The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 3 - Brock Purdy, Justin Fields

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

In this hour of The Herd, FOX Sports NFL analyst and broadcaster Mark Sanchez joins Colin to break down what went wrong for San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy on Monday night, whether Chicago quarterback Justin Fields can be fixed, Denver quarterback Russell Wilson being benched, and much more. Finally, Super Bowl champion and former Denver Bronco Mark Schlereth drops in to opine on the benching of quarterback Russell Wilson and what it means for this Bronco team moving forward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, here we go. It's our number three live in Los Angeles. It's the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. By the way, props to the people in the back.

Somebody bought Dove Dark Chocolate. It's my like one sweet I like. How nice is the staff? I went to the person and said, where'd you get these? Because I know you like them. Who does that? Wow. I'll tell you.

that kind of service of the other place. This Fox delivers dark chocolate. Well, this person specifically. Can I put in a request for like Swedish fish anytime? No. People like me at a different level. Yeah, it's called The Herd. The Herd gets that kind of treatment.

That's just the way it is. Fair enough. By the way, Russell Wilson is going to get benched last two games. We got Mark Sanchez, Mark Schlerth, who does a radio show, popular radio show, number one radio show in Denver's going to join us at the end of the hour. So we're going to touch on that stuff. It's a real thing. Sean Payton benching him.

A lot of it's contractual. He can't get hurt. They owe another $37 million. So we'll deep dive on that. It's the very beginning of the story. It's not a shock. What's his market? We'll deep dive.

We'll get a reaction from Denver because I think that's really, really interesting. So, you know, there's been a lot of talk about the MVP race. And I've said nothing against anybody else. But I thought Lamar Jackson, arguably the favorite, after his performance, Monday night against the Niners. Lamar Jackson is easily the most influential NFL player this season. Ask the bosses. Ask people who have chased him around the field.

Ask Fred Warner, who was neutralized for the first time this season. I'll give you Aaron Donald. Offensive linemen are terrified for 10 years of Aaron Donald of the Rams. Terrified of him. He is never singularly blocked. Double teamed on every snap. even today, often triple-teamed. So his stats have to be contextualized.

He's not an edge rusher who occasionally gets chip-blocked. Interior linemen scared of Aaron Donald. How many sacks is Aaron Donald all these years gotten players on his offensive line? Vaughn Miller sure seemed better as a ram briefly as a bill, didn't he? The Rams have two rookie defensive linemen. Third rounders, not first or second. They're having really good years because of Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald is the most impactful defensive player for over a decade.

People are scared to block him. Everything starts with double teams. There's video on the internet of triple teams. And that's Lamar Jackson. You ever notice the Ravens running game is always good? What are they on? Their 13th running back this season? They're 28th in the last four years.

years, but it's always good. Why is that? Because the threat of Lamar Jackson on that handoff keeping the ball paralyzes defense. Linebackers get humiliated by him. Years ago, Chris Spielman, a friend, a broadcaster, a former NFL great, told me, when Barry Sanders broke into the lions, Chris Spielman, who's one of the most dominating college linebackers I've ever seen, maybe the best college linebacker ever, said he would watch. He would watch. Barry Sanders, a rookie in line and count. Oh, do I have to go up against Barry Sanders? And Chris said, he would humiliate you.

Pro athletes have egos. They don't want to be humiliated. Lamar humiliates you. Aaron Donald humiliates you. That's impact. The Ravens are the number one rushing team in the league this year. Ask the Niners. And it's not because of Gus Edwards.

they've missed key offensive linemen. They're on their third running back. The Ravens are always perpetually on their third running back. I looked up stats this morning and it's remarkable. Speaking of the words, I just simply asked you to consider as a media member, influence and impact. Lamar Jackson's impact on the Ravens since 2019, when he plays, they win 52 of 72 games and they average 28 points.

In the AFC, in that division, with the Steelers defense, the Brown's defense, pretty good defensive players. Miles Garrett's been around a while. T.J. Watt been around a while. Average is 28 a game. When he does not play, they're a BB gun. 17 points a game and a losing franchise, 4 and 9. I'll remind you, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys,

Dak got hurt. They went 5 and 1 with Cooper Rush. 4 and 1, 5, and 1. They won. that's not how it works in Baltimore. Brock Purdy? Let me use the word influence again. Jimmy Garoppolo got to a Super Bowl and Brock Purdy got to an NFC championship.

The influence in San Francisco, bra, it's the coach, not the quarterback. Stop telling me about stats. Lamars are good, but it's his impact and his influence and the fact that he paralyzes Fred Warner, great linebackers, are neutralized. Fred Warner dominates games every Sunday. One of the best linebackers I've ever seen. Erlacker, Ray Lewis, Fred Warner, he plays Lamar. He looked kind of pedestrian.

