The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Load management, OBJ, Lamar Jackson, & Alabama-LSU

Episode Date: November 7, 2019

Colin talks about the NBA issue with load management, why players are doing it, his thoughts on Odell Beckham Jr. trade rumors, Bill Polian being wrong about Lamar Jackson, and why Alabama-LSU isn't a real rivalry. Guests include Doug Gottlieb, Greg Cosell, Peter King, and Chris Haynes. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert 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 with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. 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 harmed. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Markeep coming to, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in beautiful Los Angeles on IR Radio,

Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. I am rolling up my sleeves today in one hour from now. Greg CoSell will be on our NFL meat sandwich. Joy Taylor is joining me. Peter King two, how are you, Joy? Rolling up your sleeves? It's a work day today? You know, work smarter, not harder.

I actually came to set with my sleeves rolled up. It's a work day for us. Yes. All right, I'm going to ask a question. Okay. Why do people play Powerball? To win money. And what will that money allow you to do, Joy?

Live comfortably. And you know what they call that in the financial sector? That's go-to-hell money? you get so much money. You can tell your boss, blankety, blankety, blankety. I want to work three days a week. I want to work two days a week.

I'm not going to go on that business trip. That's why we play the power ball. Because we know that the odds are terrible. You're never going to win it. But by the way, a lot of people win and don't quit their jobs. But they want leverage. I want to work three days a week. I want weekends off.

And if you're good at your job, your boss is like, you know what, I'll take three days a week. I'll take it. I'd rather have you in the building the next. not. So Kauai Leonard's taking time off. It's called load management. Everybody doesn't like it. I don't like it. Okay, there's a dance being played in the NBA right now. He didn't play last night. And the dance is all these teams want to be viewed as player friendly. Because players are now conjoining. They're joining forces. Players now are saying, let's go here,

let's go here, let's go there. And you want to be seen as player friendly. The Raptors and the clippers don't love this. But he's the best player in the NBA. Need a bucket. He's the best player. Need a stop. He's the best player. So he has leverage. And everybody's freaking out about it. But it's why y'all play the lottery. Many of you, if you want even $6.7 million wouldn't quit. Forget the $200 million. You won $6,700 million. A lot of you just want to have leverage. Kawhis got it. This is not the eighth best player on the box. It's the best player in the world. And for the first time in 15 years, the best player in the world's not named LeBron. It's named Kauai, and he's got leverage.

Now, I had dinner last night. My wife does this from time to time. She'll get to meet some new people. And I said, okay, let's meet some new people. So we invite some people over. And one of the guys, charming guy, owns a tech company. About 70 employees. And all of his employees are young tech millennials, men, women.

And during the dinner, he starts talking about, well, I mean, when you're good, They call the shots. I don't. They want a day off. I give it to them. They show up late. I don't grumble about it. They want 1% of the company, 1% of a branch, 5% of a branch.

If they're good, I give it to them. Why? Because there are not many great tech people out there, and there's a million tech jobs out there. You can't fill them all. They got leverage. Kauai's got leverage. We're playing the lottery to get leverage.

That's the game in life. We're all trying to get it. And by the way, Kauai was up front about this. It was never deceptive. He negotiated this. He's like, listen, I'll come. You got to keep Lou Williams. You got to get me, Paul George, and I get 20 games off.

It was never deceptive. The Clippers knew it, Doc knew it. They got basically a clone in Paul George. He is Kauai. Not as good, but he is Kauai. So it works perfectly. This doesn't work for everybody. And everybody can't get this.

And load management started with the Spurs when they were a dynasty. Then it moved to LeBron and now it moves to Kauai. You get what's happening. They're the young tech workers of the NBA. Everybody, and I hear this one too. This is what I hear. Oh, this is going to hurt the league financially. We have 35 sports networks.

We're all dying for content. if TNT and ESPN tomorrow said we're bailing on the NBA, we'd get it, NBC'd get it, CBS would get it, Vice would get it, National Geographic, Fox News, MSNB, everybody would get it. We wouldn't have to be a sports network. Somebody would buy it and create a sports network and just throw NBA games up. NFL, major college football, NBA World Cup Olympics. The networks are fighting over that stuff.

It gets ratings. So now, now, Chris Broussard was on our show yesterday. He doesn't like it. And this momentum and this opinion is now building a real following. This is just beyond the pale, in my opinion. It really is. And Adam, look, the league doesn't like this. You think this could hurt the players' pocketbooks.

And maybe that's what will change. that's why the Players Association is getting involved because the next TV deal that will lower their offers so that will affect the salary cap and what the players are making. So the Players Association should get involved and be like, look, you got to play

when you're healthy, play the games. Now, I disagree with that. Again, I think if the NBA was on the open market, some rich zillionaire would create a TV network and just buy it. We'd bid on it, NBC, CBS, non-sports networks, We're all dying for content in cable news, cable sports, cable TV.

But the other thing is, I'm old enough. I'm not one of these 22-year-old bloggers. I've been around for 40 years, 30 doing this. This has always been a players league. It's always been a star's league. The two things people freak out about. Oh, my God, we've got a dynasty. The whole league's built on a dynasty dating back to the 50s and 60s with the Celtics.

The whole league's a dynasty. y'all tell me about parity i don't know i've seen the clippers and lakers one of those two's winning it we got dynasties we just haven't figured out which one's the dynasty yet it's one of those two and and players have always run this league i mean shacks like get me out of here i want to go to orlando's too small for me i want to go to los angeles and he did you made it happen so we're all good no different between the great young tech millennial kawai leonard and why we're all playing and the power ball. We're all seeking leverage. And if you have it, use it. Let me shift to this. Oh, look at this story. This was called

a hot take. Well, well, well, well, once again, my perceived hot take is becoming reality. Some teams, according to NFL sources, an NFL reporter, two sources saying, if the Browns continue to struggle

this year. OBJ could get traded. Where did we hear that first? Oh, yours truly. Let's be honest about this. OBJ to Cleveland hasn't worked, doesn't work, and will not work. And there's a word.

There's a reason why it won't work. The word is forced. Anytime a relationship is forced, the parents want you to get married, but you really don't want to get married. It's forced. great relationships are effortless. You know, the couple, the married couple's been around for 30 years together.

They can sit and watch TV and have the time of their lives because they love their company. This has never worked. By the way, yesterday, once again, that forced word came up. Remember early in this season when OBJ, the watch and the Orange Bentley, and I said, you know, he's trying to create. This is an unnatural relationship. He's a global icon that got steered over and traded over to the clown show of the NFL Cleveland. From House in L.A., House in New York, models in Paris, Cleveland.

So he buys an orange Bentley. He does the watch Viser. He's trying to force Instagram followers. And then in about week two or three, we started talking about how Freddie Kitchens had him doing goofy plays. He was forcing the ball to OBJ. yesterday Baker Mayfield came out. Listen to the wording on Baker Mayfield. I think, you know, people had this picture perfect thing

that it was going to be sunshine and rainbows. He was going to have a whole lot of one-on-ones. It's O'Dell Beckham. He's going to have double coverage. We have to find ways to format things to get him the ball and force feed him early on to where he can make an impact before we can, you know, have the perfect look to give him a shot play. And I think that's something that we learned the hard way.

But, you know, I think as the weeks have gone on, we're continuing to improve on how to get the ball to him. Did you notice the word in there? Force feed him the ball. OBJ, Orange Bentley, Viser, look at me, forcing the relationship. Freddie Kitchens having him throw the ball, forcing OBJ. Baker Mayfield, we have to force feed in the ball. Tell me the relationship that works when you use the word force.

Great relationships. You can just go in a car. ride with your wife or your husband. And you just like to be, you like to be together. You just go watch a basketball game. You hang out in the couch. You watch a goofy show. They just like hanging out.

It's not forced. That's when relationships work. Edelman Brady. It's like they're joined at the hip. Akeem Talib came on a couple days ago. I said, who's the toughest guy to defend? He goes, Edelman. It's not the biggest, not the fastest, not the strongest.

He and Brady are like, you know, Sympatigo. They're just like, they're like same brain wiring. It's natural. Gronk, Brady, natural. Montana Rice, natural. They're not even always the most talented people. Some guys just work together. Some guys just Derek Fisher and Kobe.

It just worked. Who can explain it? I mean, you can't, it just did. This doesn't work. It's forced. OBJ is their fourth leading receiver in the red zone. And for that talent. One touchdown, you know, for the record,

He has the same number of targets as Jarvis Landry. But yet, and they're both terrific, yet we feel like OBJ is being ignored. No. We try, we try, we try, we try, we try, we try, we're trying to force this thing to be more than it is. Nobody's complaining about Jarvis Landry's targets. He has 90 catches, average last four years. But he feels natural to Cleveland. Jarvis Landry was with a bad football team.

and then he goes to Cleveland and you're like, oh, Jarvis Landry's going to be elevated. OBJ is a superstar. Let's jam him into a team that has a rookie head coach in a city he never really wanted. He told you with a goat shoes. He told you on Instagram he wanted to be a patriot. He wanted to play with Brady. He wanted to go to L.A. I talked to him one time.

He never mentioned Cleveland. He mentioned three teams. He never mentioned Cleveland once. This is not going to work. It's never worked. It's not working now. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lou Al-Sah. Sinder was in Milwaukee.

It just, it wasn't big enough. Shack was in Orlando. It wasn't big enough. My entire life, I've watched businesses merge. And you can tell within six months, you're like, oh, yeah, that, that cable company buys that media company and that, that, that, that, that, that, that, coffee company buys that food company. And I, that, Amazon buys whole foods.

Is that working? I don't like whole foods as much as I. And it's like mergers all the time. Does it work? It doesn't work. it doesn't feel right. But in life, when stuff is right, it's right fast. We were talking about this the other day.

Joy and I talked about this yesterday. You watched the Lakers and the chemistry is really good, really fast. Not saying they're going to win a championship, but it's really good five games in. It's probably going to be good. It's probably going to be good. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin five years in. They still didn't like each other. It didn't look good early.

It didn't look good late. It just never felt right. Chris Paul didn't respect him. Blake Griffin thought Chris was annoying. DeAndre Jordan was the guy in the middle. Lobb City gave you highlights. It never really fit. It never really fit.

In this idea that, well, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham are boys. It'll be great. They're friends. Friends isn't business. Russell Westbrook and Hardin are friends. I'm sure they are. That's not business.

This is business. I can have friends. That's what I do afterwards. I got business. But my business doesn't get in the way of my friends, and my friends don't get in the way of my business. And sometimes I don't even need a friend at business. And I don't need my business people to talk to my friends.

They're separate entities. There are separate areas. So these talks, I've said it before. I know you gave up a lot. A starter, a couple of draft picks. I'd move OBJ. It's never felt natural. It doesn't work.

I don't care about Jarvis and OBJ or guys. They hang out. I don't care about any of that. It doesn't work. Force, force, force, force, force, Baker yesterday. We got force feed him the ball. No, that, that, thank you. If I have to hear that word again, if you can't figure it out, if you're not hearing what I'm here, and I can't help you. But that's the word I keep hearing. Force OBJ. Force OBJ. We've got to force feed him the ball. Even OBJ in his private life, he's forcing it. Visor, watch, cleats, pants, look at me. Does he want to do all this stuff? No, he wants to be on a good team, less chaos, veteran quarterback, where he can be icing on a great cake. Here, if he's not the cake and the icing, they don't win.

It doesn't work. All right, good stuff. Loaded, ready to go, 45 minutes from now, Greg CoSell NFL meat sandwich. You know, I think, and I tend to think this, the media, we can be real hypocrites. One of the reasons I don't get real sensitive to criticism is because, well, I criticize. but sometimes the media, I see this a lot with sports writers, they criticize but can't take criticism. We are big hypocrites in the media.

