The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Nationals, NBA problem, Warriors, & Baker Mayfield

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

Colin explains why the Nationals winning the World Series had nothing to do with A. J. Hinch pulling Zack Greinke, the newest problem facing the NBA, why the Warriors struggles aren't all bad, and why Browns fans might have something to look forward to. Guests include Mark Schlereth, Greg Cosell, Mark Medina, and Peter King. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sacks, Wait, what sex? Is it just me, or does every woman my age, want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with the Anna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Well, Joy, how are you today? Greg CoSelling one hour or NFL meat sandwich. We love that. It's going to be an exciting NFL weekend. I'm great. Awesome game seven last night. It was great. It's Halloween.

Yeah, we don't talk a ton of baseball, but when baseball gives you urgency, it's really, really exciting. It was intense. Let me start with this. The Washington Nationals won the series. A.J. Hinch, the Astros manager, didn't lose the series. It's not hard to figure out. Go to an NBA finals.

Go to a Stanley Cup finals. Go to a baseball world series. It always comes down to the same thing. To get to a World Series or an NBA final, you have to have a bunch of great players. Whose great players play better? Last year in the NBA finals. Toronto. Kyle Lowry had only one bad game. Kauai Leonard was amazing.

Cicum was great. And the Warriors great players, Katie got hurt, Clay got hurt twice, Looney got hurt, Rootter's won. At last year's World Series, Dodgers had a bench, Cody Bellinger. Mookie Betts was great for the Red Sox. Chris Sale was great for the Red Sox. That's all this series was about. Don't blame A.J. Hinch, the Houston manager,

for a move you didn't like in the 7th. This was about the Astros for seven games, especially at home, never getting a hit after the seventh. All of the Nats stars were great. Strasbourg. Game six, dominant, 2 and 0, unbelievable. I mean, go up and down. Max Scherzer, gritty, great one he had to be. Anthony Rendon, unbelievable late inning hitter.

Juan Soto batted 333. The team batted 280 after the seventh inning. Then go to the Astros best players. Justin Verlander was 0 and 2, an ERA at 5.4, and was gassed in game 6. Jose Altuve couldn't do anything, a great player with runners on. Alex Bregman didn't hit at home, three for 15. Carlos Correa didn't do anything. Hit low 200s.

That was the World Series. And even the Nats players who aren't great, Howie Kendrick, Trey Turner, they were special when called upon in clutch situations. Now, Will Harris deals with Kendrick. That's down the right field line into the corner. This ball is. Nationals on top. Howie Kendrick has made it 3-2.

There's your series. All the Nat stars were great, and even the guys that aren't great players, Kendrick played for the Angels for a year. Very good player, very situational. We're great when they had to be. Here's some numbers for you. The Astros at home were four for 28 with runners in scoring position.

That's at home. That's where they were unbeatable in recent years. The Nationals hit 10 home runs on the road, a World Series record. We always want to boil this down to a pitching move by a manager. Folks, do you understand in baseball in 2019? managers don't make as much as a Boise State football coach.

We've taken the power out of managers. The Boise State football coach makes double the Yankees manager. I'm not joking. It may be triple because football's the coaching sport. Baseball, we ask an AJ Hinch to occasionally six-seventh inning. What do you think about your pitcher? He's a little off. This wasn't about a move in the seventh inning.

It was about the Astros at home could never hit after the seventh inning. The nationals won it. Houston didn't lose it, and here's your final moment. Here they are. One strike away, one out away. Three, two. There it is. The Washington Nationals are world champions for the first time in franchise history.

I thought it was an incredibly great baseball game, all sorts of tension, and the better team won because their better players were money when it mattered. It's not about a pitching move in the seventh. Houston couldn't hit it home. The Nats were monsters on the road. Good stuff. Congrats. D.C. deserves it. Considering the Redskins season and the Wizards' misery, the Mystics and the Nationals have made it with all that political strife the last several years. And, you know, the Virginia area, Virginia Cavaliers.

There you go. There you go. Some nice stuff. Virginia Cavaliers, the Washington Mystics, the Nationals. CDC, it's not all tumult. It's not all yelling and screaming. you've had a nice year in D.C. And the Capitals?

There we go, the Capitals. It's almost getting greedy. All right, let's shift to this. So Kevin Durant is not playing this year. He's a star, right? And we know, you know, he likes to talk. And he should, by the way, for his brand. I mean, if LeBron James is out,

is he not going to talk? You know, Michael Jordan broke a leg once you can talk. I like my stars, even when they're out to talk a little. K.D. this morning went and talk to Stephen A. Smith. and Stephen A. Smith asked him about if Draymond Green was one of the reasons K.D. left the Warriors. Here's what he said. A little bit, yeah, for sure. I mean, your teammate talked to you that way.

You think about it a bit. But, you know, like I said, we talked about it. But definitely, for sure. I'm not going to lie about it. Well, what do you know? It was November 12th. It was a very close game. Kevin Durant wanted the ball.

Draymond didn't get it to him. They argued in the huddle, outside of the huddle. It carried on into the locker room. At one point, Drayman made it personal with a slur. Drayman also said, we won here without you. It was very personal. And I said, it doesn't matter if it's your wife. It doesn't matter if it's a coworker.

It doesn't matter if it's a teammate. There are lines you cannot. not cross. And Kevin Durant admitting today, yeah, you know, that was part of the reason I left. And the NBA media, and I understand why they're like this, the NBA media has to be pro player and especially pro star. Why? Because you lose access.

Everybody wanted to get the KD Scoop net last year. Everybody wants to get the scoops where Kauai is going, where Paul George is going, where Westbrook's going. So the NBA media has to be pretty pro player. If you get a reputation as your anti-star anti-player, these star players, the They'll just cut you out. You won't have any access. And everybody kept saying Katie's good with Draymond.

They talked. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go back, Google what Draymond Green called Kevin Durant. Guys don't forget that. Can't speak for women. Guys do not. We can be petty. And a lot of times, guys compartmentalize things.

You can read books about this, about how guys can argue with another guy. But if there's money on the table, you and I will do business together and I'll all forgive you and we can play together and we can do business together, but I don't, I'm not going to forget what you said. And Kevin Durant admitting, yeah, Draymond was one of the reasons I left. So, and by the way, I love the Houston Rockets. We're not trading Chris Paul. There is no chance.

And everybody bought into it. Remember, this is a star-driven league. And in order to have access to the stars, the media often apologizes, dismisses, buys into denials that are simply not true. I don't cover the NBA. I'm not in the locker room every day. I thought Chris Paul was going to get traded, said then it was smokefire,

and I never bought that Katie and Dremont were good and tight. and boys, and don't worry about it, we got past it. Bologna. There are things, guys, you can say to your wife, you just don't, and don't even push it. And there's things you can say to a coworker, don't. And there's things you say at the YMCA or in an NBA locker room playing basketball to a guy, you don't go personal. Draymond, who's not nearly as sensitive as KD.

Katie's a sensitive cat. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. Aaron Rogers, KD, a little more sensitive to media stuff. KD's sensitive. Drayman crossed the line. And he admitted. it today. Yeah. Yeah, that was

one of the reasons I left. There you go. Be careful what you say. Okay, so yesterday, Baker Mayfield came out, ripped the media, ugly, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I bash Baker. Basically what I said with Baker is what I've always said with Baker. My constitution's not built

for him to be my starting quarterback. I said, if I was a GM, he's undraftable to me. Doesn't mean he can't play in the NFL. Doesn't mean he's a bust. He's draftable. But if I was a GM, as I said many times, If I was a GM and I needed a quarterback, he was not draftable. I would just say I'd take him off my board. I talked, by the way, an NFL coach yesterday, not a head coach, but an NFL coach.

He also felt he was the fourth most draftable quarterback in that draft due to his personality. But there is very good news, very good news for Baker Mayfield coming up. Excellent news for Baker Mayfield. And all this stuff is mostly going to go away. that is coming up. Thanks for joining us on Halloween. Our set is rocking today, and so is Joy Taylor. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,

FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. 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 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so rapidly. 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 All 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. What's up, guys?

This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, Brett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about 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 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. Guys, stop using your wife or your girlfriend, shampoo, get your own.

Dove Men Plus Care, Available. Walmart. It is nice to have you in on a Thursday. Nineers tonight go to Arizona. 90% of the money in Vegas is on the Niners. Take Arizona and the points. Just the way the world works. That is Halloween. Check out our set. It's awesome. I will be handing out cupcakes and fresh produce to the kids on my steps tonight. And Joy is going out on Halloween and enjoying the festivities. I will also be handing out candy as well. But candy and packaged candy. So the kids come for. So yesterday's story broke last hour. Baker Mayfield got into a argument, a little scuffle with a Cleveland reporter. He doesn't like Tony Grosey. So apparently there is a reporter Baker Mayfield likes less than me because when he was on my show, we mostly got along.

And I still think he's mostly a decent quarterback, the overrated, mistake prone and way too cocky. But he got into this argument. There's some backstories. He said this. They said that. I don't think this is how a franchise quarterback should. worry when the season is on the line. You should be looking through the windshield, not the rear view mirror at last week and arguing

with reporters and it having it blow up as a national story. But here was Baker-Baker Interception Maker yesterday. The penalty happened. The clock's not running. I don't know. Stop saying, but I just told you the clock was running. You want to give them the ball back? No, you don't play.

You don't know it. It's just plain and simple. Was I happy with the drive? No, we didn't score points. It's a dumbest expression. ask. Okay, he's a child. But let's make two things clear. Number one, Baker has had an absolutely disastrous season. His completion percentage is 57%. That is absolutely embarrassing. He leads the NFL in picks. His passer rating is in the 60s. He has been this year more of a bust than a number one

pick. He's looked terrible. He looks small. His accuracy has gone downhill. The Seattle game was an eye-opener, bad throws, late on everything, more commercials than touchdown passes. He has been an abject disaster. I have been right, and it is a great feeling. But let's be honest about it. Baker Mayfield now is going to win a bunch of games, as I predicted. I'll stand by my initial prediction. Cleveland is going to go nine and seven.

I didn't buy into the hype. Freddie Kitchens, I talked to an NFL assistant coach yesterday, is making it up as he goes. They're one of the worst teams situationally. Lead the NFL and penalties. They are not capable of winning a playoff game against an elite coach and elite team. But I'll stand by 9 and 7. And here's the good news for Baker Mayfield.

Starting this weekend, he's going to face a backup quarterback and Cleveland is going to roll. Look at the Brown schedule. I'll make my prediction. They beat Denver, Pittsburgh, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Arizona, and Cincinnati. Guess what that turns out to be? Nine and seven.

I don't know how I feel about Buffalo and Baltimore. They get both at home, but both have excellent defenses, and Baker can be mistake prone. But they face six backup quarterbacks in nine games, and the other three quarterbacks they face are Kyler Murray, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson, kids prone to mistakes. Defensive front for Cleveland makes life tough for quarterbacks. It made it tough for Russell Wilson. It made it tough for Jared Gough. It made it tough at times for Tom Brady.

Cleveland's defensive front is going to win a bunch of games against a bunch of backup quarterbacks named Mason Rudolph and whoever's starting for Cincinnati in Miami and a bunch of guys named Josh Allen. In fact, here's the other good news. Baltimore schedule, when I predicted they'd be eight and eight, I don't stand by that, but it's going to be close to that. Baltimore schedule gets increasingly tougher. They face New England, Houston, at the Rams, San Francisco, at Buffalo, at

Cleveland. So Cleveland's defensive front is going to dominate several months of football against backups and young quarterbacks. Cleveland's going to come up and go nine and seven. Baltimore, a better football team overall, more mature,

better coached, better team. They're going to lose some close games because they face guys like Sean McVeigh, Deshawn Watson, Billaichick, Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo, Kyle Shanahan. All right. So, and I'll tell you what I think, November 10th, 10 days from today, Cleveland host Buffalo.

