The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - Petty Oklahoma Fans, Greg Cosell

Episode Date: December 30, 2021

Senior Producer/NFL Analyst Greg Cosell joins Colin Cowherd to discuss the NFL and the playoff push. Colin also talks about Oklahoma fans and how petty they are over how USC HC Lincoln Riley left. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. Fox Sports Radio. Here we go, hour two live in L.A. It's the Herd, wherever you may be. and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, I have supported Russell Westbrook and Aaron Rogers today. As America's honesty broker,

I may occasionally feel like I'm tough on certain athletes, but in the end, there's a lot of times I'll defend him. Russell Westbrook, I defended today, stop asking him to do stuff. He can't do. Your game is your game in the NBA. In the NFL, Aaron Rogers plays the victim too much. He's an eye role.

Aaron loves Aaron. but he's got a right to an opinion. He's already had COVID. He's got the antibodies. And frankly, I don't need him to be a role model. I can make decisions on science myself. I don't look to the media to be my role model. Hopefully for my kids, my wisdom helps me being a role model.

But I never look to athletes to be a role model. I don't understand that. If you're a parent looking for athletes to be a role model, go to the bathroom, look in the mirror. They still work. That's on you. Like the idea that I have a second basement for the Kansas City Royals would be the value setter and the moral setter for my family, that would be a me problem, all right?

I'm glad you said that because you have kids, because people always tell me I don't have any kids. So I'm not able to have that opinion. I don't have kids specifically because I don't want to raise kids. So if I don't want to raise my own kids, why am I raising your kids? That said, I do try to be a role model. By the way, you do. You're a very nice person. Aaron, Roger, that's a good point.

Aaron doesn't have kids. He didn't have them because he don't want them. So why does he want to tell your kids what to do? Well, I get it. You know, kids, we were all kids once. We all idolized athletes or movie stars or musicians. Like, that's just, that's what, I mean, we do it as adults, you know, idolize people. But other people's view of you is not your responsibility.

Yeah. Like, that's just in you or it's not. And for that matter, even if you are a role model, you're still entitled to make mistakes. I think that, I think Tiger Woods is a great example of that. Tiger Woods was a great role model for a lot of people, people idol, Tiger Woods. And when Tiger Woods had his situation, everyone was like, well, we

thought you were like a family guy. Like, what do you owe us that? Like, no, he owes his family that. He doesn't know you that. That's right. Who are you? You're a guy that sits on his couch and watches him on TV. Well, Tiger was a cautionary tale. There are no perfect humans. So don't, don't ever... That's why you should not idolize people.

Yeah, don't idolize. Don't worship. I like that I have fans. We have fans. But I don't, I've never thought my fans worship me. I mean, I feel a certain responsibility sitting in the seat to, you know, be a professional and to make sure that I don't mess it up for other people. No, I totally feel that. But I'm, I've been a disaster for many years. There's no reason anyone should model themselves after me or anybody else. But I get what you're saying, though.

I also, I love nuance. So I love having conversations with layers and, like, everything doesn't have to be, better that. Like, there's a lot that goes on in life. and conversations can lead you to illuminating things. But, you know, it's Twitter, so you got to pick a side. There is no nuance in Twitter. No. Good, bad, evil, dark, perfect.

There's just no nuance to it. But that's why we bring Greg Kosell on. It's nothing but context and nuance. 42 years at NFL films. So I've got to admit my, it's my most wrong of the year. So I'm going to admit my most wrong of the year. And it happens so infrequently that I have to admit. But you mean, Con, I can't idolize you anymore because you're wrong?

Exactly. And I know you were the entire time, right? So I said, I didn't like Nick Seriani's press conferences initially. He looked lost. I said, Jalen Hertz, I watched them in college. He's more run than throw. But I will say this. If you're not great in this league, be great at something.

Create an identity and clarity to your locker room. And this team runs the ball. every guy in that room knows what they are. They've steadily improved. I was wrong on Philadelphia, coach quarterback team. So what is the film saying? Because as I watched them, I don't know if the pivot was week six or seven, but I do feel they're just a more productive offense and sort of know what they do.

Well, they started the season, as you'll recall, with Nick Siriani having Jalen Hertz throw the ball an awful lot. And whether that was calculated or not, we don't know. But I think he found out that with Jalen Hertz, at this point in his career, he couldn't be a past first offense with Jalen Hertz. So he found that out. And then what did he do? He made an adjustment. He built his offense around the run game with Jalen Hertz as the foundation.

