The Herd with Colin Cowherd - NFL playoffs, Patriots, Eagles, and being special

Episode Date: January 14, 2019

Colin discusses the outcome of the NFL divisional playoff games, why this might be the best time to beat the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles overachieving, why the New Orleans Saints aren't as good as some think, and why the Dallas Cowboys are good, but not special. Guests include Terry Bradshaw, Matt Mosley, Jarrett Bell, Bucky Brooks, and Trent Dilfer. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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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 a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

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

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

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood.

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

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One hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. Terry Bradshaw, 30 minutes from now, and Joy Taylor joining me in a great Monday. Good morning. What a weekend? I've never gone eight no in the first eight playoff games ever. Oh, my, I'm like a wizard. I just want everybody, we're going to start with this. I want everybody to remember this.

New England has 12 draft picks this year, six in the first three rounds. They're going to reload. This is the year to beat New England. This is the year. I watched Tom Brady this weekend. He didn't look that old. Whatever he's using. hemp pajamas, kale pajamas, whatever he's using, it's working.

I want you to think about this. This is the year to beat New England. You better do it now because they're stocking up with 12 draft picks. They'll move off Grong. They'll get some salary cap space. Think about this. This year, for the first time in like 10, had to rebuild the O line. This year, for the first time in a decade, gronks a shell of himself.

New England all year long did a lot of non-New England things. First of all, they were terrible on the road. Do you know the Patriots were sub-500 on the road? Three in five. That's not New England. New England had controversy for several months coming into the season. That's not the Patriot Way. Every year they have a stinker in September.

This year, they had three horrible losses, all to horrible teams. Detroit, the Jags, Tennessee. That's not the Patriot way. Situationally, they melted down in Miami. I don't remember that happening once in 18 years. This is the year they were rattled and out of sorts. But it doesn't end there. Their left tackle, signed with the Giants,

most important position to protect your veteran quarterback. So they drafted an offensive lineman to play left tackle. He got hurt. So they had to go to San Francisco. They have a right tackle playing left tackle. It doesn't end there. They were so desperate this season. And New England's never desperate.

They went and signed the poster child in the NFL for wasted talent, Josh Gordon. When's New England ever been desperate? They were this year. It doesn't end there. Cordorell Patterson, two times this year, led them in rushing yards as a running back. A wide receiver who'd never played running back became their best running back. New England has been controversial, bad on the road, can't figure out the left tackle. key injuries, losing to bad teams, situationally melting down.

Wide receivers are running backs. Running backs are wide receivers. If New England goes to Kansas City and wins this weekend, AFC waive the white flag. I mean, this is the most vulnerable they're ever going to be. Because Tom Brady, I watched that game. Did he look old? That's as good as I've ever seen him play.

I mean, I can't remember a game he was that efficient against that kind of personnel. I mean, Kansas City this week, at home, veteran head coach, mostly healthy, great head coach, extra day to prepare. I mean, New England can't possibly. 35 to 7 at half over the chargers play close to that, right? Kansas City even got a break. New England played perfect. You can't play perfect in the NFL in back-to-back weeks. New England's got 12 draft picks, 12 of them.

So they're going to be really good next year, and they're going to be favored again. And the Jets and Bill still have young quarterbacks. And Miami didn't have a coach. The one thing New England has is a quarterback who plays to this day, despite being the goat, with a chip on his shoulder. The second that game was over, here was Tom Brady. We played them earlier this year. I know everyone thinks we suck and, you know, can't win any games. So we'll see.

It'll be fun. This is the most non-New England year ever. Controversy, bad on the road, losing multiple times to bad teams. Gronks a shell of himself. I mean, controversy. I mean, this doesn't. look like New England. This is not who they are. Public stories, coach, quarterback, don't get along. And yet, a rookie running back mulled the Chargers Front 7. Here's some Sony Michelle.

Coming out of a charger timeout. Michelle, Michelle's driving. Give him touchdown number three. Brock, you're going to see him, and Devon 46 goes in there and you go behind those two. And look at, they just Push them. I mean, it's just like... They're out physically. Yes, they're just pushing them. Every battle. Hitting harder.

I'm stronger. I'm going at you. Try and stop us. You saw the Chargers beat Kansas City in Kansas City last time they played. How did the Chargers match up with New England? I mean, I don't remember a New England year that was more off brand, where they were more vulnerable. Kansas City, you don't beat them this weekend. nine degrees at home, MVP, healthy, you're not beating them for a while.

Because this one is set up. The other break, in the NFL, you never play the same way back-to-back weeks. New England's not going to play that well. New England can't be perfect. Not even New England's perfect back-to-back weekends. They were perfect. That won't happen again. Man, cross your fingers in Kansas City.

You better be all in on this puppy because this is the unpatriot-Patriot season. and here they come. All right, let's shift gears. Rams beat the Cowboys. And I think what you saw Saturday night is what you're going to see a lot of for the next seven to eight years. This is what you're going to see next seven to eight years from Dallas.

They're going to be good enough to win a division. They're going to be good enough to win playoff games. But they'll hit a ceiling because Jason, Garrett, and Dak are good, solid, but they're not special. And to get to next weekend in the NFL, that's for special people. For the record, here's the remaining coaches. Belichick, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Sean McVeigh. Many people believe those are the four best coaches in the NFL.

Belichick, Reed, and Peyton will be Hall of Famers. I suspect Sean McVeigh will be too. Who are the four remaining quarterbacks in the NFL playoffs? Tom Brady is the best that's ever played. Drew Brees, that holds every record that Tom Brady doesn't. Patrick Mahomes is the MVP, and Jared Goff is a number one pick and a great, great thrower of the football. Special people. This round of the playoffs is for special people.

Now, now I said it Friday, DAC is Alex Smith. Mobile, great leadership qualities, solid dude, can win you games, but Alex had trouble winning that game. Saturday night Dallas was out-coached by a special coach and out-quarterbacked by a more special quarterback. And Dallas was out-schemed and didn't have much of a running game, so what did they need? The same thing we asked of Alex Smith several times. Hey, dude, can't run the ball. We need you to carry us to a win here on the road. We need you now to carry us.

And Dak didn't because that's not who Dak is. there is a way for DAC to win. At home, running game. You have to remember, Aaron Rogers is coming back next year. Carson Wentz is coming back next year. San Francisco Kyle Shanahan, that's a special coach. He gets his quarterback. The NFC, when you start looking at the last several years, has been about special people. Russell Wilson, Drew Breeze, McVeigh, Aaron Rogers, Khalil Mack, Kyle Shanahan, Sean Peyton, Cam, Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox, Carson Wentz, Doug Peterson. There's a lot of special in there. That's who ends up playing in the end in the NFC. A lot of special, special coaches, special players, special quarterbacks. Jason Garrett and Dak are very good and very solid, but they're not special. And Saturday night is exactly what Dallas is going to face for the next seven to eight years.

They weren't embarrassed. They're not going to get embarrassed. In the last two weeks, I've only missed on one game against the sports. bread, this was it. I thought Dallas would lose very, very close. They weren't embarrassed. They got pushed around, but they weren't embarrassed. They shouldn't be. Jason Garrett's a good, solid coach, and Dak's a good solid quarterback. But it's all about expectations. If you're bothered by Saturday, then you need to lower expectations. Because the NFC lays it out for you. It is the conference of special. Rogers, McVeigh, Breeze, Sean Pays.

Ayrne, Donald, Fletcher Cox. These are, these are special people. And good is just not good enough. Coming up next, there was one losing team I was blown away with. In fact, I was more impressed with one losing team in a game than the team that beat them. And that's coming up next plus Terry Bradshaw. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies,

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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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist. Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Destin, Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me care gains is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way

open your free iHeart radio app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is cliver Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, the Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

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

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night bases on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, You go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

So great to have you in. Terry Bratch, I'll be joining us on the show today. Trent Dilfer, we are loaded today. You know, the idea of what the Saints are. The idea is not the reality. This is a grind team. You know, you think of the Saints in the Superdome, and you think fast. track, 400 yards passing, Drew Brees, down the field. That's not what the Saints are. They had an 11-minute drive because that's what they needed to have. They needed a fake punt in their own territory.

Tassum Hill, who was a quarterback at BYU. They needed a dropped interception by the Eagles. Philadelphia was without Fletcher Cox for a big chunk of the game. He's in a remarkable player. He's next to Aaron Donald, best defensive lineman in the National Football League. You know, I mean, it's like New Orleans is a grind team. They are not spectacular. They have no tight end presence. Their second best wide receivers are running back. Ted Ginn, please.

They've got no deep threat. The idea of what the Saints are is not what the Saints are. They are a very, very beatable team. And I've always been a fan of people, teams, families that overcome stuff. Tip of the cap to Philadelphia. How in the hell was Philadelphia driving for the win in that game? Philadelphia is using a backup quarterback. quarterback. They're on the road for the fifth time in six weeks. Their defensive linemen all took

turns getting hurt and they lost their second best offensive lineman during the game. They're on a four-string running back and using recycled soda cans in the secondary. And it took amazing Drew Bree's feats, third and 16, third and 13, to escape with a win. I mean, Philadelphia, that coaching staff give them all raises. They had no business. being in that game. They had no business taking a lead. They had no business being the team that came out with energy. I mean, for the first hour of that game, they had the Saints on the ropes. If the Saints don't get that first down on that fake kick, I'm not sure. That game's not over. Because, I mean, New Orleans needed everything. Fake kick, drop pick by the Eagles, multiple injuries to

win that game. Philly was driving. Philly was driving to win that football game. It's nothing against New Orleans, I was blown away by Philadelphia. I was as, I'm not joking when I say this. Last year, everybody fell in love with Nick Foles, but they were playing home games. You know, I mean, it was like they were healthy, they were a really good football. They're all beat up.

I mean, they got secondary guys I've never heard of. I watch every NFL game. They got guys in the secondary I've never heard of. They're off four-string running backs. You know how hard it is to win on the road five times in six weeks? You saw the Chargers on back-to-back roadies? the Chargers, a great roster on back-to-back road trips, did not show up.

They were out four minutes into the game, it was over. For Philadelphia to be in that game to the end with a backup, and I mean, that was, I'm blown away by Philadelphia. So don't sell your stock on the Eagles. I mean, because they're going to be Carson Wentz's back. They're going to be significantly healthier. They've shown an ability to acquire free agents at a high level and draft at a high level. I've said their owner of their GM, their coach, and their quarterback are all A. They're all A talents.

So when you're an A going into the season every year, owner, GM coach, and quarterback, you're not going anywhere. If you told me today there's a team that's going to dominate the NFC East and I had to pick one, I'd pick Philadelphia. That was character. I mean, that was impressive. I know how it works. If you win a game, you're a genius.

And if you lose a game, you're a bum. That's the way it works in sports. Blown away by Philadelphia yesterday. Blown away. I mean, I took him in the point. I thought the Saints would win, and I thought, you know, Philly will keep it close. The first two rounds of that fight, Saints were almost on the canvas in the Superdome. All the other teams that got rest dominated.

K.C. off a by, great. Belichick off a buy, great. Rams off a buy, great. Saints off a buy almost got knocked out in the second round. A fake punt is literally saved them. BYU quarterback basically saved. They needed Drew Breeze to do these, you know. So I say, Drew Breeze is one of the eight best quarterbacks I've ever seen.

He had to do third in 13 and third and 16. And Drew's Drew. I mean, he just can't draw up the stuff. He does. All right, here's Joy with the News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Oh, the Chargers. Oh, Lord. Sweet Chargers. Lord. Chargers, they did what the Chargers do. They make it really far and then just like, just right there. I was pulling for them, though. At one point in the third quarter yesterday, after scoring 31 unanswered points,

the Patriots had more first downs than the Chargers had offensive plays. 21 to 20. It was a disaster that didn't stop Brady from still throwing passes late in the game, which left many wondering why Bill Belichick wasn't resting Brady for the AFC championship game. And here was his reasoning. We were trying to score until I thought the game got to the point where they didn't really have enough possessions to catch us. Look, we saw, we've seen Paid Manning come down from 21 points in four minutes and win. So it's not over until it's over in this league.

No 28 point lead, 24 point lead, 21 point lead. I don't think that's ever really safe in this league. I've seen him evaporate. He's totally right on that. Yes, they've also had quite the comeback themselves in the Super Bowl. And by the way, he had a game he won this year at Miami in Law, so Belichick's not letting anything go. Look, nothing bothers me the way that it bothers me. this running up the score thing in professional sports.

