The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - Eric Mangini, Russell Wilson

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

Veteran QBs still having a learning curve is one of the few topics that Colin touched on in hour two. Making it known that it isnt all Russell Wilson fault that the Broncos are struggling. Although "Pressing" the issue to justify his contract could be a partial problem. Eric Mangini joins the show to talk about the NFL, Russell Wilson and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the 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. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard 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. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Hurd. Fox Sports Radio. hour number two live in L.A. It's the hurt. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. IHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. J. Mack will have that Draymond Green video again, bottom of the hour. We got all sorts of stuff going on today. So I want to talk about, I got a bunch stuff to talk about today. That Victor Wembeyanama. Big time. Big time. I'm going to save that.

No, I called my NBA Scout buddy last night, and he just retired. And he's great. Great life. I'm going to bring him on a podcast here at some point. Really interesting guy. And he said, Colin, and I've asked him, every year I ask him, seven or eight players, anytime I have a question, I just call him and say, give me a lowdown. He goes around the league in Scouts.

He goes, I've never seen, he doesn't have a comp. I said, what about Chet Holmgren? He said, much broader shoulders. He'll put on weight effortlessly. Rim defender, offensive talent, he goes, I have never seen anything like him in the league. And he started going back to the 60s, 70s, 80s. He said, do not compare him to Jet Hongren, much better player, much better rim protector, much different body type, no slouching.

He's like, this is a totally different ballgame. He's seen him on multiple occasions now live. I mean, it was, it was, and by the way, let me just throw this out. In my life, there have been about four. four or five athletes. I was told about, or we heard, very early, that we're going to be different. Tiger Woods. I heard it when he was like 15 juniors in Portland.

Early Mike Tyson. I was in Vegas. I heard about a kid. Early Mike Tyson. Most powerful boxer you've ever seen. He was. LeBron James, sophomore in high school. They're like, no, no, no, no.

This is totally different. Let me think of it. Would Trevor Lawrence go in that bucket? No. No, he has doubters. Oh, oh, oh, Ken Griffey. I had a buddy that played Singulet baseball with him, who was a great college player.

And I remember talking to him. He said, Ken Griffey walked in, first day in the batting cage. And he goes, all of us were big-time college baseball players. We were like, what is that? That doesn't look like anything. So Ken Griffey, Tyson, Tiger Woods, LeBron, there were no critics.

There were no, everybody was like, oh, okay, generally when people go nuts, And I'm not talking. Bryce Harper kind of falls into this. He was on this cover. And by the way, Bryce Harper's been great. I mean, he's hurt now. But when the media goes, wow, wow.

And that's what I'm hearing with this kid. So it's very, that's why San Antonio's tanking, Oklahoma City, Utah. We have like well-run organizations here that are just like, we don't want to win any games. A race to the bottom this year. And by the way, Tiger was great early. LeBron, great early. Tyson, great early. Yeah.

These guys were, this kid is not going to. to be Yonis. Yonis didn't make an all-star team until year four. Four, right. This kid will walk in and be really, remember LeBron's first game, he averaged 20, or first game he had 20. He had 40 that year in one game. Yeah. This kid is it. My guy's

like, oh, this is totally different. This is a once and a 12-year player. And the NBA does. The NBA gives you about once a decade. You get a magic. You get a shack. You get a LeBron. You get a, you don't get many of them. You get one or two a decade. He's it.

Very exciting. Exciting stuff. All right. Sorry, I just get so excited. Here we go. Blazing 5, winning record this year, fire away. That's a hot one. Let's blaze it up.

Fire it up. It's Collins, Blazing 5. Lions and Patriots. Patriots minus 3 and a half. I think they win in cover. Bailey Zappy, first game, 10 for 15, pass a rating of 107, on the road. Now he comes home against the Detroit team that is not only the worst. defense in the NFL. It is the worst defense by a mile. They've allowed 19 touchdowns this year.

Next closest is 13. Jared Goff has never won a road game with the Lions. They're missing their top running back and star receiver. They are the worst defensive team in the league by a mile in the last three years. Patriots control the clock, run the ball, cover the spread, New England 2824. Chargers at Browns. I'm taking Cleveland at home plus two and a half to win outright. Listen, the Browns are top 10 in rushing off, a scoring offense and total offense this year. And they're not giving the ball up.

