The Herd with Colin Cowherd - MNF, Ravens, Patriots, Browns, & the Herd Hierarchy

Episode Date: December 3, 2019

Colin discusses the Seahawks-Vikings game, who he feels are the two best teams in the NFL, how the Ravens have improved this year, where the blame lies for the Browns problems this season, who the Patriots should go after in the off season, and his new Herd Hierarchy. Guests include Mark Schlereth, Peter King, Reggie Bush, and Trent Dilfer. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played. with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast what's up guys

this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert 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 a ref my mom wants you to wave at her what Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to The Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching herd.

Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on a load of Tuesday, live in LA. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We're live on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me one hour from now, the herd hierarchy. I don't even think it's arguable now. The 10 best teams in the NFL, I think you'll be shocked how low I have one, and I have come to a conclusion with a team that's been under the radar all year,

and I think now they need to be in the discussion for the Super Bowl-Hurt hierarchy in one hour. And Joy Taylor, joining me, Joy, how are you? I'm great. That was an awesome game last night. It was incredible. Her cousin still. He's right. Didn't have Adam Field. Let's start with this.

I said this yesterday on the show before the game. I'm going to say it again today, and I said it last week. takes a while in the NFL, got to get past Thanksgiving to figure out, okay, who's got it and who doesn't, who's faking, who's posing, who's a pretender. I think the Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks, this morning, yesterday and last week, feels like the Super Bowl to me. It feels like the Super Bowl to me. And I think Baltimore and the Seattle Seahawks have a ton in common.

They both have A-plus Super Bowl winning head coaches. They both have, and this is big in 2019, dynamic quarter. who sometimes can do stuff that a defense can't prepare for. They both are dominating running games. Seattle last night ran for 220 yards against that Viking defense. They can take the ball away from a Patrick Mahomes, from an Aaron Rogers. And there are also very good defenses that added a piece, Marcus Peters for Baltimore, solved a problem, Jadavian Clowney, Quadrig, the safety from the Lions.

everybody else has a whole. Everybody else has a whole. The Saints and the Patriots have 40-year-old quarterbacks that aren't athletically dynamic that you can scheme against and there's nothing they can do. And the Saints and Patriots do not have over-the-top weapons. Texas, I don't trust their coach. Green Bay, Finesse, I don't trust their coach.

Minnesota, I don't trust Kirk Cousins and Kansas City. Like them a lot, but don't trust their defense. That leaves San Francisco. Well, I've seen San Francisco in the last month take on Seattle and Baltimore, and they lost to both because Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson simply made plays that even with a great coaching staff with the Niners and a great defense, there's nothing they can do. Lamar and Russell just do stuff you can't defend. And so it feels like Seattle and Baltimore, to me, are my favorite for the Super Bowl. and they also did something, and I'm going to use this term multiple times today. They identified their problems.

This is very big in relationships. It's good in business. It's really big in football teams. Baltimore had a problem. They started the year two and two. They lost to Cleveland at home. And they identified a problem. We want to be more aggressive on defense, but we're not good enough at corner.

And they went to the Rams and got Marcus Peters. Baltimore identified a problem. We want to play this way, but we can't. until we get an elite corner who can block out the sun on an opponent's best receiver. And Seattle identified a problem. They lost it home to Baltimore. They lost it home to the Saints. And they're like, we've got to be more physical and faster on defense.

So they get quadri digs from the lions, who's a small but ferocious hitter. Jadavian Clowny takes a while to get into the system. They add Josh Gordon and over-the-top piece offensively. and now both Seattle and Baltimore, who were good in September and October, but not special to me are the two best teams in the NFL. Excellent head coaches. You may have the two coach of the year candidates, the two MVP candidates, two MVP candidates, two of the best running games, two of the most physical teams. And again, they both identified a problem. excellent general manager said we're not quite there.

We want to play with a little more physicality and aggressiveness defensively. Seattle goes and gets a safety. Baltimore goes and gets a corner and they've ramped it up. I don't think Baltimore and Seattle have the best rosters in the league. I think Minnesota still probably does. But this is what matters in the NFL. This is something I've talked a lot about in the NFL. Structure wins.

GMs win Super Bowls, coaches win Super Bowls, and in 2019 dynamic quarterbacks, I think Baltimore and Seattle will meet in the Super Bowl. And let me segue then to Cleveland. Freddie Kitchens yesterday, I said this yesterday too, he's fired, it's just not official yet. And he came out yesterday and said, I'm not bothered by it, I'm not fearful of my job.

And that's great, but he's out of work, just not officially yet. yet. And I think you could certainly make the argument, you have to fire Freddie Kitchens because you have to save Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield is not as good as everybody thinks, but is he really this bad? He was your number one pick. You got to fire Freddie Kitchens, right, to save your quarterback. Right now, Baker Mayfield is last in completion percentage in the NFL, last in passer rating, has an egregious amount of wide receivers. And it should be noted. I am not a fan of Baker Mayfield, but he's got to be better than this, right?

He is currently the worst statistical quarterback in the league. But here's what gives me pause. It's a Freddie Kitchens issue, right? I just talked about how Baltimore and Seattle identified their problem. And so the feeling in Cleveland is, hey, we know what the problem is. It's Freddie Kitchens, let's get him out of here. Or is the problem Baker Mayfield? I'm going to show you a stat.

Last year, Cleveland had a very easy schedule at the end of the year. And Baker Mayfield, playing the Bengals twice, was able to mask his mediocrity through elevating his stats against the Bengals in two games. This year, similarly, Baker Mayfield's got an easier schedule facing backup quarterbacks late and it's going to mask or at least elevate atrocious numbers. Here's the concern this morning. Is it a Freddie problem or a Baker problem? I want you to think about this.

Baker Mayfield has outside of maybe Minnesota the best weapons in the NFL at running back and wide receiver. And we don't like Kirk Cousins. But Kirk Cousins is putting up MVP numbers without Adam Thielen. Baker Mayfield has the best wide receiver tandem in the league, arguably, and the best running back tandem in the league. And his numbers are at the bottom. We have bailed on Mitch Trubisky, who doesn't have nearly these weapons,

and who's won a division, and we've bailed on Trubisky. We don't like Kirk Cousins, and he's got MVP-level numbers. Is the problem Freddie Kitchens, or is it Baker Mayfield? because with outstanding weapons and with three different coaches, not just a Freddie Kitchen issue, he had Hugh Jackson, he had Greg Williams, here's Baker Mayfield's career against winning teams. Folks, this is not a starting quarterback in the league. Four and 11, 59% completion percentage, 20 TD's 23 picks and a passer rating of 75.

cocky, small, marginally athletic, increasingly erratic with his accuracy. Look around the league to the next stars, look and play like Baker Mayfield. Identifying your problems in a relationship of business or a sports team are crucial. Baltimore identified theirs in September, went to the Rams and got Marcus Peters. The Seahawks identified theirs. were not ferocious enough. Pass rush, Clowny, we need a big hitter in the back end. They went to the Lions.

And another over-the-top receiver, Josh Gordon. What's Cleveland's problem? Is it a Freddie Kitchens issue? Or is it a Baker-Mayfield issue? I don't want to hear about Sam Darnold. He doesn't have elite weapons. He doesn't. You're talking about the Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns

have the best perimeter and running back weapons in the National Football League. You don't like Kirk Cousins, and he's putting up MVP numbers without Adam Thielen. You don't like Trubisky. He's higher rated and won a division. Baker so far with three coaches and great weapons is an absolute disaster. Are we sure the problems, Freddie Kitchens? coming up next, it had to be discouraging if you were a Dallas cowboy fan last night.

It had to be at least a little discouraging. 50 minutes from now, the herd hierarchy, Mark Schlerer at this hour as well. Coming up next, something on the Cowboys that had to be a bummer if you're a cowboy fan. 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,

Keer 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, Tript Fantine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough

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

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, 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 a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

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 Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clifford Taylor the 4th. podcast, The Clifford 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? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the I Heart Reds. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode.

The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the Army Stewart. I'm Tab 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 Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Looking for a perfect gift? Get him a shirt from Untucked. Untuck shirts. Defined, refined, made to be untuck. sent off, Cyber Monday sale going on now. They have 80 Untucket stores on tucket.com. Code Hurd always get your money off. Top of the hour, 50 minutes away. Collins heard hierarchy.

So I'm watching, you know, optimism's important. Cynical people can be heavy to be around. It's nice to be around optimistic people. They kind of burl their way through problems. Now, there are times when people can be so optimistic, they're delusional, or it's corny. or it's like, you know, you have to see there are problems lying ahead in the weeds. But optimism's a real thing. Jerry Jones, we had a guy on last week who's covered Jerry for 30 years, and he said Jerry's the most optimistic guy he's ever met. He's a constant salesman.

But you do get to a point where you're like, Jerry, come on, get a hold of yourself. So Jerry's team is 6 and 6 of the Cowboys. And yesterday on Dallas Radio, he is very optimistic going forward. I look at where we are with our skill set and look at other teams where they are with theirs and there's nothing that in my mind that jumps out at me that we can't be playing well enough to take it to the house.

That's the way I look at it. That's where I see it. If you're a cowboy fan and you watched last night, the Vikings and the Seahawks are NFC wild card teams. Okay, those are the wild card teams before last night. Forget Seattle. Let's just take Minnesota, who's already dominated Dallas. They're playing without Adam Thielen, a pro-bow level receiver.

Delvin Cook got hurt in the third quarter, didn't return. They got a very unlucky interception on the road. Stefan Diggs off his game. And oh, yeah, you're playing in arguably the loudest stadium in the NFL where Russell Wilson on Monday Night Football is 9 and 2. and all that going against them. Minnesota's in that game late, looking to tie. Forget Seattle.

I can watch losing teams and think that's impressive. Minnesota last night is impressive. Minnesota is going to finish behind Green Bay. Minnesota's better than Green Bay. They're better coach than Green Bay. They're faster than Green Bay. They're more physical than Green Bay. They have a more consistent running game than Green Bay.

They've got more playmakers all over the field, both sides of the ball than Green Bay. Sometimes you don't play as well. early. Seattle, you know, didn't play well early. San Francisco has the division lead. Now Seattle's catching up. Minnesota couldn't find itself. Kurt Cousin struggling. Minnesota, forget Seattle. When you watched that game last night as a cowboy fan, that had to be somewhat demoralizing. I mean, watching the way San Francisco at times pushed around Baltimore this weekend, had to be demoralizing if you're a cowboy fan. Pete Carroll summed it up after last night's game. That was a

playoff game. Those are playoff Super Bowl-level rosters. It felt like a championship game in the stadium. Fans were just extraordinarily good tonight and it was just felt as good as we could ever remember it in terms of their energy and juice and it just

makes it so much fun to be part of this whole thing and so thrilled to see that that came to life and they hung with us. There are two to three stadiums in this league, Lambo, Seattle at home, and the Saints where the games feel different. That had an NFC championship quality to it last night.

And I know Jerry Jones is optimistic, but at 6 and 6, Dallas could be hosting one of those two teams eventually, and it doesn't feel close. It just doesn't, the coaching doesn't feel close, the efficiency, the physicality, the playmaking quarterback, it just doesn't feel close. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Well, sticking with that game last night, Kirk Cousins fell to 0 and 8 in his career on Monday night after the 3730 loss to the Seahawks. That's not great. It's the worst record on Monday night in NFC history. So yeah, literally not great. The Vikings at 8 and 4 still hold the second NFC wildcard spot, but Cousins wishes they could have taken advantage of this opportunity against a strong NFC team.