What is this nonsense? You step on their throat. What are you talking about? Yeah. There's no relaxing. Somebody doesn't need a couple minutes off in the fourth quarter to get ready for the AFC championship game. How many times does he play in the AFC championship game?

He's going to be all right. That's what they had to buy for. Yeah. I mean, just relax with this running up the score. It's like a high school talk. That's what you're talking about in high school. In high school? In high school? Okay.

Yeah. You know, in the popcorn? Okay, sometimes even in college. Even in college, I guess it's like, all right, you know what? Like, this is not a big school. You don't need to make it 85 to 3. But this is professional sports. There's no running up the score.

They're going to be all right. And the Chargers, well, they could have tried to stop them, but not quite. So against the Colts, we saw Patrick Mahomes play like a season-composed veteran. But on top of that, we saw Kansas City's defense transform into a monster that stopped the Colts, holding them to 126 total yards through three quarters, zero first-time. downs until late in the first half. Now, this was the part of the Kansas City team that was considered its weakness. And here is Justin Houston on the Chief's defensive performance.

Like you said, I'm being a lot of great units. I just think we're jelling together. We're on the same page when we make our rush and make our moves. So as long as we together and we're rushing on the same page, the best is yet to come. I think we was communicating and we was playing together. And once you get that done, you communicate everybody on the same page. the sky's the limit for this defense. They actually have

defensively they have spots they're not great at. But Chris Jones is at times unblockable up front. D. Ford's a great pass rusher. Justin Houston's been in this league forever. So they're actually the one area that

they're really good at is up front which is what Brady has struggled with, which is pressure. To me this game comes down. If New England can block Chris Jones, then New England's got a shot to go in there and win. If they can't, big trouble. I think it comes down to Kansas City. Can't make any big mistakes. Right. There can't be any crucial interceptions by Mahomes.

And they're probably going to end up being who has the ball last, to be honest with you, because it's going to be a shootout. But I was very impressed with the Kansas City defense. I think they were just, they're just tired of people talking bad about them. And they really played amazing. Do you know I've already bet both games for next week so far? I'm 8-no straight-up.

I got a lot of confidence. Well, that's fair. I've already bet both my games. You just just keep the street going. I feel, I'm not, I'll tell you Friday, but I feel very good. All right, and finally, he were just talking about the Eagles. Alshan Jeffrey was a playoff hero for the Eagles a year ago. Two touchdown passes in the NFC championship game, one in the Super Bowl. This time around, not so much.

His postseason ended in a heartbreak. The Eagles were 27 yards away from a game-winning touchdown. Nick Folse, there was a dart, went through Jeffrey's hands, picked off by Marshawn Latimore, and that sealed the 2014 win. And Alshon Jeffrey should have to blame after the game. The play I didn't make, I mean, went through my hands. I mean, he put me and catch a ball. I got to make that play.

That's on me. I'll take that loss. That's on me. That's all my teammates down. City of Philadelphia. That's on me. I'll take that. I mean, move on.

I mean, it hurts right now. I guarantee we'll be back next year for sure. He's a good player. He's a good player. And listen, the reality with Alshan Jeffrey, he makes that play 90% of the time. He has had so many big catches for that team. Well, look, I mean, I understand how he's feeling that way.

He's a competitor and they just lost. And now they're out of the playoffs. So you're going to be down on yourself. but it should never come down to someone having to make an incredible play in the last moment. And I get it. It's the playoffs. That's kind of the point. But where do the Eagles offense go?

I mean, they had the opportunity there at the end of the game. You know what I thought? I thought they'd look gassed at the end. I mean, how many weeks can you play on the road? I kept thinking this the whole game, Joey. I kept thinking if Philadelphia wins this game, they're going to have to fly back to Philly, 3,000 miles out west. The bet of the year would have been the Rams facing an Eagle team.

on the road for the six time in seven weeks. And not just on the road. You've got to fly from New Orleans to Philly. You're going to lose a day and a half or to a day of just film study compared to the Rams sitting around playing on Saturday night, extra day, never leaving. I mean, Philadelphia, I mean, I can tell you, the Rams, we're rooting for Philadelphia hard.

Absolutely. The Rams are definitely rooting for Philadelphia. I mean, look, they really weren't even supposed to be there at the end of the season. So I can't, I understand he's going to be hard on him. but I don't think anybody is putting that loss on Alshon Jeffrey. Completely agree. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Yeah, I mean, when you, by the way, Kansas City is favored by a field goal. Saints are favored by a little more than a field goal. You know, I think one of the things we saw this weekend is the regular season really matters in the NFL. In the NBA, you know, the Cavs last year, the Warriors won a game seven on the road. You know, in the NBA, you can be awful for the first two or three games in a series and come back. You get into this NFL right now, and we haven't had a Super Bowl team since 2012 that played a playoff road game.

If you look at the last five Super Bowls, the seeds have all been one seeds or one and two seeds. and that's buys at home, being rested. It matters. I thought Philadelphia, I thought the chargers looked gassed. The Colts were a dome team that had to play in lousy weather. I don't think they had any energy. Frankly, I think Philadelphia getting a lead was remarkable, but I think after about the first quarter,

they didn't have the same energy. And frankly, Dallas went into Los Angeles, and how sharp did the Rams look? I mean, the Rams offensive line just mauled the Cowboys very talented defensive front. So I think one of the things that you can't deny, and it's just out there, is that, you know, the regular season in the NFL, getting home field advantage, getting a buy. New England now is 12 and 1 in the divisional round. Belichick, Belichick tends to like veteran teams, give them a couple of weeks off,

schematically come in. New England wins 92% of the time when they score four. first, and we predicted Friday, we said, New England's going to look really good early. I don't know what happens late, but they're going to look really good early. And with that, a guy that looks good early or late. He is a four-time Super Bowl champ. In two of those, he was the MVP, a former number one draft pick, pro football Hall of Famer,

and one of the guys that helped build this company, Terry Bradshaw. Look at you. Thank you so much. Sports coat. Good morning. Look at you. You took it seriously. Look at you.

You got a big meeting. with like big people later. Not at all. Look, I had a t-shirt on. I liked your professionalism. And they came and said, you've got to wear a coat. I said, stars don't have to wear a coat. They said you're not a star.

Well, I just want to start with a, let's just start. I'll start with the dynasty, New England. Terry, I know age matters. I get it. I get all that. Even though Tom Brady wears, you know, kale pajamas, I get it. that's about as sharp, Terry, as I've seen Tom look. And maybe because of the rest, when you get older, maybe the two weeks matter.

But, Lordy, that's as good as I've seen Tom look, right? It was impressive. It was awfully impressive. It wasn't the four-touchdown, you know, 400-yard game, but he still had one touchdown in over 300 yards. And it was just from the very beginning of the game, he was just sharp right off the bat. The touchdown passed in the corner. second quarter was just a beautiful throw.

And they, it seems like, I know America's tired of them. Yeah. I mean, I know when I played in the 70s, people hated. They got tired. They get tired of you. I get that. But we have to respect and you have to applaud the job they do. And the fact that this time of year, they're relevant.

When you think they're not, they are. And now they go to Kansas City. and I just ran into a guy in the elevator, big Chiefs fan, and he says, well, we got them where we want them. I said, oh, really? You think you do? Yeah, well, I mean, Belichick has a history of making life a little uncomfortable for young quarterbacks, and Mahomes is still a puppy.

Now, he's great, but he's still a young guy. You know what? They have 12 draft picks New England does this year, so they're going to reload a little bit. They're going to be fine. I will say this, though. As you age, you can still be great. Kobe had 60 points in his last game,

but it takes a little longer. Like I thought, you know, I said this before the game. New England's a team. Brady's a player. Buy weeks are good for him. I don't know if you can, can you duplicate that now in a shorter week? Let me just. Let me just disagree just a little bit.

Okay, okay. Because, excuse me, I think as a quarterback, speaking only as a quarterback, when you've played for such a long time, you are so comfortable, okay? Yeah. There's very little you haven't seen and seen a lot. And so when you get into games such as yesterdays against the Chargers, Tom's just comfortable. He's comfortable.

He never has been a great athlete. But he is smart. He's comfortable. And all of those years have experienced, there's no need for age to be a problem. He never has had a cannon of an arm, but he has a very good arm. And he's kind of a shoulder thrower, you know, and so you can just keep slinging it. I disagree.

There's guys like maybe Cam Newton who run a lot or physically going to get beat up. Guys that do scramble a lot, the kid down in Houston, they're going to get beat up. You're going to get beat up. Michael Vick got beat up running. That's what slows you down. As long as you have your legs, you're fine as a quarterback. And they always protect you. They give you a pocket.

Yeah, that's what Marino lost. Marino lost the legs, not the arm. Right. I have a friend Drew Bledsoe. Drew's like, I can still throw it. Yes. But my legs are gone. Yes, yes.

You have to stay in shape. I'm probably at 70, stronger than I was at 40, easily, because I work out so hard with my legs. I've never done that before. Back in when I play, we didn't lift. We didn't do anything. But now I'm stronger in my legs so that when I go walk in the volcanoes and Hawaii and everything, my lungs might get my legs don't get tired.

So I work out with my legs. So your legs can be the first thing to go for sure. That arm is always there. Always there. I don't see a passer losing his strength in his arm from the day he starts playing unless he gets hurt. And by the way, Tom has always been a very good cold weather thrower. A, because he's played at Michigan. He played here.

And he also, his torque. So Tom going to Kansas City in bad weather is no advantage for anybody other than Tom's been in that kind of crappy weather his whole career And the crowds have you ever figured out? I wish some psychologist would come on this show one day and say Why are we better at home than we are on the road? It's got to be what? Psychological It has to be. They don't make a tackle Those crowds don't make a tackle. They boo you. They don't like you.

But if you're prepared and ready to play and you're of sound mind, mind. You should play well. So why, you ever figured it out? Well, I think some of it's harder to audible on the road. By the way, if you travel in back-to-back weeks historically, you're a little worn out physically. That's what happened with the charges too. Going east coast, West Coast, East Coast, East Coast. I almost wish that probably if they'd have stayed on the East Coast, maybe go down to Florida or something instead of going all the way back across the country. Because we've got trade wins right now over 100 miles an hour. That wasn't a short flight coming back from Baltimore. You're smart. You think of everything. You even think of the

trade wins. I've never had a guy in the show think of the trade wins. Well, thank you. I've never, I've never had smart applied to me, but I do appreciate it. So let's go. So we talk New England. Let's go into the team they'll play, because I'm going to hold you over and have you do NFC stuff. Yeah. I didn't, listen, luck, and this is no excuse, Mahomes was the better of the two. Andrew looked off. He's a dome quarterback. I like Kansas City to win the game anyway. I thought his ball floated. I just thought Andrew didn't look tight. I just thought he was off. when the game started, the very first pass, remember the very first pass? It was like six yards and it hit the ground.

And I turned to Jimmy and I said, he must be having trouble controlling the football. Must be slippery or his hands are frozen on top so you don't have the elasticity in the top of your hands. Sure. And he didn't have gloves on like a lot of these guys. Philip Rivers wore gloves yesterday. Tom had one on his left. Did Tom have a right glove on? I can't remember.

I don't think he did. Okay, but I said, wow, what's with that pass? It was not, his first half was not luck like. No, at all. Chris Sims on the pregame show, give Chris Sims Phil's son. He said in the pregame show, he goes, Mahomes looks, he goes, I just want to add this, Mahomes looks way more comfortable in pregame than luck does. Now, again, that's not an excuse.

I thought Andrew, that's as bad as I've seen him play. Right. He did start playing well. but what also happened they didn't protect him as well as they had been all year long and Kansas City someone's just slapped me crazy right now but where did that defense come from? Well Chris Jones up front is an emerging player

we know D. Ford can play but Terry this Chris Jones kid Yeah he's real. He's a real player. But that was not a great defense all year long by Kansas City and all of a sudden they were a dominant defense against the Colts which was very surprising. I know they're at home, know they got into the crowd and I know the weather was bad.

Once again, though, you got to step up. I was somewhat, well, I wasn't somewhat. I was extremely surprised by how great their defense played. Yeah, no, no, I pushed the Colts around. All over the place. The whole field. All over the place. We're talking Dallas Cowboys.

We're talking Saints, the great Terry Bradshaw. Four rings, two-time MVP and one of my favorite guys I've ever worked with next. It's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. All right, welcome back. All-timer. Hall of Famer, Terry Bradshaw. All right, let's go to the Cowboy game.

