The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - Prescott, Brady

Episode Date: September 30, 2021

Colin ranks Dak Prescott up against other NFL QBsTom Brady is a great recruiter because he winsGuest: Calvin Johnson Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Live in Los Angeles, it's the hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. My wife left for a month this morning, and she took the dogs. So she's going somewhere in the fall, not far from here. So I have no dogs in the house for a month. Did you guys ever get another cat? We have a cat, small cat, cute cat, but that doesn't satiate my need for my dog.

So I'm not going to have my dogs for a month. Cats are not the affectionate type. They're not, they're very aloof and skittish and crazy. That's why I like cats. They're hiding all the time. My dogs never hide. They sit in full view on the couch and let it be known. They're hungry constantly.

And so I don't have, not that I won't miss my wife, I'll, you know, go see her too. But my dogs for a month. Maybe you could offer to walk your neighbor's dog or something. It's like you, it's like caring about the, neighbors' kids. I mean, you pretend to, but you don't really. Yeah. Oh, you're nice kids.

Whatever. You know. That's what is with dog owners. That's tough. So, you know, football, you can grow into greatness. It doesn't happen a lot in basketball and say soccer.

In basketball, you could be in a gym with a ball shooting by yourself. Ball skills, vertical, athleticism. and I could look and determine you're really, really an elite basketball prospect. In football, Tom Brady's not thrown to himself in the yard. Left tackles are not blocking air and impressing you.

Is that there's a certain physicality with football that you have to see guys hit guys and how they can handle it. Same in UFC. Same in boxing. Everybody can look good in the gym. Let me see you against another dude. And basketball and soccer are different. You can identify basketball greatness.

and soccer greatness very, very quickly. Most of your stars, 12, 13 years old, you see it in tennis. There are certain sports you can identify it very quickly. It's harder in football. Very few NBA stars developed into stars. Gary Payton's one of the few that people didn't know after the first couple years if he could play, and then he became an all-time great. That's a rarity.

I mean, even the kids out of high school, like LeBron and Kevin Garnett, you knew by the end of their first year, beginning of their second. You're like, all right, this is different. These guys are going to be great players. Doesn't mean you're winning championships. I mean, Garnett was on bad teams, but you knew he was great. But with Dak Prescott, I was a skeptic. Even as college coach, Dan Mullen, came on this show and said, yeah, the first view of

Dak Prescott is he's not a natural thrower. It's not easy. He said he never was at Mississippi State. And I was an early critic on deck. But is he growing into greatness? Now, I don't want to overreact. to beating a bad Eagles team. I've said this.

The Cowboys look faster defensively, but DAC is 11 and 1, his last 12 games, against the NFC East. Washington in a rebuild, Giants in a rebuild, Eagles in a rebuild. But he does look, I think, better now, year 2 McCarthy. I do think DAC is growing to a better place.

And Matt Ruhl, Coach of Carolina, knows a thing or two about quarterbacks and offenses has been watching film preparing for DAC and the Cowboys and said this. He's getting the ball out of his hand. He's the second fastest guy in the NFL right now from snap to throw, which is emblematic or symptomatic. I don't know the right word of a quarterback who knows exactly where the ball is going to go versus the defense, who's on the same page with his receivers,

who's getting in the right plays versus the right coverages, who's making sure that he's protected. It all goes back to it's like watching Peyton Manning. It's like watching Drew Brees, you know, call the game with the line of scrimmage. I think what Dax's doing right now is unbelievably impressive. Remember, Brady's first pop year where, like, he was controlling the game, was year seven. Look it up, 2007.

That was Brady's first. My team. Okay. Brady, I could give you 30 examples of NFL players, often quarterbacks, who grow into something. I mean, Sam Darnold looks like a totally different player now, Sam Darnold, than he did with a Jets. I mean, literally, take the last Jets game and the first three Carolina games. It's like a different player. All the stats are different. No mistakes, more accurate, running the offense. So you can grow into stuff because you are very reliant on coordinators and coaches and your

defense. Are you in shootouts? Do you get protection? So we did this game once before. We call it Dis or Dak. You give me the quarterbacks and my judge is the next five years. I consider everything. Next five years, because I think I'm viewed as cool on deck, but I've said before, so much of football for a quarterback is pre-snap, in intellect, and growing, and leadership. And those all get better over time. Nobody pops out of the womb as a great leader. Like you need opportunities to become a great leader to illustrate to me, you are a great leader. How do I know if you've never been put in leadership positions? So we'll play diss or DAC five years from today, would I take