I think that this was an opportunity we missed, and it's disappointing. but I think tonight we were able to at least show a resilience and you're going to need that to be able to win in December and then if you do take care of business in December, we have, I believe, four games left. If you do take care of business, then you get a chance in January and that's really what we want to do. I didn't think, again, I didn't think that was a bad loss for Minnesota.

I thought they were in that game, didn't have Thielen, didn't have Delvin Cook down the stretch. I mean, losing Dalvin Cook, you know, you kind of just, of course. Yeah, that's their whole offense. I mean, he is the identity of their offense. So, yeah, I mean, losing him early in the third quarter, I mean, it's demoralizing if nothing else because he didn't come back in. So even if, you know, he's saying that it was for precautionary reasons that they didn't bring him back in. But, you know, mentally, that's an emotional blow to your team as well.

And listen, the Seahawks are good. There's no shame in losing to the Seahawks at home. It's an incredible win if you do get that win. but that said, and I should correct this, it's actually an NFL history, the O&A record, but not to bang on Kirk Cousins. It wasn't Kirk Cousins's fault that they lost last night, but it does become kind of this self-fulfilling prophecy narrative

that the Vikings can't get that win or Kirk Cousins can't get that win. But their remaining schedule, they have the Lions who are 3-8-1, and they're at the Chargers, and they have the Packers and the Bears. I think they're going to win all of those. All?

I think they're going to win all those. I think Minnesota is going to win out. I think Minnesota is really good. I think they're well-coached. I don't love Kirk Cousins, but he's very, very efficient. He's very accurate. They've got a couple of those games. I think they're going to beat Green Bay.

I think they're better than Green Bay right now. They're a much better roster. I think they have a better coach. I'm not sure. Green Bay has got a great coach. Do we think that? I'm not sure. I don't know if we do.

Well, I think Aaron Rogers is comfortable with him. Well, comfortable I'm great. I'm comfortable. I'm comfortable. I've been comfortable in a lot of couches in my life. They're not great couches. I don't know. I don't know that they win out. I do think that Packers game at Green Bay is not.

That's not an easy win. And, you know, one of those teams, you know, the Bears of the Chargers could sneak them. That was a rough loss for them as far as it was a really big game that they needed to get in order to get that momentum going into the postseason. But that was a good loss. It's not an embarrassing loss. That just, oh and eight record is just staggering. So Mari Cooper's future with the Cowboys is still uncertain. He's in the last year of his contract and he'll be a free agent in 2020, but if it was up to him, he says he'd stay in Dallas.

That's nice. I've enjoyed it a lot, you know, it's cool. You talked about my numbers. Home, you know, it just feels good to play here, to live here. I'm happy. You committed to resigning here, you know, if the deal is right? Of course, like, like I just said, I love it here. I want to be here.

I just love the situation. the situation, my teammates, I feel like it's the place for me. Yeah, there's a problem, though. He's going to be expensive. And Dallas, like the Rams, paying everybody. Very expensive. So he's expected to meet or surpass the $96.25 million that Saints' wide receiver Michael Thomas got.

And Julio Jones just got three years, $66 million. And here's the issue. And you and I were talking about this after the show yesterday. You have to pay Amari Cooper because Dax. needs Amari Cooper, but you also have to pay Dac. This is, this is the... Dak isn't the same without Amari Cooper. I've said that.

I think Dak can live without Zeke. I've always felt that. I don't think Dak can live without Tyron Smith at left tackle and Amari Cooper. Those to me, I think you could give Dak a half. I think you could give him Aaron Jones, Nick Chubb. I think you could give Dak a bunch of running backs. He'd be fine. I don't think Dax's the same without Amari Cooper.

Right, but they already paid Zincke. So you're not going to get those running backs. You're going to get Zeeke at the price that you paid Zeeke. So they do have to figure this out. I like Amari Cooper. By the way, there's a team out there. I'll get into this later that should go hard after Amari Cooper. I think he's a perfect fit with a great team in this league,

and I'll get into that later. Okay. The Patriots lost their second game in the season on Sunday night to the Texans. New England's offense struggled to connect, and Deshaun Watson put up some big numbers on a defense that had been borderline unstoppable. And Bill Belichick knows heading into a matchup with Kansas City. They need to clean a lot of things up. He said we have to do a better job all the way around, coaching, playing, execution.

We have a lot of tough, competitive players on our team. We competed hard. We just didn't coach well enough, couldn't make enough plays. The only thing we can do about is the next game, focus on Kansas City. I'm sure we'll add it up at the end. They host the Chiefs on Sunday. This is really actually a much bigger game for the Chiefs, I think, than for the Patriots, especially at New England.

Do you know the line New England's favored by three? I mean, is that just Vegas paying respect to them? I think Kansas City is caught fire in the last two weeks. I think we forgot about Kansas City. We did forget about Kansas City. They did look great last week. It was against Oakland. Well, they score a lot fast.

They are Baltimore scary. You look up and you're down 21-0, and you're just, the game's over. They play fast. It's New England at home. I know. I like Kansas City. I don't know. I really do.

I like Kansas City a lot. I don't know. I don't know if I'm ready to. ride that wave yet. I still believe in the Patriots defense, and I told you, I'm not selling my New England stock just yet. Probably not until they aren't in the Super Bowl or lose the Super Bowl. I'm just not falling for it again. I've dumped about 30% of my Patriots stuff. You've dumped a lot of Patriots. I have. I bought some Ravens and Seahawks last year. All right, well, I'm buying low. I enjoy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Line News. Three Super Bowls, a multiple time pro bowler, a big rachel.

Radio Bigwig in Denver. He's a morning guy. He's one of those morning zoo guys in Denver. They just blow stuff up. John Elway's now furious with him. John Elway's furious with you. You know he is. People tell me Elway.

He is furious with you. Stop. Because you are outspoken. You're a troublemaker. I am a troublemaker. I apologize for being such a troublemaker. Mark Schlereth. That's who's joining us.

So let's cause some trouble. How about that? Let's do it. Let's start with this. I said it yesterday. I said it last week. is one of the things I think is really important in the NFL is structure. Cleveland's got talent, no structure.

Baltimore's got a great GM and a great head coach. They identify early. We want to play defense a certain way we can't. Let's get an elite corner Marcus Peters. It allows them to do other things defensively. They identify early with Lamar Jackson. This works. Seattle identifies.

We need Judevian Clowny, Quadrae Diggs. We can't play defense the way we want to play it with Pete. Identifying your problems. I watched last night and I watched Sunday and I tell me if I'm over my skis on this. Baltimore, Seattle, A plus coaches, A plus running games, A plus physicality, dynamic quarterbacks. That kind of feels to me, week 13 coming up or week 14, it kind of feels like is Seattle a Super Bowl team to you? Oh, yeah, I think there's, I think there's three teams right now in the NFC that I could see representing the NFC in the Super Bowl. And that's Seattle, that's San Francisco, and that is New Orleans.

And I think they're all fairly structured the same way. I mean, I think you look at the league. If you can control the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively, you've got a chance to win in this league. And I think in San Francisco, they do it some with their coaching, their tight ends, their motions, their shifts. I think they are exceptional at that,

the way they run the football defensive line-wise. They've got, I mean, heck, what are they got, five, six first rounders? I mean, think about it. They took Solomon Thomas at number three overall, and he's a rotational guy. He comes in and in a rotational, 25 snaps a game guy. He was the third overall pick in 2017

just a few years ago. So they're all built that way. They're structured that way. And that to me is how you win football. By the way, they're also running teams. Right. Pete Carroll told me, he goes, the thing I love about this league right now,

we're in this kind of re-transformation of the way we think about the game. and it's coming back to what we used to be, the way you ran the ball, the way you controlled the temple, the way you bludgeoned people at the point of attack. And you look at Seattle with Chris Carson. And Penny, who's now emerged.

Right. Chris Carson's a full-grown man. Penny, you know, Penny has got that, as a big guy, has got that breakaway type of speed. So, yeah, that's how teams are structured now. Those teams are all structured that way. I think those are the three kind of quote-unquote class of the NFC. So Jerry comes out and says, listen, we may be six and six.

I'm very optimistic. I like where we're at. And I said, if you just watched Minnesota last night, the losing team, if I was a Dallas fan, I'd be demoralized. Without Adam Thielen, without Dalvin Cook, Diggs didn't have a great game for him. They got an unlucky interception. They're on the road against Russell Wilson in Seattle. They had a chance to tie that game late.

Like, Minnesota, the losing team would discourage me if I'm a cowboy fan. Is Jerry delusional? Of course Jerry's delusional. My, Jerry is Jerry's own worst problem. the Cowboys will never ever win anything as long as they're completely structured you brought up structure at the beginning of this

the way they're structured I mean if you don't empower your head coach is there anybody that's afraid of Jason Garrett no anyone so like you know I've had this question asked being a Christian guy and people will ask like hey why does it say in the Bible the fear of the Lord well the fear of the Lord is it's really

The response to the fear of the Lord is it's awesome reverence is what that word fear in the Bible means. I have this awesome reverence for the Lord, okay? You've got to have respect for your head coach, but you damn well better fear your head coach. You think people that play for Alabama and Nick Saban are afraid of Nick Sabin. You're damn right they are. Oh, Belichick. Belichick, of course. I played for Mike Chanahan.

He was an awesome. He's a good friend. He's an awesome coach. I had a great reverence for him as a coach and a play caller. I was scared to death of him at the same time because I know if I don't perform, I'm getting fired. If Mike Shanahan said something when I played in Denver, it went. You didn't go the back staircase up to Pat Bowen's office and go, Pat, I don't like what is going on here. You can do that in Dallas.

Yeah, no, he does not, Jerry has not done a great job to empower his coach. Sure. And I think there's a, I do think there is a sense among players. know that. It's Jerry's team. Sure. You know, I think that's a very fair point. I don't know why, but I just like structure. I'm a creature of habit. So when I watch teams in the NFL, the first thing I

look at is, do I like the owner? Do I like the GM? Do I like the coach? By the way, I love Jerry. He's good for my business, but I think your point's well taken. Speaking of lack of structure, this, you know, it's ironic. This is the most town in Cleveland team in a decade. I don't think anybody would dispute that. I mean,

running backs, wide receivers, pass rushers. This was the year. Baltimore is playing this young kid named Lamar Jackson. They're teaching them an offense. Cincinnati is the worst team in the league. Pittsburgh's on a third running back and a fourth quarterback. And the Browns are going to finish third. But here's my question.

Identifying your problems a real thing, right? Is it a Freddie Kitchens issue or is it a Baker issue? With three different coaches and excellent weapons, Baker Mayfield completes 59% of his throw against, winning teams, more picks than touchdowns, a 75 passer rating. Let's try to identify the problem. Is it Freddie or is it Baker? Well, I would say this.

If my head coach shows up and takes a selfie or a picture wearing a Pittsburgh started t-shirt, he cannot be, he cannot be my head coach. He lacks, you wonder why they lack emotional maturity within that organization? Look no further than the head coach. I mean, I'm going to assume that he doesn't get kicked out of his house but naked into a mall the first thing in the morning, and he just scrambling to put on clothes. I'm going to assume he has a bathroom that has a mirror in it.

And you put that T-shirt on in front of that mirror, and you looked at yourself and said, yeah, this is a good decision. You're too stupid to coach for me. if that's the decision that you are making and you're supposed to be the face of that organization. A $2 billion franchise. And you're supposed to, yeah, and you're supposed to be standing in front of your team asking them to operate with some maturity and to make good decisions on the football field. And you thought it was a good idea to leave your house in that shirt. Oh, by the way, you do know your star defensive player is suspended indefinitely.

Do you know what indefinitely means? That means forever. Unless the commissioner opens up his heart and his good graces and said, yeah, you can come back and play in this league. Do you understand the ramifications of what went on the other night? Do you get, like, that to me is you're too dumb to coach for us. I'm sorry, and I don't mean to be a jerk, but I'm sorry that you can't do that. And I know there's a bunch of people in Cleveland like, it was a joke.

