The Herd with Colin Cowherd - New NFL fad, Super Bowl prediction, and Russell Westbrook

Episode Date: January 9, 2019

Colin discusses why he doesn't like the new young head coach fad in the NFL, his thoughts on the new head coaching hires, his Super Bowl prediction, and more proof the Oklahoma City Thunder can't cont...rol PG Russell Westbrook. Guests include Nick Wright, Peter King, Robb Parker, and Casey Hayward. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:02:50 Peter King, Casey Hayward of the Chargers, Rob Parker, and of course, Joy Taylor is joining me today. Joy, how are you? That's great. Good morning. Good morning. I love this time of the year. We got coaching moves. Crazy that's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Okay. So this happens a lot in society. Everybody chases the exception instead of the rule.
Starting point is 00:03:18 What do you mean, Colin? Seven of the eight remaining coaches in the playoffs are 50 year older. And everybody's hiring young guys. It's incredible. By the way, Tampa Bay is sort of the Cleveland Browns of the NFC. It's a graveyard for coaches. Seven of the last eight years in fourth place. Haven't won a playoff game in 10 years.
Starting point is 00:03:41 Haven't been to the playoffs in 10 years. But they actually hired a grown-up yesterday, Bruce Ariens. Carson Palmer's best years with Bruce Ariens. Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Big Ben, work with all of them, got the Super Bowls. Bruce Ariens are grown-up. He's a 6-year-old man. Been a coordinator multiple times. Head coach now a second time.
Starting point is 00:04:02 By the way, the last time the Browns made the playoffs, Bruce Ariens was the coordinator. But Cleveland's not interested in him. No. Either's Arizona. Either's Green Bay. No, he's old. So let's look now that Tampa Bay made the best hire so far. Let's actually look at the remaining three teams and what they're doing.
Starting point is 00:04:23 Oh, it looks like this morning Cleveland's going to hire Freddie Kitchens. He, I don't believe, has been a high school coach. never been a high school head coach. He's never been hired as a coordinator. He's in his 40s. No, no, no. He was given the interim job for eight games this year. Never actually been hired by a team in the NFL to be a coordinator.
Starting point is 00:04:44 He is now going to be an NFL head coach. Good luck in your own division facing Mike Tomlin twice a year, John Harbaugh twice a year. Good luck when you face Andy Reid, Frank Reich, who was actually a quarterback and a hell of a coordinator and a great coach. Congratulations, getting the young guy with no experience. By the way, let's look at Arizona. Arizona hired Cliff Kingsbury. By the way, everybody thinks he's the next Sean McVeigh.
Starting point is 00:05:07 Does everybody realize their offenses don't even look alike? Cliff Kingsbury, just a heads up here, against big 12 teams with winning records, he was 4 and 31. Now, it's not a misprint. If you take away games against Kansas, the worst program in college football, and you take away FCF schools, he was 16 and 40 at Texas Tech. Let's give him an NFL job. Good hell. How about Matt LaFleur? Matt LaFleur, been a coordinator for one year and Tennessee's offense got worse. This is from a coach who worked with Matt LaFleur.
Starting point is 00:05:49 I got this information last night. This is from a coach who worked with Matt LaFleur. He's smart, very strategic. Doesn't have great leadership skills. Excuse me? Doesn't have great leadership skills. Aaron Rogers, Green Bay, Packers. iconic brand. Okay, I'm done. Cliff Kingsbury got fired by his alma mater.
Starting point is 00:06:17 LeFleur had a job for one year as a coordinator, not known as a leader. Sort of important. And Cleveland's going to hire a guy who no team in the NFL ever gave an offensive coordinator job to hiring him. He got inserted as an interim. Tampa Bay went and hired a grown blank man, a man who's been to Super Bowls, a man who has coached Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning and Big Ben and gave Carson Palmer his best coaching. You're all, all you Clevelands and all you Arizona's and all you Green Bayes, you're chasing the exceptions, Sean McVeigh. He's the exception. The rule is seven of the eight coaches who remain in the NFL this weekend are 50 or older.
Starting point is 00:07:09 the way I thought everybody wanted to coach Baker Mayfield. Where's the list of all the candidates? They didn't. Kingsbury wouldn't give him an interview. Mike McCarthy not interested. Bruce Ariens. Oh, I did that job really. No, no.
Starting point is 00:07:25 Freddy Kitchens. By the way, he does look a little bit like Mike McCarthy. I'll say that. You couldn't hire Mike McCarthy. You hired him. It kind of looks like him, so there's that. All right, let me shift to this. We have a great show today.
Starting point is 00:07:39 Not going to do much NBA, but this needs to be noted. this was significant. Congratulations to Ryan Saunders. I work with his father, the late, great Flip Saunders, wonderful man. I worked with him at the other place. He passed away. He was a pleasure to work with and just a sweetheart of a man. His son is Ryan Saunders. He won his first game last night. He's the coach now, the Minnesota Timberwolves, which is really cool. He's a young man, and he won his first game. And so let's just, I don't know, randomly show you the last play of that game against Oklahoma City. They beat O KC.
Starting point is 00:08:12 Let's watch it. Westbrook, down low. Now in the corner. Off the dribble the three. Offensive rebound, Adams. Westbrook with four. Off the dribble three. No good to follow George Cunning.
Starting point is 00:08:28 And multiple chances for the Thunder that time. Westbrook with two looks. I just could not get a ball to fall for him. Unfortunate for the Thunder. Excuse me. That was Russell Westbrook. Excuse me? So that was an airball.
Starting point is 00:08:45 For our radio listeners who didn't hear the ball hit the rim, it didn't. That second three was an airball, and he was open. This is why Kevin Durant left OKC. 175 NBA players have shot 93s this year. Westbrook is 175th. Since December 1st, James Hardin is the leading score in the NBA, and Paul George is second. Paul George last night had hit five threes. Paul George is an elite three-point shooter,
Starting point is 00:09:21 and he was reduced to catching Russell Westbrook's airball. Why is Russell Westbrook still shooting threes? Why is he still shooting five a game? He's shooting 23% on the year. And by the way, his five per game are the most of his career. Paul George is a better shooter, nobody would deny. that. He's not getting any looks at the end of games because the Oklahoma City Thunder have enabled and are terrified to say, Russell, stop shooting those. This is why Kevin Durant said, I'm out.
Starting point is 00:09:59 This is why they had to move James Hardin. You can't play with him. Paul George is an elite catch-and-shoot player, one of the best in the league. He's 6-8. Generally 6'8 guys, get a good look at the end of games. They're long. He's a great. He's a great. shooter. He was hot. He almost always is since December 1st. Second in the NBA after James Harden, who's also red hot. You would not avoid Russell. If James Hardin played, wouldn't you give him the last shot on this team? Why wouldn't you give Paul George? This is what Oklahoma City has done. At one point, think about this. Oklahoma City had James Harden, Westbrook, and Kevin Durant. And their management chose not the NBA.
Starting point is 00:10:43 P. Harden, not the second best player in the league, Russell Westbrook. And as the game has evolved into a shooters league, Oklahoma City is now officially the worst three-point shooting team in the league. And symptomatic of that is last night. Russell Westbrook, they designed plays for Russell Westbrook. And Paul George was reduced to catching his airball. Ten years in the league, an airball on an open three. You want to know why KD left? You want to know whether there's that video out of K.D. laughing a couple years ago at Russell Westbrook jacking up threes. This is it. When you are a fear-based organization and Oklahoma City is petrified that Hardin and Kevin Durant now gone, they can't tick off Russell Westbrook, this is what you get. I'm not a hater for pointing out
Starting point is 00:11:36 something that is true. 175 NBA players have shot 93s or more this year. He's 175. And yet the organization, knowing that, designed the final two shots last night because they wanted him to be a hero. They did. They wanted him to be the star. This is why I said, Paul George, be careful. Congrats on the extra bank. Congrats on the lettuce. But guys have played with him.
Starting point is 00:12:12 and they left and that's why. All right, good stuff. Two things that I really want to jump into here today. Number one is I think the Dallas Cowboys are in a great spot this weekend. They're in a great spot. But secondly, I think Tom Brady actually has strongly considered retirement but he's got two big problems. That's coming up next.
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Starting point is 00:14:08 Bruce Ariens, an experienced grown-up, who's coach Andrew Luck and Big Ben and Peyton Manning and, you know, Carson Palmer was the best years of his life. It looks like Freddie Kitchens just got named coach of the Cleveland Browns, never been hired by a team as an interim or as an offensive coordinator. But hey, Cliff Kingsbury, Freddie Kitchens, Matt Lefleur, they're young, their cheekbones. I mean, it's unbelievable to me. Seven of the eight coaches left are 50-year-old. and everybody wants the new offensive guy. It is amazing to me.
Starting point is 00:14:44 By the way, Denver's going to hire Vic Fangio and bring back Gary Kubiak as an offensive coordinator. Two grown-ups. Two grown-ups. I mean, it's incredible to me what is happening. And by the way, everybody told me everybody wanted to coach the Cleveland Browns. And I kept pushing back and saying, in my lifetime, the Cleveland Browns have never been the best job opening
Starting point is 00:15:02 unless are the only job opening, and even then I'd pass. You can't tell me Cleveland's the best job opening is this as if who you hired. This guy's never been a high school coach. So I said when Baker Mayfield came out, I said, be very careful. I said there are two things I said when Baker Mayfield came out during the draft. Now, Joy, you weren't on the show at the time about the draft, but I think you remember me saying these two things. I said two things.
Starting point is 00:15:25 He won't be a bust because he just too darn accurate as a thrower. I said the second thing is he is going to have to overcome Cleveland dysfunction constantly. And he's already had his coach fired. And now this is his head coach. Good luck. And by the way, everybody's like, oh, man, but Freddie Ketch-you. Listen, we saw Lamar Jackson win, Tim Tebow win, the Wildcott offense.
Starting point is 00:15:48 Things work. Streaks happen in the NFL. You don't hire a coach because, you know, you won four to five games. Cleveland beat Cincinnati a couple times in Atlanta. They got smoked, you know, by the Chargers. They got whacked by Baltimore, right? I mean, it's like, come on. But this is what I said about Baker Mainfield.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Everybody kept telling me Browns was the best job opening. So this is who they hired? The least qualified candidate on the market. Well, I mean, with Baker this year, they were. Greg Williams, by the way, was the head coach. And they gave him nothing. He's gone. I mean, if you're going to hire one of the two, hire Greg Williams.
Starting point is 00:16:27 Greg Williams is a man. Greg Williams has won games. Greg Williams has been hired by seven teams as a coordinator. I mean, this is classic Cleveland. You know, low self-esteem sports teams. If you just rub their tummy, you tell them they're beautiful, you give them a little three-game winning streak. They're like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:16:47 We've got to hire this guy. I'm like, he's ever been a high school head coach? Incredible. All right. So I'm seeing a story today. Tom Brady basically said, I'm not sure if we have sound on it. Tom Brady basically came out yesterday. He does this thing, a Why Sports Matter podcast.
Starting point is 00:17:05 and Brady came out and basically said he's got more to accomplish, which is, you know, absurd considering all he's accomplished. We do have the Brady sound stuff. This is one of the things Tom Brady talked about yesterday and is why sports matter podcast. Here it is. I still like there's things to accomplish. And I've had an opportunity,
Starting point is 00:17:23 based on all the things that have happened the last 12 years of my life, you know, to put myself in a position to achieve things that no one else has achieved. So I feel like I kind of have to do it. going to be hard to do. But I think I can do it. Okay, first of all, forget average players. Even legends retire poorly. John Elway is the only legend ever have a perfect ending. I remember when John Elray retired. It was shocking. He was just winning his second and back-to-back Super Bowls, and he was the MVP. And he could still play. He could still play. John Elway is the only legend ever. Now, Kobe Bryant scored 16 in his last game, but the last couple of years, he was an
Starting point is 00:18:05 incredibly inefficient player. Peyton Manning hoisted a trophy last year, but in that year he'd been replaced by Brock Osweiler. He was a shell of himself. John Elway is the only guy to do it right. He retired like Johnny Carson. Last show's great. Seacrest, I'm out. John Elway was still great. He was a Super Bowl MVP. He was running the league. John Elway controlled the NFL and said, I'm done. Like, that's how you do it. But even in the NBA, Michael Jordan, Wizards, sad. Akema Lajoan, Raptors, bad. Shack, pathetic, you know, have luggage will travel. It was like nine teams.
Starting point is 00:18:41 So I don't want to see Tom Brady limping at seven and nine with 13 picks in four games midseason saying I'm out. But here's the reason. Tom Brady, there's a narrative out there that it should be really easy for Tom to retire. He's got the net worth, he's got the legacy, and he's got the rings. I think it's incredibly hard for two reasons to retire. The dysfunction in that division between the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins virtually assures he's going to win the division every year, and Bill Belichick's the best coach ever.
Starting point is 00:19:21 It's very difficult to retire as an executive at Apple, at Netflix, at Amazon, at Google. business is good. You own the world. It is very easy to retire 12 years ago at Blockbuster Video. It's easy to retire when you're losing, your average. Derek Jeter's numbers go down. But I think it's hard. If I'm 70 years old and I'm on the air and I'm still growing and near the top or at the top of this business, that's hard to retire. to me, that's hard. It's easy to retire if I can't get through shows, if I have no energy, if my ratings are going down 17% a year.
