The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Josh Gordon, Patriots, Jim Harbaugh, and the Super Bowl

Episode Date: December 20, 2018

Colin discusses New England Patriots WR Josh Gordon leaving the team and what it does to their Super Bowl chances, the possibility of Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh going to the NFL, and the teams who have a shot at winning the Super Bowl. Guests include Peter King, Greg Cosell, Matt Barnes, and T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Big time news. Yeah, big time news. This really has an effect on the NFL. And as you've heard, I'm sure, by now, in the last hour to hour and a half, Josh Gordon is no longer a New England Patriot. Perhaps it's mental health. There was a program in place. He has obviously, for the last five years, struggled to stay in football, a marvelously talented young man. He is gone. And I would imagine not only gone from the Patriots, gone from the NFL, which is a bummer because I believe in second chances. But this ends New England's Super Bowl threat. It's over.

It is officially over. If you don't watch the Patriots and you have your own favorite team, I've got to watch all these games. He is their number one receiver. Edelman's a slot guy. You got to throw the ball over the top in 2018. He's their go-to big player receiver. He leads this team in yards.

Since week five, he had the second most offensive snaps at wide receiver to Edelman. And again, Edelman is not scaring anybody in this league. This is just not losing a player. This is losing their dynamic, hyper-athletic, super dangerous over-the-top wide receiver. And by the way, you could sense it was coming. Tom Brady only throws to people he trusts. In 2010 against Miami on a Monday night football game, he only targeted Randy Moss one time.

I worked at the SBN. I said at the time it's over. People said you're overreacting. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Randy Moss is too good on the road at Miami, Monday night football game Tom Brady to target once. It's over. A week later, he was out.

And in this Sunday against Pittsburgh, Josh Rosen, excuse me, Josh Gordon was targeted twice. Once New England got past midfield on seven plays, they never targeted him. something was a miss. Brady does not target or throw to people he doesn't trust. He trusted Josh Gordon for two and a half months. Something was wrong.

And today we find out. Listen, it's over for New England this year. I don't know what happens in the draft and free agency, but for this year, they're out of the Super Bowl bubble. Kansas City forces you because of their deep threats to play honest. T.Y. Hilden Indy forces you to play honest. Deep threats. Chargers, Steelers, Texans, the AFC, everybody forces you to be honest. New England this morning, what are you going to do?

Philip Dorset. What do you do? To me, the Super Bowl bubble right now in the NFL, it shrinks. Like college football, you start with 130 teams, you get down to about five. The Super Bowl bubble to me in the NFL today is Chargers, Bears, Steelers, Saints, and New England is on the out. You don't have to play them honest. You can crowd the box, therefore taking away their primary strength, their running game.

They're not going to beat you quickly. They won't be as good playing from behind now because they can't catch up quickly. They're a running throw-to-a-slot-receiver team. And boy, boy, boy, do they miss? They had Brandon Cooks. Let him go. in college football, it takes us about 13 or 14 weeks. And you can figure out pretty soon.

Couple SEC teams, Oklahoma, Clemson, they're in the bubble. NFL, it takes you longer. You've got to see weaknesses. Who's in, who's out, who's injured, who's not. New England's not a championship football team. They're just not. And I want to segue to this. And again, have great sympathy for Josh Gordon, the human being.

But New England's season is now going to end. with an L, a loss. It's not going to end with the win. And what's going to happen is that everybody in the media is going to say, Brady! Brady is getting old. This is on Tom. I mean, Tom can't elevate people.

In the last decade, you see all the Chiefs' talent they give their quarterback, the Colts, the Chargers, the Steelers, DAC, went, look at all these quarterbacks in the league and weapons they have. In the last decade, New England has drafted one legitimate receiver. Ten years, Julian Edelman, and he was a quarterback

out of Kent State. This is on Belichick. Tom has nothing to work with here. Go back to their last five drafts. 2014, one guy left, James White. 2015, one offensive guy left, a guard. 2016, one guy left offensively, a guard. 2017, nobody left. 2018, we got a pretty good running back, Sony Michelle.

Guards, running backs who are better receivers than runners and a rookie. That's it. New England's season is going to end with a loss. And we think, and I know what I'm going to hear. is it Tom Brady's age? Oh, it's Tom Brady. No, no, no, it's not Tom Brady. I said this earlier.

Gronks a shell of himself. Edelman way past his prime, bad case of the drops. Philip Dorset's a bus. Josh Gordon's now gone. James White's a catcher, not a running back. Sony Michelle, your rookie, is it? And by the way, Edelman's coming off an ACL injury. And do you know New England's like 7th and the

the league in offense. Who the hell could do that besides Brady? Look at the gifts Mahomes has, that Goff has. Look at the guys around the league, what they have to work with. Good Lord. When's the last time Pittsburgh drafted a receiver and he wasn't dynamic? I mean, Baltimore went out and drafted two tight ends. They can both play and got three new receivers. They're all solid. People say Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers doesn't have nothing. They didn't have anything to work with. Randall Cobb can still play. Jordy Nelson was amazing. Devante Adams is a beast.

They went and got Jimmy Graham. Their left tackles one of the best in football. I mean, I don't want to hear about Aaron Rogers doesn't have gifts. Are you kidding me? Go look at Pittsburgh's wide receivers and the Chargers, tight ends and receivers, and the Chiefs, Colts, Texans. They all have deep threats, intermediate threats, slot guys, running backs. Listen, I was in, remember Joy, I was in the L.A. Chargers draft room this year.

They invited me into the draft room. So I was sitting there, and they drafted like 17th. And I was in that draft room when they drafted Derwin James. But since I was in the draft room, I get credit for it too. Okay, so New England has not drafted a pro bowler since 2013. not an offensive pro bowler since 2013. I essentially have drafted more pro bowlers than the Patriot since 2013. I'm taking credit.

Half credit for Derwent James. Folks, you're going to blame Brady's age. Belichick is doing him no favors offensively. They've taken advantage of him. They can't draft receivers. Edelman's the last in a decade they've drafted. It's done anything. Gronks a shell of himself.

They went and gave up stuff for Philip Dorset. Josh Gordon now's gone. Why are we always blaming Brady's age? They're top seven in the league. If you look at like points and yards. And this past week against Pittsburgh, we were all like, oh, man, they couldn't score. Well, now we know why. Because instead of drafting a young receiver, they had to go to Cleveland.

And Cleveland said, listen, we're not going to deal with Josh Gordon. He's a wonderful kid, but we've got to get out of this. They went, that was their answer for Tom. They're not giving Brady enough to work with. And this season's going to end here in about three weeks. They may be able to get past the bills and the Jets. I don't doubt it. But they can't, this is not a team capable of beating the Chargers, the Chiefs.

I don't think they can beat the Colts, the Texans now. It's going to get really predictable, really fast. It's all going to be Brady's fault because he's old. It's not. It is remarkable what he's doing when you consider the lack of gifts they've given him. All right. Coming up next, we've got a lot of stuff going on. Major, major Jim Harbaugh rumor, he is going to get, whether he takes it or not,

a major NFL offer. And also coming up, pump the brakes on. how great Anthony Davis is. He needs LeBron, way more than LeBron, needs Anthony Davis. That is 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 IHeart Radio app. All right, Peter King's joining us in 10 minutes.

Greg Kosell, top of the hour. You like NFL football. We're here. All sorts of stuff. Josh Gordon is no longer a New England Patriot. I think sad for the young man. probably have been given his last opportunity in the national football. He is marvelously talented. He led the Patriots in yards. He was their only deep threat. He was their most athletic, strongest

wide receiver. He had been all over the field since week five. He was second on the team in snaps. He's done. You don't have to be honest with their deep threat anymore. They can't beat you vertically. The AFC is really, really talented. I think it's over for New England this year. They're going to be a running team and throw to their slot guy team. And I just don't think that's dynamic enough. And I don't know how their running game will do now because people will not respect them over the top. Josh Gordon was a real factor this past week. They didn't use him. Something was going on in his personal life and New England couldn't score. Their last seven plays, once they pass midfield against Pittsburgh, they never targeted Josh Gordon and they had no

success. Peter King in 10 minutes. I want to throw this out to your pro football talk. A source, a league source says that Jim Harbaugh, whatever he says, that a team is going to come hard after him. There's one team in the NFL that's going to come hard after him. I don't think any of these teams that it could be are a perfect fit. Denver may come hard after him. Who's their quarterback? I think the Jets could come hard after him, a total offensive rebuild. I think Cleveland and Tampa could come after him hard, but those franchises have a history of chaos.

Green Bay may come after him hard. They're going to have very little cap space and very little flexibility when you pay your quarterback $33 million. I also think they have some rebuilding to do on defense. Arizona could come after him hard. That is a total rebuild staff and personnel. There are no ideal jobs because I think the six vacancies we're going to have are going to be Denver, Cleveland, Tampa, Arizona, Jets, and Green Bay. We know Green Bay. So I'm going to give you three reasons why he would leave and three reasons why he would stay.

And then I'll tell you my conclusion. Number one, why he would leave. You're not winning a national title at Michigan. The rich get richer. The SEC, the footprint of the South. That's where the players are. You have to convince them to come up to cold weather in the north. Ohio State over the last four or five years is finding this out.

Now Urban Meyer's gone. You're not winning a national title. You're going to see what's going to happen in Notre Dame against Clemson. The second thing is recruiting. Forget the baggage of the NCAA and boosters. You know, do you think Bill Belichick would want to recruit? Recruiting's a pain in the butt. How many apple pies can you eat at night trying to land a DB and fight over Clemson to get him?

Number three is, you were an absolute Super Bowl caliber coach, and you were, in my opinion, unjustly fired. You built a roster. You did a tremendous job, but you couldn't get along with your owner, Jed York, or your GM, Trent Bulky. Edward or talked about this yesterday. I still think he has an itch to go back to the NFL. I mean, he built a great program with the 49ers. They seemed like they were set up with the Seahawks to go to the Super Bowl, you know, for five or six-year period.

And then ultimately he had this other opportunity. There was some friction, obviously, in the front office. He and Trent Balke. I think he would want to make sure he had more roster control and just overall control the organization than he had there because of how it ended. but I have no doubt that Harbaugh will eventually coach the NFL. Okay, here are the three reasons why he would stay.

He's a Michigan guy. He's a quarterback there. He's a Bo Schembeckler guy. It's his program. That's where his heart is. That's a real thing. Number two, Urban Meyer is leaving. That conference is Jim Harbaugh and a bunch of good coaches.

It is wide open now. Number three is you don't have to deal with an unpredictable billionaire. You have total autonomy or at least 95% autonomy. You are the program. like Nick Saban, you're the highest paid guy by six times on campus. You make the calls. You get a lot of autonomy. So there's three reasons why he would leave.

There's three reasons why he would stay. My gut feeling is he's still very young and very dynamic. There is 20 years of coaching with Jim Harbaugh. I do not believe he's going to stay at Michigan for the next 16 to 20 years. I just do not. He did not make a run at the. Indianapolis Colts job last year, which I thought was about as good as you could do. Between GM Chris Ballard, who's the GM of the year in the league, arguably, and between Andrew

Luck, that's about as good as you can do in the NFL. You had the quarterback and the GM. Now, they have an impulsive owner. It's a little bit of a rebuild. But my feeling on this is every year somebody is going to come at Jim Harbaugh very hard, and he will eventually go. I do not think this year the teams line up perfectly. Cleveland's a very, very interesting job.

Cap space, competent GM, not really a rebuild. There's a bunch of good players. Young talent, cheap talent. But does he love Baker Mayfield and Cleveland has a history of chaos? That's about as good a job out there. Now, the Jets have their quarterback and they've got really, good defensive players, but you have to literally go out and rebuild that offense. So I think Jim Harbaugh is leaving Michigan, but I don't think he's doing it this year.

But according to pro football focus, somebody is going to make a major run at him. My gut feeling is, Green Bay Cleveland. I kind of feel, remember this too. Joy, remember this. with Urban Meyer out of the Big Ten, Harbaugh's going to win more in the Big Ten. Translation, he's going to be even more prized, even more recruited by the NFL.

Like right now, people are like, well, he hasn't won enough at Michigan. He's going to now be winning more games in the Big Ten. That's going to up his leverage. He's going to have more marquee value. And we're going to be looking at Harbaugh in a year, two saying, okay, he now dominates the Big Ten, he got to a Super Bowl, he made Stanford a big dog, he turned around his first job. So the longer he stays at Michigan without Urban Meyer,

the more he wins, the more impressive he is, the better the resume. I think he's leaving Michigan. I don't think this year these jobs are good enough or perfect enough because he can wait on this puppy. He can really wait on the best available job because he's got a top 10 college job right now. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. The Eagles may have won the Super Bowl last year, but they've had quite an interesting season since then.

