The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Super Bowl matchup

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Colin previews the Super Bowl matchup between the Chiefs and the 49ers and why all eyes are on Brock Purdy It seems like LeBron James is using the Knicks to pressure the Lakers USC head coach Lincoln Riley joins the show to explain what we can expect from Caleb Williams in the NFL and what he saw from Patrick Mahomes back in college when he coached against him at Texas TechSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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. Plenty of both, where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong this week. One more football game left then? I don't know. We'll have to figure stuff out. Watch a lot of NBA this weekend, some college hoops as well.

J-MAC, it is Super Bowl Week officially, and we're staying here. Little you and I going to a little party on Wednesday flying back. Yeah, got to be quiet about that. But the point is, I don't want to make it about Mahalms and Brock Purdy, but there is an interesting number out there. I'll get to in a few minutes that I'm interested your thoughts on it. Is it 47 and a half? the total for the game. I know. I actually really think we're going to have a low-scoring game.

So I was thinking about this. When we evaluate Patrick Mahomes, we've already put him in the all-time-ish class 5, 6, 7, 8, L.Way, Marino, Brady Manning. But when we evaluate him, he entered the league with such a bang. Remember his first year starting 50 touchdown passes? First year, rookie year really starting. Only Brady and Peyton Manning had done that. There was the left-handed throw, the sidearm throws, the 60-yard launches with ease. The Houdini escapes under pressure, and he won a ton. So that's what we initially saw. That's what we believe he is.

I've said this, though, about Mahomes and Michael Jordan. The great thing about Michael Jordan, much of Michael Jordan's game was highly predictable. Mid-range scored 20 of his, 4 of his 32 points. About three to four times a game, he'd do something truly elite that only MJ could do. And that has always been the secret sauce with Mahomes. He doesn't miss the easy stuff. He hits all his layups. And believe me, that's, that's like 13 to 15 completions a game if he goes, you know, 24 for 32. But here's what he's become adding to that. And this is with a weak receiving core, the weakest receiving core of his career. Saw this stat this weekend, PFF. Patrick Mahomes had

zero turnover worthy plays in the playoffs. But he also avoids minor mistakes. He already led the NFL regular season with the lowest rate of what they call negatively graded dropbacks, 10%. During the playoffs, he's got it down to 6.3. Conversely, Brock Purdy's rate of negatively graded dropbacks, 23% in the playoffs so far for two home games. By the way, it would be the worst rate of all quarterbacks with 200, dropbacks.

dropbacks in the season. So let me, let me add to that. So, so Mahomes is not throwing it further or more often left-handed. He's just throwing it smarter. But to really contextualize those numbers, the gap between Mahomes and Purdy, Purdy played two home games, was a favorite in both and faced two really bad defenses. Detroit's egregiously bad in Green Bay's hit and miss bad. Mahomes against the number four defense at their place, Buffalo, and against the number one defense, Baltimore at their place, both defenses thrive on turnovers. And he had zero, zero turnover worthy plays. Not at home like Purdy, not against bad defenses. No, no, on the road against elite defenses.

By the way, he was also worded good against Miami, but that was at home, albeit minus 27 degrees. So Mahomes now is the only great quarterback in the league, where you get this remarkable upside with virtually no mistakes. It would be like having the best power hitter in baseball, and he never strikes out. It's, and I know what you're saying. You're just picking on purdy.

No, I'm not. but you have to contextualize it. Raven's defense there. Buffalo's defense there. Minus 27 degrees. Zero. Zero turnover-worthy plays and only 6% out of 100 of negatively graded dropbacks. That is beyond, that is, that's the best driver on the PGA tour, also the best putter.