And I'll give you an example of this and support Mitch Tribeschi that's 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 IHeart Radio app. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations

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

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

What's up guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This lineback coach is. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic.

I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge.

surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. By the way, Penn States at Minnesota. Good college football game. Minnesota undefeated, Penn State undefeated, though Penn States played a much tougher schedule. It's our game of the week. Discover at Miles Card automatically match the Miles end of first year with the second year. 35 becomes 70,000. Discover.com slash travel.

New card members only. I like Penn State in that game. Again, both undefeated. PJ flex that new coach at Minnesota. If you don't think coaching matters in football, go look at the University of Minnesota. They hire that young kid. Two years, boom, 8 and no.

I mean, coaching is so big in football. All right, so Mitch Trubisky, I'm not a big fan of Mitch Trubisky, Chicago Bears. I'm not. But apparently there was a bunch of TVs and stuff on the facility. When you walk through an NFL facility, I used to cover the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a couple years. There's TVs all over the facility.

You know, they're in the hallways. Players are watching them. GMs are watching them. By the way, I get text during the show from NFL people. People are watching stuff all the time for breaking news and stuff, right? Well, this shows journalism, so of course you'd watch. So anyway, Trubisky said yesterday, I had to turn the TVs off. Because it's like all they're doing is ripping us.

Here's Mitch Trubisky. Trying to get some of these TVs in the building turned off because you got too many people talking on TV about us and what they think about us, what we should do, what we are and what we're not. But they don't really know who we are or what we're keeping. capable of people or what we're going through or what we're thinking. It's just the outside viewers looking in. And so, yeah, tunnel vision, earmuffs, and just come to work every day and try to get better and get back to what we know we're capable of doing. By the way, totally agree. I could not believe the media criticizing Mitch Trubisky. Listen, sports media

people are incredibly thin skin. We criticize for a living. So if you rip me, I don't give a rip. Because I get, I rip, you rip. It doesn't matter. I don't care what your rip is. You shouldn't care what mine is. I have an opinion. So do you. I'm not going to respond to your opinion of my opinions. It's been my rule from day one on this show for 30 years. I got opinions. You have yours about me. I'm not reacting to yours about mine.

Bottom line here is would you want to work at a place? If you were a sports writer and you were in the L.A. Times, the New York Times, and there was a TV up there ripping your work. Do you think it would make you a better writer or create self-doubt? You wouldn't want to watch that. When you go to Best Buy, I got a Best Buy right next to my house. What do they have on TV? Planet Earth.

or an in-house feed, giving you the brightest images ever. Here's what they don't have on TV. A guy saying, why would you buy a television? You can watch this stuff on your laptop. This place stinks. What do you think Best Buy sell when you walk in? TV, best image possible. Derek Jeter.

Somebody wants to ask him about, how do you get through slumps? And he goes, I don't surround myself with negative people. I don't want to be, I don't want negative people around me. I try to turn it off if it gets negative. You know, and everybody's like, oh, you're surrounded by yes, man. And he's like, yes, man, I am all season, off season different. But in baseball season, I don't want you around in my coconut when I'm in an 0-14 slump and I got a Red Sox series coming up at Fenway.

I don't want these athletes, these are professional athletes, all athletes, college or pro, so much of this is psychological. We've seen great players, David Duvall, the golfer, Greg Norman, the golfer, Chris Weber, A-Rod, great. Great athletes. The game gets into their head. They can't hit free throws and they're 75% 80% free throw shooters. We've seen LeBron in a final against Dallas.

Can't post up J.J. Perea. The game gets into his head. So I have no problem with me. And I'm not a big Mitch Trubisky fan, but would you rather have Baker Mayfield who reacts to everything? Or Mitch Trubisky who doesn't want to listen to anything. I'll take Trubisky. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the her. And also, just because he doesn't want to watch what we say or what other sports shows say about him doesn't mean he's not listening to his coaches. Who, by the way, even if we don't think are great coaches, know a whole lot more about football than we will ever forget. Right. So he's doing the right thing and blocking that out. It's like people that spend all day on Twitter.

And on mentions and watch. It's like it just gets into your head. There's no way for it not to get into your psyche. We do our prep. We have opinions. We can't sit around worrying about your opinions on our opinions or get into our head. Yeah. So Patrick Mahomes continues to trend towards an early return. He was a full participant in practice yesterday for the first time since his knee injury. Andy Reid said the chiefs would increase Mahomes workload this week, but won't play him unless the medical staff says it's safe. He was initially reported to be out for three weeks, but a return Sunday against the Titans would only have him missing two weeks. And then they have the buy after this week. So I don't know. I mean, I have a lot of faith in Matt Moore. I think I said this whenever the injury first happened. because that more was the backup in Miami

for a very long time. And he was a gamer. And he's just a very solid backup. He's a veteran. And you could see it in the game against the Vikings. He doesn't have that panic in him, you know, where the pockets closing in on him and he just feels like he's got to throw it away. Who do they play this week again? The Titans. So here's what's interesting. You know what I think I'd do?

I think I'd roll the dice. Here's what I would do. I would just keep playing Matt Moore. And if we'd lose to the Titans, I'll bring him back. If I beat the Titans and I can give Mahomes one more week, why wouldn't you just keep playing that more until, like if you go to the Titans and get bludged and it's like, okay, now I'll push it and make Patrick a little uncomfortable.

But I would just keep letting this thing go until about week 14. And then then I want Patrick back in to get timing down. Well, I mean, you want to get Patrick back as soon as he is fully healthy and ready to go. So if you do play more again this week and then you have the week off, that gives Patrick four weeks, five weeks, essentially to, heal up. So that's the ideal situation. I don't think any, obviously, no game in this league is a gimme. I mean, look at all the predictions that we had about the Broncos and the Browns and how

that goes. I mean, even no one had the Chiefs beating the Vikings either. Right. There's no gimmee game in the league. But you are in a good situation right now. You want to make sure that Mahomes is healthy going into the postseason. Who plays Thursday? Chargers, Raiders in your division. So if the Raiders lose, again, you're, you could know by Thursday, all right, Now the Chargers are four and five and the Raiders are sub 500. How urgent the situation is. Yeah, I mean, you get a little break scheduling break watching the Chargers, Raiders Thursday in your division. Yep.

So the Giants are on a five game losing streak, and head coach Pat Shermer is not happy about it. He held a team meeting Wednesday and reportedly told his players it's time to step up if they want to keep their jobs. After the meeting, one Giants player said, guys understand those mistakes are unacceptable. And if individuals don't get it corrected, they probably won't be playing anymore. There's no more waiting around. It's not about growing pains. It's time to get it done. They play the Jets this weekend, don't they?

Yes. A lot of dysfunction in New York. Shermer actually cut music from Wednesday's practice also. I'm not exactly sure what the motivation is there. But his record with New York is 7 and 18. Ben McAdoo was fired in his second season after going 13 and 15. Again, there's no firing of the coaches in the middle of the season, so we're not discussing that. But moving forward.

Boy, they're a weird team, Joy. They fall behind that they're, you know, we can bang on Adam Gase. I'm not sure Shermer's the right guy. That's the thing. And I think that the Giants, again, I think the Giants are also a victim of their brand. And that when you think of the Giants, you don't automatically think of dysfunction and losing. Like you think of a cornerstone franchise in the NFL. They are.

And just like, maybe they're just going through a bad spell. It's not necessarily dysfunction. It's been six years now. It's been a mess for six years. You have your quarterback. You have your star running back. Your old line's okay. Obviously, they need a lot of pieces.

But I really feel like there's a couple young quarterbacks in this league who have come in into situations. Like, we really feel like they have high level, sustainable, long career level talents that have come into not the greatest situations. And it's unfortunate because you don't want to move into the space of firing coaches and resetting their. Two of them could be in New York. Donald and Jones looked like there's something there, but how do we know? I mean, again, I am such a big believer. I know everybody hates Freddie Kitchens and Adam Gase. I'd retain both of them.

I'm just telling you. I'd fire Greg Williams, the D.C. in the Jets because he doesn't get along with Gates. I'd get him out in a new smart, young defensive coordinator. And Schumer, I'd make coaching changes, staff changes. I don't think you fire coaches with young quarterbacks. Yeah, I don't think the head coach, moving off of the head coach is the way to go at this particular point in their careers. I do think that you need, if you are in one of those situations, you need to bring in or find someone. who has the resume to develop a young quarterback somewhere on your staff.

And they get assigned to that quarterback. So maybe you don't reset the entire organization, but prioritize their development. And then also pay attention to what the Ravens are doing and identify what your particular quarterback's skills are and put the pieces around him to make him successful. That is what promotes growth. Don't put it all on him to carry the franchise. Finally, Des Bryant hasn't played an NFL game since December 2017, but he still wants another. chance. He's been posting some of his workouts on social media. And recently he said he's ready to

make his return. He tweeted, I'm not trying to go nowhere and be a starter on a team. I want to contribute because I know I'll be able to. I'm feeling good. In two weeks, I'm going to reach out to teams and see what happens. Let's go. I do a tryout with him. Remember Tio did a tryout? And we all looked at his abs and went, oh, my God. And then Seattle's like he's not fast enough. You got to be careful about these videos because he looks. You're like, oh, that, that, that, but it all comes down to what's your 40, what's your quickness. You leave this. league for two years, that is a long time for a player. Well, the thing about these workout videos, it's become very interesting because if you don't

post workout videos, then, I mean, you're obviously not working out, right? I mean, that's just the way it is on social media. I like, if you had posted your lunch, you didn't eat today. So there is something to posting that he is training and working out is he actually signed with the Saints a year ago today. Obviously, he tore his Achilles in practice and never ended up playing. But it would, I mean, imagine the Saints with Des Bryant. with a help he does Bryant right now.

I think there are some teams that if he's, if he's capable, if he comes in for a workout and they feel like he's ready, could use a piece like Des Bryant. I'm all for posting videos. That was one of my knocks on Kaepernick. Show me you like football.

But let's not go crazy on him because some of these athletes. Well, Kaepernick actually does post a lot of workout videos. Does he now? Yeah. So that's, again, like that's kind of what it is.

Like you do have to, you don't have to do anything, obviously. I'm not saying that. But in today's society, we want to see some, see what you're doing. Like if you're constantly posting,

what you want to do, what you are doing, and then saying that you want to do something else, even though that doesn't make sense because you could still be in the gym and not posting it, there is something to it. I agree with you. But it's interesting because we're going into that part of the season

where people need players. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Good stuff, Gregosel, top of the hour. Let's bring in the Dugger Doug Gottlieb after me, Fox Sports Radio.

Everybody's freaking out about load management and Kauai and the Clippers did lose last night. And just to restate it for Doug, my takeaway is I had dinner last night with a guy who owns a tech company, a lot of techs, young, millennials, and they got leverage. They missed Friday. Can't fire them because they go right across the street. And he said, listen, young, talented tech people have leverage, and they want an extra day off. I give it to them.

And I don't because I'll just go across the street and beat me. And I look at this and I think to myself, he's got leverage. That's why we all play Powerball. Yeah. Like that, I'm okay with it. Well, I'm not okay with it, but it is. matter whether you're okay with it or not. Like, what did anybody expect?

He played 60 games. He won a championship and he kind of, you know, willed his way to the finish and his body was breaking down. So in Kauai's mind, this is my path. Sure. And look, part of us is us problem. We don't, we've never judged what someone does historically in the NBA based upon the regular season.