You know, I said this Friday. Only time I ever get angry is when my expectations are higher than reality. I think DAC is Alex Smith. I think you go in a division. You go in playoff games. Hell of a guy saw. Wow. Alex Smith has eight straight winning seasons, three Pro Bowls and five division titles.

When I say DAC is Alex Smith, people go, whoa. If I told you Cowboy fans, you go to eight straight winning. It's only a third year. I mean, I'm just surprised that you're. because Alex is, you know, he's, I'm pretty much done now. But Alex had a heck of a career. Didn't have your career, but a heck of a career. And I watched Dallas and I thought this is how seasons are going to end.

Well, I wouldn't want to, I mean, it's your job to get up here and have strong opinions. And I respect it. Don't get upset with it if I disagree. There's a part of me that I've always said, he still reminds me that he's in Mississippi State. I see a I see a there's a part of me that

I see that a guy zones in and he misses too many guys wide open he does wide open and I and if they had gotten past the Rams the one thing I was going to say but we don't have that much time with 12 people on the show

was that with is that one thing that really I'd be concerned about is he has to work on when you come up from pressure Don't miss those. When you got guys wide open, get them the ball. Don't have to be a touchdown. Just get them the ball.

But I like, he's won me over. He really has. I agree. I agree. But he's not a special arm talent. Terry, look who's left in the playoffs. No. Belichick, Reed, Mahomes, Brady.

Top four scoring offenses in the league. And the top four. His arm is every bit as good as Brady's. His arm's every bit as good as Breezes. My arm. I did know. noticed the other night, the balls to the sideline, then have the zip that I was hoping that he would have on him, but they were beautifully thrown balls. But he has a very adequate

above average arm, I would say he doesn't have. Whose arm doesn't he have? Mahomes is probably the only one in the playoffs that he can't lock up with. Do you think DAC, the way they lost, I mean, I didn't put it on DAC. I thought their defensive line got thrown around the field. What do you think? I mean, it's incredible. What, 273 yards rushing by the Rams? Two running backs. Two running backs. Had over 100 yards. So I don't put this on deck.

When I look at Dak, I don't see a special player. I see a good solid. I like him as a person. Rock solid, mobile, good dude. When he put his hand on his heart during the anthem, he doesn't have to be popular or liked. He'll do the unpopular thing in a room. There's a lot I love about it. Okay.

I would say that he gallop a young receiver. They picked up, no what, second and third round last year? I think he's got to elevate. Brought Cooper over. I thought Cooper was great in two or three games and disappeared. And then everybody said, ha, ha, ha, but he opened it up for everybody else. And I'd always say, look, you know, I don't believe in that. Look what the Saints and Thomas did.

He breaks the record. He catches 125 balls. You would think that when the Eagles played him, you would say, well, the one guy we've got to take away, we've got to take away. Camara will handle, but we've got to take away. Thomas, what did he catch yesterday? 13 balls? Yeah. 200-something yards. Okay, that's, to me, is Omari Cooper. That's what he has to be for the Cowboys.

10-12 catch guys. And I don't think, and here's the thing I like about Thomas and the Saints is the fact that they run a route that you don't see that off them in the league anymore. And it's called an in-rout, a deep-in-rout. An 18-yard to 20-yard in route. In Pittsburgh, we would call that a dig, a shallow short route, about 12 yards. And on top of that, there is a tremendous hole in defenses. But people, it's a little too long, maybe a little, you don't trust your line that long. But, boy, the Saints run it, and that guy made three huge catches on the deep end.

Let's talk about. But I do like Prescott. I'm trying to say is just put better talent around him. He's good. He doesn't panic. He's a poise. He's strong. All those.

I will say this, though. The Cowboy O line is getting old. It was two years ago the best offensive line in the league. It's not anymore. No, they're starting to get hurt. Fitzpatrick has been out all year. They're a great center. Yes.

Will the nilness hill? Frederick, yep. Zach Martin has been hit and miss. Smith has been hurt at left tackle. So I don't know. I look at Dallas. I just think the NFC's got so many special people. Let's go to the Saints.

When I say Saints, you think, oh, my God, they just throw the ball. ball up the field. Terry, they had an 11-minute drive yesterday. This Saints team, really, they grind. It's a grinding team. Drew Breeze of the four quarterbacks left has the weakest arm. He's not throwing the ball down the field anymore. It's funny. You think of the Saints as this high-powered machine. That's Kansas City. I mean, Rams can do a lot of looks. When I look at the Saints right now, coaching quarterback play, they're 11-play drives. Well, the Saints are meticulous. All great offensive.

coaches are meticulous with detail. McVeigh, Sean, Peyton, meticulous, and you read, meticulous. They'll take a simple route and combinations, and they'll run the same route, eight, nine, ten different formations. Same route, though, because there's only so many routes you can run. Right. In, out, down, post, corner, come back. That's it. Just got to masquerade it. Exactly. And all these guys are brilliant at what they do.

And you don't have to have a strong arm to throw 80-yard touchdown passes. You've got to have yack yards after the catch. You got to have a guy break tackled. You hit a guy on 30 or 40 yards. All these quarterbacks can throw the ball 60 yards. Every one of them. If I told you, Saints hosting Rams this weekend, though. Yes.

Who's got more good players? Who has more good players? Rams Saints. I think the Rams are a better team. I think it's just hard to go to the Superdome and win. And I don't think the Saints will. I mean, the Saints actually, they won the perfect way. They didn't look very good for about an hour and a half.

I'm going to tell you, that's a good point you make because I was on our pregame show yesterday. I was really, I was really torn. I was really concerned. I wanted to pick Philadelphia, okay, because of Chris Long. And I just, and I love that quarterback at Philadelphia. I do love that kid. He is special. Gamer.

Yeah, man. But I'm from Louisiana. I've been a Saints fan my whole life. I can't possibly pick. But I never pick them because I don't want to jinx them if you believe in that stuff. But the thing that bothered me was the last four games of the season. They had not looked good. And I said on the air, you can't put a key in the car and turn it on.

And when you're running, run, and away we go, Jack. You can't do that. And on the commercial break up to Ohio, you put a key and you turn it on. But with the Saints lately, you had to pull the choke out. There are a lot of dink and dunk. Hey, I know. And then people have put pressure on Drew up the middle, and he is,

he, listen, he's, he's human, he's panicked. He's, he's not been comfortable. And in the first half yesterday,

first pass, oh, Lord, please. Hey, I'm just, I was a nervous wreck. The saints are completely vulnerable this weekend. Yes.

I think they are. I mean, they are not what we perceive. describe generally with them, which is you go down there and it's a shootout and it's their. I mean, this Philadelphia team had been on the road five times in six weeks, Terry, they were exhausted and they kept them in the 20s. Yeah, you better be careful with the Rams need to play smart. You can't have Keep Kleeve doing a stupid play like Keith.

No turnovers. Listen, you cannot, you cannot play stupid. You have to play smart. Use the sideline. Make it your friend. Use the end zone, the back line. Make it your friend. Don't push people out and fly the balls in the air.

and you get a penalty, get them first down, you've got to play smart. It will be hard to play down there. And the last time they played, what was the score? 43, 40, 30. Oh, it's wild. It's crazy. Both the Rams and the Saints, September, October, are just, they're dropping. Those days are over in the end.

I mean, you're going to tell me Kansas City, New England, that game's going to be in the 20s, and my guess is Rams Saints in the 20s. Here's what happened. The league started this year. Yeah. Remember those offenses? I was on the edge of my seat. I couldn't wait for the games to come on.

And boy, those offenses were just like, holy cow. They broke more passing records after eight games I'd ever seen in my life. And I'm like, guys threw 50 touchdown passes for Kansas City. And there you're just locking it up 45 to 40. And I'm like, holy cow, this is what the end. And we all jumped on board. You did, I did. Everybody jumped on board.

What happened? You peaked too soon, which is you just go, run, run. And then you slowly come back down. Guys get hurt. Coordinators get film. You figure teams out. You're playing them a second time. Yep. And you got a lot of.

Here's what they did. Let's put pressure here. You got guys hurt. You got a corner out. You got a linebacker out. I mean, a whole bunch of things have happened. Terry Bradshaw, 20 minutes to Terry Bradshaw. Let us here.

Hey, hey. Colin Wright. Colin wrong. Coming up next. Thank you so much. I loved having you on. All right. Terry Bradshaw, I'm back hour two next. One more herd.

The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, here we go, hour two. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong in about a minute. Matt Mosley, a columnist in Dallas, was at the Cowboy game. His thoughts going forward. An inside look at the Dallas Cowboys going forward.

Dax Contract. Jason Garrett's extension, all of it coming up. Trent Dill for this hour as well. And Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number two. Terry Bradshaw's a hoot. He's doing car sounds. Very vivid in the description of the decline in the offensive numbers. Yeah, no, he is.

So we do it every Monday at this time. We do it. I love doing it during the football season, but we continue it all. year, I make strong predictions. That's what I do. But I think it behooves me to go on the air on Monday and say, listen, sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm really wrong. So here we go. Where Colin was right? I've never had a year when the first eight playoff games, I predicted all of them correctly. In fact, I'm six one and one against the spread and eight and no straight up. I also feel incredibly strongly about the games this weekend. We'll talk about that later in the

week. Our strongest play was New England. We told you. We thought they'd play very, very well early and hold off the chargers. So we've had an incredible year making picks in the NFL capped by a great playoff run. Where Colin was wrong. Andrew Luck was awful. He looked out of sorts. His feet didn't look right. He had four or five balls tipped.

His ball floated. You know, maybe it's the dome quarterback goes on the road and is used to 72 degrees. But his first three drives. I mean, Andrew Luck was as bad as I've ever seen him when I know he's healthy, and I do know he's healthy. Punt, punt, punt, three and out, three and out, three and out. And I also think there is, you know, listen, Drew Brees was really bad already in the game. There's nothing wrong with being, you know, struggling in your first couple series on the road. That's not it.

But I just, I never felt like Andrew Luck said, okay, I'm a franchise quarterback. I'm going to take this puppy over. I'm going to run a little bit. I'm going to scramble a little bit. I'm going to extend plays a little bit. I just thought Andrew looked played as bad as I've seen him play. Where Colin was right? Oh, Andy Reid can coach.

How many years have I been on this? You think Andy Reid can coach a little? Now he'll be in his sixth conference championship game. By the way, he got to five conference championships games in Philadelphia with Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia. You know, he did it in the AFC with, you know, he wins a bunch of playoffs. He's in 25 playoff games. He's essentially 500, and he's never had a great quarterback talent until now.

by the way, can we get over this? He's never won the big game. You never sound dumber as a sports fan using he's never won the big game. You don't think that was a big game? Let me ask you. You don't think New England this weekend's a big game. That doesn't count in your world. So if you're in Kansas City and you don't think it's a big game when or if the Chiefs

lose, you won't be mad because, you know, it's not a big game or anything. They're all big games. You don't think the regular season games matter? You don't think beating the Chargers manner. You don't think that was a big game. Andy Reid, we put way too much emphasis on winning Super Bowls. He is a great coach, and I've been saying it for a decade. Where Colin was wrong.

The Rams rebooted. I said I loved him in September and October, and I thought they were a bunch of hooey in November and December. And I said, I very rarely in my life, do I remember a team stinking late in the year and rebooting? and then coming into the playoffs and being great. I thought the Rams were great Saturday. That is what he did is hard to do in this league. Now, I've seen teams have a bad first half, and then post- Thanksgiving, they play really, really well.

Rams were great early, awful for about six weeks, and in the end of the year, they really became a pound, ground, pound run football team, and that's what they are now. Make no mistake about it. Between Gurley and C.J. Anderson, they're a running football team. and the Rams against Dallas,

they were as, that looked like a coaching mismatch. They were as sharp against the front seven like Dallas as I think you can be. Hats off to the boy genius. Where Colin was right. Top four scoring teams in the NFL are the four left. The Bears model. You're winning in Super Bowls with that. The Ravens model, run around quarterback, play with defense.

You're not winning that way big time. Listen, the rules now benefit offense. That doesn't mean the scoring won't come down in the playoffs because the weather's lousy and players have more injuries. Teams do. But even the Saints had an 11-minute drive from their offense to win the game. You got to spend your money now on offense. There's nothing against Khalil Mack.

