseason. They were not in September. Love was awful in October. was a lot of handholding. We kept saying it. Let it go. When you watch Jordan Love, he'll never be as precise as Aaron Rogers. There's a lot more Fav here. He's mobile. He's got a good arm, but he can be erratic. You know, his mechanics hit and miss throw to throw. But there's some Farrve here. And with Fav, you understood there would be ugly picks. He would miss throws. He

would be wild, but he was a gamer, and he could go toe to toe to with anybody. And I think Farrv and Jordan Love, now I'm not saying he is Farrve, but he made a couple throws last night. He's not going to be precise. That's not what he is. His game like FARV's is built around swagger and confidence. And when he's allowed, remember, we kept saying this over and over. Matt, let him go. He's the kind of athlete that needs of, you know, he needs some space. He's not a

decision thrower. He's not Peyton. Right? Like not Russell Wilson. No mistakes, although he had three yesterday. There are certain players that play certain ways. They're kind of predictable. You know what they're going to do. Even when they move around, it's kind of predictable. That's not far. That's not Josh Allen. That's not Mahomes. And that's not Jordan Love, though he's not in that class yet. You got a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But he was bad in October. He looked he looked apprehensive in September. And he didn't look like anything.

in the preseason because I wouldn't let him do anything. But what he has now is buy-in in the building, and this is a big deal. Justin Fields has no buy-in in the building. How do I know that? Because watch the play calls. They don't trust Justin Fields. They don't trust Zach Wilson in New York. They don't trust Mac Jones or Bailey's Appie.

They don't trust him. You can tell from the play calls. What last night showed you, and I said this last week, I don't care if he wins or loses. He's got to get buy-in in the building, and he's got it. You can tell from the throws. They're just letting him let it go. They were not in preseason. They were not in September.

They started two in October. But Matt Lafleur deserves credit for just saying, you know, this kid's style, you could see it on YouTube at Utah State. You could see it last night in the last two weeks. He's not going to be a precise thrower all the time. He's going to have bad picks and wild throws. But that's not how he's – he's not built to be precise. That was Brady. That's Kirk Cousins.

That's Drew Brees. That's not what Jordan Love is. And I think Matt LaFleur deserves a lot of credit. You also have to consider this. One of the things, and we've been on this for years, one of the things Green Bay does, and they don't get a lot of credit for, is that they draft and develop offensive players about as well as anybody, and they almost never draft them in the first round.

Tide ends, receivers, running backs. I mean, good God, they've drafted more wide receiver talent in the last two years than Belichick has in 18 years. Dobbs, Watson, Wicks, Reed, craft, the tied end. They got players all over the place. They're all twitchy. Watson gets banged up a lot, a bit fragile, but there's all sorts of talent here.

And generationally, their Jordan loves age. Aaron Rogers felt like an old front man in the band was a bunch of hipsters. Like he didn't feel like it worked. This is perfect. Jordan loves young, talented. He'll make mistakes. And Watson will drop passes. And Dobbs will run the wrong route.

And Jordan Love won't be frustrated with him because he's their age. They're all learning together. There's an inertia, a symmetry. It's all moving in one direction. Aaron was a great talent, but it was the old guy rolling his eyes at the kids. This is like a young band. They'll hit some notes and miss on others. But more than anything, he's got the buy-in from the staff.

They're letting him let it go, and they were not early, and Matt LaFleur talked about that. Ultimately, it comes down on the quarterback, making the right decisions, and then also trusting that if it's not clean, if the pocket's not clean and it starts to collapse around him, that he's going to get the ball out of his hands and not take a negative play. And I think we've really seen that, especially the last four games or so, of him doing that.

And that makes it a lot easier as a play caller to want to be more aggressive and to take our shots. You know, it's interesting. What Matt Lefleur is saying is we wanted him to let it go, but he wouldn't let it go. And maybe it was the pressure of Rogers. It's tidal town. There's a lot of pressure being a cowboy quarterback, a Steeler, quarterback, a Packer, quarterback, a quarterback, right?

