The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - Herd Hierarchy, 49ers

Episode Date: October 5, 2021

Colin's new Herd HierarchyIt's vital in the NFL to get the QB position rightThe 49ers are in a lot of troubleGuest: Seth Wickersham Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Hurt at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching HARD. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, it is great to have you in. Sorry for the voice, battling a little influenza. It's the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

I was a wreck yesterday. So I went and got an IV. Joy Taylor is joining me. And an IV bag full of zinc and vitamin C and B. And that did help. That helped. I'm going to do it again today. I'm fine.

It's just, this is the time of the year that I want to be on the air. If it was August, I'd say, hell with it. I'm going to stay home. But I got football. I want to talk about it. I'm sitting home with a cat ordering pizza, and I'm like, I've got to get my life back. It was not lost on the Internet that every time we got to talk about Tom Brady. I'm sick.

You know, I think it's maybe your brain is just like overloading with all the takes that it's exhausting the rest of your body. I have take flu. I can't handle Big Brady moments. All right. I spend a lot of time on this. this is probably the toughest herd hierarchy I've ever done, because you'll notice at the end there's really good teams. I did not include in this,

but it's based on this morning, this morning, based on available players. Who do I think are the top 10 teams in the NFL? Here we go. Heard hierarchy. Time is now, let's go. The top 10 NFL teams, according to college. Number 10.

L.A. Chargers. I waited to watch that game. And my takeaway is they're a 56-yard field goal by Greg Zerline from being undefeated. But they kind of gave that Dallas game away. And I don't trust the franchise yet. I think they're being, as Peter Schrager said, very deliberate in how they're coaching this team. I think Justin Herbert will only get better. I do worry about Austin Echler's health.

He's going to join us in 45 minutes live. There's a lot to like. Here's the most important thing. Their head coach Brandon Staley was the Rams defensive coordinator. he blew the Chargers away in the interview. Every week they have held their opponent to their lowest offensive total. This is a defensive story as much as an offensive story, Chargers at 10. Number 9.

Cleveland at 9, this is not a knock on Cleveland because they played the Chargers this week, and the spread is like a point. Right now Cleveland's defense feels like it's better than Cleveland's offense. Jarvis Landry, we told you, he is the soul of this. team, OBJ and Baker, for whatever reasons, just don't have the symmetry. I'll tell you what, though, that was really impressive is that on Kirk Cousins 40 dropbacks, the Browns pressured him 22 times, and almost all of them came only rushing four. That is a real factor. They are not bringing extra people, and they are getting substantial pressure on the opposing quarterbacks. This is a very

good team. This is not a knock putting them at number nine. I just don't think if Jarvis Landry's not available, I can't put him higher because he's really valuable clearly for this offense. Number eight. The chiefs who beat Cleveland and worked for it. Listen, their defense is a huge concern. They can't get teams off the field, but they've had one three and out all year. They've had six punts all year. This is an offensive story. This is Oklahoma Sooner Football. Are they good enough to win a national title, I don't know. But offensively, it's wizardry. Mahomes is now 40 and 10 through his first 50 starts.

They're smartly coached. Mahomes is tremendous. But I do worry that their defense allows you to make Mahomes a spectator for long stretches. Number seven. The Dallas Cowboys, for the first time in a decade, I think they're underrated. I think between Trayvon Diggs and Michael Parsons, they have two sensational stars on defense. These are playmakers. Michael Parsons is a playmaker.

Trayvon Diggs is a top three or four corner. The defense is fast. It is athletic. Dan Quinn, this is what he does as a coordinator, makes his players better. Dak Prescott. Sam Darnall was running for his life in this game. And Carolina, this is a really good defense. And the Cowboys scored 36 points against it.

A lot of people overvalue the Cowboys. I try to stay away from it. but I think they have entered the Super Bowl bubble. This is a real football team with excellent leadership with Dak Prescott. Number six. Tampa Bay. You know, this is really out of respect for Ariens and Brady. They're not playing like the sixth best team in the league.

