The Herd with Colin Cowherd - LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Westbrook, and nicknames
Episode Date: December 6, 2018Colin discusses why LeBron James IS the Los Angeles Lakers, what the Green Bay Packers need to do to control QB Aaron Rodgers, why Oklahoma City Thunder G Russell Westbrook's triple double from last n...ight isn't important, and why he doesn't like nicknames. Guests include Chris Broussard, Greg Cosell, Michael Rapaport, T. J. Houshmandzadeh, and Jay Glazer. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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CoSell, our NFL meat sandwich for the week on Thursdays. Joy Taylor is joining me. How are you?
I'm great. Good morning.
Good morning. Last night was a little bit of an NBA night. That wasn't any college football.
We're waiting for bowls now. And NFL, we're waiting for tonight, some of you for the Titans
Jags game. And so last night I watched a couple of, you know, like Netflix, Amazon Prime
things. And I watched the Lakers play. And I watched the Sixers.
playing a little Oklahoma City. Let me start with this.
Now, I'm just talking NBA. I'm not talking the NFL. The NFL's got seven rounds,
seven rounds of draft players. Many of the all-time great NFL players, you didn't even,
you didn't even see play college. You didn't watch Walter Payton in college. You didn't watch
Jerry Rice in college. You didn't see Big Ben in college. You didn't half the NFL,
you didn't see T.O. in college. You didn't watch Ocho Cinco in college. In football, there
is talent everywhere. There is talent everywhere. In baseball, how many of these guys did,
many of them didn't go to American universities. There's baseball talent globally everywhere.
Basketball, there are very few difference makers. The NBA only has two rounds of their
draft. Two rounds. And by the way, after about the 14th pick, historically, you're out of
players. Oh, you can give me a Tony Parker at Draymond Green. Historically, after about the 14th pick,
you're not finding stars.
So when I hear about the Lakers developing talent,
let's develop talent.
You know, LeBron's going to stunt talent.
Really?
Do you watch that game last night?
LeBron was patient.
For three quarters, he let the other Lakers,
number two-pick Lonzo,
number two-pick Brandon Ingram,
Kyle Kuzma, he let all those guys.
Rondo, all that roster is a bunch of,
yeah, and then LeBron said in the fourth quarter,
all right, guys, give me the ball.
Scored 14 straight points,
and an eight-point deficit in the four,
when LeBron was being patient, became a Laker win by eight.
What am I waiting to develop?
You know what the Lakers roster is?
It's LeBron and 12 pending transactions.
I know Christmas is around the corner.
Hold off on the Josh Hart and Kyle Coosma jerseys for your kids.
They could be a pelican very soon.
Since the 2015 draft, two guys are all-stars.
Carl Anthony Towns, he's regressed, and Porzingis and he's hurt.
And the 2014 draft only had one R star, Joe L. M. Bid, who doesn't shoot threes and can't dribble much.
So he's not going to really carry you to a franchise unless he has shooters and ball handlers around him.
LeBron James.
I don't want to hear.
I mean, Janus.
Whenever I hear about developing stars, you can see Kobe Bryant's greatness early.
You saw Durant's greatness rookie year.
You could see LeBron early.
Kauai Leonard, I guess, sort of developed and so did Janus.
but Janice has still never won a playoff series.
We're five years into him.
I hear about developing talent all the time in the NBA.
It works that way in hockey, works that way in baseball,
works that way maybe in soccer.
It certainly works that way in football.
I'm kind of over-developing talent.
Brandon Ingram, hurt again.
Lonzo Good Early, not late.
This roster is all about LeBron.
If you're a Laker fan, if you're LeBron James, patient, give me players.
Philadelphia had that thing called The Process.
And then they went out and they got Jimmy Butler, which was ostensibly saying the process is a bunch of BS.
We drafted four guys, New Orleans in a while bust.
Markell Fultz bust.
She was a little local floor bust.
Michael Carter Williams bust.
And they went out and they got Jimmy Butler, a player.
Who you didn't watch playing college.
either. I mean, let's be honest about it.
That's what the Philadelphia 76ers were telling you with their rebuild,
the process. They gave it a cool nickname.
That it's a bunch of BS. It's a total sham.
And they went out and got an actual really good
all-star level player who had 36, 38 last night, Jimmy Butler.
So, you know, I'm watching all this Lakers stuff.
Here's what LeBron coming to Los Angeles has really done.
Greatness clarifies and separates.
Like if you have a bunch of singers,
and you have a great singer that goes on stage in the middle of tryouts,
she or he clarifies, oh, everybody else kind of average.
LeBron coming to L.A. has told you they don't have a second star.
Ingram's hurt again.
Lonzo Good in Spurts.
Kuzma hot and cold.
Josh Hart should be a good player off the bench.
Here's LeBron's fourth quarter, 14 straight points to put it away last night.
Head of steam for LeBron, finished with the left.
Huntingham on James.
Wide open three.
Got it.
LeBron out here, taking the long way home.
LeBron looks energized, pushing it.
Hit a deep three.
Hotter than fish grease right now.
LeBron with a steel.
Up to Coosma.
Los Angeles, the microphone is yours.
Another deep three.
This guy is giving the scores that worked tonight.
For three quarters, he was patient.
For three quarters, he let the developing young players control the game.
In the fourth, the best player in the league for 15 years, took it over, won the game.
The NBA draft is out of dudes by about the 14th pick of the first round.
Half the NFL are undrafted.
There's just not much world-class game-changing NBA talent.
The Lakers are LeBron and 12 pending transactions.
Hold off on buying the Brandon Ingram jersey.
Let me shift to this.
So the Aaron Rogers story has been great for us all week.
There's a lot of talk.
So Aaron Rogers is not working with McCarthy.
McCarthy gets run off.
Aaron Rogers says, well, you know, I've just shocked like everybody else.
Then a Green Bay assistant comes out, Winston Moss puts out a tweet that's inoffensive, innocuous, that says,
basically we've got to hold number 12 accountable, and he gets fired.
And so Aaron Rogers yesterday had to react to the questions about he's not accountable.
Aaron Rogers said yesterday, there's nobody that holds me more accountable than myself.
I mean, I'm always checking myself on preparation habits and my practice habits and my mindset.
So Aaron Rogers said that yesterday.
He'll take the heat when needed.
Here's Aaron yesterday.
I think there's nobody holds, holds me more accountable to myself.
I mean, I'm always checking myself on my preparation habits and my practice habits and my mindset.
But, I mean, there's always been, I think, a great deal of accountability.
Okay, fair enough.
That's what he says.
I'm not in the room, so fair enough.
To me, this is really simple.
The real question is, is Green Bay willing to be uncomfortable?
because you can hire Joe Philbin.
He's your interim coach.
He's comfortable.
He's part of the Packer family.
And let's be honest about small market America.
They don't love change.
They look at the cities.
I want to city people.
Not interested.
Dangerous.
Crazy liberals.
Small town America is comfortable with habits.
Compton Green Bay.
People have chosen to live in Green Bay.
Not a ton of employment in Green Bay.
They like Green Bay.
It's where they're from.
They're happy being there.
They've got their friends and fam.
And are they ready to get uncomfortable?
Because Joel Philbin is comfortable.
And if Joel Philbin goes four and oh or three and one down the stretch here,
they may strongly consider Joel Filman.
But everybody in Green Bay knows him.
Everybody in Green Bay likes him.
And he would have no power with Aaron Rogers.
The question is, who fills and checks the boxes?
that would make Aaron better and uncomfortable.
Just say it out loud.
What are the boxes, smart, track record of success, strong, frank coach.
Give it right back, not be intimidated.
That's probably Josh McDaniels.
That's maybe Jim Harbaugh.
Those are the guys that check the boxes.
But I got to be honest with you.
Josh McDaniels and Jim Harbaugh do not feel like Green Bay, Wisconsin.
They're outsiders.
they're going to be candid and frank and difficult and intimidating to not only Green Bay people, but to Aaron Rogers.
And I asked former Aaron Rogers teammate Greg Jennings about the Packers going after a guy like a McDaniel or more specifically Jim Harbaugh.
He would be phenomenal, I think, for Aaron Rogers, if Aaron Rogers would really self-assess and see where we can grow and where we need to kind of alter things.
If he's willing to do that, I think Jim Harbaugh would be the top pick.
But I just don't know if Aaron Rogers will ever be able to do that.
So what Green Bay, they're in a very tough spot here.
What Green Bay needs is not their DNA.
An outsider who is sometimes rude can be snarky and frank,
who is incredibly direct, who will tell you,
what he thinks and will push back on your iconic quarterback.
That's what Green Bay needs.
Is Green Bay comfortable with that?
Because Joe Philbin is your neighbor.
He's been in the family.
He's one of the Packers.
Packers love, even when the Packers fired their general manager,
they just gave him a different cubicle in the office.
They didn't run him out of town.
Green Bay is nice and nice people.
they need to hire somebody that's not that nice.
Harbaugh's not always that nice.
Josh McDaniel's not always that nice.
They check the boxes.
Is Green Bay willing to hire what they've never been comfortable hiring?
A real true opposite.
Outsider.
Not interested in your system or your way of doing business.
That's what you need.
I don't think you're comfortable with it.
Coming up next, wow, the headline splashes across the internet, the blogosphere, newspapers, the seven left, and television and radio stations.
The headline tells you what a night.
But the headline doesn't tell you the truth.
I'll explain coming up.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard.
Oh, it's great to have you in today.
So fired up.
Middle of the football season, kind of an NBA night last night.
That's fun.
Jimmy Butler going crazy for the Sixers and LeBron taking over the fourth quarter.
I also watched the show called Fortitude with Stanley Tucci.
That guy's amazing.
Joy is very good.
So, you know, a lot of times what the headline is isn't the story.
And the guy that writes the story doesn't necessarily put the man or woman who writes
the story doesn't put the headline up.
But the headline's trying to draw you into the story.
So sometimes the story of the game, the headline doesn't match it.
So here's the headline last night on Oklahoma City's win.
Russell Westbrook, third most triple doubles in NBA history.
Awesome.
Snazy.
That guy is amazing.
Russell Westbrook dominated the game.
Oh.
Did you actually watch the game?
Because Oklahoma City was getting rolled by 23 by a weak team Brooklyn.
I mean getting rolled out of the arena.
And Westbrook was dominating the ball.
And then late in the third quarter, Westbrook was done getting the stats he so desperately wants.
He loves the triple double.
He's going to be the all-time triple double guy.
He loves it.
And he got him.
By the middle, late third quarter, he got it.
And then he stopped shooting.
and then the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were getting rolled, suddenly started playing really well.
And they ended up because Paul George took all the shots in the fourth winning the game.
It was a huge comeback last night.
Before Russell Westbrook had his triple double, Oklahoma City was minus 19.
Then he stopped shooting.
They were plus 21.
They shot 39% as a team during his triple.
double run for the first two and a half quarters.
Then he stopped shooting.
They shot 49%.
He did not, did not make a shot in the fourth.
Paul George went crazy and scored 25 in the fourth.
Isn't that interesting?
So Paul George, who mostly watched Russell Westbrook, feed himself, feed himself,
I'm hungry, give me more, give me more, give me my points, give me my rebounds,
give me my assist.
And then Westbrook, as he's prone to do, is exhausted, scales back after he gets what he wants.
Paul George, the better shooter, takes over.
They make a miraculous comeback, and they went on the road.
Now, the headline is, man, Westbrook gets a triple double.
The headline should be, after Westbrook is done getting his triple double,
Oklahoma City allows the game plan to work.
Paul George shoots more, and Oklahoma wins a game that should have never been that close.
Of course, they don't have the space for all that headline.
But again, flash, news flash, triple double.
Oh, my God.
Westbrook got a triple double.
It's the most amazing thing.
That's the headline.
But if you watch the game after he fed himself and got what he wanted and was either exhausted
or felt like this isn't working, then they just fed Paul George the ball.
George, the real shooter on the team took over, they made a miraculous comeback in one.
Once again, the Thunder are 5 and 0 in Paul George's biggest games.
When he's allowed to go off, when he's allowed enough shots and opportunities to score in the 30s, they've never lost.
And when Westbrook shoots under 20 times, the Thunder are 8 and 1.
Last night was the first game.
He shot over 20 times and they won.
And they barely won.
Barely.
There's a clear, you can keep writing your headlines.
There is a clear definitive truth in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Less Westbrook, more Paul George.
And you win.
Triple double.
A lot of Westbrook, over 20 shots, less efficiency.
Paul George doesn't get the opportunities.
You do not win.
But you keep writing those headlines.
You keep writing those headlines about the triple-double.
That's not what really happened last night.
What happened was after he was done feeding himself and he was full,
big old belly of points, rebounds, and assists, Westbrook was exhausted,
and George took over and they won the game.
Joy Taylor with the news.
No, no, no, no.
Turn on the news.
This is the herd line news.
So the Eagles are starting to get some swagger back after winning two straight games against the 6 and 6.
Oh, God.
They may even break out the underdog masks again.
Just kidding.
I hope not.
Well, linebacker Kamu Guru J. Hill gave the Cowboys some bulletin board material yesterday.
What do you say?
Let's take a listen.
Oh, brother.
I mean, look at Dallas's history.
They always choked, so we'll go down there and make them choke.