They are 7 and 7 heading into the final two weeks. Yeah, I know. And thanks to Nick Foles, they had an impressive upset victory over the Rams last weekend, and Philly is still alive in their playoff hunt. And Doug Peterson seems to think that his squad might play better under pressure. It seems you and the team are at your best. We're counted out. What do you do to kind of handle that?

I just tell them we're still counted out. We understand. We know where we're at and what we need to get done. You know, it's no different than last week. It's a one game season for us. And it's a resilient group. Baks were against the wall. They came out and played well the other night,

and we're going to need that again, you know, this week. So they play Houston this week and then Washington. I think they're going to win both. I do. I think they're going to slip into the playoffs. They are your team to slip in. They're on the outside looking in at 7 and 7. The Washington Redskins also at 7 and 7. This is my team in the NFL.

The Seahawks and the Vikings are ahead of them at this point. Now, now, Seahawks are a better team and they'll be in. I think the Vikings, I have a weird feeling. I think Detroit is upsetting the Vikings this weekend in the Motor City. I think Detroit's going to upset the Vikings and Philadelphia. Listen, man, they say what you want. They got a Superboyning coach. Nick Falls won the Super Bowl.

Their pass rush is great. They got stars everywhere. This is a real football team. Now, they're not going to go to Chicago and win. I don't think they could go to Dallas and win. I don't think they could go to L.A. and win. I don't think they could go to New Orleans and win. Didn't we say the same thing about them last year?

Well, I mean, they were playing differently last year. They had a little more momentum. But after Carson Wentz went down last year, it was like, this season is over. Nick Foles is never going to be able to continue to carry them. And he won the Super Bowl and won Super Bowl MVP. I don't know. It's just a weird. It's weird timing for all of this, so I'm not going to count them out.

There's a team that sneaks into the playoffs every year. You can go to last 20 years. There's a team where like, how did they get in? That came from nowhere. They don't feel like a playoff team. Philadelphia, to me. Yeah, they don't feel like a playoff team, even though they should. Injuries, chaos, losing streaks, can't win the big games.

They don't feel like it. I think they win their next two. Minnesota loses on the road to Detroit, and Philadelphia is going to sneak in. And then they're going to have big conversations about Nick Foles next year. It's time now for the Real Deal brought to you by Hardee's and Carl's Jr. And Baker Mayfield is the real deal, Colin. Oh boy. He has no love for former Browns coach Hugh Jackson, and that's okay.

Here's Baker yesterday telling us once again that he does not regret his words at all. Oh, boy. No, you know, I said what I said. It's another week, but we've got to hit the reset, but we've got to be able to come in, block out the distraction, block out the outside noise like we have week to week every time this season and be able to do our job. Football is an angry, violent game. If you play anything but pissed off, I don't think you're doing it right.

If you're playing fiery, emotional, which is how I do it. Just focus, determined. Just a little extra motivation. I just wish you'd stop talking about it, but it's fine. I have no problem with this. I do. I think it's just no good to burn bridges. I don't think that's good.

Look, normally I'm with you. You should be a little more political. You know, keep the beefs. under wraps until you retire and then you can write your book and your towel and it doesn't matter anymore. But I don't think that that's Baker's personality and whatever it was that happened with Hugh Jackson there in Cleveland. Baker's turning out to be the winner here. No, no, no, I think the one thing you can say about Baker is Hugh Jackson's ego and Todd Haley's ego. It was a divorce and Baker was the kid and the parents were out of the house and he's happier. He's more focused. He doesn't have all

that noise around him and he's, the question for Baker is, and it's a real one, what are they going to do now because Greg Williams is not a guy I'm going to give the job to, even though I think he's a very competent coach. Well, I mean, I think you have to have the conversation, even though I don't agree that I don't think he's going to get the job either because I think you have to look for the next 10 years. So you drafted Baker number one overall to build your franchise around. You have to build your franchise around it. Greg Williams is the classic adds energy to a room, but those guys wear you out.

Like, you've ever been to a party and you invite somebody to a party and you and you and your wife or somebody are like, oh God, they wear people out. And your wife goes, yeah, but they're fun. So you invite somebody to a party that you'd never hang out with. You'd never go on vacation with. Yeah, but it's once like every eight months. And you bring them to the party. And for three hours, they are funny and they are goofy and they drink too much and

give you good stories. You know, Greg Williams is a classic. He adds energy to a locker room. Short-term pays dividends. Do you want him for six years? Can you deal with that personality and that ego and some of the baggage for... Yeah, I don't know that it's so much about the personality because I think Baker likes that. I think he likes somebody who goes back and forth with him.

Like, he was just talking about it playing pissed off. So obviously that's the kind of energy that he likes. But you have a whole rest of the team that has to stay balanced also. Finally, we've talked a lot about hecklers over the past couple weeks. Kevin Durant has a history of getting into it with fans of opposing teams. And last night's game in Utah was no different. Right before halftime, Katie went to the free throw line and was heckled by a fan on the baseline. And he sank the free throw, then blew the fan a kiss, and called the fan the B-word as he was.

I watched this game. walking or running backwards. That was a fun game to watch. There was a lot of trash talking. Joe Engels was trash talking, Dremont. I watched this game last night. It was a lot of fun.

You know, I'm, I really am, normally I'd be like, okay, you got to let that stuff go. But I'm starting to just be on the side of the players here. I am too. It's very hard. Like, I know that Kevin Durant has been labeled as sensitive or whatever, but it's very hard for me to not be on his side.

We talked about the situation with Marcus Peters at length, and he's come out and said he did the wrong thing or whatever. But I'm just, I can't, I can't defend the fans in this spot anymore. There's too much of it, and it's so over the top at this point that I don't even, they don't get the benefit of the doubt to me anymore. By the way, I want to go to a game with LeBron and Durant, because I know they've both seen this show. And last time I went to a Laker game, LeBron talked to me.

You didn't hear what he said, though. No, but he did talk to me. He said something. I can't tell what he said, but he said something. He referenced me. I mean, LeBron knows what's going on. I would love for Kevin Durant, because I don't trash talk players ever. Like, I'm always like, but I would love.

If Kevin Durant was there and I was on the baseline, I think I would say something just funny that he would laugh. Like, it's so over the top. I'd be like yell. He'd take whatever you say personally. It wouldn't be insulting. It would be funny because Kevin Durant hates me because he thinks every time I talk about him, I talk about LeBron.

So I think I would yell, I love you, Kevin. Not as much as LeBron, but I love you. And just see how he reacts. You don't think he'd take that personally? I don't know he would. I don't mean to sound like I'm an ego. But these players watch these shows. They watch these shows.

They watch Skip. They watch me. They watch all these Stephen A. They watch them. They're sitting home after the games at 10 in the morning watching them. We know that's true. Their agents tell us that. Well, listen, just make sure it's a game you got security.

X-U. I don't worry about Kevin that way. I think Kevin, I think Kevin liked talking trash last night. I think he enjoys the moment. No, I think Kevin likes talking trash. I do think, though, it's gotten a little bit ridiculous with the fans. Blake Griffin got into it. it with a fan last night also.

And it's just, it's starting to get to a point where it's like enough already. Like you have to start throwing people out. They actually did throw the fan out in this game. Blake Griffin was like really about to go into the stage. I side with the players on this. Yeah. I'm just over. Not only is it, not only are you a jerk to the player, you're a jerk to the people

sitting next to you. No, you're making everyone's experience. If you went to a comedy show, Joy, you and Earl go to a comedy show. and you paid $250 to watch Chris Rock, and I'm next to you heckling him. It's not just you, it's not just me heckling him. I'm ruining your night. Not for very long.

Nobody has bigger egos than hecklers. No, because nobody's there to see you. Literally no one paid money to hear your jokes. I paid to hear the jokes of the person on the marquee. Hecklers have our fans with major egos. They think they're really important. You're ruining the experience for everyone around you. You're ruining the game for the players.

And you're ruining it for now for people watching at home, because now we've got to stop and talk about your. you getting thrown out. Yeah, joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. By the way, there's a lot going on with LeBron, James, Lakers, and Anthony Davis.

So Anthony Davis came out yesterday. And he says, I love New Orleans. New Orleans is great. I love the fans. Anthony Davis does not want to be the bad guy here. But he did sign with Rich Paul Clutch Sports, LeBron's guys. LeBron came out yesterday and acted surprised. Wow, I would love to play with him.

What a cool idea. LeBron doesn't want to be seen as recruiting him during the season. This is going to probably happen. Now, it probably won't happen this year, although if I was the Lakers, I'd make it happen now. But Anthony Davis, I've been told, does not want to come off as a bad guy. If he leaves New Orleans, that may just kill the franchise. But let me just say this about Anthony Davis, and people who cover the NBA make this mistake. Kevin Durant's talented, Blake Griffin's talented, Janice is talented.

They don't change outcomes. No. Anthony Davis needs LeBron or Steph Curry more than they need him. Okay, in the last 30 years of my life, there are eight NBA players that change. outcomes. Magic, Bird, M.J., LeBron, Steph, Kobe, Duncan, and Shaq. Eight. That's it. They are outcome changers. Everybody else is just really talented. Now, you're saying, what about Kevin Durant? Kevin Durant got to a final with James Hardin and Russell Westbrook. Hardin left, not getting back. And oh, by the way, he left, there's still a playoff team. Westbrook, he's good.

they're out in the first round. Janice, Anthony Davis, where are the playoffs? There are two people in this league right now that change outcomes. LeBron and Steph Curry. Kevin Durant misses a Warriors game this year 10 times or 5 and 5? Excuse me. When Steph Curry misses a game, the Warriors are 5 and 5. When Kevin Durant misses games, they still win at a 70% clip. Don't confuse talented Anthony Davis with an outcome.

changer. The NBA slam magazine, NBA fanboys in the media lump them all together. Star, star, star, star, star. No, no, no, no, no. The league generally has one guy, maybe two, that change outcomes. I mean, they change series. They change conferences. They change television ratings. You take Steph Curry off the Warriors. They're not winning the title. You take Kevin Duranoff, they've already won a title and won 73 games in a regular season. Janice, Anthony Davis, Durant, Blake, John Wall, Westbrook, Hardin. That's one pool of great players. The other pool's got two dudes, Steph and LeBron.

They change outcomes. So this Anthony Davis-Lebron thing, it's going to happen. We have introduced, like we did, the LeBronzometer, we have introduced the LeBrow meter. It's very political. Anthony Davis doesn't want to be a bad guy. He doesn't want to be like Carmelo and Denver at the end, Dwight Howard in Orlando at the end, getting booed.

He's a good kid. Good player. Great player. And LeBron is being coy about it. Oh my gosh. What a great idea. That's amazing. I am hearing strong, strong sourcing.

This thing is just like LeBron. seven months ago. Jerry West was needling. Jerry West was getting needles by magic. We got him. So, but let's not go crazy on this that Anthony Davis is going to change everything. No, no, no. Anthony Davis, LeBron

works because of LeBron. Anthony Davis had Boogie cousins, Rondo, and Drew Holiday. Didn't do anything. Okay, Anthony Davis LeBron works because of LeBron. By the way, Steph and the Warriors, KD, works. Because of Steph.

Because every time Steph gets hurt and he gets hurt every year, they go back to a 500 team. Two guys, entire league. Don't lump them all into the same category. Don't lump in Davis, Janus, Hart. No, no, no, no. Two dudes, Steph, LeBron. That's it. Those are the outcome changers in this league.

Peter King's coming up next. Well, Josh Gordon, his Patriot career, and I would guess his NFL career are over. He violated parts of his reinstatement. contract. So he has gone. We wish the young man the best. And with that, I bring in Peter King, NBC Sports Football Morning in America, via the Coward Global Satellite Network. I said this about 45 minutes ago. He led him in yards since week five, second most snaps, yet against Pittsburgh, once they cross midfield, seven plays never targeted him. I don't think they're the same offense. The deep threat is gone. They're now kind of a slot receiver

run the football team, Peter, I don't think in this improved AFC, they are dynamic enough. Do you realize, Peter, in the last 10 years, they've drafted one big time receiver, Julian Edelman, he was a quarterback out of Kent State. Some of this is on Belichick. They don't have the parts to me. I mean, I think this ends. They're not dynamic enough to get out of the AFC. Your thoughts?

Well, when Rob Grunkowski is no longer grunk, he's a nice, tight end. but he's not the game-changing tight end that he has been. Maybe he can morph into that in the last two weeks of the regular season and in the playoffs, I don't know. But they needed Josh Gordon and they need Rob Grunkowski to be big. And obviously Gordon's gone. Rob Grunkowski is there, but not what he was. So this is on Bill Belichick, quite honestly,

for the amount of resources that he devoted to the receiver and skilled positions on this team. And the fact that they tried for Hail Mary, and for a little while, it sort of worked with Josh Gordon. But, you know, the bottom line in this whole thing is, two bottom lines. Number one, they had Brandon Cooks, didn't want to pay them. They traded them for a one. And Brandon Cooks is worth a one. you know, at the age of 24 when they traded them. And in my opinion, they should never have traded Brandon Cooks.