They're passing defense as the worst in the NFL. And they're also the second most penalized team. Now, Bruce Ariens' teams tend to be loose and play with a lot of energy and emotion. I do not love what I'm seeing there. They're hurting themselves a lot. But, you know, they didn't play a particular. particularly well, went on the road and beat Belichick. There is value. I may trust them more than any team in this league in a close game. And right now, their defense is not good enough to blow people

out. So I think it really comes down to trust. I think if they play all but a handful of teams, they win because they're so good three minutes and less in the game. Number five. The Rams who beat the Buccaneers. Now, I just think I'll say this. I'm going to, I'm giving them a little bit of a pass for Arizona. Number one is they came off almost a Super Bowl energy game against Tampa. It felt like a playoff game, and they were completely flat. I mean, you could tell two series in. Matt Stafford missed on his long throws. They could not get Kyler Murray off the field. I thought it was just a good team with a stinker. It's like I said about Baker Mayfield. I'm not crushing them because he had a bad game. It's hard to win in this

league. I still believe defensively they're elite, and I do believe the play calling is telling you far less play action than they had with Jared Goff. They absolutely. Absolutely trust Matt Stafford to throw the ball down the field. As I often say on the show, what a coach calls tells you what he thinks of his personnel. If they're doing a lot of zone, they don't trust their corners. They're doing man to man, which the cowboys are doing more of, they trust their corners. This coaching staff trust Stafford and trust this defense. Number four.

Arizona beat the Rams. They're spectacular. It's amazing. Three of the four games are on the road and they're the only undefeated team left. They're really explosive. They're really dynamic. and they brought on J.J. Watt for the leadership component. Kiler Murray, first time he'd beaten the Rams.

That's significant. He was 0 for 4. Cliff Kingsbury had been owned. This is a real tipping point win for them. This was a big win. McVeigh had owned Kingsbury. This burst it through. Only team in the league, 400 plus yards and 30 plus points in every game. Number three.

Green Bay. I still don't think they're hitting in all cylinders. The reason I put them number three is, because the Steelers have a fairly vaunted pass rush, and yet, Aaron Rogers was pressured on only 18% of the dropbacks. That's very impressive. So they're getting the offensive line in shape, and that's been our primary concern, that and the lack of a number two pass receiver.

Randall Cobb had an excellent game. So the emergence of Randall Cobb, who Aaron Rogers trusts, I've always thought their defense is better than people give it credit for, Green Bay at three. Number two. Baltimore. Folks, how long are you people going to hold to this? Lamar Jackson can't throw the football. Get over it.

Get over it. He can throw the football. In fact, I looked up a stat this morning. He averages 12.1 air yards per attempt and 14.4 yards per completion. That's both the highest in the NFL. It doesn't look pretty. It doesn't. It's Philip Rivers.

It can be really ugly. The ball gets there. He throws guys. He doesn't throw them open as much as an Aaron. Rogers. We got to get over this. He can't throw. It ain't pretty, but he is so dynamic running the football, it opens up passing opportunities that other young quarterbacks like a Mac Jones will never get. I've said this before. When you're great at something, literally great at something, you don't have to be great at everything. So he gets passing lanes created because linebackers

have to stick like glue to the play to the very last second to play honest football against this run game and that opens up, how many times does he throw the ball to a wide open tight ender receiver? The answer is often. Number one. A franchise I've fallen in love with. They're so smart and well run. The Buffalo Bills, best point differential in the NFL. It's not just winning. If you go to the history of the Super Bowl, the team that has lots of blowouts that steamrolls teams usually has a personnel and coaching advantage. They are blowing people out. They've trailed just 11 minutes all season. They've had an, not a stigma, they've had an issue the last couple of years, and it's been

a lack of a consistent pass rush. This is a really, really well-run organization. From the owner to the GM, to the coach, to the quarterback, to the coordinator, they just keep adding these elements for Josh Allen. And when you watch them play, folks, they are putting heat on you from every angle. And if you're not ready for it, I don't even count the week one loss to the Steelers. I swear to God, the week one for half these teams felt like the final week of the preseason because nobody played their starters. So since week two on, I think they're the best team in the NFL.

And with that, we bring on, oh, by the way, no Seahawks, why? What do they do well besides Russell Wilson? You tell me what they do well. No Denver Broncos. Well, Teddy Bridgewater is concussed, so today he wouldn't play. So I can't put that team with Drew Locke in my top 10. Raiders, I still think they're close. I don't think the writers were going to win that game last night.

That's just one of those things. You ever go on a date and you know five minutes in, it's not going to work? Happens. I mean, not to me, of course, but I've heard the stories for years and years. The next guy that's coming on our show, he's a terrific journalist and a reporter and an author, Seth Wickersham at ESPN. There was the Jeff Benedict book, which I thought was great. Ian O'Connor, who I talked to a couple days ago, his book was great.

