The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Jason Garrett, Patriots, Saints, Kyrie Irving, & the Blazing 5

Episode Date: November 29, 2019

Filling in for Colin, Doug Gottlieb discusses how much the Cowboys problems are because of HC Jason Garrett and his future, the time for Patriots offense to improve, if it would be wise to rest some of the Saints players, Kyrie Irving's comments about not showing up to the Nets-Celtics game, and his personal Blazing 5 picks for the weekend. Guests include Ryen Russillo, Jane Slater, and John Middlekauff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played. with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast what's up guys

this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker this linebacker walks up to me he goes a ref my mom wants you to wave at her what Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to The Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching herd.

Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is the herd. Happy Black Friday to you, wherever you may be, and however you may be making as part of your day. I'm Doug Gottlieb. In for Uncle Colin, Colin Cowherd. Oh, man.

I feel like, I feel like Hash Brown's at Waffle House. I'm smothered, covered. and just oozing with food coming out of my pores. I hope you, like me, had a great Thanksgiving. And now we get back to sports. You know, it's interesting you have children,

and my son is 10, and though he's played sports since he's entire life, he hasn't necessarily watched or kind of gotten into sports. And last night, or yesterday, we were watching the Lions play, and he was just like, lions and bears. every year and it's never good and I was like dude you're 10 you have no idea you're not wrong but every

year and it's never good it was an amazing epiphany that the young lad had last night I would also say that smoked turkey beats fried turkey beats baked turkey feel free to discuss amongst yourself but we don't need to get into the pleasantries

we don't need to get into the whole discussion about food or past that if you're listening to me you're either on your way to trying to get a deal, maybe going to see a ball game, maybe trying to get out of hanging out with family, or maybe you're waiting in the car while someone else is doing some shopping. Either way, we have a great show for you today. Let's start where we, I think, are almost obligated to begin, not just because Colin would talk about the Cowboys, but because everybody's talking

about the Cowboys. And it is fascinating that the Cowboys. the bills won the game, right? Like it was a no doubter from about mid to late third quarter on, although I will say that there was this sense, and it's really interesting. On one hand, everyone wants to tell me, or many of Jerry Jones, many others want to tell me how talented the Cowboys are on both sides of the ball. And yet, when they're down two and a half scores late, right? when they're down 19 points late

and they're in field goal range and it's fourth down, oh, you have to go for it here. You got to score a touchdown here. And I was just thinking to myself, why? You have the entire fourth quarter. You're playing at home.

You're supposed to have this vaunted group of talented offensive and defensive players. It's almost like, based upon your reaction or overreaction to that moment, which Dak Press got through an absolute scud missile at the feet of Ezekieliot on fourth down. And I didn't think Zeke was going to find the end zone. I understood the play design and everything that goes with it. But the point is simple. I know Brett Maher missed two field goals.

You could have taken the easy field goal and then said, hey, we got the whole fourth quarter to mount two touchdown drives with a quarterback who I've been told is going to sign a deal up there with the richest. among the history of football. Like, that's not a crazy thing to think about. But alas, the Cowboys, regardless, are 0 and 5. And after the Bills get their first massive win of the season, they had the Patriots, only their quarterback got knocked out. They played a really soft schedule in a really crummy division. That should have been about the bills.

But instead, because it's the Cowboys, because it's Jericho, because they had their chest out thinking they're a Super Bowl team, because they bowed at the feet of Ezekieliot and gave him the big contract, because Dak Prescott got a still unsigned in terms of his future contract, because Amari Cooper wants a new deal, but because mostly it's the Cowboys and Jared Jones, the Cowboys are 0 and 5 against teams with a winning record, and Jerry Jones is now left to defend Jason Garrett.

I know Jason very well. I've had a wonderful opportunity to spend a football life with him, so I know him very well. You know, without a doubt, you've seen it. Nobody is, wants Jason wants it to go. And I'm going to tell you this right now. He's got my back too. I don't even understand that he's got my back too.

I think, he keeps, Jerry keeps like using the wrong, I don't know, it's not tense, but possessive, you know. Like instead of saying Jason's my guy, he's like, I'm his. guy. That was a couple days ago. Now, he's got my back too. I don't even know what that means. I mean, I guess it means that he is okay with the criticism, but I doubt he's okay with the half hour stand-up, kind of impromptu press conference after every loss that seems to have to defend his right to go to work the next day.

Look, who you are against winning teams is a lot like who you are on booze, right? like did you and it seems to be more Christmas family gathering than Thanksgiving family gathering although you know you do wake up from that trip to fan induced nap you feel full and you're like man I can really use

a cold beer to watch some of these football games but anyone who's been around friends who drink right what do you always say like happy drunk happy dude angry drunk angry dude it's the same thing with football teams. Who you are against the good teams is who you really are. Just a level of competency against the bad teams,

which for the most part the Dallas Cowboys have shown, the Jets obviously is the example. That doesn't tell us anything about who they are. O and five against winning teams, no forced turnovers in the last four games. Dak Prescott, seven touchdown, seven receptions, one fumble against teams with the record above 500. Like, that's who he.

He is. That's who he is. And yeah, you can pick out, you can pick out a stinker from Aaron Rogers this year, you know, against the Niners, for example. You can pick apart Russell Wilson having a statistically off a game or two. But who you are against the good teams is who you are. How you act and how you feel and how you treat others when you drink is who you are. Take a listen to Lewis Reddick for me.

SPN on why he thinks the Cowboys can't win against good teams. Defensively, I'll say this. For a football team that has paid a primary pass rusher, they have Robert Quinn who kind of supplements to Marcus Lawrence, who we constantly talk about, have three of the best young linebackers in the NFL. Sean Lee, Leighton Vanderas, Jaylin Smith, is through it three of the best.

In big moments when teams really try to bloody their nose, these guys shrink. But that isn't coaching, those are players. So I'll tell you what, it's kind of a, it's in totality. It is better coaching. but these players have to step up too. Yeah, I mean, look, it's the entire culture of the place is screwed up, right? It's a culture of entitlement.

It's a culture of, man, we were really good last year, and now we're even better this year because we were not injured. You know, like, look, the Cowboys, when was the last time they had back-to-back 10 win seasons? Go ahead, feel free, look it up on your phone. Right? I mean, I think it's really, really funny that people sit here and go like, wait a second. Wait, the Cowboys, they were good.

They were, they were, no. This is who the Cowboys are. They haven't had back-to-back double-digit win seasons since 1996. Because the way it works in Dallas is you have a good year. You get out of boys and pat it on the back and told how, special you are, how wonderful you are, and Jerry's so happy, throws more money at it, because more is always more when less is truly more. And instead of winning anything, they didn't win anything last year, right?

Like, the Washington Redskins went through four quarterbacks. Carson Wentz was coming, they were coming back from winning a Super Bowl and Carson Wins wasn't healthy, as well as the fact that they suffered a litany of injuries. The New York Giants were tanking and didn't know it until about mid-year. Like their division was arguably or maybe inarguably the worst in football. So yeah, they won their division last year. And yeah, they'll probably win their division this year. That didn't mean they're any good.

Go back and look, who have they beaten? But we've all gone into this whole like, the Cowboys are so great. They're so awesome. When the bills came in and just kicked their ass in their place. The bills are built with a great defense with a young quarterback who, if he doesn't see what he likes, he's just told to run it. You know, they run the football, they run a trick play, and they end up beating you. Are they great? No, but at least they can come in and beat somebody who's, beat somebody who's good, and do it in a way which shows that we think we're pretty good, but we don't think that we can just show up and win the game, the way the Cowboys do.

The entitlement of the entire organization, acting like they're going to, throw out great team after great team after great team, that they have more talent than anybody else. I'm like, look, dude, who you are against good teams is who you really are. Does Jason Garrett deserve every bit of the blame? We'll get to that. Plus, are the Saints the best team in the NFC right now? And oh yeah, by the way, Cleveland, a playoff spot is just dying to be taken. Does that be, does that mark? Colin is, Colin predicted and then jumped off the bridge on the whole March with this week schedule at the end of the season. My man, Ryan Rusillo joins us.

I have a little football chat. Plus, did you guys see what Kyrie Irving said about why he no-showed in Boston? Try and figure all that out. I'm Doug Gottlie. That's next in The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learn the hard way and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12

and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is CliverTaylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or we're at.

wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

I'm not worried about Polic. I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this. World Cup team.

And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Doug Ghalyib in for Colin on this Black Friday. I like the music, Black Friday.

Black Friday with Doug Ghaly here on the... Fox Sports Radio, waiting for Colin Calhard. Hope you're having a sexy Friday. Oh, man. All right, so now, like, now I guess it's cool to do the lights and the Christmas music. People get so amped about Christmas time. Can we do it now? Can we do it now? And hopefully your elves make a safe landing, a safe appearance at your house.

In the meantime, you know, the black. Black Friday, and then, of course, Monday is what's Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday brought to you by. I just, I love that we can do all this shopping all year long, yet we maintain that this is the day that we will give you a laptop for 15 cents, regardless of which, hopefully you're surviving it. Doug Gottlieb here in Fort Collins, by the way, broadcasting from high atop Oklahoma City. one of the few places on Earth

where people actually greet other human beings at the airport. At the airport. Yeah, I showed up Wednesday night and no one was there to greet me. Come on, listen, I kid ourselves. But there were actually people greeting family members at the airport and happy to see them

and happy to have parked and gotten out and taking their ticket. And you're just like, man, people in Southern California are you crazy? Do you have any idea what that sounds like? Take an Uber. But not only that, like the rare double dip in the Midwest or Southwest or wherever you can say, Oklahoma is kind of, it belongs a little bit to everywhere and to nowhere in general. But not only they greet people at the airport, but they actually go to malls still.

It's a very weird time warp than I'm in. Ryan Rusillo joins me. Check out his podcast, the Ryan Rusillo podcast. Isn't it amazing that like we joke about two Americas? I think the America that meets people at the airport and goes to a mall is different. in the America that you and I live in? I love the mall, so I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't say I didn't like the mall. I just said there's a general move away from most traditional malls.

No, that's true. I'll give you that. But it's just, you know, being in West Hartford every now and then, I'd be like, all right, I'm just going to go to the mall today to feel alive, and I wouldn't even buy anything. Now you are very, very much alive joining us in Southern California. Ryan Rusillo, join us. I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin.

All right. when you see the Cowboys and they get beaten, and wasn't a fluke, they're beaten at home by the Buffalo Bills, how do you react? That would surprise me. I really feel like, and I've done this recently, where if you go through every team, a lot of them you can be like,

hey, you know, this team didn't turn around. Like Cleveland didn't get better. They didn't start figuring things out. You know, they don't respect Freddie Kitchens more. I think that the schedule is going to get a lot of easy. I mean, maybe all those things happened by a byproduct of them winning more games, but Cleveland had an absolutely brutal stretch. So the reason I bring them up is that I look at Buffalo

and go, you know, they beat the teams they're supposed to beat, which is impressive in this league. And then, you know, where's that really good win? And then they had it. And Josh Allen looked incredible. So I think part of it starts there. But then when you look at Dallas having, what, five or six possessions on the other side of the field with zero points, like that doesn't happen. That's impossible.

And now it's this team that whether you wanted them to run it more against New England or throw it more on the stuff third down play before Zeeke had an incomplete pass a few weeks ago, you know, like you're sitting here going like when's Dallas going to go on this little, this run here? And I do think the talent maybe is a little bit better than you do, but I thought Troy Aikman on the Patriots call was really revealing in that, you know how it is. As the analyst, you don't really ever want to crush too many people. But when he was like, look, your special teams isn't ready to come up the field,

to field the ball when the Patriots have been kicking this thing short the whole time and you almost fumbled the kickoff, like I thought that was a pretty, kind of like a damning indictment that Aikman was like, look, I'm going to go here with this. So, you know, I'm never one to say, like, all these guys deserve you fired. I don't really like doing all that kind of stuff. But it's clear that this team, like, where's their really impressive win? And yet they still might win the division, Doug, because the rest of the division's all messed up.

Yes, and which would allow them to, you know, you get new life, you know, you play in the playoffs. I mean, like, look, Eli Manning, think about Eli Manning's two Super Bowl wins and what their actual seasons look like. And no one, no one even remembers that because of their march to the Super Bowl and the wins in the Super Bowl. so that that is out there for them. How accountable. Look, the special teams, and anybody who watched the game knows that Buffalo missed a field goal, a very makeable one, and an extra point as well.