They should have kept them, worked with him, and figured out a way to sign him, and have him be the keystone to their receiving corps. They didn't do that. So that's one thing. The second thing is to rely on in any way on Josh Gordon, a guy who was expelled from two middle schools, a guy who was expelled from a high school, a guy who was suspended by Art Broughton, at Baylor twice, a guy who dealt marijuana in college, a guy who was suspended five times

in the National Football League, left once more of his own accord in Cleveland and missed most of another season, and now leaves supposedly of his own accord, but we'll see. So since he's been in the NFL, he's left his team either by league edict or his own seven times. And so did you really think this was going to be different? I really didn't, Colin. Yeah, no, I think you said it. It's a Hail Mary, and you shouldn't have to have Hail Marys.

Chargers aren't doing Hail Marys. Chiefs aren't. Stealers aren't. I look at them as a, it's a pop gun offense. They only had two pro bowlers, by the way, and one's kind of a joke, Tom Brady, should not be in over Andrew Luck. They do not have enough players. It's not on Brady's age.

I want to segue to something out. In fact, in the Super Bowl bubble, I've only got five teams now. that I really think could win the Super Bowl. Chargers, Chiefs, Steelers out of the AFC, and I would say Saints, Bears out of the NFC, I don't know what to do with the Rams right now. I think there's something wrong with Gurley. They're not running as much.

If I asked you, Peter, legitimate Super Bowl bubble, who's in it? Because it's really shrunk down to about five teams for me. What about you? Well, I mean, look, the Rams fell off the edge of a cliff. after their buy. They just did. I mean, there's no,

there's no logical explanation for Jared Goff forgetting how to play quarterback, but he has. I mean, the last three games, one touchdown, seven interceptions, one of the dumbest plays you'll see out of any quarterback in NFL history when he hands a touchdown to the Philadelphia Eagles in a game they lose by seven points.

And so, Colin, I don't know if you saw it, but go back and watch Sean McVeval. in his post-game press conference. Yes. After the losing to the Eagles. I'm just telling you, he just saw a ghost. He just saw ghost. He, because Sean McVeigh can win,

he can figure a way to win with Todd Gurley taking a week off, taking two weeks off, taking three weeks off. He can figure a way to win. Can't figure a way to win with Sean Mannion playing quarterback. Right. So, you know, they need the Hail Mary of Jared Goff to resume his NFL career. And they need him to play like a real NFL quarterback.

If he doesn't, the Rams are not going to be strong contenders for the Super Bowl. Yeah, we kind of bailed on him about a month ago. We think they've got a lot of egos and a lot of names, but production doesn't equal it on the defensive side. And offensively, they're not the same team. I think people around the league also got tired of hearing Sean McVeigh smarter than everybody, and they became a huge. target. That didn't help him. I'm going to throw two things at you.

Carolina's got a new owner. My sources tell me pretty impatient guy. Okay, like he comes from the Steelers, but there's a reason that Ron Rivera had to fire a couple of coaches after a loss this year and that they're not going to get rid of Cam Newton. They own too much money. If Ron Rivera is let go, I think he's a terrific coach. I would hire him in Green Bay. I think we've fallen into this thing, Peter, where we think automatically that a good quarterback needs a young defensive coach. Manning had Dungey. Brady's got Belichick. Ben's had Tomlin. Russell Wilson's got Pete Carroll. A lot of Super Bowls there. Who do you think takes the Green Bay job? Am I nuts? Is it Harbaugh? What about Ron Rivera? Well, I think I'd talk about the other Harbaugh.

What's going to happen in Baltimore? Steve Bishotti seemed to have an itchy trigger finger there for a while, the owner of the Ravens. And I still don't know if John Harbaugh with certainty is going to come back. I think he probably is, but if he's on the street, he lasts about 10 minutes. He'll be easily far and away the number one most desirable coach on the market. John Harbaugh. I agree with you. I think Ron Rivera would get a job if he's on the street. I simply can't believe that David Tepper would fire him. I just can't. I think it would be ill-advised, short-sighted, very knee-jerk, not understandable, quite honestly. Especially, as you say, David Tepper comes from the Steelers School of we've had three coaches

and a half century. Just keep going, you know, because if you start over, you start over. And there, you know, Cam Newton is not an easy guy for everybody. to coach. You just don't plug in a coach there. Somebody's going to have to come in and figure out how to deal with Cam Newton. Ron Rivera is an expert in it. And again, I'm not saying that Ron Rivera's done a great job. All I'm saying is that I think it's ridiculous to fire Ron Rivera based on the fact that they're in a six-game slide when it's pretty understandable why they're in a six-game slide.

The quarterback can't throw the ball past 15 yards down. the field. Only about 45 seconds to a minute left. It is weird. I love Carson Wentz. He gets hurt. Foles comes in. The offense looks better. What's going on in Philadelphia? Are there people concerned about that in Philadelphia? The only way that I think they would turn away from Carson Wentz, Colin, is if one of their doctors or their training staff, their medical staff, tell Howie Roseman and Doug Peterson after this season. He's got a chronic back. It might be a problem. And then there's no way that this organization can pay two quarterbacks. Right.

I mean, if you're Nick Foles, you're going to have your choice of probably of a couple of teams. And I don't know where they are, but let's just say it'll be from among the giants, the jaguars, the bucks, the dolphins, let's just say. And you're going to get paid three times as much to start as you would to be a caretaker. to be a permanent backup in Philly. What are you going to do? It's not hard to see that, you know, unless the Eagles do something radical here, that Carson Wentz is going to be their quarterback of the future,

and Nick Foles is going to be somewhere else next year. That isn't to say that Foles can't win big in Philadelphia, but you can't have two quarterbacks and pay them both. Yeah, it's an interesting situation when Nick Foles comes in, Al-Shan Jeffrey emerges when Wents is in, Zach Ertz his numbers, mushroom. So it does feel like he makes Al-Shon-Jephyry a much more dynamic player. That's Peter King, NBCSports.com, football morning in America. Peter, I love that you have two microphones.

You come well equipped today. Thank you so much. I come well-prepared, Colin. Yes, you do. Thank you. Peter King. Top of the hour. Greg Kosell stops by as well.

Matt Barnes, T.J. Hushman Zata today. Yeah, I don't know what to do with the Rams. we kind of bailed on the Rams a while back. I think Todd Gurley, you know, it's just like anything else. Don't make yourself a target. Philadelphia, parades, books made themselves a target. You know, New England wins, they keep it quiet. Spurs win, they keep it quiet.

In sports, it's hard enough to win, all the best players in the world, in the globe. If you're a great basketball player in Argentina, you end up here. Yeah, our greatest athletes don't leave to other leagues generally. So, all right, Greg Kosell. next. Hour 2, 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.

Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number two. Greg CoSell in a couple of minutes. Joy, it was interesting. For those just tuning in, breaking news, Josh Gordon is done to the Patriots this year, and he is, I would imagine, done in the NFL, second, third, fourth, fifth chances. He was reinstated into the league, and he has done something inappropriate, according to his reinstatement policy, so he has gone. By the way, I said when he came, Joy was here, I didn't buy this long term.

I said, I think a lot of these things can work short term. I never bought into Josh Gordon, would be a trustable player, regardless of his personal issues, and I don't know specifically what they are. We wish the young man the very best. but Peter King a couple of minutes ago, I thought put it best. This is on Belichick. This is not on Tom Brady. Tom Brady's going to get all the heat here when his season ends with a loss.

It's not on Brady. In the last 10 years, New England's given Brady, Belichick's given Brady one good wide receiver. I don't know that all the heat is going to be on Brady. I hope it's not. Because I think people are starting to see what it is Tom Brady has to work with, especially this season. It's brutal.

There weren't a lot of expectations, I think, for the Patriots coming in just based off of how noisy their offseason was, which is very uncharacteristic for them. And they didn't have any receivers. I mean, getting Josh Gordon seemed like a great move because if there was any place or any organization that you felt like he would have some success in, it would be the Patriots because they are so system-oriented and they seem to take care of their players when they're there. So, I mean, it's unfortunate what's happened with Josh Gordon, but he is having to take care of himself. The reason they had to throw a Hail Mary is because in the last five drafts, here's what they've given Tom Brady. Right. Sony Michelle, a couple of guards, and James White.

Go look at what, look at Dallas's defense, Chicago's defense, Kansas City's offense, San Diego's roster, how the Steelers draft wide receivers. Everybody wants to blame Brady. They're taking advantage of Brady's greatness. Belichick has not ever. New England doesn't do the college-wide receiver well. They're the opposite. of Pittsburgh. seemingly everybody

Pittsburgh drafts at wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster. It didn't matter if it was Heinz Ward, James Washington, Antonio Brown. It doesn't matter. Even Marcus Wheaton could play. Everybody can play. Emmanuel Sanders. Antonio Holmes. Plaxico. It doesn't matter. New England

can't figure wide receiver out and it's now a league where wide receivers matter. I mean, look at this. Julian Edelman off an ACL has a case of the drops. Gronk, a shell of himself. Chris Hogan's a nice three receiver a four on the Chargers. Philip Dorset was a bust in Indy,

not really a big time player. Cordorrell Patterson, I mean, they're using him as a running back. So we're all going to blame Brady when he loses this season, but I don't think Belichick's done him any favors. And with that, 30 plus years at NFL films, Greg Kosell. You know, Josh Gordon is a talented guy, Greg. He was led the team in yards, second in snap since week five.

He was a dangerous weapon. They didn't use him against Pittsburgh. Now we probably know why. I think it makes him easier to defend today. I think he was a real player. What's it say on film? Well, just as a general point, I think we're all getting a little quick. You know, this team's been pretty good for a long time.

They're still going to be in the playoffs. If you go to the specific game, you're speaking about with the Steelers defense, the Steelers defense did some very interesting things and actually took a piece. out of the Belichick book, because what they did is they doubled Gronk, they doubled Gordon, they doubled Edelman. They also showed very multiple disguised looks that is something they normally don't do. So they really changed up their approach to face the Patriots, and it was a factor in the game, and the Patriots couldn't run the ball consistently enough to really generate enough to stop some of that. So I just find it fascinating that now after this run of

almost unparalleled greatness with two games left in the season. Not you necessarily, Colin, but everybody's deciding that. Okay, Brady's done. Well, here's my thing. Systems sound great, but the Spur system doesn't work once Tim Duncan's gone. The triangle offense only one with Michael and Kobe in their prime. I'm not saying there isn't some system here, but boy, this system was a lot more dynamic when Aaron Hernandez and Grunk and Randy Moss and Welker.

I just don't see the dynamic speed players. on offense. I think Gronks a shell of himself. And that might be true, and you can always argue that there's different ears of football, but the same argument was made when they were winning when, let's say, they had David Givens at wide receiver, and they had branch at wide receiver, who were not

considered high, high-level wideouts relative to the rest of the league. So I tend to agree. I think that scheme is really good, and I've always been a big believer in coaching in every sport, but definitely in the NFL. But I think scheme-based offenses,

at times can struggle. I think we're seeing that a bit with the Saints right now. They're very scheme-based and their schemes outstanding. But when all is said and done, they've got Michael Thomas, who's great at what he does, but he's a certain kind of player. And they've got Alvin Kamara, who's a dangerous match-up weapon in the past game. And they don't have another receiver that any defense would say, we have to worry about him. Yeah. And I think Josh Gordon was a guy that he is so, he is really a strong runner. You know, you get a, you get him the football. I don't know. I just, I feel like this is the year the margins have shrunk a little because of age for New England. Possible. Yeah. So we'll see what transpires here. They do end with the Jets and the bills, so they should win those.

By the way, speaking of the Jets, just throw this out there. I don't look at every win as perfect or every loss as fatal. I thought Darnold was unbelievable Saturday in many instances. They don't have a ton to work with. They were missing their right tackle. They're running back. They're back. Listen, Sam Darnold, I think Saturday night, was the best I've seen him as a pro. What did the film say? I thought he played well. I think that he's played well a good part of the season. He's had ups and downs like any rookie quarterback. I've always felt watching him, and I certainly felt that way watching the tape, that he knows what he's looking at, that he does see things. I think he's willing to turn it loose, which I always view as a positive trait. He makes some big-time first possession of the third quarter to

Robbie Anderson when he booted, I believe, out to his left. And that's a big time. And that's a big time. I was a really good throw. So I think Sam Darnold's had a strong rookie season overall, and I think there's a lot to look forward to as he continues to progress. Is this the best rookie class, or is it just the reality? All these quarterbacks are working. Lamar's working. Josh Allen is working.

