The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - Sean Payton On Super Wild Card Weekend

Episode Date: January 16, 2023

In this hour of The Herd, Colin dives into another edition of "Where Colin Was Right, Where Colin Was Wrong." Later, FOX Sports NFL analyst Sean Payton sits down with Colin to share his observations from the insanity that was Super Wild Card Weekend and also addresses some coaching rumors swirling around his name.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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IHeart Radio Fox Sports Radio FS1. The rain, I think, has subsided in Los Angeles for a week. We've gone through two weeks of pouring drought-ending moisture and wetness and storms. So it's great for the ski resorts. It's good for the farmers. It's not always great for true. traffic. But I'm driving to work this morning and it's raining sideways. I think, I think it's subsiding today. And I looked and I saw sunshine for the next week. But people here in Los Angeles

complain when it rains. But I saw a story this weekend. I forget where it was. Was it, Philadelphia hasn't had snow this year? And so they're complaining, we're not getting snow. Boy, out west, I don't care if it's the Cascades, Mount Bachelor, Mountain Hood. My son went skiing in Mount Hood yesterday. Powder, snow everywhere. It's funny. We were living in Philadelphia when my son was born and he had a birthday in March. We opened the door to drive to the birthday facility and it's snowing big time. Like inches of snow on the ground in March outside of Philadelphia. No thanks. Give me L.A. and the sun.

Well, it was, that was J. Mack, of course. It was a fun weekend. Sean Payton in 15 minutes. We call it Colin Wright, Colin wrong, plenty of both. And here we go on a Monday. Where Colin was right? Well, when Jimmy Garoppel went down, I said, I'm not going to paint a picture of doom and gloom. This offense does not need a superstar. They need a distributor. And I thought Brock Purdy looked pretty good when I saw him in the preseason, looked good in the first start. I think they can get to the Super Bowl with him.

Not sure if they can beat Mahomes or a burrow. But Purdy against Seattle, three touchdowns, no picks. He's mobile. He's accurate. He was a little nervous on his first two drives. We said we felt he would be a little tight. and he was. But again, when you look at this offense, it's very much Miami.

Skyler Thompson gave Buffalo fits. This offense is quarterback friendly. It's not quarterback-centric. Buffalo's is. That's what I like about Purdy and the Niners. Where Colin was wrong. Well, I had the Buffalo Bills as my preseason pick to win the Super Bowl, but they're getting worse.

They're regressing. Josh Allen's making more mistakes. I don't know. I just, I feel like they're, off. I think the chiefs and the bingles give you a lot of the firepower without all the mistakes. They're too Josh Allen-centric.

He feels like sometimes he's pressing. They still haven't developed an offensive line, I trust. How many years are they going to get this offensive line to get it right outside of center? I don't like their front. And I felt they were out-coached Saturday again by McDaniel of the Dolphins. Where Colin was right?

There's a difference between being talented and having an identity. And I've been critical of Brandon Staley, head coach of the Chargers all year. Yes, I know he's smart. I know he interviews well. But they don't do anything well. They don't make adjustments well. They're a bad second half team. They don't run the ball well. Bottom five in the NFL. Now, they had some injuries to his defense, and that's not an excuse. In fairness, he didn't have a lot of his weapons, but playing Mike Williams and missing him, when Mike have been the difference, I don't know, but he would have helped having a six-five wide receiver who's hard to cover. This, this

has been the enigma all year. What are the Chargers beyond talented? And the answer is, I don't know, 18 games in. Where Colin was wrong. You know, I've been a huge fan of Lamar Jackson. I didn't think he was going to be a great quarterback than about seven, eight starts in. It was like, wow. What I liked about him were intangibles. And the way he communicated with teammates and his leadership, how is he not at a playoff game? He's becoming Kauai Leonard.

Like non-verbal, hiding, doesn't give anybody answers, using his mom as an agent. It's getting odd. And the quarterback position is the one that has to be dependable. You have to talk. You have to communicate. You communicate every play. Audibles in the huddle. So I don't like any of this.