It's all based on what you do in the postseason. So who actually cares? And, you know, the clippers wouldn't have gotten. Kawhide Leonard had they not told him look dude you tell us 60 games that's about right we'll figure it out we don't want you to play on back to backs i think that the comical part is the NBA giving him a doctor's note the NBA had a doctor's note yesterday where they're like look we we saw the the knee and he can't play on back to back nights like what i just to me the the people that are bothered are ESPN and tn t who paid all that money yeah had to fire people because they overpaid for the rights of the NBA and now they have have some starless games. I actually think in many ways it can help the Clippers because it allows Lou Williams, who didn't shoot well last night, to get his field.

To get guys that don't normally get the ball to get more confidence. Hey, here's a night where I get to go out and get mine. Montrez-Harrell last night. Sure. 30 points. Had a great night. I don't think it's a good look for the league. I don't think it's a good look for their relationship with their sponsors and with the TV companies

that have paid billions of dollars to put their games on TV. But I don't know why anybody would act like. they're surprised by the fact that Kauai Leonard's only going to play 60 games. This is why you would have taken the under on the overall total wins. Yeah, no, no, you and I talked about this. We both have sources around the league. You may have been the person that told me, but somebody called me. It probably was you and said, take the under on the clippers.

They're not going to play Kauai more than 64 games. Right. So they had to learn how to play with Kauai, knew he's only going to play 60 games, not have Paul George. Then eventually they'll get Paul George, have to learn how to play with Paul George, and then have to deal with the fact that sometimes they won't have Kauai and probably won't have Paul George. key moments down the stretch. It doesn't really matter to them. They think they'll be really good

in May and June, and that's where you decide who to have champions. It is funny that, you know, LeBron's career is interesting. I can remember this. I can remember when he came into the league. I watched this first game or highlights of it against Sacramento. And I remember saying this early, Doug, he's kind of a freight train. It's not very artistic. I liked Michael. I liked Magic. I liked Kobe. Duncan and LeBron bored me to tears, but I knew he was great. And then he leaves Cleveland, gets a ton of hate. And I started really love it. him. I'm like, God, he's just a kid. He wants to go play with good people. He goes to Miami, and I was really rooting for him. Then he goes to Cleveland and wins, and I thought that was cool.

And then he's come to L&A. He's being a little distracted. But our relationship with LeBron has always been a little polarizing. Don't threaten MJ. We don't like as much as this. And now it's interesting. Now a lot of us, I think you're with me on this, are saying, Kauai is the best player in the league. And people are coming and going, whoa. Like, it's not a knock. LeBron was the best player for what? 12 years?

You know, there were, like, Kobe was a great player. There were other great players or other people in that conversation. He was in the conversation of best player in the league for somewhere in the 8 to 12 year variety. Right.

I thought Kevin Durant was the best player in the league the past couple of years. I think James Hardin's been the best offensive player. I think Janus is coming around as the best all-around player. But, I mean, you can't watch opening night or watch the NBA

finals or realize the fact that Kauai outplayed him with the spurs and then, of course, won a title against a beaten-up Golden State team and not give him credit for what he's done on the biggest of stages. Yeah, I think Kauai Leonard is the best player in the league. It doesn't mean he stinks, right? Like at 35 years old with 17 years in, he's unbelievable. Best player ever with those wear and tear on the tires. 17 years in there's never been anything like this.

No, no, no, because Kareem at the end was not. But he also, remember, he gets the benefit of not having play. in college. So there was, he got, he started the clock earlier. He's been incredible. And I, I told you that the, the story of LeBron James, and this is predating last year, was his ability to never get hurt, right? And, and always be at peak physical condition when others were not. When, when they took down the spurs, what people forget about Ray Allen hit in the corner three was that, that was game six. Game seven, LeBron was the only one who had any gas in the tank. Everybody else was done. And he finally started making jump shots. And he,

won them a championship in game seven. Like the story of LeBron is his ability to be in peak physical condition at the most important moments and not get hurt for most of the regular seasons. He took some games off. He didn't play 82 until two years ago. But that's the story. And that's also allowed him to have these ridiculous runs and seasons. Jordan had one year when he's hurt, Bird obviously with the back.

But I don't think it's blasphemy to say that I'm not sure he's a top five player in the league. Right. Like if you saw him against Charlotte, he struggled early on to get his motor going. I get that the triple doubles are, make you infatuated with watching LeBron, but he didn't shoot the ball well against San Antonio. He was eight for 23. He was five for 10 from the free to the line. He didn't shoot the ball well.

He is spending the first half loading up those assist numbers so that he can score in the second half. He's smartly allowing Anthony Davis to blossom, who's probably their best player right now. He's great. He's just not peak LeBron James. But for one game, you know, when he's right, I still think he could be the best player league. He's just not the best player in league for 82 or for the entirety of the playoffs. Yeah, I love Brady Final Drive Super Bowl for three and a half minutes, but if you told me I had to pick somebody as the best quarterback today, it would not be Tom Brady.

Correct. You can say he's the greatest of all time or the most accomplished of all time and not say I think he's the best quarterback right now. That's a perfect parallel. Aaron Rogers is a better quarterback, although, you know, first in 10 on the 20-yard line, 25-yard line to have to march down the field in the Super Bowl, I'm probably going to take Tom Brady because he's been there nine times and won six of them. All right, we got some football stuff. OBJ, I said from the beginning, I think it's a rough fit. It's too forced.

Baker said yesterday we have to force it, which is exactly what I've been hearing. And that's okay. Not every relationship works on Trubisky as well. The phenomenon known as Lamar Jackson. More with Doug Gottlieb coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross.

you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This lineback coach is. 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? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life, one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a perimenapausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with the Adamania

Arriva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be? How can it be?

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Stuffy nose, top of the list. Vic Synex nasal spray works up to 12 hours. Vic Synex nasal spray, use as directed the Dugger, Doug Gottlieb, after my show on Fox Sports Radio. A lot of NFL stuff to talk about Chargers Raiders tonight is actually, if you've seen it in the preseason, you thought, clunker, it's actually a huge game tonight. We'll get into that in a second. Let's start with this. I am a believer. Akeeb Taleb came on the other day.

He was really interesting. man, you watch all these quarterbacks. I love him, by the way, talk about the recreational. We're not the recreational. I love it. He was great. One of my favorite guests ever. He's great.

He was great. He was going to be fine because he's going to have Sean McVeigh for 10 years. So we can fire Adam Gays and we can fire Freddie Kitchens. But I don't think it's the right move. I think you have a guy. I've learned on the job. I've taken jobs before. Oh, you're going to keep Freddie Kitchens?

I'm going to take him for 32 games. Why? Because I think it hurts Baker if you fire him. now and he's on his fourth coach. Yes and no. They're poorly, are they well-coached team? Do you watch them and go like, that's a well-coached team? I don't think they're a well-owned team, a well-run team.

No, no, I didn't ask about all this stuff. Like, when you have 13 penalties off a by-week playing in New England, is that a well-coached football team? I don't think they're greatly coached. No, they don't respect him. Okay, what about it? Hey, he doesn't implore enough discipline. And it's one thing if you're taking over the Jets or a downtrodden franchise,

if he was taken over the Browns a couple years ago when they were trying to be bad and trying to figure out, they had expectations of the of winning games, and they have gotten worse, not better. Like, you and I discussed this last week, you thought, and I think you apologized for your take on the Browns. It was terrible. Okay, but you're like, well, the easy part of the schedule. This is the easy part of the schedule,

and they couldn't beat the Broncos with somebody who you couldn't pick out of a lineup starting your quarterback. You'd fire Gase and let's go Kitchens. You'd fire him when? Well, what he's going to do is he's going to give Todd Munkin the play calling duties. That's his, but at the end of the year, I would find somebody buttoned up, somebody who's a disciplinarian. And then I got to figure out if Baker Mayfield's actually good enough

because he's trending in the way where he's actually not good enough to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. So the OBJ story came out where, you know, I didn't love. I didn't love when they made the move. I thought they had David and Joku, Jarvis Landry, good backs. It's like you've got enough players there. Right. Make sure your old line's good.

So they went and it got, and I feel it's been a forced relationship day one. They bit the apple. They bit the apple, Garden of Eden. That's what they did. OBJ, the great shoes, the great catches. the warm-up stuff, okay? But you win on your offensive line protecting your quarterback, stopping the run, right?

Would you trade him? I don't know what his value is. Oh, you don't think so? No, I don't know what is like the second team when the team in New York signs him and then gets rid of him and takes a big cap hit. And then the Browns sign him and they sink. I mean, you know, people talk in the league like, dude, do we,

is this a poison pill we want to take? I don't know, though, but there's... What do you think his value is? If I get a first round pick for him, have him. But I don't think you can. I would like him if I had a good structure and a grown-up quarterback, I'd like him a lot. Yeah, I think he's a supreme talent.

I don't think they get rid of him. I think everyone realizes how talented he is. He should have been there at OTAs. He'd have a better working relationship with the offense and with Baker. That's true. That's true. And I think, again, they're going to bring in somebody.

You go the opposite, right, in leadership. You go from a guy, Freddie Kitchens, unproven, seems to have a cool way about him. They're going to go with a stiff, who's been a head coach before. Mike McCarthy. That type of guy. That's what to do.

Can I just say one thing? Yeah. Can we please stop with the Lamar Jackson MVP thing after one really good game against the Patriots? Russell Wilson's going to win it. Well, Russell Wilson has been a better quarterback for half the season. Like Lamar Jackson played great Saturday Sunday. He was great. The whole team was.

Yeah. I mean, they were, it came off a by week. They're up 17-0. and when challenged by the Patriots, they get a strip and a fumble return, and then the last drive, he looked great, and their system is working. It worked in that game.

But we mentioned Cleveland. He was a disaster against Cleveland in three interceptions. Pittsburgh, he was bad, three interceptions. They won in spite of not because of him. Even against Seattle, where he scrambled and made some great play. He was nine of 20. Of his 12 touchdown passes,

seven came in the first two weeks against five against the dolphins, who are one of the worst teams we've ever seen the NFL. Don't tell the Jets that. And it was coaching his first game. And the Arizona Cardinals. Like, look, he's right now trending to be better than many people thought.

And he's fascinating. He is. But we're doing the same. We're doing the T-bo thing again. They got a great defense. Why are they winning? They got Brandon Williams back so you can't run the football against him. So you have to pass it.

And now they're fully healthy in their defense. And they trade it from Marcus Peters. So now they have two good cornerbacks, right? And then they run the football, shorten the game and have the best kicker in football. We've seen this before. The only question is, how long does it last before people figure it out like the Chargers did in the playoffs last year? Here's the thing, is that, and I'm, I love football. But part of the reason I love football is it gives me new stuff all the time.

This is not new. No, but he is the newest version of stuff we've fallen in love with. Yes. Yes, he's the, he's the, he's the newest cool sports car. And every year or two, a new one comes out and you're like, ooh, BMW's got a new sports car. Yeah, can you drive that? one to work every day. I don't know. But when I wake up on Sunday,

two weeks ago they were to buy, I was like Sunday's not as interesting. No, and I understand. But he watched him against Kansas City, and he was awful. He was awful. He threw two prayers that got caught. You take those two off, and he completed 40% of his pass against a bad defense. Here's my argument.

He is not a refined passer yet. They're starting to figure out what routes he throws well. And obviously, the offense is zagging when everybody else is zigging, right? And it's, they're running the option. Nobody runs the option in college, let alone the pros anymore. And he's a freak athletically. But I'll say this. I don't think serious people, again, serious people are going on TV saying he's the MVP. Like, wait, are we talking the whole season or just how he played

against the Patriots? This is where I've always thought when people complain, we're in a small market, nobody pays attention. But I do believe if Russell Wilson's game last week would have been on national TV, nobody watched the Buccaneer Seahawks. Russell Wilson was insane. last week. Every Russell Wilson game is the same. Russell Wilson running around, making a play at the end of the game, decided by three points or less. Yeah, okay. 22 touchdowns, one and a separate.