Number two rushing team in the league, they've been fine offensively. They've actually been pretty good. And the Chargers have the worst rushing offense in the league and one of the worst rushing defenses. They still miss their left tackle for the year. Keenan Allen, they're not healthy. Cleveland's going to control the clock. Jacoby Brissette, by the way, at home. Again, marginal quarterbacks at home are different.

Golf's great at home. Brissette at home's complete in 71% of its throws. Cleveland wins this game outright. Controls the game, controls the clock, 28, 23. Steelers and bills. Steelers plus 14 is the side. Buffalo wins, but Mike Tomlin's one of the great underdog coaches ever. They still have 10 sacks and eight takeaways this year.

The Steelers' offense under Trabisky was a pop-gun offense, a water pistol. But picket, five drives, two touchdowns. The bills, though, were the story. Back-to-back, tough physical road games at Miami at the Ravens. They're still banged up. They still give the ball away seven times this year. And for the record, they're not healthy in the secondary. They're not healthy up front.

Back-to-back road, tough physical games. 14 points to a Mike Tomlin team way too much. I'm going to go Steelers cover Bill's win 2817. Cowboys and Rams. Rams minus 5 and a half went back and forth. I'm taking L.A. Here's why. Sean McVeigh, like Belichick, is a great win after losing coach.

18 and 7 after a loss. By the way, Stafford's not great, but he's completing 71% of his throws. The Cowboys have six offensive touchdowns all year. That's it. They're not scoring. Their offense this year. is 27th, 26th, 30th, or last in everything that matters. And you can run on this cowboy team.

The Rams lost, they were embarrassed, they'll come back, they'll play well, they're at home. Cowboys don't have enough smoke to win this thing on the road. Rams win it and cover 2820. Bengals and Ravens. Well, the Ravens had led for almost the entire season. They've trailed for nine minutes all year. They have the most takeaways in the league, and the Bengals, as you know, can give it up.

They have the number three scoring offense this season with Lamar Jackson. They've just lost a couple of close games late. The Bengals aren't able to run the ball, so they won't be able to play keepaway from Lamar Jackson. Burroughs also been sacks 16 times, second most in the league. I think Cincinnati's a good team, but Baltimore, I think, has the chance to be a great team this year, and they've led for all but nine minutes, and their losses are to, you know,

Miami and Buffalo. Pretty good teams. I think the Ravens win. I think they cover. I think it's a fantastic game. Probably the best game of the week. 30, 24 Ravens. So there you go.

My Blazing 5. I like some favorites this week. The Rams and the Ravens are favorites. I like them. And the Patriots. So there you go. Eric Mangini. Three rings in New England.

Browns, Jets, Fox Sports Analyst. All right, let's deep dive on Denver. I saw Stafford struggling year one with the Rams and McVeigh. I saw Brady was 7 and 5 after 12. Even Peyton Manning was 2 and 3 after 5 in Denver. This stuff isn't easy. We think it is. It usually works itself out when you have a veteran quarterback.

Is there something that leads you to believe this may not work out? Yeah. Normally, I absolutely agree with you, Colin. It does take time. And there's a transition where as those veteran-quivary, quarterbacks have in one system for so long, and there's a learning curve. And that's natural. I'd say the difference in this situation and some of those other situations is when Tom went to Tampa, he still had a veteran head coach. And that makes a difference. With Russ, he's not only dealing

with a new system, he's dealing with a new head coach who's making plenty of mistakes on his own. What you'd like to see at this point is some sort of progress from the offense, and you're not seeing that, if anything, last night, it felt like a little bit of a regression. You watched Russ throw the ball, and he's pressing. He's trying to justify the expectations, the contract, what was given up to him, instead of taking what's there. Yeah, no, this is interesting. You're the third person I have talked to that's played in the league, been in the league,

or coach in the league. You all use the same word, pressing, trying to live up to a contract. Mark Slara said yesterday, I said, why doesn't he run? We've seen it a couple times last night. He can still move, and he said he's trying to prove he's a pocket guy. And I'm like, oh, good Lord. It's a little late in your career to try to prove something. What do you make of the stress thing?