If Cleveland wins that game in 10 days, they're going to be, I believe, a wildcard team. You think I'm crazy on this. But if they beat Buffalo, I'm not sure if they are. I want to see them play against Denver. I think they'll win in a route. And I do think Buffalo was good early but has hit a ceiling offensively. in 10 days, because Cleveland's going to blow out Denver. It's one of my blazing five picks, I'll tell you right now. Cleveland's going to win big over Denver. When they go home against Buffalo, if they can win that game, you start looking at the schedule,

9 and 7 potentially is 10 and 6. So I may bash Baker and love Lamar Jackson, but the seasons are going to turn. Now, how dramatically will Baltimore's turn? I'm not as sure as I am in Cleveland's turning positive. So they'll start winning games. Baker won't have, they get Kareem Hunt and they have Nick Chubb. They'll become a running team. They'll be more conservative.

Cleveland's defensive front will dominate backup quarterbacks and the Browns will start rolling. And then Baker's in a better mood. The media won't be assaulting him with all this verbal nonsense. He says and they say. And so the good news, Baker, this is the low point of the season for Baker Mayfield. I believe for the next eight, nine weeks, it's going to be more positive. There's going to be more wins. There's going to be less jarring.

Guys like me will run out of ammo. There just won't be much to say as they reel off a bunch of Ws. And here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So yesterday, Jamal Adams expressed his displeasure with Jets GM, Joe Douglas for shopping him around.

Adams felt like other players like Tom Brady or Aaron Donald wouldn't be shown that level of disrespect. I didn't take that light. I really didn't. But, you know, when I, when I heard that I got the call, that my agent called me and he told me what was going on, you know, it definitely hurt me. You know what I mean? I hold myself at a high level. You know, the Rams don't, they don't, they don't take calls on Aaron Donald. The Patriots don't take calls on Tom Brady. You know what I mean? That's where I hold myself. Well, he got a little pushback on invoking the name of Tom Brady, but he made it clear that his major sticking point is that he was told he wouldn't be moved. He said, not saying I'm the greatest ever, but you shouldn't tell a guy that you are the cornerstone of a team on Friday that you won't be moved, then negotiate terms with other teams three days later. But look, I'm at peace with everything. It's all love, and they say he's locked in, and he's focusing on the game on Sunday against the Dolphins. And this is basically what I said yesterday with this was clearly the situation, and I don't get it. never makes any sense to me. These guys are not children. They're grown men, they're professionals,

they get paychecks, they have families, they understand how this business works. So to sit there and lie to a guy to his face or lie to his agent is an exercise of utility. It makes no sense. Everyone knows that trades happen, that it's a possibility. And yes, there are certain guys that teams don't take calls on, but not necessarily. If someone wants to give you three first round picks for Aaron Donald, you may just consider it. It's not that that's whatever, whatever happened. But I don't think there's any player in the league who is completely untouchable if someone wants to do something ridiculous. Why did this story get out? Why did the story get out?

And why lie to the player? He has every right to be upset if you're going to go to the length of saying you're not going to be moved. It's a very simple conversation. We love having you here. You are a cornerstone of the franchise. If we get a call from a team who wants to give us an over-the-top offer and we're considering it, we'll let you know. But I just want to be honest about it because this is a business. You know we love you.

You know you're part of the team, but it is a business at the end of the day. No one's going to be offended because it's true. And it saves you a world trouble and bad PR. So I'm on his side on this because he has every right to be upset if you're being told something that's not true. It's unnecessary to even say it. So some drama in the NBA last night. Joelle Embed and Carl Anthony Towns were tossed from last night's game in the third quarter. They got down a little bit.

Sixers maintained a double-digit lead and Embed was getting up in Town's face. about the lead. Embeded in towns got tangled up, as we're showing right now, and then being shoving each other, and then it quickly escalated. They crashed to the floor. Ben Simmons and a bunch of other players and coaches got involved. Both of them were ejected. I mean, Embedde was... Crazy funny. Yeah, he was hamming it up after his ejection. Simmons was allowed to stay since he took a peacemaker role, and then the two of them went back and forth on Instagram and Twitter, exchanging some jobs, which are not safe for work. I don't know. You know, it's funny about the NBA. You know, they've had one or two,

fights in the history of the league that have been bad for optics, right? Right. But NBA players don't fight because that face is the moneymaker. They don't wear a helmet, so... Well, nobody wants to deal with the fines and the suspension for throwing and landing a punch. I thought this was incredibly playful. Am I crazy saying that? There's a little choking going on there at the bottom. Carl Anthony's tapping out. It's like a wrestler. Yeah, he did tap out. I don't, I don't have a problem with it. I don't know. I mean, it's going to happen. It's a physical contact sport and there's a lot of trash job going on. They've mostly eliminated the fights, fights, as you've said.

Most of it's a lot of like forehead fighting. Like you're just going to put your forehead on each other. And Carl Anthony Towns can't stop Embed, so it's very frustrating. And Embed was the first guy in. He was going to be a star that Embedde comes in much quicker laterally. So he works Carl Anthony Towns. There's a lot of frustration. Minnesota literally went and got Carl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins and hasn't done squat. And so that's as a franchise, I think they're just worn out. I think they're just, they have underachie. There's got to be some frustration there, I'm sure, especially when you're going up against Embed. It hit the fan a little bit, but yeah, I don't have a problem with it. Finally, the Warriors rough start the season just got tremendously worse.

Steph Curry suffered a broken left hand last night against the Suns. He collided with center Aaron Baines, spelled the floor. Baines landed on his left arm. Curry immediately went to the locker room where X-rays confirmed the break. And Steve Kerr and Sons coach Monty Williams both spoke about the injury after the game. Aaron Baines came up after the game and just wanted to know how Steph was doing. I mean, you could tell he felt really bad. It was just a random basketball play.

So stuff happens. I just feel bad for him. When these guys who are the faces of the league go down, it's not good for the league. But especially someone like Steph who's done so much to raise the level. of excitement here in the Bay Area and throughout the league. Steph had nine points on three of 11 shooting before the injury.

So yeah, yeah, it's a really a bad situation for the Warriors to start the season. They lost the Suns 121, 110. I know, I saw the score at one point last night. It was like 4714. It was like, is this the 70s? Is this the early 80s when the sons were good and the Warriors were terrible? It might be that way. The sons have a good team this year.

and the warriors, it just keeps going from bad to worse. A lot of stars out right now in the league. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lie News. Greg Cocell will be joining us in 35 minutes.

Greg Cocell is our NFL meat sandwich. It's one of my favorite segments of the day where he breaks down if you're a fantasy football, you're a better, you just love the sport. I think Greg Cocell is as interesting and objective as anybody in the NFL. Again, the Niners going to Arizona to play the Cardinals tonight, and I think, strangely, it'll be a pretty competitive football game. So, as Joy told you, Stefan Curry, Steph Curry, was hurt last night, broken wrist out.

He's out to the All-Star game minimum. They may not bring him back until like March, April. I'm not sure what they're going to do, but the season's over. The Warriors have gone from a dynasty to the Miami Dolphins in about a month. In Golden State's last six games, dating back to last. year. KD. left and got hurt. Clay got hurt. Steph got hurt. The Western Conference just got one team easier. But there's actually, strangely, a great silver lining here. There is a great silver lining. Now the Warriors can showcase DeAngelo Russell statistically. Go score points.

Now, Steph Curry, be fresh for next year. Now, there's no rush to bring Clay Thompson back. Now you can check out all your young players. This is actually great. Instead of getting stuck in the middle, didn't I say, I think they'd be like the fifth seed in the West? That's purgatory in this league. When I used to cover the Portland Trailblazers, they were never toxic, never bought them 10. They were always drafting 13th, 15th, 14th, 16th, and you can't get the guy. Now the Warriors, essentially, because the West is so deep, can tank without trying to

tank. They can play their young guys, Draymond DeAngelo Russell, don't have to rush Steph or Clayback. Katie's gone. See your young guys and get a lottery pick. Bob Myers is one of the sharpest personnel guys in the NBA. They would never have gotten this pick without it. They would have ended up like an eighth or a ninth seed in the West. They would have been drafting 14th or 15th. And the NBA historically sort of runs out of stars after pick nine. There's the occasional Draymond Green in the second round, but he averaged seven points in the regular season. Let's not make him into a superstar. Yes, there's a Tony Parker here,

a man who Genobley there, the Spurs have a great international scouting system. But the reality of the NBA is most of your stars, with a handful of exceptions, you know, they're in the top 10 picks. That's generally how it works, and now the Warriors will get a top 10 lottery pick.

They were stuck in the middle. They're no longer stuck in the middle, and this is a great place for the Warriors, because now they'll get a lottery pick. Next year, they're going to have Steph, Clay, Kvon Looney, whatever they get for the DeAngelo Russell situation.

My guess is they trade him at the deadline and they get a bench guy and a starter somewhere. They need depth. And then they get a lottery pick. And in their system, young guys tend to be okay. They can play. So I think it's actually a silver lining thing. They'll get a lottery pick for a front office that knows

what the heck they're doing and a lot of front offices don't. So I think they're in a really, really good spot. I will say this. Let me say one thing about the NBA right now? So Steph, Clay, KD. Zion, John Wall, and Paul George are all hurt. And that's okay, because the NFL ratings

have been fine with lots of injuries to quarterbacks. 11 backups have played. The problem with the NBA right now, you've got something beyond Steph, Clay, KD, Zion, John Wall, and Paul George being hurt. You have a new culture that's accepted because Adam Silver tends to be, in my opinion, pro player to a fault, load management.

So I want you to say this out loud. The NBA is a star-driven league. Stars are hurt and stars are sitting. And yesterday, one of the broadcast partners for the NBA, a place I used to work, got pissed. In the NFL, which is not beholden to players, Andrew Luck retired, Big Ben got hurt, so did Drew Brees, so did Cam Newton,

Eli Manning was benched, Nick Foles, Sam Darnold gets mono. Ratings up on every network. Why? Because the NFL is not beholden to the individual star. I'm not saying David Stern made a mistake when he said, we're going to put the name in the back of the jersey and make it as big or bigger than the name on the front of the jersey. I love the NBA and I love it stars. But the NBA's ratings have always fluctuated,

wildly based on the popularity of their top players. Magic Bird Likeable ratings huge. Barkley, Michael Jordan, ratings huge. They retire Alan Iverson Marbury. Ratings go into the tank. Spurs Dynasty boring. Ratings go into the tank. LeBron Cleveland teams the first time.

Boring, ratings go into the tank. Adam Silver has built, taken the baton from David Stern. and he has gone even to a higher degree, very pro player. And players now are telling consumers, regular season doesn't matter. Adam Silver took away back to backs. He gave him a longer break for the All-Star game. And NBA players now stars in a star-driven league. I take Saturday night off for a TV game.

What? Excuse me? What you're telling the fans? regular season doesn't matter. That's the problem with college basketball. That's the problem with baseball. That's never a problem in the NFL. I'm not saying you don't treat players with respect.

But, you know, it's like Kent, kids. I give them an inch. They take a mile. All these injuries plus load management in a star-driven league means I'm not getting my stars. I'm not watching for parity. I'm not getting my stars. I want my stars. And if I pay $340 to take my two kids and my wife to a Milwaukee Bucks game on a Saturday night,

I'm not doing it for the guy off the bench. I want Janus. I want Kauai. So I think all these injuries, Steph, another one, on KD, on Clay, on John Wall, a Paw George, Ah, Zion. And load management, Adam Silver needs to tighten it up. Some fines, some calls. Come on, tighten it up.

Fans deserve stars because you market yourself as a star-driven league. Coming up, Mark Slarith, top of the hour, Greg CoSell. Denver host Baker-Mayfield this weekend. Mark's got thoughts on that. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 rapidly. 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. on healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers 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 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 will 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. Stuffy knows. Vicks Synex nasal spray works up to 12 hours, just a couple of sprays. Breathing fine.

Tonight I will go as a respected journalist as I've gone for the last 20 years on Halloween a respected veteran newsman who breaks stories. Mark Slareth is joining me. Multiple Super Bowl championships, three, multiple Pro Bowls. Also a wildly popular talk show host in Denver in the morning. Massive ratings and you've been brutal on John Elway.