All right, Greg Cole sells around the corner, NFL meat sandwich. Great stuff. Fox Sports Radio, the Dugger. After me. See you in the second. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway, with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition, of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking.

Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me keer gains is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free our heart radio app search learn the hard way and listen now last night a blown call changed the game this morning the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly

what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about Defendant.

find the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the

lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ah, hour two live in L.A. This is The Heard. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and F.S.1, good stuff. Greg Kosell is going to join us in three minutes. NFL meat sandwich.

I have so, I have not. I have so many things I want to talk about today. Pamphlets full of data and information that America needs. And I got to be honest with you. I don't mean to brag, but this shirt really looks good on me. Joy, Taylor. What's up? Your notes actually should be in, like, the Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Oh, right. I remember the first, I think it was like one of the first times that I came to the prep meeting to do the show with you. And I, I mean, Collins' notes are, they're in, like, you're, no one else on Earth can read them but you. I don't know if that's strategic, but I've never seen anything like it. Well, thank you, I think. Yeah, it is a compliment. It's fascinating. So if you just said in the preseason, charge your show.

at the Raiders. You got to watch this. Folks, this is a huge game tonight. It's big for Kansas City. Here's Oakland's 4 and 4, L.A. Chargers 4 and 5. Raiders offense, really good. Chargers defense, watch out. I like the Chargers tonight. I think in a short week, their defensive line eats up the Raiders O line. I like the Chargers tonight. But it's interesting because the AFC wild card race, there's seven teams battling for two spots. This is how, because I think Deshawn Watson's going to just take over his division. He does that. Brady's going to win his division.

He does that. Mahomes going to take over his division. He does that. And then, you know, we'll figure out the west. You know, so we got the west, we got the east. We got, oh, by the way, Baltimore, they go win their division. So I think we already had, we're going to have Brady, Lamar, Mahomes. And who's the other one?

And Deshawn Watson. They're going to win their division. But we're going to have seven teams battling for two spots. Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Indie, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Oakland Chargers. I'll tell you who I like. I think it's going to come down to Buffalo, great staff, good defense. Indianapolis, no noise, no drama, not great at quarterback, solid defense. I just like their organizational structure.

I still think they're a year away. And then the Chargers, not the Raiders. I think the Chargers have a great roster. Derwin James back in a couple of weeks, a veteran quarterback, multiple good backs, O-lines getting healthier, weapons, good corners. I think the Chargers win tonight and reel off five or six straight wins. Remember, last two years, November and December, the Chargers have been six and two both years down the stretch. So I think it's a very good game tonight. I think the Chargers, the Bills, and the Colts in about four weeks are going to separate three teams in their

battling for the two wild card spots. And I think it's a really, really good game. A really, really good game tonight. I'll take the Chargers by about a touchdown. With that 40 years, NFL film, a guy I've been bringing on for Thursdays for a long time in the football season and sometimes out of the football season.

NFL films Greg Kosell. Let's start with the game of the weekend. Lamar Jackson against New England. There were times it looked like New England was guessing. Sometimes when you face Lamar, I think you do have to guess. and they guessed wrong. And when they guessed right sometimes,

his escapeability is just tough to defend. When you watch the tape professionally, Greg, anything jump out that you saw in film that you didn't notice during the game or did you have some great conclusion when it was all done? Well, truth be told, Colin, and I don't want to ruin your view of me,

but on Sunday night from April, I did not see the game live because I was at Fleetwood Mac. Oh, hey, listen, Fleetwood Mac is actually, excellent even today. The Sunday night, I could not go. I mean, I was sitting in the 11th row center. How can you pass that up?

So on film, what did you say? On film, you know, I still think that Stevie Nixon sounds pretty good. Oh, anyway, you're talking about the Ravens. So anyway, they're really multiple with their personnel packages, their formations, their shifts, their motions. They give a defense an awful lot to digest before the ball's even snapped. And obviously, because of Jackson, he is a. major part of that. And they spread you out. They expand you horizontally because they attack you that way. They expand your defense. It's not just like you can get tight and stop the run game. So there's

an awful lot to digest. And then they give you the Jackson designed runs, which they did quite a bit. I think there were three of them on the first possession of the game. And now all of a sudden, you know, that's a factor as well. The thing that was fascinating to me in the game, as the game progressed is for the most part, and the tape tells you this, because the tape tells you how they want to play offense, is they played offense really limiting what Jackson did as a passer, and they were able to score 30 offensive points because they had the one defensive touchdown, and that fascinated me. Now, there were a few key third-down completions, and they were third and short for the most part where they could use natural rub elements, the natural pick

elements and define the read and the throw. But for the most part, they played this game with their run game, and they were able to score 30 points. Yeah. Well, you know, it's funny sometimes. You know, the Dallas Cowboys run offense. And, you know, everybody wants to bury the run offense, but Baltimore and Dallas are near the league lead in points, and they run the football.

It's not Green Bay and Aaron Rogers. You know, I think sometimes we forget that you can control the clock with the run game, and offensive linemen love the run game. I think this, you know, it's the pendulum swinging, Greg. More teams are playing with a fullback, Colin. Have you noticed that? Yep. By the way, San Francisco, you think it's Garoppolo.

Go look at their, they run 50, like 7% of the time. San Francisco's now a run team. Baltimore's a run team. Oakland. Oakland's a run team. Let's go to Oakland, by the way. So they play tonight. This Josh Jacobs kid.

Love him. What a first. Nobody gets a good shot at him. His first step, Akeem to leave the other day, You come in and you're just like, okay, that guy is game one. He's a player. What's the film say? I think he's a top five back in the league right now.

I think he's a combination of power, agility. He makes people miss his lower body. I mean, from the waist down, he is strong. I mean, he's a 220-pound back now. He's not a scat-back, although there are times he looks like one. And what John Gruden does, and he's always been this way, and he's always talked about it, it's the illusion of complexity. He gives you a lot of different personnel packages, a lot of different looks, a lot of different formations, just to run basic plays.

And, you know, he'll line up with three tight ends, two tight ends, a fallback, three wide, all different personnel packages, all different looks, particularly on the first 10, 12, 15 plays of the game. And then you've got to figure out what all that means, and then he'll run basic plays. So there's a lot of – you know, I don't want to call it window dressing because coaches don't think of it that way, and nothing's really window dressing. I think it's all done for a reason, but that's what he does. It's the illusion of complexity with a ton of different looks, and then they run base plays. Yeah. I want to go last week. I was shocked.

Brandon Allen moved the ball on Cleveland. Baker couldn't move it on Denver. And either Denver is a team that's lost four games by one possession, three on the final element, the final kick. Is Denver better than we thought? Is Cleveland worse than we thought? Let's talk about the Brown's offense now. OBJ doesn't feel he's getting it.

What is the film saying? Is it saying anything different than a month ago? You know, I think what you're seeing is, when it comes to Baker, I think what made him a really good prospect and made him very good as a rookie were two things. Number one, he was an aggressive current loose thrower, and number two, he was accurate. And I think this year he's, for the most part, not all the time. I mean, you know, it's easy to bury him now because, for many reasons, unrelated to football. but I think there have been too many examples this year, too many snaps in which he's not turned it loose,

and he's been inaccurate. And he's particularly missed routine open-thet in the NFL. And he's missed a few, too many of those this year. And their run game, look, Chub's still getting the ball. It's not as if they do not give it to Chubb. You know, even this week he had 20 carries. Now he only had 65 yards. But I still think to stabilize their offense, it needs to be Chubb.

And particularly this week, they played the best. bills who have now started to struggle a bit with their run defense. And there's reasons for that, obviously. But I think this is a week where they need to work off Chubb. But Mayfield needs to become more accurate and he needs to be a little more aggressive. But I think there's a little bit of a loss of confidence just watching him. I want to shift to the Vikings Cowboys play this weekend. And I made the argument yesterday.

They're the same team. They both have a great back, excellent roster, stars everywhere. one team has both coaches win but they're both on the hot seat one quarterback got paid and people complained about it one's gonna get one's gonna get paid and people are going to complain about it they have nice elements on the perimeter but the difference is i like dac more than kirk cousins because i think he's a little more cut a clutch that's just there's just something about him i trust him i would agree with you whatever that is and i think he's a little more mobile in an era where i like my quarterback to be able to move. So when I list quarterbacks, I get to about the 13th, 14th best guy in the league,

and I got Dak and then right beneath him cousins. I like Dallas this weekend. Is Minnesota, statistically, Kirk is great. But do you see that team trying to make it Delvin Cook's team and not Kirk? What's the coaching staff say when you watch Minnesota? I think they want to be a run first team without question. They want it to be Delvin Cook and and then work off that because their play action past game is what makes their past game go. with straight play action and a lot of play action boot. The issue they are having is the Interior 3 on their offensive line has not played particularly well throughout much of this season,

which sort of gets pushed aside because Cook has done very, very well. But they've struggled inside. Just to make a point in this particular game, I think one area to look at is the Dallas pass game and their receivers, because I don't think that the corners for the Vikings, Xavier Roads, Trey Waynes, they now mix and Mike Hughes, and he'll start to get more snaps. I don't think Wade and Zend Rhodes have played particularly well this year, and I think they're beatable players.

And I think with Cooper and Gallup, that the Cowboys are going to look at those matchups and feel like we can create some big play opportunities. You know, it's funny with Dak, when Dak moves and throws, you know, he gets the ball there. It is the most inartistic looking thing in the world. There is something, though, Greg. There is an it thing. There are guys that aren't pretty. I've seen it in the NBA. I've seen it in baseball.

Dak tends to you know he rolled out threw it to the tight end good God it was sloppy it was it was just it looked awful but it's there is something to be said he makes a lot of plays when I need him

to and I the film maybe says something else but you know I'm kind of tired about hearing how he's the limitation God I watched him Sunday and I'm like you know he made the plays when I needed he's a good quarterback I mean we get caught up in lists you know that everybody wants a list where does he

rank? Is he a top 10? Is he a top five? He's a good quarterback. You can win with that, Prescott. There's not an issue with that. All right, let's go to Jimmy G. For the first time this year, Greg, Greg Kosell joining us, the Niners said, hey, we can't run the ball, and our D-line's not great. Jimmy,

we need you to carry us tonight. I thought he looked good. I thought he looked confident. I think he made some tight throws. I liked what I saw against Arizona closer than we thought. What did you make of it? I thought it was incrementally getting better each week. And he's just past the point where he started a full season worth of games.

People forget that. I thought he was really decisive with his reeds and his throws. His ball placement was really precise. He had the look of a confident quarterback, understanding his route concepts in relation to the coverage and knowing immediately where he had to go with the ball based on that. So he eliminated what wasn't there and isolated what was there quickly and decisively.

I thought he threw the ball exceptionally well. By the way, they faced Seattle. Pete Carroll doesn't have a great defense this year. It's actually led by Russell Wilson. Can Seattle's defense stack up? Well, it's funny you say that because even though they gave up a lot to James Winston this past weekend, I was fascinated watching and they were really aggressive with Blitz, more so than we're used to seeing Seattle.

They played a lot of man coverage, particularly on third down. Now, obviously, they didn't do anything great on defense. I'm just talking about what they did tactically. and I think they know that they have to figure some things out, that they have to try to be aggressive and challenging and not just sit back because they've not gotten a pass rush that they expected from Onsawn Clownie. That's right. And they've now understood, just as Houston did,

that Clowny is not an edge pass rusher, that they have to move him around. So you can't just line him up on the edge and say, go get the quarterback. That's probably the worst part of Clowney's game. Yeah, isn't that interesting? So let's go to Russell Wilson. I'm not a big MVP discussion guy.