That's what Great does. That's what LeBron does to KD. It's what Michael Jordan did to great players. They looked average. MVP, stats and production, to be considered. But influence and impact are even more important. And the Ravens collapse without.

Collapse. With John Harbaugh as a coach. With good defenses, excellent front offices, great ownership. They collapse without Lamar. The Cowboys win with Cooper Rush. Niners, Garoppolo Purdy and win games. I'm not anti-anybody, but I am pro-Lamar Jackson, watch the games.

All those Hall of Famers on the field. Lamar was easily the most impactful player. Easily. Here's his star linebacker who faces him every day at practice. If anybody watched the game, if anybody watch football this season and watch the Baltimore Ravens, they know for a fact Lamar Jackson is the MVP hands down. If anyone that watches football and know football and see the type of impact he has on the game, not even like stat-wise, but just individually like the plays that he make quarter in and quarter-in and play-in and play out.

Compare his film to anyone else in the league, and then I would love to hear what anyone else has to say after that. Thank you. I want to talk about the Miami Dolphins. Apparently they're very upset in South Beach. I have not given them the respect they deserve. So I was thinking about this. Let's take a profession. We were talking about media.

Let's say sports writer. And let's say for 23 years you were a sports writer. Not necessarily terrible, but average. Didn't win a lot of awards. Nobody really talked about you, feared you. And then one week you write a really good column. Finally. And you demand.

man to be respected for that column. That's the Miami Dolphins. 23 years is the last time you won a playoff game. 23 years of nothing remarkable. This past weekend, you didn't win a Pulitzer, i.e. a Super Bowl. You didn't even win an award, i.e. a playoff game. You beat a Dallas team that's talented, but strangely bad, on the road.

You're super high-powered offense, which you're so proud of. Let me see here. Generated a single touchdown. And if not for a bad exchange at the goal line, Cowboys go up 14-3 and probably win the game. Miami is constantly seeking validation and respect. Let's give us some credit, Colin.

That's Visa, MasterCard. It's not my job to give you respect. My job, to be honest, you have a singular playoff when in 23 years won. You beat Dallas at home. And I do like your physicality. That part of Miami, a lot of Miami teams are just flashy. Bradley Chubb, Wilkins on the inside. You're physical.

I like that, Vic Fangio. But you haven't won a division since 2008, a division. And that was because Tom Brady got hurt or he would have won it again. You have, according to, percent. This is not my opinion. You have played the easiest schedule in the league. And you finally beat a team with the winning record at home, and you want everybody to do backflips.

I like your hipster coach, too. And you have really fast receivers. And I do think your physicality is finally legit. But even in your own division, which Josh Allen has owned since year two of his career, I looked this morning, the last nine times you've faced Buffalo. You're one in eight.

So you can't control your division. You can't win playoff games. You've been really unremarkable for 23 years, but you wrote a really good column, and you need to be respected. How about a add-a-boy, and we move on. Ad-a-boy, good column. You're paid to do that.

Let's move on. It's okay. I like Miami. Two is a great kid. Minds me a DAC. Don't love him as an A-plus quarterback, but a leader can throw the ball accurately, humble, good kid. The hipster head coach, I like him too, super smart, clever, creative, a lot of motion, very Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan-ish. You have some really nice players. Jalen Ramsey, Bradley Chubb. Wilkins on the defensive interior. I mean, Tyree kills crazy good. Jalen waddle's a bit inconsistent, fast, but I like him too.

O-Lines a bit of a mess, but Austin Jackson's always had talent, the USC kid. Vic Fangio, Mike McDaniel, good combo. You're going to win a playoff game. But one in eight last nine against Buffalo. No playoff wins in 23 years. Mike McDaniel against winning teams is one in three, minus 47 point differential. And he's crushed bad teams.

Sunday was a out of boy. And nothing more. No credit given, that's Visa. No validation. Look elsewhere. You still make the herd hierarchy, but if you play Dallas again, I'd take Dallas. And Vegas probably would too. And that's okay.

But if you haven't done anything remarkable in two and a half decades, I'm not doing backflips. All right. Mark Sanchez, he's got tape on Purdy, on Justin Fields, and thoughts on Russell Wilson. Good stuff. Don't go anywhere. Mark Sanchez next. I have a great parley for you this weekend. Thanks to Drafking Sportsbook.