That was on Belichick to make another greatest coach of all time. and Seth Wickersham goes a mile deep on this. It comes out October 12th. So these are history books to me. They're sports history, but they're great, great history books. And the book is titled, It's Better to Be Feared, the Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness. And let's bring him on so fortunate to have him.

Seth Wickersham is now joining us live. Seth, thank you so much. I know you're doing the rounds on this, and I've been a big fan and admire for a long time. And I thank you. You did exhaustive research, and you need to be lauded for that because the Patriots are not the easiest team to do. research on. It's Fort Knox, right? The gold bars, information or gold bars. First of all,

your reaction when Belichick says, I didn't talk to him, this, this, this. I mean, it feels like Bill wants to, you know, delegitimize any work that can be somewhat critical of him. Does that bother you when he says that? Well, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, first of all, thank you. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robloff did not cooperate for the book. I'm very clear about that. But I have talked to Bill many times over the years, usually on the record. And, you know, I just, you know, actually drew on a lot of that material in the book because so much of it was interesting and never made it into any of the ESPN magazine story I was doing. And so, you know, I think that at the end of the day, readers will end up benefiting from this. You know, usually if a couple or a company

has a big divorce, there's not a moment. It's a series. of things. And, you know, it's a series of frustrations. And you go to couples therapy, you try to work on it. So I doubt, I don't see Belichick and Brady as having a moment. You crystallize it or distill it down to a moment. But often there are discussions or frustrations. If I could say to you, was there a moment or two for Tom that we can kind of distill it down to, he gets in his car after that moment and calls Giselle and kind of made his mind up. Did he have a couple of? couple of those epiphanies in this process, this divorce? Well, I think one of the big turning points was after the Falcon Super Bowl.

They had just won their fifth Super Bowl together. And I think that Tom, you know, and people around Tom felt like that things needed to change a little bit. He wasn't the 25-year-old kid, you know, who had just come off the bench back in the early part of the century. And so he did the Tom versus Time documentary. He did the TB12 book. He really started to establish himself outside of.

the team. And then at the same time, you had Belichick and you had Jimmy Garapolo, whom he was deeply invested in. And at one point, Belichick, it's well known, curtailed, greatly curtailed the access of Alex Guerrero in the building. Yeah. And, you know, they just, it was just a tough patch. And, you know, Tom ended up skipping the voluntary off-season program. He had that unbelievable moment where he said, you know, I plead the fifth. And so that's really when it started. All that said, Tom Brady made it very clear that he wanted to retire a New England Patriot. And I think that if they had extended him with a contract that would have taken him until age 45 that he felt good about in August of 2019, I think he would have signed it.

Instead, he signed what was basically a one-year deal with a raise and an out to be a free agent. And as Tom Kern of NBC Sports Report at the time that he was so frustrated by negotiations, he almost left camp in protest. And right after he signed that contract, he and Jazeel put their house on the mom. market, and he's later said publicly, he knew that his time in New England was done then. The one thing, the excerpt I read a week ago, we spent almost a day on this, and I said, you know, you could criticize me all you want, you don't like me as a broadcaster, but if it got personal and you said I was a bad guy, and my boss was quoted in a book saying I was a bad guy

or a miserable human being, that's personal. That's something I probably would stick with me and land harshly. There's a quote in there where Robert Kraft basically says, you know, this guy's a miserable human being. And I know Bill's history is he's held a grudge or two. You know, what is the current relationship of Kraft and Belichick this morning? Do you believe, Seth? I think it's a good relationship. I think it's worked phenomenally well. I mean, Robert Kraft will probably make it into the Hall of Fame. And I think that one of the reasons he will is because, number one, when he traded for Belichick, it's turned out to be the greatest trade in NFL history. And number two, he's been able to maintain,

and manage these personalities and keep the band together much longer than, you know, so many other people couldn't happen. And as he said this publicly, it doesn't mean that it doesn't come without, you know, managerial challenges at the time. And that moment, that was in 2018. And he was in a conference at Aspen, one of these business conferences. And he says, you know, I hate leaving places like this because you're around the most brilliant minds. And I have to go to Detroit to be with the biggest effing a hole in my life, my head code. And all that said, I think Bill, you know, he's referred to himself as an A-Hole before. I think he might actually be kind of proud of that comment.

Yeah. Well, sometimes grumpy people are. You know, it's interesting. There's a moment where Bill O'Brien, who certainly had some success at Penn State replacing Joe Pah, an unenviable task, had some, you know, he would win a division. He won a division with I think Brock Osweiler all-important in Houston. So, I mean, the guy can coach, whether, you know, Nick Saban just hired him, and we can rail on him, but he's won a lot of games in a lot of places. there is, there was a passage in your book. How, I haven't read it yet again.

