The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Jimmy Butler, Dez Bryant, Eli Manning, & the Lakers

Episode Date: October 11, 2018

Colin discusses the problems with Minnesota Timberwolves F Jimmy Butler, the REAL last time breaking down the issues of FA WR Dez Bryant, more on why New York Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. was right to criticize QB Eli Manning, and last nights Lakers-Warriors game. Guests include Michael Rapaport, Greg Cosell, Chris Broussard, and Bucky Brooks. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 acapella 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 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. I'm Michelle McPhee,

and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist, and an Armenian businessman. Multimillion dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1.

Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, Greg CoSell 1 hour. We are absolutely loaded today. Joy Taylor is joining me. Can't wait for today's show. Morning.

Didn't sleep well, have some Red Bull. I am ready to rock today. I want to start my first. show with this. Advertising works. That's why companies pay thousands and millions of dollars to have ads during the Super Bowl, during big college football games, during the NBA. Fox Tonight, Giants, Eagles on Fox have big ads. Companies paying tens of thousands, millions of dollars for ads. Marketing, promotion, it can change, skew, manipulate people's opinion. The greatest marketing campaign for an athlete I've ever seen was two companies. Nike and Gatorade both created brilliant campaigns

that fooled us, that manipulated us. They were both, both about Michael Jordan. And they made you feel that Michael Jordan did it all by himself. Remember the Gatorade commercial, Be Like Mike, here it is. So good. like Mike, because be like the Chicago Bulls doesn't sell Gatorade. Be like Phil Jackson's triangle offense doesn't sell shoes. They made you believe it was all about Mike. Michael Jordan, by the way, was 0 and 6 against the Celtics before Scotty Pippin.

Michael Jordan was one and nine in the playoffs before Scottie Pippen. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player, most people believe ever, didn't do squat before Scotty Pippin. Even today, Tony Coo Coach, Dennis Rodman, Scotty Pippen, Phil Jackson, Horace Grant, Steve Kerr, it's like they did not exist. But Michael didn't do anything

before he had the best rebounder of his generation, Dennis Rodman, the best coach ever, Phil Jackson, the best shooter, three-point shooter of his time, Steve Kerr, Horace Grant, a power forward that made all-star teams, the best Euro available, Tony Cookech, and an all-time top 50 player, maybe even better, Scottie Pippen.

But Nike and Gatorade made you believe it's all about Michael. It never was, and it never has been in basketball. Do you play well with others? Magic needed Kareem and Worthy. Bird needed McAil and Parrish. Michael needed Scotty and Rodman, and Isaiah needed Lamb Beer and Dumars and the Great Chuck Daly. Everybody's always known that,

except there's always a couple of guys in the NBA, Carmelo Anthony, Derek Rose, and currently Jimmy Butler that don't. They want to be like Mike instead of be like the Golden State Warriors and play well with others. Jimmy Butler now went into practice, been holding out with the Timberwolves yesterday. He ripped the GM. He ripped teammates. He went crazy town. I called a source last night in the NBA that's as good a source as this league has.

He told me two years ago, Jimmy Butler, who blew up yesterday with his team and wants out, wants out from Carl Anthony Towns, wants out from Andrew Wiggins. Really good B-plus NBA players. Cat may be an A-minus. He wants away. He wants his own team. He wants to go to Brooklyn and be the man. And my source told me last night, two years ago when he was in the Olympics, he didn't fit.

Players didn't like him. He was the least talented guy, finished that 11th. Olympic experience with a worst field goal percentage. Kyrie Irving was there. Boogie Cousins was there. Guys that have egos. And Jimmy's was the biggest. And he didn't play well with others.

Ah, Jimmy. You want to be like Mike. Be like the Warriors. Sacrifice shots and ego to be part of a great community. Be like Chris Paul, James Hardin. Be willing to give the other guy shots. elevate the community over yourself. I love the NBA, and the great ones always figure it out.

They need help. Phil Jackson sat Michael Jordan down and said, you want to beat the Celtics? Pass. Be a better teammate. Michael listened, and Michael became a legend. LeBron James, I want to play with Chris Bosch, N.D. Wade. Kevin Durant, I want to play with Curry, Clay.

there's always a couple of guys in the NBA that still want to be like Mike and what you want to be like in 2018 is the Golden State Warriors play well with others Jimmy Butler after practice yesterday explaining his uncalled for outburst to his teammates, his coach,

his GM at practice I was honest. Was I brutally honest? Yes. But I think that that's the problem. Everybody's so scared to be be honest with one another. If you didn't like the way that I handled myself in practice, one of the players come up to me. Somebody say something, anybody.

I'm not going to take a offense. It's not personal. And that's all I was out there doing was competing, playing hard, doing what I'm supposed to do on the basketball for. I just want everybody to be happy. I want to win. I'm sorry if I go about it the wrong way. I really do apologize.

No. No, you weren't doing that. You were separating yourself from others. You didn't want to be part of a community. You see yourself here. and everybody else below you. And that's why you'll probably end up wasting years, ask Carmelo, wasting your talent, asked Eric Rose.

I'll always defend the great player who joins other great players because his message is, it's about us, not about me. Hopefully Jimmy Butler learns. I want to segue to this. Tonight, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles on Fox. that's the network I am currently paid by. But I'd watch anyway. So the Giants play the Eagles.

Talk about must win for both teams. Michael Strayhan, one of the great players and a teammate of mine here, was talking about Odell Beckham, who came out earlier this week. And with an interview with a lady named Julina Anderson, kind of critical of Eli Manning. And Michael Strahan said, I think Odell is definitely a leader. Eli's never been the guy who's going to be a vocal guy. But there are still a lot of, you know, mature.

parts that have to happen on Odell's part. And Michael said basically, you've got to be careful what you say for about and who you talk about because, you know, you start speaking for the room. And even if you are a good guy and a good leader, it may not necessarily play well. In other words, Michael Strahan was basically saying, you know, there's certain things you don't want to talk about publicly. And that's where I bristle. And I'm hearing this from everybody.

Great players like Michael, media people, former players, current players. Whenever I hear this phrase, you cannot say blank publicly. I always push back. When I got into this business, I was told you cannot talk about politics. The number one cable TV network in America is Fox News, built about talking politics 24-7. MSNBC, politics 24-7. CNN used to do news. They now talk politics 24-7.

The most watched cable networks are all politics. You can't talk about religion. I was told that one, too. That's interesting because the most provocative show, talk show on HBO, is Bill Maher, who has built a reputation questioning, mocking, dismissing religion. That's his brand. You can talk politics. And you can talk religion.

And you can question Eli Manning. At this point, Eli Manning is more myth than reality. The last four years, he has been a below average quarterback. And I want everybody to think about this. Peyton Manning, let me say it slowly. The better of the two. Peyton Manning was benched for Brock Offen. Osweiler.

And Eli can't be subtly questioned publicly? I got a job 30 years ago in Las Vegas as a young sportscaster. A guy said to me, never criticized Tark. I left that market the most well-known sportscaster. My brand? The only guy that would go after Tark. When people tell me you can't say things publicly, head into that tsunami. cable TV is dominated by politics.

Bill Mars made a very lucrative brand, very, very lucrative brand, talking religion. And you can question if you're the face of a franchise, Eli Manning. All right, coming up next. Football tonight. No football last night. So I was doing a little LeBronzo time. That's what I'm talking about. And I'll be talking about what I noticed with the Lakers and LeBron and Lanzo.

And something really jumped out to me. That's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Oh, boy, it's great to be here. Joy Taylor is joining me. So last night there was no football. Tonight on Fox, Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, we'll all be watching. And then tomorrow, Blazing 5, NFL picks were red hot.

And so last night there was no football. So it was basketball. I think it was the second highest-readed NBA preseason game of all time. Lebronzo, LeBron, Rondo, Lance Stevenson, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, but mostly Lanzo ball and LeBron played. So I've got a couple of impressions I had from last night's game. Number one, Lonzo ball is bigger and stronger than he's ever been, and he still can't shoot. The shot is just, it is what it is. He still can't shoot.

But he is a bigger, stronger. incredibly long basketball player, very good team defender, tremendous vision. He'll work in this league, but the shot hasn't changed. It's not going to change that much. Ben Simmons, by the way, is never going to be a great shooter either, is what it is. But here's my takeaway beyond that is that I've watched every Tom Brady game and every LeBron important game in the last decade. And it's very well established. They're kind of the same guy. They're arguably the greatest ever at their position, quarterback and basketball player. And they both have preferences, they both have formulas, they both have templates, and they like, they demand

certain things from their teammates or you no longer are a teammate. Tom Brady likes guys who run precise routes, wide receivers with good hands that run precise routes, and you have to go to a spot. And if you drop it, Tom's pass is not being rewarded. You will not last long. figure the playbook out, get to the spot, and catch the ball off a precise route. LeBron James is similar. He wants to play with veterans like Brady that reward him and his passes hit the three. That's the Lakers problem. Lanzo ball and Rondo at point can't shoot.

Lance Stevenson's tough can't shoot. KCP, Long Athletic. Hit and miss. Kyle Kuzma, not an elite shooter, very good young player. It is very obvious. The Lakers were 29th in three-point shooting last year and didn't bring in any more great shooters. In fact, the guys that I brought in, Javelle McGee, Rondo and Lance Stevenson, three-for-three can't shoot. It's very obvious.

LeBron is going to rely heavily on Brandon Ingram, the kid from Duke going into his third year, who can shoot. and is getting better shooting every year as he gets stronger. But Tom Brady, we saw him after Detroit before Julian Edelman got there, before the running back Sony Michelle, the rookie figured out the playbook, when Cordorale Patterson wasn't in the right spot. Remember Tom Brady after Detroit. He wasn't mad. He was just living in his reality.

Remember this Brady moment? I mean, we're not scoring enough points. We're not executing well enough on a down-by-down basis. at a high level that we should have our expectations set at two weeks where you know you get behind and just not make enough plays early in the game and we're behind and we're just fighting a pill all day so it's no way to play football it's no way to you know execute at a very high level and we're just not doing any well enough that's what you get he wasn't angry he was frustrated then julian edel came back julian edelman he's always in the right spot then sony michel

the rookie running back. Month in is now in the right spot. Cordorell Patterson, Josh Gordon, month in, playbook, now in the right spot. LeBron James, like Brady, has a template, has preferences, and is demanding. And when I watched them last night, it's going to be LeBron's team. Now, the Lakers have some strength. They're long.

They're going to be a very good team defense. They're athletic. They're quick. They're eager. They're coachable. And they have the world's best player. But it's going to be LeBron and Brandon Ingram. That's what you're going to get.

LeBron, by the way, hit a three last night and made sure all those young guys got to look at what he's going to be demanding from them. LeBron going to fire it up. It'll kind of be done. LeBron looked at that one for about 20 seconds after he left his hand. He said, yeah, I like it. the crowd likes it as well. That's what LeBron's going to need for Brandon Ingram. Because he's not getting it from Rondo and he's not getting it from Lance and he's not getting it from Javail and he's not getting it from KCP and he's not getting it from Lanzo ball.

This team has some strengths, but it's going to be LeBron and Brandon Ingram. That's going to be what you're going to see. And I think that's going to win a lot of games. And the team has strengths. But Brady and LeBron, they have preferences, they have templates and they're demanding. And you got to hit the shot with LeBron and you got to hit the spot with Tom. Or they get very frustrated and let you know it. Joy Taylor with the news.

No, no, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Oh, the Cowboys. So Cole Beasley started it off by mentioning that the Cowboys receivers are getting open. Then Alan Hurons took it a step further by taking a shot at the play calling. Despite all of that, Ezekiel Elliott says there is no blame game happening in the locker room after blowing a winnable game. There hasn't been any fingerpointed at all.

You know what I mean? And I mean, even when, you know, as an offense, we've struggled this year. And when we go over the defense, like, hey, we're sorry. You know, we didn't hold up our end. You know what I mean? There's more. No, we need to do more.

You know what I mean? We need to go out there and win that game. You guys don't have to go out to win it. We run the pitch and go out there and win it. So, I mean, there's enough accountability in this locker room and that, you know, there's not going to be in the finger point. The guy that may get pointed out, is going to say, hey, that's on me.

I'm going to need anyone to go over there and say, hey, you need to get your finger-up together. By the way, he's saying there's no finger-pointing. There's been a lot of finger-pointing. Cole Beasley, Alan Hurons. Right. Getting nothing but finger-pointing. Well, he's saying that that, I guess,

is happening publicly. It's not happening in the locker room. So maybe it should be happening in the locker room instead of it being public, or at least those conversations, should be happening in the locker room. He's coming off a 54-yard performance, which is the third fewest yards in his career.