DAC or diss, the other guy? So here we go. Dak, Prescott, or Patrick Mahomes? Okay, that would be one of the easier ones. I would take Patrick Mahomes. That's an easier one because I think he's just a generational talent, arm movement. And I think most people, even DAC fans would probably agree. Dak Prescott or Baker Mayfield? I would take Dak. I think he's a bigger, sturdier body. I think he's more

mature. I like a lot of intangibles. Yeah, I don't think that's a criticism of Baker, but I would take DAC for five years. There are things that I align with with DAC. I'm into the intangible stuff more than most fans. I would take DAC. Dak Prescott or Sam Darnold. Dak Prescott. Yeah, DAC is a less reckless player. I don't think either has a beautiful throwing motion. I don't think either are artistic throwers of the football. But I think with DAC, I get more consistent accuracy. I get many of the intangibles I like about Darnold, but I don't think

Dak plays quite as recklessly. I think he really almost always he'll kill a play and be fine with it. And I think that's growth. And I haven't seen Donald do that yet. Jack Prescott or Justin Herbert? Well, again, this is closer than people would think. I would say Herbert, because I think from what I've seen in year two, he just keeps getting better and better. But he had a terrible red zone interception against the Cowboys. So his, I am, I am going on this morning,

DAC, this morning, DAC probably does stuff pre-snap better than Justin Herbert. But in five years, I think you'll start seeing a separation here, probably end of this year or beginning of next year, because I do think Herbert now has the protection he deserves. So over five years, Dak may be better for a year. I believe that.

But if it's five, I think Herbert for three and a half will start to pull away. Dak Prescott or Joe Burrow? Very close. Dak, by an inch, I haven't seen a ton of Burrow. I like his situational awareness. But Burrow, we saw this two weeks ago. Still has those games where you're like, cover your eyes, this is awful.

Dax out of that space. So Dax's floor is much higher right now than Burroughs, although I think Burrough as a natural thrower is better, but I would take Dak over the next five. Dak Prescott or Derek Carr? Probably Dak by an inch. By an inch. Okay. Now again, here's why.

And I think it's very close. Derek's a better thrower of the football, a natural thrower. Dak has a sort of innate confidence that doesn't need. Doesn't need to be fueled by other people. I think Derek sometimes a little bit needs, need support, need to, he's a little more needy in terms of, I need this. Dak is the, is the quarterback of the Cowboys, went to an anthem controversy, didn't care. I mean, that was a big deal, right? Like, he didn't care.

The kneeling stuff. Dak was, Dak was willing to forge ahead without necessarily even the support of the city he played in. And it didn't in any way shrink him. So buy an inch, Dak. Josh Allen. Josh Allen. I think he's different. Bigger, stronger, more mobile, ridiculous arm.

I don't get the critics. There are critics out there. I don't get it. Listen, I said when he got drafted, he's wild. Like, he's the wild pony in the barn that's knocking everything over. But when he has the right coaching, his ceiling is, his floor sometimes is lower. He has bad throws. His ceiling is higher, higher than Mahomes.

He's that good. Jack Prescott or Kirk Cousins. Yeah, Dak. Dak doesn't shrink in big spots. Dak Prescott or Matthew Stafford. Matt, I would say Matt, again, Matt is such a natural, I mean, you're seeing it in three games. It's so easy. He's just such an easy thrower of the football.

I mean, there's, Mel Kuiper told me Matt Stafford is the only high schooler he's seen who would be drafted out of high school as a quarterback. Now, you would have put him on the scout team, but he was that gifted. I think it was like South Lake High in Dallas. He was like, you know, Kershaw's buddy in high school. He's that gifted. Dak Prescott or Kyler Murray. You're going to think I'm crazy. Dak Prescott by an inch, and I'll tell you why.

I don't know about Kyler's leadership skills. I hear things that are very interesting from players in the league that Kyler is a one-on, one-on-one talent, but again, Kyler throws a more beautiful football. Kyler is more brilliant as a playmaker. Five years, DAC is beloved by every single person in that organization. Kyler is... Tyler's not?