Darnold Baker, obviously. Is this a better rookie quarterback class, or is it just the league has changed, and it's easier to succeed at that position? Relatively speaking, I would say yes, because of one of the things, and we talked about this, I believe last week of the week before, is there's so many shorter throws now. Those are easier throws. The quicker the drop, the less reading is involved. There's no reading on three-step drops for the most part. So when you completion percentages are higher across the board. It's not that everybody all of a sudden became more accurate passers,

Colin. It's the nature of NFL pass games are presenting quicker defined throws, and therefore everybody is able to complete a higher percentage of passes, and therefore younger guys are able to play sooner. I want to shift to a situation in Philly, because I think Philly is going to win their next two games, and they're going to – I do, huh? I do. I think they're going to sneak into the playoffs. Listen, I love Carson Wentz.

You know that. But, boy, Al-Shan Jeffrey emerges when Nick Ful starts. There is something going on here. I've asked everybody this week. I asked Michael Vick. I've asked guys who know Philadelphia. I love Wence. I think Foles is a great backup, but when Nick is in, the offense can look very interesting and be very productive.

I think you have to be a little careful about that. Okay. I think that how quickly people forget things. Carson Wence is a high-level talent at the quarterback position. Carson Wence is probably a top three or four talent in the league at the position. I agree. Okay. Last year, the Eagles were scoring well over 30 points.

a game before he got hurt, and he would have been the league MVP. He came back from an ACL. Who knows if he came back too early? You know, Nick Falls, there's an incredibly wide variance in Nick Falls play from week to week. He shouldn't be in the same conversation with Carson. I agree. So to me, this is not even worth a conversation.

This is like trying to tell me that two and two is five. We agree. It is funny, though. it always feels like Wents is very connected to Zach Erds. And that's possible. And I think there have been times this year, and I think the tape bears that out, where he was very focused on Ertz. Now, Foles came in, and he hardly ever looked at Ertz.

So, you know, you can take that any way you want. To be honest with you, the tape showed that the Eagles' offensive performance was much more a function of the Rams' poor defense, which really has surprised me all year with some major fundamental breakdowns, given that it's Wade Phillips. Let's talk about that. It is Wade Phillips. He is 72.

Let's throw the age thing out there. You wouldn't have a 72-year-old offensive coordinator. They've got big names, Talib and Peter, Sue and Darnold. What do you see with the Rams defense? Because it is not about five weeks ago, it feels like there's just gaps, big gaps. Seattle twice gashed him on the ground. I'm going to give you one example, okay? Just I'll play one example.

The Eagles had a 17-yard run by Darren Sproul. on third and four on their first touchdown drive, okay? You might not remember the exact play. But the point I'm trying to make is on that 17-yard run, there were no defenders in the A or the B gaps for the ramps. That's unheard of. That's just fundamentally wrong. So literally, anybody could have run through that for 17 yards.

Those are the kinds of mistakes that I've seen on film all year. You mentioned against the Seahawks. Earlier in the season, I think their first meeting against the Seahawks, there were a number of runs where they were not Gap Sound. So, look, Wade Phillips is a lot smarter than you and I, but something's not right. I agree. I want to throw this out before we get to our big play. Everybody knows I love Andrew Luck.

He's a calming influence. He's had an impulsive owner. A GM get fired, a head coach. Just now he has an offensive line. Chris Ballard's done a great job. Am I overstating how great of a year he's having or has Ballard gotten him really nice pieces? because when I watch Andrew Luck, I see a machine.

I like it. I would vote him MVP. I think he elevates. Eric Ebron felt like a bust in Detroit. Right. A T.Y. Hilton, I like, but he's not Julio Jones. Is this a luck story, or is it they're a little better than we think personnel-wise? Can I flip the script here and talk about their defense?

Because I think over the last six, seven weeks, and I don't have the stats, but it would not surprise me if over the last six, seven weeks, they're the best defense in the league in terms of points allowed per game. And I think their new de-coordinator took a bunch of guys who we didn't view with high-talent guys and has turned this group into a really strong group. We know about Darius Leonard. But they're playing with, you know, in their sub-package, they're playing with Pierre Desire, who's been with about four teams and Quincy Wilson on the outside. And this team is doing exceptionally well. So I think their defense has played a large role over the last month, five, six weeks.

no question about Andrew Luck. I think he's played great football, and I think Frank Reich has helped him tremendously, but I think this defense needs to be spoken about. Yeah, they had, I got to tell you, Darius Leonard, Quentin Nelson, they had a very good draft. Kenny Moore was a waiver-wire guy. Kenny Moore is one of the best slot corners in the league. Yes, and he was on waivers from somebody. So the staff deserves a ton of credit on the defensive side. Okay, play of the week. Let's go to your one big play. And I love it because I love this player.

Well, everybody remembers it, even though it was Scott these weeks fly by Colin. It was last Thursday was that fourth and seven play where Philip Rivers hit Travis Benjamin. So let's start the play right now. Okay. And people will remember it if they saw the game. It was a highly rated game. So people saw it. Big time throw.

So, but there's a lot that goes into of making a throw like this. And again, here's Rivers in the gun. Obviously, he's going to be in the gun on fourth and seven. and what you see here is the matchup of Fuller versus Benjamin. Now the chiefs are playing what we call two-man coverage, meaning there's two deep safeties over the top and man-to-man across the board. So Fuller knows that.

So what he can do when he plays man coverage here is he can actually do what we call undercut or tailgate the route by Travis Benjamin because he knows he has safety help over the top. So what that essentially means is he can let Benjamin sort of run by him a little bit because of the safety help. So you see him kind of do. Now, Rivers knows that.

So Rivers turns the ball loose so early because he knows the coverage and he knows that Fuller will turn his back due to the two-man coverage and will not see the throw. That's the critical piece here. Rivers knows that Fuller will not see the throw because of how he plays the two-man coverage.

That's the way the two-man coverage is taught that you get on the end. inside hip of the receiver and you let him get over the top of you. And you're going to see that here in particular. That's quarterbacking. That's understanding the coverage, understanding how coverage is played, understanding the rules of the defense. Understanding the rules of the defense is critical for play callers.

It's critical for quarterbacks. And you can see right here, Fuller's not playing this incorrectly at all. It's just that that's the way you play two-man coverage. How many quarterbacks in the league can make that decision at the line of scrimmage? Well, you would hope a lot, but then it comes down to the execution of when you turn that loose. Because the later you turn it loose, the deeper Benjamin gets, and the more likely the safeties get involved in that throw, and then it's not there.

So the willingness to turn that loose to me, that's why I've always been a big believer in the willingness to turn it loose for NFL quarterbacks. Now you have to know when to turn a loose, but you've got to do that. Yeah, I can't play with fear. Greg CoSell, great stuff on a Thursday. Thank you, sir. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, I'm going to flip the script on Aaron Rogers on who you think we should hire as a coach. And the answer may be the opposite. That and Matt Barnes before the end of the hour. It's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Sunday, it's a great slate of NFL. Action highlighted by the Buccaneers, facing off against Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys, or Khalil Mack and the Bears taking on the 49ers.

It's all on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Check local listings for the game in your area. Through Christmas, DNA genetic testing kits, 23andMe.com slash The Herd, 23andme.com slash the herd. Boy, the NFL 14 to 16 games have playoff implications. There is a sense, people, there's a narrative going out there that Aaron Rogers needs an offensive coach. But I want to remind you, Big Ben. has a defensive head coach. He's gone to a couple Super Bowls. Tom Brady has a defensive coach, Belichick. He's gone to eight Super Bowls. Russell Wilson has a defensive head coach.

He's been to two Super Bowls. Peyton Manning got to a Super Bowl with Tony Dungey. Troy Akeman got to a Super Bowl with Jimmy Johnson, defensive head coach. Terry Bradshaw got a four with Chuck Knoll, defensive head coach. Young quarterbacks, Gough, Trubisky, Wence, Deshawn Watson, Baker Mayfield. love them having as sponges a young, smart, progressive offensive coach, Wence and Doug Peterson, Mahomes and Andy Reed. Because they're sponges. They're learning the game. Aaron Rogers is not learning the game.

There's a been there, done that quality with Aaron Rogers. He could be the mentor as much to Sean McVeigh as Sean McVeigh would be to Aaron Rogers. I believe there is a coach out there for Aaron Rogers. he's had one great defense in his career. That's the only year Aaron Rogers won a Super Bowl when that defense was healthy and really good. Peyton Manning's only Super Bowl win in Indianapolis was when Pollyon got him his best defense

in a decent running game. This idea that you're going to give him some hot shot. Aaron doesn't need a hot shot offensive guy. He needs a defense. By the way, Aaron even this year, their top 10 in offense, and they've been injured. I'm not worried about Aaron's offense. I'm worried about like Andrew Luck, protect him up front and keep the score under 24.

Aaron and Luck don't lose games. Andrew Luck doesn't lose games if you score under 24. So Ron Rivera is a name to keep your eye on. Cam Newton's a lot of work. The first thing I can tell when a sports radio guy or a TV talker doesn't have good NFL sources, they tell you how great Cam is. Anybody with sources in this league knows, Cam's a lot of work. Cam's a lot of work.

And Ron Rivera keeps it all out of the newspapers. Ron Rivera has given him in the last seven years five or six top ten defenses. Ron Revere takes all the shots, keeps it out of the press. Cam's a lot of work. So he's dealt with a higher maintenance star quarterback and he would build a defense. I don't know if Carolina is going to let him go, but I don't think the answer to Aaron Rogers is a hot shot. offensive guy. James Jones, former Packer, buddy of Aaron Rogers, agrees. I said, I would love to see you with a defensive-minded coach.

So he has the defense. He'll get you a top-10 defense. You communicate with your offensive coordinator and you guys put up points. But we have the defense. And I think that right there is what Aaron Rogers needs. And everybody's saying offensive coordinator, you know, an offensive-minded coach. Aaron's two-time MVP, Super Bowl MVP, like, you're not going to come in here and make Aaron looked just like somebody like just that much better like he's already special

let me shift gears to something else so most of the teams that were hot at the beginning of the year the Chiefs the Saints the Steelers by week seven or eight they're still pretty good teams right the one team that was on fire the Rams has fallen off a cliff

I'm going to go back to something I said Monday I just got a a text from somebody I respect in and around the National Football League. Okay? Just got a text. And he, I'm not going to read you the entire text, but he points out something too. This Rams story, they have no depth. They're tired.

I'll go back to what I said Monday. The reason the Rams are the one team we loved in October, all the teams that we liked in October, they're all still really good, right? Cowboys have gotten better, obviously. but the Rams are the one that's falling off the cliff. They had to sell PSLs. They're building the $5 billion stadium. McVeigh's not a big substitute or anyway.

Rams are tired. They got nobody behind. Nobody behind Robert Woods. They got nobody behind Todd Gurley. They don't have anybody behind Aaron Donald. When you watch the Rams play, they have become a star-studded team. But if you overpay for the kitchen,

then you've got to go cheap on the bathrooms. This is a salary-cap league, Just like families have, you know, caps on what we make a month, right? You do, I do. Teams have salary caps. The Rams spent all their money on a handful of stars. They got no backups. I watch every snap.

They're tired. Todd Gurley looks tired. Gough looks worn out. Aaron Donald looks a little worn out. This is a franchise. The Rams, they have gone big on headliners to sell PSLs for a $5 billion stadium, but they got no depth. and McVeigh's not a big substitution guy anyway. He plays his stars.

And they were piling up points and we fell in love with them. This team looks like in baseball they call it like a pitcher has a dead arm. Like a pitcher pitches too many innings at the end of a year. He's just got a dead arm. This looks like a dead franchise. Too many stars played too many reps, too many minutes and they look tired. Oh, you are out on the Rams. I'm out on them.

They just don't look right. Gurley looks tired. Their defensive stars look tired. They're freelancing. This is the downside. Again, if you overspend, you overspend on the kitchen, you've got to save money somewhere in the house.

And I see no depth on this team at all. They're lifeless. Their energy is sapped. They look tired. I mean, they, now, they're going to get a buy week when in their division. Nobody in this league needs a buy week more than the Rams. Like, say,

Goodbye. Go on vacation. Come back. Hydrated. Because they are just dead armed right now. Joy with the news. No. No. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So as it turns out, on top of being the best current basketball player in the world, LeBron James is also a good sports dad. After his youngest son, Bryce and his team came back to win a game that LeBron claims in an Instagram caption, they had no business winning. He gave some really good advice to his son. Bryce wasn't making his shots, which got him down. And LeBron gave him a little pep talk. You get too downing yourself for no reason.