New users use the code herd, H-E-R-D. That's me when you download the app takes about a minute. Now for my parlay pick of the week via Draft King Sportsbook. Cowboys at home minus six against Detroit. I like Detroit, but they're hot and cold. Never as good on the road. Cowboys have to get good and get right. I'll take them to win by a touchdown.

Steelers plus three and a half at Seattle. Let's be honest about the Seahawks. They've been outplayed and won the last two weeks. I'll take the hook at three and a half Pittsburgh. Broncos minus five hosting the Chargers. Listen, it's the season. Russell Wilson may get moved out of town. If he plays poorly again,

I get a coaching and a quarterback edge at home, Broncos minus five. If you want to take the herd parlay, check out Draft King's Sportsbook. New users, the code is heard when you download the app. 21 plus in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. Gambling problem.

Call 1-800 gambler in New York. Call 8778 Hope & Y or text Hope and Y for 67-369. See show notes for full details. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

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

I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper 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

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Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we got good stuff.

By the way, Mark Sanchez has the Rams at the Giants game. Rams are going to. to be a playoff team, but Philadelphia found out the Giants, they can push back. And Tyrod Taylor now has been named the starter, who I will argue all day. You can win a lot of games with Tyrod Taylor. He may be the best backup in the league. I like Tyrod Taylor. So I think that game with Mark Scott this weekend is going to be very competitive.

And they have to travel. West Coast team travel in East. Watch that game with Mark. Rams Giants will be, I think, pretty tasty. So I want to address three things, and Mark brings gifts. Mark brings tape. We like that. So let's start.

Brock Purdy, Mark, all the great ones, Brady Mahomes, you have these Sundays or Mondays. It goes sideways fast and it just snowballs. Your thoughts on what you saw with Purdy. Well, I think most importantly, there were four interceptions that you got to get, you got to get to the truth of what happened. Was it a bad decision, a bad physical throw or a bad read? Two of them, one of them is getting hit, trying to check the ball down, being conservative, trying to get it to McCaffrey. At that point, the O-line had done a full shuffle, like a line change in hockey. They got a bunch of new guys across the board and he gets hit while he's throwing.

Those ones you can't control. I thought that one was fine. The one where it gets tipped, like the Manhattan Beach volleyball tournament, I mean, bump-set spike, what are you going to do? Sometimes guys make really athletic plays on defense. I'm almost, you know, okay with two of those. It's the other two that are very uncharacteristic, the one going out of bounds, extending the play, trying to throw it back across your body. And we see guys do this. We see Mahomes do it. We see Lamar Jackson do it.

It's a cardinal sin unless it works, right? And as soon as it doesn't work, everybody's like, oh, you can't do that. But nobody complains when Lamar does it, and it works. So the other one was down near the red zone. And this is a play that we have some really good tape on. So go ahead and roll the clip. But it's basically double posts.

And Debo Samuel is kind of the decoy down the middle. And you want to hit Iyuk on the. the outside. So they pause it here and show the wide open part of the middle of the field. But really, Kittles got to be a little deeper on the right to hold Hamilton because once Hamilton, number 14, who intercepts the ball doesn't feel the threat, he has nowhere to go except follow the quarterback's eyes because it's zone and he's watching the quarterback. That was a tough one for me. This one is a little bit late, a poor read. This one, in my opinion, when he cuts this loose, he should have confirmed that they're converging on deep.

The cheese down the middle, let them take the cheese and rip that post to the outside to Iyuk. That's just old school West Coast double post. And if it doesn't happen in sync in rhythm, you got to get the ball down underneath. So that one was uncharacteristic of Purdy, but just a tough night overall. And we've seen the only time San Francisco has been vulnerable when Trent Williams is down and they got to play catch up and they're not running the ball as much. And it was all purdy. They lost a lot of plays on offense because of those four crucial turnoff. All right. You call Justin Fields and listen, he's made incremental improvements. Once again,

you bring tape. Your thoughts on him being a franchise quarterback, Mark? Yeah, I think Kevin Warren, who's now the team president, is going to have some interesting decisions. And we got into it a little bit in the broadcast. But, you know, do you keep the head coach? Do you keep the quarterback, the GM? Like, where does that start? Then there's a series of, of, of, questions you need to answer after all those. So it's a very long flow chart that he's got to get through. One of my biggest questions is, what are these last three games worth? Like, what is their weight? How much are you, are you weighing that in or factoring that into your future decision of keeping Justin Fields? Because if you look at his numbers, he's gotten better each year, as you just mentioned,

but the kind of game plan they had this past week is exactly the way you're going to have to play moving forward. If, so let's just play the game. They're keeping Justin Fields. He's your franchise guy. Well, you got to figure out if Getsi's a coordinator to get him to this formula. And it's similar to Cam Newton's formula when he went on his MVP street. Cam was around 60% completions. Okay, that's where Justin's at. Through 35 touchdowns, only 10 interceptions. Justin's thrown a few more than that, so you'd really got to cut back on some of those turnovers. He's only thrown for about you're like 240 a game even if Justin's at 200, 225, I'm fine with that. And Cam added on average 40 yards a game rushing.

