The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

Colin sizes up Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy and while both might be considered "game managers" this season, they are quite different He defends Lamar Jackson from the criticisms that he "can't win in the postseason" after winning his second regular season MVP   Guest: Brian BaldingerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, here we go. It is a Friday before the Super Bowl, and we are loaded live in Los Angeles. It's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. One hour from now, my Super Bowl pick, and why Greg Olson will stop by one hour from now.

J-MAC, a lot of talk. Game manager is the term being floated around by everybody this week. Your guy, Purdy, my guy Mahomes. Actually, my guy, Lamar Jackson's not in the playoffs. We'll get to that in a second. Feeling better and better

about the Niners pick, Howard. You see something like 75 analysts that picked the game, and it's like 75% of them are on the Chiefs? It doesn't mean they're wrong. All right, we start with this. I saw this this kind of made me laugh. Headline,

why Patrick Mahomes is More of a game manager than Brock Purdy. Oh, boy. Okay, let's just pretend Patrick Mahomes and Purdy are both game managers. Even if it's true. Mahomes is a different type of game manager. And I'll give you an example. Mahomes, he's doing what he can as a game manager to put his young offense in the best position to win.

and they still led the NFL in drops. But he's putting his team in the best position he can to do the most they possibly can, despite their shortcomings. It's the opposite. In San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan and that offensive roster is doing all they can to elevate Brock Purdy. So even if they're both using the same term game manager, there's a very different implementation with this.

Mahomes is guiding and babysitting a team that entered the season without a number one receiver and arguably no number two. I mean, look at Mahomes' numbers down the field this year. His deep throw numbers have plummeted. Did he forget how to throw a deep ball? Does he no longer want to throw a deep ball? No, there's nobody to throw it too. His deep ball numbers have disappeared. Drops have exploded.

you see a thread here? It's the wide receiver group. And he's doing all he can as a game manager to just sort of babysit and guide their way. We always said with our babysitter. Don't call us unless the house is on fire. He's just trying to make sure the house isn't on fire in that offense. They're struggling to score.

It's not the same with Purdy. They're the only team in the NFL San Francisco with a pro baller at running back. Wide receiver. tight end and left tackle. They're the only one. I think there's an argument this is the greatest group of offensive talent at key positions ever. Trent Williams, left tackle, first ballot Hall of Fame.

Running back McCaffrey, best in a generation. George Kittle, Hall of Famer first ballot. Debo Samuel, without question, the hardest, most unique wide receiver talent, the best chess piece in the league. and oh, by the way, Brandon Iyuk, where to go John Lynch, GM. PFF had him as the number two receiver this year. All bonded by Kyle Shanahan, considered, along with Andy Reid, the best play designer and caller in the NFL.

Yes, okay, I give, you're right. They're both game managers. But it's a completely different assignment. Mahomes is doing everything he can to take this meager unit where Rishie Rice now is sort of become a one kind of. We're disappointed in Watson. We're disappointed in Skybor. Tony, he doesn't even get

a play. They brought him over. That won't end. He'll be gone after the season. So if you gave Mahomes, the San Francisco offensive people, this is a 15-point spread. You give him to Purdy, with Mahomes' lack of

valuable, dependable, weekly assets, two points. And also this year, Kansas City is so limited that Mahomes has to be their number two rusher. We never thought of him that way. I mean, Lamar, Josh Allen, those guys rush for a lot of yards. Cam Newton in his prime. We don't look at Mahomes as that guy. Jalen Hertz, maybe.

He's been forced to be the number two rusher. And he also, because they can't win shootouts anymore in Kansas City, because they just don't have the firepower, he's had to limit his mistakes, especially in the plows. games where he set an NFL record for not making any. I think this year has been one of the greats for Mahomes. He's graduated to a different class, limiting the mistakes on a completely limited, not roster. Roster's excellent.

Wide receiver group. Steve Young, Hall of Famer talked about it on this show earlier this week. I think that Patrick Mahomes has absolutely graduated this year. You can see the maturity in that. You know what? I don't actually even have to put the quarterback role on. I can just hand it off. I can just drop it off.