Lefleur is saying we wanted him to just let it go. So maybe it was Jordan Love not letting it go. But whatever it is, he does not look like the same player. He did a month ago. He didn't even look like the same player. Last night, that throw to Watson in the back of the end zone. Whoa. Everybody, the announcers were like, what a catch.

I was like, yeah, the catch is fine. I've seen that before. That was a top five thrower the year. That was a great. That was Farr. That was Mahomes. That was Allen. So we don't know what he's going to be.

He's going to be. But right, but he's not a precision thrower. That's not what he is. He's a tall mobile athlete who can back foot it, sidearm it, throw with no stability, and some are magic and some are ugly. But it's fun to watch. I work at Fox. We have Packer games.

That was a good quality product. That was fun to watch. Remember years ago when Mahomes faced Goff in L.A.? And Goff played really well. Win or lose, and he won, he got buying in the building. People went, oh, golf can play in these games. That's really important. And Jordan has it and delivered.

All right, college football, a lot of attention in Tallahassee. A lot of tantrums in Tallahassee. We'll discuss all that stuff coming up today. We both had a good week. It was, I got to tell you, the college football scenario, I love it. It's the best. I mean, we have literally, we have a Western team, a Texas team, a Southern team, a Midwest team. We've got some geographical balance.

It's wonderful. The committee finally got something right, right? I mean, they nailed it. And all this whining in Tallahassee. A little unbecoming for such a vaunted program in college football, Colin. We'll talk about that. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Hey, it's Ben, host to The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor, and would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mallor show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world when we chat with captains of industry, in media, sports, and more every week,

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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.

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Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English.

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So the final college football playoff rankings, the ones I agreed with and J-MAC agreed with, and most people I know agreed with. Michigan, Washington, Texas, Alabama. Florida State was unbeaten and got left out. They play in the very weak ACC. So you have to start any time you want to argue about something. What's the base? What's the foundation we start with? The very construct of the college football playoff,

and this is important. In fact, it's the most important thing. There's only four spots, and there's five major conferences plus Notre Dame. Meaning all of them in any year could go unbeaten and somebody would get left out. Happiness is connected to expectations. If you don't know that going in, the basic foundation and construct, flawed as it is, four spots, five conferences plus Notre Dame. So yes, it's not the NFL or NBA playoffs.

appearance and style matters a lot and you looked awful your last two games we were watching awful third string quarterback Colin that is not fair years ago Ohio State with a backup quarterback they got in mm-hmm I remember and I watched and they won 59 nothing over Wisconsin and that's what got him in 59 nothing with a backup You escaped two weeks ago against awful Florida and this past week against very, very timid Louisville. Style matters. Basic construct, four spots, five conferences. Unbeaten doesn't mean anything when it comes to a close ballot.

Now, I shouldn't say that. It means something. But remember, on the NCAA College Football Playoff website, the first line ranking football teams is an art, not a science. Again, everything is considered. Unbeaten is something,

not everything. Colin, it is not our fault at Florida State. Our quarterback got hurt. Who said it was? Again, a straw man argument. It's your reality. It's not your fault. I'm not as handsome as Denzel,

Ryan Gosling, or George Clooney. It's not my fault. It's my reality. Things are harder. Don't confuse the two. Colin, unbeaten has to mean something. It does. It does mean something.

It means when you're awful like you are offensively and you're unbeaten, you will be considered because you're unbeaten. You'll be considered. But if Florida State had one loss, they'd be ranked 13th to 18th. They're unwatchable offensive. in review styles always mattered it's not your fault but your reality you're on a third string quarterback unbeaten does mean something but thank God it doesn't mean everything otherwise people would be terrified to schedule big games okay so the other thing I hear all the time

and boy do I roll my eyes at this what do we tell the kids you're the coach you're paid 10 million a year figured out. What do we tell the kids? How about this? Don't confuse effort for results. Things will mostly work out in life, but not always. And when they don't, don't throw a tantrum. Understand life is not fair.