So it wasn't like it was, you know, it's, you know, six points that left on the board and Buffalo did everything right. That said, the special teams has been a disaster. DAC on that fourth down throw was bad. Like, look, the trick play was a good one, but they struggled to stop the run against teams sometimes that run right at them. Let's start with Dak.

How accountable should he be for these losses? You know, at the beginning of the year, it's like, okay, this guy's going to win MVP and when can Kellyn Moore be my head coach, right? I mean, that's how we just lose our minds with this stuff. And it usually, you know, in the extreme ends, it isn't either. The really great or the really bad. But, you know, I don't really blame Dak. I really don't.

Like, I've always had a weird thing with that. Or I'm like, wait a minute, is he really this awesome? And then, you know, something will happen. and be like, okay, you know, he's still sort of in that seven, eight, nine range. You know, he's not top five, even though some of his stats would tell you he was top five, maybe even top three of points this year. They haven't gotten anything going offensively here, and I don't know if that's just because the bill's defense is pretty good

and the conditions against New England, and then they're going to go on some kind of run here. So I don't look at this team and go, oh, you know, Dax's the problem. To me, Dax the solution. Dax's the guy that, and I'm not even putting him in that group where, hey, he's MVP, or he's going to be better than, you know, 30 other quarterbacks. I think he's somebody you go, hey, we feel really good about our quarterback, and we know that for the next 10 years this guy's going to be behind center. He's going to make a ton of money, too, because it's not because of how great he is.

It's going to be because his deal is the most recent one. So I don't think it's on him. I think there's two things. You mentioned it with special teams. Special teams have been a disaster now for a while, and it's bad again this year. And maybe we do this. We look at their record last year and go, hey, that's a good team. That's a talented team.

They do it. They won every close game last year, like an unprecedented rate. And guess what's happening this year? In those closer games, they're losing all of them. So, you know, sometimes the results can trick us into thinking a team's a lot better than they are a lot worse. And I think they're probably a team that was lucky last year that's been incredibly unlucky this year. Unlike it this year. Yeah, I don't know if you saw this, but the bills have the second most missed field goals and extra points.

Like you talk about like a year where things go right for you, right? And then some of it is they played a lot of bad teams and bad teams missed field goals and missed extra points. They're bad teams for a reason. But like the bills are on the opposite side of that where they're having kind of all the, the luck go in their favor. By the way, I don't know how many people in America stayed up and watched because it almost, that was the greatest almost comeback I can remember in the NFL. The Falcons essentially recovered three straight onside kicks. The first one they're off sides on. Then they recover an onside kick. They go down, they kick a field goal because Dan Quinn. And then they go down and

they score and then they get an onside kick and they get it again with the ball down eight. Did you keep the television on and see the almost comeback? No. I would. was at a macaroni grill having Thanksgiving dinner. You weren't a macaroni grill. I swear to God, but. No way. Yeah, we had, we had some scheduling issues. It's all right, though.

I'm in Laguna. Everything's good. Everybody's having it right. All right. Fair enough. Ryan Rissilo. I don't want to be bumped out. I don't want to ruin everybody's Friday.

You're like, wait, you did, you did, you did what? True story. I only had one journalism class in all of college. it was, I went to junior college for a year, Golden West Junior College, and I wrote for the school newspaper, and I did food reviews, so I get free meals, and the first one I ever did was macaroni grill. That's how we can kind of bring it back together. I wanted to ask, but I don't want to get anybody in trouble, so we're not going to do it.

But I just, I feel like we need to update the rankings of like Bertucci's Olive Garden and macaroni grill. I just think that that's something that society, we all need to collect and get together and rank them in order. and I'm not doing it now because you never know who could be a sponsor. I don't want anybody upset at box. We have none of those are sponsors. I'll only point out that if I could get a penny back for every breadstick I ate at Olive Garden during my youth, I would have a lot of pennies. I would probably have a dollar.

Like how many bread, like the breads back in the carb era, you know, back in the 90s when we used to carve load the night before games, I mean, I used to, we couldn't crush a good Olive Garden, right? and the salad and the breadsticks and the unlimited pasta was kind of amazing. So I have a hard time at putting anyone above Olive Garden because of their salad dressing and breadsticks. Salad dressing is terrific. The salad is great, although they'll know, like, if you're one of those guys where you're just determined to get that second bowl, they'll short you on that second bowl. They're like, all right, we can get it. Like, you're making a point that it's unlimited salad, but, like, we're not just bringing you out a full salad bar again.

The one in Hartford that was near where we lived, I went to it one time. I said, hey, you know, where's the TV? And they were like, sir, this is a restaurant. I was like, okay. You guys are above having a television on this side of the restaurant. So anyway, that was the last time. Is there a guy who can replace Jason Garrett? Like, obviously if they lose early in the playoffs or they don't make the playoffs, he's going to get fired.

Like, does Lincoln Riley, is that a better job? I'm not totally convinced it's a better job than showing up at Oklahoma and having better players than the other team nine times in 10. And having an owner who will have his own press conference if things aren't going well. I can't see Urban Meyer saying I'm down with that. Like what happens? Has anybody actually thought what actually really happens if they fire somebody like Jason Garrett? Okay. See, I love talking to you about this because I think you understand it as well as anybody.

and I'm so thankful for all the years that I get to travel all over the country to go to these different campuses and meet different staffs and all the stuff. There are really simple answers after the fact, right? Like I could see Lincoln Riley, I'm not saying I know him, but I could see him going, why do I want to go to that? Right? Like, I'm a god here. I can coach in Norman forever.

And there's something for those of us that loved our college experience. There's a part of me to think, like, you know how it would be amazing? It's just to be able to stay, like, on the campus where you're, had your greatest years and be this icon and be revered and bring success to this community that wakes up, you know, every day thinking about your football program and then this religious experience on a Saturday. Like there's something amazing that. And it certainly isn't the difference in money because if you're one of these top programs anyway,

like it's so much money. But then guess what happens? We're always reminded that like coaches, somebody would say, hey, it's the Dallas Cowboys. Are you kidding? I want to see if my stuff works in the NFL. When I met Pete Carroll at USC, I could tell talking to him. I go, this guy's going to coach back in the NFL because he's so mad that he thinks that people think he's a bozo on Sundays. Chip Kelly, oh, he should have waited for a different job.

But you know what you didn't want to do? Not coach anymore. He wanted to go coach. So I think whenever these decisions are made, like it's easy after the fact to point to the root of it. But there's a real compelling argument to be made of when you're at one of these five destination programs in college football, that that job is better and actually has better security. And you're right. It's an unfair advantage when you're one of those brands and you're recruiting where there's times that I think like, look, if you were ever, not that I'm never going to be in that situation, but you do that thing where you're like, if it were me, if it were me, I'd have a hard time wanting to leave an amazing, like, just absolute runaway trained program in college football. And then you ask you saying, like how many times has it actually worked, right?

Like Pete Carroll, it worked, but he was in the NFL, you know? I mean, we were actually, this is actually a real discussion yesterday. Bobby Bertrino, is that still TBD? I mean, like, we just kind of go through it, right? I mean, even Jim, even Jim Mora, he's actually not Jim Mora Jr., but Jim Moore, the little Jim Mora, right? I mean, remember, he was coaching the Falcons and he was like, man, if Washington just asks me even during a playoff run,

I would so much rather be there than be here. And, of course, he nearly got his wish. But just to jump in, though, too, like, think about some of the guys that we know that have gone to the NFL. And then you'll talk to him and be like, the idea that I get to sit here and, like, send Valentine's to 18-year-olds, you know, 365 and you just go, like, I can understand how that's nauseating. Like, I don't want to sit here and tell every 18-year-old he's the greatest thing ever. But, you know, at the bigger programs, that's why you have a staff. Yes, you do. You do.

And, no, you don't want to go and tell these kids when, you know, some of them don't have a real chance of making the NFL. On the other hand, like, look, if you're not doing it. doing it to an 18 year old. They're doing it to a 24, 25 year old, right, who you feel full of, you tell them they're the greatest, and then they go to the front office and go like, hey, everybody here's telling me I'm the greatest. Now you need to pay me like I'm the greatest. You know, so there is, you're recruiting at any level. I'm with you. And in basketball, I think the move to the NBA makes sense because college basketball is kind of such a mess and seems to have lessened in terms of overall importance. No one really, it's not a destination.

just a way station on the way to the NBA. I don't feel like college football is that. It's especially at, as you point out, the very, very highest level. Ryan Rusillo joins me. You can hear his show on his podcast on the on the ringer. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin. This is the hurt. All right, let's let's quickly go to a couple more NFL and then we'll get to college football for a second. Okay, so to the Browns, you mentioned the benefit of schedule. They get a chance to see the Steelers with Duck Hodges as their quarterback, does the turnaround happen? Does this Brown's team figure it out and beat the bad teams in the back of their schedule and get to the playoffs?

Get to the playoffs? No, because I still don't know that there's enough with this team where you can say, okay, I know exactly what I'm getting. You know, we knew based on, I mean, that stretch, I'm off the top of my head, it's like New England, Seattle, the Rams and Ravens, four straight weeks or something like that, and you're going, who would, oh my gosh, like, no wonder they have all this doubt about themselves, right? But I'd have to see more, like, I just have to see more before I start looking at, you know, these projections going, oh, they have a 37 percent. They have this. I mean,

Dallas has that percentage a lot higher than everybody would have because Philadelphia's entire offenses hurt, you know, and Philly schedule is actually easier than Dallas as it goes up. So, no, I'm not, I'm not ready to just pencil them into the playoffs because I think it has everything to do with schedule versus me just going, okay, I know exactly what I'm getting out of the Browns on Sunday. I mean, they're probably still going to have a loss that doesn't make any sense. I don't think that should be that shocking with a young team. I have, like I've given into this Lamar thing that this year, that he, his presence, his playmaking, it's been amazing here the last couple of games. And the MVP thing in terms of value, do I think they have a great defense, a good kicking game and they're well coached?

Yes. But Lamar Jackson is a big reason why they're in the conversation as the best team in football right now. But are you a buyer into Lamar long term? Wow. That's a really good question because it kind of reminds me the McVeigh stuff a little bit. It's like if you just breathe the same airspace as him, now you're going to be the next genius head coach, and now we're seeing that he's having a hard time

because their offensive line isn't very good. And with Lamar, I was somebody that watched them all the time, and I went, okay, you know, I think there's some accuracy stuff on clean throws, which was surprising. You know, clean pocket, shorter throw, and he'd airmail it. And look, you don't have to believe me. Like, go back and read the stuff on the guys that are actually unbiased and just break down the film.

And they may have fixed that. I mean, even Eric Weddle in their first camp said it was pretty rough. It was rough to watch. And so I thought throughout the course of the year, it was kind of this energy thing, this spark. I mean, he's obviously – I think he's the best runner we've ever seen at the position. And I'm including Mike Vic there, which I know is blasphemous. But he was that impressive on Saturday. I mean, he's seriously always been one of my favorite college players I've ever seen.

And then he has that Chargers playoff game. You're like, yeah, is it kind of what I thought. So in the first couple weeks, it's throwing it deep over everybody. and then I thought Kansas City played him a little differently and gave him underneath throws. And I thought he struggled with that. I thought he struggled in that Pittsburgh game a little bit. And by the way, this defense was bottom third for a good chunk of the season. And now it's all like the defenses off the charts and their improvement.

Their rushing attack is incredible. They're scoring more points than like, I mean, you're going to go way back to see the kind of teams that they're surpassing point-wise. So I'm more open to it, but I just always think that there's a correction on the dual threat guys that is very predictable. that once teams get a little bit more comfortable with you, they start challenges to do some other things. But honestly, like, I believe in him that much as a guy, as a teammate. He's an incredible personality that, like, if there's going to be a correction on him,

maybe he figures it out. But right now he's making it look easy in a way that we haven't seen since Vic. Kyrie Irving says, you know, there's so many more, essentially there's so many more things that are important in his world than basketball or a real-life thing that happened to people every day. but could still have to perform for the NBA and its fans. I mean, it was just kind of some sort of long-winded answer as to why he chose to not show up in Boston.

He hasn't played in Cleveland either since leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers. What are your thoughts on Kyrie, no-showing when his shoulders hurt and they play in Boston? Okay, so to be entirely, like to protect myself and where I'm going to go here, I'll start with this. If this is a lingering injury, you know, injury where he's he's missing multiple games after these two very specific stops, then you're just like, look, he was hurt.