I always said it's the challenge of running a jackhammer one play when you run around, Siff Armored Defensive Alignment, make a big pass or sideline or run downfield. And then the next play, you've got to play the violin. I have watched Patrick Mahomes go from, I just want to put a Superman cape on. That's all I want to do. I'm awesome at it.

And now realizing, oh, my gosh, that's not enough Superman plays to go win championships. I want to talk now about Lamar Jackson. He won his second MVP. He's 27 years old. Doesn't it feel like after losing to Kansas City? There's a real narrative now that he's become a can't win the Super Bowl guy. Has anybody considered that it's maybe more about Kansas City's defense,

which made Mike McDaniel, Tyreek Hill, and Tua completely inept a month ago and held Josh Allen to a 77 passer. rating. The Kansas City defense faced nine elite quarterbacks this year, and not once did they allow a three to be the first number on what they scored. No team scored over 30. In Baltimore, between that bizarre game plan where they refused to run it and Kansas City's defense, Lamar didn't move the chains much. But this Lamar Jackson can't win the Super Bowl thing is kind of interesting to me. In the last nine Super Bowls, six have been won by Mahomes and Brady. It doesn't appear many people can win the Super Bowl.

The other and old Peyton Manning and Matt Stafford, I'll throw you the Nick Foles weird year, but it doesn't appear many people can win the Super Bowl. And I would just caution this. A lot of times when I hear the Can't Do Things label, it's because there's an all-time roadblock. Take the PGA golfers during that 12-year Tiger Woods run. The great golfers, were they in the same? incapable of winning majors? Or was it a Tiger Woods thing, where he was hitting consistently 32-foot pots,

hitting six irons, 280 yards out of the rough? Were the golfers incapable of winning? By the way, Carl Malone, John Stockton, incapable of a title? Or was it a Michael Jordan thing? Were all those teams in the East incapable? of getting to the Eastern Conference Finals for a decade? Or was it a LeBron thing? Call me crazy, but I'm not going to bail on the most athletic quarterback

in the NFL at 27 years old. Was Leonardo DiCaprio not a great actor? You know, he was nominated for the first time in 93. He didn't win for 22 years. was it a Leonardo DiCaprio can't act thing or a Jeremy Irons, Denzel, Tom Hank, Philip Seymour, Hoffman thing? Whenever I hear about guy can't win, she can't, well, what's the obstacle? Martin Scorsese, arguably the greatest director of all time, didn't win his first until he was 64. Could he not direct?

Or were there other directors out there? globally. Europe has them too that we're putting out great stuff. So I don't necessarily buy that. Michael Jordan. Yes. One of the advantages to my gray hair is I watched Jordan

unable. Forget winning championships. He couldn't get to the finals because he couldn't beat Boston, Bird, and McHale and the bad boy pistons for six years. And when he finally broke through, he was 28

Lamar will turn that next year here was Lamar last night winning it at NFL honors I want to thank my organization you know Baltimore Ravens for you know finding getting this deal done um

shout out to Eric you know shout out to Steve Coach Harbaugh you know the whole the whole unit my offense man my office line man I can't thank them enough for what they've done um I'm not out there blocking and, you know, catching the ball, you know, doing everything. You know, it's my team.

It's a team thing, you know, for these awards. And, you know, I want to thank my friend of man at home. For the record, Josh Allen just this year, finally got a star running back. Justin Herbert, it appears, finally got a legitimate coach. Lamar Jackson, for the first time in six years, finally got an elite wide receiver. I love Mahomes, but he landed in the NFL with a pro bowl left tackle, Schwartz, the fastest player on the planet, Tyreek Hill at wide receiver, Travis Kelsey, a general manager capable of rebuilding O-Lines defenses and receiving

cores in a year. I've seen him do it three times. And Andy Reid. Where you land matters, sometimes it takes a while for Jordan to get a pippin, for Tiger to get the right caddy, for people to get the right coach. I'm not bailing on Lamar. 27 and I've seen it too many times. The knock on Peyton Manning,

if you remember early, he couldn't beat Brady. In the end, he started winning some of those matchups in the AFC. All right, Jay Mack, very excited. Forty-five minutes from now my pick and Greg Olson, you

have your pick. We also have a Brock pretty blind resume game. I don't get to see it. I don't have any idea. Very excited. The staff does not. Usually I have a sense of what will be on the screen. Occasionally, once a month, we play a game. I have no idea what it's going to look like.