I'm going to get to that in a second. Let's start with this. I think Cleveland disposes of the Broncos. I think Cleveland actually this point forward's got a lot of backup quarterbacks. I think their defensive front and running game. Not Baker will win a lot of games. for the next two months.

And I think this is the low point of the season. Is there something that has bothered you with Cleveland so far beyond the obvious, you know, penalties? Well, I mean, I would look at them, and I said this going into the season, why I didn't believe Cleveland was going to win? You know, when everybody said, oh, they're a Super Bowl contender. Really? Because from a maturity standpoint, they lack the adult kind of in the room that you have to have to be a championship caliber club.

See, when I look at Cleveland, I think I see guys that are more concerned with creating a brand than they are creating a championship culture. You know, it's like developing Twitter followers. You know what happens to the guy who dies with the most Twitter followers? He's dead, right? He's dead. With nothing but Twitter followers. Right. So it doesn't matter.

Like, OBJ, you're playing the up to that date last week. you're playing the most important game of the season. And you made goat hair shoes so you could give one after the game to Tom Brady. And then you had the audacity to say, I'm not quite the goat that Tom Brady is. You think? Yeah. You think you're not quite the goat that Tom Brady is?

I just had this vision of Tom Brady taking that shoe go, really? Walking into New England's locker room and thrown in the trash. What the hell do I want a goat hair OBJ cleat for? Like seriously. Yeah, now, like, that's where your mindset is before you're going into the biggest game of the season, trying to save your season against an undefeated team. Let me make goat hair shoes so I can give him to Tom Brady. Well, he's also had the watch and the visor and the shield, and it has felt like,

I mean, he, the OBJ, not to blame him for everything, but he's a world, he was doing Paris, he had a home in Hollywood, he was New York, he moved to Cleveland. It was very obvious. He wanted to be in the news. So he buys the orange Bentley. He does the watch. He's trying to get Instagram followers. He's trying to stay relevant.

I could talk to him face to face. There's no way you could deny that. He was doing these things to stay relevant because he is a global icon. At least he was. Now he's not nearly as, you know, relevant. You know who's a global icon? Who? Played in a real small market.

Yeah. Tom Brady. You know why he's a global off? Or not Tom Brady, excuse me. Peyton Manning. You know why he's a global icon? Why? Because he worried about being great.

he worried about bringing championships. He worried about the right things. He didn't worry about building an Instagram following. He worried about winning a championship and showing up every year and winning 12 games. And you know what happened? He became the greatest pitch man in the history of the National Football League. He is.

He is actually. He got the great first, then the pitches came. By the way, Brett Farve didn't, I don't remember Brett Farv doing a ton of commercials. I do remember there was the truck and the jeans thing. Yeah. But if you look at most, most of the great pitchmen in their sports, it was great. Michael Jordan was great. Then the

McDonald's stuff came. And Magic was great. And then the McDonald's stuff, Larry Bird. Baker's done the commercials before the great. It is a little different. It's not something I would have done. Tom Brady's first commercial, I remember this. I was told this by an agent. He said, Tom Brady was offered stuff for years. And Tom was like, nah, it doesn't sit well. He finally did a visa commercial. And if you remember it, he included all the offensive lineman in the commercial. Tom tiptoed into commercials. Sure.

Then after he beat Atlanta, Tom was like, okay, this is year 17. And Tom went all in on commercials. But to your point, commercials post-grade is the way it's supposed to work. Now, I want to shift this to Denver, where you're at. Of all the teams in the NFL, for years I called the Broncos, the Steelers with a mountain range. They were always good, always competent. They're a disaster. I think they get blown out.

You played with John Elway. Sure. Has he whiffed as President GM? Well, listen, like, you have to give them a lot of credit for getting Peyton Manning to come there, right? And then Peyton Manning, you know, covers a multitude of sins. Right. And a lot of players wanted to come there on the defensive side of the ball and play with Peyton Manning. I mean, so there was that.

And you got to give them a ton of credit for those championship years. Like, recently. from a draft standpoint and a free agent standpoint. Offensively, they've missed on a lot. They've missed on a ton. And so, yeah, you have to hold them accountable. This is not, listen, like, I love John Elway, and I know people are angry with me, and that's fine. And John's probably mad at me, too, and he'll get over that.

Maybe he won't. But the bottom line is this is a business. This is not a try-hard league. It's a production league. And when you're not producing, and the biggest issue I've had with this is they're not producing, but the biggest issue I've had is the fact that the organization continues to say, well, yeah, we're close. No, you're not close. You have, you lack the requisite talent to be competitive. Bad old line, don't know really who the quarterback is for the

future, and the defensive line was a strength, but doesn't get enough sacks. By the way, they're not terrible. Last week, they outplayed Indianapolis, and Jacoby Brissette made a great play. They outplayed Chicago and got a lousy call. They're not a bad team, and they have gotten a couple of bad breaks this year. Is that fair? Well, it's fair that they've gotten a couple of bad breaks, yeah. But I think they lack depth. I think their offensive lines, their offensive line has not been good.

And, you know, the left tackle, who's the first round draft choice, that you continue to roll out there. At some point, at some point, you know, and I feel like I'm always banging on this guy, But at some point, like, it's not his fault that he can't play. It's your fault for continuing to roll him out there. No, I'm a big believer in that. I had to talk the other day with the NFL scout who said, I whiffed on a guy.

I knew it four practices in. And he had an eye injury. And we took a deep breath and went, thank God, because he can't play. If a guy can't play, Mitch Trubisky, move on, 32 starts, left tackle for the Broncos, can't play. Finally, Jamal Adams. We have an interesting situation in the NFL here where players want more power. I get it. Totally get it. I think it's unfair that I have to get drafted by a bad team.

And then in the NFL, players have almost no-out. You're stuck with lousy GMs. Players want more power. The downside of the power thing is, GMs know you want power. Jalen Ramsey holds out. Trent Williams holds out. A.B. holds out. So GMs now are getting more aggressive, moving you guys. Sure. Are you on the player's side with this or on the management side, which is we're going to shop virtually everybody? but they've been shopping everybody anyhow. The problem is we live in a world where none of that information is held close to the vest anymore, right? Everything is out there. You think, I mean, the whole Jimmy Garapolo Tom Brady thing.

I know Jamal Adams said, well, they don't shop Tom Brady. Really? Did you follow the league three years ago? Right. When there was actually, that was the talk. And then all of a sudden, I think, you know, Mr. Kraft came in and said move Jimmy Garoppolo because I'm not getting rid of Tom Brady. Right. Like you don't think that every guy, I always told this to young players.

Young players coming to the league, and I would say, do yourself a favor. Show up to the facility on your day off on Tuesday and watch what happens. What's going to happen? Just do it. Show up and watch the 15 guys they bring in and work out to take your job. Every Tuesday. So yeah, Tuesday's the day they bring guys in. Every Tuesday in every facility across the National Football League,

there will be eight dudes in that locker room, 10 dudes in that locker room working out for that team. Every two, go show up. Young guy, you don't have to come in there because you feel spry and you're young and you don't need ice on your knees and on your back and all that stuff. Show up and look at all the dudes they bring into workout to take your job. Because that's the NFL. And don't kid yourself. If you think you're, I don't care how big your name you are.

I don't take care of your Aaron Donald. If the phone rings and somebody says, man, I'm willing to give you whatever it is we're willing to give you, you don't think that GM is picking up the phone and answering it, then you live in fantasy land. Well, the other thing is the NFL has a harder cap, and the NFL has more injuries than the NBA. So sometimes you can get away and play around a little bit with NBA contracts.

There's a lot of exceptions. In the NFL, guys get hurt more, and the cap is hard. And so sometimes you wake up. I mean, look at the Chargers injuries this year. Look at the Jets injuries. A quarterback gets mono. There are times as an organization, you have a hard cap, and it's like, okay, seven guys are hurt.

I've got a star, season's over, and this team's going to give me two first for him. Like, I would never, Jamal Adams is a great player. I think he's a top 12 player. But here's the other thing. The new GM came in. This is a roster he didn't build,

and they're paying a running back $15 million, and they're going to pay a safety of fortune, and most GMs don't want to pay safeties and running backs of fortune. We've got to go. It's Mark Schlerth. Sorry for talking too much. I had to talk. All right.

Greg CoSeller is coming up next. Greg Co-Seller NFL meat sandwich. Peter King, Mark Medina joins us as well. Weather is unpredictable. Get the right wiper blades. Misholin, Endurance XT silicone wiper blades available at Walmart. Walmart. They last two times longer.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHard Radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants. answer. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

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

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, 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. What's up guys? This is Clever-Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This line's, You know these kids.

This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramel sending on the only store at the chance. 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 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. This is The Heard Hour 2 live in L.A.

Wherever you may be in, however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, Greg CoSnell in a couple of minutes. Yes, it's amazing what dry ice can do, folks, to our studio. It looks terrifying. Can you throw a little bit of that over here to show our audience quickly, our TV audience? We got our first scream of the day.

Can you just like point it over here real quickly? Just to let the audience see what it does. It's amazing. Look at that. It just worn out of it. It looks so cool. Well, the hose there was like right up against my desk a few seconds ago and it just exploded.

But it looks awesome. It did a great job. Awesome. Happy Halloween, everyone. By the way, don't be the guy in the room with a long, sloppy-looking untuck shirt. Go to untucka.com. Code Her.

GQ calls a. Perfection. Code Hurd, 20% off. So before we get to Greg CoSell, there is a sense tonight. Arizona hosts the San Francisco 49ers. And I know there is this sense in the NFL. If you get the quarterback right, draft the right quarterback, the young guy, you're good.

But Cleveland and the Jets, I think both have talented quarterbacks, but they both have bad offensive lines, and Cleveland and the Jets combined have, you know, three wins. Arizona has their quarterback, but a bad, choppy, offensive line. The Rams got their quarterback, but until they got Andrew Whitworth

that left tackle and figured out the old line, they were a mess. Philadelphia got their quarterback and Carson Wentz. You know what he was his rookie year when Lane Johnson, the offensive linemen didn't start? One and eight. You know what they were? When Lane Johnson, the all-pro linemen started, five and one. It's Dak Prescott, Lamar Jackson walk into this league with a running game and a decent offensive line.

Cowboys case, it's great, and they win. Quarterback is not about solving all your issues. The San Francisco 49ers tonight are a great example of that. when John Lynch took over the franchise. He has had three top picks. The first one, he took a defensive lineman. The second one, he took an offensive tackle. The third one, he took a bosa.

That's why they're great. Even without their two offensive tackles, they have built a very strong offensive line culture, and their defensive line is full of top picks. It's not just a Garoppolo story. In fact, if you go to pro footballfocus.com, pffff.com, Their top 10 offensive line. And it's amazing the Niners are in this because they're missing their tackles.

And they're both fantastic. Colts, Eagles, Saints, Cowboys, Ravens, Niners, Packers, Buck, Patriots Steelers. Eight of those 10, in my opinion, will make the playoffs. And Pittsburgh would if Big Ben was playing. That's an indictment on James Winston because he has a good old line and weapons and a good offensive coach and he's still a turnover machine. So this sense that you get the quarterback right and then you're home free, you've got to protect them. because I'm seeing all sorts of Jared Goff early, Baker, Mayfield, Sam, Darnold.

You don't protect them. They're done. I mean, Andrew Luck did it without an O line. Deshawn Watson's done it without an O line. These guys are complete historic outliers. I mean, Deshawn Watson's a wizard, and Andrew Luck was a bulldozer at quarterback that took hit after hit. So San Francisco, when I watch them, it's not about Jimmy Garoppolo to me. It really isn't.

It's about that defensive line and about the fact they've lost two offensive tackles and still there's massive holes for Matt Breedda to run through. With that, he's worked 40 years at NFL films, a guy I rely on all the time during the season and the off season. He comes on every Thursday. We call it our NFL meat sandwich. Let's bring in Greg CoSell. So let's start with the team I like and the team you don't, the Philadelphia Eagles. And I thought, Greg, I thought they found their identity a little bit last week, Greg, which is run the ball.

