The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - Right & wrong, QB, Raiders

Episode Date: November 15, 2021

Where Colin was right and wrongWhy Colin judges the QB position stricter than othersThe Raiders have had to play through a lot of distractions this seasonGuest: Trent Dilfer Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen to learn the hard way on the IHare radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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, 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. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1.

Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. Now let's get this party started. Listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. Hour number two, hour one flew by. Live in Los Angeles, it's the hurt. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. My son went paragliding this weekend, Joy.

I went up to the cliffs of Malibu and watched my son jump off a cliff. That was harrowing, to say the least. That's how he said it. He was in there and make a room this morning. My son jumped up the cliff. I'm like, what are you talking about? Listen, I've done, I'm not afraid of heights. I don't enjoy them, but I'm not, I don't have like a fear of heights.

I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of what heights could do if I don't manage them correctly, because you're way up there. Yes, I'm very, I'm much more aware. I'm much more intentional when I am, but I don't mind hiking. I don't mind being up high. My kids, my daughter did a bungee jump in Cape Town, South Africa off a bridge. It's the biggest bungee jump in the world. I thought she was out of regard.

I can't, you know, she was in another country. country, another continent. And then my son, this is all he's been talking about for weeks. And so I went and, you know, we've found a really good company. And it was like he had the time of his life. He was cloud nine the entire weekend. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not a skydiver, bungee jumper, paraglider. I did the one over the ocean once.

Yeah, I've done that before. Yeah. But it's like, you know, you're over the ocean. It's pretty high up. But like I feel like I can kind of float down or something. It's not ads bad. You know, not over like rocks. But yeah.

I mean, there's lots of hills and cliffs and stuff out here. What do you do when you're a dad and your kids are dare doubles? It's tough. What do I do? Have an extra corona. Yeah, that's what I did. Where Colin was right, Colin wrong, brought to you by Jersey Mike's subs. Get to the mobile app delivery to your door or pick up.

Jersey mics be a sub above. Game Day Saturday is now free when you order through Jersey Mike's app, which is really quick to download. Here we go. Where Colin was right? Four and one on the Blazing Five. I took the Saints in the points, the Vikings in the points, the Lions in the points, and Dallas to blow out Atlanta. So I can't explain Cleveland. That was one of two jaw-droppers for me, maybe two or three this year.

I never had a million years thought the Patriots would beat him by 30. And that's just another story altogether for the Browns. Where Colin was wrong. I really thought Tampa it was going to be smoother than last year. But I got Arians ripping Brady. They had only 47 plays. Off a buy, they were awful offensively. They never had the football.

Maybe like Jimmy Johnson said, it's a grong thing, an A-B thing, but they've now been crushed by the Rams, rolled by the Saints. You know, it's not a – turnovers and penalties are one thing, but they're just not very good on third down. And defensively, they're not getting key stop, so I didn't think it would look anything like it this year. For them off a buy, remember last year off the buy, they changed everything. This year off a buy.

I mean, this game wasn't as close as the score told you. It wasn't 2919. It felt worse than that. Where Colin was right. I've said all along, Baker Mayfield can win if everything's perfect. If you have a great roster, which Cleveland does, if you have a great coach, if he's got time to throw, if he's comfortable in playing with a lead. But he's 26 years old, still makes bad decisions. He's 500 as a starter and a passer rating lower than Teddy Bridgewater.

And by the way, he was 11. for 21 for 73 yards against Belichick with a 56 passer rating. Well, he was missing a running back or two. Yeah, it's called the NFL. Everybody is. Oh, he was missing a right tackle. You can't be a star quarterback in this league if everything has to be an all-star team. Dallas Cowboys, Tyron Smith, Hall of Fame left tackle.

It's rarely available. They've missed Michael Gallup all year. Dax still getting points. In the end, do we have to keep debating it? Baker's 27 and 27. That's what he is. He's good enough to be a starter. He's not special.

Where Colin was wrong. I had the Philadelphia Eagles as a bottom three team in the league, and they're not great, but they're dangerous. I mean, Jalen Hertz only threw three times in the second half, but he and DeVante Smith. Listen, their second place in the NFC East. They're still up for a wild card. I thought Nick Seriani would be a disaster.

About every other weekend, they shock you. Jalen Hertz, I thought he had a low ceiling. But they didn't have Miles Sanders. and they were still productive. I find him to be fascinating. I think Jalen Hertz is fascinating. All I know is I look up. They're in Denver and they're rolling the Broncos who rolled the Cowboys.