Talk about that, your experience with that. It's one of the biggest problems you have when you sign a free agent to big money. And he comes into a locker room, and there's a host of expectations. And everybody's expecting them to deliver the organization. organization, and then the guy, instead of trying to just do what he's always done, which is good enough, which is why you brought him there, they try to do something else. They try to, they try to live up to other people's thoughts and expectations of them, instead of just doing what you brought them there to do. And it takes a little while for guys to settle back in and say,

okay, let me default to what got me here as opposed to to chase something that other people think I should be doing. Yeah. So I want to ask you. I watched Zach Wilson. You're a former Jets coach. I watched the fourth quarter, and I was like, I thought, this sounds silly. I thought it was a huge win for Sala and Zach Wilson. You can't lose to Kenny Pickett in his first game, right?

Coming off the bench. And there are these moments for a young coach and a quarterback where the owner's upstairs, and it sounds ridiculous, but you didn't want to fly home having lost a picket. And I thought, Zach Wilson, good fourth quarter, I thought that went a long way when I watched it. Your thoughts?

Yeah, I was encouraged by some of the plays he made in the fourth quarter, but when you look at the body of work throughout the course of the game, we're still talking about a 59 quarterback rating. We're still talking about a situation where he threw two interceptions. And really, Colin, he could have thrown four interceptions. There were a couple others that were dropped. It reminds me somewhat of Baker. A smaller guy will move around, we'll try to make some plays happen.

can throw the ball well, can place the ball well, but oftentimes we'll take some chances that he shouldn't take and make some mistakes that he doesn't need to make. So really positive in terms of late what he was able to do, and that's what you're looking for from young guys. But over the course of the game, two picks in a 59 quarterback rating with the opportunity to throw two more picks,

potentially, not exactly where you'd want him to be coming back in his first game. You know, Brady said this yesterday. He could have taken a very political stance. People asked him about parody. And instead, he said, I see a lot of bad, bad football in this league. And I do think at the heart of Tom and his personal issues, he looks around this league, especially in the NFC, and says, why would I retire from this?

My division stinks. I mean, it's much harder to retire in life when you're getting paid well and work gets easier. And a lot of those games are easier. when he said that there's a lot of bad football, when you look at it, do you see a lot of bad football? What do you see? It's hard now that you have less time to practice with the guys. The rules don't lend itself to developing young players like you used to be able to develop a lot of young players. There are a lot of the turnover in coaching staffs and head coaches is significant.

significant every single year. So organizations are constantly in flux. There's a lot of young guys in senior positions where they're going to make some mistakes. The guys aren't developing quite the same way. And Tom, his grading scale is going to be harder than most because of where he was raised and how he was raised and how demanding that system was, how intellectually advanced it was in a lot of ways. So that's how he's grading everything. And it's always going to be hard to get an A in his scale. But there is some truth to what he's saying. Listen, Cooper Rush has played well. I think eventually it's a Kyle Allen thing. After about four games is a backup, everybody has tape, and suddenly you're not as good anymore. You know, people start getting tape on Cooper, Rush,

and it's like, yeah, he can't make that throw. Here's his weak spot. Overall, there's no quarterback controversy. Right. But overall, is he a starter? What do you make of the whole thing? Is he a little better than you thought? I think he's a little bit better than everybody thought,

but they're also doing a really nice job of managing it. And he's doing a nice job of managing himself. And we just talked about this with Zach. You don't have to press because you're the starter. You don't have to try to justify the fact that you're a start. in that position and that you can be a starting quarterback. One of the biggest things is not losing games and them being able to play defense the way that they can.

As long as he doesn't make those critical errors and can do enough to win the game, I give him a lot of credit for that. Look, Tom Brady, when he first came out, and I'm not comparing apples to apples here, but Tom didn't make a lot of mistakes. We only scored three touchdowns in that first Super Bowl run, but he didn't lose the game. And then he made enough plays to win the game as we, you know, continued to grow as a team with him. Yeah. You know, it's, I want to go back to the Russell Wilson thing.

And that Kirk Cousins has dealt with a little bit of this, and Tebow did. A eternally optimistic guy. Go Broncos. Let it ride. And, you know, the Internet just crushes guys unless you're cool. The Internet love Johnny Mansell and Cam. They can't stand russ because he's cringy and not cool. But it is interesting.