I don't talk about the high. I just don't give a rip. I really don't care about that stuff. But I said if I had to give it, nobody watched the Tampa Bay game. It was on TV in about 8% of the country. Right. And if you had seen that game on TV, Russell Wilson would be the runaway MVP because he's ridiculous. They rely on him heavily.

I think he's having his best year. He's the best I've ever seen him play. And he's your big play of the week. Yeah, he's a fascinating player and they're a fascinating team because they still start their offense with the run game, which a lot of people lose sight of. but Wilson has played exceptionally well this year, although I don't think he's played any differently, Colin, the numbers just make it seem like he's played better,

but I think he's playing the same way that he has for the last couple of years. But we're going to look at a touchdown here, and let's start it right now. This required a really, really good throw. It's not a complex concept, but it requires – these are the red zone throws that you have to make. Yes. And this is why some teams are good in the red zone and others are not. So what they do here is they line up with three wide receivers,

to the wide side of the field. And we're going to name who these receivers are. Metcalf, then more, and then lock it, from outside to in. And then it's man to man. And you can see the matchups that the Bucks have. It's man-to-man coverage against the trips to that side. Now Lockett's going to run this route here. He's going to run to the corner.

And what they're going to do when he does this is they want to make sure that that corner is clean so that there's no other defenders there. So since they know it's man-to-man, they simply have Metcalf and Moore run these little shallow routes to eat up those man-to-man defenders so there's space. And this is so critical because what happens in the red zone? In the red zone, you have to make really precise ball placement throws. There's not a lot of room. So that doesn't seem like much of a play, Colin? You know, it just seems, oh, it's a three- or four-yard touchdown.

But that's a big-time throw, and not every quarterback is going to make that throw. Yeah, it's the throw Trent Delferro has said. A lot of guys, big arms can throw deep or they can dump the screen. It's that little rainbow throw where you've got to have just enough velocity and you've just got to drop it 18 yards, just drop it over the corner. And as our TV audience is watching, it is, there's not a football length. It's a perfect throw. No, and that's when I use the term precise ball placement as opposed to accuracy.

And that's a perfect example of precise ball placement. And it was demanded on that throw. Greg CoSell, I'm glad you enjoyed. Stevie Nixon, Fleetwood Mac, very happy for you. I appreciate it. Thank you so much, and I did. Good for you. Greg Kosell, folks.

He's a man of many tastes, not just a football expert. He likes music as well. Coming up next, Bill Pollian has been ripped for not calling Lamar Jackson a great quarterback initially. And I'll tell you my takeaway, which is we are in a different time in football, and there's going to be a lot of mistakes and a lot of big opinion. and we're going to be wrong most of the time, and we all need to lighten up. That and why I think Bama LSU will not be close

and why I don't even think it's a rivalry. That's 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 IHeart Radio app. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness,

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

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on. earth, are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app.

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

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants anything. answer. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalif 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rec. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam?

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

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

And when IT's friends stopped by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, I said. You figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tonight on Thursday Night Football, it's an AFC West Showdown, as Philip Rivers and the Chargers take on Derek Carr and the Raiders. It all starts at 730 Eastern, 430 Pacific on Fox NFL Network,

and streaming on Prime Video. So let's talk Thursday night football Super 6, the last question in today's game, which team will win and by how many points? Who you got? I'll take the Chargers by four. They have not allowed 30 points in 13 straight games. That's the longest active streak in the NFL.

This is a great defense. So the Raiders are going to meet a little bit of a lot. a brick wall. Their defensive line is unbelievable. And by the way, if you go to the last two years since Halloween, they have the best record in the NFL after Halloween. They and the New England Patriots are really good late. Takes them a while to figure it out. I like the chargers. I think they're really good. And I think they're getting healthy. So there you go. By the way, the Lamar Jackson story is fascinating to me. Bill Polly is a Hall of Fame general manager. He's made a million right decisions. And he said Lamar Jackson coming out of college, he goes, I think he's more of a

receiver. He got a lot of heat for that. You know, you got a lot of heat. My takeaway was always number one. First, it was perfectly fine to have an opinion on a quarterback who was not just mobile. He's the fastest player on every field. He's not a mobile quarterback. Steve Young's a mobile quarterback. He runs a four-three. You saw him against Seattle, New England. He's outrunning corners. It was okay to say, I got to be honest. I think I try him out at receiver too. Okay. Well, he was a good college quarterback. Yeah, but he didn't throw the ball perfectly. In fact, I had two scouting directors I talked to because I asked about it and they said, I don't know. That was the reaction. I don't know. For the record, as good as he's been this year, he's 20th and passing yards, 17th in passing touchdowns, and 14th in passer rating.

He's still a work in progress. Number two, we've seen kind of elements of this before. It's called Kaepernick, Tim Tebow, Michael Vic, where running quarterbacks work. They just don't last or they don't develop into what you think. And most GMs with first round pick, second round pick quarterbacks, and that's what I thought he was a second round pick quarterback, mid to late second round, a project more than a prospect, is that you're trying to draft somebody for 15 years. And there's elements of his game we've seen before. And there were questions about, is he going to last? Is he going to develop? Because he's not a naturally beautiful thrower. Now, by the way, either is Philip Rivers. Not everybody is. But, you know, that was the knock on to Sean Watson a little.

He's still not a beautiful, elegant thrower. Everybody wants Aaron Rogers and Patrick Mahomes, not the way it works. And the third thing was, we're in a really tough time. We're in a different time. We've segued from pocket quarterback. Seemingly, that's a negative now. So my whole life, it was get a pocket quarterback. I say that now and people are like, whoa, what do you mean?

Pocket quarterback. To mobile quarterback to now in high school college and the pros, should we have her best athlete at quarterback? So there's going to be some guesses, there's going to be some whiffs, there's going to be some mistakes at a position. That's the hardest position in American sports. I mean, I thought DAC was an NFL tight end.

He's really good. I thought Johnny Mansell and Tim Tebow should never have been drafted. They both got drafted in the first round, and I'm just a radio TV moron. So I never saw NFL for Mansell and Tebow. I never saw it for. for DAC. I was right with two, really wrong for one. Russell Wilson, I just wasn't paying attention.

Trubisky, I didn't like anything about him. The Bears loved it. Deshawn Watson, I thought was excellent, and 10 teams passed on him. You just don't know. You can have strong opinions. Bill Polion's a Hall of Famer. We're moving into a different time now where, you know, we kind of, do you put your, high school coaches are dealing with this. College coaches are dealing with this. College coaches are dealing with this. I watch Kyler Murray. I still can't get over his size, but it works. The game's different. It's coach different. It's okay to have an opinion on quarterbacks. It is the hardest position to draft, and it's right in the middle of this sea change, and it's happening. And there are no perfect GMs. The two scouting directors I talked to on Lamar were like, I mean, that was their

facial expression. I don't know. So you want everybody to be perfect. The guy is a four, three, absurd. He's just flying past Bobby Wagner. He's flying past Patriot Corners. It's okay to say, I try my wide receiver too. It's okay. It's not the end of the world. We all get opinions on this stuff. All right, Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Hurdline News. Kauai Leonard missed his second game of the year last night due to load management. But the NBA says the Clippers are not breaking any league rules. They release a statement on the Clippers decision to sit Kawhi, saying Kauai Leonard is not a healthy player

under the league's resting policy and as such is listed as managing a knee injury in the LA Clippers injury report. The league office in consultation with the NBA's director of sports medicine is comfortable with the team's medical staff determination that Leonard is not sufficiently healthy to play in back-to-back games at this time. Now, I really do not understand the reaction to Kauai Leonard's sitting. I don't know why this is shocking to anyone. there's just certain things that become a story and I'm just like... Doris Burke was mad last night.

How are we not all, literally, everyone in the sports universe on the same page about Kauai and load management? Well, some of it is I do get the company that owns the rights being sore over it when the stars don't show up for their TV games.

But you knew this was going to happen. And if it's a back-to-back game, you should expect it. There's just certain things that are the way that they are. This is a new world. This worked for Kauai last year. He won the championship. He won Toronto, an entire country, a championship missing 22 games.

Why would he change anything? No, no, I get that. And nor do I think the clippers are upset. But the television company, when they schedule the clippers, they didn't know he was going to take all these games off early. Early or late, he's still taking them off. And the reality is that it's smarter to spread this out so that he does play. He does maintain health throughout the season and still somewhat gives fans something to watch.

He's going to take these games off. Let that wash over you, accept it, have a glass of tea or a cup of tea, and figure it out. But that's what's going to happen. Well, but again, advertisers, I mean, again, I get the pushback. I get the network. I get the advertisers. And I get a middle class family in San Bernardino that goes to a game and Kauai's not there. I get the consumerism.

No, I totally understand it. Yeah. I get why you would be angry if you didn't. know this was a thing, but we all knew this was a thing. Like, no one was confused about it at all. Like, there was nothing. He's sitting out. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Why would he not be sitting out? We knew that. And the thing is, this is going to be more common with, and I don't want to call Kawhi an aging superstar, but with superstars, because you can't have it both ways, right? We can't crush guys when they're not successful in the postseason and then crush them when they don't find a way to take. take care of their body throughout a very long, strenuous NBA regular season. But to that, people are going to say Michael played 82.

It's a different world now, and this is the pushback on that. Earl tweeted this yesterday. It's not Michael's era anymore. You can't account for basketball development the same way you did in Michael Jordan's era because you have AAU where kids are playing 12 to 15 games a weekend almost all year round from, say, the time they're 12 to 18. Their bodies are not the same when they get to the NBA. And then they might play a year or two of college.

Why are they playing all those AAU games? Because that's the culture. That's basketball culture. They're playing. I mean, it's not easy to get to the NBA. You have to be seen. You have to work on your game. And that is the NBA, that is the AAU or I don't want to call it.

AAU, grassroots basketball culture today as it stands. 15 games a weekend. More and more common. I mean, these tournaments are all year rounds. So your body is different once you get to the NBA. So this load management is only going to continue. Why don't they shorten the season to 68 games? Because then you're giving up ticket money,

you're giving up parking money, concessions, and it all comes down to the dollar. So something's got to give. And if it's to me, if it's Kauai has to sit out 20 games, that's how it goes. The whole league isn't going to sit out. It's just going to be a select few superstars, and that's just the way it goes.

It'll be interesting, though. Will the owners at the next CBA push back and say, let's go on strike? We're just going to go on strike. We're not going to allow it. Because I think you'd have to, and just to say, you have to play a minimum of 72 games. But then you get into the territory of how can you tell someone they're injured or not? Well, it's just like my boss is saying, we don't think you're that sick.

So I come to work and I enjoy with the nose. Yeah, I think they'd say, all right, we'll deal with that more than you missed 12 days of work because of, you know, sinus infection. I mean, they have to find a balance. And when it comes to health, like, I don't know how they answer that. It's an interesting problem for the league. So Baker Mayfield showcased three different facial hairstyles Sunday. And fans were quick to call him out on social media. He started with a full beard when he arrived at the stadium.

And then he shaved it to handlebars for the game. And then he changed it to a short mustache for the post game press conference. So weird. Why is this news? Bill, because it's Baker Mayfield and everything that he does is news. And he was asked why he kept changing his look. And this was his answer. Oh, okay.