It was called Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods made more clutch pots when he was on that tear, and he was the best guy off the T. And he had good irons. That's what you're looking at. So, you know I love Jim Harbaugh. And one of the reasons I like him, the NFL's a copycat league. And as the league is zinging, he is zagging. First of all, there's a story that he is really interested in Sequin Barclay, the running

back. This is interesting. So first of all, remember that fatalism? Jay Mack and I were talking about this, I swear to God, for three months. everybody said nobody pays running backs it's outrageous my takeaway was nobody paid guards forever tight ends and safeties why is it outrageous with running backs the truth is though many coaches love them offensive coaches not just old school guys guys like shanahan made a big deal for christian mcalfrey mcvay loves that offense despite all the movement mike macdainil miami was san francisco's

run game coordinator, many of the top offensive guys in this league, Mike McDaniel, McVeigh-Shanahan, love the run game first. But what I love about Harbaugh more than everything is that the NFL is a copycat league, and he will

zig or zag when you're doing the opposite. He doesn't believe in anything other than authentically his football DNA. People forget this. At Stanford, when he has quarterback easily in the country, They ran the ball more than they threw.

At Michigan last year, led college football with 40 rushing touchdowns. With the 49ers, over the course of those four years, they were the number two rushing team. He loves, he preaches physicality. And so one of the things he sees with Justin Herbert is that Herbert's become very much like Josh Allen in previous years. He can only win by shootout. and they depend on him too much. I saw this stat this morning.

This blew me away. In Justin Herbert's career, he has the third most pass attempts per game over the four years, but more than any current quarterback. The only quarterbacks that threw more in his four years, Big Ben retired and Brady retired, that Justin Herbert throws the ball more than any current NFL quarterback yards, attempt, I'm saying attempts per game.

The chargers are so overreacted. overwhelmingly tied to Herbert throwing. So what does Harbaugh want to do? Get him a star back. What does he want to do? Create physicality. The way to beat Patrick Mahomes is not to out Mahomes,

Mahomes. It's to keep Patrick on the field. He had Andrew Luck, ran more than passed. Niners ran more than passed. So it cracks me up. The first leak with Harbaugh, he wants a running back.

khakis, glasses of milk, and physicality. One, two, three, ABC. That's what he does. I asked him last week, how do you make your teams so physical, so quickly, wherever you go? Guys are good at football. You know, the player that knows what to do, how to do it, where to align, you know, plays the technique properly. And then you combine that with being a superior athlete. And then, you know, then you really have it.

So, you know, we can all control, you know, being the kind of player that knows what to do and how to do it and when to do it. And then train, you know, just good old-fashioned hard work, training yourself to be, you know, a good athlete, a better athlete, a superior athlete. I do think it's interesting, though. The first, I wouldn't call it a leak, the first story that comes out, NFL, moving. off running backs. Harbaugh, I'll take Seguan Barkley. By the way, I think Austin Eckler, a little bit of a free agent. Barclay's the better player. Both have had some injury, get banged up, but Barclay would be your choice. They don't have a lot of cap space, so they'll have to move people.

So just a little sample of what Harbaugh is going to do. So this weekend, Lincoln Riley is going to be joining us this hour. His great quarterback, Caleb Williams, should be the number one pick. I imagine will be the number one pick. also some LeBron trade rumors on the market. I don't get it. We'll talk to Chris Mannix, who wrote a story about it. I watched the Lakers play the Knicks' entire game on Saturday night.

Oh, that was a great game. Now, Julius Randall didn't play. O.G. didn't, but, you know, it's the NBA. Nobody's got their full lineup. Vanderbilt. I don't think Jared Vanderbilt play for the Lakers. But I will say this about the Lakers, is that they're a weird team where they've been housed by the Hawks, the Rockets, and then they'll go out and beat OKC.

I watched them Saturday night, and I thought to myself, I don't know what you're going to get for LeBron if you want to trade them, but they went to Boston and New York and went two and oh in those games. I'm not sure what people expect in Los Angeles or around the league. I watched both of those games. I thought they were great in both of them. By the way, Darvin Ham coming up. Awesome.

Game strategy against Jalen Brunson. Shut him down in the fourth quarter. Lakers look kind of good, Colin. I don't know. For the record, Anthony Davis has to be the best defensive player in the league. Really good. Absolutely has to be. Didn't even really score.

do much offensively and control the fourth quarter. How about my guy, Austin Reeves, huh? He was pretty good. Pretty damn good, Austin Reeves. He was. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard 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. Bet it 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,

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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. All right, welcome back on a Monday. Lincoln Riley joins us in 20 minutes. Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, top of next hour. It is Super Bowl

week we're stationed here in Los Angeles, the Super Bowl, of course, in Vegas. So Brian Winhorst reporting, I watched the Lakers Knicks game. Many of you probably on Saturday night. I thought the Lakers' defense down the stretch was remarkable. LeBron James, according to Brian Winhorse, was using the Knicks to put pressure on the Lakers. He was cognizant and aware that he was putting on a towel that said New York Knicks. And why would he mess with the Knicks? Because he was using the Knicks as a tool to pressure the Lakers.