I don't like how it feels. And maybe I just missed. Where Colin was right. I said two years ago, Brian Daibold, I thought he should have gotten the Chargers job. I said very early in the giant season when he outcoached, I believe it was Matt Lefleur in Green Bay in London. I said in October, I looked it up this morning, I thought he was situationally, fantastic.

He remains that. I think he has done what Staley can't. He's created an identity. I still think this team has a really low ceiling. I know you all love Daniel Jones, but two of his best games have been against the Vikings, and the Vikings are terrible defensively. But four wins to 10 wins, is a wow. I mean, maybe in college football with a transfer portal, you can do that.

But in the NFL, this team still doesn't have tight end, O-line, or quarterback completely right. Really impressive. Where Colin was wrong. I got the Seahawks wrong all year. I thought they'd be bad. They made the playoffs. I thought Gino Smith, no way you could rely on him.

He had a really, really strong year. And then I thought they'd give the Niners nothing but trouble for four quarters in windy weather. and they got blown out in the end. So win-loss record, Gino Smith, Saturday. I've been off on the Seahawks all year. I thought Pete Carroll against the rookie quarterback in the playoffs. I thought he'd force Pertie into mistakes,

and Pertie was pretty unbelievable and perfect. So I was wrong on that. Where Colin was right? Well, from the very beginning on the Kyler-Marie situation, I said you're going to have to get rid of the coach, probably the GM, and any teammate that doesn't get along with him. This is Kyler-Marie's team. And so what did they do?

Arizona got rid of the GM. got rid of the coach, and now they're going to trade D'Andre Hopkins. Listen, it's the same thing I've said about Aaron Rogers. Not all quarterbacks are drama-free. Kyler Murray, like Aaron Rogers, throws a beautiful football, is brilliantly talented. He's going to be a little tougher to deal with. So if we're going to give Aaron Rogers a pass,

which the state of Wisconsin does every year, then you've got to give Kyler Murray the same pass. Well, well, he doesn't work hard on film. Aaron doesn't show up in the offseason. Neither one is perfectly committed. But this situation's come back to what I thought, which is clean out the building and get people who get along with Kyler Murray. I do think he'll bounce back and have a solid year.

Where Colin was wrong. Well, the Adam Schaefter reported before the game between the bills in Miami that the dolphins are bringing back to a. He's in their plans. They love him. I don't. Third time in four years, he couldn't see. stay healthy. Couldn't stay healthy at Bama, rookie year, and this year. I think he's great in terms

of intangibles and leadership. I think he's really nice. I think he throws an accurate football, but I think there's a physical component to football that we have to be honest with, and it's nuanced. He wants to play. He's got concussions. The media now is relentless on that stuff. They're not going to give you a break, and I just think eventually you're going to be right back to where you are. He gets banged. He has a concussion. You have to sit him. I can like the person and think he's got talent, but I don't see this as a long-term, stable relationship. There's just issues he's got with concussions. They're a reality.

We should take them seriously. But Miami says, I'm bringing him back, and he's the future quarterback. Where Colin was right? Everybody keeps telling me Russell Westbrook's having a great year, and I'm like, he still doesn't defend. He's got no self-awareness, and he can't shoot. Just because he's better than we thought doesn't mean he's having a great year. And last night, end of the game, LeBron wanting the ball, needing the ball, should get the ball. Here's how it ended.

You're nuts. We're not away. By the way, the NBA announced today it wasn't a foul. Listen, he plays hard. He deeply cares. Players like him. There's a lot to like about Westbrook. His productivity's good.

But this has never worked. He's got the worst handles of any guard I've ever seen. and this is what kind of drives me crazy. It all kind of came down to a play. That in a nutshell is why I've always struggled being a huge Westbrook fan. Where Colin was right? TCU got boat race by Georgia. That's an easy one.

But I said they emptied the emotional bag against Michigan. There's no way. There's no way they're going to give Georgia just a few days later a legitimate game. NFL bodies, Georgia's got 20. TCU's got about four. It wasn't close. It was over early. I called for a blowout. I was actually surprised.