Let me hear this. The original thought for me to do the handlebars. I was undefeated before Sunday with the handlebar mustache, so I shaved it off because I didn't deserve it. Okay. So he didn't deserve the handlebar? I mean, he's kind of making a joke of it, which is good. I really wish, today is Thursday. I do wish that the Browns would adapt to the Patriots way of answering questions that once the game is over,

like you have the day to answer the questions about that game and then it's on to Cincinnati. Have you noticed that? They talk about the last game more than any team in the league. That's what got Baker into that situation with that reporter last week. Yes. Because you shouldn't even be talking about that game. Who cares about what happened in that game? It can't be undone. You learned what you learned from it.

And now we're on to the next game. They are really a mess. And you know what? After Baltimore beat New England, they have no chance to be a playoff team now. Like it's over. They're going to win a bunch of games against crappy teams. but their season's essentially over. Everybody thinks the jet season's over after Sunday the Bill's season or the Browns season.

I mean, once they are mathematically eliminated, I said this before the season. Like, if they don't make the playoffs, it's a disaster. There's no way that you can talk the way that you talked about the team going into this season and not make the playoffs and not be considered a disaster. Finally, the Bears on a four-game losing streak and filtering out the critics, everything we just talked about, it can be difficult. and Chubisky has an idea and a way to ignore all the negativity.

He wants all the noise out of the Bears facility to help do that. Trying to get some of these TVs in the building turned off because you got too many people talking on TV about us and what they think about us,

what we should do, what we are and what we're not. But they don't really know who we are or what we're capable of people or what we're going through or what we're thinking. It's just the outside viewers looking in.

So, yeah, tunnel vision, earmuffs and just come to work every day and try to get better and get back to what we know we're capable of doing. Good for him. Good for him. I didn't know exactly how to feel about the story when I first saw it. It felt a little bit, like, are they being sensitive?

And now that I've thought about it, it does make the most sense. Because some of the best advice that I've gotten in my career is to not pay attention to your mentions, don't be in your comments. Like, don't get sucked into that instant feedback world. And television is not instant feedback. Like what we do is actually researched and studied and we try to back it up with stats and other analysts and opinions. But you can't just download yourself with all this input and opinions and this criticism and that criticism and then be able to focus yourself to get better. Dennis Miller, the comedian, was on Monday Night Football years ago and he had the best advice I've ever heard.

Somebody said, do you want to read your critics? And he goes, no. If they're bad, I'll have self-doubt. and if they're good, I'll get cocky. I'm just going to go do me, and however it lands, it lands. I don't want to hear the good or the bad, and that's largely been my opinion on my career. I work hard, I do my prep, I talk, and how it lands, it lands.

I can't sit and worry about how some guy on Twitter thinks of it. This is what I do, and I hope you like it. And we're all in results-driven businesses. If you get ratings, what you're doing is correct. It doesn't matter what people say on Twitter. If you are winning games, it doesn't matter what people's opinion of you is outside of the building. So even though this may not actually help him improve, what your mental state is going into a game is very important.

So if this is what he feels like is going to help him in the team, this should do it. Joy with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Line News. By the way, Bama LSU play this weekend. And let me talk about this for a couple minutes. I don't think it's a rivalry.

Because to be a rivalry, they would have to go back and forth on the winning thing. Alabama's going to win it and they're going to win it decisively. because this series is about Nick Saban. Nick Saban was 4-1 against Alabama when he coached LSU. He's 10 and 3 in this series against LSU when he's coaching Bama. Nick Saban has been in this game 18 times and he's won 14 and he's going to roll Saturday. This is not a rivalry. This is hammer meets a nail.

LSU has been shut out at home two of the last three times they faced Alabama. Bama's won eight straight. Colin, Colin, but LSU added some new schematic stuff. Offensively, they throw the ball. Yeah, LSU did not find a new concept. You know what LSU did? They went to the Saints, hired a guy and updated to this century because they've been one of the most antiquated passing games in college football for 20 years,

and they're finally throwing it like everybody else. They joined the party. They've not elevated anything. Burrell's a nice quarterback. He's got good targets. They've got great athletes. They're not doing anything Nick Saban hasn't seen 100 times. This is not a rivalry.

Bama's win. If two of plays, Bama's winning by two touchdowns. They're both off buys. Who do you trust off a buy? Nick Saban Red Ors are on. This is Seal versus Shark. Yes, they both swim. Yes, they're both in water.

You know who's going to win every time. This is not LSU Bama. This is Nick Sabin's series. He owns it. He's defined it. There is no rivalry. Take his side. And I trust Bama and their defense and their coaching way more than LSU.

All take Bama big. Chris Haynes coming up next. In L.A., it's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a deck. of my own experience in the middle health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross.

Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app.

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

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answers. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action

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

Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players

and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipson High School. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider.

This is a podcast we're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white color or something here? Just hit it.

Oh, what are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. Could you believe? I would buy it. Cut through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake.

That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tommy John believes in the three Fs of fabric. Fabric fit function. Tommyjohn.com code heard 20% off. Chris Haynes, NBA Insider, Yahoo Sports, cover the calves, covers the Warriors, got his post-up podcast with Chris Haynes. All right, we're talking about load management, and my takeaway has always been in life.

If you get leverage, you use it. He's got leverage. He's using it. But Janus, for instance, in Milwaukee, you've talked to them recently. Budenholzer Janus, he doesn't like it as much. Why doesn't he like it? He just wants to play.

They actually got into it. a couple times last season. Boonehoser, you know, a disciple of Greg Popovich, school of basketball. Yeah, yeah. Once his guys rest from fresh and take, you know, they were really doing low management before Kauai came to postage shop. 12 years ago. So that was something that the honest is not, he's not accustomed to. He kind of, you know, farted initially.

And at one point during the season when they actually sat him down, he came back and played the next game and he was a little bit off. And he went back to boot and I was like, look, it's because you set me yesterday. You know, he likes to have his rhythm. Some guys like repetition. That's him. But this is what I will say about Yonis. And I was talking to the producer in the back. And this kind of got to my mind is that I'm an Earl Watson, who Joy's fiancé,

had a really great point on Twitter a few days ago talking about guys come into a league already banged up, already fatigued because all the AAU games. They play AAU games more than they play, you know, high school basketball. And so if you look at it from that standpoint, Yonis didn't really have all those games coming on up. He started basketball late. And so he doesn't have the rigor wears and tear of a lot of other 24-year-old players. So I think that's probably a reason why he's able to go so hard and wants to go so hard. But I do think it's something to what Earl said about guys coming in already with a ton of miles. Now, but people are going to argue.

They're going to say, yeah, but in the old days, you played three years of college. The game was way more physical. I mean, Michael Jordan got beat up for nine years. The game's not as physical now. It's more of a cardio league. It's not, but Michael Jordan, those guys didn't play a ton of high school ball. It was just high school season. And AAU wasn't around back then.

And so, you know, these guys, they can play up to 40, you know, maybe even more. AAU games, depending on if you're one of the top athletes, you're going cross-country. You're playing, pick games over there, playing for USA. So there's a lot of wear on top, you know, top prospects. How about shortening the season? That's what I think, excuse me my ear, but that's what I think has to be the most likely scenario because I don't think games are going to be dropped in AAU in high school.

So this is a different time. I know people keep saying, well, Magic and Jordan and Patrick U. and play 82, it's a different time. There's more games being played in the offseason. So I think the NBA has to adjust, but the problem is, you know, that's when you start talking about money, sacrifice some money. And if things that went on in China right now, that's the last thing the NBA wants to do is sacrifice some money. Lakers Clippers, you know, it's really funny. We were saying this.

We tend to think the NBA. Everybody goes, oh, I love parity. We didn't have it in the 60s. In fact, let me look this up. In the 60s, the Celtics won 11 titles. In the 80s, Lakers Celtics were in every finals for a decade. In the 90s, Bulls had six. Houston had two.

In the 2000s, Lakers had four spurs three. 2010 on, it was LeBron and the Warriors. And it looks like to me, Lakers, clippers are the best two teams in the league. Lakers were way better early than I thought, and the clippers are absurdly loaded. We got a dynasty. We just don't know if it's a gold dynasty or a blue dynasty. Is that possible? I mean, can it be both?

I mean, they look like the two best teams I've seen on TV. It's those two. I'll put Milwaukee up there with them. So I would say it's those three teams, and then there's a big gap before you get to the second two teams. I think the gap's bigger than we want to acknowledge. That gap is Milwaukee, who doesn't have a second star. Denver, who doesn't have a third guy, Utah, who I don't think has the defensive closer you need against Abe, well, against LeBron. I think the gap from Clippers to Lakers is bigger than we think.

You think so, huh? I'll give you that. I'll say this. A lot of star players bailed out of doing the Feeba World Cup this summer because they felt like this was an opportunity this season where it was just wide open for everybody. And so now if you look at it, I don't see how wide open it is. I agree.

I see three teams. I'm going to put Milwaukee in there. I see three teams where I say those are title contending teams. I don't see that from anybody else right now. Now, this is, you know, we're early in the season. Things can change. Injuries happen. Teams get better.

But as a right now, I see the Lakers, clippers, bucks. That's about it. Houston Rockets, I don't know who predicted this, but they're not good. Offensively, they'll be kind of fine, although it looks like it's Hardin's team. And then they're going back and forth. There's no symmetry yet. It'll maybe get there. Defensively, they're atrocious.

Is it possible? This was a move by Tillman Fratida. He just bought this team. Chris Paul gets hurt. Westbrook's fascinating. But they knew deep down analytically. He can sell tickets, but it's not going to work. It doesn't look like it works.

Look, I think most people on the outside believe what you said, that it wasn't going to work. It's selling a dream. And you can do that when you have two of the top 10. players in the league. You can sell a dream. Oh, if everything comes together, if the rapport just wakes up, if we get the right matchup, we'll be fine.

It's just not going to work. They're going to need a lot more. To get the best out of those two, they need a better supporting cast, which I think the support and cast is fine. You know, they were a win away from getting

to the finals with Chris Paul a few years ago. But Chris Paul was a better defender, and he actually, you know what, When I watched Hardin and Chris Paul, I kind of thought it worked because Hardin was the alpha score. Chris wasn't. Chris is a mid-range guy. I watched this and I think,

this is not, this is not. It's like having two quarterbacks. It's still, the move still wreaked a little desperation. A little bit, yes. I get it. They felt like they reached a ceiling with Chris Paul.

They felt like they did. Well, he was hurt too. But I will say this. Just imagine if they kept that team intact. And Chris Paul, you know, Chris Paul has to be healthy. Look what's going on in Golden State right now. That's the only team they couldn't, you know, get over.

But then again, L.A. Clippers and Lakers are better. Are you surprised the Lakers are this good this early? No, no. No, I'm not. I think I thought they would have a little bit longer of a learning curve than the Clippers because the majority of Clippers' roster has been to Gary. They know how to play well. I think Lakers look really good.

Lakers are legit. And by the way, Danny Green, Avery Bradley, LeBron, A.D., you watch him and you're like, they're very comfortable with each other. They're legit. I'm going to be interested to see how they're going to look once Kyle Kuzma is fully integrated, once Ray John Rondo is back into the foe, because LeBron is loving that point guard position. And when you bring Rondo into the foe in the five-man rotation, the five-man roster starting group,

there's not much shooting out there because now you're taking Danny Green off. Now that's fair. And so you've got to see how that dynamic shakes out. By the way, there's a story that Andre Iguidala, it's all but done. We'll join the Lakers, which to me is a guy that can hit a three, defend Kauai a little bit, 18 minutes. Chris Haynes, we got to run. Third hour, Peter King, big game tonight, Raiders, chargers. Real big game.

Next. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Feel better with MDrive, everyday supplement for men. Go to MDrive for men.com. Code herd 20% off your first order. You know, you lose testosterone in your mid-40s.