What is wrong with the Cowboys? Well, let's be honest. Winning solves everything in all sports. I mean, if you win, I mean, if the Warriors are the happiest team in the NBA after the championship, and they smile and they dance and they go to their Instagrams because they win. And LeBron James was very, very happy when he wins. And then he loses to the Warriors. And he said, I'm going to go to another city and play.

You've got to win games. Well, yeah. I mean, why aren't they winning games is the problem. It's just really when you look at it, it's really bizarre, the step down that, that, that and Zeke together have taken from their rookie year. Last year was kind of a pass. I didn't like Dak coming out of college. And then after the first year, I had to say, okay, like his numbers are incredible.

It was the perfect storm. Offensive line was the best in football and healthy. Zeke, nobody'd seen him. Des, Jason Whitten. It was the perfect storm. And I got to be honest with you, I was late to it. I didn't like him out of college. I didn't buy it until about week five and went to Green Bay.

Or maybe you were right about it. Well, in the end, I think he is a guy that needs. He's a ton of stuff around him. And in fairness to Dak, because I do think he's a franchise quarterback. I just think he's a lower-end one. In fairness right now, they're terrible at tight end. I mean, they don't have, they're not good enough. The receiver, you don't have to be great at wide receiver.

You don't have to be Kansas City. But you can be, you can be better than Dallas. You can be functional. Like, we've got to be better than the Jets in Dallas at wide receiver. So the phrase the same old rounds might not apply to this particular squad. And Baker Mayfield says he knew this team was different than the organization that went one in 31 over the previous two years. He says, in fact, he knew the team was special the day he walked into the Brown's building.

Here is why. From the people they were putting together in this group, but then also it's also the belief I've always had myself. I said it back at the combine when everybody said I was a short quarterback that couldn't do much. I said if anybody's going to do it, you know, I believe to myself to do that. And, you know, that's something I've carried with me. And I hope our guys believe in themselves as well. Where does confidence not get into cocky this time? Come to your job.

I don't know that the Browns are becoming cocky just yet. I think they have to work on consistent confidence before they get over the arrogant level. But I do feel like this is a different Cleveland Browns. Oh, they've got all, they have three legitimate running backs. It's a real team. I'll talk about this in a couple of minutes in Baker Mayfield. But, yeah, I mean, he hasn't been sensational, but the team's really, really good all over the place.

You know, they leave the NFL. They don't just lead the NFL in takeaways. They lead it by a wide margin. You watch a Browns game. They're raking the ball out of it. They're picking it off. Like, this is a good football team with a bunch of good players. I don't know that I necessarily need Baker to be sensational this year.

The Browns have been so bad for so long. I think that just establishing a culture change is more important than necessarily going out and there and lighten it up. Just get wins. Be consistent. As long as he's a grown-up, be mature, franchise leader in next 15 years. I know Sam Donald will be, just be a grown-up. I mean, you have to be happy

with his demeanor and the way he's been carrying himself so far. So far, he's been great. So far he's been great. So finally, Sunday night's matchup between the Chiefs and Patriots will feature a battle of different generations of quarterbacks. Many have called Mahomes the future of the quarterback position, considering how his arm is and his playmaking ability.

And Brady, at least according to me fired a couple shots about how the position is changing, but Mahomes says that he did learn a little something from Brady. I definitely watched a good amount of him in college. Coach Kingsbury actually played with Tom at one point, and so he liked to show me some things that he did where he's in the pocket, his pocket movements and stuff like that. And so I've definitely taken some things from him, but I mean, he does it at such a high level and it's something that you have to strive to be like, and you have that much success, I mean, it takes out a bunch of hard work, so you respect that. I do like to hear from young quarterback that he shaped his game after breaking.

He looks young, doesn't he? He does look young. Like there's guys that are young. Ben Rothsberger looked older when he was young. Like Patrick Mahomes looks, he's going to look like that when he's like 38. He looks like he came into the league at 35. Yeah, no, he does look young. I'm so excited for this game. Oh, it'd be great. Very, very good NFL weekend. And by the way, the game tonight's going to be great. It's a rivalry game. You're going to get big stars. Odell Beckin, Sequin, Barclay, Philadelphia, which is still the best team in division. I still think they win 10 games. They win their division, but they got to get their act together.

Tonight's a big star game. Carson Went, O'Dell Beckin, Sequin, Barclay, massive rivalry. NFC East is a great game tonight. Yes. Sorry about it. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. By the way,

yesterday in our show, a very unfortunate moment on the show. I thought it bordered on unprofessional when our college football guy, Joel Clatt came on wearing a uniform. I don't know if I'm going to let him back on the show. This was the moment.

Roll the tape if you could. I didn't sleep well last night. You're such an obnoxious. Yeah, buddy. How was last Sunday? What's up? A bunch of field goals. Hey, two wins.

What? Two more wins than they had. Six hundred previous days. Guess what Mayfield has? Cop video, junk, and two wins, bang. Very obnoxious. I don't, I'm not into message boards, Twitter.

Here's what you need to know about the Cleveland Browns. Here's who I pay attention to. And by the way, Baker Mayfield on the internet liked that moment. Here's who I listen to. Vegas. Vegas this weekend has the Chargers, of their Super Bowl favorites in the Browns, pretty close to a pick-ham. Philip River is going to be in the Hall of Fame.

Joey Bosa, two good backs, pass rush. This is a very good chargers team. Vegas has Brown's chargers pretty much a pick-um this weekend. Well, calm that's because of Baker-Mayfield. No, it's not. Baker-Mayfield right now is completing 59% of his throws. By elite standards, that's weak. But Sam Darnel.

I don't want to hear about other quarterbacks. The Cleveland Browns, Vegas is telling you, are a coin flip against a Super Bowl dark horse. Baker's passer ratings, 81. That's lousy. Three TDs, three picks all year. That's lousy. I'm not saying Baker Mayfield's going to be lousy.

His current numbers are below average. What about Sam Darnold? We're not talking about Sam Darnold. We're not comparing him to Sam Darnold. Baker Mayfield, with this roster, Baker-mainfield, just take his name out of it. 58% completion, 81 passer rating, three TDs, three picks. That quarterback with this Brown's roster, Vegas has as a pick-um against the Chargers.

The story what Vegas is telling you is, Cleveland's got dudes. They've got three legitimate running backs. Three, Carlos Hyde, Duke Johnson, Nick Chubb. They have a stud young pass rusher. Garrett, Jarvis Landry, slot receiver, stud, most targets in the NFL. They have a elite young rookie cornerback. They have a tremendous young tight end. They lead the NFL and takeaways easily.

This roster is stacked. And this is what happens. Houston was terrible for years in baseball. And then they get a number one pick and a number one pick and a number two pick and a number four pick. And you look up right now and Houston's favored, probably to win the World Series. Not the Dodgers and all their money. not Milwaukee with the best bullpen,

not the Red Sox for the greatest year, it's Houston. Okay, that's what happens. Forget comparing Baker to anything else. Vegas is telling you that a quarterback in a passing league, in a passing year,

that's completing 59% of his throws, 81 passer rating 3 TDs 3 picks, they're a pick-em against L.A. That's all you need to know about Baker Mayfield. I think he's going to be way better than those numbers. I think Sam Darnold is going to be way better than his numbers. I think Josh Rosen's going to be way better than his numbers. And I think Lamar Jackson at some point won't come in for three plays a game.

He'll come in for 60 plays a game. But that tells you all you need to know about Cleveland this year. It's not the Baker Mayfield story. They're overcoming very average quarterback play. The Jets roster stinks. Cleveland's roster loaded. And they're going to carry Baker Mayfield probably for the entire year. year, probably for the entire year.

Here's something else I want to talk about. So did you guys see, I said yesterday I wasn't going to talk about Des Bryant anymore. I said, I'm not talking about Des Bryant anymore. Okay, I'm going to have one exception. He started talking about me yesterday. So there's an old rule in the NFL. There's an old rule and old saying, the tape don't lie. The tape don't lie.

Be careful what you put on tape. Des Bryant right now is unemployed and talented still. What is Des Bryant put on tape in the last six months? Eight months, nine months, last year. Remember in the NFL, the saying is, be careful what you put on tape. The first thing he put on tape is, oh, he can't separate, and he doesn't have an expansive route tree. Everybody can see it.

The second thing he put on tape was the Amazon Prime series. where he didn't get along with his wide receiver coach. The third thing he put on tape is he shows up to the Cleveland Browns, headphones, tank top, looks uninterested, nothing's changed, not a grown-up. And the fourth thing he's put on, quote, tape social media, responding like a child. Yesterday he's firing back at me. Hey, cowherd, how did they make me in Dallas, sir? You know the Cowboys have had other players.

And he swore and stuff, and I won't put that up. Dude, you are exactly where you should be. In the NFL, be careful what you put on tape. You have put four things on tape slash your resume. You can't separate and you don't have an expansive route tree. You're a nightmare in the room with your wide receiver coach. You show up to the Cleveland Browns looking like you don't desperately need a job or desperately want a job. That sort of matters.

And you also fire back nightly on any criticism. Des, every day, every response is justifying guys like me who are critics. With all your talent, and you can still play week six, week six. no takers. And that's officially the last time I talk about Des Bryant. Unless it gets time with the Patriots. Okay. We got Greg Kosell, I got Chris Broussard.

Oh, oh, oh, actor, producer, comedian Michael Rappaport's going to scream at me. Did he watch last night? Did he watch LeBronzo? That's around a corner. In L.A., it's The Herd. We're not wasting time, baby. Actor, writer, comedian, my friend, we've had dinner together. We both can kind of take a punch to the chin because we're banging each other constantly.

And I love him. Michael Rappaport is joining me. So the Lakers played last night. It was LeBronzo come to life. And here's my takeaway, and you respond to it. It's a bunch of guys who can't shoot and Brandon Ingram. And if LeBron can go 27 a game and Ingram gets to 21 to 22, which I think he will, I think he's the second best player, 8.16 last year, 22.

then everybody else can fill in, they'll be fine. But it's a bunch of LeBron and a bunch of guys outside of Brandon Ingram that I can't rely on a hit a three in a three-ball league. You take the floor. I think that the Los Angeles Lakers, I agree with what you're saying, but LeBron James figures it out. He downloads people's strengths, their weaknesses. He plays into them gorgeous beautifully.

And I've been saying this. I think that the Lakers, 45 to 50, wins, barring, you know, a game here or there. But I think when playoff time comes, they're going to be a problem. They're not going to be the eighth seed, okay? They're going to give Houston trouble. They're going to give everybody trouble. Okay, but they don't shoot well.

So you like, see, you like Kuzma. I like Kuzma. Kyle Kuzma, in my prediction, will be an all-star. Oh, God, no. You know why? Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why. He doesn't need LeBron's Instagram post.

Lonzo needs that. Young King, all this stuff. He knows that. Lonzo Bowles, fragile. Cusma last year, no one knew who he was. No one talked about him. He came in. He played. He's a dog. He's tough. He's an inside, outside guy. He doesn't need

any coddling. Okay. Here's my theory. This is my theory to the audience watching now. Kuzmo went to college for four years. So he is much closer to his ceiling. Like Baker Mayfield played, he used all five years of his eligibility. What you're seeing with Baker... Different sports. But I'm saying, Kuzma,

he averaged 16 last year. His ceiling in this league is 18 and a half. agree. Ingram came in. He was nine years old. His ceiling, he still got massive expansion in his ceiling. But it's not going to happen this year. Where's it going to be like a 27 point game guy? No, no, no, no. Ingram's going to go to 22 and a half to 23 this year with LeBron, probably finished top out at 25. Because he came out after one year of college. He was 19 years old in this league. He's not even close to his ceiling. When you go four years of college, that's a master's degree. He is ready. You're seeing Kuzma. This is what he is.

And that's a pretty good, this is what he is. 16 a game. 16 a game in his rookie season on a terrible team. 16 a game. He's going to be an all-star. I think this year he's going to be an all-star. I think he'll be like the guy voted in by the coaches. He's going to be scrappy.

What coaches? The coaches, don't the coaches are the G-League coaches? The coaches don't the course in all the players. Regardless, you think Kyle Cusbe is an all-star. Absolutely. I think he's that guy on that team. So you think he's the two on that team? Yes.

In regards to who, like, obviously, it's a, weird thing because you have Rondo there, but in terms of the factor, the toughness, the guy who will take the shot. He scored 16 points a game last year. I'm not saying he's going to be George Gervin, but I'm saying he's a big guy, he's a tall guy, he's tough, and he doesn't have a learning curve. He doesn't need

to be coddled. He doesn't need Instagram posts from LeBron. The real question is Colin, we know LeBron James is in Los Angeles, but when will LeBron blames or merge? Who will be the first person that gets thrown under the bus? Will it be Lanzo Ball? Will it be Luke?