Why would you do that?
What would be the point of that?
I mean, I really thought Philadelphia had a chance until that.
What was the...
I love it.
I mean, look, I don't really believe in bulletin board material.
Like, I think the amount of guys that actually get motivated by some statement like this is very slim.
In general, if you need someone to say something like this to get you motivated,
you probably need to, you know, work on the psychology of how you get ready for games to begin with
because you're going to be searching for something every time.
But this isn't high school.
Like, I don't imagine Jason Garrett goes and writes Kamulguerjee's Hill.
quote on the board.
Like,
The Eagles think we choke.
I don't think this decides football games,
but I think there is a clear picture of when this is allowed and fostered in a locker room,
it's not a real mature locker room.
Like grow up and,
I mean, like, you just wouldn't see a Patriot doing that.
Is Doug, why don't the Patriots do this?
Because Belichick and Brady set the tone, which is.
And they never do that.
Yeah, like, we're not going to do that.
You shouldn't have second-tier linebackers popping off.
It's not the way it works.
I mean, I think it's good for fans.
It's good for us.
But we don't matter.
I think it sells the fight, which is fun because it's already a big rivalry.
Yeah, it sets the tone for it.
It sets a tone for it.
But as far as, like, guys actually getting motivated by it, I don't believe anyone's like, hey, that guy said we're going to choke.
We're not choker.
Speaking of the Cowboys, the NFL let Ezekiel Elliott slide three years ago when he celebrated a Thanksgiving touchdown by jumping in the Salvation Army kettle.
That's kind of funny.
It was.
It was.
It was an iconic move, if you will.
But they're not letting him slide this year.
He put $21 in the pot after a 16-yard touchdown run against Washington.
And he also donated his quarterback.
Doc Prescott was showing the video of it now.
So funny.
The NFL decided this weekend that Elliott should increase his giving to $13,369 for his second offense.
We're also showing a video of the Saints donating in the kettle.
I think this is actually my favorite celebration in the NFL.
I think this is actually hysterical.
I love this.
You love this celebration?
This is my favorite celebration.
I honestly, I'm not a big celebration guy.
This is awesome that they'd run over to the Salvation Army,
Kettle and put money in?
I happen to love it too, but the NFL says, no, no.
Here is Zeke on not being in the giving mood and plans to appeal the fine.
I didn't really expect a fine.
We don't care about the fine.
It's all for a good cause.
I mean, we're trying to bring awareness of Salvation Army.
The NFL doesn't like that then.
I mean, that's on them.
I'll pay the little fine.
A lot of things they do, you can find ridiculous,
but I mean, that's not really in my business.
Not anything I can change,
so I'm just going to keep being focused on this season,
focus on leading this team, focus on when out there winning ball games.
By the way, the NFL could do itself a huge favor here.
It's not been a great week for the NFL, right?
Like some bad PR.
The NFL should come in and say for the next two weeks,
whatever the players put in the bowl,
they should encourage players.
It would be hysterically funny that if they put a bowl
the back of every end zone. Say it's a two-week thing. We don't like you doing this with the money
and stuff. But for the next two weeks, we're in the giving mood, open it up and any dollar
amount put in, the NFL will put 100 times that in. I think it's hysterically. Well, I mean,
they do often or almost always make their decisions based on reactions. So that would make sense.
Yes. I, this is funny that you like this because this is one of the rules that they can't have,
they can't use any props. I know, but I think you should have a two-week prop. And you're very anti-celebrations.
But the NFL does this, though.
They had a lot of problems with guys wearing the customized cleats.
So now they made my cleats my cause.
So in reaction to the outrage, people being mad about them taking it away.
The IRS allows a charity exemption.
This would be a two-week NFL charity exemption.
I think it's great.
I mean, I love it.
I don't have any problem with any of it.
I think that's a good idea.
Finally, you just mentioned it.
Russell Westbrook messed around and got a triple double last night.
against the Nets, passing Jason
Kidd with 108 career triple doubles.
This was his fourth triple double of the season,
all coming over his past seven games.
He now only trails Magic Johnson,
who has 138,
and Oscar Robertson, who has 181 in career triple doubles.
This means a lot to him.
You get, this is going to, this means a lot to...
He knows he's not going to get the rings.
This is a big thing for Westbrook.
He only trails Magic by 30 and Oscar by 78.
And you know what this means to Magic?
Nothing.
Magic Johnson couldn't give two rips about being the triple double king on his Wikipedia page.
That's the 73rd thing for Magic.
That will end up being the number one thing for Westbrook.
It matters to him.
Doesn't Russ get any credit for dishing it to Paul George's spot?
No, I think he was exhausted last night.
And then it's like, okay, Russ, first three quarters feed me, rebound, assist.
Then his belly's full.
He's like, oh, my belly's full.
and then Westbrook's like, I'm exhausted,
and then Paul George takes over and they win.
I really believe this.
I think Westbrook, I think certain players want certain things.
I mean, you really think he sits there and counts the stats?
I think this is just how he plays.
I think he's very aware.
Why in the fourth didn't he shoot?
He took two shots.
So he hasn't learned 11 years in the league to pace himself?
Or maybe they just decided that Paul George is the closer.
Come on.
All right, Joey with the news.
Well, that's the news.
And thanks for stopping by.
The Hurd-Ly News.
Our NBA guru, Chris Broussard, New York Times, any times.
He's always good and good times and bad.
You know Westbrook's averaging a triple-double again.
Oh, and I know it means a lot to him.
It should.
I know it means a lot to him because he's going to be the all-time triple-double guy.
Yes.
And he's not going to get any titles.
So he's going to be the triple-double king.
Oscar Robertson was.
To be mentioned in the same breath as Oscar Robertson, that ain't bad.
Let me ask you this.
How often have you been in a sports bar and you talk Oscar Robertson?
Never.
Well, and what I'll mention is, first of all, the older generation loves him.
My dad thinks he's arguably the best player ever.
But beyond that, whenever you talk about him, what comes up?
Only player ever to average a triple double.
That's what everybody says from Magic to LeBron to Jason Kidd, to everything.
kid to every player. That's what they say about Oscar Robertson.
That's what they're going to say about Russell Westbrook, the only player to average a triple
double, two straight years, maybe three. Oh, huge. You know what they say about MJ? Six for
six. He's not MJ, all right, but he's an all-time great. Charles Barkley, you wouldn't
want his career? Charles Barkley is better than Westbrook. You kidding me?
I? Barkley's probably better, but he didn't win any rings.
Charles Barkley's a better player than Westbrook. And what's the one stat? Westbrook's in that class.
He's in the Barclay class.
Here's the thing about Westbrook.
All this is talking about you can't win with him.
They were up 3-1 on the 73-win
Golden State Warriors.
They should have won that series.
And it wasn't all Westbrook that Bob messed it up.
It was Durant and Westbrook.
Neither one of them played well.
They should have won a big series.
And they went to the finals when he was a youngster.
Here's what's amazing.
Is that the last two years in the first round,
he looks emotionally.
You would agree with this.
physically and emotionally, the last two years, he's shot by the end of the first round.
Because he's had to do so much.
And this year he's doing a little less, which is good.
Yeah, but last night's classic just feeds himself for three quarters.
And then in the fourth, when he shoots less, they catch fire.
Doesn't he have any pacing or sense of timing or is it always like, you know, people
once said this about Steph Marbury.
I remember hearing this from an executive.
He said Marbury will end up with nine assists after he gets his.
he'll get his then he'll give you in the
but when you really need early in games
Westbrook wants to get his
then he'll make sure you get yours I always feel like
with Westbrook I'm going to get mine first
and then I'll let you get yours
well oftentimes your greatest strength is your greatest weakness
and one of his strengths is his energy his intensity
110 miles an hour all night long
but the weakness part of that
is that he'll play the last two minutes typically
like he played minute 17.
You know, so not understanding time and score all the time.
That has hurt him.
But I'm just saying the narrative that he can't win,
he's been close enough where they should have won.
So I don't think you could just say this kid can't win.
I'm going to say it until I see him win.
You know they're atop the Western Congress right now.
I know.
I'm not picking them.
I'm just saying they have a shot,
just like the Lakers do, of being the second best team.
in the West. Let me shift to the Lakers last night.
You know, it's funny. We're all talking about, you know, and I think it's fair that
Brandon Ingram, to some degree, his growth gets stunted with LeBron because Brandon needs the
ball. He's not a spot-up shooter. So Brandon needs the ball. Well, he doesn't get it with LeBron.
And therefore, we thought he was going to go from nine a game, 16, 23, and he's not growing.
He's not grown. Now, he got hurt last night. He'll be out for a week. He'll be fine.
but in the end
LeBron
last night
has been patient
for two months
and here's what I see
with this team
it's LeBron and 12
pending transactions
none of these guys
none have earned the right to say
I get to be a Laker
I'd move
Josh Hart's overachieve
this is just a bunch of rosters
this is a bunch of transactions
and LeBron last night he's patient
for two and a half hours
And then he's got to be like, oh, I've got to take over the fourth.
I've seen it live.
I've seen every game on television.
This team is just a bunch of dudes and a superstar.
I thought the way he played last night, it reminded me of some of the games Michael Jordan
used to play in that in the first three quarters a lot of times, Jordan would get everybody
involved, let them do their thing, let them score.
He would score his points, but take a little bit of a step back.
He'd be like 19 points going into the fourth.
Right, right.
Then in the fourth quarter, he would take over and close it.
I thought that's what LeBron did.
And LeBron also, I mean, when he was scoring his 20 and the fourth,
I love some of like swing passes he made.
Like he's on the left block and passes it across two.
I don't know if it was Coosmore or ball.
And then they swung it to Josh Hartford,
open three that tied the game with three minutes left.
So look, it was almost like LeBron.
And I know he said after the game he didn't read
and hadn't heard about the Kevin Durant's story and all that.
But it was almost like he said, okay,
I'm not going to get a superstar.
I'm going to make the most out of these guys,
and I'm going to win with these guys
because he was phenomenal last night.
I would love to see him just take over games like that more often.
I think LeBron has really been a great teammate this year.
If you go look at LeBron's three big games this year,
there's the last night after the toxic comments,
the night he could have surpassed Wilt.
Remember that?
Went into the Wilt game.
He's like, okay, I'm going to pass.
Will.
Right.
I'd rather do it in the fourth quarter of this game than the first quarter of the next
game.
And then he had one other big game.
We had 51, was it against Miami?
Okay.
So he goes back.
So think about that.
LeBron's three biggest games, going back to the old place, breaking Wilts number, and
the day after the toxic comments, proving LeBron could be dropping 40 a night.
He is sitting back praying Ingram, Lanzo, Coosemaw, Hart.
And I'm, and I'm, last night's a classic example.
Incredibly patient.
He's opposite of Westbrook.
His game was the opposite of Westbrook.
I'm going to feed everybody else for three quarters.
And it's like, okay, we trail by eight.
I got to take it off.
Westbrook did all his work in the first three.
Then doesn't give you anything late.
I think LeBron is smart enough to know me going out on average in 37 is not best for our team.
And I'm not just talking about long-term development of these young guys.
That's not how we're going to be.
the best team we can be. He's never
wanted to be that type of player. I asked
him once how many points he could
average if he really just went out to
lead the league and scoring all that. He's
about 35, 36.
But he knows that's not
the best way to win.
And so, yeah, I think
like you said, he, after these comments
and let me say something about the toxic comments,
I think Kevin Durant,
he really was, wanted to be critical of
LeBron, but didn't, he wanted to
hide behind criticizing the media. Because if the atmosphere around LeBron James is toxic with him
or with his team, why? It's because the franchise bends to LeBron's will. And everybody knows
the owner and the president and the coach have to answer to some degree to LeBron or do answer to
some degree to LeBron. Or it's his cryptic tweets or Instagram post. If it's toxic, if the
That's why.
It's not because of the media.
The media, first of all,
LeBron hasn't won an MVP award in five years,
even though we all agree he's the best player in the world.
Great point.
Right.
Media votes.
Media votes for that.
And they haven't voted LeBron James.
That's a great point.
If the media fond over LeBron,
in fact, he would be having all these MVP awards.
Exactly.
Sometimes now he's down to third and fourth in the voting.
Yep.
Look, he's been praised for,
opening up a school for at-risk youth in Akron,
for putting his childhood friends in positions to become business moguls,
for getting his Miami Heat teammates to wear the hoodies in honor of Trayvon Martin,
for doing shut up and dribble documentaries.
All that stuff, that's what he gets praised for.
This stuff, Durant called it BS and fluff.
The off-the-court praise of LeBron, the non-basketball stuff, is not fluff.
It's like real, legitimate,
great things that LeBron is doing.
And I think KD.
Now, KD, taking a shot at LeBron.
Yeah, I mean, how else could, I'm shocked.
When's the last time you heard another player talk like that
and that extensive about another player?
That is a superstar player.
You might get it off the record.
But to go on the record, I give him credit.
He said his words and said what he wanted to say with his chest out.
I give him that.
But I think a lot of it came from jealousy.
because KD feels like the media doesn't give him a fair shake.
I would say to KD.
Now, KD does a lot of great stuff off the court too.
But I would say the reason KD's gotten criticized in the media is what?
Having a burner account.