Kyler has his critics even in the locker room. That's why they went out and got JJ Watt and AJ Green. They wanted veteran leadership, which I think they have questioned whether or not Kyler is that, and I think that's underrated. Zach Prescott or Russell Wilson? Russell. Russell, to me, is a better version of Kyler.

More, you know, just simply put, I think Russell, again, it doesn't, I don't think we've ever seen anybody quite like. I think Kyler's the closest part of it, but I don't think he's Russell. Top to bottom, leadership, pre-snap, teamwork, optimism, hope, health. I mean, Kyler already got hurt last year. Russell Wilson's been playing this game for 20 years going back to that. when he was a little kid, he's never been hurt. He never gets hurt.

Kyler's already gotten hurt in year two. This will be an interesting one. Dak Prescott or Aaron Rogers next five years. Dak. Now, Aaron's a better player. But the minute Aaron said 50, 50 on retirement, I have no idea what's going on. If I told you publicly, I announced,

I'm 50-50 on quitting the show, you would literally call your agent. Yes, I would. You would call your agent. You would call Eric Shanks. You would call your brother. You would call family members. I got to get my resume ready.

I thought when Aaron said that, it was a huge public mistake. I have no idea where his head is at if they go into a four-game losing streak. I have no idea. It's all fun. He's happy Aaron after they beat the Niners. But what if they go on a four-game losing streak? I don't know what I'm getting. Next five years, Dak, Prescott, or Lamar Jackson?

Oh, can I pass on that one? No. That's not the rules. I don't know. I would say. Yeah, question mark. Well, Lamar wins 80% of his games, and I think I spend at least an hour a week defending Lamar.

Give me to the end of the year. Okay. We'll play Dissardack one more time, and we'll go to the last weekend of the year. I'd probably this morning give Lamar the edge, but it wouldn't be a huge edge. It would be the Derek Cardack, DAC. It would be that. It'd be an inch, because I do think he does one thing, so well that he doesn't have to do everything well.

I feel with Dak, he kind of does everything at a B plus level. With Lamar, I think he does one thing at an A plus level, and I don't really care about a lot of the other stuff. He does everything in a B plus level and A plus intangibles. Yes, that is Dak. Whereas Lamar, there are throws he's not great at, but he is so otherworldly in the moving around part that I tend to give guys passes.

Well, I mean, look, I think Dak has, I give Jack a little, extra sprinkle of the intangible stuff because it is the Dallas Cowboys and that is such a unique job to be the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. But all of these guys are like, I mean, we have an incredible league. So prime example. You never get credit. I said this earlier for the chaos in life you avoid. Yes. You could be a president, a senator, a mom with a family. Do you know how many times we've had potential chaos with the Cowboys in the last four years? The Zeeke contract, the anthem stuff, the kneeling stuff. There's never been any chaos.

There have been bad games, but DAC doesn't get credit for the chaos with the most outspoken meddling owner, with coaches that can't figure out the clock. With, he inherited Dez, who was this kind of volcanic outspoken. That was a lot of stuff.

He replaced Romo. I mean, Dak has never gotten credit for the chaos he keeps you out. of and nobody ever does. Our presidents don't. Our wives don't. My family would just be it would be a ball rolling downhill out of control fast, but

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Well, Kyle Shanahan keeps getting questions about his quarterback's position and plan and he is feeling like people misinterpreted what he was saying about the plan for the quarterback position. There's not a quarterback battle right now. I mean we're going with our starting quarterback who I think is playing very well. Happy that he is so Trey is not thrown into any situations he has to do too early. If he ever is thrown into that then I know Trey will deal with that and he'll get better as it goes but that's not we have a luxury where we don't have to do that yet to Trey or to our team. So hopefully we won't have to. He did wait all off season to announce who the starting quarterback was.

So perhaps people are a little confused as to what it's going to be. Also, he didn't mention that Trey was going to have a certain role within the offense. We've seen a little bit of that already. I don't know that it's outrageous that he's being asked about it. No, I don't... Very rarely do I think the media doesn't have a right to ask a question. I also think the media has a responsibility. not to

the media has a responsibility to kind of get the room. Like I think the questions are fair, but I also think sometimes the media don't play dumb. Like if you want to be viewed as smart, then ask smart questions and no, you know right now next week

Garapolo is the starter because you just saw a drive against Green Bay where he essentially won the game on a great final drive, if not for Aaron Rogers. So Trey's just not ready to do that. No young quarterback. I mean, even as good as Manning and Peyton and Andrew Lockworth, they're not pulling that drive off.