The track record here would tell you that this is because he didn't want to go back to Boston or maybe even Cleveland. He missed game seven of the playoffs, Boston, Cleveland, like didn't show up to the game because they'd said he had this surgery and it was like really hard to schedule at any other point. That's when I knew. I was like, this guy is checked out. Now, if you want to go back to the Cleveland divorce, the more you dug into that,

I actually, most, I think reasonable people would take Kyrie's side in the LeBron-Kyrie fight. Sure. Kyrie's like, wait a minute. Like, I got to, all the rest of us all have got to wait around for your moon to orbit here and for us to figure out, like, what the hell you're doing? Like, this is day-to-day on your terms. Like, I'm out. And anybody with an ego wasn't going to like that.

So the more I started to dig into that, I was like, you know what? I think Kyrie, even though I don't really love his personality, like, I get the origin of this whole thing. But, you know, you sit there and you post this stuff. And, of course, you're posting it while your team is losing. But a team that's a team that's, you know, actually had a better winning record here again without you, just like Boston did. And I always kind of resisted that a little bit. It's like, look, still a basketball team is better with one of the five best, or say 10 best shot creating guards.

I mean, he's that special at getting his offense. But you send out these posts and you go, what's the point of even trying to reason with somebody like this? Like this is, you almost like sit there as a team be like, hey, if we're going to get all cosmic about what a game is, could you tell us before we give you a max contract? Is there any way to do that? And the other part of his, the Nets are like, look, we still would have done it, knowing he feels this way because he gets us to rant. So I don't enjoy it.

One of my least favorite traits and personalities is I think I'm brilliant and you're not. And that's the thing. I think he's just, you know, when he went on first take it was like, oh, when you were very much woke, and you were like, what the hell is that quote even mean? Like, what are you talking about? So I've given up trying to figure him out other than I think he's a guy that every stop, there's going to be some real challenges there. And then, you know, every fan base sits there in the beginning,

and protects him and Boston fans did the same thing. And, you know, Brooklyn fans are doing it now and like, oh, you don't get it. You don't get it. And you're like, no, no, you don't get it. Like, he's going to do this everywhere he goes. He's just a different guy. And it doesn't always mean he's a great teammate. Yeah.

And it's really, it's a, it's an incredibly unlikable character, characteristic to not only want to be the smartest guy in the room, but then to basically tell everybody else, you guys are dumbasses, you know, I'm so smart. I'm so much more about just basketball. Like, hey, look, that's great, dude. But we actually like to watch you play basketball. That's kind of the whole thing here. That's kind of what you get paid for.

I mean, imagine if I showed up to work, you know, doing the ESPN radio show. And on a Thursday, I'm just like, hey, guys, you know, what are these? It's just words. Like, I'm just, I mean, it's just words. No, it's actually more than that. It's actually more than that. You guys are listening to me. You want to talk about sports.

I don't want to talk about sports. I want to talk about politics or cars or like, yeah, that's great, dude, but you actually get paid to talk about sports. That's what you get paid to. Have you guys? I mean, do you know how much more important fracking is? Like, we need to be talking about that, not free agency. They'd be like, oh, you know what? Why are we not talking about the Yale Harvard protest?

The Yale Harvard protest is among the most important things, poignant things in all the world. We should talk about them because it occurred on a field. All right. Last thing. Will we have chaos in college football? or will it be the status quo and we fight over how good Alabama actually is? Oh, wow.

You know, LSU's in, right? Unless they were to lose this weekend, but I don't think that team has a letdown. I just don't think watching them in certain games, I'm like, this is not a let down team. And they got up 31-7 before then they let Ole Miss run all over them. So if LSU were to lose to Georgia in the SEC title game, I think LSU is still in the playoffs.

They still get in. They still get in. So, you know, Alabama has some work to do. I had somebody telling me, oh, they moved L. to two behind Ohio State. Look, the committee likes Ohio State a lot. They don't like LSU's defense, even though I think LSU's defense is a little, there's some deeper things you can dig in there to figure out, like, wait a minute,

are they just getting run over? Are they giving up a ton of points once they get up big? And that's what they're doing. But if LSU beats Georgia in the SEC title game and Ohio State wins a big 10 championship, are you really still going to have LSU behind them because you want Alabama back in there? So it looks like the Pact 12 is in serious trouble here. and, you know, for anyone that's ever arguing any of this stuff, like at the very beginning, the committee told us five years ago, hey, it's about the four best teams.

And that thing is going to change every year, like, how we think the four teams compared to the rest of the teams are comparing them to. And if a bunch of people sit in a room and say, hey, we think Alabama is better than Utah, are they wrong? Is it a conspiracy? Or is it just people from the outside arguing they're just sick of Alabama, and they'd like to see the Pac-12 because you get a chance. And I think Utah is really good, too.

It's just, you know, with the way the schedule worked out, you know, they're, they're not going to have an opportunity to have some of the wins of those teams in front of them have had. Great stuff. Ryan Rusillo, happy Thanksgiving to you, and happy Black Friday to you. Check out his stuff on the ringer, the Ryan Rusillo podcast. Good catching up, dude. Thanks, Doug. All right, I have a crazy idea for the Saints, and it actually makes sense if you think about it.

The question is, will they actually think about it? We'll get to that next time. Doug Gottlieb. This is The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway with me. your host and your favorite therapist,

Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

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

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, Famis. This is Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.

And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. After you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court,

and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the, iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Doug Gottlieb in for Colin. This is the herd. Fox Sports Radio, the IHeart Radio app or wherever you're listening to this show. Thanks so much. You can check out the Doug Gottlieb show daily, 3 to 6 Eastern Time, 12 to 3 Pacific Time on your IHeartRadio app, Fox Sports Radio or Fox Sports Radio.com. You know, I got a crazy idea. Ryan Music is my producer. He's producing today for the herd. Music, I do have some ideas. And by the way, we're

watching Texas Tech up 14 nothing on Texas, not discussed is what do you do with Tom Herman in Texas? Right? Like, did they give him another year? Do you make him change staff? Because this was supposed to be the Texas's back year. You ever turning starting quarterback and Sam Ellinger who everybody loves because of the type of kid he is and the type of leader he is? He's a junior. It's not like you have any hasn't been terrible.

but I mean and Texas obviously scores so you know they end up probably beating Texas Tech but they've lost two in a row they've lost three of their last four they've lost four of their last six if they were to lose a day you know they don't lose a day like five and four four and five in conference play okay anyway I have um music what do you think of my craziest here's just an idea that I've ever pitched to you is um craziest ones you've ever done Well, one that you pitched that everyone else sort of jumped on but never really came to fruition was like two years ago you said that the Jags should have traded Eli Manning, traded for Eli Manning. Never really happened.

But I guess you could consider it a hot take. That take was more than lukewarm. It was the Giants were 0 and 5 to start the season. It wasn't yet to trade deadline. The Jags were going nowhere with their starting quarterback and losing the team. Tom Coughlin was there running the Jacksonville. Jaguars. And of course, he respects Eli Manning. And even if Eli was close to being washed, it wouldn't have been better than Blake Bortals. And they end up sinking with the Blake

Bortals ship, as did the Giants with the Eli Manning ship. All right, that's decent. Here's one for you. The Norland Saints. And again, if you missed it last night, it was, it was honestly the craziest almost comeback I have ever seen. You're like, what is an almost comeback? You have to have watched what the Falcons all. You have to have watched what the Falcons almost pulled off, where they essentially recovered three straight onside kicks, one they were off sides on, but three straight onside kicks was kind of amazing. So they recovered two straight onside kicks, have the ball down eight, with three timeouts in under two minutes to go.

I think they got one first down on a penalty, but basically, you know, they couldn't protect Matt Ryan. And so the Falcons get back, excuse me, the Saints get back on the Falcons. The Falcons kind of bizarrely beat the Saints, and the Falcons were coming off their by week, right? Remember that? That was going back a couple weeks ago. And the Falcons took all their, like their offensive coaches, made them defensive coaches and defensive coaches and defensive coaches. And look, it should be pointed out, Taysam Hill gets a block kick. Tason Hill runs in a touchdown. Tason Hill is amazing. This is a good football team.

This is a New Orleans team who the last two years, last year, obviously, they feel like they lost on the blown pass interference. And then the previous year was in the dome where a rookie cornerback, you know, has his head down, misses Stefan Diggs in a tackle, and they lose in the Minnesota miracle. So the last two years, they feel like they were close. And this year, I would say as a team, they're probably better. They figured out that Teddy Bridgewater can still play. they continue to find new and inventive ways of using Taysam Hill.

Alvin Camaro went healthy, has an amazing impact on the game, and they get Drew Brie's quarterback. So here's my thoughts. San Francisco is on this death march, right, where they just played at home against the Niners. Now they play the Ravens, and from Baltimore, they got to go play the Saints on the road. Saints obviously are a team built to play in the dome and though New Orleans can really, really run the football and can really get after the passer, you would think some of that pass rush is, I don't know, nullified, but is more manageable because they're playing on the road.

Let's say the Saints beat the Niners. They'll be a favorite. They're at home. They get an extra day to prepare, like extra, excuse me, two and a half, three days to prepare. And they're playing really good football. Do you consider sitting, Breeze, and sitting Kamara earlier rather than later. Because one of the things that everybody talks about is, hey, you want to have your rhythm going into the playoffs. If they are to beat, let's say the Niners lose Sunday, and they beat the Niners.

Now they're a game and a half clear of the Niners. They're going to be the one seed. They're going to be the one seat. With that mind, do you consider sitting Alvin Kamara and sitting Drew Brees, or maybe Michael Thomas, he may set the all-time reception's record? But do you sit there and go like, hey, let's rest our guys here in these last couple of games sporadically, the Colts game, the Titans game, and have them come back and be fresh and sharp in week 17

so that when they're going to go sit an additional week for the buy, they haven't not played football in three weeks by the time they actually play football again. That is the proposal from Doug Gottliebink, right, is instead of always sitting week 17, say week 15 and then some more in week 16 and then week 17 use it like a third preseason game where you're playing your

starters half the game and just getting sharp and just getting reps and feeling good about yourself going into the playoffs. Be the sharpest, healthiest, readiest playoff team that there can possibly be. That's the idea. At Gottlieb Show is the Twitter handle. Feel free. Feel free to reach out.

You think it's a terrible idea or a genius idea, it's just an idea. The Patriots offense has been, I'd say ugly, right? And there are questions about whether or not Tom Brady still has it left in his arm to carry this team. I'll tell you why they have a great opportunity of coming next in the herd. 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. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the hard way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field

and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about, wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you

to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their

reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys?

This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart for Chip.

I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions.

If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be making it as part of your day, thanks so much. You're listening on Fox Sports Radio app. On the Heard Podcast Network. I'm Doug Gottlie, filling in for Colin.

My show, Daily, airs after Collins, 3 to 6 Eastern, 12-3 Pacific. You can download the podcast, also the All-Ball podcast. More informative podcast this week, we also have long interviews with personalities. That's All-Ball in the HARD podcast network. Still reacting to the Cowboys,

and they're embarrassing loss to the bills. It's not embarrassing that they lost to the bills. It's just that like, look, dude, at some time you've got to be a good team. And you didn't. Don't totally know what to make of bears and lions. I thought Mitch Jubisky did a lot of good things. Like long term, are you a big Mitch Jubisky guy? You don't have to be, but I don't think the bears are, one, dead yet.

And two, I don't think Mitch Trubisky is a terrible quarterback. I think there are things he obviously struggles with. Not sure they have as good of players as people believe they have. And I think there's been some confidence issues there as well as some health issues. But man, do people jump ship on you really, really quick in this league? And then, of course, the nightcap showed us that the Saints are, they're a really good football team. And there's a little of, I don't think they're Peyton Manning last year in Denver in terms of quarterback play. but Breeze is

I mean there is a lot of there's a lot of reputation in how we look at Drew Breeze instead of the actual performance and I think anyone who's reasonable who considers how long and how special his career has been would say the exact same thing they're a really good football team that has Drew Breeze

as opposed to what they used to be which is they had Drew Breeze and not a really good football team and that brings us to the Patriots now the Patriots have a big opportunity They're taking on a Texans team that you remember JJ Clowny, I mean, I mean, JJ. Jadevian Clowny, they trade away before the season began. Then J.J. Watts out for the season. So in terms of pass rush, they're not what they used to be.

17th in points per game allowed. 17th against the run, 25th against the pass. It's a game that you feel like can go either way. But, you know, look, Brady still wants to know he can score points and carry this team. Do we still have a fastball in us? Or do we have to find a way to just score a touchdown on a trick play, much the way they did was it a couple weeks ago before the Cowboys game?