Maybe weather forced them to do this. Run the ball, play action passes to their big tight ends. This is kind of what I think their offense is. You didn't like them last week. Was there anything about Philly that altered your mind or changed your opinion? Well, it's not about not liking them last week, Colin. I think they're limited talent-wise. And I think the way they played last week, whether it was weather

or whether they felt that was the right way to play based on their talent level, is the way that they have to play. They have to run the ball. I think that has to be the foundation. The question is, can they do that every week? Jordan Howard's history suggests he can be that kind of player. And certainly Miles Sanders adds somewhat of an explosive element. Now, theoretically, they're supposed to get to Sean Jackson back.

We'll see what that does for their offense. Yeah. The problem, or not the problem, the only issue with that is your defense has to play well. Now, it did last week, whether that was a function of weather conditions, whether it was a function of playing her team with a young quarterback that's up and down. We'll see as we progress. But I think this is the way they would have to play to be successful in this given season. You know, we're not in 2017 or 2016 or 2018. This is 2019.

They are not an overly talented team. Fair enough. Let's talk to Cowboys. They got into the mix for Jamal Adams. Jamal's a terrific player. I've often said about Jamal Adams. When you watch a game on television, you see everybody but the safeties during the snap.

Jamal Adams ends up on the play defensively. It feels like half the time for the Jets. But when you watch the Cowboys defense on film, did they need Jamal Adams? Would he have added value to you? Well, the Cowboys are a predominant single high safety defense, which means that they're quote-unquote strong safety, and it's almost always Jeff Heath.

Sometimes it's Xavier Woods playing in the box, but it's almost always Jeff Heath. He's a box player who then matches up to the tight end and their man-to-man coverage because they play what we call cover one. It's man-free with a single high safety. Jamal Adams is obviously a better player than Jeff Heath. So he would have fit that defense perfectly because their predominant single high safety with the strong safety, which is exactly what Jamal Adams is as a box player and a man-to-man coverage player on the tight end. he's pretty special. Yeah, he's very good around the line of scrimmage.

Great feel. She understands how to shoot gaps. Very good blitzer. Has a very good knack for timing. Really a good player. You know, a team, it's interesting. So I'm watching the Rams this weekend. And boy, they've got Josh Reynolds,

Brandon Cooks, Robert Woods, Cooper Cup, Gerald Everett. Five nice weapons. They're getting healthier on the offensive line. line. It seems like they got what they wanted out of Endomican Sioux, Marcus Peters, Akib Talib. They now have an elite safety. Watching them last week, I still don't think they're great upfront on the Interior O line, but it did feel like they're now 10 and O against the AFC. It did feel like, Greg, they righted the ship a little bit offensively and found their way. Did you see anything? Well, I think at their core in their past game, they're

rhythm-based. And rhythm-based is not just a function of the quarterback. It's a function of routes being defined. So when he plants that back foot, the ball can come out. Everybody just assumes all this is the quarterback. Obviously, he has to have defined throws and somewhere to throw it when he plants his back foot. And I think that they're, that Sean McVease has worked through a lot of this. Don't forget, he's only a 30-year head coach. I think that they're going to work a little more toward continuing to use Henderson. I don't want to say he's a feature back the way Gurley was two years ago, but I think he adds an explosive element to the offense that Gurley does not.

So I think they're going to work more in that direction, and their offense is starting to look a little bit more like it has. Because Goff at his core, he's a rhythm player. He's not going to make plays outside of structure. He needs to plant that back foot, and the ball needs to come out. I want to shift to Green Bay. I mean, most of us that watch these football games feel the Saints, San Francisco, New England, boy, they really can make life miserable for you. Green Bay's defense feels different to me, Greg Kosell, 40 years NFL film.

It's opportunistic, but it doesn't intimidate. It doesn't overwhelm. But it's good. And there are some playmakers, the Smith Brothers at linebacker. on film, is that Green Bay defense to you what you would call upper tier or elite, or just opportunistic? Well, players, I think Mike Petten likes to play a lot of sub-defense, meaning five and six defensive backs. I think he likes to play with six defensive backs. I think what he does is very dependent on the opponent.

I mean, this past week, for instance, against the Chiefs, he did not blitz very much at all, and he actually played a lot of zone coverage. Some games, they play a lot of man. I think he felt that their pass rush could beat that O line of the Chiefs, which, by the way, they did much of the game. Matt Moore was under duress a lot in that game. Now, I don't know if he played that way because it was Matt Moore and not Patrick Mahomes.

We'll never know that. But I think that Mike Petten likes to play with multiple defensive backs, and I think that normally he likes to bring pressure, and he likes to match up in this game he chose not to, and ultimately it worked. They won the game. I thought Matt Moore was very efficient with what he was asked. to do, but obviously the Packers won the game.

A team in their division, Minnesota, Kirk Cousins is so hot and cold. I could boil it down to this. When he plays an average defense, he's pretty good, really good. When he plays an intense defense in a primetime game, which is a better personnel, better coach, better football team, he's not very good.

I mean, there's obviously, you cannot have his completion rate and his successes in the last three or four games. He obviously has some level of skill. Or is this just the Vikings roster has been stacked for three or four years, just like when Case Keenham won 13 games. So much, Colin, is the function of the opponent that you play. And that's why last week I talked to you about the fact that these quarterbacks don't change from week to week. Much is the opponent, the matchups, and what they can get done against that specific team.

There's really three or four foundations of the Vikings' offense. This is what they do. They have a strong identity. They're a high percentage base personnel offense. Okay, 70% of the time they're in some form of base personnel, meaning they do not have three wide receivers on the field. Okay? They're a running team. It's predominantly outside zone.

That's a foundation. Play action, both straight play action and play action boot getting him out of the pocket. The screen game. These are all pillars of their offense. This is what they want to do every week. Yeah. The opponent often dictates how successful they're going to be doing these things. So some week's cousins, and over the last three or four weeks,

they've been very, very effective and efficient. Cousins did nothing special this past week against the Redskins, but I believe he ended up 23 for 26. Yeah. So it was just an efficient performance. Is he going to do that every week? No, it depends on the opponent. But this is what they want to get done on a weekly basis, and that's their identity.

The weekend game that interests me the most, Lamar Jackson faces New England's defense. Now, we know that Belichick dominates young quarterbacks, but Lamar's a different young quarterback, and I can look at. at the history of Belichick. Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Kaepernick have given him issues. When you get players who can be off script, Nick Saban struggled with Johnny Mansell. Nick Saban struggle with Deshaun Watson. These guys are detail-oriented, defensive guys. They can't plan for what Lamar's going to do. He'll just outrun your defensive end, even if he's in the right spot. What do you expect Baltimore and New England to look like?

Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about all week. And hey, Bill Belichick is smarter than I am, So I don't know the answer, but I think that they're going to play their man coverage, okay, because they're not going to feel that Lamar Jackson can beat them throwing the ball. That's what I think they'll do then. So what happens beyond that? Beyond that is they're going to do something to prevent Lamar Jackson from running. Now, when I say prevent, in their mind, I mean, he may still do it because he's a special mover. But whether it's a spy, whether it's two spies, whatever it is, there's going to be something that in the

their mind is going to prevent Lamar Jackson from beating them. Because the last thing Bill Belichick wants to walk away from this game is saying, well, we would have won other, except for the fact that Lamar Jackson beat us as a scrambler. Now, their run games very multiple, and a lot of things go on there, they'll probably run for some yards. But I think that it's the scrambling. See, that's what happened in the last Lamar Jackson against Seattle. It was not the design run. Seattle actually did a terrific job.

against the basic run game of the Ravens. It was the scrambles that killed them. San Francisco, Arizona tonight, question on each. First of all, I say this, but when I watch a game and a very good player like a tight-end George Kittle for the Niners is regularly open and sometimes wide open, my takeaway is that's a hell of a play design. I know I look at this Niners offense and I've got a second-round quarterback, a fifth-round tight-end, a third-round receiver, an undrafted running back.

that tells me there's a lot of coaching going on with the San Francisco offense because I see good players, established good players getting open regularly. What say you when you watch the film in the Niners-O? I agree with you. I think it's a really well-designed offense. I think that Kyle Shanahan, when it comes to the past game in particular, against zone coverage is as good as there is in the league because I think he so understands the responsibility of defenders in zone coverage that he knows how to break them down with his concepts.

Because all players have responsibilities in zone coverage. You need to know what those responsibilities are. You can't call plays in a vacuum. You have to understand how the defense reacts to certain route concepts. And then in the run game, I think he's so good at taking basic concepts and presenting them differently, whether it's with jet action, whether it's with a different player coming from somewhere else like Samuel's 20-yard touchdown this past week was a basic run concept presented totally differently.

I think he's so good at those kinds of things, and that's what makes that offense special. When you look at that team overall, Colin, I would say Garoppolo at this point is probably the least critical piece right now. Now, he may become better and better, but I would say their run game is the foundation, and their defense is dominant. They have the best front six in the NFL. Yeah, isn't that funny? Finally, you know, I watch a lot of this Arizona Kyler-Murie stuff, and Greg, I'm a football fan. It's different.

He's smaller. They run around. I will say Cliff Kingsbury has made some alterations week to week. I think their schedule gets tougher, but I think they'll off a buy. I think there'll be an interesting test tonight. Let's get an update on what have you seen on Kyler Murray. Yeah, I like what I've seen. You know, I think that they're working through what they can do week to week

against given opponents because the NFL is different that way than college where you can do a lot of the same things every week. And I wouldn't surprise me, for instance, tonight, and I'm just throwing this out, I could be dead wrong. They can't match up to this front on offense. Their offensive line cannot match up. So I don't know. Maybe they'll spread it out.

Maybe they'll go with those two wide stacks, try to light in the box, see if they can create some angles for the run game, let a guy like Kenyon Drake, who is explosive, try to create some room because I don't think they can just line up and play normally. Yeah. All right, good stuff. Greg Cosell, 40 years NFL films. My friend, it's great talking to you. Thank you so much.

Appreciate it, Colin. You bet. Coming up next, our staff is so creative. Joy, they created an NFL quarterback Halloween party. Yeah, I'm very excited for this. Our staff is full of nonsense. And that will be joining us 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 I-Hard Radio app. 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. 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 middle health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person?

because you're afraid. Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, 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, IHartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous. Miss referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? This 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. 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.

Terry Bradshaw is adding a bonus contest this Sunday to celebrate the Texans Jaguars game in London, which kicks off at 9.30 Eastern on NFL network. Now let's talk Thursday night football super six. One of the questions for tonight's football game is which team will win and by how many points? Colin, who you got? Everybody is betting Niners in a blowout. 90% of the best. So I'm going to go the other way.

Niners win, but they don't look great. Jimmy Garoppolo has nine touchdown passes to nine different players. That's the only guy in the NFL that has that. Isn't that crazy? Weird, yeah. That shows you the depth in Kyle Shanahan. So I think it's 2720. San Francisco is clearly better, but Kyler Murray keeps them at bay.

They're off a by. They'll bring in some tricks. And I think Arizona's competitive tonight. That's my pick. By the way, guys, don't use your girlfriend shampoo. Get your own. It is called Dove Men Plus Care. Stay strong and resilient with your hair available at Walmart.

And Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Heard Line News. Warren Rogers is in the MVP conversation this year. After eight games, he is on pace for one of his most statistically efficient seasons. He's currently second with 2,300. 24 passing yards and on pace to throw 4,648, which would be a new career high.

He's averaging 8.2 yards per attempt, 12.6 yards per completion and a 16 touchdown pass is tied for second-most in the NFL. He's currently on pace for 32. Current pass the rating of 106.7 would be his highest since 2014, which was his last MVP season. So you should win it, right? He is crushing it. Yeah, his last two weeks wins against the Raiders and Chiefs, he completed 75% of the passes through eight touchdowns and no interceptions, pass a rating of 152.

