The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - QB Face Bracket

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

The Steelers can't seem to get the most out of their offense Colin previews the upcoming NFL playoff match ups with his annual "QB Face Bracket"   Guest: Peter SchragerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 own. mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. Live in Los Angeles. It's the hurt. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.

It is great to be here. Peter Schrager later this hour. Julian Edelman next hour. A lot of stuff going on. You know, do you think it's fair, J-Man? To say that there are certain jobs that are simply more pressure on. in the NFL. Of course.

Michigan football, Alabama football, Ohio State football, have a higher standard than Texas Tech. Syracian. In the NBA, Celtics, Lakers, you know. In the NFL,

I think, Dallas, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, there's a standard. Pittsburgh just hasn't had many coaches. That's right. But I was thinking about this.

So, the Steelers are the second biggest brand in the sport to Dallas. It's Dallas, to me, Pittsburgh, Green Bay. Then you get into, you know, Philly, 49ers, Giants, all that stuff. And they also have very high standard. Pittsburgh's been great for many decades. So when there are those of us that ask the question, don't demand an answer, but we do ask the question, is it time for like Pittsburgh and take a deep breath?

Steelers, Mike Tomlin, hey, year left. maybe we're better serve both of us for separation. It's not an anti- Mike Tomlin. Let's embarrass Mike Tomlin. Let's run this dude out of town. Bill Belichick, the greatest coach ever,

had a year left in his contract. He got the boot. Jim Harbaugh got the boot in San Francisco, Andy Reed in Philly. Nobody's got a job for life. It's a question. Can Mike Tomlin solve the issues with Pittsburgh

that are based almost entirely a quarterback and offensive coordinator. His last four coordinator hires, not good. And he's an old school defensive coach. What about Bruce Ariens? That was 2011, and he didn't hire him. Bill Cower did. And so nobody's saying he's not a very good candidate for a network or a team.

But it's been 13 years since we looked at that offense and thought, oh, okay, well, you know, it's not quite as good as it could be. And remember this, context and trends do matter. They matter. Context and trends. NFL's never been more offensive. This year, 11 of 14 playoff teams, offensive coach. Okay, pretty clear trend.

And it's been like this for like four years. And in the last five years, Petsburg's offensive ranked 25th, 23rd, 23rd, 24th, and 30th. Nobody, give you an example. Your company's solid. And it's profitable, Steelers. But you are losing ground to some of your competition in your field. And so what your company really needs is major technology upgrades. And you're a 66-year-old CEO.

Valuable on the market may not be the right guy for a company that needs to dive headfirst into tech. I mean, Warren Buffett acknowledged, quote, I was wrong on Google and too dumb to appreciate Amazon. He's still the world's best value investor. But he doubled down on newspapers 15 years ago. Didn't like Google. Doesn't mean he's not a great investor. Different times, different people, different processes, different trends.

And so there is this, Cam Hayward's a smart guy, and he's a very good player. And he defends Tomlin, and it's interesting, the words. he uses to defend him. I was just say this about Mike, too. Like, why are we so concerned with somebody who has a year in our contract, has been locked in, and has wanted to just play coach football? We don't ask anybody else if they need to come back for another year or anything else. I just think it's doing him a disservice.

This guy's been locked in from the very good go, but yet we're worried about if he's coming back or not. And I appreciate the question, but I just think for him in general, You know, Coach T's earned that to just, you know, be single-singly focused on one goal. And, you know, we've asked this question, week in and week out, it's just not fair to the process. Well, actually, everybody asks that of their coach if they're not winning multiple playoff games. I could use the same argument for Belichick. He's got a year left at his contract. Why are we holding Belichick to that?

Because offensively, Belichick looked a little tone-deaf. It's not that Tomlin's not a good coach. nobody's anti-mic. Again, if I run a network, if Mike Tomlin said, I want to do a podcast, my little company I'd bid tomorrow for him, a lot. Like, that's not it. But there are different times, different trends, and the quarterback coordinator combo is essential to Pittsburgh's growth, and it's okay to go, I'm not sure if the defensive old-school

guy is the right guy. Now, he said he wants to return. Pittsburgh's not going to fire him, so Mike Tomlin's coming back. And again, I think they'll be rock solid. But they're still going to have the same issues I've had with them for about a decade. They can't get the quarterback coordinator. They don't get the most out of their offensive talent. And that's what the competition is doing.