This is a team that starts with the run. The quarterback is a critical piece to it. They ideally do not throw a lot of passes in given games. You know, in the NFL, 25 pass attempts for your quarterback is not a lot, as you know. Yeah. So they made the transition from finding out that Jalen Hertz was not a quarterback. You could ask to drop back 35, 45 times and have the success you were hoping for to an offense in which the run is paramount. And by the way, this offensive line, Kelsey is playing phenomenal football and the left side of the old line,

Landon Dickerson and Jordan Myelado when it comes to the run game, they may be the two best, they may be the best guard tackle tandem on the left side in the NFL as far as the run game is concerned. So I want to talk Dolphins and not Tua, because I think Tua, I've said, Mack Jones and two, I think Max's better than Tua, but I feel like it's kind of the same thing. You scheme stuff open, they can make throws. I don't want them moving around. They can't.

Let's talk Dolphins defense. Because early in the year, and this is what surprised me on Brian Flores. I'm like, has he lost the locker room? The defensive personnel is good. What's going on with the defense? Well, in the last like eight weeks, it's last year's dolphin defense. So what did Brian do to tweak the defensive side? Because this is still potentially a playoff team.

Yeah, I think if they win their final two, they're in. Tough games, but they'd be in. This is a defense that operates at its best level, Colin, when they pressure. When they show pressure fronts and when they get after the quarterback. And they have two corners in Jones and Howard that can line up and play press man coverage. But they're very interesting at times in the way they show their pressure fronts. They might not press on the back end. They kind of play off coverage. It's almost like a zone match. You're almost seeing it right here on these plays that we're seeing now. But they're very good

at forcing offenses to have to figure things out right at the line of scrimmage and then even after the snap. And that's very difficult to do because don't forget, it's not just on the quarterback. It's on the pass protection. And then what you have to do, because there could be six, seven, or eight on the line of scrimmage is you have to max protect. And the more you keep in to protect, the fewer go out in pass routes. And the passing game is a numbers game. Every team would like to send five out. But against the dolphins, you have to be very leery of sending five out because you cannot protect. I said this. One of my favorite movies ever is Shawshank Redemption,

and it doesn't matter if I'm flipping through the channels and it's a quarter of the way through, I'll just stop and watch the rest of it. There's a bunch of movies like that, though, and there's a bunch like that. Okay. And I said, I know, I know the Buffalo Bills don't run the wall and they've got flaws and they lost their best corner.

I can't stop loving them. It's Josh Allen. They have this Tyson-Forman knockout quality that if you don't have the right pass rush or if you don't have the linebackers in space, he is Tyson in his prime. He may not have a jab. He may not do this.

And so when you look at Buffalo, like what do you see? Yeah, well, we discussed him when I was sitting on your couch, you know, when he was in college, remember? Yep, I do. And I mentioned that he was a guy to watch. They're the most quarterback-centric team in the NFL. They, in a sense, demand and require Josh Allen to be Superman every week. And of course, that's not humanly possible, so there sometimes he's not, but he's more than capable of it.

He's the most purely physical, gifted quarterback in the league, and he can put a team on his shoulders, and he can do what needs to be done. He did that against New England. And by the way, he'll miss a few here and there, even in his great games. That's just the kind of player he is. But he's such a dominant physical specimen with the ability to make unbelievable plays, both with his legs and with his arms. We've almost started to take his arm for granted, Alan, the throws that he makes. Yeah. I mean, but he makes ridiculous throws.

And, of course, you know, the plays that we're seeing here where he flips the ball, you know, when Patrick Mahomes makes those plays, we talk about them for three weeks. When Josh Allen makes those plays, it doesn't seem like we talk about them very much. He really is. He's got a little early Ben. He's got some Mahomes. He's everything. So this is just, I'm fascinated by this. Because, you know, a lot of people poured in and really critical of Joy and I because Mac Jones was very good early.

And my takeaway was, well, let's wait post Thanksgiving. Ultimately, you got, I want to see a guy play from behind a couple times. I want to see him when the offensive line has injuries or COVID and it breaks down and he's got to use his feet. So the first 12 weeks, you know, you see this Mac Jones. Last couple he's been trailing and he's not as accurate. And we know he's not terribly nimble. What is the tape saying last couple of weeks with Mac Jones, Greg? Well, it's funny because he went to a team whose foundation is the run game

and for the most part has a very good defense. And he was a complementary piece that was schemed extremely well by a great coaching staff. So the last couple of weeks, and particularly against Buffalo, I don't think Buffalo had many sacks, but they got people around him. And he started to speed up and play a little faster. As you said, he's not particularly nimble. while his pocket movement isn't poor, I wouldn't say at this point his career, it's a strength. And I think he needs to improve in that area.