Telling the fans shut the heck up at a game.
Like, those are the things you're getting criticized for.
And LeBron's getting praised for doing legitimately good stuff.
Sounds like to me Kady and doesn't want to play with LeBron.
Look, I've always been told he does not want to play with LeBron.
Well, then he doesn't.
He thinks he's better than LeBron and he wants to compete with LeBron.
And I like that about KD.
If I'm Kate, now I agree with you.
After these quotes, I can't imagine he would come play with LeBron.
KD should be thinking this way and I think he is thinking this way.
I want to be better than LeBron.
I want to win more titles when LeBron.
Now, I think, and I believe you do too, he'll never be.
considered better than LeBron. But I'm certainly not going to elevate LeBron to three more titles.
What's the void? What if 10 years from now when they're both retired, KD has five rings,
four or five finals MVP's and LeBron has three. Then it's still LeBron by inches. Right. And some
people might even try to give it to Katie. Here's another thing KD could have. He was a part of arguably
the greatest team of all time. I don't think as great as I think LeBron is,
I don't think he's been a part of an all-time great team.
I don't think that Miami Heat team was all-time great.
God, no.
They weren't.
No size and bad at point.
There you go.
So that's what KD should be thinking.
I want to compete and I want to be better than LeBron.
And it appears that that's how he is thinking.
I've been saying this.
I'll believe Katie's going to be a Laker when I see it.
I just don't buy it.
I do not buy it.
The Anthony Davis thing I buy, Chris Broussard, you brought it today.
Thank you.
It's always good with you.
you, man. I love it. Great.
Coming up next, I'll eliminate
somebody else coming to
L.A. It's the hurt. Vic's Synex
nasal spray is great during the next few
months, cold and flu season. You use up to
12 hours as directed. Vick
Synex nasal spray.
I'm going to get to, you know,
there's all this talk about who's going to be a Laker.
Somebody is going to be a Laker. It's
not Kevin Durant. And I'll tell you somebody
else who everybody thinks is coming here
and he's not coming here. And I'll eliminate
him today at the top of the hour with Greg
go sell. So there's an article yesterday written by Tim Kallushaw. He's a long time respected
a Dallas columnist, not really a homer. You know, I mean, most people kind of lean toward their
home team, but he was talking about the playing field between Dak Prescott, the cowboy
quarterback, and Carson Wentz, the Philadelphia Eagle quarterback, has leveled. And I thought to myself,
no, it hasn't. It's, the gap is the Grand Canyon. There's not a general manager in the league.
take out the Eagles and the Cowboys.
The 30 remaining GMs,
30 out of 30 would take Carson Wentz.
Now, Kalashaw went on to say, yeah, he's better,
and yet given the choice, teams would take Wentz over Prescott.
But it's not necessarily by so much that it makes all the difference in the world.
Oh, yes, it does.
That's exactly what it does.
Carson Wentz is coming off an ACL tear.
He was not healthy for the first two months.
He has no running game due to a player leaving it an injury.
he lost both of his top offensive guys, and he's still having a better year.
Okay.
The story here with the Dallas Cowboys isn't Dak, but he's a quarterback.
And like Romo Aikman, Roger Staubach, Danny White, the cowboy quarterback gets a lot of discussion.
It's the Lakers shooting guard.
It's the Yankee shortstop.
There are positions in American sports.
that get the discussion.
The story is about how damn good the cowboys are besides Dack.
Dak is Andy Dalton.
He's Blake Bortles.
He's RG3.
He's a better version of Tebow.
In a short window, when a team around him has a lot of ingredients,
mostly a strong running game,
it can hide his weaknesses.
Here's what I don't think people understand about Dallas.
Because if you do a blind resume right now with Dak Prescott,
This is with a better than average offensive line.
This is with now arguably the best running back in the game.
With a slot receiver, number one receiver.
The blind resume, you know who he compares to?
Winning completion, touchdowns, pass a rate.
Ryan Tannahill, who for the record has missed five games.
If Tannahill hadn't missed any games, he'd be blowing Dack away.
Dack is blind resume.
This line resume is always just such a punch in the guys.
That's who he is.
And that's not a healthy Ryan Tannahill.
That's an injured Ryan Tannahill.
The story of the Cowboys this year, how good their supporting cast is.
I was doing this this morning.
If you go to pro football focus and they grade players by position,
and I'm not saying they're perfect, but they're as good as anybody else,
the Cowboys have an elite running back, Zeke, an elite pass rusher to Marcus Lawrence.
Two elite linebackers, Leighton Vandreche, Jalen Smith, an elite corner in Byron Jones,
an elite left tackle, center and right guard, though the center is hurt,
and an elite wide receiver. Amari Cooper is rated as their highest rated offensive player,
even above Zeke. The Cowboys have nine elite players.
Do you realize the L.A. Rams do not have nine elite players.
The Kansas City Chiefs have seven.
The Cowboys have, and by the way, they're not just elite players.
They're at key positions.
Left tackle, running back in 2018, wide receiver, pass rusher, locked down corner.
This day and age, athletic linebackers are in short supply and they are wildly important.
the story of the Cowboys isn't Dak.
He's Dalton, a better Tebow, RG3, Blake Bortles.
The story is the Jones family has hit it out of the park in the last several drafts.
Cowboys are loaded.
If you gave Philip Rivers this lineup, Tom, I mean, don't fall for the Dak Prescott thing.
Because we've seen this over and over and over again.
By the way, yesterday, Jason Whitlock went kind of crazy on the assertion that Wins and Dack are close.
Quarterbacks from the same draft are not on the same playing field.
They're barely on the same planet.
No question Carson Wins has taken a step back from a year ago when he was an MVP candidate.
But Wins isn't in Dackland.
Dackland is Sackland.
It's a neighborhood in Dallas where quarterbacks lack.
confidence, hold the ball, absorb unnecessary sacks, and fumble the football.
Yeah, that's really the truth. The gap here is huge. I remember when Andy Dalton broke in this
league, and Andy had, he just had it. He had two tight ends, Muhammad Sunu, Marvin Jones,
A.J. Green. They had a couple good running backs and Tyler Eiffert. And then they had a kid from
Oklahoma was another tight end. Jeremy Gresham, I think. I mean, I could be getting, yeah, Jermaine Gresham.
And for like three years, we were like, who.
And then all those guys left or got hurt.
Except AJ Green.
Now you're like, oh, yeah, we need a new quarterback.
Don't fall for this.
Don't fall for this thing.
Dallas is stacked.
Right now, the thing holding them back is the quarterback spot.
By the way, the Wents blind resume this year.
Let's put up Carson Wince on the wall.
So we saw that Dax's blind resume was who?
Ryan Tannehill.
The Carson Wentz blind resume.
Completion percentage.
Oh, it's Tom Brady.
And that's having lost his running game, his two offensive guys,
and coming into the year off an ACL injury.
That was last year's Tom, not this one.
Last year's Tom Brady that won MVP.
That's his blind resume.
Tom Brady last year, MVP Tom Brady.
It's the herd.
This is the herd.
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.
Greg CoSell in three minutes, Joy Taylor is joining me for our number two.
We get very holiday feeling.
We got a ton of cold weather and rain here in Los Angeles around the country is getting snow.
Out west at least, the mountains, the ski resorts are getting pounded with snow.
It's a great time at the holiday season.
And you love skiing.
I love ski. I'm going skiing after tomorrow's show.
Oh, really?
Going to head to the mountains for a day, ski, fly back and do the Sunday NFL kickoff show.
Good for you.
Flying to Utah for one day of snow and my kids.
Makes me very, very happy.
Before I get to Greg CoSell, Kevin Durant made comments this week that were very clicky,
and everybody's talking about him.
And he talked about if you play with LeBron, it can be toxic.
And I'm showing our TV audience to quote, I get it.
These are the most dynamic quotes.
They're the most explosive quotes.
they're going to get all the attention.
But Kevin Durant in the same moment
had two quotes about actual basketball.
And I thought they were smart.
And I thought they talked about the key
with playing with LeBron.
The first quote was,
it depends on what kind of player you are.
If you're Kyle Corver, it makes sense.
Because in Atlanta, he was the bulk of the offense.
He's not a number one option at all, not close.
So LeBron's talents benefit him.
He said,
But the second part of the quote by Kevin Durant,
if you're Kauai Leonard, you're a young player trying to pair him with LeBron.
Doesn't make sense.
Kauai enjoys having the ball in his hands, controlling the offense.
A lot of young players are developing that skill.
They don't need another guy.
And I think this is absolutely the truth about LeBron.
Jimmy Butler.
It's nothing against LeBron.
Jimmy wants the ball.
Can't get it with LeBron.
Brandon Ingram.
His growth has been stunted.
He's not a spot-up shooter.
he doesn't work with LeBron.
Kauai Leonard isn't a great fit with LeBron.
If I'm Jerry West, I'm just telling him.
Look at how well he's playing 27 and 8 in Toronto.
Now, he's never been a big assist guy, Kauai.
He doesn't work with LeBron.
So I create these meters.
I created the LeBronzo meter first, and we were right,
that LeBron was coming to L.A. to play with Lanzo.
And last week I created this week earlier, Lebrow, for Anthony Davis, the Lebrow meter.
And I think that one, it will keep our eye on that.
Then we created the Kevin Lebrant meter, okay.
But let me eliminate a meter that we considered.
In fact, we made it, and it doesn't even work.
It's all messed up.
The LeWai meter.
Kauai Leonard's not coming to L.A.
Oh, that's so bad.
It's a bad fit.
it's not working. It's not going to happen.
Kauai Leonard and Jimmy Butler are now both flourishing in the East as they control the ball.
So people think people don't like LeBron.
It's not about that. It's about where can you be your best you?
Now, I do think Anthony Davis fits very well with LeBron.
And I think Kevin Durant fits very well eventually with LeBron.
so we'll keep those meters intact.
Kauai Leonard, don't think it works.
And with that, 30 plus years, our NFL meat sandwich at NFL films,
nobody gives you a more objective look at the football game as a whole.
If you're a fantasy player, you bet it, or you're just in love the game.
Nobody lays it out quite like Greg Kosell.
So let's go for our Thursday meat sandwich.
Let's go to the Cowboys defense.
they did something that nobody's done to that level in years against Drew Brees.
Greg, what did the film say?
Why did they have so much success against Drew?
Well, I think, Colin, what they do position players in the passing game of the Saints,
and they pretty much said that there's two players who really scare you,
Kamara and Michael Thomas, and the rest of the players we can handle.
So what they chose to do was they played a lot of man coverage.
And then what they did on third down as the game progressed is they played dime with six defensive backs,
so they could put a corner Jordan Lewis on Alvin Kamara.
So they felt that that was an athletic equivalent because you cannot put a linebacker or a safety on Alvin Kamara in the past game.
So it was very Belichekian.
There's two guys.
Let's take away there too.
And we think we match up physically with everybody else.
Right.
and the Saints, Colin, because Sean Peyton and Drew Brees are obviously phenomenal
on what they do, but if you really look at their skill position players, they do not have
anyone that I think you game plan for. Michael Thomas, yes, in some ways, although he's not a true
vertical dimension, but he's outstanding in what he does, certainly Kamara.
Kamara is arguably the best receiving back in the league. So, and is a wide receiver as well.
But other than that, I think you feel, if you're a good,
good man-to-man team and you have good man defenders. I think you feel you can match up.
I want to go to Russell Wilson, who has multiple games, eight straight with multiple T-Ds.
And I think this is one of Pete Carroll's better years. They've shorted up the offensive line.
They're a running team. But I also think Russell Wilson's had a very strong year.
Let's talk a little what the film says. That's what my eyes see. What is the film said?
And Colin, he's had a very strong year playing the way a lot of people do not think Russell Wilson plays.
He's had a very strong year playing with stability from the pocket.
And what they do is they run the ball and then they work the play action pass game.
And he's been very, very successful, really on a weekly basis at hitting what we call shot plays.
Work off the run at times with six-o linemen.
They line up with six offensive linemen on 20% of their offensive snaps.
Think about that for a minute.
And he's thrown the fewest passes by a wide margin of any quarterback who started every game for their team this year.
So he's been incredibly efficient.
He has 29 touchdowns throwing those fewest passes.
And that play-action pass game has been outstanding for them.
Yeah, it's a different way.
You know, it's funny.
The Cowboys run.
It's old school.
It is really old school.
But I got to tell you, I've yet to believe that the Steve.
dealers can get past New England with all the throwing and that Kansas City can go to New
England if they have to win-win.
Everybody says this is old school.
In my life, good defense, great running game, controlling the clock, and the ability with
a top quarterback to make some dynamic plays.
Everybody says that's old school.
That's winning school to me.
Now, Carolina can be very run-reliant, but Cam has regressed in the last couple of weeks.
What's happening there?
Well, you know, they've sort of had the perfect negative storm.
When Cam's played well over the last number of weeks, their defenses let them down.
This week, Cam struggled through much of the first half.
He was not as accurate as he's been this season.
He missed some throws that he needed to make.
He clearly has an injury to his shoulder because when I watched the tape this week,
the ball did not come out with the same energy.
Now, one thing to keep in mind with Cam is he's always been a poor lower body mechanic.
Yes, you say that, yeah.
So he's always relied on his arm, which has always been powerful.