Doing it in Kansas City. They're doing it in Los Angeles. They're doing it in San Francisco. They're doing it in Baltimore. Baltimore's taking swings on OCs, and they're all working with Lamar. Both of them worked. All right. So San Francisco hosts.

Green Bay. Nick Bo's a great player. So he's talking about Jordan Love and Aaron Rogers and sort of the difference on film. He's obviously played, you know, Aaron a few times. He's talking about the difference on film, even though a lot of times Jordan and Aaron played with the same teammates, difference on film between the two.

What Kyle talks about is the whole team is throughout the entire season, and a quarterback who does exactly what he's coach to do, which Aaron Rogers is a hall of favor and unbelievable. He kind of went outside of the realm of coaching. And sometimes it's good when you have a guy who does what he's coach to. Yeah, so Aaron kind of does what he wants to do. Jordan does mostly what the coach is scheme for him to do. So I do think there's one personality trait, and I feel –

I tell Aaron this to his face. Right? There is one personality trait with Aaron Rogers that I think is fairly obvious. He's not a conformer. People love that. That's why they love Joe Rogan. He doesn't conform. Government, vaccines, politics.

I'm most, you know, depends on the issue, but I mostly believe our government. Mostly not always. But it's family. He struggled with authority. Government, vaccines, politics, media, Packers' front office, religion. Aaron is He doesn't like convention

It's not his thing I think that's a very reasonable opinion Institutions Authority Always pushing back He's an Aaron Archist Anarchist

Arnarchist Hard to say sorry And so I think a lot of that Bleeds into his game One of the things Greg Kossel said on this show I always thought it was fascinating. And this was during Aaron's prime. And the two quarterbacks that really Greg had strong opinions on,

he never quite bought into Russell Wilson. And he always said this, and I think it fits Aaron's personality, he always pushed back on this factor with Aaron. It's quality is when you watch Aaron Rogers, and it takes nothing away from his performances over the years. But he's not truly a rhythm player, Colin. He's kind of an off-beat player, an off-rhythm player. He's more like a jazz beat.

He's a second-reaction player. And very often, there are throws that are there within the rhythm of the play and the timing of the play. And he doesn't make those throws. Now, he might move around and then make another throw, but there are times against really good defenses where that doesn't work. It's tough to be consistent that way against higher-level defenses. You become your personality as a quarterback or an employee. Aaron ad libs out of successful plays. You can do that against crappy defenses.

You can't do it against good ones. You can't do it against good discipline defenses. San Francisco's. He struggled with them, right? You can do it against crappy teams. So Aaron, to Greg's point, the film says, pushes back often to his own detriment. And that was Aaron in his prime.

He's no longer in his prime. Jordan loves talented. We see it. It's not a fluke what happened against Dallas. That's not a fluke. He is going to say, I'm talented, but I'm going to lean into. You could go all the way back to childhood and parenting. Jordan Love is much more willing to be like, there's the scheme, there's the play, I'm going to look for.

Aaron's entire personality is not conform, institutions, convention, I'm pushing back on it. That's fine. We used to call those people hippies when I was 50s, 60s, 70s, push back against vaccines. governments, family, religion. You know, that's literally, that's how we viewed liberals years ago. Now conservatives view themselves as that, and they think it's healthy. I'm not here for an opinion on either. It's just that's what it used to be, right?

And so I think Aaron's personality, sometimes to his detriment, is pushing back in a really smart play. Because I'm watching that Dallas game, and that's not a fluke. That is coaching, talent, schemes, mismatch. Jordan's more willing to follow that convention and that coaching. And that's why Green Bay, I believe, matches up very well. Now, they may get overwhelmed, that defense on the road, but we like Dallas's defense for a lot of this season. I'm waiting for it, Colin, the charting of those Jordan love throws versus the Cowboys.

You can watch every snap. Not a lot of tight window under pressure. That's true. The Dallas game plan was just abysmal. They hit him three times. That's it. No sacks. I am not in any way, any way insinuating.

They're going to blow out San Francisco. No, no, no, no. But I'm just saying... It's going to be a completely different... I'm just saying, the Green Bay guys were wide open all over the field. Like Dan Quinn, I don't know what happened. Like, he just wasn't locked in or he just had a terrible game plan. LaFlor crushed him.