You made three of the biggest plays of the game. You got the offensive rebound, right? Down four, you got the offensive rebound, got the tip in, right? And then you had the outlet pass to Owen when he got the N-1, and then you made the last swing scene to him for the game winner. You know what I'm saying? So like if you're missing shots from me, Making shots, don't worry about it, kids.

You did that. You played a hell of a game. You ain't got to worry about making shots or missing shot. All right? Good job. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you, man. It's a really nice moment there.

And actually some very good advice. Yeah, which is. Advice to some pros, too. Yeah, it's like you can't. This is why Magic and LeBron are so similar. Magic could give you 28 assists, 28 points, or 17 rebounds. Stop telling me that points are everything. thing. Like we've fallen into this thing. Like, if you're not scoring, you're not valuable.

I'm telling you something. A couple years ago, Draymond Green got kicked out. Remember he got in trouble? Warriors were not the same team. Yeah, they lost the series. Yeah. Dramon Green does a million things well. He can't shoot. We've gotten to this thing in basketball where he can't hit a three. You have no value. There are glue guys all over basketball teams. Well, I mean, organizations know that. It's more about fans. Like from a surface perspective, you look at the stat line, you're like, you're not contributing. There's many ways that you can contribute. Also, just want to point out, a lot of people are giving LeBron crap about being miced up in this situation and then I'm posting it, you know,

because he's having a nice moment with the sun, and it's like perfect audio. So people are kind of questioning whether this is a real authentic moment. And to those people, I mean, get over yourself. Please. If you were miced, first of all, LeBron's miced all the time. Right. And who knows what this is for? He could be doing a documentary or any number of things.

I'm sure he's not just following around posting random videos talking to his son. And even if he is, isn't it a nice thing to show a nice moment with your child giving a positive representation of being a father? Isn't that a nice thing? Can we do that? Can we do nice things now? Everything has to be in question. If I was Mike yesterday with my son, you just hear me yelling at him to clean his room and brush his teeth. Well, that's good advice to brush your teeth and keep the clean room. I would just shove all my stuff in the closet until my mom found it.

And then that always ended badly for me. So the Thunder and Kings game last night featured a matchup of two of the NBA's most athletic point guards, Russell Westbrook and Deerrin Fox. Yeah. And that competition had a little extra intrigue thanks to comments that Deeran Fox made on Chris Haynes' posted up with Chris Haynes podcast. Fox said people debate it all the time. I'm number one. I'm faster than John Wall.

I'm faster than Russell Westbrook. If we're talking about from baseline to baseline with the ball in my hands, I'm definitely the fastest person in the league. I watched some of this game last night. By the way, I'm going to say something and nobody cares. I'm going to say, so I'm just going to waste 10 seconds of everybody's life. I watch Sacramento. Sacramento is great. They're a great watch. They're not a great team. Keep your eye on Sacramento. Add a veteran free agent. Sacramento is an easy watch in the NBA. Why is that a waste of everyone's time? Well, because, you know, nobody cares about Because no one cares about Sacramento.

It's a state of California, but other than that, you know, you just kind of know. Well, Russ cares about Sacramento and what De Aran Fox said, because he went coast to coast in the second quarter of the game and blew by Fox to get the N-1. And as he walked away from the paint, he very visibly yelled, I'm too fast. I'm too fast. Russ is good for that, no. Russ is good for that. And finally, Patrick Mahomes is a noted. ketchup enthusiast, and he signed an endorsement deal with Hunt's ketchup.

You remember in mid-November, Heinz made an offer to Mahomes on Twitter that if you get 57 touchdowns, he'll get free Heinz on his stake for life. Well, they miss out on Patrick Mahomes, and Hunt says, already released his first ad with Mahomes, and he is working out and flexing and squeezing ketchup all over his macaroni and cheese. Oh, gross. It's disgusting. God, that's awful. It's really a funny commercial.

Heinz could never have endorsed the homes anyway. They've got Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Heinz is the only catch-up I recognize being from Pittsburgh, but Hunts is an acceptable alternative company. Yes, very much. Heinz Field. Didn't John Kerry marry the Heinz family?

I think he married a... Yeah, that sounds right. That's a rich family. Everybody's got ketchup. Yes, everyone needs to catch them. And they're a Pittsburgh family. I don't know if they're originally from Pittsburgh. I probably should know that, but they definitely are a Pittsburgh company.

They're all over the place. All right. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. You know, this Josh Gordon story, he has been suspended by the Patriots, and I would imagine he is out of the league. Peter King talked about that earlier. Josh Gordon's done.

I think it really ends to a large degree the playoff hopes for New England. I'm not even sure they can win a home game. But, you know, there's always been this feeling that, you know, you can. can put anybody into their great system. Okay, they put Albert Haynesworth into the system and it didn't work. And they put Ocho Cinco in this system and it didn't work. And Adelius Thomas was in this system and he didn't work. And Josh Gordon's in this system and he didn't work.

And even Randy Moss didn't work forever. This whole thing about, ah, it's this great system and that's a bunch of hooey. The triangle offense never won without Michael and Kobe. San Antonio's great system doesn't mean anything now without Tim Duncan. Sean McVeigh's great system The team looks tired to me He's never won a playoff game Chip Kelly's system

I watch a UCLA this year They weren't nearly as good as his system in Oregon where he had better players When it comes to pro sports I'm so overhearing about the genius system You got to get guys You got to get players And it's just a bunch of nonsense

That if you go look at the AFC right now Does Anthony Lynn have a great system Does Andy Reid have a great system? No, they have 13 pro bowlers between the two of them. New England's got two, and one of them's Brady, and he shouldn't have made it. Andrew Luck should have. New England's not as good this year. They've been blown out four times.

They don't have enough players. So this idea that you can just slip anybody into this system is a bunch of hooey. I think it's nonsense. You know, Sean Peyton, by the way, his great system. If systems are so great, they'd win every year. Why did Sean Payton go 7 to 9, 7 to 9, 7 to 9, 3 straight years? Because they paid Breeze so much. They didn't have any players.

So if it's all about system, you know what the system is in New England? Brady. Brady's the system. Brady makes it work. That's the system. It's not about Bill Belichick's genius. You can bring anybody in. Josh Gordon is like one of four or five guys that came with his own sort of personal.

I don't want to call it baggage. Maybe it could be mental health. But comes with some personal struggles. Okay. There's been like five of them to go to New England. Randy Moss worked the best. but they didn't get a Super Bowl, and he left after him a couple of years. It's nonsense.

Brady's the system. Brady's really good. West Coast offense. Everybody in this league's been running the West Coast offense for 40 years. Joe Montana won four Super Bowls. Okay. That system didn't look nearly as good without Joe Montana. So don't tell me about your West Coast system.

It was a Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, two legends worked. And the triangle didn't work without Kobe and his prime. and Michael in his prime. Tired of the system. Matt Barnes around the corner next. When shopping for car insurance, consider Geico been saving people money for 75 years. Geico.com. They know what they're doing. Matt Barnes played for a decade and a half in the NBA, won an NBA championship with the Warriors, knows that roster very well, knows the Lakers inside and out, and he is joining us. Matt, who also, by the way, was a great high school football player, could have played for Bob Toledo at UCLA, but they didn't want him to play, so he's stuck

with hoops. You know you could have played there. They could have used. used you, a six five guy that could run? Six-eight guy that could run. You're six-eight? Six-eight? Holy mackerel, you would have been good. Yeah, football is my first sport. It was something I played early on, and it was natural. Just, I figured basketball would be a longer play. Sure. And it ended up being, but there's not a day, I don't think, like, damn, what if?

A six-eight whiteout? What if, yeah. Nice to have Drew Brees throwing you slant patterns. It would have amazing. So I said this earlier. I think sometimes we lump all great players together. And the NBA has always got seven or eight guys who are different. Kauai Leonard's like different and LeBron's different.

But I said this earlier and Matt, you can push back if you want, that there's a difference between great players, Janus, Anthony Davis, and outcome changers. Magic Bird, Michael, Kobe, Shack, Duncan, LeBron, Steph, to me change the outcome of conferences, series, banners, trophies. They're different. I love KD. I don't think he's an outcome changer.

He gets hurt. The Warriors still win at a 70% clip. Steph is hurt. They're a 500 team. When you look at that list, am I missing somebody? Do you buy into my belief that there's a difference between great players and outcome changers? I agree. I think I agree with you.

You know, everyone you put on that list has did it at the highest level and outcomes. And it have won championships. But like you mentioned, there are other great players. honest, KD, AD, that still put those great numbers up, but don't necessarily change the temperature in the room. It's a good way to put it. I mean, Anthony Davis is a prime example. Amazing.

An amazing player. Would you work with LeBron? I think he would. I think there's so much talk about, I don't want to play LeBron. I don't want to. If LeBron had AD, you see how LeBron is just kind of surveying the scene this season, really figuring out what they have, what pieces they have, and who's going to be, his

co-pilots. Could you imagine if he did that with AD and just let you know every night that AD is young enough to put up these amazing numbers every single night and then when it's time for LeBron to, you know, put his cape on, he can still put the cape on. And imagine, I think Kuzma's really made an impact for himself in the team.

So he's clearly their second option, but I would like to see him at this point in his career. He'll be a first option, but at this point in his career, can imagine Kuzma as your third option with an AD as your, you know, one, two, option in LeBron there too. Yesterday, LeBron liked on Instagram and

Anthony Davis thing. I think LeBron is being coy because LeBron doesn't want to look like he's poaching somebody. And Anthony Davis doesn't want to be a bad guy in New Orleans. So this is all very coy. I've been told by people I trust that it is a strong Laker lean right now.

But here's what's interesting. And you played with Kobe. Once you've got stacks of money and championships, people get less patient. You know, that's just the way human beings work. LeBron's not going to sit around here for a year and a half and play this game. My feeling is at some point, LeBron's going to go into magic and say, guys, I'm not sitting here for a year and a half. Well, you know, because Kobe did that and hats off to him. You know what I mean? To see Kobe finish with, you know, the teams he

finished his amazing career with. I mean, everyone was like, well, you know, what was he? He goes somewhere and then, you know, go to another thing. And Kobe would never do that. You know what I mean, so he rode off into the sunset with the bad teams they had. And you make a great point. I don't really see LeBron doing that. I think they're going to need to make a move. But even more, be more proactive. Magic in this new ownership, no, they want to make moves.

They're aggressive. They're out there. They're trying to find that next piece for them. Because to me, I really feel like they're one, number one option away from being up there with the Lakers. Excuse me, with the Warriors. I agree with you. I think Anthony Davis, LeBron, and Coosman as a 3 can play with anybody. And by the way, it should be noted.

did Curry and Durant have a history? They've been banged up in their careers. Steph misses time, Kevin misses time. These are not big, thick guys. You're not talking about guys that can play. They get banged up. A lot of usage, they have the ball. I want to ask you about Kevin Durant, who I think is a great player.

We all read social media. We can say we don't. But it does affect people differently. There's no question. Some people are thin-skinned. I have kids. How my daughter reads Instagram and how my son reads Twitter. My son laughs at it.

I think sometimes my daughter is, bothered by it. People are different. Kevin Durant now on a weekly basis is talking back at fans. I love it. So now you love it. Why? Just because, I mean, think of what you're doing, whatever he's saying, I don't know what he's saying back to him,

but you know they're running and telling everybody in their family, everyone in their school, everyone at their work, that Katie responded. Katie said, like the guy in Utah last night, he's called him the B word, but I guarantee he told everyone he knows that Katie called me a B word after he made a free. You know what I mean? So it's really that back and forth that people kind of forget that, you know, these are still fans and he is one of the greatest players on the planet. And the fact that KD said something to me goes a long way for some people. And I think,

you know, I think KD gets an unfair rap. Everyone wants to make him this bad guy when he took his career and his future in his own hands and chose to go to the Warriors. He could have went to a different team. He chose to go to the Warriors. It doesn't take away from who he is and what he's about. I just think the fact that he's constantly, no one gets trolled more than KD. You know what I mean? So you can say what you would do or what you wouldn't do or what you would say. But until you're there and you're seeing these fans say some crazy, stuff about you, you don't know what you're going to do. Matt, what would, you heard stuff.