I don't think they're a great team. I don't know what you do with Jalen Hurts. I'm not exactly sure what you do. I really don't, but I'll tell you this, some of their draft picks are hitting. He's productive and they're better than I thought. Where Colin was right? I don't like picking blowouts. I said Friday.

Dallas is going to blow out Atlanta. This is a good football team. Okay. Barry the tape, I said, don't even, we didn't even talk much about the Cowboys last week. I'm like, it didn't exist. This isn't a UFO siding where you debate it for hours. Was that a tick-tack or do we have Martians on the planet? This was a, oh, they're really good and they play like lousy football.

This is not debatable. They have eight elite players. They got playmakers in every unit. DAC is now a certifiable top 10 quarterback. It's the best cowboy team in 20 years. They block punts. They got playmakers. it happens. This season's 17 games, folks. This isn't college football. Sometimes you're not ready to play.

You just lay an egg. This is an excellent team, and we said they would blow out Atlanta who had been playing hot. Where Colin was right? I said Friday on the show, I said, Carolina just needs energy at quarterback. And players like Cam. And Cam's not my favorite quarterback, but he comes in yesterday. And there's no question. There's a belief system in that locker room, in that city with Cam, and here's Cam Newton. We signed with the Panthers on Thursday. Just three days ago, McCaffrey split out wide to the right. Newton takes the snap, and he is in for a Panthers touchdown. Sam Darnold doesn't make that play.

I swear to you this is a playoff team if they just don't turn the ball over. when Sam Donald didn't turn it over. They were like 3 and 0. So, like, he added energy. Isn't that to be the future? He's better than what you have. Where Colin was wrong. He shouldn't be fired, but the Sark thing in Texas is a mess.

You can't be a 30-point favorite against the basketball school and lose to Kansas. You know, Lane Kiffin and Sark will always be tied together because of the USC days. Lane Kiffin's an excellent head coach. We're seeing it for a second time. Sark, I don't know what it is. They've lost five straight. They have a really good defensive coordinator, but it's not working. Maybe he's just a great coordinator.

That happens and not a great coach. Again, they're so bad defensively. And Tom Herman, say what you will about him, could recruit. It's not like they don't have any players. Now, most of their good players, I think, are on offense, but I thought it would look better than this. Outside of Iowa State, they have scored points, but you just can't, you can't lose to Kansas.

This is Texas. Kansas doesn't have four players that Sark would even recruit. It shouldn't be this bumpy. Where Colin was right? I never bought into this Robert Sala narrative that it was going to be a great head coach. I'm like, are we even sure he was a great coordinator in San Francisco? Shanahan's play calling is what we talked about. Their defense is abysmal and getting worse.

I'm always concerned when the coach has a side of the football and that's the worst side of the football. Like they've given up 45 points or more. and three or four games. That hasn't happened since the mid-60s. And so again, he's got energy. He's a good-looking guy. I liked his story. I thought his story was great. And in the media, we've fallen in love with stories. But the team looks lost. Offensively, they don't get the ball to the best players. And defensively, you can't regress on the side of the ball. Like, stay what you're on about Sark, the offense is fine. If you're a defensive coach, Pete Carroll, Robert Salah, your defense can't get worse. And it does every week.

Where Colin was right? is exactly what we predicted on their show. Friday, he had a minus 32. It is a mess. But you know what? In the six games he's played that LeBron's been out, he's given you 19 points in 36 minutes. And you could not win any of these games without him,

but yet his three losses are all teams that are sub-500. This is the maddening part about Westbrook. He's a turnover machine, but this Laker team needs energy and intensity and huffington. and passion because they're old. And Westbrook gives you that. Yeah. Does he drive me nuts in crisis?

Is his judgment crazy? I've said before there's no nuance to his game. He goes 100 miles. He's a sports car with no brakes. And it looks great. When it's great, it flies by and you're like, wow. But I think he has been exactly what we thought. They need his minutes.

They need his intensity. They need his passion. They need his production. But man, about every other night, you are shaking your head going, Dude, just shift down a little. Just shift, just, just. We're going through a part of town. You've got to slow down.