So I'm even, you know, that probably means they're trying to embarrass me. Quite a staff support staff I have here. Hey, by the way, our guest today, Baldinger has an incredible breakdown online of Lamar Jackson struggling versus Spagnolo. Basically, he did a cover zero blitz, but then the guys didn't blitz and these two guys spied Lamar Jackson. Yeah. And Lamar, his breakdown shows Lamar look totally befuddled.

by the defense and like didn't want to make the throws. Yeah. It's interesting. Brian Baldinger will join us. He's really, really does, I think he does such a terrific job. He was the first guy I noticed doing it,

where after games, he would go down that night and the next day, and he would break down individual plays. And it's such a learning method. It's such a teaching method. The guy would watch, and I was just fascinated how, what Brian was,

I reached out to him. I'm like, this stuff is really, really interesting. I've never seen more A-GAP conversations. I'm fascinated by. So we'll have him on. I have a great parley for you this weekend. Thanks to Draft King's Sportsbook.

New users use the code Herd, H-E-R-D when you download the app. It's quick and easy. Now for my parley pick, via the draft king sports book, I'll take the Chiefs plus two in the Super Bowl against the Niners and under 47.5 points. And Brock Purdy under one and a half touchdown passes, he'll have one, but it's a low-scoring game. I think they'll lean on Christian McCaffrey.

You want to take the Hurd Parlay, check out Draft King's Sportsbook, new users, code is heard, H-E-R-D when you download the app. 21 plus in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8 Hope-N-Wire, or text Hope N-Y 467-369. See Show Notes for full details. 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 is. 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 which I'm 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

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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 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 a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you 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. Great to have the end.

Top of the hour, my Super Bowl pick, and Greg Olson. So there's been a lot of talk about Andy Reed, retirement. I'm not quite sure what guys like Andy Reid retire to. I don't see him playing bridge at a country club and golfing six days a week. He's a thinker. I feel like I know Andy well enough that this whole designing and crafting offenses is something that really motivates him. But he has been asked several times about it. I don't buy into it yet. And here was his response last night. If you win this Sunday, what are the likelihood that you might consider hanging up and kind of going out on top or are you set already that you will be back next year?

Yeah, I haven't gone there. I don't think about that. I'm tied up in the game and trying to take care of that. I'm sure somewhere I'll know when that time is. It's not today or won't be Sunday. So, yeah. I've always had this sort of feeling that a defensive coach is, what is asked of him is different. A defensive coach wants his defense to play hard, fast, almost reckless without the penalties. Sell a vision and simplify things for younger players, especially now in the NFL where teams are getting younger and so are defenses because people are spending their money the smart teams on offense veteran players. Defenses now are fast and young. That's the key. A defensive coach is heavy on repetition, simplifying things.

certain messaging and motivation over and over. That is not the job of Andy Reed, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Kevin Stefansky, Kevin O'Connell, offensive coaches, Sean Payton. It is cerebral. It is constantly adapting, evolving professionally, creating and designing plays. There's nothing simple about it. It's why McVeigh, at 36, said he was burned out,

and why Vrable and Belichick, Zimmer, Vigfangio, they can be in their 70s. They don't ever want to give it up. I think being an offensive coach is simply harder. More is demanded of you. How often do we bang on coaches on Monday on shows around the country for play calling? I don't know, every week of the football season. We bang on those offensive coaches for play design and a wrong group. group is in and why isn't this guy in and what kind of call is that?

Defensive head coaches, just don't make a big mistake. We don't even judge a defensive coach for quarterback play. We fire the offensive coordinator. We don't really blame the defensive coach. It's not his side of the ball. If a young quarterback doesn't grow, the mantra is, well, it sure works for Shane Steichen. You get compared very quickly. We don't compare Vrable and Tomlin.

We often stack up Reed, McVeigh, Shanahan, and Peyton. So I think the offensive game is much more complex. It's harder and more prone to burnout. And I think defensive coaching, it's hard to pull the whistle away. Motivation, simplification, play hard and fast, young defenses. Don't make it too confusing. The offenses are getting older. The defenses are getting younger.