He needs to sort of navigate the pocket a little bit better. But he started to play a little faster. When you start to play faster physically, you don't see things mentally as clearly as you would like. And I think we start to see that just a little bit. Now, that doesn't mean he's not a good player or won't be a good player. But at this point, his career as a rookie quarterback, they obviously would like him to be in situations where they're controlling the pace and tempo of the game and thus the score, and that has not happened the last two weeks.

I thought a big story, it's not an on-field story yet. It was an off-field story that will become an on-field story as Cam Acres is back for the Rams. And that coincides with Sony Michelle becoming a much bigger part of this offense. And I don't know, sometimes was Sony hurt? Was Sony learning getting comfortable with a playbook? Was McVeigh getting comfortable with Sony? Michelle. But it does look like to me with the Rams now. If Acres comes back, Sony Michelle and

Acres could be a very powerful anecdote solution to an Aaron Rogers or a Brady where you can just pound the ball, which I think McVeigh likes to. So what's going on with the Rams and Michelle in the last couple weeks? Well, two points. Last four games, Michelle has the most rushing attempts and rushing yards of any back in the lead. Wow. And that includes Jonathan Taylor. But number two, you know how much McVeigh loves the zone run game. And he loves the zone run game, not just for the running element, but because of what it does to the pass rush. Because when you have the outside zone run game, which is what they like to feature and

what he featured in those couple of years with Gurley, think about what that does to the defensive line. Their move is lateral to start. And that means they're not vertically attacking as pass rushers. And that gives your quarterback more time in the pocket to work routes off of play action. So the run game is critical for both those reasons, for the run game itself and what it does to the pass rush when you go play action off outside zone. Okay. So now here is, I have defended Arizona. I've said, listen, DeAndre Hopkins, James Connor. It's not like it's, Kyler couldn't say, hey, I'm missing arguably the best receiver. Conner's been a terrific player.

So there is some COVID stuff and there are some injuries. But, and he is a younger quarterback. Aaron Rogers has been in this league forever in Brady. They're probably more deft at dealing with a COVID issue than a Justin Herbert or a Kyler Murray. Those guys have seen everything in this league. So young quarterbacks, even if they're gifted, tend to need certain elements because they don't have 75, 175 games. So I look at Kyler Murray and I'm like, okay, give him his weapons back. But it does feel like he's under a little more pressure throwing the ball. That's what my eyes tell me, Greg.

Well, here's what the tape shows, particularly the last two weeks, against the Lions and the Colts. Both those defenses pressured and played man coverage, and the cards have had trouble with both. And, of course, it's not just Kyler Murray, but that has been the profile of the two defenses the last two weeks. This past week against the Colts, every third down but one, they blitzed. and the Colts are not normally that high a percentage blitz team. So over the last couple of weeks, people have now seen what teams are doing to the cards offense, particularly when you get to third down.

They're pressuring and they're playing man, and it's posed problems for the card's offense, and they're going to have to find a way to deal with it, or I guess it could be a short playoff stand, because I guess they did clinch a playoff spot. By the way, they face the Cowboys next, and the Cowboys do some man and have a pass rush. So Dallas matches.

Cowboys play more cover 1, which is man coverage with a single high safety. They play more cover 1 than any defense in the NFL. So they will get a heavy dose of man and they'll get some interesting pressures. The Cowboys do a lot of things. They move their players around. They move to Marcus Lawrence around. They move Gregory around. We know what they do with Micah Parsons.

This is a difficult matchup for the cards to get well. Okay. I want to talk about Dak. He threw 35 passes first half blowout win over the depleted Washington football team. I tend to think of DAC as somebody that's better 35 or fewer passes. There's some data to suggest that. But between Jordan Schultz, these wide receivers, he's got weapons now. And Dak likes to spread the ball around. He's got a little Chris Paul to him, the point guard for the sons. Like he'll, he just, whatever's open, he'll go to it. He's not loyal

to any one thing. Where I always felt Romo, just Jason Witten was on his radar. He was always, or Brady with Gronk on a third down. I don't feel that way with Dax. So what is the film saying on the number of throws? Dallas is passing offense right now. Look, I'm not in their meetings, obviously, Colin, but my sense watching the tape was this. They've struggled to run the ball since about week five or week six.

They were playing against a Washington defense that was depleted due to injury and COVID. So my sense is that they felt that, hey, we're going to need to throw the ball well to go deep in the playoffs. We're not running it real well. That may not change. So for us to really have our offense working in the playoffs, the past game will have to be the driving force. And I think they saw an opportunity against the depleted Washington defense to get the past game back on track.