Remember they're playing and they couldn't score and it took a Julian Edelman trick play double pass. You know, and now they have Manahman Sunu who can throw the football. Like, are you worried more? about the trick plays or the actual plays. And this is going to be a great litmus test for them, because they may get the Ravens again. And even if you want to say, and I would agree, that the Ravens, you feel like second time round,

will be far more limited in terms of their explosive plays and how they run their offense. You kind of figure some stuff out. We saw that last year. Obviously, they may be better this year. But the Ravens will, their dominant league scoring-wise, you would assume that will come back down to Earth a little bit. there's still the Chiefs.

And granted, they beat the Chiefs last year, and the Chiefs don't appear to be as good or as dominant as they were last year. But at some point, you have to have more points than the Chiefs. The goal for New England is to get to another Super Bowl, right? That's their whole thing. And just like we said with the Saints, like Drew Breed doesn't have to be great. They still have shown the ability to score points.

Patriots last three games on offense. 16 points a game, two touchdowns for Brady, one interception. One interception. It does feel like, it feels like, you know, a guy who's got that haymaker of a punch that you steal fear. Wilder, right? The heavyweight champion in the world, Deonti Wilder. He's not a great boxer. He's not.

On points, he was getting, he was getting beaten last Saturday night. But he still has that one massive weapon. Does Brady have the weapon? Brady's always been able to win on points. Brady's always been able to spray that football around. But one of the reasons he's been able to spray the football around is he still has the weapon that he can throw the ball deep, if given time in the pocket.

And on the short, intermediate, especially the underneath stuff, deadly accurate and makes the right decisions. That doesn't appear to be the case right now. whether his guys aren't winning, whether his guys aren't winning, or he simply doesn't have the arm or the line isn't, like all of those things that are working together well for other people aren't working,

aren't working for the New England Patriots. And you can only depend on that defense so much. Look, the difference in this team and the Jacksonville team of a couple years ago is that though Bortles had a big arm, Bortals has no reputation to fall back on. There's no level of faith in the locker room. Whereas in that locker room, no matter how poorly Brady's playing, he's earned the right to have all that sweat equity and say, like,

look, dude, I know he's looking old. I know it doesn't look great. I know he's not happy with the personnel. But he's Tom freaking Brady. He'll figure it out. That's what everybody is thinking. But at some point, don't we have to see them figure it out? Like we're sitting here being so super hypercritical

of the Dallas Cowboys because of their inability to beat the good teams. Go and look. You know, they beat the Cowboys 13 to 9, and they did so because of special teams. They beat the bills, but the biggest reason was probably the bills starting quarterback got knocked out of the game.

After that, they're loading up on wins against Eagles, not a playoff team. Browns, not a playoff team. Jets, not a playoff team. Giants and Redskins are awful. Jets, The Jets didn't even have Sam Donald in that game. The Dolphins and the Steelers, and of course they jumped on the Steelers week one of the season. Steelers did have Big Ben, but we're not ready for that game.

Like obviously the Patriots, because they've earned the right for us to believe in them, and they're in such a good play. They only have one loss in the season. You're like, dude, you're really freaking out of one loss? I'm not. But in the old winter is coming. Winter is coming. And at some point, Tom Brady has to show us that this offense has some level of aptitude.

and over the next two weeks they'll have a great opportunity against likely playoff teams that don't have strong defenses. Feels like the Texans will find a way to score and we definitely, we know the chiefs can score. But Brady's just been eh. And we're all waiting and assuming that he's got that fastball, assuming he's got that Deonté Wilder punch where he can show, oh, oh yes, they can still score. Can they? Can they? you can play well and feel better about your offense or you can have a supreme amount of doubt

right Brady's pouting in his post game press conferences can continue to grow I mean I don't know I think that I think we're going to study the Browns game we're going to study the Niners Ravens game as you've given that

that Niners coaching staff even more taped to watch, and they have a ton of speed on defense, which we're told, you know, is the key to, are they going to hit Lamar Jackson at the mesh point when he hands off the ball or fakes a handoff and keeps? Are they going to hit him? Sure, those things are interesting, and those are two teams you could see face each other again in a Super Bowl. But I don't know, I think this New England Houston game is fascinating. Fascinating. Houston's had a little extra time to prepare playing on Thursday night and beating the Colts. The Patriots have a two games. stretch in which at some point they got to show us against

average defenses they can score. And I think that game is super interesting. Super interesting. All right, keeping our eye on college football and all that's going down there as Texas fell down early to Texas Tech. And there's the Virginia, Virginia Tech. That's the last game. Bud Foster is going to catch, again, get a coach in the regular season.

So a ton of things going on in the world of sports. Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin. and this is the herd. It's gone from foregone conclusion that Jason Garrett is gone after the season, or excuse me, is it a foregone conclusion? Jason Garrett is gone. He's done. He's finished.

I have a thought on exactly why the Cowboys aren't the same team, and it was based upon a guy who was on that field last night. We'll catch up with Jane Slater. She enjoys it from the NFL network. Talking about Cowboy football next. I'm Doug Gottlie. This is The Hurd. Be sure to catch live edition.

of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing

over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done

enough because people scoreboard watch life becomes about wins and losses Steve burns Dustin Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person join me care games is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that

never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42.

Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Park. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip.

I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. the biggest decisions.

If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us.

Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast. You know, it's interesting. That was Cole Beasley's best game, right? I mean, that was his best game as a bill. 110 yards, caught six passes, one touchdown as the bills. Colbezzly's new team beat the Cowboys.

Doug Gottliebent for Colin, this is the herd. You know, it's really interesting. This was what Cole Beasley said afterwards. I'm just, I'm in a place. Coaches believe in me. teammates believe in me. They gave me opportunities to do what I do. I was telling everybody before the game,

I'm just glad I'm on the side. I'm on this side while we're here. So kind of fascinating, right? I mean, look, he's on pace for a career high, 847 receiving yards, 73 catches. He went to high school in Dallas. He's an SMU guy. What's fascinating is that the Cowboys are trying to figure out, why aren't we as good?

Why aren't we as good as we think we should be? And there's some similarities there to why Texas isn't as good as they should be in college football. Like Cole Beasley was a from nothing dude. Looks like, like should you really be out there with the big boys? Like you put Cole Beasley next to Michael Gallup and you're like, who's a better player?

Like, I haven't seen the tape, but Michael Gallup, sure it looks like a better player. Michael Gallant looks, six two, looks elegant, made a great catch yesterday, great leaping catch yesterday. But what made the Cowboys

kind of special was that they had a Cole Beasley, that they had a Dak Prescott as a fourth round pick. They had guys who had been told no. And it feels like now that they have this higher caliber. Did you see Ezekieliates show up at the game yesterday?

Shows up in a show, chaufford Bentley, which is beautiful. You open the door, it had blue leather seats in there. He's wearing a three-pe. He's wearing a beautiful blue suit. He's got some dude who's like, I don't know. I'm going to say 5-6, but probably in the 5-4 variety, who's like a white mini-mee of Ezekieli.

Like beard, mustache, the same thing. And he's his driver. He comes around. He puts on the coat and then make sure to brush off the shoulders. and you're like, just like people thought LeBron went Hollywood last year, that's kind of what seems to have happened with the Cowboys. And allowing Cole Beasley, who grew up in Dallas, who went to SMU, and yeah, he signed for what, four years, $29 million, not huge money,

but that type of crazy man in the slot who will do anything to win and it means something to wear that star, that's, that's, it's what he's talking about. I'm glad I'm on this side where dudes. believe in me. He's been told no enough where he's still trying to prove it. The Cowboys, I think in many ways, they like Jerry Jones, just thought we got the talent to just show up. We just show up and play. We're going to be, eventually it'll take. We just, we have too much talent. That's the feeling from Jerry Jones. That's the feeling from the players. And that's how they play. Then you got the Buffalo Bills and you got a bunch of, you know, you got Josh Allen,

everybody said it's too inaccurate. You got all these guys that many of them have been told no. Even kind of the fluky way they made the playoffs two years ago. But the bills are the punchline to so many jokes. He spelled it with four Ls because they went to four straight Super Bowls and lost and they weren't good for more than a decade. And dude, no one's told them that they were good ever. And they proved it yesterday at Cowboy Stadium.

All right. Let's welcome in Jane Slater. She worked for the NFL network. She also has a new podcast on the Heard Podcast Network, strictly covering the Dallas Cowboys. Jane, what just kind of your overall overarching view, what was it like to watch the bills dominate the Cowboys in Cowboys Stadium on Thanksgiving?

I got to tell you, Doug, I wasn't necessarily surprised. I said ahead of the game, I didn't think the Cowboys were going to pull this one off. And, you know, put simply, they just haven't shown us any reasons believe that they can beat winning teams this year. They were 0 and 4 coming into the game, and now they're 0 and 5 against winning teams, which is why I think so many of us were so incredulous

that after a nearly 28-minute discussion with Jerry Jones, we walked away getting the sense that he wasn't just selling us this idea that Jason Garrett was the coach for them to finish out the season. He believed that this was a coach and this was a team that could continue to win out and not only went out, Doug that they could go to the Super Bowl. And I reminded him, once again, they are 0 in five against winning teams. Where do you get that confidence?

And he said to me, I'm not injecting confidence here. And he essentially said he's not even factoring into the mathematical analytics of all of this. He believes in the guys in the room. And then Clarence Hill Jr. Fort Worth St. Telegram reminded him, hey, your guys' backs were against the wall. The makeup of this team did not respond at home on a week that your coach's job was on the line. So it's a broken record. Jerry acknowledged that it was a broken record.

At one point, he even said that he might even say that what are you smoking. He literally said that. So Stephen Jones was on the radio in Dallas here on 105 to be the fan admitting that this was something they were going to get questions about. And people were going to doubt this decision. but this is a decision. They're sticking with it. And after us asking a repeated amount of questions about, all right, well, if they lose against the bears, if they lose against the Rams, what about if they lose on the road to the Eagles?

The answer time and time again was they are sticking with this coaching staff, and they are not making any changes, not to assistant coaches, not to coordinators, not to the head coach. They are staying, of course. And look, and I thought I actually agree with Jerry Jones comments of the idea that you're going to make a coaching change, at this point in the season and be able to win late in the season or win in the playoffs. On the other hand, you're not winning right now anyway, so I'm not sure that actually matters. But I do, I understand the logic. Let's start with the most obvious is special teams.

Marr misses two field goals and, you know, and they, more special teams disasters. Can that be remedied at all in the short term? Again, I mean, just look at their track record. Brett and Marr is a guy that can, you know, make field goals when they're, you know, field goals, extra points from 63, 68, but you put him in that 20 to 45 range, he's a liability. And it's something that they haven't addressed. Now, are they going to maybe bring in some kickers this week? I don't know.

But it's an area that they haven't addressed, Doug. I think for some of us it's been frustrating because you saw the ire from Jerry last week. And it was honestly, I've laughed every year that Jason's been in Dallas. And, you know, his competency as a coach has come up. And, you know, I've said his feet is never hot. It's always lukewarm. And that's because of Jerry's affection for Jason.

Jason Garrett is a Jerry Jones creation. And I want to cushion this by saying that's not just Jerry flying blindly here. His locker room loves Jason Garrett. And Jason Garrett is very different off the podium than he is up on the podium. I like Jason Garrett. I just think when you continue to do the same thing over and over, it's the definition of insanity. And they've continued to do it in Dallas. And I just don't, I don't know what they're expecting.

You know, last year, two years ago, they were furious, livid after that Packers lost. When you look at what did that dynamic run they went on with that press cut, you know, stepping as a four-stream quarter. quarterback, not even allowing Tony Romo to come back and compete for his job. And they go on this magical run and then they lay an egg. And then I saw and talked to people close to Jerry that talked about how furious he was, livid after that Rams loss. And so he was already frustrated and then you saw the, all right, we're going to give you a one-year deal that didn't sit well with Jason Garrett and his camp.

And so here's the year you've got to prove yourself. And the schedule is tough. You look at the schedule. It was going to be tough. But then they played teams like Green Bay. They played teams like the Minnesota Vikings. They went to Detroit catching breaks by losing starting quarterbacks or wide receivers or dynamic running backs. And they're still seeing the way they're losing, Doug.

And so I think that is we saw a glimmer of, okay, Jerry sees the writings on the wall because he came down as hard as we'd ever seen him. And then right before the game, he goes on air on 105 to the fan. calls Jason a master of coaching. Well, I mean, it's, it's, it's, look, it's pretty obvious. It's Jane Slater joining us. Check out Boys and Girls, Boys and Girl podcast on the HARD podcast Network. Jane, of course, the host of that, it's all about the Dallas Cowboys. She covers them for the NFL network.