The most overrated word in our lexicon is deserved. And effort doesn't always equal results. Think about the college football playoff, much like college admissions. you can have a 4.2. You took AP courses. You can have perfect attendance. You can have great references and not get in because the competition is vast and intense and nuanced.

And many things are considered. But I got a 4-2 and I went to all the classes. Yeah, but we're looking at your resume and your parents are rich. And the other kid had to overcome more, and we can only let 2,200 people in, not 6,000, 8,000 so you don't get in. Throwing a tantrum the answer. Don't confuse effort with results. Lots of people all over America work hard every day, and they don't get the results. They want every day.

There's no guarantees. The basic construct of this whole argument comes down to four playoff spots, five conferences plus Notre Dame. It's always been stylistically and artistically part of the equation. And by the way, if I have to consider everything and I do, correct me if I'm wrong. But the last, what, 15 years? What's the SEC 1? 10, 11 championships?

Do I not consider that? I have to consider every. You want me to consider everything. You want me to literally be paralyzed by the unbeaten record. Liberty's unbeaten. You know, I said this to a friend yesterday. You ever go to a wedding? What's the first thing many of us ask?

Open bar or not? If it's an open bar, get your drinking shoes on. If it's not, bring your wallet. But you know going in. It's a you problem if you don't and have unrealistic expectations that all those gin and tonics are free. If you go into a college football season thinking, guaranteed to get in if we went all our games.

It should help. It'll matter. But it's not everything. And to me, Michigan, Washington, Texas, Bama, this morning, last night, I was okay with. I was okay with. It's not our fault. Don't confuse fault with reality. A third string quarterback, this team would be a two touchdown or more underdog.

Could they win? Sure. Would they win? Probably not. I want good games. We're going to get good games. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Hurdline News. They can nailed it, Colin. That was extremely well said. Florida State fans not happy, but you know what? That's life, man. I also like an open bar. I'll ask them, hey, if FSU beat Louisville 3810, I think FSU's probably in. If they look good in that game. I sat there watching saying, what are the, they look like. I was already, I was on Twitter, I was already, because the SEC wasn't as dominant this year, they weren't out of conference. So I was ready for a show, like when

Ohio State beat Wisconsin 59-0, and then you felt ridiculous not putting them in because they could win without their starting quarterback. Your last two weeks, I mean, Louisville lost a Kentucky, the team they barely beat. I didn't want to see that FSU team in the playoff. Nobody outside of that. Nobody did. Another thing I didn't want to see was Patriots Chargers yesterday. How about that game, Colin? Patriots made the move to Bailey, Zappy, and it did absolutely nothing. 13 completions, 141 yards, sack five times, shut out six nothing. Patriots did not get to the red zone once. Neither did the Chargers, which is extremely rare. But here's a stat. The Patriots are the first team since 1938 to lose three strike games, allowing 10 or fewer points in all

three. I'm done talking about the Belichick stuff, Colin. I mean, you know, the record, the results, they are what they are. Charger fans, you happy with that? Let's talk about the winning team. Did you see the drop by Quentin Johnson again? I mean, he can't hold on the phone. I know it was raining,

people want to freak out. Yeah, he's, it looks like a mess. And Austin Echler. I did a lot of jawjack in in August. I want to get paid. I want to get paid. Chargers have been a massive disappointment. Huge. One other stat. teams that hold their opponents to 10 or fewer points this year,

53 and 0. If you could bottle up your opponent, Patriots are 0 and 3 in those games. I mean, at some point, Belichick's got to fix the offense. Next up, now you want offense. Miami Dolphins. Holy cow. And I'm going to say MVP candidate, Tyreek Hill, were in sync, I mean, just totally dominating a bad Washington secondary.