And this is all with a lot of injuries. So this week, they're visiting the Chargers. They have 22 Packers on the injury list. Aaron Jones and Jimmy Graham are limited in practice, and he hasn't had Devante Adams for a few weeks. Devante Adams did return to practice on Wednesday. But he is putting up incredible numbers. And even though the defense isn't all time,

This improvement on defense has been instrumental for Aaron Rogers because this is the Aaron Rogers that we know and appreciate and we know he's capable of putting up these numbers every single year but when he has to play, much like how Patrick Mahomes has to play, you have these added pressures that every single possession, every single down, matters so much more. Right.

Because you can't trust the defense. Yeah, no, I think Aaron's playing with a lot of joy. You know, we're very lucky at Fox. We have the NFC. Just think about this. The Cowboys are interesting. The Packers are interesting. the Saints are interesting

the L.A. team's interesting and Russell Wilson's interesting. And San Francisco. And San Francisco's got a GQ quarterback. They're interesting. I find the Packers. It's a really good... Here's the thing I would worry about if I'm everybody else in the NFC.

It looks like their offense is getting better every week. It's getting a little better. And remember, Devante Adams is a very specific route runner. So that toe injury, he could have played two weeks ago if he was just a run down the field guy. But he's more of a specific. I mean, he really pivots. He digs his feet in. Devante comes back this week. If Devante's healthy with this group of offensive weapons, you don't want any part of Green Bay.

And they're getting him back for the second half of the season, getting him back into motion, back into the offense. They're a very, very dangerous team. And I still think you're Roger's going to win MVP. So Lamar Jackson and the Ravens face off against the defeated Patriots on Sunday night. Everyone's very excited for this. You're very excited for it. I am. She was going to be a very interesting game. well, Patriot Safety, Devin McCordy, had some very high praise for the Ravens quarterback ahead of the matchup. I've never seen, you know, a player like this at the quarterback position, I think. Obviously, his speed, the way he's able to throw the ball down the field, I think you watch some games

where, you know, he's moving around the pocket, he's close to running, and he sees the guy down field, and it's like he flicks his wrist and it's 50 yards down the field easily. So, you know, if he was just a runner, then you would change your game plan and not worry about the past. If he was just a passer, you know, it wouldn't be as big of a deal to try to make sure you keep me in the pocket. But I think it's his ability to do both things at such a high level. You know, it is very high praise, but let's not get twisted here, all right? Because I see what the Patriots are doing. I see what you're doing. They're doing this thing where they drum up all of this, you know, Bill Belichack. He's so tough to prepare for.

Best player. Cordy just have never seen a quarterback like Lamar Jackson, which is not out of the realm possibility. Have we really seen a quarterback specifically like Lamar Jackson? I don't know. What I do know is the Ravens are underdogs in this game. Make no mistake about it. And what the pages are doing, and they do this every week, they're so good at it. And especially now coming into really their first test of the season,

because the bills were a good team and they gave them trouble. But they ended up obviously taking the bills down while not looking great. This is the game where we're all kind of watching to see if the Patriots are for real. So they're kind of drumming up like Ravens really, really, really good. You know, we're just going to try and do our best. And the other thing is New England did not play particularly well on their lines. So Belichick can go in and say, guys, we got pushed around by Cleveland. If you go play like that.

They did. Yeah, Cleveland's offensive line pushed the Patriots defensive front around a lot. There were gaping holes. So New England did not play great. And generally win or lose, if they don't play well, they play well the following week. Yeah, they didn't play great. They still put it on the Browns, though, at the end of the day, which is how they do it, right? Like, we're like, oh, they didn't really look that good.

They still won convincingly. Finally, there's been a lot of talk about the quarterback situation in Chicago following Sunday, 17, 16, loss of the Chargers. Head coach Matt Nagy pulled Trubisky aside and encouraged him to watch his body language. Nagy and Trubisky both spoke about the importance of body language yesterday. Body language is a, it's a part of energy, it's a part of having fun. It's, you see that. Now, there's, you want to make sure that there's different kinds of it, and then how is it being used, you know, is it controlled or is it out of control?

I really wasn't doing much. I really wasn't showing any bi-language is mostly just like a guy who looked super serious and kind of tense, and that's really not me, especially when you're going out in the field and playing the game you love, you should be out there having fun, which I usually am, but I just am not showing that. So I think I can portray that in different ways, especially that my teammates can feed off of. Well, you know how it goes.

When you're not winning, everything is an issue. And body language is one of those things that we always talk about in kind of the abstract. We're playing armchair psychologist with this stuff. But it's interesting that Matt Nagy said he specifically talked to him about it. I mean, everyone's piling on Chibisky right now. I feel kind of bad, but... Chicago's a tough town.

Chicago's a tough town. It's a very serious sports town. When you're a quarterback of a team with a bunch of talent and they're losing, it's hard. I mean, this is a 25-year-old kid. In Chicago talk radio is like Philly Talk Radio, is like New York talk radio. Out west we're too nice.

It gets ugly. It gets harsh. Chicago is one of the best sports cities in the world. Oh, yes. And outside of Chicago, we all looked at this team. And, I mean, at the beginning of the season, watching them against the Packers, you're like, this defense is.

Unbelievable. And so it is. Like when you have a team that has a lot of talent on it or has one side of the ball that is so much better than the other, it becomes very frustrating in the locker room as well. But they're going to finish the season with them and see what happens. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news.

So today is Halloween, obviously. And my staff, they're just so clever. And they said, you know, what if today the quarterbacks in the NFL, dressed up as a character, what character would they be? Now, Russell Wilson has already dressed up with his beautiful, stunning wife, Sierra. He dressed up as Jay-Z, and she's Beyonce. They're married in real life, so are these two. And it's very fitting because he moved into Mogul stage this off-season.

He gets $35 million a year. And he's married to a superstar. And so, boy, oh, boy, are they good-looking. So this was, he, this is him going out and dressing for Halloween. It was very fitting. And we thought, okay, do we have any ghoulish of music here, John? We thought if the other quarterbacks in the league, if they dressed up for Halloween, what would they be? And so my staff said Tom Brady would be Captain America.

I see that. He's ageless. He plays for the Patriots. Not the most powerful quarterback, but always seems to get the job done. They have kind of the same jaw line, too. They do. That's Chris Evans, right? Yes.

How about Sam Darnold? He would be Bubble Boy. because he got mono and he missed three games because of it and he's going to need all the protection he can get because his offensive line is atrocious and appears inexplicably to be getting worse this year. I don't guess Ghostbusters. Yeah, right.

Right. Ghostbubble Boy is good though. Yeah. How about Deshawn Watson? We said, you know, he's actually, Deshawn Watson is Harry Potter. Because Harry Potter, do we have that? is a wizard.

Right. And Deshawn Watson has made plays this year in two games to win the game, one against the Raiders, one against the Chargers. He's flying around. Nobody else could do it. And much like Harry Potter, it's a long-running series. This is not, we got book after book and movie after movie. And by the way, Deshaun is still a kid by NFL standards.

He's got some magic to him. Aaron Rogers, we thought he would be Batman at our Halloween quarterback party because for years and years, he was Superman when he would go to the party. But now he has a Robin, his defense and running game. So Aaron Rogers, finally, the Packers have 14 takeaways defensively this year, which is top six in the NFL. They're 11th in scoring defense. So he goes as Batman because he has a Robin.

And Matt LaFleur, as John just told me, is his Alfred. Dak Prescott would be one of the Avengers. He would be Hawkeye. We're not really sure that he's that powerful, but he's surrounded by really talented people. O-Lah, Amari Cooper, Ezekiel Elliott. I like that. Yeah.

We not really any superpowers. Dach doesn't have any superpowers, but he's surrounded by... Very consistent. Very consistent. In the club, definitely. Right, yeah. Makes big moves within the Avengers, you know? Yeah, we just don't...

Instrumental. but just not quite the guy. Right. Yeah. And then we thought Baker Mayfield would actually go as Johnny Mansell. What? Is that a cheap shot? I mean, neither one is my kind of guy, cup of tea for franchise quarterback.

Both are not athletic enough to escape the pressure of the NFL. And I'm not joking. They kind of look like each other a little. And they played in the same college conference. Yeah, I mean, he's not going to have to do much to get the costume. They're both wearing Brown's gear. One has a headband, one has a hat. You guys think that's a little mean, don't you?

I can just sense it. I mean, that's because it depends on how you feel about Johnny Mansell. Or Baker, maybe. Coming up next, Mark Medina joins us. He's now a national guy. Covered the Lakers, then the Warriors. NBA season's very interesting. Multiple stars out.

Warriors appear to be now in tank mode, whether they want to be or not. The Lakers, rumors are Iggy, Andre Iguidolo, wants to be a Laker. Kyle Kuzma is coming back tomorrow night, or is it tonight? So the Lakers tomorrow night. So the Lakers now are getting to be a full-fledged roster. What do we make a Kauai Leonard in the Clippers? What do people tell Mark around the NBA, how good are they? Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports slice brings you closer to the action, with stories told by their. 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

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

life becomes about wins and losses Steve Burns, Dustin Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person

Join me, 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. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to. wave at her. What? Come on. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers 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...

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 gotta manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's gonna 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, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every time we bring our next guest on, he's got a new and better job.

So Mark Medina used to cover the Lakers for LA Daily Daily News, fine newspaper. Then you got the old upgrade to the San Jose Mercury News and cover the Warriors. And then USA Today said, now we're going to let you cover the whole Western Conference. And you got out of it at the right time because the Warriors are now the Miami Dolphins. Let's talk first, Mark, about the Warriors. In a weird way, could I not argue, there is a silver lining to all these injuries.

Yeah. And I think there's people on the Warriors that think the same way. Look, they're not going to ever say, hey, look, it's a law season. tanking. NBA teams don't do that. They know, especially the first season at Chase Center, they want people to still have a reason to come to the building. But even before Steph Curry's injury, even before the season even started, there were people in the organization that were bracing for the likelihood that this wasn't going to be a season about them getting into the playoffs that would be more about developing the young guys trying to ensure they get that draft

pick that is protected one through 20 as part of that sign in trade with DeAngelo Russell. So I think the Steph Curry injury, obviously, it's devastating for him. It's going to be devastating for the team. There's going to be a lot more losses. But it provides immediate clarity on which direction the team is going to go. That's right. It creates clarity. Let's play the young guys.

We don't have to rush Clay and Steph back. Let's get a lottery pick. Bob Meyer's a top personnel guy. It's exactly what. I've said this about the Miami Dolphins. They're bad, but they have a direction. The jets are just bad. The dolphins are bad, but we're going to get two, three first round picks.

We're going to get our quarterback. The team's playing their butt off. and that's kind of the key. It's interesting. We were talking about this earlier. The NBA is a different league that you have to, to some degree, curry favor with stars or they shut you off. You need access to the top players.

So when Draymond and KD skirmished, you know, a lot of the NBA media was like, it's good, they're fine, they're patched up. I never bought it. I think there's lines you cross, lines you don't, and I think Draymond got personal with KD crossed a line. KD went on ESPN this morning and said, yeah, Drayman was one of the reasons.

I left. Go back to covering that situation last year. It carried into the locker room. Then it kind of died. Were you surprised that Katie would say, yeah, Dremont is one of the reasons I bolted. I was surprised that he said that. I thought he would downplay it. And look, it's Kevin Durant's words. You can't really debate him of why he left. But I think the point he was making, it was one of many reasons. And I think even if the Dremon Green argument did not happen, I think Kevin Durant still would have left the Warriors, but that situation certainly didn't help. There was a lot of awkward dynamics.

I think to the Warriors credit, to Draymond's credit, to Kevin Durant's credit, they may not have been as close as they were before, but it never got to the point that it compromised their play on the court. I mean, the thing that's interesting, Colin, is with all the things going on last year, with a fascination with Kevin Durant's pending free agency and his personality and the dynamics with their,

he was one of the best players in the NBA. He was very productive. His play was not compromised whatsoever until he got hurt. And so I think from that standpoint, you should credit all parties involved that. It never was serious enough that it affected the ultimate results. But when it comes to his decision, I think that that incident specifically provided more confirmation to explain to Kevin Durant. Hey, this is one of many reasons why I'm going to head out the door. I think there's a lot of good teams in the NBA.