And I think that's why they threw 35 times in the first half. Actually, they threw, he had more dropbacks than that because there were a couple of sacks and a couple of scrambles. So they probably were in the 40 range. So we'll see what they do against the cards. but I think ultimately their past game will have to be the defining feature of their offense. All right. So this one's interesting. Patrick Mahomes, we all saw it. We saw the numbers that he had about a six-week stretch. And I kept saying he's smart. He's got a great coach. He's coachable. He'll figure it out. Whatever it is.

And they did. Okay. So when you look at the tape now, Mahomes, they figured out their issues. Well, here's how I'll answer that based on pure tape study. When you watch Mahomes now, and it was so evident this past week, but it had been building for weeks, just look at the rhythm and timing with which he's now playing. You're not seeing as much movement. You know, Mahomes obviously can move, and he can always make plays doing that. But there's a difference between unnecessary movement and calculated movement. And I think he went through a stretch where there was unnecessary movement.

So now there's more calculated. movement. But even with that, there's less movement. He's playing with a much better feel for getting rid of the ball within the timing and structure of the offense. And here's a stat that many might not even be aware of. Tyree Kill has the most third down receptions of any receiver in the NFL. And most of those are short and the short intermediate area. These are not vertical throws because the ball is now coming out. They're playing really, really well in the past game. They're They're taking what the defense is showing them. The ball's coming out.

They're sustaining offense. That was so good right there. We got that one right. We may have butcher the Eagles, but we got that one right. Smart people figured out. Andy, Patrick, Spags, they all figured it out. Their defense has been really good, too. Spaggs has been doing this a long time, as you know.

Yes. So Joe Burrow, and I know the Ravens Secondaries all beat up, but I said the other day, if you drove, if you were a quarterback in high school, college or pro, and somebody asked you the day before a game, how do you think you're going to do? And you said, I'm going to throw for over five football fields. You'd think they were out of their gourd.

Now, the injuries mattered, but Burrow is getting to a point now. He looks, and I can see it on television. He is more comfortable with his young receivers. He's a little bit more comfortable with his protection. And it could have been that injury, Greg, where in the first

couple weeks he wasn't, but his feet look better to me. He's more comfortable. What are you saying? Yeah, I think you hit on one thing there with your final point about his feet. His ability to navigate and manage the pocket is high level. He's very refined in that area. Most young quarterbacks do not come into the NFL with the ability to manage the pocket with efficient pocket movement.

He's very, very good at that. He's light on his feet. And one thing I really like about Burrow is he is aggressive throwing the football. Oh, yeah. And that's one reason why at times he'll throw a few picks, you say, you know, you can't really do that. But to me, and this is just, you know, from years of studying and talking to coaches, I'd rather have my quarterback, my young quarterback, be aggressive than always looking for checkdowns.

He is aggressive throwing the ball. He feels very comfortable with what he sees. I think he deciphers it well. He eliminates what's not there. He isolates what is there. He gets the ball to the right receiver, and he will push it down the field. And I think his arm is just a notch stronger this year than it was as a rookie. Okay, so what's the play of the day?

Yeah, this play was fascinating to me. It was actually a 52-yard completion to T. Higgins. And let's take a look at it. It was from late in the second quarter of the game last week. And what was so interesting about this play was the Ravens defense. The Ravens' defense was missing a lot of people. So they did some interesting things. You see Burrowing the gun and you see his three wide.

wide receivers. Now, here's what's fascinating, Colin. The Ravens double-teamed all three wide receivers. Okay. You're going to see they do that at the bottom to chase. He's the boundary X receiver. They're going to do the same thing to Boyd in the slot. These are all doubles and brackets. And then they do the same thing to T. Higgins on the outside. They did this four or five times in the game. They would rush three and they would double all three outs. side receivers. And you can see that again right here as the play develops. That's what they're doing. They're doubling and bracketing because they wanted to take away these three guys. And this is classic Burrough because we're going to end at the top here with T. Higgins. T. Higgins, as you can

clearly see, is being doubled. And Burrough, as I said, the aggressive mindset, he's going to throw it up to Higgins, who's going to go up and get it. And T. Higgins was a player I really like coming out of Clemson. A lot of people talk about is 4-5-7, which, by the way, is what the Andre Hopkins ran, what Michael Thomas ran. Straight-line speed is not really a big, big factor if you're a 6-3, 220-pound receiver. Yeah. No, I mean, you see this sometimes with the great quarterbacks in this league. They trust their big, wide receivers to go up and get it over a significantly smaller corner. And Burrow and Justin Herbert have some real similarities. They can move, but they use it with discretion.

