The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Lakers, Cowboys, LeBron James, & Mike McCarthy

Episode Date: January 3, 2019

Colin explains why the Los Angeles Lakers loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder means nothing, why he's picking the Dallas Cowboys over the Seattle Seahawks, his thoughts on LeBron James' calling himself the greatest ever, and why the New York Jets need to hire Mike McCarthy now. Guests include Chris Broussard, Greg Cosell, Dahntay Jones, 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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Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

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Find your local station for the Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a big Thursday. This is The Heard, wherever you may be. And however, you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles, chilly these days. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me today.

You know, my colors even match the OKC uniform. Yeah, so do. Yeah, I know. We coordinated a little bit. It's sweater weather, Colin. I'm surprised you don't have a sweater on this morning. My family's all sick. I can't get out of the house fast enough.

I know he sound whiny, but it was legitimately cold this morning. It was 59 degrees. It's outrageous. I mean, I wore my puppy coat. God, listen to us. We're just obnoxious. It is great to have you. It's still a holiday for a lot of people.

I saw the roads when I drove in this morning a little busier. So if you did not see this game last night, Paul George was such a big deal last night in Los Angeles. Remember, he was going to be a Laker and decided, nah, he scored 37. They were booing him. It was awesome. And this was a high point for Paul George in the season. He came to L.A. It's where he's from.

He dropped 37. He was the best player on the floor. And congratulations. He was so important. They were booing him because he didn't come to the Lakers. And congratulations for that gigantic win in the first week of January. Slow clap for that. Paul George, two years ago, said to his.

GM in Indianapolis, Kevin Pritchard, pretty smart guy, he said, I want out. I want to go to Los Angeles where I'm from. And so Kevin Pritchard did the best thing he could for Indianapolis, engineer to trade with Oklahoma City, sent him there, and Paul George still said, I want to be a Laker. And so everybody waited for him to be a Laker, and all of a sudden he was going to be a Laker. And about a week before, LeBron signs of the Lakers. And within a day, Paul George suddenly didn't want to be a Laker. The story's all dried up, and he chose Oklahoma City.

Last night, it's going to be one of his five big nights of the year. First week of January at L.A., booty's so important, won the game over the LeBron Les Lakers. I never feel sympathy for people who have options in life and choose the wrong one. I feel sympathy for people who, because of their circumstances, don't have options. Paul George chose Oklahoma City, Paul George chose Russell Westbrook and LeBron James, where you win titles, you get on television, you'd be in the Western Conference Finals with LeBron,

you'd be on television in late May and June, you'd get major endorsements. Dropping 37 would not be a big deal in the first week of January. Because LeBron doesn't care about January. Look it up. It's always his worst month. He goes into sort of a pre-all-Star game, pre-trading deadline malaise. He gets rest.

He doesn't play well. His teams don't play particularly well. Look it up. Guys like Hardin, Paul George, Westbrook, Kauai, man, they are awesome in January. They stack the numbers. They climb in the standings. Kauai's going to have another big one a night. He's going back to play the Spurs.

He left the Spurs and Paul George last night, he was big in L.A. And your face, L.A. and the man, first week of January. There are players in the NBA I feel sympathy for. Anthony Davis is one. Anthony Davis is going to be a Laker. It's going to take a few months. Maybe it's going to take a year, but he'll be a Laker. He gets drafted by a city that probably shouldn't have a team.

And then the way the NBA sort of rigs it and sets it up, you have to sign your first big extension with your team to make the real money. and then you start losing 50 games a year and you get tired of it because your organization can't get you any good players and then eventually you're the bad guy because you leave because you have a mediocre owner, a mediocre GM, an often fired coach and no good players around you. That I feel bad for. Paul George, he chose last night. That's what he chose.

He chose last night because Paul George knows Westbrook is now an 8.000. aging point guard who can't shoot. And when I say can't shoot, he can't shoot free throws. Westbrook's free throw percentage, last three years has gone from 80, 75 to 64. So this team has no shot in the playoffs to do anything. And I'll tell you, there's a lot of people that think Paul George won by staying in Oklahoma City. Rob Parker was on our show yesterday. He thinks Paul George is showing LeBron a thing or two.

So when he decided that, okay, he wasn't coming. LeBron comes to L.A. He's from Palmdale, not that far from here, right? He decides, okay, he could come back. If they had him right now, they would be viable right now this year to have a shot in the Western Conference. Right now, he's the king killer. He will be the reason the Lakers do not win a championship during the LeBron years. I look at it just the opposite, is that Paul George, by not joining LeBron and choosing. using Westbrook over LeBron, guaranteed he will never be in a finals. And he could have been with LeBron, but instead LeBron now will go to his second or third option named Anthony Davis, who is obviously a better player than Paul George, and he will,

over time, end up in finals and win one, maybe two, probably one. I just see this differently than everybody else. When Paul George chose not to join LeBron, it killed Paul George's chances. of not making the finals. It just forced Magic and LeBron to go to Option 2. And what do you know? Option 2, Anthony Davis, is a significantly better player and will probably join the Lakers.

I'm told sometime in the next year or earlier. All right, let's shift to this. There's four playoff games this weekend. Top of next hour, Greg CoSell. You can't miss this. He's terrific. Greg CoSell. NFL films almost 40 years will break down what to look for this weekend in these four huge playoff games.

Now, the first thing I do every week is I look at the lines from Vegas and then I get ready for Blazing 5. And I pick the four or five games I like. But I don't do Blazing 5 for the playoffs. And the reason is because the reason Blazing 5 works is because I have 15, 16 games to choose from. And I can choose just five. But when you only have four games, I looked at the lines this week. weekend and there's four games and there's only one team I really like. There's only one game I would bet if I was going to bet football this weekend.

And I know I'm from Seattle, but you know that's never cared. I don't care about that stuff. My job is to be honest, not to support my birthplace. I like the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas Cowboys are a slight favorite, one and a half. That's what Vegas says over the Seattle Seahawks. And I think Dallas is going to win the game. That would be the game I would bet.

That's the game I feel strongly about. Now, first of all, it's obvious. Dallas has become a couple of different teams. There is the Dallas Cowboys offense without Amari, and then there is the Dallas Cowboys offense with Amari, and it's not real hard to figure out. It's way better. I'll put them on the screen for our FS1 viewers.

This is a completely different offense post-Amari Cooper. Now, fans look at teams. This is what fans do. They tend to look at teams just one record. We're 12 and 4. Coaches and GMs do not look at teams that way. They look at teams in quadrants and quarters. For instance, Kansas City's 12 and 4.

Woo! They're three and three in their last six. And two of those three wins are over the Raiders and a home win in overtime. New England since week four is better than Kansas City. But if you look, and this is why I like Dallas. If you look at Dallas like a general manager or a coach would look at Dallas, they should be favored here. Let's look at the first quarter of the season for Dallas.

They were two and two. There was no Amari Cooper. You can see their offense. It just wasn't, yeah, I mean, they were just not. They were two and two, and they were struggling with everybody. They struggled with the Giants. They couldn't score against the Seahawks. They shouldn't have beat the Lions.

They weren't for a good. And then the second four games, the next quadrant, they were one and three. They had Amari for just one game. And you can see the offense there. it's still not very good, right? That's not very good. And let's go to the third quadrant. Oh, they're four and oh.

Oh, holy moly. It's scoring 31 there and 27 there. Oh, they beat the Saints. And then look at the last four. They had a dog against Tennessee. Once again, though, or against Indianapolis, excuse me, which was very predictable, by the way, on the road, off hugely emotional games. Indianapolis at home was absolutely desperate, had to win every week.

But you can see the point, 29 and 36 and 27, and this is how you look at teams. This is how general managers look at teams. They do not look at teams and go, we're 12 and 4. They ask, what are we now? What the Cowboys are now is the most athletic NFL team defensively in the front seven. What the Cowboys are now is rested. Zeke didn't play. Zach Martin, a great offensive lineman, didn't play.

What the Cowboys are right now is at home. What the Cowboys are right now is a bona fide real offense with a star receiver and a star back and a rested above average offensive line playing at home where they're very good, especially if Zeke can get over 100 yards. Dallas has better players this weekend. Seattle is still in somewhat of a rebuilding mode. So there's four games this weekend, and they're all coin flips, and I don't feel strong about any of them. I mean, I think the Colts will win. I think the Chargers second time around will win. But Dallas over Seattle, that one I like.

Not doing a Blazden 5 this week. That one I like. Dallas over Seattle, by about a touchdown. 45 minutes from now, Greg CoSell, NFL films over three decades, has the kind of information, whether you play fantasy, whether you bet or whether you just love football, that is you have to have it. There's no other way around it.

You have to have it. Coming up next, Michael Jordan 10 years ago was asked who the greatest player was. He went, ah, shucks, I don't know. And LeBron James last week said, I think I'm the greatest player. And I'll address those comments and why Michael said what he said and why LeBron said what he said, that's next. It's a Thursday. It's Los Angeles, Chile, 59. It's The Hurt.

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Joy Taylor and I. So when people come up to you or I in life and they tell you that you're talented or great, easy to be humble. No, no big deal. Whatever. If people come up and tell us we're not great, we get defensive. That's very human. When people come up and tell you of your talent, you get humble. When people tell you of your deficiencies, you get defensive.

So there's this thing out there right now, Michael, Jordan, LeBron, who's the greatest. Now, LeBron James has his own, like, TV show. And on his television show recently, LeBron made this acknowledgement. Let's roll the tape. That one right there made me the greatest player of all time. For some of the reasons. No, everybody was just how they were the greatest team of all time. Like, there was the greatest team to ever assemble.

And for us to come back, you know, the way we came back in that fashion, I was like, you did something special. Okay. Now, after that, oh, the Michael Jordan fanboys came out. Whoa, Michael Jordan would never say that. By the way, that's exactly what Michael Jordan says privately for years. But he was better than Barclay, better than Magic, better than Bird, better than West, better than Will. Better than Corain.

But publicly, people dug up a 2009 interview with Michael Wilbon and talented Michael Wilbon and Michael Jordan, where Jordan said, well, if you ask me, I'd never say I'm the greatest player. That's because I never played against all those other people that represented the league prior to Michael Jordan. Well, what do you know? In 2009, when Michael said that, he could be humble. There was no great debate. He had been elevated by all the media, all the fans.

He was the greatest. He spoke from a different place. Oh, shucks, I'm not the best. Of course, he was telling everybody he was the best. He was so petty. He didn't let Isaiah Thomas on an Olympic team. You saw his Hall of Fame speech. But in 2009, it's a different place.

Because when any of us are told, granted, acknowledges the greatest, and then it said to our face, oh gosh, shucks, I'm not the greatest. Though Michael was telling everybody privately it wasn't close. LeBron James in 2018 comes from an entirely different place. Despite his success, despite blowing past his contemporaries, despite even the second best player Kevin Durant,

not having nearly the impact around the league of LeBron, despite being close to a billionaire, despite statistically and analytically being the best player ever, and it's not arguable. He's told he's not the greatest. Call it just shows that LeBron is insecure. No, it shows that LeBron and Michael made these comments from a completely different place and that we're all human. You don't think Michael's insecure about LeBron? Really? that's funny because I looked up this morning the three players that Michael has most complimented.

Westbrook. He says Westbrook's the closest thing to me. The quote is he's amazing. Really? You think Westbrook's, Westbrook's better than LeBron? He's also quoted as saying recently, Kauai Leonard is the best two-way player in the NBA. He's also multiple times complimenting Kobe Bryant,

who, by the way, grew up idolizing and acknowledging he idolized Michael Jordan. So Kobe Westbrook and Kauai, Michael is effusive with his praise. He has complimented LeBron once when Donald Trump took a shot at him. And it wasn't really a compliment. He just took Team LeBron's side. You don't think Michael Jordan keeps score? You didn't hear the Hall of Fame speech? Wouldn't let Isaiah on the Olympic team?

You don't think Michael Jordan keeps score? compliments Westbrook, Kauai, Kobe, never compliments LeBron. By the way, remember years ago that deflategate thing with Brady? And we always thought, we always heard from Manning. I love Tom. And Tom, I love Manning. I mean, they obviously played each other. But all you heard is they were so close and they liked each other and they totally understood

each other. And then during Deflategate, we got records of Tom Brady's texts. And Tom Brady was saying on one of his texts, thanks, Papa. I got another seven or eight years. He has two. That's the final chapter. Game on. Oh, you mean, Tom was very competitive.

Privately about his legacy. Oh, I get it now. Of course they are. Michael Jordan in 2009 was coming from a place of being anointed and acknowledged as the greatest. He went predictably humble. Oh, gosh, I didn't play against Will. privately, he told everybody, ain't close, bro. Publicly, he's just a humble servant to the game.

So he gets no credit for being humble? Should I give him credit for being inauthentic? Where LeBron is actually very emotional and authentic. I think I was the best player. Now, for the record, I don't have any interest arguing who's better. They're totally different players. Michael was the best in his era. LeBron's easily the best in his era.