That's why I'm eating almonds all day and take an M-Drive right there. You're eating almonds all day. Almons, I've had half a power bar, I've had a bite of an apple, and some Cheerios. Oh, you're actually pretty healthy today. I'm a nibbleer. You're a grazer, yes. Yes. I'm a grazer.

Well, cowherd. Yes. My family going back 200 years. We just grazed in the field all day. That, of course, is the voice for those on radio of Joy Taylor. Let's go to Peter King via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Multiple-time sports writer of the year, football morning in America. All right, you talk to sources all the time, Peter.

You're on the phone all day. Ravens Patriots, I had people texting me in the league. What do we make of Baltimore, Peter? Because it was fun to watch. Well, the New England Patriots challenged Lamar Jackson to beat him with his arm, and he made a couple of huge throws in this game, including a third and five throw in the middle of the third quarter, where the, as I wrote on Monday, Colin, the stadium in Baltimore had gone Sistine Chapel Quiet.

And he made a throw that saved a drive and allowed them to continue to score the insurance touchdown. But I think I wouldn't be so alarmed by the Patriots as I would be after that game, as I would be encouraged by the Ravens for very simple reason. Yeah. That New England played a. good defensive game. And everybody said, how's that possible? 37 points? Well, they played a good defensive game because a better team with better athletes and better players beat them. And my feeling is the Patriots challenged them in every way. Zero blitzes, rushing a few, covering heavy. It didn't matter. You know, the Ravens had answers for the Patriots for four

quarters. It's really interesting. People. Peter. I was talking to Greg CoSell earlier. Life swings, the pendulum swings back and forth. Number one in scoring is Baltimore. Number two, Dallas. I think San Francisco's third. Baltimore's a run team. Dallas is led by a great running back and the 49ers run 56% of the time, which leads the NFL. So now, as much of a passing league as this is, we've got power running teams. Minnesota, by the way, is led by Delvin Cook. And I want to go to San Francisco because, listen, they're a just. I think Baltimore and San Francisco are my two favorite watches, TV watches in the league. San Francisco to this point, we're forgetting this, Peter.

They struggle with Arizona. They struggle with Washington. They struggled with Pittsburgh. They struggled with Tampa. Are we overvaluing them a little halfway home? Probably a little bit, but one of the reasons is we saw them absolutely destroy Carolina. They've had two weeks off. that's the last vision America has of the San Francisco 49ers.

And it was an absolutely dominant vision. So no team is perfect. They're the last team, last unbeaten team left standing. And you're right. What's so interesting about those two teams is right now today, they're probably the two best running teams in football. And that's not a sexy thing. This is the NFL's 100th season.

It's supposed to be all about filling the air with footballs. Hey, the carnivals come into town. Lamar Jackson's going to throw it 48 times. No, he's not. The Ravens are going to run for 200 yards. The 49ers might run for 200 yards. This is a changing time in the NFL. I think it's fascinating to watch.

So do I. You know, Cleveland, I don't think. I think there's seven teams battling for two wild card spots in the AFC. I like the Bill's defense and coaching. I like the roster and the leadership of Indianapolis. And I like the Chargers players. and Cleveland to me is officially out after the Denver loss. Regardless of what happens going forward, they have too big a hill to climb.

I would not fire Freddie Kitchens or Adam Gase, although the optics are terrible. I don't like chaotic situations for young quarterbacks. For Freddie Kitchens to save his job, Peter King, what are the one or two things, in your opinion, he has to do? Well, they've got to stop leading the league in penalties. They've got to be a more disciplined team in that regard. And he has to narrow the gap between the 2018 last eight games of Baker Mayfield and the 2019 first eight games of Baker Mayfield. Colin, explain to me why there is a 35 rating point gap between Baker Mayfield

in the last half of last season and the first half of this year. I think there's a couple of things. things. He really has less time to throw. And I get that. And they've got a new coaching staff on offense. But it's the same guy call in plays. And it's the same imaginative guy call in plays. They have a lesser line, but they also have O'Dell Beckham Jr. I'll throw something at you. I'm going to throw something at you. I'm going to throw something at you. Think about this. Here's my theory. He's faced Vic Fangio, Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, Sean McVey.

I could argue those are four, I mean, first of all, Pete Carroll, Vic Fangio, and Belichick are great defensive guys. Sean McVeigh is just a great coach and he did beat John Harbaugh. Could I just say this? And I'm not saying this is only it. Baker's

playing, he's gone from playing Cincinnati and Atlanta last year to playing some of the smartest defensive coaches in the history of the game. Could it be that? You know, it could be. I'd have to examine their whole schedule the last half of last year. I know, obviously, they didn't, they didn't play a tough schedule in the last half of last year. But at some point, Colin, you got to play well. Yeah. You just do. You got to play well,

regardless of who the opposition is, you know, is, or the, you know, there's other teams that have played tough games, tough stretches. You know, the 49ers put up a thousand points on the Carolina Panthers, and that's a pretty good defense. It's not a great. defense. It's pretty good. So I understand that. I get it, but I'm not buying it. Yeah. I want to shift to a couple of things. Number one, you know, I always said this about Russell Westbrook, a very talented player for Oklahoma City formerly in the NBA, is that the organization made their mind up a year before they moved him. They wanted to move off him. And then they got a perfect gift. Paul George says, I'm out of here. And so Oklahoma City's like, you know, we kind of got a break in a relationship.

We were kind of looking to move him. I think Carolina's been struggling with some CAM stuff for a couple years. They get frustrated with him. It's become a precision passing league. He's not a precision passer, and he's more beat up physically. I can see the new owner, and Ron Rivera, saying, this is the perfect time to move off him. But he is wildly popular. There's not a lot of athletes on the planet like him.

And I don't believe Kyle Allen's the future. I think he's a transition piece. So it's going to be a very interesting discussion here. Do you think they move off Cam? Because they don't have an heir apparent. I don't think Kyle Allen qualifies. I think he's a very, very good transitional piece. What do you think happens there in Carolina?

Just an absolute gut feeling, Colin, I think they move forward with him and not without him. And you elucidated a lot of the reasons that without him, they head into an offseason of the unknown. I mean, I would say unless, I think it's in Kyle Allen's hands. if he plays really well the last half of this season, and if Norv Turner says to David Tepper and Ron Rivera, that's my guy,

I could see them saving whatever it is, $17 million and getting rid of Cam Newton. Three big issues right now with Cam Newton, regardless of where he ends up, Colin. Number one, remember, he has not been Cam Newton, basically for two years at least, because last year he was struggling with his shoulder injury that required the labrum surgery at the end of the year. And so, and he comes into this year saying, you know, I'm changing the way I'm going to play quarterback.

Maybe I won't be that big runner. So you don't really know what he is right now. That's one thing. I think the second part of it that's difficult is that, you know, the Panthers are a different team right now then the one where Cam Newton won the MVP in 2015 and then tried to carry them into contention the next two years after that. And then he got hurt. So they're a different team.

They've got a different way of playing. They got a running back who now was the focal point of this offense and not the quarterback. And then the final thing is only you, I mean only Cam Newton knows on opening day 2020 for whoever what kind of quarterback is he? Is he a pocket quarterback? Is he a mobile quarterback?

Is he a guy who's going to throw on the run? Is he a guy who is going to be Troy Aikman? I mean, he's never really been Troy Aikman. So do you trust that if he is that pocket guy, that sort of calmer guy than he has been, is that going to fit? And is he a winning quarterback playing that way? Those are all interesting questions.

We don't know the answers to now. I don't think he is. I think he has a style and he's going to have to transition out of it. Finally, I can admit, I said, I thought the Raiders would be a tire fire. The noise, the AB, the mixed messaging, we want to go character. Then they bring in guys who don't have a great history of character. They have shocked me. They're wildly fun.

Their offensive acquisitions and draft picks have, Josh Jacobs is just a stud. I don't remember your preseason pick. I've rarely been this wrong. I am unequivocally wrong. In fact, I said if they go eight and eight, I'll buy two season tickets and give them to a charity. I think I'm going to end up buying tickets and giving them to a charity. Are you surprised by what you've seen from the Raiders? Surprise but not shocked.

You know, there's some teams this year that shocked me. They don't because I remember going in there during the time of the draft. And Mike Mayak basically laid out the entire plan. You know, they were going to get players, even if they reached for them, you know, like Furrell and a little bit with Jacobs, but not really. They were going to get players who they loved. And I think they got players who they loved not only in the draft, but in free agency. I think the biggest question now, and I think that they have played very, very well offensively better than I thought they were. The biggest question now is, are they going to move ahead long term with Derek Carr?

And everybody would say, well, what are you talking about? He signed. He and Gruden, they got houses next to each other in Vegas and all this stuff. I don't know. You just sort of get this feeling that Gruden, he likes car. He doesn't love him. And we'll see what happens and we'll see what the future holds there. I didn't know they had houses next to each other.

That'd be totally uncomfortable, wouldn't it? They do, yeah. They're building houses next to each other in, in some suburb in Vegas. Well, that only made, you couldn't cut a guy and then live next to him. That would be, that would be, that would be, that may be, maybe. Maybe you know what? Maybe you should cut him before he moves in and he end up hating each other.

Did not know that. Peter King, NBCSports.com. Thank you, Peter. All right, Colin. That makes me think they're going to be forever. I actually think, I think Derek Carr is Tony Romo. I think he plays like him, looks like him a little bit. They got the little, you know, a little good little feet, and they move around a little bit,

and they sling it down the field and they make the occasional big mistake, but I don't know. Everybody wants to run all these quarterbacks out of town. You give me Derek Carr. You know, you get outside of the top four or five. I can argue on any Sunday. I watch Derek Carr against Matt Stafford. You all think Matt Stafford's a great town.

I thought Derek was better. You want to run all these guys out of town. I'm watching Derek Car play. Looks like a really good NFL quarterback to me. Take out four guys in the world. Isn't he in the next seven? Matt Ryan or him. You see a huge gap?

He and Jared Gaw. You see a big gap. I don't see a big gap. He and Dac. You see a big gap? I think he's better. I think he's more talented than Dacq. You know, just as a thrower. I don't see the Derek car. When I watch him, he makes the throws. Good release, gets rid of it. High completion rate. A little sensitive on Twitter, aren't we all. But I don't, I don't get the Derek car stuff. I really don't. I don't think, I watched them again. I watched the whole game against Stafford. I'm like, I can win a Super Bowl with that. I can win a Super Bowl. You could have won a Super Bowl with Tony Romo. a crappy offensive line. Don't blame Tony Romo. Cowboys didn't have nearly this good a team with Tony Romo. Don't be the guy in the room wearing the ugly long untuck shirt. Go to Untucka.com. Code Heard. H.E.R.D. 20% off. Joy with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, not shocking. The Ravens have been the most efficient rushing team this season, averaging a league best 204.9 yards per game. That's a lot. That's a lot. Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram are leading that charge, obviously. Halfway through the season.

season. They're both on pace to rush for more than a thousand yards. Only one quarterback running back duo has ever done this before. Again, not shocking, Michael Vic and Warwick done with the Falcons in 2006. Yep, remember that. So there are as a team on pace to rush for 3,278 yards a season that would break the NFL record of 3,165 yards set by the 1978 Patriots. We got a lot of really interesting quarterbacks right now. We really do. And they're all coming back. came back off mono. Nick Foles is coming back. Drew Breeze came back. Patrick Mahomes. I mean, this is a, I don't remember a time in my life. There were more interesting styles. We got short guys, tall guys, run guy, pocket guy. Mason Rudolph, Gardner Minshu. I don't

like Mason Rudolph. No, but I'm saying there's just a, there's a range of quarterbacks this year. We also have the most good backups in my life. And that could be just the ability to complete passes at a higher percentage now than ever. Yeah, I think this year's been very interesting with the injuries because I want to say it was three years ago where the NFL just got played with big name injuries and crappy backups. And yeah, yes. You know what we should do? We'll find this out, Goulet.