My argument is you're going to get more than that from Justin Fields. If you rush him eight to 12 times a game, you're going to get around 50 to 75. Sometimes he goes for over 100. And when he does, you take it. And that becomes a huge part of your game. But you want him in that 20 to 30 range of throws per game. The rest you're handing it off. and the rest is zone read and stuff where design quarterback runs,

where he's shown to be explosive and dynamic. But the plays that have to be eliminated are some of these turnovers, especially down in the red zone. We actually broke it down on our tape, so go ahead and roll the tape. But this is a halfback corner route, and it's essentially for cover three deep zone in the red zone. So three guys deep, that middle safety and the corner, look at the halfback. He's going to run the corner,

and that outside guy's going to run the post. you're going to get somebody run into the flat and then the backside in route is like your scramble. But essentially this safety and the corner have to get taken with the post in your perfect scenario. In this case, the safety vacates the field because he has to spy Justin Fields. In my opinion, dude, just rip the post. That changes your read right there. It's outside leverage on a post route that is technically your number one. But in this number one, in perfect situations, you get the corner and the safety to converge.

you get a halfback matched up with a linebacker and you lob that thing to the back pylon because somebody's occupying the flat. But when it doesn't look like it does in practice, when it's not perfect and the safety doesn't do exactly what you thought, can he get to that next level and process it? That's my question with Justin Fields right now and getting the right coordinator to show him the looks in practice and in the offseason and explain these plays. Number one, what is this play designed to do? Okay, we want to get a good matchup with our halfback on a linebacker.

That's 100% win every single time we love that. Here's how we're going to do it. And here's how the defense has to play for us to do that when it doesn't happen. And instead of cover three, we get cover four. Instead of cover three, we get man to man with no post safety and a quarterback spy, which you have to get good at defeating Justin Fields because you're going to get quarterback spies. A lot because they're terrified to you because you're an explosive runner. now what do we do?

And what's my new checklist? What's my new order of operations and contingency plan? And that's where you take this kid to that level. Oh, my God. I mean, it's a little conservative in the past game, and that's fine. But you make up for it with the way he runs, with the RPO game. And there's plenty there. It's just, is that the formula they want to go with?

Somebody's going to do it, whether it's the Bears or somebody else, and that has to be the formula. All right. Wilson, they went and got Jared Stidham in the preseason, offseason, and Jay Mack and I said, that's a lot of money for a backup. You know, my take, Sean Payton had looked at film. He anticipated this would be a little difficult. It has been.

We've seen public outbursts. What do you make of the move? Sending him to the bench, obviously they're trying to make sure he doesn't get hurt, right? Yeah. Well, clearly with the contract, if he gets hurt, you know, Jay Mack said it right away. The contract's guaranteed. and they don't want to be on the hook for that much money. Essentially, it seems like a square peg round hole, and that's fine.

It doesn't always work. But moving forward with Jared Sidham, I don't mind that. We called their game last year. He took, let's see, the 49ers who were top scoring defense and top overall defense last year, through three touchdowns, took him to the wire in overtime with the Raiders at home last year, late in the season. I mean, this guy can play. and I think in a Sean Payton offense, it's going to be run heavy.

They're going to play action a ton. They're going to get them out on the move like you saw. This is going to be a good recipe for the Broncos who are still in the hunt for a playoff for them. I mean, if I'm a Broncos fan, I'm not, you know, doom and gloom over here. This kid can really sling it. And he showed it last year when he went over 300 yards in a game. I mean, we didn't know what we were going to see because he hadn't played since New England.

I mean, this kid can go. And with some of the weapons they have, we'll see how Cortland Sutton is and who's coming back and all that. But I'm not counting the Broncos out on this one. I think Sean Payton comes up with a really good game playing for a kid who's more than capable. All right. You got Rams Giants, a sneaky good game, one Eastern on Fox, West Coast team that's good, travels to an early game out east. Those are always trouble. By the way, don't have to spend too much time on it, but I'm sure you've already looked at film.