You know what that's a joke for? That's a joke for a 22. year old that lives in his mom and dad's basement that's going to a tailgate to get drunk. Well, no, I said this. When Baker Mayfield got drafted, we should have a new guy like rolls his own

cigarettes guy, exotic pet owner guy, I used to make fun of those guys. It's a joke guy. The difference between haves and have-nots in society is the have-gets, that's a stupid joke, don't do it, and the have-nots think, that's funny.

Like, you got to be able to get when to joke and when not to joke. As a head coach, you do not joke about a situation that got your best player kicked out of the league. And by the way, the league is trying to put a blanket on that situation because it was a really ugly visual optic for the league. And again, I don't know Freddie Kitchens. I have a source in the league that told me he was a loved position coach.

He was funny. He was joyful. And then they gave him the head job, and he kind of puffed his chest out. You know, he'd never been a head coach even at the high school level. so I think it's tough for him. So I have some sympathy that he got a job that's a little over his ski. So I have sympathy for him there. Well, think about this.

Think about one of the things, and I was in London calling a game. This is several months ago or a month ago or whatever it was, October. And I'm talking to the commissioner. And I'm saying, here's what bothers me about the league and about kind of what goes on. Yeah.

We let people that hate this league create the narrative of this league. Yeah. Right? We react to people that don't love our game. And I'm like, let's be, instead of being reactive, let's be proactive and let's set our own narrative. As people who love the game of football. We both do.

You've got a bunch of people that want to bury the league based upon, they want criminal charges against Miles Garrett. Because he could have killed the guy. Yeah. He could have killed the guy, right? And we need that to be tampered down, right? we need to swift action like the commissioner took, but we need that to go away. You're the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and you're bringing out that t-shirt before you face them again two weeks later?

How stupid are you? Yeah, no, it's just, it's bad judgment. And I have sympathy for people who get jobs and they're over their skis. I have sympathy for that. But you've got to be smarter. You know, listen, when Steelers came out and acknowledged our coach would never do that. That didn't help Freddie Kitchens. Right.

I do think the good news for Cleveland, though, is they do need a new coach. and this does give them an out as an organization. John Dorsey can say, this is, I, you know, I certainly didn't dress my coach. This is not acceptable. Sometimes you need an out in a breakup. You need an out and a firing. And I do think this, John Dorsey doesn't want to fire the guy he hired. This gives him an out.

He can go, you know, he wore that shirt. That obviously I think it's horrible. Stick around. Mark Schlaher. Thoughts on the Patriots. I think they've got an unsolvable problem. That's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the.

The Horde weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

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

iHeartRadio app search learn the hard way and listen now last night a blown call changed a game this morning the internet lost its mind highlights are trending opinions are flying and nobody's telling you exactly what happened that's where sports slice comes in i'm timbo every episode we're cutting through the noise breaking down the plays the controversies and the stories behind the headlines we go straight to the source the athlete themselves their locker room stories their reactions the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsClyce brings you closer to

the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsCise on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clifford Taylor the 4th. And on My podcast, The Clifford 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 with 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app. 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 defining 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 Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball, like, 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. Casper Most Loved and Trusted Sleep Company in America. Casper.com code heard. Check it out. Casper.com. The code, H-E-R to get you $100 off select mattresses. Mark Schler, three-time Super Bowl champ, two-time Pro Bowl are joining us on a Tuesday,

top of the hour, the herd hierarchy. So I watched Baltimore. Watching Baltimore in San Francisco, I felt like when I was watching Seattle and Minnesota, I was like, okay, these are heavyweight fighters. These are really good teams. If I end up with a Baltimore and San Francisco Super Bowl, I'm like, I'll take that again. Sure. I'll go watch that and down in Miami.

As an offensive lineman, I bet you love Baltimore. Baltimore, if the NFL became Baltimore, you may go back to a camp. Yeah. What do you see? Any special secret sauce you see? Yeah, well, there's several different things. I think the way that John Harbaugh constructed this football team, first off, you're right, they bludgeon you to death, right?

I mean, they just beat you up. You know, and I've said this for a while, like, how would you, how would you replicate this in practice, right? One, you don't have anybody that can move like Lamar Jackson, right? Then you've got three 270-pound wide tight ends that absolutely, I mean, they punch you in the lips on every down. Yeah, big tight ends. Big, strong physical guys. They have made, you want to talk about complimentary football. This is interesting because they run the ball like nobody else has run the ball.

It's the most unique run game on the planet. And then they have a great married system from a passing standpoint that marries that together. And they don't ask their quarterback to do things that he's not good at, right? They run the seams with their tied ends. They run crossing routes when they get man coverage because you're trying to be a man to get extra guys down to the box to stop the run game. So they have these very simplistic but very good concepts that their quarterback operates exceptionally well. But I think this is the beauty of what John Harbaugh has done.

He's done that on the offensive side. Then he said to himself, what can we do defensively to compliment that? So Wink Martindale, their defensive coordinator, they've come up with this scheme where they're just blitzing. I mean, they're bringing seven guys every single time. Hyper aggressive. So why? Because you know when you play Baltimore, third down and six is a run. It's a rundown, right?

You know a normal football game gets 12 or 13 possessions. You're going to get eight. You start counting positions in the first quarter. you're like, shoot, we've had the ball one time. We've only got six possessions left, right? Right. And how do you get a head coaching job as an offense coordinator in this league? You're young, you're innovative, you throw the football, right?

That's like Viagra for 80-year-old owners, right? When they see that, they're like, I can't wait to get this guy, right? So now all of a sudden you understand that we're down at 7-0, but you feel like you're down 20 points. So we throw it on every down. And what they do is play straight man across the board, zero coverage. They bring seven. What are you going to do?

We're going to beat the living pulp out of your quarterback. We're going to a short field. And the next thing you're going to, we're up 20 to 3. And you've got no chance because we've beaten up the entire clock. The complementary nature of their team both offensively, pass and run, and defensively how they complement their offense is like no other team in the league. I think they're the best team in football right now. And I think John Harbaugh is, yeah, I hate the.

use brilliant in NFL because they're mutually exclusive events. Like you don't play or coach the NFL if you're brilliant. Yeah, Elon Musk is brilliant. Right, yeah. But, I mean, they are doing an incredible job with their football team. I do think in the NFL, Mark Schler, with joining us, there are solvable problems. Yeah. And then there are unsolvable problems, right?

It's almost like, you know, in life, be a better listener. Okay, I could solve that. I can be a better listener. I've got $800,000 of college debt. I'm a mailman. Probably not a solvable problem, right? There are things that are not solvable, okay? I think New England has an unsolvable problem.

They have a quarterback that cannot play off script. Tom's not going to make stuff up with his feet, like a Russell Wilson or a Lamar. Okay. Okay, so that's a problem. And no tight end and no deep threat. So if you don't have an over-the-top way for me and my unathletic quarterback, I think this is a little bit of a Saints issue as well,

but not as defined because I think they're, I think they've got other tools. And Michael Thomas is amazing. But I don't think New England can solve their issue. I think Baltimore had an issue. They went and got Marcus Peters. I think Seattle had an issue. They got Giadamian Clowny. By the way, I think San Francisco had an issue.

They went and got a wide receiver from Denver. Manuel Sanders. Right. I don't think New England's issue was solvable. I think this is what the offense is, Mark. I don't think it's a Super Bowl team. it may not be. I'm not one that's going to, you know,

throw dirt on Tom Brady and he's still alive. It reminds me of it. You ever see, I think it's the Holy Grail where it was that bring out your dad, bring out, and they had the wheelbarrow of dead people, right? And they threw a guy on there. He's like, I'm not dead dead.

He goes, oh, he's nearly dead. He'll die any minute, right? We're just trying to bury Tom Brady. And we're trying to bury the New England Patriots. They had a game. I think last year they went to Tennessee and lost 34 to 10. I watched them. They've had some of these games.

They lack some talent on the outside. And I think one thing that you have to understand is if you've got two guys that you have to contend with, like it's hard to double team multiple guys. And right now, the only guy that Tom Brady has trust and belief in is Julian Edelman. That is it. And that's it. And by the way, when you're 42 and older, Mark, as we age, we all tend to get a little more rigid. Tom's a little rigid at this point.

He's very precise. You can see him during games. This is not, you know, Deshawn Watson is still young and youthful and optimistic. Tom's rigidity plus, I mean, I think some of their young receivers are good. Tom's got very little patience for them. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I get it.

I understand it. But the thing I know about New England and what I've learned over the years watching them is there's not a better coaching staff. Like we used to say, take a young green apple. and turn it into a red delicious by the end of baseball season. So when I'm recruiting the kids, right, the little kids on my little league baseball team that my son played on,

we're going to start with a bunch of young green apples. And hopefully, through coaching and nurturing these guys, we can turn them into red delicious apples by the end of the season. We'll have a chance to compete, right? Right, right. And there's no better coaching staff in football when it comes to taking a young player

who is raw, who lacks football, ball acumen and developing that guy over the course of the season to where all so you're like heck it's December where this guy come from yeah now they're they're running short on time now right yeah because normally it's kind of happened by now and now we kind of see it feels like they have been sliding since about uh you know middle of november joy and i talked about this before the draft these were not problems that came from nowhere joy we were saying before the draft they got to get a tight end this is a huge right by the way They should have done it two or three years ago.

We also said, why did you let Josh Gordon go? He got picked up an hour later by Seattle. So there's a certain rigidity. Belichick doesn't like to move up in the first round. Well, there were two very good tight ends available. Belichick doesn't like to have guys that disrupt his culture. So they let go with Josh Gordon. Pete Carroll's more like, I like players.

Get me players. I do think this. And I'm not selling all my New England stock, but there is a certain rigidity to that culture. It feels like this year it's caught up to him a little bit. They're not as flexible as they need to be. Yeah, I would agree with that. But, again, I'm with joy.

I'm not selling my stock. Okay. Because I bought a ton of Seahawks stock last night and a bunch of Ravenstock on Sunday. I've seen this movie. This movie is like your favorite movie, Mission Impossible 35. The best movie, second best movie of all time, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, they end all the same way. Oh, my God. I watched it once upon a time in Hollywood. That ended totally different than what I expected. Sometimes movies don't end the way you think they're going to. We got to get out of here. Mark Slareth, coming up next to the Herd hierarchy. Upgrade your wiper blades. Misholin Endurance XT silicone wiper blades last two times longer available.

Only at Walmart. Mishelan delivers hour two. Thanks, Mark. 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kier 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, Destin, Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid.

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

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsClice 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. 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 of my. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart 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 Tad 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, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Here we go on a Tuesday live in L.A. This is The Heard.

Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, 30 seconds. from now our herd hierarchy and some thoughts about the Cowboys and Patriots making a deal. We'll talk about that soon. Joy Taylor's joining me. Peter King in 15 minutes as well. How are you, Joy? I'm great. Good morning. Good morning. Joy, you do more amazing things with your hair on a daily basis than anybody I've ever known in my life. Thanks. This style is amazing, but it's a different style. This is like natural curl style. I can either have this hair or, you know, I mean, sometimes you do, I hear you though in the morning.

Sometimes you're like, I want it a little more fluffy. Sometimes it's very sleek and sometimes you like it fluffy. All right, there you go. Here we go. I spend a lot of time on this. I think it's becoming very clear. You know, the elite, the good, the special, and the just good and not special team. So here we go, our herd hierarchy in a Tuesday.