No, but here's, again, this is my issue with saying you have a quarterback battle and not just saying Jimmy Garoppolo is our starter. Yeah. And we will evaluate Trey as things go along. If you want to play that game where it's, you know, we're just the best guys, we're going to win the position. You got to earn it and da-da-da-da-da. And you just took Trey Lance and we know he's the future of the organization.

Right. then you're going to get these questions all season long. If it was very direct, Jimmy Garoppel is the starter, Trail Lans is the future. That is what the team is right now. Like that is it. Well, I mean, my interpretation was Shanahan and coaches don't like to give you any info. And I think he loved that people thought, are we going to get the running kid or the pocket guy? And he didn't want to give you the answer.

He loves the coaches are going. Well, then you have to deal with these questions all season long. That's wrong. That's fair. That's right. That's how that goes. But I think once the season. starts. We know that Garoppolo. Yes, Jimmy. Jimmy G is the start. Yes, of course. And

Trey is the backup and unless something happens dramatic throughout the season as far as Jimmy G's play, which no one anticipates, or an injury, which we don't know, then this is what it's going to be. And it is a good situation. We are seeing rookie quarterbacks around the league struggle. They are also not on good teams. San Francisco is a good team. So this was an outlier to that start the young quarterback right away. You have Jimmy G. He's played in a Super Bowl. He should be the starter. They owes the Seahawks Sunday at 4 Eastern on Fox, and they are currently favored by three on Fox Bab. Oh, I'm staying away from that.

Seahawks and Niners both off a loss. They're both excellent. That's a stayaway game. I don't want to be stressed. I just want to watch that game. And I don't know the outcome. I think San Francisco at Holmes got an edge because I think they'll control the clock like everybody's done against. That's how I felt about the Green Bay San Francisco game.

Yeah. Some games is just like, I don't want to watch. I want to watch it. I'll bet the Cowboy. Panther game. That's fine, but that's not the game of the week. I love the Cowboys in that game. Four and a half? Oh, I think they're going to win by yes. And my only concern, if it was equally rested, but the Cowboys come off a Monday short week and the Panthers played, they got 10 days. So three extra days to prepare, Caroline is not there. But you have to remember, Darnold, this is going to be a shootout to some degree, because Dallas is going to move the football.

Caroline's defense is. And so you become more reliant in Sam, and it could have. But I have yet to see Sam when the game plans on his shoulders to go air-free. And I think Dallas's secondary is one of the most improved units. You know, we thought Cleveland's defense would be better. Dallas's is instantly better. With a bunch of kids, it looks instantly better. You make significant arguments. Yep.

So the Bears' offense was a disaster on Sunday. 26-6 lost to the Browns, speaking of the Brown's defense. And Matt Nagy has taken most of the criticism, which he seems to agree with. Without getting in specifics of what we're going to do and how we're going to do it with, not just that stuff, but other topics. I'm going to keep that internal. That's what I'm about. The criticism is fair.

I go back to, again, last to the game. And again, the more you're in it, the more you see it, you've got to move on, but you also got to accept it. That's what I'm going to do moving forward. Really interesting game for the Bears this weekend. Don't like this one either. So the Lions are getting three points, and I think the Lions play their. lot off. Yeah.

They remind me the New York Giants. They're totally flawed, but the Giants and the Lions give you every ounce of their effort. And the Bears right now were so bad. Now, some of that's Cleveland's really good, but what do I do? I don't even know what the Bears are. I know what the Lions are. I think they're going to lose to the Lions. I think the Lions play hard.

I think Dan Campbell's going to eat kneecaps and pick up his first W. That kneecap soup is brewing there in Detroit. I think Detroit wins that game. I think I agree with you. but, I mean, isn't that a disaster? I don't know. They start 0 and 4? Well, they weren't very good at last year.

Division loss? Listen, Matt and Aggie's going to have a new job. It's not going to work here. I'm bummed because he's a good guy and he got Trubisky into the playoffs. I can like a coach and just not think it's going to work. Well, he's yet to announce the start of this week either, saying that all three quarterbacks are being considered. So that's a wild situation.