There's no way those dudes are going to be running that. wide opening against. Maybe on the opening drive, you know, the scripted stuff. Now remember, Green Bay is also, and we pointed this out in the Blazing Five, we both like Green Bay. I had said Green Bay is a very good first drive, first quarter team. Fewest turnovers in the league

in the first quarter, and it was one of the more profound offenses on first drives and first quarters. That is very valuable for a young quarterback on the road. So my whole thing on the Dallas Green Bay game was they're not going to fall behind. They're going to take a lead or be in that game.

after the first and if DAC trails different quarterback. Brock Purdy trailing is also a different quarterback. Fair. And the 49ers are coming off the buy, right? I don't think... Did Purdy and company play in that regular season finale against the...

I think it was Darnold. So now you're looking at two weeks off. If San Fran starts slow and Green Bay comes out with their... 7-0 lead, little mistake by Purdy. Pun it. Here's Green Bay with a 7-0 lead, eight minutes in the first quarter, and they're moving the ball. Listen, I wouldn't be sure.

If you want, I don't hate your bet of Packers' first quarter under the guys that, hey, they get the ball, seven-minute drive. Niners are a little rattled off the two weeks by for most players. The Vegas is usually right. But if you're listening watching this or driving around, when you saw the Steelers with Mason Rudolph go to Buffalo, I mean, I didn't even almost acknowledge that I said last week on the show, yep, Buffalo will win. I didn't even consider it competitive.

The line was 9.5.10. This is the same line. Okay, but Colin, this is the same Packers team that, like, what, five weeks ago got boat race by Baker Mayfield and the Bucks in Green Bay? Like, let's not go overboard and overreact to the Dallas win. Do you remember that Tampa Bay game? My TV didn't work. Yeah, I had the Packers in that one, and they couldn't get a stop to save their life.

I remember. And Baker Mayfield just sliced it and dicing. You're like, guys, I thought they were going to fire the D.C. after that game. Yeah. Got a great parley for you this weekend. Thanks to Drafking Sportsbook, new users, please use the code heard, H-E-R-D, when you download the app, which takes 90 seconds. So my parley pick of the week via Draft King Sportsbook. I'm going to take the Texans plus nine at the Ravens, a young Texans team playing with confidence. I don't necessarily think a couple of weeks off helps the Ravens. I think Baltimore wins. I'll take the nine. I'm going to take the Lions

minus six against the bucks. They're a better team. That Rams team they beat and controlled in the first half was arguably next to Baltimore the hottest team in the league. Lions at home win by a touchdown. I'm going to take Bills minus three over the Chiefs. Kansas City this year

is not Kansas City previous years. And I think Buffalo at home is going to score some points. If you want to take the herd parlay, check out Drap King's Sportsbook. New users, please use the code Heard when you download the app. 21 plus in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction.

Eligibility restrictions apply. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8 Hope-N-Wire, or text Hope and Y 467-369. See show notes for full details. 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. 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 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 can find out on the book, back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it, including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because

of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, literally, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Jay Mack. A lot of things going on today. Peter Schrager's around the corner. He's got the latest on Belichick and Harbaugh and Mike Vrable. I think you and I both believe the Washington job. is really interesting, but it's like Dallas and Philadelphia in the same division have sort of usurped it in terms of interest because McCarthy and you believe McCarthy's gone. I believe and you believe Seriani's gone. I don't know if I think you have to have a big conversation and move Mike McCarthy, who I've defended. You think he's gone. I think it's 50-50. I think Siriani is gone for sure. I think we're going to rank the jobs at some point right today. Let's do that tomorrow. Well, I mean, listen, if Dallas and Philadelphia, open up, Colin, some team

is going to get left without a... I would take the Philly job over Dallas. Because basically it's Harbaugh, Ben Johnson, Vrable, and Belichick? I'm not as high on Belichick at this point as you are. No, I don't know. If he's GM, I'm not interested. I think the Raiders probably end up keeping the

Pierce, right? That's smart. We think Seattle goes for Quinn. Yeah. So, Atlanta might get shafted. Maybe Jerry Jones ends up making the mistake of firing McCarthy. Without having a guy locked in? J-MAC with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. One guy locked in is Gerard Mayo, introduced as the Patriots head coach earlier this morning. After the team parted ways with Belichick, we're just going to start saying fired Belichick. Is he the next to Miko Ryans? They land a quarterback, and we have this smart defensive guy that everybody loves, and they get a quarterback. Could it be the next Houston?

Certainly possible. People love this guy. No, it's not. Mayo takes over first time head coach in his career and had this to say about replacing the legendary Belichette. I don't like Echo Chambers. I want people around me that are going to question my ideas or question the way we have done things in the past. Now, Bill always says this, managing expectations.

