The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - Lakers, new hires

Episode Date: January 27, 2022

The Lakers seem to be stuck with Russell WestbrookThe new head coaching hiresGuest: Greg Cosell Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Oh, here we go. Hour 2 live in L.A. It's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Greg CoSell, five minutes. NFL films, 42 years. Betting football, fantasy football, want to get smarter on football, no better listen. So I was joy. One of the things that I feel that fans, I think some fans get this,

I just think it's worse than fans realize. not only is there a gap between like Patrick Mahomes and a bad quarterback. Right. The gap in ownership groups, the difference between Stan Cronky the Rams and the Lions and the Lions ownership group is the Grand Canyon. And the difference between Robert Kraft and the Bengals, the Brown family, is the Grand Canyon. So the only way to overcome that is like you get a superstar quarterback. I mean, that's literally it.

You get a superstar quarterback. You get a burrow. You get one of these great quarterbacks, and they just burst through it. And I was talking yesterday to a couple of different general managers in the NFL. Folks, there are five or six teams in the NFL that they're just not going to win. They're just not going to win. You have no shot to win. You can figure out who they are.

But there is just nonsense going on. time of the year. And I feel bad for the players. Like some of these players are just trapped. They're just trapped. Well, when you look at the organizations that have struggled consistently throughout the years. Same ones over and over and over. It's usually the same ones.

And to your point, it's either a star that breaks through. But even then, maybe they break through, but it doesn't necessarily translate to Super Bowls. It just just makes the team better. But generally, it's when you look at these organizations and they're constantly firing coaches and there's constant dysfunction. Yeah. Like, it's pretty simple.

If your family was constantly dysfunctional and, like, you change different things and you move to houses. Like, maybe eventually you'd be like, hey, maybe we only just like sit down together and figure out what we're doing wrong. It's internal. If you keep changing personnel and changing stars and changing players, it's inside the building. Yeah, I mean, the Chicago Bears who have never had a quarterback, a franchise quarterback, since Johnny Lou Jack, to their credit, they just went and hired Bill Polion. So Pollian's a Hall of Famer. He built the Bills. He built the Colts.

So the McCaskey family, they just went and got Bill Pollian and said, we want you to do all this interview stuff. So they went and got not a shock. They went and got a Colts defensive coach, Matt Eberfuss. And they got a guy that's interviewed multiple times for a GM. Now, I'm not saying they're good or bad. Bill's really, really smart. But to their credit, they're like, they went and got a consultant because Polion had a relationship

with McCaskies. And so the Bears just almost just say, hey, Bill, can you kind of lead point on this? Yeah. And he has a history. If you're continuously making the decisions and the decisions turned out bad, maybe just let somebody else give it a try. Yeah. And Pollyon has a history of hiring good coaches and hiring good coordinators.

And so, you know, you cross your fingers with the bears. I would prefer an offensive coach with Justin Fields. I would prefer that. But if it's a, you know, Sean McDermott's a good coach. He's winning. He's a defensive guy. And with that, let's bring in Greg Kossel, 42 years NFL films. All right.

So I always, you know, we both know, you were the first person to tell me a year before he was in the NFL. You said there's going to be a kid out of Wyoming. You do this every year. Every year Greg, every year Greg, a year before the draft, when the draft is over, will give me a pamphlet. And it's got the top quarterbacks, receivers running about a lot of skill people. And he gives it to me. And you have your grades done. It's fascinating.

So I get a cheat sheet. And you were the first person that said, there's a lot. kid. He's a little skinny. He's a little wild. Josh Allen. So his career, he's got a lot of spikes and jagged edges to him. But I got to tell you, in the last month, a lot of those jagged edges, if you take away that 50-mile-an-hour win game, something happened over the last five or six games. And Greg, a lot of those jagged edges, he's just giving you good games every quarter,

it feels like to me. Yeah, and I think you're seeing that he's calmer in the pocket. and the ball placement has not been an issue. That was always an issue with Josh Allen. It's a big issue coming out. It was a big issue in its first two years in the league. He started to get much better at it a year ago in 2020. And this year, for the most part, you don't see the scattershot element to his throws.

I mean, in the two playoff games, he did not miss throws. And he's such a physical talent. He certainly can make any throw. And I think the other factor too is, I think he sees things better now. Yeah. And that's something that's often overlooked. We talk about quarterbacks and their physical traits. But you have to see things.