I think I agree with you. I think the lines won that. So the Cardinals are 3-0, and Kyler Murray said that the teams record is a bigger deal to him than any discussion of his individual play. You know, this was it week four? Is it by week four? Yeah, I don't. It is what it is.

You know, it's a long season, you know. And I've always, you know, I was raised and taught, you know, if you win as a team, you know, the individual accolades will come. And that's how I treated in high school. That's how I treated when I won the Hizman. Same thing for now. So I'm not really too worried about MVP. anything like that.

He has been talked about as the early betting favorite for the MVP. I think that's... He has the best odds right now on Fox Vet. No, and the other thing that matters, he's so spectacular. Like Stafford's good, he's got a great arm. Nobody questions that.

But like Kyler, it's so dynamic looking. Yes. You get swayed on votes. The Cardinals have this interesting energy to them. Yes, yes. Right? They're a, I got to tell you something. They're the best,

watch in the league right now. They're the most fun team to watch in the league. There's a lot of highs and lows. But boy, they are when they're... They feel like the Ravens when Lamar won his MVP. Yeah. It's a firework show. Yes. It's not perfect football. But then Kyler can run. He does everything.

It's, uh, they're, well, they're going to play the Rams this Sunday, so that's going to be interesting game too. Rams are favored by four and a half, according to Foxx bet. Good stuff. Joy with News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. By the way, I have said this when he was in college at Georgia Tech, and I'd said it probably said it five times on this show over the last, you know,

10 years of doing this show. Calvin Johnson, to me, along with Randy Moss, is the single greatest wide receiving talent of my life. Not Jerry Rice, who I think ended up the most productive. Calvin's a pro football hall of famer. And with only nine years in the NFL, that's got kind of a Sandy Kofax feel, where Sandy Kofax didn't have a long career,

but he was so great that it was acknowledged that we'd probably never seen anything quite like it. But Calvin is such a humble guy. He is now joining us live, the Pro Football Hall of Famer, six-time Pro Bowler. So you just celebrated your 36th birthday yesterday. What is a Hall of Famer do on your 36th birthday? Cake, long drive, coach your kids. What did you do yesterday? We keep it simple, man.

We go downtown Detroit, stay at the Shinola, you know, get a nice little sweet, and go to a great dinner. Let's keep it simple. Well, my wife's a Michigan girl, so I love that you still live there. Michigan's an absolutely beautiful state. You know, Calvin, you did something that's very hard. It is easy to retire when the legs don't work, and it's easy to retire when the coach wants to cut you.

It's very difficult to retire when you're still great. So there is something above the shoulders. there is some confidence in yourself. There's something about your personality that you were totally comfortable doing it. You're still completely comfortable doing it. And I think it's the hardest thing. I don't think winning is the hardest. I think shutting it down when you can still be wildly productive.

Was there ever a minute when you were driving in the car somewhere in Detroit and thought, man, I miss Sundays? No. I mean, the one thing you miss is a camarader. You do miss that, 100%. But I never never, I never miss. running, you know, three miles of day of practice. Nobody misses the grunt work of it all, but you miss those times in the locker room

or those times when you're spinning, you know, off the field with each other's families. Those are the times that we miss the most. Yeah. You know, 11 years ago, you started something crazy in the NFL. You made a catch in the NFL 11 years ago, and it was ruled a non-catch, and I remember sitting on my couch watching it. And I remember thinking, the hell just happened. I don't understand the rule.

And I, you remember that. moment and then for the next eight years, nine years, we lived in this weird world where catches were no longer catches. Do you take me back to that moment? Do you remember it? What were you thinking? I remember exactly. I remember catching the ball. I remember going up and getting it. I remember going to the ground. I remember getting up and taking off and leaving the ball on the ground and just take game over, you know, walk off. And I remember like a matter of seconds later you hear whistles and their referees and joining up in the middle of the field. I'm like, what what do they're talking about?

And they call it off, and then all you heard was probably cuss words from the Detroit side line. It is great. Well, they eventually came to their senses. You know, and we all know that Detroit's been a franchise that struggled, and Matt Stafford has moved on to, I think, a much better place.

With Stafford, we always know he's got a good arm. That's obvious. I can see that without being in your film study. Give me some other stuff about Matt that you really enjoyed and appreciated that maybe I don't see or fans don't see on Sunday? Yeah, Matt's a guy, he's going to know his locker room. He's going to talk to everybody that's on the field, everybody that's on that team.