Will it be Lance? Who will it, will it be you? Will it be Joy Taylor? Because LeBron Blames has not reared his ugly head in L.A. LeBron Blames doesn't have any murals in Los Angeles. But he comes out, he usually comes out around January, and he's going to come. That's the question. I don't think that's going to happen this year.

LeBron Blames. Yeah, but this is a different thing now. He's playing for the first time in his career with literally no expectations. because nobody expects anything of his but he does. He has them for himself and for his team, but no one around the Lakers expects them to,

you expect him to win a championship this year? Every year he's been expected to get to the finals or win a championship. I think by the time we get to March and April, Joy, Colin, I think things are going to change. This team is going to be a major problem. Listen, as much as I break his chops, you could literally put him on the Brooklyn Nets,

you could put him on the Orlando Magic, you could put him on the Knicks, and we'd be having this discussion. He's that good. No, he is. But I do think, I said this with Brady. As good as Brady is, if you don't as a receiver get to his spot, he gets you out of town. LeBron, you've got to hit the shot.

Because if LeBron's not scoring, you have to reward LeBron by hitting his pack. He's a great passer. Yes. This roster does not have a lot of good shooters. So unless Coosma, who I think is a marginal shooter, athletic, good kid, plays hard, got a dog, little alpha, he better become a better shooter. Ingram can shoot. He's a 39% three guy.

It's going to be a LeBron Ingram team. By the way, I want to go to two other things that are big. You're a New Yorker. I'm in New York. They call me Mr. New York. That's what they call me. Mr. New York. Who calls you that?

A lot of people. When I walked through the streets, like, yo, Mr. New York. I'm like, yo, what's up, guys? All right. Actually, somebody on the lot, actually, call me that, even though we're in L.A. today. But people do call me that. Joy, Witness, then we were in Vegas for the fight last year.

We were there for the big three. But sure, yeah, it was Mr. New York, too. something new every day. Yeah, you do, Colin, because if you didn't know that by now and we're like friends, it really kind of hurts me. Sorry. You'll get over it. Okay.

Odell Beckham, I defend Odell Beckham because there's an elephant in the room in New York and somebody's got to discuss it. And Odell Beckham's saying, well, the GM won't discuss it. The owner won't discuss it. The players won't discuss it. And this is not the NBA. It's the NFL where about three guys a locker room can talk or they get demoted or shipped out of town.

And Odell's like, I'm going to talk about it. Eli's not that great. what's wrong with that? Well, what's wrong with that is you knew Eli wasn't that great at the point that you signed your $94 million contract, $65 is guaranteed. I don't count any other people's money. God bless him. You knew that.

You also knew that going into week five because that interview that he did was before week five, not week 16 and you've been one in 15. The Giants still have a chance. That division is up for grabs. Totally. Okay, so for him to do that now, and then they lose the game. and he comes out and he says, oh, this is what we needed to get the team together. The team didn't come together.

Great. Canoe kicked the field goal. But doing that didn't help. Historically, it didn't help. Well, we could get to Jimmy Butler or not. It never helps going to Josina, going to Joy, going to Colin, complaining. When does that help? This is not the Sopranos.

You're not with Dr. Melfi. Okay, stop complaining. If you want to talk to a guy, I see Joy backstage, I'm complaining about Colin. She goes talking. I knock on the door, Colin, I got a problem with you. I never said that because I love you. But I'm just saying if I did. You believe in confrontation instead of talking through the press.

It doesn't have to be confrontation. We could say, listen, I could tell there's a problem going on. And this is coming from a guy. By the way, you're a New Yorker. Peyton Manning got benched for Brock Osweiler. Eli Manning can't be criticized. His brother's a Hall of Famer got bench. We're stating the obvious.

You knew that Eli was heading into his lashes, but was more disgusting and frustrating and really insulting to me. is when she asked him, are you happy being in New York? And he said, that's a tough question. We're not in southeast Czechoslovakia. Even if you're in Cleveland, Orlando, or some other place, or Oklahoma City, you just don't say that. But we're talking about New York City,

the greatest city on the earth. And you're going to say, that's a tough question. That's a tough question. Do you like, not everybody's going to play for a Los Angeles team. And the way the Giants are playing, you'll be back in L.A. come January, because we ain't going to make it to the players. There's going to be no February with us. So it's like you get to spend half the year in Los Angeles.

It ain't all that out here. No disrespect. That's very nice. No disrespect. I've been out of for a long time. But it ain't all that. It's pretty close to all that. It ain't all that, Colin.

I drove home yesterday off to my right surfers, off to my last palm trees. What are they looking at in Shiboigan? It's pretty good. But you're talking about New York City. Odell, explore the city. Get your side of a slice. Get a slice of pizza. Get yourself a hot dog.

It's not just Soho at the Gucci store. Explore the city. Put a baseball hat on because you know what? It's New York. We've had bigger stars, and there are bigger stars enjoying the city. Leonardo DiCaprio walks around all the time. There's movie stars. There's actors.

There's Rihanna. There's Jayze. Explore New York. It's not just like, you know, little shopping places downtown. It's disrespectful to the people. Like, that's a tough question. New York? Where are you thinking?

We're not, you know. Come on, man. Okay. You drop passes, too. And Sterling Shepard's over there trying to rip garbage cans apart because of you. Okay. So Joy and I disagree on this. I don't believe crazy people can be uncrazy.

And if you hire crazy people, they'll be crazy. And just because of bell rings, they won't stop being crazy. Joy doesn't like McGregor Kabee doing what they do. What did you make of the spectacle, the Barnyard Musical in Vegas over the weekend? I'm controlled crazy. I'm not a fighter. I don't support any athletes going into the stands. anything could happen.

So listen, there's been 228 UFC events. It happened one time. We all know what happened in the NBA. It's happened in hockey with those lunatics. Yeah. And Boston Bruins started beating guys and Madison Square Garden with shoes. Yeah, yeah. Remember that?

This stuff happens. It happens. It's not good. I don't celebrate it. I like trash talking. I love UFC. It's an incident. Fortunately, it didn't get totally out of hand.

And they'll move forward. It's not at the end of the sport. We make it the end of the world. What about those animals with the Boston Bruins beat the guy with his own shoe? It's one thing to beat a guy up. It's another thing to beat him up with his own shoe. No, I would say this. I would say this.

I saw Khabib yesterday talking to Putin, Vladimir Putin. But let me support, let me support Kibb. Is that in his country, they talked about religion, his family. It was incredibly personal. And Connor McGregor does this. It's part of his shtick. But you know what? In the fighting business, it is personal.

You don't have a left tackle. You don't have a shooting guard. You don't even like golf, have a caddy. You are in a ring against mono-imano against another guy. If you go personal, this is the kind of crap that happens. Connor McGregor's got a responsibility. You start talking about my kids, my family. I'm agnostic.

But if I was religious, my country, my family, this is boxing. You can't go there. And Connor, you know, he talks about it. Khabib is really about it, about it. So, again, he's got to pay the price. There should be a fine. I don't think anybody should be leaving the ring and the cage no matter what, even if you're going to taunt another guy and you're in control.

That needs to stop. But the UFC will be fine. UFC 230 is going to be in Madison Square Garden. I'm Mr. New York. Yes, I'll be there. I didn't like seeing it happen. I don't support it. But Connor McGregor, just as a fighter, his best days are behind him.

The two wars with Diaz, the one he won and the one he lost, tough wars, getting punched in the face by Floyd Mayweather, wasting your money, partying, and then this lost. The great Connor McGregor days, they're done. I think I agree with you there. I did definitely back nine. Thank you, Colin. Good stuff.

Actor, comedian, producer. Michael Rappaport, my friend, The Herd. Thanks, Joy. Thanks, Michael. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1 live in Los Angeles.

Blazing 5 tomorrow at this time. Joy Taylor is joining me. How are you, Joy? I'm doing great. Three minutes from now, we have the best meat sandwich in the NFL with Greg CoSell. He looks at tape. He breaks it down, play of the week. Give me three minutes on this. Just give me three minutes on this. So Patrick Mahomes is the rising star at quarterback. He was asked about the goat, Tom Brady. And instead of saying, as guys, the greatest of all time, here's what Patrick Mahomes said.

He is one of the greatest quarterbacks, if not the greatest quarterback to ever play. It kind of depends on what you like. I don't necessarily know if I have just one of the best. I mean, he's won all the championships. So, I mean, that's one of the biggest parts about it. One of the greatest. Eight trips to the Super Bowl. Five rings.

Well, you know, he's one of the, you know, depends on what you like. I don't know. Winning? Super Bowls is kind of what I like. I mean, total disrespect. Colin, Joe Montana played in Kansas City. He's got to be aware of where he is. No.

You've got to be aware that the guy you're playing is listening to this tape thinking, oh, I'm one of the best. I understand because what Brady said, I took a shade toward Patrick Mahomes, although I feel like Brady's in the position to do that because he is Tom Brady. Makes me so angry. He's in Kansas City. Everybody's in love with talent. I got new, because everybody likes Aaron.

90% of the media in America day, if you ask these knuckleheads, they'd say, oh, Aaron's better than Tom Brady. Why? Because his arm? Well, I don't, I think that's ridiculous. I think the comparison, there's no one that compares to Tom Brady in the NFL right now. The comparison of Aaron Rogers should be Drew Brees. That's who should be compared to each other. By the way, Russell Westbrook is the fastest NBA player in the most athletic.

He's not as good as James Harden or Kevin Durant. At one point, he was the third best player on Oklahoma City. Forget the league. What does talent mean? Well, Rogers' arm and Mahomes' arm is coachability matter, is pre-snap matter? Does work ethic? Does off-season? Does commitment?

I mean, one of the best. It's like I've worked in radio for 20 years. 20 years I worked in radio. And when I broke into this, everybody always talked about a guy's got a great voice. He's got pipes. And I was like, he's dumb as a rock. What does that mean? A million guys in radio.

There's a thousand guys in radio. who for years in years talked for about nine seconds before you put on Fog Hat. What is talent? Westbrook's fast. He's athletic. It's not as good a player as James Hardin. You know, as good a player as Kevin Durant

and they used to play on the same team. I really feel like this is a very self-aware answer. Because until Brady won that championship, it was between him and Joe Montana. You got any fog hat play it? Drives me freaking crazy. I mean, it's just, I'm so tired of hearing about it.

I'm party, Marty, Kansas City. 97.5 is going to be cold and chilly today. Party, 97 Rock in Kansas City. I got pipes. Listen to these. I got first pipes with my pipes. Here's fog hat. Let's do some blow in the bathroom.

Jesus. I have to hear from another loser DJ with good pipes. Tired of it. What about Tom Brady's work ethic? I am tired about it. All right, Greg CoSells, my guy. 35 years, NFL films, breaking it's the best meat sandwich in American Sports Radio today. Greg CoSell, sorry for that dissertation, that manifesto.

It's okay. I'm a big Focatch fan. It's okay. Okay, let's talk. Patrick Mahomes struggled against the Jags. What did they do? Was it just to have better person? What did the tape say?

I think we have to start with the premise of your question. Are we dealing with Patrick Mahomes as if he's a great player, or are we dealing with Patrick Mahomes as if he was in his sixth NFL star? and he's a young player still learning how to play. Yeah, the second one. Okay, so let's understand a couple of things. He played against a defense that's very sound in what they do. There's not a lot of mystery to what the Jags do,

but they're very sound in what they do. They don't normally beat themselves on defense. We're also dealing with a quarterback who came into this league as essentially a sandlot and playground player who has mechanical issues that needed to be worked on that can crop up at any time, which did in this game. We're dealing with a quarterback and Mahomes, who has a tendency to play outside of structure.

So all those things kind of came together, and it's not as if he had a poor game, but he just didn't have a great game. But I think that Mahomes leaving the pocket when it's not necessary is something to watch for as we continue, because that's the way he played in college. Let's shift to Sam Darnold, who I've said before, I think he's the youngest of the quarterbacks. He only had 27 college starts. I think it's going to be a choppy year for him. They don't have a great O-line running game, tight ends or wide receivers,

although I do like Robbie Anderson. What did the tape show, after not doing much against the Jags, what are the tape show against Denver on Sam Darnold? Well, first of all, the second touchdown to Anderson was about as beautiful a throw as you could make. He literally handed it to him from 40 yards away. But I would say here's Darnold at this point, and you would probably agree, Colin, because we've talked about Sam Darnold, and I know you like him a lot, but you're also not blind to what he is.