Lakers. So here is LeBron after the game. We've had back-to-back great wins, one in Boston, one here. You know, two of the hottest teams in the league. And, you know, we finish it off in Charlotte and we have to be professional. We understand that at the end of the day, that is the NBA team. And if we don't come to play, they will beat us. First of all, I think it's funny. If that's true, and I trust Brian Winhorst, that's funny.

So he's putting pressure on the Lakers to do what? Fire Darvin-Ham? They just beat the Celtics and the Knicks. they do a pretty good job of coaching. Make a deal at the trade deadline? All right. DeJante Murray. Okay.

The Lakers are exactly what they should be. One game above 500, right now they'd be a playing team. They have one absolutely great defensive player AD. Sometimes good on offense, sometimes great on offense, but a great consistent defender. They have one great offensive player, the legend, LeBron James, still an elite score and distributor. and then they have a nice third wheel Austin Reeves. They have some length, but they don't have any real great shooters. They're 28th in the NBA and three point shots.

They make 11 a game. This is what they are. They can beat the Celtics and the Red Hot Knicks. They beat OKC earlier this year. Good team. Beat the Clippers. And then they can get housed by the Hawks and the Rockets. That's who they are.

Well, Colin, if we had a better coach. Eric Spolstra's got Miami a half game better than the Lakers. Steve Kerr, his team's worse than the Lakers. And those are arguably the two best coaches in the league. Popovich, Spurs are awful. They don't have an elite roster. They have a roster with a dominating defensive player and an elite offensive player and then a third wheel, who's pretty good.

And that's it. I mean, they missed Jared Vanderbilt. Could they make a Dejante Murray move? Yeah. They could. And they'd be a little better. they would probably not be a title team. But this idea that they've got these young assets,

and they're, oh, the league's looking around at these young assets, they got Austin Reeves. I like him. I like him. He's hit and miss when he's goodies. Good.

He's an offensive player. Creates contact, gets the line. But as a third player, you look at the championship teams. The third best player for the Celtics is Drew Holiday. Fourth best is Porzingis. That's a championship team.

I don't know who you qualify as. the third best player for Denver, but Gordon, one of the longer wing defenders in the league, is an elite athlete. I'd take that over Austin Reeves, who's a nice score, but inconsistent. Gordon brings that defense every night. So in the end, I don't know what people want to trade for. You don't have the, even LeBron at this point, what would LeBron go for? He's 39, he's expensive, and do you really think he'd want to end a career for the team that got him?

I don't. J. Mac with the news. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. The Super Bowl week is here. Obviously, we'll do some NBA, but we have to start with this Brock Purdy game manager stuff.

Okay, okay. I love it, and I know you do as well. You're not shying away from giving him credit where credit is due. But this week, Purdy called the label of game manager funny, adding over time I might get some respect. But more than anything, it hasn't been about proving people wrong, just about proving myself right.

Oh, gosh. Brock Purdy, you gotta love him, right? I was thinking about this this weekend. I think the media has been overwhelmingly reasonable. There's a few people that love him. You're one of them. There's a few people that crush him. I'm not one of them.

But most of us are like, he's good. But Shanahan and the players are doing more for him as those PFF numbers show. than he's doing for the team. But I think by and large, there's people that are kind of hot on him, you, people that are a little totally out on him. I don't think he's just a backup. I do think he's a starter, serviceable middle to lower end starter,

who's being elevated by the second best coach, arguably in the league, and great players. But I think mostly the media is like, he's good. I mean, he's a bit more of a playmaker that I gave him credit for. He deserves that. Not a big size. Rain's a little. We'll disrupt him. I think that's fair.