They are aggressive. There's very much an Andrew Luck feel to me. Herbert has got a lot of Andrew Luck. He has a short memory. Burroughs the same way. I'm going to take some shots. If I throw it 39 times and have a pick, I'll live with it. But I'm going to win that way more than I'm going to lose it.

Oh, yeah. He's a confident player. That's the other thing that stands out. Burrough is confident on the point of being very cocky. Yeah. Well, I'm the opposite, of course. Nothing but humility all the time. Well, that's why we idolize you, Colin.

Happy holidays, Greg. Good seeing you. Happy New Year. Thanks a lot. Take care. All right. Joy, can I say happy holidays? Because that's what I've said my entire life.

Now, if you don't say Merry Christmas, three weeks before Christmas, that you don't love Jesus or something? What is that? Well, maybe you don't love Jesus. Well, I never met it. but I think I would. He was very giving. Yeah, but I mean, you, Christians celebrate Christmas. Oh, well, I'm agnostic, so that ruins me.

So I am, you know, listen, so I say the other day on Twitter, like a week before Christmas, I said, happy holidays, we put a thing up for our show and somebody said, you didn't say Christmas. And I said, well, that's a specific day. Correct. On Christmas. Now, I say Merry Christmas, like, leading up to Christmas. Right.

I am also not completely out of my mind, so I don't even spend three seconds thinking about this. I generally don't say Merry Christmas after Christmas, unless it's like a day after Christmas, maybe I'll still say. Yeah, I say it on Christmas, Eve, Christmas, and maybe the next morning. Yeah. Like New Year's. I would never, December 4th, I would never say, Happy New Year's, because that's a specific day. Well, I wouldn't say it like that.

I might say Happy New Year the day after. Yeah, I would too. I'm saying Christmas, and if it's a specific day, you get like a 48-hour bubble to say it. Yeah, but then we're getting into like the holidays. You're talking about people being upset if you're not saying specifically Merry Christmas. Like on Christmas, I'll say Merry Christmas. But most of the time I just say happy holidays and people do not like that in America. Right.

Like you're talking more about people being outraged at the idea that someone might have a different holiday during the holiday season than they do. There's like 12 different holidays. There are other, yes, there are other holidays that are celebrated during the holiday season outside of Christmas. That's why I like to be vague. So, you know, hey, happy holidays to you, unless it's Christmas Day or New Year's Day. Then I just say the day. But it doesn't fall that way on the Angry Bird. Twitter's very different.

I mean, there's a, you know, everyone's looking for New Year's resolutions. Maybe a New Year's resolution is to calm down a little bit. Just calm down a little bit. You know what? I'm going to think about that. Why, I usually have a New Year's resolution. I don't this year. I have two, no, I don't like resolutions.

I just like things I'm going to work on at the beginning of the year. Because if I have a resolution, you know, we know most people don't stick to their resolutions. Yeah. So I'm going to try and work out at least 20 minutes every day. All right. So, like, I work out pretty regularly, but I'll talk myself out of it if I'm, like, tired. But at least 20 minutes. This year for me was a new one.

Be grateful. And I got through about October and then I just went sideways. Yours two years ago was ridiculous. What was it? Stop biting my nails. No, it was that ridiculous cursing. No swearing. Yeah.

Ridiculous. Literally by February 8th. You didn't last two days. Our production meetings are nothing. I'm the sailor up there. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what 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 Clivered Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need. to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that

George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at a 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, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth.

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. Sunday, the race for the playoffs continues on Fox with a huge doubleheader.

It's a full slate of games with playoff implications highlighted by the Cardinals, taking on the Cowboys in America's Game of the Week. Check local listings for the matchups on your area, only on Fox and the Fox Sports app. By the way, I had these Oklahoma fans. I understand Oklahoma, there's nothing to do how the Sooners do defines your life. Like in Los Angeles, we got a million things to do, beaches, mountains, pro teams, baseball, football. In Oklahoma, you got the Sooners. I mean, nobody, that's what you got. So when you go to an Alabama or in Oklahoma, the college defines.

I mean, literally, if Oklahoma loses, like, people don't show up to work. Like, there's studies done in these states that Monday is a less productive day in Alabama or in Oklahoma if your football team loses. But the fact that these Oklahoma fans are still petty because Lincoln Riley left, you're petty. It's like the Cleveland fans when LeBron left. Nobody cried when Tristan Thompson left or something like, right? Because when you're pissed that your coach left, it's not how you left. It's not how he left. If a girl dumps you, you can tell all your buddies it's how she left.