Follow on Twitter at Slater NFL. I mean, obviously so much of what he said in this past week is backtracking because I'm guessing everybody around him's like, dude, you're not helping. It doesn't help us. Even if you're being honest about your critique. over Jason. What about Dak? And many of the other games

in which they've lost, Dak has played well. He didn't play great yesterday. It's not all on him, but is any of this a sense that, hey, maybe Dak isn't as good as we thought he was? I'm not buying that narrative.

I've seen Dak do extraordinary things this year in spite of coaching, in spite of, you know, dropped balls, in spite of, you know, penalties and miscues. I think Dak's going to as much as you could expect out of a guy, a guy that you want to be your franchise quarterback.

Yeah, it wasn't his greatest night last night, but I just think we've seen Dallas put so much on his plate. He can only do so much. I mean, the problems with this team are far-reaching. I mean, it extends to, like I said, it's the execution, the shooting themselves at foot, the penalties, the flow starts, and that's what's crazy as this week.

You got off to a fast start. They had only scored on the opening drive one other time this season. And so here they are off to a fast start at home on a week where you're playing for your coach and they still manage to lay an egg. And, you know, I look at the way even like Josh Allen and that, you know, John Brown play, the trickery. We haven't seen that with the Cowboys. We were expecting that with Tellin Moore. And I just as much as I mean, I generally really respect and like Jason Garrett and this coaching staff and who a lot of these men are, I just think that there needs to be a new voice in that. Alice, because I refuse to believe that the talent on this roster is garbage.

I think that's a lot of really great players. There's a difference between being garbage and being so far superior to everybody in the league, right? There's a very big gap there. Okay, so let's say that Jason Garrett loses his job. What's the reality in terms of the coach? Obviously, Urban was like, dude, I'll do anything for that job. But the idea that Urban Meyer would be a good fit when Jerry still, wants to be Jerry, right? Like one of the reasons that Jason has been able to get and keep this job is

he's allowed Jerry to be Jerry. Who is the guy that allowed Jerry to be Jerry that wants that job that Jerry would want? That's a great question. I mean, the coach that he long coveted with Sean Peyton and Sean Peyton went and got himself extended in New Orleans. He wisely used the leverage of the Cowboys and Jerry Jones coveting him in Dallas. So with him off the table, I think that's what's led to essentially Jerry sort of taking a breather and sitting tight with his coaching staff because there isn't a clear frontrunner as an interim. And then when you look to see what's on the outside, I think they're going to have to turn over a lot of stones. I don't, you know, do you want a guy like Urban Meyer in here? I don't know.

Josh McDaniels, I've seen his name floated out there. Do you trust a guy like McDaniels who didn't show up in Indianapolis and then what did he do with Denver when he was there? I know Lincoln Riley has been, you know, the exciting name, especially for those of us in Texas, you're keenly aware of the OU football program and what he's done and then his success with, you know, so many of these quarterbacks that have entered the league and had success here recently, but does he want the scrutiny that comes with that job? I mean, with Tom Herman on the hot seat, OU, can dominate for the next couple of years, and he's living fat and large in Oklahoma.

There's just, there's so much that comes with that job that I think that you need. a strong personality. You need a guy that isn't afraid of dealing with the politics that come, you know, with being Dallas. It's not afraid of the fact that when you're on the podium on Thursdays or Fridays that you've got Stephen or Jerry on the radio giving out information about the team or that after a loss or after a win, you've got Jerry Jones in the hallway talking to reporters for 20 to 25 minutes in the hallway.

There are coaches out there that can do it. I just, I don't know if it's going to be a young, inexperienced coach coming from the college of the NFL. Yeah, I think it's fascinating, right? If what exactly, everybody wants to fire the coach, is there a true answer to who the next guy, who the next guy is? What's the last thing, Jane Slater joining us,

the Boys and Girl podcast covers the entire league for the NFL network. Of course, the Boys and Girl podcast available in the Perd Podcast Network. What's the likelihood they turn this thing around? I mean, they're still, six and six, they're still atop their division, they can still make the playoffs, they win the division, they get a home playoff game. What is your sense of the likelihood that they still have some fight in them? You know, that's a good question, Doug. I mean, the one thing that it stood out to me about the Dak Prescott era in Dallas was the resilience of this locker room. When you think about some of the stuff they've been through the D.K. Ellett suspension, the Tony Romo stuff, I mean, those were some murky waters for them.

them. And then not having Travis Frederick last year at Center, you know, there was, they've been through a lot in terms of a locker room and a team. And then there's been a lot of transition. You know, there's no longer guys like Des Bryant in that locker room. And they said a lot, they said goodbye to, you know, a lot of veterans like Orlando Scandrick, et cetera. And I thought they brought in some really good veterans. Randall Cobb, I think, has been an amazing addition. He's been such a steady hand in that locker room. And then how about Michael Bennett, who's been in Dallas for a cup of coffee, rallying the troops? I mean, he was. I mean, he was. livid screaming in that locker room as we're outside trying to figure out what what was crazy Doug is after that loss all of us couldn't figure out what guy in that locker room would have been the guy to scream like that because we don't feel like there's guys like that in that locker room and so here's the guy Michael Bennett who's been there for a cup of coffee that's done it so it's a long way of answering it I don't know I've seen them I've seen this team battle I've seen the way they've come back in third and fourth quarters. The confidence in Jack Prescott, I think, is the reason why this team has often believed in themselves and done incredible things.

But it just feels flat around there this year. It feels different. I just, I don't know if they're going to be able to turn this around. And I have been always one of the more optimistic reporters as it comes to this Cowboys team just because I know some of the guys. And, you know, I've had the opportunity to interact with them away from the locker room because of the show I do. during the week. And I know their mental makeup, the way that Jerry sort of sells it to you. But maybe it would take me being in the locker room the way that Jerry was after,

as he came out with tears in his eyes and said he believes in these guys. They said the right things. The right guys stepped up. I mean, he literally felt like he wanted to put on a helmet and go run through a wall with them. But I just, I don't know if there's enough guys like Jerry Jones in that locker room. And I think he believes that there are that can literally will themselves to do the improbable. I don't know if there's enough guys or coaching staff that can do that. You know, it's interesting because I, before you joined us, I was talking about Cole Beasley.

And I think that they're missing a Cole Beasley. They're missing a couple of crazy men who just want to find a way to win. And whereas, you know, look, do I think Zeeke wants to win? I do. But like, look, dude, you show up in a Bentley with a little mini-me getting you dressed. Like, you better go out there and ball out like you've never balled out before. Well, what's not knocking, Doug? I thought he came out as explosive and as ready to play as we've seen him all season.

So, yeah, I get the optics on that, and I thought the same thing heading into the game. But I think Ezekiel Elliott, you know, I thought that was one of his better performances all year. No question. And Dak threw one of his feet there on fourth down where Zeke probably could have gone in and fought for a touchdown. I just, it is more the image of like, dude, you guys are six and six and you're acting like you're 10 and one. that that's really more, really more of my feeling. Jane, great stuff. Of course, by the way, just a quick kind of programming note.

You got to check out, you got to check out the NFL 100 All-Time series continues tonight, 8 p.m. Eastern on the NFL network revealing the defensive linemen and linebackers who made that team. And the Boys and Girl podcast on the Heard Podcast Network. Jane, great stuff. Thanks so much for joining us. Always good talking to you, Dad. Bye. All right.

Let's get to Ryan Music in the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herald. line news. Good to be with you, Doug. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We'll start with some NFL and then we'll work our way to some college stories.

The Denver Broncos continue their search for a new quarterback since Peyton Manning. The latest in line is their second round draft pick, Drew Locke. We know Joe Flacco started this season after they traded for him in the off season. Then he was put on the injured reserve with the neck injury. Curiously after he criticized it's the coach and the play calling, but we'll leave that there. then the Broncos had turned to Brandon Allen for the past three games. Now Locke has been activated off the IR and all reports have said that he's been taking first team reps this week as they prepare to take on your LA Chargers. Well, I mean, like, look, this is what everybody does, right?

They want to groom a guy and Locke apparently was less than impressive early and then he got hurt. But he's really athletic. Kind of surprising to some that he slipped as much as he's. did in the draft. And he does kind of fit that bill of, like, there's a, there's a certain Danny Dimes characteristic to him where he too was a basketball player. We're seeing guys that you don't have to be Lamar Jackson, more active in terms of your feet in and around the pocket and using play action. So it's going to be fascinating. Like, I'm still, I'm still interested in the Chargers if they wake up. And, and there is a correlation with the Chargers and Drew

Breeze and Tom Brady, these older quarterbacks that are struggling to get to the finish line, we're seeing them either their bodies fall apart like Van Rothsburger, their game falling apart like Philip Rivers is. He has had a rough couple of weeks here. But this is kind of the, Drew Locke feels like the last stand for John L.A. Like how many different quarterbacks can you draft or sign or trade for before we start to go like, hey, maybe you shouldn't make that decision after all? Yeah, so as you had just said, the quarterbacks since Peyton Manning,

well, I guess and technically while Peyton Manning was still there, was Brock Osweiler. They went back and forth that season. Eventually, Peyton was the one who finished off the playoff run. Paxton Lynch, Trevor Simian, Case Keenham. And then, of course, the third quarterback this year alone. So it's not been a good run for the Hall of Fame or John Elway in his quarterback evaluation. All right, let's look back to last night in college football, Doug. in the SEC.

Ole Miss, taken on Mississippi State. Ole Miss is down, scores a touchdown with only four seconds remaining to get within one of Mississippi State when Ole Miss wide receiver Elijah Moore was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he celebrated the touchdown by reenacting a dog urinating.

It's the O'Dell Beckham Jr.'s celebration. That's correct. Well, technically, it also was done by D.K. Mattcalf now with the Seahawks he did it back when he was with Ole Miss and they had taken on Mississippi State. I think the whole thing is because Mississippi State and the Bulldogs, that's their mascot. So that pushed the extra point back 15 yards. To 35 yards, right. And Rebels end up missing the PAT, lose by one. I mean, it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It's the dumbest thing ever seen.

Now, look, in all fairness, I did not know D.K. Matt Caff did it in that game. I assumed he was penalized for it. Like, what do you, it's a one point game. But, I mean, in the old karma stuff, right? In the, in the karma to miss that extra point. And I feel bad for the, for the field goal kicker, although 35 yard you should still make. Yeah, should still be easy done. I mean, if you're the coach, is this like wind sprints after the game or I don't even know how you take the, take the Greyhound home?

Yeah. Not as easy to do that on college kids. I mean, it's really bad. It's really dumb. But I do think that the damage is kind of, like, everybody knows it's stupid. He's got to know it's stupid. He'd let his teammates down.

Just a feeling of letting your teammates down enough. Losing that game is perfect. So I, like I think anything else is double jeopardy. I really, really do. That, you know, you score a touchdown that should tie the game and you end up pushing your field goal kicker back 15 yards. He misses the extra point like, yeah, that's enough. We're kind of good.

Am I wrong there? No, I get what you're saying. He probably knows what he did. I guess it would be a different situation if they end up tying the game and winning an overtime or whatever, then maybe he doesn't fully understand the ramifications of what happened. Right. Yeah, he probably feels terrible, but probably not as bad as the kicker.

All right, we'll wrap it up here, Doug. Penn State Head Coach James Franklin is a hot candidate. it right now in the college football world. The latest report from 24-7 sports is Florida State is targeting Franklin to fill their head coach position. Franklin's also been linked to the potential opening at USC. However, the most recent report from Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports is saying that USC is leaning towards keeping current head coach Clay Helton.

Well, part of this is Clay Helton obviously is undefeated since Mike Bone's been the AD. My guess is that, you know, there's supposedly a 20 million. million dollar buy out there. And as much as money is not an issue to USC, they've written all these checks because of other stuff going on at the university. And maybe this isn't the time. But boy, that would be, who, that would be crazy. That would be absolutely crazy, considering how everyone thought he was dead man walking all

year. And he's kind of pulled the Dallas Cowboys, right? He's only beating the bad teams, not beating the good teams. But does that mean? They did have that win over Utah, which is proving They did have the win over Utah, which is crazy because when they beat Utah, Utah's running back got hurt. And Utah basically beat him in every category

except for these couple of jump ball throws. And, you know, part of USC, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because they're on him over the recruiting and people acting like he's going to get fired, they haven't been able to recruit as well. They lost commitment from the number one quarterback in the country who's now going to Alabama. They've lost other guys as well.