So a couple things. Number one, Peter King has a thing today that he wrote about that Kyle Shanahan is quoted as saying, I had a fourth round grade on Brock Purdy. We could not believe he was still there in the seventh round. So some people thought higher on Purdy than dead last pick in the draft. By the way, Dak and Kirk Cousins both went in the fourth round,

so you can get good players there. Yeah, I think Russell Wilson was third. Pooka Nakuwa Fifth. Pooka Nucan. I'll just, an aside, Sam Hartman and an underdame quarterback, I'm telling you, he's the next Brock Purdy type middle round game manager that's going to slay.

Anyways, I want to point this out. Mahomes has played three playoff games this year. Yeah. Okay? How many completions, over 20 yards does he have in three games? Well, they have a horrible receiving group, so I would say two. Close. Three.

Yeah. So Patrick Mahomes in these playoffs has been a game manager, and there's not a damn thing wrong with that. He's been a game manager. He's not completing bombs down the field. He's working from a game state of we're leading because our script early gives us a lead. we can hand off to Pacheco. He's not doing anything risky.

He's being a game manager. Their best receiver would not start for the Niners because Debo and Brandon Iyuk would be your starting receiver. Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that. We already know, we already know Mahomes as a leap. We know he's an argument. We know he's a game manager because that's what's being asked of him right now. Hey, we got the lead.

Brock Purdy, the statutes showed earlier, hey, they're trailing against in the first game. I wonder why. Wonder why? Well, the defense couldn't stop anybody. Lyons got the ball. Boom, touchdown. Lines got the ball, touchdown, touchdown. Packers got the early lead.

And Purdy hasn't been, he hasn't been phenomenal. He was great in the regular season, spotty in the playoffs. Mahomes the opposite. Had his worst season ever, he's been lights out in the playoffs. The Super Bowl, listen, it's going to be an indictment on Purdy. We know that. Because everybody knows the Chiefs are going to win, right? Well, no, I do think it's going to be a low-scoring game.

And I don't think either quarterback's going to light it up. the difference is Mahomes could have that game and nobody's going to judge him. If Purdy is, you know, 16 of 29 and it's like, I mean, I think it's a very low scoring game. That's my only prediction, really. I think it's low score. I think the defenses, I think Kansas City's defense is wildly underrated with the best corners in the game. I don't hate that at all. I'll just say, so, you know, I coached my kids in U.S.

I said to the rest, oh, who you got in the Super Bowl? Both of them, Kansas City. I said, any of your friends? Who do they like? Oh, everybody, everybody's taking a home to the Chiefs. I said, everybody? Yeah, everybody. So, just know, everybody.

For the record, everybody had the Niners over the Packers, and everybody had the Chiefs over the dolphins in the cold weather. Sometimes. Sometimes. This was a good year for everybody. The fans, the public had one of their best years ever betting. So everybody was right a lot this year. Come on, Brock, make it happen.

All right, next up, the commanders. How about this little change of pace? Cliff Kingsbury, who was ticketed to go to the Raiders, I think, by Friday, remember? And then something happened behind the scenes, and Cliff Kingsbury now will go to D.C. to be the offensive coordinator for the commanders. Those guys are very good friends. They have the second pick in the draft. And as you saw there, Cliff Kingsbury and Caleb Williams are friends.

We were together on USC. And look who gave a shoutout on Instagram story. Who's that? Caleb Williams. Congrats, coach. My dog. Congrats. So, I don't know.

I mean, listen, we do a lot of stuff on this show, a lot of predictions. Do you remember heard for the holidays where I said the commanders would trade up for the number one pick? I do remember that. And the odds of them moving up, don't rule it out. I mean, who you? Here's an interesting thing. I think Chicago is going to pick Caleb Williams and move Justin Fields. and I think Washington is going to get the second best quarterback.

There is no absolute consensus on that. Drake May is really good, but a lot of people like Jaden Daniels, I know one GM that loves Bow Nicks, whatever. Chicago, I think, would get so much pushback if they traded Justin Fields and didn't keep their pick, it would be one thing. If you want to keep Justin Fields, I think it's idiotic. but if you're going to trade him and then not take Caleb

okay that that makes no sense at all so they're that this this is one of those things that sounds like it's a conspiracy theory and how about this cliff kingsbury agreed to a deal with the raiders and then they wouldn't give him a third year and the commanders with a richer owner called and said we'll give you a third and maybe a fourth and he just moved it's possible and there's nothing more to it than that so listen we I mean, maybe you, not me. I don't have anyone in the Bears front office that I can ask. I have a lot of people around Kingsbury and Caleb.