She dumped your butt. That's what hurts. It's not how she left. There's no right way to dump a goofy guy. so a beautiful woman often dumps a loser. There's no right way to do it. There's no right way to get rid of Oklahoma if you're Lincoln Riley. That's why Brian Kelly left the same way.

That's why Lincoln Riley did because you lose 14 days of recruiting. The bottom line is Lincoln Riley left because USC is a campus surrounded by a hundred great players and the Pac-12's lousy, whereas Oklahoma is going to be segueing and pivoting into the SEC where at best you're going to have the fourth best talent in the conference, and you're going to figure that out in a couple years really quickly. The seventh best team is Kentucky, and they have one of the top 15 coaches in college football. But you understand that when Brady Hoke left Michigan,

they celebrated because he stunk. When John Blake left Oklahoma, nobody was upset because he stunk as a head coach. He was a great recruiter. When Ron Zook left Florida, he stunk. You're bitter when the girl dumps you, when the coach dumps you, and when the superstar athlete dumps you, and it's not how they left.

That's not whatever. How do you leave as an NBA player? How do you leave as a coach? There is no. Do you sit around and wait for Oklahoma to hammer Oregon? Well, then you just lost 15 days of recruiting if you're going to your next spot. And by the way, the fans are punitive and the media is punitive. Like the idea that people are still,

it is a complete compliment that ESPN was mad when I left. I've seen their ratings since it happened. and they've lost 200% in my slot. Yeah, I'd be mad too. If Joy left, I'd be mad. Why? Because she's good. If she stunk, I wouldn't be as mad.

So, yes, you're still petty for a reason. Nobody at USC is petty that Clay Hilton left. Nobody. It was Marty Graw here the day he got fired. Nobody was upset. Ron Zuck, they partied. Brady Hoke, they partied. Clay Hilton, they partied.

Yeah, people get upset when Great Co. When Ed Orsorne left LSU, they were over him. Gene Chiswick left Overn. they were over him. If Nick Saban retired today and went to Texas for the job or something, oh, it's how he left. It was the middle of the night. There's no good way to dump somebody.

We can't, our country can't even get, we're great at getting into wars. We can never get out of them, right? It takes forever to get out of Afghanistan. It's hard to break up. And anytime you break up with somebody, it's always the classic, it's how he left. Yeah, LeBron going to Miami. It wasn't that he left to Miami. It was the press conference where he gave away millions of dollars to the boys and girls club.

How offensive. Carmelo Anthony left one way. You hated him for it. Dwight Howard left Orlando one way. You hated him for it. Durant left Oklahoma for Golden State. You hated him for it. LeBron left Cleveland.

The only time you're happy is when you're a terrible program or a terrible sport city like Cleveland. LeBron gets a title. He left the second time. And by that time you were like, we get it. It's Cleveland. You're going to go to the Lakers. But this whole thing about being petty, the ultimate compliment is it hurts when I leave you. That's the ultimate kind.

If it didn't sting, if they're giving me a big birthday cake and patting me on the butt, I must have stunk. I don't want a birthday cake when I leave. I want you to cry in the hallway and yell at me and scream at me and tell me I'm a jerk and I'm a traitor. That means I was effective. That means I won. Lincoln and Rale won a lot of games. And by the way, Oklahoma will always run a bunch of games. That's a great program.

I'm going to take a break and come back with joy. I had to get that off my chest. In L.A., it's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. I'm George Reister, host of the Reister or Wrong podcast. This is the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop culture meet the truth. Absolute fire on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Facts only.

Make sure you check your feelings at the door because no. BS is allowed. We keep it 100. This is where real conversations happen. Listen to the Rights or Wrong podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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 game, and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

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

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

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you're going to be. You can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and comments. conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions.

bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio

app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Don't miss a special airing of All Madden, the documentary, tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on Fox. It's also now available for streaming on ESPN Plus, peacock and Tooby.