Not that it was a blowout, but how easy it was for Georgia. But TCU, really, for a large part, was outplayed by Michigan. They were a much better story than a team. There's nothing wrong with that. But as we go to a 12-team playoff, you're going to see more of this, not less. You're going to see more and more blowouts from the 12s, 11, 10, 9s, and 8th, facing the big dogs often from the SEC. All right, Sean Payton's around the corner.

Colin Wright, Colin wrong, on a Monday. 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.

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I feel like we were already hitting on some of these subjects, but... Wow. Got a good weekend, huh? A lot of stuff, football-wise. So I said this yesterday, earlier today, I said it's a quarterback coach league, and I've never even understood this. You just have to... Some things in life you overpay for.

A pool in Phoenix. A winner in Alaska. Yeah. Okay, overpay for your coach. If you got to overpay for your quarterback, just do it. I don't want to hear about it. What Day Bowl has done to Daniel Jones 18 weeks ago, I'm like, I don't know if he can play in this league.

What's his sauce? What's Daibald done? Yeah, I think two things. There's certainly an energy that you see and you feel with that team. And I go all the way back to my first day here at Fox, New York on the road against the Titans. they go for the win, they win. And it was the beginning of like the kids in the orphanage that had a parent that cared. And you just saw, so you saw a little bit of a glimpse of that.

But then schematically, let's talk specifically, why is this player playing so much better than, and I think you've got to credit, Brian. You got to credit Kafka, the offensive coordinator. He's got two or three of these interviews lined up deservedly so because they did some things yesterday. And as good as they look, Minnesota looked that bad on defense. There were guys running

man-to-man coverage, shallow cross, running underneath a vertical and a corner's getting left behind and not meeting it. That was frustrating to watch from a defensive standpoint. And so the interesting thing in Minnesota, and Kevin's

done a great job, O'Connell there, but they kind of got this offense going, and then There went Mike Zimmer and it's easy to pile on, but we lost Mike Zimmer's defense. And the defense of the Vikings. The yards after the catch. For a long time was outstanding. They were tough out defensively. But, yeah, I think both with the running back, Sequin Barclay and Daniel Jones,

I said this to you earlier, to start the season, if we just said, hey, we've got a long-term vision for these players, I think we would have just kind of looked at each other like, yeah, what's the vision? And it's not until this year that we got to see the fruits of that draft with the right coaching. Yeah. And I'm not talking about anyone prior. I'm just saying, obviously, it's fit. And so you look at Barclay now and you say, hey, we've got it. And the run he makes down in the red zone, the tight red zone.

Oh, huge. Yeah. And here it is in his biggest spot. Daniel Jones, you know, plays well. and we talked about them yesterday. My Twitter blew up because I think the Giants fan, I said, look, this guy's a tick below those five that you and I talk about all the time.

Yeah. But he can move, he can run. Those are all traits that we've valued. We just haven't started valuing those. We've always valued those traits. You know, Sean, what was interesting is that one of the reasons I picked Minnesota to surprise people this year, I said, when a guy's not Mahomes or an Allen

where he's been told his whole life, he's great. if he's Kirk Cousins or Daniel Jones, so much of it is feeling supported. And Kirk got Kevin, right? It's like, hey, I believe in you. Yeah. The losses became wins. And about a month ago, so the first thing Dayball did was take out the fumbles and the picks, slightly elevate completions.

But about a month ago, and I think you said this, they kind of let Daniel go. And when I watched that, I thought, oh, my God, you could, his confidence. And it wasn't until about a month ago when they said, okay, we've cut the mistake. stakes down. Now we're going to kind of let you go throw 40 times. And I thought he was so confident yesterday. I would agree. And even get past the design runs. I mean, you can't get past those. Obviously, those are backbreakers from Minnesota. But his ability just in the pocket finding throws. And here he is on third down finding a shallow cross, a critical shallow cross

that gets dropped. And you're like, ah. You know. Oh, and it was. Slayton. And so the whole time you felt this guy was in command, his decision making, the respect of his teammates. He listened to him afterwards. He sounds just like Eli. I mean, very complimentary of everyone. Probably a great teammate. And fun to watch.