I think he's shown some very positive snapshots, but he's a little unsettled in the pocket. His feet are always moving. That may be him or it may be something that needs to settle down. When he sees it right away, he can throw the ball really well. Ball placement must become more consistently precise. That to me is where Sam Donald is at this point after five games. Yeah, Baker's more accurate.

Sam's a little bigger athlete. He's got a lot of home run potential. He's a big kid. But I think Baker throws, Josh Rosen throws, very accurate football. I always felt with Sam Donald, he can play a little fast. He's a little uneven, but I like 15 years. I like his personality, his body type, and his big play potential. I just really struggle and admit it in college.

For all I know, he could have done it in high school. You probably saw him play in high school. But he's a very unsettled guy with his feet, and it just may be him. But when you watch him on tape, because I'm a purist, as you know, with the position, there are times it's just, hey, calm down, Sam. calm down. You don't need to be so jumpy. All right, the Eagles have yet to score 24 points in a game this season. We know they've got the talent. They have had some injuries.

They lost Frank Wright. They lost coaches. What is the tape say is wrong with Philadelphia's offense? Well, two things. They don't have as much talent as people think on the perimeter. Their wide receivers are not high-level NFL wide receivers. Secondly, a strength a year ago has turned into an issue this year, and that's their offensive line and their past protection. individuals are getting beat one-on-one, and they're getting really hurt by stunts and pressure. Major concern, and they're not running the ball with anywhere near the frequency they did a year ago,

so they're becoming one-dimensional with an O-line that's struggling, and with a receiving core that's not quite good enough to be a one-dimensional passing offense. We generally blame quarterbacks. I think Carson Wentz for what he's given has done okay. So do I. I think he's actually played well. I watch him very carefully every week. I think he's throwing the ball really well.

He'll probably take a lot of heat for perhaps taking too many hits. But I don't know if that will ever change. I think that's his mentality. I think he stands there and he wants to deliver the football. Okay, I want to shift to this. There's two or three teams in the NFL, Rams and the Bears, Sean McVey and Matt Nagy. When I watch their offense, it is so clever. It is so fun.

It's so multiple. I love watching it, even though I think Trebisky is really limited. When I watch Dallas's offense, it's not a lot of clever and it's not a lot of creative. No. Is that a coaching thing? Are they signaling the guys like me? Dax Limited? I just see Dallas as, and Vanella's overused pedestrian.

I just don't see a ton offensively that makes me go, wow, that's new. I would agree with you. And we don't know in their past game. They run a lot of individual. isolation routes. In other words, they ask their wide receivers versus corners. Those are individual isolation routes. When you have great receivers, you can do that. The Colts did a lot of that one. They had Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, which you don't see with the Cowboys are what I would call integrated route concepts, where they use things like staff, do things that actually

help their receivers against particular coverage concepts. And when you add that to the fact that that Dack Prescott is not a true anticipatory thrower, very often it shuts down your passing game. Now, we don't know if it's because they don't think Dax good enough. We don't know the answers to these questions. I can only tell you what the tape shows. Yeah. Is it possible he missed Des Bryant more? Well, Des when he was in his prime, which was, what, three, four years ago?

Again, Dax been in the league. This is his third year. So his first year in the league, Des was still a good player. but Des has he kind of evolved into being a player and there's a lot of those guys and I'm sure their feeling was if he's problematic in the locker room as a possession receiver since there's a lot of those guys he's probably not worth of trouble if he's a superstar those talent always wins over temperament but he no longer was a star let's shift to green bay um again something's not right I'm not in the room now they don't have much of a running game and haven't for years

But again, let me go back to the creative. You have said on our show several times, Aaron Rogers, sometimes to a fault, is creative. I don't see a lot of creative, creative, beyond Aaron Rogers. Again, like Dallas, are they asking receivers to win one-on-one battles and just thinking, hey, Aaron, make it happen? I actually had a conversation about Aaron Rogers with someone very smart and very aware this week

because I continue to watch Aaron Rogers, and he's a frustrating and confusing player to watch because Rogers plays with far too much head movement. His helmet is rarely calm. There are many snaps that he plays as if he doesn't appear to know what he's looking at, but then he has plays when he's right on the money. So he's very confusing. He's a tough evaluation, but it also shows how talented he is because it's really tough to survive in that world where you're not really playing with any sense of timing and rhythm and still be successful. He's the issue. He's the issue, which is hard for people to understand because he's so talented.

Yes. But just watch him play, Colin, and watch his head. It's very rarely calm. And quarterbacks, you watch the great quarterbacks, Drew Breeze, you watch Tom Brady. Their head is not moving from side to side. Listen, this is what I've been saying for years. People think I hate Aaron Rogers. I'm like, listen, some of this stuff's on Aaron.

It is. It's not all on everybody else. You look at film. I just watch the games. And so I'm going by, as well, well. I just, I can tell you what the tape shows. Hey, so let's go to Seattle. Finally, their offense had a life. And here's the thing. Everybody loves the Chiefs and the Rams, myself included, but neither of them plays great defense. Last couple of weeks, Rams haven't played any defense.

So what did Seattle do, did Seattle exploit an issue with the Rams? They're inconsistent pass rush. They're kind of marginal linebacker play. Rams are given up now a lot of points. Seattle exploited them. What did you see here? Well, Seattle has really evolved into a totally different team with this new offensive coaching staff. They're a run-first team. Their two backs, Carson and Davis, combined for 31 rushes for 184 yards. And they are now an offense that is a run-game foundation offense, and that's where the Rams have struggled this year defending the run.

But Seattle's a run-game foundation offense with multiple run-game concepts, and Russell Wilson is now a complementary player who's playing with far more control. role and less freelance randomness, and that's the way they want to play. And in the long term, that will help Russell Wilson. Yeah, no, I watched Seattle as we went and got Brad, they went and got that Penny kid from San Diego State in the first round. He's a third back. Yeah, no, no, they have depth that running.

They remind me a little bit of Cleveland. They got Duke Johnson. They got Nick Chubb. They got Carlos Hyde. Seattle's got three backs now. And the young guy, Chubb and Penny are not getting a ton of snaps. But it does look like, to your point, Seattle said, we're going to make a paradigm shift here. They are.

They took it right to. the Rams. Colin, we've talked about this, you and I many times. It's so hard to play offense week to week in the NFL when you're relying on a quarterback, any quarterback, it just happens to be Russell Wilson here, to make outer structure improvisational random plays. It's just too hard. You can't live like that. Yeah. Let's go to Eli Manning. We're going to see him tonight. You know, Odell Beckham comes out and says this. Barkley's been terrific. Seekwan Barkley's been just terrific. They have a tight end. I like. Odell's very talented. Nate Solder made a lot of money. I'm not sure if he's worth it. But what are you seeing from

Eli? What's the tape saying? Well, you know, you said something about Barclay, if I could go there. Sure. I don't know if he's been terrific because he's a very interesting kind of runner. He's kind of a reactionary runner who runs away from opposing color rather than I would call a roadmap point of attack runner. You know, he had two runs last week that gained 50 yards, a 20-yarder, and a 30-yarder. His other 13-runs, gain minus two. And he needs to learn in the NFL to be a sustainer. Because if you talk to offensive linemen, they'll tell you that a three-yard run matters. He doesn't do that. He's looking to run away from opposing color, and he's a spectacular guy. So he'll do that. And he'll have

great runs. There's no question about that. But they're going to need him to be a sustainer. By the way, this is what he was at Penn State. He was exactly that at Penn State. Yep. He would do nothing, but he'd have two big home runs. and you end up and he's got 124 yards and 109 are on two runs. So I always said he had a little Reggie Bush in him. Got a little Barry Sanders in him. Yeah, I get a lot of, I got a firework show. But, you know, I need four yards most of the game.

And for two and a half hours, I don't get it. So, all right, let's go. Oh, boy. Now, here you go. I did this just for you, Colin. You and Joel Clatt. I've become my arch nemesis. Well, no, no, we're just truth tellers.

That's all we are. We're just truth tellers. We're educating you, Colin. Okay, so the play of the week involves Baker Mayfield. Let's go, baby. And what I like to do is run the play, and hopefully we can have a little fog hat slow ride behind this. Okay, so here's the touchdown pass to Rashad Higgins. Okay.

But this was beautiful design, but great execution. They go with a tight bunch to the right side of the formation, to the boundary side of the formation. The whole point of this tight bunch was to isolate Rashad Higgins on that corner, Marlon Humphrey. That's what they wanted to do. That's why they did this. So as the routes develop, the two other receivers working inside Jarvis Landry and David and Joku, this is man-to-man coverage. So they're going to stay inside versus Tavine Young and Tony Jefferson to keep those defenders inside.

So you get the one-on-one with Higgins versus Humphrey on the outside. It's an isolation. They're setting up this isolation. It's a great route by Higgins, and he wins. But there's another part of this play, and this is NFL quarterbacking. This will be an E.T. stunt, meaning the end goes first. Okay, Matt Juden goes first. And then Smith, the tackle, goes second.

So the tackle is the looper. Now, stop it right here. You see, this is pressure right in Baker Mayfield's face. Stand and deliver. This is NFL quarterback in Colin. That's the way to play the position, not to run out of there, but to lift those feet and with his arm. Look at the. Let's hear it for Baker Mayfield.

There you go. he's the greatest quarterback here. I think you should get his Hall of Fame jacket ready. Good stuff today. Good talking to you, Greg Kosell. All right, Colin. Appreciate it. Thanks. How about that?

Could you imagine a world where Baker became a Hall of Famer? Baker's going to play in the league for a long time. If he did, none of this nonsense, grabbing your stuff. Are they going to have your undraftable quote? I hope they do. Unsured to sail that weekend. That'd be funny. No, listen, I've watched every one of his snaps.

He's fun as heck to watch. All right, coming up around the corner, we got a lot of stuff here. Chris Broussard joins us from New York. His thoughts on LeBronso last night. And by the way, another cowboy is talking, and it looks like he's talking about Dak Prescott, and we'll address that coming up. Tonight, Carson Wentz and the Eagles battles Sakela and Barclay and the Giants

in a fierce divisional showdown between two teams that need a win. It all starts at 730 Eastern on Fox, NFL Network, and streaming on Prime Video. get it together, Eagles. By the way, don't miss a first look at Disney's new movie Aladdin tonight during the game. So once again, first it was Cole Beasley. And then it's been, you know, Des Bryant, who's not even playing for the Cowboys. And now it's Alan Hearns, wide receiver for the Cowboys, new guy from Jacksonville. And he was talking with Josina Anderson, a reporter at the other place.

And he said, Dack's second interception was the worst play call you can make against that coverage. He also said the blocking wide receivers. Dak deserves blame two. Uh-oh, here we go again. He went on to say if Dak should have audible. I'm not sure. I don't think Dak had a chance. I'm not sure if he had the authority to check out that play.

But like I said, as far as the other thing, that was one snap and a two-man. Everybody knows versus two-man. You can't run deep sixes. Basically, Alan Hurons is calling out Dak Prescott. And Cole Beasley called out Dak Prescott. And Des Bryant called out Dak Prescott. We got ourselves a trend here. Folks, quarterbacking's hard.

Okay? I don't know if DAC doesn't have the ability to audible or his coaches don't trust him to audible. But the reason Tom Brady keeps dominating is because if all these quarterbacks were cars, Tom would be the one or two that has GPS. He sees the traffic jam. He sees the accident and he gets off the freeway

and moves to another exit. everybody else like Dak is going to the glove compartment trying to grab their Thomas guide and figure it out that's why Brady wins games he audibles out of problems remember when brady and j glazer talked couple years ago before the Atlanta Super Bowl and he said you can't throw anything at me anymore every time i go on the field i like i you know i feel like all right well i know what to do i know how to do it i know where to go with the ball and you know football is in some ways easier now for me than ever was because, you know, it's just, I've been doing it longer. I've had the experience and, you know, hopefully that experience can pay off. By the way, the great separator at quarterback is not arm strength.

It's not size. It's not mobility. It's pre-snap. But you can't see it as fans. I can't see it as a member of the media. But what Brady can do is audible out of trouble. And rookie quarterbacks generally, coaches don't give them the playbook. Andrew Luck was a rare guy that they just gave Bruce gave him the playbook and said, figure it out you went to Stanford, you're smart. But Big Ben, they did a lot of babysitting with Big Ben for a couple years in Pittsburgh. They did not unveil the playbook. Philip Rivers did some babysitting with Philip Rivers.