Oh, you can get it everywhere now. That's great. Way to go. Oh, by the way, real credit card questions require real people. That's why Discover offers helpful U.S. base reps 24-7. Discover exceptionally common sense. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Kyrie Irving has returned to the Nets. Yesterday, he practiced with the team for the first time since the preseason. And afterwards, he said he respected. the team's decision to keep him away because of the city vaccine mandate, and he's happy to be back. I just really empathized, and I understood their choice to say if you're not going to be

vaccinated, fully vaccinated, then, you know, you can't be a full participant. And I knew the consequences. I wasn't prepared for them by no stretch of imagination. You know, coming into the season, I had my thought process on being able to be a full teammate and a full-time teammate and just go out and have fun and provide, you know, a sense of a great brand of basketball out there. But unfortunately, it didn't happen like that. Things happened for a reason. And now we're here. And I'm just grateful for this. Now, can he play all the games? What can he play? No, he can't play at home games. So it'll just be away games. So he'll travel

with the team. I still think that's so weird. Well, yeah, I mean, I think it's weird too. And I'm sure the team thinks it's weird, but it's less weird than having Durant play 37 minutes a game. Right. And James Harden averaging 36.5 minutes a game. Like, that's too many minutes, and that's not sustainable. And this is a team that's trying to win a championship. So they have the first, they have the number one record in the East. They're 23 and 9.

So they're first in the East. Steve Nash said it'll take Kyrie a few weeks to ramp up one or two weeks before he can return in a road game. Obviously, you don't want to just put them right back out there, having not been in this type, this point in the seat. He's in his basketball shape. Obviously, he's still in shape and it's been training. But there's a difference between training at home, as we know, and game shape. So they're going to ramp him up slowly through practice to bring him back.

I don't have a problem with this. I didn't have a problem with their first determination not to play him. I thought that actually made sense. And now the situation has changed. They're playing too many minutes. Their stars are paying too many minutes. KD. and James Hardin. So they're pivoting again.

It's going to be so weird, though, if we get into a big playoff series and it gets to a game six. And Kyrie's not available. It's so weird. It is weird. In the history of team sports. I don't know how it works, but I do imagine that they'll get some sort of rhythm with him only playing away games so that when they get to that point, they'll sort of know what the rotation will be and the adjustments that they'll need to make without him. Obviously, if it comes down to a big game and they're clearly missing him, I wonder how that's going to play out in the court of public opinion. being that he is not available.

But again, to reiterate, this was not a NETS mandate. You do not have to be vaccinated to play in the NBA or in the NFL. There are no mandates by the leagues. It was a city decision to put this mandate in place for the building, which made him unavailable to enter the building. And this was his choice. I don't have a problem with any of this on any side. I think you and I are a little more in the middle,

a little more flexible when it comes to change and not freaking out and losing our minds. The only thing I would say is don't, I wish teams and coaches would stop painting themselves into a corner, just stop saying these absolute statements. Then they have to pivot off of. Not that it matters to me, but you are going to have the media and you are going to have fans say, well, why are you changing your opinion now? Right. Why are you changing it? For whatever that's worth.

Like, if you don't want to have to answer those questions, don't speak in absolutes. It's like the Bruce Ariens thing with Antonio Brown. Like, you don't have to say you're absolutely going to cut him. if he messes up. You don't have to say that. You can put it out there a little more flexible and give yourself some room if the situation changes and you lose all your receivers. Now you can't cut him.

And similarly with Kyrie, this situation changed. They weren't anticipating K.D. and James Hardin having to play this many minutes. So bringing Kyrie back. See how it goes. I want to see how they play together. Like, this is, I'm excited about seeing Kyrie, James Hard and Katie together.

Like, this is good to me. As a fan, I wanted to see that. I was disappointed that Kyrie couldn't play at the beginning of the scene. season. I want to see what this experiment is. It's what makes the Nets interesting to me. So I think it's a good thing. We'll see how it plays out. And obviously, they want to ease him in health-wise so that he's ready to go when he's

available. So after winning seven straight games to start the season, the Cardinals have struggled down the stretch. They're on a three-game losing streak and they've lost their top spot in the NFC West. But Kyler Murray doesn't think they need to make any drastic changes to turn things around. I don't buy into the whole cloud over us, you know, trying to get into the club. I think the guys, mentality-wise, we were already there. We already knew we were going to be in playoffs. There's nothing crazy that needs to be done.

It's just everybody's got to do their job. Everybody's got to be a little bit better. You know, stop turning the ball over. Stop making mistakes, penalties and stuff like that. It will be fun. I tend to agree with him. I just think they need two of their best players back, and I think they'll be fine.

And I also think this league is hard. Trees don't grow to the sky. Kansas City had a six. six-week drought. Now, theirs came at a better time, and they fixed it. I think Arizona's droughts coming at a bad time, but I do, I mean, the reality is timing matters, right? I said this years ago. When Charlie Weiss took the Notre Dame job, it was good early and bad late.