He's going to have a good rapport with everybody. And I think that's why everybody feels comfortable with him being their leader on the team. Whether it was here in Detroit, you didn't hear anything negative coming out of here about as far as culture or anything like that as it relates to Matthew. Because all Matthew did was put his head down to work. And everybody, that's what you respect out of your leader. And like you said, man, being out there and, And LA is almost like a fog off of them.

I tell everybody, like, I saw him in that first game. It was like some kind of penalty or something happened in the game. He had to look almost as if, oh, shoot, well, if I was in Detroit, that wouldn't happen. That wouldn't have it. Yeah. I mean, listen, we're all, all of us, Joy and I and you, we are all limited based on the culture that we inherit or that we're around in management. And that's just the reality of it. And after nine years, you shut it down.

I imagine when you first came into the league, you're hopeful and optimistic. But was there a point in your four or five? You're just like, man, I'm putting in the effort and we're losing too many football games. Did you feel that four or five years in with the Lions? Year two, man. We're 116. Yeah. I remember that last game.

Well, we were on 15 at the time, and we're going to Green Bay to zero degrees. So, you know, a lot of people already chalked that over, even half the team already. I remember sitting on the bench after the game, and it was myself, it was gossiped, chair, and it was Cliff April, and we were sitting there, and it was like, man, how long, I don't know how much long, how long I want to do this, this is. A little bit weird, we were saying those words, like, oh, man, like, it can't be like this. That was a rough year. That's low and low.

You know, when you came into this league, the rules were different. You could still go up top hit receivers. It is a completely different league from you entering it until now. now where it's easier to be a wide receiver. Do you think Calvin now, if you came into the league as a rookie, would it change your routes? Would it change how you play because you know you're not going to be punitively punished over the middle?

A lot of guys wouldn't even go over the middle. And I can remember hearing people talk about this for years. Like Michael Urban was the one cowboy receiver willing to go over the middle. Would you be a different receiver today? Well, I don't think so. I feel like, you know, I was like almost out there like LeBron James or like, you know, you don't get the calls. Like they'll rain, they'll be holding on to you after five yards pushing you around. But they're like, hey, you're big.

You can handle it. So I didn't, I mean, for me, I don't think that, I don't think that would have really had an effect or effect on the game. And even today, I still see guys going across the middle with alligator arms. I didn't get smacked, even though they still can get smacked, you know. So I don't think it's had a, it's had somewhat of an impact on the game. But I don't watch enough, I guess, to really, you know, see that little, the finer details there. By the way, what's the biggest takeaway? You are part of

A Football Life premieres Friday at 9 Eastern on the NFL Network, Calvin Johnson, of Football Life. It's a one-hour show. Matt Stafford, Nate Burleson, Dan Orlovsky, Jim Caldwell, you've seen it. What do you

I will watch it? What do you want to take away to be on that? You know, I haven't actually seen it. I mean, I gave the interviews, but I haven't seen all my coaches or players, you know, give their input. I look forward to seeing that, but really just a, you know, just a final message to the fans on, you know, why I did, why I retired, you know, if there's any kind of misconception, so they know, so they know from the source, you know, it ain't know here to say, and any other thing

that might be lingering out there. I don't know what else it might be, but just how I am, the way I am, you know, just my culture being raised and whatnot. I think you'll be able to get a good feel for that from my parents and family as well. Yeah. By the way, at 36 years old, how do you feel today? When you shut it down a little earlier, You probably feel a little better in your joints. How do you feel today? Are you active, still athletic? Yes, yes.

I'm in the quality of life business now. You know, just trying to help people find ways to better their life, whether it's, you know, just really trying to find solutions for pain and cognitive disorders. You know, that's what tailoring, or that's my push right now. That's my profession. It's really just trying to find ways. And that's where we created a brand primitive group in Michigan. And that's really just to destigmatize the cannabis plant and really educate you.

educate people on the healing powers of that plant. You know, I think the big part of is really educating people on what, you know, cannabis is, what it means to our body. And a lot of people don't know, understand that we have what's called an endocannabinoid system. So really just starting right there and doing research on your endocannabinoid system. And going from there, I think it'll be able to start that education process. And we can better understand the healing powers of this plant. One of the greats of all time, Calvin Johnson.

remarkable how many records you hold in the NFL, and you did it so quickly, so swiftly in nine years. It's great to see you. Congrats on the Hall of Fame. Thanks, Kyle. Great to see you. Thanks, Joe. You bet.