Utah and Boston are good. Do they have the go-to star to get a bucket late? I don't think they do. I like Gordon Hayward, Jason Tatum. I like Donovan Mitchell. But if Donovan's struggling in Utah, who's the second guy? Joe Ingalls, maybe. I look at the Lakers.

You covered them. Now you cover the Western Conference for the USA today. Lakers are fascinating. You have some veteran players who could not give a rip about seating, LeBron and AD. AD's got some injury issues. It's an older roster. They're going to bring in Iggy. reportedly. Danny Green. Kuzma's now coming back. He's their only really young potential star.

I think they make a great movie poster, and I think they'll have great nights. But boy, if you're asking me, Anthony Davis, I want 74 games, and I want four playoff series with his injury history. That's tenuous to me. What do you make over all of the Lakers? What are your sources say? What do people feel about this older team, one young pair of legs, Coosma, Vogel, Jason kid coaching. What do we make of all of it? Well, from my own eyes and from what people around the NBA say is that, look, when you have LeBron James Anthony Davis, that automatically makes them a championship contender.

But at the same time, they're one injury away, one soap opera, one bad decision away from it falling off the rails, right? They, in fairness to them, have a much better team than last year because they have more experienced guys. They have better three-point shooting. They have a better shooting team. But that's still relative. If any of those guys get hurt substantially,

LeBron or Anthony Davis, they don't have the kind of depth that the clippers have right now of absorbing Paul George's absence. So you're a point about AD. When I was seeing him, you know, finished with 40.20 rebounds the other night against the Memphis Grizzlies, in between all the highlight reels of his lobs

and going to the freezerer line, I was looking at his injury history because he kept falling on the ground. And through his seven seasons, he's missed an average of 14 games. to add some context last year. It's kind of an outlier because he sat a lot of those games because of the trade demand and they're trying to protect the asset. But by and large, he's still injury prone.

Sometimes the injuries are serious. Sometimes they're not. But if he's going to miss at least 14 games this season, this is going to hurt the Lakers a lot. They don't have the kind of depth to absorb that. Yeah, they've got some old guys. Rondo wasn't an elite defender. He's not.

Jared Dudley can't defend. Quinn Cook's not a defender. I do think they need a marginal. Not an all-star year from Kyle Kuzma, but 18 and a half a night, stay healthy. Then I think they're dangerous. Let's go to the Rockets. You were just in Houston. USA Today, Mark Medina, joining us.

He used to cover the Lakers and the Warriors. Then he, you know, like every time he comes on the show, next job, by the way, you're going to be running some sort of league. So Houston's interesting. They've got a lot of interesting disparate parts. I mean, we know Westbrook's remarkable. We know Hardin's great. Clint Capella's a big.

I'm P.J. Tucker. I'm not doubting that. But this is all about working together. So when you went down and watched them and covered them last night, they were in like an ABA Dr. J against Washington. It was like 159, 158. Is this stuff going to work? Well, I think it's going to work enough for them to be a playoff team.

It's going to work enough for James Harder and Russell Westbrook to get their numbers. I think it's going to work enough for them to get along. But as far as getting to that championship level, I have my doubts. I think the thing that obviously is going to be the driving force is the dynamic between James Harden and Russell Westbro. And the thing that left me optimistic when I was down there for a few days is that they do have the friendship. I don't think that you can attach their history in OKC on the court to anything now. Yeah, that doesn't mean anything. They were young players.

James Hardin was coming off the bench. But at least they have the friendship that allows them the comfort level to be honest with each other when there are bad moments. It's not a personal thing. I think the other positive thing is that Russell Westbrook helps change the complexion of that team where James Harden, he's no. to dribble it, go ISO, drain the clock down, shoot a three or go to the free throw line. When Russell Westbrook gets a rebound, he is going to go. So they finished, I think, 27th in pace last year. That number is going to go higher.

And I think that that will leave teams, you know, feeling like they don't know what ground to cover. But I think the thing that leaves me skeptical is what happens in the five minutes of a crunch time game, especially in the playoffs. It's in those guys' nature to want the ball. So I think even if things are good now, it's late October. It's not April, May, and June. I think at some point they might come to some philosophical tug and pull of what is the best course of action. Mark Medina, Medina joining us USA Today, cover the Lakers Warriors, now the entire Western Conference. I have not seen Dallas play yet.

I've seen bits and pieces of Denver. I think Denver will end up with the best record in the West. I don't think they're the best team. The Clippers are fascinating. I can make an argument they have the best player, the best duo, and 3 through 12, the best roster. and a top five coach. I said, I have a feeling

they're going to be a two to a three-year dynasty, but they don't make much of a movie poster. No. And the Warriors were obvious, scores, stars.

I've watched the Clippers play three times, and my takeaway is they are suffocating on defense, deep as hell, old shooters, new shooters,

Lou Williams is really good. It's Noah's Arc. They give you two of everything. I got two Kauai's. It's called Kauai and Paul George eventually. I think they're a tough out. I think they're, I think they're substantially deeper than any other NBA team.

Yeah, I think they're going to win the NBA champions. Look, Colin, they don't care about being on the movie poster. They will gladly leave that to the Lakers because they're never going to win over this town. The Lakers have too much equity, but the clippers are very confident. Look, they can at least be the better team on the court. They show that opening night. I think by design, they have a better team right now. Kauai Leonard's the best in the NBA as of now.

And they have a much deeper bench. Look, they had to give up a lot to get Paul George. you know, trading Shea Gilgis Alexander, Daniel Gellonari, a lot of draft picks. But that's something that might cost them down the line. Right now, they still have that large group of bench players that got them as an eighth seed to the playoffs last year and tested the Warriors in six games. And I think when you're looking at the identity of this team, the guys that were still on the team from last year, they have this underdog scrappy mentality. So is Paul George. So does Kauai Leonard.

And I think that goes hand in hand. The other thing that goes hand in hand that explains why. I, the clippers have been able to absorb Paul George's absence. A, when you have Kauai Leonard on the team, that helps. But B, the rest of the guys have been so used to change and adapting different lineups because of injuries and trades. This is just one of another many examples of a new set of circumstances. They have to adapt to it.

It's a perfect storm of a perfectly constructed roster. Yeah, they're fun to watch. Doc Rivers is an easy guy to root for. Mark, it's great seeing you. Final hour on the show. Peter King is going to stop. on by the trade deadline deadline is done. We've got about 1718 teams who legitimately can argue today. They are playoff teams, really good, very good, sort of good or kind of good. Peter King,

next mark. Thank you. It's the herd. 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. Oh, here we go. Hour number three. Look at our studio. This is The herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are on I-Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Look at that smog, fog, black eyes, whatever it is. Can you put some over here?

I just love this. Oh, I guess it's unbelievable for our radio audience. They did a great job on our side. Nice job. Everybody here. Let's a tip of the cap for everybody. Nice job in the studio. Excellent work.

Scuptacular job. You guys did a great job. Great job this week. We came in Monday and it was like this Monday. Yeah, I love the holidays around here. They do a great job every holiday. Now, in my neighborhood, it is a cocktail, walk around, get candy night. Yeah, you live in one of those special neighborhoods.

Oh, yeah. Where you give out, like, the full-size candy bars, and you give out cupcakes and fruit and weird stuff. It would be a fun night, Marshall, a little football game on Fox, Niners at Arizona. You have a lot of kids in your neighborhood? Yeah, we got enough kids, and they're good kids and loud kids and stuff. most of them are mine. Yeah, John, thanks for telling them. Reminded me that. I know I make college payments all the time. By the way, congrats to the Washington Nationals. The Washington Nationals won the World Series. The Houston Astros and their manager, AJ Hinch, did not lose the World Series. One of the things I strongly believe is if when you go to a World Series or an NBA final or a Stanley Cup final, you don't get there without great players. The key is, do your great players play great for two weeks? The Nationals did.

Strasbourg was great. Anthony Redone was great. All their guys were great. Juan Soto was great. And the Astros guys weren't. Justin Verlander was gassed. He was 0-1-2. And Garrett Cole had his first loss since May.

Jose Al-Tuve couldn't hit with runners on base. Alex Bregman couldn't hit it home. And this series was real simple. It wasn't about a manager's decision in the 7th. It was about the Astros couldn't hit at home after the 7th. And it's interesting. one of the things I like about the Nationals, I've been bagging on this for about three years. This idea that you should, these 10-year contracts are just awful.

They're usually bad and poorly run organizations trying to solve all their problems by getting a star. And the Nationals are a very well-run organization. And they said, we like Bryce Harper. We're not paying him $350 million for 10 years. Here are the nine largest contracts in baseball. You know I hate these contracts. Mike Trout. Look at the organizations. These are the nine biggest contracts in baseball.

The organizations are the Angels, the Phillies, the Marlins initially, the Padres, the Rockies, the Tigers, the Angels, the Mariners, and the Reds. Non-winning organizations trying to solve all their problems by signing one guy to a nine, ten-year contract for, you know, 28 to 30 million large. It doesn't work. And the Nat said, no. we've got our arms, we've got our players, we like our farm system, we got guys that we drafted our first two or three years in existence, we like them, we've groomed them, we're sticking with them, and we're not becoming lobsided. So congratulations to the Nats who didn't listen to the noise on Strasbourg and the pitch count stuff. They didn't listen to the noise and you got to

resign Bryce Harper. You know, the teams, now the Yankees are different because they have so much money. But the Astros mostly have not been suckers for these contracts. Great organization. The Nats weren't suckers. The Dodgers aren't suckers. Most of these, now I would pay Garrett Cole five years and give him a lot of money, but he's 29 with a lot of innings. And I would give Strasbourg five years and a lot of money, but he's got a lot of innings and a Tommy John surgery. A pitcher I'll give four or five innings and a lot of money. But position players, nine, ten-year contracts, 12-year contracts, none of them work. None of them work.

Not a one. So, you know, pitchers, this is a pitching sport. Give me a pitcher. Five, six years. I'll overpay a little bit. But position players, 10-year deals, none of them work. All right, coming up in 10 minutes, Peter King stops by. Again, congrats to the Nats.

Peter King stops by. We got a lot of NFL stuff. The Hurd XM Series 83 as well. Best for Last, Mark E3 College Football Picks. I love them this week. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Tonight on Thursday night football, Jimmy Gene, the 49ers, look to continue their undefeated season as they face Tyler Murray and the Cardinals. It all starts at 7.30 Eastern 430 Pacific on Fox, NFL Network, and streaming on Prime Video. Amazing stat with the 49ers. Nine different touchdown passes for Jimmy Garoppolo and nine different players.

That is great. They are right now, in my opinion, Green Bay and San Francisco are the two best watches in the league and Baltimore is the most fascinating. Baltimore is so contrary into the league. I can't, I miss Baltimore when they didn't play last week. I just totally, I think they're fascinating. I don't even know what to.

And it might be the best game this weekend too. Yeah. By the way, Jamal Adams, who I love, he came on the show recently. He really is a top 10, 12 player in the league, very upset with the New York Jets because the ownership and the management told him one thing, we love you, you're a cornerstone player. Then his name was all over various media reports that he was being shot for the Cowboys. And Jamal Adams, a guy I love, who's been a great guest on our show, had this to say.

I didn't take that light. I really didn't. But, you know, when I heard that my agent called me and he told me what was going on, you know, it definitely hurt me. You know what I mean? I hold myself at a high level. You know, the Rams don't, they don't take calls on Aaron Donald. The Patriots don't take calls on Tom Brady. You know what I mean?

That's where I hold myself. Well, first of all, he is a great player, and he is in that class of elite player. There's a lot of very good football players. There's not a lot of great anything in the life. He's one of them. My biggest issue with this is, A, why is this stuff always leak out? There were four different Jets players whose names were out there. When the Patriots made a move for Muhammad Sanoo, you didn't hear anything.