Did you ever hear slurs? Oh, yeah. Oh, a lot of racial slurs, especially in Utah. It's funny last night. Utah was very racial. When we had that we believe team in 2007 with Jack and Barron, couldn't believe it. You know, more in words than probably had black people in the whole city. You know what I mean? So it was, it was a really racist situation. And people know that people say anything now because they're not held to, there's no

consequences for it. I could say anything on my phone to anybody and, you know, and most of the, you know, Like there's not going to be a consequence to it. So people really speak freely, knowing face to face, you would never say something like that to somebody. Yeah. It is interesting. Did you ever play with a teammate who was very, like, I've always known this. When I go to games and I sit close to the arena, you know, Chris Paul will look at me,

Chris knows who I am. LeBron talked to me last game because these players, you guys play games. You come home, you sleep in, you wake up, after shoot around, you turn on sports. And hereby am blabbing about the NBA all the time. do you how aware of it are you the heckling how aware were you during games are you here definitely you definitely hear it and I think that the key is to be able to I was someone that went back and forth with fans that it wouldn't affect my performance you know what I mean like I think that it goes back to what I was saying like a cool dynamic or you're coming to a game

you're yelling at as long as they don't go past the line you know I kind of have a line needs to be drawn and I think the NBA needs to do a better job of having the players back as much as they have the fans back I agree because fans say some crazy racial, family, crazy stuff. And if we do anything, it's automatic $25,000, automatic $50,000. I got hit numerous times in my career for just, like, responding. But with that said, I think as long as it's within the lines are respectable, the back and forth banter with fans, and you've seen some of the greatest stuff with Spike Lee and

all these guys that are really, and it makes them feel like they're part of the game. And guys are still going out there and playing great, and you see cool stuff. But as long as this stays within a respectable means, I like it. You know, there's a couple of, you mean, Golden State's obviously the best team in the league. I think Boston will eventually emerge. You know, Joey and I go back and forth. There's these Toronto's where they're great regular season teams. I call them energy teams.

They're deep. They have nine guys. They play with energy. But you get to the playoffs, and I get to play the same guy seven times, stars takeover. I don't buy Toronto. I don't buy effort teams. I never have in my life. Do you, because I look at it and I just think, Boston's got better players than

Toronto, they'll get calls. Kyrie will take it over. Tatum will take it over. And Toronto will have the baby dinosaurs will have depth. Playing hard matters when not everybody's playing hard. But in the playoffs, everybody's playing hard. It's a tough call. I really like Toronto.

And I think the fact that what they've done with Damar, and this is no knock on Damar, he's a top tier player, you just put Kauai in his position, and Kauai does more on both sides of the ball. No question defensively. So is that the little push they need now that LeBron's not in the east to get over, you know, to the championship.

You know, there's no doubt that Boston is very talented. But I think Boston is kind of, they have a little bit of a hangover. They had so much success last year with their young guys and now their veteran players are coming back. You know, Hayward looks lost and I feel bad for him. He doesn't really, I don't think he's found his rhythm or his niche on that team. I totally agree is that he's gone. Right.

Young players emerge. Now, Kyrie, because he has the ball, will fit. Gordon Hayward looks out. Because I guarantee the outlook they had when they brought Gordon Haywood and gave him all that money is much different now after the injury and they realize what kind of special player they have in Tate him. You know what I mean? Then with Terry Rozier kind of trying to find his magic from last year, he's out here gutting. You know, he's out here putting shots up, you know what I mean? And so I really kind of feel like they have to rekindle that magic with the guys they have.

You know, whether they're going to make a trade or not. I mean, I think Boston would be a great destination for AD. You know, you put AD in that mix and they have the pieces and the draft picks. to make that happen. But I just think Boston needs to find their magic. But like you said, they definitely have the most talented team. And in Philly, too, you never know if Philly's there yet mentally. But they have a very talented team too.

But, you know, the West, or excuse me, the East is really wide open. Do players like LeBron, like him as a dude? Is he a little bit of a showboat, a little bit of a drama guy? I mean, I don't, I've never heard anything bad in circles and locker rooms and this, this, and that. You know, I know them. We're not best friends. I know him. I see nothing wrong.

But sometimes when you're that person or you're the best, people just don't like you for that particular reason itself. Some people don't like Steph for that reason. Some people don't like KD for that reason. Some people don't like LeBron for that reason. They didn't like Kobe for that reason. So it's kind of hard to gauge. I mean, I've never played with them, so I can't say what it's like to play. But just from the outside looking into play against them for many years, I would love to play with someone like him. Yeah, I know. Whenever I hear, nobody wants to play with LeBron.

Because those are always unnamed sources or so-and-so. Like put your name on it. If you don't want to, like, tell me what your name is. and then it'll be more valuable. By the way, Paul George got $40 million more guaranteed. He had a very real reason to stay in Oklahoma City. That's $40 million. It's a lot.

A lot of money. You can buy an extra Camry. You get two Camrys in the garage, not just one. Matt Barnes, great seeing you. Our number three is coming up next. T.J. Hushman Zada, our Super Bowl bubble is shrinking fast. In L.A., it's the herd. Our three lines.

This is the herd, wherever you may be. However you may be listening. We're in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Peter King on today. Greg Kosell just had Matt Barnes. Show has been absolutely rolling today. This weekend, 14 of the 16 NFL games have playoff implications.

T.J. Hushman Zada. I love the Falcons to get to the Super Bowl. They've been a disaster. He loved the Bengals. They've been in disaster, so he'll have fun today. Also, best for last. While Lamar Jackson has more in common when Tim Tebow than you may think. But we had huge news that has come down, breaking news in the last couple of hours.

Josh Gordon, Patriot-wide receiver, is stepping away from the team. He put out a statement earlier today. I take my mental health seriously at this point to ensure I remain able to perform at the highest level. I have recently felt that I could have a better grasp on things mentally. With that said, I will be stepping away from the football field for a bit to focus on my mental health. This ends New England's Super Bowl threat. It's over. It is officially over.

If you don't watch the Patriots and you have your own favorite team, I've got to watch all these games. He is their number one receiver. Edelman's a slot guy. You got to throw the ball over the top in 2018. He's their go-to big player receiver. He leads this team in yards. Since week five, he had the second most offensive snaps at wide receiver to Edelman. And again, Edelman is not scaring anybody in this league.

This is just not losing a player. This is losing their dynamic, hyper-athletic, super-dangerous over-the-top wide receiver. And by the way, you could sense it was coming. Tom Brady only throws the people he trusts. In 2010 against Miami on a Monday night football game, he only targeted Randy Moss one time. I worked at the SBN. I said at the time it's over.

People said, you're overreacting. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Randy Moss is too good on the road at Miami, Monday night football game, Tom Brady, to target once. It's over. A week later, he was out. And in this Sunday against Pittsburgh, Josh Gordon, was targeted twice.

Once New England got past midfield on seven plays, they never targeted him. Something was a miss. Brady does not target or throw to people he doesn't trust. He trusted Josh Gordon for two and a half months. Something was wrong. And today we find out. Listen, it's over for New England this year. I don't know what happens in the draft and free agency, but for this year, they're out of the Super Bowl bubble.

Kansas City forces you because of their deep threats to play honest. T.Y. Hilton Indy forces you to play honest. Deep threats. Chargers, Steelers, Texans, the AFC, everybody forces you to be honest. New England this morning, what are you going to do? Philip Dorset? What do you do? To me, the Super Bowl bubble right now in the NFL, it shrinks.

Like college football. You start with 130 teams. You get down to about five. The Super Bowl bubble to me in the NFL today is Chargers, Chiefs, Bears, Steelers, Saints, and New England is on the out. You don't have to play them honest. You can crowd the box, therefore taking away their primary strength, their running game. They're not going to beat you quickly.

They won't be as good playing from behind now because they can't catch up quickly. They're a running throw-to-a-slot-receiver team. And boy, boy, boy, do they miss. They had Brandon Cooks. Let him go. But in college football, it takes us about 13 or 14 weeks. And you can figure out pretty soon. Couple SEC teams, Oklahoma, Clemson, they're in the bubble.

NFL, it takes you longer. You've got to see weaknesses. Who's in, who's out, who's injured, who's not. New England's not a championship football team. They're just not. And I want to segue to this. And again, have great sympathy for Josh Gordon, the human being. But New England's season is now going to end with an L, a loss.

It's not going to end with the win. And what's going to happen is that everybody in the media is going to say, Brady! Brady is getting old. This is on Tom. I mean, Tom can't elevate people. In the last decade, you see all the Chiefs talent they give their quarterback, the Colts, the chargers, the Steelers,

DAC, Wentz, look at all these quarterbacks in the league and weapons they have. In the last decade, New England has drafted one legitimate receiver. Ten years, Julian Edelman, and he was a quarterback out of Kent State. This is on Belichick. Tom has nothing

to work with here. Go back to their last five drafts. 2014, one guy left, James White. 2015, one offensive guy left, a guard. 2016, one guy left offensively, a guard. 2017, nobody left. 2018, we got a pretty good running back. Sony Michelle.

Guards, running backs who are better receivers than runners, and a rookie. That's it. New England's season is going to end with a loss. And we think, and I know what I'm going to hear, is that Tom Brady's age, oh, it's Tom Brady. No, no, no, it's not Tom Brady. I said this earlier. Gronks a shell of himself. Edelman way past his prime, bad case of the drops.

Philip Dorset's a bus. Josh Gordon's now gone. James White's a catcher, not a running back. Sony Michelle, your rookie is it? and by the way, Edelman's coming off an ACL injury. And do you know New England's like seventh in the league in offense? Who the hell could do that besides Brady? Look at the gifts Mahomes has, that Goff has.

Look at the guys around the league, what they have to work with. Good Lord, when's the last time Pittsburgh drafted a receiver and he wasn't dynamic? I mean, Baltimore went out and drafted two tight ends. They can both play and got three new receivers. all solid. People say Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers doesn't have nothing. They didn't have anything to work with. Randall Cobb can still play. Jordy Nelson was amazing. Devante Adams is a beast. They went and got Jimmy Graham. Their left tackles one of the best in football. I mean, I don't want to hear about Aaron Rogers doesn't have gifts. Are you kidding me? Go look at Pittsburgh's

wide receivers and the Chargers, tight ends and receivers. And the Chiefs, Colts, Texans. They all of deep threats, intermediate threats, slot guys, running backs. Listen, I was in, remember Joy, I was in the L.A. Chargers draft room this year. They invited me into the draft room. So I was sitting there and they drafted like 17th. And I was in that draft room when they drafted Derwin James. But since I was in the draft room, I get credit for it too. Okay, so New England has not drafted a pro bowler since 2013. Not an offensive pro bowler since 2013. I essentially have drafted more pro bowlers than the Patriots since

2013. I'm taking credit. Half credit for Derwent James. Folks, you're going to blame Brady's age. Belichick is doing him no favors offensively. They've taken advantage of him. Why are we always blaming Brady's age? They're top seven in the league. If you look at like points in yarn, They're not giving Brady enough to work with. And this season's going to end here in about three weeks. They may be able to get past the bills and the jets.

I don't doubt it. But they can't, this is not a team capable of beating the Chargers, the Chiefs. I don't think they can beat the Colts, the Texans now. It's going to get really predictable, really fast. It's all going to be Brady's fault because he's old. It's not. It is remarkable what he's doing when you consider the lack of gifts they've given him. Coming up, Lamar Jackson, a lot more in common with that Tim Tebow playoff run.

That'll be in best for last. T.J. Hushman Zata as well. Want more HARD? The HARD streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search HARD to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Cold and flu season. try Vic Synex nasal spray. 12 hours. Use as directed.

All right. Josh Gordon out for the Patriots. You know, T.J. Hushman, who's out of played in this league for a decade, 11 years. So I've got to ask you about this. You played with somebody in Chad Johnson, which there was some baggage. Didn't love college, incredible talent, had some ego. Josh Gordon's got a lot of talent, but you can go back to his high school days,

his junior high days, his Baylor days, his NFL days, it doesn't work. I want to start with this. I think he's their best athlete and their only deep threat, and I don't think in the AFC you can slot guys to death. I think the AFC's got too many deep threats, too many dynamic players, too many players. Wide receivers have never meant more in the NFL in my life than this year because of the rule changes.

So I'll start with this. I think it takes New England out of the Super Bowl spot. It's tough. New England is like that friend that you don't have to talk to them often, but when you call them at three in the morning he got you. That was New England. Like they've been so successful that you just always feel they're going to come through in the clutch. For some reason this year, I don't feel that.

But you still have that maybe because they're New England filled to it. but the way they've played lately and you lose Josh Gordon, it's not looking good at all. How do players look at Josh Gordon as a talent? Oh, phenomenal. It's like him and Chaddard. Like Chad wanted attention, but he wasn't a bad dude.

Like Chad wasn't drinking. He was doing no smoking. None of that. None of that. Like T.O. was the same way. Yeah. Tio didn't have anything to do with drugs, drink it. Tio was just a little needy.