But in the end, wide receivers, left tackles, quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends. the best four offenses in the league are what's left and no chance of a boring Super Bowl. You're either going to get Mahomes, Brady, Rams, McVeigh, Gough, and Breeze Payton, so it's all good. Where Colin was wrong. I may have undersold the Patriots weapons a little. I mean, good Lord, Edelman 9 catches, James White 15 catches, Sony, Michelle, three touchdowns on 129 yards, cards. Philip Dorset made a couple of great plays. For the record, Gronk is now the best blocking

tight-in in football. He can't run anymore. He is a tremendous blocker. I've never seen, and I'm serious when I say this, I've never seen New England's pieces play that well. No fumbles, you know, I mean, no drop balls against a defense that talented, I didn't think it was possible to be that good offensively. James White doesn't even carry the ball. He's just a receiver out of the backfield. I did not think that was possible against the Chargers defense. I didn't think Philip Dorset, Edelman, Gronk, a rookie running back, and James White could do that.

That was a jaw dropper, and I love New England this weekend. But to move the ball up and down the field against that secondary and that pass rush? What? Didn't he make sense? Where Colin was right? I did sell my L.A. Charger's stock at the perfect time. Folks, teams are stocks to me. I buy them and I sell them all the time.

And I said all year long, I love this Chargers team. And I picked them over Baltimore. And I kept, and I told, I said it all year. I said, this is a really good team. I sold my stock this weekend. You can't travel all the way to Baltimore being a physical game. Travel all the way home. Come all the way back and face Belichick, 12 and 1 in division play.

come on. This is a perfect team. That's all teams are for me as a sportscaster. They're stocks. I'm not all in or all out in anybody. I sold my ram stock. Now I'm buying some back. But the Chargers, I was on that team all year. I liked them when nobody else did. I loved them when people started liking them. And I sold my stock when everybody in the world had the Chargers this weekend.

Where Colin was wrong. I said I thought luck would outplay Mahomes, but I picked Kansas City to win. I thought Mahomes. Now, Mahomes didn't have a touchdown pass. his quarterback ready was in the 80s, but I thought Patrick Mahomes looked, and it surprised me, like the veteran quarterback. There was every chance, and I would have had no problem if Mahomes had the jitters, struggled in the first quarter, and I didn't think he was great. He missed some open guys, but his demeanor, his leadership, his calm against a, you know,

pretty good pass rush, I thought Patrick Mahomes completely outplayed Andrew Locke and deserves a lot of credit. It's very easy for all of us to say, hey, he's got all these weapons and Andy Reid. But come on now. You're going up against Andrew Luck. That's your first home playoff game. You had a buy. Byes aren't great for young players. Bys are great for veteran players.

I thought Mahomes completely elevated himself above and beyond Andrew Luck and I was wrong. So he's the MVP, right? Yes, he is. And I said, whoever wins is the MVP. Yeah, Mahomes is the MVP and deserves it. Where Colin was right? Lakers are three and seven without LeBron. lost of the Cavs without LeBron.

The worst team in the league, by the way, is the calves because they don't have LeBron and the Lakers now can't beat the calves without LeBron. Listen, Michael Jordan, say what you want. Bill Russell say what you want. Kareem say what you want. We've never had a player as impactful as LeBron.

He comes to your team, their average, they get really good. He leaves your team. You were good. You get awful. I mean, the Lakers are five years into a rebuild. They have done a very good job in the front office in scouting and drafting. They have not whiffed on anybody. And they're now three and seven without LeBron, losing to the worst team in the league.

And for the record, Michael Jordan left the Bulls. They won 55 games without him and were a Hugh Holland's call for making the finals. Impact, there had never been anybody close to LeBron James. Where Colin was wrong. Mike McCarthy at Green Bay can't get interviews? I mean, you're giving jobs to quarterback coaches and one-year play callers. Mike McCarthy couldn't get an interview in Cleveland? They're not getting interviews in Arizona?

I mean, the guy got to a Super Bowl. He has six division titles. There's eight openings. My opinion of Mike McCarthy is apparently not aligned with the owners and the general managers of the National Football League. I mean, I'm looking around and I'm like, Mike McCarthy, if you're an organization that's kind of like uneasy and chaotic, and if you need somebody to stabilize, I would bring in Mike McCarthy for a two-day interview. And unless something went anywhere, I think he'd be a great choice.

I mean, we've got college coaches getting hired and that got fired. And we got coordinators that were not really coordinators and guys who have never been hired as coordinators. And Mike McCarthy can't get a job interview? you? That was wrong on that one. I thought the Jets job was his. He didn't even get an interview in Cleveland. It's very bizarre. They didn't get an interview. They must know something we don't.

I guess. All right, Dallas Cowboys, a columnist Matt Mosley, got a great podcast, columnist. He knows the Cowboys in and out. Trent Dilfer as well. What's going to happen here? Going for Jason Garrett Dack. What are they saying inside the building? That's coming up. catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the

plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

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

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

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

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

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court,

and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sunday, Todd Gurley and the Rams take on Drew Green and the Saints in the NFC Championship game presented by Induit, TurboTax Live. Coverage begins at 1 Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific on Fox and the Fox Sports app.

That's going to be the best football game potentially of the year. It's going to be in that Saints, Cowboys, Chiefs, Rams. Score will be somewhere in the middle. Matt Mosley writes for the Dallas Morning News. He's got a great podcast with my friend Edwarder. If you want to know about the Cowboys, this guy is totally connected. And I think on a day like today, there's great disappointment in Dallas. I'll start with this. I had said on Friday and Thursday, I said, I think Dak Prescott is Alex Smith. And people will wince at that. Eight straight winning seasons, three Pro Bowls, five division titles. And I, but the knock-on-up, but the knock-on on him was always, I can't quite get past

to Brady, can't get past to Rogers. And I think that's my comp on Dak. Am I nuts? No, I think it's a pretty good comp. You know, I think Dak maybe has more intangibles. I still think he's going to be a guy who breaks through at some point.

I think when you see the leadership in there, he took over that locker room. I mean, Romo was the guy and he walked in as a rookie and just took the whole place over. Fourth round rookie. Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

That's hard to do. He's had that thrown in his face a lot. Who'd they want? They wanted Paxton Lynch. They wanted Connor Cook out of Michigan State. These are the people they wanted. And then they got DAC. Now, they got to do something with him.

How many times did you see him run the other night? You know, I'm not saying he needs to be Lamar Jackson and go run, you know, 15 times. But when a guy has the ability to do that, it's amazing that you don't even get to that. And they didn't get it until the game was in desperation. Let's run an option with DAC. Fourth and one, let's maybe get him out and run him or run an option play. And they just don't do it. And that's why I think this, they have to be changes to this offensive staff.

Okay, so let's segue into that Jason Garrett. I said before, I think he's solid. I don't think it's man overboard. I don't think he's Belichick. What is the, why do they keep him? What's his strength? They play for him like crazy. The players love him.

And he's never lost him. even when it was three and five and everything was going south. And I said it was an 85% chance he was gone. I might have put it up to 90%. They stayed behind him. They did that. That's how he got the job. Wade Phillips, they quit on Wade and Garrett got the job.

Yeah. And that is what he does. And they truly love this coach and play for him. Now, he seems outdated. His offense seems outdated. You know, when you talk about him, you think of names like Zampezi. You remember Ernie's M-Peezy. I mean, you have to go back, you know, 20, 30 years.

And so some of the things he's still doing sort of goes back too far. Yeah. Well, I mean, let's look. When you watch the Rams Cowboys game, what did you see? What did you see that you were good with? And what did you see that worries you? Well, the defense has been so great for this team, and they just get dominated. And then the offensive line just got pushed around.

Sue, we beat up on the guy. He doesn't show up week after week. he showed up in that game. He did. And he took over the line of scrimmage. And honestly, he was better than Donald in that game. I mean, he was unbelievable. Yeah.

So, I mean, there are a lot of things to look at. I mean, I would be, the offensive line's going to get back to what it was. With that defense, that was their calling card. Yeah. They got killed by Indianapolis. They got Marlon Mack rushed for over 100 yards on them. And the other night, 200-yard rushers. Yeah, no, it was troubling that, now, some of it could be fatigue.

It's, it's, you don't get the by week. All the buy week teams this week outside of New Orleans came out, jumped out, and looked great. You know, I guess my takeaway on the future of the Cowboys is there has been these people would submit that Jerry's older and he doesn't want change, is that he doesn't want to go out and get a Cliff Kingsbury or Sean McVay, that Jerry is now nearing 80, business is booming. He's been through a lot of wars here and he kind of likes the stability. Do you buy the argument that Jerry's age now?

He just doesn't at his age want to start over with a coach. No, I think he would do it if the fans started to turn on him. But he loves Garrett. Garrett's like a son to him. So he's going to do the extension with him, but I still think he's going to make some changes to this offense. I don't believe, you know, Jason Garrett when he says there are no significant changes to the staff. I don't think you can sell that. I don't think you can go into next season and stand packed.

I really don't. And so I think what you see with coaches sometimes, they give them a chance to go, maybe look and perhaps get other jobs, I think something has to change. I think Jerry knows that. And I think Jerry, this whole, this Jason Garrett thing, he was ready to fire him. I mean, at three and five, he was getting ready and saying, not during the season, but he was ready and he was lining up. And who knows, Lincoln Riley, Matt Ruhle, the great Baylor coach, who knows who he was talking to. But he always has a note card of about three or four coaches ready.

I've heard that. Jerry keeps that. He never used it, it doesn't seem like. Used to use it a lot. But he does have it. No. You know, he still talks about, he didn't, he fired Chan Galey too quickly

in his mind. Chan Galey, you remember, it's not like the Chan Galey era just lit everything on fire. And he still talks about that. I regret letting Chan go because he let Chan go after a winning

season. I believe they maybe lost a wild card game and Chan was gone. And Jerry, to this day, he still uses that as a point of reference. He loved Wade Phillips. Listen, the Jimmy thing could have lasted a long time. Parcells is great. When you look at the Cowboys going forward,

and I have said this, Matt Mosley joining us, Dallas Morning News columnist, great podcast called The Doomsday Podcast with Edwarder, who's a wonderful guy as well. I've said this. I was told this years ago by a GM in the league like 15 years ago. He said if you have an A owner, an A GM, an A coach, and an A quarterback, you're a Super Bowl team every year.

Now, you may have injuries. I look at Philadelphia, and the fact that they were on the road for the fifth time in six weeks, and they were going, winning, on a winning drive, potentially, I was blown away by the Eagles this week. Absolutely blown. They were on their four-string running back. Soda cans in the secondary. I mean, good God, Matt. They just were out of people.

I'm with you. So going forward, if I said, next five years, Eagles, Cowboys, who do you think controls this division? And why? Boy, Peterson, to me, I love how he leads. And do you see him go over and hug that wide receiver? I mean, that was, yeah, you don't always see that. And I like how you responded. So if it's Peterson versus Garrett, I've got to lean towards Peterson.

Now, if Jerry makes a change at some point, there are some things that are in place for the Cowboys. Amari Cooper, I mean, that was a great trade. It lit the thing on fire. Linebackers. But the reason they went into the season with like a bunch of five, nine, five, 10 wide receivers who could not get open, somebody's going to be blamed for that. I heard somebody today saying Stephen Jones is just incredible. Why, I mean, somebody has to be blamed for going into a season with no firepower on offense.

And that's what they did. Cole Beasley was their number one wide receiver. I would ask all the personnel people, who's your number one right now, Cole Beasley? I love Cole Beasley. He's a really nice player. Can you imagine what he'd be for the Patriots? I mean, like, if they put Cole Beasley in there, just be like, okay, here's West Welker, Jr. and we're just went off and win.

But by and large, Cole's a three. He's a three. Yes. And he was their number one wide receiver going into this season. So somebody's got to get blamed for the Cowboys. Now they want to celebrate while we made the greatest trade. We fleeced Oakland. Let's laugh at Oakland.

Somebody's got to, I mean, you went into a season and it took getting to, I think they were three and five after they got a Mari. Yeah. I mean, so somebody's got to get blamed for that. Okay. And finally, they obviously. they obviously need a I would draft a tight end.

That is an obvious draft acquisition to look for. Do you think there are any big personnel moves where the Cowboys going forward, Matt? I think they're going to make a change in offensive coordinator. Even though, even with the,

you know, Jason, I think said on radio, he's coming back. So I think they will make a change there. What about personnel player? Is there a situation on that team, safety perhaps, tight end? Do you think they go in the free agent,

your gut feeling on what they do. You know, free agent market doesn't have a lot of stars, but it's got a lot of good players. You hit on it, tight end. You know, they need it. In their offense, they use them as a blocker in a huge way. I think Witten really wanted to come back this season. I think Witten, I really do. I think Jason Witten was probably like, I don't know, everybody's killing me on this broadcast.