So I could see Andy there saying I'm a little burned out. But Pete Carolyn Belichick, they don't want you to take that whistle away. For Andy Reid, I'd be shocked if he was in his mid-70s coaching. I think this game for offensive coaches, the criticism, the stress, and also add to this, coaching Mahomes is different because he's so endlessly gifted. There's so many possibilities. You can't just mail it in. You can't bring back the same offense.

You have to add layers and layers and layers. Do you have to add layers to Aidan Hutchison or T.J. Watt? Is that how you spend your offseason? It's how offensive coaches spend their offseason. Andy Reid has sent me plays he's designed for specific games, mostly to elevate the greatest quarterback currently playing on the planet. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Kyle Shanahan, under the spot. In the spotlight in the Super Bowl, they lost a fourth quarter lead last time against Mahomes, and then, of course, he was the offensive coordinator in Atlanta when they blew the 283 lead against Patriots. Shanahan, looking to take home the Lombardi. Here's what he had to say about how he would deal with another Super Bowl loss. I deal with it the same way if we win.

I celebrate with our team. I celebrate with my families, and I move on with the rest of my life, which is being a father or son and coaching and working and doing all that. narrative, good or bad, is just a narrative. I just don't want to regrets. I just want to do everything that makes sense to myself, that makes sense for our team. And when you do that, that's what I have found.

No matter how hard something is or good something is, you always keep perspective of what it really is. If you want your perspective to be someone else's narrative, good luck, being happy in life or successful. I like that. A little messaging. Broad messaging, I like that. Well said.

I like Shanahan a lot. Yeah, there's a lot to like there. Oh, yeah. But this idea, oh, he's not a big game coach, Colin. He can't win the big one. Okay. Let's admit, what is he? He's a young guy.

That's 40. And he lost to Brady and then Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Yeah, by the way. It's not like he lost the leave. Well, again, it's that you can say what you want about play calling. He's losing, like many golfers did, including Phil Mickelson, to Tiger. And like players, Magic Johnson did at the end, to Michael. Like, sometimes it's not that.

you're not good enough. It's that, you know, for years, by the way, you know, Andy Reid would get to NFC championship if you got to a Super Bowl and the roadblock, we put labels on people. They can't. They can't do that. They can't get there. What is the roadblock? If it's a historic, iconic, legendary

great player, but Muhammad Ali, you ever noticed that George Foreman's second run was greater than his first in terms of popularity? His first run? There was a guy that A little bit of a roadblock named Muhammad Ali and Zaire. The second time George came back as an old man, the heavyweight division, much weaker, and George became the toast of the town.

So he wasn't nearly as good a boxer as he was later, but the path was easier. I mean, same with Michael Jordan, right? He could not get through the Pistons and the Celtics. Those are two of the top ten teams ever, the Celtics system. The Pistons, Bad Boys, and the Celtics with Bird, those are top, especially the Celtics and Bird. those are some of the top getting championship teams ever. Now, people want to back on, well, LeBron loses in the finals all the time.

Jordan couldn't get to the finals. He couldn't get around the Pistons or Celtics. And then finally you break through. Like, Shanahan's going to get there. He's going to have a long career. Again, your boy wrote about Ethan Strauss wrote about it that I like to say, I'm the only guy on the Niners and everybody's on the Chiefs. I think what's Shanahan breaks through, it's going to make Monday that much.

Well, they have far more explosive offensive players. And so Kansas City's whole Sunday is limiting the mistakes on offense because it's a limited group and trying to slow down the greatest collection of offensive talent a teams arguably had. That's their role. San Francisco is like if we play well offensively, we should score and win. If we play our game. Yeah, that's why they're favored because offensively you're looking. Kansas City's got a great defense.

They don't have six Hall of Famers on it. San Francisco's offense has Hall of Famers everywhere on it. And Brandon Ayuk has popped in the last year. He's now in the Jamar Chase class. Well, I'll say, probably going to have Sneed on him a lot, right? Sneed's very good. We've seen what he did to Tyree Kill. I think he's arguably the best corner in the sport.