For me, I'm not trying to be Bill. I'm not trying to be Bill. I think that Bill is his own man. If you can't tell by now, I'm a little bit different even up here. The more I think about, like, the lessons that I've taken from Bill, hard work works, right? Hard work works. And that's what we're all about.

So I'll go to this. They get Drake May, then, I mean, this would not have been my first choice, but Domingo Ryan's had very little. He went from playing, Niners, coaching, hits on C.J. Stroud. The bottom line is, he is not going to be nearly as aggressive in personnel. Now, he's going to let scouts do it, which Bill wouldn't. Upgrade. Secondly, he's younger, probably going to be a little more progressive offensively.

Upgrade. And they got the number three-packed. So there's a lot to unpack here. First of all, you could argue that D'Amico Ryans fell into C.J. Strout because the Carolina Panthers took Bryce Young. That's the reason they got Strout. If they had the number one pick, we don't know what they're doing. Maybe they go Bryce Young.

Secondly, like, it's easy to say Mayo will just, hey, I got all these lieutenants, I trust them, they're going to do their stuff. Now, you're on the hot seat in year two because you're flailing again. You're going to still trust those guys? You're going to be like, listen, this is my future, my job, I've got to control a lot of stuff.

You don't know. I mean, he's first time he's sitting in the captain's chair. There's tough, man. There are some advantages to Jared. He doesn't have the rings and the wealth. So he's going to be more collaborative just by his nature of being a more recent player. He knows younger players tend to need more we than me as a coach, right?

Also, he's not going to demand having personnel say, which Bill did. Bill called off his scouting guys mid-January. I was told this by two people inside the organization that Bill and mid-January would be like, I got it from here. Go look at their picks. Seven years, they've had two pro bowlers, one of punter. So he's going to let scouts and personnel people do, what they do really well. Those people are smart.

Secondly, he'll connect with younger players better. It's a pretty young roster. And third is, if they get the quarterback right, like Houston, you know this league. That's a big if. And who's going to be? Defensive coaches with star quarterbacks win in this league.

They can't do it with backup. They can't do it with average quarterbacks, but McDermott with Alan, Harbaugh with Lamar, DiMico with C.J. Stroud. Then it works. Now, they're not going to get Gardner, Minchew, they're not going to win games with Josh Dobbs generally. A defensive coach needs a star quarterback in 2023.

I don't want to just crush Mayo the whole time. The thing I did like is he said, I'm not going to be Belichick. I'm doing it in my way. I'm different. It's like when I fill in for you here in a couple days. I'm not going to try to do Calvert. That's right.

You know who I'm doing. J-Mack, baby. That's what got me here. So, yeah, anyways, I do like that for Mayo. I'm not rooting for him because I'm a Jets fan, which you understand totally. Next up, let's go to Tampa Bay. man, they had lost five of six and they looked like they were headed toward

another losing season and Bowles is going to get tested, but no, they turned it around, winning the NFC South and they kind of shocked the Eagles in the wildcard game. Here's Bowles crediting the team's resilience amid that rocky stretch. You're going to go through adversity in the NFL.

You're not going to go through on skate. Very few teams go through 17 and 0 and they win every playoff game and win the Super Bowl. You're going to have to learn some lessons. You're going to have to be getting mentally tougher. That comes with chemistry, the culture we created here,

the chemistry they developed in training camp and minicamp. As long as you go through the downs together, you'll come out of it together, and these guys have stayed the course. He's such a nice guy. People that I know that know, Todd, they really like him.

He's such a good guy. He got a raw deal with the Jets when he was there because they didn't have a quarterback for him. Well, it's how it works with the Jets. Thanks for the reminder. I'll say this. This game has the least amount of juice. You start looking at what Tampa Bay did on the road this year.

They've been feisty. No, no, no, yeah. I don't know why this number's going up. I think Detroit's really good. Do you trust that defense in any capacity? Here's what I know. The Rams were on fire, should have beaten Baltimore, and the Lions marched down the field for 75 yards three straight times.

They could not stop Detroit. basically the Rams were running up hill the second half. That Rams team was on fire and they just pushed them around the field for the first 90 minutes. Detroit's good.

Great game plan. So on the road this year, Tampa smashed the Saints. I remember that when I had the Saints. They went to tennis. No, no, they didn't go to Tennessee. They went to Atlanta and had a nice win. Baker late.