There's some kids here with school zone. Slow down. Just slow down the car a little bit. And that's not how he plays. He just plays fast all the time. And a lot of time is out of control. He is what he is. By the way, the other thing about it is, as LeBron gets older,

these little injuries, he misses more and more time. Anybody notice than that? That's what happens. A lot of good stuff. Trent Dilfer around the corner. OBJ. plays tonight. I'm very,

here's my prediction for it. So the Rams tend to do a lot of 11 personnel. It kind of looks the same. They do some deception out of it. My prediction is they're going to have different looks with OBJ. Now, I don't think they'll have a ton tonight because he's only had a couple of practices. But my prediction on the Rams, over the next two to three weeks, they need OBJ. Like now that Robert Woods is out, they need him.

It's Cooper Cup, Van Jefferson. OBJ and a rookie from Notre Dame. And they've lost other guys to injuries. Like, they need OBJ. This is not a, all right, he fills out of Jersey. Like, they need seven targets and five catches every Sunday or tonight, Monday. So I think you're going to see him. If Robert Woods isn't hurt, this move didn't do a thing for me.

He's a little bit of a life preserver at wide receiver right now. So one of the things I like about OBJ, I love, it's like Cam. it's like, oh, what is the CAM signing? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, let's not, let's not bury that player yet. He's kind of valuable. The OBJ thing, after the Robert Woods news came out this weekend, the Rams need him tonight. And they really need him going forward because we know Dallas has a lot of weapons. We know Arizona's got a lot of weapons.

We know Tampa's got a lot of weapons. Green Bay can score like the Rams are a passing team. So I cannot wait to watch OBJ tonight. I was watching Cam yesterday. I'm like, just what the doctor ordered. They needed energy. That touchdown, Sam Donald didn't give you that touchdown. Cam gives it to you.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing huge. human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and

with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, 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,

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Or when Kanye They said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down,

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This week on Thursday Night Football, Mack Jones, leads the paychips to Atlanta to battle Matt, Ryan, and the Falcons. It all starts at 7.30 Eastern, 430 Pacific on Fox, NFL Network, and streaming on Prime Video. Okay, this game's very interesting. So now you take a rookie quarterback, you put him on the road. Atlanta was just embarrassed. Mark my words. I mean, we forget this is hard.

So you take a rookie quarterback, you send him to Atlanta. And now I got Matt Ryan, who's been around taking a lot of snaps, and they were just humiliated and they were playing pretty well. Watch how close this game is. I don't think they'll be humiliated again. That was a disaster, but... Mack Jones is playing pretty well. All right.

Is Trent Dofer around this hour? Is he close? Oh, he's right right now. You guys didn't put it on the screen? I don't know if Trent was there. So he played for 15 years, got a Super Bowl and a Pro Bowl. He's our friend, Super Bowl champ. Trent Dilfer now joining us.

You know, it is interesting. We were saying last week that all the young quarterbacks were kind of what we thought. We said, Trey Lance won't be ready. Trevor Lawrence is really good, but he's got to carry a lot. Justin Fields is a ridiculous athlete, but I don't know if he can overcome that O line and stuff. And we went through him, and then we said Mack Jones. We're like, God, did he get a great place to land? The ceiling is, you know, maybe lower.

And then I watch him, and I'm like, he made a couple throws yesterday, and I'm like, do I have to reevaluate Mac Jones? I mean, what do you see with him? Because he made two throws yesterday. I was like, okay, those were veteran big boy throws. Well, I think what you saw really since week one was he plays the game at a very high level in the sense from his eyes and his feet. So he starts in the right place. He knows what he's looking at.

He doesn't make very many careless mistakes. He understands the point of each play within the game. and now as he's growing in the position, that's what you saw yesterday, now you're starting to see the horsepower come out. And that was something in Alabama that was a question mark is how much horsepower did he have? Right.

And then as that season wore on, you started to see more and more horsepower come out. Some people said, well, he's throwing the greatest receivers on the planet. I think there's a little bit to that, but you get those guys in the NFL too. So what you saw yesterday was professional quarterbacking,

as it's been all year long, now matched with more horsepower than people gave him credit for, and there's that flash and sizzle wow element to his game. Now, it's not going to be all the time, and it's not going to be with his feet, but he's got plenty of armed talent to make your jaw drop at times and force the ball into small places.