Because he'll tackle. Sauce Gardner is still alive, I believe. He'll tackle. Sauce doesn't like that tackle sauce. He's no pile inspector like Jalen Ramsey. Don't go here. All right, let's go to the Cowboys who had a deflating loss to the Packers to end their season. Many believe Mike McCarthy was on his way out, but Jerry Jones brought him back.

Cowboys legend Emmett Smith believes Jerry Jones made the wrong decision. The team itself just did not show up. And I don't blame it all on the players. I think coach's job is to make sure the players are ready and put in a position to be successful. But our team just seems to be lost. I mean, I just cannot put my finger on. Why it looks so, so bad? So if that's the case, why is Dallas bringing back Mike McCarthy next year?

Because I'm not a GM. And to be honest with you, I thought that that move would have been made because of how bad it looked. So ask yourself this. The team in the NFC that represents the NFC is San Francisco, we would both acknowledge. That's the best roster in the NFC. I made the argument this year, especially late, that Detroit's a young version of San Francisco, left tackle, weapon, tied at all great players.

They're like 25. So those two teams end up representing the NFC. In my opinion, the best roster and the best young roster. Oh, by the way, Green Bay has got the best young roster in the NFC. That's indisputable, and they gave San Francisco a real threat. So could I argue the three best rosters in the NFC? The best, the one that's going to be closest in Detroit, and the one that's not Detroit or San Francisco,

but Young represented the NFC. In the AFC, the best roster was Baltimore. Second best is arguably Kansas City or Buffalo, and those felt like the three final team. So we want to talk about Dallas. Dallas doesn't have Baltimore's roster. Well, they don't have Detroit's roster. They don't have San Francisco's roster.

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Who's their fourth best player? If you stack up the Dallas roster compared, like the top end guys, top ten guys, Dallas Detroit, it's probably Dallas, six, four, seven. No way. Oh, come on. Okay. Micah Parsons or Aiden Hutchinson. No, no, no.

Michael Parsons. They had, Dallas has two great players, great players. CD Lamb and Micah Parsons. Okay, wait, hold on, hold on. Trayvon Diggs before he went down was on the all-pro track. He did go down. He's better than any cornerback to Troy. He did go down.

Okay, fine. Stefan Gilmore. Okay. Stefan Gilmore is not a top ten player if the Trump. Detroit and Dallas stack their players. Okay. So Penae Sewell, better than any cowboy alignment. I'll give you that.

Sam Leporta, better than any tight end. Gibbs, better than any Dallas running back. Amaran St. Brown is certainly in the class of C.D. Lambs better. Amaran St. Brown. Both are elite. Aidan Hutchison's elite. Maybe not Micah. He's elite.

Branch, better than any cowboy safety. You're talking about Detroit's got six players in the league. That's not disputable. sick Frank Ragnow better center than anybody so I could argue the two best offensive linemen are both Detroit best back Detroit best tight end Detroit best receiver close to Marcus Lawrence is excellent on the defensive line he's got cut below Aiden Hutchison similar to St. Brown versus Cd. He's not considered an elite edge rusher I I think you're overstating Dallas's roster they have two great players

they have two great players that is it Zach Martin a guard old good two great players. San Francisco's got six Hall of Famers. Wait, wait. Tyron Smith's still with the Cowboys. Is he still breathed? Is he still alive? How many games does he start? I mean, he doesn't give you a season. Three years ago, he started playing. That's a fun off-season topic. Dallas first

to try. Dallas's talent is overstated. Two great players. When you've got to use Stefan Gilmore in your argument. He's better than any quarterback on the lines. By a mile. Cornerbacks don't decide games. Quarterbacks coaching, offense, pass rushers. You just said Legerius Sneed as a superstar. He's

I think he's the best corner in the league, and he actually tackles. He was 10th on my best players list. I put him 10th. So definitely, so you're saying Lions Cowboys, Lions definitely better. I don't even think it's close. I think Detroit has six players that stack up center, left tackle, wide receiver, tight end, running back, and now branch it's safety. And I also think golf's a top 10 quarterback.

golf's a much better quarterback than Dak. He's been to two NFC championships, been to a Super Bowl. Much better? One's a number one pick, one's a fourth rounder. Like, the arm talent's not particularly close. These are some hot tanks on Super Bowl fighting. I just think Dallas is we're overstating. Mike McCarthy can't get this team to a Super Bowl. They're not a Super Bowl roster.