Hey, don't roll your eyes at that. Come on. They did crush your boy. Jordan Love on the road. And if you remember that Texans game, Baker drove them down. the field late for a touchdown. You're like, oh, we got it. And then CJ Stroud came back with

like 30 seconds. Now, I didn't see it. I was a corner TV game. It was a hell of a game. Listen, Baker's not going to, he's not going to stop throwing. And with Mike Evans and Godwin and they got this new fast kid who embarrassed the Eagles secondary, I think this is probably bucks and the points. That's the only

well, that's the only big underdog I think I kind of like here. I like I like a lot of dogs this weekend. Last week I went four dogs and went three and two. I think you could argue the dogs to play on all these games. Not going to win,

but there's a plan. Which game did you not pick last week? Steelers, Buffalo, I had no interest. It was like, it was 60-mile-hour wins. I'm like, I don't know. It could be six to three. They move the game. We'll give you them all again on that one. All right, final story is Jim Harbaugh. He started the interview process. Met with the Chargers.

Met with the Falcons. I've got of wonder if Belichick and Harbaugh, meeting with the Falcons, using them as leverage. We'll see. Anyways, his brother, John Harbaugh broke down why Jim is so sought after saying he may be the best team builder in football right now. Nobody builds a team better top to bottom. And the numbers don't lie. I mean, Jim Harbaugh did this at Stanford?

San Diego, Niners, Michigan. You remember that 49ers team he took over? Total crap. They were awful. Stanford was at the time a bottom three team in Division I football. By the way, we're Stanford now? Not good. All right.

All right. just wins everywhere. It took a little longer at Michigan, but... Fast. Michigan, he won 10 games, first year. He wins fast. He's like Parcell. If he gets Herbert... Oh, they're going to be playoff team. Over under three and a half playoff wins with

Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert. When? First year? No, no, total. Oh, over. Over three and a half. Oh, absolutely. He's not going there for an hour. He's going there for like a five-six-year deal. I mean, I think Cam Newton has three playoff wins in his career. Three-and-half wins is a lot to do. It's a hard. Hard to win.

I mean, Trevor Lawrence have. Oh, boy. It's tough to win, man. It's tough to win playoff games. Hasdack Prescott. He's got two in his career. I know. I know.

J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. I haven't talked to Shreger in a while. Peter Shreger. Good morning football in another place. Fox Sports.

Shreg's crushing it as usual. See him on the weekend shows. Podcast as well. Let's do the Harbaugh thing. So I just, because he, and the Chargers have a lot of fun, nice people, and they're always willing to go to lunch or dinner. And I talk to him, and, you know, they're just, they're like,

listen, Harbaugh's exciting. It's fun. We got the quarterback. But a lot of this is, you know, Jim's a Michigan man, Shrague's. I could see him. If there was no NCAA stuff, I think he'd stay in college. I think that thing hangs. What are your sources tell you where Harbaugh's leaning?

Yeah, the Harbaugh thing was a perfect timing for the Chargers when they're blowing out their head coach. and their GM, so there's a vacuum of power. And that's kind of what you need for Jim Harbaugh. As John said, he's due to as a CEO. He comes in, it's gonna be his way or the highway, and he's gonna turn you into a winner immediately. They have the veteran talent, they're in salary cap hell.

If he comes in there, it's gonna be, okay, let me be the boss of this operation, and it's gonna be in my identity. I would say this, to J-Max Point, he went to the University of San Diego, one right away. Stanford turned him around, one right away. Of course, with the 49ers,

they went to three eight conference championship games, of four years, one right away. And then naturally he goes to Michigan. It might take them a little bit longer, but they ended up national champions. There's a lot to like there. Also, you think about that market that you guys are in. USC, UCLA, the Rams, the Lakers, the Clippers.

Is there a Chargers fan base that is loud and vocal? No, we all know that they're always the team everyone picks in August. Would this move the needle a little bit more? Sure would. I think it would. But, you know, Herbert and him does make a lot of sense, and it would be great, and he's got his quarterback. but anyone I talk to, and this isn't trying to make news or anything, anyone I talk to about Harbaugh, because I'm coming from the NFL side and there's all these college people,

and I haven't spoken to Harbaugh directly, is that the first thing out of his mouth, this entire college season was how good J.J. McCarthy was. So if you already have Herbert as the quarterback, you're obviously willing with Herbert. If you go to Atlanta where he interviewed yesterday, well, there's a voided quarterback. They have the eighth overall pick. Would he be bold enough to say, I'll take the Atlanta job if it's offered and then go from there. Two quick points. He changed his agent this year for years.