Heard hierarchy. Time is now. Let's go. The top 10 NFL. teams according to college. Number 10. Green Bay Packers, I'm not as high on Green Bay as everybody else. I think there's a disturbing number here about Green Bay. 140 yards per game less on the road this season.

That's the worst in the NFL. That feels like a little bit of finesse and a little bit like coaching. They're 28th in total defense, 25th in total defense. I've said this before. When you get to December, this is. is where the best staffs and head coaches take over. I don't know if Matt Lafleur is an elite head coach, but I know they don't play well uncomfortably.

They're not as good on the road. They're not as good against physical teams, Green Bay at 10. Number nine. Buffalo. This is a great story. It's not a Super Bowl winning team. It's a great story. They know what they are.

They know what they're not. They've beaten a playoff team. Dallas, they've lost to one New England. But it's about coaching defense. And like Baltimore, They figured out. Here's where our quarterback does very well. We're going to let our quarterback do that.

They are number three in total defense, number three in scoring defense. They force you into field goals. I think the ceiling is fairly obvious and low on the offensive side. But I do believe they're better than the Packers today because I think they know exactly what they are and what they're not. And Green Bay has got an identity issue. Number eight. On New England. They're 22nd in the NFL in the rest.

zone. That is a where's grunk problem. They're just not as good getting touchdowns when they get close. They settled for field goals and you can't settle for field goals against Kansas City and Baltimore going forward. They've been held at 22 points or less in four games. In fact, their last four. So people have film on it. They know there's no deep threat. They're incredibly coached and very resourceful. Love their special teams in defense, but limitations over the top New England at eight. Number seven. Houston's at seven. Houston is the current state of football in America. There's so many things I don't like, but they're so dynamic at quarterback and so gifted at wide receiver, I put them a slot ahead of the Patriots. I mean, New England had a lot of statistical edges over

Houston, but Houston went over the top, did some flag football fun, and beat New England. I think they're too Deshawn Watson dependent, but they have elite perimeter talent that makes up for coaching snafus and some defensive line limitations. I have Houston at seven. Number six. Minnesota, I thought last night was a pretty good loss. Adam Thielen will return. Delvin Cook, usually you have them available in the fourth quarter.

They're sixth in rushing. Fourth in yards per play. They're explosive. They can go over the top. Their tight ends are good. I think it's the most complete roster in the NFL. I'm not a huge Kirk Cousins fan, but he is efficient. I think Mike Zimmer may be.

Vegas thinks he's the most underrated coach in the NFL. There's a lot they do that I like. Adam Thielen returning only helps. I have Minnesota. Last night, a good loss at six. Number five. New Orleans. I think they're a lot closer to the New England of the NFC.

They can't beat you over the top. They have an excellent 40-year-old quarterback who's not going to beat you with dynamic athletic ability, but it's death by a thousand cuts. I think they have a better pass rush than New England, but I do believe they're the Patriots of the NFC. They're smart, they're resourceful, they lack a pop over the top, and I think that will be their undoing this weekend against the Niners Saints at 5.

Number four. Kansas City, watch out. Here they come. They've had O-line issues. They've had Patrick Mahomes his herd issues. They've had wide receiver injuries. Oh, now they're... The band's back this weekend, and they're a... healthy. And despite all those issues, they are fourth and total offense. They took the Raiders out of that game in about five minutes. They have not lost by more than seven points all year,

despite a series of injuries to crucial pieces on offense. We know they've got the head coach. I got Kansas City at four. Here they come. Number three. San Francisco. You know, it's funny. We all think it's a defensive line story. You know what this team really is? It's a power running football team. Kyle Shanahan's the son of Mike Shanahan. It wasn't an Elway story. Elway didn't win until he got Terrell Davis and they ran the football and own the clock. San Francisco's a power running football team. And when they got their fullback and their offensive line is healthy, that's why they can give a Baltimore trouble. They can play some keepaway. Their second in rushing in the NFL. That's, I mean, we know their defense is good. We know that Shanahan's great.

But what I like about them is the weather is going to get crappy in December and January and San Francisco can go on the road and they can just run the football and not rely on the defensive line to be special for 35 minutes, not rely on Jimmy Garapolo. I like how they're built San Francisco at number three. Number two. I like Seattle right now as the representative in the Super Bowl from the NFC. I said it yesterday and I said it last week. Their roster's good. It's not special.

But their coach A plus, their quarterback A plus, their general manager, John Snyder made nice. moves. Josh Gordon, Quadry Diggs, Jadavian Clowny. This is a team that kind of had to find their identity. They wanted to play a certain way. Pete Carroll teams are generally very good in December and January. They lead the NFC in takeaways. It's not just because of talent. They don't have the talent of some of those NFC teams like New Orleans, Minnesota on defense, but they lead the NFC in takeaways. They're first in the two-minute offense. So they got the special sauce at quarterback with Russell, Seattle at two. Number one. I've had him there for about a month, Baltimore.

I think they are, the NFL's playing catch-up in the middle of a season. These massive fixtures at Tide-in, Lamar Jackson, excellent coach. They had a problem. They were two-and-two to start. They solved a problem. Let's go get Marcus Peters, allow us to be more aggressive defensively. I think the league's playing catch-up to him. I think San Francisco did what very few teams can do.

It's not like San Francisco gave people a recipe. San Francisco's just got a lot of good players. And so they can go toe to toe to toe with Baltimore because they have good players. I don't think anybody else is going to duplicate what San Francisco did against Baltimore. I think the Ravens are the best team in the NFL, and there's my herd hierarchy. I want to talk for a second about outsourcing. Now, outsourcing is a term that is used a lot in America by businesses. It means you go outside of the company to find help.

For instance, universities in America. Colleges and universities in America, they have to find a scorn. president. The president leaves or retires. They outsource it. They go to a company that helps them find the next school president. That's not their expertise. So you outsource it. And every great company I've ever worked at has got a hole. Every great dynasty in sports, I talked about this with the warriors. They had a problem. Their stars get hurt a lot. KD got hurt, Steph got hurt. That was their hole. New England has a hole in their dynasty for 18 years. We all know what it is. They're not good at drafting wide receivers and they're not good at developing them. I believe New England should

just start outsourcing wide receiver. And there's a story out today, the Cowboys, you can only franchise tag one guy on your team and they're going to franchise tag DAC. I think New England should go after Omari Cooper. Outsource it. Remember the best years Tom Brady had. They outsourced wide receiver. They went and got Wes Welker from Miami. They went and got Randy Moss. And they went and got at the time a very good receiver Dante Stalworth because Tom Brady was tired of Rochelle, Rishay Caldwell. They outsourced it. They said, listen, we don't draft receivers well. We don't develop them well. And I think there's three things that are happening, and it's more profound than ever for New England. Number one, this offense is incredibly rigid.

It's incredibly precise. And Tom Brady's 42 and doesn't have the patience to develop another rookie wide receiver. He's getting visibly frustrated. And so I think They need to make a real move next year, an outsource wide receiver and go get Amari Cooper. Amari's a good one. He's an adult, reportedly learns the playbook in about seven, eight days. Then all of a sudden, Edelman's an excellent two. Muhammad Sanoo and Nikiel Harry are terrific battlers for third. Then you draft a tight end.

But I think every great dynasty of my life has had a hole. And you just have to kind of figure out what that hole is and identify it. And I think New England needs to outsource wide receiver and go big after Amari Cooper. He is the classic patriot. Smart, dependable, worker, route runner creates a little bit of separation, learns a playbook quickly. Tom Brady's 42. He's getting, you know, there's some limitations on what Tom can do. He need you to be more precise than ever.

And he's got no patience with these young wide receivers. I mean, you start on the bench this weekend. He's like, can you imagine what he's like at practice? He knows he's being televised. He knows he's miced. He talked about it yesterday. I mean, he says the nice stuff after the game, but when you watch games,

he's just, he's had it with rookie wide receivers. I think everyone's working hard. We're trying to do the right thing. And, you know, there's some good effort out there. And there's guys are doing the best, you know,

they can do in my belief. We're just, sometimes it's been good. And other times, you know, we obviously have work we still got to do. A lot of work. And I think you have to just come to the realization. This is the one thing we don't do well.

And the one time they went out and said, you know what, just we're going to take guys in the league, Wes Welker, Randy Moss, Dante Stallworth. It was special. And I think you can just see as Tom has no seasons of waste here. He's just over it, right? And we're all different, by the way. You know, I always tell the story. I had a cousin, Kathy, who went out one time and she found a cat on the street.

And the cat had lost its hair. It was malnourished. The cat was just skin and bones. And we all have standards, even animals. And so she brings the cat in and she feeds it cream, and she gives it this really supreme diet, and she babies it. And so one day, about a month in, the cat, the hair grows back. The cat's now looks great.

This is an animal, not even a person. And so about a month in, oh, she didn't have any cream, and she gives it like dry cat food. And the cat's like, talk to the hand, talk to the paw. the cat pouted. The cat's like, I'm not eating that. That's no longer my diet. Even animals, right?

They get used to stuff. Tom's 42. He's got a net worth of $500 million. He's had Randy Moss, West Welker, Julian Edelman. You can't get him wide receivers who are 21. He's not going to wait three years to develop stuff. He doesn't have to, Brady's bid. This Tom Brady at 27 would be more patient.

We're growing together. I've got 12 a year. Tom's like, get me guys who can figure stuff out fast and I can get it to. And just like my cousin's cat off the street, you get used to stuff, your standards are higher, you're a little more rigid and a little more brittle, and I think that's where New England is now. Just has to own it, outsource it, bring Amari Cooper over. 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, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is CliverTaylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. 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? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss 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 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. This week, Thursday Night Football has Dak, Zeke, and the Cowboys as they continue their fight for the playoffs against Khalil Mack and the Bears. It all starts 730 Eastern, 430 Pacific on Fox NFL Network and streaming on Prime Video.

I just read a story yesterday about the NBA ratings are down like 22%. And everybody's trying to give reasons. Is part of it this? The NFL's been so good this year. I find myself watching more football than I've ever watched. There's so many fascinating young quarterback stories that I'm just watching less pro basketball because the football's so good.

Well, I think it's the key word there is stories. NFL's got pretty much everyone in the NBA for the most part is playing the way that we expected them to play this year. So there's no big shockers. There's not a lot of controversy. And a lot of the NBA, you know, especially this part of the season, is about controversy and stories.

And there's just a lot of great stories in the NFL right now. Everything's going to be fine. Yeah. Baltimore is a great. great story. San Francisco is a fascinating story. We have a dynasty in New England that looks like they've got. Dallas is falling apart. That's a great story.

There's a lot of stuff going. And I thought... And the sky isn't falling. Like, after the Super Bowl, we're all going to start watching the NBA. All right. Let's bring him in. He is a three-time national sports writer of the year. Peter King via the Coward Global Satellite Network, NBCSports.com.

So, you know, we were talking earlier today. Sometimes you need a reason to break out with somebody. I don't think John Dorsey wants to fire Freddy Kitchens. I don't think he wants to admit I made a mistake. But Peter, I do believe between the undisciplined nature of the Miles Garrett moment and the T-shirt moment, it does give John Dorsey an out in which he could just say, hey, I can't dress the guy, it's inappropriate, and I think Baker's going to be on another head coach.

I mean, that's how, maybe I'm hyperbolic here on this T-shirt thing, but I thought it was such a bad look. How did it land for you? I thought it was terrible. You have to sort of be the adult in the room. Just because your daughters give you a t-shirt, it doesn't mean you have to wear it out in public. You can wear it in the house and have a good laugh about it. And then on Sunday, he said, I would do it again.