Calvin Johnson. A lot of stuff just starting. Greg CoSell is next hour. He is usually our 10 o'clock Pacific hour, 1 o'clock Eastern hour on Thursdays. He's going to do our last hour today. It's as good of 15 minutes as we do all week. Learn a lot of stuff.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport

and all the interesting interactions along the way. We talk to coaches, we talk to players, we tell you stories. You download it, you listen to it, I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast. or ever 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 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, podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a perimenopausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast.

How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45.

How high can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe on me. I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva

as part of My Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's your responsibility to not just seek help, but to identify that you need help. This is Mental Health Awareness Month. Tune in to the podcast, Just Healed with Dr. Jay, and take real steps toward healing, growth,

and becoming your best self. When you hear the word healing, what does that mean for you? What came right back to mine are the three P's that I live by, I'll go through the process of healing so that patience, that perseverance, and that prayer equals healing to me. From understanding your mental health to doing the work, we break down practical tools, real conversations, and the mindset shifts you need to move forward and thrive. You matter too.

Your mental health is your responsibility, not your wife, not your partner, not your children, not the church, not the pastor, not the council. is your responsibility. It's time to stop putting your healing on hold and start doing something about it. Listen to Just Here With Dr. Jay on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Norsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of how. Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting.

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Tired of waiting around for hot water. Go to tankless maidsimple.com. Try a Navian, 15-year warranty. Only heats it when you need it. You're now entering the no bull zone sponsored by credible great rates with none of the bull. So Matt Stafford, we just had Calvin Johnson on. It's amazing what winning does, doesn't it? We didn't pay attention to Matt Stafford for 13 years, and now he is on our show every week.

People can't say enough nice things. Cliff Kingsbury and Arizona go to Los Angeles. They face Matt Stafford this week, and here's Kingsbury. Matthew Stafford's armed talent, you know, being from Texas, I watched him when he was in high school, it's legendary. I mean, he is a freak show at that position, and his skill sets really getting a chance to show, in Sean's offense.

Sometimes you have to trust your eyes. So these guys were making fun of me earlier this week because I said when I watched Dallas play, I said this two weeks ago, they're faster. I don't know the schemes. They're way faster. They're doing way more man to man, not a lot of zone. And that tells me they trust their personnel. They just trust their athletes to match up with your athletes, man to man, we can beat

you. And then a stat came out yesterday, which I was so excited about. I couldn't contain myself, which is Dallas leads the NFL with takeaways. And they also lead the NFL with 10 different defensive players playing at a speed of 19 miles an hour. And so you trust your eyes. Like they look faster they are. And the other thing I've been saying about the Rams is when you watch the Rams play, and this again speaks what they think of their personnel.

The reason the Cowboys are doing more man to man, they trust their dudes. When you play zone, you don't. And with the Rams, there's no more tricks. They just drop back to pass. And that tells you the golf offense was deception. based play action. Well, a stat came out this morning, next gen stats. What do you know?

Sean McVeigh has utilized more spread, less play action with Matt Stafford. They're down to 25% of their passes are play action. So 75% of the time, drop back and throw it. And that is a much lower number than it was with Jared Gough. And so whenever you see tricks and deception, that means, You don't trust your personnel. Matt Nagy with Tribisky. What did I say for years?

It's just smoking mirrors. McVeigh with golf. You started seeing it was all deception. And once they couldn't fool people like Belichick, the offense was bad. And you see this with the 49ers. That is one of my concerns with Garoppolo. It's at its best when you're fooled. Where's the play going?

A lot of bootleg stuff, bootleg stuff. And I think Garopolo, that's why when he had that great drive against Green Bay, I'm like, that's real quarterback play. You don't see a lot of that from Garoppel. That's real quarterback play. It's a lot of tricks, which can tell you, your coach will tell you the fans what he thinks of the personnel. If they play a lot of zone defense, they don't like their corners. If they do a lot of tricks, they have questions about the quarterback.