It was fun to watch their locker room afterwards. And certainly disappointing, I'm sure, for Minnesota who's had a great year. So I said, I've seen it with McDaniel, Brian Dable. Doug Peterson. They immediately, I saw it with Lincoln Riley at USC. They create an identity. It doesn't take that long to create an identity. Sometimes you have to clean a culture up, make some roster moves. Sure. But it doesn't

take forever. Right. I can go back to your career. You can figure it out pretty... It's immediate. Harbott, Michigan. Five wins to ten. They were physical the next year. It's immediate. My knock on Brandon Staley has been, when you really need that identity is in crisis. Not against the bad team.

So I went and looked at numbers. Second half this year. Both offense and defense, they're poor. It's not a lack of talent. It's not a lack of weapons. I think often second halfs, Niners this weekend. That's when the identity comes out. Guys, we're scuffing a little bit. We lead. Let's put it away. Is it a fair criticism that this team's talented, but I don't see what are they? I just don't know. Yeah, it's a good question. I think the first thing you'd say, and I don't know Brandon that well, I know a number of guys on that staff. when you hire coaches with the defensive background,

I think there's an expectation of what you're, what you're wanting to get from that defense. I watched that game at home, and it was, you know, a lot of times we're able to watch games, but you're in a green room, there's six screens. So you don't get a clean look at just one game, if you will. I watched that game just quietly looking at it. And after the first half, and you guys tell me,

man, it looked like Jacksonville couldn't separate at all. At all. And I kept thinking to myself, who's going to make a play for Jacksonville? Who scares them? And I'll credit Doug and Trevor and that whole. There's still a few players away from being the team they want to be.

The tight end scares you a little bit, Ingram. Yeah. Right. But it didn't, it just seemed like this was going to be a long, like, we're going to have trouble separating, period. And then on the other side of it, I didn't see anything in their defense, Jacksonville, covering the pass or even defending the run for that matter. It was almost like routes on air for the Chargers.

And I've never seen a game where all of a sudden the second half started. And I thought, what happened to what I just watched in the first half? It was very unusual. The momentum shifted. Is it a schematic change? What is it? Yeah. I don't know that I would have changed anything from what we,

were doing in the first half. I think we all wanted to see a little bit, the clock then becomes your friend. Run. Let's run it, let's, let's, let's run it, kick it, pound it, you know, and they didn't make enough plays in the second half, the momentum shifted, and then it just kept going. And I've never seen a game that was so different between the first half and the second half. And I understand what you're saying. It's been, it's sometimes it's frustrating to watch. Go do what you do. Because I thought Kyle Shanahan, they had a bad light hit. The Seahawks took a lead.

That's when you bring them in and go, fellas, okay, let's go back to what we are. We lost ourselves. Yeah, here it is. Yeah, and I just don't feel like. I understand what you're saying. Yeah, I don't feel like they have that. Yeah, and look, that's a, you know, that's a tough loss. You know, you're flying back across the country and you're up 27 nothing.

And it wasn't that they were just up 27 nothing. It was the way that they were up 20. nothing. I just felt like, man, the young corner, Asante Samuel's son, I mean, he was leaning, sitting, hanging on routes, and I just thought, and then I kept thinking to myself, I don't think Jacksonville has the, because the announcers said it. They're sitting on everything. They've got to go buy him, and I thought, they don't have the personnel to go buy him. Right. Like, and so that's a problem then.

Yeah. Yeah, that was a tough game. So going back to coaching, I remember when Josh Allen was in college and Greg CoSell said you need to look at this kid at Wyoming and he gave me some numbers so I went and watched Josh Allen against Oregon and Iowa

and he was talented and wildly erratic You saw it but I mean it was every I mean the arm strength was insane and so he comes into NFL he's raw and Daibald does what he's done with Daniel Jones cleans up the mess gets him to hit more layups all of a sudden he's never going to be a 70

percent completion guy. He's got a lot of farve in him. Yeah. Unbelievably talented. Now Daible's gone, and I'm watching him, and I'm thinking, he's back to erratic, decision-making. And I'm not knocking on Ken Dorsey or Sean McDermott. But this is the value of coaching. This team worries me. Sean, I feel like they're a boxer with no jab.