Starting point is 00:20:09 That makes it easy. That decision's made for me. I'm not dumb. You hear the hints from bosses. You see the writing on the wall. I think Brady retiring is hard. If Tom Brady was in a division facing Patrick Mahomes twice a year, and Philip Rivers twice a year, and Derek Carr twice a year, and Denver can figure their situation, oh, it's
Starting point is 00:20:29 easy to retire. And you're battling to be seven and nine. You are in the playoffs every third year. When you have Belichick and you face the dolphins twice, the Jets twice, and the bills twice, I think it's incredibly difficult. I think Tom Brady's smart. He doesn't want to limp off. He doesn't want to do it like Peyton Manning. He don't want to do it like Derek Jeter or Kobe and have one last great at bat or game. Tom's not what he used to be. But you can't quit now. You can't leave now. You're leaving wins. You could leave a Super Bowl. I don't think so.
Starting point is 00:21:02 You're leaving a Super Bowl on the table. John Elway is the only legend that walked out and could still win another one and was still great and was Super Bowl MVP. That is rare. And so my gut feeling is Brady stays a year too long. It may be next year or the year after. But I understand why. It's not easy. It's really tough.
Starting point is 00:21:22 Here's Joy with the News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. All right. Just discussing a few minutes ago, the Browns have reportedly found their next head coach. According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, the Browns will announce the hiring of Freddie Kitchens later today. Looks like Mike McCarthy.
Starting point is 00:21:39 He served, yes, as the team's offensive coordinator after the firings of Hugh Jackson and Todd Haley. He was one of several candidates to interview for the job, and it was pretty clear in the past few days that the Vikings interim offensive coordinator, Kevin Sopansky, and him were the leaders in the clubhouse. That's the interesting part. So Kevin Stavansky and Freddie Kitchens combined in their career had never been hired as a coordinator. A coordinator, never been a high school coach, I don't think. And by the way, had coached in 11 games in an interim coordinator basis. And they were the two leading candidates for this job, which I was told was the job everybody in the NFL wanted. Well, it was rated as the number number two job in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:22:19 Well, most people said, everybody wants this job. And I'm like, their resumes apparently weren't piling up because if this is the guy they hired, You don't think you'd take Kingsbury, you'd take Matt LaFleur, you'd take Mike McCarthy, you'd take Bruce Ariens, you'd take, this is it? Really? Well, I'm starting to think that Mike McCarthy is not interested in this job. And Bruce Ariens said he was very interested in this job. And then suddenly wasn't. Yeah, so there might be something going on as far as the control that you have over the team that's keeping people from wanting this job.
Starting point is 00:22:53 I mean, Hugh Jackson did come on this show and talk about, you know, very vaguely that he did not have a lot of say in who he was going to draft because he wanted to draft Patrick Mahomes. Listen, here's how the world works, folks. It works in my business. It works in Hollywood. It works in Joy and Ires business. It works in the NFL. There's about four agents that control all the NBA stars, all the coaches, all the media people.
Starting point is 00:23:17 So there's only a handful of great agents in every industry. The great agents didn't want their coaches taking the Cleveland job. The great agents, no. stay away from Jimmy Haslam, a lot of ego, that the agents wouldn't let their guys interview for the gig. It's disappointing. I got to be honest with you. With all of the talk and the buzz around the Browns this year
Starting point is 00:23:43 with hard knocks, all of the drama, them finishing well, Baker kind of turning it around a little bit, and then like no disrespect to Freddie Kitchens, but why is Greg Williams not being considered for this job? I mean, he's won games. It's been hired like seven times as a coordinator. And he served as the head coach before. And he was the head coach when they made a turnaround.
Starting point is 00:24:04 It's really, I really do not understand it. So it's said that you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And apparently for the Arizona Cardinals, their enemy is also their friend. They hired Cliff Kingsbury as their head coach yesterday. And they made an interesting comment in their press release. They said, Kingsbury is friends with the Rams coach, Sean McVeigh, the 32-year-old offensive genius who has become the blueprint of many of the new coaching hires around the NFL.
Starting point is 00:24:31 They're friends? All right, whatever. They later removed this, obviously, once they realize how ridiculous this sounds. Look, we said it. Sean McVeigh is going to get a lot of people fired and a lot of people hired. And he clearly has done both of those things. I was told this morning that the reason Arizona hired Cliff Kingsbury, this is what I was told, is that they felt number one, they had to find somebody that, Josh Rosen could relate to.
Starting point is 00:25:01 Now, that's a good reason because Josh is the future. Now, Kingsbury does not have a ton of coaching experience, so the staff he puts together will be very important. Yeah. And so, by the way, I don't know him. All I'm saying is all the coaches left, seven of eight or 50 year older, he's never coached in the NFL and never had a successful college career. His alma mater fired him, and alma maters don't want to fire guys.
Starting point is 00:25:25 Like they love him, right? He's a legend there. So what I'm saying is, I was told. this morning. I was texting this this morning. They wanted somebody that Josh Rosen could relate to, kind of a hip, young, smart, quick, progressive thinker. And I don't think that's bad. But I do
Starting point is 00:25:39 think it's problematic when this is a big leap from losing Bigot Texas Tech to now the pressure of the world as an NFL head coach. That is a massive jump. It's a massive jump. I do see where that would play into
Starting point is 00:25:55 hiring someone who can relate to, not just Josh Rosen, but young guys in general, that may play some part in it. But to me, you're not hiring a friend. Well, yeah, I know. You're not hiring a mentor. You're hiring the head coach of the team. And there's a lot of pieces and a lot of things that go on aside from just working with
Starting point is 00:26:16 Josh Rosen. And like Sean McBay, he's got to put a staff around him that can support him that has a colossal amount of experience because he doesn't. Finally, Jerry Jones is all in the news everywhere. He just bought a big yacht. You see his new yacht? Yeah. Very fancy.
Starting point is 00:26:31 I'm not a yacht guy, but nice, yeah. I'm a yacht person. I can deal with yachts. Well, anyway, he said that perhaps the biggest reason for the NFL's return to Hollywood. He is part of that reason. And he's very excited to play the Rams in L.A. rather than the Saints in the Big Easy. And he spoke about it yesterday.
Starting point is 00:26:47 Well, we've got thousands of fans that are generational there in Los Angeles. And I'll bet I have 30 first and second cousins out there, I was actually born in Englewood in Los Angeles County Hospital. So I've got a great lineage of family that live there. It's a great feeling. We do feel very comfortable going to Los Angeles in play. Now, that's not to say the Rams are going to make the comfortable for ourselves. He is absolutely right.
Starting point is 00:27:18 Yeah, yeah, but this is a great, first of all, Los Angeles. They're a big dog. There's no pressure, house money, Rams have to win. This is a great spot for the Cowboys. It really is. All of those things. And then, you know, the Cowboys have their training camp out here. And Cowboys fans travel well to begin with. So it's going to be basically a home game as far as...
Starting point is 00:27:42 60-40 Cowboy fans. For sure, for sure. Neutral at worst. All of the pressures on the Rams in this spot. All of it. Which is rare for the Cowboys. Yeah, good stuff. Joy Taylor. Well, that's the news.
Starting point is 00:27:53 And thanks for stopping by. The Herd-Lide News. Maybe I'm being an... ageist and I'm against young people, but I don't think I am. All these young coaches getting jobs in the NFL with virtually no NFL experience as even being a coordinator. And with that, via the Coward Global Satellite Network, Nick Wright joins me. All right, Nick, let's start with this. And again, I'm rooting for all these guys because the NFL's better with fun offenses and progressive offenses. So I'm rooting for all of them. But Cliff Kingsbury
Starting point is 00:28:26 was four and 31 against ranked teams in the big 12. What do you make of his hire? I understand the argument for it. He was the coach at Houston when Case Keenom broke records, who's the coordinator at A&M, when Manzell won the Heisman. He coached Pat Mahomes. He knows Sean McVeigh.
Starting point is 00:28:46 I get all the reasons that you want to hire the guy when Josh Rosen is your future. And maybe it works out. But I have to be honest, What bothers me the most about the Cliff Kingsbury hire is that he was interviewing in the first place. I have no problem with upward mobility. I have no problem with people leaving jobs early. But I do think if you take a job, you should be there more than, I don't know, 30 days.
Starting point is 00:29:14 Give it a year. And Colin, you and I have talked about this in my life. There was a moment where I accepted a job. And literally the next morning, I had not. signed anything, I could have easily extricated myself. The next morning, I got a phone call from a different place offering me what I thought was my dream job. And I let them finish their offer. I swallowed hard and I said, I really appreciate it. I wish you'd called me 12 hours ago, but I accepted a job yesterday. And I'm not ashamed to say it. I hung up the phone and I cried
Starting point is 00:29:52 because I thought I was walking away from the only job I'd ever wanted. But I had given someone my word. I hadn't gone, interviewed, taken a position, signed, told young people I'm going to come be their coordinator, and two weeks later been like, hey, bra, I act, you know, it turns out crazy thing, there's NFL openings. I didn't know that was on the calendar. Riddle me that. I don't like how he went about this.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Maybe he'll be good. But this rubs me the wrong way. I know that's kind of like an old man yelling at a cloud. But that's, if you take a job, do the job at least temporarily before you look for the next job. I agree. Baker Mayfield, hottest job. Everybody wants to coach him. Mike McCarthy's got a Super Bowl resurrected Brett Farv's career, helped create to some degree. Aaron Rogers. Not interested. Reportedly not interested. Bruce Arians, I want it. Took James Winston instead. Okay. I'm sorry, Nick. And I'm not trying to be anti-Baker here.
Starting point is 00:30:50 but if Baker's all that, Freddie Kitchens is it? He never been hired by a team as a coordinator. He was an interim coordinator. I don't understand why the Browns went with Freddie Kitchens. I do understand why some of the top candidates might not have been interested in the job, absent of Baker. Colin, I have learned this from you. What is the number one thing or one of the number one things you look at?
Starting point is 00:31:18 you've looked at when deciding if you want to take, yeah, who do you work for? And Jimmy Haslam is not a guy that I think you can trust whether you're going to one of his gas stations or whether you want to coach his football team. Like Jimmy Haslam, I think we're at 10 combined head coaches and general managers, and I know people love John Dorsey, but John Dorsey is not the boss there. Jimmy Haslam is. And so I think that might have cooled some people who otherwise would be interested in working for Dorsey and working with Baker. To me, I didn't look at this as an indictment on Baker Mayfield.
Starting point is 00:31:58 I looked at this as a lot of teams or a lot of coaches saying, man, is this more than a two-year window because of who the owner of the team is? I like your take. That's good. That's fair. That's a very fair take. My take may have been a little anti-Baker. That's a very fair take. A baker, I apologize. Thank you. Can I tell you a take of yours I didn't like that I just heard a moment ago? Yeah, please. Are you entertaining working until you're 70?
Starting point is 00:32:25 Because part of my career path involves at some point taking over for you, and I ain't got 25 years away, bro. Like, I'm trying to, I love my gig, but I'm trying to get back to L.A. before I die. You're like, oh, maybe I'll Larry King this thing. You and I ain't talked about that. Okay. You get me in hysterics here. All right, I got to throw this out.
Starting point is 00:32:47 Now, there is a lot of pressure on one team in the NFL this weekend. And it's Kansas City. I love Andy Reid, but there's like a number out there. And he'd not winning those playoff games. And Patrick Holmes is the MVP. And you lived in Kansas City and worked there, and they're not really good at winning playoff games, even at home. Would you acknowledge that Indianapolis comes into your former hometown with House
Starting point is 00:33:13 money, hottest team in the league. Kansas City is going to be tight. There's all that more than any of the eight playoff teams. Your chiefs, there is massive pressure to win this game. Am I crazy? No, you're not crazy. I think the most pressure's on the Rams only because 11 wins last year, home playoff game, won and done. If they then go 13 wins, a buy home playoff game, one and done. I feel like Matt LaFleur and Cliff Kingsbury were smart to take these jobs now, because if the Rams lose this weekend, knowing Sean McVeigh, looking like Sean McVe, having Sean is your middle name maybe is not quite the chip it is otherwise. But to your point about the Chiefs, listen, the Chiefs have lost a home playoff game after a
Starting point is 00:34:03 buy where they lose by three points and miss three field goals. They've lost a home playoff game after a buy where they can't make the other team punt a single time. a game to Andrew Luck where they blow a 28 point lead and luck fumbles the ball and then scores a touchdown on it. They lost a playoff game to the Steelers where the Chiefs scored two touchdowns. The Steelers scored zero touchdowns and they lost. And they lost last year to Marcus Marriota after leading 18 points at the halftime and Marriota threw the game winning touchdown pass to himself. All of that's happened in Can City. So yes, the fans will be nervous. And yes, there is a lot of pressure. Thankfully, the Chiefs have the best play.