Okay. I would love to know what the Bears scouts, GMs, everybody who's grading out Drake May and Caleb Williams see as the difference between those two. Is it Caleb Williams are going to be a superstar? Drake May could be a pro bowler. Is it like massive? Because Colin, if it's close?

No. And the commanders offer a haul that's more than Bryce Young. And oh, by the way, we'll throw in Terry McClure. I think Caleb Williams is like a, LeBron or an Andrew Locke or a Bryce Harper, that when you get these prospects that are considered sort of generational or once in a decade or once in 15 years, you have to draft them. Okay. Because if you do not, and he stars, and this kid, if you gave him Cliff Kingsbury, Dan Quinn

in that cap space, that kid is going to be a stud year one. There are just certain kid Harper. I mean, it was just like when Tiger was 12, there were literally. like agents going after him. You have to draft him number one. He's just too gifted. So what if the Washington ponies up picks and throws in Terry McLaurin?

So now, Drake May has Terry McLaurin, DJ Moore, the tight end Cole Commet, they've got a bounty of picks. You don't think Drake May is kind of sort of close to Caleb Williams? You think it's just massive difference? I think, I don't think it's very close. I will tell you

that there are people, so you and I don't, I mean, I don't watch a lot North Carolina football. I saw a lot of of Bonics, a lot of Pennics, a lot of Jayden Daniels, a lot of Caleb. I saw Drake May twice for an extended period. Once really good, once very poor. So the knock on Drake May

has been, he's inconsistent. Caleb Williams was in shootouts every week. But they finished with the number one offense in the country again after losing Jordan Addison their best player. And the Pac-12 was probably the best it's ever been,

whereas the ACC was a hot It was garbage. Okay. So in a better conference, Caleb was a better player. Yeah. You know who else was inconsistent? Who? In college?

Jordan Love, Patrick Mahomes. I'm just saying, I'm not comparing Drake May to him. I'm just saying I think there's work to be done just to see if it's worth a deal. Final story is Joelle Embed, really crappy news. He's going to undergo a procedure to address a meniscus injury. He suffered last week against a Warriors. There's a bigger story here that annoys me about how the NBA is like four. forcing this 65 game limit on guys, and I am almost certain.

Remember Embedde had missed a couple games right before that, that he forced himself back, and then Cominga lands on him. Well, first of all. Hold on. There's two different procedures he could go through here. One would hold him out four to six weeks. He'll be able to play in the playoffs. The other is four to six months, and his season would be over. Okay? I'm kind of upset that Embed's incredible season is up in smoke,

because these Yahoo's on the internet are demanding, we need guys to play. They've got to play games. They're going to show up in February. Just stop. The NBA needs its stars in the playoffs, period. You should always take care of your body. First, secondly, this had to be done because the league had a new TV deal.

Yes. And the TV partner said, your stars aren't playing in the biggest games of the week. MB just won the MVP. Does he need to win another? If he felt like he couldn't play, then he should. not play. I have no problem with that. But this idea the NBA is, this is outrageous.

The reason the NBA did it is because too many players had a tummy ache or an ice cream headache and said, I'm not playing on Saturday night's TV game. The NBA has a fiduciary responsibility to its broadcast partners. What if in the NFL, Mahomes just decides before a game? I don't want to hear

that comparison. Sorry, it's only 17 games. Totally different. Well, you get tackled in football. See, you're always hurt in football. You don't get tackled in basketball. week off between every game. Listen, I'm upset. It just stinks that Embedes probably, my guess is he's done for the season. And I, listen, Kauai goes down next week and other stars start dropping. The league playoffs are going to suck. And that's going to be big for us. And like, it just stinks. I don't care about January NBA playoff ratings, nor should anybody outside the TV partners, right?

Somebody fell on him. Bad luck happens. A couple days before that, he was embarrassed when he backed out at the last minute from the Denver game, remember? And everybody's like, oh, what a joke. That's because he's done it multiple times. But his knee was clearly hurt. It's funny. It's always hurt every year against Yolk. And now here I am defending Joel Embedde, who is not a guy I've been in Amher. Sometimes bad stuff accidentally happens.