They have a ton in common. Michael was significantly better than everybody except probably magic. He was better than magic, but not by a ton. And LeBron is significantly better than everybody. He's better than Durant, but maybe not by a ton. There's things Magic did better than Michael. There's things Durant does better than LeBron.

There is that one contemporary that does some things better. Magic was a better teammate, a better passer, controlled the tempo. Durant's a better shooter. He's a better closer. but let's not kid ourselves. Michael's getting credit for being inauthentic and LeBron is getting ripped for being more authentic. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

The one point about Michael being inauthentic that I will give you is that Kauai was with Jordan Brand and Westbrook is the Jordan Brand. And the Kobe thing is obvious. he, you know, emulated everything Michael did. Yeah, I mean, but Kauai and Russell were Jordan Brand guys. Like, it's kind of, he kind of has to say that. I'm just looking for one quote where Michael's like, damn, he's good. About LeBron?

LeBron has said through the years. You're not going to find that. You know, Michael's not going to ever say that. You're not going to find that. Everybody's just giving Michael credit today for being, he is like good and he is humble. And he, no, no, Michael's amazing. And Michael does all the credit.

But that was just Michael, you know, saying what you would say. If you were the greatest basketball player of all time, and somebody said, you're the greatest? Oh, gosh, not me. I'm just a, you know, I just dribble around and make jumpers occasionally. Well, Antonio Brown got himself a goat ring, speaking of the greatest all time, according to TMZ yesterday. But he continues to be in the news.

Big Ben chose to praise Antonio Brown's talent earlier in the week. Well, defensive captain, Cam Hayward did not take the same road. Hayward says what Brown is doing is unacceptable, and he thinks he has a lot of mending to do with teammates as a result of how things played out. last week. We all want AB here, but to be a part of this team, you can't do that. Don't let your brothers down. It hurt more knowing that there are multiple guys in the locker room, giving everything

that guy. Going forward, I think everybody wants AB on the team, but we all got to be on the same page. From the top to the bottom, we all got to be accountable for it. I'm sure Kevin and Coach Tomlin will be talking to him, but going forward, that's unacceptable. We all sign up with this game, and we all sign up to be part of the team. Here's the thing. By the way, last time Steelers talked about a player like that, Levy and Bell, he never came back to the locker room.

Yeah, this is, this is over. It's over. Let's call it what it is. This is over. Obviously, it's a catastrophe for the Steelers, money-wise, to move on from Antonio Brown. And he is an incredible talent, so he's not going to be easy to replace either. Leveon wasn't easy to replace. Obviously, I believe if Leveon was on the team, they'd be a great.

be in the playoffs and they're not in the playoffs this year. So it's a tough situation for the Steelers. But I maintain while you said that this is on Antonio Brown because this is his behavior and he needs to be responsible for it, I feel like this is the Steelers' fault. People don't change that drastically just because you give them money. Money only amplifies what you already are. So you knew what Antonio Brown was before you paid him. And you have to have a culture that you stick to in your organization.

everybody isn't for everybody. There's a reason why the Patriots don't draft high-profile wide receivers. By the way, we found out that they didn't draft Johnny Mansell. The Patriots took Johnny Mansell off their draft board, which teams do in the NFL. They just took them off their board. They call it undraftable players. And we later found out that they didn't like his attitude and his cockiness and he couldn't coach him. So teams decide who they like.

And a lot of times it's injuries, but a lot of times its attitude. It can't all be your talent or your body. There's a personality that you're drafting too and the culture and the personality of your organization has to match the player. This is not a surprise to anyone. No. To no one.

You think that Ryan Clark's the only person that figured out that Antonio Brown is going to be tough to deal with when you pay him an incredible amount of money and he becomes a superstar. This is on the Steelers. This idea that he's just going to go into the locker room and everything, he's just going to be this new person. And I'm not saying that Antonio Brown is a bad person.

He's just not a good teammate. And this is a team sport. Yeah, I mean, it's just one of those things. There are certain guys you know. Like, you knew if you paid LeBron, it wasn't going to matter. Right. If you paid Magic, it wasn't going to matter. If you paid Bird.

Anthony Davis is a guy. You can pay him whatever you want. He's just going to grind Kauai Leonard. There are NBA guys, NFL guys. You know, it's going to change him a little. You know, they're not going to handle it well. And I think we've seen that with Antonio Brown. He is just in his own stuff now.

He's just everything. But it's not now. And you should have seen this coming. And if you didn't see this coming, you need new scouts. Or a new way of examining the players that you want to bring into your organization and who you want to pay. So the postseason is here, and sports books did not wait long to post the Super Bowl MVP odds. Not shocking to anyone. Drew Brees is three-to-one favorites.

And Patrick Mahomes is right on his heels of five more odds. That's embarrassing. I'm not going to Vegas anymore. I am literally not gambling anymore. That's where they put Andrew Luck. But Andrew Luck at 10th. Yeah, I mean, this is for the Super Bowl, MVP. You think that the Colts are going to get to the Super Bowl?

No. Let me simmer down a little bit. It's going to be okay. It's got a little overmice. You love you some Andrew Luck. A little emotional there. Yeah, it's all right. We're getting spicy this morning.

And finally, the Giants, they head into the offseason with the question of whether Eli Manning will be back as their starting quarterback. GM Dave Gettelman said yesterday everything is still on the table and no final decision has been made. Yeah. Eli made his final weekly radio appearance of the season and had this to say. Is it fair to say right now that we probably haven't seen the last of Eli Manning as a quarterback? Yeah, we will see. I don't know if it's only one way or the other right now.

I think, you know, this is kind of that time to just reflect and figure out what's, you know, what's the best thing going for. Eli Manning's Derek Jeter. He talks and never says anything. Right. Great guys. Well, he didn't. It's wise of him not to commit to coming back. or say that he's retiring.

I mean, I'm sure he hasn't decided the season just ended. I kind of feel bad for Eli Manning. You do? I do. Why? It's kind of a crappy way for his... What, to be given contract after contract when you're a C-minus quarterback?

That'd be like me having laryngitis and Fox kept giving me deals. Eli-Denig won two Super Bowls against Tom... Oh, Lordy. I know Eli Manning wears it a lot. And he is always there. He has never hurt. Yeah, I wish he wasn't there. I wish he'd spraying his ankle.

You know what? I'm going to be nice deal I made this morning. By the way, we are a good-looking couple right now. Look at our shirts and our glasses. We are a good. Look at this right here. I don't even know, Broussard, you better bring your A-game. Look at this couple right here.

Sorry, Earl. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. All right, Brousard, get out here. Chris Broussard, the voice of NBA basketball for this network. And also a football dude.

By the way, I said the only game I like the, I don't do the plays in five. for the playoffs because there's not enough games, right? Right. So I pick out of the big group, I pick five games a week. I do like the Cowboys. I'm picking the Cowboys too. That's the one on that.

They're tough at home. They're tough at home. Seattle's not tough on the road. And Zeke is healthy. Zach Martin's healthy. They're a different team in the last two quadrants. They're like seven and one. They had a bad game against Indy, but it was totally predictable because Indy had to win every game.

And they had come off the New Orleans win and the overtime win. I actually like the Cowboys this weekend by a touchdown. Russell will. And Wilson scares me. I will admit. That dude is great. But I like the Cowboys. I think they'll be able to run on Seattle. And I think they'll be able to slow down Seattle's rush game. Okay, you and I, this is, we're just going to argue now. It's going to be seven minutes arguing, eight minutes arguing. Because I don't buy, I don't buy Oklahoma City's a playoff team. I think they're built for. A playoff team? No, I mean like to do anything in the playoffs. Westbrook, by the way, has gone from 84%, 75% to 64. He can't shoot. It's in his head. Now he is going and chasing rebounds because he knows he can't. I can't shoot. And I don't know if it's because of the criticism he's received. He can not shoot. He is having a, by the way, guards don't get to the 10th year in the league and can't shoot.

You generally define and refine your shooting. So he's patting his rebounding stats. I watched him last night. Paul George has always been very good regular season. Don't trust him in big spots in the playoffs. I don't buy OKC despite last night one I owed it to you. I spoke to a scout on my way in today who told me Western Conference Scout, playoff team, OKC is a real threat to Golden State. To what? When a game is. He said, Golden State, look, Draymond is not having a good year.

And some of it, people around the league are believing, it's physical. His body is beginning to break down. Now, I'm not saying this. I'm just telling you what I'm hearing around the league. By the way, he is eroding as a player. Yes. There's no doubt. And a lot of it's his body.

And so maybe Golden State. is vulnerable, we'll see. But look, I don't think I'm picking Golden State still in the West. You think this team is a viable contender? Yes, I think, yes. I think if outside of Golden State, I think Houston, the Lakers, and OKC will be the teams vying for that spot opposite Golden State in the Western Congress. By the way, I want to look this up. See, this is going to drive me crazy. And Paul George, by the way, is having a career year by far. Yeah. Better than the pre-injury, Paul George. By the way, Westbrook was three for 20 last. night. And he had a triple double.

Okay. And a win. And you gave him a triple double. You gave him an MVP off that stupid stat. That means nothing. Russell Westbrook is going to be an icon. Where? He's going to, in history. In the early exit playoff club. 25 years from now, people will be talking

about Russell Westbrook. This guy averaged a triple double for three years. All I'll give you is this. It is slightly easier now to get a triple double than say 20, 25, 30 years. years ago. Not easier than when Oscar Robertson did it because the pace was so fast,

but because of all the three pointers, there's longer rebounds. There aren't as many great big men, so that's more rebounds for perimeter players in addition to the long rebounds. So it's easier for a guard to get, including LeBron, Hardin, all these other guys, but who else is averaging

a triple double? Okay, by the way, nobody else. Nobody has his usage rate except James Hardin who doesn't worry about rebounds because he can shoot. Westbrook can no longer shoot. He was never He's never been a great shooter. Now he's atrocious, and so he's patting his rebounding stat. So on the little thing in the bottom of ESPN and NBA.com, it goes, Russell Wilson had a triple double. It means nothing. He was three for 20 last night. He was terrible.

He's a career 43% shooter. This year he's 41.6. Two percentage points down. He's never been a shooter. And what he needs to do is stop shooting as many threes. Now, a free throw percentage, that's unexplainable. But he needs to stop shooting as many. threes and maybe shoot two a game instead of five a game. Okay, everything's explainable. UFOs are explainable. They're simply military aircraft that our United States government doesn't want to let out.

So they test stuff in the desert and those are the UFOs. So why isn't he shooting free throws well? About three years ago, people started really ripping him and he got into his head. He's a consistent herd listener. No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying is he has come under the last three years legitimate at scrutiny where people have said, it's not a great teammate. After Kevin Durant left, after Kevin Durant left, he started getting criticism of

doesn't pass enough, not a great teammate, not a great shooter. He was doing this with his shooting game. Better, better, better, better. Durant leaves. His free throw percentage has cratered. It is collapsed. The two years Durant's been gone, he's averaged a triple double. Yeah, triple double, but his shooting is worse.

And that narrative of bad teammate. is very much softening, if not gone, because Paul George chose him over LeBron James. How can your free throw percentage collapse? It's collapse since Katie left. Okay, why doesn't LeBron shoot them well? Why does this free throw percentage gone down? Six-nine guys and above outside Bird, Noitsky, and Durant never shoots free throws well.

Big hands. Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan was awful for-Jole. He shoots him well. Okay. Most big guys. It's so good. LeBron 6-9.

Magic Johnson was a great free-throw shooter. LeBron has never been a good three-throw shooter. Westbrook was, now he's atrocious. That's mental. There might be some truth to that, but look, Russell Westbrook is going to be an icon, just like Alan Ivers. I'm telling you, he's not going to be Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosch, Kevin Love.

Oh, he was a great player, Hall of Favorite. He's going to be iconic because he's done something nobody else in the history of this sport has done. Triple double, bleed, just garbage you should stat. If LeBron average a triple double, you'd be crazy. And he doesn't because he doesn't care about it. By the way, Quiet Leonard's a better player. He doesn't either.

They're better than Westbrook. And they don't care about it. Okay, let's go to this. So everybody gets all crazy on this. If you were going to break up with somebody, let's say Joy was just tight, she wanted to break out with somebody, or you want to break up or I want to break up, you start picking little fights or dropping little hints. You just don't walk in one day after a great night and say, we're done.

And then the house explodes. The apartment explodes. So Anthony Davis, a couple weeks ago, says, hey, man, it's not about money. It's about legacy. It's about winning. And then last night, he goes crazy and they lose. And he's like, man, it's getting frustrating. He's dropping hints.

The breakup's coming. First, he acknowledges it's not about money because New Orleans can pay him the most. And he acknowledges two weeks ago before the breakup. It ain't about money. I want to win games. Last night he has his best game of the year, and they lose, and he drops the next hint, which is, man, it's frustrating here. Team guy.

So don't you think the LeBrow meter? I mean, come on. Look, there's no doubt. The LeBrow meter should be sky high. Here's the deal. Anthony Davis will not be a Laker this year. That's right. Right, okay.