Yeah, and he's also now he and Hunter Henry have a little relationship. You can see that's getting bigger. So let's just stay in the game with Baker. Listen, we're 54 games in. He's 27 and 27. He's probably better than I give him credit for, but his passer ratings about Teddy Bridgewaters. And I looked at yesterday, and I thought,

there's one thing to lose, but I always look at this. Do the coaches trust him? He's throwing the ball 20 times a game, 11 completions, 73 yards, and I know he didn't have his right tackle. I get it. This league's brutal. You never get the full unit.

But my takeaway on Baker today after that game is there's a reason. They don't want to do what the Rams did with golf. You pay him a year early, and then you're sitting there thinking, we got a ceiling here. Where are you today with Baker Mayfield? I really haven't changed. I've always felt that. Baker could be a above average, not even above average, a very good system quarterback.

There are guys that transcend systems. There's a handful of them that your elite player, your elite quarterbacks in NFL are going to, doesn't matter what play you call, doesn't matter what system you're in, they're going to make it function at a very high level. And you have your guys that are very dependent upon the play calling, who's healthy, the matchups you're in. And I think that's where Baker Mayfield fits is a guy that he is dependent upon Nick Chubb playing. Chubb doesn't play.

He's dependent upon his right tackle plays. Right tackle doesn't play. He's dependent on the plague calling to the right place, the right time. And when you see those things don't go well, then his performance is going to be down. Yeah. So, you know, I said watching Green Bay in Seattle, it was a classic game where neither quarterback, you know, one just had COVID, didn't practice a ton. The other one had been hurt and didn't practice, and this stuff's hard. Even for error, and you can't just skip practice.

Like, this stuff is a lot of work, and it's a lot of mechanics, and it's a lot of timing. But then when Aaron and Russell didn't play well, Green Bay still does a lot well. And I said, you know, you can fight and argue with coaches. But Green Bay doesn't need a ton of draft picks, Trent, because they don't have a lot of holes. They'd only have one hole. That would be quarterback if they let Aaron go. And I do think to myself, not every, you know, a lot of different flavors of ice cream. Aaron can be, you know, a little California cool for my taste. But I look at today and I think to myself, you know what, just get over it. Just get over it. Go to Aaron and say, kid, we'll move off Jordan Love for five more years because I don't think he's on the market.

And by the way, Trent, you and I have talked about this, Green Bay doesn't get big free agent signings. So you better be special at quarterback because you're not going to go get an OBJ on the market. I look at Green Bay and I think to myself, this, can we just make this work? I mean, where are you on Aaron in the relationship with the organization? You know, I couldn't agree more. I think with Aaron, it's you have to say his organization, listen, we need this guy. We need them more than we know than everybody even says we need them. We need to make him happy.

And he's going through a little bit of rough time right now. You come off the off season where he wasn't filling real love. Two off seasons ago when we dropped Jordan Love, he wasn't feeling a lot of love. He's getting hammered by the national media. He's, you know, his cue ratings down right now. This is a time where we can come in, wrap our arms around him and say, listen, we can't do this without you. How do we make you happy?

I don't think it's unrealistic to say that's the move they have to make if they want to keep Aaron Rogers in Green Bay for the next four to six years. And we all know the chance they have a winning Super Bowls depends on whether 12s on that team or not. By the way, Trent has a podcast. Beyond the X's nose with Trent Dilfer. It's outstanding. I've listened.

Also the coach at Lipscomb Academy. And so I want to ask you about Kansas City last night. And last week, we said, listen. they are beating the teams they're supposed to beat. New York, Philadelphia. It's inartistic, but who cares? They're Ws. Get on a plane and get out of town and be happy if you're healthy. And then I watched them last night, and I'm like, okay, all right,

what did you see as a coach and a player? What did they do? It was beautiful. And I kind of said this a couple weeks ago when people were saying the sky was falling there, I said there's no better person to handle this than Andy Reid because he dealt with it with Brett Farr. He dealt with it with Donovan McNabb. When your Superman player goes off the rails and tries to do too much,

You got to get it back to boring. People say back to basics. No, you got to get back to boring. Boring for these Superman type quarterbacks are six yard completions, eight yard completions, little sprint outs. Like the boring stuff that I did the first couple weeks in training camp and I can do with my eyes closed, I really want to do the fun stuff. And Andy Regis says, no, no, no, we got to get things back to balance again.

Let's go back to boring. We're going to hand the ball off a little bit more. We're going to run some of our basic install plays. We're going to get you highly efficient again. And then once we get really good at the boring, then we'll be explosive again. And Patrick's bought into that. For the last two weeks, they've been boring, super boring on offense. And boring works.