I'd like to get back and play. I miss this. I probably left a year too early. He's the opposite of Tony. I think Tony's enjoying it. I think Jason was like, I need to get back. and they finally found, you know, one tied-in who could catch the ball a little bit, but none of them can block. Yeah.

And they took a guy, you know, from Stanford. I mean, sometimes it's just like, oh, Stanford has some good tight-ins. Let's go get one of him. He can't block. Yeah. At least so far. Yeah. So you're right.

I mean, when a team has gone forever with a great tied-in, that becomes their identity. And then all of a sudden they don't have anybody. But they've tried, hey, year after year, they've tried to draft them. They couldn't get Martell's Bennett. Yeah. I mean, they couldn't get him to play, and he ended up becoming a really good tight end in the league. Matt Mosley, good stuff. Listen to his Doomsday podcast with Edward, or good update.

Trent Dill for 20 minutes away. Great seeing you, Matt. Love having you on the show. Thanks, Colin. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So we're all assuming that the Eagles and Nick Foles, the magic has come to an end. We're assuming. We're assuming. We're assuming. Foll spoke to the media after the game, and it definitely felt like the last time that we will see. him in an Eagles jersey. We'll see what happens, but I'll tell you this, I've enjoyed every single moment, and it'll always have a special place in my heart, the city, the fans, the people, everything

about it. There's nothing like playing in the link in front of the crowd. It's some of my favorite moments. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think I, you know, we'll see what happens in the future. Once again, I'm not going to speculate on that, but yeah, I love leading a team. I love, you know, being in the huddle, being a part of a locker room, doing that. That's, you know, why I play the game. Yeah.

He's, I mean, it's one of those things where for the right number, like if I was Jacksonville, and I'd say, listen, I'll pay a $17 million, and I'm going to give you a three-year deal, and I will draft a quarterback every year you're here, but I think you're better than what we've got. I think Nick Foles is one of those where I just say, Nick, I'll give you $17 million a year, and we're going to draft quarterbacks, too, You're not our future, but for the next two years, we're going to give you the starting role. By year three, we hope we have a young guy ready to take over because he is better than about six to seven to eight of the starters in the league right now. It's really, I kind of feel for him, though, because honestly, a lot of people feel that Carson Wentz is a more talented quarterback and he's the future.

But the Eagles are better with Nick Foles. Well, they're very good with him, yes. I mean, I think it's time we stop poking holes in that. They are better with Nick Foles. That's not. Wentz did get him the number one. seed last year. He's a very good player. He is a very good player. By the way, he did not win the Super Bowl for them or take him through the playoffs.

If I ran the Eagles. If I ran the Eagles, I would trade Nick Foles. Well, the Eagles have until February 12 to make a decision on Foles and his $20 million option. If they pick up the option, he has five days to pay the Eagles $2 million and he can buy his way back into free agency. If he does avoid the option, it becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the league year, which is March 18. It could be an interesting off season, though, because you could have Eli, Flacco, and Foles out there. I would take Foles overall.

Yeah, and I think I could, Nick Foles is not the kind of kid. Obviously, doesn't care much about money because he stayed there. I think you'd go to Foles if you're a team that's Listen. I think Fulz is done being a backup, though. I think he's ready to play, and he should be. He's clearly good enough to be a starting quarterback, like

you said. I just don't know a lot of these places that need quarterbacks if they even have the money, because they are tied up and whatever they have. So, Kyler Murray has until the end of today to decide whether he's going to put his name in the upcoming NFL draft. The Aves, obviously, would prefer that he didn't. He is

deciding between playing for the Oakland A's and entering the NFL draft. But now he's in a position to demand more money to keep his name out of the draft. According to WFAA's, Mike Leslie, the A's are doing everything they can to keep him from doing that. They sent Billy Bean to meet with him. They reportedly

were clear to give him a long-term major league deal, which would give him more guaranteed money to choose baseball. And that number is $15 million. Yeah, no, baseball could actually use him because baseball's got an interesting problem. Many of their best players are just, like, I mean, like Mike Trout's great, but not very interesting. This kid would be in the bigs in a year, and baseball needs more great players that people can wrap their arms around and go, I want to watch this guy play, and he's a, by the way, it's so funny, he looks so small as an athlete, but yet he's bigger than normal people he's standing next to.

Well, yeah, I mean, put it all in perspective. Yeah, I think he's a, if I was him, I would choose football. I would just choose football because you don't, you can go back to baseball if your body's still in shape and you fail at football. But I do like that he is using his negotiating power to get more money because, you know, he should do that. And finally, Emmanuel Sanders made headlines a few years ago when he said that Peyton Manning was a far better leader than Ben Rathesberger after he signed with the Broncos as a free agent. And he doubled down on that criticism over the weekend when he appeared on NFL. Network. I mean, Mike Wallace was to talk about this situation.

I said, if Ben called me out on a radio show the next day, I would literally walk up to him in the locker room and say, man, like, don't do that. Keep my name out of your mouth. It's like, you're the leader of this team, be a leader. And that's the reason why my comments, when I first became a Denver Bronco and I said, Hey, Manning is a far better leader than Ben Robertsberger. That's the reason why all that now is coming to fruition. I don't, I don't lie.

I don't hate anybody. You know, I just speak the truth. And that's the truth. This came several days after the NFL Network report on Peter King's podcast that many of Steelers players were upset over Big Ben's continued public criticism of teammates. Basically, that whole place is off the rails. It doesn't surprise me that this is being said and doubled down on this Big Ben calling out his teammates because we know that he did that. He doesn't just call his teammates. He calls out everyone.

Yeah. This is just who Ben is. This is why I always compare Ben to Aaron Rogers. Neither one compares to the. emotional discipline and the leadership qualities of, like I would say, a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady. Big Ben is a lot of Aaron Rogers, a lot of passive-aggressive stuff. You know, you hear a lot of stuff behind the scenes. Some we report, some we don't.

They're both unbelievable Hall of Fame talents. But, I mean, you can no longer just blame Lavin Bell and Antonio Brown for everything and Mike Tomlin for everything. Some of it, when you have this much noise around an organization for seven years, at some point, it all kind of comes back. at least parts of it come back to Ben. Well, I think there's plenty of blame to go around in this situation. I always come back to the fact that you have to set a culture and stick with it. And whatever that culture is, whether it's letting players be outspoken and giving, you know, empowering players, that's fine. But that has to be across the board.

And you have to find a way to keep everyone on the same page as far as what the goal is while allowing them to speak. And that's very difficult to do. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. heard line. You know, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Football is the only sport in America where coaching matters more than the players. In the NBA, stars win games. In Major League Baseball,

best, deepest pitching staff wins. In hockey, it's usually deepest rosters, hot goalie. In football, the best coaches win. The four coaches left are Bill Belichick, the best ever, Sean Payton and Annie Reid on most lists number two and three in the league and the best young coach in Sean McVey. The Red Sox over about a decade and a half have four World Series titles with three different managers. There is a reason the Yankee and Red Sox managers combined make less than the defensive coordinator at Clemson. Football is about coaching. When you watch the Rams against Dallas and that surgical office, and the Patriot's surgical offense,

and Kansas City's surgical offense with a young quarterback. People can say all they want about college football coaches make too much, and I can't believe the NFL is the sport of coaches. NBA has always been driven by stars. There's a reason Belichick's making reportedly like $11 million, which is more than all but about two of his players. he's absolutely worth it. He is now 12 and 1 off a buy at home in the divisional round.

And it's been a bunch of different players. Different tight ends, different running backs, different corners, different linebackers, 12 and 1 when Belichick gets extra time. Trent Dilfer's around the corner. He's coming up next. Can't wait. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays and noon Easter, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Simply Save Home Security 24-7, Reader's Choice.

Editor's Choice from PCMag, SimplySaveCCollin.com. SimplysafeCollin.com. It's not waste any time, a decade and a half in the NFL, a Super Bowl with a Ravens, a Pro Bowl, or a Pro Bowl, or the Bucs via the Coward Global Satellite Network, Trent Dilfer. Let's start with this. three of the four teams that had a buy, Patriots, Rams, and I would say Chiefs, man, did they look like the buy mattered? You've been in this league? How much does it help?

It's massive. And we've talked about this before calling it. The NFL's hard. It's hard in a lot of ways. It's really hard on your body. And it's extremely hard on the big guys' bodies. When you think about it, they go 17 weeks hitting people, lithe, lithe, and throw. going weights around during the week, traveling on planes, sitting through meetings, rehabbing in

training rooms, and their bodies hurt. So that week gives them a little bit of a chance for their bodies to recuperate a little bit. But it's also hard mentally and mentally and emotionally. Again, you're grinding and grinding. There are really no true days off in the NFL. Even your day off, you're usually rehabbing, lifting, you know, getting extra film. So mentally and emotionally, you're tired. I mean, your wife's ugly, your food sucks. Everything sucks by the end of the season. And just those couple days in that by week where you get to take a break, where you get to have some fun, where you get to see your kids again, or you get to go on a date, or you get to do something that's not in the grind of the season, really allows you to charge your batteries. I mean, anybody

out there with a regular job, you know how much you value your vacation time. The buy week becomes a little mini vacation time for these players. So they come back to the office and they're just juiced up. I think for the coaches, too, it gives them an advantage an extra week of watching film. It was written today that the Rams offensive line found a little tip in the Cowboys defensive lines. They knew what stunts they were going to run. Those things usually come up because you have extra time to dig deeper into the nuance of a scheme. So I think the

buy weeks is as important as anything in the NFL. Let's go to the Cowboys and the Rams. This cowboy loss, if I recall, this is a little bit what you predict. this is kind of what Dallas is going to look like potentially in the playoffs, right? I've for low ceiling. I've been saying it the whole year. I think we said about the Bears too. I think me and you have been locked up on this one,

that these defensive-centric teams, it's cool. And a lot of defensive people that are analysts on TV will tell you, oh, yeah, here we go. This is our team because this is how you win. That was true 10 years ago. It's not true anymore. I think I like the Cowboys. I live in Texas.

I root for them. But I think they are definitely a high floor, low ceiling team. I heard your show earlier today. They don't really have that great quality to them. They need to find somebody that has some greatness in that building to pull out the greatness in the team before they're going to be in the Super Bowl conversation. New England wins and they look great, but I contend this is the most vulnerable team I've seen in 15 years. I mean, they were desperate with Josh Gordon.

They got crushed on the road multiple times. They had off-field stuff. I kind of feel like if you can't beat them now in Kansas City, wave the white flag. But am I wrong on this? They got 12 draft picks coming up, so they'll reload. They're pretty vulnerable this weekend. I don't think you're wrong,

but I think your perspective is just what you saw for the 17-week regular season, and they're just a different program in the playoffs. So who's to say they didn't try some stuff this regular season? I'm not saying they didn't try to win games. They're trying to win every game they play in. But they knew they were growing to really what they value is the real season, which is the postseason. They've always been better this time of the year. The level of expertise and execution that they displayed yesterday was 11 at a scale 1 to 10.

Now, the analogy I would use is like they were approaching. They were a brain surgeon, getting ready to perform brain surgeon on the, the President of the United States. I mean, it was that level of detail. It was that level of excellence and execution. And as you also notice, they almost showed no emotion doing it. They were stoic. They were stoic in their approach.

I mean, Sony Michelle clips off 17, hands the ball of rep, runs back. Tom Brady rips some slashes on the middle of the field to Edelman. Edelman stands up, hands the ball, runs back. I mean, it was just over and over. Like, they expected to perform and execute at a level that nobody had ever seen. And I have no reason to believe they won't take the exact team approach this week. So yes, I think they were vulnerable for 17 weeks, but they used that vulnerability to harden themselves and to become the team that you saw yesterday.

By the way, Kansas City, you talk about surgical, looked really good. Let's talk about their defense. Something's going on because I don't bother a bad defensive. They may have been for a long time, but when I'm watching Kansas City, I see a bunch of good players up front. offensively, Trent? Well, I was so, let's go back to week 15. I think it was against L.A. Chargers. They get the ball back with three-ish minutes, up a score. They're backed up in their first play.

They run some weak sauce, you know, underneath shotgun handoff play, the left. They get blown up, put themselves in a bad position. And I'm having to kick the ball. The Chargers, chargers go down and score, beat them. At that time, I'm like, this team cannot win a Super Bowl. If in a four-minute offense, your answer is going underneath shotgun, sweet play and get blown up on the left side. You've got to have a level of physicality.