So USC kind of does this to themselves because they haven't truly supported anybody since Pete has been Pete left for the NFL. But look, there's still time for a bunch of things to change. My guess would be only because they don't feel like they can get Urban Meyer and James Franklin. Would they be, would they be? If you can get one of those two guys, you make them,

move immediately. And that's the news? And that's rhyme music with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. I do feel like in every group of guys, there's the I want to fight guy

and there's the intellectual, I want to be the smart hippie guy. Kyrie Irving continues to be the smarter than the room guy and why no one seems to be calling him on it. That's next in the herd. Be sure to catch live edition. of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it

and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

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

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clifford Taylor the 4th. podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Cliffer Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.

And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the game. the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Doug Gottlieven for Colin, this is The Hurd on Fox Sports Radio app. Uncle Colin back in on Monday. Virginia Tech trailing Virginia at the half. 13 to 6. Also keep an eye on Texas and Texas. tuck the Matthew McConaughey thing is weird man it's kind of weird I get it I get it by the way Texas is retaking the lead the huge second quarter 28 21 just weird I get it you

like Texas that's your school it's your team get it not sure I need the bow tie and the the the the straight Western jacket pregame on the field to to understand otherwise So I was reading this and this is posted online and it was interesting, it was posted on Facebook, literally while they were playing, right? While the nets are playing against the Boston Celtics. This is from Kyrie Irving's Instagram. It happens all the time and tonight just shows how sports and entertainment will always be ignorant and obtrusive. It's one big show that means very little in the real world that most people live in because there are actually things that matter going on within it. Like figuring out a life that means more to you than a damn ball going into a hoop,

or learning how to grow up being in a fishbowl of a society based on your popularity level as a person, or even dealing with becoming a leader of your family after someone's passing and not knowing how to deal with life after. happens. But this game of sports entertainment matters more than someone's mental health or well-being, right? Or the real-life things that happen to people every day, but they still have to perform for the NBA and it's fans, right? It's all about doing it for the fans and the organization that love you so much. Think again, it's a game promoted as its fandom experience for ticket buyers and viewers at home while defacing who people truly are as people, then spat out all over the media networks as valuable food for thought while they actually believe that their

opinions hold weight and real cultural leaders that speak and act for change. One big gimmick with some smoke and mirrors. It's always, I'll always be the one that takes a stand and speaks the truth every time though. A purposeful and spiritual-led life will always be bigger and more meaningful than any sports arena or any entertainment space. This game isn't meant to be controlled or shown as a drama. It's meant to show the love. Love for the art is the only damn thing that keeps the purest people in the giant sports entertainment circus. Don't fall for the game that's played in front of you as entertainment.

it'll never be as serious as dealing with life. I have no idea what his goal was, but how it came across to me is, look, dude, you may think of yourself as super interesting and you may be really interesting, but I actually don't care how interesting you are. I just don't.

I just don't. Because if I invest in your life as an artist or as a human being, that's fine. Like, you get paid a lot of money to play basketball, and you're great at it. And running from that and running from the meaning of that, like, you don't have to give us meaning for the game. We'll take whatever meaning we want from it.

But just the idea that I'm going to outsmart you and tell you, I'm this guy who, like, what stand have you actually taken? What stand? I get he talks about his grandpa dying when he's with the, Celtics and not knowing how to deal with life. Like, I understand. My dad died five years ago, and it does. It leaves you in a fog. And you're trying to figure some stuff out.

Kyrie was seen as an a-hole back when he played for the Cavs, dude. I mean, he has that none of this stuff you're hearing now is only like, well, only with the Celtics. Like, no. And I defended him for leaving the calves. I get it. When you would lose, it was your fault. When you win, it was LeBron's doing. I understand.

I understand if you weren't happy in Boston and you didn't feel like it was your place. I'm okay with that. But continuing to try and say, like, life is so much more important in a game. We know that. We know that. Basketball allows us to step outside of life and just cheer for a basketball game. Teams we like, people we like, people would cheer against people we don't. Teams we don't.

That's that simple. You get paid a lot of money for it. And it gives you a platform where you can share your other thoughts. But just this idea that people are attacking you because of who you're like, no. you said if you'll have me, I'll be back and then you really didn't want to come back. You struggled to lead. You struggle to be a regular dude. You think you're smarter than everybody.

You make everything difficult. Like, no, I don't think anybody's misreading this other than Kyrieuerving thinking people don't like him because of any other reason than just how he's acted or treated people. Or even how he's acted and treated the game, which he's great at, by the way. Yes, Jason Garrett deserves the blame for the Cowboys losing again. but all of it we discuss next in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app.

What up? Welcome in. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be making it as part of your day. Thanks so much. Tyree Irving, kind of a whack job. The hardest kind of the kind of a whack job. Super talented. Get to that at some point this hour. Keep an eye on college football.

Big rivalry games this weekend. Some currently going on. Obviously, the big one, Michigan and Ohio State. Can Jim Harbaugh get out the Schneide against Ohio State? We'll get to that this hour. We got a lot to get to. Plus, I'm going to give you my own blazing five. Rhymed music can attest my college football picks have been on 14 and 1 over the past three weeks.

14 and 1, making five picks a week, 14 and 1 over the past three weeks. NFL picks not as hot, although I remained over 500 for the year, over 50%, so still in the money, and end up having so far a good year. We'll try and help you out as we will get to get to those picks later on in the hour. Let's begin with the Dallas Cowboys, who lost yet again. That's their sixth loss in nine games. and I do think as troubling as it is that the Cowboys haven't beaten the team with a winning record, the fact that they've lost three out of four and six out of nine is even more troubling.

Now you may say, wait a second, why is one, it's when you're in this stretch, in this stretch of negativity, and I don't think Jerry Jones helped it at all with what he said after the Patriots loss. but I don't necessarily think that's the sole reason that they've lost their umt if you will but losing three out of four in a part of the schedule where it's like the opposite of what the bills are doing like the bills played a soft schedule and now are coming out of it and playing a little bit more difficult schedule

how do you react when you hit adversity and they're reacting by blaming the coach Special teams is getting worse, not better. Defense even letting it letting itself down. And it's not like the offense is tearing it up. Now, a good portion of the offensive issues are the quarterback throws a pick and fumbles the ball.

You miss two field goals. So they left a ton of points on the board. But they started fast and started strong and then completely faded. It's devastating to miss a field goal. It's devastating to miss two. Should be pointed out,

bills missed a field go on an extra point and the bills still found a way to put 26 on the board how much of this is jason garrott's fault there are o and five against teams with the winning record here was jerry jones defending garrett i know jason very well i've had a wonderful opportunity to spend a football life with him so i know him very well you know without a doubt you've seen it nobody is uh wants jason wants it to go and i'm going to tell you this right now he's got my back too. It was just a weird one. He's got my back too.

What is he? He works for you. What is he supposed to say? Here's Jerry Jones and the idea of having an interim head coach. Oh, I wouldn't make a change and give us a chance to do what I want to dream about doing. I wouldn't do that for a love of money. We'd give us zero chance if we didn't have him. Okay.

I actually agree with that. I agree with all of this. the problem is the negativity or maybe just the honest thoughts that he shared at various times in the season are just really unhealthy for your coach or your coaching staff figuring it out and getting everybody pulling in the same direction. Now maybe yesterday, apparently Jerry walked in the locker room and guys stood up and there was a come to Jesus talk. Still plenty of time because like look they got four more games and then they're going to be in the playoffs. Four more games and they're going to be in the playoffs. games and they're going to be in the playoffs.

Really all they got to do is beat the Eagles one more time and this thing is a rat. And as much as I would say, well, you know, like the bears aren't good. Like, okay, but why are the Cowboys so much better than the Bears? We just, we kind of make this assumption. Remember the Bears dominated the league with their defense last year. Their defense is less than dominant because maybe they don't believe in Mitch Trubiskew, by the way, through three touchdown passes. Everybody seems to forget yesterday.

Bears have won two in a row. they return home to take on the Cowboys. And this becomes the latest in the, oh, this is the biggest game of the season. I found this interesting. Lewis Reddick had this to say about why the Cowboys can't beat the good teams. Defensively, I'll say this. For a football team that has paid a primary pass rusher, they have Robert Quinn, who kind of supplements to Marcus Lawrence,

who has, who we constantly talk about, have three of the best young linebackers in the NFL. Sean Lee, Leighton Banderas, Jaylin Smith, is through it, three of the best. In big moments when teams really try to bloody their nose, These guys shrink. But that isn't coaching. Those are players.

So I'll tell you what, it's kind of a, it's kind of a, it's in totality. It is better coaching, but these players have to step up to. Yeah. Look, I don't disagree that like Jason Garrett has not some sort of wizard, nor has anybody thought he's a wizard. He does manage, or in the past, he's managed the Jerry pressure and the Jerry insistence on being involved really, really well. He's not calling plays anymore. although he has gotten a ton out of his quarterbacks. I mean, we do have to give him some credit.

When he had Romo, Romo was at his best. And obviously, he's helped Dak elevate himself. Is it all Dak? Is it all Romo? I don't believe it is. But look, Dak's not helping it by fumbling, by throwing interceptions, by throwing a ground ball on fourth down. You know, Zika's been hit or missed this season. He's been less than the thoroughly and completely dominant player of his past.

it's not like the defense is so pressuring the opposition that they can't get anything done. And the special teams has been a complete and utter disaster. Like that's the one that I feel like Jason Garrett, you should have throwing everybody a bone and thrown your special teams coach under the bus. But I don't think it's all him. You end up getting the burden of it, right? which is what's kind of happened in Cleveland. The first guy to go in professional sports is the coach. And then they probably go after the quarterback and everybody else.

But zero-force turnover in the last four games. The key to NFL football is, what do you do on third down? What do you do in the red zone? Can you take the ball away and not give it away? 26 in total takeaways this season. Dak Prescott, in five games versus teams above 500, has seven touchdowns and seven receptions. Is that all play calling?

Is that all the coaching? Is that all the blocking? No, couldn't be. Couldn't be. Jason Garrett's going to catch the blame, and if they fall in the first or second round of the playoffs, he's going to lose his job. If they don't get to the playoffs,

it's not even in question. He's going to lose his job. But there's something to be said for Cole Beasley coming in and lighting them up. Cole Beasley was a cowboy, grew up in Dallas, went to SMU, probably cut off his pinky toe to be there. I'm guessing would have taken less

than what offered by the bills. But they got enamored by, hey, we got Amari Cooper. We got Ezekieliot. We got to pay Dak. We've got to pay DeMarcus Lawrence. Whereas you win you win with those

with the Coal Beasley's of the world. Isn't there something to the idea that Buffalo came in, and even now, like, but I don't think anyone outside, I listened to a bunch of sports radio earlier today driving around. I don't remember anybody else saying like, hey, you know, that was kind of awesome what Buffalo did and Buffalo had a great game playing, and some of their guys played unbelievable. Star-Let-Let-Lay got the block on one of the field goals.

Like Star-Let-Tul-Lay, of course, was drafted in Carolina, and when McDermott came over from Carolina, he took him with him. But, like, Star-Let-Let-Lay-Lay-Las not like, some 6-6-6-1, and he jumps up, blocks. Like, they did the little things, because they have guys that have been told, no, they have guys that winning and proving themselves that they can win is the most important thing.

Whereas the Cowboys, it's like Texas football for years. You know, a bunch of five stars have been told they're five stars. You get a little arrogant, get a little full of yourself. You don't take care of business. And now it's become a thing. Cowboys can't beat good teams. They're 0 and 5 against teams above 500. Dak Prescott's a one-for-one touchdown interception against teams above 500.

Jason Garrett can't beat the good teams. Jason Garrett can't be the good teams. And above 500 is a little bit like how you are on booze, right? If you're an angry drunk, you're really an angry person underneath. You're a happy drunk. You're really a happy person underneath. The same can be said. The same is absolutely true for how you play against playoff teams.

That's who you really are. And against playoff teams, good to a point, right? They're good to a point. They're not terrible. They were still in that game, but they're good to a point. And that's not good enough for their own expectations. And in many ways, they've done that to themselves. I don't believe it's all Jason Garrett. I do think that Jason Garrett is going to catch all of the blame and going to be the one fired. And then the question becomes, who do you replace them with that not only can live up to and exceed the expectations, but also can handle the Jerry thing, which is not just win now, not just win now.