Efficient works. It keeps your defense off the field. Their first three drives last night, I don't know how the drive charts in front of me, but I want to say like 11, 13 and 14 play drives, something in that realm. Yep, they held the ball. Guess what that does for your defense? They're over there going, man, my legs feel good. My neck doesn't hurt that bad.

I'm going to go bring it this next series because I'm not hurting. I'm rested. I'm not trying to catch my breath. Your offensive linemen are happy because they're going forward all game long instead of backwards and pass protection. And it's just kind of one of the some of these great NFL coaches, Andy being one of them, he just knows the time when to balance the thing out, get his team back together and say, okay, how do we play complimentary football?

And it's usually going a little boring offensively. And that's what you're seeing. And it takes the quarterback to buy in. I remember playing Brett Farr, when I was in, Tampa. He's in Green Bay. He had a bad game leading into a game. We go up there in Green Bay. He threw a few picks. And everybody's expecting him to kind of be crazy. And he just sits there and just slices and dices all day long. It was like 28 of 34. Didn't do anything spectacular. Just went back to the boring basics. And Homegren and Andy kind of got them back that way against

a good Tampa team back in the 90s. And that's a way of just getting everybody going the right direction again and playing good team football. Now, will they be? be explosive at the end of the year. Yes, if they can maintain this boring approach and be consistent, then they can get back to explosive late in the year. All right. Two more things I want to ask you about. Before I get to two, I do want to ask you about OBJ. And so they do a lot of 11 personnel with the Rams and they have an offense and a look. And I do believe they need OBJ now. This is not a, oh, he's a little icing on the cake. It's like, no, he's part of the cake now. They don't have any depth of wide receiver.

They have a rookie at a Notre Dame now that's going to get real attention. How long will it take? You tell me, three, four, five practices, eight, nine, ten. What do you expect from OBJ and the Ram and Rams, and how long will it take? Well, early on, before Woods got hurt, I thought he'd be a vertical guy and kind of a slant guy. There's more than that, but that's what you could look for in the common eye. Just watch him take the top off the defense, play good deep balls because he's a great deep ball threat. Not because of his speed because of his ball skills.

and then a guy that can catch the short pass and run after catch. I still think that will be the plan these first two weeks. I think now we get 10, 15 practices into it. Then he takes on more of a possession guy, more of a primary target in their third down package. But it's going to take two to three weeks to learn the system get comfortable with all the adjustments. I think these first two weeks look for big balls. So play action shots, deep corners, deep posts, deep crossing routes, the deep over route. And then some quick stuff where he catches.

the ball and runs after the catch. And then as they work him in through practice, then you're going to see him become what Woods was doing, which is a primary target on third down when Cup gets double teamed. All right. Finally, you ran Tua's Pro Day out of Bama. He had actually a great win Thursday against Baltimore. Where are you now on Tua? I like what they're doing offensively. They're they're limited in offensive personnel. So let's start there. And they have a really good young tight end in Gaseki. And they have the receiver from Alabama Wattel. two good players bill around, but they don't have four, five, six guys they can trust on offense.

So they're Jimmy Reagan a lot of their offense. I love what Charlie Frye, the influence he's had on that offense. You're seeing some of this college flavor with the jet motion, some creative plays, stealing offense is what they call it. When you're not real talented in offense, you got to create some smoking mirrors to steal yardage. I like what they're doing there. Thought Tua played well.

You know, he's still banged up. They haven't built the offense completely. I think this is a year where he learned some. to play efficiently. He learns to protect the football. He learns to play well in critical downs. And then next year's year, you can add some weaponry to the offense and really grow it. I'm still bullish on Tua. He's just kind of dealing with the short stack right now offensively. By the way, I either saw a giant cat or a dog behind you. I'm not sure what I was. It's a dog. You probably hear her winding too. She's usually really good on these camera shots.

She's very jealous right now. I'm not paying attention to her. So I got a couple of those at home as well. All right, Trent Delfare his podcast is behind the X's and O's with Trent Dilfer. He's at Nashville, beautiful city. Good seeing you again. Thanks, brother.

Yeah, I got a couple of those. Boy, if I leave for the day and I have to do stuff and I come back in, my dogs are high maintenance. They need attention all the time. This is the way it works. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I'm still trying to keep my plants alive before I make the transition into a pet. Have you never had a cat? Oh yeah. I mean, I had a cat and a dog growing up. We had a German Shepherd. Are you a dog or a wilder?