It comes out October 12th. How close to Bill O'Brien? Do you believe there was a moment, granular perhaps, but a moment when he could have coached the Patriots when this thing, Kraft, Belichick, Brady wasn't working? Yeah, so it takes a second to unpack that. So it's the 2017 season. And as I said before, Brady was getting a little bit tired.

At one point he said, you know, Bill is so negative and, you know, I don't want to play for Bill anymore. And at one moment, there's a meeting of the minds there in Kraft and Brady are there. And they're kind of spitballing ideas. And, you know, at the time, Josh McDaniels was expected to take the head coaching job at the Indianapolis Colts. So there'd be an opening at offensive coordinator. And it looked at the time like Bill O'Brien was going to be fired by the Houston Texans. He was in a very public war management struggle there.

And so they kind of thought, you know, what if, like, O'Brien replaced Josh and maybe if Bill left after the season or he retired, you know, one day, you know, Bill could take over the team. And the appeal from what I was told was that, you know, O'Brien would be more interested in being more collaborative with Brady in terms of game planning and personnel. Obviously, it didn't happen. McDaniels never left. And O'Brien ended up winning that power struggle in Houston, but he once joked that it was kind of an empty victory to a confidon. He said, I was trying to get fired. And that's something. Is there a favorite Brady story?

And again, I put you on the spot here, but is there in doing this book, which comes out October 12th, that's better to be feared, kind of a definitive account on the making of the Patriots? Is there a Brady story that you really warmed your heart? Are you really liked, funny, unique, just something that stuck? Yeah, there's two. And I mean, one of them, I'll just say briefly, was during the 2007 season, one day he had to watch Giselle's dog, and he brought Giselle's dog to the facility in a Louis Vuitton bag, and trying to hide the dog in a coach's office

so that the teammates wouldn't realize that he had Giselle's dog. But of course, word got out within a minute and everyone was giving him a hard time about it. But I'll go back really quick. He always talks about his mental toughness and how proud he is of the mental toughness that he's forged over the years.

And I wanted to know how that came to be and what were the steps. And when he was at Michigan, this is a key moment in his career in his life. The night that he told Lloyd Carr that he was going to transfer to Cal, he met with his counselor Greg Harden. And he, you know, he's complaining to Greg Hardin.

In Brady's own words, he was a whiner back then. And he says, I'm going to transfer to Cal because I can't get up on the depth chart here. And what does his counselor do? Does he empathize? Does he give him a hug? No, he starts laughing at him. And he says, you want to leave? Go ahead.

No one, you haven't done anything here. And no one's going to care that you left. And that really kind of reignited a lot of Brady's internal competitive. That morning he tells Lloyd Carr that he's going to stay in Michigan. He's going to be the best quarterback in the roster. And as we know, those are historic moments and lore only in retrospect. Is there a story about Belichick, does he have a soft side? Is there something that there is some empathy?

I mean, because, you know, some of the excerpts, you know, he comes across as really crusty and really hard. But I, you know, I said the other day, Seth, I said it's like the Beatles. You know, McCartney was the visionary. John Lennon was the academic and Ringo and George Harrison kept it light Kraft is the visionary Belichick's the academic and Tom is the California cool driven willful

but kind of keeps it light but are there moments where Bill there is a shoulder there I mean is there a soft side ever that you witnessed? Oh absolutely and there's funny signs I mean Eric Mangini once played a joke on him Eric Vanjini and some of the coaches where, you know, they took advantage of his lack of

technological expertise. And so when Bill came to his computer, there was an email that when he opened it, it started screaming that he was watching porn. And I'm kind of paraphrasing here. We were screaming down the hallway. And Bill didn't know how to turn it off. And so he was banging and he was asking. And finally he gets under his desk and just unplugged the computer as all these other guys are doubled over. But yeah, I mean, look, Belichick can be emotionalist. That's well documented and I have those moments in the book, but there's a lot of times that he's funny in addition to it. And, you know, one of the chapters I'm most proud of are talking to coaches and just what exactly it's like to work for him and what every meeting is like and what those

hours are like, 430 in the morning to 11 o'clock at night and how he's able to sustain himself in this spectacularly unhealthy profession that he's now done, you know, 40-some years. Yeah. You think he stays in New England? You know, I When I saw your quote that Kraft ripped him, I thought, boy, if that urban thing doesn't work in Jacksonville, he's got a house in Jupiter and a great young quarterback. Do you think Bill retires in New England? I think so. I mean, you know, he's talked with confidants over the years about, you know, maybe would he be a vice president? Kind of like what Tom Coughlin or Bill Parcells and Mike Holmgren did.