Yeah. Wrong answer. Yeah. Very wrong answer. And look, it's not, it's not a Super Bowl coaching gaff. horrible thing. It just sort of adds to the general mayhem of this season. You know, Paul Tagliabu said a long time ago, when he was the commissioner, said, you know, they were talking about sort of long scandals and getting things done with. And I used to bring this up when Roger Goodell

would take four years to make a decision on Tom Brady, you know, instead of four weeks, or maybe four days or four hours, you know. And, and, you know, Paul Tagliabu would basically say, you know, all's well that ends. Not all's well that ends well. All's well that ends. Right. Okay. And that reminds me of this thing with, I mean, do you think if you wear that T-shirt in public and somebody sees you that they're not going to talk about it, that it's not going to be that? You want to be talking about, football, not t-shirts, not dumb things, not undisciplined things. And that is the reason why there's been too much, there's been a hurricane of crap around the Cleveland Browns this year. There hasn't been a hurricane of winning, but a hurricane of crap. And that is the reason why,

if I had to guess right now, I would guess they would replace coach at the end of the year. Last year, the last four coaches left were Balichick, Andy Reed, Sean Payton, and Sean McVeigh. You get into December, it's a coaching league. And right now, coach of the year, I'd probably give it to John Harbaugh or Pete Carroll or Kyle Shanahan, great coaches. But I also think Mike Tomlin would get an honorable mention or my second or third vote. I think, you know, I've been critical of Tomlin. I've said he's too emotional. He's not buttoned up.

It's unbelievable that he's on a fourth quarterback. As we talk about Kitchen Sunday, what about Tomlin, his future going forward? That defense, by the way, Peter, is young. They're all coming back. They're all getting better, and so is Big Ben. Mike Tomlin right now, if I had to vote, he'd be my coach of the year. And look, everybody who you mentioned, it's lunacy that Pete Carroll's never won it. Kyle Shanahan deserves it.

John Harbaugh has been amazing. You know, his staff, his team. You know, and so look, but I believe when I cast my votes for things at the end of the year, I don't necessarily vote for the guy who won the most games or anything like that. I vote for the guy who I feel has done the best coaching job. And look, there's four weeks left. Who knows what's going to happen? I don't know.

So we'll see. I could change. But after 12 games, I'd vote for Tomlin because, you know, look, they basically, it isn't only losing Big Ben for the year. And as you say, being on your fourth quarterback, third playing, and they dealt one of them to Jacksonville. But it's all about everything. It's about winning huge games without your best receiver, without your number one running

back without your center and the leader of the team. There is no non-quarterback now. There is no position player in the NFL who's a bigger leader on his team than Marquis Pouncey of the Steelers. Yeah. He's been gone. Yeah. So, I mean, you look at all this, Colin, and Tomlin just keeps winning. And how in the world are they seven and five? I have no idea. They got some guy, hey, Colin, Duck Hodges, Devlin Hodges, was so lightly regarded. He didn't even get a combine invite. And so I just look at all this right now and I say, you know, the coach has a lot to do with this. Antonio Brown was on Twitter this morning, railing, and that's, as he's prone to do.

I do think in the NFL season there are solvable problems and unsolvable problems. And I think New England is a pop gun offense. I think they should have addressed tied in in the draft. I said that pre-draft. I think they should have tried to maintain a relationship with Josh Gordon, but it's a fairly rigid culture in New England. Seattle took him in. New England said no thanks.

And I say this as somebody that lived in Connecticut for 10 years and appreciate the Patriots culture, I don't think it's a Super Bowl team. I just don't think they have the over-the-top elements that a Kansas City or a Baltimore does. I say that with confidence. I like Kansas City against New England this Sunday. I don't think it's a solvable problem.

That's why I keep thinking they're going to give Antonio Brown a chance. Is it lunacy to say that? I don't think so. I said the other day in my column that I keep thinking that Belichick is going to start lobbying, lobby Bob Kraft, Robert Kraft, to get this guy on his team. And look, there's one big X factor in all this. Would the league allow him to play? You know, as of right now, he's been, what is it now?

I think at least 10 weeks. He has not played football. And this is different from being on the commissioner's exempt list where like when Adrian Peterson went on that in that case with his son, he was paid the whole year. But in this particular case, nobody's paying Antonio Brown. Now, he may win it all back in his appeal. I get that in his case against these teams that. gave these guarantees that disappeared.

But I will just say this, Colin, with some guys like Antonio Brown, the playing is more important than the money. And at this point in his life, Antonio Brown wants to play. It would be very interesting if either Jerry Jones or Robert Kraft calls Jeff Pash, the NFL attorney,

and says, if we sign Antonio Brown, can he play Sunday? That's a good question, because the NFL is going to have to make a ruling after meeting with him and talking to his accuser whether they will allow him to be eligible. We've tiptoed around this because we don't like to speculate and everybody likes Jason Garrett, but it is an issue. It looked like against Sean McDermott.

He was out-coached against Belichick. He was outsmarted. It's interesting. Mark Schlerth came on earlier and said, what top coach doesn't want personnel control to some level and that the Dallas job is not as attractive as I make it out to be? when you talk to people around the league, is it the North Star of Jobs? How is the Cowboy Job perceived? It's not the North Star of Jobs, but Colin, you know, in my opinion,

I think one of the most misunderstood, or I'll call it, one of the biggest myths in pro football is that Jerry Jones is the 800-pound gorilla who doesn't let his coach breathe. I have been in his draft room on draft day. And Colin, no one will believe this, but it's the absolute truth. Jerry Jones does not run a dictatorship in his draft room. Jerry Jones listens to the people in his room. And I saw very closely in 2016, he wanted Paxton Lynch desperately in that draft.

and he kept haranguing the people in the room like Jason Garrett and not Jason Garrett because he wasn't making the pick, but his son, Stephen and Will McClay and Tom Saskowski, great personnel men. And they all agreed, we're not going to overpay. We're not going to overpay. So, you know, like Stephen is saying, Dad, we're not overpaying. And they ended up not getting him. And Jerry was fuming.

He was really angry about it. But obviously, it's turned out to be a good call. Yeah. And Jerry could have, he could have stepped in there and said, I'm given whatever it takes. I'm giving John Schneider a Seattle, whatever it takes to get this pick. We want Paxton Lynch. He didn't do that. You know why?

Because he understands that the system that he built in Dallas, even though everybody thinks it's Jerry Jones dictating this, that, and the other thing, it really isn't. So all I'm saying is, if I am Lincoln Riley right now. Now, I'm not dismissing this out of hand. I need a personnel staff if I'm Lincoln Riley. And look, or whoever it is, you could name 10 coaching candidates who would be big enough, you know, to coach in Dallas. But I would not not take the job because of Jerry Jones. Peter King, NBCSports.com, as always.

Thanks, Peter. Love having you on a Tuesday. All right, Colin, thank you. Reggie Bush, Trent Dillfer, stopping by as well today. Discover matches all the cashback you earn at the end of your first year automatically. Learn more at Discover.com slash cashback match. Here's Joy with the news. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. When Jadavian Clownie was traded to Seattle in September, he didn't know what to expect. He'd only faced Russell Wilson and the Seahawks once in his career. And now he says he's very impressed by the talent around him. You came here. Did you know this team was this good? Nah, I did. I knew Russell we know was good.

Yeah, yeah. I knew they had some good players, but I know it could be this good. And people still don't think we're as good as we are. I can see that. So we just let them people keep saying we're not good. We keep getting these wins, uninspected wins. They don't know about us to win games. But you know how it is.

National Football League. It's called Ending Giving Sunday. Any team can be beat on any given Sunday or Monday. So today, but we show. up and who's the better team today, man. We got the job done. By the way, I don't think Seattle's roster is great. I think they have a handful of great players,

but I think it's really a coaching quarterback thing. It is a coaching quarterback thing. And, you know, I was thinking about it today, especially after watching that last night. And look, I didn't think that the Vikings were going to win last night. Because I don't, I, no matter what happens, do not believe in Kirk Cousins, even though it wasn't Kirk Cousins fault.

He didn't win entirely last night. That's just, I, I, when I'm looking at a team that I'm going to put my confidence in going into the postseason. Who is their coach? Who is their quarterback? If I'm looking at the playoff picture right now with the Seahawks, I don't know a team I'm picking against

I think only the Saints at home. I don't know if I would. Again, I think if Seattle and New Orleans play in 2019, I'll take the team with a dynamic can make plays with his feet and Seattle can beat you over the top. I'd like Seattle. Listen, we saw New Orleans

lose to L.A. last year at home. I think Seattle right now goes to New Orleans and wins. I really do. I mean, they certainly could. I'm just saying if I'm looking at the playoffs right now, any team they match up within the playoffs, I'm taking the Seahawks, unless it's the Saints at Home. Seattle's also become the best road team in the NFL.

Last 20 games in the Eastern Time Zone, 16 and 4. They're a great. They're tremendous on the road. It's just tough to pick against Drew Brees in that building. I get it. I totally get it. And they're good. They're playing incredible football right now.

and awesome touchdown celebrations as well. So Freddie Kitchens is 5 and 7 in his first season with the Browns, and they're a long shot to make the playoffs. It's been a disappointing year after such high expectations coming into the season, but he says he isn't concerned about his future. He was asked yesterday if he's worried about his job, and he just responded with a quick, no, I'm not. Now, I don't know what Freddie's supposed to say in that spot.

Like, yes, I am concerned about my job. And, you know, he's had a pretty rough time at the mic the past couple days. but it will be interesting to see how they respond because that loss kind of feel. You know, the AFC now, you've got some teams. Tennessee, does Tennessee have seven wins right now? Yeah, I mean, Tennessee is seven. So we know Buffalo is a wildcard team. They got nine.

I think Tennessee is your second wildcard team. So, and I don't think the Cleveland, you know, they're not dumb. They can look at the standings. And I think Cleveland season's over. I'll be very interesting to see how a very immature team plays on Sunday. Because for all intent and purposes, season's over for Cleveland. Nothing to play for. Do they mail it in?

Do they completely unravel? Or do they show you a little maturity down the stretch? It's just really disappointing what's happened with Cleveland this year. I know you're, I think you're holding all of your gloating until the seasons over. I have not gloated. You haven't, but I feel it coming. I think you're waiting until the season's over so that you can just save at just a tremendous opening rant for when they are officially eliminated from the playoffs.

And listen, I'll be here to enjoy every second of it. But I did the think that they would be a wildcard team this year just based off of the talent that they have. Now, the problem is what we've talked about a lot, Baker, if they fire Freddie Kitchens, which I never advocate for someone to lose their job. But say they fire Freddie Kitchens. Mike McCarthy should have been the higher last year. I, but I think. So now Baker Mayfield's on his fourth head coach? Well, but you know, you got to get it right eventually.

I mean, I agree with you. I think it's ridiculous. You know what he came out? I said about Baker. He's not talented enough to overcome chaos, so they better get the coach right. So they've screwed up on the coach. I think you go get Mike McCarthy.

And I don't, you know, you can say what you want about Mike. He's not sexy enough for the Dallas job. I don't think Atlanta wants him. Mike McCarthy in Cleveland. You know what? He looks like a Midwest cop. He's a tough guy. Mike McCarthy was the person they should have hired last year.

I couldn't believe they didn't do it when they had the opportunity to. And I get it. Like, it's never the wrong time to do the right thing, I guess. So, you know, moving on from Freddie Kitchens, that they feel like that's what they need to do, which I think most people do. It just feels like another wasted year. And the first couple years of a young quarterback's development are super important. They're just going to start over again. Finally, it's been six weeks since Ryan Williamson had surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his knee.

He was given a recovery time of six to eight weeks, but he hasn't participated in any on court work in practice yet. So Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said that Zion's itching to get back on the court with the teams being overly cautious with his recovery. And GM David Griffin said a couple weeks ago that Zion was on target to return in that 6 to 8 week time frame. But now that doesn't look very likely. So this is another story that the NBA has been robbed of at the beginning of the season. Kevin Durant's hurt. Zion's hurt.