And the charges in that game were also able to run the ball down their throat. Well, then you go to the next week against the Seahawks. And I know they lost the game, and I know it was a shootout. But what you saw from the Chiefs was a commitment to be more physical on the offensive front. They ran the ball down the throats of a Seahawks team, really controlled the line of scrimmage offensively. Then you go to Week 17 against the Raiders. Their defensive front mauled the Raiders.

offensive front mauled the Raiders. And you start saying, wait a second, they might have learned from that epic collapse at the end of the Chargers game and where they're really lacking in the physicality standpoint. And then what I saw in the playoff game was a team that was not flash and sizzle. It wasn't Mahomes driven. It was one in the trenches. The offensive line and defensive line manhandle the Colts. And that's a good Colts Offensive Front.

So if this team takes that approach that they can also be much. They can also play big boy football, that they can show some knockback in their game, both offensively and defensively, watch out because now it's only going to make Mahomes magic that much better. It's only going to make their flash and sizzle that much more dynamic. It's only going to free of Tyreek kill more often. So I was super impressed, and I saw it trending at the end of the year, but I was super impressed with the physicality of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Saints, they were on the ropes. I mean, if that fake pun doesn't work, that game could be over. Just wrap a bowl around what the Saints are today. What did you make of it? You said it earlier in the show. You absolutely nailed it. They're not what everybody thinks they are. This is a hardcore, physical, resilient, tough man's team.

This is not flash and sizzle. This is not, they don't want to throw the ball from 400 yards. They want to be in a fist fight in every game. They know in their back pocket, they have Drew Breeze. and they have Thomas and they have Camara in open space. They have Sean Payton, one of the greatest play callers of all time. But at their core, this is a physical, tough, mentally strong team that's also very aggressive, obviously, by the fake punt.

I think they like to be in close games. I think they're a team that wants to be in close games. They believe in themselves. They believe that closer the game is, the tighter it is, the muddier it is, the better they're going to be. I've just been so impressed with how this first part of the season, everybody's throwing for a billion yards and yada, yada, yada. And then Sean Payton, a Parsillion guy, right, gets, he's from Parcell's tree,

recognizes that, listen, late in the season, it's got to be one up front, it's got to be one with physical and mental toughness. It's all this stuff. It's not going to show up in the, in the stat sheet at the end of the day. I think that's who there. I don't think anybody in the world,

besides an Eagles fan, thought the Eagles were going to get the ball and go down and score a touchdown to win that game. To me, a turnover was inevitable. However, it happened because the Saints just beat the snot out of the Eagles in that second half. Great stuff. Trent, Bill. It's one of my favorite 10 minutes, 11 minutes we do every week.

A decade and a half in this league, when you come out to L.A. again, which is rare. We love having you on the couch as well. Not just looking at your Super Bowl trophy and stuff. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, pal. By the way, we have four great coaches left and four gifted quarterbacks left. It's special. This is the special time.

These are the best of the best. Great coaching matchups. I mean, how lucky are we? By the way, can I say this? I know you guys all tell me you like watching football and snow. I don't. I don't want to watch football and snow. Who says that?

Everybody's always like, snow games. You know what I liked? I like that Dallas game, 70 degrees. You know what I like? That game in the Super Bowl, 70 degrees. Everybody always tells me they like snow games and bad weather. I don't. No.

I want to see the world's best quarterbacks and the world's best receivers. be allowed to do their thing. Seriously, who's telling you that? No, no, you ever heard people say, like, I'm watching the Colts and the Chiefs, and I'm like, I hate this crappy weather. And then I watch the Rams Dallas. It's like, it looks so.

I feel like the only people that say that are people that live in cold weather places who want to justify the fact that it's cold. You live in it cold? It's like every sport is better when the conditions are perfect. I've never wanted to watch, you know, when like NBC did that thing

when they put a hockey game outside, and it's like, oh, great, guys playing in a blizzard. I can see, you know, I can go to Duluth, Minnesota, and see that. I want the world. the athletes to be able to perform in a comfortable environment so they perform at the highest level.

Would the Warriors be better if there was a roof leak in Oracle and they were slipping on the floor? Give me domes. Give me warm weather. That's why we put Super Bowls in warm weather. Hour 3 coming up, try Vix Synex nasal spray. Use as congested. It's cold and flu season.

Vic Synex nasal spray. Use as directed. Loaded hour 3 next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hour 3.

I think it'll be our best. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live in wet and rainy Los Angeles. IHard Radio, Fox Sports Radio at FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Stephen Jones, son of Jerry Jones, just said on the air, Cowboys are not going to go into free agency this year.

That means no Earl Thomas, the safety. But the Cowboys don't have a lot of need. Cowboys need a tight end, and the Cowboys need a safety. If you go into a draft with Dallas's front seven, then they got their star receiver and back and quarterback. Dallas doesn't have a ton of needs. They have to upgrade. You know, with that Prescott, get him a tight end or two.

I mean, go ask Baker-Mayfield how valuable a tight end is. Like a tight end for a young quarterback is, I mean, Sam Darnold's got the Herndon kid for the Jets. He's a very good tight end. When you have young quarterbacks to give them a 6-7 guy running around the middle, don't kid yourself. Those are huge assets. But the Cowboys, Stephen Jones, said they're not going to go big in free agency,

which I don't think they need to. I mean, they've shown an ability to draft. So, Joy, we've had a show today, right? It's been a crazy weekend of cover. It has. Now, coming up in five minutes, former NFL player scout now for the NFL network, Bucky Brooks. How does Kansas City match up with New England?

How do the Rams match up? We'll start now. We'll turn the page a little bit. look ahead to the AFC and NFC championship with a scout, somebody who for a long time was paid to make decisions like that. Plus, later and best for last, we sum up every football game this weekend and going forward in our three-word game. Well, the Patriots, to say the least, took care of the Los Angeles Chargers. And now I have a warning for the Kansas City Chiefs. This is the year to beat New England.

You better do it now because they're stocking out with 12 draft picks. they'll move off Gronk, they'll get some salary cap space. Think about this. This year, for the first time in like 10, had to rebuild the O-line. This year, for the first time in a decade, gronks a shell of himself. New England all year long did a lot of non-New England things. First of all, they were terrible on the road.

Do you know the Patriots were sub-500 on the road, three in five. That's not New England. New England had controversy for several months, coming into the season. That's not the Patriot Way. Every year they have a stinker in September. This year they had three horrible losses, all to horrible teams. Detroit, the Jags, Tennessee.

That's not the Patriot Way. Situationally, they melted down in Miami. I don't remember that happening once in 18 years. This is the year they were rattled and out of sorts. But it doesn't end there. their left tackle signed with the Giants. Most important position to protect your veteran quarterback. So they drafted an offensive lineman to play left tackle.

He got hurt. So they had to go to San Francisco. They have a right tackle playing left tackle. It doesn't end there. They were so desperate this season. And New England's never desperate. They went and signed the poster child in the NFL for wasted talent, Josh Gordon. When's New England ever been desperate?

they were this year, it doesn't end there. Cordorell Patterson, two times this year, led them in rushing yards as a running back. A wide receiver who'd never played running back became their best running back. New England has been controversial, bad on the road, can't figure out the left tackle. Key injuries, losing to bad teams, situationally melting down. Wide receivers are running backs. Running backs are wide receivers. If New England goes to Kansas City and wins this weekend,

AFC waived the white flag. I mean, this is the most vulnerable they're ever going to be. Because Tom Brady, I watched that game. Did he look old? That's as good as I've ever seen him play. I can't remember a game he was that efficient against that kind of personnel. I mean, Kansas City this week, at home, veteran head coach, mostly healthy, great head coach, extra day to prepare.

I mean, New England can't possibly. 35 to 7 at half over the Chargers, play close to that, right? Kansas City even got a break. New England played perfect. You can't play perfect in the NFL in back-to-back weeks. New England's got 12 draft picks, 12 of them. So they're coming. They're going to be really good next year.

and they're going to be favored again. And the Jets and Bill still have young quarterbacks. And Miami doesn't have a coach. The one thing New England has is a quarterback who plays to this day, despite being the goat, with a chip on his shoulder. The second that game was over, here was Tom Brady. We played him earlier this year.

You know, I know, everyone thinks we suck and, you know, can't win any game. So we'll see. It'll be fun. This is the most non-New England year ever. Controversy, bad on the road, losing multiple times to bad teams. Gronks a shell of himself. I mean, controversy.

I mean, this doesn't look like New England. This is not who they are. Public stories, coach, quarterback, don't get along. And yet, a rookie running. back mulled the Chargers front seven. Here's some Sony Michelle. Coming out of a charger timeout. Michelle, Michelle driving.

Give him touchdown number three. Barack, you're going to see him, and Devon 46 goes in there and you go behind those two. And look, they just push them. I mean, it's just like. They're out physically. Yes, they're just pushing them. Every battle. Hitting harder.

I'm stronger. I'm going at you. Try and stop us. You saw the Chargers beat Kansas City in Kansas City last time they played. How did the Chargers match up with New England? I mean, I don't remember a New England year that was more off-brand, where they were more vulnerable. Kansas City, you don't beat them this weekend.

Nine degrees at home, MVP, healthy, you're not beating them for a while. Because this one is set up. Cross your fingers in Kansas City. you better you better be all in on this puppy because this is the unpatriot patriot patriot season and here they come and with that we bring in a former scout for the panthers and the seahawks help build those rosters former NFL defensive back drafted by buffalo in the second round bucky brooks haven't had them on in a while well now now we got nobody's got to buy now all the coaches are good these games now bucky it's great to have you back now there's some subtleties some nuance you got to play

clean because nobody has the rest advantage. Nobody's got these are, if I say to you, four best coaches left, is that fair? Yes. You think that. I think what we saw in the divisional round, coaching matters. All the talent is about equal. Now it's about how do you prepare, how do you adjust, how do you put opponents in binds by what you're doing schematically? I think all of the teams that are in the final four,

they did things in each of their games that made you go, wow, that's a great coaching job. And so I think, that's what we want to see. We want to see great teams. We want to see teams that execute at the highest level. And we want to see quarterback play. And I think that's the common denominator. Great coaches with great quarterbacks give an opportunity to win the whole team. Let's start with the Cowboys Rams game. So, you know, I could take a very positive spin if I was a cowboy fan. Listen, man, we were a drive away from potentially tying that game up.

You know, we didn't have a week of rest. We were on the road. I could a very compelling argument if I was the Cowboys. We got dominated up front and we were still in that puppy. What did you see in that game? They got dominated up front. But I think the bigger thing, the L.A. Rams stumbled in something that has made them maybe the most dangerous team in the postseason. When Ty Gurley didn't play the final two games and C.J. Anderson was signed off the street

and in back-to-back games, he went over 100 yards. they didn't throw the ball a lot with Jared Gough, and they got back to who they are. Power running. Power running team. Look, all the bills and whistles and stuff, and I heard Trent before talk about teams that can play that muddy style. Well, the L.A. Rams are really a muddy team.

The motion and shifts and all that, it only massed that they want to be a powerful football team and throw play action. Well, C.J. Anderson gave them a downhill back. When you look at Todd Gurley, he prefers to work on the edges. And in this game, you saw both of those guys play. They have over 40 rushing attempts. Jared Goff in this game threw on play action, 51% of his dropbacks. So when you're running, then throwing play action, they put the linebackers in a bind.

And I think Sean McVeigh has gotten away from kind of showing people, hey, look at how smart I am to more. Now let's call the game in a way that wins it. And that makes a difference. And by the way, the last time you were on the show, I think we talked about this. Listen, when you're 32 years old and everybody tells you you're the next, you know, Mark Zuckerberg, you believe some of your press. I thought they got a little showy in about week seven. And I said on this show, I bailed on him. I think you make a good point.