Starting point is 00:34:43 in the league. Thankfully, they have the third highest scoring offense, not in the NFL, but in NFL history. And thankfully, your guy, your godson, Andrew Luck, is playing in the playoffs where he's got a career passer rating of 72, where his touchdown intercept ratio is 11 to 13, where in the playoffs, outdoors, it's two touchdowns to eight interceptions with a 52 passer rating. So you're right. A lot of pressure on the Chiefs. But it should be noted Andy Reid. Before he had Alex Smith as his quarterback, a winning record in the postseason, not a history of going one and done in the postseason. A lot of pressure on the Chiefs. Luckily, they've got the best offense. One of the best offenses in NFL history with a quarterback having one of the best seasons in
Starting point is 00:35:31 NFL history. I think they're going to be fine. By the way, how did you do last weekend with your picks? Oh, I mean, against the spread, I did well. I did. as far as getting the winners, I, I mean, it was tough. I mean, I feel like this is a bit of a twist of the knife. I think you knew the answer to this question. I got the Colts game right, and then I didn't get anything else right the rest of the weekend. Joy, how did I do it? I mean, I don't know why you got to bring that up.
Starting point is 00:35:54 Colin got all the picks, right? Okay, I'm just right. Colin, you went four and oh. Yeah. Okay, all right, so Colin, okay, so you feel very emboldened. You feel a big, powerful, Colin Coward. Should we make a little friendly gentleman's wager? I know you've started to go down the gambling path.
Starting point is 00:36:12 We don't have to put money on it. Let's just do Colts Chiefs, Colin. If the Colts win, I will, when I take some time off in February, grow an Andrew Luck neck beard and wear it my first day back. Okay. If the Chiefs win, you'll let the wonderful people at FS1's hairstylist department give you the Patty Mahomes hairdo for a show. How about that, Colin Cowherd? I wouldn't even going to do this, but you want to bring up 4-0 verse 1 and 3, put your hair where you're mouth is, big man. Well, actually, I would do this and there's one problem. Oh. The one problem.
Starting point is 00:36:46 I like the chiefs to win. I like the chiefs to win too. Oh, oh, the one of the ultimate hedge. I love it. So you get to be right either way. I picked the chiefs or I told you, Andrew, look. Oh, look at this guy. Should have been the MVP. What a, what a coward. I can't believe you, man. And I will retire before 70. And you can have the job. right, ladies and gentlemen. Great seeing you, buddy. See you, bro. Later, man. Yeah, I actually do like Kansas City this weekend.
Starting point is 00:37:15 I think the good times end for Indianapolis, because I think like Seattle last weekend, Indianapolis is an amazing story. I don't think the Colts are an amazing team. I think they're a year away from owning the league, but I think Kansas City is going to win this weekend. I also speak, I think, for America when I say I'm glad that you guys did not make that bet.
Starting point is 00:37:33 All right, yeah, the neck beard, nobody wins. No, none of us won in that spot. Coming up next, an absolutely shocking shocking thing about Dak Prescott. I mean, it's shocking. You will be shocked when I show you. Next, in LA, it's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd
Starting point is 00:37:47 weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. By the way, if you're getting sick, stuffy cold and throat, try Vix Synex nasal spray. Use his directed works up to 12 hours. Vic's Sinex nasal spray. God, I love this time of the year. Thank you so much for joining me, whether it be radio,
Starting point is 00:38:09 Iheart radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. I'm going to show you something at the top of the hour. It's going to blow you away. It's really fascinating. Somebody did a great job on this. I've got to give them credit. It's really, really good. So don't go anywhere.
Starting point is 00:38:21 The top of next hour, it's remarkable. But I just tease something. They call in our business teasing. I said, you know, I'm not a, I don't always believe stats matter. Kirk Cousins is the greatest example where he completes 70% of his throws, blah, blah, blah. but in the end, he can't win the big games. And so stats, there are some I look at a lot. What do you average per play offensively?
Starting point is 00:38:48 That's what Vegas looks at. That's what I look at. What is your third down conversion rate? Can you make big plays when it matters? Third and inches, fourth and inches. But most stats don't tell me much. But there's a couple, the NFL research, and this is a verified account, came out yesterday. This is remarkable.
Starting point is 00:39:04 This is absolutely remarkable on Dak Prescott. He, since 2016, he has 15 game winning drives. That is the most in the NFL. He has 13 prime time quarterback wins. That is the most in the NFL. And 19 rushing touchdowns, most in the NFL by a quarterback. Folks, these are real stats. He is the opposite of Kirk Cousins.
Starting point is 00:39:30 Kirk Cousins is great when it doesn't matter. But with a minute and a half to go in a game, and it's on Sunday night football or the Fox big game or Thursday night football or Monday night football Dax good. You can't deny this stuff. You could say he has the clutch gene. Okay, the clutch gene. And I've said this before.
Starting point is 00:39:49 There are just certain guys, Michael Jordan, he was good hitting a free throw late. Michael Jordan wasn't an 85, 90 percent of free throw shooter. Boy, he was good late, though. Michael was good late, though. There are guys that have it. These are real stats. And I said yesterday, DAC is 80 percent of Troy Aikman. Now, the 20%'s Troy had a golden arm, and that's why Troy is a Hall of Famer and Troy won three Super Bowls.
Starting point is 00:40:13 That's why I don't think Dak's ever going to be a Hall of Famer and win three Super Bowls. But DAC has something that I think is wildly undervalued. Maturity, emotional discipline, even temperament, low emotions, steady personality, opposite of Baker, who drives me crazy. Opposite of Cam Newton, who drives me crazy. Opposite of, often James Winston, who drives me crazy. Opposite of Jay Cutler, who drove me crazy. Steady, calm, unemotional, no anxiety, good body language, better late in games, bigger the game, the bigger the player.
Starting point is 00:40:59 You cannot deny these numbers for all you cowboy haters out there. These are real numbers. Fifteen game winning drives. That means he got the ball and his team trailed late. 13 primetime wins. That means the network said, Cowboys against good teams. They don't put the Cowboys against the Jags on.
Starting point is 00:41:20 Cowboys against the Eagles. We'll go to put the Cowboys against the Packers. We're going to put the Cowboys against the Saints. Primetime games means the networks, you don't see the Jags on primetime, even against the Cowboys. boys. Primetime is network saying we want the Steelers, we want the Patriots, we want, you know, we want Kansas City, we want Dallas, we want Green Bay. Those are numbers. You can't, this is why I say quarterback is not the best arms in NFL history that I've
Starting point is 00:41:51 ever seen. Let's go last 20 years. The best arms I've seen in the NFL last 20 years. Cam, Jay Cutler, Matt Stafford, Jamarcus Russell, and Brett Favre. One is a winner, and even Brett Farrv, I would argue, underachieved. Considering his talent, Brett Favreve should have won more. Brett Fav is one of the great natural talents of all time. But a lot of those guys that had great arms did not have emotional discipline.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Well, that's why I think intangibles matter. Like we talk about it, you know, kind of frivolously, like, oh, you know, he has good body language and he's, you know, great at the podium. But all of that steadiness is important when you're in a leadership position. Of course. You can't be too high and too low. Have you, like I've had, you know, again, I've worked at five or six companies and the one common denominator, I'm not going to mention their names. I'm not going to embarrass people or just put people out there. But I've had two or three bosses who I thought were next level.
Starting point is 00:42:54 and the one thing they shared. They weren't prep school. They didn't go to Harvard. They didn't go to Yale. They didn't go to Princeton. In fact, they went to very popular state schools, both of them. They didn't come from money. They didn't come from privilege.
Starting point is 00:43:10 They took weird routes. One of them went to Europe first and came here. One started in a mail room and worked up. But the one thing both of them had, two or three of them had, in big moments, they were take a breath. They were, let's see macro. Let's get the big picture. Let's not fall for the moment.
Starting point is 00:43:29 Let's step back. Let's add a little calm. They weren't fist pumpers. They're not grabbing. They're not doing nonsense on the sideline. They are, okay, world's caving in a little bit here. Let's take a deep breath. Let's step back.
Starting point is 00:43:43 They were a calming influence. And DAC has that and those numbers are crazy. Coming up next. Good Lord. Oh my God. disaster for one NFL team. That's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Oh, here we go, hour two. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be
Starting point is 00:44:10 listening, we are live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. I hope you're having a great day today, my favorite time of the year. We got stories breaking left and right. We may have a jet story breaking here. We had a story yesterday broke at the end of our show. Arizona hired Cliff Kingsbury. Vic Fangio is going to get hired by Denver. Is that official yet? When the story breaks, we'll be on it. I think they're going to hire Vic Fangio and Denver, the old guy. I like Bruce Ariens just
Starting point is 00:44:36 got hired yesterday. By the way, Cleveland today. We can put a breaking news bar on this baby. Peter King in 15 minutes. Freddie Kitchens got hired. Very little experience has been a coordinator eight games in his career. Okay, so first of all, I am not a believer in hiring from within. Now, I'm not saying there aren't instances where I wouldn't do it. I'm not a big believer. I think it's a laziness in the vetting process. I think Cleveland is
Starting point is 00:45:06 attributing their success now to Freddie Kitchens. No, their success is John Dorsey got him a bunch of good players. Baker Mayfield's a pretty talented kid. And, you know, they played some beatable teams in the last couple of months. They're attributing their success. When you haven't had much success in life, Oh, Freddy Kitchens is winning. Give him the job. I don't like doing it. In college football, it's classic. There's almost, I mean, there's a hundred guys,
Starting point is 00:45:33 100 universities in college football that give the coaching job to the very popular assistant once the legend leaves. They almost all die. I mean, it's just the way it works. Larry Coker in Miami to you. Randy Shannon for you in Miami. I grew up my childhood, sought nine times and all the schools around where I'm at. He wasn't doing the winning.
Starting point is 00:45:53 He wasn't the head coach. So here's the thing. Companies too often hire from within. And ask yourself this, statistically, what are the chances that the best candidate for your job in the world are in your building already? The chances of that are less than half of 1%. And I also think the great talent in coaching, in tech, in media, in finance, in teaching, in teaching, in landscaping, in any business. are mobile. They're willing to move.
Starting point is 00:46:24 If I see somebody that's been in a supporting role for 27 years and been okay with being at one organization for 38 years, I'm out. You're not aspirational enough. You're not confident enough. Steve Spurrier wasn't going to be an assistant for anybody. Spurrier's like, get me out of here. I'm going to go to Duke. I'm going to go to Florida.
Starting point is 00:46:40 I'm going to South Carolina. Nick Saban wasn't going to be anybody's assistant. I'm going to Michigan State. I'm going to LSU. I'm going to Miami. I'm going to Alabama. The great ones don't take supporting roles for 30 years. So now, now, Freddie Kitchens obviously younger than that.
Starting point is 00:46:53 But I think this is laziness, and I think Cleveland has low self-esteem, so they had a little success and they're attributing their success to Freddie Kitchens. Here's what's remarkable, though. Just to prove my point, the big lead, go to the biglead.com. They have a great story on this today. The last 10 teams who have promoted from within to their head coach, 0 for 10. None have been re-signed. Most get fired within two years to three years. Oh, for 10. And if you go look at the last 20 that have done it, it's mostly only one guy has ever gotten a second contract. Some guys go to four years, but it's a disaster. It is a sum list. It is a disaster. The best candidate for any job is almost always statistically not already in the building. Not in the building. Not in the building. if Sean McVey leaves tomorrow, the best candidate's not in the building.
Starting point is 00:47:52 You've got to go find the best candidate. I mean, New England went out and found Belichick, and Alabama went and found Saven. They didn't hire somebody. USC went and found Pete Carroll. And then Pete left and they want to hire a bunch of people that were already in the building. So I'm not a fan of that. I don't think Freddie Kitchens is the most qualified guy. Mike McCarthy's out there.
Starting point is 00:48:16 Bruce Ariens out there. These guys have been to Super Bowls. These guys are winning coaches. So good luck to the kid. I mean, it looks like Mike McCarthy. So, you know. Well, I think if you're a good coach or a good leader, you tend to put people around you who compliment you,
Starting point is 00:48:30 who feel things that you don't have or that you aren't as good as. So when you leave, the idea that you're going to promote from within and replace this great coach or good coach or good leader with someone that they've just brought in to compliment them, it makes sense why they wouldn't be successful. They're not duplicates. Good leaders put people around you that they can delegate to. Right, right.
Starting point is 00:48:52 So they're not going to fill that spot. Okay, so I want to talk about something. So there's a real thing happening in the NFL, and it's almost kind of comical, is that a lot of people on the Internet and Twitter, and they've been making fun of this, that if you basically had a beer in the last three years with Sean McVeigh, you're getting a job. Because Sean McVeigh, it's a copycat league, is this hot young coach. And he is very smart. I mean, you stand around him for five minutes, you're like, he's quick.
Starting point is 00:49:21 I mean, there's no getting around it. But I don't believe he'll ever have a great coaching tree, and I'll explain it in a second, much like Bill Belichick's never had a great coaching tree, that even Sean McVeigh yesterday laughed when people talked about his coaching tree. Here's Sean McVe coach of the Rams. I'm too young to have a coaching tree. I think it would be naive to think that any of this is about one person. and that certainly isn't the case at all.