It's one attention. Yeah. It's for Josh. just sad for jobs. It's wasted talent. He had an opportunity, afforded him. Not only you could play in the NFL, you change your life, you change your kid's life, you change your family's life, and

he's been given opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, and he hasn't taken advantage of it, and it's unfortunate, man. It's a very sad situation. You played with guys. Did you ever see a guy in your career that did turn it around, that you knew had trouble at home, maybe had trouble with an

addiction, or a personal thing, but turned their life around? Or is it Usually you cross your fingers in hope, but it doesn't happen. Yes, not to this extent. When you've been given multiple opportunities as he has been given, rarely do they, rarely do they, I mean, if Hart Browles kicks you out of school at Baylor, it's bad. Because what he put up with at Baylor and for him to kick him out of school, it's... Hey, listen, Cleveland got rid of him.

And how many times did they, he was suspended two, three times they bring you back? Oh, I got to go again. It's just Belichick took a chance. He went to Vegas. He gambled in four minutes to look like he was on a roll, and they crapped out. Yeah. When you start looking at the AFC now with Pittsburgh, and you got the Chargers are stacked, and you have the Chiefs, and you have the Colts.

Is there any team, take New England out for a second, of all these AFC teams, and they're very dynamic. I'll even go to the NFC. The Rams are dynamic. The Saints, the Bears defense. Is there one of these teams in the NFC? now that you just don't buy. I've told Joy this. I don't buy the Rams.

They've got star players. They have no depth. They don't have a second running back. Gurley looks tired. Goff's arm looks tired. McVeigh's not a big rest your, you know, McVeigh plays starters, lots of snaps. I think they got some hot dogs and freelancers on defense.

The team in this league that I just don't buy this point forwards, the Rams. Is there one for you? It's becoming the Rams. And I want to see the realm succeed. It's the last three weeks, man, golf is thrown six interceptions, one touchdown. Their offensive line is getting manhandled. That's the problem.

Defensively, they're not very good. And it's odd because they have great defensive names. And their offensive line, you watch that game against Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles? They manhandled that offensive line. Now, it is an older offensive line, and it doesn't have much depth. They got manhandled up front. That's where they're losing games. games is up front. That offensive line is not giving golf the protection that he had early on.

So now he's starting to, when the protection is there, he's starting to see ghosts and getting rid of the ball sooner. He's holding on to the ball, taking sacks. The ball he just was getting sacked against Philly. Oh, just go ahead and take this and walk in for a touchdown. It's because he's under pressure so often now that he wasn't early in the season. He doesn't know how to deal with it. You know, there's been a lot of talk about Nick Sabin. There was a story yesterday. Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh's still young. He'll coach for another 15 years. There's not a doubt in my mind. There's a story today that one NFL team is going to come hard after him. I think it's going to be Green Bay. I think Cleveland will look at him. But you watch Save it on the sidelines. I'll show video. He's going crazy. And you watch Harbaugh on the sidelines, and he's going crazy. Harbaugh did have success in the NFL. But when you look at Harbaugh, and I just say Jim Harbaugh to you, do you think college or pro coach? either. So to you it works. I'm a fan of the hard balls,

both of them. Why? Just playing for John and seeing how he was. I played for him one year in Baltimore and I was like, oh man, I wish I could have played with him a hoax. I just really enjoyed him as a coach. Like he takes feedback from you, whether he uses or not. He asks a lot,

what do you think? What do you think we went wrong here? What do you think we can do different? Like he was very open to what you thought. Whether or not he would use it, he was open to it. And I like that, from a coach. I had never had that happen before. Now, Jim on television is a yeller and screamer, and he

is, he's got a strong point of view. Do you know Jim Harbaugh much? I don't know him much. I've met him, but I don't know him. He's going to garner respect just because, number one, he's had success playing and coaching in NFL. He's going to garner the respect. It's, when you come into the NFL, you're going to coach differently than you would coach in college.

You're not going to yell at the grown men the same way you would yell at young men. It's just completely different. In college, they're trying to get to the NFL. You're going to respect them differently in the NFL because that's just you yell at the wrong person. They're going to yell back at you and it can get confrontational. You know, it's funny because Aaron Rogers,

I made this argument this morning. Troy Aikman had a defensive coach. Big Ben, Belichick, Russell Wilson, defensive coaches. We think give the quarterback an offensive guy. I think that's right when you have a golf, a Trubisky, a Watson, a Wens, they're sponges, they're learning the game. Young quarterbacks. Here's mentor.

Aaron Rogers doesn't need a mentor. A lot of been there, done that. I would argue, once a quarterback gets to a certain level, Aikman was better with Jimmy Johnson, the defensive coach, that once a quarterback ages, Brady's better, Ben's better, stay out of my business, give me a coordinator I can work with, you give me a defense, keep us under 24, all win a bunch of games.

Like if Cam and Ron Rivera don't work, I'd hire Ron Rivera. Like I look at Aaron Rogers, I'm not so sure, T.J., you've been in these meeting rooms. On the teams you were on, did you prefer a head coach that was in your meetings or not? Not. Okay. Okay, so Marvin Lewis was a defensive guy. He would come into meetings sometimes, but for the most part, it was just the coordinator running a meeting. Marvin would come in intermittently every so often.

Okay, now where did you play where the coach was in the meetings? Harbaugh was in there more. He would go back and forth because he was a special teams guy, and he had that rapport with both sides, but none. Hugh, when I played in Oakland my last year. You liked Hugh? He ran the meetings. Oh, boy.

He ran the meetings. He was a head coach, so he never went in the defensive meetings. He stayed in the offensive side of the meeting. And so it was different. I could see, Ron, Carolina's been great on defense for years. Years. And if you don't want to go Ron Rivera,

I look at a guy like Chris Richard. Dallas has changed. Dallas has changed since he's become a coach in that system. And they're playing more press man. Rod Marnanelli, he's a cover two type of guy. So Chris Richard has brought a lot. You get a Chris Richard type of guy that will just focus on a defense.

And the coordinator, the offensive coordinator and Aaron Rogers, they would work hand in hand. be, it wouldn't be his offense, it would be their offense because they would mesh somewhere in the middle on what Aaron likes to do and what this coordinator likes to do. That would run very smooth. By the way, the Panthers defense under

Ron Rivera since 2011, their total defense in the last seven years, third, their rush defense second, they're scoring defense fourth and their takeaways fourth. Cam Newton has been And the crazy thing about that, there's probably only a couple of guys

on that defense that you could name and one of them is not even there anymore would be Josh Norman and Luke Kigley. That's it. And Thomas Davis. And this is why I say about Cam Newton. I don't want to hear excuses. Cam, you got one of the best defensive minds in the NFL. You can't not have back-to-back winning seasons.

Like I've come to the point, this is going to sound crazy. I've come to the point that Cam is Westbrook. So they come into the league and they're jaw-dropping. You're like, I've never seen anybody like Westbrook. I've never seen anybody like Cam. but in the NBA, when Westbrook entered the league, athleticism was enough. And now the league's all about shooting. And he's not a great shooter.

And now he's older and hurt. Can came into the league. You didn't have to complete 68% of your throws. Throw the ball over the top. And then the NFL became a precision league. Bubbles, quick, out, accurate. Cam has aged. That's not his game.

That Westbrook and Cam, the league is. changed and it's moved away from their strengths. If you came in this league and were just a great athlete, you got 27, you're a star will build around you. It's not that way anymore. Lakers are just looking for shooters. They don't even care if you can play defense. But you look at the Carolina Panthers receivers.

Name one receiver that can. DJ Moore, that rookie can't play? But he's a rookie. What about Christian McCaffrey? He's doing well. I'm not talking this year. Boy, this sounds like excuses. Look at Kelvin Benjamin.

he played decent with Cam Newton. He looks like he can't play at all anymore. Funciches can play. McCaffrey can play. Greg Olsen will be a borderline Hall of Famer. Who? Greg Olson will be a board. He's been hurt the last two years.

Yeah, but I mean he hasn't been hurt the last seven. He's been hurt. Cam Newton is, he's never going to be a guy that just sits in a pocket and shreds you with his arm. He's gone run around, create plays with his legs, and beat you with his arm when he can. but it's part when quarterbacks get way too much credit and they take way too much of the blame. We put them on a pedestal and prime example,

golf, you couldn't touch them early in the season. Offensive line's not playing well. He's playing terrible. We put the quarterbacks on a pedestal and I think we need to stop doing that because if the guys in front of them and around them aren't playing well, they do not play well. When a quarterback play, Tom Brady, we got to give guys around them. It's a team game.

The quarterbacks get way. too much credit. Way too much credit when things go great and they take way too much of the blame when it goes back. Cam Newton since 2011 is 49th in the NFL and completion percentage. 49. He's 32nd in passer rating. 28th and passing yards

a game and the fourth most picks. And don't tell me he's had a great defense. We just established that. He has had better than average O lines and running games. He has no his head star receivers, although I would argue could he be a part of that? I'm not sure you'd really build with a

I like DJ more. I like him a lot. But he's a rookie. Man, that seems like a lot of excuses. Who do you like in the Super Bowl before you go? Oh, man. The Chargers, if I had to pick now, I would go Chargers and Saints. By the way, you see this right here?

You know what these are, Joy? Two tickets to the Chargers Ravens this Saturday. I'm going to sit amongst the people, and I'm going to go to the game this week. You've aligned yourself with the Chargers in Los Angeles. No, no, I've said. Are you wearing a hat? Are you going incognito? I'm going incognito.

There we go. I don't want to get it all whatever. But no, I said is that there's, when you live in a town with pro sports, there are, when you have a really great team, you have to watch teams live. I can watch the Lakers every night on TV. But I'm going to go four or five times before the playoffs because it gives you a sense. You can see something's life. The NFL, when the play starts in the NFL, the safety is not even on the screen.

I got to go see the, I think the charge is the best team in football. So this weekend, I'm like, I have to go watch them live. because on my television set tells me that's the best team in football. I've got to go see them live. Chargers, they are stacked. They don't have a weakness right now. I talked to an NFL exec two days ago. He said, three days ago, I said, give me their weakness.

He goes, I don't love their guards. That was it. He goes, but pouncy's so good at center. It doesn't really matter. They're strong, man. They have a really, really strong. But Phila Rivers is playing great, man. He's so accurate with the ball.

He's tough. He's a competitor. Can't beat it. Good seeing you, TJ. Joy with the news. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Now here's the question. What? If there's a heckler next to you. Oh, Jesus. At the game, what are you going to do? I hate hecklers. If he's heckling me? No, he's heckling a player.

If he's heckling me, I'll have him thrown out. But if he's heckling the... I just will... He's not to tolerate it. First of all, NFL fans generally, unless they're down in the first couple, rows. The stadium's too loud to happen. They're going to be looking for you now, too. People watching this show,

they're going to be, where's common as you. They're going to be looking for you. I'm going to have glasses. You know what you should do? What? Really throw them off. Put that hat on backwards. No one will look at. That's a great call. Backwards with some shades and a pencil on your ear. That's a great call.

Just off a fake beard. Sweet. Good to go. Yeah. All right. Well, the Eagles have had an interesting season. They are seven and seven heading into the final two weeks. And thanks to Nick Foles. They had an impressive. upset victory over the Rams last weekend, who you have completely bailed on. But they are still alive in the playoff front, and Doug Peterson seems to think that his squad plays better under pressure.

It seems you and the team are at your best when we counted out. What do you do to kind of handle that and channel help? I just tell them we're still counted out. We understand, and we know where we're at and what we need to get done. You know, it's no different than last week. It's a one game, it's a one game season for us. It's a resilient group. Backs were against the wall.

They came out and played well the other night, and we're going to need that again, you know, this week. Yeah, I didn't catch this the first time around that I heard this. Are they really on that underdog thing again? Oh, Jesus. Over it. Listen, Philadelphia got its comeuppance. They were real cocky and, you know, told the world how great they were.

I mean, you can't say act like you've been there before. They hadn't been there before. I know. But the point of the matter is you're not, you didn't come into the season underdogs. No, of course they're not. You had a bad season. That doesn't make you an underdog. But if I said to you, best rosters in the NFL, I'd still put them in the top five.

I'd say, I'd say Chargers won, Dallas's roster is really good, Chiefs roster, Steelers' roster, Philadelphia. I'd say those are the five best rosters. I think the Saints roster is good, but I think Peyton and Breeze make you think their offensive talents better than it is. They actually have some great defense. offensive players. Yeah. Well, the Eagles' upcoming schedule is Houston and Washington. They are currently on the outside looking in at 7th place with Washington also at 7 and 7. And you're thinking

that the Vikings are going to be the ones too. Yeah, I do. I think the Eagles win this weekend. Vikings get upset by the Detroit Lions. That's my pick of the weekend. And the Eagles win, so they go 8 and 7. The Vikings go 7 and 1. And Philadelphia is a bad playoff team, sneaks in and Nick Foles leads him again and they'll get there'll be a one and done they'll go lose at Chicago. The hero Nick Folls is a big NFL weekend. So Baker Mayfield he keeps it real. He has no love for his former coach Hugh Jackson and he said yesterday he does not regret what he said about Hugh Jackson. Oh boy. No, you know I said what I said it's another week but we got to hit the reset but we got to be able to come in block out the distraction, block out

the outside noise like we have week to week every time this season and be able to do our job. football is an angry, violent game. You play anything but this off, I don't think you're doing it right. But if you're playing fiery, emotional, which is how I do it. Just focus, determined. Just a little extra motivation. You know what I love about that quote, though? He's like, listen, football is kind of a violent, angry game.