I've said this in the last month and a half. McVeigh would win, would have to be considered coach of the year. What he does with that offense, fifth round running back, fifth round receiver, fourth round tied end, an undrafted left tackle. I don't know what the film says, but when I watch them playmark, I see such a smart, efficient, well-run offense. Well, that's, you know, him devising the game plan with Matthew Stafford. And Matthew Stafford, not only does he still have an elite arm,

and he's shown that that when he's healthy, he can throw it with the best of them, if not better than anybody in the league still. And it's his processing. And the way he's now in his third year in this system, he's just, you could tell. He completely owns it. And he gets everybody on the right page.

They're using motion. They're using personnel. They're using formations to just steal information from the defense and then attack. The same thing I was talking about with Justin Fields, Matthew Stafford's at the complete opposite end, of his experience, because of his, you know, time on task and reps. But the biggest issue down the stretch for these guys, I mean, the defense has really started to hold up their end. But the problem is they just got to put these teams away. Yeah.

They've let the commanders hang around. Yep. They let the New Orleans Saints hang around. And they're finishing these games, but not the way they want. They're winning these games, I should say, but they're not finishing them the way you need to at the end of the season. And you let these teams hang around and hang around. It's the same thing. they did to Tampa Bay a couple years ago in the divisional round or whatever it was. You just kind of stick around and hang in there until the fourth quarter and then you find a way to manufacture a couple plays and boom, you win a game. That's my only concern.

This week's going to be, you know, going against a winked martinale defense, you're going to get junk front so everything's going to be different than you've expected. They're going to have a couple of blitzes, de jour, some plays of the day that you haven't seen before on tape to try and get a free runner on the quarterback and mix. up all your reads and slow down your processing. So this would be a great test for them. You mentioned the travel. All of that is going to factor in. But the way Matthew Stafford and Sean McVey have really gotten this thing going,

especially with a rookie receiver in Pooka and Kua about to potentially break some rookie receiver records, it has been impressive. So I'm excited for this one. All right, Mark Sanchez. Great stuff today. Purdy Fields, Russell Wilson, touched all the bases, brought tape as well. Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it.

So Jay Mack, one of the things he talked about with a. Rams, I keep telling you this, their special teams have been dubious at best. I know the Rams are going to get to the playoffs, and I know they're going to outplay somebody. You got to cross your fingers on special teams. The Rams are one of the, like they can go outplay the Giants for three hours. I've seen punch block, miss field goals. So you're on the Giants this week, huh? I just think the Rams going east with those special teams could be choppy weather.

Because they are out playing everybody. Back in your boy Tyrod Taylor. I don't like it. You don't like him? I think he's talented. Anyways. J. Mack with a news. No.

No. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I do like it. You love him. Let's start with Sean McVeigh and the Rams. They're currently the sixth seed in the NFC

and can clinch a berth with a win Sunday over the Giants and either a Seahawks loss or a Packers, Vikings, tie. But McVeigh wants his team focused on themselves. What I do know is true is that we've got to continue to focus on what we can control, and that's the Giants. But I'm very aware of all the things that are going on, but I do think it's important to not let that take away from the task at hand, because you can get caught up with other stuff and playing the what-if game. And it really, what I think the best thing this team has done, Gary, is they have focused on what they can control to put themselves in a position, even have the conversations that we're having right now about playing meaningful ball.

in December and up into January. This is a mild surprise to me. The Giants have taken a lot of money here. This was six and a half now down to four and a half. When I saw six and a half, I thought the Giants was one of the best plays of the week. Tyrod Taylor won't turn it over. Giants have a good defensive scheme.

West Coast team traveling east, outdoors, choppy. I thought the Giants was one of the plays of the weekend with Tyrod Taylor. All right. But now, now, the number now, I don't like the number. Four and a half. Right, right. Yeah, now I like the Rams. If it goes to four, I like the Rams, but at six and a half.

I thought the Giants was absolutely a strong play. I just know Giants' offensive lines been terrible. Rams playing out of their mind. Rahim Morris is scheming up some good stuff. Like, he's been awesome. And Wink Martindale likes to blitz. You can't blitz Stafford right now. He's out of his mind.

Puka, I just, I like the Rams a lot here. Next up, oh, this is a bummer, Colin. The Vikings announced that tight-end T. T.J. Hawkinson, who has been awesome? We'll miss the remainder of the season after tearing his ACL and MCL in his right knee Sunday. He was leading the Vikings in receiving yards, third among all tight ends this season in receiving yards.

It's funny. He's really good at hurtling defenders. Yes, he's great at it. He could not hurtle this guy, and he put the knee, I don't want to name the defender, put the helmet right on the knee. It was bad. Bad. And now there's some question.

Early reports are, they don't know if he'll be ready for week one next year. Okay? that's nine months away yet we were supposed to believe Aaron Rogers was going to come back in four months from the killies. Nobody believed it it was just part of the nonsense. Anybody who believed that clown?