But you can tell now that his shoulder is not right because when he steps in the bucket
and opens up his body and tries to make throws, the ball's not coming out the same way.
And that's affecting his velocity, and it's affecting his ball placement.
And that was noticeable this week.
Yeah, so he's an arm thrower over sometimes a leg thrower, and when his arm or his shoulder is injured,
then you have the mistakes and you have the turn.
He's not a torquer nor a strider. If you understand what I mean, think of baseball. Think of a
guy swinging where you snap your hips, power hitters. You know, you don't have to be a six, five,
250 pound baseball player to be a power hitter because it all comes from torque. It's the same thing,
let's say, with a puncher in boxing, you snap your hips when you throw that right hand.
You know, it's why someone like Thomas Hermes back in the day, you remember Tommy Hearns on the York
Island, why, you know, a guy who was six, one and a half and 145 pounds was such a strong
knockout puncher because he had torque.
Yeah. You know, the Steelers and the Patriots are becoming the opposite of one another.
One is now very pass-reliant. Let's talk New England.
Sony Michelle, Rex Burkhead, and James White.
This is about the best threesome they've had in some time.
They've got the receiver, White.
Burkhead and Sony-Michel can both catch.
But nice running back tandem.
Steelers are the opposite.
They become very past reliant.
you look when I've watched new England this year, boy, they're starting to look like every
New England team in November and December, pick up those short-yarded situations, good
situationally, no penalties, number nine in points allowed. Let's talk a little bit about
the running game for New England because it feels like now, a little bit of a three-headed
monster. Well, let me just turn that around if I could, Colin. I thought they, they, one thing I could
add to what you just said about New England when they're playing well is they're very specific to the
opponent that they play.
And I think they had a phenomenal game plan against Minnesota, because think of it this way.
Minnesota's got a really good down four.
They're very good against the run.
So even though the Patriots had been running the ball really successfully, and I was fooled
as well, they did not come out running the ball.
It was a past game approach, but it was spread formations.
It was quick game.
It was play action.
It was misdirection.
It was screens.
They did not let the Vikings front four generate any momentum.
in that game.
And then when they got the lead, that's when they turned to the run game, which very often
is the sign of a really good team.
Get the lead throwing it and then run it to close it out.
Now, the Steelers, meanwhile, James Connor has hurt.
Statistically, they're throwing it more than anybody in the league.
Yeah.
That, to me, doesn't feel like a winning recipe in Kansas City at Foxborough in January.
What do you see over the last few weeks?
Yeah, I think, you know, four or five weeks ago, we talked about how they'd really committed to the run with James Connor, and he was carrying 18, 19, 20 plus times a game, and it seems as if they've gone away from that.
And I think it's difficult, in my view, to play that way, particularly, you know, Ben has not been as good.
He's missed some throws with ball placement. He missed a touchdown against the Chargers to Justin Hunter wide open.
You rarely see Ben miss those. And then he threw a very bad pick.
first half in just outside the red zone. So you take points off the board. So those individual
negative plays start to add up. And with a problem when you don't run the ball to me anyway, and
maybe I'm old school, is I don't think you have the same continuity and stability in your
offense. I think the run game tends to provide that more than the past game. Yeah. In that game
against the Chargers, which we were just watching highlights of, Joey Bosa has returned for the
Chargers. It was one of the most impressive
halves of football by
any team in the league. What's Bosa
create for them?
They're way down the league and
Blitz percentage versus quarterback dropbacks.
So Bosa now gives
them that two-sided pass rush
with Ingram, and that's critical.
And one thing about the Chargers, and it's
been very effective all year,
they play with six defensive
backs way more than any
team and can do that because number 31
Adrian Phillips, who's essentially a lineback
but is a safety as well. He can play the run. So that allows them to play that dime personnel.
And like I said, they play dime a ton and they're good at it.
By the way, I'm watching Philadelphia. Now, they can obviously get everything right by beating
Dallas. I don't think they will, although I do think they have a ton of talent.
You know, Carson Wentz statistically is having a pretty good year. He lost his two offensive
coordinators or as two offensive guys.
They don't have much of a running game. I do think
Golden Tate, I think they're wide receivers.
Alshan, Aguilar, Golden Tate. I think they're fine.
I don't think they're great, but I think they're fine.
You know, people have said Carson Wentz
has regressed this year.
Is it that, or did he just lose these
spark plug coaches?
Well, I think that's part of it, but I would disagree
with you a little bit. I think that they have
very limited talent at the receiver
position. They have no vertical
dimension whatsoever. Their biggest vertical dimension is Zach Ertz. So they do not have any
vertical dimension at all. Their past game is very condensed and very limited. And I think that really
hurts their offense. So that's one reason that they've been trying to run the football because their
past game is not good enough from a personnel standpoint to carry them at all. I don't think
Carson Wentz is the problem at all. I think they're so limited from a talent perspective. Golden Tate's a
good player, but he's a certain kind of player. He's not a vertical dimension either. They cannot
stretch defenses at all. Now, meanwhile, Dak now has Amari Cooper. So that clearly is working, right?
I mean, now, I don't ever think of him as a field stretcher, but I do think of Amari Cooper as a
separator that he will get open. He's a great route runner. I mean, it does feel like Amari Cooper
is absolutely to this point been worth what they gave up for him.
Well, I think that there's a lot of isolation routes,
and you need receivers who can win one-on-one,
and he can win one-on-one.
And because of his size, he also has run after the catchability.
So while he's not a vertical, true vertical dimension,
the way, let's say someone like Julio Jones might be,
he does have the ability with his route running to get on top of corners,
but he's so good run-after catch.
So he gives them an awful lot, given the way they play.
You know, it's funny, we started the year, and everybody said Dallas has the worst receivers in the league.
Well, Cole Beasley's a decent slot.
Gallops are rookie who appears to be getting better.
Amari Cooper, and then they have Zeke.
If you look at the cowboy receivers and Philadelphia receivers, entering...
The Cowboys have better receivers than the Eagles.
Okay, there you go.
So entering the season, we didn't think that was a huge issue for Philly, and it was a major issue for Dallas,
but you like Dallas's right now on Tatemore.
All right.
They have more dimensions.
And don't forget they've got Zique.
You know, that's a big factor here because they've got an outstanding screen game as well with Zique.
And, you know, a lot of teams have good screen games tactically, conceptually,
but Zeeke adds another dimension to that because he's so, he's such a good run.
I think Zhe's the best back in the league.
Well, let's talk about perhaps the second best back, Todd Gurley.
That's your big play of the week for the Rams.
They play the Bears.
Yeah, and just as a preface to that, I think that the Rams offense has not been quite as sharp over the last two years.
I agree.
I agree.
And I thought it was pretty noticeable this week.
I don't think Goth has been quite as sharp,
and they have a great matchup Sunday night against the Bears.
I'm fascinated to watch that.
But I wanted to show this play, and let's start it.
This was a touchdown in the fourth quarter that actually won the game for them,
you know, sealed the win.
And this was a fascinating play,
because what you have here is an understanding of defense
and what the defense is doing.
It's a basic outside zone run.
And you can see Higby.
Woods-Rennels. It's Trips Bunch, tight to the formation. Now, they knew they were getting man coverage.
This is what Sean McVeigh is so good at, understanding the defense. So Diggs is on Higby,
and that's man. Sleigh is on Woods. That's man-to-man, and Lawson is on Reynolds, man-to-man.
Now, they take Higby and Reynolds and work them to the other side of the formation, so those
defenders go there. So the gap in the defense, and it's a walk-in touch.
down. And you know, it all stems from understanding, Colin, what the defense is doing, anticipating
tendency, probability, understanding what you're going to get, and then you call a play that
breaks that down. One thing I've learned from talking to the really good offensive coaches,
you must understand defense, you must understand the rules of the defense, and that's what you need
to study. You do not call plays in a vacuum. It's amazing that at the 13-yard line, with that congestion,
you'd have that large a lane.
And that's just understanding, systematically understanding,
they're running man, we're going to move our men to certain places.
That opens the lane.
The 13-yard line, you're not supposed to have that much of a lane for a touchdown.
No second or third-level defenders because of what they did with the reverse action by Reynolds
and what we call split-flow zone action by Higby.
And then Woods just ran out of there with what we call an easy release.
and the entire lane.
You and I could have run through that lane, Colin.
Yeah.
Well, I would have wobbled through it, but I could.
Me too.
Greg CoSell NFL films.
Thanks, Greg.
Thanks, Colin.
Coming up next, it was a sham from the beginning,
but now I think the team that created the sham
is acknowledging it was a sham.
That's coming up.
Be sure to catch live editions of the herd
weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.
Sunday, it's a Fox NFL doubleheader,
starting with Drew Brees and the high-powered Saints
taking on the Buccaneers.
then it's America's game of the week is Carson Wentz and the Eagles battle as
Zico Elliott and the Cowboys in a huge NFCE showdown.
It's all on Fox and the Fox Sports app.
Check your local listings.
By the way, I don't like nicknames.
People say the herd.
Colin Coward, some marketing guy years ago, said Colin Coward doesn't sound good.
Why did you just call it the herd?
And I said, that's what a guy used to call me years ago.
Someone called you Hurd?
Yeah, the Hurd.
It's about 22 years old.
a guy named Don Logan started calling me the herd.
Everybody in the office called me the herd,
and pretty soon everybody called me the herd.
Like even when I walk around the streets, like in Los Angeles,
hey, herd, love the show.
That's what people call me.
Whatever, I don't think.
So it's kind of a nickname.
I hate nickname.
But I've just people have been calling it.
I didn't come up with it.
People only call me JT.
I didn't come up with Herd.
It's not like I came out with it.
No, you can't create your own nickname.
But a lot of people do.
And I'm not a big believer in that.
And I'll give you an example why.
Think about the current like eight or nine
minus dees in sports. Roger Federer, Serena Williams,
Yukon Women's Basketball, Bama Football, Golden State Warriors, Patriots, Duke
basketball. There's no nicknames. Nobody calls him
Roger Rocket Federer. Okay, so let's look
at the big popular nicknames over the last 10 years.
Lobb City, Saxonville, Legion of Boom, the Process, Moneyball, and Wee the North.
Yeah. Nicknames are created to sell something.
I never bought the process.
I thought it was a sham.
I didn't buy into Philadelphia's game plan, which was,
let's draft the tallest guy available in the draft as it becomes a shooter's league.
Nerlands, Noel was a bust.
Jalea Localcofore was a bust.
Markell Fultz is a bust.
Michael Carter Williams is a bust.
Four busts.
Ben Simmons, by the way, I love him, but not a shooter.
And when they went out and they got Jimmy Butler, who had a huge night last night in a loss,
what they were telling you basically was, yeah, the process is a crock.
By the way, the Jimmy Butler thing is working.
They are better with Jimmy Butler.
They were 9 and 6 before him.
They're 8 and 3 after him.
And they're averaging about a bucket more a game.
He is meant about 3 to 4 points a game.
And they shoot from 45% to about 48%.
They're a better team with them.
Those numbers matter.
Now, they're not as good as Toronto.
They're not as good as Golden State.
For sure.
After that, they can play with anybody.
Right now, Toronto and Golden State are humming.
But when they acquired Jimmy Butler, what they were telling you was the process, let's try something new.
It's not working.
When you give me a nickname, I'm out.
I'm completely C-Crest out.
The Jimmy Butler, Joe L.M.B. Ben Simmons Sixers do not have a nickname.
It's just three good players.
So you can try to sell me something?
I always said, the Lakers rebrand.
with LeBron right now is very good.
There's no name for it.
It's just LeBron and a bunch of guys that want to be as good as LeBron.
Joy Taylor with the news.
No, no, no, no, turn on the news.
This is the herd line news.
So you were talking earlier about Joe Philbin.
Yeah.
He's done a lot during his 35-year football coaching Odyssey.
Yes.
Not a whole lot with the Dolphins, but he has been a part of many staffs,
and he was the head coach of the Dolphins.
and Sunday against the Falcons while he would be coaching for Green Bay as the interim head coach,
he will do something he has never done in the NFL.
Oh.
Call offensive plays in a regular season NFL game.
He's never done that?
No.
In fact, the most recent time that he called offensive plays during the game was at Northeastern in 1996.
And so why is he doing it this weekend?
That's what he's doing.
That's what's happening.
He was the Huskies offensive coordinator and line coach the last time that he...
Now, why wouldn't Aaron Rogers call a place?
I mean, he's the quarterback.
I'm sure they're going to game plan, but I guess the offensive coordinators are the ones calling the plays.
And Mike McCarthy called the plays when he was there.
But Aaron Rogers doesn't seem to be concerned about that.
He's a longtime Philbin supporter.
And he didn't play as a rookie during Rogers didn't play at all during Mike Sherman's last season, 2005.
So he hasn't heard a voice other than Mike McCarthy in his helmet speaker since that time.
It should be interesting.
Yeah.
But that said, I mean, I don't know if that's a general,
this seems a bit off to me that he wouldn't have called offensive plays in 20 years,
but that doesn't make me comfortable with him moving forward.
Because you know how we talk about how the Packers are with guys that you have in-house.
Philbin is not the guy for this job.
No, but if they go, if they win their remaining games,
he will be strongly considered because that's what makes Green Bay comfortable.