There's no way New Orleans will trade him this year to the Lakers. This is what's going to happen. This summer, New Orleans is going to offer Anthony the Supermax contract. Yeah, it's like $200 zillion. Yeah, $2.40, something like that, $239. He's going to reject it. Yeah. They're going to realize, okay, he's not staying.

If he's not taking the Super Max, we're going to have to trade him. Anthony's not going to be the bad guy. His agent, Rich Paul, also LeBron's agent, will talk to New Orleans and be like, look, he's not going to stay long-term, you know, you guys, he's giving it, I don't know what, seven years, you haven't won, he wants to win. You can't fault a guy for that. Okay, where does he want to be traded? The Lakers, okay?

Now, the Lakers will be, then it'll come down to will New Orleans trade him in the conference to the Lakers the place he wants to go, or do they move him elsewhere, i.e. where a lot of people think they can get the better deal from Boston. Now, then it comes down. Rich Paul has a lot of other clients. Ben Simmons, John Waugh, he may get other top young players. You want to teams work with agents. You got to have good relationships with guys.

And so is that all that enough to get New Orleans to trade him to the Lakers where you know he's going to stay? Boston would probably have to do it thinking he might stay. And he might. He might stay there. But are they going to give you up enough on the hope that he stays versus the Lakers on the definite, he definitely would stay? Okay. You talk to Michael Jordan privately. We'll get to that next.

Plus something you saw last night in the Lakers lost without LeBron James, Chris Broussard, Greg Coasell top of the hour in L.A., it's the hurt. Great to have you back. M Drive. Feel stronger. More energy. Go to MDrive. Buy MDrive. dot com today. Refine your prime with MDrive,

buy MDrive.com today. Put in the code heard. All right, Chris Broussard is joining us. By the way, top of the hour, Greg Cocell, 35. You ever listen to Greg Cocell on my show? Holy moly. Oh, my God, he's amazing. And also, there's a lot of job openings in the NFL. I feel incredibly

strongly about one guy and one job. That'll be coming up. I want to go back to Chris Broussard. So let's start with this. So LeBron James now, has his own TV empire, right, with Maverick Carter. And he talked on a show the other day saying that, you know, when I won that title against Golden State, the best team ever,

I felt pretty good about myself. Here's LeBron. That one right there made me the greatest player of all time. For so many reasons. No, everybody was just how they were the greatest team of all time. Like, there was the greatest team to ever assemble. And for us to come back, you know, the way we came back in that fashion, I was like, you did something special.

Now Michael Jordan, people dug up an old Michael Jordan interview with Mike Wilbon where he said, well, if you asked me, I'd never say that. Now, my takeaway is it's a different place. Michael was understood as the best player ever in 2009. So it's easy to be humble when people say you're the greatest, right, Mike? And Mike says, that's true. You're all right about that. It's different when people constantly tell you you're not the greatest and you get a little

defensive. So I defend LeBron on being authentic. because we know that Michael can be petty. We know that Michael privately probably thought he was the greatest, but it's easier to be humble when you're acknowledged as the greatest of something. Yeah, a lot to say about this. Number one, I've had private communication with Jordan and asked him things like the goat conversation.

And he has always said privately, you can't compare errors. The same thing he said to Mike Wilbond in that interview, he said privately off the record, you can't really control interviews. There was another interview he did after he won three straight. And he was asked about, you know, the greatest. Does this mean you're the greatest and all that? What he said was the thing that I love about it, I'm paraphrasing,

was that Isaiah Thomas, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson never did this, never won three straight. Notice what he did. He compared the players he played against. He didn't say Kareem because he didn't face Kareem in his prime. He didn't say Oscar Robertson. He didn't say Jerry West. or Wilk Chamberlain. He said guys he could play against.

So what I'm saying is Jordan has been consistent in saying you can't compare errors. Now with LeBron, that's a great point. Jordan was understood. You're the goat. LeBron, it's not the case. I have two theories on this. And the authenticity, I got to give LeBron major problems. That's what I said.

Whether it's shut up and dribble the shop or more than an athlete, he is saying whatever he wants. And he said whether you like it or not. What he truly believes he says and sometimes he gets him in trouble. Yeah, he's in a place where he feels like he can say and do whatever he wants. But as far as the go, two theories. One, LeBron has always said, I want to be like Muhammad Ali. Global icon, that's a direct quote. The things he's doing outside of the sport.

Ali is as recognized for what he did outside of his sport as what he did in the boxing ring. LeBron is probably going to get to that point, as great as he is as a player, where he's recognized for doing so much off the court. And the third thing about Ali, why do we say he's the greatest? Didn't have the greatest record. Lost fights, had controversial victories. Yeah.

We say it in part because he kept telling us. He kept saying, and then you said slighted, you put it out there, you keep saying it, and we all say he's the greatest. I wonder if LeBron is taking a slice out of the Ali pie and saying, I'm going to start putting it out there because this is his company. They could edit anything he says.

That's right. He knew what he was doing and I wonder if he wants to start putting it out there. He's not running from the conversation. My second theory is he is of a different generation. And music impacts you. I'm a hip-hop generation. That impacted me. My mannerisms to a certain degree, things like that.

Michael Jordan grew up on R&B, rhythm and blues, okay? LeBron grew up on hip-hop. Dr. Dre, NWA, J-Z, I'm this, I'm that, I'm the greatest, all that. And that may be a part too. But whatever the case, kudos to LeBron saying for what he wants to say. I don't agree. I think Michael Jordan is the greatest. By the way, we talked about this in our morning meeting.

I wasn't going to talk about it, but you bring it up. Also, Michael was doubted by his dad, by his high school coach. Dean Smith put him in his system. The Pistons put him in his place. Michael constantly had to break through and prove. Right. So there was a fundamental understanding that nothing was given to Michael. LeBron was the chosen one, the AAU circuit.

I don't have to go to college and play in the system. I am the system. So LeBron and Michael have grown up. Michael grew up in a little more deferential era. Whereas my dad said not good enough. My high school coach. Right. Dean Smith.

The Pistons banged on me. So Michael, in a different generation, his generation is not going to say publicly, I'm the man. Ali was a complete outlier. Right. There has never been a fighter to talk like that. Yeah. And Rob Parker made a great point yesterday. Remember this, Joy?

Rob Parker made it. Yeah, boxing is a complete. Boxing. It's impossible to compare boxing. You're trying to sell tickets. You're selling yourself. Connor McGregor saying, I'm the greatest. But Ali, fighters weren't doing that before Ali.

You know, Joe Lewis didn't do that. Rocky Marciano didn't do. Nobody did. Ali was unique when he came out and started bragging. And people didn't like him for it, including African Americans. My dad didn't like him. I loved him. Right. Like my dad wanted him to get knocked out by Sunny Liston.

My dad wanted him to get knocked out by Frazier. Yeah, but once he started winning and proving it, then people got on the bandwagon. Here's the thing about LeBron. And people don't think of LeBron like this because he's so polished. LeBron is gangster. What do you mean?

He's like, LeBron is a boss. What do? What did LeBron do? He said, look, all these owners, all these front office people, they can put teams together. They can uproot, you know, players, families, and build their team. He said, why can a player do it?

He said, I can make the, I'm the show. We're the reason people are coming to watch us. Why can't I put a team together? And he put together Duane Wade, Chris Bosch, the big three, and changed this whole era of basketball. The same thing he's doing off the court. I don't have to go to the media to get my point across. I don't have to let them be the medium. Let them do the editing.

I'm going to control the narrative. I'm going to control what people see about me. And coming out and saying, you're the greatest, you to go. LeBron is a boss. I mean, seriously. People don't think of him that way because he's so polished and all that. I would love to be it. But, yeah, he likes to control things and that's fine.

I want to be a gangster. I mean that in a good way. From now on, I'm going to be a radio gangster. This is completely derailed. No, I am the gangster of radio. You don't mess with me. I blame you. You don't mess with me.

All right, you're great. Greg Cosellas, too. That's good points. You really over-delivered it. It was fun. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Ah, here we go, hour two. 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, and the matching blue outfit is joining me. We're going to have a great hour. First of all, Greg CoSell in five minutes.

And then generally, Joy, if I do something on the show and it bombs, it's terrible, I get rid of it, Not this time. Last year I did something called quarterback face bracket. So I picked playoff games based just solely on who the better quarterback was. Proving that quarterbacks mean everything in the NFL. It was a disaster. It was an ab- It didn't work?

It did it. Like Nick Foles won the Super Bowl. So I looked like a dope. But I'm going to bring it back in 15 minutes. It literally almost ended my career last year. I mean, I was literally on the guardrail of going off a cliff. So you're feeling risky this morning. And this morning I'm like, let's bring it back.

Let's have the guts and courage to bring it back. So it's called quarterback bracket, quarterback face bracket. And it was just a disaster for me last year. But I have the courage to go for it. I'm doubling down on the biggest disaster. The first year, the biggest disaster was my hair. So I didn't double down on that. I've tried to not mess with my hair.

We've all forgotten about that. The second year, it was the quarterback face bracket. And I'm doubling down. I'm getting older and dumber. Let me start before I get to Greg CoSell in five minutes. So there's a bunch of job openings and there's a bunch of coaches. Okay, let me just say this. Mike McCarthy interviewed with the Jets.

Or he's going to interview Jets, hire him. That's your coach. In the last five years, the Giants and the Jets, football in New York has had five different head coaches in five years. It is a mess. Mike McCarthy's not a mess. He defines stability. By the way, I'm hearing this.

This is the narrative now. You know, he's outdated. Really? Well, let's look at the things that Mike McCarthy does well. Is stability outdated in life? I don't think so. Is being organized outdated? Is being prepared outdated?

Is a great work ethic outdated? Is discipline outdated? Because that's Mike McCarthy. I know he's not flashy enough for you. he's not lit and cool with perfect cheekbones. But platforms change in business. But traits, the same traits matter. When I get into radio, all I did was AM radio.

Now I get AM radio ratings, FM radio ratings, Sirius XM ratings, Facebook, YouTube, television, podcast, digital. But my job's still the same. Outwork my competition. Get here two and a half to three hours before the show starts. just because platforms change in my business, my assignment does not. Preparation, work ethic, discipline. Mike McCarthy, his four to five best traits still matter in this league.

Organizationally, A. Preparation A. Work ethic, A. Stability, A. Discipline A. Sorry if he doesn't run the perfect, sophisticated, dynamic offense for you. And is everybody forgetting something about Mike McCarthy? Brett Farve has acknowledged that Mike McCarthy helped resurrect his career.

Why does Mike McCarthy get no credit for creating Aaron Rogers? Okay, of the eight of their nine first years together, if you take their nine first years together, eight playoff appearances, five division titles, three NFC championship, two MEPs in the Super Bowl, McCarthy gets no credit for that? Are you forgetting what Aaron Rogers was at a college, a junior college quarterback? Cal was the only place that offered him. He was too small. He had a weird, rigid release.

And frankly, they said socially he was odd. He couldn't get along with Brett Farv. Well, Aaron Rogers also is a California kid like Rogers. Sam Darnold went to the PAC 12. Sam Darnold has a weird release. Sam Darnold is kind of an ad libber. Sam Darnold is athletic. Sam Darnold is Aaron Rogers.

In fact, Sam Darnold is more, I would say, say Sam Darnold has more hype around him than Aaron Donald did come in. Aaron Rogers did coming out of college. Why does McCarthy get no credit for helping to shape Aaron Rogers? No credit? He sat in the bench for three years. You don't think McCarthy had any credit? He didn't get any credit?

You forget Aaron Rogers dropped in the draft. Aaron Rogers was a little small. Aaron Rogers was mechanical and rigid. He was athletic, but he was. Sam Darnold. And Aaron, Donald's one inch taller, same weight. Donald's got a different mechanical startup. Donald was overlooked in the recruiting process.

He wasn't even the number one quarterback in his class at USC. So, you know, this idea that Mike McCarthy is some outdated dinosaur, he gets no, far of acknowledges, he helped resurrect his career. I don't give him any credit for Aaron Rogers' career, none. three years he sat in the bench. MacArthur gets no credit for it. I don't know. I'm tired of hearing about all these great young coaches.

I think reliability, work ethic, preparation, stability, organizational skills. I still think that stuff in life matters. I'm sorry. Every GQ model that coaches now is the best coach in the world. Andy Reid got run out of Philly. Who's the number one scene in the AFC, Andy Reid? He's an old guy, too, that was outdated. I don't know.

If I'm the Jets and I want stability, work ethic, preparation, organization, a guy who has a history of developing a California Pac-12 quarterback, I think you could do a lot worse than Mike McCarthy. I'm off my soapbox. All right, let's bring in Greg CoSell, my guy on Thursdays, 30-plus years at NFL films. I just going crazy here. You know, it's funny about this, Greg. You watch film, and I'm not saying schematically Mike McCarthy's a genius,

but I'll tell you what, I watch all the disruptions and people. Pittsburgh, and I watch all the egos. And for the last seven or eight years, I always thought Green Bay looked pretty well coached. In the last year, I was told Green Bay was poorly coached. So, Greg, which is it? Colin, you're missing the point. All you have to do is call a few really cool plays that show up on Twitter over and over again,

and then you're a genius. It's pretty simple. I think you're missing the point. I guess. Yeah, come on. Get with it, man. This is 2019. Yeah, Mike McCarthy went from really good to an idiot in like four games.