years he was with other agents and this year he made a real move in the marketplace and went with Don He, who is Sean Payton's agent, Tom Brady's agent, Julian Edelman's agent, is a major player in the NFL, okay, an NFL guy that could say this is a point that, hey, unlike two years ago with the Vikings or last year with the Broncos, I am ready and I'm showing you that by making a change in my representation. I think hardboard of the NFL happens now. The timing's right, especially with the way college sports is going and the headaches that are there. but he needs to be offered the job and the Chargers have not done that yet

and the Falcons have not done that yet. So we'll see how it played out the next few days. I would think Chargers is the favorite to land Jim Harbaugh. So, you know, Shragge, and you and I have talked about this probably off the air is I like Belichick the coach, but I think Belichick, the GM, has unraveled the coach. They have had

two Pro Bowl, in the last seven drafts, two pro bowlers, one's a punter. If he's going to have personnel say, I'm not interested. So with that, with that, he may want it. In Philadelphia, if you went there, Howie Roseman has so much power in Gravitos, he's not going to bully Howie. But if you said there's a leader in the clubhouse for Belichick today, Shreggs,

I trust your opinion. What would you go with? I would still point to Atlanta and the fact that Arthur Blank is 81 years old and wants to win so desperately, and they've got a voided head coach right now. Now, look, Rich McKay is a very powerful guy in the NFL, and he's going to have a voice in that building. And so is Terry Fontenow, who they hired two years ago as a general manager and retained even after firing Arthur Smith, who came in with him.

That might make Belichick hesitant. These aren't my guys. I don't know who the GM is. I don't know, I've never worked with Rich McKay before. I understand that. But if I'm looking at the two owners, I'm looking at Arthur Blank and Jerry Jones, 81 years old, both of them. And this isn't an agist comment.

There's an urgency there. When you're 81 years old and you haven't had a chance to hoist a Lombardi. Arthur Blanks case ever, and then in Jerry Jones's case since 1996, I think there is an urgency. Now, Mike McCarthy is still employed as we speak today at 1.30 Eastern on Wednesday, and he let Jason Garrett go two full contracts, and maybe McCarthy goes his full contract, which is next year. But if I'm looking at two teams that make sense for Belichick, I would circle Atlanta or I would circle Dallas. And I don't think Philadelphia, at the moment, from what I'm hearing.

the Jordan love thing I love is I love listening to Matt LaFleur it was like it was almost as if after the game his son brought home a perfect report card from school and he loved his son but he thought of him as a B plus student and he got all A's he was literally like wow I don't even

that's a dude like it's almost like Jordan's been good at practice this and good, but it's like Jordan went to a different level that Matt couldn't even explain. You know the inner workings. Matt's one of the smartest guys, nicest guys in the league. Has Jordan even surpassed what they thought, because they liked him more than the media did? They sure did, and there were signs. Look, I follow everything that said publicly, and Mark Murphy is the president of the Packers.

He really speaks one time in the offseason. It's at that shareholders meeting. Yeah, yeah. had two comments at the shareholders meeting back in June that I thought really stuck out. One of them was, now we get a chance to see Matt's true offense, and that was taken at such a slight to Aaron Rogers. Like, what does that mean? The Rogers not, and it was real.

Like, yeah, Rogers does audible out of everything at the line of scrimmage and sees it, and a lot of times is freestyling, which is great, which makes him Aaron Rogers, and he had the green light to do that. But Matt's true offense is run by an operator, someone who says, okay, coach, and is able to do what the coach designs. Second comment from Mark Murphy was, it's going to take them half the season. It's going to take them half the season until we know.

And you know what? They were two and five. They were three and six. Yeah. It took them half the season. Yeah. Something clicked. And I think it was in that Steelers game,

which they lost, but something clicked. And then Jordan Lovesman, the best quarterback in all of football the last two months, if you've been watching the regular season. And now part of it is the confidence that LaFloor has been given him

and given him the green light to do more and more. And part of it is he just needed to get his comfort in the system and his comfort on the playing field. Right now, I don't think there's a more dialed in quarterback in football, and that includes Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Brock Purdy, you name it. And Colin, I made this point last week. You know, there are 15 different players on this Packers team that were born in the year 2000 or the year 2001.