KJ Hamler, you're watching him explode. He's 23 years old. He hasn't done anything in this lead, and he's banging him after the game. And I've always felt this with Kirk Cousins. He's nice, good family, nice guy. And a lot of guys, he's corny and he's not one of them. Whereas Garoppolo, by the way, can have a terrible game. He's always their guy in the room. They love Garapolo. He's a guy's guy, single, good-looking, fun. would you worry a little bit about when he was in Seattle, Russell didn't create the culture. Pete did. The defense did. They had great ownership. Now in Denver,

hey, Russ, you create the culture. And he's not the most loved player. He's not like, oh, as a guy's guy. Does that worry you at all? Is that something? Well, it doesn't matter what your personality is.

if you're going out and helping all those guys who you're playing with, play better. If he was lighting it up, he could be as corny as anybody wanted to label him. He could be whatever characteristics he had, whatever personality he had, nobody cares about that. If you're helping the receivers catch a bunch of balls, you're moving the offense, you're scoring a bunch of points, personality becomes a much bigger issue when things aren't going well, where the guys aren't necessarily going to stay with you.

as long as they would if they liked you, that's where it can fall apart. Now, in the Denver situation, it doesn't matter whether they're with him or not. He's not getting benched. He's not going anywhere. He's going to have all the opportunity in the world to be successful. But, yeah, at the end of the day, you'd love for that guy to not only be good on the field, but to be bringing the group together. And not just the offensive side, the really good quarterbacks are able to bring the whole team together. relationships with the special team guys, with the defense.

That's the ideal situation. Yeah. All right. Eric Mangini, great seeing you as always on a Friday, coach. Great seeing you, Colin. All right. Going to be some interesting games this weekend. A game we didn't talk about. You can talk about Arizona, Philadelphia.

You know, the world's in love with Philadelphia right now. Never forget. Nobody's going 17 and no. They're healthy. they've had a couple of soggy games. They're built for that. It's interesting. We get to a point now where, remember, Belichick's worst month was September.

Andy Reid's best month is September. Different cultures. I tend to think Denver's going to get some of this right, but we're real limited at the head coach. It's a tough division. And man, Russell Wilson's inability to hit on deep balls is like a thing now. It's a problem. It is a problem.

On that Philadelphia game, I was just looking up some stats because we got, you know, the headlines later on. Did you know the Eagles lead the NFL and turnover margin? Is that sustainable? Can they keep getting fumbles from the opponent? Trevor Lawrence fumble four times last week. Her cousins, three interceptions on Monday night football. Right. Just like Minnesota lost all their close games last year.

Now they're winning close games. That stuff evens out. Getting fumbles, one year you get them, the next year you don't. Fumble is pure luck. I know some people like to think, oh, luck's on their side. No, no, that's pure total luck. You cannot, you know. So it's not sustainable.

Definitely not sustainable. I'm George Reister, host of the Reister or Wrong podcast. This is the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop culture meet the truth. Absolute fire on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Facts only. Make sure you check your feelings at the door because no BS is allowed. We keep it 100. This is where real conversations happen.

Listen to the Rights or Wrong podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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 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 to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 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 you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed cracks.

I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth?

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our heart radio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Start Saturday Strong with Big Noon Saturday as Blake Coram. and number four Michigan take on Indiana. And it's a pair of huge matchups in the Pack 12 as 11th ranked Utah takes on number 18 UCLA at the Rose Bowl. And across town, sixth ranked USC host Washington State at the Coliseum, all on Fox and the Fox Sports app. That Utah UCLA game's interesting. Remember, I took UCLA outright last week against Washington, told you and clap. You did.

Going with the Bruins again. I took the Colts last night. Do you take the Colts? I did not. I hit that first half under, but I had that. the Broncos too. Oof, gross. Gross.

But UCLA shocks Utah. Beats him in the trenches. How about that? J. Mack, big, strong. Take some. No, no, not nearly as big as the NFL picks. I love this week. I hated last week.

Did not go well. Love this week's games. All right. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin.

Let's get started. Russell Wilson lost an awful game last night. He was putrid. Gabe K. Down to this fourth down play. He missed K.J. Hamler, and you could see Hamler throw up his hands in the back of the end zone. Slammed his helmet down. This was just a bad pass behind Sutton.

Here's what Russ. Oh, sorry, here's what Richard Sherman. We know about Richard Sherman had to say after the game. On the final play, you got to run the ball again. Like, I wish I had Marshine up here. Like, one yard. You need one yard. Run the ball.