You haven't done nothing in weeks. Why don't you find Goulet the record for backup quarterbacks this year? You're sitting over there eating crackers. Tooie, get on you get on him. Well, it's probably very good because I'm Teddy Bridgewater. Five and O. Five and O. Kyle Allen's five and one.

I bet you the backups have a winning record this. Tanna Hills 2 and O. Yeah, I forgot Tanta Hills is a backup now. Yeah. I mean, it's a very strange year. But I do think that is a credit to organizations building their overall teams so that if they do get into a situation like this, their season isn't over. Yeah. And there's so many examples of if you do that, if you build a well-rounded organization and not just rely solely on the quarterback, you can be sustainable.

Yeah, John, do you have that yet? I mean, it might take them a few more minutes. Is Britta backup? What? Is Jacoby Percieta backup? I let's not count Jacoby because he started the beginning of the season. Yeah, that's not fair. He's a starter.

He's a starter. Yeah. But I guess technically he was considered a backup until the season started. So Patrick Mahomes continues to trend towards an early return. He was a full participant in practice yesterday for the first time since his knee injury. Andy Reid said the chiefs would increase Mahomes workload this week but won't play him unless the medical staff says it's safe. He was initially reported to be out three weeks, but a return on Sunday. against the Titans would only have them missing two weeks.

Now, they're playing the Titans this weekend. Here's the interesting thing for their schedule. So they're at the Titans this weekend. Then they're at the Chargers, then the Buy. And when they come back from the Buy, they're at the Patriots. They have the Broncos at home, at the Bears, and then the Chargers. I start more against Tennessee. If we win, I play them to the buy.

At the Chargers, too? If the Raiders beat the Chargers tonight, The Chargers are three and six, and all I got is the Raiders in my division, and I've already beaten them. I play Matt Moore against Tennessee, and then I go game to game, but with my eye on, let's give Mahomes a buy and back. That gives him another month to get here. Yeah, I mean, clearly at this point, he's going to be able to be back before the buy. I mean, after the buy.

It looks like that's how it's trending. I don't know if the Chargers is, neither one of these games are a giveaway game, obviously. but I mean, I think if he's healthy to play against the Chargers, he should. That would push him back this week if he's not ready. If you're the Chiefs, you're rooting for the Chargers to win tonight because then the Chargers will be four and five and the Raiders will be four and five, right? Isn't that right? So if you're in Kansas City, you want mayhem beneath you. You don't want the Raiders to go above 500.

No. So Andy Reid tonight, I haven't asked him yet, but he's rooting. He wants the Raiders to lose. Yeah, I think mathematically we know who the Chiefs are rooting for. It's a big game tonight. Finally, the Giants are on a five-game losing streak. Head coach Pat Schumer's obviously not happy about it. He held a team meeting Wednesday and reportedly told players it's time to step up if they want to keep their jobs.

After the meeting, one, Giants player said, guys understand those mistakes are unacceptable. And if individuals don't get it corrected, they probably won't be playing anymore. There's no more waiting around. It's not about growing times. It's time to get it done. I don't know, really understands what that means that they're not going to play anymore, so they're just going to play all backups. So what does that mean?

Do you have to announce this? Isn't it a given? Like, what player in the league doesn't know everything he said? None of that was breaking news. Everything's on film, a tape. Of course you play hard. But also, I just don't understand. Like, what do you mean?

You're going to cut people? What does this mean? I don't know. I just think everything is spiraling in New York with the Giants. The season's obviously not going the way that they wanted it to. It felt like they didn't really have a direction at the beginning of the season anyway, though, starting Eli Manning and then making the transition to Daniel Jones after two games. I don't love how some of the situations are for new quarterbacks in the league.

I think luckily Arizona seems to be, well, I mean, it's certainly a stable situation, but at least they're making strides and you're seeing some development. You feel good about that situation. Jets up in the air, Brown's certainly up in the air. The Giants, you really don't know what direction they're going. They all need a lot of pieces. And it's just unfortunate because it really doesn't matter where you go. Like the first three years of your career are so crucial.

that position and, you know, these organizations get into this situation where you're finally at the top of the draft and able to make a pick like this. You want to give them everything around them to make them successful. Don't you think if Baker Mayfield was quarterbacking the 49ers today? Yeah, it'd be a totally different situation. But that's why I'm so against this idea that it's a good thing to be bad. It's not. Build your team. Be in the conversation. Look at the Ravens. Do you think it's an accident? Lilmar Jackson is having the start of the career he's having. It's not an accident. He has a great coach, a Super Bowl level coach. They have a great defense. They've maintained the organization at a high functioning level.

And then they were able to make that pick based off of the pieces that they put around them. If you just continue to exist in this up and down dysfunctional space and then all of a sudden think that you're going to get this quarterback that's going to save your franchise, that's not how it works. It's too much of a team game. Yeah, enjoy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. Third Line News.

I may wear this shirt tomorrow. I like it so much. I may wear back-to-back the same shirt. They might make it in other colors. You just like the color. I really like this shirt. You guys had a good job. They bought a bunch of new shirts

and they all fit really nice. You know Goulet gets a shirt every day from the company? Yes, Gouet's on television. Do we have that stat yet? Working on it. We're getting close. In between listening to Fog Hat and eating crackers, you ever get a stat over here to me?

Got hockey scores. unofficially 24 and 24. The backups this year. Unofficial. Isn't that like exactly what you want from your backups? We've always talked about. If the starter misses two games, can you win one? Your backup has to, can your backup win two of four one of two games?

Right now in the NFL, backups are 50-50. That's the best in my life. There's never been a time in my life yet this many good backups. Backup used to be like, oh, season's over. I don't even like Mason Rudolph when he's. winning. I'm not even a fan of Mason Rudolph when he's winning. How about that? Hey, a gulet, I give you a hard time. That's a, that was a pretty good. Thanks for making room for us in your schedule. I'm a jerk. All right, coming up my marquee three picks. Be sure to catch

live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeart Radio app. Penn State against Minnesota. It's one of my picks. This week's Discover card key matchup. Discover.com slash travel. Try it out. Discover at Miles card. New card members only. They match Miles and stuff.

All right. I had a terrible week last week on my picks. I was terrible. This week I feel great about him. I don't make promises, but winning record this week. I'm going to dial it up right now. I feel great. There's some good games this week.

We're getting to the last four or five weeks here. Saturdays are big. None of this Wolford stuff. Now Citadel versus, you know, Clemson. That stuff's over with. All right, here we go, my marquee three picks. All odds provided by Fox bet. Ready to make some sweet cash,

Colin's going to give you his three sure bets for the college football weekend. It's time for Collins Markey 3. Penn State at Minnesota. I'll take the Nittany Lions, Penn State minus seven. I do realize it's the biggest game for the Golden Golfers in probably a decade. Penn State is maybe top two or three defense in the country.

James Franklin, wherever he goes, He builds defenses and they're terrific. Top four in everything that matters. And they've also been good against good teams. Penn State's 2 and 0 against ranked opponents this year. They've won eight of their last nine road games. So I don't doubt they'll be good. I don't doubt they'll be good on the road.

Minnesota has played one of the easiest schedules in the country. And not only that, they've been very lucky. The last, they have not played a starting quarterback. They've faced nothing but backup quarterback since week two. They haven't faced the top 50 team this year. And historically, this is a big step up in class for them. I like Penn State to win this game. It'll be close.

It'll be competitive. But I'll take them 28 to 20. Kansas State of Texas. I like the longhorns. They're coming off a by. By the way, Tom Herman off a loss 12 times in his career. He's 10 and 2. Sam Ellinger is a very good quarterback for Texas.

He stunk against. TCU. Worst game of his career, but at home, he's fantastic. 70% completions, 340 yards a game. He's back home, he's comfortable. Again, Texas is a very good team that picks up first downs. Of the 130 Division 1 teams, their third and third down offense, they're gonna control the clock. They're also getting their best running back back, two guys in the secondary back, nothing against Kansas State. Nice upset win over Oklahoma.

I get it. Texas up a buy at home against the Kansas State offense that stinks bad. They can't pass. One dimensional. Texas wins and covers 3424. LSU at Alabama. I'll take Bama minus six

and a half. They've won eight straight meetings. This series is really about Nick Sabin. When he was at LSU, he won four out of five at Alabama. He's won 10 out of 13 against LSU. Off a buy, he'll beat at Orgeron. Last three times these guys have played, LSU averages three points a game.

Now they have Joe Burrow, the backup at Ohio State, who's been really, really good. But it's not like these are wild, crazy passing concepts. They just moved out of the Stone Age, throwing the ball for the first time in two decades. LSU's defense, I do not trust. On the road, they're allowing almost 30 points a game. Whose defense do you trust here? What coach do you trust? And by the way, Tua's going to get drafted ahead of Joe Burrow in the NFL,

so if he's healthy, and I think he mostly is, I trust him too. Alabama also more than LSU takes the ball away. They've got 18 takeaways this year. I like Bama to win and roll 32 to 20. I feel great. I got my favorites this week. I'm taking Penn State's a favorite. Texas is a favorite.

And Bama is a favorite. favorite and I feel great about my picks. By the way, you know, it's funny. I like the NBA. I watch it a lot. Watching the NFL tonight on Fox, Raiders host on the Chargers. But it's funny about the NBA. We're all caught up in this parody this year, right? It's fun for the fans. I think Utah and Denver, Milwaukee, Philly, Boston. You know, they're all really good teams. But to me, I watch, I watched every NBA team. The good teams I've watched, Lakers I've watched four or five times, Clippers I've watched three or four times. Everybody wants most teams twice that are good. I like Dallas's offense.

I think Milwaukee's defense is good. Folks, this whole league's on dynasties. It's not going to suddenly change. Clippers are the best team I've seen. Lakers are second. One of those two teams is going to win the title. It's going to be really fun. But I laugh about this.

The 50s and 60s, the Celtics won 11 titles. In the 80s, the Lakers and Celtics were in every finals, one of them, or both, in 10 straight years. In the 90s, the Bulls won six titles, Houston two. In the 2000s, the Lakers and Spurs won. combined seven. And in 2010 and beyond, LeBron won three and the Warriors won three. Lakers or the Clippers, my guess the Clippers are going to be a dynasty here, and that's okay. But when I hear, oh, this league's about parity, I think L-O-L or maybe L-A-L, L-A-Lakers, I think I don't get the parity thing. I don't see it. In fact, if you put the 10 best players between the Lakers and

Clippers, list the 10 best players in order, I would go Kauai 1.5. LeBron 2, Anthony Davis 3, Paul George 4, Lou Williams averages 20 a game 5, Kyle Kuzma, Montrez, Harrell, who's averaging 20 off the bench. Andre Iguidala is rumored to be ending up in Los Angeles, done deal. Patrick Beverly 9, Danny Green, 10. So you get to the 10th best player between these two teams, and it's Danny Green, who was a key player for the Spurs championship for the Spurs and for the Raptors. Danny Green can play. Folks, these teams are loaded. You can, y'all out there can say we're going to get parity.

These two teams are low. Look at those 10 players. I'm not even mentioning Jabel McGee. Dwight Howard's had a great year. There's a lot of guys I'm not mentioning. Clippers have a couple of young guys. Everybody likes. So I, you know, I just, when everybody's talking about load management, this bad, this bad,

this is a star-driven league. It's a dynasty-driven league. It's why I've always watched the league. I don't watch for Memphis. I watched for the best teams, and the best teams just happen to be one and two in LA. It's either going to be the gold team of the blue team. I'm guessing blue. See you tomorrow.

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