Tuah had 157 yards to Tyreek Hill. Two had two TD passes. Miami, 9 and 3rd. three for the first time since 2001. They have a three game lead over the bills in the AFC East. When they face bad teams, it looks like it's like flag football. Yeah. It's just get fast guys in the perimeter, give two a little space,

and he'll throw a pretty drop pass. Like, it's, they're a work of art when they don't play, like in cold weather or against a super physical team. But when you can give two a time to throw against an average defense to a below average defense, they make it look like intramural football and a really good team beating up on the juniors and softball. Morris. By the way, dolphins this week were my second bet place. Do you want to know who they're playing? Tennessee and their 13-point favorites. That's only going to go up. Derek Henry got hurt. Jeffrey Simmons left the game. Like, Miami is going to destroy them. Miami? I know you're

still reluctant when it comes to the postseason. We'll see where they play in January. I'm just, I don't think we can count this team out as a Super Bowl contender. They got to make your bubble if you redo it. The defense is improving, Colin. I'm telling you. Every week with Fongio, Jalen Ramsey back. They're looking good. This kid Van Grinkle. number 43. He makes plays like every week. And they've also got a couple of down linemen that are pretty good players. No, I don't disagree with that. I think they're in the mix.

Final story, CJ Stroud. Wow. You know, I didn't think he was amazing yesterday. He made the plays and he hooked up with Nico Collins a ton to torch Sartan in that Bronco secondary. Stroud, 274 yards. He now leads the league in passing. If he keeps up this pace and finishes with the most passing yards, he will be the first rookie QB to accomplish that since

Davey O'Brien. When's the last time? In 1939. The Houston Texans were this much fun to watch. Is it not amazing that if you get the right coach on the defensive side and the right quarterback

on the offensive side with a good play caller, how much fun they are to watch? I mean, they were the better team yesterday. I mean, Russell Wilson made, you know, Russell's not a huge turnover guy. But again, he didn't have a lot of space. He didn't have a lot of time. When he was forced to make plays,

he couldn't, you know? It was, Houston's a real team. But they couldn't put Denver away. Like this game, it was 163, I'm like, oh, it's over. And then Denver's just fighting. Yeah, I mean, I think, and I, you know, I just think it's baby steps. And the first step for Houston is can they sneak in as a wild card team? I don't think they're going to win a playoff game.

But I think I've seen them play the Jags recently. The history of rookie quarterbacks in wildcard games is abysmal. Like auto-bent on the other side. Yeah, but I think, by the way, Tank Dell went down. And when he went down, and when he went down, for the record, it wasn't the same offense. So some of this is play calling, Stroud, weapons. They have a little better weapons.

Nico Collins, I think, had a big play at one point. He had a monster game. I'll say this about the Tankdale injury. Why do you have a 5-10 guy who's like 170 blocking on the inside on like a goal line run, Colin? He got folded up and it was over. A broken, I think it's fibula or tibia. It's over for him. He's a tiny receiver.

He should not a bit. That's like me driving the lane in the men's basketball league. I'm not doing that. I'm not trying to get bodied and hit to the ground. If you're Houston, you have to look at this game and go, we didn't have Dalton Schultz. Tankdale got hurt, and we beat a Denver team that had won five straight. I think this is a bigger game in the locker room than we get. I think we look at it and go they won.

But Schultz, I mean, they won. They were favored and they covered, you know. But, I mean, no tight end, productive tight end. Tankdale has been shockingly good. And they won against a defense that has played really good for a month. I know you're not a huge awards guy, but when it comes to, coach of the year. D'Amico Ryan's has to be top three.

It's not a slam dunk. I think he's certainly top three. But it's getting, like, I think McVeigh has to be in there with what he's doing with this Rams' mash unit. Like, they're banged up. Rams were going to be like five-win team this year, six wins. McVeigh's doing an awesome job. Like, it's probably D'Amico Ryan's, but I think he's got some competition.

Yeah, it's fun. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. You know, it is interesting in the college football thing. All this is it's rigged. It's about the big programs.

Yes, if you look at the programs, Washington and Michigan and Texas and Bama, next year those will all be in two conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC. And next year we go to 12 teams in the playoff. And I would suspect seven to eight of the teams in college football's playoff will be from the Big Ten in the SEC. And I won't have a problem with it because those are the best recruiting teams and have the best players. When consolidation happens, you can whine and complain about it or get on board and pack your bags and move. Oregon did, Washington did, USC did, Texas did, Oklahoma did, UCLA did. You can complain about it.