Right.
But isn't the point of firing Mike McCarthy that you don't want to be comfortable?
anymore? Yes, for you and I, that's obvious. But Green Bay is different. It is a small town. It's a
family. It's a tight community. And they don't like outsiders. Josh McDaniels and Jim Harbar are
outsiders. And I don't think this organization has never shown a great interest in being
uncomfortable. Joe Philbin is a very nice man. Very nice man. He is not the person for this job.
I don't think so. He would be the easiest guy to hire. He's already there. People
like him. He's respected. I just don't know why you fire a Super Bowl winning coach who's
gotten you to nine. I don't even know how many playoff runs and bringing Joe Philbin. Anyway,
with NFL teams looking for the next yacht and creative minds. And speaking of all that,
we've heard Lincoln Riley's name thrown around a lot. And many teams have reportedly
gone to Norman to ask him about his schemes. He's 35 years old. And he's been great at Oklahoma.
and he coached Baker Mayfield to a Heisman trophy, and Baker's replacement,
Kyler Murray, is probably going to finish at least the top two this season, if not win it.
And speaking of Baker, he thinks that Riley would fit in right away in the NFL.
Lincoln's been ready, just who he is, how he coaches, the respect level he's had from all of his players,
how detailed he is.
He's ready, but that's his decision.
You know what, he's got something special there, so I don't think anybody's going to blame him
if he stays there for the next 20 years.
Obviously, you guys can take it how you want.
I have a relationship with Lincoln.
It's been great.
We had success.
But whatever decisions made here, I'm going to make the most of it.
Obviously, there's been a level of comfortability with him in the past that I've had.
But whatever happens, happens.
And you know what, I can't control that, so I'm not going to worry about it.
By the way, Lincoln Riley's last four quarterbacks,
Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, and the two guys before he got to Oklahoma,
their numbers are all the same.
Every quarterback with Lincoln Riley works.
Nothing against Baker, but Kyler Murray's got better numbers than Bakerhead.
So Lincoln Riley is clearly, it's not the quarterback, it's Lincoln Riley.
I love how Baker put that.
You know, we do have a relationship, and I think very highly of him.
But it's not my decision.
But I do think that he's ready.
But I'll make it work with whoever.
Well, that would be, I think it would be, probably be great for Baker.
Listen, at this point, if you're Cleveland, you better figure out somebody that Baker-Mainfield likes,
because it's Baker's franchise.
Oh, of course.
It's the same thing with Aaron Rogers.
This idea that you'd bring in somebody
who is not going to work with
the number one overall pick
in the draft who happens to be a quarterback.
What are you doing then?
You blew that pick then.
That's what you're saying.
You blew that pick.
Baker Mayfield's not talented enough
to overcome a lousy fit at coach.
So given somebody that fits,
because if Baker doesn't work, you're back to square one.
You've got to make Baker work.
So I do whatever makes, whatever Baker is good with,
That's going to be a big selling point.
I will say, though, college coaching jobs, if you're somebody that wants some longevity in your career and you don't want to move your family around a lot and you want to make great money with moderate pressure, college is the way to go.
Oh, God, yes.
You're going to get a very long contract with great money as long as you've got your team in the bowl contention every single year.
All Lincoln Riley has to do is beat Texas at least every other year.
And then he keeps it, because they're going to just steamroll because of their talent and their tradition and history and money and facilities.
They're going to win 10 games a year.
Yeah, I mean, you're not expected to win a national championship every year.
No, God, no.
And even if they've been abruptly stopped winning national championships every single year, the amount that he has is keeping him there for as long as he wants to.
Yeah, Lincoln Riley could coach.
Like you said, for the next 20 years.
Easily.
And there's no NFL coach that's got 20 years left.
No, none. Zero.
Finally, the NHL approved Seattle's bid to host the league's 32nd NHL team this week, something
that city's been working for for years.
So they have an expansion team now.
So naturally, that brought the talk of the Supersonics back to Seattle with it.
And Kevin Durant, who, like LeBron, has talked a lot about how he wants to move to the front office side of basketball, possibly even own a team when he's done playing.
He has been discussing how he'd like to bring a team back to Seattle.
He was drafted by the Sonics in 2007.
And he said he would love to help run any team.
That was a team I grew up, watch out.
I went to Sonic's games as a kid.
Yeah, I mean, the city of Seattle deserves a team.
They've been working for very long.
I mean, they obviously have a WMBA team there,
and they've been working to try and get the Sonics back.
Well, it's one of the richest American cities.
That would just make sense.
Yeah, I mean, like, there are certain cities.
Seattle has significantly more wealth than Phoenix,
and Phoenix has a Major League Baseball team, a hockey team,
a baseball team, and an NBA team,
and Seattle's got significantly more corporate support
and significantly more wealth.
Seattle's the most underserved.
American City for Sport. And I'm not saying that from I'm from there.
Phoenix, they say, due to corporate support and income is the most oversaturated pro
market. Seattle's the most undersaturated.
Well, there are a few NBA teams that you could make the argument for moving them to
Seattle. And obviously, the exit of the Sonics from Seattle was not.
Does New Orleans feel like an NBA city deal?
I've never, I never feel like they're in the Western Conference.
No, I mean, I don't want to take things away from New Orleans. But no, I don't. No, New Orleans.
Memphis?
You could argue Memphis.
Sacramento?
Orlando.
Yeah.
I mean, there's options.
Sorry, guys.
I'm not trying to, I mean, I'm from Seattle, but it's like, I always look at, I enjoy, when it comes to cities, I always look at this.
What is your corporate support?
Well, Amazon's the biggest company right now in the world.
It's Seattle-based.
Starbucks, Microsoft.
So, I mean, you have three of the biggest companies in the world.
That element obviously is very important.
And just the sports environment there.
Like, they have great fans there.
you're going to have the support, and they already had a team.
And they're still talking about bringing the team back.
So obviously they had strong support there.
Everything they have, soccer, football.
They support baseball.
And now they have an NHL team.
Yeah, that'll be a home run.
Yeah.
Total home run.
Joy with the news.
Well, that's the news.
And thanks for stopping by.
The Hurd-Lie News.
I got a big Patriots topic.
You know who's in today?
Michael Rappaport.
I haven't seen him in a while.
He makes me laugh.
Michael Rappaport around the corner.
He is an actor.
He's a writer.
is a comedian. He sues people.
He is one of my favorites.
Michael Rappaport joining us
on the show. He's controversial.
You're very controversial.
I love that introduction, man.
I love that resume.
Actor-writer, producer,
sues people. Yes.
You don't mess around.
No. Ever.
Because I do, Joy,
because I'm a gentle flower.
You know, and if things
get out of hand, I can only take so much
some people misinterpreted. Sometimes my volume
goes up, but at the end of the day, I'm just a gentle
flower. You know, with very thin skin.
Well, you're an actor, so you guys are all
out in the boonies. Yes. Yeah, you're all
I'm an artist. You should ask him the
weight question. Would you put on 150 pounds for a roll?
Oh, yeah. For sure. How long would it take you?
Well, 100. I don't think I could put a hundred.
I don't think my body could put on 100. 80.
Yeah, I would do the best I can to put on as much weight as I
You'd be willing to do it, though.
Yes.
Yeah, but your wife would be like, you're gross.
She says that now.
How is the first question?
How is the first response to this, not how much am I getting paid to do this?
No, because at the end of the day, if you have the artistic nature in you, that's for actors or artists, that's what we, we all want to accomplish what the great Bob De Niro accomplished enraging Bull.
That's the, that's the benchmark.
That's the Michael Jordan.
That's Will Chamberlain's 100 points.
Well, that's probably why you like Westbrook.
I was banging on Westbrook last night.
Ball hog for three quarters, they trailed by 23.
Stop shooting and they go on a great quarter when he doesn't shoot.
But you're an artist.
You probably love the artistry of Westbrook.
Well, the tenacity of Russell Westbrook and the self-expression,
if you're talking to an artist's way,
like to play as hard as he plays, you know, he might not be the best at anything,
but in his era, as far as playing hard consistently.
That's why you love him.
Yeah, I mean, he drives me crazy, too, in terms of,
I don't think they're going to ever necessarily win a championship,
but come April, May, and June, especially the way they're playing now.
They're the second seed right now, and we're just...
It's funny about this.
Hollywood loves the NBA.
It's interesting.
You never see...
When you watch an NFL game, they never take pictures of Hollywood people.
The NBA, why?
Because basketball is a free-flowing expression sport,
and Westbrook is your ultimate artist.
Flawed, crazy, impetuous, temperamental, amazing.
He's the NBA's artist.
I agree.
And, you know, some of the big agencies, you know,
they'll send any flunky to sit courtside.
Is that what it is?
I mean, you know, they send people there to go sit court side.
You know, the Knicks, they'll give anybody.
They don't know who they think Bernard King still playing for the Knicks.
They'll put them court side.
They're big big big time Hollywood A listers.
They walk out at half time.
Yeah.
That's a Shonda.
Happy Hanukah.
Anyway, so yeah.
But Russell Westbrook, listen, we could say what we want to say.
Triple double pad stats.
Tenacity, not tenacity, artistry.
You don't want to be playing Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and the Mountain Man, Stephen Adams, in the playoffs.
They're a tough out.
Oh, I do.
You want to play them?
Oh, God, I'd love Westbrook.
I'd sign up for Westbrook first round today.
Who? Who? The Lakers?
Anybody.
No, they don't want that team.
I would sign up to play Westbrook in the playoffs today.
They're a tough out. They're going to be a tough out.
You've been saying that for nine years.
And they're always tough. Well, Lash, they're going to be a tough out.
They're going to be a tough out. Paul George, if he's cooking and he's healthy, he's good.
Okay, so Kevin Durant, I thought this was outrageous, called LeBron toxic and said the media is a bunch of fan boys with him.
I agree.
Oh, you think I'm a fan boy.
Well, no, I don't think you're necessarily a fanboy, but I think that it is toxic playing around.
What's toxic about it?
It's not as toxic as like having to hang out with Joy Taylor.
I'm not saying that.
That's toxic.
Just kidding.
Just kidding.
I love Joy.
You're the toxic one, Colin.
But the point is, is this.
It is toxic.
Everywhere he goes, it's toxic.
And it's not necessarily because of him.
It's because of his greatness.
It's because of his star power.
It's because of his drama.
Listen, I can see there in Bashle of mine.
He's by far.
The best player in the league.
So there's drama, but toxic is more, like toxic is working on a film set in your business
where the star is fighting with a co-star.
That's toxic.
Or the star is getting the director fired when the film is in a position,
like they're in the middle of the shoot.
Like he did to David Blatt in the darkness of the night.
Remember when he did that?
He got him fired in the darkness of the night and I just work here.
No, you don't just work here.
You run the whole show and then you leave.
I don't know.
That's toxic.
I don't think Miami was toxic.
I don't think this.
Pat Riley was playing that stuff.
And also that was a different LeBron James in terms of now he's, he was a star then.
He's a mogul.
Now he's in a different level of icon.
Icon.
He's an icon now.
He's iconic.
Yeah.
He hadn't proven his icon then.
He didn't win a championship yet.
If the media, you know, Bruce Sard said this earlier, I thought it was a great point.
If the media were all fanboys, well, the media votes on the MVP.
LeBron never wins it.
Derek Rose does.
Hardin does.
Yonis, Coire, hire.
If the media is such fanboys with LeBron...
I don't agree that everybody's a fanboy.
He gets bashed.
I bash him.
Yeah, LeBron gets tagged all the time by people.
As he should.
And Durant does too because he's a little bit of a...
He's a little rabid ears.
He's a little flaky.
Yeah, you almost slip there.
And he brings it upon himself.
And I think KD's saying that he's just...
I think he, you know, listen, Kevin Durant, I don't know what your stance on Kevin Durant.
I love Kevin Durant.
He's not coming to the Lakers.
That's not happening.
I agree with you.
I don't buy it.
I think it's a great media story.
I'll believe it when I see it.
I don't think he's going to leave the best dynasty or second best of my life with a new arena when you've got not only good teammates.
Steve Kerr, Clay, Steph.
They're like great guys.
He wants to leave, Draymond's a little bit of an annoyance.
But even at his heart, Drayman's not.
a bad guy. No, I agree. And I think that the only chance that he would have to leave,
the only way he would consider leaving is if they did win a championship. Be like, all right,
this runs over. I would actually think Michael, Michael Rappaport, actor, writer, comedian,
sues people. Yep. I would think less of Durant to be left. You know what I would? If they won.
No, if they won, if Durant left after they won, I would think, first of all, that's just a
dumb business move. Who leaves a dynasty?
I think it would be
I think it would
I would think less of him
if a lot of people are like
it empowers him
you don't leave Goldman Sachs
when it was at the top
you don't leave a great company
at the top
I personally do not think he's leaving
I agree with you
I so so I don't know where all this is
you know it's the toxic media
and fan boys that like you like yourself
and Joy who's sitting over there
like in the cut
you know like sniper rifle
I get a bad
I get a reputation
you're calling me a LeBron fanboy
no I'm just saying
we said toxic joy listen
I'm just saying
I'm just saying like you like that's what I was saying.
I didn't call you a fan.
Because I know you were, I'm very objective about it.