I guess I missed all that. Yeah, you did. You know, there's just, you know, you just have to have some cool plays that work that everybody repeats over and over again on social media. And we go from there. Lord. All right. I want to start with Dallas against Seattle. And I, you know, Bucky Brooks is a former scout.

And he always says quarterbacks or trucks or trailers. They can either pull stuff or they get pulled. I think Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin's undrafted, running back to seventh rounder, offensive lines been in rebuild last two years, Tyler Lockett was a slot receiver, punt returner, now he's a star with Russell Wilson, where I think DAC is mostly pulled by better players like Amari Cooper and Zeke. Do you see any similarities, Russell Wilson and Dak? Well, let's answer it this way. I think both teams stylistically and philosophically are similar in the way they want to play.

You're dealing with a team in the Seahawks that led the NFL in rushing. I think they have either the first or second most rushes in the league. We know that the Cowboys are built on the run game, and then they expect their quarterbacks to be able to make critical situation plays. And the Seahawks have been very good, by the way, also with shot plays where they line up and run personnel, run formations, and drive the ball down the field. That's one reason why Russell Wilson has so many touchdown passes on so few attempts. I think at this point in time, Russell Wilson is superior to DAC and his ability to do those kinds of things,

and therefore the Seahawks offense is better. But I think both teams, and this is an odd thing to say, but I think it's the way they think. I think both teams are counting on their quarterbacks to make second reaction improvisational plays in critical moments, and that's a hard thing to count on. Yeah, no, it is. I think I've always been a little higher on Russell Wilson than you. Is that fair? I like Russell Wilson.

In fact, I think that this year, in particular, he's played for the most part very much within the structure of the offense. And I think he's been a really efficient player. And he certainly has the ability to make plays outside of structure. But I think that they've sort of, and I think they did this by design. I think they've kind of reined them in a bit within the context of that offense. I do believe, though, going into this game, Dallas has better personnel. Am I wrong?

Better offensive personnel? Well, I just think if I look at Dallas's front seven, I think... Oh, yeah, I think defensively, and I think that's a critical piece of this game, because what Dallas is very good with their front seven, they do a lot of what we call gap exchange principles up front where they slant their defensive line. They try to create walls to defend the zone run game, and that's critical on this game because Seattle is built on the zone run game, the inside zone run game, and majority of that comes out a shotgun, but it's still an inside zone run game.

All right, let's go to the Bears and the Eagles. Tribisky's a number one pick, and Foles is not. Many have seen him as a backup. I would argue Foles throws a better ball than Trabisky. That's why I can't quite wrap my arms around Chicago's offense this year. I think a lot of it's smoke and mirrors, David Copperfield, Matt Nagy, clever stuff. What am I supposed to make of this Bears' offense? What do you like about it?

Well, I think joking about before, Matt Nagy is good at that. It's an interesting mix of that. And then also of basic things to help a young quarter. grow into the position. They like to work to the boundary side of the field quite often, the short side of the field with two-man routes. And that defines the reads and simplifies the game for the quarterback, but they have to re- Cohen. And in some ways to Rick Cohen and Darren Sproul's in this game are very similar players. They're very effective working to the boundary side of the field because most teams will match up man-to-man to the boundary, even in the context of his own

principle. So I think Cohen is a critical player in this game. I think Sproles is a player in this game. Yeah. You know, Foles is a little bit of a mystery, 25 straight completions. That's kind of Philip River stuff. I mean, listen, I think he's a low-end starter or a backup, but could I make the argument that this staff likes working with him because he's a good listener, he's coachable, he's not a transformative athlete.

Something he does with this roster is pretty darn good. Yeah, I mean, I think in an ideal world, they want the ball out of his hands. They want to be quick game. The more, the longer he holds the ball, I think particularly in this game, the more problematic that will be. So that will be interesting. I think it's going to be, Doug Peterson's going to have to scheme, I believe, quite a bit in this game and try to beat that defense. I think that defense is better than the Eagles offense. Okay, let's go to the Colts Texans.

Andrew Luck had his two biggest passing games against Houston. You know, that sounds like not just schematics. That could be personnel. That's what it sounds like. because he's got some personnel matchups. Does Andrew look against Houston, right? Well, they don't have tremendous personnel on offense, but I think Houston is a predominant zone team.

They don't play a ton of man, and the key is to be able to protect, and I think that's where Frank Reich has come in, and he's done such a good job with the design of that offense, that the ball comes out of luck's hands within the timing and structure of the past game. I think one player that's interesting to me in this game, and he's become a little bit of a factor

as the year's gone on, particularly in the final quarter, five, six games of the year, and that's Neheme Hines as a receiver. Yeah. They've started to use him. We're seeing a lot more backs now. Yeah. It plays off the Sproles-Therty-Cohen discussion. A lot more backs lining up to the boundary.

Alvin Kamara has been doing this for two years, and teams play man-to-man, so you start getting backs matched up on linebackers, and Neheme Hines is now a factor in their offense. By the way, how do you explain, Greg Kossel? How do you explain the Colts defense? Now, they have a terrific rookie in Darius Leonard. But it's a lot of disparate parts of guys who were released. They have a cornerback who was, I think, like, waived by somebody, Philadelphia, New England, Kenny Moore. Sure.

How do you explain that defense being number one in the league the last two and a half months? It's phenomenal. It's a ton of credit. They play more zone than man. They do something now what they've done for about the last five or six weeks, where they line up both of their defensive tackles in the A-gaps as one-tenths. technique players. And they play, again, similar to what Dallas does, gap exchange principles, which helps compensate for the fact that they're not particularly athletic across their

defensive front. Leonard's a terrific player. Kenny Moore is a way better player than people probably think. He plays right corner in their base and slot in their sub, and he's a really good blitzer. He's a good cover man. He's physical and competitive in the run game. He's a player people may not be aware of. He's a very good player. Let's go to the Chargers in Baltimore. I've got kind of a theory on this. Okay. Is that Baltimore is so contrarian to the rest of the league

that if you get him a second time within a month, you have a much better shot than the first time because it's a shocking offense. Nobody plays it. You can't replicate it in practice. And the Chargers getting Lamar for a second time, even though it's on the road, will be better, prepared

and more capable of slow. them down. That's my theory. That's why I'd probably lean chargers. You would think so? And actually, in the seven games, Lamar started here, they had the fewest rushing yards against the chargers, but they've averaged 230 rushing yards per game in Jackson's seven starts. That's a really ridiculous number. They've become, to me, a little predictable on some of the things they do, as dynamic as Jackson is. When they have Edwards in the game, they tend to run the dive play. When they have Kenneth Dixon in the game, they tend to run more gap scheme stuff, power.

We'll see if they notice that about themselves, but they've become a little predictable in their profile. They're a pistol-based formation offense. The big question offensively for them is how many good throws can Lamar Jackson make in situations that demand him to throw the football. All right, let's go to your big play of the week. What do you got for me this time? Well, this was actually a great throw Lamar made against the Chargers in the week 16 meeting.

And when you play a Gus Bradley defense, know what times you're going to get cover three because that's his foundation. So let's start the play right here. And you can see people might remember this. It was a 68-yard touchdown to Mark Andrews, the tight end, who was Baker Mayfield's tight end in college. But this was a really well-designed play. And the key here, there's Mark Andrews.

He's going to run what we call a deep overrout. It's a deep route where he crosses the field. There's Jaliyah Dye. He's a safety. He's cheated to the wide side of the field. He's not truly in the middle. and this is cover three, with each defender responsible for a third. Now, the player you have to influence is Adrian Phillips,

because he needs to get back and get underneath Mark Andrews. They do that with the action in the backfield. They pull the guardhurst, and it looks like a power-run play. That's what's going to happen in the backfield. That's the critical piece of this, because in the way Gus Bradley teaches cover three, and that school of cover three, the Dan Quinn's, the Gus Bradley's, that player, Adrian Phillips, is what we call the hook defender.

He has to get underneath Mark Andrews route, but he has to wait a beat because of what happens in the backfield. So now you get Andrews ahead of him. You see where Phillips is. You get Andrews ahead of Phillips, and this causes an issue for Phillips because now he's recovering. Then you get a die, who, as we saw earlier, was cheated to the wide side of the field,

so he's outside of Andrews. And this happens to be an excellent throw. and if Lamar Jackson can make a few of these throws combined with their run game, then they've got a chance. It's critical that he makes some throws. They can't just live on the run game. Good stuff, Greg Goselle. Good talking to you.

Thanks, Colin. Coming up next, it was a disaster the first time, so let's double down on it. Quarterback face bracket. Who will win in the NFC, AFC playoffs this weekend and beyond? Who will end up in the Super Bowl and win it based on the quarterback I like? That's next. In L.A. It's the hurt. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

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

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

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud.

But with two kings from Indembourg, entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small.

The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain.

It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything.

I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. Podcasts for wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Saturday, it's a huge showdown in Dallas. As Russell Wilson and the Seahawks take on Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys in the NFC Wildcard Game.

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All right. So I did this last year. It was terrible. The results were terrible is that we know that quarterbacks matter in the NFL. Vegas tells you it's the only position in the NFL worth more than like a point. Some quarterbacks like Aaron Rogers are worth 11 points and Drew Breeze eight points and, you know, all that stuff. So I said last year, I'm just going to pick who's going to win based on quarterbacks.

If you just take the best quarterback, who's going to win the games? And I thought, I'll just bring it back. Now, these are not necessarily who I would bet, but I do believe quarterbacks. There's a reason I talk about quarterbacks more than I talk about teams, is that if you don't have a quarterback, you're dead in this league. Jacksonville two years ago had the best roster. I argued Minnesota had the best roster in football last year. And now I write quarterback.

You got to have a quarterback. So we're going to play our second edition of Collins' quarterback face bracket. So let's look. This is a wild card weekend. I'm going to pick the teams based on who the better quarterback is. So first game up is Andrew Luck, who I hold in high regard against DeShon Watson, who I hold in high regard. But I think Andrew Luck would be my MVP.

He's doing more with less. You can name six or seven Texan players. Take out Andrew. Name five Colts. The best players on that roster are overwhelmingly rookies. It is a young, infant-driven team that is considered a rebuilding team. I'll take Andrew Luck over to Sean Watson. The next game would be Russell Wilson and the Seahawks going to Dallas against Dax.

You know, I think that Russell Wilson is the right-handed Steve Young. He'll be a first ballot Hall of Famer. He's never gotten to love. I think he so richly deserves. He had a rebuilding offensive line last year and no running game and led the NFL in touchdown passes. Dak, I think, is more of a system quarterback who needs help. So I would take Russell over Dak in that game. Then Wild Card Weekend continues.

Philip Rivers is a better quarterback than Lamar Jackson at this point. Lamar's a rookie. He is a much more athletic quarterback than Philip Rivers. Philip may be the worst athlete at quarterback in the National Football League, but in terms of the overall ability to pre-snap, throw the ball down the field, understand the game. You know, Phillips's better than Lamar at this point, so I'll take Philip Rivers. And now this may be a surprise to you because Trubisky is a number one pick,

but I think Nick Foles is a better pure thrower. Nick Foles is not the athlete of Mitch Trubisky. I think Nick Foles is a better quarterback talent. I really do. I think Nick Foles has a better arm. Nick Foles throws a great deep ball. and Nick Foles had 25 straight completions. I think with Trubisky, he's an athlete, but you have to give him a great defense, a great running game.

You've got to manipulate it schematically. I think Foles is the better quarterback. So the wildcard weekend, I would take Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Philip Rivers, and then we go. So the following weekend, here's what you're going to have. You're going to have now Andrew Luck against Patrick Mahomes. Okay, I'm going to take Andrew Luck, barely. Again, I stand by it. Patrick Mahomes, this is his first year starting.

But this is only based on quarterbacks. It's on quarterback. Andrew Luck is a better quarterback pre-snap experience, understanding the entire game, game plan. I see why this went badly last year. Okay, so Andrew Luck over Patrick Mahomes. Then I will take Tom Brady over Philip Rivers. Even though Phillips got better numbers,

he's got significantly better weapons this year. The Chargers have the best. They got a Pro Bowl tied-in guy coming back. they have the deepest receiving core in the league, the deepest running back core in the league. So Brady over Rivers. Then in the NFC, it's Russell Wilson against Jared Gough. I'm going to obviously take Russell Wilson. I think Jared Gough has been helped great by a left tackle, a superstar running back, a deep passing,

core and Sean McVeigh. Right, all the reasons why you would normally pick Jared Gough in this situation. Yeah, but we're not doing that. It's just a quarterback. It's a quarterback. It's beloved. And then I'm going to take Drew Brees over Nick Foles, obviously, because Drew Brees is one of the eight great quarterbacks I've ever seen play.

For 40 years, I've been watching NFL football, and I have Drew Breeze in my great eight. The following weekend, then, it's Tom Brady against Andrew Luck. Andrew Luck is a better player right now than Tom Brady. Tom Brady's 40. He's declining. He's still really good.