And you have to see things before the snap. You have to see things after the snap because so many defenses try to disguise and use late movement right when the ball snap. You have to recognize all that. And then you have to immediately know what to eliminate that's not there and what to isolate where to go with the football. He's gotten better at that. So Mahomes had, he's done this twice in his career.

We've had a bumpy six, seven week stretch. The mechanics get off. He has, it looks like to me, solved a lot of that. He's a very unique quarterback. We never talked arm angles a ton pre-Mahombs. Now that's all we talk about. So, you know, I think we talked about this last week. What do the tape say against Buffalo?

Well, you're right. We never talked to arm angles when Matthew Staffens were doing it for 10 years, but he wasn't in playoff games, so we didn't talk about it. But Mahomes changed and evolved over the course of this season. He went through that rough stretch, as you mentioned, Colin, where he had a lot of unnecessary movement. Now, he will always move. I don't think he's one of those quarterbacks that's just going to sit there all the time. He will move.

But his movement has become more calculated and more controlled. And the other thing, he's playing with a much greater sense of timing and rhythm. He did not throw a ball this past week that went more than 20 yards in the air from the line of scrimmage. And that tells you an awful lot about how they want him to be a much more controlled player. They want him to hit the back foot and deliver the football. Even that touchdown to Hill that we just saw, you know, that came against two-man coverage. And that was a beautiful throw. That was a timing and rhythm throw. He's become much more of that kind of quarterback over the last half of this season, always with the ability to make those second reaction

plays, which obviously showed up against Buffalo. All right. What is Cincinnati going to have to do, I mean, they've already had a taste of the chiefs and beat them late in the year. What's the Bengals defense going to have to do against Tyreek and Kelsey and the improved offensive line and all the weapons? Yeah. Well, I think when all said and done, you still have to get pressure on Patrick Mahomes. Look, the bills could not get him to the ground. Yeah. But they did get pressure on him. And I think you've got to get pressure on him. Look, let's go back to the Super Bowl a year ago. Certainly the Bucks defensive line is better from a talent standpoint. standpoint than the Bengals defensive line.

But the Bengals are very creative. They're innovative with their stunt concepts. They do a pretty good job with their pressure schemes. You've got to get pressure on Mahomes. Yes, can he make special plays outside of structure? Even when you pressure, he can. But you can't take the approach that, okay, we're not going to pressure and we're just going to let him sit there.

You can't take that approach. You have to try to make every quarterback play faster. The idea is to impact the quarterback, and you must try to do that with Mahomes. Burrow was very, he outplayed Mahomes. He was very effective against the Chiefs. I don't know if you can duplicate that, but go back to that. What did he do so effectively? Yeah.

Well, what they did a lot of, and Burrow does this against everybody, but it worked in week 17 against the Chiefs is when he sees one-on-one outside the numbers. And one-on-one doesn't just have to be pure a man. It could be his own concept, but outside the numbers, it becomes one-on-one, is he takes those shots. He is very confident. He's very aggressive in his mindset. And in that game, Chase, he had chase on three balls outside the numbers, one-on-one,

including a touchdown, all against Tervarius War. Here you see one right now. This is the 18-yard touchdown. And then he also hit Higgins outside the numbers, one-on-one against Ward. So Steve Spagnola likes to play man coverage. I think you'll see a couple of things in this game from the Chiefs, though. You might see them play a little more two-man, which is in their arsenal where they have two deep safeties. Because the reality is, Colin, with one deep safety outside the numbers, that deep safety is not a factor on any throw.

Yeah. All right, let's go to Green Bay and the Niners. We said going into the weekend, you know, we're starting to get enough evidence now, even at Lambo, was a favorite. I thought, I said this, I thought Aaron played a little safe. He's always had this personality trade. If you drop a ball, you a fumble, he can ghost you a little bit. You know, it was a lot of Devante Adams and a lot of Aaron Jones.

I mean, what did the film say? You've been, you've been on Aaron for years. You were the first person to go out and say, you know, you said, I remember that you said it's five years ago. You said a lot of times the play is there, and he just won't take the layup. And you were on that. So I thought he looked safe. I didn't think he was nearly as daring as a Stafford or a Burrell, but there's a lot of context you could add here.