By the way, Buffalo and the Chargers with Josh Allen and Justin Herbert, seven-step drop, let a rip kid. They trust their players. And there's always a ceiling when you have to do tricks. You know, aging Drew Brees, a little bit of deception for Sean Payton, there's a ceiling. Shanahan, Garoppolo, there's a ceiling. McVeigh, Goff. So Andy Reid, by the way, with Alex Smith, there is a ceiling to the tricks. You can fool people.

That's not the question. But when you watch the Rams now, the yards are truer. It's not garbage time yards. It's straight drops, middle of the game, big plays. here comes the pass rush and Matt Stafford connects. Andrew Whitworth talked about this earlier this week on our show. I think we're a team now that we're kind of just dropping back with the quarterback and letting him be special like he is and up front.

You know, what? It's a different thing. Now we're really working on pass protection and having the ability to give him time and the chance to make those plays. And that part of the, you know, really for us offensively, has been the biggest, you know, bright spot for us, is that we started this season, protecting the quarterback, letting him make plays and showing the talent ability he has. And I think really the relationship between Sean and him is really showing up

as they're able to kind of pull on each other and ideas and philosophies for how to attack defenses. And so far, it's showed up really in our passing game. I want to shift to this. So winning, I've argued, is underrated. Now, that sounds ridiculous, right? Everybody knows you want to win. But not necessarily.

There's lots of people, legitimate people, arguing you should play rookie quarterbacks, for growth. And my takeaway is the growth is all fine, but if you don't win, then ultimately that young quarterback is going to have a new coach and a new coordinator and a new playbook and a new system and a new GM, and that's chaos and young quarterbacks don't thrive in chaos. As much as we say Andrew Luck, he had to leave the game early. He didn't thrive very long in chaos. So Bruce Ariens was talking yesterday about

Brady's got a little bit of a LeBron quality where people will take pay cuts. Veterans want to play because just want to win games. I think when you talk about a veteran player and you want to win a championship and Tom calls you, you're going to listen. You know, you're going to listen, especially after, and knowing the roster that we have.

And so, yeah, I think there's probably a bunch of veterans out there which they call them. You know, this is one of the things that I've thought about if I was an actor, is that winning makes the flight home better. Winning makes, there's less snarkiness from the press. where players get defensive. Winning just solves everything in this league. That's why I think Matt Nagy has to win games.

Because otherwise, it's just going to unravel things. What if Justin Fields gets a bad – if Justin Fields gets the wrong second coach, then he's done. Like Darnold, the Jets just said, it's not working, even though we know now he can win. And so I always thought if I was an actor, I would just – I wouldn't need to be the star. I would just pick the best scripts. If I was a four, but it was a great script, I'd take it if it was a three. But agents want you to be the man. Well, George Clooney hasn't had a hit in eight years.

And when George Clooney movies come out, and he's considered a good actor, right? Like I'm, I don't know. Coin flip. Don Cheadle, I go to every Don Cheadle movie. Why? Because he wins. He always ends up in a good movie. Ed Norton, Don Cheadle, Michael Keaton.

You don't always have to be the guy. Winning creates its own momentum. So if you just say Don Cheadle, I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to that movie. is he a great actor well i don't know but he's always in good movies he doesn't have to be on the poster he'll just get his name but it doesn't have to be on the poster cloney is on the poster i'm really hitting miss on his movies like two out of three don't work for me nothing against him i if i met him today you know he's a movie star but i do think there you create a certain brand in inertia i mean i've said this as much as i love russell wilson you can't be a 17% cap hit

winning isn't the most important thing. It's not. You can't win with a 17 and a half percent cap hit. Brady winnings everything. He was taking pay cuts before Giselle. He understands the momentum that winning causes. Stars want to play with you. Coaches want to coach you.

If winning is everything, and I'm not here to tell people to take pay cuts, but if winning is everything in salary cap sports as a quarterback, you can't take the most money. They're not getting Chris Godwin and Mike Evans in Seattle. You don't get both. Forget Gronk and AB. You don't get both. And so I think what Brady really understands is from the flights to the off season to the practices,

winning is everything. Go win Sunday, period. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smygle and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirkton. David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, The Playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you,

dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the third. hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.

Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. I heart podcasts, Saigon. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. It's for Vietnam. They're pouring patril all over here. Freedom for Vietnam! There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything.

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