They're not. 12 and 5, three years in a row. No, 12 and 5, and a wanky division in the NFC. Try going 12 and 5 over in the AFC North. All right. Final story is Russell Wilson. Colin, so earlier this season, there was a controversy that he was threatened by the Broncos to change the terms of his contract or risk being benched.

Reports indicate the NFLPA believes Denver mistreated Russ and accuses the Broncos of illegal threats regarding his contract. This is starting to get messy for Sean Payton in Denver. I'm not saying this is Flores quite against the dolphins. Remember how ugly that got? this seems ugly. I don't, if you're Russ, how much do you fight this? Or do you just say, you know, I'll make it go away.

Just let me go. Well, I mean, NFLPA doesn't have a ton of power. It's not like a baseball union. No, but this can be, in the court of public opinion, this can make the Broncos look pretty bad. Colin, call the door office, change your contract or you're out of here? Like, that's not cool. Yeah, you shouldn't be doing that.

I think, I don't know how much. If I was Russell Wilson, I would rather be somewhere where I'm liked and supported. So I don't, you know, for me, I'd rather take less money if somebody really wanted me and wanted to build around me as a host or a quarterback. That's much more appealing than the most money available. Ideally, like both. But, I mean, if I was Russell Wilson, my coach isn't into me. That's just not something I'd want to be part. I'd rather go to Minnesota or somewhere and I would try to get another offensive coach, but I don't.

Without sacrificing like $30 plus million. You're not walking away from $30 million. Well, he's not going to have to do that. But again, I would restructure my contract, whatever made sense, to get into an environment with an offensive coach that could help me go to the next level. Just a simple restructure, I don't think he's that appealing at $30-plus million a year. Well, Denver's going to, I would imagine, have to pay a majority of his contract to move off him. They might have to attach a draft pick to trade him away. But again, if Denver with their, what's their pick, like 14, 15, if Denver grabs a panics or a bow knicks there and then pays like 75.

percent of the contract, then you're fine. You don't want to pay all of that. But if you can pay 75 and you hit on a mid-first round quarterback who you don't pay for four years, that mitigates some of the pain. Yeah. It's not ideal, but that's why... It's not great for Russ. I feel bad for him because his career's been awesome. I think we could debate whether or not he's a Hall of Famer. I think he was incredible run. He was. He lost to Super Bowl. By the way, still good. There's no question. He's a good one. He had moments as here. Got them back in the playoff picture. No, he not quite what he was, but he's certainly a starting

quarterback in the NFL. That's indisputable. Yeah. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie news. I got to give the NFL credit. They had NFL honors last night. So Christian McCaffrey is the offensive player of the year.

Lamar Jackson won MVP. And NFL honors. You know, part of the reason the NFL is popular, there's no singular reason. There's not even two reasons. But I will say this. just better run than other sports. The NBA this week had their trade deadline during Super Bowl week. You couldn't move it?

It's called calendar. Use it. Baseball gives their awards out like weeks or months after the season. They give them out like not all on one day. It's so bizarre. It has zero buzz. The NFL and Roger Goodell say what you want has continually moved events. He's extended the draft. He's moved. Remember the draft didn't used to be this?

Now the draft is longer. Now, the free agency moved to March. They extended this. NFL honors, live TV show right before the Super Bowl, had all sorts of buzz. Baseball, NBA's trade deadline this week. You could have moved it. Do it's the Super Bowl week. You're going to get no publicity.

So it's one of these things where there's a lot of reasons that the NFL is king, scarcity. We can bet on it and do bet on it. It's the best sport on television. But some of it is they just make. fewer mistakes than the other guys. It wasn't that long ago where network executives, network executives at two major networks had to sit down with baseball's commissioner and leadership and tell them how to construct a schedule.

Stop doing it by pencil in Cape Cod. That's how they did it for like 100 years. Put the best rivalries always on the weekends. You never have to do that with the NFL. They're constantly looking at a calendar, Christmas Day. NBA owns it. Not anymore.