What did the tape say? Well, I thought he was a little unsettled, Colin. I thought that he was not as calm and comfortable as he normally is in the pocket. He was a little unsettled. The 49ers have a really good pass rush. They get bodies around the quarterback, even when they don't sack the quarterback. And I thought that Aaron Rogers was not a comfortable player, beginning with the third series of the game, the 49ers started to do some things tactically in specific situations to bracket and double Devante Adams.

And of course, you don't do that on every play, but they did it selectively and in given situations. But this was just not a comfortable game for Aaron Rogers. And even on that last throw, we're just looking at right now, he missed Lizard wide open in the middle of the field. and Lizard would still be running. They probably would have won the game, but he decided to throw it deep when that throw was not there. So he just was not, he did not play in Aaron Rogers game. He was unsettled and he didn't see things as clearly as he almost always does.

All right, I want to talk Niners and Rams. And McVeigh's lost six straight to Shanahan, but I talked about it this week. I said, I went back and looked at all six games. And McVeigh and the NFL's average about 27, 28 points. a game as a Rams coach. He's averaged about 18 a game in the last six meetings with Shanahan. So to me, a lot of this isn't necessarily the brilliance of Shanahan and McVey does is being out-duled. It comes down to the defensive personnel up front for the Niners gives the offensive line for the Rams some trouble. It blows some stuff up. That's what I see when I watch them play is there's,

you know, as you always talk about, Stafford has to hurry it. Gough had to hurry it. The games, I feel like the Niners' defensive front personnel is just problematic for the Rams offensive front. That's what my eyes tell me. What's the film? Well, it will be this year. It has been this year because that front for the Niners is really good. They play nine different guys who get meaningful snaps. Everybody knows about Bosa, but there's other players who've been really good.

Arden Keyes played really well. Samson Ebukam has played really well. They get really good snaps as well from Kevin Givens. from DJ Jones. So this is a really good group. They squeeze the pocket. So even when they don't sack the quarterback, they squeeze the pocket. They sack Stafford five times in the week 18 game.

And he threw some good yards, but they make him uncomfortable. And there are times when Stafford, even though he's not immobile, Colin, where he gets stuck in the pocket. Yeah. And it'll be interesting because that has been a strength of the Niners. The other factor, just quickly to mention, has been the 49ers run game. Yes. physically dominated the Rams front seven, and that has essentially rendered the Rams

pass rush not a meaningful factor in these games. Yeah, now that needs to be mentioned because we spend so much time talking about Garapolo. But I was talking to somebody the other day about this, and they were admitting that if you get McVeigh and LeFleur privately, they will acknowledge that Shanahan schematically is the best of the three. Now there's McVeigh's leadership and his personality and the IQ of LaFleur. They're all really sharp guys. But privately, McVeigh and LaFleur will go schematically.

Kyle's ahead of us. His dad was a legendary NFL coach. And I don't think we talk about this enough is the Niners, because Shannon is so good at the run game that you don't have to draft a running back first, second, third round, like his dad. Like his dad, yeah. We'll just get the running back later. I talk about this run game because it is really the difference in this series.

Well, it's the use of formations and motions are so critical and how they hurt your run support and how they win the numbers game at the point of attack because that's what it becomes. It becomes minimizing your run support where the run goes and then having the numbers advantage. They're so good at that with the use of formations and motions. And so like I said, what happens is. for the most part is they control the game and they render their pass rush, which, you know, everybody's going to talk this week about Donald, Miller, Floyd, because obviously what they did

last week against Tom Brady when he dropped back over 50 times, Jimmy Garapolo is not going to drop back over 50 times unless the game is so strange in other ways, but that's not going to happen. The first time they met this year when the 49ers killed him, Garapolo threw 19 balls. That's a Kyle Shanahan game. so they render the pass rush kind of irrelevant. Now, of course, I just said that. Watch Aaron Donald have three sacks column, but you know what I'm saying.

We're talking tactically is the way the 49ers play. All right, let's go to your big play of the week. It is, and I said this this week. Monday after the game, I said one of the things I've liked watching the Rams as a consumer is the stadium's big. The Stafford move was big. Let's go get Vaughn Miller. They've got a Laker feel.