It's definitely something to consider. I mean, Zion Williamson, number one overall pick. Everyone's excited to see him play in New Orleans with a bunch of young teammates that have a lot of talents. It just hasn't happened. And now we don't even really have a for sure time on him when he is going to be back. They're 6 and 14 this season. They've had a lot of injuries. Lonzo's back, but they're on a 5-game losing streak.

So, you know, kind of a disappointing situation there for Pelicans and NBA fans waiting to see Zion. But I suppose you do want to wait. If you wait this long, you might as well wait until he's fully healthy. Yes. The West is good. Not a playoff team anyway. Get it right with a health. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly news. By the way, everybody wants an 8-

team playoff in college football. Let's be honest. Ohio State's the best team. Clemson's second, LSU's third, and the fourth, and they'll vote tonight on it, is a seat filler. I mean, Utah's got a bad loss, Oklahoma's got a bad loss, Georgia has a bad loss. You know, you guys all want an eight-team playoff. I could make an argument.

We could have a three-team playoff and give one of them, Ohio State a buy. Have LSU and Clemson play. Winner plays Ohio State. So I'll talk to Reggie Bush about that coming up. I don't want an 18-playoff. I get it. I understand it. But the fourth team now,

Already has ugly losses. What does the eighth team have? Two of them, three of them? Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard 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 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, 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, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. 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 linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Look. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett.

My mama wants you to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming.

Ramos sending on to earn a score at the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policicic. I'm not worried about Balagan. 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, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Saturday, Justin Fields in number one Ohio State looked to punch their ticket to the college football playoff as they battle Jonathan Taylor in number 12, Wisconsin. In the Big Ten championship game, coverage begins at 7 Eastern 4 Pacific on Fox and the Fox Sports app.

Best Ohio State team, Reggie Bush joining. Best Ohio State team, fastest Ohio State team I've ever seen. I would agree with you. the best Ohio State team I think I've ever seen and I said before I think this Ohio state team could even play with our national championship team I think they're that good they don't have a lot of weaknesses they're the best defense without Chase Young they have the best corner they have the best pass rusher maybe the first or second or third best quarterback they have an elite running back big 10 teams were always powerful I always questioned speed yeah this team is

there SEC fast man they can flat out run by the way I said this yesterday stop judging Jim Harbaugh on the Ohio State game. Ohio State is a better program than Michigan. 100%. I think people were kind of setting themselves up for failure. Michigan fans were setting themselves up for failure, believing that they were actually going to have a shot to win this football game because like you just said, Ohio State is just a better team, period.

There are top three recruiting programs. Michigan usually ends up like 12th, 11th in the country. Ohio State often has the best class in the country, year after year after year. Every year. What are you? Nick Bosa, Chase Young. Like, what do you, they continue to reload every year?

Then they get a transfer like Justin Fields. So their weakness gets solved immediately. Exactly. It's like I always said, Michigan is Texas. They're good, they're cool. They got great unies, bands, everything. And they went about 10 games a year. But their primary rival, Ohio State, Oklahoma,

are better. They're just better programs. Better recruiting. That's what they do well. So let's talk about the 18th playoff. My theory is this year is what we always have. Three teams I know are great. LSU, Ohio State Clemson.

And then number four. But how do you know Clemson is great? They're in the weakest conference. So is USC when you dominated college football. My eyes don't. I have a television, dredgy. That's how I know. We don't want to bring up old stuff.

Let's just keep us to stay focused here. I got a television. They got a great quarterback. They have NFL running back. NFL receivers. I have a tremendous defensive coordinator. I do not think there is dominant on the offensive line.

I don't think they'd beat Ohio State. I don't think they'd beat Ohio State either. Would they beat LSU? I think, oh, that's tough. I think it's a shootout. I think it's a shootout. So do I. I think it's a shootout.

Yeah, so I, but I think Ohio State's the best football team. 100% hands down Ohio State is the best team from top to bottom. I don't see a lot of weaknesses in this team. And I will put them up against any other team. But why are you an 18-playoff guy? I mean, let's face it. The number four team this year, George has a whole. horrible home loss. Utah lost to

USC's third string quarterback. Oklahoma had a bad loss. You want the eight? I'm not even sure I like the fourth team. I like eight team playoff. Tell me who, if we had an eight team playoff system, which team would want to see Alabama in week one in the playoffs?

A pissed off Alabama team that's not, that's not happy that they're in the top four, right? And which one of those teams would want to see Alabama first playoff game? I would not want, nobody. Nobody would want to see them. And I would even argue.

Who else wouldn't want to see him? Me, the viewer. Can't we get a break from Alabama? They played two good teams. I'm just saying. I agree with you. I'm just saying they still are a good football team. I think Wisconsin is a good football team.

I think they can play with a lot of these other teams with the way that they run the football. I would love to see Wisconsin play against LSU because the LSU's defense is struggling right now. That would be interesting. Wisconsin can run the football well and keep the ball out of LSU's hands. That's interesting. And so, and then I go back to 2004 when we won a national championship. Our game was supposed to be set up as USC, Oklahoma, best game of the century, like the most elite talent all over the field.

Their quarterback won a Heisman trophy. Matt won it. Adrian Peterson. We had a great run game. And we blew the doors off of them, right? And then Auburn was sitting there saying, hey, well, we should have been in that conversation. and after the national championship was over, the AP or college football player or whatever had them ranked number two, right?

And so my thing is that there needs to be more teams to play so that we can see who the best team is because when Alabama first two, three weeks of the season is playing Western Carolina and some of these other FCS teams, then how do I truly know that they're the best team when they're favored by 50 points in these games? Let's go to the NFL. You played there now for over a decade.

Freddie Kitchens T-shirt. Now, everybody in Ohio is saying you guys are overreacting, but let's say, with no agenda from me, I'll just set it up, your coach wore that t-shirt. How would it land for Reggie Bush when you're in the league? That would have it. I think the players would have an issue with it. Initially, some of the guys might be like, oh, that's cool.

That's dope. But once it's out there and there's pictures and you've got to deal with this and there's conversations about it, we're talking about it, at the end of the day, I think you're the head coach of the football team. It matters. Regardless of if your daughters gave it to you or who gave it to you, it matters what you do say and what you wear, right? Now, Sean Payton.

Go ahead. I go back to when I was in Buffalo, and there was a game where there was a week where Rex Ryan had taken the coaching staff to a baseball playoff game. And there were stories written about it, and the players were kind of talking about it. And we were saying, well, if that was us in the middle, of the week, if we had

taken a bunch of guys gone to a playoff game and had some drinks and came back, you know, we got an early practice the next day, we would have gotten trouble. There would have been an issue with that, and there would have been some stories written about that. And so the players feel like coaches

also should be held at the same accountability. So Rex Ryan took you to a playoff game, and in the end he lost the locker room a little. I think, yeah, I think halfway, well, he got fired halfway through the season. So this was in Buffalo. We didn't go to playoffs in Buffalo.

But he got fired halfway through the season. Giro, Greg Roman, who's now with Baltimore, got fired after week three. And so the point I'm making is that players feel like, and when things like this happen, well, coaches need to be held just as accountable as the players. Yeah. Yeah, it is interesting. You know, you look at this NFL season. Sean Payton's interesting.

Now, Sean Payton can be eccentric. But I think maybe, because he's done some things on the sideline, I've let Sean. Yeah, I agree. But is he have so much buying already? He's gotten away. He gets away because he's winning. You know, winning is the greatest cure for all, right? If you win in, you're winning games and maybe this isn't a big of a deal for Freddie Kitchens.

If they're undefeated right now, nobody's going to really. Belichick can be rude to the media because he's Belichick. Because he's Belichick. He gets away with it because he's winning. He's one of the winning his coaches. Yeah, no, and I do think that there's something to be said. that Freddie Kitchens should have thought to himself, okay, I'm not sure I'm getting a second year.

Like, you do have to act different. Successful people can get away with stuff. Right. The backup quarterback can't get away with a joke in a locker room that a legend can. Exactly. And listen, when you're trying to get the bag, when you're trying to get the big contract as a player,

you know that you've got to walk on eggshells and everything you do or say matters because I want to get that money. I want to get the big one. My dad used to always say most employment decisions will happen when you're not in the room. Exactly. Antonio Brown could not get away with half of that stuff if he was trying to get the big contract. Good stuff. Reggie Bush, the show, of course, has been an absolute hit.

Big Ten Championship pregame live Ohio State Wisconsin this weekend. Hour 3 next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Untucket.com. 30% off. Cyber Monday sale continues 80 Untucket stores on tuckit.com. put in the code heard. A lot of interesting things to talk about.

The Freddie Kitchens, the Mike Tomlin stories. Russell Wilson's one of my favorite players of all time, and Trent Dilfer was a Seahawk and loves Russ. Trent, my buddy, joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network in Nashville. You know, I think we both have an admiration for not only his gifts, but the guy. And, you know, some people will be like, oh, he's a little corny, he's a little too overly optimistic. But let's face it, cynicism, this is a tough sport.

Cynicism can wear you. I love Aaron Rogers, but cynicism doesn't play in a lot of locker rooms. I'm listening to Russell Wilson miced up last night, and I think it works. I think this eternally optimist, it gets you through tough patches. What did you see watching him last night? I've become more and more impressed every single time. I watch him. I hear him speak.

I'm around him. I see what he's endured as a Seahawk to this point of his career, what he's overcome. I couldn't respect a guy in the NFL more than I respect Russell Wilson. I think it's really, it's disheartening at times, Colin, to see people that had an opinion of him coming out of college. Maybe they didn't see him as being this great as a pro, and yet they still don't give him his due because they're still trying to justify their opinions of him coming out of college.

Listen, I had him in the third round. This is when I did this at ESPN and put grades on guys. I had him in the third round, and I love that I'm wrong. I couldn't be happier. I couldn't root for a guy more, and I couldn't be more impressed with a player in this league than I'm with Russell Wilson. By the way, Lamar Jackson, I said,

I think he's going to work in this league, but I think he is a project more than a prospect. I said that for Josh Allen, and Josh Allen and Lamar are winning more than Baker, Sam Darnold, and Josh Rosen. You know, Lamar Jackson to me, it's, I think, I don't remember your opinion. He was too brilliant not to,

I mean, I always had an opinion. on running quarterbacks. They all, they all work. They just don't last very long. What do you make of Lamar Jackson? I was very bullish on him coming out, but I too thought it was going to take a year or two of refinements. Here's a guy that was obviously one of the great players in college football. It could really throw a football. It just wasn't consistent at the level you thought he would need to be to be as effective in the NFL as he was in college. But to the Ravens' credit, really done a good job retooling him a little bit, getting him with a stronger foundation as a pastor. I think that's led to consistency. And the one thing I said about him coming out is

when you have a unique trait, and Josh Allen fits in this too with power, his unique trade is power. When you have a unique trait, meaning a 1% trait, nobody else has it basically, except you. Lamar Jackson has that with Twitch. And you're going to be successful if your coaches know how to utilize that 1%. And what he's done is he's taking that unique trait, made that his calling card, but also really enhanced the rest of his game that's allowed him to play with a much higher level of consistency early on than many of us thought he could. Yeah, I just love him as a kid. He's coachable. I loved in the offseason. He said, you know what? People said I was too skinny, so I put on weight and they said I couldn't throw, so I worked on it.