What? Run the ball. And CT, he's triggered. All he has to do is run the football. Like, necessary criticism. I'm not, you know, I've said enough criticism for him. But God dang, run the dang ball. Like, learn from the mistakes.

Also, you know, I would say this. Nobody outside of Brady wants to do a quarterback sneak. Russell, because of his diminutive size, is not a bad quarterback sneak guy. He gets under tacklers. I love the fact that Nathaniel Hackett, late in the game there, and earlier on the potential game winning drive went forward on both fourth downs. That I love.

He went to Russ and said, what do you want to do? And Russ is like, let's go for it. So that I love by Hackett and Russ. Why won't? When you have a mobile quarterback, they do not do bootlegs. They don't roll them out.

They don't use sneaks. They don't use quarterback draws. That is a huge component to his skill set. They don't do any of that stuff. Totally agree. I just run the ball nonsense. I mean, Melvin Gordon had 13 carriers for 25 yards. I don't know that he,

Could have got a yard there. They'd already lost one of their linemen to injury by that time, too. I mean, no, no. Richard Sherman is wrong as usual here. But Colin, I know that's your boy, but I got to. Lamar Jackson, we saw the same thing, Baltimore Buffalo, fourth and goal from the two, and they just dropped back your mobile quarterback to pass. What's wrong with these guys?

Listen, I'm not saying this isn't on Russell 2. Yeah, there's the play in the Super Bowl. But, but, but when you have a mobile quarterback, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, I want to see rollouts. I want to see bootlegs. I want to see quarterback designs. I want to see designed movement. All they're doing right now in Denver is, hey, Ross, drop back in the pocket and throw.

He's not a top six pocket quarterback. That's not what he does. He is great moving. He's great usually on a deep ball, especially off moving. It's a static offense. That's not what he does. And you're throwing at their best cornerback in Stefan Gilmore, who was an all-pro like two years ago. All right, next up, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They will be starting Kenny Pickett over Mitchell Trubisky this weekend against the bills. You had this in the Blazine 5. I thought for a moment you might be crazy. T.J. Watts still not playing. They are winless without him. But with the new quarterback under center, offensive coordinator, Matt Canada, says he's not expecting the offense to be much different.

Here's what he had to say. I don't think you saw a huge difference in the place in the second half when Kenny was in there as far as the play call. So I don't think you're going to see a drastic difference. And again, we all have to be better for us to get there. We've got to score more points. And disappointing last week, we got had the ball. there for 10 on the 31 and didn't finish out the game, had an executioner on a toss,

and then gave him the ball back. So we all got to be better. There might be tweaks here, a route that Mitch liked, that Kenny likes different, but there's a grand, you know, big picture. It's going to be in the same place. Boy, that cannot inspire confidence in the way. Well, I think he's a better quarterback. I think he's got a better arm. I think he is a more confident thrower. I think he's more of a let it rip guy. Tribisky tends to play it safe with a weak arm. So I do think their offense will be better. But don't you think the offensive line is the bigger story? We've seen Buffalo just cave in the Rams, they've sacked

Stafford seven times. Buffalo is off tough road games. Buffalo is still dinged up on the defensive front. 14 points is a college line. They have the Chiefs next week in a game that everybody circled as one of the early games. This is a classic, huge favorite sandwich game off the

Ravens and the Chiefs, and you got the Pittsburgh in the middle. I think Pittsburgh's going to lose, but I I can't give up 14. I can't give Mike Tomlin 14 points. By the way, Pittsburgh beat him in Buffalo last year. In week one, yeah. So I think that's a good bet by you, but I can't put my after-tax dollars on Kenny Pickett in Orchard Park against that Buffalo defense. And then next thing you know is 273 at halftime. And you're just like, you're after-tax donors. Yes, that's what that is. All right. Final story, back to the NBA. Ben Simmons making his way back to the game and getting in shape. He's been away from basketball for 474 days. We saw he had four points, four assists, ten boards in the ugly preseason loss to the heat.

The Nets got shellacked by 29. But Ben Simmons is asking fans for patience. I mean, I haven't played in 474 days, but just be patient. Here's what Ben Simmons said. You know, looking at it now is three shots, which is definitely not enough. But obviously, you know, offensively, you know, I want to get in the post more, get some more touches down low, be more aggressive, get to the rim, get to the free throw line. which I didn't do tonight, but there's a lot of things that we can look at. This is game two.