We'll put games on Christmas Day. By the way, here was actor-comedian Keegan Michael K. last night at NFL honors. You can bet on anything here, anything. Even my monologue. For example, the odds of a joke about the Cowboys not making

it past the wild card round? Five to one. Five to one. And of course, the biggest lock of the night will we keep cutting to an influential blonde superstar? You bet we will. Roger Goodell! Well done.

Smartly timed. Look at the calendar. It's there to use. And sometimes, work against other leagues. NFL's been brilliant with it. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, gang, this is Jay Glazer, host of Unbreakable, a mental wealth podcast.

And every week, we will have on leaders from sports entertainment, like Sean McVeigh, Lindsay Vaughn, Michael Phelph, David Spade, Guy Fieri, and also those who can help us in between the ears, anyone from a therapist to someone like Ed Milet or John Gord. We've all been through some sort of adversity. To get to the top, we've all used different tools. to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer and Mental Wealth Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 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. 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 where you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast. The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

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

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. 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 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. About the NFL as half the league is undrafted back in 1982. He was undrafted out of Duke and the Cowboys picked him up. They had 15 draft picks and 110 unrestricted free agents were signed. One ended up having a big career. Our next guest, Brian Baldinger. How about that? Like a real life.

It's a reality show back in 1982. Undrafted out of Duke, hell of a career. He's joining us. He's got Baldi's breakdowns. We've talked about him before. They're very clever. All right. Two weeks to prepare, Baldi, on Kansas City and Mahomes.

It's a limited receiving group. They led the NFL and drops. What in your career of watching, Andy? You work at NFL films. You're up there all the time. What does Andy do with a buy that his records? I mean, it's incredible. Is he take more chance?

more explosion plays. What's Andy going to do? Well, he tinkers. He's the ultimate tinker. If you sit down with a court of Hagen-Doss at night and let Andy Reed's just comb through film and ideas, he's going to come up with concepts. He's very, very creative. Just like

last week in the AFC championship game where Travis Kelsey is catching these passes behind the line of scrimmage. And then he's got his blockers out front. He'll take all the four to six to eight-yard gains he could get. Ball never hit the ground. I thought mid-season, Colin, when they were struggling

in offense, that they had everything it takes to become a really good power-running football team. And they did. And we saw what Isaiah Pacheco did. And the line was really good. Creed Humphrey, Trey-Smith, Tuny, now Allegretti, inside, as good a trio as there is. Andy really leaned on that.

And then ultimately, right now, and one of the reasons why they're at the doorstep here of another Super Bowl, is Patrick Mahomes is taking care of the football the last four weeks. Hadn't turn it over. And when you don't turn it over. And the way their defense has played, they're going to have a chance, a good chance, to win every game. We both know Spags is great, but I'm going to argue

that I think Brett Veach has hit about six home runs on defense. I think they have the best corners, and the corners will tackle. Their linebackers are fast. You just don't know much about them, whereas you know of Fred Warner. What does the film say when you look at Kansas City's defense? Is it scheme or personnel? It's both. It's both. I think, in just talking to Spags this week about the game, he thought that you give two weeks sometimes it's out of your context of you can try to do too much but what he tries to do is just the way Mike Shanahan is going to try and hit his explosive big plays

that's what Spags is trying to do with his blitz. And so the way that they blitzed against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, he told his corners McDuffie, Legerius Sneed, Jalen Watson, Joshua Williams, you're going to have to hold up man-to-man and they held up. But, you know, he's going to come after you in ways that. that most teams are afraid to because they don't know if they're going to hold up on the back end. They just don't make mistakes.

So what you talked about with Brett Veach, they had six rookies play last year, four started in the Super Bowl. Like, they're very smart players. Trent McDuffie can play inside, outside. He can play a dime linebacker. He can match up. They're very multiple in some of the roles that they play.