The Los Angeles Clippers acquired Kauai Leonard and Paul George. You didn't hear a peep in a star-driven NBA. You didn't hear a peep when they traded Blake Griffin or Chris Paul, who were the biggest stars outside of Kobe in Los Angeles. Jets talk too much. So Jamal Adams is like, listen, man, you tell me I'm a cornerstone guy. an hour later, I got my name all over these networks. I get it. And I think kind of one of the things I don't understand sometimes about teams like the Jets is

the whole game in the NFL is to accumulate draft picks, draft players, and then hope they're great. So when they are great, don't trade them. Only the Jets. Peter King joins me NBCSports.com via the Coward Global Satellite Network. You know, I said this yesterday, Peter, when it comes to my professional sports teams or my White Houses, leaks tell me people are protecting their butt. And whether you think about this president or other president, when the White House has leaks, it's a house divided. The Jets have a million leaks. The Lakers, you know, with magic, had a million leaks.

The Jets just seem like a complete and utter circus. What is going on there? Well, first of all, they've had so much turnover there. there are people from prior administration still there and people from the new administration of GM Joe Douglas. Colin, I wouldn't say it's a guarantee by any stretch that those leaks came out in New York or Florham Park, New Jersey. Remember, they were said to have been talking to two teams, Dallas and Baltimore.

So I'm not positive the leaks came out of Florham Park, New Jersey. But I'll also say this. Between 2010 and 2017, the New York Jets had nine first-round draft picks. Nine first-round picks, and they were all defensive players. There's only one left, and that's Jamal Adams. Every other one is gone. That's how you build a horse crap organization. by drafting guys developing them, either letting them walk or getting divorced somehow some way for them or them not being very good in the first place. So to have the general manager turnover they've had, the head coaching turnover that they've had, you know, look, no wonder that Bill Belichick, his first words when he wakes up every morning,

is thank God for the Jets. Well, yes. And some years the dolphins as well. Peter King joining us. You know, it's been a rocky year for Baker Mayfield and the Browns. In fact, I talked to an NFL coach, not a head coach, an assistant yesterday that said he thinks Freddie Kitchens is sort of learning on the job, making it up situationally as he goes. But I do think this. I think it's all going to turn around Sunday.

I think as Kareem Hunt comes back, the defensive line for Cleveland is very strong. And they're going to play six of nine weeks, a backup quarterback. The other three, Josh Allen, Lamar, Kyler, Murray. I think Cleveland goes on a run. I think they become more run dominant. And I think they're going to win a lot of games. And I'm going to stick with my 9 and 7 prediction. And Baker will make much less noise.

He'll be winning. They'll be less antagonizing media stuff. Am I being a little optimistic? I kind of think they pivot starting with a big win in Denver. What say you? Well, I wouldn't call it a big win in Denver. if they win there. You know, Denver's got a good defense.

I'll give them that, but I don't trust anything they're going to be able to do on offense. But be that as it may. Colin, there's no question when I look at this team. I think it's, I'd say it's likely. I would say eight and eight. If you look at their schedule the rest of the way

and the team they have, they've played a pretty tough schedule so far. The biggest problem that they have is that they've been terribly undisciplined. Yes. They've been, you know, just killed by penalties and turnovers. So even if they do that, I'm not saying they won't beat Denver if they play like they have. They probably will.

But they're not going to win a lot more games if they play the way they have. All they have to do is play clean and not turn it over against the schedule like they have. That's right. When you got Cincinnati twice down the stretch, you got Denver, you're going to win some games. They're not going to make the playoffs, but they'll win some games. and people in Cleveland should not be jumping off the ship. The Browns will be okay and they'll be better in 2020. It's just, you know, you can't expect.

Colin, this is a franchise that was used to playing 15 games a year Sunday at 1 o'clock with the sixth team from CBS TV doing the game. And now the first five weeks of the year, they go week 2 ESPN, week three NBC, week five ESPN. And so it's just, it's a different, different world. Anybody who thinks it isn't, it's kidding himself. So Lamar Jackson against Belichick, I said this. I think San Francisco and Green Bay are the two best watches currently in the league.

I think Baltimore is the most fascinating. It is, it reminds me in college football years ago and like Air Force was running, you know, the wing T and everybody else was. passing. They're just, they run a contrarian offense to the league. I think John Harbaugh has done a masterful job. I suspect it's pretty close. You know, when you call guys and you talk to Harbaugh and you talked about this, they really pivoted off Joe Flacco. I mean, it's a remarkable pivot here. What do you think we see Sunday night? Well, when you think that they lose one of the best general managers in recent times, Ozzie Newsom, and they lose their Super Bowl quarterback, even though it was time to

move on from Flaco. You know, that's a big change for any organization. And they're the dominant team in their division right now. So, you know, hats off to the Ravens for, you know, finding a formula to get it right. And to me, you know, the underrated guy right now in what's happened with the Baltimore Ravens is Mark Ingram. This is a team, Colin, I never thought, I really never thought that a team over a long period a time in the NFL would average over 200 rushing yards a game.

Yeah. That's what the Ravens are doing. Two hundred and four rushing yards a game. That's that's 1965 Cleveland Browns. I mean, it's incredible what they're doing. And the way I look at this is, look, as long as the quarterback stays healthy, they can win any game. I'm not saying they're going to win the Super Bowl. I'm not saying they're going to beat the Patriots. I'm not saying any of that. All I'm saying is they can win. any game because when you're running the ball as well as they have, you control the clock and you keep the ball out of the other guy's hands. And that's what they've been able to do. And one other thing, it just strikes me as really, really interesting. First of all,

the Patriots haven't played in Baltimore since 2013. This is a big game for Bill Belichick, son of Annapolis. And his first job ever in Baltimore, he loves Baltimore. He gets fired up to play in Baltimore. So this is going to be a really cool game to watch. And I would expect the Patriots to play some weird defensive fronts to try to stunt that Baltimore run. You know, Magic Johnson took over the Lakers, a former good player, and it did not work out that well.

John Lynch takes over the Niners at the same time. And John Lynch drafted a defensive lineman, then an offensive lineman the following year, a defensive lineman the following year. He's gone to the trenches. And I didn't know how well. I've known John forever. I covered him in Tampa. It was my first NFL beat.

Then he worked at Fox with me. And he goes to San Francisco. And I got to tell you, Garoppolo now is on almost a budget compared to what everybody else is making. The Garoppolo contract looks very team favorable. Are you surprised? John Lynch goes player, quickly broadcaster, quickly front office. Are you surprised how good the roster is and how much momentum the Niners have? We'll watch them tonight.

I think he and Kyle Shanahan had a great idea when they took over. And that is, we are going to build a good passing game. But the one thing that you're never going to win with in the NFL is you've got to have the ability to run. And you've got to have the ability to put the pressure on the quarterback. So if you look at their defensive front, they basically got six key free agents or one key free agent. But they've got six guys on that defensive front who've been first round. picks. And I mean D. Ford, who was a trade, not a free agent. But Colin, what is really important about this is that their defensive line comes in waves. Even though Bosa has been the best guy

overall by far, you know, they're not overworking him. You know, he's only playing like, you know, 40, 45 snaps a game. And I think that's really important, not just for today, but for the whole season. This team is absolutely unequivocally for real. By the way, just a random question. You got a phone by you right now, I imagine. Who's the last real big shot in the NFL you talk to? Can you tell me? Can you look at your phone? I just want to know this randomly. The last real big shot. Yeah. I don't, I would say, I'd say probably Deshawn Watson, but I don't know. I guess he's a big shot. Yeah. Deshawn Watson. Yeah. By the way, he is, is, it's funny, I talk to Trent Dillfer about him all the time. Trent knew him when he was like

16. Trent says that Deshawn Watson, you have to meet him, talk to him and know him. And the longer you know him, the more blown away you'll be with him. I think he's a remarkable player. Did you enjoy your conversation with him? Because I think, I don't think there's a kid in the NFL. Very much. Yeah. You know what happened, Colin? I was talking to him Sunday night before his, before he went to see the eye specialist. And he was a little bit worried. But hey, look, I did a story on him for NBC a couple of years ago. He was handed, his mom was handed the keys to a Habitat for Humanity House by Warwick

Dunn in suburban Atlanta when Dunn played for the Falcons. So now he, to give it back, he has done a lot of work with Habitat for Humanity. He's a giving guy. He's a good guy. he's going to be on a lot of posters for the NFL before the end of his time. Good stuff, Peter King, NBCSports.com. I love watching them play. Thanks, Peter.

Appreciate it. All right, Colin. You bet. By the way, speaking of college football, I'll have my college football picks of the week. One of them will be USC in Oregon. It's this week's Discover card key matchup. Go further than ever with a Discover at Miles card. They match Miles first year.

35 could become 70. Limitations apply. New card members only. Please learn more, discover.com slash travel. Here is Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Well, the Warriors rough start to the season just got worse. Steph Curry suffered a broken left hand last night against the Suns. It's brutal. Yeah, he collided with center, Aaron Baines and fell to the floor. Baines landed on top of his left arm, and Curry immediately left for the locker room where X-rays confirmed the break. Steve Kerr and Sons coach Monty Williams both spoke about the injury after the game. Aaron Baines.

came up after the game and just wanted to know how Steph was doing. I mean, you could tell he felt really bad. It was just a random basketball play, so stuff happens. I just feel bad for him. When these guys who are the faces of the league go down, it's not good for the league, but especially someone like Steph who's done so much to raise the level of excitement here in the Bay Area and throughout the league. I mean, it definitely sucks for the Warriors,

but the only upside to this is that they can now see what they have in the young guys. And you know what the season is going to be. There's no point in rushing clayback. Let Steph chill, take some time off as well, get healthy. That's a tough injury to watch. It was kind of going to be a last season anyway. I didn't have them in the playoffs this year. Most people don't.

I mean, they've had a run, a dynasty run. And that's, that's unfortunately, a crazy season. string of injuries that's led to Kevin Durant no longer being there. This is what you get. Yeah. They're going to get a lottery pick, though, now. Yeah. I mean, there are some, there's a bright side to look on this situation. Obviously, you never want to see somebody get injured. And Steph Curry, of all people, it's, you know, it's devastating for their franchise because

what fans did have to be excited about, especially in that new arena this year was, at least you still got to see Steph. So hopefully he gets, gets well soon. And I'm sure they're going to take their time with rehabbing him back. So Levy on Bell signed up the Jets after holding out an entire season in 2018 with the Steelers. The NFL trade deadline was Tuesday and there were some rumors swirling around that Bell was on the trade block. Well, he spoke to the uninterrupted podcast, his uninterrupted podcast and said multiple teams were interested in trading for him. What's a one wall?

Those teams like Houston, the Packers, the Kansas City Chiefs, and surprisingly the Steelers were all. the mix of trying to trade for me. The Jets were really asking for a high price and a lot for me. And on top of that, my actual contract was kind of tough for teams to deal with. To be honest, I obviously was not trying to take a pay cut

simply for the fact that I saw out of a full year of football to get what I felt like I earned and deserved. Wow. So the Steelers. Didn't we joke yesterday? A couple days ago, we did a little funny skit where we said, the trades we

wish would happen and I said, okay, Levy into the Steelers, but I know it's not possible. How about that? It's ridiculous. Now, the Chiefs, we talked about because Nick Wright was talking about how silly that kind of is to trade for Levy on Bell when you have huge spaces on the defense that you need to shore up. Houston makes sense.

The Packers, I don't know what the Packers would do with him. They have Aaron Jones, unless Aaron Jones is more injured than we know about. But the Steelers? What are you talking about? What are you talking about? So you think it's made up? No, I don't think it's made up. I fully believe it.

But if this is true, what are you talking about? You had Levi-on Bell. Why wouldn't you just sign him? Well, and also now he's very expensive, and that's the contract you didn't want to give him. I don't know this. Make it make sense. Yeah, it doesn't.