Dogs are more work. I'm both. Dogs are definitely more work. But then the cat thing, depending on where you live, like you have to have the litter box. So you kind of need like a garage like somewhere else. So, you know, I'm a self-wear person. and I don't want to neglect an animal in any way. So even though, like, it sounds fun, it's a massive commitment.

Right. I was very close to doing it last year in lockdown. Yeah. Like this close. And then I planned side. And I was like, all right, let's just, let's go. That's going to try it's laughing at me. Let me graduate to the next step of this.

You know what you are and what you're not. Exactly. And I'm busy. So Cowboys defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, said last week that he was focusing on what it meant to play against his former team. but after the 43-3 win yesterday, he receives a very nice recognition. This is a fun video. Look at that.

Coordinators don't get the game ball much. No, it's really nice. Look, we are in a pretty cutthroat business, and it's all about competition and wins and losses matter. One game can change the course of not just a coach's career, but they're coaching staff's career. So it is a big thing when a coach gets fired. It's not just one person that's being let go.

It's an entire staff of people. Families have to move. It's a whole thing. It's complicated. And, of course, it changes the course of organizations as well. So he said after the game, it was good to have the game done and over with. And the Cowboys only allowed 214 yards of total offense. Matt Ryan was 9 of 21 for 117 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions.

And we also had a Josh Rosen sighting. who was one in six with 14 passing yards and an interception. Quinn, since he's left the Falcons, they were, are 8 and 12. They finished last season, 4 and 12, and are currently 4 and 5 right now. He was fired after an 0 and 5 start last season. But, you know, he did take Atlanta to the Super Bowl. It was 43 and 42 record. But this is how it goes.

I thought it was a nice moment. And he has done an incredible job with the Cowboys. This was the biggest question coming. into the season outside of DAC is what and how their defense is going to look because it was awful last year. Listen, he's a multiple success story as a coordinator. So we know he's an elite coordinator. The coaching thing is hard.

Ask Kyle Shanahan. If you don't have the quarterback writer special, there's a lot, first of all, Josh McDaniels as good a coordinator as the league has in New England. He tried to be a head coach in Denver. It was a mess. Like, it's hard. This stuff, if you're a great coordinator, you're going to flourish, almost always. But if you're a head coach, so much is dependent on, is my GM, can he build good line play, and do we have a quarterback?

Like if Kyle Shanahan as a coordinator always made his quarterbacks better. But I also think the coordinators are very important as well, especially when you're a young coach. That's why I think Sean McVeigh is so brilliant. He brought in a lot of experience. When you're a head coach, not only are you adjusting to a different role with more responsibilities, you're dealing with the owner, you're dealing with the GM, you're dealing with players, you're dealing with press, you're dealing with community events. Like this is the organization and you're the face of it, even if you do have stars. So it's a different level of responsibility than a coordinator, obviously.

So the Cowboys face the Chiefs on Sunday, and they are two and a half point underdogs, according to Fox Bet. That is going to be a must-watch game. So Aaron Jones left yesterday, 17, nothing went over the Seahawks in the third quarter with a knee injury. A source said this morning that the MRI revealed it's a mild MCL sprain. So that's really good. he will only, the hope is that he'll only have to miss one or two weeks. So he reached for his right knee at the end of a six yard gain.

A.J. Dillon came in at 21 rushes for 66 yards. It didn't. When he went down, you didn't see like a torque or a twist. No, but you know, you never want to see this, which is him being helped off the field. And, you know, he's a running back. So it's, you know, this is scary. But the MRI is good. So hopefully it will only be one or two weeks.

A.J. Dylan did an incredible job. Do you seen his quads? AJ Dillon is so big. It's like Sequin and him. Like I don't want any part of getting run over by those guys. It was really incredible. Before he went down, he had seven carries for 25 rushing yards. Obviously, their running game is a huge part of what they do.

Also, some other injury news as well, not as good. Chase Young does have a torn ACL, so he is done for the rest of the year, which is not great news. So a controversial ruffing the passer. penalty. Oh, it's a worst call to year. Awful. Yeah, it was pretty bad. And Sean Payton was asked about the call after the game.

What was the explanation on the rough and the basketball? No explanation. So. There wasn't an explanation. What do you want me to say? You want my opinion on it? No, no opinion on it. It's the worst call to here.