The Lakers with the late Jerry Buss. that they figured the stadium out, the Laker girls, the forum, the lighting, Jack Nicholson. Like they were kind of ahead of the curve a little bit. Like they understood it was a television show. And the Rams are very much about understanding this is a distracted market. This is not Cincinnati. The Lakers, the Dodgers. And they take some big swings.

But boy, they land a lot of those swings. They hit those things. And that's, I just love the way Stafford, they were leaking. They're capsizing. they're kind of a mess and they're like, nope, we got 40 seconds. We're going for the win. And I loved it. And that's your big play.

Is it not? Yeah. Well, we'll take a look at the 70-yard touchdown to Cooper Cup. And we'll set a few things straight here on what the coverage was. So we can run that play now and see the touchdown to Cooper Cup that. You're right, came late. So here it is. And obviously, he was wide open, but there was a reason for that.

And one of the first things we're going to notice when we look at this play is we're going to notice that Matthew Stafford was with an empty set. Okay. And they're an empty more than any team in the NFL by a wide margin. Yes. And then you have Cup and Jefferson both running vertical routes to the right side of the formation. The Bucks were in cover two. Now remember, in cover two, the corner is not a deep defender. He's a flat player.

Okay. So we're going to focus on Mike Edwards. And what you have to remember about Edwards is his responsibility as a half-field defender in cover two. He needs to line up two yards inside the numbers to be in position to defend cups outside vertical. That's his job because the seam by Jefferson is matched and carried by the middle hole defender. That's the linebacker, Devin White. So that is not Edwards' responsibility. His job is to play the throw not to react to the rally.

He reacted to the route and he left his real responsibility because he's responsible for the outside vertical to cup. So Edwards did not play his responsibility properly. That left cup wide open. And by the way, the ball was underthrown. Yeah. But that's the responsibility of Edwards. He needed to stay two yards inside the numbers to react to the throw. You don't react to a route.

You react to the throw. So good. Greg Kossel. Great senior. again, Greg. Appreciate it. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it. You all got a little smarter there. That's pretty interesting stuff.

That would, you know, because they practice that over and over. That would drive me nuts as a coach. Because you know the coach is preaching that. You've got a part of the field. Don't react to the throw. Don't react to the... I remember talking to Eric Mangini once. It was great.

He was a coach of Cleveland. And he had preached something all week. is they like to start. They go deep early. They go deep early. Don't get sucked in on this. And we were having a beer one time. And he goes, first play of the game, they went and did it on us for a touchdown. And I'm like, I just spent two, I just spent 70 hours.

Don't do that. First play, my safety does that. And, you know, it's instinct. Sometimes you just, in the moment, you forget a responsibility. You go left. You're supposed to go right. And there you go. And Stafford picked up on it.

Good stuff. 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. 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. Sunday, the NFC Championship, presented by Intuit TurboTax Live, is on Fox with a clash between division rivals. As Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers take on Matthew Stafford and the Rams for a trip to Super Bowl 56, it all kicks off at 6 Eastern 3 Pacific. only on Fox in the Fox Sports app.

Fox Bet Super 6 wants the nation to stack the cash again for the 49ers Rams NFC championship game on Fox. Last week, the jackpot reached over $325,000. And they want to make it even higher this week. Scan the QR code and enter the NFC championship contest for your free chance to win and invite your friends to play because the more people who enter, the bigger the jackpot gets. By the way, I saw this story. This is concerning if you're a Laker fan.

And I told you earlier today, the race. the rating, it's one of the most remarkable TV ratings I've ever seen. Los Angeles TVs on a beautiful sunny day. Sunday was a gorgeous day in L.A. A noon start time. It's not like it was prime time Saturday night. The Rams noon game in the fourth quarter did almost a 70% of TVs in Los Angeles. The more diverse a city is the lower sports ratings you get.

That's just the way the game is played. That is an unbelievable number. The Lakers would get half that. And the Lakers forever, there's been a Laker Dodger town, Laker Dodger USC. The Rams have trampled the Lakers in terms of popularity in like four years. I mean, they really have, I see Laker ratings. They ain't good. And that's with LeBron.