Kyle Shanahan's offense has made late-round draft picks at running back look like stars, but McCaffrey's a different level. level player. What is it about Shanahan's run game? We know McCaffrey's great that separates him from other offensive coaches. I'll be honest

with you, Colin. It's as simple running game as there is in the league. When you strip it all down, he basically runs five plays. But they'll window dress it and dress it up, one back, two back, full back, four wide receivers. So they give you a lot to look at every play

there's a motion and there's a shift. And so can they get you out of position? Can they create a number's advantage at the point of attack? And really, McCaffrey, to use the old phrase, like he needs six inches of daylight. That's all he needs. He's not going to miss it. And then if you just watch him train in all of his videos and how he does it,

even pregame warm-ups, that guy's balance, core strength is second to none. So he's constantly breaking tackles, landing on one foot, jumping. And so it's really the ultimate back, especially when he considers he's got 11 catches, in these two postseason games, and they run, like, really formations with him that nobody else in the league runs. Teams are trying to copy it now, but they've expanded their formation package much bigger right now with Christian McCaffley.

It's fitting that the great play designer has Debo Samuel, who I think is an all-time unique chess piece. It reminds me a little of the late Aaron Hernandez where I talked to Patrick Chung once. He's the hardest guy I guard, and I just guard him at practice. We don't know what to do with them. What do you make a Debo in his ascension? Well, I think that he's one of these players that refuses to be tackled. And so he's very strong from the waist down. He was when he came out of college.

And his ability to run it, to catch it, to catch it and run from a variety of places is just unique. But I think he's the guy that gives this offense a level of toughness that no other players. can provide. Kittle does it, does it, McCaffrey does it, but as soon as Debo touches the ball, it's like Barry Bonds up at the plate. Everybody just gets excited about what he's going to do with it.

And in the open field at full speed, he's very difficult to tackle. And he turns, you know, he turns six-yard catches into 30-yard gains, and his yards have to contact as good as we have seen this business. Finally, Joe Tunney's a great guard may or may

not play. There were times this year, Holmes didn't appear to trust his offensive tackles. I still think it's a good old line. How do you judge these offensive lines? Well, I see how well they play together. So Nick Allegreddy came in last

week for Joe Tuny against Baltimore. Played very well. Didn't see a drop-off. He's played multiple positions. He started at center. He's been a guard. He's been a tackle. So he's their plug-and-play guy. He's been the third tight end when they want extra blockers. I think they'll be just fine. But Tune,

is, you know, I mean, he just gave him stability inside. And sometimes, Colin, like, you just want five guys with one brain. Yeah. And that's how Kansas City has played throughout this, once they fixed this offense line after they're lost in Tampa, they literally fixed it in one off season. And I think it's to the much of chagrin to the rest of the league. So some teams just can't seem to do it at all. Yeah.

No, that's a great point. We saw Buffalo, Pittsburgh for years. We're waiting for him to get the O line right, and they did it in one year. year. By the way, McVeigh did a great job this year. I've quickly taken an offensive line with issues and lack of depth and giving you a top 12 O line. Okay, Baldi. Brian Baldinger, NFL Network, special

eight and a half hour edition of NFL game day morning, Sunday starting at 9. He does just a terrific breakdown. He's got something on Lamar Jackson. Check out Baldi breakdowns. Brian Baldinger who in 1982 110 UFAs for the Cowboys.

One. One made it. There he is right there. The first reality show out of Duke undrafted. All right. Thanks, Bobby. I was the survivor. Yeah. I was the survivor, calm. Thank you having me. You bet. Brian Baldinger, who does a really, really good job.

He has that Lamar Jackson breakdown, as we said. I am still a believer that 27-year-old Lamar Jackson's fine. His Super Bowl windows open. Probably about four years with his running style. Get beat up a little bit. Banged up. Probably got four years left. I'll give you my Super Bowl pick. Top of next hour. Greg Olson stops by as well. and Jay Mack, I saw C.J. Stroud, one offensive rookie of the year. That's not a surprise. And our blind resume Brock Purdy game, which you're smiling, so that means trouble for me.

No, no, listen, I'm not cheating on it. I haven't seen it. It's just weird. I like an underdog. You like favorites. You like billioners. I like the poor underdog, the scrappy street hustler. You're the big guy. I'm rooting for the little guy. And Brock Purdy? I just had Baldi on. He was an undrafted free agent. agent. Underdog, yeah. Go back to 82, Cowboys Draft Class, and all their undrafted for age. One guy had a career.

Big career. That guy. Third. 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 helped 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. Does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

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

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.