I don't know if this is Dak can't do it. And I don't know if it's Jason Garrett doesn't trust him, but we got Cole Beasley. We got Alan Hearns. We got guys now. We got guys who have been in this league who have made catches saying it's Dak. And this is why I say New England's so tough to beat. they have two coaches.

They have Belichick and they have Brady. And most teams don't even have one great coach. They have two great coaches. I had Brian Cox on yesterday. And I asked him, who's the best young quarterback you ever face? Dax, obviously a young quarterback. Because who's the best guy you ever face?

Listen to his answer. Probably the best young guy I saw in my playing days would have to be Peyton Manning. You knew it right away how good he would be. Even though that record, you would play in the game. and you would hear him make all these calls. So the game to him was more mental than physical,

and you knew that you could now smart him from day one. Didn't talk about his arm, didn't talk about his size, didn't talk about his mobility. What did he do pre-snap? That is the difference between Brady, Breeze, and 90% of this league. They got a GPS system. Dak doesn't. Brady's like, oh, accident, four miles ahead.

I'll take this road. Dak drives right into it. And that's, you got multiple guys now. multiple receivers. These are not even anonymous sources. These are guys that are receivers. Yeah, that was bad. Yeah, we're wide open. Yeah, it's our quarterback. So you got yourself a problem. Either Dak can't figure it out or the coaches don't trust him to figure it out and neither answer is good. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So the debate between which Titan is better, Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelsey has picked up at a team over the past few years, and there are some similarities there, but Patrick Mahomes has a preference and some loyalty. Here he is. On my list, I would rank Kelks the best tied-in in football. I know Gronk has been a great tie-in for a long time. I've got to play with Kelce, and I've never... He is better right now.

He's younger. He's faster. He's healthier, and he's got better straight speed. I think Travis Kelsey is the best tie-in in football. By the way, it was Gronk for about seven years, eight years, but Gronks not as fast as he was. Look, the funny thing of this is like, what is he supposed to say? Of course. I mean, he's going to say

Gronk is better than Kelsey. Of course. Of course not. I mean, Kelsey has been amazing for him, but he's an impossible position there anyway. You can't say that Gronk is better than Kelsey. He's this guy. So you're not outraged over this, but you're very outraged over that Travis is better. I'm saying that there's other... I'm outraged that he doesn't acknowledge that Tom's the greatest

quarterback ever, but saying that Travis is better than Gronk, I think that's factual. That's not even an opinion. Listen, I agree with you, Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback ever. I'm just saying, you are in Kansas City, you've got to be a little bit more politically correct than that. Because, you know, Joe Montana was considered the greatest quarterback ever until the Atlanta Super Bowl. Correct? Would you not agree with that?

Okay. When Tom scores an extra touchdown and rubs it in there when they play this week. All right. I'm very excited for that game. All right. So Hugh Jackson is an unfamiliar territory for the first time since coming to Cleveland. He's having to manage players' expectations and becoming too comfortable with all the winning. I don't know how much winning you have to do before you get comfortable with winning.

I feel like a few more consistent games. But longtime Steelers fan, Snoop Dog, showed up at Brown's practice this week, and Hugh apparently felt the need to issue a warning. There were going to be a lot of people that want to come beyond this wagon when the wagon gets rolling, and we're going to circle the wagon. And I know that because I didn't see any of these people for the last two years. You know, I'm still the same guy. still knew all these people prior to this year.

So we're not going to get caught up in any of that. You know, our players won't. You know, and that's my word and my message to them. You know, we're going to work. Hugh, you're two, two, and one. Fans always do this. Please get the breaks. Hey, we don't need you on our bandwagon.

First of all, we don't want to, I'm in the media. I have no interest being on your bandwagon, but I'm going to talk about you if you're good. Your responsibilities to be good. If you are, I'll talk about you. Memphis Grizzlies aren't good. I don't talk about them. Warriors are, I talk about them.

I'm not jumping on a bandwagon. I talk Cleveland now because they got a bunch of good players. And I think they have a chance to beat the Chargers this weekend. And it's not because a baker. It's because they're loaded at about six positions. I don't know. After that statement, they might lose by 30. What bandwagon?

Because Snoop showed up at your practice and said some of your players. Said some nice things about the fans. Now all of a sudden Snoop Dog is a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan? Everybody wanted to run Hugh Jackson off, and I said, folks, offensive league, who are you going to hire, Matt Patricia? I think Hugh Jackson and Todd Haley have been great for Baker Mayfield. They have. I'm excited about Baker Mayfield. I think the Browns are much improved.

I like the culture change. I much prefer there to be competitive teams as opposed to teams that are just a complete bore to watch because you know they're going to be terrible. But let's pump the brakes on the bandwagons. You're two, two, and one. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. Thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News.

Chris Broussard will be joining us in about seven, eight minutes. It's actually a great weekend. You're going to have baseball playoffs. The Dodgers' bats against the Brewer's bullpen, the best bullpen. So it's going to be a very, very good weekend for baseball, if that's your thing. The Yankees lost. They should have. Boston's a better team all year.

Why wouldn't they be for a week? You've got great college football this weekend. Northwest, Washington, Oregon. Georgia and LSU play in the South. Michigan and Wisconsin play in the Midwest. And then you have great, great games. It starts with the Giants and the Eagles tonight. My feeling is that Philadelphia is just not the same team this year.

It's not a knock on anybody, but they've had injuries. They're not as good at running back. I think they should go after Labian Bell. I don't care if he's a rental. But by the way, for all of you defending Eli Manning, for all of you defending Eli Manning, and there's a lot of you defending Eli Manning. when you'll watch the New York Giants tonight against the Philadelphia Eagles, I'm setting myself up here on Fox tonight.

You tell me, you tweet me during that game where OBJ was wrong. There's an old saying there's never the right time to do the wrong thing. And I don't think there's a wrong time to say the right thing. And the right thing is, we got players here. Our quarterback right now is not playing as well as the rest of us. So when you watch that game tonight for all the O'Dell Beckham haters, and I've been critical of the kid, but I think there's a responsibility. Every team's got about three guys who can have an opinion and the NFL won't cut them.

You know, Brady, Gronk, and maybe McCordy. Everybody else in New England don't say much. And Dante Hightower, maybe. And the Giants have about three. The rookie running back, Odell Beckham. I don't know. Maybe one of their guys in the back end defensively. I think he broached the subject.

Never forget. Peyton Manning got benched. Eli can't be discussed. Peyton got benched. Chris Broussard joining us from New York. What to make on LeBronzo? Problems with LeBron and this group of non-shooters. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd.

Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. borrow up to 40 grand to pay off credit cards. Lendingclub.com slash sports. Lendingclub.com slash sports. All loans made by Web Bank member FDIC Equal Housing Lender. With that, we go to New York City, my guy. Via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Chris Broussard. All right, I said to open my show today, I said, listen, Tom Brady has receivers. He wants him to get to a spot or he gets frustrated. LeBron wants you to hit shots or he gets frustrated. He's a great passer. I watched the the Lakers outside of Brandon Ingram. I don't see a lot of pure shooters.

What do you make of the obvious issue here with the Lakers? LeBron's going to pass the ball to a lot of guys who won't reward him with a three-point shot. Well, here's the thing. And LeBron alluded to it last night. He said this team was hand-picked. LeBron was in cahoots with putting this team together. Michael Beasley, Lance Stevenson, Rajan Rondo, Javelle McGee.

LeBron wanted those guys, and he knew they weren't shooters. He wanted them because they were versatile. They could defend, switch defense, they could switch on defense, and their playmakers on offense. So LeBron wanted this type of team. So what you're alluding to is a problem if LeBron's going to play as he always has, bringing the ball up to court 65% of the time, penetrating, and looking to kick out to shooters. I believe LeBron is going to play differently. And you saw it last night.

He was off the ball a lot. This season, LeBron, should be off the ball and end the post more than he has in his entire career. And the people around LeBron tell me, look, he will get off the ball and let someone else handle it if he trusts their decision making. That's why he got Rajan Rondo because he trusts Rondo with the ball. And maybe he'll grow to trust Lanzo with the ball. So if LeBron plays off the ball on the wing, on the pinch post, on the block, then he can be effective and they can be effective. Remember, the Spurs have been effective the past few years,

not a championship team, but around 50 wins without being a prolific three-point shooting team. Memphis, a couple years ago, a really good team, 50-some-odd wins without having good three-point shooting. Oklahoma City's done it too. So the Lakers can still be good without great three-point shooting if they do something else well, and that will be running the floor with Rondo, Ingram, LeBron, Lonzo, each of them can get the ball on a rebound and push it. And that's what the Lakers are going to have to do to make up for their lack of three-point shooting. Lonzo, balls bigger, still can't shoot.

How's that going to work with LeBron? Well, look, the best thing Lanzo can do is work on this shooting. He has everything else. He's a good defender. We know he can obviously pass. He can rebound the basketball. But when there's going to be times this year where he needs to be able to spot up and catch and shoot, that's what he has to work on.

But look, Lanzo, I don't think we're going to be talking about Lanzo a lot this year. Wow. I think if there's a duo with the Lakers that you're going to talk about, it's not going to be LeBron and Lanzo. It's going to be LeBron and Brandon Ingram. Yeah, I agree. Ingram is the next guy. Again, you know, again, LeBron and the people around him, they're looking at Ingram like, this is direct quote, he could be LeBron Scottie Pippen.

And if you look at Pippin with Jordan, Pippin grew into a star. He didn't, wasn't a star. Immediately he learned from Michael. He learned from being around Michael in his practice habits. He earned Michael's respect and grew into a star. Ingram is a lot closer than Pippen was when he first started playing with Jordan, but Ingram learning from LeBron, learning from his work habits, he can develop into that second star. We're all saying who's going to be the second star to join LeBron with the Lakers? Ingram could emerge into that guy. Yeah, I think LeBron's going to average 27 and a half,

and I think Ingram's going to go up to about 21, 22. I think actually Coosman is closer to his ceiling. He played longer in college. I think Ingram's the second guy, and I don't think it's that close. All right, we got Barnyard Musical. Jimmy Butler now. Yesterday went to practice. He's been holding out.

He yelled at coaches, yelled at the GM, yelled at teammates. And I just kind of roll my eyes and I'm like, Jimmy, Jimmy, you got to have help. If you think you're going to go to Brooklyn and win any games, I mean, I called a source I trust last night. And the source said two years ago he was in the Olympics. And he was trouble. And he didn't fit. And that team had Boogie cousins, Kyrie Irving, Draymond Green. And guys didn't really put their arms around Jimmy, that he can be a little off-putting and a little ego-centric.

What do you make of that circus yesterday? Well, look, there's a few things. One, the New York Knicks haven't called the Minnesota Timberwolves about Jimmy. And that's one of the teams on his list. Now, I'm not saying they wouldn't take him, but they're not going to bend over backwards and break up a young nucleus or whatever just to get him. So that kind of plays in what you said about the Olympics. But also, I was talking to an executive yesterday, and he said a lot of them have this saying around the league. In the NFL, you hold out.

In the NBA, you act out. You know, you can't hold out the NBA because of the collective bargaining agreement. But if you want to get moved, you act out. You become such a problem, such a distraction, that the team is like, look, we'll move you. We'll get rid of you. You know, I don't mind. Jimmy Butler wanting to go elsewhere. He's actually doing the Timberwells a favor by telling him so early, look, I'm not

going to resign with you. So get what you can for me now. What I don't like Butler from what I hear of Butler is him saying it's all about winning. It's not all about winning when you're talking about going to Brooklyn, the L.A. Clippers or the New York Knicks or the Miami Heat even. Now you can say Brooklyn, the Clippers, and the Knicks might have cap room to add another star. Maybe, who knows, they might not get another star. And Miami won't have that room. You go to Miami, your first or second round out every single year for the rest of your prime. Meanwhile,

you've got a top three big man in the league in Carl Anthony Towns. You've got a really good third option in Andrew Wiggins and some good role players, Jeff Teague and so on and so forth. And you won out. That team could be a factor in the West if Butler's there. They can't. You win it, but they can be as good as just about anybody outside of Golden State and Houston. So I don't want to hear us about winning. And furthermore, if it's about winning, Jimmy, be a leader. Carl Anthony Towns, yeah, he's got wards. Andrew Wiggins, he's got wards, but teach them.

Jimmy wasn't a finished product when he stepped into the league as a young guy. Teach them how to win. Make them tougher. Give them a motor. And that's because if it was about winning, you wouldn't be. looking to leave Minnesota go to Brooklyn or some place like that. Couple of minutes left. Kevin Durant report yesterday. This is his last year with the Warriors.

Buy it? Yeah, I do. I've even been told a few weeks ago that there are people within the Warriors' organization that are preparing for, you know, Durant to move on after this year. And here's what I say. The Warriors should go out with a bang. Yeah. Go out, try to win 74 games, and of course the championship.