You know, and that remains to be seen. It would have to be the right fit. But he's a coach. And one of the interesting things about Brady and Belichick together, and this isn't breaking news here, but it's just their longevity. And the fact that they just keep blowing past all the off-ramps. And, you know, at one point, Bill Belichick, he said this on camera. He said, you know, you're not going to have to worry about me being Marve Levy and coaching in my 70s.

That next year he will be 70. And he's always had a tremendous amount of pride in his work. And whenever he left New England, he wanted to make sure that he left New England, set up with a good roster and fixed it quarterback. That was very important to him. And so the truth is, nobody knows. when he's going to walk away. But he's kind of on his way to building that team, I think, with Mac Jones.

All right. The book is called It's Better to Be Feared. It's got a nice cover. Oh, there we go. Thank you. Look at that. Nice job. I mean, I don't expect you did the whole layout there, but it's very nice.

Seth Wicker, senior writer ESPN, used to be colleagues. He's a busy, busy guy and very, very talented, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. And, Seth, congratulations on your work. Hey, thank you so much. And thanks for having to me. and thanks for all the support over the years. I really appreciate it. You bet, Seth Wickersham.

We love our authors and our writers and the storybreakers, and this is just going to be, listen, it's history. They write history about a lot of stuff. They write it about wars. They write it about companies. They write it about football teams. These books are just a rainy weekend.

Give me a great book on the Patriots Dynasty. I'm totally in. 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 podcast. 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, 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the bar like, you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it up. real quick. Get your ass up and down the court and you're gonna get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Rider

Strong and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Like what was just because we? Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of who. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune at a pod meets twirled for all.

all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to Pod Meets Tworl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sunday, it's a star-studded doubleheader on Fox. First, Aaron Rogers leads the Packers against Joe Burrow and the Bengals or other regional action. Then in America's Game of the Week, Sequin Barclay and the Giants Battle, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys, all on Fox in the Fox Sports app. Check local listings for the game in your area. Daniel Jones played very well.

We on this show on our Blazing Five picked the seven-point underdog. to go to New Orleans and win. That's amazing. Now Joe Judge can suddenly coach. It is funny. Think about Cliff Kingsbury. Cliff Kingsbury got fired in the Big 12, which is not a great conference. He got fired because he could not win enough games with Patrick Mahomes. He now goes to the NFL, the toughest division and is in first place with Kyler Murray.

What does it mean? It means Kyler Murray, first of all, is really, really good. Yes. But it does tell you that there's a lot of variables here. There's a lot of circumstances to winning. And I said this about Joe. Judge. I know Joe Judge can coach in his entire time in New York. And it's a rebuilding team, at least until last year it was. He's been blown out one time. They're in every single game.

And if they can clean up the penalties and the turnovers, and they have cleaned up the turnovers with Daniel Jones, this is a real good football team. It's not a Super Bowl team. The offensive line's not good enough. But this idea that there's not variables here. We all love Kyle Shanahan. Look at the mess he's in right now. Garopolo's hurt. Trey Lance isn't ready. You all don't like Matt Nagy.

I bet you'd like Matt Nagy if Josh Allen was his quarterback or Kyler Murray. I bet you'd think he was great. I mean, we all still love Pete Carroll because Russell Wilson has nine TDs and no picks and a passer rating that's number one in the NFL. What does Seattle do well? The defense of Pete Carroll stinks. So, I mean, you got the quarterback. It's amazing.

Everybody around him wins. Daniel Jones played very well. Giants won on the road as a touchdown underdog. That's what you need to win. There's a lot of variables here. And I said it last week. It's easy to love the Chiefs. It's hard to love the Giants.

But that is a good football team. Not great, but the Giants are a good football team. Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herd Line News. Well, a big conversation this year has been the taunting penalties, and there was a questionable one last night.

Raiders tight end, Darren Waller, got a 15-yard penalty because he spiked a ball after a catch along the Chargers sideline. And John Gruden talked about it after the game. I don't understand it taunting. I understand. I hate taunting. I think it's ridiculous. I think what happens after an interception or a touchdown, we allow these celebrations.