I love tradition. Yeah, I like winning. You can love tradition. I like winning. I like revenue. I like inertia. I like support and sold out stadiums. Congrats on those regional rivalries that nobody will watch next year.

So get used to this. The big brand's winning. I mean, the fact that people are still complaining about it, yes, Alabama's a huge brand. They play in the best conference. They have the best coach. If it's going to be a coin flip, I'm going to take Alabama over Florida State on their third quarterback. Yeah, I am and don't feel guilty about it. I got to hold on one second here.

Oh, here was the committee chair, Boo Corrigan, on why Florida State was left out, realistic. The player availability was really important to what's going on. And I think someone said it there, you know, you. can lose a running back, you could lose a wide receiver, but, you know, a quarterback is dynamic is Jordan Travis. It changes their offense in its entirety. Florida State is a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks. Yeah, and there's no question. College football has had one problem in this playoff, the semifinal thing for years. It's not fairness. It's close games because they're always putting in who they think deserves it and golly gee they had the

best record and you get crappy games like two years ago Cincinnati and Bama last year they put Ohio State in that didn't even get to their conference championship but we all know Ohio State's like the second third best recruiting school in the country sometimes number one they played Georgia it's the best football game of the year Ohio State didn't even get to the conference championship we're all like bro it's Ohio State Georgia's like 25 NFL guys let's get it on. And it was great. Two years ago, Cincinnati, the Bearcats, they got whacked by Alabama, couldn't move the chains with NFL guys. So what do you want? I want better games. I want better competition. I want the real teams that stack up. Florida State would be a 20-point underdog

to Michigan. It's not what anybody wants. And yes, it's a TV show. Of course it is. Why do you think the selection was on television? And they drew it out for an hour. Sat there, I was like, come on, can we Get to it. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversation. 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 Cliverts 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 wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at It podcast. I'm Sam Jek.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the AIDS. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now, so... Thank you for 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. and years from black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sunday, we got a huge day of football coming your way on Fox. The Rams take on Lamar Jackson and the Raven. Trouble. Or Seattle battles Christian McCaffrey and the Niners. Check for the game in your area only on Fox and the Fox Sports app. That is the Seahawks season. Have you seen the line on that game? No, what is it?

Twelve and a half. I would take Seattle. You have to. It's the season for C. And listen, anytime anybody gets humiliated, they usually bounce back. Philly will probably play very well against Dallas. And anytime anybody humiliates somebody, they pull back a little. That game, there was so much emotion for San Francisco.

They'll pull back down to Earth. Seattle will keep that thing close. Be careful with the Eagles. They're trending very poorly in a lot of areas. I have bet Dallas. It's up to three and a half. What's the Ravens-Rams line, just for fun? I saw seven and a half, but then I saw seven.

So it's about a touchdown. NFC teams that go to Baltimore? They got smashed, right? Detroit, Seattle. If you've never faced Lamar, there's no comp at practice. And they're off a by week. Yeah, this could be a bit Raven's big. Yeah.

So listen, let me start with this. Green Bay outplayed Kansas City and deserved a win. This was, however, the worst no call I've ever seen watching football, and I've been watching it since the 70s. this is such an egregious, it's not even past interference, it's tackling, and it would have put Kansas City with an opportunity to score a touchdown and go for two. It's an outrageous miss. I don't care. I don't want your what-aboutism. That is an outrageous officiating blunder, as bad as I've ever seen it, just nonsense. Now, I am a believer, I've said this before,

let the guys play. I would call far fewer penalties. I would never throw a flag unless I and actually saw a penalty, and I'm okay with contact on receivers and corners. I am more than willing to let two great athletes battle and slap and hit. I'm really okay with that. This is just tackling. That's a terrible non-call. Awful, embarrassing for the league. But Kansas City is also an example because Green Bay was the better team last night of what transpires

when your quarterback gets paid a lot. The GM and the head coach have to make tough decisions. Fans are always like, get the bag, give my guy the bag. Yeah, and this is what you get, a receiving core that's not ready for prime time. Okay. Even as good as Mahomes is, this is what it looks like when the quarterback's making $45, $55 million. You've got to make tough choices. And the choices are Tyreek Hill, got to go.