I play 25 minutes, yeah. So I had last game, 12 minutes, 18 minutes, something like that. So in a year, I mean, I'm coming back to give me some time, man. I will say this. He is a tantalizing athletic player. I'm a fan. I mean, there is, we just talked about the other young guy, the 7-4 guy. He is a 610 point.

An elite defender. Tremendous ball handler. Excellent distributor. I mean, I don't believe everybody on your roster, especially those who assist others, has to be a great three-point shooter. Chris Paul's not. You don't have to be a great three-point shooter.

If you can get the ball to people who are. Kyrie is, Joe Harris is, Durant is. I think Patty Mills is okay. I'm not sure if he is, but he shoots. You know how certain things you look at. at and you go, this should work. Like Russell Wilson and Denver, it should work. They have great defensive personnel.

Now, all that stuff doesn't work. But if you told me that Simmons gives me 10 and a half assists, plays good defense, averages eight and a half points, I would be like on this team, if he's their best defender, I could live with that. 10 and a half assists? He's got to have the ball a lot to put up those numbers. He's going to have the ball all the time.

With Kyrie Irving on the court? Oh, I think he'll facilitate a lot of offense. Now, I would say, can you give me 10 points, 11 assists, and great defense? I would take that at this point. Well, yeah, you would definitely, yes. 10 points, by the way, that could be fast break points. I'm not asking for him to hit jumpers. Yeah.

Would you have faith in me going one-on-one in a shooting contest, three-point shooting contest with Ben Simmons? Would you put your after-tax dollars on me? No. Three-point shooting, Kellan. It's like my specialty, dude. Oh, good God. I'm not even kidding.

Don't laugh. Ben Simmons still has made how many three is in his career It's your specialty Okay That in gambling Yeah okay J-Mack with the news

Well that's the news And thanks for stopping by The Hurd-line news It is interesting And I've said this Adnauseum Like everything on the internet's about being cool and right

The smartest people on the internet are anonymous trolls They're never wrong It's just remarkable And you know Everybody's cool in the internet Johnny Manzell was beloved but nobody likes Steph Curry because he wears

pharmaceutical shoes and nobody likes Russell Wilson. So I'm going to play this bite again and I just think it's interesting. When you're winning this doesn't bother people and 90% of this I love but at the end this bite has the internet in an uproar. Go ahead.

I'm looking forward to turn it around. I'm looking forward to turn around because when we do it's going to be a special story. I'm looking forward to the challenge of it all. I'm looking forward to the to the adversity of it all and to the negativity of it all and everything else because just use that for fuel and opportunity.

And when we do, it's going to be an exciting time because there's a lot of great guys in that locker room that work their butts off every day. And just to have the opportunity to help lead them, even though I didn't get to do it tonight the right way I wanted to and the way I know how to, you know, I'm grateful for them battling every moment, every play and they kept believing until the last play. And that belief is a powerful thing. And that's what I'm going to keep believing in. Thank you guys.

Thank you guys. Franco's country. That's right. That last two seconds just crushes him, right? I will say this. It doesn't bother me at all, but, you know, I'm not cool. I think being corny and cringy is way easier when you're winning and you don't set the culture. But they're losing.

They've been losing for years. He's now part of the rebuild. I always said this about Kauai Leonard. Now, he and Russ are totally different guys. Kauai Leonard is great to add to a culture. San Antonio had a good culture. They add him, get a bucket, get a stop guy title. Toronto had a terrific culture.

They add him, get a bucket, get a stop, boom. But in the clippers, they wanted him to build a culture. He's nonverbal. He's odd. Kauai's not a build your culture around guy. He's just a great player. Like Kevin Durant's a prime example. Kevin Grant's a great player.

But they built the warrior culture around Steph. KD comes in. Janus, you build a culture around. LeBron, D. Wade, Kobe, MJ, Magic Bird. There are Dr. Jay. There are players. The personality is you build a culture around them. We see it in the NBA all the time.

I'm not saying you couldn't build it around Russ. But that like eternally optimistic stuff, when you're winning, it's defense, it's Pete. In Seattle, he didn't build a culture. He jumped onto it. He was a backseat passing. passenger in the culture car. Now he's at the steering wheel. And I got young receivers like KJ Hamler's done nothing in the league at 23.