But you're asking me, who's the bigger, stronger, more athletic, better stat guy this year? One guy's got Belichick, and one guy's got Frank Reich. So I would take Andrew Luck over Tom Brady. Then in the NFC, it's tough because I love these guys. It's Russell Wilson against Drew Breeze. and I would narrowly take Drew Breeze. And again, I think a lot of it is you cannot fool him.

Drew Breeze has seen everything in the world. So now we have my Super Bowl in the Cowherd quarterback face bracket. Andrew Luck against Drew Breeze. And again, this is incredibly narrow, but I have the Indianapolis cults in my face bracket winning the Super Bowl. Because I think Andrew Luck right now is the best, most valuable player in the league. He's taking more average players and rookies. So Andrew Luck wins the Super Bowl. You have a reaction to that?

It's still washing over me And I'm trying to process it But if you look at it as just Just the quarterback only Quarterback face I still vehemently disagree But you know You love Andrew Luck

Well I think everybody loves him I just think people have screwed up The term valuable I think when you take I mean I think they started the season losing five of their first six games He wasn't fully healthy Are we doing quarterback bracket or no I'm just saying he had a bunch of rookies.

It took him a month alone in the playbook. Are we doing quarterback bracket or no? We're doing the quarterback face bracket. Yes. So I think Andrew Luck right now wins the Super Bowl over Drew Brees. And by the way, if this happens, America. You are going to look like a genius. But I'm not going to give you credit if this happens because you are only going off

the quarterbacks. But they are valuable. They're very valuable. You would not deny that. You would not deny. They're the most. Maybe the most valuable position in any team sport. Sorry.

Here's a funny thing. everybody's laughing right now. I got to be honest. Feel pretty good about it. Don't get trapped. I feel pretty good about it. Last year. Who did you have winning last year?

I don't know, but it ended up poorly. You have luck beating Mahomes, Brady, and Breeze. You got a problem with that? Remember, I'm a gangster. That's been established a half hour ago. I am a gangster. Gangster, yes. Gangster.

I'm not into this gangsta. I'm a gangster. I prefer that you if you're going to say it, Did you just say gangster? Gangster. Radio Gangster. It doesn't quite roll off the gangster. Yeah.

Joy with the news. No. No. No. No. This is the Herdline News. So, Dak Prescott is one of a lot of games in his brief NFL career, but none of them have been playoff games. His only playoff appearance was in 2016 against Aaron Rogers, which was a loss. Yeah.

A final field goal in the division rounds. But Dak does know that winning in the postseason is what matters most. I think it's everything. I don't pay attention to any stab but wins and losses. So when you say success of a quarterback or a quarterback success, depending on what they do in the playoffs, I think that's where the checks get ridden and they make their money, to be honest. Our job is to win, no matter what happens, no matter how you play individually, at the end of the day, it's to get the job done.

So excited for my opportunity to be back in the playoffs, missing it last year, but excited for this team and just knowing what we've got. I can't wait to watch this game. what you did there, Doc. I heard it. I heard you slip in the money and the check in there right in the middle of that very quarterback speak quote. So what you did there. That's

where you earn your money in the postseason. Let me tell you some. Joy, if they beat Seattle, if Dak beats Russell Wilson in Seattle, you might as well back up the Brinks truck to the Cowboy facility on Monday. You have no choice. You are paying him 28 million a year. You have no choice. You have

no choice. It was a Cowboy fan, you should almost root for a collapse. Because if you win, Goulet, you love the Cowboys. If they win this weekend, it's over. You have no leverage on that. It's also worth noting in the playoff game he lost. It was arguably his best game. He played great, just Rogers was better.

Yeah, Aaron made the great throw to cook. He was incredible. Yeah. I don't know. I got to agree with you there. I mean, look, either way, they're going to have to pay DAC. But I... No, no, they're paying him.

Yeah, seriously, what if he has three touchdowns this weekend? The one thing about Dak, and I'll say this about the Cowboys, is at this point, they're comfortable not winning Super Bowls, right? I mean, that's who they are. I mean, I'm waiting for the lie. Like, they stuck with Tony Romo forever. I don't remember him winning a ring. Yeah, and they loved him. They loved him.

They still do. You can't say anything bad about Tony Romo. Jerry is going to pay Dak. They're going to stick with Dak no matter what happens. I mean, and at least with Dak, you know you're going to be consistent. Like, he's proven he can win games. No, he's a grown-up. He's great with the media. No, no, he's not trouble.

Complete grown-up. There's a lot of things I like about Dak. It's just not his arm. The Cowboys are still going to be a huge brand. You know, winning Super Bowls isn't for everybody. That's right. You know? Being awesome isn't for everybody.

All right, I'll move on. Cowboys fans are going to be so bad. All right, so the NFL hasn't assigned a team yet to participate in hard knocks, but being forced to do it is apparently the only way The 49ers will be featured on the show. Both Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch are strong nose, with Lynch previously saying it's not something we would be really excited about. I love the show, but I think some things are better left behind closed doors.

I fundamentally have a problem with cutting players and things of that nature on camera. It's not something we would be thrilled about. Thank you. Yes, thank you. It's awful. Shanahan said it's a hard, hard, bad stance. You will see the worst entertainment possible by me. Here's my thing about hard knocks.

I hate the idea. I would hate it if I was a head coach or a GM. And you have to cut players on camera? The cutting of the players is the worst part. I get it because it is a actual part of training camp and it's a part of the process of making the team. And it's a human element of it. And I feel for the guys because it's embarrassing

and you know what it is. And I hate the scene where they're like, they get the call and they know it's the call. It's awful. But I also just think it's just a huge. lossful distraction in a time when they're always rebuilding teams that are in these situations

and it just adds to it. Look at the Browns. It only added expectations and there were a disaster this year. The NFL can force the team to participate in the show as long as it meets three requirements. The organization has not been featured on the show in the past 10 years. Club hasn't been to the playoffs in the last two years and the team does not have a first year head coach.

So at least they spare people from that. So it's the 49ers, Raiders, Giants, or the Redskins. Let's put the Browns on again. I think they're more interesting. I put the Browns on again. And they'll probably do it because they just want the attention. I don't know. I think, well, you can't really do the Raiders.

Where are they playing? Yeah, that's a good point. We don't even know where they're playing. So it may end up being, I think it'll end up being the Lions or Washington. Finally, Anthony Davis had a game last night against the Nets. He finished with 34 points. 26 rebounds and three blocks. And somehow the Pelicans still lost.

And Anthony Davis expressed his frustration after the game. I mean, everyone's frustrated. Players, coaches. Front office, we just have to be better. We know what we did last year. We know how we're going to take we are this year. We can't stay healthy. But we're still going to go out there and improve it.

We just can't feel sorry for ourselves. Yeah, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Well, the Pelicans are 17 and 22 right now. Here's the thing with Anthony Davis and LeBron. If you look at the big free agents that are available next year, Yeah. Who is it? Steph, Duran,

Anthony Davis, Kauai. What's Kauai is it? Kauai. There's a lot of good ones, you know. Kauai is not going to go to the Lakers and play with LeBron. No, he's going to go to Klippers. No one believes that.

Kevin Duran is not coming to Los Angeles and playing with the Bronn. I agree. So who's left? You feel like Steph? Steph's going to come to... No, Anthony Davis is it. It's Anthony Davis. Yeah, now I've been told Anthony's a Laker and Kaui is a clipper.

And I've been told that by multiple people that I trust. So this whole thing with LeBron talking about Anthony David, and it's all done. Everyone just needs to accept that. That's what it is. And LeBron has to have another superstar in order to win his championship. Everyone needs help, and he needs more than help. He needs another superstar.

Yeah, MJ needed Pipp and never won a playoff series without Scotty. You've got to have a second great player. It's a team sports. It'd be a trade. They're going to get rid of, you know, the pelicans are going to, this is one of those. Everybody knows it's going to happen except the Pelicans, because they're living in this little insular world where they think, you know, we're going to turn it around. No, I don't necessarily think that the Pelicans don't think it's going to

happen, I think that they're just, they're doing what they can. Like, they're not, I don't think that they should just give up because they feel like that's what is coming down, down the road. Like, they should try and keep him. And who knows? Like, it's not a, it's not a done deal. He may just decide he wants to be the, the lone superstar on a team. Like, maybe that's what he wants.

It's not just so easy to just go and play with LeBron. Good to the joy with the news, yeah. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly news. Dante Jones is as close to LeBron as almost any player that ever played with him. They're still friends. They both live in L.A.

They hang out. They know each other. I think LeBron has a great deal of respect for Dante and the way he sees the world. And Dante is obviously trusted and respected. He loves LeBron. And I'm going to bring him on next regarding that Michael Jordan thing because I've defended LeBron James saying he's the best player in the world because he's being authentic about it. And I think Michael is sort of playing to the camera when he says, gosh, I'm not the best player of all time. So Dante Jones will join us around the corner.

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Come on, Dante. You can get up here. I don't need to introduce you. 13 years in the NBA. Title with LeBron and the Cavs in 2016, Dante Jones. How are you, my friend? Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you.

Look at you. Happy New Year. You look fantastic. You look like a boss. You have a start shirt and corporate suit. Look at you. No wonder LeBron likes to hang out with you. Man, come on, man.

Okay, so LeBron said this the other day on his TV show, so let's react to it. First, let's play that tape with LeBron. Here we go. This is LeBron. That one right there made me the greatest player of all time. For some of the reasons. No, everybody was just how they were the greatest team of all time.

Like, there was the greatest team to ever assemble. And for us to come back, you know, way we came back in that fashion, I was like, you did something special. Okay, so, so a lot of people are like, whoa, now I defended LeBron. I said in 2009, when Michael said this, you can't compare eras, it was easy to be humble because we were all telling Michael you were the greatest. Now, there wasn't no LeBron then. And there was nobody close to him at that point.

That's right. And it was a conversation with Mike Wilbon, rather than in a conversation between me and my friends. I'm going to say some things between me and my friends, a different than what I'm to say to a member of the media or after a game when most people want to post the 93 post-game conference when he's talking about winning three championships and how do you feel about being the greatest of all time. That's a different setting for an athlete to have an interview. Yeah. So my takeaway was LeBron was talking. I just think it's different. It was easy to be humble in 2009 because you were

if somebody comes up and tells me I'm great I'm humble. If somebody tells me I'm not great, I'm defensive. That's just the way humans work. LeBron lives in a world, you're not this, you're not that, you're not that, even though analytically, statistically compiling contemporaries. So it

doesn't, it never, it just, it didn't bother me when LeBron said it because, you know, Chris Broussard said earlier, Michael grew up in a different generation. The generation now of AAU and hip, pop and it's okay to say you're the greatest. It's like in music. It's in lyrics. It's in books.

This generation is much more comfortable saying, yeah, I'm good. Well, Mike had to think that of himself to do all the amazing things that he did throughout his career. And to be even considered as one of the greats of all time, he had to believe in his heart first that he is great. So I don't, I don't believe it when he said it to different members of the media. I think that was a part of being politically correct at that point in time. And he was. He's always been very corporate. part of interviewing because athletes that interview now are taught different things than back then. So it's a different way to carry yourself now. It's a different

confidence that athletes have. Yeah. With this area of athletes and with how the game has changed. So I don't fault Mike for carrying himself in the interview the way he did, but now you have to have the respect for the athletes that speak of themselves in that light now. Because Mohammed Ali, throughout his career, said he was the greatest of all the time and nobody had a problem with it. Yeah, I mean, Michael's

always been very corporate. Remember, Republican buy sneakers too. Michael was going to say what landed well for his business, where LeBron has gone out on Trayvon Martin, he's gone out on shut up and dribble. LeBron's going to be front and center and take on his critics, and that's the generation he's grown up in. I don't have a problem with it. It didn't bother me at all. No, it didn't bother me with him speaking of himself in that life because if he felt that way, he should say it honestly. Okay, so last night Paul George shows up and he just gets booed. And you know I've always defended players who leave. Owners leave cities, GMs and coaches leave.

Why can a player have power? I pay to watch LeBron. I don't pay to watch Luke Walton. What did you make of Paul Jordan Kett and Booth last night? Well, the way I try to paint the picture for most people in free agency is I was a free agent and I left. We just finished the Western Conference Finals with the Denver Nuggets. And I played with an amazing cast of friends, players, and the organization was great.

Now, the money that I was going to get to go to Indiana was so much more than they could offer me. So then I'm in a pickle. And I didn't even want to take it. it because I enjoy playing with those guys so much that I would take less to play with him. Now you have to look at it with Paul George. He enjoys his whole roster. He enjoys Russell. He enjoys everybody that's coming back, he likes going to work.