Well, let's not call names. It's just dumb. He may retire and work at Fox here in six months. You don't know what's happening with Aaron. You think he's taking my job here? I don't think he won't. I'm not worried about that one, bro. You and him, you would never get along with Rogers. Well, I would push back on some of his stuff. He's gotten into a weird

conspiracy theorist that he thinks certain things are always true and not true and everybody's against this and that and it's he's really caught up on the whole vaccine. Hang out with Musk and Rogan. I haven't spent one minute worrying about vaccines. I took it. I don't care if you did. I think you should have. Wait, you got the jab?

That was what his response of it. Yeah, I did. Get over it. Yeah. And by the way, I got COVID and felt like crap for a day. I have friends that didn't take the shot, got sick and lost weight, and we're in a fog for a month and a half. It worked for me. Maybe it doesn't work for all people, but he's

obsessed with it. I just don't care. Not a flex. It's not, it's not, I don't believe in mandates, nor do I believe it's my business, what you do. I do think it, you, it wasn't just about me. It was about making sure I didn't give it to old people, but it's like, people that get

obsessed about that stuff. I'm like, move on. I never had COVID. I've somehow dodged it. I'm dancing in the raindrops over here, whether it's gambling, COVID, anything. I mean, I don't touch handrails. You know that, right? Well, I eat nothing but blueberries and salmon, so I wasn't worried about it, but I, you know, I still took the jab, as they know.

We'll wrap. We'll wrap up with history, Colin. The Detroit Pistons with some dubious history last night. They lost their 27th straight game. Monty Williams, I don't know what's going on here. Longest streak of consecutive losses in a single season, they haven't won a game since their home opener on October 28th. That's embarrassing. The Detroit Pistons are now 2 and 28.

Now listen, we like Monty Williams. He got a bit of a crap sandwich here in Detroit. Yeah, like what's he supposed to do with this? Cade Cunningham's a nice player. Yeah, he's supposed to figure out some stuff to Jaden, Ivy debacle, the kid who was at Purdue. Awesome. I had heard some stuff about he's not really a passer.

He wants to score. He's a rock. It's not a great fit. Yeah. And he's like been benched him. Now he's playing him again. I'm surprised you don't have more long losing streaks in the NBA because there's about six teams.

A spurs are one of them. They just don't have any good players. Washington are. How do they win? Wizards don't have any good players. He's not a good player. He's a flashy player. Here's the worst part.

If you look at the Pistons' schedule, it's a little difficult coming up here. Like, I think this might get to like 31, 32 straight games. And then it's like, ask yourself this. I don't even know what you do. Like, this is historic stuff. Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's, it's, I don't watch a lot of Pistons basketball. Boy, you're missing out. Bogdanovich, he played well. last night. Oh, he did. I did not bet on, I have not bet NBA regular season. Let me tell you you said, you know what? If you're betting Pistons games, you're probably rich and wealthy. You're going to save

Barts for New Year's Eve, right? I guess. Is that where you go? J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. Yeah, you go to oh boy, you go. Well, I'm going nowhere. We got to be, we got to do a show on January 1st,

right? Yeah, hold on. Are you calling it? You're going to get the South Beach flew on December 30? No, I don't do that. No, okay. I took a day off for Christmas, flew back, and it was fine. You want to pop into Vegas for a night and just me and you? You have a young guy energy.

You can do that. Now, your wife's out of town or something, right? I'm not, like, you're not even. No comment on that. You always want to have a good time and I can always tell the family's out east. So I got a whole pass. What's a big deal? Let's go out tonight.

I don't know about tonight. I might have something lined up. I'm playing pickleball. No. Boy, I know I've been reduced to getting beat by pickleball. No, no. I got the back injury that's flaring up. Have we talked about the MRI I got last week?

No, nobody cares. Have you gotten an MRI before, by the way? Nope. I'm in better shape than you. Wow. One of us doesn't try to be a pro beach volleyball player. It's pretty terrifying. Okay, Mark Slare, with Denver, Russell Wilson next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hi, this is Jay Glazer, and you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like HBO's ballers. What you don't know is for my entire life, I have lived in something I refer to as the gray, depression, anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer, where each week, while we talk about mental health,

I hope to describe it. Give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where day, Doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jette. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big time.

to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, he was on the air when the story broke. Mark Schlereth, former Bronco, great three rings, multiple Pro Bowls,

five years playing with John Elway. All right, let's start. You're on the air, end of the show, I imagine. The story breaks. What were you saying two minutes before the story broke, Russell Wilson's being benched?