I saw the bubble ratings when we were all stuck at home. I mean, I saw those ratings. We couldn't go outside. They weren't close to that. That is just a, that's how big the NFL is. And by the way, this Lakers story, according to reports Mark Stein, very reliable NBA guide, there are concerns inside the Lakers organization. They do, they don't want Westbrook.

But trading him is a problem because it will be acknowledging that it was a horrible trade to let go of KCP, who's now averaging 11 a game, and Kyle Kuzma, who's averaging 15, 15 and a half a game. So even though, and this is, you know an organization is in trouble when they start being paralyzed by optics. You know, this is like the Giants, Dave Gettleman, I'm going to stay with Daniel Jones because you reached at number six to get Daniel Jones. He clearly isn't the guy in 2020 in the NFL and you're just going to stick with him. And the Giants are going to stick with him, although nobody looks at Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Kyler Murray, you know, Mahalms and things. Yeah, Dan,

Jones can go toe to toe with that. But you reach, and instead of just acknowledging, we whiffed, you keep doubling down on a mistake. I thought Westbrook, because the Lakers were so old and AD can't stay healthy, I thought they needed 30 minutes and out of Westbrook and 20 points. Somebody had to score on this team. They had no scorers if LeBron and AD got hurt. It's been worse than I thought. I didn't have a problem moving off Coosma. LeBron didn't like playing with him. and Caruso were good defenders, and LeBron really liked playing with Caruso. I never understood that move. He's in Chicago now.

But that's also, this is a cautionary tale, is that star athletes are star athletes. They're not personnel people. LeBron wanted this move. Vogel did not want this move. LeBron did, and now they're trapped. It doesn't work. Westbrook has a lot of friends in the league. They all love him, but sometimes working with friends is not the best idea.

Sometimes you have friends and you love them because they're great friends. They don't necessarily want them next to the cubicle. And I think Westbrook's that guy is that Hardin loved him and LeBron loves him. A lot of players love him. But some friends you don't work well with. So that's a very troubling sign is the Lakers, instead of just acknowledging, we whiffed, are now like, we don't want to make a move because it was a bad move. And if we move him, we're acknowledging it's a bad move.

you see this all the time with GMs in the NFL. They draft a guy high and they're loyal to him and he can't play. That's why a new GM often moves off a quarterback very quickly. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Baker Mayfield will be focusing on his rehab this off season and he doesn't want to let social media get in the way of that. He posted on Instagram that he is getting off all social media for the foreseeable future because he wants to do what's best to focus on himself and his family.

Yeah. And he admitted that it is time to get right. He called social media toxic in a post last weekend. And he also discussed getting death threats over the platforms during the regular season. I don't disagree with this move, but I think it was all self-induced. 100%. Social media is what you make of it. Yeah.

If you want to get down and dirty with people, then people are going to come for you. They're going to come for you no matter what. but generally there's different ways to handle it. Young people often, I'm sure they ask you this too, getting in the business. How do you deal with social media? How do you deal with how people are mean on social media? Now, I have no feeling, so it's easier for me. But some people do, and I understand that.

And my advice is whenever you get into a front-facing business, whether it's ours or being a NFL quarterback or being a movie star, politician, or anything where you are front-facing, you have to decide very early. How are you going to deal with social media? it is a reality. It's a part of everyone's business at this point. No matter what kind of business you're in, you essentially have to have social media. So how do you want to deal with it? Because people are going to be mean on social media. Whether you're, you could be the nicest,

bubbliest, people are going to have something mean to say to you because people are mean. Like not all the time, but some people are. How are you going to deal with it? You can completely ignore it. I know very, very famous, very front-facing people who do not read anything you have to say on social media. You think they do. They don't. They spend their day working and enjoying their lives and their millions and millions of dollars. They're not worried about what you have to say on social media. Then there are people that fire back on social media. Respond to lots of people, spend their time on there. That's how you can handle it too. But you have to decide what you're going to do and how much of your spirit can take it. Yeah. And I'm not going to have a ton of sympathy

for Aaron Rogers or Baker Mayfield when you have a polarizing personality and don't like the pushback. Like Aaron, no athlete in America today. LeBron went after Trump. He got ripped. Aaron went after Biden. He got ripped. Doesn't matter who our sitting president is. Half the country likes him, half doesn't. Correct. So if you're going to go after the president, Rogers did. If you're going to go after Fauci, if you're going to be disingenuous about the vaccine, if you're going to rip the Packer front office, because there's a lot of people in Wisconsin, they're loyal to the Packers, not the quarterback. You're going to be ripping the media. Well, some media people are going to come back and take wax.

when you lose again as a favorite at home off a buy. Yes. Generally, what you put out is what you will get back. Yes. And again, you can be totally nice and you're still going to get mean people. It's not going to be as much, though. And to your point, Baker's telling people that they're making up stuff about him to feed their families. Okay, people are not going to be very nice to you when you struggle. Like, that's the exchange.