Can't pay for this player, that player. The defense is all kids outside of Chris Jones. It's all kids. And they've had some bad injury luck. lost a left tackle. I think they're on their third Mike linebacker. They got all sorts of issues. But I look at Kansas City like I look at Apple stock. I've had it forever. I'll hold it forever. It's good long term.

But occasionally they have an iPhone that flops or a product that flops. And so right now, Kansas City, we have to put it in context. So they have one loss to Detroit without Travis Kelsey and Chris Jones. It was close. And then Marquis, Valdez Scanling dropped a ball against Philadelphia, and that's another loss. And then there's this on the worst call in the history of the world. So Green Bay deserved to win. But I mean, this is a football team that is what?

What are they now? Eight and four? You know, a drop pass. If Travis Kelsey's healthy, that egregious call, it wouldn't be shocking if they'd scored a play after that. And then, you know, Andy reads the best two-point conversion. guy perhaps ever, but it is what it is. But I'm not selling my Kansas City stock. I'm not selling my Apple stock after a flop iPhone. I just, I know what management looks like. I know I trust

they'll be fine eventually. Now, is eventually this year or next? Eventually could be next year. My guess is right now they don't look like San Francisco. They don't look like Dallas. They don't look as good as Baltimore. They just don't. They're too young in spots and two beat up in others. Here's Patrick Mahomes after. I mean, obviously we're not where we want to be at, but I mean, I feel like we're close. We're playing a lot of good football teams really well, winning some of those games, losing some of those games. And so we're kind of in the go zone now where we've got to try to get it going through the stretch. And all we can do is learn from this game and be focused on another challenge this next week coming to Arrowhead.

Okay, so the Brock Purdy stuff. So J-Mack and I, J-Mack was very early on this. J-Mack is like Brock Purdy needs to be considered for the MVP, and I'm like, hold your horses, let's settle down. But after another stellar performance yesterday, you don't have to be a first-round pick to be an MVP. Kurt Warner was an MVP twice. He was undrafted.

Well, well, I mean, Brock Purdy, I mean, look at the talent around him. Well, Kurt Warner had a Hall of Fame left tackle, a Hall of Fame receiver, should have had a second receiver, Torrey Holton, the Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame running back and an offensive wizard as a head coach. No quarterbacks had bad coaches and bad weapons. Like, right? Jalen Hertz to me has been a bit too inconsistent to be the MVP.

Josh Allen's got too many turnovers and not winning enough games. DAC has yet to be the team over 500. And so I think you have to, when you contextualize it, you have to consider Brock Purdy for the award. It's been kind of a weird year. You know, Joe Burrell's gone. Lamar Jackson has to be up there. and I look at his pass chart. And, you know, he didn't have to throw the ball down the field much.

But I will say this. It's not who completes the most deep balls. It is team success plus production plus value. And I don't think there's any question that there's value here. I mean, this kid just doesn't lose when the team is healthy. He makes the right plays. He gets the ball to the right spots. There's real value in that.

And folks, we never held it against Peyton Manning, because he had Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, and Dallas Clark, and good offensive lines. You know, and Edger and James. I mean, if you go look at Peyton Manning's MVP years, that dude had a Hall of Fame talent everywhere. Tom Brady's best years were Moss and the late Aaron Hernandez and Grunk and Welker and, you know, these guys, again,

whenever I hear, well, this guy's got this and that, not a lot of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks without good coaches and weapons. So I think you have to consider it. He had another big game, and here's Kyle Shanahan after. I just think Brock did what he does always every week. He just plays the game. He tries to play it the right way. One of the best things he did when we were down,

he didn't try to make too much stuff up and try to overcompensate when you're down. He just kept with the plan and kept doing his job and did a hell of job with it. The game had a lot of drama. There was a security guard issue, guy getting thrown out. There's just a lot of things on Fox. It was a big game. But I do think if you're fair-minded about what you saw, the thing that would concern me in Philadelphia is, and we saw this last year, they were blowing people out. They're not.