If it had been bad early and good late, he had gotten an extension, like momentum matters and timing matters. Kansas City picked a perfect time to struggle, you know, up until about week 11. this is a bad time to a Tampa have a bunch of guys hurt or B Arizona we kind of lost our synergy like it's a bad time so you you got to don't have much time but turn this thing around well that's sort of my issue with Arizona is this is becoming a trend it's a long season it's kind of okay to struggle early it's not really great to be going into the

playoffs playing the way that they are I bet Greg made an interesting point about the way that the defenses are playing them especially on third down, blitzing on third down. If you can give a formula to defenses to shut you down, there's not a whole lot of adjustments you can make until you get those big time players back.

By the way, as Greg said, they're not dealing well with pressure. It's amazing, isn't it? Whenever a great quarterback struggles, it's almost always offensive line. Like you're not getting as much time. When you made Mac Jones hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. You make Kyler hurry, hurry. This is hard enough when you have time.

The minute. And you're brilliant. And you're brilliant. The minute you speed stuff, I always say even if you're a great typist, you do 120 words a minute. I say do 180. You're going to make more mistakes. You speed people. That's what great defense does in all sports. It's pressure.

It's pressure. It speeds you up and you get out of your rhythm. Actually, Dak Prescott is the best quarterback under pressure this season. Yep. And they play the Cowboys this weekend, who are favored by six, according to Fox Betts. And that Cowboys defense is ready to go. It's Kyler Murray. that they already know that information.

So there's been a bit of a disappointing season in Seattle for the Seahawks. And there's a lot of discussion about the future of what Russell Wilson's going to do. What are they going to do about Pete Carroll? And former Seahawk, Matt Hasselbeck, was asked about what the franchise should do moving forward. And he thinks the issue right now is with the quarterback and not with the coach. You think the Seahawks can be successful with Pete Carroll moving forward? They will not be successful if they get rid of it, in my opinion. Do you think they can be successful with Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll together moving forward?

I don't know enough about that. That dynamic, everything seems to be positive. I'll just say what I can speak to. What I see on film, though, I see a quarterback that is in a funk, in a rut, missing guys he would always hit. And I don't know what the reason is for that, but that is what I see on film. So somehow, some way, there needs to be a solution to that problem. Yeah. By the way, I talked to somebody inside the league over the weekend, and they felt the same way, that if you watch film of him, he is off.

Now, my argument is because D.K.K. Metcalf's a two, not a one. And Seattle's made Lockett, who's a three, not a two. It's like having a pitching staff and you ask a two to be an ace and a three to be a two, and they're not. I think Seattle needs a number one ride receiver. D.K. Metcalf, not a great route runner. He's great body. He should be a great two in this league. If you put, you know, like a Cooper Cup, but DeAndre Hopkins, a hundred catch guy there, I think it would solve the issues. But there is a growing narrative that it's Russell. He's off. He doesn't look right. Well, he did obviously rush back from that injury as well.

Like he tried to come back because they were still in the playoff hunt. Maybe he came back too early. I do think it's going to be a very interesting watch what happens in Seattle this off season. Are they going to stick with Pete Carroll? I agree with Matt that they shouldn't move off of both of them. Like if you move off Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll, what is that leaving you with? Like you're just doing a complete reset of the entire organization. I don't know if that's necessary.

And in this division, is that really what you want to be doing? It could be tough sledding for. quite some time because there's no easy ones in this division. So I don't, my only question with Seattle is what is Russ going to do? Because I don't see them moving off of Pete Carroll. It doesn't, it doesn't feel like that's, you know, they sign it to be a huge deal. Yeah, it doesn't feel like that's what's going to happen. So is Russell going to be able to get on the same page with Pete and find a way to structure this team to get back to championship contention? Or at least at this point, winning seasons. Right. Joy of the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Fairety was founded, twin brothers, family business, make the best quality clothes on the market. Get 20% off right now. Go to Fairtybrand.com slash herd. Fairdybrand.com slash heard. Code herd 20.

That is, I was talking about this earlier. The worst sports fans are always the, it's not how the star athlete left. It's not that they left. It's not that they left. it's not that the coach left it's how the coach left it's not that she dumped me it's how she dumped me just admit you got your feelings hurt if you're swearing on the internet if you're mad if you're you got your feelings hurt you got dumped nobody likes to get dumped it doesn't matter how the athlete leaves how the coach leaves or how your cute girlfriend leaves you're hurt and you go to you get wildly

emotional and you get petty and stupid and act like somebody that's not 45 years old and is they were great. She was gorgeous. The coach was great. The athlete was amazing and irreplaceable. But come to terms with it. That's, it's not, it's not how they left. It's they dumped you. Hour 3 next. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on humor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Idle help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast'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. 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 tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. 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 you here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.