That way they could be reputed as the greatest team of all time. I don't want to see just 63 wins and a championship. We've seen that before. Go out win 74 and then you can lay claim to being the best team ever. And it's not about wasting minutes because when they won 73, Steph, Drayman, Clay. They didn't play a ton of minutes. They were in the low 30s, as they always are. This team could be in the low 30s minutes-wise with their stars.

and still push to win 74. If you, Michael Jordan had one other star, Scotty Pippin, and he pushed through mentally and physically to win 72 games in the championship. With four stars, you could do it. So I want to, that's what I want Golden State to do. Have something, have history out there as a motivating factor for you and go out with a bang and prove these millennials right that you're the best team of all time.

And I love me to Chris Broussard. He and Rob Parker, odd couple Fox Sports Radio. You look good. You look rested. Look at you. You're just, you're ready to. I feel good, Colin. Yeah.

You're growing a beard right now. You look like a million dollars right now. I'm thinking about keeping. My wife told me I looked like Sean Connery with it. So that was all I needed to hear. So things are good at home. So I might keep it. Good talking to you, buddy.

Chris Broussard. I love that guy. That's funny. Bucky Brooks last hour, one of my favorite guest. former NFL player scout. I mean, he's just great. So he's going to, boy, was Greg Kossel great today too? Good Lord.

That was just 10 minutes. My brain expanded. Now tomorrow, you know what tomorrow is, Joy? Blazing 5. Tonight, Giant Eagles on Fox. That's a fine network. And then tomorrow I do the Blazing 5, and it is tasty. I think this weekend, we're going to have some, last weekend, I bet, I went three and two.

So I took Underdog. Now, on Monday night, they got burned. But I'm doing a lot of underdogs this weekend. I'm telling you right now, I think it's a... Some juicy stuff? I'm going to tell you, but Greg Kossel talked about this. The Chiefs and the Rams, and they are fun to watch. I think it's very possible both go down this weekend.

And I think the way to beat the Rams is the way to beat the Chiefs. Turn around, hand the ball off, four yards, four yards, four yards, four yards, four yards. Death by a thousand cuts. And you have Jared Goff watching the game. And when you make a young quarterback get off the field, they get out of rhythm. You sit in the bench for seven and a half minutes. You have long drives.

So I think it's going to be a very eventful weekend. But I do think some of the big dogs in the league. And by the way, I think the Steelers now, everybody's selling all the Steelers stock. Just remember this about the Steelers. They get to the quarterback. In the NFL, if you have a good quarterback and you get to theirs, you're eventually going to end up as a playoff team. Everybody's selling the Steelers sock.

I watch them against Atlanta. They have revved up their pass rush. So before you sell all that stock on the Steelers, and before you buy all your Rams chief stock, I think you could have a very interesting weekend coming up. How do you get ready to go out? Do you do the feet, the hair, the teeth that will do it with Dollar Shave Club. Right now, they have a $5 starter set,

everything you need to go out on the town. Product ship, but the normal price, get yours at dollar shave club.com slash colon. That's C-O-L-I-N, Dollar Shave Club. Dot com slash Colin, our three next. This is the herd hour number three. We are live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Fox Sports Radio, I-Heart Radio, FS-1, Giants, Eagles.

Tonight, Joy Taylor is joining me, big NFL football game tonight. The NFC East has been a wall. with mediocrity. The Giants have some stars, but have struggled at quarterback. Redskins, likewise, Dallas, likewise. And then the Philadelphia Eagles, who are favored tonight and should be, have great line play. Carson Wentz, good head coach.

And they've been a lot of meh. So they meet tonight. It's exciting time. It's very good game. Very good game. I'm very excited for this weekend's games. Yeah. 15 minutes from now, Bucky Brooks, former player in the NFL, Scout, works at the NFL

network. I bring him on regularly. A guy I really, really lean on. Reminds me a lot of Greg CoSell. He gets down to the tape. Also, in Best for Last, the best fan letter I have ever received in my entire career. So Jimmy Butler's a very good NBA player. He's played in Chicago, and he didn't get along with people. And now he's in Minnesota, and he wants out and they've got good players. And yesterday he went to practice, and basically it was crazy. It was crazy town. He was screaming at the GM, screaming at the coach, screaming at his teammates. You can't do this without me. And I think that's a lot because Jimmy Butler was brainwashed by brilliant advertising by Gatorade and Nike. Do you remember this?

Sometimes I dream. So good. Be like Mike, because be like the Chicago Bulls doesn't sell Gatorade. Be like Phil Jackson's triangle offense doesn't sell shoes. They made you believe it was all about Mike. Michael Jordan, by the way, was 0 and 6 against the Celtics before Scotty Pippen. Michael Jordan was 1 and 9 in the playoffs before Scottie Pippen. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player, most people believe ever, didn't do squat before Scotty Pippen.

But Nike and Gatorade made you believe it's all about Michael. It never was, and it never has been in basketball. Do you play well with others? Magic needed Kareem and worthy. Bird needed macaille and parish. Michael needed Scotty and Rodman, and Isaiah needed Lamb Beer and Dumars and the Great Chuck Daly. Everybody's always known that,

except there's always a couple of guys in the NBA, Carmelo Anthony, Derek Rose, and currently Jimmy Butler that don't. They want to be like Mike instead of be like the Golden State Warriors and play well with others. Jimmy Butler now went into practice, been holding out with the Timberwolves yesterday. He ripped the GM. He ripped teammates.

He went crazy town. I called a source last night in the NBA that's as good as source as this league has. He told me two years ago, Jimmy Butler, who blew up yesterday with his team and wants out, wants out from Carl Anthony Towns, wants out from Andrew Wiggins. Really good B-plus NBA players. Cat may be an A-minus. He wants away. He wants his own team.

He wants to go to Brooklyn. and be the man. And my source told me last night, two years ago when he was in the Olympics, he didn't fit. Players didn't like him. He was the least talented guy finished that Olympic experience

with a worst field goal percentage. Kyrie Irving was there. Boogie Cousins was there. Guys that have egos. And Jimmy's was the biggest. And he didn't play well with others. Ah, Jimmy. You want to be like Mike.

Be like the Warriors, sacrifice shots and ego to be part of a great community. Be like Chris Paul, James Harden. Be willing to give the other guy shots, elevate the community over yourself. I love the NBA, and the great ones always figure it out. They need help. Phil Jackson sat Michael Jordan down and said, you want to beat the Celtics? Pass. Be a better teammate. Michael listened and Michael became a legend.

LeBron James, I want to play with Chris Bosch, N.D. Wade. Kevin Durant, I want to play with Curry, Clay. There's always a couple of guys in the NBA that still want to be like Mike. And what you want to be like in 2018 is the Golden State Warriors. Play well with others. Jimmy Butler, after practice yesterday, explaining his uncalled for outburst. to his teammates, his coach, his GM at practice. I was honest. Was I brutally honest? Yes.

But I think that that's the problem. Everybody's so scared to be honest with one another. If you didn't like the way that I handle myself in practice, one of the players come up to me. Somebody say something. Anybody. I'm not going to take a defense. It's not personal. And that's all I was out there doing was competing, playing hard, doing what I'm supposed to do on the basketball for. I just want everybody to be happy. I want to win. I'm sorry if I go up. about it the wrong way. I really do apologize. I'll always defend the great player who joins other great players because his message is, it's about us, not about me. Hopefully Jimmy Butler learns. I want to segue to this. Tonight, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles on Fox. That's the

network I am currently paid by. But I'd watch anyway. So the Giants play the Eagles. Talk about must win for both teams. Michael Strahan, one of the great players. players and a teammate of mine here, was talking about Odell Beckham, who came out earlier this week and with an interview with a lady named Julina Anderson, kind of critical of Eli Manning. And Michael Strahan said, I think Odell's definitely a leader. Eli's never been the guy who's going to be a vocal guy, but there are still a lot of maturity parts that have to happen on Odell's part. And Michael said, basically, you've got to be careful what you say for about and who you talk about because, you know, you start speaking for the room, and even if you are a good guy and a good leader,

it may not necessarily play well. In other words, Michael Strahan was basically saying, you know, there's certain things you don't want to talk about publicly. And that's where I bristle. And I'm hearing this from everybody. Great players like Michael, media people, former players, current players. Whenever I hear this phrase, you cannot say blank publicly. I always pushed back. When I got into this business, I was told,

you cannot talk about politics. The number one cable TV network in America is Fox News, built about talking politics 24-7. You can't talk about religion. I was told that one, too. That's interesting because the most provocative show, talk show on HBO, is Bill Maher, who has built a reputation questioning

mocking, dismissing religion. That's his brand. You can talk politics, and you can talk religion. And you can question Eli Manning. At this point,

Eli Manning is more myth than reality. The last four years, he has been a below-average quarterback. And I want everybody to think about this. Peyton Manning Let me say it slowly. The better of the two. Peyton Manning was benched for Brock Osweiler.

And Eli can't be subtly questioned publicly? I got a job 30 years ago in Las Vegas as a young sportscaster. A guy said to me, never criticized Tark. I left that market the most well-known sportscaster. My brand, the only guy that would go after Tark. When people tell me you can't say things publicly, head into that tsunami. Cable TV is dominated by politics. Bill Mars made a very lucrative brand, very, very lucrative brand, talking religion.

And you can question if you're the face of a franchise, Eli Manning. When you watch that game tonight, tell me where O'Dell Beckham was. wrong. Bucky Brooks, one of my faves right around the corner. Joy Taylor and I as we start our number three. The MLB postseason continues tomorrow with game one of the NLCS. Dodgers ace. Clayton Kershaw will take the mound as they kick off the series against Christian Yelich and the Brewers. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. Dodgers bats against the Brewer's bullpen.

Good series. Clayton Kershaw. You got better starters for the Dodgers. Brewers want to get to the fifth inning. Give it to their bullpen. Josh Hader. Metallica guy. His lights out closer. By the way, just touching on the Jimmy Butler situation, Jimmy Butler's a good player.

He's not a superstar. It's not Durand. He's not LeBron. He's not Kyrie Irving as a talent. But I had a source last night, very close to the Olympic movement, told me that two years ago, the Olympic team had a lot of big personalities.

Boogie Cousins, Draymond Green, Kyrie Irving, Mello. It had a lot of egos and a lot of big personalities, and they all got along except Jimmy Butler. So Jimmy Butler, on a team at the Olympics, full of dudes that could play. And again, boogie was there, Mello, Butler, Draymond, DeMarrazen. There were Clay Thompson. They were quiet guys. They were outspoken guys.

They were big ego guys. The worst field goal shooting percentage was Jimmy Butler. And my source said last night, quote, he was an odd fit. So, you know, I think there are just certain players in this league that struggle playing well with others. And he struggles playing well with others. And I hate to see it because you're Carmelo Anthony, you're Derek Rose. And by the time you figure it out, oh, God, you can't win by yourself. You've had a couple knee surgeries.

You're not the same player. So good luck to Jimmy Butler. But I think he could be on his third team in three years. And he's not, you know, DeMarcus cousins, by the way, who's talented and difficult, figured it out. He just signed with Golden State. That guy was like, you know what? I want to win some games. And Boogie's more talented than Jimmy Butler.

And he's difficult, got an ego, can be selfish. That's his brand. And he just figured it out. I'm going to go play with Golden State, resurrect my brand. I hope Jimmy Butler can figure it out. He's good. He's not great. And good players don't win squat without other really, really good players or great players around him.

And with that, the former player, the former scout now Wright's NFL Network, a broadcaster, one of my friends, Bucky Brooks. Hey, so good. We spent a lot of time before the draft analyzing. I said I would have taken Darnold 1, and I'd have taken Bradley Shub 4 if I was the Browns. I tend to like the bigger defensive player over the smaller one over time. Now, Denzel's been great so far.

He's been great. And Baker so far has been, I think he's the most accurate. You know, I think Sam Darnold's got a lot left to grow. Baker used all five years of college. I think he's closer to his ceiling, but I don't think he's reached it yet. I would compare him to Kyle Kuzma or the Lakers. You go to college for four years. You're much more refined.

You're closer to your ceiling. I think Sam's got a long way to go, and he can be sloppy and reckless. But let's talk Baker, and let's talk the Browns right now. I look at them and the Chargers, and it's a coin flip, and I think a lot of it is Browns have a good roster. They've got good players. Oh, for sure. They absolutely have good players.