Let's talk about this Rams Saints matchup. Saints lost one of their best defensive linemen. Saints are not a stretch-the-field offense. Dallas kind of gave you a recipe. Challenge them to throw over the top. I think the Rams match up very well, Bucky, with the same. Saints. They match up very, very well. And then that last game when they beat them, and Sean Payton and Marcus Peters had a little exchange at the end of the game or whatever, and

Sean Payton had said that they really wanted to attack Marcus Peters. The difference is a keep to leave is in this game. A keep to leave can now go and take on Michael Thomas. And look, there are people that are saying Michael Thomas is the best wide receiver in football, and he has been absolutely dominant. Sean Payton has done a great job of putting Michael Thomas in a situation where he always has the favorable matchup. He is a really using him like he used Marcus Colston years ago. Big slot receiver, a guy who really is, in essence, almost used like a tied in. He is just bullying defensive backs over the middle of the field and they're finding ways to really feature him over the middle. Well, now Akieb to leap

comes back. He can take on that matchup. He is not afraid of the physical contest and he can make it different. I think the big thing when you're dealing with the Saints, the two guys that you have to stop. You have to stop 13. You have to stop 41. It has to be a game where Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara have to be kept on the wraps. Make somebody else. Mark Ingram to again, someone else has to beat you, but you can't let their stars dominate the game because if you do that, they're going to win. Yeah, I actually think the Rams, and I know home field is huge. I think the Rams, you know, here's the way I look at it. It's very difficult in the NFL to play great back-to-back weeks. The competition's too good. I thought the Rams were great.

against Dallas. It's very hard to duplicate that, but I think they match up well. Let's now go over to Kansas City in New England. Again, Tom Brady's not been quite as dominant, not close to it on the road. I don't think New England can duplicate that matchup. I think the Chief's defense is playing much better up front. It seems to me if I was New England, here would be my concern. I don't match up with Travis Kelsey. I don't match up with Cheetah. There are some matchup issues for New England. I don't think they can solve with their personnel. So the thing about the Patriots and what I love it, and I learned this from Marty Schadenheimer.

He used to always talk about before you can win, you have to learn how not to lose. And so with the Patriots, they're not going to lose the game. When we talk about the stars, the one thing that Bill Belichick is going to do, he is going to make sure that Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey are kept under wraps. You looked at the game against the charges. You noticed they played tight bump and run coverage,

but they also had two deep safeties over top. They're going to make it where Pat Mahomes doesn't have the luxury of taking the big play. They're going to make him nickel and diamond down the field and see if he's patient enough to win in that style. When it comes to the way the Patriots are able to, basically I call them a chameleon, they can always change their style based on what they need to do. This will be a game where offensively you saw them become more of a power running team. They control the clock. They dominated the game.

they deliberately played slow so they could play keepaway. I think they'll use some of the same tactics. The trick will be, can they corral the speed of the chiefs? Because the speed are more explosive, they're more athletic. Can they find a way to contain them? If they can't, it's going to be a game that's going to be really, really hard for them to keep the score down. And this is a game where they want to keep the score below 30. They don't want to win another shootout like they won the first game.

By the way, you know, Terry Bradshaw was on earlier, and he said this. He goes, quarterbacks lose their legs, but he goes, I'm 70. I'm stronger now than I've ever been. I'm sitting there watching Brady, and I've got to tell you, Bucky, his accuracy. Now, Kobe Bryant scored 60 in his last game. Brett Farve to the very end. I do think Tom plays now better on rest. I think older guys do.

But if I'm Kansas City and you were going to attack Brady after what you saw, James White's now just a receiver that plays back. Cordell Patterson's a receiver that. plays back. If you were Kansas City this week, how would you attack New England? Well, ideally, you always want to be able to rush with four and play maximum coverage. The trick with the Patriots now, the Patriots have come full circle. So when Tom Brady took over in 2001, they were a team that ran the ball, leaned on their defense, they controlled it. It wasn't about him throwing for a bunch of yards.

Then at about 2006, 2007, it became Tom Brady's show. They're now back to the way that they started. They control the game. They run the ball. Sony Michelle has really been a nice fit for them. You saw them have 100 yards quickly against the charges. They're running and throwing short control passes to James White. Because to be honest, they don't really have explosive players,

but they're underneath passing game with James White, Julian Ellum making plays. Boy, their backs can catch. They still can get it done. And so they kind of go through what I call a checklist. And I talk to a defensive coordinator about this. He said they can go through the power run game. They can go to empty and spread. dink and dunk you. They're going to run their screen game. They're going to play action and take

shots. And you have to have an answer for all of those things because once they find something that works, you can get a steady dose of it. And so this is a tough challenge for the Kansas City Chief's defense to be able to contain what I think is an offense that has finally found their identity. If I said gut feeling, Chiefs Patriots, who do you like? I'm going to say Patriots, because how do you go against them? You've seen them in this situation for so long. And I believe this is something that's very similar to the way Indiana used to feel with Bobby Knight. They used to always say, if we get our coach to the final four, he knows how to win it. The Patriots know that if we get to the championship game, our coach is better than your coach.

He will put us in a position to win, and he's done it so much that they're going to buy into the game plan. I just think Bill Belichick finds a way to get it done. Okay, Rams Saints, if I gut feeling. Gut feeling, I would say the Rams play better, but it's something about dealing with the Saints at home. I'm going to go with the Saints in this one just because they have the ability to lean on the running game. But if it comes down to the quarterback, I trust Drew Breeze a little bit more than I trust Jerry. By the way, we're going to get a great Super Bowl.

I mean, this is unbelievable. You can't go wrong however it goes. We get the rematch of Kansas City and the Rams is what everybody wanted to see. If we see the two older quarterbacks is seeing and appreciating great quarterback play, how can you go wrong? My God. It's so much. But, you know, you have been very much. You're a cornerback, right?

You played corner. So you should be pro defense. But, man, it's, I know everybody wants to say the scores come down, but, you know, it was a Saints 11-minute drive. Not that defense is dead. But, man, if I had, if I ran a football team, boy, I would look at perimeter players. I've never set that my whole life. Bucky, the whole game's changed now.

It's amazing. It has changed. And I think one of the underlook aspects of it, we just had to stat. there were more rushing yards in the divisional round than at any time in NFL history. You're seeing that teams not only have the ability to spread you out and do all that stuff, but at the end of the day, the game is still the same. By the way, when they spread you out, Bucky, it makes you more vulnerable to get gashed on running. That's what the Rams do.

You still have to be able to run the football game. It is a big boy football game when we get into the divisional round and in the championship round, which is where we are now. who can control the line of scrimmage, who can run the ball when they need to run it to control the game. It's not about running it because, oh, I want to just give them attempts. It's about controlling the game. And all of these games we saw when the team wants to control it, they begin to lean on the running game. It also helps because quarterbacks are throwing play action passes.

And whether you throw play action early to set up to run late or vice versa, it's the ability to be able to run it when you need to run it just to control the game. That is why the running game is so important. Brooks, NFL network, former player and a scout. Always good on Twitter as well. Great seeing you. Thanks for having. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m.

Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. 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.

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Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so rapid. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different

intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about All healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

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

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to work.

win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quinn's in Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing.

That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Montreal, Canadians take on the Boston Bruins 1030 Eastern in tonight's Discover card key match. Get your free credit scorecard today. Even if you're not a Discover customer,

includes your FICA credit score, Discover.com slash credit scoreboard. A lot of you think the Cowboys and the Rams was about the Cowboys because they're the biggest brand in the NFL. But the Cowboy Rams, Saturday night, that was a Rams story. We have a 32-year-old head coach. Now, I want you to think about this. Anybody watching me or listening to me,

what were you doing Saturday night if you're 32 years old? Sean McVeigh was getting to the NFC champion. This doesn't happen. The NFL has hired young coaches before, and they just don't do this. We have a 32-year-old head coach, his second year on the job, one game from the Super Bowl. There were eight job openings in the NFL, and seven teams are trying to find the next Sean McVeigh. That was not a cowboy story. This was a Sean McVeigh story. Dallas all season gave up 100 yards to a running back three times. The Rams did it twice on Saturday with two different guys.

and the Rams did something Saturday, which you do not see very much in the NFL, where a team is greaterly a mess late, and then they reboot themselves. The Rams really rebooted. And I said, can they do it? They really change their identity. They're back to being a power running team. That's really about coaching. And when you watch that game, you can say it was about the Cowboys.

That's about Sean McVan preparation. Like Belichick out-coached Anthony Lynn. Andy Reed at home out-coached Frank Reich. That was about Sean McVey, a kid, 32-year-old kid, out-coaching Jason Garrett and the Cowboys. And that was all schemes. I mean, the kind of holes you were seeing in that game are not presented against Dallas. You just don't run on Dallas like that. And those linebackers were just a complete non-factor.

Jared Goff got hit once. It's not sacked. Jared Goff got hit once in three and a half hours. with that pass rush. That is a 32-year-old head coach, and I don't believe his coaching tree will ever be amazing because I don't think you can teach IQ. I think he's just smarter than everybody else.

We got four coaches left. Three are going to be in the Hall of Fame. Belichick, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, and this kid. This kid is really, really special. This team was good in September, awful in November, a mess in December, and looked unbelievable. and a different team Saturday night, a power running team for the last three games they've played.

Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, one of the coaching hires this offseason was Freddie Kitchens. He's officially the Brown's 17th head coach in the ninth since the team returned to the NFL in 1999. Yeah. During a press conference this morning to introduce Kitchens,

he was asked about his readiness to lead this team, and his answer was kind of interesting. I've been running fast my whole life, all right? And I think that's going to carry over into this program. I think the program of the football team of the product you put on the field is the indirect correlation of how the coach is. And that's the way I've been my whole life.

So am I ready or not? I don't know. I don't know. Were you ready to be a parent? That's funny. You don't get fired as a parent, though. Whether you're ready or not, you're a parent forever. That's who you are now, is apparent.

It can change. That's a funny answer, but the reality is, as a coach, you can be fired if you're not ready to go. If you're a parent, not ready to go, you're still going to be a parent. Well, I mean, look, he's kind of being honest. He's likable. Are you ever really ready to take that position? No, I mean, if you're totally ready for a job, I mean, his answer is a legitimate one. It's a good answer, which is most great jobs.

Mark Zuckerberg wasn't quite ready to run Facebook. You're not. I mean, to be an NFL coach, and you've never been one, you're a little learning on the job. He's never even been a coordinator. Yeah. Officially. What you're trying to find is the most qualified.

Adam Gase is ready to be a coach of the Jets. But if you're hiring a guy, by the way, all these guys, somebody at one point made Andy Reid a head coach. He'd never been a head coach. So there is some learning on the job for even the legends. And Cleveland, contrary to what you may think, we actually do want Freddie Kitchens to do well and be successful. Why would I watch? I watched every Baker Mayfield start. Why am I rooting against good quarterback play?

We have discussed this many times. The Cleveland Browns fan base is very sensitive. They are blind loyalists to that organization. And angry. Much respect because I don't have that in me. I've got other places to spend my money. You're a petty and a bailer. I mean, I've stuck with the dolphins for a very long time. So I take that back. I'm just okay with being critical of the organization when they make mistakes. but we want the Browns to be good because we don't want any duds in any sport, period.

It's not good for business. Fox owns 40% of the NFL. We like the games to be interesting all the time. The NFL doesn't want that either. So the Chargers, at one point in the third quarter yesterday, after scoring 31 unanswered points, the Patriots actually had more first downs, 21, than the Chargers had offensive plays.

20. It was pretty much a disaster for the Chargers, but that didn't stop John Brady from throwing passes late in the game. And some were asking why Bill ball checked in just Russ Brady for the AMC championship game and here's what's his reasoning we're trying to score until I thought the game got to the point where they didn't really have enough possessions to catch us look we saw we've seen Tade Manning come down from 21 points in four minutes and win so it's not over until it's over in this league no 28 point lead 24 point lead 21 point lead I don't

think that's ever really safe in this league I've seen them evaporate if you have a 24 point lead and you score into a two point conversion and you recover the onside kick, I'm sweating bullets. So the bottom line is I totally defend Belichick. I do not care if they ran. I don't care if they run up to score by 50 points. Keep scoring. It makes no difference to me. Tom Brady is not that old that he needs a quarter rest or half a quarter rest for the HFT championship game. That's going to make a difference. What is going to make a difference if what you just said happens happens. You can't do that. This is professional sports. Stop them. If you have a problem with them scoring points, your professionals on the other side of the ball

stop them from scoring points. That's how this works. This is in high school. You're not teaching character. And don't give me this like, you've got to be a good example for the kids. No. They're doing the right thing. This is what professionals do. You win and you leave no doubt. So just stop with the running up the score thing. Against the Colts, we saw Patrick Mahomes play pretty much like a vet on top of that. We saw Kansas City's defense

transformed to a monster. They stopped the Colts holding them to 126 total yards through three quarters, zero first downs until late in the first half and it's interesting because they've taken a lot of slack this year being considered the weak part of that team and here is Justin Houston on their performance like you said I'm being a lot of great units I just think we're jelling that together we're on the same page when we make our rush and make our moves so as long as we together and we're rushing on the same page the best is yet to come yeah I think we was communicating and we was playing together and once you get that done and you communicate everybody on the same page the same the same

guys are limited for this defense. They're playing really good up front. Chris Jones, D4, Justin Houston. Tom Brady will face some duress this weekend. Whether they're done, they'll face duress. To me, it's two things for this weekend, because, I mean, the cold is not going to affect them. The Patriots are used to playing in the cold. So it's not that. I think that the defense has several performance like they had this weekend, and Patrick Mahomes cannot make any no advice turn. And by the way, Belichick's very good against young quarterback. If they can do both of those things and just play the way that they've been playing,

I'm taking the Chiefs because the defense was incredible. I think they're just tired of people talking bad about them. And that's what you want to do. You want to come together in the playoffs. Chiefs have about eight high-end players. I mean, they've got, this is a real. Chiefs have really good football players. No, and they have some stars on the defense, but there's no doubt that they've struggled this year.