It does feel like the Saints get these calls a lot. It was, listen, I know we all freak out over taunting penalties. Look at this. watch this. Now, you can't see the end of it. So it negated a Marcus Williams interception in them. It was and they ended up scoring on that. If you watch the, now watch this. Yeah, it's an awful. It's an awful call. And generally, I'm with you. I'm not a big complaint about the officiating person. They're going to get calls right. They're going to get them wrong. They're humans. It's a like we do have replay, but you don't want to stop,

stop to replay every five minutes. However, I do feel like the officiating this year has been, like every week, there's a conversation. about something, whether it is the taunting penalties, which again, we discussed and solved, by the way, last week. He didn't, and here's my thing. It's one thing if you drive a quarterback into the ground. Watch the Saints defender. He puts his hands up and he's like, he runs right past him.

The referee got bumped the other day harder by the bear player. Yes. And he threw his body into it. Yeah, like he. So the problem with this is if he had hit his head so that they do penalize if you hit above the neck. Or if you are, when you're tackling him, if you're already in the motion of tackling him, you have to try and make an effort not to fall on top of them. Not easy.

Because that's how, no, but that's like if you're a defender and you're going for the quarterback, you know this. This is not a penalty. No. It's not a penalty. It wasn't a penalty before they started making this extra bubble of protection for quarterbacks. It's really strong. It's frustrating. I'm sure if you're a state's fan, you know, obviously we talked a lot about the championship game and lots of calls have not gone their way.

but this is just one of those things that league has to look at because we do want the quarterbacks protected, but we've been talking about this the last couple weeks. You can't legislate all physicality after out of a collision sport. Like the defense does have to be able to play

a role in wins and losses. And that was massive. It took away an interception. It changed the game. Yeah, in hockey. They got out of the clutching and grabbing years ago, but there's still a need for physicality. Intimidation in hockey, clearing, you know, big guy, clearing annoying guy away from the goalie.

But also, it's a high-speed game. Like, what is the defender supposed to do in that spot? You can't screech to a haul. We're watching things in slow motion. It makes it seem like he'd have the opportunity not to hit him, and he didn't. Yeah, joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd Lye News. 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, it's Ben, host to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, along with my trusty sidekick, David Gascon, would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mather show,

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on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversation. 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.

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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 a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at a podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here, unpack what you?

went down and tried 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 all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you finishing that sentence.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

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

A Black Friday celebrate softness season with your favorite Tommy John underwear this Black Friday. Softness season, pajamas, loungeware, 20% off. Go to Tommyjohn.com slash heard. I'm wearing it right now. Mack Jones came from a demanding college coach and now he has a demanding NFL coach. It's been perfect. Every joy is my witness.

Anybody that's ever worked with me knows I'm hard on quarterbacks. And I will question your maturity. I don't care if you're a wide receiver. I don't care what your wonder like score is in your position. I don't care if you're a goofball in college. I really don't, except if you're a quarterback. And that I'm going to be really hard on you, Cam and Johnny Mansell and Baker and James Winston.

I'm going to sound mean because you have to be ready to play. Wide receivers can bounce around the league. Their third stop, they can be stars. NFL you get one shot. Drew Bree is the exception. First one doesn't go well. You're labeled. You're done. We're moving on. Sam Darnold got a second shot. It's over. He's a backup. It's the way the world works. Even Cam Newton. New England took him reluctantly, not really committed to him. So when Baker Mayfield's doing silly stuff in college or James Winston or Johnny Mansell, I'm really hard.

Because Mack Jones is a reason why. Demanding system, 22-year-old kid, they give him the starting quarterback position in New England. This is a grown-up organization, and he's ready to play. This is why I rip quarterbacks who are idiots in college. I don't care if you're a wide receiver, a cornerback. Do whatever you want. Seriously, we're all goofy in college. But on quarterbacks, you've got to be able to run a franchise day one. I don't care about your background. I don't care about mom. Are you ready to go? A lot of kids get money from their parents. But are you ready to handle it at 22? Like, that's the difference.

If your mom and dad give you the bag at 22 years old, you know, $8 million, and you're out there drinking white claws partying, bad investments, you don't get a second chance with it. They're not giving you $8 million again. And you only get one shot at this. And Mack Jones is why he's great at the podium. He doesn't make dumb mistakes. Yes, he landed in a better spot.