And I think what you said, everything you said about Baker Mayfield, and even the decision that they went with Denzel Ward over Bradley Chub. All those things are solid points. I think with Baker Mayfield, what they got was an experienced player, a right now player, meaning his experience at college, his experience playing in a number of big games at Oklahoma, the 48 games or 50 games that he played at Oklahoma. He was more ready to play in the National Football League than some of the other guys. Yeah, those were double Allen, double Darnold, double Rosen.

And what you're seeing is he jumped into a situation where, they now have given him the keys to an offense. They have some playmakers available. He's playing behind a defense that has some star players. Miles Garrett is going to be a star. People haven't talked about Kristen Kirksey for a long time, but he's a solid player. And you're seeing Denzel Ward emerge as a legitimate All-Star on the outside.

Yeah, he's having a great rookie year. Baker Mayfield is doing exactly what they asked to do. And the one thing that I can say to his credit, he brought energy. He gave that team some sauce. He gave them some confidence. He gave them some swagger and it's playing out. The Cleveland Browns are going to be a hard out in the AFC North

because talent-wise, they can match up with all the teams, and now they're beginning to win games and they're playing with the confidence. It's going to be tough to deal with them going forward. By the way, this is the best division in football to me. Oh, I mean, it's very, very competitive. And the team that people don't talk enough about, the Cincinnati Bengals.

I don't trust them. Oh, see, there you go. I don't trust them. Martin Lewis was on the hot seat last year, but the last two games, his team played for him. then when you go back and you look at their drafts, they've traditionally have drafted well because the Cincinnati Bengals do what a lot of teams want. They will draft talent over some of the football character risk that will keep some teams

from drafting. They took Joe Mixin. They've taken other players that may have been deemed bad character guys, but it works for them because Marvin does a good job of kind of keeping them together. And typically when they go to Cincinnati, they don't mess up a run afoul. And so this team is loaded. They're talented. the new offensive coordinator, Bill Laser, who got a promotion last year, has helped Andy Dalton get back on track.

Their team that's also a tough team to contend with the AFC North. I want to talk about the Rams. I said this yesterday, is that Great creates clarity. You watch Belichick, and you're like, wow, you can be good every year. Brady's hurt, Castle, and Win 11. You can. Details, changing your game plan week to week, personnel evaluations. And Sabin's done the same.

Wow. You give a guy, a good coach, all these tremendous high school players in the South, you can literally have no bumps in the road for 10 years. And I think Sean McVeigh is going to get guys fired. They look different. They're clever. We didn't talk Robert Woods and Cooper Cup, I mean, in college or pro. I look at McVeigh, and I think he has a chance to be one of those guys that GMs and owners look at and go, would you see what he did with Jared Gough? he was terrible than his first game, he was great. I think McVeigh is trouble for other coaches. Your thoughts? He's absolutely trouble for other coaches because what he is is the perfect combination that you want as a head coach.

He's young, he's energetic, he's creative, he has the ability to elevate the play of the quarterback while retaining control of the team. He has the players coach qualities while still having the disciplinarian that you want. And I think the mistake that owners are going to make because they're going to go and hire all these young, of guys and think they're getting McVeigh,

what you have to understand with McVe, McVeigh may be 31, 32 in real years, but he's 50 in dog years. And the reason why I say that, his granddad was president of the 49ers, so he always was around. And I had sources tell me, like, look, you have to understand

he grew up around the 49ers when the 49ers were at their best. So he understands what the standard of championship football should look like. So when you ask opposing coaches about the Rams, what are the that you hear. Man, they're so detailed. They're so disciplined. They do a great job of putting you in binds that you can't get out of. Well, who does that sound like? It sounds like the 80s and 90s,

49ers. He has taken players who would be B-level players, Cooper Cup and Robert Woods, and put him in a system that elevates them. He is everything. And his coaching staff, they do a great job of coaching it up. And the thing that I really admire about what he's done, he has taken some things offensively that are high school collegiate-like, and he's wearing people out, jet sweeps, double-shifting motions, and he is giving Jared Gough the confidence that everybody wants to see from our franchise quarterback. One of the things we try to avoid, and, you know, this show, like with Baker-Mayfield, a lot of this is just fun.

I like to bring Maker on and take shots at me. I do think Baker is going to be fine. I just think his ceiling's lower than everybody else. I don't have a jersey. I didn't come Joel Claude. I was just a not just. I didn't have a jersey. But I don't like the pile on culture we have in America.

Everybody rushes to Twitter. It's just much easier to join the avalanche instead of defending somebody. So I said before, I said the Gruden thing to me is problematic. Now I feel like I don't want to be a bully. I do think offensively they have some really nice weapons. But Derek Carr does not look as good as Derek Carr did two years ago. And that's John Gruden's strength. Okay, from 30,000 feet, when I look at the Raiders now, I think John's smart.

He was a terrific broadcaster. I think he knows a lot about football. But I am sensing this thing inside the building where he's got his scouts, the GM. This is the poorest team. It's a lame duck franchise. They're moving cities. It feels like a mess, right? Oh, it is a mess.

It's a mess in a couple of different areas. You bring up the two different sets of personnel staff. You normally don't have a GM and their scouts. Then the head coach has his scouts and they don't work together. and they don't come together. That is not the way that I was taught in this business to do it. And the way that, like, Gruden and Reggie McKenzie, they all were around Ron Wolf.

That's how I learned the game. Ron Wolf would say everyone has to work as a collaborative effort. We are all trying to make team decisions, whether we agree or disagree. When the decision is made, it's a team decision. And so that's a little odd. But I'm going to say this about Derek Carr. And I know people are going to say,

oh, John Gruden doesn't have him playing. this could be the last year for Derek Carr in Oakland. This might be it for Derek Carr. They can get out from Derek Carr's contract after this season. All the guaranteed money would be paid up. It would be a minimal cap hip. When you look at the move that John Gruden made, when he got a couple of first round picks and he didn't resign,

he traded away Khalil Mack, he could look at Derek Carr and say, man, you know what? He's struggling for me. He's not the player that I thought he was going to be. I can go in 2019, and I can look at one of these new fancy cars playing in the college game, and I can make that guy my franchise quarterback. I think people need to remember in Tampa, he went through nine different starting quarterbacks.

He's impatient. Every year was a different starter. And so if Derek Carr doesn't turn this around quickly and you can't look at the completion percentage, you have to look at the way that he plays and if they win games and score a lot of points, if he doesn't turn it around, John Grun is going to be there, but there will be a new franchise quarterback in Oakland. That's big. And by the way, you're seeing something.

Last 13 first round quarterbacks, one bust, Paxton Lynch. It used to be a coin flip. You know that, Bucky. I mean, you crossed your fingers in the first round. Forget the second, third, fourth. The league is taking, implementing so many college things into pro football that, like, I don't even like Tribisky. And I'm like, oh, you got the right coach.

Oh, yeah. He got the right RPO's like, oh, Mitch's Trisky can win games in the NFL. Absolutely. So what is happening? And like this is a good development for the league. You're not having busts. This kid at Oregon, first day will play in the NFL. Oh, he's going to be terrific.

Star. There are a lot of quarterbacks in the college ranks that can play. They'll be terrific. You can talk about Herbert being a guy. Justin Herbert, Oregon, his great. Justin Herbert, Will Greer from West Virginia is going to be solid. You have Jared Stimm. Two is going to be outstanding.

Drew Locke, all those guys. And all those kids we've seen on the Elite 11 tour. You had Trent here a couple of days. I worked with Trent. on the Elite 11 guys. So we've seen them all, and we knew what was coming. And the league is now beginning to catch up to what we've seen at the lower ranks. They're beginning to meet these guys halfway.

The smart coaches are being able to take the things that they see on Saturdays and put them into play. I'm going to tell you quickly about a story about Andy Reid. When I bumped into Andy Reid at the combine, Andy Reid coached me at Green Bay, Andy Reid said, look, we weren't even the Baker-Mayfield sweepstakes. But I'm looking at all of his tape because the stuff that Oklahoma is doing is outstanding. Lo and behold, what happens when I turn on the games on Sunday? Oh, that's a play that Oklahoma runs. Oh, the fly sweep stuff they're doing with Tyreek Hill.

That's the same stuff that you're seeing on Saturdays. The smart coaches are taking Saturday football and they're making it Sunday, Monday, and Thursday football. By the way, outrageous. Patrick Mahomes was asked about Tom Brady. He said, yeah, he's one of the best quarterbacks ever. Depends on what you like. You know, like winning. Mahomes is talented. But can we scale back a little?

How do we know if he's good pre-snap? How do I know if he's good at the line of scrimmage? How do I know if he's good in hail? How do I know if he's good, tough? We're going crazy on him. You're trying to beat a descending voice on Pat Mahomes. I'm not descending, just rational. Look, and I was lower on Pat Mahomes than I needed to be

because I thought he would be at top of the second round talent because he was all scrambles and sandlock ball at Texas Tech. But what I would say about Pat Mahomes is the things that I'm hearing from Chiefs players and coaches remind me of when I was in Green Bay when Brett Faw was winning three straight MVP's. This dude is a unique combination of blue-chip talent with a blue-collar mentality.

He works hard, he does all the dirty work, he's in the film room, he does all the stuff. He is all of that stuff. And I didn't, look, I didn't know, I didn't think, I thought he was a smart kid. We had interviewed him before, but I didn't know.

He is all in. And the hope that he gives his teammates makes him a magician. He is what you want as a franchise quarterback, and Andy Reid and Eric B. Enemy have done a great job of tailoring the offense to fit his strengths. And the redshirt year helped him because he didn't have to be rushed onto the field. They could take a 12 to 14-month plan to develop him. All right, finally here.

I have been very critical of wide receivers in general that I've always said they're the icing, not the cake. Although I did say before this season that because of two rule changes that were both pro-referes, receiver, I'm getting more comfortable with paying the guys in the perimeter. I've also been very critical of Odell Beckham. But I will defend him on this, is that every family has to have somebody strong enough to tell Grandma she can no longer drive and that Grandma stopped talking politics at Thanksgiving. When I watch OBJ and what he said, if the GM won't talk about it, the owner won't talk about it, the media is defending Eli.

So you know what I want? I want the biggest star in the franchise to go. we got an issue here. By the way, Alan Hurons comes out against Dak. I got Cole Beasley coming out against Dak. You tell me Odell Beckham can't come out against Eli? Look, it's kind of funny because we always ask athletes to be honest, to be up front, to be for it right. Then we crush them.

And then we crush them. So look, what Odell Beckham Jr. is saying what every executive around the league is saying about Eli Manning. Eli Manning is no longer the guy that you fear as a quarterback. He hasn't been that guy for the last couple of years. And in fact, Oda Beckham Jr. basically saved Eli's career when he came in 2014. He elevated his game. Odell Becker made a ton of plays on catch and run concepts that allow Eli to continue to function. But what you're seeing here, he's the old fighter in the ring who can't get the jab off.

He can't throw the right hook. He doesn't have the ability to throw the ball down the field. He can't escape the rush. to have a perfect environment. He has to have the best offensive line, the best perimeter players, are running back in everything, and he still can't get it done.

At some point, the problem for the Giants lies with number 10. It's not everything around it. Odette Beckham Jr. just shed light on what everyone in the locker room knows to be true about Eli Manning. He's Larry Holmes, who gave Tyson three good rounds,

and then Larry thought he could exchange punches with Tyson, and Tyson knocked him out. Remember Larry at the end? I did. I told Dave that he's Muhammad Ali with the mustache. That's who Eli Manning is right now. He's a shell of who he was. Look, he may still go into Hall of Fame,

but he's no longer that guy that we fear. He's not a top 10, a top 15, even a top 20 quarterback. Great senior. Bucky Brooks played, Scouts, my friend, good seeing you. Thanks. Joey. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Colin, Kerry Irving hasn't been eager to discuss his time. in Cleveland, but he's settled into his second season in Boston. Yeah. And he's recently opened up a little bit more. He told Bleacher Report, I think it was the best move for my career, honestly, because it wasn't about any particular person or anything like that. It was just time. It was just time. It may not have looked time for everyone else, but for me, it was time. I think it was the best thing I've done, honestly. All right. Well, he went and got a great coach and a roster full of really good players.

So I think leaving LeBron is generally a mistake, but I will say this. He didn't know he was going to end up in Boston. He landed on his feet. That's about the best place you could go as a point guard to a roster. I got Jalen Brown in the wing. I got Jalen Brown can defend in the back court because Kyrie can't defend. I got Tatum.