So you can call social media toxic, but if you're throwing chum in the water with a bunch of sharks, that's what you're going to get. They're going to attack. So I think it's a good move for Baker, mostly because it's become very obvious that it affects him in a negative way. And if it affects you in a negative way, give it to a social media manager. Take some pictures while you're working out and let them post it. You don't have to respond and read everything that's written about you. No, I talked to my kids this all the time. I'm like, don't let it manipulate you if you have to manipulate it, but it's a toilet.

It's not even that it's a toilet. It's a massively powerful tool if used correctly. If used incorrectly, it can ruin your life. If used incorrectly, it can really affect your mental health. So just decide how you are affected by it. It doesn't even mean that you can't give out your opinions. Just give them out and let the world argue about it. So Baker tends to be, I got to get the last word in guy.

Correct. You're never going to get the last word on social media. Yeah. So Baker, when he could control it, liked it. When he couldn't, he's like, I'm out. Exactly. So you're never going to get the last word on Twitter. And Baker likes to get the last word at every press conference.

And it's like, brute, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't. It just doesn't. Just got to accept it. So Aaron Rogers' future in Green Bay is up in the air. And Eli Manning spoke with ESPN and gave his opinion on the situation. He said it was important for me to finish my career with the Giants. I would think it's important for Rogers as well just because of the legacy that he has, the history of Green Bay, being there as long as he has been.

It's not always greener on the other side. You can go somewhere and it's not necessarily going to be better. it's probably going to be worse. Eli spent his entire 16-year career with the Giants. However, I will say, not a parallel situation. Eli went 12 and 24 in his last three seasons and ultimately ended up losing his starting job. He started in four games in his final season,

and they went four in 12 in 2019. Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers just had a buy and won the NFC. So it's completely plausible for Aaron to move on somewhere else and the grass technically be greener there. Now, it's a risk, obviously, but I also don't think... I like that Eli spent his entire career with the Giants. Yeah, I do too.

I like Jeter, Yankees. I like that. I liked that. But Aaron feels different. And if he wants to keep playing, which of course we don't know if Aaron wants to keep playing or not, I feel like the story in Green Bay

has sort of been written. Now, he could stay there, of course. But to me, like I've seen the movie, we're on like the seventh sequel at this point. Still good, still watchable, you know. Fast and Furious. I will watch it again. But I kind of know what happens. Yeah.

Right. I kind of know how it ends. So if he does move on, we're in a different space now, societally, how we view careers. Like, no one's judging the situation or decision for Tom Brady to go to Tampa Bay in a negative way. He just won a Super Bowl. Well, if you're Aaron Rogers, and I think about this, there's an argument to be made, and I think it's a very common sense argument, that Green Bay has athletically roster-wise, is kind of peaked. Aaron's expensive. Devante was inexpensive. Now you've got to pay Devante.

So now you're going to have a lot and they're already 44 million over the cap. The cap challenges with Green Bay are going to really limit their growth going forward. Really are. So this version of the Packers this year is probably the best version. They lost their Pro Bowl center last year to the chargers. They're probably going to lose Devonte. I can see Aaron saying, listen, I got four good years left. Denver's got a lot of great young players and they haven't paid them yet. And they just lost their coordinator. Yeah. So the Denver thing is not hyperbolic. I really do believe if you're Aaron and you're like, listen, just from a cap perspective, I know the division's tougher, but they got a lot of young guys that haven't been paid won't be for a couple years. And this GM and Denver

and free agent market. Denver's always been a tasty free agent market. Yeah, that's-a-manning. Brutal to me. But I think the Colts is a much better landing spot for him. But according to Fox Bet, the Packers still have the best odds to keep Aaron Rogers at minus 110. The Broncos are second favorites plus 150. The Steelers plus 300. Niners plus 700. And the Colts at plus 1100. So, you know, all the teams that make sense are, you know, are there. I think he will end up going to Denver or Andy just because those are the places that make the most sense.