Somebody fell on his knee. I know. And now Zach Levine, by the way, out for the season, foot surgery. It's almost sounds like you got money on something. No, no, no, no, no, no. I would have taken it the Sixers out there. So Zach Levine's out and Bede. I just like Zach Levine.

I like watching. Believe me, we all know. Kind of an expression. But we do all know. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News.

Yeah, I saw this story. Jerry Jones plans on, quote, a home run higher at defensive coordinator. He's going to swing for the fences. Well, I don't even know what that means. Mike Vrable probably wouldn't be a coordinator. Mike Zimmer's good, but he's 68. They had a good defensive coordinator.

And the season ended with them giving up over 400 yards and 48 points of the Packers. I always laugh at this stuff. You know, the first thing when you have a business that's underachieving, it's not about what's outside, it's about what's inside. Do you know you? Does Dallas realize defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn was excellent, but outside of Micah Parsons and maybe one corner, you're never quite sure what you're going to get with them?

So the cowboy issues, and they've got three of them, and the first. one's the biggest problem. They have a good quarterback. They pay like a superstar. It is hard enough if you have a superstar quarterback and pay them like a superstar, Kansas City. You're going to have holes in your team. Chiefs don't have very good receivers. They have a good quarterback. They pay like Mahomes. Biggest problem I have. Secondly, Mike McCarthy's a good, solid coach. He is. But if you go to the last six years and look who ends up in Super Bowls, it's Andy Reed several times. Chanahan now another time.

McVeigh, Belichick, Bruce Ariens. I don't think Mike McCarthy's in that class. And third, and the third issue is Jerry Jones. Jerry Jones, we know about the ego, considers himself the GM. And because of that, that he won't remove himself from that, is that Dallas tends to pay big money to only the players they draft. Therefore, validating, look at our picks. We know what we're doing.

So they're going to pay CDLama fortune. and Dakagan of fortune and Micah a fortune and two of those guys are elite one is not so the cowboys it's like putting new rims in a car that's got body damage defensive coordinators not the issue they had a good one and they couldn't stop green bay right like that's not the issue with the Dallas cowboys okay you're overpaying your quarterback you have a good coach and you're expecting to win a Super Bowl with a good to a solid coach. And Jerry, to validate his picks and expertise, tends to overpay in the people he drafts and mostly sign Cowboys

validating his picks to big contracts, often more than they should make. All right, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong is at the very top of the hour. USC head coach Lincoln. Riley is going to stop by the show. Caleb Williams, now we're starting to talk about this stuff. We have the senior bowl going on. Combines are coming up. We got one football game left.

And from that point on, it's free agency and the draft. And it is a great quarterback class. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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, Lindsey Vaughn, Michael Phelps, David Spade, Guy Fiery, 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. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer and Mental Wealth Podcast on the IHart 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 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 Podcast, 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 podcast. podcast. It's a win for fans and a win for football as the USFL and XFL merger is official. The United Football League will begin to play March 30th with the USFL champion. Birmingham Stallions taken on the XFL champ Arlington Renegate. The United Football League this spring on ABC, ESPN, Fox, and FS1. Spring just got stronger. I saw this. Brian Costello writes to the New York Post. You say he's very credible. I've known him for like 20 years. Good guy. He does a good job. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And he had a story today. I disagree with his premise. He said the Jets are absolutely right to cater to Aaron Rogers' preferences. The Athletic wrote an article last week, very critical of Aaron and Nathaniel Hackett. But my takeaway is, how about we have a new rule in the NFL? Owners' own, GM's GM, coaches coach and players play. When Belichick tried to take over GM duties, not good. when Jerry's meddled.

Jerry Jones, not good. Aaron brings Alan Lazzard, not good. Do you know how hard it is to be a great quarterback? You don't have time to be watching personnel tape. You know how hard it is to be a great coach, a GM? I mean, owners, you can be a bad owner very quickly. This is not a knock on Aaron. I disagree with the premise.