It's all swinging for the knockout. Well, look, I think they're fun to watch. Oh, yeah. And I think that, you know, watching that game, I thought Miami struggled in, look, the difference, obviously, when you're playing your third string quarterback. Right. You know, they drop some balls. Too many times the receivers are catching balls, you know, cradle and balls. And I know the weather's cold, but they're not, you know, catching them properly.

I thought, man, there were a lot of clock problems this weekend period. Now, do you think that's because it's a third string quarterback? Is that a fair? Yeah, I think so. I think there's challenges. And look, I heard what Mike said. And he brought up, there was a, sometimes this happens. It used to be back in the day.

When the ball was close, after a third down play, you could ask for a measurement. You'd get one all the time. when I was coaching in 2006, 7, 8, 9, 10, I need a measurement here. It looks close. You get a measurement. Get 30 seconds, though. Well, but it allows you to digest, like,

because there's those situations where you think you got a first down, you're going to your call sheet for a first down, and then last, you hear, it's fourth and one. You're like, wait a minute, I want a measurement. You don't get those now. I don't know why they stopped giving those out. Did the NFL say, speed the game up? They stopped giving them.

giving those. They look at me like I'm crazy. I'm like, I used to get these measurements all the time. So it puts the play collar in a pickle because he doesn't know at the very end of a play if it's a first down or if it's fourth down. Right. That happened to them. And here it is fourth and one, burning a timeout. Baltimore yesterday in a two-minute drill inside of a minute they're huddling with no time. I didn't get it at all. I had no idea what was going on. Again, that's a backup quarterback situation. Yeah, but man, when are you ever putting a team in the huddle when you're south of a minute and the clock's ticking and you need to score like they did? I couldn't believe it and the announcers said something, but they actually got into a huddle

with a running clock underneath 40 seconds, I think. I think it was 38, 37. That was surprising. I'm sure John today will look at that and be like, that can't happen. Can I ask you about, I am not a fan of. So the NFL has tweaked it and allows you to get behind somebody and push them for a first down. I saw it eight times this weekend. I am not a fan. Now, Trevor Lawrence did it and it worked of the hike leanover. All right.

Trevor 6.6. I'm going to give you the history of the hike lean over. Don't like it at all. No, listen, I love it. I love it. one yard line in versus a goal line gaps front where the pad levels low Drew Breeze we were four or five for five over the career but it's situational at the one or in goal line front preferably a six two front and Drew would always just jump push the ball over and pull it back

so let's talk about that I knowing we would call that I'd run down to the official and say hey just so you know, we're going to place this ball over the goal line. I wanted his eyes there, so he didn't miss it. Okay. Oh. All right. But it had to be at the one, and it had to be versus a six two goal line front. This was one and a half.

Too far. First thing I said, too far. I looked at my wife. I said it's way too far out to do that. Cream Abdul-Jabbar doesn't score with that. So it can only be almost inside the one. You with me? Yeah.

The balls on the inside of the one. Take a look at Jacksonville's example. And, but the other thing that was unusual is I saw Baltimore trying to push the. So if we were applying that up and over technique, you seat the ball. Drew would tell you there's a little delay and then there's a vertical leap and an extension and it comes right back. You cross the goal. So you have to be inside the one. Did you say two hands or one?

Drew would have two. Okay, I like two. All right. So where that was run from was too far out, period. Yeah. When you watch Trevor's, all right, it was right at the one. Now all of a sudden you saw, and then you saw the stature, you know, that certainly helps. But we'd ever looked at that like we were going to push the quarterback.