There was about a two-year stretch where everybody was like, football, everybody wanted to talk about as concussions. There are certain things in America that are more dangerous. dangerous. Football, longshoremen, being a cop, a fireman. Football is great. It is not built for everybody. It scares away a lot of people. A lot of kids don't want to play it. That's why it's great. Is it Baker summed it up? This is a tough game for tough people. Okay, if you want, if you don't want to get hit, be a swimmer. Play soccer. Ski. You can get hit in soccer too. But one of the reasons I like football, it really, it's like a private club. Most tough guys

can't handle it. So it's this elite club of tough men who can handle it. And I love that Baker's like, listen, man, it's a tough violent, tough sport. People play angry. Ray Lewis used to say that. This isn't built for everybody. Yeah, no, it's definitely not. And Baker, this is Baker's personality. I have no problem with him backing off of it or using it for tackling fuel or whatever. Maybe I'll like Baker from this point for. Oh, really? You're going to change up on that? Not quite yet, but I'm getting closer. I really like that quote. He's finally like, finally he'll somebody will just say it. This isn't for everybody, man, It's a tough violent game.

A lot of anger out there. Well, they play the Bengals this Sunday. And they're going to crush them. Might have another little stare-down session. Finally, we were just talking about hecklers. Kevin Durant has a history of getting into it with fans. Last night, he was in Utah. It was no different.

Right before halftime, Katie, went to the free throw line. Yeah. Was heckled by a fan on the baseline. Yeah. And he sank the free throw, and then we had a kiss, and called him the B-word. Last night, also, Blake Griffin got into it with a fan. He was in the Hold Me Back.

situation. The fan was ejected from that game, a Timberwolves fan. And I think my advice for you was really good when you go to the game this weekend. I mean, if you wear a backwards hat, no one's going to recognize you. That's the last thing that I expect. You know how

in the airline industry you have marshals, air marshals, they sit on planes in case there's trouble? Why doesn't the NBA, for the $12 billion it makes a year, have like game marshals where you sit in the stands at the lower levels to see if there's jerks, you monitor them and you kick them out.

I don't disagree with you. I think that they need to be tougher on fans with the verbal abuse that they direct towards players. That's for sure. I don't know what line you have between harassment and just being a tough fan, if you will, because fans should be allowed to yell and participate in the game and the crowd noise and all that stuff is a factor in the game. That's why it's harder to play on the road because you're going to have a fan base that can be rabid. That's for sure. but I just think that there's a line that you cross.

And sometimes players are just, you know, in their feelings, they're not having a good day and they just want to bark back. And I don't think that fans should just be thrown out for any reason. But if you cross the line, if you're being incessant, then at some point or another, not only are you making it a bad experience for the player, who regardless of how much money they make, is still a human being at their job.

You ruin it for me a fan. You're ruining it for the people around you. And then when you get tossed like this, you're actually ruining it for everyone watching at home, because we can no longer watch the game. We have to stop and wait for. them to scorch you out of the building. By the way, biggest egos in any arena is the heckler. He really thinks he's hysterical. And while you're at it with your ego, just so you know,

nobody likes you. Everyone can't stand you and can't wait for you to leave. It makes no sense to me. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line. By the way, I got to just say this. I'm going to give you a scenario. I want to speak directly to the camera. I'm going to speak as a guy. If you were, a guy and you met this beautiful woman, should I marry her? Should I give her a ring and should I commit? And she was funny and she was smart and she was beautiful and she was loyal and she was your best friend. But there was one downside. She was not a morning person. So she said, listen, if we ever have kids, I'm not a morning person. I'm not getting up and making them breakfast.

I'll put the cereal out at night. They can fend for themselves. So you get all the goods, but she acknowledged, I'm not really a morning person. Would you marry her, guys? I think you would. I could get over that. In baseball, Manny Machado hits 37 jacks, 100 RBIs, and plays every day and can play defense. And I'm hearing teams don't want him because he doesn't hustle to first base.

Get over it. He plays 160 games, 37 jacks, 100 RBI, and he doesn't run hard to first base. If she does everything except she's not a morning person, get over it. As baseball purists, they're undefeated. Oh, God, they're tedious. Coming up next, Lamar Jackson has more in common with perhaps Tim Tebow than you'd think that is next in best for last.

If you own a sports team, you need to be informed and make smart decisions to build a champion. no different when it comes to selling or trading in your car. You need to make good choices. And with True Car, you've got a star in your roster. When you're ready to buy, sell, trade in your car, new or used, check out True Car. Offer not available in all states. Sunday is coming up on New Year's Eve, the Red Box Bowl kicks off between Oregon and Michigan State at 2.30 Eastern on Fox. Then flip over to FS1 is number 17 Utah, battles number 22 Northwestern, and the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl.

at 6.30 Eastern or catch it all on the Fox Sports app. Take Michigan State, Utah's the bowl season, cranks up. So we do it at this time of the day. We call it best for last. Here we go. 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.

So the Chargers host the Ravens Saturday night. Chargers are my number one team in herd hierarchy. The Ravens I picked as my Super Bowl dark horse team. So I decided Chargers have won 10 of 11 games. I decided this is an opportunity. They're going to be in my backyard, 15 minutes from my house. Ravens are four in one with Lamar Jackson. I'm going to actually go to the game and sit right in the middle of Ravens fans.

We have a picture of how awkward this is going to be. And, you know, I'm going to have a hoodie on there. I don't know where we got that picture. So weird. But I was talking yesterday to somebody in the league, and this is what we do. You have all sorts of sources. I have sources. And the person said, I can't wait to watch this game, said this person in the league,

because you've got the Chargers defense is stacked. And what Baltimore is doing, it's a little wing tea, right? and the person said, you should go back and check out Tebow and Denver's run and see if it compares to Baltimore and Lamar Jackson's run

where you have a great runner who's not really considered a great passer and you can win in this league. So sure enough. And remember, remember the great Saturday night live skit with Tebow where they had Matt Prater a great kicker, they had a great defense,

and they were winning these kind of ugly low-scoring games Remember this bit on Saturday Night Live? Here's the thing, okay? If we're going to keep doing this, you guys got to meet me halfway out there. I mean, let's face it, it's not a good week. If every week I, the son of God, have to come in, drop everything, and bail out the Denver Broncos in the fourth quarter, okay? I'm a busy guy.

So, wait, wait, you're only helping in the fourth quarter? Yeah, yeah. Have you watched the game film, Tim, of the first half? I mean, come on, three for 16? You know, I can throw better, and I'm 2010 years old, huh? So we looked up some stats, sure enough, prodded by an NFL exact that says this is going to be a great game to watch because you've got a T-Boh thing going on here. And he said, don't forget, T-Boh won a playoff game. So if you look at wins, points per game, completion percentage, passing yards, and rushing touchdowns, it is shockingly similar, Tebow and Lamar, known as great college players who early in their career, especially, are more runner than thrower.

Here's some other similarities to throw at you. The five teams Lamar had faced so far are the five worst scoring defenses in the NFL this season? It's just happenstance. Tebow didn't face a top 10 scoring defense during his six-game winning streak. Here's another similarity. Tebow lost to the Patriots in the playoffs. Currently the Ravens are the six-seed and would face the Patriots. Both didn't throw more than 25 attempts in their first five games of their hot stretch.

and both had more rushing attempts than completions. So when you look at the numbers and you look at the similarities, now I do think Lamar, though not the ideal throwing motion, is a better thrower than Tebow. Both were first round quarterbacks. I never bought into Tebow at all long term. I think Lamar is more sustainable. But like Tebow, I do think there is a sustainable issue.

He is not a big guy. and I don't know how long you can. I called a scout years ago, and we were talking about Tebow. And I remember him saying this about Tebow. He goes, listen, Tebow is big. He's built like a fullback. He goes, Colin, there's a reason fullbacks don't last in this league. Tebow's going to have to throw at some point 32 times.

And now Tebow is a big, you see him in baseball. He's a big. He looks like Bryce. He's bigger than Bryce Harper. He's a big, thick kid. And this was a guy a year ago saying nothing against Tebow, but fullbacks don't last in this league. Like, Tebow's not going to last.

forget the throwing. You can't take those beatings. So I do think there's a sustainability issue, but Tebow got hot. Baltimore's got a great kicker. Baltimore, Denver had great defenses. And when you get this five or six game stretch, and it just happens, you kind of line up with defenses, not equipped to stop you. I will take the Chargers to beat the Ravens, but I think it will be really fun and really competitive. But I think the Chargers eventually can do more things offensively and we'll pull away. And once again, here's that really weird, awkward picture of me sitting in the middle of Raven fans.

You know, it's funny. It's the hottest ticket in the NFL. And now you've got the smallest stadium with the hottest ticket. And it's also this weekend, an incredibly meaningful game. Well, it's funny that we were just talking about this a few weeks ago before everyone else was on the Chargers. Where are they going to have a parade? Yeah. It's different.

It's a very real question. They're considered in the Super Bowl run. Like, they're an all-around great team. This could happen. This is one of these things. You know, I love the NFL, but they move three teams in a six-month stretch. Rams to L.A., Chargers to L.A., Raiders, you go ahead and move. Two of them are a mess.

The chargers are a loaded team, but they're kind of struggling with an identity. The Raiders do not have a stadium to play in next year. This weekend will be the last game, potentially, the Raiders ever play at the Coliseum. They have nowhere to play. thank God the Rams and even they're in a college stadium right now as theirs is being built I think the NFL I always felt the NFL picks and chooses who they want to succeed if Philadelphia Green Bay Chicago Dallas said we're leaving the NFL would step in if Jacksonville said they're leaving nobody cares if Buffalo said we're going to London NFL wouldn't

care the NFL could have easily helped the Raiders build a stadium the Chargers build a stadium. The Rams move I totally get. LA is too big of a city, not to have an NFL franchise. A NFL franchise. Yeah. They, yeah. They went from having none to having two. You can't have the biggest sports league in the world and not be in the entertainment

capital of the country. It's stupid. You can't have a state, you can't have a franchise in Jacksonville and not have one in Los Angeles. That doesn't make any sense. So, by the way, the Jim Harbaugh rumored today, pro football talk said one team will aggressively pursue

Jim Harbaugh. They did not name the team. They said there is one team that will make an aggressive move toward Jim Harbaugh. Now Harbaugh, the recruiting season is mostly over. I do think there's reasons why Jim Harbaugh could leave Michigan. He's never going to win a national championship there. The South has more good players in their geographical footprint. Bama, Auburn, Georgia, Clemson. Second of all, recruiting is a pain in the butt. Most coaches don't love doing it. And three, he's a Super Bowl caliber head coach who was unjustly fired because he couldn't get along with Jed York or Trent Balke. There's also reasons why I get Jim Harbaugh would stay, and I think those are very real.

It's his program. He played there. He loves it. Beauchampachner. He idolizes them. Michigan's a great place to live in Arbor. Second thing, Urban Meyer's leaving, so it's going to be Jim Harbaugh and James Franklin and a bunch of dudes. And then you don't have to deal with a crazy owner.

And that's a thing. He got thrown out of the NFL because of a crazy owner. but my takeaway on this is Jim Harbaugh's got 15 more years of head coaching he's going to be offered a job every year in the NFL for the next 15 years and he's eventually going to get a situation I thought the indie job was perfect

Andrew Luck it might have been but I think it's too soon for him to leave Michigan his work there and not finish just ask yourself if you're an aspirational person and you've already done great. You've got a pile of money, a beautiful wife and family, and your legacy's cemented. And for 15 straight years,

you get offered the highest level of coaching. Yeah, I don't think his legacy is cemented there yet, though. Well, I think if he went to a couple big tens the next couple years, but he's certainly not a failure at Michigan. No, no, no. But he hasn't won to the level, and now he will. So I just don't think Jim for 15 years are going to turn down all the opportunities.

He's going to be afforded. All right, Blazing Five, tomorrow. We are red hot, back-to-back winning weeks. One of our last blazing fives, we have about three to go. In L.A. See you tomorrow. It's 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. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. They're locked. Rockroom stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to SportsSlicse on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref. My mom wants you to wave at her. What? My quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett. My mama want you to wave at her.

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It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast Point Game. playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.