I consider that taunting. I don't understand what happened over there on the Chargers sideline, but the official made the call, we have to deal with it. We couldn't get any momentum going. That didn't help us. It was one of the. night. So far, there's been 14 penalties called.

Wallers was the only one called this week through four weeks as opposed to three last season in the same time. We're showing the video of it now. There's the catch. And yeah, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous.

Look, the NFL does this. They make rule changes sometimes and they go throughout the season. They push it. And do you see how it goes? Make a statement. It's early. And then there's an uproar or there's enough complaints and then they change it again. The one thing about the NFL is they are flexible on the rules.

Oh, yeah, they always have it. They will change things if it's not working. It took a little too long to change the catch rule, but we did figure it out. And I believe that this is one of those things that they will change as well. I don't like, I don't. That's not going to cause a brawl. It's not going to cause a brawl. I know.

I don't like it. It's not bad sportsmanship. It's nonsense. I don't like it. It's an utterly subjective call by the referees. I don't like it, though. I don't like spiking the ball on the other team's bench. I don't like that.

What? It bothers me. He just got a big catch. I know, but I don't like it. He didn't throw it at somebody's face. He threw it to the ground. I know. It's very close, though.

I didn't like it. I mean, it's nonsense. I'm throwing a flag right there. It's, uh, it's got to go. I believe they'll change it after the year. You have always been more expressive than me. So your personality is more expressive, the way you dress, the way I am less expressive. therefore I would be more, if I was an NFL official, I would throw taunting flags.

Right, but the NFL is a television show. It's entertainment. That's not entertaining. And everyone's not going to catch the ball. Some guys are going to catch the ball. They're going to walk it back to the referee and run back to the huddle. Some guys are going to be gronk and spike the ball or Waller in this case and spike the ball. You're going to have dancers.

I am not a dancer. I would not dance after making a touchdown catch because I'm, I don't know how to dance. That's the point. Everyone has different personalities. But if you remove the expression from the game, which is essentially what they're doing. Then I just get the game. I love the game.

Yeah, fans don't like that. Raider Nation showing up in masks and spikes on their shoulder pads. Not interested. It just, it kills the momentum, as Gruden said. Like, it's just, it's got to go. They got to get rid of it next year. And honestly, there's so much complaining about it. The negative reaction from fans makes it not worth it.

The point of the rule change was to prevent fights. There's other ways to prevent fights. Make, they did this in the NBA. The punishment for stepping onto the court during a fight makes it not worth it to even think about getting involved in something that you're not on. They corrected it. So why don't we throw any taunters out of the game? No, no, no. It's not about taunting.

The purpose of removing taunting is to prevent fights, to prevent brawls. It's not to prevent people expressing themselves after they make a big play or a big catch or a sex. back or something like that. That's part of the game. Missing with the sportsmanship stuff. This is professionals. They work very hard to accomplish those things. And it's for the fans. This was the conversation with the celebrations in the end zone. It was ridiculous. Why can't guys celebrate? You know how hard it is a score a touchdown? Yeah, I guess.

So after Sunday's 2717 lost to the Colts, Dolphins head coach Brian Flores says the team was bad across the boards and there's a lot of things not connecting for the team during their three game losing streak. and he was asked about making change and hoping to create better results. I like the system we have in place. Obviously, we haven't had the success we want or the production that we're looking for. I like our process during the week. I like the way we've got preparation. I think we've had some good plans going in. We just haven't been able to execute.

So now he looks like a bad coach because he didn't have quarterback play. So we all love Brian Flores. And now he's got a bad quarterback situation. Two is not the guy and he's hurt and Jacoby Percette's a backup. So now Brian Flores has lost all the momentum. This is why the Deshaun Watson rumors to Miami, in this league, you have to, like they always say, you can lose two games. You lose a third game in a row in the NFL, you're in trouble. Russell Wilson's never lost three games in a row.

So it's like Brian Flores, he's lost the momentum. And when you lose the momentum, do you lose a handful of players who aren't getting looks? So right now, they have got to write the ship. and they don't have a player at quarterback good enough to do that. So to me, the Sean Watson team, to me, feels so much like Miami. I also look at Josh Allen, and that's what I've got to face two times a year for a decade. Because I'm Brian Flores. I don't want to have to go look for another job.