Two minutes before, I was like, based on the contract situation, and based on the production versus what he costs, there is no way you can go forward with Russell Wilson being your quarterback next year. And so it was interesting because obviously you can sit there and talk about all the things he has done and all the things he's done in the past. But right now, what you're paying him versus the production that you're getting, those two things don't match up. They don't align. So it just was one of those situations where we were talking

about moving on from Russell Wilson and next year starting over again. So interestingly enough, and the news breaks and that's one of those things is you and I talk about, man, that's Manna from heaven right there. That's Radio Gold. Okay, so we've seen

a couple different times Peyton has indicated, hey, maybe I have to simplify the game plan. Maybe I... And what it's telling me is that Russell's not delivering on things Sean's preparing for. That's what that's telling me.

Am I wrong? You play this sport at a high level. When he says that stuff, we've got to simplify it. What's Sean saying? What was he saying there? That we can't execute the offense. We cannot execute the structure of the offense as it's intended to be executed.

Therefore, we have to simplify things. We have to throw the screen passes. We have to throw the bubble screens. We can't get the intermediate routes developed. you look at Russell Wilson, there are very few things right now that he's doing exceptionally well. And the other problem that you get into is oftentimes Russell perceives pressure and he's constantly escaping out of the back of the pocket. Therefore, he's creating pressures.

He's creating sacks. He's creating missed opportunities. I always talk about the anticipatory nature of throwing the football into windows. And we've seen this a lot with Tua, how he'll throw the ball and it'll look like he's throwing it right to his safety. All of a sudden, a ride receiver comes into the screen and snatches the ball out of the air. Those are things you don't see in the Denver Broncos offense. You see the design of those things. And you see receivers coming open into those windows.

But he doesn't anticipate those windows opening. And he'll just take off and run and try to scramble around and make a play. And so I can see and feel the frustration of Sean Peyton who wants to orchestrate an offense and a quarterback who can't actually orchestrate the offense that he wants to basically implement. So those are the things that are going on here. And just based on the lack of production and lack of offensive proficiency, I understand why they did it. Jared Stidham signed in the offseason. At the time, I thought, that's a lot of money for a backup. Do you think Peyton forecasted, looked at tape, saw some potential difficulties,

throwing between the hash marks? What did you make of Stidham as a signing? Because it was a little bit of a warning flag for some of us that saw it happen. Yeah, I think that you look at, I mean, you look at Stidham, and he had the one game against the 49ers when he played for the Raiders last year, that he really put some big-time offensive numbers up. And so I think there is that warning sign that, hey, man, here's a guy that I think I can develop into, you know, into a player or a quarterback who can

operate my offense. And honestly, that's what, you know, Sean wants. He wants that ability to throw the ball in those intermediate windows, to throw the deep in-cutting routes and things of that nature that Russell truly has never, he's never been great at. And he certainly hasn't done that this year. So, yeah, I suppose it probably should have been somewhat of a warning flag. But, you know, the need, and it's shown this year more than ever, the need to have that number two quarterback that you can plug in there and he can get you through a game or two or three or four. So, yeah, Stidham is going to be the guy and we'll see exactly what he has the next two weeks. And, you know, is that the decision you go moving forward into next season?

Do you draft a guy, try to develop a guy why Stidham takes over as the kind of the bridge quarterback, if you will? Now, I don't know if you have an answer here, but you know the inner workings of the Broncos as well as anybody certainly at this network. By getting rid of Russ, what you're saying is the GM currently, who Sean didn't hire, you messed up.

You gave up players. You gave up draft picks. It's not exactly a vote of confidence by Sean Payton toward the GM he inherited. You've got wealthy new ownership. Is there going to be a structural change at the top in your opinion? Yeah, it's a great question.

you're right. I don't know the answer to that. It just depends. I think one thing you see, when Sean comes to, you know, to Denver, he takes over as the guy who's making the major decisions, right? He takes over and rubber stamps the players that you get in free agency. And so he's going to be in charge of all that stuff. So if the working relationship with George Peyton is good. And George Peyton historically has been a really good, if you look at his record in Minnesota drafting guys in the second and third round that produce and become big. time players. That's kind of what he's been known for. So if that working relationship is great, Sean's going to have, you know, Sean's going to have the final approval in the decision-making

process. So if the working relationship is great, I don't think you'll see a move. Now, if there's somebody in Sean's past that he really likes that he really connects with, then I could see that move being made. But as of right now, I don't know that there will be a move in the front office. You know, the whole thing's interesting. Do you think Russell, has a market? No. I mean, what, like, what would the market be? I mean, certainly not at the, certainly not at the money that you're paying him right now. And, you know, ultimately he's older. He still is, he still is athletic enough to move and to make plays. But ultimately, there's a couple things you're doing right now as an offense. You're throwing the, the bubble screens and the

screen pass game, the swing pass game underneath. And then occasionally you're taking three or four shots down the football field per game. You know, on the play pass stuff where you've got seven, eight guys that are protecting and you're taking two man routes or three man routes down the football field. Those are the things you're doing right now where he makes the majority of the plays is off scheduled plays, where the majority of the problems show up are off scheduled plays, where he takes five or six sacks a game because he decides that he's not going to throw the ball or he sees a flash of color and thinks he's not protected.