So there were two things were going on there. At one time. I mean, is the quarterback, I'm going to guess the quarterback chose to do that on his own. Okay. Because if we're running this push, then we're going to seat the ball, we're going to find the soft spot and allow the second wave to push us. That was unusual. But that was the game.

That was the game. Oh, yeah. It's 14-point swing. That was the swing. And as soon as they ran it, I thought he's too far away. Yeah, it was supposed to be a low push. That's what Harbaugh said after the game. It was supposed to be a low push.

Yeah. So that makes sense because you wouldn't run the leap. high from the one and a half. So low push, pilot does his own thing. We're back to the backup quarterback. Okay. So I want to pivot to tonight, Cowboys' Bucks. And one of the things, whenever there's a divorce, it can be in somebody's private life. I've had one. It can be football. Everybody always, you know, this to blame, that to blame. And I'm guilty of this. I was a bully with Mike McCarthy. I said, Aaron's too good. McCarthy drives me nuts. I don't like him. And now we look, and Aaron, three straight years with LaFleur, at home at Lambo, has

struggled late in games, outplayed by Goff, Garoppolo, old Tom. Aaron's still great, but Mike's gone. Mike is 21 and 12 when Dax's healthy and four and one with Cooper Rush, and I think clearly, if you look statistically, Dallas a good offense. They're not perfect. He's had to rebuild the old line. Sure. They don't have a true dominant one. Yeah. And I'm guilty of this. I was Pro Aaron McCarthy's lost. If Mike wins tonight, that's a little flex. That's a big game for Mike. That's a big game for Mike McCarthy today, I feel like.

I don't think there'll be pressure, but maybe he's not, you know, he's not Andy Reed. He's not you. But I think we've, I've been guilty of this. We've been a little hard on Mike. There's something he did in Green Bay that he does in Dallas. He builds a formidable offense, a little pass better than run. Your takeaway of McCarthy. He's a real good football coach.

Look, we always talk about bloodlines. And, you know, when you have a chance to work under Andy and the home green, that's that family tree. That's really strong. He's a tremendous worker, great guy. I think a good friend and a respected coach always has his players prepared. And so I think, look, I think they've done a great job this year. You know, they went through the injury and had to play rush.

They weathered that, went four and one. Very well. They're the better team tonight. Now, there's pressure on them tonight because the narrative, and it's not Mike's narrative. This is Jerry's narrative and the Cowboys narrative for the last call it. They have a one-or-road playoff game since Jimmy was there up in Sanford. So that's not Mike's pressure. that just organizationally, you know, the Cowboys are that team that so many people love watching.

There's so many people that love the Cowboys. But if you don't love the Cowboys, it's not like, well, you don't like them. You hate the Cowboys, right? It's one or the other. And so. When they lose, here comes the Avalanche. Oh, my gosh, yes. So, look, I think Tampa's playing with a little bit of house money.

We've talked about this. Division Winners, 9. and eight, didn't play well throughout the course of the season. Yeah, struggling, running the ball. They get their center back tonight. That's a big deal, Jensen. He's starting. He's coming back off of IR.

They're still going to struggle running, I think. But, you know, when they played this team week one, which seems like an eternity ago, they ran the ball pretty well that night. That was, you know, the opening week of the season. I think Tampa's playing a little better than they were four weeks ago or three weeks ago. the two hard games for me this weekend to handicap, I said were yesterday's Giants, Vikings.

I missed that. I had Minnesota winning. Yeah. And I picked a big number just to separate myself from the rest of this group. Right. Right. But I think tonight's the other game, all the other games I felt were maybe Jacksonville, the Chargers, but tonight's a tough one to handicap. Because you got Brady at home, and you got Brady at home in Tampa,

and Dallas. Now, I think Dallas playing poorly last week. Helps. I do. I think if you're Mike and the coaching staff, man, you are on there, you know what, all week long. You were embarrassed. Yeah. It was bad. And I'd much rather be embarrassed in that game than tonight's game.

Yeah. So I think it'll be an exciting game. I have no idea, you know, who's going to win. I think Dallas is the better team. Yeah. And we've seen that throughout the course of the season. Yeah. So, you know, we look forward to watching that.