Starting point is 00:49:48 And I think if the last two years have taught me anything being in this role, it's about you better surround yourself with a lot of people that are better than you so that you can learn every day. It's flattering, though, for our organization. So Sean McVe is smart enough to know. It's a bunch of hooey. Everybody else in the league, you know, like the Browns and Arizona and all these other teams, Green Bay, they're not smart enough to figure out what Sean McVeigh knows.
Starting point is 00:50:09 It's a bunch of hooey. Now, Andy Reid has a real coaching tree. I mean, he's got John Harbaugh, Ron Rivera, Doug Peterson, Matt Nagy, Todd Bulls, Frank Wright. Here's a picture of Andy Reid's coaching tree. It is lush. It is supple. It's a real tree.
Starting point is 00:50:23 It's got branches. It's got leaves. It is a massive coaching tree. To this point, Sean McVeigh's coaching tree, frankly, looks more like a weed. Let's slow down on the coaching tree. And I'll give you, I have a theory on something.
Starting point is 00:50:40 I'm not saying I'm right. But I'm saying part of my job is not just as, react to what happened yesterday. I wrote a book about this. Part of my job is to predict what's going to happen tomorrow. And I'm going to tell you, I'm going to make a prediction on this. I don't think Sean McVeigh or Bill Belichick will ever have great coaching trees because they have two things in their life that make them
Starting point is 00:51:03 borderline savants. If you look at Steve Jobs, the late great Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates, or Wayne Gretzky, if you look at what I would call people, that are almost savant level. There are two things that they have, and they're not transferable. They have unique childhood advantages. You can't duplicate those.
Starting point is 00:51:30 Bill Gates snuck into, I think it was Lakeside High School. There was one computer at his school. His dad had a key. Bill Gates at night for a year would be on a computer. He had a huge, unique childhood advantage. Okay, the reason that Bill Parcells and I don't think Sean McVey will ever have great coaching trees is because their two skills are not transferable. Unique childhood advantages and IQ. Now, it's not to say Andy Reed and Bill Parcells and Mike Holmgren, who have very lush coaching trees, aren't really smart.
Starting point is 00:52:11 But Bill Belichick's father essentially invented modern scouting. No, I'm not joking. His mother spoke seven languages. She was a language professor. Bill grew up in a uniquely intellectual academic home. His dad invented modern scouting. Bill fell in love with coaching at nine. And his mother spoke seven languages.
Starting point is 00:52:40 It was a unique, academic, football-driven environment. You can't duplicate that. Andy Reid didn't get that. Mike Holmgren didn't get that. And because of that, Bill's IQ is not transferable. IQ is not transferable. Okay, unless like, you know, dad's son, but not like coach and friend of a coach. Sean McVeigh, similarly, Sean had a unique childhood advantage.
Starting point is 00:53:06 His grandfather was the vice president of the 49ers. during their dynasty. He hung around the offices when he was a little boy. He was a teenager. His father was a football player. And by the way, on John Gruden's bucks, Sean McVeigh was an NFL assistant at 22 years old. You can't duplicate that. So Bill Belichick's not a great teacher, nor is he a great mentor. He is a football savant. You cannot transfer Bill Gates' unique childhood or intellect. You cannot transfer Steve Jobs. There are certain advantages. This is why in society, it's important to give people breaks. It's important to give people who don't come from legacies and great money and opportunity because the people who really rise in this society, you know, Michael Jackson,
Starting point is 00:53:58 the late great Michael Jackson grew up Motown. You don't think it helped? The music city of North America. and so I don't think Belichick has much of a coaching tree and I don't think Sean McVey ever will. I don't think their skills are transferable. And that is not a shot at all. I love McVeigh, and you know what I think of Belichick. But Joy and I have talked about this.
Starting point is 00:54:21 It is not a coincidence that Andy Reed, a teacher, homegrown a teacher, Walsh, a teacher, a mentor, didn't have those childhood advantages. Not to say they had bad childhoods, but their dad didn't invent scouting. They weren't an assistant coach at 20. Well, also, when you're obsessed with something,
Starting point is 00:54:40 you don't tend to share it because your entire focus is on making yourself better, which isn't a bad thing. No. It's just that's how some people are wired, and there's multiple ways to do things. How Andy Reid does it is not worse than the way that Bill Belichick does it.
Starting point is 00:54:55 There's just different ways to do it. And Sean McVeigh just said it right there. He said you better surround yourself with people that know more than you or no different things than you. He just said it right there. You put people around the other compliment you. Good stuff. Peter King's around the corner.
Starting point is 00:55:08 We got breaking store. I love this time of the year. Bruce Ariens, it's in. Tampa, love the hire. Vic Fangio close in Denver, like the hire, bringing Gary Kubiak with him. Cliff Kingsbury, Matt LaFleur. I got my doubts. Freddie Kitchens.
Starting point is 00:55:23 Last 10 coaches hired within, 0 for 10, have not gotten a second contract. Peter King next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the iHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game.
Starting point is 00:55:40 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,
Starting point is 00:55:57 the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The last 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.
Starting point is 00:56:25 And for more, follow Timbo Slic 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,
Starting point is 00:56:48 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?
Starting point is 00:57:09 Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.
Starting point is 00:57:29 Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?
Starting point is 00:58:09 The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness,
Starting point is 00:58:40 professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't. Don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it.
Starting point is 00:59:03 An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladecki. The ability to show gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard.
Starting point is 00:59:29 Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Colorado Avalanche, take on the flames. Calgary Flames, 930 Easter on tonight's Discovery Card, key matchup, get your free credit scorecard today. Even if you're not a Discover customer, it includes your FICA credit score. Check your scorecard, won't hurt your credit. Learn more at Discover.com slash credit scorecard scoreboard, excuse me, Discover.com slash credit scoreboard. We get all sorts of stuff.
Starting point is 00:59:57 All sorts of stuff happening. Let's go be the Coward Global Satellite Network. Peter King, NBCSports.com. All right, let's start. I'm going to go through. Let's start with Cliff Kingsbury, took the USC job, and then about a month later,
Starting point is 01:00:13 he goes to an NFL job, which is obviously better than being a coordinator in college. What do you make of the hire? What do you make of Kingsbury? Well, Kingsbury really must have convinced Steve Kime, Michael Bidwill, that in fixing, Josh Rosen and in preparing Josh Rosen with one of the best offensive minds in all of football, that that was going to be worth, you know, basically giving your whole team to.
Starting point is 01:00:43 You know, the big knock on Kingsbury at Texas Tech was that he was fairly myopic on the offense and wasn't a great recruiter or, you know, a great defensive guy in any way. So I think the Cardinals have to be convinced now that they're going to get Kingsbury on above-average defensive staff and just let Kingsbury handle the offense. Did you like what he did leaving USC? No, I didn't like it at all. I'm just not a fan. I mean, he came there in the middle of their recruiting season.
Starting point is 01:01:17 They had, what, two weeks left of the recruiting season. And then, I mean, who knows if any kid ended up going to USC because of him? but then he walks out. I don't like it very much. I try not to be on my moral high horse too much, but it just didn't seem right to me. We got a trend going on. If you had a beer in the last three years with Sean McVeer,
Starting point is 01:01:37 a picture taken with him, you're going to get an NFL job. I mean, it's ridiculous. I think we're overreacting. I love what Tampa did with Bruce Ariens. I think we're overreacting, Peter. I think it's become ridiculous now. Freddie Kitchens, I mean, good Lord,
Starting point is 01:01:50 he'd never been hired by anybody as a coordinator, eight games. I understand they want somebody that Baker likes. get it. I totally get it. But Peter, is it possible here? We're just overreacting trying to find the next guy that knows Sean McVeigh. Well, I think we might be overreacting
Starting point is 01:02:07 to the offensive side of the ball because now it looks like there's a very good chance that seven of the eight hires could be offensive guys. Wow. You know, now because, I mean, who knows, there's a couple of hires left. And, you know, it sounds like
Starting point is 01:02:22 the Jets, you know, we're going to hire Mike McCarthy or Adam Gays. So it's amazing that we have gone so far. And yet, Colin, on the first playoff weekend, what happened? There were all these defensive games. So, you know, it's almost like, okay, you know, Wink Martindale can't get a sniff in Baltimore. And he probably has the best defense in football at the end of this year. It's just a funny time in football because I think everybody has become convinced that you've got to score, score, score
Starting point is 01:02:56 to turn on your fans and have a great team. And we'll see if they're right. But hey, look, Freddie Kitchens, I got to know him a little bit late in the year, Colin. And I'll tell you, I think in his own way, I think he's got a chance to be an excellent head coach. He's a gruff guy. He's very much a collector of ideas from his team.
Starting point is 01:03:24 and two or three plays that he called this year. The thing that convinced me that Freddie Kitchens knows what he's doing is when the Cleveland Browns played Carolina, get this, they ran a play with Brashad Perryman going left across the formation, and then sprinting back right pre-snap
Starting point is 01:03:45 and getting a fake jet sweep handoff from Baker Mayfield. Then Baker Mayfield turns the other way. Jarvis, follows him and he hands it off to Jarvis Landry, you can barely see it happen. And there's Luke Keekley just standing there. I never see Luke Keekly fooled. And on that play he was, and it was a touchdown for Cleveland. And again, look, this can't all be about smoke and mirrors and misdirection. But I'll just say this. In eight weeks, you know, on the fly, Freddie Kitchens did an unbelievable
Starting point is 01:04:19 job, not just with Baker Mayfield, but with an entire offense that had been mediocre, and they were very hard to stop late in the year. We'll see what happens. Okay, I want to talk about some of these games because I think they're fascinating this weekend. I think there's massive pressure on the Kansas City Chiefs. Between their history and Andy Reed, they're a favorite. They have the MVP. So let's talk about Colts Chiefs. I think the pressure, I think the Colts walk in, knowing with the 90s, draft picks and $100 million, they're really built for next year and the next eight. I think the pressure's all on Kansas City.
Starting point is 01:04:57 What do you think transpires there at Arrowhead? I think it's really interesting that you mentioned that because to me, the Colts are playing with house money. They can be as relaxed as any team heading into this weekend. You know, Frank Reich at the end of the game last week, or, you know, at the end of the regular season, holds up a paper with the number 32. like in early October, they were rated the 32nd best team in football. And now here they are on a 10-1 run.
Starting point is 01:05:27 And I totally agree with you. But I'll just say this. This isn't Alex Smith's chiefs anymore. This is Patrick Mahomes' chiefs. And he just is, hey, what me worry? I spent about 45 minutes with them last week last Friday for a piece with NBC this week for our pre-game show. And I'm just telling you, Colin, this guy just, you know, it's one. of those, he doesn't know what he doesn't know.
Starting point is 01:05:51 Right. And he doesn't get all hot and bothered about anything. And I think, hey, look, I absolutely think the Colts could win this game, but especially if the Chiefs have Sammy Watkins back, okay, and they could have Sammy Watkins one side of the field, Tyreek Hill on the other side of the field, two, four, three, five guys, speed guys, you know, you know, separating the defensive backfield, and really opening up the middle of the field. I don't know. I think they've got, if Watkins plays and is effective, I think they got too many weapons for almost any team to defend now.
Starting point is 01:06:31 I have the Saints and the Chiefs, I think, should be probably for the Super Bowl favorites. Okay, Cowboys Rams, similarly. They're no pressure on the Cowboys. Okay, they're underdogs. They won their game. The owner loves the coach, has endorsed the quarterback and the coach. They've got the better defense. It'll be a neutral field at worst.
Starting point is 01:06:49 I think they have the better roster of young talented people. I mean, again, it feels like the pressure is on the Rams this weekend. It does to me. I mean, this is, come on, Sean McVeastern. I agree. Colin, I agree because last year they were favored, obviously, and lost to the six-seated Falcons, you know, in the first playoff game at home. And they've got to show that they're better than they were last year.
Starting point is 01:07:18 and that this blip late in the season is not who they are because they didn't play great in the last month, particularly offensively. They had their moments, but consistently they were not great on offense. So to me, I think this is a bad matchup for the Rams because when I watch Ezekiel Elliott, like I wrote in my column this week,
Starting point is 01:07:42 I think Ezekiel Elliott could play in any era of football. I think that he's sort of a poor man's Jim Brown. And I'm not saying he's ever going to be Jim Brown, but I'm saying that he reminds me of him because he's physical, he's fast, and he's very smart. Those were three traits that Jim Brown had that put him ahead of his time in the late 50s. Okay, and finally, nobody has given the Eagles a chance.
Starting point is 01:08:08 And I picked the Eagles last week, and I think I like him this week, and I know it's zany. But you talk to Golden Tate this past week, there is something about Foles and this staff. Now, my theory on this, Peter, is he has to be more patient in the pocket, and he is a little more coachable, whereas the Aaron Rogers and the Wents and the cam, there's a burden of being really truly gifted. Nick's not.
Starting point is 01:08:33 He's just good. He's very easy to coach. He spreads the ball around. He is more patient with the play calling. I like Wence, the player over Foles, but you talk to Golden Tate. Philadelphia's got something going on. with Nick Foles and I finally buy it. What do you make of their chances?