Steelers are totally available, Aaron, you know, Pittsburgh will embrace you. So James Hart can pull it off this year. Isn't he a free agent? Yeah, well, he will be next year. So he didn't sign an extension in the preseason. So they pushed the decision to the upcoming summer. He intends to hit free agency, which he's never done in his career. And the Sixers have reportedly planned to pursue him this summer, but they haven't made the Nets to trade offer.

The deadline is February 10th. Why did the story get out that he was unhappy and because he wants it out? Yeah. Yeah. James is telling you I'm not happy. Start preparing your monies for free agency because I'm not going to say here. I'm not dealing with the situation for another year. There's just too much. There's just too much noise.

Katie's hurt. Hardin's unhappy. Kyrie's a part-time player. You cannot win a champ. You're not getting through Milwaukee with this nonsense. There's too much. No. And he's reportedly frustrated with the Kyrie situation. Of course he is.

I mean, Katie was playing so many minutes because Kyrie wasn't available. Now what's happened? He's injured. Folks, I don't, you do what you want with your vaccine. But if you are part of an athletic team and you will not get vaccinated and you're a star or a quarterback, I said before, Carson Wentz, Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rogers, I think it's irresponsible to your team not to be vaccinated. If you're a wide receiver, people, close. Robert Cole Beasley. Everybody carries seven wide receivers. Like it's not as, it's not as punitive.

It's not as punitive. Everybody's got nine linebackers and two on the scout team. But Kyrie Irving, dude, Kevin Durant's out there as a veteran player with injuries, having to play 45 minutes in a playoff game. What do you think? You know, it's, there's just, look, it's a selfish decision. Whether you agree that he should get vaccinated or shouldn't get vaccinated, at the end of the day, two things can be true. Multiple things can be true. It's also a selfish decision. Like it is affected his teammates.

It's affected the team. And reportedly, it's not even because he doesn't believe in vaccines. It's just because he doesn't believe in mandates. Like, imagine if I refuse, in order to come into this building, I had to be vaccinated and I wouldn't do it.

Not because I don't believe in putting it in my body, but just because I'm protesting on behalf of other people. Like, you can't even hold a straight face. Guess what, guys? I'm not on the show after this contract. That's how that's going to work. Not because you don't like me,

but like I have to be at work. You have to work. This is a commitment that we've made to work. Now again, if you... It is his job to play basketball. Yeah, if you're in an environment where you're not part of a collective or a team and don't want to do it, then fine. Sure.

Okay. But I just could not look my teammates in the face if I was Matt Stafford or whoever and I have a huge game and I'm not available. I could not sleep at night. I could not sleep at night. It's just this pending idea that everyone is just free to do whatever they want. And I don't, I mean, I've never been of that. impression. Like, I've never gone through life. Like, I can do whatever I want. Well, I can't. I don't.

I don't know who told you guys this. I'm married, so I can't. Officially. I just don't get it. Like, it's like, oh, like a freedom. Oh, I can do, like, you can't do you can't do you can't do you can't do you can't go take a car, right? Like, oh, there's a car in the street. I think I'll have that car. I'm not even allowed to drive without insurance. So forget. You have to go to a government facility, fill out paperwork and receive a piece of documentation that says you are qualified to drive this vehicle. And wear a seatbelt and use your blinker and go a certain speed limit. And then in certain states you've got to take that car in to make sure there's not too much exhaust coming out. Like it's just this idea.

Can't use my phone in my car either, even though I do. Or I'll get a ticket. Look, we can worry about this forever. But the bottom line is the nets are probably not going to look the same next year. Yeah, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News.

Oh, we got more new coaches to address here. More new coaches. I'll explain that coming up right now. 24 assorted roses 1-800 flowers.com, 3999 or upgrade to 24 red roses, 10 bucks more. Go to 1-800flowers.com, Code Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeardt radio app. He's by Carmen, I'm Dan Byard.

We have a brand new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes to not only look back at what happened, what you need to do at that minute, and also look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup sits, starts, fantasy football players' rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition.

Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, and 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 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan,

so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your friends. podcast. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me. Not. just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you 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. All right, welcome back. Joy, we have something to announce. We do. We are announcing two new head coaches for the USFL. You ready? I am ready. All right.

Are we doing a double? The head coach of the New Orleans Breakers will be Larry Fedora. He coached at North Carolina. In fact, he led them to an 11-1 season, which had been their best year in 15 years. Four straight bowl appearances while he was at North Carolina. Carolina. He'd wear that visor, very animated guy, Larry Fedora. A lot of coaching in his career, all college. And he is now former Tarheel coach, the coach of the New Orleans Breakers. All right. The head coach of the Michigan Panthers will be Jeff Fisher.

We know Jeff. 30 years is a position coach, a coordinator, a head coach in the NFL. former USC Trojan, playing in the NFL for five years. He was a former Chicago Bear defensive back. All regular season games, by the way, all of them for this league, which starts in March, will be played in Birmingham, Alabama, at Summit Legion Field.

They have a new stadium there as well. And the first game is simulcast on NBC and Fox, which has not been done since Super Bowl 1. Can you imagine that? The Super Bowl, the first Super Bowl, two networks had it. Now you pay billions of dollars for exclusive rights. All right.

Well, let's recap the head coaches in the two divisions. So in the North Division, Jeff Fisher, the Michigan Panthers, Mike Riley of the New Jersey Generals, Bart Andrus of the Philadelphia Stars, and Kirby Wilson, the Pittsburgh Mallors. Yep. And then in the South, Skip Holtz, the Birmingham Stallions, Kevin Sumlin, Houston Gamblers, Larry Fedora,

New Orleans Breakers, and Todd Haley will be coaching the Tampa Bay Bandits. I think most fans are, know most of these coaches. Yes. So there you go. The USFL starts in March. Looking forward to it. I've told you before, I think spring football will work years and years ago. I tell the story that when I worked at ESPN, I went to the number two guy at command at ESPN.

This was 20 years ago. And I said, not 20 years ago, it was about 17. And I said, you need to buy the UFC or you need to put it on the air. And they were very reluctant because it was a lot of old baseball guys and very, you know, very refined journalists. And I said, everybody in L.A. and Vegas is talking about it. You're going to regret it if somebody else gets it. And now eventually it's all over their network. So, and I've tried to buy twice parts of the MLS, which is, by the way, exploded in valuations over the last 10 years. Now, I've been wrong the last two times on spring football, but I am a huge belief. lever in spring football because with legalized gambling, the key has always been, is it well capitalized? That's been the problem. Yes. The Vince McMahon League would have worked and then

COVID happened. That's why they're playing all these games in Birmingham for the first year. They know they can get those. That's a red state. You're going to be able to play games. It's not going to be overwhelmingly restrictive if we get more variance. And I think it's going to work. I think it's going to be used as a gambling device. And Americans right now cannot get enough of football. The television ratings, just to show you what's happening in this country, and I don't talk a lot about this, but this is pretty staggering. The increase in NFL ratings as gambling is being legalized, the rollout of legalized gambling in America, there's a new state every couple weeks or every couple months. The increase in NFL ratings from last year to

to this year. The increase, not the rating, just the increase, is greater than the NBA finals average last year. That shows you, and it's not like the games got all better. It shows you that sports gambling is jet fuel for our most popular sport. The ratings for hockey as you gamble if Canada embraces, and I don't really follow Canadian gambling and what the provinces allow, but what. gambling does is soccer in Europe, hockey probably in Canada, though I'm not sure. Football in

America. It takes your most watched sport. It doesn't affect everybody equally, but it takes your most watched sport. And that usually is the sport people have the most passion for and knowledge of, and people go deep on it and gamble. And so just think about, that's where legalize gambling. If you want to know why leagues are into it and TV networks are into it, there you go. Well, it's also sports has become the last thing that people watch live on television other than politics. So if something's going on and everyone's talking about it on Twitter and you're seeing it all over social media. By the way, everybody talks about cord cutting in cable. Fox Sports was basically flat last year.

Like sports, if you have a lot of sports on your cable network, you're not going down nearly as fast. And in some areas, you're just plateauing. But there's a reason I think this will work. It's fun and the gambling. 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 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 eye heart. 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, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfills 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 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. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's 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. I mean, 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.