But I think it's just like he said, they're playing together as a unit. That's what you need to do. Joey Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd-law. We bring him on as often as we can. He's an NFL columnist for the USA today.

He's been doing it for 15 years at the Cowboy Iran game Saturday. Jared Bell is joining us. It's great to have you on again. By the way, let's talk New England for a second. They've got, you know, if you count their compensatory picks, they've got 12 draft picks. By the way, their first round lineman pick got hurt, so he comes back. So it's like 13 draft picks total.

My gut feeling is when I watch Tom, quarterbacks lose their legs, not their arm. I think New England's, I mean, I watched that game, and I'm like, they're fine, right? Well, it's a process. That's the thing, and that's what happens with the Patriots is that from the start of the season until you get to January, from one season to the next, it's a constant evolution. And that's the thing about the Patriots that has been so impressive over the years is how you take a team that has this personnel, and then you go forward,

and you have that personnel, and then you tweak it, you change it around. Yeah, you have Tom Brady as a constant and Belichick is a constant, but their versatility is just amazing. And Belichick, so you give him all of those draft picks, and he's the most resourceful coach in the NFL as it is, boy, they'll still be rolling again. But first things first, this weekend. Yeah, I mean, you know, let's, you know, you talk about New England.

You know, when I look at Kansas City, New England, I always sort of believe teams can't duplicate a great effort. Forget college with college kids, even professionals. New England can't play that flawless. They're now going on the road where they've not been as good. But I will say this, is that if you can run the football and short pass the football, you can eliminate turnovers. I can see a scenario in which Mahomes sits and watches most of this game on the sideline.

And by the way, the Houston Texans have a great pass rush. They didn't touch Brady. New England's got a way to puncture and nullify your great defensive front. Can you see a way in which New England goes on the road and bores us to death with four-yard curl patterns? Oh, no doubt about it. Because you look at whatever happened last week against the Chargers, and that's not going to be the game plan this week. That's right. James White, he's capable of catching 15 passes again against the Chiefs,

but it probably won't happen because they'll come up with something else. Maybe it'll be Rob Grankowski's long-awaited breakout game this year. The Chiefs have been so bad against tight ends. So you know that Belichick has got something up his sleeve in terms of how to attack that defense. Joey talked about the cold weather a couple minutes ago and really being effective to the Patriots efforts this week. And I agree with that totally, but the thing that might really be a key is if it's a bad field, if there's precipitation that slows the track.

And guess what that does? That takes a little bit away from D. Ford and Justin Houston and going after Brady. But the other thing that's really compelling about this, too, Colin, is when you think about the team that has really kind of had the Patriots number over the past couple of years. When all of this talk started a couple years ago about is the dynasty over with Belichick Brady. Remember it was the Kansas City Chiefs that, you know, laid it on them. And then Ballotac

is like, hey, we're on the Cincinnati. That came against the Chiefs. That came against that great outside rush. Last year, first game of the season, I think it was, where Kansas City goes in there and puts up 40-something points on them. And then we had the game this year that really could have gone either way. So

it is definitely a tough matchup and the Chiefs would be, you know, obviously in their own right to feel confident that they can put it out at home. By the way, not a surprise that the one team that's given New England problems is coached by Andy Reed, one of the great schematic guys in this league. So it's not a shock that the one team last several years has pushed back on New England. It's been the Andy Reed team and he now has an MVP quarterback. You were at the Cowboy Ram game. I could look at it

two ways. I didn't think Dak played bad at all. I thought Dak played pretty well. But I could look at it a couple of ways. Is that if you look at the NFL, at the end of the year, it's about special quarterbacks and special coaches, and Jason Garrett and Dacker, neither. Or I can be very positive and say, come on, they were down eight, given the football, they could have drive for the win, and they got pushed around for three and a half hours. Wrap a bowl on what you watched Saturday at the Coliseum. What did you see? I saw a team in the Cowboys that pretty much reached its ceiling, and it's a glass ceiling. You talk about winning the division three times in five years and getting to the division. playoffs, and each time, that's as far as you go.

And the Cowboys obviously have aspirations to, you know, have a championship team again. But when you look around the NFC, that's not even say the entire NFL or you can, they've got to be able to get through that ceiling to get to the point where they could, and they beat the Saints at home earlier this year, but well, you could beat the team like, a team like the Saints, a team like the Rams, the top of the line teams. And so they are not there yet. That's one thing I saw, and one of my takeaways, and they did a great job just to get to that point after being three and five in the middle of the season. But the other thing, too, is that, and there was a lot of talk about how they'll learn from this and how it's a scar and a wound, and they can't forget it.

Well, you can say the same thing two years ago, say the same thing, you know, five years ago. So what is it going to take to be able to do it? we'll see. There'll be some more changes and maybe personnel, maybe not the big coaching change that everybody's talking about. They won't be that with Jason Garrett. We know, and Garrett's come out and said that Scott Linehan will be back. So not expecting a major shakeup in that regard. But what do you learn from it? Maybe you'll learn how to handle that jet sweep action that the Rams put on them with the running game that had the linebackers, you know, hesitating a bit and kind of help, you know, schematically. So they're going to have to be some things like that that they'll

have to take a hard look at and figure how do we get to the next level. Maybe part of the answer is getting a guy like the Rams got last year in Dama Kong, Sue, who really showed up the other night for the Rams and won in the trenches to help, you know, sure up that run defense. By the way, Jared, generally Saints at Home, Drew Brees, Sean Payton, NFC Championship, I would say Saints in a blowout. They lost the top defensive tackle. They, they are, really now a grinded out team. They've got one top receiver, no tight end presence of note.

Drew doesn't throw the ball down the field a ton. Now he's lost what arm strength he had. He's just really smart and really efficient. I think the saints are vulnerable. I've got to be honest with you. Philadelphia was on their fourth running back, lost three defensive linemen, a top offensive lineman during the game. I don't even know who's

in the secondary. Fifth road game in six weeks, I'm blown away that game was competitive. I am shocked. Philly. knocked out the Saints in the second round. Yeah, and you know what? It felt like the Eagles lost that game more than the Saints wanted. That's what I felt.

Even though the Saints get the W and they'll play in a championship game, I mean, that's how it felt, especially when you look at how it worked out at the end and the ball goes through Al-Shon Jeffrey's hands of all people who had a phenomenal game. And then in crunch time, that happens. And so, yeah, the Saints are vulnerable, but sometimes these things don't carry over from week to week. They usually don't. Part of me thinks the Saints can't play that bad early, but I'm like you. After that game was over, I'm like, give a raise to all the Philadelphia coaches.

Every excuse in the world went against them. If you take from the beginning of the season to the end, how many starters did they miss? I mean, 15? Yeah, you're talking about the heart of a champion. You're talking about resilience and all of these things that we hear about during the course of the season. And the Eagles really do personify that. But back to the Saints for a second, Colin, because what you said about kind of their style of play,

it's really a testament to them and to Sean Payton to be able to put together a team that can beat you in different ways. So it doesn't have to be this explosive offense. And we've seen it at times this year, especially in the middle of the season, where they're putting up 40 points week after week. But they can do that, but they can grind it out with Ingramman,

Camara and that can give you a solid chance in the playoffs obviously because of the way the games flow. The Rams, on the other hand, a different team than we saw in week nine. Now, their power now. Oh, yeah, they've got that one-two punch that, you know, they kind of found by default, really. And Sean Payton was talking about it yesterday on the conference call where he said, we didn't know exactly how we were going to play Gurley on Saturday night.

You had to see how it flowed. And then knowing what they've got from, got from. from CJ Anderson and in two weeks before, it felt right there for him to be able to use that as a significant weapon, as golf has not played as well as he had played before. And they've lost Cooper Cups. So now they've got another thing. But I think Akeeb to leave is the one that really intrigues me

when you start talking about, okay, what can they do this time going to New Orleans that can make a big difference? And, you know, Peters can play better. I doubt if they'll have him on Michael Thomas, It's like the whole game like they did the other game in week nine. But, yeah, I give the Rams a chance. Yeah, I thought the Rams left a lot on the table in that game in the Superdome. I did not think – I thought New Orleans played well.

I didn't think the Rams played particularly well. Gut feeling today, Super Bowl will be. The Saints and the Patriots. I think New England will find a way to go in the Arrowhead Stadium and win it. But, you know, my picks are, you know, they're all over the place. I have some good weeks and I have some bad. He's been working since 93 at USA today. We're up against the clock.

It's great seeing you. Good to see you too, man. Jared Bell. Three-word game next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

All right, here we go. It is called the three-word game. We can describe everything you saw this. weekend are going forward in three words and our best for last. Here we go. We start with Cowboys and the Rams. Boys versus men rushing yards a complete mismatch, 273 for Los Angeles and 50 for Dallas. It was the third most rushing yards allowed in the playoffs this century. Boys versus men. Colts versus Chiefs. Luck ran out.

Here's the quarterbacks that Andrew Luck faced during his 10-1 stretch. Derek Anderson, Blake Bortles, Tannahill, Kessler, Prescott, Eli, Blaine Gabbard, and DeJohn Watson. I said they were a better story than they were a team by the end of it. The reality with Indianapolis. Nine draft picks and $100 million next year, they'll be loaded. Chargers Patriots. shock and awful. Philip Rivers now 0 and 8 all time against Brady in his career.

The last quarterback to beat Brady in Foxborough. Joe Flacco six years ago, this felt like a little bit of a schematic coaching mismatch. Philip Rivers more often than not felt like he was just throwing it up for grabs. Eagle Saints. The Big Uneasy. The Saints offense is vanishing. The last six games since they crushed Philadelphia in week 11, they're averaging 19 points and 317 yards.

And that's in their division that wasn't very good this year. They're not playing well. They're just simply not. Ram Saints going forward, the two Shons, Sean McVeigh and Sean Payton. People forget this. when Sean Peyton was annoyeded the coach. Remember, the Cowboys had him, and they wouldn't give him the head job,

and so he goes to New Orleans, and he becomes the head coach, and Sean Payton's like the genius of the NFL, and that's kind of Sean McVe, who other people looked at but thought was too young, and the Rams actually thought he was too young, but they knew if they didn't hire Sean McVe he was going to end up burning him for the next several years.

By the way, the Rams and the Saints were the number two, and number three, highest scoring offense in NFL, Chiefs for number one. Going forward, Patriots Chiefs, Goat versus Kid. Tom's the Goat, Patrick Mahomes is the kid. It's the biggest age differential ever between quarterbacks in the playoffs. 18 years in the month between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

It will break the record set last year by Tom Brady and Marcus Mariotta. Finally, Lakers Cavs. lame without LeBron. Cavs ended their 12-game losing streak. They're awful against the team that has LeBron but didn't have him last night, and they're awful. By the way, the Lakers lost 101.95. The Lakers three-point shooting for the calves, they were seven for 34. And five years into their rebuild, they remain all about LeBron James.

Car shopping is confusing. There's a ton of terms. Dealer price, list price, invoice. Here's what's not confusing. Go to Truecar.com. Check out the true price inside of Truecar.com. And that'll be good tomorrow. On the show, we're going to talk NFL.

You think maybe? God, this is a great time of the year. We're guaranteed an amazing Super Bowl. Brady Breeze, Mahomes, Gough. Well, we're guaranteed storylines, that's for sure. By the way, VIX Sinax nasal spray works up to 12 hours. Use as directed when congestion strikes, and there's a lot of it out there, cold and flu season, cold rainy in L.A. today.

Vick Sinex nasal spray. We'll see you tomorrow. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real real. story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and

friends on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

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It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was finally. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis keep coming to you.

He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Podcast. Guaranteed human.