I don't. You know, this is the one thing the Jets have going for. They've got stars. No, they have stars. Jamal Adams. They have this Marcus May, this young safety everybody loves, Lavian Bell, C.J. Mosley. It's been a very unfortunate start to the season for them this year.

We wanted to see them kind of take a step up on offense. Sam Donald to develop. The illness couldn't have planned for. They had crazy injuries. It's a lost season for them at this point. You just try and salvage what you can and help Sam Donald develop for next year. But it never felt like this year was the year for the Jets anyway.

So to me, it's not a loss. There was just really like a lot of circumstances around the Jets this year that were unfortunate. But that is a crazy story. Finally, it is Halloween. And we hope you all have fun and are safe tonight. And obviously a lot of athletes have had team parties and parties at their homes. And Sierra and Russell Wilson dressed up as Beyonce and JZ for Halloween. And this is from one of the – I can't say the name of the video on air.

But they did a great job. That's the exact outfit Beyonce wore. They look awesome. So here's some other celebrities that shared their Halloween costumes on social media. LeBron loves and really does a great job with Halloween. He was Edward Scissorhands and his wife was Medusa. Is that him? We got to slow these down.

Bradley Biel was dressed as the Joker. This is Paul George as the Night King from Game of Thrones. White Howard as Thanos from the Guardians of the Galaxy. Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky is semi-pro and bring it on. Sean Watson as Jack Skellington. And that's Tom Brady. is a stormtrooper. No.

Yes. Lamar Jackson is Harry Potter. You said the Sean Watson should be Harry Potter. And that's me as Jake Shuttle's work. Look at that. And I terrified it caught coming around the corner.

Now who is that right there? That's LeBron and Savannah. That's Bradley Beal as the Joker. Oh, Bradley Beal's amazing. Yeah. The Night King. That's Paul George from Game of Thrones. The Night King.

That's Dwight Howard's Thanos. That's pretty good. That's really good. Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky semi-prone and bring it on. And Deshawn Watson is Jack Skellington. Who's your favorite? I got to tell you, Bradley Beale.

Bradley Beale's really good. I like him as a player. I like him as a Halloween character. Mar Jackson and his Harry Potter is really funny. Look at that. And look at you. Yeah, that was some costume. So you're not dressing up tonight.

No, I'm going to give out kids. I'm going to watch the NFL and then get myself a Corona and sit there on the porch and give kids all sorts of... Are you a Corona guy or a Modello guy? Well, Modello, Tony Gonzalez, whatever's in the fridge. I'll just have a cocktail sit outside and loyalty to Tony Gonzalez. But yeah, I'll just sit out there and watch the kids come by.

I got two big bowls and then I'm done. I'm not going to do it all night, but it's probably worth an hour. What happens when you're done? You just like turn the light off? No, then I put up a sign that says, Children Stay Away. Yeah.

And I try to ward them off. That's when Goulet shows up. So I got two giant bulls. That's fair. That's about an hour and a half. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. All right, I have. I love them too. I know it's been rough last couple of weeks. I'm getting missing some of these college football games. I actually love my picks this week. It's a fairly dry college football week.

It is not a great week for a lot of games. There's about four games I want to watch. My wife's out of town, so Saturday, I grew up on the West Coast. I get two pack 10 games. I get Washington, Utah early. and then I get Oregon USC late. So I can tell you for six hours, I'm sitting on the couch

and making myself some gigantic chicken nachos and just watching Pac-12 football. I'm all sided up. Two of those games. I am. It's going to be fun. You make yourself chicken nachos? Oh, love it. Plus, I think I lose an hour or save an hour this weekend.

Oh, that's this weekend? Yeah. So do I gain an hour? I can stay out late Saturday. How about that? A lot of... Saturday. I can never keep track of that thing. Yeah. All right. My college picks by Marquis 3 is coming up in a weird potential trade.

The Brown's messed up. I hope it's not true. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Discover a miles card. Learn more. Discover.com slash travel. They match the miles you earn. End of your first year, 35,000 could become 70. Limitations apply. Discover match for new card members only. So listen, I have lost more. Goulet, can you back me on this? I've lost more games betting college football this year by a point. I can't get a break. You've had some tough losses. I've got a few. It's outrageous. But no excuses, Joy, that is not what I'm about. We're about accountability. No excuses play like a champion. That's right. And it's a crappy week of college football.

There's about four games. And luckily, I have strong feelings on all of them. Here, all of our odds provided by Fox Bet. Here are my college football picks of the week. Ready to make some sweet cash, Colin's going to give you his three sure bets for the college football weekend. It's time for the Fox Bet Marquis 3, Georgia at Florida. I'm going to take the points. I like the number here, Florida plus six and a half. We just don't know what, we don't know what Georgia is. Now the Notre Dame wind doesn't look like anything because Notre Dame got their ears box by Michigan. What is Georgia? They can't throw the ball down the field.

I love their athletes, and I like their coach. They've got more good players in this game. But Jake Fromm, the quarterback, has dropped off. Last two weeks, he's giving you 160 yards pass in the game, one touchdown, three picks. They have no deep threat. Florida, frankly, is really well coached. They won 11 to 12. They have the best defense in the SEC and two starters come back off injury.

I think Florida, though, is still a year away. Their defense is fantastic. Their coach is great. But I think Georgia's got better players, but I'm betting a number here. I'm going to take the six and a half points. Georgia wins 24, 23 low scoring, but the number's too tasty. I'll take the Gators in the six and a half. Utah and Washington.

This is an easy one. Washington's dominated this series. They're at home, off a buy, off a loss, take the three, Washington. Listen, Utah is a very good team, but they only throw on 36% of their play. so they can be predictable. Chris Peterson's a great coach. Do you know what he is off his last 18 buys? 18 and 0 straight up.

Great coaches or great off buys. Do you know what Chris Peterson is after his last nine losses at Washington? 9 and 0. That's 27 and 0. This is a team that is a year away, Washington. They lost 10 guys to the NFL. They have to rebuild.

They're not a reload program like an Ohio State. or Alabama or an LSU or in Oklahoma. Washington off a buy at home, off a loss, upsets Utah that can be pretty predictable on offense, 24 to 23. Oregon and USC. This is an easy one. Take USC in the four and a half. You know, USC is going to replace their coach, I would imagine, at the end of the year. But it's not like Clay Hilton that's been man overboard.

They don't beat great teams. But Oregon's not a great team, and USC's at home where they're very good getting four and a half. Oregon hasn't beat a ranked team this year. Gotten close a couple times, but they haven't beat them. And Oregon's been lucky. They have survived the last two weeks against Washington and Washington State. The Ducks defense has dropped off dramatically. And USC is just a different team at the Coliseum.

They're 23 and 3 in their last 26 home games. And in their last nine home games against ranked teams, they're actually pretty good, eight and one. And the one thing USC does, they can throw it. Down the field, Oregon is susceptible to that. USC, Michael Pittman, very good deep receivers, and USC gets after the quarterback. So Justin Herbert will be rushed. And I think when they go on the road, Oregon makes mistakes.

I think USC gets the upset. This will be a wild, high-scoring game. Neither has a great defense, though USC does get to the quarterback. Trojans win 33 to 30. So I like the underdog gators in the points, underdog Washington at home, underdog USC. It's a dog weekend. I'm taking upsets and near upsets in college football. By the way, this story is hard to wrap my brain around.

So Charles Robinson is a very good reporter. He said the Browns reportedly were furious. with the Redskins over the Trent Williams trade talk. So the Browns need a left tackle bat. Trent Williams is great. And the Browns called for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. And Washington, no, no, no, no, no. Well, at the end, trading deadline day, Washington said, all right, we're ready to go.

And according to Charles Robinson, the Browns were so tired of dealing with the Redskins, even though he was now available, they said, kiss our blank. And my takeaway is, I hope this story. isn't true. Because that would be actually the reverse of what any GM in the league does, which is you're hoping to get less. You're hoping to get the player you want for less. So reportedly, according to the story,

Washington was demanding a first-round pick for Trent Williams. And then on trading deadline day, Tuesday, they were only asking for a second-round pick and a player. there is not a position Cleveland needs more than a left tackle, and Trent Williams is a Hall of Fame talent. But apparently upset, got mad. I can't validate it other than Charles Robinson does not make up stuff. But that would tell me, so I got an emotional quarterback and an emotional GM,

which is the opposite of New England, which shows no emotion. If Trent Williams was available to Cleveland at left tackle, that's the first thing you're going to draft next year if you're Cleveland. and you got all you know what because you didn't like the timing of it if you could get Trent Williams and have to give up a player in a second round pick

boy I'd have done that in the heartbeat I don't just Denzel I don't have enough info I just I'm reading the story and my takeaway as that's a lot of ego nonsense if you can get Trent Williams

you give up a second round picking a player don't you? I mean I don't ever understand any of these stories that come out about trades or possible moves that don't happen because of something like this where, you know, we just don't want to deal with them anymore or we don't want to trade to this team because we don't like this individual, like any type of the petty stuff that goes on. And generally I like petty, but when it comes to building your team, you probably want to leave that to the side.

Now, to defend John Dorsey, the GM, who can be loud, and I'm not a huge fan of that, don't know him, but he can be a little bit, not my taste. Like Baker, I like my GM to be reserved. I like my quarterback to have a certain temperament. There are stories that Cleveland said, okay, well, just give us a second round picking Denzel Ward. And Dorsey's like, I'm not giving you Denzel Ward. But I would say this about Denzel Ward.

He's hurt a lot. He's a small corner. And by the way, when you drafted Denzel Ward, you drafted him because Greg Williams was your defensive coordinator and he fit his scheme. I mean, I like Denzel Ward's a nice player. But if I could have gotten Trent Williams, wow. That is a...

We don't know exactly what Washington is asking for. But if the deal wasn't done because you were upset about how Washington went about it. Then it's nonsense. Then that's shame on you. If you got your ego all ruffled up. Yeah, I mean, get over it. Yeah. Listen, Trent Williams for a...

Cleveland really needs a left tackle. Ask yourself this. How good has Dak been when he doesn't have Tyron Smith? It's not the same quarterback. I mean, Deshawn Watson's stack five times, sack none with Laramie Tonsel. I mean, ask Seattle before they got Dwayne Brown. Russell Wilson was running for his life. Like the left tackle.

If you're really building for the future, you're building first in the trenches. You can make an argument. If I said, okay, four players to build your program around. I'm an NFL team. I get four players to build around and they're guaranteed to be good.

You take a quarterback first. I can make a strong argument. I go left tackle next, pass rusher next, and a perimeter weapon next. But I'll tell you, quarterback one. Some of you want an edge rusher. Is Khalil Mack win in games? No. Who is?

Quarterbacks that have protection. I've always said if I built a franchise, I'd start quarterback one left tackle two. That's my franchise. From that point forward, you know, you just rely on your scouting department, but there's very few great quarterbacks in this world, and there's about six great left tackles. Trent Williams is a great left tackle. Would I give up a corner and a high pick for Trent Williams? I think I would. he's a great and that's by the way that is your Cleveland's number one loud but also remember you gave up on offensive linemen to the giants to get Odell Beckham so it's about time you went and helped Baker Mayfield in the protection department because you gave up protection for him you got to now overcompensate to get protection back you gave up a guard this is a left tackle again that's I don't know that that's how I would run that's how I would run my football team quarterback left tackle rest is commentary tomorrow blazing five comes back and uh what else do I have? That's about it for today. I'm done. Halloween tonight. Everybody have it. Do we have any

more of the smoke-on-water thing? The dry ice? It was really enjoyable. I think we're saving it for speak to yourself. Okay, Goulet. By the way, Goulet, are you going out for Halloween there? No, I'm a little over-trick-a-treating. Okay, Tewy. I am, yes. Are you with your children? Mrs. Tewy and I are going as ketchup and mustard. Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah, not really. That is really... Is it Heinz ketchup? It's not Heinz ketchup, no. Congratulations to the Washington, nationals for winning the World Series. They won it. Houston didn't lose. It was a great watch. Congratulations to DC. Good year for DC. 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

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This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and Head, writer Street or Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple

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Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Rivera, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human