I know you could jump on.
Except when he was in Miami.
Then he was the best.
Then you were a fan boy.
Yes.
Fan girl.
See, I'm not, here's the thing is I am occasionally jealous.
Like when I did local radio that you're kind of embedded in a town.
Right.
Like in Tampa I did sports radio and like the Buccaneers I had to cover.
So I, you know, I was in a locker room.
And I do miss kind of being a fan.
Now I feel like I'm a jury.
I'm a judge and sports is the jury and I've got to be impartial.
So when the Eagles and the Cowboys play this weekend, you hate both.
Me?
Hate both.
That's a battle of the deplorables.
Okay.
As a Giants fan.
Yes.
Would it bother you more if Philadelphia shocked the world won and won the division again
or if Dak won it for the second time in three years?
as a giant fan and a fan what bothers you more.
There's nobody on the Philadelphia Eagles that I like.
That being said, because I don't want Philadelphia to flip on me.
Love everything about Philadelphia.
Saw Cree, Day 1, Screening 1, Alan Iverson, Daryl Dawkins, the Sound of Philadelphia.
I cannot stand the Philadelphia Eagles.
Lane Johnson, you said you would like to have fun.
Well, you guys had a lot of fun, and now you're making up the thing.
You're making up for time.
I want the Cowboys to win on Sunday, and their schedule is easier than the Philadelphia Eagles,
because the Philadelphia Eagles are going to lose to the L.A. Rams.
After this, Cowboys.
So you're going to get two in a row.
So you're okay with Dallas.
I don't, listen, whenever, ever since the Philadelphia Eagles threw snowballs at Santa Claus
and booed Kobe Bryant at the All-Star game, I was like, I'm a fan and I'm nuts,
but this is a whole other different level.
I watched them booed Kobe Bryant in an All-Star game.
I watched them throw snowballs at Santa Claus?
Yeah, you're right.
That is not called for.
Yeah.
At any level.
Actor, writer, comedian, Annie Sews people.
Oh, yeah.
I am Rapaport podcast.
Stereo podcast, it says here, stereo podcast.
Our sound is in stereo.
That's great.
I don't know what you guys got going on here.
I'm sure it's probably good, but I don't hear it say, The Herd, in stereo.
Yeah, I don't think we are.
Okay.
A couple tin cans and wire.
That's all it is.
Good seeing you, but it's The Herd Hour 3 next.
Thanks for having me.
Hour three, this is the herd.
Wet and Rainy, Los Angeles.
IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, wherever you may be.
And however, you may be listening.
Joy Taylor is joining me for hour three.
Wet rainy and cold.
It's actually cold in Los Angeles.
You're from Miami.
I'm originally from Pittsburgh.
So I'm from Seattle.
So I can handle.
I just woke up this morning.
It was pouring rain.
I can't handle it, actually.
I don't like it either.
I'm very spoiled.
I was watching a show last night called 4 to 2.
I watch a lot of NBA and I was watching this show called Fortitude.
What's Fortitude about?
It's just fantastic and creepy and weird.
And it's people that live in the middle of nowhere with cold weather.
And I'm like, I don't get it.
That's a good name for that.
Yeah, Fortitude.
Yeah, you have to have Fortitude to do that.
And it's just freezing weather and cold and everybody's got jackets in the morning, noon night.
I'm like, God love you.
I watched he got game last night.
Oh, good for you.
It was a lot of good games last night.
Westbrook and Butler and coming up in five minutes, T.
T.J. Hushman's auto stops by Jay Glazer later this hour.
Best for Last, a crazy stat about Dak Prescott of the Cowboys.
I think it's totally misleading.
So after watching Mike McCarthy, the Green Bay Packer head coach being let go,
Packers assistant being fired over a controversial tweet demanding accountability.
Aaron Rogers was asked yesterday about accountability.
I think there's nobody holds, holds me more accountable to myself.
I mean, I'm always checking myself on my preparation habits and my practice habits and my mindset.
But, I mean, there's always been, I think, a great deal of accountability.
Okay, fair enough.
That's what he says.
I'm not in the room, so fair enough.
To me, this is really simple.
The real question is, is Green Bay willing to be uncomfortable?
Because you can hire Joe Philbin.
He's your interim coach.
He's comfortable.
He's part of the Packer family.
And let's be honest about small market America.
They don't love change.
They look at the cities.
I want to city people.
Not interested.
Dangerous.
Crazy liberals.
Small town America is comfortable with habits.
That's Green Bay.
People have chosen to live in Green Bay.
Not a ton of employment in Green Bay.
They like Green Bay.
It's where they're from.
They're happy being there.
They got their friends and fans.
and are they ready to get uncomfortable?
Because Joel Philbin is comfortable.
And if Joel Philbin goes 4-0 or 3-1 down the stretch here,
they may strongly consider Joel Filman.
But everybody in Green Bay knows him.
Everybody in Green Bay likes him.
And he would have no power with Aaron Rogers.
The question is, who fills and checks the boxes that would make Aaron better and uncomfortable?
Just say it out loud.
What are the boxes smart?
track record of success.
Strong, frank
coach.
Give it right back,
not be intimidated.
That's probably Josh McDaniels.
That's maybe Jim Harbaugh.
Those are the guys that check the boxes.
But I got to be honest with you.
Josh McDaniels and Jim Harbaugh do not feel like Green Bay, Wisconsin.
They're outsiders.
They're going to be candid and frank and difficult and intimidating.
to not only Green Bay people, but to Aaron Rogers.
And I asked former Aaron Rogers teammate Greg Jennings
about the Packers going after a guy,
like a McDaniel or more specifically, Jim Harbaugh.
He would be phenomenal, I think, for Aaron Rogers,
if Aaron Rogers would really self-assess
and see where we can grow
and where we need to kind of alter things.
If he's willing to do that,
I think Jim Harbaugh would be the,
top pick, but I just don't know if Aaron Rogers will ever be able to do that.
So what Green Bay, they're in a very tough spot here.
What Green Bay needs is not their DNA.
An outsider who is sometimes rude can be snarky and frank, who is incredibly direct,
who'll tell you what he thinks, and will push back on your icon.
iconic quarterback.
That's what Green Bay needs.
Is Green Bay comfortable with that?
Because Joe Philbin is your neighbor.
He's been in the family.
He's one of the Packers.
Packers love, even when the Packers fired their general manager,
they just gave him a different cubicle in the office.
They didn't run him out of town.
Green Bay is nice.
And nice people.
They need to hire somebody that's not that nice.
Harbaugh's not always that nice.
McDaniel is not always that nice.
They check the boxes.
Is Green Bay willing to hire what they've never been comfortable hiring?
A real true opposite.
Outsider.
Not interested in your system or your way of doing business.
That's what you need.
I don't think you're comfortable with it.
And let's bring in one of the most outspoken former NFL players, now at Fox Sports
One, NFL analyst over a decade in the NFL.
a Pro Bowl wide receiver, T.J. Hushmanzada,
bingles, Seahawks, Ravens, Raiders.
So you bounced around.
You know, I mean, you played for 11, four teams in 11 years.
And so Green Bay has got this situation with a high functioning quarterback who is not,
I don't think, I think it's fair to say, not the easiest guy in the world to coach.
And to me, all the qualities, T.J. that Aaron needs, which is successful, strong point of view,
offensive-minded, not going to take a lot of crap, going to make him better.
or it feels like Harbar
Josh McDaniels?
It should be.
It should be one of those two guys.
Just because I don't believe he needs a coach
that it's my way, Aaron, all the time.
It can't be that way because if it is,
then Aaron's going to, he's going to fight back.
That's just human nature.
You're going to fight back.
You want some input.
Whoever it is should allow Aaron to have input,
make him feel like we're in this together.
If it's just my way, it's not going to work.
Yeah, I mean, most players want to be coached.
Everybody wants to be coached.
Everybody.
Everybody wants.
You play with Ocho Cinco.
Do he want to be coached?
Of course he wants to be coached.
Everybody wants to be coached until they're coached hard.
That's a difference.
Who coached you hardest?
It just depends on how bad I was playing or how bad of a practice I was having.
It really just depends on, you know, what's going on.
When guys like me, I,
I've been, people see me as critical of Aaron Rogers.
I feel like I was way ahead of the curve on Aaron.
I think four or five years ago I was saying,
look at his body language, there's a lot of eye rolls,
how many players do I have to hear from that he's tough?
In the end, are you okay with Mike McCarthy getting whacked?
Yeah, I am because, number one, it just wasn't working.
And I said this to somebody, I said,
you have a lot of sway, meaning you yourself,
Colin Coward.
What's that mean?
Because you, on the things you, like, I was telling somebody a story about Matt
Patricia in the hat.
He turned that hat around because of you.
You, you.
We made a big deal out of it.
Made a big deal.
It's been talked about Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy not getting along.
And I think people listen to what you're saying.
You know what, Colin's right.
They really don't.
And let's just pull the plug on it.
It's like they're in a relationship.
It's not working.
Why stay in it?
You can tell from, you can, I can,
watch football games, I can watch people's body language. I remember at the end with Westbrook and
Durant. They're both great players. You could tell Durant was getting frustrated watching the games.
I'm not a big stat guy. Like I watch stats, but when I watch games, I watch people. I watch how
they act. I watch how they interact. Like Jay Cutler used to go to the sidelines and do this. And I was like,
and like his teammates, they don't like him. Aaron would do a lot of that too. And I was like,
but the difference is Aaron's way better than Cutler.
It just got stale.
It got stil.
I think Aaron's hard.
I think Aaron is rough.
I think he's rough.
I think he's a guy that's rough to get along with.
I think he's smart.
I think he knows he's smart.
I mean, a couple days ago he comes out and he says, you know, I was as shocked as anybody
McCarthy got fired.
Oh, stop.
No, he wasn't shocked.
Just be honest.
I mean, that's my, just be honest and say, you know, it was, we had a good run together.
It didn't work the last few years.
And he's going to be successful.
whatever he does after this, and I hope to be as well.
It's simple as that.
When you look at all, you know, this Sunday there's a couple big games.
Rams go to the Bears, but they'll both make the playoffs.
The game that really has the most influence is Philadelphia at Dallas.
And I was saying this this morning is that DAC is a big story because he's a quarterback.
But I don't know if there's a team.
If you do a blind resume on Dak Prescott this year, his numbers, they're Ryan Tannehill.
and Tannenhills missed five games.
If you do a blind resume on Carson Wentz this year,
his number stack up to Tom Brady last year is MVP.
People think Wentz and Dak,
there's this thing going on in the media
that people are like, you know,
Wence and Dak are not that far apart.
I see Wentz way up here and Dak way down there.
Where do you see them?
I would agree with you,
but the play calling is different.
The system that they're planning is completely,
it's completely different.
Carson Wentz has a tight end that he relies on heavily.
And he's a big body.
He's a good.
Dak doesn't have that.
And it's just the Philadelphia Eagles put Carson Wentz in better situations
than the Cowboys put Dak Prescott.
Philadelphia, they don't have an Ezekiel Elliott.
And so if they did with their offense look the same, probably not.
But he's just in a better system.
But you take Wence over that.
Oh, yeah, I'd take Carson Wins over Dack Prescott, yes.
I always said about Dack.
The things I like about Dack are not necessarily football stuff.
I like the intangibles.
I think he's tough.
I think he's a good guy.
I think there's a bunch of crap swinging around the Cowboys
and he always kind of deflects it.
Really even killed.
That's what I like in a deck.
Wence, I don't know about the other stuff.
I just like the arm, the mobility, the size, and that stuff.
Like, my problem with Dack is there's a lot of T-Boe to it.
the football throwing part, I didn't like with Tebow at all.
I did like the intangible stuff.
I think he could elevate other human beings.
Like, nothing against Andy Dalton.
I never saw Andy.
Like Carson Palmer could elevate a wide receiver.
I never saw Andy Dalton as that guy.
I just think Dak's a completely limited player as a player.
Dak is what he is.
And will, until or unless they play to his strengths.
I mean, you watch when they played the Saints,
which I called that they would win that game, by the way.
just some of their third downs,
the Saints would play man to man
and just some of the plays they were running.
It was like, you're not even giving them a chance.
Like run some pick routes.
Have one side run a crossing route
where it can be a man beater
and the opposite side be a zone beater.
They're running mirrored routes.
And it was, to me, it was basic.
It was very basic.
Yeah, I'm watching some video here.
He's got a fumble problem too, you know.
And the offensive line,
it hasn't been the same. They're winning games because that defense is really, really strong.
What was the best defense you ever faced in your NFL career?
I mean, it's just one of two. What? The Steelers are the Ravens. I mean, hands down.
Well, the Ravens defense you faced about 10 years ago, was that the last great NFL?
Well, we had success against the Ravens a lot. We didn't have a lot of success against it. The Steelers were underrated.
We had Troy Palomalo? Yeah, but like, Ike Taylor was a really good corner. He never got any credit.
they had so many great players on defense, but Ike Taylor could really play, man.
And he just never got credit because you would name James Harrison, Palomalu, Lamar Woodley,
even Joey Porter, and then Ike Ted, Casey Hampton.
You never even got the Ike Taylor, but he could play.
So you guys in Cincinnati, you would have, Pittsburgh gave you more troubles than Baltimore.