He's calling him out. So that's telling you, if he's calling him out are other guys in the room bailing on him? Colin, I don't know the answer. Do you think him wearing the shoulder pads and the full-on jersey and stuff? We don't see that a lot from athletes. Usually they shower, decompressed. They're dressed nicely. Do you think that adds to it?

He's like wearing his jersey like he's some big guy? It doesn't bother me. But when I see a 23-year-old who's done nothing, calling him out, the hysterics. Yeah, look, he's not happy at all. But you can understand. You don't see anybody doing that to Peyton Manning. You don't see guys doing that for a lot of quarterbacks in this. I'm 23-year-old who's done nothing in the league in two years, is throwing helmets and blast them after games.

He must feel comfortable doing that. So that tells me he doesn't respect his coach or Russell. You wouldn't do that with Brady or Manning in their prime. Maybe not Brady, but with Peyton. Nobody's doing that with Herbert, Joey Burrell, Lamar. They're not doing that. That's like, dude, you're 23. You've done nothing in this league.

That guy's won Super Bowls or a Super Bowl. I don't know. It just feels now you're driving the culture. What is the culture of the Denver Broncos? I'm trying to think. Like we do Pittsburgh Steelers, like hard hat. Denver doesn't have one. He's building it.

But in Seattle, he wasn't asked to build it. He was the backseat passenger to it. In the end, he took the reins on it. But now it's his car. and that's a big ass for a guy who to a lot of players, we heard this in Seattle, Pete Carroll, Richard Sherman, there were eye rolls with him. I just think it's interesting.

I don't have the answers. I think it's interesting. 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.

Human documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite

athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space.

For honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

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 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 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. 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations

with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Old saying in professional sports, especially football, when you start talking retirement, you're already retired in your head.

Probably is true. Aaron Rogers this week once again talking to the media about retirement. He's got a couple of young receivers. They're off to a good start. But he's been frustrated. He said the way they're winning, his words not mine, unsustainable, though I do agree. Here's Aaron talking about his future. He brings up retirement a lot.

Why? Here it is again. There's going to be a lot of benefits to be reaped from those guys. So I'm sure long after I'm gone, those guys get out my opportunity to be here and play. Look, my decision when it comes down to it will be obviously the physical part, the mental part, seeing where the team is at. There's some moving pieces, but that'll factor in for sure. But seeing the development of those guys can't help but be a part of the decision.

I don't think he's going to retire for a couple of reasons. One is he likes to flex, he likes power, and he has it. if he retired after the season, it would be a $40 million dead cap hit. Green Bay would be toast for a couple of years. Now, he would give up some money, but he's made over $300 million, so I don't think it's that big of a deal. Plus, he's not like he's spending a lot in his house in Green Bay. He's been good with his money.

But the reason he keeps, in my opinion, keeps discussing retirement, I think he's a bit of an ethereal personality. And the other thing, he likes to flex. He's shown that on more than one occasion. He can be kind of fixated on power and leverage, and he has it here. But he's also smart. Chicago offensively right now is lost. Detroit's got the worst defensive roster by a mile in the league.

Minnesota has Kirk Cousins. Eventually you have to win games in prime time if you're a threat to the Packers. And the bottom of the NFC is absolutely awful. Atlanta, Seattle, Carolina, Saints, Giants, Washington. We may put Arizona in there. The roadblocks, even the roadblocks, and the NFC to get to a Super Bowl are tenuous. Brady's old. How long does he stay? To the Niners stick with Garapolo? Can he stay healthy? Jalen Hertz has played one playoff game and he

trailed at 1.31 nothing. I like Stafford and McVeigh, but he's had armed troubles and right now they got roster issues. He is too smart to retire. He's a little petty. He likes his power. He likes bringing it up and he likes to flex. And he has a ton of power. This is a completely one-sided relationship. I could make the argument that he would stay for one more year, which would be the remainder of the Jordan Love contract, just to prove you guys never played him once in a big game where I was available. They played him against Kansas City, Aaron wasn't available.