So if you like going to work and you had no qualms about it, and the money was more, because somebody entice you to leave to go to another city where the unknowns of who's on that roster and will we get along and are we, do we think the same, do we compete the same way? compete the same way. All these unknowns are available and I'm going to have less money. No matter where it's at, would you consider it? Yeah, I think there were more definitive answers in Oklahoma City. Money, I knew my roster. I knew my coach. I knew the offense. I know my role and I know the guy that's playing right next to me and that we are the cornerstones. I know

these as facts. I don't necessarily see him staying in Oklahoma City as anti-Lebron. Right. Although I do think there are certain players, Kauai, Paul George, being one of them, they feel there's a sense they'd be overshadowed a little. Mike, I think LeBron does overshadow players. Well, in order to leave, you have to have some problems. You have to have something wrong in order to leave any organization, any job, money team. You have to have, if you don't have any problems, then it's very, very hard.

That's why people look at Kevin Durant in one respect. And they look at Clay in a different one, because Clay's saying, you know what, I'm happy here. We'll figure this out. Kai Rie said, we'll figure this out money-wise. I'm happy here. I'm staying. It's just a matter of time. Steph Curry said the same thing. I will say this, though. I lived in Tampa and covered the Orlando magic when Shaq was there.

And I said it at the time, Shaq was too big for Orlando. He was like the biggest star. He went to play with Kobe and he was bigger than Kobe because he was so personable. Am I wrong saying that Anthony Davis is simply too big for New Orleans in that franchise? You're not. And it's just that that franchise is going to have to take some steps to be able to accommodate a star of his caliber. He's talking about a legacy. He's talking about championships and they're just not ready for that right now. And to be able to get somebody to play next to him or two or three guys to play next to him, they can't get that type of player right now. So the only way to get it is the model at Golden State uses to draft wisely and to be

able to be attractive with winning. And you can't solve that answer this fast for a guy who's coming up in a year in free agency that wants to win championships. Anthony Davis, though, every game he plays there is just wearing on those tires. If you were Anthony Davis, would you engineer a sooner trade or let it play out where, I mean, you're going to get ripped by the local fans or local media, right? Like the player always loses in this stuff. Would you engineer it quicker, more quickly, or would you just let it play out for a year and a half? I would be honest like Jimmy Butler did.

And I don't have a problem with Jimmy Butler did because he sat with his president. And we talked about what I went out of my career, how I think I'm. valued and what and what I want to do and I just didn't go to the media first I talked to him and I told him we had a conversation. Now what he did at practice, that's a total different situation that's out of competition. But he had he had communication between him and his organization and they found the right situation for him. If he goes and communicates that to them, I don't have a problem with it. But I don't think he should just go straight to the media and dog them out because they've been loyal to him and he's been as loyal as he can to them. And now it's just like

at this point in time of career, this is what I want. I want to be. consider one of the greats, so I have to win now. I have to win it for a long period of time. And that's something right now I don't think you guys can do for me. Dante Jones, 13 NBA seasons, won a title with LeBron and friends with LeBron. We can say that. Socially, you guys get along well without unveiling your life. When's the last time you talked to LeBron? Where's he at today? Where's he at socially? Where's he at emotionally? Where's he at emotionally? I know physically he's got a little injury, but that's no biggie. But when you talk to him, you text him, where's he at emotionally? You know him real well.

He's upbeat right now. Is he? And the last time I saw him was at the home opener. So, like, in front of him, he has a schedule. I have a schedule. But he's upbeat. We talk via text. And he's happy in life right now.

The weather, the city, the organization, the energy from the organization. Does he like the young kids on the team? He loves the young kids on the team. So he's in a happy place right now with the way he's living in his life, the way he's finishing his career. He's enjoying it. When you say finished career, I'm not going to get, you know, Tom Brady's still playing. I would have guessed years ago.

But did it worry you at all that he got an old man injury where he didn't touch anybody and he heard a pop? That feels like a 12, that feels like an old man NBA injury. No, that's just an injury. That's an injury for anybody that can pull a groin. Like a groin is something that we all have to be wary of and we can't control. So that didn't worry me. I know he can take the necessary steps to come back from that and take the time to come back from that. But I think his training staff, his personal staff, they'll have him ready to play.

And I don't think that's something else. How big is his personal staff? His personal stab is not big, but it's very maniacal about how they take care of him and get his body ready to play. Like, his guy that takes care of his body is great at what he does. He's the best at what he does, and he'll have him ready to play. Yeah, that sounds pretty good. Everything good with you? Everything's great.

What's your big New Year's resolution? I'm going to try to work out more. Yeah, because you're soft as a marshmallow. I just don't, I love playing basketball, and that's my only form of working out. So I'm going to try to find something else to help me to get tight. To get tight. Yeah, because you got you right now, you're loose all over the place. It's different for everybody, right?

I do hot yoga. We do hot yoga. Hot yoga? Yes. Really? Yes, we do hot yoga like three or four times a week. You and Earl? Yeah, we love hot yoga.

Does Earl love hot yoga or do you love yoga? No, he loves it. He loves him. He loves him. He's not next hour. Okay. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours in.

Today, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hour 3, we are live. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. By the way, I just open up the internet thing, you know, and they have a new earthquake app in Los Angeles.

You're okay to tell you. I went to www bandwidth.com and they have an earthquake app in Los Angeles. My dial-up. I just hope nobody picked up the phone. So there's a new app now. It tells you, hey, got earthquake coming. How does that work? I don't either.

It would be way better if they told me a week before. I don't, not much I can do. How far ahead of time? Well, Japan has one. I'm not sure. It's a good question. It'll be almost like saying. It's like 30 seconds before.

Not much I can do. I don't know how helpful that is. Yeah. It's just like a panic. app. Yeah. Anyway. There are, like people, there are earthquakes out here all the time, though.

Oh, yeah. There was like a 5.3 the other day on the Channel Islands. The first time I felt an earthquake out here, I just kind of felt dizzy. I just felt like everything got blurry for a second. You know, once you get into your 50s, I'm dizzy all the time. So I think I'm living in an earthquake most of my day. By the way, and 15 minutes, I'm going to throw something at you. I know the draft is a long way away, but I saw something a couple days ago.

And I'm just going to tell you, I think we're going to have a. major trade, a major move before the draft, NFL draft in April. It's not urgent. I'm just going to throw it out there so you can hold me to it. That's in 15 minutes. Also, former Pro Bowl, or one of my favorite guest, T.J. Husman, Zada, comes on in 15 minutes. Best for Last today is great. Nearly every NFL story this year, I swear to God, can be traced to one guy in the NFL.

You're not even going to believe this. You're not going to believe how one person. in the NFL has affected like 13 teams. So that's coming up. All right, let's start. Paul George last night looked really good. Let the thunder to a win against the Lakers last night. So let me start with that.

Paul George was such a big deal last night in Los Angeles. Remember, he was going to be a Laker and decided, nah, he scored 37. They were booing him. It was awesome. And this was a high point for Paul George in the season. He came to L.A., it's where he's from. He dropped 37. He was the best player on the floor.

and congratulations. He was so important, they were booing him because he didn't come to the Lakers. And congratulations for that gigantic win in the first week of January. Slow clap for that. Paul George, two years ago, said to his GM in Indianapolis, Kevin Pritchard, pretty smart guy. He said, I want out.

I want to go to Los Angeles where I'm from. And so Kevin Pritchard did the best thing he could for Indianapolis, engineered a trade with Oklahoma City, He sent him there, and Paul George still said, I want to be a Laker. And so everybody waited for him to be a Laker, and all of a sudden he was going to be a Laker. And about a week before, LeBron signs the Lakers. And within a day, Paul George suddenly didn't want to be a Laker. The story's all dried up, and he chose Oklahoma City.

I never feel sympathy for people who have options in life and choose the wrong one. I feel sympathy for people who, because of their circumstances, don't have options. Paul George chose Oklahoma City. Paul George chose Russell Westbrook and LeBron James, where you win titles. You get on television. You'd be in the Western Conference Finals with LeBron.

You'd be on television in late May and June. You'd get major endorsements. Dropping 37 would not be a big deal in the first week of January. Because LeBron doesn't care about January's. Look it up. It's always his worst month. He goes into sort of a pre-all-Star game pre-trading deadline malaise. He gets rest.

He doesn't play well. His teams don't play particularly well. Look it up. There are players in the NBA I feel sympathy for. Anthony Davis is one. Anthony Davis is going to be a Laker. It's going to take a few months. Maybe it's going to take a year, but he'll be a Laker.

He gets drafted by a city that probably shouldn't have a team. And then the way the NBA sort of rigs it and sets it up, you have to sign your first big extension with your team to make the real money. And then you start losing 50 games a year and you get tired of it because your organization can't get you any good players. And then eventually you're the bad guy because you leave because you have a mediocre owner, a mediocre GM, an often fired coach and no good players around you. That I feel bad for. Paul George, he chose last night. And I'll tell you, there's a lot of people that think Paul George won by staying in Oklahoma City. Rob Parker was on our show yesterday.

He thinks Paul George is showing LeBron a thing or two. So when he decided that, okay, he wasn't coming, LeBron comes to L.A. He's from Palmdale, not that far from here, right? He decides, okay, he could come back. If they had him right now, they would be viable right now this year to have a shot. in the Western Conference right now. He's the king killer. He will be the reason the Lakers do not win a championship during the LeBron years.

I look at it just the opposite, is that Paul George, by not joining LeBron, and choosing Westbrook over LeBron, guaranteed he will never be in a finals. And he could have been with LeBron, but instead LeBron now will go to his second or third option named Anthony Davis, who is obviously a better player than Paul George, and he will overtime end up in finals and win one, maybe two, probably one. I just see this differently than everybody else. When Paul George chose not to join LeBron, it killed Paul George's chances of not making the finals. It just forced Magic and LeBron to go to Option 2.

And what do you know? Option 2 Anthony Davis is a significantly better player. and will probably join the Lakers, I'm told sometime in the next year or earlier. All right, let's shift to this. There's four playoff games this weekend. There's only one game I would bet if I was going to bet football this weekend. And I know I'm from Seattle, but you know that's never cared.

I don't care about that stuff. My job is to be honest, not to support my birthplace. I like the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas Cowboys are a slight favorite, one and a half. That's what Vegas says over the Seattle Seahawks. And I think Dallas is going to win the game. That would be the game I would bet. That's the game I feel strongly about. Now, first of all, it's obvious. Dallas has become a couple of different teams. There is the Dallas Cowboys offense without Amari. And then there is the Dallas Cowboys offense with Amari. And it's not real hard to figure out.

It's way better. I'll put them on the screen for our FS1 viewers. This is a completely different offense. post Amari Cooper. Now, fans look at teams, this is what fans do. They tend to look at teams just one record. We're 12 and 4. Coaches and GMs do not look at teams that way. They look at teams in quadrants and quarters. For instance, Kansas City's 12 and 4.

They're 3 and 3 in their last 6, and 2 of those 3 wins are over the Raiders and the home win in overtime. New England since week 4 is better than Kansas City. But if you look, and this is what, why I like Dallas. If you look at Dallas, like a general manager or a coach would look at Dallas, they should be favored here. Let's look at the first quarter of the season for Dallas. They were two and two. There was no Amari Cooper. You can see their offense. It just wasn't, yeah,

I mean, they were just not, they were two and two, and they were struggling with everybody. They struggled with the Giants. They couldn't score against the Seahawks. They shouldn't have beat the Lions. they weren't very good. And then the second four games, the next quadrant, they were one and three. They had a Mari for just one game. And you can see the offense there, it's still not very good, right? That's not very good. And let's go to the third quadrant. Oh, they're four and oh. Holy moly is scoring 31 there, 27 there. Oh, they beat the Saints. And then look at the last four. They had a dog against Tennessee. Once again, though, or against Indianapolis, excuse me, which was very predictable, by the way, on the road, off hugely emotional games. Indianapolis at home was absolutely desperate, had to win every week. But you can see the

point, 29 and 36 and 27. And this is how you look at teams. This is how general managers look at teams. They do not look at teams and go, we're 12 and 4. They ask, what are we now? What the Cowboys are now is the most athletic NFL team defensively in the front seven. What the Cowboys are now is rested. Zeke didn't play. Zach Martin, a great offensive lineman, didn't play. What the Cowboys are right now is at home. What the Cowboys are right now is a bona fide real offense with a star receiver and a star back

and a rested above average offensive line playing at home where they're very good, especially if Zeke can get over 100 yards. Dallas has better players this weekend. Seattle is still in somewhat of a rebuilding mode. So there's four games this weekend, and they're all coin flips, and I don't feel strong about any of them. I mean, I think the Colts will win. I think the Chargers second time around will win. But Dallas over Seattle, that one I like.

Coming up next, we got a breaking story. It looks like a high-profile college coach could be a leading candidate for an NFL job, and I'm not. Well, I'm not going to tell you who and who I'm not talking about. High-profile college coach for a big-profile college coach for a big, time NFL job. That's coming up. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending,

opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

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

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

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, IHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings, from... entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness,

professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like.

Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladecki. The ability to show gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning.

It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app. Podcasts for wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. Okay, I got to tell you something. We got a story coming out. The biglead.com has it, among other people. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are interested in hiring Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly.