Starting point is 01:08:53 I mean, it's crazy to say that six weeks ago they lost by 41 in New Orleans and now they're going back to New Orleans and he say, well, how can this work? How can they really have a chance? And, you know, to me, Fletcher Cox put this well to me maybe two, three weeks ago. I said, what happened? Why has that game been the line of demarcation on your season? and he said, we got back, we met as a veterans committee with Doug Peterson, and we all agreed, flush that game, eliminate it. It doesn't matter. We're not going to focus on it. We're not going
Starting point is 01:09:30 obsess on it. We're not going to say, look at all the things we did wrong. We're just going to start all over again right now, and that's what they've done. Add to that the fact that they get Foles, who's cool hand Nick, and who basically is, he doesn't get riled up, He is, as he's told me, I play with a quiet mind. The day of a game, what does he do? Does he study film? Does he do this? No, he journals about how to be a better father.
Starting point is 01:09:59 I mean, I'm just telling you, this is a different human being than a lot of the quarterbacks that, that we've known. He tries to enter a game with classical music playing in his head, Colin. That is Nick Foles. And the reason I think they have a chance, like I probably wouldn't, pick them in this game. But the reason I think they have a chance is they're a different team with Nick Foles there and, you know, they're a different team entirely in the postseason because they are not going to let that Drew Bree's offense breathe the way it did in November.
Starting point is 01:10:34 Yep, totally agree. Peter King, NBCSports.com. It's great talking to you. This time of the year is so much fun. Go break some more stories, Peter. Thank you. All right. Peter King. We'll give you the very latest. I told you, Mike McCarthy, if I'm the New York Jets, that's guide higher. Hey, if you own a sports team, you need to be informed and make smart decision. No different when you comes to selling or buying a car. Go to true car.com. Check out their true price.
Starting point is 01:11:00 Tell you the fees, the accessories, you drive to the dealer, newer used car. You can save $3,000 off MSRP because you know what you're getting at a true car certified dealer network. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So Bruce Ariens, I don't think he had a beer with Sean McVeigh in the past couple years, but I could be wrong about that.
Starting point is 01:11:23 He's not the young unproven offensive mind like LaFleur or Kingsbury, but the Bucks did hire him as their new head coach, and he has the same task as the other guys fix the quarterback. But Ariens may have better odds with James because they have a history together. When Winston was in middle school, he attended a football camp in Birmingham, Alabama, that was run by Ariens and his son, Jake. And for many years, James has said that it was a turning point for him. He said he's one of the first people that gave me the dream of getting a Super Bowl ring. At the camp, he brought his
Starting point is 01:11:55 Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl ring and showed all of us. That was one of those times when I was just like, man, I want to get me one of those rings. Well, I do think this is really good news for James Winston, who I think has, you know, I always have a soft spot for young quarterbacks who have to deal with multiple coaches and multiple coordinators. And James Winston is now dealing with another coach. Tampa's not a national story generally. They've been a little dysfunctional. Seven to last eight years in fourth place. This is the best thing in the world for James Winston. It's the best case scenario for James. Yes, I agree. They also hired Todd Bowles
Starting point is 01:12:29 as their defensive coordinator, which I love. So I do like Bruce for this job. I think Bruce is a good coach. I think Todd Bowles is a great hire as well. And the winner here is really James Winston because they're losing patience on James and this will get him another contract. This buys him some time and if they will do nothing else they'll bring some stability to their franchise
Starting point is 01:12:51 which is much needed. I am not a big believer in James Winston as I've said many times I'm kind of done with the chances with James Winston who knows maybe having a proven guy like Bruce Ariens and Todd Bulls around him will kind of steady the ship
Starting point is 01:13:08 but it's the best case scenario for James Winston. I think there's any more excuses after that at this point. So it could be argued that Patrick Mahomes had the biggest role in Cliff Kingsbury's epic job promotion outside of, you know, being friends with Sean McVeigh. Kingsbury went 16 and 21 with Mahomes and three seasons at Texas Tech. But there was Mahomes year this year and Kingsbury was his coach. So after the Cardinals hired Cliff, Mahomes again endorsed his former coach.
Starting point is 01:13:36 Yeah, I mean, I think he could be a great NFL coach. I mean, he has the work ethic, he has the passion for the game. I know that, I mean, he loves this sport. And so I know he'd be able to relate to quarterbacks. And so he would put in the work. And now it's about him finding out where he needs to be at. It's not about, we know Cliff Kingsbury knows offense. Okay.
Starting point is 01:13:56 First of all, his offense doesn't look like Sean McVease, so let's stop that nonsense. They run two different offenses. But it's about building a staff. It's not, you know, Cliff can coach offense. Clis is aspirational. He's smart. But Peter King said this. He was not known as a great recruiter, and he was not known as knowing a ton about defense.
Starting point is 01:14:15 So hire a really strong defensive coordinator. Well, they had Todd Bowles, and now he's off the market. So good luck. I mean, there's some other ones out there. Does he have a knowledge base of NFL people? The thing outside of his college record that worries me about this is, one, you have to put a good staff around you. And two, stepping up from the college ranks to the NFL, you're dealing with a different type of setup in the organization. You don't recruit.
Starting point is 01:14:41 You don't necessarily get to make all the decisions about who you draft. You don't have control over everything that happens, but you have to be responsible for everything that happens. So I understand the idea of we want to hire guys that can relate to the quarterback and can be on the same wavelength with them and help them develop. But there's a whole other team. There's a whole other organization that you have to run and make decisions for. So that comes with experience.
Starting point is 01:15:07 So that's the thing that concerns me about that higher. And finally, Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, you're very high on him. He created a little news cycle this week after he declared for the draft on Monday. Oh, yeah. He posted and then deleted a photo of himself on Twitter playing in a Giants uniform with the caption, Don't let me go back to the crib. He deleted that, but then he posted this on Instagram and, you know, tagged O'Dell and Sequin on it. I like him.
Starting point is 01:15:36 New Jersey. I like him. I like Dewayne Haskins. I like him. I do. I saw him. I'm telling you. Now, now again, I wouldn't trade a bunch of picks to get him, but if I needed a quarterback, like the Giants at six or seven, I would absolutely draft him at six. Absolutely draft. Because I think he's the kind of kid. You bring him in. You wait a year. You learn how to be a pro. But I like him. He hasn't started a ton of college games, so I do not want him starting next year. But I like him. Good arm, accurate. He's not emotional. He's got a little deck prescott where no high, no low, no pumping fist. He's a bottom line kid that he, I like him. I'll just say this. I think he is undervalued among all the college guys.
Starting point is 01:16:17 Will Greer overvalued? This kid undervalued. Well, clearly someone got to him and told him you probably don't want to make a pitch for only the Giants. So he posted the bangle, himself in a bangles, bucks, dolphins, jags, and Redskins jersey as well. So, but clearly he's leaning towards the giant. Wow, that's exciting. All right, Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news.
Starting point is 01:16:42 And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Rob Parker has a list of things Tom Brady still needs to accomplish. He is the FS1 instigator, and he will be joining us next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.
Starting point is 01:16:57 On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. It's a huge Big Ten matchup tomorrow night on FS1. Charles Matthews leads in number of to Michigan Wolverines as they battle the fighting I'll and I. All the action tips off at 8 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. By the way, Michigan's going to win the national championship. Did you hear that music underneath? That's the NBA on NBC. Yeah, what's going on? I think Duke, Duke and Michigan play for the national championship.
Starting point is 01:17:25 I'll pick the upset. Really? Because everybody's going to take Duke because it's Ian Williamson. So Michigan's good. Okay, Rob Parker, FS1 Instigator. All right, let's start with a couple of topics. You're all worked out. First of all, Lamar Jackson got booed at home. Everybody's like, whoa, is the young kid. And then the Chicago bear kicker, Cody Parky, missed a kick. And, man, he got booed out of the stadium in Chicago.
Starting point is 01:17:48 And the media was like, whoa, I'm uncomfortable with this. You're not uncomfortable with it. Not at all. Since Winkamp fans boo, right, fan is derived from the word fanatic. That means that you really care. You're invested. Time, emotion, all of that. I wrote this column on the shadowleague.com about it.
Starting point is 01:18:08 And it was like, Colin, it's okay. As long as you're not vile or racist or like violent throwing stuff, as long as you don't do that. And you want to be able to push up and say, I'm not happy with what happened. The same reason that you would have to cheer is the reason that you would boo. And I don't see anything wrong with it. Does that mean you don't want Lamar Jackson to succeed or be your quarterback?
Starting point is 01:18:33 It's just that he wasn't getting it done that. day they were down 23 to 3 in the 4th quarter. And he was bad. He was bad. And the same thing with Parky. I mean, that's one of those moments you live for as a fan. Imagine being at the stadium ready to erupt, right? The bears are going to move on. And then he misses the kick. You could say it was tipped at the line, whatever you want to
Starting point is 01:18:54 say, and bad luck. He missed it. And fans are going to react. What are the way he supposed to do? We live in this now, oversensitive athletes and everybody has to get a trophy. Otherwise, it's the end of the world. Yeah, everybody's a victim. And it's, I, listen, Cody, Chicago's a tough town. They have brutal winners.
Starting point is 01:19:15 People work hard in Chicago. They spend a lot of money. And then when they, of course, and you're sitting indoors in the winter because you don't go outdoors and you'll watch a lot of TV and the Black Hawk fans and the Bulls fans. It's a great sports town. And they got ticked off. And it doesn't bother me at all. As long as you don't throw anything at the kid, I don't care.
Starting point is 01:19:31 Absolutely. And you know what? for the kid, he'll get over it. It's just what you signed up for when you become a pro athlete. All right, we got eight teams left in the NFL. Rob Parker, give me your power rate. Who do you think? What order?
Starting point is 01:19:44 All right, we want to go from the bottom? No, you can go, you think the best team is what? I think the best team right now to San Diego, I mean, L.A. Chargers. I think they're the best, I agree with you. I think it's the best roster. I really do. And when I look at them and I think
Starting point is 01:20:00 about where they are, the wins that they've had on the road. You remember they went to Pittsburgh and Kansas City and won those games being down double digits. So I like the Chargers a lot. I think they're the best team. So I look at your, you have the Chargers, Colts, Saints, Chiefs, Rams, Eagles. You have the Cowboys and Patriots near the bottom. Now, come on.
Starting point is 01:20:21 What? No, no. You think the worst team left in the playoff is Tom Brady. Well, they haven't played yet, right? They haven't played yet. and I just think that when you look at that team, there's a lot of things that I know people don't want to pick against them. What most media guys do is they hedge their bed.
Starting point is 01:20:40 It's just easier to pick the Patriots because you expect them to win. They've done so much winning. So if you're wrong on the Patriots, no one's going to be down on you because you picked them. But if you were to go out and say, no, the charges are better. They are better on paper on the field.
Starting point is 01:20:58 They're better. Now, they might lose. but it's not that because they're not better. They are better than the Patriots. So you think the Chargers are going to Foxborough and win? Absolutely. I think they've done, if anything they've done all year, and I think their record now, is it 9 and 0 or 10 in 0 when they have to get on a plane?
Starting point is 01:21:14 Right? Because the one road loss is when they played in L.A. against the Rams. Other than that, they've won every single road game. That's impressive. By the way, you have the Colts number two, so you think they upset the Chiefs? I think there's a good chance because, you know what? I don't believe in the Chief's defense. I think that they could wind up losing because that defense hasn't been able to stop people.
Starting point is 01:21:36 And I'm telling you, the way that the Colts have played, Colin, you've seen them they won 10 out of 11. They got everything clicking. Andrew Luck, what a great comeback story. I love everything about them. Okay, here's your list for our FS1 viewers among the playoff teams. Rob has the Chargers, Colts, Saints, Chiefs, Eagles, Cowboys, and Patriots. A couple of things I want to talk about. First of all, there's some amazing numbers I saw with Dack Prescott.
Starting point is 01:22:02 Hold on. Hold on. I'm just going to read this. 15 game winning drives in the last two years, three years, most in the NFL. 13 prime time quarterback wins most in the NFL. He's got some Andrew Luck qualities. And none of those stats mean anything. What?
Starting point is 01:22:17 They don't. What? What is the comeback? So when you say comeback wins, did he throw a touchdown with no time left on the clock? Or was it they were behind? and he scored a touchdown with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. What exactly is the comeback win? So I'm not buying into that.
Starting point is 01:22:34 You know why the other players don't have it? Tom Brady and Aaron Ryan. Because they're ahead. They're not behind. So this whole stat, that's some amazing stat. Comeback, that means you were down. What about primetime wins? That means you played a very good team on TV.
Starting point is 01:22:49 Kirk Cousins can't win those. Dak wins all of them. Yeah, but I would have to take a look at the record of those teams more so than just prime time. When they played Aaron Rogers and the Packers in the playoffs, I think that game wasn't a primetime game. It was like a weekend and it was maybe a little earlier. They lost that playoff game, so that doesn't count in there.
Starting point is 01:23:09 When you say prime time, what, just because it's on Monday night or Thursday night, that means just something special. I want to see them come in. They're seven-point underdogs. If they beat the Rams in L.A., now I'm going to pay attention to the Cowboys. You don't think they are. But I don't think they are, and that's why they're seven-point underdogs. dogs, if they win this game, they were three and five on the road during the regular season.
Starting point is 01:23:30 They feast at home. There were seven and one. Fair. And they beat Seattle. Fair. Now, if they went on the road here, I'm impressed. All right. Tom Brady said yesterday on a podcast that he has a lot more things to accomplish.