Just let everybody do their job. Now, I do think you get these rare instances where you get a Jim Harbaugh or Pete Carroll comes into the NFL out off of coaching college football at an elite program where you get like this three-year window where Harbaugh really knows college personnel. And for the next two or three drafts, the Chargers should lean heavily on Jim Harbaugh's opinion on personnel. You go back to Pete Carroll, Jimmy Johnson, when he came out of college, Oklahoma State, and Miami, his first three years. in the NFL, they were working people. They just knew the college players better. Pete did. Hardball will.

But, I mean, it's hard enough. Aaron's got rehab. He's got to be a leader. He's got to be a quarterback. This whole idea that you should lean on people to do things beyond what they do, I just don't, I don't buy into it. Look at all the instances in the NFL where people try to wear two hats. Tell me where it works.

Owners meddling never works. coaches trying to be GMs. The way Kansas City does it is the right way. Brett Veitch is the GM, really shrewd. He and Andy have a great relationship. He's going to say, Andy, we need this, this, this. And Andy will tell him, I need this, this, this. And they're collaborative.

They work together. The minute it's not collaborative or you give a player or a coach or a GM too much influence in somebody else's pot, it just doesn't work. It just doesn't work. I mean, I don't think it works, be honest, in the NBA, and you have tiny rosters. I mean, in the NBA, you got two draft picks. Maybe you make a trade deadline move. I mean, think about how few moves you make in the NBA.

Tell me all the coaches in the NBA that are just, I mean, as good as the warriors are. Think about this. Think about how good the warriors are. Wiseman pick. Kaminga pick. they almost landed DeAndre Jordan. Thankfully, they didn't. And they're making one or two moves a year.

And Bob Myers is excellent. And Steve Kerr's brilliant. So NFL, I can have nine, 10, 11 picks. Like, I don't want my coach thinking, yeah, I know these guys. I just don't think most NFL coaches on a Saturday night are sitting around watching ACC football. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe that's what a lot of these coaches do. but if you get a good GM, let him GM.

The other thing is people are, conspiracy theories are very funny on this Cliff Kingsbury stuff. Cliff Kingsbury took the Rader job, and there was a contract, I wouldn't say dispute, but there was a contract issue, and he went to Washington. I wouldn't make too much out of it more than that. I think Kingsbury's really good. I thought what he did at Arizona in a division with McVeigh twice a year,

Shanahan and Pete Carroll, The fact that he got Arizona to the playoffs, I thought it was remarkable. With that, somebody that knows him well, USC football coach Lincoln Riley, entering his third year with the Trojans, joins us live. First of all, Lincoln, how you do it? I've had you and Jim Harbaugh on the last two days, so it's good for me. I want to start with this. I've always liked Cliff. I think he's a very clever play caller.

I think he gets along with people. He's been a head coach, so he knows what you go through in some of the vagaries of being a head coach. he goes to Washington I think it's a great fit with he and Dan Quinn what don't I know about Cliff take me behind the scenes on what he does that you really liked yeah I think you know I think the energy and confidence level that he brings

to the staff that he brings to the players that he's around he's got really got an infectious energy about him and always has been and a guy that's just very very impactful and I think about you know coach Quinn and those guys going out to Washington to restart that thing.

And I think Cliff is the perfect guy to bring along with him because he's going to bring that. And he's going to bring, as you said, a pedigree and a proven track record of success. And I think it's going to be, I agree. I think it's a great fit. I think he and Coach Quinn will work really, really well together. And it's going to be fun to see what those guys do. Dan's a tough guy. And I think Cliff just brings that academic study.

He's so clever. You know, one of the criticisms I heard about Caleb Williams and I kind of rolled my eyes, we forget in our space, these are 21, 22-year-old kids. I was not capable of being a number one pick physically or emotionally. I'd have been a wreck. You wouldn't have wanted to draft me. I'd have flunk the interviews. When I look at Caleb, I'm like, I like that he went into the stands.

I like that it hurts. I like that he cares. And by the way, what I don't want is indifference. That I have no interest in. When you hear the criticisms of him, and he's not a perfect player, Are any of them valid, the emotional stuff, he can be moody? Any of it valid to you? I'm like you.