All right. We've got to address. We'll take a break. Stay here. We got to address some stuff. A lot of Sean Payton's stuff. Literally everywhere I go. Uh-oh.

Well, we have to address you. You're an upfront guy. You got to give us a little sense of you're a very popular person right now. Sure. All right. Fair enough. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Paulie Fuscoe here with Tony Fusco.

Yo. As you all know, we're the host of the number one. one rated show and all of sports talk, the Polly and Tony Fusco show. Numero uno. Yeah, and we know why millions of people tune in every week. Yeah. They want to hear us talk sports, not our idiot guests who think

they know more about sports than we don't. Yeah, listen to these dummies. You don't know crap about sports. You don't know nothing about football. This is the worst thing I've ever been to first. Wait, he's still on the line. You don't know basketball. If you want to hear how sports talk should be done,

yeah. Listen to the Polly and Tony Fuscoe show on the I-Hart 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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast.

Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of ton-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to bowl your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. It's our favorite 30, 40 minutes of the week. Sean Peyton stops by. He's been such a gift to us at Fox on Sundays, and for us on this show, we get him two, three out of four weeks. All right, so let's talk Sean Payton everywhere I go in Los Angeles. There's a lot of questions about Sean Payton. There's a lot of stories out there.

So let's address you. I've heard Texans. I've heard Carolinas out there. There's Denver discussions. Can you verify this week? This is the week now, starting tomorrow? Tomorrow you can interview. Are you interviewing?

Yeah. So the way the league rules are set up for coaches that are under contract with teams, and that would be me, they can begin the interview. process tomorrow. I'll have a chance to visit prior to then. Like I've talked with a few teams. That's just done through permission with the Saints. But I think this week would be, yeah, it would be Houston, Denver, later in the week, Carolina.

Do you go there? In some cases, depending on schedules, they'll come here or in other cases, I might go there. end of the week I'll go out to New York. I'll have a chance to visit with Mr. Teper and Carolina. If I may, what's the compensation look like? Can I ask that? We haven't even met yet. So that's probably something.

No, that's something that comes up later in the process. I mean, that matters. Yeah. But being that I haven't interviewed with any of these people yet, it would just be, you know, speculating relative to. Can I ask this question? Compensation for the trade or compensation? compensation for me. Well, let's start with a trade. Okay, so the Saints, for instance, Denver doesn't have a first because they gave it up for Russell. So I'm not sure even how, would that make that problematic? No, look, I think each team would be a little different. Mickey Loomis and I've talked already about it. I think ultimately the compensation for the Saints would be a mid or later first round pick.

Okay. Now, we can arrive at that in a lot of different ways. I think Denver has a pick. They acquired back when they traded. It's the 49ers pick. Yeah, so they have that. Okay, you're right. So it's end of the first round.

You're right. Yeah, but each team's got different ammo or different pick selections. And, you know, it could be a future one maybe where you have to throw in something. I say this because I know Mickey well, and I heard him talk the other day. and he was right on and I think I am too. He's got a job to do as a general manager with the Saints and he'll get the right compensation and I'm sure the team, if it gets that far,

we'll arrive at it. And it's probably this year, it would probably be a mid to late first round pick, I would say. Now it changes if nothing happens this year and we go next year, then that changes considerably. Do you believe, Sean, for years and years, I've had friends who coach,

and I say, why are you rushing back into it? To me, the two things that would matter, and I'm a novice, is ownership stability and quarterback. I could deal with, and if I don't know a GM, but he has a nice reputation, I'll figure that out. Sure. It doesn't matter who it is. You can get along with people.