Now, this is something, Joy, you were here. About a month ago, I came out, and I said two things to know. Urban Meyer's going to retire. and I told it I was two weeks before everybody, and I said, Brian Kelly is ready to leave Notre Dame. So obviously, I got the Urban Meyer thing right. The two things I said to you, Urban's leaving, and Brian may leave. He has put feelers out for two years. Brian Kelly put feelers out two years ago at Notre Dame.

I was told nobody was really interested. Then he's only 57 years old. So Brian's got another 8 to 10 good years of coaching, 5, 6 minimum. The story is Tampa's interested. Now, Tampa's in full rebuild mode. So Brian Kelly, who's very good with personnel, one of his strengths is personnel. He's a good evaluator of talent. He would have a say, I imagine, is a very experienced coach.

He is won everywhere. By the way, don't be an idiot and say, well, he can't beat Clemson. Notre Dame doesn't have Clemson players. Nobody's beating Clemson except Alabama in college football. Clemson's crushing everybody. Dino Babers at Syracuse, one of the best coaches in college football. He's getting close, which is a lot of. a miraculous story.

Brian Kelly has said quietly to his agent and other people. We can't beat the Georgia's, the Clemsons, the Alabama's, because we can't get that kind of defensive personnel up front. We just, we're not in the footprint to get it. We can't get it. And you can't beat those guys unless you got seven NFL guys on that defensive front. And so Brian Kelly, I think he's a very good coach. I think Tampa would be very smart to hire him.

We told you about this. a month ago. The urban thing already happened. He's retired. Brian Kelly is a strong choice. He's got a lot of Mike McCarthy, organized, disciplined, bottom line, tough. I mean, let's be honest, Tampa's coaching moves have not been great for a long time. Post Gruden, it's been a lot of couple years here, a couple years there. They had Levy Smith, he Morris, Dirk Cutter, who I kind of like offensively, and they keep bailing on him. So I think this has legs. I think it's smart. I would strongly consider it. It does not surprise me. Notre Dame right now is as good as Notre Dame's going to get. Notre Dame's not going to beat Alabama. They're not going to

beat Clemson. They're not. Michigan's not going to beat those schools. The southern footprint for high school football players is just a factory of players. You've got to convince them to go to private, rural, academically difficult Notre Dame. I think going 12, 13 and 0 is unbelievable at Notre Dame. That is unbelievable at Notre Dame. You could do a lot worse than this guy. So Tampa Bay, Brian Kelly, rumors coming out. This is what I've been hearing for two years. Brian knows that you can't coach at Notre Dame forever.

The administration wears you out. It's just a tough job. It's not, you can coach at Alabama for a long time. You can't coach at Notre Dame forever. And with that, let's bring in T.J. Husman Zata. By the way, I can't get into particulars here. I have to drink through a straw today. I can't eat any meals today.

I'm not going to get into particular. So if the audience keeps seeing me do that. Special diet? Not a diet. All right, there we go. Something's going on. All right. So let's get into this.

I said this before. There's four games this weekend. They're all either way to me, except Dallas. I feel very strongly. Zeke is rested. Oline is rested. They're at home. Seattle is short week in it.

Traveling. You know Seattle has traveled more than any team in the NFL. I think they're a best. bit worn down. I don't think they're quite as healthy. I love Dallas. Do you? It's funny. Yesterday, I don't speak for yourself. I said the same thing. Baltimore, Chargers, it's like, I don't know who's going to win. Texans, Colts, same thing. It's Philly, Chicago, for me, I'm that way. Dallas in Seattle, when you just look at it, Dallas has a really, really strong team. They're better at every position except quarterback.

And so I'm with you. I like the Cowboys to win the game. and that's probably for me would be my surest bet, and I said it yesterday. If you ran the Cowboys, Dak wins, he won the division, wins a playoff game, beats going to be a Hall of Famer Russell Wilson. You've got to pay him $29 million.

I'm not doing it. So you're letting him go? He has to... He has to do what? He has to Joe Flack on me. What's that mean? Win the Super Bowl. Oh, God.

I'm not doing it. So what are you going to do? If I have to franchise them, if you pay Dak Prescott $28,000, you're done for the duration of that contract. You're done. You're not going to win because Ezekieli, he'll be a free agent. Are you going to be able to pay him?

And then you look at the guys on the defensive side of the ball. You got Jalen Smith, you got Byron Jones, you got Amari Cooper on all. You can't pay everybody. The way the NFL is orchestrated now, you're going to be your best team and have your better chance of winning when your quarterback is not making max money. It's your only chance. Yeah, the six highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL.

none made the playoffs. You can't surround them. You can't surround them. So, Dak Prescott, the Cowboys should win this week. You're telling Dak Prescott, though. Think about this. I want everybody to pretend your Dak Prescott. So you're Dak Prescott.

You get disrespected, even though you led Mississippi State to their best season in years, and they draft you in the fourth round. Then you come in and go 13-3 and win the division. And everybody's like, well. And he was great in that playoff game, by the way. He was great against Green Bay. He was great. Okay.

And then now, he wins the division, second time in three years. He's been the most underpaid player in the league. For a while it was Russell Wilson. He is the most underpaid player in the league. The Cowboys, when Romo got hurt, was man overboard. They were

about to become extinct. Nobody wanted to put the Cowboys on TV off that 3 and 13 season. He saves the franchise, and you're telling him to take a pay cut. That's okay. Oh, boy. Somebody once told me it's better to eat a bunch of small meals,

than one large meal. Take $22 million, $88 million deal. No state tax in Texas. 50 guaranteed. You'll be right back to the table at $31, 32. And you're leaving possibly $30 to $40 million on a table, but you're going to surround yourself with a great team

and you'll make some of that money back in endorsements. You'll be competitive for your entire career. That's the way the NFL is going now. You have to. Listen, I agree with you. If DAC is smart, you make $28 million, you make $22 million. That's a $6 million difference. Well, if it was in L.A., four million the government would take.

So I always did say this with D. Wade, is that D. Wade was very fortunate. He inherited Pat Riley in Aquawater and no state tax. So sometimes in life, you do have to look at yourself and go, I mean, the great thing about Dallas Cowboys, you're going to get more endorsements as a cowboy quarterback than you would a Jaguar quarterback. there's no state tax endowls. So I think if I was DAC or as agent, I would understand that we can take a little

discount compared to the market. You know, if the market's willing to pay me 27, I could take 24 and say, listen, Dak, you're going to pay more taxes elsewhere. You got a good old line. You got Zeke. You got Amari. Just keep it. 24 would be, that's, if I'm Jerry Jones and Stephen,

24 is my ceiling. I'm not going any higher than that unless you Joe Flack on me. That's it. That's me. That's not happening. Yeah, I don't foresee that going on, but that would be my ceiling. Just you want to remain competitive. Okay, can I do the, remember the quarterback face thing I did an hour ago that's just an utter disaster? I want to play it with you.

All right. Okay, so we have this thing called quarterback. I did it a year ago. It was a disaster. I said that quarterbacks are the most important player. So we picked games based on who I thought was a better quarterback. And who do you end up within the Super Bowl? Did you guys done this today?

Yeah, I did it today. So here's- I did not. I do not. So I end up. Are you going to partaking it with it? No, I'm not. You're on your own.

Okay, so I end up. Remember, it's only the quarterback. Nothing else. No other factors. So I end up with Andrew Luck beating Drew Breeze in the playoffs in the Super Bowl. So that's the final. Let's go back to the beginning and see where you end up. So I end up with Andrew Luck beating Drew Breeze.

But let's go, Sam, let's go all the way back to the wild card weekend. And we'll just play quarterback face bracket with you. All right. All right, Sam, you got to get that off the board. All right. Let's now keep going back one more. And then we'll go back to the very beginning. because this is Wildcar weekend.

Keep going back. You guys keep going back. So this week, there we go. Here we go. So this is the first weekend. So luck Deshawn this morning. Who do you take? Deshawn Watson.

Today. Today. Okay. Who do you take Wilson Dach? Russell Wilson. Who do you take Philip Lamar? Oh, man. The hell.

What? If I want to win. Who's the better quarterback? Phil of Rivers. Okay. And then Foles Tribesky. Foles. That's what I said.

That's what I said. He had 25 straight completions. Trabisky, they're doing David Copperfield. Chicago Bears will take foes as well. Okay. So the only one you disagree, you think Deshaun Watson's better than luck. I think Deshaun Watson, he gives me more options. Luck has played great.

And people say, oh, luck doesn't have anything to work with. Yeah, he does. T.Y. Hilton is a monster, and Eric E. E.I.R.on has played great. Yeah, he didn't play well in Detroit. but Andrew Luck has some pieces to work with. Okay, so let's go to your next bracket. So the next bracket, you would have Deshawn Watson against Mahomes.

Who would you take there? Deshawn Watson. All right, okay. And then Brady Rivers. Brady. And then Russell Goff. Russell Wilson. And then Foles Breeze.

Drew Breeze. Okay, so we're actually not that depot. You just, I love luck. You like Deshawn Watson. So the next round, you would have Brady against Deshawn. Watson. Yes, and I'll take Tom Brady. Okay, and then you'd have Russell against Breeze. I know that's tough. I'd probably, uh, huh? I'll take Drew Breeze. Okay. It's closer than you. I think it's close. See, I can't get it out of my head that I'm looking towards the future and not today.

Like, I got a, it's a boxing match today. Okay. I would take Drew. Okay, so the only difference with you and I really, you really like DeShan and I really like luck. I like Deshawn Watson because Well, I get it. No, I get everything. When he was in college, what he did, and this is going to be his first playoff game, I'm eager to see. And the Patriot fans better hope Houston Texans win. They better hope.

Okay, so Brady Breeze, who would you take? Brady Breeze, I'm going with Tom Brady. So you have New England. So in your quarterback face bracket, I have luck winning the Super Bowl. You have Tom Brady winning the Super Bowl. Do you feel good about that? With my quarterback? With your pick.

Yeah, I feel comfortable. with my pick, not with my team, if that makes any sense. I don't think the Patriots are winning a Super Bowl. I don't think they're good enough to, but I said that last week. I said that last year about week 12 and they ended up coming within a play. If they do it this year, Tom Brady is the ultimate quarter. Like he is, he's already the best quarterback. If they win a Super Bowl this year with what he's working with, man.

That would be almost discouraging for the rest of the league. You're like, what? if they went at this year, Edelman, Mr. Drop, Gronk's a shell of himself. They rebuilt the O line. They got rid of Brandon Cooks and Josh Gordon. If Patriots win this year, it is discouraging them. I went back and I watched some tape with the Patriots from 2011 and 12. Look at Grankowski run back then.

Just look at him run and look at them now. It's like a different player. Just go back and look at tape of him years ago and look at him now. Oh, it's a night. The way he moves is a night and day difference. TJ, he runs like a lineman now. He runs like a, you know what he runs like? Travis Kelsey runs like a fast tied end.

Gronk runs like a fast right tackle. Yeah, he doesn't, Brady's not working with much. If they win this Super Bowl, man, Tom Brady is unreal. Thanks for playing quarterback face with me. Yeah, I knew it's funny though, because I looked at it. I'm like, yeah, I know you love Andrew Luck. That, a lot. That game right there this weekend for me is.

is a toss up. Yeah, I feel to say, I'll take luck, I don't feel great about it. I think Houston's got better players. I don't like, in the history of the NFL playoffs, I never remember the worst

offensive line in the playoffs winning games. It's tough. Houston's got the worst line in the entire playoffs. And I would say by a stretch. I don't think you can win. If you win one at home, fine, it'll be close.

You can't win multiple playoff games with that. That is tough. That is a bad. all line. A lot of it too, though, when you get quarterbacks that extend the ball, they want to try to make plays with their feet. Sacks are going to happen. You mean, you look at Andrew Luck. He's done a great job of getting rid of the ball.

That's why his sack numbers are down this year. Good seeing you, bud. Thank you. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, so the NFL has released their top-selling jerseys of the season. Oh, they have? Can I guess? And you guess who's number one.

Well, LeBron's with a new team, so I'd say LeBron. The NFL. Oh, the NFL. I'd still say LeBron. Okay, so the NFL's leading jersey seller. Baker Mayfield. No, that's a nice thing for you to say, but no, he is actually pretty far down on the list. Who's your guess, DJ? I would have a guest, Patrick Mahomes.

Patrick Moms is a good guess as well, but no, it is Tom Brady. How? I don't understand this either. How many new Tom Brady jerseys do you need? He's only been playing for two decades. He still leads the NFL in jersey sales? That can't make any sense. It doesn't make no sense.

It's like kids have a Tom Brady's. Jersey. They need a new one every year? That's what I'm saying. How many time Brady Brady Jorges do you need? By-bye. Jujo Smith-Schuster's 10 for the Steelers. He's very good on social media. Callio Mack doesn't surprise me at all because he's with a new team. Yeah, Chicago. And the Bears have a huge fan base. Patrick Mahomes is not surprising. Ezekiel is kind of strange. He's up there to say called Bartleel's not surprising.