And I'm like, I love that. By the way, a little bit of the opposite of that is Baker Mayfield. Now, we all want to blame Freddie Kitchens, but against winning teams, he's had now excellent weapons. This will be his third head coach, potentially his fourth. He's not good. He's completing 59% of his throws. Is it a Freddie Kitchens issue or a Baker issue? I think it's a both issue. I think we've said this all year long with Freddie Kitchens.

I think he lacks the sophistication gravitas maybe that takes to be a high-level NFL coach. I think many times coaches forget they're bigger than just a. coach in the NFL, if you're head coach, you're the CEO, you're the corporate leader, you're the face of the franchise, all your, your persona matters. Every decision you make in the public eye matters. You set the tone for your franchise and your community and nationwide. I don't know if Freddie Kitchens has that understanding. I think Baker in the same breath, he needs a strong hand on him. He needs a guy that's been around gunslinger mentality guys who's been around what you would call brand type quarterbacks and harnesses.

them in and show them wisdom and understanding into this position. I think of Mike Holmgren with Brett Farb. I think of Norv Turner. I think of some of the great quarterback guys out there that have done this before. I think Baker needs a guy like that to have a chance. What do you make? So Mike Tomlin, I've been critical of him. I've said, boy, there's a lot of emotion.

He's like Pete Carroll. Sometimes I love him and he drives me nuts. But boy, I'll tell you, he didn't have a center, his receiver, he's running back. He's on his four-string quarterback. You can judge a man in crisis. Pittsburgh's been a red alarm crisis for like two months. I got to be honest. I think Tomlin may be the coach of the year. Am I wrong? I stole that line from you. Excuse me. I stole that line from you the other day. You can judge a man in crisis talking about Mike Tomlin. I mean, think about what they've gone through in the last calendar year. Now, some of it you could say

was addition by subtraction, but much of it isn't. I mean, you lose all the pieces you're talking about. It kind of is counterintuitive to this argument in the NFL that's about the Willys and Joe's. I think you can use Mike Tomlin as an example that it might be about the X's and O's and about culture and about identity and about grit and staying true to who you are as a franchise. I don't know how they've done it. I was going through it in my head. I can't remember a time where a team has lost this many people. this much human capital in the football space, including the quarterback,

and has had this type of success. I do think you have to tip your hat to Mike Tomlin, whether you like him or not, and say that nobody's done a better job coaching his football team than him. Pro Bowl and won a Super Bowl. You played with five teams. I want you to go back in your career. Players now with social media, they can read about Jason Garrett.

They hear the rumors about Jason Garrett. Even in your day, you'd hear about stuff. Talk radio was around, newspaper. So when that stuff's starting, you're losing and you got talent. And it's all over social media. Coach is going to get fired. Have you been in that situation? Do players start to bail on the coach if you're 500?

Are we getting to that situation where Jason could lose six or seven key guys in the locker room? Unfortunately, yes. And you just nailed it. Whether the narrative is true or not. And I'm personally not on the blame Jason Garrett bandwagon. I think he has all the power, but no control. and a lot of their faults are not necessarily coaching faults, their player execution issues.

However, when you're a player in the NFL and you're on your phone and you're seeing social media and you're watching your show and ESPN and NFL network and you're hearing everybody on this narrative of, oh, it's a coaching issue, oh, it's a leadership issue, oh, it's a head coaching issue. You go, wait a second, if they're blaming him, guess who they're not blaming.

They're not blaming me. And if you're a player, which you don't want to be as blamed, You don't want to go down with the ship. You have a big giant contract that you want to make sure you see every penny of. You have a national reputation that you don't want tarnished. And if somebody else is going to take that fall for you, most players in the football locker room is going to say,

oh, man, yeah, you guys are right. That is the head coach's fault. Guess where else it goes? It goes to assistant coaches. Because right now, if Jason's taking all the heat, guess who's not? His assistants. And as they get calls throughout the week, you know what they're saying?

Yeah, this person is. might be Jason's fault. Yeah, we've done a really good job with some things. But yeah, we really lack some leadership stuff going on right now. Look at our owner even called him out. And that is the NFL way and that is why it's so refreshing not to be part of it anymore. Because what happens is when it hits the fan, the NFL model is to let it hit somebody else in the face instead of you. And that's what's going on in Dallas right now. You know, it's a great point. By the way, it went when I love Tom Brady and I respect him. But as

people get older and wealthier and more successful, they can be rigid and they have a system that works and they're harder to coach. Russell Wilson, every receiver works with him. Everybody works with him. Rookies, undrafted, drafted, Doug Ball, everybody works for him.

Tom Brady, seemingly nobody works for him except Edelman. He's furious and I love Tom. And I've seen this a little bit with Aaron. you get wealthy and you have a Super Bowl ring and it's very easy in life that you get a little more rigid. Some of this New England receiver issue, is it fair to say, hey, Russell Wilson works with everybody. Tom, you got to lighten up a little bit here. Yeah, I don't disagree with you, but I'm going to steal some from Steve Young, working with him all those years at ESPN and just talking to him about greatness.

You know, I never experienced greatness as a player. And to hear Steve talk about sometimes that rigid nature, that linear thinking that, hey, we have to do it perfect all the time. And I'm going to drag you there over my dead body mentality is what allows these guys to be great. And I think in one breath you can say, yeah, Tom is showing some get off my lawn to him personality. But that's probably also over the years what's made him the go is that he is just going to overmerect. my bed, dead body, I'm going to drag you and you're going to run it to the millimeter right and your head's going to be perfect. You're going to see the field like I see it. And if it doesn't happen, we'll go back on Monday and reteach it and do it again. I'm going to hold you to a standard

that nobody's ever held you to. I can appreciate that as well because that's why he's going to go down as the greatest of all time. And everybody else needs to jump on board and say, you know what? I am going to do it Tom's way because he knows best. Finally, I don't want to be old, stubborn. and what did you say, get off my lawn guy. I have finally, even though they still have a chance, I have given up on the Philadelphia Eagles. You were mad at me. I was your verbal punching bag.

You called it. The Eagles are. I don't even care that the Eagles could win the division. I, you know, Joey and I said this a couple weeks ago, you can be a bad team but well-coached. Miami's not great. They're well-coached. What did you spot with Philadelphia early

that I was stubborn on for about, I don't know, eight weeks? The quarterback doesn't play the same discipline he played with a couple years ago. They don't have the same figs, especially on the defensive line. And that was concerning. And then they don't have any Twitch in their passing game. They don't have any beat beat. They don't have anything that can scare you. They're big body possession guys.

It's hard to score a lot of points in the NFL if you don't have guys that can play beyond the X's and O's. And basically, offensive and defensively, they're going to be a product of, their exes and O's. They don't have a lot of ceiling above that. That's what I saw early. And it is really fun to be right against you at times, too. I'm going to start rubbing in a little bit more. Yeah, those opportunities happen so rarely. You really have to take advantage, Trent, when they happen. A decade and a half, Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, buddy, good talking to you. Thanks, partner. It's really funny. His talk about what coach is doing the NFL, it really is funny. You know, contracts in the NFL, they can cut you. The blame game. You know, the team goes back.

You know, the coach really is the problem over here. It's really, you know, that's a real thing. We work in the media. There's a lot of that in the media. Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of, it's a business. And these contracts dry up. Don't play forever. Got to blame somebody.

Can't blame me. I got one year left. And coaches can coach for a long time. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I hate to do it, but Kirk Cousersers.

Oh, and eight in his career on Monday night. He wasn't terrible. Worst record on Monday night in NFL history. Russell Wilson's 9 and 2. He wasn't terrible. But he didn't make the play. He didn't make the play. And they were kind of talking about it during the broadcast.

That is, you know, his reputation and big clutch games, prime time. You got to break out of it to stop people talking about it. You got to win. You got to break. This was the last night. It was a breakout of it game. Beat the best Monday night quarterback. You're the worst.

Beat him in his. place and then people stop talking about it. And again, like, this is why overall I like the Vikings roster. Oh, God, yeah. I like their coaches. I like everything. I like their energy.

I just don't. Yeah. Now, I get it. Am I wrong? Because it's just, I mean, I don't care if I'm wrong. But that's just how I feel. I can't buy into it because of that. Yeah, no, it's, it's just, we can't look around. I mean, doesn't everyone say the same thing about Dallas?

A lot, yeah. We like Dak. We like him. So why is it so wrong to say about the Vikings? I feel like anytime anyone says anything bad about the Vikings, it's like, well, they have a great roster. No, I think it's fair to say. I think I think Kirk Cousins has been beat up so much.

People are now defending him like, hey, his numbers are way better than Dack. They, he does put up great numbers. But the, I care less about the numbers and I care more about wins in big games. Yeah. And the wins in the big games. Yeah, and Dack and Kirk this year in the big games have not been big. Well, the remaining schedule for the Vikings is the lions at the Chargers, the Packers, and the Bears. You think they're going to win out.

I think they're going to win out. I do not. I think they could lose two of those games, actually. Who do you think they lose to? Packers. I think they lose to the Packers. It's in Green Bay. And if I have to pick between, you know, obviously, I know it doesn't come down to the

quarterback. I'm leaning towards Aaron Rogers and the Packers at home in that spot late in the year. And I don't know. I mean, the Chargers could sneak them. I don't know. I don't think that those are all guaranteed wins. Who knows? Every week, every week, though.

Next week, Kirk Cousins is going to 500 yards. Like that's what happens. So Amari Cooper's future with the Cowboys is still uncertain. He is in the last year of his contract and will be a free agent in 2020. But if it's up to him, he wants to stay in Dallas. Don't blame him. I've enjoyed it a lot. You know, it's cool.

Like he talked about my numbers home. You know, it just feels good to play here, to live here. I'm happy. You committed to resigning here, you know, if the deal is right. Of course. Like I love, like I just said, I love it here. want to be here. I just love the situation, my teammates.

I feel like it's the place for me. By the way, Dallas has paid a lot of people and paid some early. The downside of that is they can't afford Amari Cooper. If they pay DAC, they can't afford Amari. And Amari, I'm telling you, New England Amari is such a fit. It is such a fit. Is New England going to pay Amari? You know, we're not.

They're not. I mean, as Jerry said, getting the hand cramps while writing the checks. By the way, nothing wrong with getting hand cramps. cramps for checks. I think most of us could be more frugal. Sometimes I need to get hand cramps. My wife had another new outfit yesterday. I'm sure she looked fabulous in it. She looked unbelievable. It was worth every penny. And that was why I didn't complain. Exactly. The point being hand cramps for checks can sometimes be your friend. Well, sometimes those hand cramps can lead to a hand cramp from holding a Lombardi trophy. So sometimes they're worth it. That's how it goes. I mean, he is looking to be one of the highest paid wide receivers. Michael Thomas got five years, 96.2 million. Odell is five. years, 90 million. Let me ask you.

Is Dak the same guy without Mar-Marke? He's not. And I think that this is the predicament the Cowboys are in, is do Dak and Amari find a way to work with the Cowboys to stay together? I think, I'll say it again. Goulet, you know this.

Dak is not a pinpoint thrower. He works better with the receivers to get separation. Amari's a great route runner and gets separation. I mean, just look at the numbers. How much better he is with Amari. I think we have the numbers. If you look at, if you look at Dak, Prescott, with Amari and without,

I think our guy's back, have it. I like Zeke, but I said this during the holdout. Dak can win with a lot of running back. Amari has a bigger influence on Dak's success. Okay, so look at those numbers, Joy. So for our radio audience, so with Amari, he completes 69% of his throws, with Adam 65.