Most definitely.
Yes, not even close.
Ed Reed was great.
Yeah, I got Ed Reed.
I got a permanent scar on my face because of Ed Reed.
What happened?
He just hit me.
It would be a penalty today.
Knocked my helmet off, cut my whole chin, my tongue was able to come through.
Oh, God.
And the thing is, I didn't even get stitches.
They glued it up on the sideline, went back in like two plays.
They put some glue on it, but I still have a scar right here.
You had to put the extra on it.
They put glue on it.
Your tongue came through your lip?
Right here.
Right here.
Oh, good Lord.
And he was a single high safety, and I ran a shallow crossing route, which was four to five yards.
and that's how you knew Ed Reed was smart.
He just jumped the route.
Post down the middle was wide open.
But quarterback seeing single high safety,
we don't throw the big post over the top.
He just jumped me, crushed me.
Did you, when your lip split and your tongue came through your lip,
weren't you freaking out about it?
No, it was weird because I felt blood,
and then it was like, I felt, and I was like,
oh, God, what was this?
And your tongue came through your lip?
It came through.
It was bad for like the first four or five days just trying to eat
because it burned bad.
You're a tough guy.
Hey, you know what I was thinking to?
Think about this.
I was what Aaron Rogers and Josh McDaniels.
If you're a true competitor, Colin, right?
Right.
If you're Aaron Rogers, do you not want Josh McDaniels as your coach?
If you're a true competitor.
Oh, I'd want it.
Absolutely.
And you know why?
This is what you did with Tom.
Let me show you what you're going to do with me.
Aaron Rogers should pray Josh McDaniel gets the job because it's him and Tom.
This is what you did with Tom.
I'm going to show you what I can do with you now.
Tom's got the rings.
Aaron will never get them.
I'm going to show you what talent is.
I'm going to show you what I'll do in this system now.
This is what Tom did.
Watch what I do.
That's what a true competitor would want.
Yeah, that's a good point.
By the way, do you see Pro Football Focus?
That's the ranking system.
They rank all the players in the NFL.
According to Pro Football Focus, the AFC team rankings,
they have New England at top.
New England, Chiefs, charge.
Steelers, Revens, Texans.
I was saying this this morning.
New England, so Kareem Hunt out for the Chiefs,
Melvin Gordon out for the Chargers,
James Connor out for the Steelers,
Baltimore's got a rookie quarterback,
and I just don't trust Houston.
If I said today, 401K, your pension,
who do you bet it on?
Who would you take in the AFC?
I would take New England.
Yeah, I mean, it's...
If Kansas City loses one more game,
and by the way, they have to play the Chargers
and the Ravens and at Seattle,
New England gets home field to the playoffs.
It would either be New England.
Melvin Goren's going to come back and be healthy.
I really like the Chargers.
They're a complete team.
They're good offensively.
They can run and throw.
They have the best play.
I think the Chargers have the best roster right now in the NFL.
And not because I'm in Los Angeles.
That would be a toss-up for me between them and the Steelers.
Do the Steelers have great corners?
The Steelers' corners are good.
They're not great.
And that's how I see the Chargers as well.
Yeah, you're mostly right on that, yeah.
Good to seeing you, bud.
Thank you, Kyle.
Jake Laser on the corner, Joy Taylor with the, oh, no, wait, oh, I take a break.
I always get, you ever notice that at the third hour?
I always get, I forget.
It's a long, it's live TV, it happens.
I checked out.
No, it's a 20-minute segment.
I get lost.
One more herd?
The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Heart radio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.
By the way, the NFL, one of the things the NFL
really gets. It's a television show. I was just thinking about this. If you run a, if you're a commissioner
of a sports league, the only thing that matters, how does it look on television? How does it affect
television? I own wine stores. There's a reason I put beer in the back. I don't make any money off beer.
We make money off whiskey and wine. We put it up front. The bottom line, the NFL's always figured this out.
There's a new story out. They're going to change puns. Because every time they have a punt, there's a
flag on it. And the NFL's like, it's bad television. Like the punt's,
Every time there's a punt, there's a clipping, it's like, let's get rid of the punt.
Baseball doesn't want to change defensive shifts.
There's another story today.
Why not?
Defensive shifts are not good for TV.
They keep stars off the bases.
This is where the NFL is great.
The bottom line right now in sports in America, television plays all the bills.
The NFL is the biggest league because it's the best league on television.
Whatever's best for TV.
When you own a business, I'm putting beer in the back of my store.
My profit margins are 2%.
My profit on bourbons 13 on wine 18.
That's at the front of the store.
If anchovies made all the money,
you'd walk into my grocery store.
There'd be anchovies at the checkout line.
Instead, I put chapstick because I make 40% on chapstick.
NFL's thinking of getting rid of punts and changing punts.
Why?
It's bad on television.
Every time you watch a punt, flag.
NFL's like, that's terrible television.
That's why they've pulled away from all the other leagues.
Don't listen to baseball analytic nerds
and basketball analytic guys,
what's great for television?
NFL want more catches.
That's what NFL fans want.
Remember Roger Goodell came on the show
and he goes, our fans like great catches.
We got tired of eliminating great catches and saying no catch.
Our fans are like, we like catches.
So they took the catch rule and they flipped it.
And if you notice now, they don't even go to review a lot of the catches.
They just say, yeah, it's close.
Let's give them a catch.
That's why the NFL's king.
I'm sorry for all you.
newspaper guys, but you're not running the show anymore. That was like the 50s.
Now television. Whatever looks good on the tube, pass the law.
Pass the rule. Joy Taylor with the news.
No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.
So, Kyler Murray is heading to New York this weekend for the Heisman's trophy presentation,
and then he's heading to the college football playoff to face Bama. Yeah.
But whether he ever plays football again after the playoff remains to be seen,
It was all but decided that he would choose baseball.
He said that he was going to go to baseball since he already signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Oakland A's.
But in an interview with fellow quarterback turned baseball player, Tim Tebow, he now says that he still needs to decide what he's going to do next.
How do you think you'll go about choosing?
I think that's something, you know, me and my family will talk about at the end of the season.
We weigh out the options of what the NFL thinks of me.
Right now, my future is kind of already planned out, but we'll see what happens.
He's a college quarterback.
Here's the thing.
And Tua, by the way, he'll play in the NFL,
but he's really a great college quarterback.
I don't see Tua as a great NFL quarterback.
Both Kyler Murray and Tua are great college players.
I think you could probably figure out a system to put him in the NFL,
but Kyler Murray is like 5-8.
It's just too small.
And by the way, Tua I've seen get hurt twice this year.
I still think he's too small.
My only thing outside of injury, obviously, ending it,
is Tebow's kind of proved you can go back to baseball.
And if he already has a multi-million dollar contract with the Oakland A's,
a first-round pick with the Oakland A's,
he's good enough to go back to baseball if it doesn't work in the NFL.
You can't do vice versa.
Right.
So it's a really big decision because you could go play in the NFL
or at least try the NFL if that's where you're hearted.
Now, if he doesn't care either way and he'd rather play baseball
and do what seems to be a sure thing, then...
The downside to baseball is if he chooses the NFL,
He'll know within a year or two if he can play.
You could go to minor league baseball for seven years and be buried in El Paso.
You could, but he's not buried.
He's not buried. He's already got a contract, and he's very good.
So that's a different situation.
Also, the upsides baseball is all that money's guaranteed.
Oh, yeah.
Well, yeah, actually, if I knew I was going to go from the Oklahoma Sooners to AAA for the A's
and I'm on the Major League Baseball roster, and that pretty much assures I'm going to
play in the bigs within a year, I'd choose.
baseball. It's got to be where his heart is, I guess. So the NFL let Zeke slide a few years ago
when he celebrated the Thanksgiving touchdown by jumping in the Salvation Army kettle.
And this year, he pulled out $21 and put it in the pot after a 16-yard touchdown run against
Washington. He also later donated Dak Prescott, putting him inside the Salvation Army kettle
and the NFL decide this weekend that Elliott should increase his giving to $13,369, to be exact,
for his second offense. And you made a great point.
earlier, not a great PR week for the NFL.
It could, you know, generate some goodwill and encouraging players to do this particular celebration.
I think you could have a two-week charity, what do we call it, Goulet?
Like the IRS has a charity deduction.
This would be a two-week charity exemption by the NFL that if you scored and you could go throw money into that pot.
I think it'd be really, really good PR for the NFL.
Well, the pot is in Dallas.
It's only in Dallas.
Play the game of the week in Dallas.
So they could do it for this week, at least.
So it's a cowboy thing only.
No other team has a pot?
I haven't seen it in any other places.
Pretty smart.
But they, this is a quick little tidbit about when Zeke did his first kettle jump.
Yeah.
The publicity surrounding the jump into the oversized kettle was it worth at least $4 million
in equivalent advertising exposure according to the sponsorship evaluation firm Apex Marketing Group?
I wouldn't find him for that.
this. I think that's just one of those you step in and you say, you know what? Sometimes
you got to break rules. And I wouldn't find him for this.
Ooh, calling the rule breaker. I'm not a rule breaker. Living on the edge. I am not a rule
breaker. Next stop, Mohawk. No, my wife's a rule breaker. I am not a rule breaker. I am not a
rule breaker. I am all for this. But the rule is you can't use props. I know. I know what
the rule is. I don't like the rule in this instance. The rules say you cannot use the
props. You know using props. Get off my lawn. Finally, speaking
of that game. The defending champion Eagles are starting to get their
swagger back. They won two games straight.
Now they're six and six.
And linebacker, Camus,
Jay Hill, gave the Cowboys a little extra material
yesterday. Sickleason.
I mean, look at Dallas's history. They always choked, so
we'll go down there and make them choke.
Stupid.
I don't think it makes a difference to the players.
It's great for us. It just adds
a little extra mustard onto this matchup,
and it's 425 Eastern on Fox.
Yes. That's a great.
great game. A couple of big games, Rams, bears, late, and then we have Cowboys, Eagles. Very good. Joy
with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Well, the Packer's
situation's been all sorts of interesting. Let's bring on Jay Glazer, Fox NFL Insider,
owner Unbreakable Performance Centers.
What's up? The Green Bay thing's been fascinating.
We were saying... Wait, can I get a hello? Hello? Okay, that's good. How you're
great seeing you. Now we're going. Go ahead.
I only see on Sundays usually.
So, first of all, Green Bay's brand is, you know, they don't generally,
they don't really fire people mid-season.
They're not that coastal sharks, Wall Street,
give me money. Green Bay is likeable and community-oriented.
And, I mean, they fired their GM and they still gave them a cubicle thing.
Right.
Okay. Mike McCarthy thing.
How did it play in the league?
Oh, played really bad in the league.
I mean, you saw guys like Mike Zimmer came out, straight out.
out the number of texts.
I talked to Mike McCarthy right after he got fired.
And he was kind of, you know, and this is my Mike McCarthy imitation.
I think his response back goes,
we're going to, he's kidding me?
Like he's like, you know, he still has that Pittsburgh, you know.
Yeah.
He's like, you guys, are you kidding me?
And I think there's a right way to do things in this league for guys who deserve it
in a wrong way.
And I believe this was the wrong way.
And the reason why, and I understand people are saying, and look, sometimes these
relationships end, yeah, it should have ended.
And then we all saw it coming.
He saw it coming.
but the way it happened, I think, was wrong
where a guy like Tom Coughlin,
when the Giants knew they were going to move on,
Tom, how do you want to do this?
Let's do this the right way.
Tom wants to step away, great.
Andy Reid, how are we going to do this?
We're going to mutually part ways.
Guy like Mike McCarthy, I think, deserved that.
I agree with you.
You can make that argument.
And by the way, for them to say,
well, we wanted to get a jump on our head coaching,
search that as a crock of garbage.
Everything's done back channels in this league.
You don't suddenly say, well, my head coach is fired.
So now I'm going to start looking.
That is such a cop.
We can get a head start.
You can't get a head start because you still have to comply with the Rooney Rule.
You can't go talk to guys who are still on teams.
That is such a cop out.
Everybody who believes that that's the angle, they need to know better than that.
Okay, so, Jay, why do they do it that way?
I think that, I don't know.
I don't agree with it.
And again, frustration boiled over with them.
And, yeah, they weren't going anywhere fast.
But again, it's just you've got to look at the overall history.
How many playoffs did he make?
I mean, they named a street after him there.
It's ridiculous what he's done there with, remember this too.
And this is the part that people forget.
When Brett Far was there, and Brett went, it went from Brett to Aaron Rogers.
Yeah.
Brett made it really bad on Aaron Rogers.
And really bad is really underselling it here.
It was really, it was filthy on how bad it was for Aaron Rogers.
Why?
And Mike, it's just how Brett treated Aaron and how it looked.
There was Brett's team.
And Mike McCarthy then went and moved on to Aaron Rogers.
And even when Brett wanted to come back, it was doing interviews.
on Greta Van Sustra.
Mike was the one who was saying,
I'm sitting there, I'm sticking with Aaron,
and I'm building them up.
And he built his confidence up.
And that place,
everybody bombarded the Packers
and attacked the Packers,
and Ted Thompson didn't want him to do with it.
No one else in there wanted to do with it.
Mike McCarthy is the one who put himself front and center.