It's post-game press conferences, it's guys chiming in, it's, I got to keep this guy on, I love this guy, you know, I'll overpay to keep certain players and not keep my eye on the total team. Coming up next, former NFL scout, John Middokoff, joins the show. Gottlie filling in for Colin is the Hurt? Can the Cowboys get back on track and make a run through the playoffs? Plus, has the 49ers defense match up with Lamar Jackson, what the Ravens are doing? Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,

FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Doug Gottlieb in for Colin, this is the HARD, wherever you may be, wherever you may be and however you may be listening to the show. I can't encourage you enough to go to the Hurt podcast now. work. I have the all-ball podcast, all basketball, a lot of conversations about stuff. This week, it's a little bit more analytical, breaking stuff down, a bunch of college, some pro as well. And there's also the three-and-out podcast, which John Middilcoff, former NFL scout, who joins Colin and me on my show. My show's three to six Eastern every week. And he joins us now here in the

heard on Fox Sports Trade in the Iheart radio app. How much of it is coaching with the Cowboys? I think it's all coaching, Doug. I mean, they're just too talented to be where they're at. You know, worst case scenario to me, they're 8 and 4. I mean, they have a star quarterback, star running back, more than enough weapons in the passing game, and their defense has kind of come back to Earth, but they're still relative to the rest of the league good enough.

I think yesterday with a clinic, Sean McDermott, is taking a franchise that's been a joke the last 20 years. He's going to make the playoffs two of the last three years. Agreed. I thought the same thing. He's just a good coach. It's pretty clear. He knows what he's doing. And I think he saw a franchise yesterday that knows what they're doing.

And then you see Jason Garrett, like, Doug, what's the cowboy's identity? What do they do really well? You know, in years past, it was run the ball with Zique. And they still are productive on the ground, but it doesn't feel like that's their identity. because now they feel, you know, kind of tied to DAC and the passing game because it does work, but then they just, they kind of just get lost. And then now they're at a point. I think yesterday also you could feel there's pressure because the yelph in the room and this guy going to lose his job.

It just wasn't a disaster. You know, it is a disaster right now. Okay, look, I think that Cole Beasley is kind of the perfect example, though, of what maybe the Cowboys. don't get about who they are or who they were or who they've been and what made them good? Like, look, is Cole Beasley as good as he played yesterday? No. But the idea that like a Michael Gallup,

you substitute a Michael Gallup or a Tavon Austin for a Cole Beasley. Like, Cole Beasley would cut off his left toe to be a cowboy or to win that game yesterday against the Cowboys. I kind of feel like that's a little bit of what they're missing on this team. Like, you obviously have some star players and some guys, like, Ezekiela can play. Mari Cooper can play. Dach can clearly play, although there's been some hit or miss with Dack and some key moments and throws. They got plenty of guys that can play.

But it's those other guys. It's those gritty guys that seem to win you some of those football games that I feel like they're missing. That's a good point. You know, there's definitely something to that because your stars aren't going to be on every week. And when you look around the league, I mean, I think the Patriots are a great example. They can depend on other guys. If Tom's off, you know, if Julian Edelman's not making plays, they always have other guys step up. And that's, I think, what I'm talking about with the culture and the identity of the football team.

Like, who are there tough just kind of war daddy? When you get in the game like yesterday, Buffalo, listen, they're going to end up with 10 or 11 wins. And I think they're going to, when the dust settles and the season ends, everyone's going to be like, you know what? That's one of the toughest teams in the league. So yesterday, Buffalo goes in heavyweight fight. It's like, let's go. And Dallas just wasn't tough enough. And like you said, it's not that.

I mean, Dak wasn't good yesterday. But Zee can, those guys could hang. But who else was coming along for the ride? They just don't have that right now. So what's the likelihood they turn it around? This season? Yes. They might just, I mean, they still probably all going to make the playoffs

just because the division is the train rest. but can you see them winning a playoff game? The playoffs in the NFC are basically set. We just don't know the NFC East, you know, opponent. Or, I mean, the guy, the team is going to get in. I'm going to lean down. But it's Seattle, San Francisco, Minnesota, Green Bay, and New Orleans. So we don't even know the crazy part about the NFC.

New Orleans is probably going to get a buy. But those other four teams, only one of them are going to get a buy, and the other two are going to be wildcards. So if it's San Francisco, Green Bay, Minnesota, Seattle, Dallas going to be one of those teams in the first round. Now it would be at home because of the rules. Because the division. But would you bet on them against Minnesota in round one?

I'd have a hard time. I wouldn't. I do think that they could win it. I mean, there's no, they're not. You wouldn't want to play. They'd be a dangerous 8 and 18. That's for sure. Look, I'm sure that Doug Ghalyman for Colin,

this is the Hurd John Minnokoff, our guest, former NFL scout. There are other bigger topics I want to get to, but did you watch the Falcons nearly come back and win that game? I've never seen. They recovered essentially three straight onside kicks, right? Like one was off sides and then two straight. Like that was almost the craziest comeback I've ever seen in the history of the NFL. Things get weird on Thanksgiving, I guess. It was super, super weird.

What do we make of the Saints? They've been able to win without Drew Brees. He wasn't even great, but Tassum Hill blocks a kick, you know, a pun. Taysam Hill runs one in. You know, they can run it, they can throw it, and I feel like they got a nasty defense. They've been crushed by a couple of fluky things the last two years in the playoffs.

Should we be talking about the Saints being the best team in the league? I asked a buddy that in the league a couple days ago when I was doing an article about the 49ers and if they could win it all, and who their biggest kind of challenger was in the NFC. And he said the Saints, and the only way he wouldn't like the Saints is if Breeze had to play outdoors.

But when you look at the past, if they get a one or two seed, he's going to be in the dome. Let's say San Francisco gets a one seed. Levi Stadium, I mean, it doesn't get that cold in January in Santa Clara. Dallas is inside. Green Bay would be outside. But depending on how that kind of shakes out, that would be his only potential, you know, kind of route if somehow they could end up with more wins. And that doesn't necessarily look likely. And Minnesota's indoors too.

So the Saints, their season was kind of made when Bree's heard his thumb, and they just kept rattling off wins with Teddy Bridgewater. But to me, that stretch defined, like, their defense is so well-rounded, and they're running backs and Tafin Hill. But it's not just Kamara. Latavius Murray has been one of the better backup running backs in the league this year. And Sean Payton is just kind of flexed his muscles. Is like, do you guys remember me?

I might not be Bill Belichick, but you could argue on the second best coach in the league. And he's had a hell of a year. He's had an incredible year, and they keep seeming like they're getting better, and the ability to win with Bridgewater. And like, Breeze hasn't even great when he's been back. Let's discuss the Packers. How fixable are their issues, which were very much on display against the Niners? Well, they get to get right because they play the Giants and the Redskins for the next couple weeks.

So they're going to rattle off a couple wins. You know, I think when you look at them, though, they're a little dependent on Devonte Adams. So if you can take him out, there are other wide receivers. are pretty random. Now, their running backs are really good. And the Niners were able to kind of take them out of the game because they got up so big. So you couldn't, you know, pound the run. Those two guys combined for 20 touchdowns going into that Niner game. So when those guys get humming, they can play well. Now, their defense, which was dominant, remember, like that first month of the year, has been not quite, not on like the Niners level or the Bill's level of the last

couple months. But they do have really good players. I mean, the Sue Smith guys up front can dominate. The corner is really good. And we've seen at points this year, now Aaron hasn't started to finish dominated, but he's had games where he's looked like, you know, 2012 Aaron Rogers. So whenever that guy shows up, now I don't care what he does against the Giants or the Redskins. He's going to have to do it against Minnesota, right, or the Niners again in the playoffs. But he always has that in the bag. And that's why I wouldn't write him off. Now, the one red flag for me is the coach. You know, he was a guy that in league circles, he's like, they're hiring Matt LaFleur.

And he was really one of their best assets. Mike Petten. That was a guy. He didn't bring him. He was forced on him, which was a smart move by the Packers management. And you can tell with Rogers, like, they do some of the, you know, the Kyle Shanahan play action under center. But they also, Rogers likes going four or five wide every once a while, a little throwback. So I think there's a push and pull with those two guys.

And if he in complete control on a playoff game, that would be my one question when he's got to go up against Sean Payton. Mike Zimmer, Kyle Shanahan. You know, there are some pretty good coaches in the NFC that he'd have to, Pete Carroll, you know, to make a run. And that's a lot harder obviously this year than the AFC. No, no question about it. Speaking of the AFC, Browns Steelers, everything tells you that the Browns, even without, you know, even without their most impressive defensive linemen, like, this is where we're supposed to see them kind of begin the turnaround that we've seen over the past couple of weeks. against the Steelers starting duck Hodges and without pouncy.

Without pouncy. But this is where, like, they were supposed to be Denver, too, and they didn't beat him. Your thoughts on the Browns going into Pittsburgh? Well, I think, you know, the random young quarterbacks typically are going to play much better at home. This place, I'd imagine, is going to be pretty nuts, given the fight that took place a couple weeks ago. Now, granted, you know, the guy that was hit got benched, so that takes a little bit of the fire away. you know, you think Pittsburgh and that fan base and Mike Conlin plan on losing to the Browns at home?

You know, I get the Browns probably just man for man might have a little more talent this year, but that's the field of defense still pretty good. I guess the one bright spot for the Browns these last couple weeks is the quarterback and some of those wide receivers have gotten humming. If those guys play well, they can be really explosive. But one of the, you know, the bright spots for the Steelers all season has been their defense of box,

especially once they sign Mink. they've actually covered really well something that's been a red flag for them the last three or four years, kind of held them back for making a Super Bowl run. They couldn't cover anymore. And they've gotten a lot better there because their pass rush has been big time in the last couple of years. So if they can get after Baker-Mayfield,

you can throw them off. You know, I'm not righting off the Seals, but you're right. On paper, the Brown should win this game. Niners, Ravens. Do the Niners match up better to what the Ravens do than the Rams that we feel like a terrible match? match up for them. Do the Niners match up better?

You know, I actually think the Niners match up better against dropback quarterback, like guys that are typically just going to stay in the pocket. At least they've shown that this year. The two guys that have given them trouble have been, you know, Russell Wilson in the one Monday night game and then Kyler Murray a couple times. Just because the Niners, you know, what they practice against is kind of an old school prototypicality and just that offense. And they've played the majority of the season like Roger. would be on the high end of mobility.

So if you look at it that way, you'd be like, well, it could be a little trouble. Now, the Ford plays, you know, he's their speed rusher that should help with Lamar Jackson, but it's going to be pouring rain. I saw that Harbaas putting, you know, pouring water on the balls right now. So it could be an ugly game that way. Maybe that neutralizes Lamar's speed. But his scrambling ability this year has been eye-opening.

I mean, it's been incredible. It's been like a video game. It's been legitimately. Michael Vick level just making things up out of nowhere out of the backfield. And I don't care who you have, whether you got Mean Joe Green, whether you got Nick Bosa, whether you got, you know, that's going to be a major challenge because you can't really practice against that. I think I saw that Richie James, one of their kind of backup wide receivers, their punt

returner has been simulating Lamar at practice. We all know football practice is not like anything like a football game. Right. You know, so there's no tackling. There's no hitting. the guys wearing the red jersey. So you can think you can, oh, we got to, you know, feel it out. Is there any doubt that Bill Belichick did that all week?

And then Lamar kind of just ran circles around them just with his athletic ability. There's not much you can do. Now, Fred Warner and the other 49er linebackers are really athletic, unlike the Patriots that have kind of bigger, you know, more inside the box-type downhill linebackers. That could be an advantage for the Niners, but this game is going to be tough. I'm with you. I don't. And on, you know, you have a week to prepare, but it's your first week you're trying to prepare after a completely different prep with the Green Bay Packers, as opposed to the Ravens who get to, hey, we just do what we do. And the Niners offense, though really good, is what most teams, many teams in the NFL are, in fact, running.

All right. And the other reality, Doug, is the 49ers have this two game stretch right now at Baltimore. Then they're going to stay in Florida and then they play the Saints. well, the Saints game, when you factor in tiebreakers and for a home field buy, that is bigger. You know, so if you are going to win, you got to throw the kitchen sink probably next week and not this week. Vikings take on the Seahawks on Monday night. Where are we on our buy-in of Kirk Cousins? I'm in.

I think the Vikings, when you just look at their roster, it's got to be one of the better ones in the league. And Cousins, you know, feeling I saw on Twitter before I jumped on with you, looks like he's probably going to play this week. be careful with that, right, because he came back last time, boom, one series hamstringed out again. But when he's right with digs and that running back, that offense is dynamic. Now, Seattle at night, Monday night, off a long weekend, that place is going to be crazy. And right now Seattle, that fan base is thinking, we're not just making a playoffs. We can get the number one seat. I mean, they beat Minnesota. They still host the 49ers. When the death battle, Seattle could be 13 and 3 in the 1 seat.