Passing yards go up 70 yards a game. There's no doubt. Touchdowns interceptions. Passer rating goes up 101 to 94. Like, I'm not saying Dak can. can't play without him. But in the NFC, he is absolutely, Dax's a better player with Amari. And we've talked about, we've talked about so much how important it is to have a strong, big threat at wide receiver with today's offenses. I'll give you a prime example. So Jared

Goff's not a great athlete in terms of escapeability. So he needs an offensive line. Right. The Rams overpaid for people now don't have the money for the offensive line. Dax's actually pretty athletic. He could probably do without a great center. But he's, He's not an accurate thrower like golf. He needs a receiver to complains. Young quarterbacks all need something. You know, Lamar, let's get him big tight ends. Dak needs a receiver that gets separation.

Amari's that guy on that team. I don't see how you move off of... I think you have to give Amari. I don't know. They're in a impossible situation because they do have to pay Amari. I think you have to keep him and you've got to figure out a way to pay that. If I said this morning, if this was hypothetical, re-sign Amari and trade.

Zique, would you do, if you had to keep Amari, you had the trade Zique to get a B running back. I would do it in a heartbeat. In a heartbeat. I mean, I would do it, but don't you think Cowboys fans would riot? Yeah, no, I don't think it's going to happen. I just, we've said this before the season. Amari and Tyron Smith, the left tackle are the key to Dak. It's not.

And that's not, that's not no disrespect to Zique. Zique's probably the best running back in the league. It's just that that's what DAC needs to be successful. Finally, the Seahawks love to have fun with their touchdown celebrations. You've finally come around a touchdown celebration. They're funny. They're funny. I'll get it. Last night, they broke out the dance from New Edition's music video, if it isn't love.

Nailed it, by the way. They did this after David Moore's 60-yard touchdown catch. And that joined a list of some other memorable dances from the offense over the last two seasons. This has kind of become their thing, which I love because they're obviously also winning. So, you know, there's really nothing to poke holes in there. They weren't down 28-0. No. So they did this new edition one.

Then they did Tyler Lockett reacted Alan Iverson making his shot and stepping over Tailu in the 2001 NBA finals. I think this is my favorite. It's really creative. And they really nailed it. They also reenacted the famous baseball fight between Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura after Ryan hit Ventura with a pitch. God, those guys are really good. And then they did a tribute to the five heartbeats. So that's this dance.

Great movie, by the way. Really good. And then they did a macarena. They also, which are, you can do the macarena, right? Oh, yeah, of course, yeah, yes. It was hot. About three years, it was hot. For about three years, it was hot.

They did a scene from the movie Drumline also, which is a movie I watch every single time it's on. And in sinks, bye, bye, bye dance, which everyone loves. I do think that the Tailu, Re-Anachman is my favorite, but they're really, this is really fun. I'm so glad that they let the celebrations come back. They are a little long, which I don't care about because it's great for social media, but it's just fun.

It is fun. The Tailu things are right. It's so good. Good stuff, Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. Coming up next, playoff or takeoff.

12 spots available and 18 teams vying for the playoffs. and many of them in the AFC fighting each other out over the next three weeks. Playoff or takeoff and best for last coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific

on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Discover matches all the cashback you earn at the end of your first year automatically dollar for dollar, no limit how much you can earn. Discover cashback match it's called. What are you waiting for? Go to discover.com slash match. That's pretty amazing.

Discover.com slash match. Well, it's best for last time. So there's a month left. There's four weeks left, Joy. And we have 19 teams. That's an amazing number. Are within two games of a playoff spot? So it's another edition of,

are you a playoff team or take off? And now, Colin will decide if a team is headed for the playoffs. Playoffs? Or taking off for vacation? Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain. speaking, please turn yourself in securely. It's playoff or takeoff. All right, let's start with Buffalo Bills.

Playoff or takeoff? I think we saw what they do against Dallas. I say it's a playoff team. Playoffs? Yeah. They're only one game back in New England. They play excellent defense. Their schedule is not easy. They're at the, you know, they've got to go to the Steelers.

They got to go to the Patriots. They play the Ravens. But I think this is a well-coached team. They don't make a lot of mistakes. Josh Allen has maybe the best arm in the NFL. If you put every quarterback in the NFL at the goal line and said, throw it as far as you can. I think Josh Allen wins. They figured out how to use Cole Beasley.

This is a playoff team. This is a, and this is not only a playoff team, it's a playoff team capable of going on the road as a wildcard team and taking the ball away from a Kansas City and beating somebody. All right, the Cleveland Browns, playoff or takeoff. What do they do well? I'd say they're a takeoff team. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.

Coach going to get fired. Right now, Baker Mayfield, last in passer rating, last in completion percentage. Their most penalty yards. At this point, I do think they did find their offensive identity in the last few weeks. They're more of a run power team. But they don't do enough things well. Also, they have to win all four games. And they beat Baltimore and they play them again.

They're not beating Baltimore a second time, so they're done. How about the Colts playoff or takeoff? Hate to say it. I love the organization. This is a takeoff. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Yeah, they've lost four or five games. They have very little margin of error without Andrew Luck.

Jacoby Percette, I do believe is a franchise guy, but he's a lower-end franchise guy. Andrew Luck, great quarterbacks allow you a larger margin of error. You can have a lot of penalties. You can have a lot of turnovers. They have to play perfect football to win. And they got to go to New Orleans. That, to me, is a tough game. They've got to go to Tampa.

That could be a shootout. So I think they're done. How about the Oakland Raiders? We were so high on them for a couple weeks. Yeah, that's a takeoff. Yeah, that's a takeoff too. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Again, 31st in penalties.

Young football team, heavily penalized. They're not a very good defensive team. And if you look at their schedule, they have to go, they have to play Tennessee. And I frankly think Tennessee now is suddenly off. You know, Tennessee ends every year 9 and 7. We all know Tennessee is going to be 9 and 7, so they need a couple more wins.

to accomplish that, and I think the Raiders are a better story now than they are as a December football team. The Pittsburgh Steelers playoff or takeoff. Mike Tomlin could be coach of the year, but it's a takeoff to me. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Six touchdowns in five games.

They're doing this on culture, on toughness, good offensive line. They just don't have the weapons. They're one and four against teams with winning records. So, again, you can be, I think they're well-coached. I think they're well-run. But boy, you talk about a team that doesn't, no margin for air.

They just don't have any pop offensively right now at all. The Tennessee Titans, playoff or takeoff? Now, I'm going to go playoff here. Playoffs. Do you know that Ryan Tannihil has the highest passer rating in the NFL since he started? Again, people are now gathering film on the Titans with Ryan Tannehill. So they have Miami Dolphin stuff, but they don't have Tennessee Titan stuff with Ryan Tannahill. remaining schedule at Oakland, Houston at home, New Orleans at home, and then at Houston,

I think they go three and one there. And they've won five of six with Tannahill. I think players know things that don't. Three and one? I do. I think they'll split with Houston, beat the Raiders, and beat the Saints at home. You said nine and seven, right? So that's two and two.

Well, they're going to go 10 and six. That's not what they do. They go nine and seven. Tana Hill's the extra win. See, because the Saints have it wrapped up now. Well, yeah. They may start, you know, there's no urgency for the Saints. They go on the road.

I think they beat them at home. Okay. The L.A. Rams, playoff or takeoff? Live in L.A., but that is a takeoff for me. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. They're one and four against winning teams. They humiliated Arizona. They have a great coach.

But I think when you start looking at the way they match up with really good defensive fronts, there's limitations. I also just think, let's be honest about this. They've got to go to Dallas. They're at San Francisco. Their schedule is absolutely brutal. I think Sean McBale probably turn it somehow into a winning season. They're 7 and 5 right now. And that, for the record, it's not man overboard.

They've got some elements I like. I love their weapons. I love their receivers, their tight ends. I think their defense is really good. They have the best corner in football, the best defensive linemen in football. Their linebackers are more athletic than I think last year's Super Bowl team. There's a lot to like. They don't have a first round pick.

They have got to get better guard center guard. Jared Gophe needs interior line. line protection. The Minnesota Vikings, playoff or takeoff? That's a playoff team. Playoffs. I thought they were really good last night. Didn't have Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook. This is a very good football team. I think they sweep the rest of their games. And, you know, I'm not

a huge Kirk Cousins fan, but it's unfair to say, I don't like Kirk Cousins. I do like Dak. I think they're comparable talents. I like Dak more because he's more of an athlete. But I think it's a very good football team. I think Mike Zimmer is a great coach. Vegas considers Mike Zimmer one of the top three coaches. So I like him. I think Minnesota

is a playoff team. And again, that's a team. If you have, if you're Green Bay and your winter division or your New Orleans and winter division and Minnesota comes to town. No, I mean, you should. They have a great, a great team. I just think it comes down to the clutch moments. Would you be shocked? If they went on the road in the playoffs and went on the road first round and dominated somebody, you'd be like, yeah, that's, I could. Dominated?

I would be shocked, yes. I don't think I would. I think they're going to go to Lambo in three weeks and knock out the Packers. Well, they have Lambo at home. Sorry, Vikings fans. I misspoke about that. Oh, they did. It is in Minnesota. Freaking out. They're going to blow them out.

They're actually going to have them at home. I still think Greenway wins that game. All right. Philadelphia Eagles, playoff or takeoff? Take off. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. They don't even meet bad teams anymore. And now one thing Trent Dilfer said and Greg Hosell said, Greg said the slowest offense in the NFC.

And Trent Dilfer said it a different way. He said there's just no Twitch athletes. They have big possession receivers. You know, you've got to have people. You saw it last night with, you've seen it with Deshawn Watson, you've seen it with Russell Wilson. Sometimes you just have to have a guy that makes people miss. You can't draw up every successful play.

And they just don't have guys that make people miss, and I think they're going to lose a couple games in their schedule here. Even against, even, I think Dallas is going to beat them up in Philadelphia. Well, speaking of that, Dallas Cowboys, playoff or takeoff? I think they're a playoff team, and here's what. I think Dak Prescott's a good leader, and I think Dak will write the ship. I was listening to some comments he said this morning. We didn't put him on the show.

I think Dak will figure it out, and I think he'll write it. I think they'll win the division. I think they're actually remarkably healthy for this time of the year. God, between the Ravens and the Cowboys, like everybody is healthy. That just doesn't happen. So I think this team's going to turn it around. For the record, they are number one in offense, and they're number one in yards per play, which is historically a huge playoff number.

Like, you've got to pop. This is a team, by the way, that's got guys that can pop. Get the ball to them, Zeke pops. Amari Cooper pops. So I think the Dallas Cowboys are a playoff team. John, excuse me, we were smart Alex Snarky comment. I'm just wondering why they're six and six then if they're so good. Well.

You're a Cowboys fan. You're very cynical. Not this year. I'm not. Yeah. So John. You're off the bandwagon this year? John in the morning meetings is anytime we say anything nice about the Cowboys, John sits to my right and he's like, yeah, that'd be nice if they could do that. I'm almost tired of it, but I find it so entertaining that we let it slide.

I'm glad you enjoyed my pain. We do, yes. Joel Clat shows up on the show tomorrow. Of course, tonight, college football playoff. My guess is Ohio State 1. This is how I see the world. Ohio State 1, Clemson 2, LSU 3, and then a seat fill a row. at four. I'd like to see Utah in it. I live out west. I go to Utah a lot. I think their defense is

great. I love their coaching staff. But if you put Oklahoma in, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Utah's got an ugly loss. Oklahoma's got an ugly loss. Georgia. I mean, I think we all know Georgia can't win the national championship. I don't think any of these four teams can win it. I really don't. I think it's, I don't think there's ever been a clearer year. It's LSU, Clemson, Ohio State, and I take the Buckeyes. Feel better with MDrive. Drive. Go to MDrive from N.com. The code has heard 20% off your first month. Refine Your Prime with MDrive. Great show today for joining everybody.

We're out. See you tomorrow. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports

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

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe

to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's on how many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, guys? This is Clifford 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. And he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.