You only get two chances in this league. I don't think that Stephen Ross is going to bail on Brian Flores. And I also don't believe that the fan base is out on Brian Flores either. But they have made some personnel decisions that have not panned out. this morning they sent to cream grant to the bears for a 2023 sixth round draft pick that means that only one of their 2016 draftees are on the dolphins and that's zavian howard because they traded away laramie tonsel and kenyon drake so they've made really bad choices in the draft over the years they're not not retaining their personnel or developing them now you know the laramie tonsul trade kind of worked out but the bigger thing in all of this and i said this before and everyone wanted to get mad about it, but now you can see Justin Herbert is crushing, and Joe Burrow looks good, and you're going to be compared to the other quarterbacks in your draft class. And you didn't have the opportunity to get Joe Burrow, obviously, although it kind of looks silly that you're willing to trade away

the farm for Deshawn Watson when you could have made an offer to the Bengals for Joe Burrow, even if they were going to turn it down. So now... You're stuck with the third best quarterback. Not only is Justin Herbert killing it, you also had an opportunity to take Tray Lance, Mack Jones, or Justin Fields. And you didn't. And they're all more talented than Tua. So again, you can do everything right in this league. If you do not get quarterback right, none of it matters. Right now Miami's got no momentum. They are the right in this second, probably the third best team in their division. And you can say what you want about what Tua's development could be when he comes back, but he's injured and he was injured in college.

So this is not, it's the same with Jimmy Garapolo. Like there are certain players who you mention and you also have to mention their injury history because they are often unavailable. So none of this is super surprising. So last week, Aaron Rogers appeared on the Pat McAfee show and was gushing about Mike Tomlin and the city of Pittsburgh. And you actually liked that. You liked it was like Cheeky Rogers. I like happy Aaron and angry Aaron. I don't like condescending. I'm trying to find myself Zen, Aaron.

That Aaron wears me out. Go to a therapist. Keep it private. I'm not interested. Like be here now, Aaron. Well, Rogers is, it caused a little speculation about if Rogers was going to end up in Pittsburgh next year. and after the Sunday's win over Pittsburgh, he continued to praise Mike Tomlin.

A lot of respect. I haven't spent time with him, but I've watched him from afar for a long time. A lot of respect for him. I just enjoy the way that he talked about his players. I've had some friends play over there, and the stories are very consistent with the kind of day-to-day coast that he is.

I just like his demeanor. I think he fits that Iron City, perfectly. You know, who else would fit in Iron City perfectly, Aaron? You. Well, it's not a bad fit. I mean, they spend

money on free agents. They make trades. I mean, Pittsburgh went and got Mink of Fitzpatrick, Chase Claypool. First of all, we're showing a little exchange they had. There was a moment. They had like a little wink and nod after Tomlin caught on a Rogers

trying to hurry up. If you told me, Aaron could end up anywhere. For our purposes, the Steelers would be the best show iconic franchise. It wouldn't be good for Fox because he goes to the other conference, but if you're asking me... That's what the Packers want. They don't want him in the NFC. I mean, if you're asking me

outside like the Cowboys, Aaron Rogers to the Steelers? Well, think about... I'll take it. I think we're all seeing the writing on the wall with Ben at this point. Like, oh, it's over. Honestly. We're going to find our way through the rest of this season with Ben Rothesburg, who is now apparently having hip issues as well. Yeah,

that's over. But... That's bad. Ben, if it was watching right now could not get up and turn the TV off. He mean, he's that immobile. He's just struggled all year. He can't move. Look, I can't fully blame the Steelers. You don't want to, what could they really do? Like, they used a lot of money. Oh, they, two years ago, they coddled him. Well, yes, they could have done things to lead up to this, but this particular year they didn't. So we knew we were going to run it back with Ben, but. You coddle people, you get what you get. They've been coddling Ben for years. This is what you get. See what you want about Green Bay. They don't coddle Aaron. He looks real

happy. Well, they're winning. Yeah, well, the point is, if your quarterback's not ticked off occasionally because you don't coddle him, so what? Bottom line you win, they're the happiest guy in the world. They get praise, they get love. Aaron Rogers, last three weeks, the happiest guy in the world. He was mad at you in the offseason. I'd rather be

that front office than Pittsburgh's. I got no quarterback in a division with Burrow, Lamar, and Baker. Yep. No thing. You're done. It's over. Yep. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line. Be sure. to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,

FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straightfire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at the sports book, and all the best guests. yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre 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 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 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano,

and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. of the court licking his fingers why he got the ball like after you go through a training camp with that i said you figure it out real quick get your ass up and down the court and you're gonna get the ball so listen to point game on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts hey everyone it's rider strong and will fredel from podmeets world and now the pod meets twirled podcast we're two men who were completely clueless to reality tv who now have covered dancing with the stars traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor.