Starting point is 01:23:42 What did you make of that? You know what? I thought of that. And I have a list. Of what? Of what Tom Brady's looking to accomplish as time goes on. Okay. All right.
Starting point is 01:23:52 All right. So number one, he's going to sign up for the AARP card. That's a cheap shot. And there you go. Number two, look for property in Bokoa Reto, Florida. That's where some old people retire, yes. Prepare for the 4 p.m. dinner reservation. You know, you've got to go for the early bird special.
Starting point is 01:24:06 Yes. And you get the discount. Yeah. And you get bread and soup with that. Yeah. And then, of course, purchase some metamusal. I love metamusal. And add that to his smoothies.
Starting point is 01:24:15 I love those. Because you know, he has a smoothie. Big sponsor of our show. And then number five, of course, stock up on, stock up on some depend coupons. See, this is all shots at Tom Brady. No, it's not. He's older. I'm just trying to help him.
Starting point is 01:24:26 amount as he goes forward. Do you, listen, when it's all said and done, you have never been a big Brady fan. I think he's a great quarterback. Okay, let's just say. I've always said that. He's a great quarterback. Well, boy, what a gutsy call there. You know, there's eight Super Bowl appearances. You think he's great. But he's been very lucky. Okay. You think what does Lucky mean? When we break down those Super Bowl wins, Tom Brady easily could have one Super Bowl win. That's how, that's how razor-thid it is. And he could also be, he could also be eight-no. No, he couldn't be eight-no. Because the one that he doesn't get, everybody says that, I may give you the Manningham, the, not the Manningham catch, the other one, the Tyree, David Tyree catch.
Starting point is 01:25:05 I'll give you that one, but I will not give you Manningham. Manningham, that game, Eli throws an unbelievable ball, and that's a great catch by Manningham. That's a great throwing catch. But I'll give you the other ones, and to this day, when you look at what Atlanta did, and when you look at what Seattle did, they will never live that game down, especially in Seattle, Beast Mode is there in a one and a half yard line. You have to run that ball. And you know it.
Starting point is 01:25:30 It wasn't even a second guess. That was a first guess. You were sitting at home going. What are they doing? But the one thing is you always bang on these quarterbacks who pat their stats. You would acknowledge that Brady is a winner. No doubt. He's taking advantage of those opportunities.
Starting point is 01:25:47 So I'm not knocking him for performing after they open the door for him. But I'm telling you, he's the luckiest guy. he should move to Las Vegas when he retires because everything comes up sevens for Tom Brady. But this will end. This is not happening. I told you that this is going to be it. You'll take a look at Tom Brady. He won't play as well as he has in the past.
Starting point is 01:26:09 Everyone is living off the past. And sometimes, you know what? The past strikes out. Tom Brady will strike out this weekend. By the way, do you have, how do you explain the Wentz-Fouls thing where we know Nick Foles is mostly a career backup? He's had a little brief thing with Chip Kelly, and now he's brief. And we know Carson Wentz is the better talent.
Starting point is 01:26:29 What do you make of Philadelphia? I think it's one of the most remarkable stories. It is. They're 11 and 2 under Nick Foles. They are, what is there, 4 and 0 in the playoffs? No, it's an incredible thing. But Nick Foles is that guy. If I ask him to go out and buy a loaf of bread and give him the car keys, he's fine.
Starting point is 01:26:48 Yeah. But if I give him the car and say, hey, this is yours, he crashes it. That's the difference. Because he would be a starting quarterback in the NFL if he was this good. He got a chance. I don't think people buy into him. Now, now, if he were to lead him to the Super Bowl again, would somebody try to make him their starter? Yes, yes, they would.
Starting point is 01:27:07 Yeah, they would. But if he loses this week and he just has a so-so game, it'll go back to being, you know what, the guy is pretty good when it comes to playing in a pinch and when it's not his team. It's like Fitzpatrick, right? Who saw that? When he's just going in and just playing? as soon as they say you're the starting quarterback, he's terrible. No, there's...
Starting point is 01:27:26 He turns it to a pump. This league has a history of stuff working quickly. Tebow, the Wildcat, Jack parties run and shoot with the Oilers. There's a difference between being the franchise guy and being in a pinch guy, Rob Parker. And belated, happy birthday. Your birthday was Sunday. Yeah, 43, feel great for my age. I'll be 43 tomorrow.
Starting point is 01:27:47 You will. Happy birthday to you, Rob Parker. Hour three next. It's your birthday, yes. Want 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. Ah, this is the herd, wherever you may be.
Starting point is 01:28:11 However, you may be listening. We're live in Los Angeles, IHard Radio. Fox Sports Radio and FS1. So it's crazy. We got all sorts of stuff. happening. This is one of these days. Joy Taylor is joining me where it's fluid. We got stuff happening. We got coaching hires and guys leaving and Cleveland Brown fans trying to lecture us that we should take them seriously for finishing third in their division. I've never seen a fan base.
Starting point is 01:28:40 Who's more arrogant? It's never accomplished anything. It's incredible. It's incredible. And I've been on on Cleveland side all year. So I don't appreciate the pushback. It's amazing. Completely blindly supported everything that happened there so i'm going to talk about uh i'm just going to go through the list right now of what's happened today okay and uh my guys in the back and just roll tape and do whatever they do i want to start cleveland hired freddie kitchens i'm not a big fan of hiring from within the last 10 NFL coaches who have been hired from within the organization over 10 most fired in year two or three it's not worked one time you go to the last 20 there's only about two guys that have worked. Only one guy's ever gotten another contract. So you can look for
Starting point is 01:29:26 yourself, Ben McAdoo, Dirk Cutter, Jim Tom Sulu, Hugh Jackson, Mike Muncheck, Jim Caldwell, Jim Moore, Rahim Morris, Bill Callan, Dave Campo, O for 10. So Cleveland, you can lecture us about how it's going to work with you. But by the way, Greg Williams, you let him walk out. Greg Williams, a very good defensive coordinator. He was the actual coach that was five and three down the stretch. And his eight games, he was five and three. And you let him go. So you didn't even give the coach who was winning the job. You gave a coordinator, the job, the less experienced coordinator. My takeaway on this is they wanted to make Baker Mayfield happy.
Starting point is 01:30:02 And I've said this before. There are organizations, the New York Mets, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, that losing organizations have low sports self-esteem. And the minute they have any little inkling of success, they just can't let it go. and so they're attributing all their success to Freddie Kitchens. And I think he was part of their success, but the bigger part was John Dorsey put together a nice roster full of good players. Greg Williams is a strong leader, not my cup of tea all the time, but a strong defiant guy. And Baker Mayfield, frankly, play real well with Freddie Kitchens.
Starting point is 01:30:39 So I don't buy it. By the way, everybody lectured me that this was the job everybody wanted. And the two finalists were Freddie Kitchens and some 45. four-year-old guy from Minnesota who's never been a coordinator. So where are all the great coaches lining up for this job? I kept being lectured. This was the best job in the world. And I'm like, you're two finalists for two guys who have never been hired as coordinators, who have never been head coaches in high school. Nick Wright was on the show earlier. And, you know, he says it's not Baker's fault that the great coaches didn't want this job. Jimmy Haslam is not a guy that I think
Starting point is 01:31:15 you can trust whether you're going to one of his gas stations or, whether you want to coach his football team. I didn't look at this as an indictment on Baker Mayfield. I looked at this as a lot of teams or a lot of coaches saying, man, is this more than a two-year window because of who the owner of the team is? I think that's very fair. I do worry, and I've said this before, this, I love football. The league is much better when quarterback play is good.
Starting point is 01:31:42 I think the worst thing you can do to a young quarterback who is learning how to be an NFL quarterback is to give him a coach who is learning how to be a head coach. Freddie Kitchens has never been a high school coach, head coach. So Freddie Kitchens is going to learn on the fly how to be an NFL head coach. Baker Mayfield's also learning how to be an NFL franchise quarterback. I don't like that combination. The second hiring, this is a grown-up hire. Tampa Bay hired Bruce Ariens.
Starting point is 01:32:08 And Bruce Ariens reportedly is going to hire Todd Bulls. These are grown-ups. So Bruce Ariens has been a head coach. Todd Bulls now as coordinator has been a head coach. I got 10 years of head coach. experience. So these guys aren't figuring out, how do we do this with the staff? How do we do that with the staff? Tampa Bay hired guys who have been coaches. And I know it's really cool to think that the old guys don't know what they're doing. Hire a young guy. Excuse me,
Starting point is 01:32:36 but seven of the eight remaining coaches are 50 and older. Yeah. Yeah. So Bruce Ariens is a real coach. He's coached Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer, Big Ben, and Peyton Manning. and he's not going to be learning how to be a coach on the fly. I like the move by Tampa. That leads me to Denver reportedly about to hire Vic Fangio, who's been in the league for like 35 years. He's one of the Dave Wanstats, who I work with has told me for years. He's like, that guy knows what he's doing.
Starting point is 01:33:07 His defense is rock solid. He understands personnel. He will now go, he doesn't look as old as they say is. He's going to go and take over Denver, which has two great pass rushers, Bradley Chubb and Vaughn Miller. They got nice defensive personnel. He's also got a keen sense of young defensive personnel, so he'll have a say in the draft. So I like this, and he's going to bring Gary Kubiak on as his offensive coordinator.
Starting point is 01:33:32 So Gary Kubiak has been a head coach many times. So again, this is grown-ups. This is not like learning how to coach on the job. This is a man. This is an adult taking over a team that has a history of winning and solid ownership. So I like that move by Denver. Let's go to two a combination hires. Arizona hires Cliff Kingsbury,
Starting point is 01:33:54 who was 4 and 31 against big 12 teams that were ranked while he was at Texas Tech. Not great at all. And then also Green Bay hired Matt LaFleur, who I was told last night from somebody who has coached with him, very smart, driven, offensive. defensive-minded guy doesn't have leadership skills, which is, by the way, what I told you two days ago, confirmed by an NFL coach, he's not great in the room. Good luck with Aaron Rogers, who commands respect, and you have to command it, and it's not your strength. Kingsbury to
Starting point is 01:34:36 Arizona and Matt LaFleur, to me, are incredibly, incredibly risky hires. Wow, really, really risky hires. And finally, and I don't know, I don't know, Cliff. And I think he knows offense. But folks, if you take out Kansas, I mean, listen, he was 19 and 1 against Kansas and like FCS schools. Those were most of his wins.
Starting point is 01:35:05 He couldn't go toe to toe with a conference. And now he's going to take over an NFL franchise. Wow. That is a big leap. Matt Lefleur. Been a coordinator one year. And Tennessee got worse with him offensively. Wow. So I don't like those hires. Don't love them.
Starting point is 01:35:18 Could be wrong. Finally, the New York Jets are going to hire one of two people. I like both. Mike McCarthy or Adam Gase. Again, they're not, as Sam Darnold is learning how to be an NFL quarterback, Mike McCarthy and Adam Gase are not simultaneously learning how to be head coaches. So I'd take either of them. I'd probably choose McCarthy over Adam Gase, but I will say this about Adam Gase.
Starting point is 01:35:45 You go look at his record. with Ryan Tannahill, who I think is not nearly as talent that is Sam Darnold. It wasn't terrible. That's a dysfunctional organization. Ryan Tannahill's 23rd best quarterback in the league, and they won a lot of games. They beat New England regularly. It's like Adam Gays can coach. So in review, Freddie Kitchens, I don't think it's going to be a rousing success.
Starting point is 01:36:09 Bruce Ariens and Vic Fangio, I like. I'm not saying teams are winning the Super Bowl, but I like the stability of it. Cliff Kingsbury and Matt LaFleur, I don't think that's going to work out great. Again, some of these may work initially. You may get an initial pop, but does it work for four and five years? And Mike McCarthy or Adam Gaste of the Jets, Mike McCarthy would be my first choice. I think it would be excellent. Matt rules in play for them.
Starting point is 01:36:36 Baylor head coach. I don't like that as much. But again, this is the world we live in where everybody's, you know, it's just, it's so funny in life. people use the exception instead of the rule. And I push back on this stuff all the time. I just don't buy in to, you know, I work in this business of opinions. If you take the top 30 people in America, political and sports opinionists, none are in their 20s and 30s. Everybody's trying to tell me, you got to listen to this young guy or this younger or this young voice.
Starting point is 01:37:09 And I'm like, I look around TV sets and it's mostly 40-year-olds. It's Rachel Maddow, it's Sean Hannity. It's, you know, it's big opinion people. It's Rush Limba over here. And we are always trying to tell me and lecture me that the 27-year-old hot candidate in business is going to take over the world. And then all I keep doing is looking at the world and it's run by people in their 40s and 50s and older. Well, I don't think it's so much about age as it is about experience. Well, it's hard to be experienced at 27.
Starting point is 01:37:42 Sure, but some people, like you talked about, Sean McVeigh, has a very unique upbringing where he's been around football in a very close setting for his entire life. So he has an advantage, even though he is only 31 years old or 32 years old. Right. Because he has maybe even more experience than some of these older guys around football. He has an incredibly unique. Right. But that's the point. Everybody's trying to replicate a unique situation.