Yeah, that's a good point. Odell's not up there. Surprising. That is a good point. That's a shocker. Not so much to me. Because they didn't have a great season. and it's usually the quarterbacks who are in the top ones. Sequin Barclay is ahead. But he was the bright spot for the Giants who are a big brand as well. Baker Mayfield's kind of surprising because it's the Browns, but it is Baker.

But Tom Brady, I just don't get it. People love him. Who is buying these jerseys? I understand that. Women? But I know women wear jerseys too, but how many jerseys do you need? It's not like he's a new player. You know, to be honest.

You know what? I just really think I have five Tom Bradyers. I think I just need one more. Just round out the collection. It is pretty remarkable that the oldest player in the league, I mean, because you'd think, well, Drew Breeze is up there, too, he's six. No, I mean, Brady is he's falling into iconic status.

Like Peyton and Barb, he's an icon. He's a brand, like Tom's his own brand within the brand. But he's been that, though. I know. It's weird. That's weird. I don't get it. So anyway, Antonio Brown has been in the news this week for all the wrong reasons. Mr. Big Ben chose to praise Antonio Brown's talent earlier this week. Defensive Captain Cam Hayward did not take the same approach.

He said what Brown is doing is unacceptable, and he thinks he has a lot of mending to do with teammates because of the way things played out this week. We all want AB here, but to be a part of this team, you can't do that, don't let your brothers down. It hurt more knowing that there are multiple guys in the locker room given everything that guy. Going forward, I think everybody wants AB on the team,

but we all got to be on the same page. From the top to the bottom, we all got to be accountable for it. I'm sure Kevin and Coach Tomlin will be talking to him, but phone forward, that's unacceptable. We all sign up for this game, and we all sign up to be part of a team. I think that the culture in Pittsburgh is broken. Oh, yes, it is. I think that they lack overall leadership in the locker room.

There isn't one person that you can point to. when you think of Ben Rathesberger, even him talking about Antonio Brown and Levy on Bell, it comes across as disingenuous because he's passing blame around all the time. He's chaotic and the whole situation of all, I might be retiring, I'm not retiring, it's thought Haley's fault, it's my fault, it's the receiver's fault. It's it's everyone else's fault from everyone and then it just is a continuous cycle. It's just total dysfunction in Pittsburgh. This season was a colossal disappointment.

it was, I mean, you had some bright moments there where you felt like they were getting back on track and then inevitably something else would happen that causes drama. And the situation with Antonio Brown, yes, this is Antonio Brown's character and it might be illuminating to some people now in this situation because it's gotten so dire. But this isn't news to the Steelers. So you know who you have in your organization. You know who's on your team. Everyone talks. You're in that locker room.

You know what people's character are. So, and I don't know what you do now because this. The cap situation is so bad, it's going to be a conversation all offseason now. So they're probably going to likely head into next season for the same level of dysfunction. Finally, the Giants head into their offseason, trying to figure out who their quarterback will be. GM David Gettelman said yesterday that everything is still on the table and no final decision has been made about Eli Manning. And Eli had this to say in his final radio appearance of the season. Is it fair to say right now that we probably haven't seen the last of Eli Manning as a quarterback?

Yeah, we will see. I don't know if it's only one way or the other right now. I think, you know, it's kind of that time to just reflect and figure out what's the best thing going for. What do you do if you're the Giants? Oh, I would have drafted a quarter. I would have taken Sam Darnold. I'm not going to let Sam Darnold be on the other team in my city. I think that's a big mistake.

Well, they can't do that now. So they take Dwayne Haskins? If he was available, yes. Do you try and get him? Well, you right now, if someone's... If somebody moves ahead of me, I do, but right now I just stay where I'm at. I got my star running back. I have a star receiver.

My offensive line's slightly better. I can get a bunch of defensive players later because there's a big NFL defensive draft. I would take a quarterback without the fifth pick. Well, they'll probably have to make a decision on Eli before March 17th, because that's when he's due to receive his $5 million bonus. I do feel for Eli, it kind of feels like a bad way to end his career. I know everyone always picks on Eli, but. It's amazing. York's this big tough city, yes, they're shaking in their boots. They're petrified to move on from

Eli Manning. Because the situation with benching Eli was a disaster. Well, deal with it. I mean, the Lakers had to eventually you move off people. This is big tough New York. They didn't have a plan to move off of them. Well, that's their problem too. The giants are a fear-based organization. They're petrified to offend Eli. They're petrified to move Odell Beckham. When you base your decisions on fear of what the reaction's going to be, you end up the Giants. A mess. They're a mess. at least the Jets have their future quarterback. They're not a mess. Well, they did just fire their host.

They got $100 million in cap space and Sam Donald and a couple good defensive players. They're in a better position than the Giants. Giant are a mess. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly news. It's really weird.

Almost every major story in the NFL this year can be traced to one human being. That's next and best for last. If you got the cold, the flu season, it's here. Try Vix Synex nasal. spray lasts up to 12 hours use as directed when congestion strikes it's the hurt Saturday it's a college hoops double header on Fox first big 10 powerhouses collide as number eight Michigan State takes on number 14 Ohio State then it's big east action as Villanova faces off with Providence it all starts Saturday at 1130 Eastern on

Fox and the Fox Sports app Michigan State Tom isle's got his best offensive team forever they're averaging almost 90 a game all up and down the floor Michigan State is a It looks like a final four team. Big Ten, by the way, I think has five teams in the top 25. Duke's going to win it, but Big Ten will be represented. When shopping for car insurance, consider GEICO. They've been doing it forever. 75 years.

Pretty simple. Want to save money. Go to Geico.com. We were saying that, you know, one of the things that's made LeBron great is not just that he's great, but there's never been a player in the NBA that has the impact of LeBron. I mean, Michael Jordan left the Bulls. They were still really good. You know, LeBron goes to a bad team to make the finals.

He leaves that team. They're terrible. LeBron has impact. There's a big difference between being great and impact. There's a lot of people who are great. Kauai Leonard's great. Toronto was good without him. San Antonio's still about the same without him.

I don't think Kauai has a huge impact, but I think he's a great player. Here's a guy that this year was on a terrible team that had amazing impact. John Gruden affected the outcome of 10 teams in the NFL this year. It's a force onto itself. It is the Gruden effect. So let's just think of the Gruden effect this year. So he moves Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys go seven and two the minute they acquire him.

Dak Prescott, by the way, is going to get that big fat contract because he's gone up offensively in every category. Huge effect not only to the Dallas Cowboys, but Dak Prescott has ensured himself. He will be for the next four to seven to eight years, the Dallas Cowboy franchise quarterback. Take a look at the Chicago Bears. Gruden trades Khalil Mack to them. The Bears have a top defense in the league because of it. And in fact, in the first game Khalil plays, he hurts Aaron Rogers, which basically torpedoes the Green Bay Packers season. Aaron got hurt in the first game or a brace for several other games.

Aaron Rogers was never the same after that. So the Bears got better won the division. The Packers are no longer the dominant force in their division due to the Gruden effect. So the Cowboys, the Bears, and the Green Bay Packers. you could put that Packer logo up there. Let's go to the Chargers and Chiefs. Because the Raiders got rid of Amari Cooper and because they got rid of Khalil Mack,

they're in a rebuilding mode. That allowed the Chiefs to go 2 and O against him. And that allowed the Raiders, the Chargers to go 2 and O against him. So Kansas City is now the number one seed in the AFC and the Chargers have a great record as a wildcard team, mostly because they got layups against the Raiders.

How about the Patriots? The Patriots, with their record, could easily be the number one seed, but they lost the number one seed because Kansas City gained it. So Tom Brady, who's never been quite as dominant away from Foxborough, if he played in the AFC championship against Andy Reed and the Chiefs, would be on the road where, you know, Denver's always given him problems. It's never been quite the same on the road. How about the Steelers?

The Raiders beat the Steelers in week 14. Had the Steelers beaten the Raiders, they would be in the playoffs. And I would imagine the Antonio Brown situation would be different. It wouldn't be absolute mayhem. It wouldn't be every man for themselves. They'd be in a much better mood. They'd be less contentious because they'd have a game this week. But he knocked a legendary NFL iconic brand franchise Steelers out of the playoffs

by upsetting them as a 10-point dog. How about the Ravens? They won the AFC North by a half game because John Gruden beat the Steelers. And also, just think about Baltimore. John Harbaugh, halfway through this season, was in trouble. He got an extension in the midst of the winning streak with Lamar Jackson.

So Gruden, to a large degree, gave John Gruden a contract extension by beating the Steelers, lessening the division, and Baltimore goes on a streak. How about the Arizona Cardinals? Raiders finished four and 12, but that allows Arizona because they beat the Steelers. Arizona now has the number one pick. So the Arizona Cardinals, it looked like a, you know, before the season, you would have never guessed the Raiders have the number one pick with Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper and Derek Card. They wouldn't have. But Now, the Arizona, when they got rid of that, it opened the door for Arizona now with Josh Rosen and a new staff. They're going to have the number one pick.

And also, the Monday Night Football crew lost John Gruden and has arguably been the most criticized broadcast Monday Night crew in a long time. Fair or not, right or not. They didn't get nearly the heat when John Gruden there. So it has affected one of the leading broadcast companies in America. That is a conversation. conclusion to the Gruden effect. He affected a lot of people. It's very spooky.

By the way, here's a couple of things in the NBA. Lebrow. We introduced the LeBron meter, the Lebronzo meter years ago when I started hearing rumors that LeBron was coming to L.A. with Lonzo. And so we called it the Lebronzo meter. Now we have what we call the Lebrown meter. Anthony Davis is called the Brow. I heard about a month ago.

think it's a strong lead Los Angeles. I will say this. Anthony Davis is doing it right. Right before the breakup, you drop hints. And a month ago, three weeks ago, Anthony Davis said, it's not about the money. And we know New Orleans can pay him the most. He goes, it's about legacy. That's one of those hints you drop before you break up because New Orleans can absolutely pay him the most money. And he said a few weeks ago, it's not about the money. It's about legacy. Well, you're going to win more with LeBron. And the second thing last night, he was great, you know, 28 points, like 26 rebate. It was just unbelievable last night. And he complained about being frustrated with playing that well and losing. Here's, here's Anthony Davis last night.

And everyone's frustrated. Players, coaches, front of office, we just have to be better. We know what we did last year. We know how we're going to say we are this year. And we can't stay healthy. He's still got to go out there and improve it. I just can't. You're sorry for us. He's also making himself very attractive because Antonio Brown is breaking up the wrong way. He's having tantrums, missing games, going on Instagram. That's going to turn off a lot of teams, a lot of good teams will stay away from Antonio Brown.

They don't want that toxic person in their locker room. Anthony Davis is breaking up the right way. play your butt off, put up huge numbers, talk about wanting to win titles over getting money, and then saying, you know, I'm frustrated because we're not winning enough, even on nights I go off. That is exactly what every coach and executive and owner in the league wants. So you're watching juxtaposed against each other. Antonio Brown, this is not how you create a divorce. because what Antonio Brown or the Steelers does not understand is

that you want to end up on a good team, right, with a good quarterback. Well, good teams with good quarterbacks are usually smart enough to draft a good quarterback. Who's going to eventually want to make a move of the Steelers? It's an awful organization with an awful quarterback thinking he can save the franchise. And so you're going to end up going and playing instead of going and playing with an Andrew Locke, instead of going and playing with a Patrick Mahomes or a Drew Brees, you'll end up going to playing with Blake Bortles or Tampa who's desperate. And so you're watching right now a superstar in the NFL messing it up,

which is it's about me, I want my money, I'm going on Instagram, and you're watching an NBA star do it the right way, which is it's about legacy. I was great last night, but we didn't win the game. Man, that is how you do it with Anthony Davis, and that is not how you do it. You know, it's like in the NBA and the NFL, if you want out, just think of yourself in life. If you want it out of a relationship, you don't throw pots and pans because nobody wants to date somebody who dates, throws pots and pans. So like these professional athletes, Anthony Davis, it's literally laying out exactly how you do it.

player butt off, talk about legacy, not money. Also, just don't burn bridges on your way out. Anthony David, now Anthony will get criticized by the media because this is the way it works in the NBA. We always blame the star. But he is literally doing it the perfect way. I don't know that he will get criticized so much. You don't think so?

No. People want to see Anthony Davis win. He's a star and he needs to be with an organization and in a situation where he can win. And nobody believes that's going to happen with the person. He's also from Kentucky, and Kentucky sometimes gives the NBA head cases. You know, he's a great guy. I don't know that he's necessarily the best fit for LeBron.

I just think he is the only superstar available in this agency situation. Paul George would be a great fit with him because he's a catch and shoot guy. But he's not going to be there. No. Paul George would have been a perfect guy, but Paul chose Westbrook over LeBron. I think he chose money over LeBron. Yeah. Car shopping's confusing. There's a lot of terms. Dealer price, list price, invoice. Here's what's not confusing. Go to Truecar.com. New or used. If you're looking to buy car, new or used, Truecar.com, check out their true price, and you can save three grand on average of MSRP. Andrew Luck's secret weapon in three minutes for our radio listeners. We'll see tomorrow.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet law. lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice 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 headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some

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Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get. your podcast. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not

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