And he creates issues that way. And, you know, I've said this before. I'll say it again. I said on my show this morning. I had never one time walked into a huddle where the quarterback said, broken play on, broken play on two, broken play on two, let's go, you know, break. It's not how it works. And so you can't operate.

you can't operate solely on, hey, let's throw a swing pass. And if that's not there, or let's throw, you know, a two-man route combination. If that's not there, just pull the ball, scramble around and make something happen. That's not a sustainable form of offense. And I think that's where a lot of the frustration has come to a head for Sean Payton. Such a good job on this. Mark Schleris, story broke on his radio show. He's got the Niners at the commanders, a bounce back spot for Brock,

we imagine, we think, although commanders can be feisty, West Coast team travel in these short week. Mark is always great, but we appreciate you stopping by late. You really added a dimension to our show, and I appreciate it. Not a problem, Colin. Take care, buddy. Yep, he's got Niners, commanders. Keep your eye on the commanders being feisty this week. So...

Are you stunned that he said Russ no market, Colin? I think... I could see a defensive coach saying, just get me a veteran who doesn't turn it over a lot. all win games. I think offensive coaches will push back on Russ. When Sean Payton's like not interested, it matters. Mike Tomlin, okay? I'm just hypothetical. We've seen Mason Rudolph, Trubisky ain't it, Kenny Pickett, eh. Why don't we take a flyer on Russ? Let's see. We get for Russell Wilson. At the right price, you're telling me Russell Wilson's on an upgrade over all three of those guys in

Pittsburgh? Yes, he is. But you, you'd have to scale back in some of your defensive, Great. The sooner the better, right? Yeah, I mean, Pittsburgh's one of the ones I'd consider it. They would have to move off Kenny Pickett. They are not prone to do that. Well, you're not moving off. You're, hey, Kenny, you want to win the job? Go win the damn job. Battle Russ for it in the preseason. If you win it, it's yours. We know he's not going to win it. I just, you know, Pittsburgh is different. You know, some cities are about tradition.

Pittsburgh's very much about loyalty and tradition. That's just how they're right. I'm not criticizing it. Haven't we been over this? Loyalty is a little overrated in sports. No, no, no. I like living in L.A. where Jared Goff gets to the Super Bowl and McVeigh is like,

not good enough. California. Garapolo, Super Bowl, not good enough. That's the California way. Production. We're all transplants. Loyal to what? High school?

Nobody cares. Did you just come up with that? I like that. Well, I mean, Pittsburgh, when you go to a party in Pittsburgh, you talk about, hey, where'd you go to high school? In L.A., it's like, where do you work? What do you do? Who's your agent? That's hard.

No, I mean, it's just the re-you go to St. Louis. I had a buddy that worked in St. Louis. You go to a party. Where'd you go to high school? I've never once gone to a party in L.A. And anybody cared about high school or college. Who's your agent? What do you do?

Where do you live? What do you do for? What do you have against St. Louis? I got nothing against any of it. There are certain markets that are very loyalty-based. St. Louis. Pittsburgh. You know, it's the middle of the country. Midwest.

Loyalty matters. Those are good people. Yeah. I'm just saying Pittsburgh's very much about we take care of ours. What about the people out here? They take care of themselves. You know what they say about L.A.? People that moved to L.A. thought they were too good for their hometown.

I always love that line. So whatever. And I'm not criticizing any of them. This is an interesting risk. But I live in L.A. and I prefer that over St. Louis. Nothing against Cardinal baseball. Ted Drews, steak and potatoes. Nothing wrong with any of that.

If you open the show with this one day, this take, they're coming for your neck. Like just hearing it. St. Louis people have to be just devastated. Devastated by what? Did I rather live by the beach? I like St. Louis. I've been there once. I have relatives who live there.

It's not an indictment of St. Louis. It's like the Dells in Wisconsin. I like the humidity in the summer. Many don't. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your performance.

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

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway 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 AHA radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.