Starting point is 01:38:07 And he can't. Rather than looking at every factor that has created Sean McVeigh into what he is. And maybe he also just has a rare genius. Yeah, no, I think he does. And by the way, Sean McVeigh, do we have the bite about that? It's funny, everybody's trying to replicate Sean McVeigh, and yet... And he's warning you not to do that. And Sean McVeigh is warning everybody that it's nonsense.
Starting point is 01:38:28 Here's Sean McVeigh about hiring young guys because they know him. I got too young to have a coaching tree. I think it would be naive to think that any of this is about one person. That certainly isn't the case at all. And I think if the last two years have taught me anything being in this role, it's about you better surround yourself with a lot of people that are better than you so that you can learn every day. It's flattering, though, for our organization.
Starting point is 01:38:50 So he's telling you, it's a bunch of hooey. And everybody's like, no, he has a unique childhood experience because his granddad helped build the 49ers. And he was 10 years old, 12 years old, 13 years old, reading stuff at home from, you know, from the family. Then he was a 22-year-old coach. His IQ, football IQ, he's a. savant, you can't replicate that.
Starting point is 01:39:12 That's why Bill Belichick's coaching tree is not very good because Bill Belichick's dad invented scouting and his mom spoke seven languages. You can't replicate IQ. Sean McVeigh has a lot of self-awareness, but it was a really nice way of saying they ain't me. That's really what he said. Yes. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:39:29 By the way, Casey Hayward of the L.A. Chargers, are they the craziest story ever? Yeah. They are a, not just better. They're a significantly better road team. and they're on the road this week to face Tom Brady, then they are a home team. And it's probably the best secondary in the NFL. Derwin James, Pro Bowl,
Starting point is 01:39:47 Casey Hayward's done it before, Desmond King. So they're going to New England to face Tom Brady and Casey Hayward. They're talented cornerback. We'll be joining us next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.
Starting point is 01:40:00 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,
Starting point is 01:40:22 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. brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-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.
Starting point is 01:40:57 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.
Starting point is 01:41:25 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. person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free Our Heart Radio app. Search
Starting point is 01:41:50 Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies
Starting point is 01:42:19 I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life.
Starting point is 01:42:43 Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards.
Starting point is 01:43:13 If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone
Starting point is 01:43:30 and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win. more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. No different. When you kind of buy, sell, trade in your car, go to
Starting point is 01:44:04 True car, you want to have informed choices when you're buying a car, selling a car, trading a car in. Go to Truecar.com. Check out their true price. You'll have an idea what you're paying before you get there, save $3,000 off MSRP. All right, Casey Hayward of the charges around the corner, but it's time. We do this on Wednesday. I'm your stockbroker. You ask questions by, sell or hold. Time to buy. Colin will decide if he'll buy it sell or hold. Colin, Bicel or a whole, Tom Brady will appear in the Super Bowl for the ninth time in his career. Well, here's something to remember, and I think Brady's the best quarterback I've ever seen when you include clutch, accuracy, leadership, arm, everything. He's lost his last three road playoff games, and there is a high probability if they can get past the Chargers.
Starting point is 01:45:04 They will have to go play at Kansas City. So, John, that's a pretty easy one for me. Sell, sell, sell. Yeah, I don't think the Patriots reach the Super Bowl this year. By Sell or Hull, the Cowboys will be the highest scoring team of the weekend again. By the way, of the eight remaining teams, the Cowboys average 21.2 points a game. That is the last, lowest among remaining playoff teams. And on the road, they average 17.5 points a game.
Starting point is 01:45:33 That is last among the remaining. eight playoff teams. We know certain things about the Cowboys. What we also know about the Cowboys, if they run the bowl well at home they win, on the road, they're not the same offense. So, John... Cowboys will not be the highest scoring team in the NFL for the second
Starting point is 01:45:53 straight week. By-sell or hold, Andy Reid will coach in his sixth conference championship game this season. You know, there's this narrative Andy can't win the big game. Did the Chiefs have a buy this week? Yes. Andy Reid, in 24 games off a by is 20 and 4.
Starting point is 01:46:12 And that includes 3 to 1. He's 3 and 1 in the postseason off a by. And they're 5.5 point favorites. And they got more quality players, especially on offense, where it's not close, over the Colts. So John... Bye, bye, bye, bye. Yeah, Andy Reid will coach in the AFC championship this season.
Starting point is 01:46:34 They will beat the Colts this weekend and face either of the game. Chargers or New England. Must pain you to say that. Buy seller hold. Carson Wentz will never start a playoff game for the Eagles. He's 26. The chance he's going to play to be like 38.
Starting point is 01:46:51 Never is a long time. With the Eagles? Well, this is an excellent owner, Jeffrey Lurie. Howie Roseman's an excellent GM. Doug Peterson's a very good coach. I know, I know it's crazy, but we do remember that Carson Wentz, in three years as a star including his rookie year out of North Dakota State, he's like 23 and 17.
Starting point is 01:47:12 So John, sell, sell, sell. Carson Wentz, over the next 12 to 13 years, zany of me will start and, you know, win a playoff game or two. And finally, buy sell or hold, a quarterback who has never won a Super Bowl will win his first this season. Okay, well, who's favored to win the Super Bowl? Drew Brees and the Saints. And they're favored by eight over Philadelphia.
Starting point is 01:47:37 And if they have to play the Rams of the Cowboys, they're going to be favored by probably about a touchdown the following week. And if you look at the numbers on the Saints when they're favored by a touchdown in standalone games under Sean Peyton and Drew Brees, they're really, really good. Also, obviously, Tom Brady, Nick Foles have won Super Bowls. Philadelphia, New England are good teams that are in the final eight. So John, sell, sell, sell.
Starting point is 01:48:02 I do think my favorite to win it all, Drew Brees and Philadelphia. Now I think they're going to be in for a complete battle this weekend. I don't buy Philadelphia is going to go there and get smoked. I am shocked. I'm not shocked by a ton, but sometimes you look at lines and you go, what? Like Philadelphia is like an eight-point dog. Philadelphia has got Fletcher Cox and Michael Bennett a great defensive line,
Starting point is 01:48:32 a veteran offensive line. They've got nice line-beye line. They moved the ball at the field. They have the best tight end or second best in football. Nick Foles and this staff, I'm sorry, and the pressure is all on the Saints. And by the way, Philadelphia played last weekend. So, you know, everybody always thinks buys help you. Not necessarily.
Starting point is 01:48:50 Well, in the NFL a lot of times, you're better off playing. By the way, MDrive is a supplement you should consider. Stronger, more energy. BuyMDrive.com. Refind your prime with MDrive. Joy Taylor with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.
Starting point is 01:49:10 So Jerry Jones was one of the big factors in the NFL's return to Hollywood. So you can imagine he's very excited to be facing the Rams in L.A. Rather than the Saints in the Big Easy. And he spoke about it yesterday. Well, we've got thousands of fans that are generational there in Los Angeles. And I'll bet I have 30 first and second cousins out there alone. I was actually born there in Englewood. in Los Angeles County Hospital.
Starting point is 01:49:38 And so I've got a great lineage of family that live there. It's a great feeling. We do feel very comfortable going to Los Angeles at play. Now that's not to say the Rams are going to make it comfortable for us. This is a dream matchup for the NFL, though. Oh, God, yes.
Starting point is 01:49:58 It really is. This game, I can't get my arms around. Dallas is in an amazing... Think about this. Think about the advantage. for Dallas this weekend. First of all, Sean McVeigh is the coaching genius. Right. Pressure's on him. The L.A. Rams went all in this year on veterans. They built this puppy up to win. The NFL in Los Angeles is still a fledgling business, right? There's a lot of
Starting point is 01:50:24 cynics in L.A. It matters to this organization. There's an organizational pressure to win. And also the Rams were at home favored by a touchdown. The pressure's all on the Rams this weekend. Which is surprising because it's the Cowboys. And it's going to be, that place is going to be rocking with Cowboys fans. They've won Dallas has the better defense. They've won eight of nine. They've got a coach that's been in multiple, you know, big games like this. I think Dallas, if I was Dallas, and at worse, it's a neutral field.
Starting point is 01:50:52 It could be a 60-40 cowboy crowd. And the Lakers are off on Saturday night and home on Sunday. So, you know, you may see a LeBron sighting there because, you know, he's a big Cowboys fan. Wow. Where'd you come up with that one? There's going to be a, oh, you know, which. You just dropped that nugget on the internet. So Bruce Ariens may not be a young unproven offensive mind that had beers with Sean McVeigh,
Starting point is 01:51:13 but they did hire him in Tampa, Buccaneers, as their new head coach, and he has to fix the quarterback like the other guys that have been hired around the league as of recent. And he might have the best odds of helping James Winston because they already have a history. When Winston was in middle school, he attended a football camp that Bruce Ariens was running, him and his son, Jake in Birmingham, Alabama. And for years, James has said that that was a turn. turning point for him. He said he's one of the first people that gave me the dream of getting to a Super Bowl. At the camp, he brought out his Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl ring and showed all of us, and that was one of those times.
Starting point is 01:51:45 I was just like, man, I want to get me one of those rings. Now, James had a very up and down year, you could say, not the best year for James. But this is a great hire for him. The winner in this whole thing is James Winston, easily. For sure. Bruce Ariens is going to bring some stability to that franchise. He's going to buy James a couple more years. this is clearly the last stand for James. I'm already kind of, not that I ever had stock on James Winston, but I was like interested to see what he developed into. I think you and I are in the same boat.
Starting point is 01:52:16 He needs to grow up, but there's something there. Well, I'm saying he needs to grow up for me is like, you knew what he was in college. There was no mystery about James Winston whatsoever. So you took the risk with him. And so far it has not paid off. And he has not shown that he has grown up, if you will, in any way. So I don't know what will happen with Bruce and James,
Starting point is 01:52:37 but I do think that Bruce was the best for that position. And finally, Clay Thompson said goodbye to his mid-season slump last night. He dropped seven-threes against the Knicks to a 43-point game. Clay is streaky. When he gets hot, watch out. Yes. Now, what was most impressive was he only took four dribbles in that performance, which apparently impressed LeBron,
Starting point is 01:52:58 who posted on Instagram writing, This is Dope, hashtag Flamethrower. so maybe he's doing a little recruiting push there himself. Leon, Ron, he knows he has a couple million followers on there. You know what that's called? That's called catch and shoot. There's a term in the NBA. Clay Thompson's the best catch and shoot guy in the league.
Starting point is 01:53:16 He is remarkable when he is on. And so he was 43 points, 8 of 29 shooting 7 of 16 from distance. But that's not all. You know, we talked a little bit about ghosts with Tony Gonzalez yesterday. And it appears that there was a ghost on the court last night. Clay Thompson had a little running. You can see it right here. It was like, oh, where did that come from?
Starting point is 01:53:40 That's funny. How did that happen? He was not touched, and he even argued for the foul. You can see it closer there. I don't know. The ball just slipped out of his hands. The ghost of Tony Gonzalez. Yes, Tony Gonzalez's creepy lady found their way to the game.
Starting point is 01:53:53 Blocked Clay shot. Good stuff. Way to go, Clay Thompson. Good dude. Joy of the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. Well, he's one of the best defensive backs in the NFL. He played for the Green Bay Packers for four years and sort of inexplicably.
Starting point is 01:54:08 Nobody could quite understand it. They didn't resign him. And the Chargers said, yeah, we'll take him. And he's gone on to be a pro bowler there. Multiple pro bowlers, seven years in the NFL. Casey Hayward is joining us with the Chargers via the Coward Global Satellite Network. First of all, Casey, thanks for coming on the show. We appreciate that.
Starting point is 01:54:25 Congratulations. It's interesting. So you were in practice for years with Aaron Rogers. And now you're in practice. every day with Philip Rivers. Does that, I mean, it would seem to me it's obvious. If you go up against a pro bowler at practice, Casey, it has to make you better.
Starting point is 01:54:42 Did it not? Has it not? Of course. Both guys have made me better for sure. Aaron and Phil for sure. Then I'm also going against pro bowlers at Y receiver on my team as well with Keenan. And then, you know, you got Mike Williams and the other Williams
Starting point is 01:55:02 and you got Tyreed and Trent. Travis. We got some good guys on the other side that help me out. Yeah, there's no question. I think the Chargers have the best roster in the NFL. I said this a couple of months ago. All right, so you're spending this week looking at Tom Brady. Tom Brady, we know, is older. When you watch Tom Brady on film and you faced him before, does he look the same? Is he harder to face? I mean, what do you see on film with Tom Brady, Casey? I think he's the same. He's a year older since the time we played him last. last year. So he probably ain't, he's probably not as mobile, but he probably never been mobile.
Starting point is 01:55:41 So he still got the same arm. He still got those same guys, mine with Brandon Cook. And they won their division. So we're traveling to those guys, so that's saying a lot about that team. Casey, it's very strange. I've watched you play every game this year. I swear to God, you're better on the road than you are at home. It's kind of a weird circumstance. So the organization moves from San Diego up and you're planning, you know, right now the stadium you're not going to be in a couple years. It is fascinating to watch your team. There is something about your team that you're almost this band of brothers when you go on
Starting point is 01:56:17 the road together and you play just fantastic. How do you explain it? Because it looks like you are clearly better on the road. I'm not sure. I guess we have been better on the road record-wise, but I'm not going to lie. I've read to play home games, especially in the playoffs. So we've been pretty good on the road, so hopefully we can go to New England and continue that streak of winning these games on the road outside of California. But I think as a whole, we just come together, you know, no matter the circumstances, no matter if things going right or wrong for us, we think we're going to win the game.