I would rather care too much than not enough. And then Caleb is a tremendous competitor. He really wants to win. He does wear his emotions on his sleeve. But he is who he is, and he's confident in his own skin. And I think as a quarterback and as a potential leader of a franchise, you want somebody that is that, that's not trying to be somebody else that they're not. And I feel like Caleb has always been that way.

And yeah, like you said, listen, this guy's got, there's a lot left in front of him. I mean, in the last four years, he's played two and a half years of football. He's got so much more to learn, so much more room to grow. I think him getting in the right situation with the right coaches, the right kind of development, will be key because he's obviously got the ability. He's got the desire to be great. He's got the competitiveness. So now all he needs is a great situation.

I believe he'll truly take off. Did you know he'd be this talented when you went to Salman High School? I knew athletically he was that talented. The first time I got to go watch him throw the ball. I thought he threw the ball a lot better than what people thought. And I thought he was really improving on that. And that's just continued throughout his career. And now he's kind of on that next part of the journey,

which is he can do most of the things physically. It's running the locker room. It's the different game situations that you're in, being able to find different ways to win or attack how different people are going to play you defensively, learning to play with different skill sets. I mean, it's kind of that next part of the journey. And I think he's going to, just like he has all these other areas in his career, he's going to continue to climb. Fourth highest winning percentage, only Ryan Day, Kailen, DeBorren, Kirby, smart higher in college football with 50 games coach.

So you move to the Big Ten. I hear this all the time. Oh, USC's got to go play in the Big Ten. I'm like, you know, it rains out here too. We're okay. Not every day is 84 degrees. But if you had to make adjustments within your roster, Lincoln, are there some Big Ten adjustments you have to make?

I think there's just adjustments that you have to make when you're climbing from where we were two years ago to where we want to be and where we expect to be. And I think that's just the natural evolution of building a national championship level roster and program. And so a lot of me thinks that whether we were going to be, going into the Big Ten or staying in the Pack 12, that we would have been making the same improvements and adjustments regardless. And so we know there's going to be some new challenges, some new opportunities. We just got done playing in what was probably the best league in the country this year.

Yep. And obviously there's going to be a lot more great challenges ahead. But we're kind of focused on our progression. We know that as we build this, we're building it with the idea to win national championships. And to do that, you have to be able to compete with and be. to feed anybody. And so for us, it's more about to climb here at USC, and then we'll play whoever they put on the schedule. Minute left. First time you saw Patrick Mahomes in college. What did you make of it?

I thought he was remarkable. We played them a few times. Also, when I was at Oklahoma, we were way more talented than them, and he just willed them into staying in the games with us that they probably had no business being in. Yeah, I just, I remember that we had the great game with him versus Mayfield in 2016 and Pat through for 700 plus yards and I was just, I'd never seen anything like in my life. And so, yeah, it's pretty cool seeing what he's doing right now. Yeah, 700 yards. That's a day. That is a day. Well, it's a day. It's big 12 football. There were a lot of 500 yard days. That was the sport there. All right, Lincoln, Riley, third year, fourth highest winning percentage. Caleb Williams, Cliff Kingsbury updates. As always,

coach, good seeing you. You too, brother. Thanks, Colin. All right, Lincoln Riley, who's got Kingsbury takes. He knows them well. I don't understand the people criticizing Kingsbury. Dan Quinn is Alpha. I mean, Dan is make some noise. Kingsbury's not a guy that's going to confront players. That was the knock in Arizona. Sometimes wouldn't hold guys who got a little loose accountable.

But as a play caller, Cliff was great. He is, I had two executives yesterday in the league. Text me after I had gone out there. and said Kingsbury to the commanders, they're like, that's a good fit. Like he and Dan Quinn, if they get the right quarterback, that's going to work. So when we're in Vegas this week, come to the casino with me, and let's go put a futures bet, Washington to win the NFC East. We surely can find it somewhere, but I'll take it.

I'll take it flyer on it. Remember, somebody wins that division every year different, unless you're the Cowboys. I think Washington's going to be very live next year to be a good team. I completely agree. Whether they get Caleb or Drake May. It's just weird. Dan Quinn got to a Super Bowl. a winning coach in Atlanta.

Kingsbury 1 in Arizona. What are you guys talking about? Colin Wright-Rong 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. 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 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, Cliver 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 Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrate. So let's get to it.

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. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.