No question about that. They're not demanding like they are, you know, a Justin Herbert with a bad old line last year. Yeah, we all know that. This is a better place to land. But I don't think Baker could have handled this. I don't think Johnny Mansell would have handled it like this. I don't think James Winston would have handled it like this. This is why I'm rough on quarterbacks because you can win in this league.

You can win early. But you have to be a grownup. And Mack Jones is. He's great at the podium. He gets better every week. You know, first month, he made some really bad rookie thrills. But he's a mature kid. He got better fast.

He got those out of his system. I feel like I'm watching a little bit of Justin Herbert without quite the arm. Joe Burrow, Mahomes. We asked a lot of Mahomes. Andy Reed Systems, not easy. We'll let you sit for about one year. You're ready to be a star. Because we've got all of these players around you.

You're ready to be a star. Mahomes is ready to go. Mahomes is ready to go. I always say about Mahomes. Just listen to guys at podiums. Mahomes didn't call out medical staff, not getting in trouble in college. his problem was inconsistency, got the right coach.

So, by the way, since the second half of the Texans game, Mack Jones is completing 68% of his throws, 104 passer rating with almost no picks. You got one shot at this, and I can give you a second one. Not a wide receiver, corner, Mike lineback, or guard. Get one shot. Be ready to play at 22. I watched Kansas City and the Raiders last night. You know, it is interesting.

Backup quarterbacks and interim head coaches. You can fool people for about two weeks. Everybody catches up, right? And the last two weeks for the Raiders have been tough. They've had tragedies and they've had chaos and they have a coach who's learning to be a head coach. And it's just way too much. And now the Raiders are what they are. And one of the reasons I have always defended Derek Carr is because the Raiders brand is big.

It's a big brand, right? You kind of forget they're the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. that's what they are. That's what Derek Carr is overcoming. Since their last Super Bowl in 2002, they have only had one season. One with eight or more wins. They're Cleveland.

They've had one playoff in 19 years. Ownership, literally and figuratively poor. It's poor ownership. Front office has been, in the last 20 years, chaos. Head coach, weird hires. You add in this year's chaos and tragedy and Mahomes and Justin Herbert in this division. And the Raiders brand, it's better than reality. It's a bottom five franchise with a really Lloyd loud fan base in a cool city with a cool stadium.

But in the last 19 years, the Raiders have the second worst winning percentage to Cleveland in the league. Now, they occasionally fool us because the brand's big. and Vegas is cool and the Raiders logo and they've had some star players. But go look at their last three or four drafts, their last coaching hire, the front office dysfunction, the ownership situation. That is why I give Derek Carr credit. How many quarterbacks, why Matt Stafford deserves credit. You watch Matt Stafford now with a functional organization.

You're like, my God, you can be the MVP of the league. This is why for years and years, you know, we always criticize, you know, the Cowboys, they're overrated, but let's be honest about the Cowboys. They've had that one year Tony Romo got hurt. There's almost no chaos. You didn't love Jason Garrett. They were always viable. They get to the playoffs.

They can compete for wild card spots and division titles. So I always think, like I said about Mack Jones, yes, he inherited a better spot than, you know, Baker did or Justin Fields or Justin Herbert, right? But Mac deserves credit because he's mature and ready to roll. day one in the organization. And this is where I'll defend Derek Carr. You don't think this is the Lions.

You don't think this is the Browns. That's exactly what it is. And then you add on the tragedy with Henry Ruggs, the situation where the young player kicked off the team for bad social media posts. He's a kid. He did something unfortunate. Now you got an interim coach.

So, you know, I watched that game last night, and there was as many Chiefs fans it felt like in the building. And I just think, and I'm not saying Mahomes isn't better than Derek Carr, but they're both pretty good. One has Andy Reed. One has great ownership. One has Brett Veets, the GM.

One rebuilt their offensive line in 45 minutes. Like, it matters where you land. Like, obviously. But that is why I defend Derek Carr. Is that, you know, I watched them last night, and you know what they feel like? The last 19 years. They fool us.

Big win, some flashy players. Oh my gosh. That's what they are last 19 years. Second worst winning percentage in the league. We've got to be honest about it. Derek Carr is the life preserver here, or it would be worse. Hour three. Good stuff.

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

Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to learn the hard way with your favorite therapist and host, Kier Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have. anywhere but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing how many men carry a suit are armored it signals to the world that you not to be played with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iha

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