They're winning close. Minnesota won close last year. 11-0. Bounced in the playoffs. A couple years ago, Dallas had a team that won a bunch of close games. Bounced early in the playoffs. Seattle before that had a year with Russell. Won a bunch of close games.

Bounced early in the playoffs. in college football, it's very rare. It happens, Washington this year. If you're going undefeated or you're a one-lost team, you've got a lot of blowouts. Philadelphia has been pressing their luck for weeks, and you can do that against a lot of teams in this league. You can't do it against San Francisco. I mean, I'm looking right now at San Francisco. You got Christian McCaffrey, Debo Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon Ayukes become a star.

Jennings. You just got too many weapons. too many good players and too many Hall of Fame players and probably the smartest schematic coach in the league and it looked like a mismatch. It looked like, you know, that's one of those you throw the towel in about the third, fourth, fifth round. You're like, it's over. And so I think Philadelphia will be better.

But I will say this in the game against Dallas and Philadelphia, it's not that San Francisco wins games or beat these two teams. They were literally flawless in the two games against the best teams. That's what's scary. For years and years when Alabama was winning the national championships, they'd have off Saturdays. But in the biggest games, you'd be like, oh, my God, the gap between Alabama and everybody else not named Georgia is gigantic. The great teams usually, on average, Super Bowl winning teams get seven to eight blowouts a year. That was San Francisco's eighth blowout win.

That's what Super Bowl teams look like. The only team in the league close is Dallas. Baltimore's also had a handful of games where they've blown people out. I think the Rams could be another one this Sunday. So, I mean, the truth is, Philly's got two. In college football, champions almost always have a lot of blowout wins. Michigan this year has blown the doors off seven or eight teams. That's what a national championship team looks like.

Texas has blown the doors off five or six teams. Georgia had but lost to Bama. Washington's had a lot of narrow wins, which doesn't feel historically the Huskies like a national championship team, although I would bet them this morning over Texas at four and a half. I think that's the side. I think Michigan's the side and Washington's the side, whether they win or not. But I think San Francisco, that's what a Super Bowl team looks like.

Seven to eight blowout win. When you're blowing people out in the NFL, okay, that just doesn't happen that much. You get three of those a weekend. You get three of those a weekend. San Francisco's now on seven or eight of them. Are you forgetting about the Miami Dolphins who are waxing teams? And one name you didn't mention. I'm not a big wide receiver as MVP guy,

but I'm just looking at the Tyreek Hill stats, Colin. Yeah. He is so far ahead in first downs, yards after the catch, yards per game, touchdowns, average yards per reception. He's up by 300 yards on the next receiver. He is like the pulse of the Miami Dolphins. Yeah, and I think it's a great point. I would have no problem this year giving Tyreek Hill the MVP.

I would have no problem. In a year where it's been weird, right? It's like it's Brock pretty... the injuries to Burrow and Herbert's been slow. Jack's been good, but can't beat it. Tyreek Hill has been the most sensational player on the most consistent level, and I think Tyree Kill, first of all, it'd be nice in college football or the NFL or the NBA sometimes to go like off pattern.

And I think I would have no problem with Tyreek Hill. I mean, let's be honest, if you ask defensive coordinators in this league, who keeps them up at night that's not a quarterback? There's not even a second. Tyreek Hill can humiliate you. Maybe McCaffrey a distant second. Yeah, yeah. But like, Jalen Hertz is the heartbeat of Philadelphia.

Tyreek, the heartbeat of Miami. Who's the heartbeat of the 49ers? Shanahan. That's a good. I want to go off market and say Trent Williams. He's the first guy out of the tunnel. He comes out. He's dancing.

He's hulking. And they never lose with him. They run behind him a lot on the left side. I'm telling you, man. That guy's an animal. First ballot Hall of Famer, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. Hour to next. Another podcast from some has.

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. 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. Hey, it was good, y'all. you're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere,

but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way

on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.