They are also the youngest team in NFL history to ever win a playoff game. Oh, and by the way, all of their guys that are on offense are either rookies, second year or third year players, they don't know any better. They don't know they're not supposed to beat the cowboys. They don't have the scar tissue of all those Aaron Rogers trips to San Francisco or when San Francisco came up to Lambo. They are all fresh and new and wide-eyed. And their ignorance and their naivety is almost a good thing as they head to San Francisco

in which no one's giving them a shot. You know, finally Detroit, Brad Holmes, I think's the star of the franchise, not golf or Dan Campbell. the guys upstairs, they have nailed three drafts in a row. This thing started bumpy with Goff and Campbell. It was like 4 and 19. Like we forget that. There's a lot of bumps on this flight until they landed it.

Is there something this year that clicked? It may have just been La Porta. It may have been the draft picks. But beating the Rams is better than people think. That Rams team should have beaten Baltimore that crushed the Niners and crush Miami. Like, Rams were good. That's just not a home playoff one. Rams were on fire.

What do you think the key to the success here is? It's cultural. It's cultural. And it's like any good business, Colin. If there's a toxicity in the business or if there's people talking behind other people's backs, people are talking out both sides of their mouths, it's never going to work. They're all on the same page. And you're right.

I give so much credit to Brad Holmes, a general manager. And of course, to Jared Goff and Dan Campbell. But like, you worked with Chris Spielman at Fox and ESPN before that. Chris Spielman was one of the first hires of this new work. organization and they told him you're not going to be out there publicly you're not going to be a voice on this team you're going to work with the owner and be kind of our liaison between the ownership group and the front office and the players and spilman's the greatest linebacker to ever play for that organization and he helped bring the culture mike dizzner is a name that you're

going to start hearing more and more about he's their number two there under rod wood who's the president and disner kind of is a business operations guy but is also a michigan native and left arizona to come work for the lions when people leave good jobs at fox and people leave comfortable jobs in Arizona to go work for the Lions when they were the worst franchise in football for 20 years. It's a signal to everybody else. And Brad Holmes has been that as well. I loved that scene Sunday night. I thought that was so cool.

And I thought the team actually lived up to all the hype and all the expectations and all the pressure for that home fan base. It was a cool moment. And I don't think they're done. All right. Good morning. Football. Shreger. Say hi to Kyle and all the people over there.

Hey, one more for you, Colin. I got one more for you. Our guy Kingsbury. He's a hot name right now. I'm just saying, maybe not head coach, offensive coordinator. I heard you throw them out there last week, but every single team that's got one of these vacancies at OC is calling me because I'm friendly with him and saying,

is your guy ready to come back? What do you think? So I know you were on it last week saying he's a Raiders favorite. I'm just paying this. This might be a little lip service to a lot of fan bases. Kingsbury might be a hot name for the NFL OC jobs again. Yeah, there could be a little bit of a little bidding war for Cliff Kingsbury. A little bit.

Yeah, yeah. I know Antonio Pierce and that group think highly of him. That I know. Shraig's your money today. No big surprise. Fox Sports NFL reporter, his podcast, I Heart, Shregor, biggest names on the sport. Good seeing you, bud.

I love you, Colin. Thanks so much, guys. You bet. Yeah. That's good stuff there. They are. That is, you know, it is amazing. Like, go look at Detroit's draft picks.

I mean, it's like, hit, hit, hit. It's amazing. It's like Seattle did this. They just don't have Jared Goff. Seattle, the last couple of drafts in Detroit, I mean, it's a mate. All of a sudden you look up and you have like eight new, really good football players,

and you're not paying him anything. On the Kingsbury front, do you think he falls into the bucket of, maybe he's just a better play caller, offensive coordinator than he is a head coach when he's got to play the CEO role and manage so many things? I mean, there's a lot of people. Like I said this for,

some people are just built to be vice presidents, and they're great. They're great play callers. They're great coordinators. You know, not everybody can do the Shanahan where you're both. But, you know, we've seen a lot of coordinators just bomb out. It happens. So it's okay.

Kingsbury, you know, I didn't think it was terrible in Arizona. I think he got a bad rap. I would agree. I mean, by the end, I mean, Kyler was a lot, but they got him to the playoffs. In a tough division with Kyle McVeigh, Pete Carroll. So is at the bar now just you get to the playoffs? Like, that's good. No, I thought the idea that Kingsbury bombed in Arizona,

He's like, no, he didn't. He's going against McVeigh twice a year, Pete Carroll twice a year, with the poorest owner by far. Cronkey, the Allen family, and Jed York are wealthy owners. Not all salary cap. Behind the scenes, the ownership there is a disaster. Yeah, and those are three of the richest owners in the league. So Arizona is a hard place to win. Kingsbury was pretty good.