Starting point is 01:56:58 And that's what we're being doing on the road for these last, you know, eight games we've been on the road. You go from facing Lamar Jackson, who is an exceptional athlete, who at this point is probably a better runner than a thrower, to facing Tom Brady, who's about as fast as me, but as one of the great throwers of all time. So you're going to face two completely separate offenses in two weeks. How much of a challenge is that? It's definitely going to be a challenge because they run the ball well, and then Tom with his army, throw. the ball pretty well. Definitely two different quarterbacks. We know that Tom can make all the throws and last week we was kind of challenging Lamar to make all the throws. This week we got to be locked in on the run in the past from the up front to the linebackers to
Starting point is 01:57:52 the secondary. We all got kind of got to be locked in especially in the secondary because we know they can throw the ball. They got some good receivers that Tom trust and Hogan, Edelman, Dorsey, Dorset, I'm sorry. Dorset. Then, of course, course, Grunk, one of the best tight ends that I would play this game. So we kind of got to be locked in and ready to go. By the way, when you look at your situation right now, you're a football team with Anthony Lynn as head coach, and we don't know a ton about Anthony Lynn. You know, we've seen Mike McCarthy's and Sean Patens and Marvin Lewis. We don't know a ton about Anthony Lynn. Tell me what Anthony Lynn is like. Your team has
Starting point is 01:58:35 playing great. What makes him work in the NFL? Because people now are telling me, watch out for Anthony Lynn. He's the next great coach. What does he do? You know what? He doesn't take anything. He's going to hold everybody accountable from the quarterback to the last guy, you know, on the roster, to the practice-wide guy. He's going to hold everybody accountable. Everybody's treated the same way. And I kind of like that about him. You know, he doesn't BS anything and he's straightforward. And that's what this team about it. You know, he's hard-nosed. And that's what we try to. to be. You're a testament of your leaders on the team, and he's our leader, you know, on his
Starting point is 01:59:13 team, and he's hard-nosed. And that's what we try to try to be on each and every Sunday and try to, you know, take that same carry-over from him into the game. One more question. Mike McCarthy reportedly may get the New York Jets job. You played with him for four years. What could you tell me about Mike McCarthy? What was Mike McCarthy's strength as a football coach when he was your coach? He made everybody believe that you can win the games. And that's what it's about in this league. It's about winning games. And when I was there, we won a lot of games, a lot of playoff games.
Starting point is 01:59:48 And I think as an organization, at players, you want somebody that's in there that knows that, you know, the team can win. And a guy that's been a winner, and he's been a winner, minus these last two years. But I love Mike. He gave me my first chance. So I wish him the best of luck, no matter where he's at. Casey Hayward, Casey, what kind of game do you think it will be this weekend against New England? High scoring, low scoring, it could be cold weather. Do you envision a certain type of game being played?
Starting point is 02:00:22 I can't envision a type, but for our defense, we hope it's a low-scoring game. Right. You know, that means we're playing well on defense. And on our offense, I hope they score a lot. But it probably never is probably never the way that you envision. They got a really good team. They're good on offense. They're good on defense and they're good on special teams.
Starting point is 02:00:44 So they got the right combination of things to win, you know, a combination of a team to go out there and win it. But we also do. We got a good defense, a good offense, and a good special team. And we also got a good leader in field. So we both got the same, you know, ingredients to go out here and try to, you know, make a Super Bowl run. Casey, good luck to you and the Chargers this weekend. No problem, man. Thank you very much.
Starting point is 02:01:09 You bet. By the way, coming up, preparing. I've been waiting for this all day. Joy, I've been waiting for this all day. Prepare to get your mind blown. We're going to show you the most brilliant way to predict who's going to win the Super Bowl. I do not. This is, I've been thinking about this all day.
Starting point is 02:01:25 I came up with a new game and I don't know the answer yet. Are you ready to get your mind blown? I'm very interested. Okay. Not joking. Get ready. Are you sure? Could you do that sometimes?
Starting point is 02:01:37 What joke? When, when, like, it's serious. No, this is serious, serious. I love what we're about to do. I came up with this theory this morning. It's not the quarterback face game? No, that game's stupid. That's the dumbest thing I've ever done.
Starting point is 02:01:49 This is the smartest thing I've ever done next. And that's coming up and best for last. 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. The NSC. Divisional Playoffs kick off this weekend on Fox. On Saturday, Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys, take on Todd Gurley and the Rams. Then on Sunday, Nick Bowls. and the Eagles battle jubries and the Saints.
Starting point is 02:02:14 It's all happening this weekend on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Oh, make some predictions on the show tomorrow and Friday. So they say defense wins championships. Last year, there was one punt in the Super Bowl. There were 74 points, and those were highly ranked defenses. It's about offense now. You can't deny that. We know the quarterback matters.
Starting point is 02:02:35 But a quarterback and the coach calling the right plays and what they have to work with, the NFL has changed. That's not to say you can be terrible defensively, but the best two defensive teams, the Bears couldn't win at home and the Ravens couldn't win at home. This is not about defense. Last year we talked about, oh, the Vikings great defense and this great day. Those teams didn't make it to the Super Bowl. It's an offensive league. And so I am going to, I've created a formula.
Starting point is 02:03:07 I have created a formula which I believe are the three most important facets. to winning a Super Bowl. And I'd like to humbly present my formula now. Some men have dedicated their lives to solving the great mysteries of the universe. But one man decided to use his powers for something much
Starting point is 02:03:28 more important. Figuring out who will win the Super Bowl. This is coach quarterback weapons. Okay, so the game is called Coach quarterback weapons. I will rank the remaining eight coaches, the remaining eight quarterbacks,
Starting point is 02:03:44 and the remaining eight assets or weapons they have. And I don't know the final result, but I believe this now wins the Super Bowl. The quarterbacks, the coaches, and the weapon. So let's start my head coaching rankings. I do not know how this is going to end up. This has been like a game all week. They won't tell me. Joy will reveal it.
Starting point is 02:04:04 So the best coach is Bill Belichick. Nobody argues that. It's probably the best coach in the history of the league. I would say Sean Payton is second. He is favored to win his second Super Bowl. and he's considered he was really Sean McVey before Sean McVey. Andy Reid doesn't have a Super Bowl but has been to five NFC championships. He's won everywhere he's been.
Starting point is 02:04:22 Kansas City is now a number one seed. I would put Sean McVeigh ahead of Doug Peterson only because Peterson has a Super Bowl, but I do believe McVeigh's IQ and childhood advantage will over time lead him to be ahead of Doug Peterson. Then Frank Reich, Anthony Lynn, Jason Garrett, 6, 7, 8. I think they're all talented guys. all going to last. They're going to get multiple contracts, but I don't, I don't see one above the other. So Belichick 1, Peyton, Reed, McVeigh, Peterson, Frank Reich, Anthony Lynn, Jason, Garrett, one through eight. Okay, now let's go to quarterback rankings. So the way that should work is at the end,
Starting point is 02:05:01 the smallest number should win, right? Right. Right. You don't want to be 24 and be 8-8-8. You want to be three, best quarterback, best coach, best weapon. So let's go to best quarterback rankings. Again, I do not know how this is going to turn out. Now, I like Andrew Luck more than you like Andrew Luck. I don't think there's any team in the league. Two of their three best players are rookies. I think Andrew Luck, and only Andrew Luck, could have this team winning a playoff game. I think this is the weakest roster. Now, I don't think it's a terrible roster. And I think after nine draft picks and 100 million in cap space, it may vie for the best roster next year. Yeah. But right now, it is a rebuilding roster.
Starting point is 02:05:47 It is not a complete roster. They need two corners. They need a pass rusher. They need another tackle. They could probably use a big-time free agent-wide receiver, a two-receiver, and they could use running back depth. So luck is my quarterback, number one. Patrick Mahomes, I'll put second.
Starting point is 02:06:05 Now, Drew Breeze is third, but Drew is older, does not throw the ball vertically down the field. Mahomes is a better athlete. I think he's a right now he's got a significantly better arm. True Breeze does not throw the ball down the field. He doesn't throw it over 18 yards. You got Tom Brady at five, huh? Well, I have Breeze at three, Philip at four. Right now, Philip is younger and I think more vibrant than Tom Brady.
Starting point is 02:06:28 I'm not banging on Tom Brady. But I don't think Tom is not the athlete. I don't think he stretches the field like he did. I don't think Tom's as good as he was even a year or two years ago. I would put golf six. I still think I wonder if he can win. as well without Todd Gurley. I think Gurley's a big component to his success.
Starting point is 02:06:46 Jared Goff's also hard to figure out. He's got Sean McVeigh, a great left tackle, a star running back in good receivers, and really talented tight ends. How much is Goff and how much is everything else? I like him more than I like Nick Foles and Dak. Prescott. That's all I can figure out. So I got Luckma Holmes, Breeze Rivers, Brady Goff, Foles, Prescott.
Starting point is 02:07:05 We're not talking about legacy here. Tom would be number one. I'm talking about now today this morning. Now let's go to weapons. they matter, folks. The rules have all changed. The rules have all changed. You've got to have backs. You've got to have tight ends. You've got to have receivers. You can't, you've got to have, you got to have, you don't think Dak Prescott is better with Amari Cooper. Good God, his stats changed. All right. Kansas City Chiefs have the best weapons in football. They have the best tied in. They have the fastest player. Their left tackle Eric Fisher is a Pro Bowl level guy. They have Sammy Watkins. Their schemes are terrific. I think they have great weapons. They have two deep threats, the best tied in-in-in football, workable, you know, running backs. Now that Kareem Hunt has been jettison, I would put them one.
Starting point is 02:07:55 I would put in a very, very close second. And I mean very close, the Los Angeles Chargers. They have better, they have deeper receivers than Kansas City. They have a tight end, not as good as Travis Kelsey. They're running backs are the best remaining in football. So this is a coin flip. Chiefs won, Chargers, too. I like the Saints, personnel, then Rams, Cowboys, Eagles, Colts, Patriots.
Starting point is 02:08:20 I'm sorry, but gromps a shell of himself. They don't really have a number one receiver. Edelman, to me, Edelman is about gone in the NFL. Philip Dorset was a bust in Indy, and the running backs are good. They're not special. So believe it or not, I have the Patriots at number eight in terms of weapons. So the game is called coach, quarterback, and weapons. What you want is the smallest numbers.
Starting point is 02:08:45 You want to be number one coach, one quarterback, and one weapons. I have no idea how this is revealed. So Joy Taylor, for our TV and radio audience, unveil the finish. Okay, I will start with number eight. Okay, who was last? The eight, who was last? The Dallas Cowboys. Really?
Starting point is 02:09:06 Yes. Well, they are a touchdown underdog. Okay, I have no idea. So the cowboys are eight. So the Cowboys are eight. Number seven is the Philadelphia Eagles. Well, they're an eight point underdog. So so far our formula, according to Vegas, is lining up because Vegas has these two as the lowest teams.
Starting point is 02:09:24 That is true. And then the Colts at number six. We're going right along Vegas's. Maybe they stole your formula. Did I say this? I may be a genius. Number five is the New England Patriots. Okay, so I've told you, I don't think, I think they're close,
Starting point is 02:09:47 but I don't think they're a Super Bowl winning team. We are lining up like Vegas. Number four, the Rams. Yeah, see, I think my gut feeling is they get to the NFC championship, which would make them a final four team. Number three, the Los Angeles Chargers. This is, I cannot believe. this. And number two. Because I have them losing. Right. If they did beat the Patriots,
Starting point is 02:10:16 and I'm not sure they would, because I have the Patriots and Chargers is a coin flip, but I, there's a home field. I mean, listen, Tom Brady's 8-0 Foxboro. So here's it should be in the Super Bowl. Here we go. Number two is the Saints. And number one, the winner of this year's Super Bowl is the Kansas City Chiefs. You're not, not. I told Scott Shapiro, my radio boss, called me four days ago. He goes, I need a Super Bowl prediction for our radio affiliates. And I picked Kansas City facing the Saints in the Super Bowl. Can I run the intro again? Can we run the intro again? It's you and Einstein.
Starting point is 02:10:53 We have an outro for it. Is there an outro a word? We have an intro and an outro. Go ahead. This has been coach, quarterback weapons. Revolutionary. Is this the greatest thing I've ever done? I created my own Every Vegas casino right now is like Cowherd's just created a new formula I mean it's very close to Vegas
Starting point is 02:11:18 I cannot believe how close it is to Vegas Coach quarterback rigged It's aligned with Vegas as odds Except I think they'd have Saints One and Chips are favored Holy Lordy See you tomorrow Last night a blown call changed a game
Starting point is 02:11:34 This morning the internet lost its mind And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story
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Starting point is 02:12:02 And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella 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. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on.
Starting point is 02:12:43 A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihar Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway
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