He's not exactly a PR guy.
He put himself front and center,
stuck up for Aaron,
built Aaron up,
built up a Super Bowl championship team.
There was a lot there the guy done to deserve
to not get whacked right out.
after this game.
Story comes out, Jeff Saturday.
You know him.
I know him.
I know I'm a good quality guy.
Probably didn't love saying this, but said when I was there, Aaron would roll his eyes
in the huddle.
For the record, those were the good years.
Green Bay was like 13 and three those years.
I wonder how that plays.
That doesn't play well.
You know, look, Aaron, you know, and I think the next coach, too,
and people want to say, oh, who's the next coach going to be?
It's way too early to tell.
And I know the Josh McDaniels.
I can't believe people are even jumping on.
Oh, Josh McDaniels.
Josh McDaniels had a job last year and bailed that effort,
you have the job.
So let's not, let's pump the brakes here on ever believing that Josh McDaniels would do anything.
But there's two ways to look at it.
Some coaches will look at this job and say, man, what a great opportunity.
I get to work with Aaron Rogers.
And he is maybe the greatest thrower in the history of the NFL.
Right.
Not quarterback thrower.
I still think that's Brady.
Yeah.
But you could also look at it and say, if I go in there, am I going to really be the head coach?
How much is, how much authority am I going to have?
That's a real question.
Yeah, that's real.
That's a serious question, and I think there are certain guys will fit better than others.
But, you know, there's, I think coaches will convince themselves, oh, my gosh, this is great.
This is, I get to coach Aaron Rod.
I mean, you want one of these jobs.
But, yeah, there's, there's pitfalls to it, without a doubt.
Aaron's not the most, it's not the easiest guy in the world to.
I mean, you have, you, you deal with a lot of players.
And I do with Aaron.
I personally like Aaron.
You know, Aaron's train with us over at Unbreakable.
He's, I mean, he's, he's, he's great, you know, but to be great, you know, but to be great, you.
You got to be crazy.
You got to be off.
You cannot be great and not be off.
And that's where, you know, I think Winston Moss said, like, you have to keep guys and check.
McCarthy were trying, you got to check them.
You got to check them.
That's where Belichick and Brady are so great.
They challenge each other.
They check each other.
You know, it is interesting, though.
I was saying to me, a great job in the NFL, and you'll really have insight on this, Jay,
is number one, ownership and ownership stability, more than anything.
Number two is do I have a quarterback I can inherit and not like Breeze for two years,
but I feel like Carson Wentz, I got nine years, I'm riding with this guy.
The third thing, I don't want a total rebuild.
Give me a roster with some players.
I don't want to have to rebuild my O line, my D line.
So San Francisco allowed two years ago, that was a total rebuild.
If you stack those up, stable owner, eight to 10 year quarterback without a rebuild,
I contend there's not a ton of great jobs.
I think Philadelphia is a hell of a job if it was open.
Rams right now, stable ownership, quarterback roster.
I don't know if Green Bay, Jay, is a great job.
They don't have an owner.
Yeah, well, Mark Murphy is now, you know, acting as the owner,
and he's building up all these things around Lambo
and trying to build it more kind of almost like the Joneses are doing down in Dallas,
and I don't know how much that really fits,
because it should be more of an ownerless team.
This is just, you know, the way the Packers were always run,
it's worked for a long.
time.
Is it a great job?
Free agents don't like it?
Well, it depends if you like snow or not.
I don't.
Well, here's another thing, Jay.
I don't like the cold, so for me, it's a terrible job.
But Stan Cronkey is an owner.
Stan will come down and say,
get me in Domenu.
There's no owner in Green Bay.
But here's, it was pretty funny too,
just going back to McCarthy.
There was a year that Tony Gonzalez
was trying to get out of
Wisconsin City, right? I've told this story here.
And there were two teams that he was basically
traded to. It was Green Bay or Philadelphia.
And the chiefs
were also asking his take. And so McCarthy's
calling me saying, hey, you've got to convince Tony to come
out here to Green Bay. And I said, how am I going to
get him? He's a Southern California kid.
And you want me to convince me, he goes, oh, we got so much culture
out here. And I'm going, Mike, you got
snow and then not snow. He goes, no, no,
we realize. I said, he's from
Southern, he's from L.A. here.
He goes, and he, I said,
he goes, no, we got like, I said, what do you
have? You have, like, gangs out there? He goes, we're getting
a gang issue? I said, what do you have like snowball
fights between the bloods of the crypts. Are you kidding
me? It was just, but the way he was trying
to sell it, but he did such a good job
of, no, the Reggie White's and
from that class of
free agency to all the history there
and Gonzalez was in for a guy
who was so Cali
he was all in, he was bought
into Green Bay. Mike did a great job
of telling to me, who was, and his
agent who was kind of selling to Tony out
there, but yeah, I mean, I
love Green Bay and Wisconsin
is one of my favorite places on the
planet when it's not snowing. Yeah, and it generally is
this point for the next six months. By the way,
the Texans of one nine straight, they're always under the radar.
I think a big part of it's Deshaun Watson. What else is going on there?
Because they've always been good. They've never been this.
Right. You know, it's fine. I just talked to, first of all, they have JJ Watt back,
which I talked to JJ yesterday for you and I did for the athletic this morning.
And, you know, here's a guy who last two years didn't over.
he's going to come back. I mean, he went through some really
bad injuries. And it was almost like
they've gone how he's gone. His confidence has gotten
bigger and he's played better and they've gotten bigger
and better. And he's started to become more
of a defensive player of the year. Everybody else
is starting. I'm not saying it's based on him, but they've all
got up together. But the biggest thing
is they shouldn't
be here because the way the drama
was going the last couple of years, it's amazing
Bill O'Brien is still there.
There was such a power play there
with Bill O'Brien and Rick Smith, the
former general manager. And
everybody in the league was convinced there's no way Bill O'Brien wins this.
And Bill O'Brien was convinced there's no way I win this, that the owners are always going to go with Rick Smith.
It was so toxic there.
And really in the 11th and a half.
Point 999 hours last year, surprisingly, they made, no, you know what?
We're going to go with Bill.
And I know that, you know, they put it, they said there were other things there.
Rick was having personal issues.
But this was always a power play.
And if they ever went the other way, they would not be here.
right now. And Bill is, again, we talk about challenging. He challenged Brady when he was there.
He's challenging Dechan here. Deshawn is different, but he's still very competitive, hence him playing
with partially collapsed alone. He's a huge part of Deshawn Watson's growth. Very much so.
And they're not having. He's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's,
through so much drama there for a few years. Now there's no drama, and look what this team is done.
Yeah. No, they're really fun to watch, too. Deshaun is supposed to be a great kid. They got a
a little bit of a running game. They've always had a good defensive front.
They've, they're a little bit like the Rams. The names sometimes are better than their defensive
production. Now they're humming defensively. Jay Glazer, founder of MVP,
merging vets and players as well. It's great seeing you. You too, buddy. All right,
coming up. You bet. Crazy a stat about Dak Prescott that perhaps is totally misleading.
Sunday, it's a Fox NFL doubleheader starting with Drew Brees and the high-powered Saints
taking on the Buccaneers. Then it's America's Game of the Week as Carson Wednesday.
the Eagles battle Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys
in a huge NFCE East showdown.
It's all on Fox and the Fox Sports app.
Check your local listings.
You know a game I want to watch?
They're Panthers and the Browns.
All the Cleveland fans,
you pick it on Baker Mayfield.
All I said about Baker is,
when Baker had a three-game streak of playing well,
yap, yap, yap, yep, yep.
This week he had three picks.
He wasn't very good.
I don't hear a lot of cockiness.
I don't like uneven personalities.
But you get Cam now and Baker.
that game is to me as much fun as anything outside of the Cowboys Eagles.
I'll take Panthers close.
I think that game's fair.
I'll tell you, Baker Mayfield, I'll say this.
He's good for the league.
Of course.
All personalities are good for the league.
I am into it totally.
By the way, try Vic Sinex nasal spray.
Works up to 12 hours.
Use his directed.
It's the time of the year everybody gets sick.
Jay Glazer had all sorts of stuff today.
Good stuff on the inside stuff on the Green Bay Packers.
All right.
Best for last.
there are so many NFL stats that are crazy and amazing, but they can be misleading.
Not every stat matters.
The NFL, perhaps in Vegas, I'll give you an example.
In Vegas, Vegas, the wise guys, the sharps, look at your yards per play.
The teams that have the biggest yards per play like the Chiefs, the Rams, Vegas loves that stat.
There's a lot of stats, past defense numbers, Vegas doesn't care about.
So we're going to do a bull stat today.
You'll give me Joy Taylor a stat, and I'll say real stat or a bull stat.
Okay.
Sunday, the 9 and 3 Patriots go down to Miami to face my 6 and 6 dolphins.
You'd think New England would have the advantage in this game.
Right.
But here's the stat.
Tom Brady has lost four of his last five games in Miami.
So, Colin, does this mean the Patriots will lose Sunday against the dolphins?
No, but it's a real stat.
And I'll tell you why.
The two places Brady has struggled on the road.
It's not Pittsburgh.
It's not Baltimore.
It's Denver, altitude, thin air, Miami, humidity as he is aged.
The two places that physically he struggles with.
Finner air, heat and humidity.
It's a real stat.
Tom gets used to that Michigan, New England cold weather.
down to 82 degrees, and he runs out of gas.
Now, it's not particularly that hot this weekend.
That's why I think they'll win this weekend.
If the game was a month ago, I...
No, they do struggle late.
They do struggle in December.
In week 14, last year, they lost 27-20.
So, I mean, it is still a jolting difference in weather.
I mean, going from here to Miami isn't so much, but New England to Miami is a big difference.
But this, I agree with you.
It is real.
He usually struggles in Miami late in the season.
So right now, Todd Gurley is the NFL's leading rusher.
with a slight lead over Ezekiel Elliott,
but this might actually be bad news for the Rams
because check out this stat.
No rushing leader has won the Super Bowl
since Terrell Davis in 1998.
So does this mean the Rams won't win the Super Bowl?
That is a bull stat.
The Rams are a very unique team.
I'm not saying they're going to win it,
but what it usually means if you have the league's leading rusher,
it's often like a Dallas Cowboy, Ezekiel Elliott team,
where you have limitations throwing the ball.
Most of the time your top three or four leading rushers are on teams
that have kind of B-level quarterbacks.
In this instance, the Rams are very unique.
Good quarterback, good receivers, good tight ends, good old line,
and a star running back and a brilliant offensive mind.
So the Rams are not typical.
This team is good enough to win the Super Bowl.
All right, to the NFL leader in passing yards,
Ben Rathesberger.
You'd think leading the league in passing.
it would be a good thing. Look at this stat. The leader in passing yards has never won the
Super Bowl. So does this mean that Big Ben and the Steelers won't win the Super Bowl this season?
This to me, Joy, is a real stat. Anytime you lose balance and you become more sizzle than steak,
there is a reason that no passing leaders won the Super Bowl. It generally means you become too
finesse. It also, Joy, is a league that you play outdoors in January. And if you become too vertically
dependent or to passing dependent, you've got to pick up short yards on the road in Foxboro,
in Baltimore, in Pittsburgh, in Chicago, in Green Bay.
That's a real stat.
All right.
Finally, Sunday, the Cowboys faced the Eagles in America's Game of the Week on Fox.
And the Cowboys are on a four-game winning streak, but winning is nothing new for Dak Prescott.
Check out this stat.
Dak is second only to Tom Brady in win total since he entered the league in 2016.
I'm going to go, Joy.
This is a bull stack.
I will say this, though, because it is one of those stats that you're like,
so Brady's the winning his quarterback, and then there's DAC.
I will say this.
Here's the one thing DAC doesn't do.
In Goulet, you'll have the interception numbers.
Dak doesn't throw picks.
And in this league, fewer turnovers.
generally equals a win.
So since he's arrived in the league, Zique doesn't fumble,
DAC doesn't throw interceptions.
Their turnover total has been on the lower half in the league.
Now, Dak can fumble.
Right.
But he's not throwing 19 picks a year.
How many interceptions does Dak have this year, John?
Five.
Just five.
How many did Dak have his first year?
Four.
Four.
So Dak is a low interception quarterback joy.
I do think that matters.
That is one of the things about DAC that is understated, a low interception quarterback.
Tomorrow, blazing five, very excited for that.
Rebound week.
Last night, a blown call changed a game.
This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.
That's where Sports Slice comes in.
I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports
and giving you the real story behind the headline.
And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves.
Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment,
and the stuff nobody gets to hear.
Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast.
And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12
in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.
Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,
not quite.
Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.
Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman,
help make you funnier.
This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel,
help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.
Where does your group perform?
We do some retirement homes.
Those people are starving for banter.
Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the Iheart radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
What's up, guys?
This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth.
And on my podcast, The Cliverts show,
I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.
Like being an internet famous referee.
We're in the middle of a game.
This linebacker, this linebacker
walks up to me, he goes,
hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.
What?
Time out.
Quarterback on office blue of 42.
Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.
What?
Where's she at?
Hey, Miss Parker.
Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
What's up, fam?
It's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs.
We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.
If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood.
That's how personal it got.
Wow.
Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love.
This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an IHeart podcast.
Guaranteed human.