It probably won't be Mickey Loomis perfect, but you can get a good guy. Ownership quarterback. Is that how? you view it. Yeah. Okay, those are the two biggies. Yeah, I'd start with ownership and just the, because, look, you know, finding both, you know, generally speaking, if the quarterback is there, they're probably a team that's

playing well, generally speaking. And so the teams that have openings, I'm not going to say are broken, but they've had problems. That's why there's an opening. Right. And so I think that element. is critical, the ownership element and philosophically, you know, because there, and I've said this, and I hope it's not looked at as an indictment on certain teams, but there are

a number of teams, it's hard to win in this league, and it's certainly harder to win in this league if there's internal problems before you even play an opponent. Right. Let's say, let's say it's a bad, okay, Texans, it's a team that's got, they've got to find a quarterback probably. Are you willing to consider that if you... Absolutely. Here's why.

And look, I think I know the ownership group not very well, but we practiced against the Texans in New Orleans four or five different times. So Cal McNair, his late father, we'd see them. And so I don't know them well, but I know them. When you practice for three days with an opponent, you get a chance to meet a lot of the different personalities and people involved in the building. They've got really good draft capital, really good draft capital. Couple good young players. They're in a division that you can at least look at and say, all right, Indy, Tennessee, Jacksonville is nothing.

But you can at least, all right, how do we? So I think there's growth potential immediately there from their two or three wins. that they had this year. I know Nick a little bit, Casario, because again, when he was in New England, we had a lot of practices with their team. So each team would be just like we're having that discussion. There'd be pros.

That's the significance, though, of the upcoming week or two, of meeting some of these individuals asking some questions, maybe some difficult questions, and trying to get answers so that we're not having difficult questions when you've already taken the job? You're year away from football. One of the things I've noticed, and I've noticed this over the last six or seven years, fewer huddles, worst clock management.

That jumps at this weekend about seven. Not good. Is there anything that you've viewed from Fox, your perch down, and said, you know, this is one thing I'm going to take with that? me that you're on that treadmill. As smart as you are, sometimes when you're on the treadmill, stuff flies by and you don't see it. What has been your big takeaway watching the sport and not coaching it?

Yeah, I think the value on field position and understanding field position relative to points, Parcells taught us that all of us, you know, when we were young coaches, you know, If you really did a study, 100 yards equals seven points. And so the hidden yardage in games, you see from afar how valuable that is. And sometimes how it's in a lot of cases not given its appropriate value on game day. In other words, coaches, we spend a lot of time talking about analytics. And what are the two things? When we bring up analytics, we talk about two-point plays and fourth downs.

And there's so much more to analytics. You and I were just talking about play sequencing. You know, good offense oftentimes is making a first down before they ever get to third down. So in the CFL, you have three downs. Yeah. Right. So, you know, that's CFL stat, it's important. I want to know how we're doing on first and second down.

How many times are we gaining a first down on first or second down? It's CFL numbers. I saw third and 15, 20 times this weekend. Yeah. Play behind the change. It's over. And the funny thing about third and 15, when it's third and four and you're on the headset, you hear six voices. Everyone has a play.

When it's third and 15, it is like cricket. You don't hear one suggestion. Anybody got an idea? That is funny. But it happened. Third and long. I'm trying to think of the game. and Tony Romo had the game and he called it.

And I think it was Baltimore. I'm not sure. What game did Tony have this weekend? Anyway. Oh, Tony had the Buffalo game. And it was Buffalo playing Miami. And Miami throws a deep interception, third and 15 when it should have, you know, coming out, backed up. I agreed with him there.

100%. Run a draw. Improve your field position. When you're backed up, the rule of thumb is two first downs. you go back to a neutral field position. So if you're on your own five and you're forced to punt advantage defense, right? Because they're going to receive the ball midfield. Two first downs puts it to a neutral field position.

Right, right. Back to where the game started, if you will. And we as play callers control so much with what the quarterback may do. And so if you call an aggressive play. 30 left. Yeah. Yeah. An aggressive play like that.

Then it's intercepted and that happens in the red zone. That was a tough down for him. To your point, Baltimore and Miami, it was just the little mistakes on clock management. It's amazing who won and lost this weekend. It could be completely different with better clock management. Sean Payton, what a great second hour. He's got to go to Zoom and talk some of these teams.

Back in a second. Thanks. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Oden, Kirk 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. 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. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw unfilled 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 Podcast Network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human