But I don't think he's retired. I think he's too smart. I think you retire when life gets harder. You don't retire when life is easier, and that's where it is right now. Okay, the kid's name is Victor Wembenyama. And I said earlier, I talked to an NBA scout last night, somebody I trust. He said he is a once a decade player. Seven, four, good handles, nice shot, wide enough shoulders.

He's not a sloucher. He'll put on weight. LeBron James earlier this week on his early impressions on this young French generational talent. You know, everybody, you know, we're labeling like this unicorn thing. everybody's been a unicorn over the last few years, but he's more like an alien. I've never seen, no one has ever seen anyone. As tall as he is, but as fluid and as graceful he is out on the floor. Now people would say, what about Zion?

Nope, Zion had a lot of critics. People worried about his weight, his health, and his jumper. Zion had all sorts of critics. He wasn't the number one high school player in the country. He just had a huge fan base digitally because of his dunks. Zion had a lot of critics. What about Peyton Manning? I was around.

A lot of people thought you should have drafted Ryan Leaf. A lot of people thought that. This is different. 7-4, as LeBron said, incredibly fluid. The NBA scout told me last night, he's like, Colin, that guy walks into the league and scores. Put it on that. This is not a Chep Holmgren story. He's got the kind of body where he'll be able to put on 30 pounds over a three-year period, maybe four.

the NBA gives us, you know, Russell in the 60s, you know, Kareem in the 70s, we get one. That's about it. Magic in the 80s, Jordan in the 90s, a Shaq or a Kobe, a LeBron. You get about one a decade. That's about it. I mean, Janus right now, I remember the 60 Minutes piece like four years ago, three or four years ago on Janus.

Yonis right now on any given nights, the best offensive and defensive player. Some grow into it. like Steph's grown into it, right? Michael Jordan, by the way, legendary stories, cut from his high school team, only 20 a game in college, stayed in college for a couple years. Some guys grow into it.

And then there's others like LeBron and Tiger Woods, Bryce Harper, who are so clearly dominant at an early age. But one of the things I love about basketball, it's an incredibly global game. You know, football, pretty much, you're getting your football players from the SEC and the Big 10 and the PAC 12 and the Big 12,

ACC. It's a global game. And I think it's incredible. And you can see what's happening now is as the game has changed analytically, where we demand that our big shoot, what you're getting now is seven foot four guys, you know, Kevin Durant, but like five inches taller. I mean, it's, but when you watch him, I called my guy last night, he's like, Colin, there is no comp.

This is a once every 10, 12 year player. So there's video and images of him standing next to Rudy Gobert, the Stifle Tower, who's seven foot one. and he towers over Rudy Gobert, largely the best defensive player in the NBA, and he makes him look small. So now you're adding essentially an elite defensive player to a guy who's effortlessly hitting threes, going between his legs. We really have never seen anything like this. According to one source, Dan Wojke's story in the L.A. Times, according to one scout in the NBA, quote, it looks like me playing basketball with my kids.

several executives, according to Waiky, when asked how many future picks they would trade for the number one pick in June, answered exactly the same. All of them. Almost never do you see guys come out to scout, play that well, set a general manager. He's called a true, according to an NBA's exec,

a true one-of-one player. LeBron said, everybody's labeling this unicorn thing. he's more like an alien. So this is exciting. I can remember, I remember when Tiger Woods came out. And he was playing, I was a sportscaster in Portland. And he was playing like junior tournaments in Pumpkin Ridge as a golf course in like Beaverton, Oregon outside of the city.

And I remember I was playing at a public course fairly regularly by my house. And people were complaining, all you do is talk about Tiger Woods. I'm like, first of all, he's winning junior tournaments. And he was just getting on the tour. And I'm like, I know. But you watch the golf tournaments and that's all the director shoots. So they're near golf and they're telling me as a consumer and a local sportscaster, that's the guy to follow.

And I don't remember exactly what the years were. But people used to say early in his career, all you do is talk about Tiger. And it's like the galleries for Tiger, off the tea tiger, clutch putting tiger. And he was on the Mike Douglas show. former talk show or whatever it was, entertainment show at four. He got a behind the scenes deal with IMG at 11. That's what we're talking about here. Like next level stuff.

Exciting. All right. Hour three, Plexico Burris. Tomorrow's headlines today. Very exciting stuff. On a Friday, it's the hurt. 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, make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast

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. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here, unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. Before it was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford 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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilts of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Thank you.