Gordon Hayward. I got Al Horford. So, I mean, he ended up. It's one of those things I wouldn't have done it, but he ended up the right place. Well, everything happens for a reason, right? Like when he first did it, everyone was free. freaking out. How can you leave LeBron? You just don't want to deal with the pressure. You're a me guy and all, all of those things, right? And he ends up in Boston. And who knows? Maybe he's just more happy personally there. And who, what if he would have stayed in Cleveland? And then LeBron leaves for the Lakers. And now he's stuck in Cleveland. Yeah, I mean, I think he, you know, I've said this about LeBron. LeBron has told us multiple times what he is. And what he is is is not loyal. And so Kyrie Irving's like, okay, you're sending me messages. I'm watching your messages.

and your messages are, I'm going to leave on my terms, and Kyrie say, I'm going to beat you the punch. I'm going to beat you to it. Now, Kyrie didn't know he was going to end up in Boston. You know, again, sometimes you make a decision I don't love, but it works out perfectly. Well, you take a risk. It worked out perfectly.

So we keep talking about the culture change. Baker Mayfield has initiated in Cleveland and former all-pro offensive lineman, Joe Thomas, thinks Baker is their very long-term answer. All right. Well, what I think is that the Browns have found the quarterback for the next 15 years that fans can get excited about and show up on Sundays thinking that no matter who the opponent is, we have a chance to win this because we've got a guy in that position that gives us that chance.

Now he blocked for 21 quarterbacks. Yeah. He's right. No, what Baker is their guy. But I do believe what I said earlier is that the longer you stay in college, Kyle Kuzma Lakers stayed in college for four years. He's much closer to his ceiling. Brandon Ingram played one year of college came out.

Brandon's growth is going to be exponentially higher. So Brandon Ingram, this year, you'll notice it very quickly, is a better player than Kyle Kuzma. Last year, it felt like Kuzma was slightly better. This year, you'll notice very quickly, Ingram is better. Kuzma's much closer because he spent four years in college to his ceiling. Baker spent five years in college. Rosen, Alan, and Donald all left two years on the table in college. So I think Baker's closer to his ceiling, but I still think he has some room to grow,

and I think he's going to be around for a decade. I think the biggest thing for this year for Baker is not necessarily to get the Browns of the playoffs or anything ridiculous. Just be consistent in your play, win some games, and change the culture in Cleveland. Nobody's expecting any great things from the Cleveland Browns this year. If you can do those three things, I feel like that's an accomplished year. I predicted the Jets would be 7 and 9 with Sam Darnold. I predicted the Browns would be 6 and 10.

I still think the Browns are probably 6 and 10 or 7 and 9. I'd probably go to 7 and 9. I think their defense is. But remember, their division's tough. They got Cincinnati twice. 7 and 9 is a wildly drastic improvement for them. And then I'm not huge on moral victories, but you can't expect them to turn around to a Super Bowl team one year.

So finally, the Cowboys. Cole Beasley started off by mentioning the Cowboys receivers are getting open. then Alan Hurons took it a step further, taking a shot at the play calling, but Ezekiel Elliott says there is no blame game happening in the locker room. There hasn't been any fingerpointed at all, you know what I mean? And I mean, even when, you know, as an offense, you know, we've struggled this year. And when we go over the defense, like, hey, we're sorry, you know, we didn't hold up our end. You know what I mean?

There's more, no, we need to do more. You know what I mean? We need to go out there and win that game. You guys don't have to go out to win it. We run the pitch and go out there and win it. So, I mean, there's enough accountability in this locker room. that there's not going to be in the figure point. The guy that may get pointed out is going to say, hey, that's on me.

I'm not going to need anyone to go over and say, hey, you need to get your together. It's a really crucial year for the Cowboys, the way that they are assembled right now. They got a lot of decisions. There's three good quarterbacks coming out of college. Justin Herbert from Oregon will go number one, and most teams don't need a quarterback. There really, there are not many left. There are not many left.

I mean, you can count it on, I mean, I'd ask everybody right now, who needs a quarterback? Giants. Well, if they're willing to do it, but the giants are obvious. And I think the Cowboys have to look into drafting one. I mean, once the Saints went and got Teddy Bridgewater, Carolina doesn't. Atlanta doesn't. I don't think Tampa Bay does yet. I mean, you can always be in the market for a good backup quarterback, but.

I'm talking first round guys. Yeah, first round guys. And there's going to be three guys taken in the first round. The kid at Oregon is going to be number one. And then you can figure out who was after that. But they got big questions in Dallas with their coach and with their quarterback. I'll hear him. Joy with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. By the way, if you didn't hear Greg CoSell today, he was about as good as he's ever been on our show. He was absolutely fantastic. You can go to our podcast, go to IHeart Radio, the Herd channel. I have my own channel there. It's on a loop.

Boy, Greg CoSell was just great getting you ready for the NFL weekend. and tonight, Giants and Eagles. Want 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. Car shopping can be confusing.

Terms like dealer price, list price, invoice. True Car shows what other people paid for the car you want. Truecar.com, new or used. By the way, this just came out. Shams Sharanya, who's a young NBA reporter, excellent. We've had them on the show. said, this is very interesting.

Timberwolves All-Star Jimmy Butler called a players-only meeting today, erring his feelings toward the situation and management per league sources. Butler yesterday was screaming at everybody. They've canceled practice today in Minnesota. Jimmy Butler basically, players-only meeting. It's just a mess. This franchise has good players. Jimmy Butler doesn't want to be a leader.

He wants to run somewhere else. By the way, when he was in Chicago, he couldn't get along. with Rondo and he couldn't get along with D. Wade. Everybody gets along with D. Wade. This was Jimmy yesterday explaining himself after he blew up at practice and yelled at the GM and the players and the coaches. Here was Jimmy Butler yesterday. I was honest. Was I brutally honest? Yes. But I think that that's the problem. Everybody's so scared to be honest with one another. If you didn't like the way that I handled myself in practice, one of the players come up to me. Somebody say something. Anybody. I'm not going to take a offense. It's not personal.

And that's all I was out there doing was competing, playing hard, doing what I'm supposed to do on the basketball for. I just want everybody to be happy. I want to win. I'm sorry if I go about it the wrong way. I really do apologize. All right. Well, they canceled practice today. He's meeting with all the players. And it can be, you know, again, my source, who I trust implicitly said two years ago at the Olympics, there was a lot of egos, Carmelo, Demarcus, Cary Irving, Draymond Green. and he was the one guy who didn't fit. He had the worst field goal percentage. He avered five points a game. And guys didn't like connect with him.

He may think he connected. They didn't like him. He was an odd fit. So we'll keep our eye on it. All right, best for last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, cowherd. It's the best for last.

Joy, we've been together on this show for a couple of months. I've said before, I root for dry. I like drama. The Golden State Warriors, when Kevin Durant went to the Warriors, they played the Lakers last night. And by the way, the starters played all through the first half, Durant, Steph, Clay, LeBron, you know, all the guys, Brandon Ingram. And I said that I thought it was good because I think it would be a talking point. It's Jim Harbaugh to Michigan. It's Tom Brady went to the Cowboys.

It's, you know, it's Connor McGregor. It's a big brand. Yeah, big star going to a big brand is good. And so, but, you know, the Warriors have turned off a lot of people. I got the best, I get mail. People still write me letters every day, and the company every couple weeks comes in with a boatload of mail to my office.

I got my favorite letter ever this morning from a kid in Columbus, Ohio. I'm not going to give you his name. This was the letter. It said, Dear Mr. Cowherd, screw the Warriors. That was the letter from Columbus, Ohio. One of my favorite.

But I will say this. I don't understand the hate for the Warriors. I think they're fascinating. I think they're interesting. they're good guys. We want our basketball players to not be obsessed with money or shots. We want our basketball players to want to play with great players. And that's exactly what the Warriors did. And I watched them again last night. I don't understand the hate for the Lakers either because they're going to be interesting.

And we're in L.A. anyway, the home of Hollywood. If you made a movie trailer for the Lakers, tell me this wouldn't be interesting. Coming this fall, the single greatest player of his generation, the guy who once blew in that other guy's ear. An NBA champion who's 80% likely to get ejected in the first game. A number two overall pick who may or may not know

how to shoot a basketball. And the biggest name in sports in Lithuania. This October, LeBron James, Lance Stevenson, Ray Jean Rondo, Lanzo Ball, LaVar Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Javelle McGee, Cadavius, Caldwell Pope,

Magic Johnson, Luke Walton, Jeannie Bus and three-time Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson star in Lakers Dusson. Tell me. Pretty good. It wouldn't be entertaining. Looks like good content. Sports should be entertaining. Now, maybe I'm saying that because of my position and what I do for a living,

but I think the Warriors will be really fun this year. I think the Celtics will be fun. The growth of the Sixers, the Rockets adding mellow, Paul George and Westbrook. You got six Lakers. You got about six or seven interesting teams. Season starts Tuesday. And it's like the NFL.

The reason they implement these rules for the quarterback, because teams are more interesting when the starting quarterback is standing up right and not hurt. And fans have shown they like more offense. I think fantasy sports is a big part of that. It is. I do like more points. I prefer more points. Here's the other thing. When Tiger Woods first came on the scene, I was a local sportscaster in Portland, Oregon. And he burst onto the scene.

And I would literally, I was a local sportscaster. I wouldn't show any other golfers. I was like a little Phil Mickelson. If I did golf highlights, it was all Tiger. And a guy came up to me one time and he's like, you guys, you media people are all Tiger. Have you seen the galleries around Tiger Woods? He literally quit a golf event in Colorado and the golf event folded.

Like he said, I'm not going to play that event and it folded. Did you watch the tournament a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, he looked like the golf Messiah. Like, it's just, why fight interesting? LeBron of the Lakers is going to be significantly more interesting than 99% of the games. Well, I think people get fatigued if it's not there. team so they get tired of hearing about how great another team that they don't necessarily care about is. But that's just the way that it works. Like, we don't make this stuff up.

LeBron James is the greatest player on the planet right now currently playing. And he has just gone to Los Angeles, the Lakers. And did you see his reaction last night after he hit the shot at half court? He's theatrical. He's having fun. This was the moment of the game last night against the Golden State Warriors. LeBron, going to fire it up. It'll counter the goal. At it. LeBron looked at that one for about 20 seconds after he left his hand. He said, yeah, I like it. And the crowd likes it as well.

By the way, I didn't talk about the Lakers last four years when they weren't interesting. I don't think the Cowboys right now are terribly interesting. I don't. No, they're not. They're not. I mean, the only time we talk about the Cowboys on this show, I won't. The Yankees now are more interesting. I don't talk Michigan football.

I didn't talk it for years. Now they have Harbaugh. They're more interesting. Well, the only time we talk about the Cowboys now is just the dysfunction, yeah. But, you know, I mean, I think it's going to be fun. I do think the Lakers have some strengths. I think they're young, coachable, energetic, have the best player in the world, have some really nice defenders. They'll be a very good team defense.

They'll rebound well. And I do think, I really think the key is, LeBron's going to average 27 and a half. I think Brandon Ingram's going to pop to about 22 points a game, 23. And I think that's going to be your team. It's going to be LeBron, Brandon Ingram, and then a bar. bunch of other guys on any given night can score 17 points. Kyle Kuzma, Lance Stevenson, Michael Beasley, Alonzo Ball, but it's going to be LeBron, and then it's going to be Brandon Ingram. And Brandon came into this league one year out

of Duke. He's a really good player. He's a baby. And he's got a lot of growth left. And I watched him last night. He came into this game. He came into the NBA, Brandon Ingram. And I like, dude, you need a ham sandwich. You weigh like 80 pounds. And I watched him his second year. And I'm like, okay, he's not quite there, but he's getting there. I know it's only been exhibition season, but I've watched him all exhibition season. And I'm like, oh, okay, Brandon's ready to pop. He looks more, he looks thicker. He looks ready to go.

He's just like, when you watch Brandon Ingram last night, you're like, okay, that's a guy that's going to average 20 in the NBA. You can see it right now. He's going to be the second best Laker player on the team this year. Tomorrow we're packed. Tomorrow we've got a great show. We got our blazing five. I am calling for upsets and I absolutely love my picks. Peter King.

We don't get Peter King on Fridays. Brian Cox, who called the New York Giants crap and preseason was right. He'll be joining us to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants. That game is tonight on Fox. And again, go to my Twitter account, yell and scream at me if what Odell Beckham said was wrong when you watch the Giants tonight. He is holding back the team. If you can bench Peyton Manning for Brock Osweiler, you can certainly publicly discuss Eli Manning if you're Odell Beckham Jr.

I want to thank Chris Broussard, Greg Cosell, Michael Rappaport, and Bucky Brooks. Radio listeners, see you tomorrow. TV guys back in a second with Speak for Yourself. In Los Angeles, this is the herd. 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 headlines. 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 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 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 headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an acapella 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. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know.

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