I've been told the Raider Group really likes them. But again, Schrager, who knows more than I do, is saying multiple teams do. so the bottom one is Raiders. Kingsbury's going to the Raiders if they don't have a quarterback? Well, that's the question. If Schrager said there's more than one than he's right. I was just told the Raiders, if Schreger said it's a bidding war, I'm not going where I don't have a quarterback.

Yeah. And you've got to wonder, with the Russell Wilson stuff in Denver, where does he land up? Is that like an attractive quarterback to work with if you're Kingsbury? Or would you rather go for us roll the dice with Boe Knicks or Michael Pennix or, I don't know. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me, three-time Pro Bowl of LeVar Arrington, and I couldn't be more excited to announce a podcast called Up on Game.

What is Up on Game, you ask? Along with my fellow Pro Bowler, T.J. Hushman Zada and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right. Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our real life. experiences loaded with teachable moments listen to up on game with me lavar arington t j hushmanzada and plexico burr on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast from

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 at all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care which I'll say it. 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. 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 what 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 a little bit? Kim. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. 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 y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday, it's a huge college youth doubleheader on Fox. First at noon, Eastern in the Big East. 17th ranked Marquette battle St. John's, then in the Pack 12. USC faces Arizona State at 2. It all tips off Saturday. J. Mack loves to bet on college basketball. Only person I know that does.

I have it this week. I got to get back in it. That's a good call. Thank you for reminding me. Yeah, you love that stuff. I prefer hockey. Okay, so last week we did the face bracket. I created it years ago, disaster, gotten a little better.

the games just based on who the better quarterback is. So last week I went 3 and 0 in the AFC and then I went 0 and 3 in the NFC. So I took C.J. Stroud, Mahomes, and Allen, 3 and 0. But then I took Dak, Matthew Stavard, and Jalen Hertz and went 0 and 3. So here

we go. Four games. Let's start with C.J. Stroud against Lamar Jackson. So C.J., very good, but he's 22 years old. Doesn't have a lot of playoff experience. Lamar Jackson has the highest career win percentage of any quarterback in league history without multiple playoff wins. He's a three-time pro bowler

athletically in a different class than C.J. Stroud, who's a good athlete, he's not Lamar. I'm taking Lamar Jackson. Josh Allen Mahomes is trickier. Josh is bigger and stronger. This is a playoff game. And in nine playoff games, Josh Allen is five and four. Mahomes over his last four playoff games with imperfect rosters, eight touchdowns, no picks, a 106 passer rating. He also has the advantage of the hyper-clever, Andy Reid, it's part of it, I'm going to take Mahomes. Mahomes is the better quarterback.

Again, perfect last week in the AFC. Now let's go to the NFC. Quarterbacks aren't quite as strong, it's harder. Jordan Love last nine games 71 completion percentage 71%

1 16.6 passer rating taller, better arm, more athletic than Brock Purdy who over his last two games two TDs, four picks. Jordan Love is the superior

quarterback I will I will go with the superior quarterback. Remember, it's the quarterback face bracket, not the quarterback spread bracket, or who's going to win bracket. And then Baker and Jared Gough, listen, Gough's always been a lot better than anybody wants to acknowledge.

Gough, over his last five games, has been great. He's got the better O-line. He's got the better run game here. Ten touchdowns, two picks, 71% completion percentage. Baker's a little smaller. I don't think he quite has the support system, but in terms of just pure quarterback talent, I think Jared's a better quarterback. I think he throws a prettier ball. So for me to go 4-0, and that's highly unlikely, I would need the Ravens to win, the Chiefs to win, the Packers to win, and the Lions to win.

And I have said, I think Green Bay is a live dog. How did you do last week? I went three and two. So I do picks for fox sports.com. I do a column. It's been on fire this season, and I went four and O in the picks. But I can pick totals.

I don't have to pick sides. You know, I did pick a total in Texans Browns. I just love the Jordan love stuff. You seen the movie Moneyball with Brad Pitt. Remember when he sits in the room with the old school scouts? And they're like,

oh, that guy's got a really pretty girlfriend. He's super strong arm. All these, like, stuff. Like the Jordan loves stuff. Come on. He's taller, better arm angle release. Like, Colin, this is so. It's comical at this point.

I like it. He was a first round piece. Watch love, light him up, and you're going to come in here gloating and bump in your chest on Monday. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement home, 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. 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 tauntons 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. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.