So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Yeah.

Just because we? Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of, Ha, ooh, ha, ha, ooh. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune in to Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, the team that's in real trouble in the NFC West right now is the San Francisco 49ers.

At 2 and 2, that's tied for last place with Seattle. But Seattle's got a great quarterback Russell Wilson, who's always healthy. and the 49ers, and this happens, they purchased a little bit of a lemon with Jimmy Garoppolo. Nice looking car always in the shop. This is now the fourth time for Garapolo. He is hurt in either September or early October. Forget 17 games. We talked about this a lot in the offseason.

I predicted the Niners would be eight and nine or nine and eight. I said, when you come into a season and a coach doesn't truly believe in a quarterback, and the backup's not ready to play, just like Chicago, the coach takes the hit. So now, now all of a sudden Matt Nagy, he's a dumb guy. And Kyle Shanahan, he doesn't know what he's doing. He didn't really believe in Garoppolo. Trey Lance is not ready to play in a really tough division. Coaches can't win.

I mean, we'll see two of these situations next year, and that coach, whoever it is, suddenly doesn't know what he's doing. Garapolo talked about the injuries. You know what, folks? There are just some pro athletes that are hurt a lot. the way it is. I mean, Brady's 44, and since he and Garoppolo met each other, Tom's never missed a start. Garoppolo can't get to mid-October. Here's Jimmy G. I'm hopeful it'll just be a couple weeks or something like that. It sucked. I mean,

just in between Ceres, I could feel it tightening up and everything. I thought I could gut it out. I tried to for the first half, but it's just tough, man. I don't know. Been in the situation too many times, and it's getting real old, you know, so it's just one of those things that part of the business stuff. Listen, they didn't surrender a lot to get him, a second round pick. He got him to a Super Bowl. The contract's not punitive. They can get out of it at the end of this year.

It's like a million three, something like that cap hit. And they'll have Trey Lance with another offseason. This year, to me, feels burnt. It's a tweener year, 8998. Trey's not ready to win big in this division. Kyler Murray, as good as he is, wasn't ready his rookie year to win this division. So it's a tweener year. You get Tray Lance.

We sat during the offseason. Ride Jimmy G as long as you can. Well, as long as you can is the second week of October and he's already hurt. He's not going to have any value on the market. We said if he gets hurt, the trade value is going to plummet. But what were the choices? You didn't pay a ton for him. I mean, you really didn't.

If you look at the contract now, he was paid reasonably for a quarterback that got to a Super Bowl. They're out of that contract by next year at the end of this year, excuse me. So they're fine. Another thing that's really interesting to me is staying with that division. If you look at all the divisions right now in football, there's almost an absolute that if you have the best quarterback or the quarterback playing well, you're in first place. AFC East Josh Allen. AFC North, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson.

AFC South Tannahill. AFC West, make the argument, Derek Carr and Justin Herbert. Dak and the Cowboys. Aaron and the Packers. Tom and the Bucks. Kyner Murray is playing the best of the quarterbacks in the NFC West. The one exception to this, where the quarterbacks playing great football and the team, you don't even know what to make of them, is Seattle.

So Russell Wilson right now is completing 72 and a half percent of his throws, nine touchdowns, no picks, and the highest pass rating in the NFL, 129. And they're two and two and an underdog at home this week. I'll say it again. I know sometimes in life you say something because you think you're supposed to say it and you don't want pushback. I know everybody loves Pete Carroll, but I'll say it again. What do the Seahawks do well? And I'm including drafting.

What do they do well in the last five years that's not named Russell Wilson? If you go look at their defensive ratings post the Super Bowl. Super Bowl win, Super Bowl lost number one. Since that time, second, fifth, 11th, 16th, 26, 22nd and right now last. It's getting worse and he's a defensive coach. Brandon Staley takes over the chargers. Four games into the season, they fix their defense. Four games.

It's like five straight years. 70-year-old coach. Is he out of touch? I don't know. I know I'm supposed to say he's a great coach. But I'll say it again, what does Seattle do well beyond the reach of Russell Wilson? And the answer is, nothing.

Listen, it's one thing if their offense was struggling. But when the guru is the defense. defensive guy. The coach is the defensive guy, and I know they've lost some good assistance. Belichick's lost dozens of assistants and so won Super Bowls. What does Seattle do except Russell Wilson? You tell me, because I don't see it. Hour three 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 Acapella

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. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 is big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 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. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

how many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen and learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.