So it's going to be a very, very big challenge. But Seattle at home isn't quite what they were, you know, in the Peak Sherman, Earl Thomas, young Russell Wilson days. But that place at night, to me, is just different. Remember the one game in Peak, Pete Carroll, when Drew Breeze went up there? And I think they had like 100 yards of total offense. Yeah. It's just that place is deafening.

You know, now that their defense isn't anywhere near as good. But to me, the level of just the noise, you can't function. It's going to be a test. but if you can run the ball up there, you at least can settle the crowd down a little bit. If you force the path every down, it's just hard to hear and communicate. Last thing, I said that was the last thing, but I didn't.

Let's circle back to the Cowboys. If it is just coaching, who's the guy who can replace Jason Garrett? And I know you can say, well, there's lots of coaches, but remember, you're dealing with Jerry, you're dealing with Dak, with Zeke, with some huge personalities and incredible expectations,

who's the guy in your mind? Well, I know Urban mentioned something to Colin a couple months ago about that being one of the best jobs in all of America. You know, you would have to think with Zeeke and just a guy that used to deal with big personalities, he's never coached in the pros, but every coach worth our salt and any fan knows he's an elite coach. You know, I think he could coach in the pros.

Who are really the hot coordinators? You know, there aren't really the kind of. Kyle Shanahan's the McVeys of the world right now because most coordinators in the league are the head coaches. You know, when you think about it, all these guys have been hired the last three or four years all call the offense. So Josh McDaniels, is he going to leave Brady and Belichick to go to the Cowboys? Maybe. I mean, money talks, right, but he's going to deal with Jerry. To me, Urban Meyer, maybe a Matt rule, but that's still a pretty big stretch going from Baylor to the Cowboys. I don't think this crop of coaches, you know, this year,

besides Lincoln Riley, who, you know, that's one of the best jobs in pro or the NFL. They're paying him huge money. I got a buddy on the staff. Lincoln loves it there. And Lincoln's not 50. You know, what's his rush? They're going to be, they got this Spencer Rattler guy,

the backup quarterback, who's going to be a better player than Jalen Earth. They're going to crush it for years. So I call me, I do not think he's leaving. not that he never will, but not this year. Maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe Jerry offers him like $100 million. Who knows? But I don't think he's in it for the money.

And he's already making a lot of money. So I would lean. Maybe Jerry goes after Urban. But what if Urban doesn't want to coach? I just don't really see Jerry's options of doing something that's quote-unquote splashy and have substance behind it. We're all Cowboys fans would be like, oh, we nailed that one. You know, I think that's why Jerry just wants Jason to get it done.

I agree with you. It sounds a lot easier to find a coach of the Cowboys than the reality of it of it is. That's the voice of John Middokoff. Download the three and out podcast, part of the Hurd Podcast Network. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for joining us. You too, Doug.

Have a good day. All right, let's get you to Ryan Music with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Hurdline News. A lot of NFL talk. Great stuff there with you and John Middlokoff, Doug. So we're going to dive in on some college here.

in preparation of their game against Ohio State, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh described his team as improving ascending and playing good football. If you go back to their game against Penn State in the second half, they had a dropped potential game tying touchdown in the end zone. Then they went on to beat Notre Dame, who was ranked eighth at the time, 45, 14. Then a win over Maryland, 387, a win over Michigan State, 44, 10, and then a win over Indiana, 39, 14. So a big game for Michigan, and they are playing much better now than they had earlier in the season. It's huge for Michigan. Just nobody has any confidence they can win, and I think everybody respects this Ohio State team. Even though Ohio State, look, and the score is a little misleading with Penn State because they won by double figures.

They were blowing them out, and they had a couple really bad fumbles. But this is supposed to be the year for Michigan. I just, man, Ohio States looks so good. On the other hand, they've looked so good what was really the level of competition, right? Like, they did dominate, they've dominated essentially everybody outside of Penn State, gave up some points also, I think the Indiana.

I don't know. I'm like the last guy sitting here going, I think Harbaugh pulls this thing off. Because that's usually... Yeah, it's usually the way it works, though, right? Like the years you're supposed to, you don't do it. And then you have a year. Lucky's got Shea Paterson, he's got good wide receivers, decent running game, decent offensive line.

I don't know. We're just all kind of penciling in Ohio State as being undefeated. And I think at some point, Michigan beats him. Why not this year? All right. We'll see. I do think that it'll be closer than most people probably would expect, just because that's how the rivalry games tend to go. even though we think Ohio State's a much better overall team,

but I do think they pull off the win. All right, we'll stick with college football here, Doug. Another huge rivalry game is the Iron Bowl. Alabama going to Auburn this week. We know Alabama lost their starting quarterback to Otunga Vailoa for the season and going with backup quarterback Mack Jones, who in limited action this year, again, you referenced level of competition,

not necessarily the strongest, but he has played in several games when they put two on the bench and then filling in. He is completing 71% of his passes, seven touchdowns, only one interception. When talking about Jones, here's what Nick Sabin said, experiences something he's gotten in a couple of games, and he'll get some experience in this game, too, against a very good defense. But I think it's really important that the players around him play well, because that's going to help his confidence, because maybe then he can have a little success, which is a good thing, especially early on.

So Nick Saban even acknowledging, hey, you know, we're going to need to sort of help prop this guy up because he's certainly no Tua. No, he's no change. A completely different style of quarterback, right? I mean, not just right-handed, obviously, but just different style of quarterback. And we've seen Ohio State obviously go to their well and go to a third string quarterback and win a national championship in sort of similar fashion. I think the difference is that Tua was such a big part of everything they did. The defense hasn't been as dominant, and the offense has been spectacular, and two is the big reason why.

So I think that's what's different than other teams in the past. Even if they beat Auburn, do they get into the playoff? I'm not convinced they do. Obviously, they would need some things to go their way. Yeah, you'd have to have a couple of shakeups amongst the other teams. Well, you need LSU to beat Georgia. Correct. You need LSU to beat Georgia.

Because if Georgia beats LSU, both teams went out to be TLSU. LSU still going. So that would cut them out. And then it wouldn't hurt if Utah lost in the Pac-12 championship game. If Oklahoma lost to Oklahoma State or to Baylor, that wouldn't hurt either. Yeah, and you definitely, you'd essentially want LSU, Ohio State, and Clemson to win out. So those three are locked up and then all the other teams to have a loss. Right.

Yeah. And then you say you beat Auburn and then you use the transit property to get you in. Right. Correct. That's the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News.

Can anyone stop The Ravens? I give you my Blazing Five next in The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Doug Gottliebitt for Colin, this is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening to the show. Thanks so much for making us part of your day. Awesome to let Colin have me fill in for him. The Big Man is back on Monday. You'll see him on Fox on Sunday.

In the meantime, as Colin likes to do, we have saved. the best for last. It's almost the end of the show, but that doesn't mean we're phoning it in. Nope, we grind to the very last segment. It's time for best for last. Well, the best is going to have to be my picks, so let's get after it. The 49ers take on the Ravens. This is the game of the week.

The Ravens are 6-4-1 against the spread this season. But I don't know. Niners haven't seen this style. Hobby, Greg Roman, a little bit of extra something, something prepping for this game. We've paid attention to the Ravens in the last five games. They've won by, not scored, won by 14, 17, 36, 34, and 39 points. It's been a wrap. It hadn't been close.

I get it, bad weather. Handling the football makes you think fumbles, interceptions, possible. Remember, you have especially fumbles, and they hand it off and running. a bunch. But I'm going to go with the rate. Until further notice, until somebody shows me they can figure them out, we've seen them a second time, or match up well. And I think the Niners, it's more important they beat the Saints than it is to beat the Ravens.

Give me the Ravens and the points. The Giants are bad. We all know that. Their defense is putrid, 29th in points per game. They're four and seven against the spread, whereas the package is seven and four against the spread. At some point, they're going to have to drop back and throw it, and Daniel Jones is fumble prone. And I think Aaron Rogers is ticked they played poorly last week.

He's ticked he didn't have time to throw. He will this week. Packers and six. All the Packers have to do is win by a touchdown against the Giants. I'll take that. Give me the Packers. The Browns are taking on Pittsburgh. Steelers are three, two, and one at home.

The Browns are two and three on the road against the spread this season. Browns haven't shown consistency. And look, on paper, when you take Marquise Pouncy out, You know, you take Marquis Pouncey out. You got a little bit of banged-up group there with Pittsburgh Steelers. It's not that Duck Hodges is not anything special look at, but Duck Hodges did win the game last week. He does give him a little bit of mobility in the pocket.

And more than anything, kind of feels like the Steelers and their toughness was questioned by the Browns. Browns are a better team. Browns on paper should win this game. Games aren't played on paper. paper. They're played inside television sets. This will be my upset pick of the week. Give me Pittsburgh and the two points.

Philly's taking on the Dolphins. Lane Johnson is back. That's huge. And the Dolphins are terrible. That's big. Dolphins rank last in points per game on defense, 30th in points per game on offense. Philly is like four drop passes away from having eight or nine wins this season. I think they hold on those balls in Miami in the good one. whether they win, they cover.

Broncos' offense has been a mess. Now they're starting Drew Locke, and he's starting Drew Locke against a Charger team that's coming off of a buy. The Charger team that in spite of all the turnovers that Philip Rivers had, they still had a chance to beat the Chiefs. They still have Bosa, they still have Ingram,

and now they have Derwin James back. Charger's going to get after him. The Chargers should be a playoff team. They are not because Philip Rivers has turned the ball over too much. He won't have to in this situation. Chargers only have to win by a field goal. They'll win by a touchdown.

Give me the Chargers. So I got Chargers, Philly, Packers, and Ravens as favorites. And I'm in the Pittsburgh Steelers as a dog. That's the best for last of my picks. So we're keeping an eye on college football. Look, if you're somebody who cheers for, if you want chaos, there's a couple different ways we get there. Generally, chaos has meant everybody loses a game,

and all these teams still have games remaining in which they could lose. but I think it would be just as interesting is if they all won games. What do you do if Utah wins out, wins the Pac 12 championship? They have one loss, and that loss was without their start running back. Only had six carries broke his hand, and they're better, you know, they're undefeated when he plays the whole game.

So you would have Utah at 12 and 1. You would have Oklahoma. If Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State and then beats Baylor a second time. How much stronger is their resume? Then you have Alabama. and you're assuming Alabama beats Auburn but doesn't play in the SEC championship game. And you'd have a Georgia who would have to lose to an LSU. That's chaos.

That's, you know, three teams with one loss who look very, very much alike. And you've got to pick one. What could be made only even better as if everybody has a loss, which is still a possibility. It does look like those top three teams, they're the best three teams for reason. But crazier things have happened than Michigan beating Ohio State.

Crazier things have happened. You know, that Michigan, Ohio State spread was like 18 and a half going back a week ago. It's now 9.5. It was 18 and a half before last week's game. You could get the spread a week in advance. Now it's 9.5.

Like now you'd be crazy not to go and go, all right, Ohio State's blowing everybody out. I mean, Ohio State's still won by double digits, even though they had a couple of bad turnovers, and Penn State's pretty good. Is this the year? Is this the year? You got Wisconsin and Minnesota. Wisconsin looks so good and then so bad,

now has a chance to play for Big Ten Championship. You know? And then Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. That's the game I'm going to attend. It's been a lot. Last time Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, Brandon Whedon was the quarterback. I was there.

I was on the field before the game, was thorough domination. I believe Landry Jones was the quarterback of Oklahoma? No, no, no, wait. They won. Tyree Kill actually won the last time. That was the one we forgot, that we erased from a memory, because Tyree Kill returned the second of two consecutive punts by Bob Soup, dumbest decision he's ever made.

And then he got in trouble before the next week game, or before the bowl game, and he never played again. So it's been a minute. But crazier things have happened than Michigan winning at home. or Oklahoma State winning at home. As for Jason Garrett, do I think he's part of the problem? Of course. I don't think they're spectacularly coached.

This is what happens when you have a first time play caller. I don't know why he stood by his special teams coach, but I'll also point out that Cole Beasley, tough, gritty dudes, that's what's missing with the Cowboys. Kind of been arrogant and they're getting their comeuppance. I'm Doug Gottlieb just to hurt. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind,

and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories,

their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 podcast.

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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me.

He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, man. is Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.